Newsletter 16 February 2021
Important Dates
February Mid-Term – the school will close for mid-term break Thursday 18th and Friday 19th February.
Dear School Community
We hope you all enjoy a lovely mid term break and a well-deserved rest. Thanks to all pupils, parents and staff for your hard work and support since we returned to school last month. Congratulations to teacher Amy on the birth of her son Jude. All delighted on his safe arrival. And we are delighted for teacher Caoimhe who announced her engagement to fiancée Paul during the Christmas holidays. We look forward to welcoming the children who attend our additional needs classes, their teachers and SNAs to the school building next Monday. We do hope to hear some positive news about the reopen of the rest of the school very soon, and we will keep you posted of these developments as they emerge. Take care Sinead
Parent Teacher Meetings – In lieu of in person parent teacher meetings which could not take place last November, the teachers have prepared a mid-year written report which is now available for you to view on Aladdin. Should you have any queries or wish to follow on from the report please email info to make this request with a brief outline of your query and your child’s teacher will telephone you next week (from Monday 22nd February)
Nurture Schools Project – The Educate Together Nurture Schools Project began in December 2020. WETNS is one of 29 Educate Together schools taking part in this project. Two staff members began a certified training evening course led by Nurturing Schools Ireland at the end of January and whole-school training will take place later this year. We feel this will be of significant benefit to our whole-school community especially given these unusual and difficult times we are living in.
The concept of nurture in education recognises that students’ wellbeing is as important as their academic achievements. Schools applying a nurture approach address the social, emotional and learning needs of individual students by providing help to remove barriers to learning. There is a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, language development, relationships and communication. When the barriers to learning have been addressed and children feel connected to school life, then engagement in learning follows. Further information about the project is available here: https://www.educatetogether.ie/campaigns/nurture-schools/
Save the Date: WETNS Reads – 25 February 2021 – On Thursday 25th February, Ireland Reads, a National Campaign to support reading and well-being, is taking place. A part of the government’s Keeping Well initiative and backed by Libraries Ireland and CBI, our school will be taking part in this day by making Thursday 25th Feb a reading day. More information will follow after the mid-term break! Further information about Ireland Reads is available here: https://www.irelandreads.ie/
Incredible Edibles – 3rd class have been taking part in the Incredible Edibles programme since January. Task One is all about food origins. Where we learned all about where in the world our food comes from and how our food makes it from the farm to our tables. It was so exciting for us to be included in the Farmers Journal, where we explained about all the project work we have done. We were also included on Agri Awares social media channels for our feature in the Farmers Journal. Finally, to top it all off we were awarded School of the Week for the Incredible Edibles programme. Pictures of our projects were shared online to show everyone the great work we did. We are in the middle of task two and can’t wait to complete all five tasks.
6th Class Hoodies – Please see email sent to all 6th class parents/guardians yesterday. If you wish to purchase a 6th class hoodie, please make payment using the Aladdin link sent yesterday and also email [email protected] with your child’s name and the size hoodie you would like to order. Orders must be placed by Friday 26th February latest. If you do not wish to purchase a hoodie please email [email protected] to let us know. Sizes are Youth L, Youth XL (most popular size last year), Adult S and Adult M.
Local Art Competition – Local artist Louise Cherry Gallery in conjunction with The Art Studio has launched a children’s art competition in aid of the Jack and Jill Foundation. There are wonderful individual prizes to be won and the school with the most entries will win a day of art workshops. There is no entry fee. Donations are at your own discretion, 100% of money donated will go to the Jack and Jill Foundation. Competition deadline is Friday 26th February 2021. All entries to be posted to Louise Cherry, Tower House, Coastguard Station, Dunbur Road, Wicklow Town A67 NP86. Find out more information at https://www.louisecherry.com/jackcomp
Please keep up to date with information from Wicklow Educate Together NS which is available through weekly newsletter, texts to parents, school wide notices & school website wicklowetns.com. Wicklow Educate Together N.S. are not on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. For any queries, questions or feedback please email [email protected] or call the school office Lisa or Alma (0404 62786). Please contact Sinead school principal for any further clarification or information [email protected].