Newsletters Archived
Wednesday 15th March 2017St Patrick’s Day
The school will be closed on Friday 17 March as it is St Patrick’s Day. Please note that school will finish at the normal time for all children on Thursday 16 March.
Children may wear a green top or t-shirt with their school tracksuit bottoms on Thursday 16 March if they wish. Please note Thursday is NOT a non-uniform day.
Vegetable Week
Well done to all the boys and girls who brought vegetables to school every day last week. The Food Dudes were very impressed with the large number of children who took part and teachers commented on the huge variety of vegetables that were in the lunchboxes. We especially commend those who brought in Fruit and Vegetables since the start of the programme. The winner of the raffle for the overall prize of a fruit and vegetable hamper went to Georgia from Ms Lineen's 5th class and a small number of spot prizes were left with the class teachers who will do their own raffle in due course. Unfortunately there wasn't a prize for all the participants, but as the Food Dudes commented “everybody who chooses a healthy lunch is a winner, in the long run”. Maith sibh, gach duine!
Staff Car Park
Parents are asked not to park in the Staff Car Park at any time between 8.00am and 3.00pm as we have, and will continue to have, a number of Teaching Practice teachers/visitors over the coming months. The only exception to this is 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.
Leaving School Early
The teacher should be notified in advance if possible, should a child need to be collected early. Pupils who
leave before the end of the school day, must be signed out at Reception by a parent/guardian.
If you need to collect your child during the school day, please do not do so during break times
(10.20-10.30am and 12.00-12.30pm) as the children are in the school yard at this time. If an emergency situation arises, please ring the office before break time and we will arrange to have your child at Reception
for collection. However, please note Reception is closed from 12.00-12.30pm daily. Your cooperation in this matter would be very much appreciated.
St Patrick’s Business Network
St Patrick’s School Journal contains a list of Businesses & Services provided by Parents in the School. This is an excellent resource for parents looking for a reliable provider of various services. The List of Businesses is being finalised shortly. If you are a Parent that has a business or service and would like to be listed, please contact Daniel on daniel@cms-ireland.com ASAP.
School Insurance
The School Insurance company is Allianz and your child is covered under a 24/7 Pupil Insurance Policy. For more information, see www.allianz.ie/otherproducts/schools.
Upcoming Events
15 March – CCC Open Day/Evening for 5th Class parents (a note has been given to each child)
16 March – School will finish at the normal time for all children.
17 March – St Patrick’s Day – school will be closed
21 March – Parent Workshop from Drinkaware.ie (see note below)
27 March – Ballet Performance – 1st Classes
27 March – Communion Parents Meeting
03 April – Confirmation
13 May – First Holy Communion – Mr O’Neill’s Class
27 May – First Holy Communion – Ms Dowling & Ms Merrigan’s classes
25 May – In-Service Day for Staff – school will be closed
Upcoming Sporting Events & News
14 March 2017 – Cross Country – venue Porterstown
27 February-03 March – Active Week 2017
04 April – Cross Country – venue Morton Stadium, Santry
3rd - 6th “Knock-out Trials” for School Athletics Team for the annual Cumann na mBunscol Athletics Championships
Trials for places on the School Athletics Team have been taking place in all 3rd - 6th classes in recent weeks. The children who have made it onto the shortlists will be informed shortly. Final selection will be made from these lists. It should be noted that selection is based on a number of points – athletic ability, team spirit, reliability, sportsmanship, etc. “Knock-out Trials for the final selection will be held after school. Those who make it onto the shortlists must attend if they want to be considered for the team. Those selected for the team must be available for the championships (held at Morton Stadium in Santry) the last week of May and/or the first week in June. Please watch this space for dates of Trials to ensure your child does not miss out.
Active Week – A Thank YOU
Many thanks to all our volunteers who came in last week during our Active Week. We had a great week in school! Some classes did 10 minutes of exercise each day at 10:00, others had Active Homework, others went running in Tír na nÓg. Lots of families participated in the Porterstown Parkrun also. The week was a great success!
