Dear School Community,
21st June 2017
Paper copies of the newsletter are available beside the new noticeboards in the main foyer.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Our school will close at 12.30pm on Friday 30th June for the Summer break.
BOM Vacancy for Male Parent Nominee – Last chance to vote! Tomorrow Thursday 22nd June at 2.30pm is the final cut off for BOM nominee voting. Please return ballot forms. Thank you.
School Transport Urgent – For all those living in the vicinity of Seapoint, Dunbar etc who wish to avail of transport to and from the school for this route. Please urgently complete the online form by this Friday 23rd June, even if you have done so already.
Bus Éireann’s on-line application
Reminder – please ensure you pre enrol siblings as our enrolment policy is on a first come first served basis. Please also notify us as soon as possible if any pupils are not returning in September.
School Reports – School reports have been emailed to all families. If you did not receive the report for your child please contact us. Please note reports received by email must be downloaded within 30 days. 1st – 6th class standardised test results were sent separately.
Book Rental – Final reminder that book rental for 2017/2018 must be paid by Thursday 29th June. It is imperative that this is paid by the deadline. Many thanks.
Sundry Payments 2017-2018 are now due and our online payment option is now live. An email request was sent to all families so you can avail of our new E Payments online system. If you are paying in cash at the school office, where possible, please bring exact change. Any outstanding payments for Sundries for 2016/2017 must be paid immediately to the school office.
Sports Day – An enjoyable Sports Day was had by all the children last week. Children participated in a range of events and had a great day in the beautiful weather. There did appear to be some confusion regarding whether parents were allowed to attend. To clarify, parents are ALWAYS welcome to come to Sports Day and we would love to see you there.
WETNS WOW – Well done WETNS WOW! Great to see so many cyclists last Wednesday! You guys rocked those hills!! Golden Boot winners this week were Caoimhe’s 1st class & Adele’s 4th class! :)
Forest School – We are hoping to start a pilot project on Forest School next year. In Forest school children spend one morning a week engaged in hands on learning in a woodland or natural environment. If you know of any suitable areas within walking distance of the school please contact Adele. You can find further information on Forest School at www.forestschoolassociation.org
WETNS School Travel Survey: We are conducting baseline school travel surveys to collect information on current modes of travel to school, and to gain an understanding of the barriers to active transport of students, teachers and parents. The primary aim of the mobility subcommittee is to reduce traffic around the school. It does this by promoting walking, cycling, scooting, public transport and carpooling as clean and green, active and healthy modes of transport to and from school. Without this data, we cannot measure the impact that our school’s efforts throughout the year have had on our students’ travel behaviour. Please click on the link below to complete a short survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VPBHHMG
Thank you for your co-operation and your valued assistance.
Books Belonging to the School – Please have a good look around at home for any books with a school label on them, or any books which you have borrowed from a classroom library, and are not labelled. Please bring them all back in to school and give them to your teacher. Thank you.
Extra-Curricular Activities – Term 2 of our extra-curricular activities programme will finish tomorrow Thursday 22nd June. We have had a great term 2 and hope the children enjoyed all the activities. Big thank you to all the teachers for their support in having all the children ready for their activities each day at 1.30pm and 2.30pm and big thank you to Billy for all his help setting up rooms for all the activities! Details of our 2017/2018 activities programme will be sent out over the summer break. Please note, Aftercare will finish on Thursday 29th June.
