Newsletters Archived

Wednesday 7th December 2016

Christmas Holidays 

The school closes on Thursday 22 December, at 11.30am for the Christmas Holidays.  The school will reopen on Monday 09 January 2017 at 08.30am.

Christmas Cards/Calendars            

Christmas Cards have been distributed today for all classes.  Calendars for Junior Infants to Third Classes have also been distributed.  The remaining Calendars will be delivered to the school later this week and will be given to the children ASAP. 

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

A huge “Thank You” to everyone who donated to the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.  Your generosity will make a difference in the community this Christmas season.

Charity Collection at Christmas Fair

A total of €161.40 was collected at the Christmas Fair for St Vincent de Paul. Thank you to all who donated.

No Presents Please

The staff at St Patrick’s do not expect presents at Christmas time. You may wish to make a donation to St Vincent de Paul instead.            

Cards/Presents

We celebrate festivals such as Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter as part of the 

overall school curriculum. However, we discourage the practice of exchanging cards and/or gifts 

in school. Those who do not receive cards/presents and those who may not celebrate some of

the festivals can feel upset and isolated.  

Choir date for your diary!

The choir have been invited to sing with The Three Tenors in Draíocht in the New Year. The concert will be on Friday evening, the 17th February. Tickets can be bought at Draíocht. Hope to see you there!

Ms Meade and Mr Heneghan

Lost Property

There are a large number of Lost Property items hanging inside the DISWELLSTOWN (TIGERS) DOOR, 

including uniform items, hats, scarves, gloves, etc., etc.  If your child/children are missing any items, 

please take a look at collection time any day before Wednesday 21 December. Any unclaimed items after 

this date will be donated to SVP.

The Food Dudes Healthy Eating Programme

The Food Dudes Healthy Eating Programme is continuing at St. Patrick's and the feedback has been very positive. Phase 1 of the programme finished on Tuesday 6th December for the senior classes. In addition to the useful rewards that they have received to date, these children will now receive a lunch box to encourage them to bring in their own fruit and vegetables for the rest of the year. Vegetables can be included in a sandwich or in a pasta salad for example, if an individual portion is not available. Also, unsweetened tinned fruit can be used if fresh fruit is not available. Each time the children eat their portion of fruit and vegetables in class, it is recorded on a Wall Chart and certificates will be awarded to those who fully participate in this healthy eating initiative. Thank you for your co-operation with the Food Diary and please encourage your children to keep up their good work.

Phase 1 will continue as normal for the junior classes until 16th December. The combinations are carrot sticks and grapes, cucumber and oranges, mangetout and apple slices, sweet peppers and bananas which are rotated over the course of the programme. Further information is available on  www.fooddudes.ie.

St Vincent’s Castleknock College

The closing date for receipt of Application Forms for First Year 2018 is 31 DECEMBER 2016.

Applications for their Scholarship Scheme 2017 are available on their website, their Admissions Office and we have copies in Reception.  Four scholarships are on offer for First Year 2017. The closing date of receipt is 30 December 2016.

Headlice

Headlice is an unfortunate part of school life. In order to stop the spread of Head lice it is essential that, if you receive a text or emailing informing you that there is a case in our child’s class, you immediately start treatment. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Upcoming Events

15 December - 11.00am Ms Nolan’s Christmas Concert

16 December - 11.00am Ms Rothwell’s Christmas Concert 

19 December - 11.00am Mr Thomas’ Christmas Concert

20 December – Goal Mile (see note below)

22 December – School closes at 11.30am for Christmas Break 

23 December – 06 January 2017 inclusive – Christmas Break

16 January – Communion Parent Meeting 8pm

10 & 12 January 2017 – First Faith Friends Session

13 February – First Penance & Reconciliation 7pm

17 February – Choir Performance with The Three Tenors - Draíocht

20-24 February inclusive – Mid Term Break 

07 March – Confirmation Retreat (during school hours)

07 March – Confirmation Service of Light 7pm

27 March – Communion Parents Meeting

Upcoming Sporting Events & News

20 December – Goal Mile (during school day.

14 February 2017 – Cross Country – venue Porterstown

14 March 2017 – Cross Country – venue Porterstown

27 February – 03 March – Active Week 2017

04 April – Cross Country – venue Morton Stadium, Santry

Goal Mile

We hope to hold a charity run for Goal on Tuesday 20th December. The children will run for 'Goal' during the school morning (distances will be differentiated for class levels). As this is a charity run, we would be grateful for any small donation on the day. Donations will be collected from the classrooms. The children may wear a Santa hat or any festive hat during the run!

Active Week 2017 – Volunteers Needed

We will be holding an Active Week from 27/02/2017 - 03/03/2017 and are looking for volunteers to come in and talk to our children or give some mini-skills workshops during the week. Our hope is to open the children's minds to some new sports or activities that they would not otherwise have participated in. 

Perhaps there might be some coaches/experts amongst the parent body that would be willing to give some time to our school during this week. All sports welcome and encouraged! Maybe some local coaches might like to give taster classes to encourage children to try out some new after-school activities.  

We are aware that many parents are swimmers/GAA players and marathon runners, to name but a few. If any members of the school community are available to come in and talk to the children about their training/sporting experiences, we would love to have you in. 

