Newsletters Archived

Choir
As the choir will be singing at the Christmas Fair on 30 November, there will be an extra Choir practice tomorrow, Thursday 20 November, from 2.10pm to 3.10pm.

Procedure for entering the school each morning.
Children should not arrive before the gates are opened at 8.20am approximately. School doors open at 8.30am.
All children line up each morning when the bell goes and are taken to their classroom by teachers. Infant Classes and First Class line up on the staffroom side of the building. Second to Sixth Class children line up at their designated class line on the basketball court side of the school. Doors will be closed once the classes have left the yard.
Children who arrive late for line-up in the morning (between 8.30 and 8.50am) should enter through the Carpenterstown Door only (second door on left hand side of building).

Children who arrive later than 8.50am must enter through reception. Their names are entered in the “late book”.
Children may not enter the school building until 08.30am. Parents are responsible for the welfare of their children until the school’s duty of care begins at 8.30 am. On wet mornings please time your arrival for 8.30 – 8.40am.

Dates for Junior Infant Christmas Concerts
Thursday 11 December 11.00am SHARP - Ms McCormack
Friday 12 December 11.00am SHARP - Ms Rothwell
Tuesday 16 December 11.00am SHARP - Ms Murray
Wednesday 17 December 11.00am SHARP - Ms Thomas

Folens/Educate.ie Christmas Annuals
Folens Christmas Annuals and Educate.ie Christmas Annuals are for sale through the school. Please email info@stpatricksns.ie if you wish to order them. Please put Christmas Annuals in the subject line and include your child/children’s names, their teachers and the annuals you wish to order in the body of the email. Once your email is received, you will receive a text to allow you to make payment online. Please do not send money to school with your child. Any profit made from the sale of the annuals will be passed to St Vincent de Paul for their Christmas Collection.

The closing date for receipt of orders is Wednesday 26 November. The orders will be submitted to Folens and Educate.ie at the end of the school day on Wednesday 26 November. Late orders, therefore, cannot be facilitated.

NEW DATE for Cross Country Races at Porterstown Fields
As you know last week’s Cross Country Meeting was cancelled due to the inclement weather causing the running area at Porterstown Fields to be waterlogged. The first race meeting for this school year has now been re-scheduled for Tuesday 25th November. Parents are welcome to attend but should make their own way to and from the venue. The first race will begin at 11.30. All runners should wear their running kit under their school tracksuits, bring a lunch with them and an extra drink. A warm coat is advisable and it would help if children had a plastic bag in which to keep their clothes dry/safe. Can parents, of all those children who are participating, please write a permission note in children’s school journals to cover this new date? Here’s hoping for better weather on the 25th!

Interested in helping out with a cultural display early next year? Parent Volunteers needed
At present we are working towards putting into practice a partnership approach to our school –school, family and community all working together for the benefit of the children we teach. In so doing, we are working towards improving different areas of school life. One of our projects is to provide an opportunity for all nationalities/cultures to celebrate aspects of their identity within our school.  It is hoped to create awareness of some of the different cultures represented by the children at St Patrick’s and how these might influence curriculum areas such as literacy, music, art and SESE. Would there be any parents who might be able to offer any kind of help with a cultural display to be held in school early next year? Some ideas might be reading a story to the children in a different language, preparing/displaying food from a particular country,  playing or providing samples of music, displaying art-works from a particular country etc.  Other suggestions welcome. Help will be provided to any volunteers. If you think you might be interested in helping (even in a small way) please email info@stpatricksns.ie asap.    

Science Week in St Patrick's NS. 10th -14th November 

On Wednesday (12th), the 5th class Science Club children went to Trinity College to meet Professor Mathias Senge in his chemistry labs.  While there, they got to see and do a number of fun experiments.  

The school Science Fair was held on Thursday (13th).   Last week was the culmination of many weeks of hard work on behalf of the boys & girls from the 5th & 6th classes, who were preparing their science projects/experiments for the Intel Mini-Scientist competition.   Over the past weeks, pupils have worked very hard both at home and at school researching and investigating their chosen topics in preparation for the science fair. We have had a very wide range of experiments and some very interesting investigations and surveys carried out by the different project teams.     The Intel judges were really impressed by the high standard of the projects and wished they had had more time to discuss the projects in detail with the children.   They congratulated all of the children and encourage them to keep trying out different science investigations both in school and at home with the help of the adults around them.  

The Intel Judges selected the following projects as their finalists:

Runners-up
"Plants" by Lila Yahi and Isabelle Ryan
"Building Blocks of life"   by Fatimah Ahsan
"Food for thought" by Molly Tiernan, Emma Casey, Ciara Gallagher & Katie Prunty. 

Winners
“Polymer" by Emma Diamond and Eva Coughlan

Emma and Eva will represent St Patrick's NS in the Intel Mini-Scientist Final to be held at the Intel Plant in December.   We wish them every success.     Again, a big thanks to all the boys/girls, Mums/Dads & teachers who helped to make it a success.
 