Breakfast Club Co-ordinator Job Vacancy – We are currently recruiting for an enthusiastic person with experience working with children and excellent communication and organisational skills to manage the day to day running of our school breakfast club, catering for children aged 4-12 years. Please see job description attached. Closing date Tuesday 27th June 2017. Applications in writing to [email protected]
Breakfast Club Launch Wicklow Educate Together N.S. – We are delighted to confirm that we will launch our new Breakfast Club here at the school in early September 2017. Breakfast club will open at 7.30am every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning and will finish at 8.50am. Children attending breakfast club will be brought out to line up with their classes each morning before the bell. Breakfast will be served from 7.40am until 8.15am sharp. We will serve a healthy breakfast menu, which will be available on our school website. To promote independence the children will be encouraged where possible, to serve themselves. After breakfast, we will have supervised outdoor play (weather permitting), a relaxing reading corner, drawing/colouring materials and board games, giving the children time to relax and socialise with their peers. Our breakfast club will cost €5.00 per child per day (including breakfast) for regular attendees and €6.00 per child per day for ad hoc attendance. Full details on email communication sent yesterday. Registration form attached and copy available in the foyer outside Fran’s office.
Board of Management update – The last meeting of the Board took place on 8th June, the next meeting will be on 19th September. Some of the items discussed were the admission policy and communications guidelines, the possible use of the parent portal on Aladdin, the official school opening, the landscape contract and the parent nominee election to the BoM. There was also a staff recruitment update, ASD class development, school attendance report, the impact of non-payment of sundries on school finance and recent PA NPC training. Following recent parent survey a Breakfast Club will be set up in the school. There will be a special shield commissioned by the O’Connor family in Brendan’s memory presented to a sixth-class pupil at this year’s graduation. This will be the Brendan O’Connor Spirit of Wicklow Educate Together Award, and will be presented annually hereafter. There will be a whole school vision evening facilitated by Deirdre Donoghue from Educate Together on the 11th October. The Board thanked Jerry O’Neill for his valued input as Parent Nominee to the BoM.
Once ratified at the next meeting of the Board a full report from this meeting can be viewed on the school website. For all previous meeting reports see https://wicklowetns.com/our-school/board-of-management/
Graduation 2017 – 6th Class graduation will take place on Thursday 29th June in the school hall at 12 noon.
Percent for Art Committee Update – WE HAVE A BRIEF!!! – The Percent for Art Committee met on Monday, 29th May to finalise our Brief. We are inviting interested artists to attend an Open Day on Saturday, 24th June from 1PM – 3PM. If you or someone you know is interested in attending the Open Day they should RSVP to [email protected]. Final day for submission on this first stage of the commissioning process is Friday, 29th September.
The full brief will be posted on the school website ASAP or you can find it here view news article | News | Public Art
WETNS Teddy Bears’ Picnic – Our annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic for the Sept 2017 incoming junior infants will take place on Saturday 26th August in Kilmacurragh from 11 – 1pm. (Please note time change!). All are welcome to join us on the day. Don’t forget your teddy!
https://wicklowetns.com/2017/05/22/teddy-bears-picnic-colouring-sheet/
Lost Property – Our lost property rail is overflowing at the moment. Please check and see if any of these items belong to your child/children. Any unclaimed lost property will be given to charity at the beginning of the summer so please check rails as soon as possible!
https://wicklowetns.com/2017/05/22/lost-and-found-22052017/
School Tours
| CLASS | LOCATION | Date | Time Leaving School | Time Returning | Cost Per Child |
| To School | |||||
| Sally & Leanne | Clara Lara | Fri | 9am | 2.15pm | € 26.00 |
| 2nd Classes | 23rd June |
PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION PIECE
Family coffee morning – Friday 23rd in the sports hall at 9am. Guest speaker will be from East Coast Physio! In keeping with WETNS Active Month, the physio will be talking about the importance of physical activity in children.
Bike to School raffle – Bike to school raffle will take place on Monday 26th June. All children will be entered into a raffle to win a new bicycle!
Congratulations to all the raffle prize winners from Family Active Day
Lisa Jervis – Hanging Driftwood ornament
Fionn Convery – Creative Speakers
Hugh Powderly – family tour tourlough hill
Fionn Lang – Sailing lesson –
Samuel – Sailing lesson
Aoife O’Malley – Sailing lesson
Jack Campbell – Sailing lesson
Val – Creative speakers
Conor Martin – Footgolf family pass
Zoe – Squirrel scramble family pass