Dear School Community,                                                                                              6th March 2019

IMPORTANT ADVANCE NOTICE:

Culture Week – International Food Fair

Tomorrow Thursday 7th March, we will hold our International Food Fair. We will have a large number of Embassy Guests as well as Mr David Stanton, Minister for Equality, Immigration and Integration. Parents/Guardians are invited to join us for the Food Fair at the following time slots. A) 10.00 to 11.00am OR B) 1.30 to 2.00pm.

If you are planning to bring in food for the stall it is imperative that there are no nuts or strawberries due to a number of severe allergies. We also ask that a list of ingredients is supplied with your dishes to accommodate all of our children who have other food allergies as well.

If you’re visiting the Food Fair please do not park in the school grounds. We have very limited parking spaces and will need set down spaces for embassy guests at 10.00 – 11.00 and Junior Classes collection at 1.30pm. We would love to see you there!!

School Photos- County Photos will be at the school on Thursday 14th March to take the children’s photographs. Information note will be sent home in schoolbags tomorrow.

Vision & Hearing – The Junior Infants Vision & Hearing test will take place from Wednesday 27th March & Thursday 28th March and Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd April.

W.E.T.N.S. Strictly Dance

W.E.T.N.S. Strictly Dance is being organized as a major fundraiser for our school to fund the ongoing provision of vital services and resources in the school. Please support our school, our parents, staff and friends participating in our W.E.T.N.S. Strictly Dance!

To purchase a ticket for the event: All tickets €25. Tickets for the show on 30th March are now on sale in the school office and are also available on eventbrite (online fee applies) https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/strictly-dance-by-wicklow-educate-together-national-school-tickets-57458901120

If you have a business, we would greatly appreciate your support by purchasing advertising in our brochure. This booklet will have widespread distribution throughout the school community so a great advertising opportunity for your business! Please email [email protected] or contact the school office. A half page ad is €85.00, and a full-page ad is €150.00.

Teachers, parents and friends of our school have come together to form thirteen acts and will also perform a group dance together. They are on week three of an intensive six week programme to perfect their dance routines. They will incorporate flicks, tricks and lifts. We need you to come out on 30th March and support them as they bravely put themselves forward to compete for a trophy plate that will be designed by children in our school in collaboration with Crazy Glazing. Join us on Saturday 30th March for a great night’s entertainment and vote for your winner!!

1st Class Reading Volunteers: A huge thank you to all our reading volunteers who help with reading each morning. If you are interested in helping with first class reading please contact Mercedes on [email protected]. We read each day of the week and welcome parent volunteers from any class for any day they are free. If you can spare any time at drop off it would be greatly appreciated.  Reading starts at 8.50. The more the merrier. Even as little as 10 minutes helps, reading in the morning usually takes up to 30 minutes. This is a really positive experience for both the volunteers and the children and we are seeing a significant improvement in their reading as a result. Garda vetting required.

Aftercare & Homework Club Billing – The February bills for Aftercare and Homework club were sent out yesterday. Prompt payment appreciated.

PARENTS ASSOCIATION UPDATE

PTA Committee

Thank you to everyone who responded to the call for interest in joining the PTA committee and who attended our meeting last week. We will share details of our new committee and our plan for the coming months in the next newsletter.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The theme is ** CARNIVAL **. Come and join with our school as we celebrate St Patrick’s Day at the Wicklow Town St Patrick’s Day parade!

We need YOU to fill in our carnival, dress in BRIGHT COLOURS and wear:

– masks (Hopkins sells masks that you can paint and decorate with gems and feathers and such)

– carry colourful flags

– Make a Ring of Fire with a Hula hoop decorated with “flames”

– Wear colourful hats

– Carry balloons

– Any other carnival/circus-like act (juggling, stilts, costumes)

We will have a big red and white tent-shaped banner at the front and back of our group (giving the idea of a big tent). If you would like to help make some larger signs for our theme or if you have speakers that could play music, please email [email protected]  All children participating will need to have a parent/guardian walking with them. We will meet at Whitegates (the lot next to Tesco) at 2:30pm (All entries must be lined up by 3pm). The parade starts at 3:15pm at Whitegates and ends at the Wicklow Gaol.

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Please keep up to date with information from Wicklow Educate Together NS which is available through weekly newsletter, texts to parents, school wide notices, notes in bags, homework diaries & school website wicklowetns.com. Wicklow Educate Together N.S. is not on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. For any queries, questions or feedback please approach your child’s class teacher in the first instance or the school office Fran or Lisa (0404 62786) email [email protected] Please contact Sinead school principal for any further clarification or information  on [email protected] Please note that we will only promote school sanctioned events or those that benefit a registered charity in our newsletter.

We would like to remind parents/guardians that our enrolment policy is on a first come first served basis and would ask that you complete pre- enrolment forms for all younger siblings as early as possible. Our pre-enrolment form is available on our school website https://wicklowetns.com/.