Dear School Community, 27 June 2019
As always when you look back over the past year so many things have happened, and we are very proud of the many achievements that the year has brought. Congratulations to all pupils who have enjoyed another successful year in school.
This time of the year brings goodbyes. Sixth class leave us to go their various ways. We wish them every happiness and success and all our good wishes for the future. Congratulations to all of the children in the class who graduated and will move onto Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School, North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School, Coláiste Chill Mhantain, Dominican College, Avondale College, and East Glendalough School. You have been a tremendous sixth class and I wish you all the very best in your new schools. We also bid farewell to some families who have been in this school community for a long time-thank you all for your contribution to school life and your support over the years.
I extend particular thanks to all the staff of the school who always give their very best and continually go over and beyond to provide a wonderful learning experience for all children attending the school. Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Brian who is relocating to Cork with his young family. Brian’s contribution to the school has been tremendous over the last 5 years. I know that he holds very precious memories of his time here and he will miss WETNS greatly but is excited about the new chapter in his life.
Barry & Kevin are also relocating to Galway and to Cork. Thanks to them both for all your contributions. Leanne, Damien, Katherine and Aoibheann will be on career break next year, and we wish them well for the year ahead. – Please see the full list of staff for next year in this newsletter, and we welcome new teachers Emily Hand and Niamh Byrne.
This year we have been delighted with the aftercare programme, the children have enjoyed accessing after care, extra-curricular activities, homework club & extended after care. Well done to all involved in rolling out the programme. Special thanks to Eoghan, Malgorzata, Blaithin, Alma and of course Lisa.
In line with the recommendations of the Whole School Evaluation Report of 2017 and the school’s ongoing engagement with the self-evaluation and improvement processes please find the school improvement plan on the website and attached here.
Have a relaxing summer and see you safe and well in the new term!
Wishing you all a lovely summer and I look forward to our return to school on Wednesday August.28th
With my very best wishes Sinead
Board of Management Update The Board of Management publishes its annual report to the school community and this is now available to view on the website and is attached here.
The Board of Management Annual Financial Report can also be viewed on the school’s website with attachment here. This is the financial report of the last three years. We are pleased to report that whilst we were in deficit, our finances have now turned around, due to increased revenue from ECA (Extra-Curricular Activities) & School Rental, PTA fundraising and careful cost management.
School Staff 2019 2020, please note that this may be subject to change
Junior Infants Blue Edele Harty
Junior Infants Green Sharon Hogan
Junior Infants Support Niamh Small
Senior Infants Blue Amy Lawless
Senior Infants Green Niamh Byrne
Senior Infants Support Paula/Isobel (job share)
1st Class Blue Ian Lawler
1st Class Green Sally Burnham
1st Class Support Mercedes Russell
SNA Julie Lang
2nd Class Blue Eamonn/Michelle (job share)
2nd Class Green Paul Lowen
2nd Class Support Louise West & Aidan Foley
SNA Fiona Finn
3rd Class Blue Emily Hand
3rd Class Green Gina Condell
3rd Class Support Mary Dee
SNA Lorna Doyle/Debbie McGlade
4th Class Blue Kate Cahill
4th Class Green Alan Bedford
4th Class Support Janet Andrews & Aidan Foley
SNA Hilary MacGowan
5th Class Blue Caoimhe Devlin
5th Class Green Rory Connolly
5th Class Support Alison Vines
SNA Lorraine Byrne
6th Class Blue Louise Nelson
6th Class Green Laura Kirwan
6th Class Support Maeve Doyle
SNA Lorna Doyle/Debbie McGlade
Cathy’s Class (Green) Cathy Owens
SNAs Anne Graham, Christine Theobold,
Sophia Cussen
Denise’s Class (Blue) Denise Delaney
SNAs Fiona Deay, Caitriona Carey, Anne Graham
Joe’s Class (Purple) Joe Kirwan
SNAs Gillian Quinlan, Anne Graham, Diane
Richardson
Support Coordination Teachers Adele Kelly & Eileen Power
Leadership Team
Princpal Sinead Watson
Deputy Principal Mary Dee
Assistant Principal Adele Kelly
Assistant Principal 2 posts Paula Ryan/Eamonn O’Hanrahan (shared), Eileen Power, Sally Burnham and Sharon Hogan
Office Staff
Fran UI Dhubhshlaine
Lisa Jervis
Caretaker Billy Rafter
Summer Break – School will close for the Summer break on Friday 28th June at 12.30pm for all pupils and reopen on Wednesday 28th August. School Buses – Please note that our 3x official school buses will collect children early to help alleviate the car park congestion with school closing at 12.30. These buses will leave at 12.20pm so please be at your collection point for your child.
Aftercare – Our aftercare facility will close today Thursday 27th June at 5.30pm and reopen on Wednesday 28th August (1.30pm to 6.00pm daily).
Summer Camp – WETNS Summer Camp – Monday 1st July – Friday 5th July and Monday 8th July – Friday 12th July. Please note our camp is now full. We are looking forward to welcoming the children at 9.00am on Monday morning. If you have any queries, please contact [email protected]
Book Rental/Sundries Fees – Book rental, sundries fees and swimming fees for school year 2019/2020 are now due. We would ask as many families as possible to pay online using the Aladdin link sent last week. If you are paying cash, please have the exact amount in a sealed envelope with the signed form. It will not be possible to join the book rental scheme in September so please ensure fees are paid in advance of the Summer break.
June Aftercare Fees – The aftercare billing for June will be sent out tonight. We would ask that you please ensure payment is made tomorrow for all balances due.