Please email info@stpatricksns.ie with 'Active Week Volunteer' in the subject bar to register interest. We will be relying heavily on the wider-school community to make our Active Week a success and so, your help and time will be very much appreciated.

Reminders

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

Tennis

Next Monday will be the last Tennis session until the New Year. 

Chess

Chess will recommence on 19 January 2016.

Art and Crafts classes

A new 10 week term will commence on Monday 28th November for Monday class and on Friday 2nd December for the Friday class. The classes will be at the usual time from 2.10pm to 3.45 pm. There will be 3 classes before Christmas and the remaining 7 classes in the New Year.

For further details please contact Blathnaid on (087) 4123247.

Diswellstown Community & Recreation Centre and Local Community Activities 

Luttrellstown Community College presents “GREASE”

Luttrellstown Community College presents the musical "Grease" from Tuesday 13/12-Friday 16/12. Tuesday's show starts at 6 pm with all tickets only €8. Wednesday's through Friday's shows start at 7.30 pm with tickets €8 and €12, family ticket available also. Ticket sales start this Friday. More information on www.luttrellstowncc.ie

Touch-type, Read and Spell

Touch-type, Read and Spell is a computer based literacy course for children with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia and other learning difficulties. Due to continued demand I am pleased to announce details of a new class starting soon – Thursday, 2.45-3.45 pm.

I continue to run classes in the following venues and there are a limited number of places available as other students have now successfully completed the course.

Tuesday  Luttrellstown Community College 3.10-4.10 pm and 3.20-4.20 pm

Wednesday   Castleknock Community College 2.50-3.50 pm and 3.55-4.55pm

To reserve a place and for details of a FREE TRIAL, please contact Carol on 087 2868910 or send an email to castleknockttrs@gmail.com  for further information on how this course might benefit your child.   

Aspergers Support Group

Free Aspergers Support Group & Youth Club. Sat 11am - 1pm. Castleknock Community Centre. 0868204663

“Get Active Ireland” - Activity Guidelines for children and young people (aged 2 -18 years)

All children and young people should be active, at a moderate to vigorous level, for at least 60 minutes every day. Moderate activity explained: This is when your breathing and heart rate increase and you are still able to carry on a conversation. You should feel warm and develop a slight sweat. Your pace feels comfortable.  

Vigorous activity explained: This is when your breathing becomes heavy, your heart rate becomes faster and it is difficult to keep a conversation going. Your body temperature also increases causing you to sweat.

Remember: Some activity is better than none. Short bouts of activity count; you can reach your 60 minutes by doing short bouts of 10 minutes at a time.

Always include muscle-strengthening, flexibility and bone-strengthening exercises at least 2-3 times per week. All major muscle groups should be worked. These are the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms.                                       

Here are some types  of moderate, vigorous and muscle strengthening activities  for kids

Aerobic – moderate intensity

Children

• Active recreation, such as hiking, skateboarding, roller-blading
• Bicycle riding
• Brisk walking
• PE Class

Young adults

• Active recreation, such as canoeing, hiking, skateboarding, roller-blading
• Brisk walking
• Bicycle riding
• Housework and garden work, such as sweeping or pushing a lawn mower
• Games of catch and throw, such as Olympic handball, frisbee and rounders
• PE class

Aerobic – vigorous intensity

Children

• Active games involving running and chasing, such as tag
• Bicycle riding
• Jumping rope
• Martial arts, such as karate
• Running
• Sports such as Gaelic football, hurling, soccer, rugby, basketball, swimming, tennis

Young adults

• Active games involving running and chasing
• Bicycle riding
• Jumping rope
• Martial arts such as karate
• Boxing
• Sports such as Gaelic football, hurling, soccer, rugby, basketball, swimming, tennis
• Vigorous dancing

 

Muscle- strengthening activities

Children

• Games such as tug-of-war
• Modified push-ups (with knees on the floor)
• Resistance exercises using body weight or resistance bands
• Rope climbing
• Sit-ups (curl-ups or crunches)
• Swinging on playground equipment or bars

Young adults

• Games such as tug-of-war
• Push-ups and pull-ups
• Resistance exercises with exercise bands, weight machines, hand-held weights
• Climbing walls
• Sit-ups (curl-ups or crunches)

Bone-strengthening activities

 Children

• Games such as hopscotch
• Hopping, skipping, jumping, jumping rope, running, sports such as gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, tennis

Young adults

• Hopping, skipping, jumping
• Jumping rope
• Running
• Climbing walls
• Sports such as gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, tennis

Guidelines for children with disabilities

The best advice is to listen to your child and to allow them to be as active as their ability allows. All children need to be active for at least an hour each day to make sure they are looking after their hearts and bones. This can be more difficult if your child has an impairment. Remember that short bouts of activity count, you can reach the 60 minutes by doing 10 minutes at a time.

Remember:

• Some activity is better than none.
• Short activity bouts count. You can reach your 60 minutes 10 minutes at a time.
• Choose activities appropriate to your ability. Talk to your doctor about what sort of activity you are able to do.
• Spread your activities throughout the week.
• Add activities which increase muscular strength and endurance on two to three days per week.
• For more health benefits, increase your activity to 60 minutes of moderate activity five days a week.