Dear school community, 14th February 2018
IMPORTANT ADVANCE NOTICES:
School will be closed for Mid Term tomorrow Thursday 15th and Friday 16th February.
International Culture Week – Monday 19th – Friday 23rd February. See email sent to all yesterday.
School will close early on Wednesday 28th February at 12.30 for all pupils for Staff and BOM training. There will be no homework club or afterschool activities on that date.
Due to the roll out of the revised Primary School Oral Language Curriculum staff training the school will be closed on Tuesday 6th March for all pupils.
Registration night for those who have received an offer of a place for Junior Infants 2018 will be held on Thursday 8th March. Further information will be sent directly to those concerned by email.
School photos will be taken on Wednesday 14th March this year. Further information to follow.
6th Class graduation will take place on Thursday 28th June this year.
School Attendance Strategy – The Board of Management is currently reviewing and updating the school attendance strategy. The draft document has been uploaded to the policies section of the school website (https://wicklowetns.com/our-school/policies/). We would like to hear your views. Please send in your comments to [email protected] before the16th of February. A copy of the document will be available in the foyer.
Whole School Evaluation – Management, Leadership & Learning
Dear School Community,
Please find the report of the school’s recent Whole School Evaluation at the link below which has been published to the DES website education.ie and to the school’s website wicklowetns.com
https://wicklowetns.com/2018/02/07/whole-school-evaluation-management-leadership-learning/
The industrial action referenced in the report was as a result of a directive from the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) and was observed by all teachers in our school, and all schools nationally. This directive has since been lifted, and all National Schools are now formally engaging in the self evaluation process. Yours sincerely
Rob Greene
Chair of Board of Management
Garda Vetting – If you are considering volunteering some of your time to help at the school over the coming months please ensure you complete your Garda vetting as early as possible. Garda vetting is required in advance of any volunteer work including reading in class, literacy lift off, school tours, library volunteers, Intercultural week etc. Please request a form from Lisa at the school office and once completed bring it to the school office with photo ID (passport/driving licence) and proof of address (utility bill, bank statement etc). If you have taken home a Garda vetting form, please return it to the school office as soon as possible with your ID.
Headlice – We continue to implore all parents/guardians to check your child/children’s hair and treat headlice as a matter of urgency over the midterm break. We would encourage children with long hair to wear it tied back for the moment.
Internal Road Closed – 9.30am – 1.00pm
9:30am to 1:00pm Daily – NO ACCESS FOR VEHICLES on part of internal road closest to building. PLEASE DO NOT MOVE THE CONES.
This area is used as a playground during the school day. If you do enter this area during the school day, you will not be able to leave during a playtime.
Extra-Curricular Activities Update
Registration fees – Reminder that the deadline has now passed for payment of term 2 extra-curricular activities. If you have a balance still outstanding please ensure you make payment before Monday 19th January to hold your child’s place in their activity for this term.
Where possible we would ask that you pay your extra-curricular fees online. Our IBAN and BIC codes are detailed below. You are only required to enter this information once, after which it will be automatically set up on your online banking for any future payments.
IBAN – IE34AIBK93361905417550
BIC – AIBKIE2D
**Please ensure when making payment that you quote ECA and family name as the payment reference.**
Mental Fitness – Dr Claire Hayes
Clinical psychologist, Dr Claire Hayes to come to Wicklow on the 19/2/18 to speak to teachers and parents within the area of mental fitness. It will be held in the Grand Hotel at 7:30/8pm and will last approx. 2 hrs. Further information about Claire Hayes can be found on the AWARE website.
Schools Climbing Competition at Awesome Walls – Awesome Walls will hold the 2nd annual Schools Climbing Competition on Thursday March 8th from 10am-2pm. WETNS fielded several teams of 4 at the inaugural event last year, with all of the children doing very well and even bringing home the Under 8s Schools Climbing Cup! Several teams will be going again this year. Entry is 20 euro per child, which includes a competition t-shirt; teams are comprises of 4 students in different age categories (6-7 years; 8-9 years; 10 + years). If your child has climbed before and would like to compete, please contact Eamonn at [email protected] by Thurs. 15 February. Please include the child’s age as of March 8th.
Please note that this event is not suitable for children who have not climbed before, and that parents will be responsible for taking children to and from the competition; there will be carpooling opportunities. For more information, please see: http://awesomewalls.ie/schoolscomp/
PTA Committee 2018
Best of luck and welcome to the 2018 PTA Committee!
Caoimhe Doyle (Chairperson)
Sarah Voigt (Secretary)
Kakaoli Chaudhuri (Treasurer)
Janice Doyle
Sue Martin
Magda McAuliffe
Maeve Majewski
Louisa Kellet
Sharon and Caoimhe (Teacher)
Graham and Koryne (Parents on BOM)
Parent Teacher Association Annual General Meeting 22nd February 7-8.30pm
All parents and teachers are invited to the Annual General Meeting of the Parent Teachers Association. The agenda will be as follows:
Tea and coffee 7-7.15pm
Outgoing Chairpersons annual report
Outgoing Treasurers Financial Report
Introduction of new Committee members
Any other business
This is your chance to talk about PTA events, initiatives, volunteering and parental involvement opportunities – please show up and make the first step to getting involved!
Please send any other business items by email to [email protected] or by suggestion box by 16th February (extended deadline). This is to ensure that the content is appropriate to the business of the Parent Teacher Association and therefore of relevance to all in attendance.
Where quorum for the AGM is not reached the meeting will be cancelled and the business of the AGM will be presented to all members of the Parent Teacher Association in written format by email or hardcopy offering a week after the original AGM date. The quorum requires that 20% of the PTA members attend to ensure that there is adequate representation at the AGM from within the PTA.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Saint Patrick’s Day would not be Saint Patrick’s Day in Wicklow Town without our wonderful parade. This year the theme is “Rock Legends”. As usual, WETNS PTA plans to represent our amazing school in style. Participation forms for pupils of the school will follow shortly in school bags. In the meantime, if you have a little time to spare and would like to be involved in organising our entry, your help would be greatly appreciated. You can contact Maeve Majewski 0857047264 or Sarah Voigt 0834122468 for more info or to volunteer.
The parade will take place on Saturday March 17th at 1.00.
St Patrick’s Weekend Bakesale and Coffee Morning 16th March
This year we will be holding a St Patrick’s Weekend Bakesale and Parents Coffee morning on Friday 16th March. There will be the usual baking homework goodies and coffee and tea for parents. There will not be a Valentines Bakesale as volunteering efforts for February will be concentrating on Intercultural Week 19th to 23rd February.
Lions Club Table Quiz to Benefit WETNS
The Wicklow Lions club in conjunction with WETNS PTA will be hosting a table quiz on February 28th at 8pm in Wicklow Golf Club. Tables of 4 cost €40. At the end of the table quiz season the Lions Club make a donation to WETNS proportional to our representation at the table quiz. Please show up to support! if you haven’t a full table, teams can be formed on the night. Last year the Lions Club donated €400 to WETNS.
Parenting Courses
The following NPC Parents Courses have been booked and will be held in the school for parents and guardians of WETNS. These courses will be funded by the PTA.
Thursday March 22nd 7.30-9.30pm “Supporting your child to build healthy friendships and relationships”
Monday May 21st 7.30-9.30pm “Supporting parents to support their children’s mental health and wellbeing
Parent Liaison 2nd Class
We are looking for a volunteer to take on the role of Parent Liaison for 2nd Class. The PTA have prepared your Parent Contact List and it’s ready to go – just waiting for a Class Liaison!
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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 all 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/ Please click on the Pre-Enrol tab and complete the Enrol Now form and submit.