Newsletters Archived
Wednesday 7th January 2015Choir
The first choir practice of 2015 will take place on tomorrow, Thursday 08 January. Please note that choir will take place on the first Thursday of each month only.
2nd Communion Parents Preparation Meeting
The next Parents Preparation Meeting for First Holy Communion will take place in St Mochta’s Church on Thursday 15th January at 8pm. The meeting will give you, as parents, a deeper understanding of the Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation so you can help prepare your child to receive the Sacrament in February. At least one parent should attend this meeting. If you cannot attend, please contact the Parish office at (01) 8213218.
Primary Online Database (POD)
The Department of Education & Skills is currently developing an individualised database of primary school children called the Primary Online Database (POD). Please see letter attached to this email giving you full details of this new database.
Reading Buddies
Our annual Reading Buddies Programme for first to fourth classes will be commencing shortly. This will involve the children in third and fourth classes doing paired reading with the children in first and second classes for ten minutes twice a week, over a 10 week period.
This is a simple and effective reading technique, which usually results in improvements in reading confidence for most pupils. We found in previous years that there was a positive response from the children, who enjoyed making new friends, as well as contributing to a positive attitude towards reading.
Stay Safe
Stay Safe is a compulsory module of the SPHE curriculum in primary schools. We cover the programme in Senior Infants, 2nd, 4th & 6th Classes. 2nd Class will be commencing the Stay Safe module shortly. There are parental supports available on www.staysafe.ie.
Anti-Litter Poster Competition
Fingal County Council ran their Anti-Litter poster competition again this year. We are delighted that there were five winners from our school. Congratulations to Ava Coughlan, Ben Coughlan, Loza Elmusharaf, Michael Levesley and Leah O’Neill.
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 putting “Cultural Display” in the subject line.
Upcoming Events
15 January - 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
16-20 February - Mid-Term Break
23 February - ACCORD 5th Class Sessions (during school day)
23 February - ACCORD 4th Class Girls only Session (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)
17 March - St Patrick’s Day - School Closed
30 March -10 April - Easter Break
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
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
“Your Lunchtime in School” Survey
The National Parents Council Primary (NPC) is committed to hearing children’s voices on issues relating to their experiences and hopes regarding primary education. Over the last year, during general communication with children in schools the issue of lunchtime in schools was a recurring topic that they appeared to have strong feelings and a range of experiences about. NPC have therefore developed a survey to seek further information from children regarding their lunchtime in schools with the aim of representing their voices on this issue when opportunities arise.
With this in mind we would be grateful if you could ask your primary school aged child/children to fill in the following survey by following the link Your Lunchtime in School . The results of the survey are anonymous and no identifying information is sought from your child whilst responding to the questions.
Reminders
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.
Sick Children at School
Please do not send sick children to school for the following reasons:
Children are unable to cope with the demands of school when they are unwell.
Infection spreads rapidly in the confinement of the classroom.
There is no indoor supervision for sick children during breaktimes.
Absences due to illness
Whilst there is no need to telephone the school if your child is sick, we would greatly appreciate if you would contact us if your child contracts a contagious illness e.g. measles, mumps, rubella, etc. There are children in the school who are at increased risk of contracting these illnesses. Parents must acknowledge their child’s absence from school, in writing, at the back of the child’s School Journal (Education Welfare Act). Parents of Infants children should speak to the teacher at the class line on the morning of their return.
Extra Curricular Activities
e² Young Engineers
The new term for Lego Challenge (1st class upwards) will commence on Friday 09 January. For more information and to book for next term, contact Arati at 087 7198128 or arati@youngengineers.ie.
Tennis 2015
Please note that Tennis will not resume until Monday 02 February 2015. The remaining three sessions in the current block of classes will therefore take place in February.
Bravo Drama Club
Bravo Drama Club will recommence classes next Tuesday 13 January.
Basketball
Basketball will recommence on Tuesday 13 January with Ms C O’Reilly and Wednesday 14 January with Ms Parker.
Badminton
Badminton recommences on Friday 09 January.