"We were very honoured to take part in the Intel Mini Scientist competition.It was lots of fun and we learned quite a lot about our topic which was 'plant reactions'. We had a great feeling of pride when our names were called out"    by Lila Yahi and Isabelle Ryan

6th Class Science Project - Food for Thought
"Our science project was ‘Food for Thought’ and we won the second place prize. We chose this topic because we were surprised at how unaware children our age were, at the levels of sugars in foods and drinks they intake on a daily basis. As a group, we were shocked at our findings. Therefore, we decided to design a poster that we believe, should be displayed in every classroom around Ireland. We highly recommend taking part in the Science Fair, as it was a great experience and we thoroughly enjoyed participating. We would also like to thank, Mr. O’Neill, Ms. Lineen, Mairéad Gallagher and Geraldine Casey who have all been extremely encouraging and have supported us greatly throughout the entire project. We were presented with a gift bag which included a motion sensor bracelet, a science kit and other fascinating scientific prizes. We hope you have learned just as much as we did!
Thank You, Emma Casey, Ciara Gallagher, Katie Prunty and Molly Tiernan.

Songs for a Winters Evening
The annual “Songs for a Winters Evening” presented by Mary Flynn (Soprano) and Mary & Teresa O’Donnell (Harpists) and guests will take place on Friday 05 December at 8pm in St Mochta’s Church Porterstown. The concert will feature music from stage and screen and also many Christmas favourites. All proceeds in aid of St Francis Hospice Blanchardstown and St Vincent de Paul.
Tickets cost €15 and are available from the Parish Office at St Mochta’s Church, Porterstown.

Upcoming Events

20 November – Confirmation Enrolment Ceremony 7pm St Mochta’s Church
25 November – Parent Teacher Meetings
27 November - Parent Teacher Meetings
30 November – PA Christmas Fair
15 January (2015) – Communion Parent Meeting 8pm St Mochta’s Parish Centre
11 February – ACCORD Parent Information Evening
12 February – First Penance & Reconciliation 7pm St Mochta’s Church
23 February – ACCORD 5th Class Sessions (during school day)
24 February - ACCORD 6th Class Sessions (during school day)
26 February – Meet & Greet Faith Friends (Confirmation) 8pm St Mochta’s Parish Centre
03-26 March – Tuesdays/Thursday – Faith Friends (Groups to be assigned)
16 April – Confirmation Retreat (during school day)
16 April – Confirmation Service of Light 7pm St Mochta’s Church
23 April – Communion Parent Meeting 8pm St Mochta’s Parish Centre

Other Dates of Interest
12 November – CCC Registration of Students for First Year 2015
20 January (2015) – LCC Information night for new entrants 2015/2016
07 February – LCC Assessment of Incoming First Years 2015
07 February – CCC Assessment of Incoming First Years 2015
04 June – CCC Induction Night for First Year 2015

Parents Association News

Christmas Fair - How to Donate
It’s soooo easy – morning and evening slots are available to drop off your donations. It you are a ‘morning’ person we plan to have volunteers at the main gate and the pedestrian gate on those ‘Drop – off Days' to make the drop off as swift and handy for you. Alternatively, drive to the School on one of the designated evenings - we’ll be delighted to see you then.

Evenings
7.30 – 8:30 PM @ Back of school hall  Thursday 20th Nov, Tuesday 25th Nov and Thursday 27th Nov.
Mornings
8:20AM -8:40 AM Thursday 20 Nov, Tuesday 25 Nov and Thursday 27 Nov. (Volunteers will be at main school gate and the pedestrian gate so you can just bring items with you and drop off quickly)

School Calendars
Orders for School Calendars for 2015 are now being taken by The Parents Association. The calendars feature a photo of your child’s class and cost €5 each. They can make a wonderful Christmas present for Grandparents / God Parents / Aunties / Uncles etc. Order forms will be distributed through the school this week. Please complete the order form and return it, together with a cheque or cash, in an envelope, to your child’s class teacher by Tuesday 25th November.  Please make cheques payable to St Patricks NS Parents Association.  We will deliver calendars to your child’s class during December.Calendars will not be available for collection at the fair this year.
Order forms must be returned to school by Tuesday 25th November

Reminders

Lost Property
There is still a huge amount of uniform items (e.g. School Jumpers, Tracksuit tops, etc.) in Lost Property at the moment. If your child is missing anything, please drop in at pick up time to take a look. Lost Property is located just inside the Blanchardstown Door.

Staff Car Park
Parents are asked not to park in the Staff Car Park between 8.10am and 2.30pm, the only exception being parents collecting disabled or injured children. We would be grateful if you could also inform anyone who may be collecting your child/children on your behalf of this procedure. If you are returning to the school to drop off forgotten lunches, schoolbags, etc. during the school day, we would ask that you park in the bus stop area and enter via the Pedestrian Gate. (Please close gates after you leave). Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Punctuality
It is imperative that all children are punctual in the morning. The 20 minutes between 08.30am and 08.50am is a very important time in the school day. This is when the younger children have activity time or structured play. It is also a time when teachers get to correct homework or hear children’s reading.

Extra Curricular Activities

All enquiries re Extra Curricular Activities should be directed to the activity organiser (see contact numbers on our website). Where the activity is organised by a staff member, please email info@stpatricksns.ie

Basketball notice
There will be no basketball on Tues 25th of November due to Parent Teacher Meetings.

Art & Craft Workshops
The new 10 week term of Art & Craft begins on Monday 01 December from 2.10pm – 3.45pm. A fun class with emphasis on developing skills and fostering creativity. All materials and equipment is supplied. All enquiries directly to Blathnaid O’Brien-Donovan 087 4123247.