School Library – Our pupils have got great use out of the library this year, with most classes visiting and borrowing books weekly. Thank you so much to those families who have donated books from our ‘wish list’. A huge thank you also to all those who help out in the library – pupils, parents and staff. It truly is a team effort. Paula
Book Rental – Our book rental scheme reduces the cost of using these books by 2/3. This is a huge saving for all our families. We have checked back in 2,200 books and I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to our parent volunteers who spent about 30 hours on this, over the last two weeks. You have been so generous with your time. Thank you to all the pupils and staff members who have also helped out. Paula
SFI Discover Science and Maths Award – We are so proud that we were awarded the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Science and Maths Award 2018-2019 this year. We took part in many science and maths projects throughout the year including; science experiments, hatching chicks, the school garden, using maths for measuring and baking and even inventing our own rockets. We took part in Science Week which gave older children a chance to show younger children some really interesting hands on science experiments. It is great that the SFI have recognised our work by awarding us a plaque which will be on display in the school. A huge thanks to Alan, Sally and Mercedes for everything.
Write a Book Competition – Congratulations to our Write a Book winners Maya BL (Alan’s 4th class), Maya A (Kate’s 4th Class), Sarah (Alison’s 5th Class) and Lilly (Eamonn’s 6th)
Lost Property – Please take some time to go through the Lost Property rails outside the main door. All unclaimed property will be donated to charity tomorrow evening Friday 28th June.
School Tours
Junior Infants – See attachment
Senior Infants – On Monday the two Senior Infants classes headed off on the bus to Tick Tock Farm. We had a great day meeting and learning about lots of animals. Our favourites were the donkeys and the Emu. We also got to hold the bunny rabbits and hamsters. We spent the day riding plastic tractors, swinging on the tyre swings and playing dress up on the Tick Tock bus. We came home tired, happy and full of stories for our families! We are already looking forward to our 1st class Tour!
1st Class – On Friday the 14th June Sally and Ian’s classes went to Festina Leinte in Bray. We had great fun. We did three activities; pony grooming, making soap and decorating plant pots. We learnt a lot about horses and ponies. The two ponies that we groomed were called Daisy and Danny. We made the soap in a workshop. We used a mould, food colouring, scent and melted soap. We could pick from spearmint, lavender, apple or sweet lemon. The smell in the workshop was lovely! We went to a shed to decorate the flowerpots. We had to pick a coloured pot and decorate it with lovely pictures. It was a little bit wet so we had our lunch in a huge tent in the beautiful walled gardens. We saw turtles and fish swimming in the ponds! After lunch we went for a walk in the fields. We really enjoyed our day at Festina Leinte.
2nd Class – Clara Lara Fun Park – Our time was amazing at Clara Lara. There was a really big water slide, which we screamed our heads off on, and a raft pond where some people fell in. There were go-karts that everyone kept on crashing. On the kayaks everyone chased everyone else. There was a long rope that you could swing on and then let go and land in the water. We love Clara Lara and we give it a 10/10!!! Written by Juno and Arthur on behalf of Second Class.
3rd Class Tour – When we got to Hidden Valley for our school tour we were split up into groups. I was split up into Brian Daly’s group. By saying that I mean he was supervising the group. The first thing our group did was “Spider Mountain Activities”. The choices of activities in spider mountain were water balls, rock-climbing and bungee trampolines. Next we did playground. Where we were there, there were two playgrounds, one big and one small and then there was a giant snake slide. Then we went to the kayaks, but you’ll never guess what happened on them. Brian Daly fell off his kayak and lost his glasses! After that we dried ourselves and dressed then we headed off to mini golf. Finally after mini golf we went into the shop to buy ourselves a treat. Then it was time to go back to school. On the bus Brian Daly gave out sweets. That was a tour I will never forget.
4th Class – On the 18th June 4th class went to Hidden Valley for their school tour. We went on a bus at 9.30am. When we got there, we split into four groups. We did 4 activities, kayaking, bumper boats, mini golf and we went to the playground. The water activities were in a big lake and the land ones were in a park. We left at 1.45pm and arrived to school at 2.20pm. We went back into school packed up and went home. I really liked my school tour and I hope to revisit Hidden Valley over the summer holidays. Conor
Fifth Class school tour to Fort Lucan, 7th June 2019 – We went to fort Lucan where they had water slides, go karts, food, climbing frames and zip lines. We left at 9 and arrived at 10 and stayed there till half 1 and got back at half 2. We had two tickets to go on the slides and if you wanted extra rides it was €1.50. The main attractions were the slides. There was a red, blue and green slide. The blue slide was the best because there was a loop and it was a 2-person ride. We had a great day. By Maebh, Sophie and Harry.
PTA Update – We have come to the end of another school year. On behalf of the PTA we would like to sincerely thank our school principal Sinead and all the members of staff for their continued support throughout the year.
We would also like to thank the old and new members of the PTA for all their help during the school year. We have had a fantastic year of fundraising with our Strictly Come Dancing Night a roaring success. Without the support of the school and parents this would not have been possible.
Our annual Supervalu bag pack raised €580, thank you to everyone who volunteered on the day.
Bike to school was a great success. It was fantastic to see so many children and adults taking part.
Thank you to all the teachers and parents who volunteered on the day.
Dates for your Diary:
Our Teddy Bear’s Picnic will be held on Saturday 24th August in the Abbey grounds, all are welcome to attend. Closer to the date and email will be sent with the time.
Finally, we hope everyone has a fantastic Summer.
Thanks
Niamh