Musical Theatre, Drama & Singing Classes
Musical Theatre classes provide vocal and acting skills to children of all levels in a creative and fun environment. As well as musical ability, the classes help children build confidence, learn teamwork and develop their individual talents. Our new term will begin in St. Patrick’s N.S on Tuesday, 20 January 2015. Classes are 1.10 - 2.10 pm for Junior and Senior Infants, 2.10 - 3.10 pm for 1st and 2nd class and 3.10 - 4.10 pm for 3rd and 4th class and 4.10 pm - 5.10 pm for 5th and 6th class. Individual lessons (Classical Singing and Musical Theatre) are available upon request. Preparation for Royal Irish Academy of Music and Leinster school of Music singing exams and Junior and Leaving certificate practical exams is also provided. For further details please contact Toni Martin at 087 7913714 or email martin.toni1@gmail.com.
Spanish for Children
¡Feliz Año Nuevo a todos! Term 2 classes (16 weeks) start back week beginning 5th January, in St Patrick’s NS - weekdays between 1.10 and 5PM. Beginners very welcome. Five great courses (3+, 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ year olds) to choose from. Enrol now to avoid disappointment. ¡Gracias! Mary M Galvin,
TEFL Certificate, BA Mod Hons (TCD), H Dip Ed Hons (UCD), MA (TCD)
Applied Linguistics (TCD). Fully registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland
French classes for children @ St Patrick’s
Fun & structured French classes for 3 - 12 years old. Small classes so your child can get plenty of individual attention & learn with children of his/her own age. Pre-school class: parents & siblings welcome to learn together through stories, songs, rhymes, drama and craft. Fully qualified French native teachers, weekly & Saturday classes. 2.10 - 5.30 pm. Join our new winter term now (8 weeks for 68 euros) First class free for all new children! Contact: elodie.bordet38@gmail.com; 087 147 3153; https://www.facebook.com/FrenchDublin15 Merci, Elodie
Information note for Parents on the Primary Online Database.
Dear Parent,
As you may be aware, the Department of Education and Skills is currently developing an individualised database of primary school children, called the Primary Online Database (POD).
Individualised data coverage has already been in place for a number of years at pre-primary, post-primary and third level education, and is an extremely valuable resource in monitoring the progress of all students through the education system, including vulnerable subgroups, developing education policy, forward planning, and underpinning payments and teacher allocations to education institutions. The new system at primary level will allow the Department to identify children leaving the education system early or not making the transfer from primary to post primary level. It also will in time deliver benefits to schools and parents by reducing form filling and allowing records to be transferred between schools automatically as your child moves school.
The Department is now in the process of rolling out and populating POD across all primary schools. This means that schools are now being asked to provide individual details about your child, including your child’s PPS number, name, address, date of birth and nationality, into the POD system. A full outline of all of the data requested, the reasons for collecting each piece of data, and how the data will be used, accessed, stored, shared and retained is given in the POD Fair Processing Notice available on the "POD" area of the Department’s website www.education.ie or on request from Statistics section. A Frequently Asked Questions document is also available on the website which outlines answers to some of the regular queries from parents we have received to date.
The Department takes the protection of your child’s data very seriously. All data on POD is stored on the Revenue Commissioners servers, with the same security protections in place as for Revenue records. Within the Department, only a limited number of Statistics section staff will have access to the individual records. Two optional pieces of information requested about your child, religion and ethnic or cultural background, are considered under Data Protection legislation to be sensitive personal data and require your written consent in order for the data to be transferred to the Department. The current retention policy for POD data is for POD records to be maintained until the pupil reaches the age of 30. This is to allow longitudinal analysis in line with the national and international priorities for lifelong learning, and to allow for pupils to obtain their record from the Department in the future.
A POD helpdesk is in place to answer queries and provide any further information you may require, and is staffed from Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm. The helpdesk staff can be contacted by email at pod@education.gov.ie or at 01 8892311.
Best regards,
Diarmuid Reidy
Senior Statistician
Statistics Section
Department of Education & Skills