Special thanks goes out to the following volunteers for their part in making our Active Week so enjoyable:
Junior Infants: Yoga with Ms. Nolan
Senior Infants: Athletics with coaches Mary Friel and Seán Kildunne from MSB. www.msbac.ie
1st Class: Ballet with Steven from Ballet Ireland. www.balletireland.ie
GAA with Dublin player, Ciarán Kilkenny.
2nd Class: Strength and conditioning with Cian Mullins.
3rd Class: Past Pupil talks by Jack Doherty, Claire Feerick, Molly Brown and Aoife Lynch.
4th Class: Yoga with Ms. Donnellan.
Presentation about Ultra Marathon running by Conor McCarthy, a parent.
5th Class: Strength and Conditioning Circuits with Shane Lyons from GNS Fitness. www.gnsfitness.ie
Dance class with Jill O'Neill School of Dance http://www.jilloneillschoolofdance.com
6th Class: Presentation and workshop with Mick Daly from Anatomic Fitness. (Please see below for further information about Anatomic Fitness)
Sincere thanks to everyone for their involvement and participation. Without your generosity, our Active Week would not have been possible.
The Active Week Committee
Parents Association News
Free Parent Workshop
Drinkaware.ie will be providing facts, advice and support to help parents start a conversation about alcohol with their children. All parents and guardians are welcome to attend. It will take place on Tuesday 21st March from 8 - 9pm in the Fingal (Tigers) Room.
Volunteers for Confirmation Reception
This year our 6th Class children are making their Confirmation on Monday 3rd April at 11am in St. Mochta’s Church, Porterstown. We are appealing for volunteers to help with the Confirmation reception, which will take place in St. Mochta’s Parish Centre following the ceremony.
We ideally need eight helpers. Due to high numbers, the Confirmation ceremony will take approx. two hours – so volunteers will be required to be in the Parish Centre from 12.30 to 2.30pm approx. for the reception (this will include the clean-up following the reception). We appreciate that this may clash with your child finishing school, but would appeal to volunteers to make arrangements for friends/family to collect their children.
Please text/phone Sabine 087 2869804 or Adrienne 086 3192656 if you are available to help.
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.
Access to Classrooms After Hours
With the exception of those attending Extra-Curricular Activities, children are not permitted to re-enter the classroom after 2.10pm. This is to prevent loss or damage to school property. If in an absolute emergency (forgotten books, copies and general belongings does not generally constitute an emergency!) a child needs to gain access to his/her classroom outside school hours, they should come to Reception.
Extra-Curricular Activities
The school looks after the bookings and payment requests for Tennis, Badminton, Athletics, Emma Louise Dance Academy and Chess. If your child decides not to rejoin the new blocks of any of the above activities, it is essential that you email info@stpatricksns.ie so that we can remove your child from the list, and offer the place to another child. It will also mean that you will not receive payment requests unnecessarily the activity.
Diswellstown Community & Recreation Centre and Local Community Activities
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 location – Thursday, 2.45-3.45 pm – St. Francis Xavier Senior School (beside Tesco)
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.
Anatomic Fitness
Mick Daly from Anatomic Fitness was delighted to be part of Active Week in St Patricks.
Anatomic is a local gym, with over 40 classes every week, based in Castleknock Celtic FC Club House, Porterstown.
They have classes to suit all fitness levels, from: circuit training, spinning, and boxercise.
Plus a Children’s class every Monday at 5pm (10 – 13 years of age)
Mick would like to offer the parents of St Patricks 2 free classes of their choice.
Please call or text Mick: 085 759 3029 to book your place.
Check out our class timetable on Facebook
Fundamental & Fitality Fitness
Easter Camp in Porterstown Park from 10am to 2.30pm on 18 – 21 April (Tuesday to Friday). Suitable for boys & girls aged 9 -12 years. Price €60 (sibling discount €10).
Contact Noel McManus 0879830443 fundamentalfitnessireland@gmail.com or Gabriella Sztojalovszky 0877372895 szt.gabriella@gmail.comfor further information and bookings.