Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Debating: Our school will again this year enter the Primary Debating Festival. I wish to congratulate our young debaters who will represent our school in the competition; Ava Haughan, Alice Beary, Lily Broderick, Róisín Mather, Rosie Ryan, Maria Pop, Clara O’Loughlin, Brooke Redfern, Róise Stenson, Ornaith Manning and Anna Kenna. Tomorrow our team will be proposing the motion that “All children in Ireland should have access to a playground” at our whole school assembly. Our first debate of the Primary Debating Festival will take place in early October. The girls are already busy researching and preparing. We wish them the very best of luck with their future debates and thank their teachers; Ms. Costello, Ms. Banks and Ms. Dillon for volunteering their time to mentor the girls.
- Wellbeing: On Monday, we hosted mindfulness and wellbeing teacher, Úna Curran, who worked with all classes in the school and also worked with the staff. I want to thank Lily Sherlock, one of our 6th class girls, whose artistic talents made Úna’s trip to our school possible. It was Lily’s prize-money awarded to the school, having come first in an art competition, that allowed us to engage the services of Úna. Our newly-formed Wellbeing Committee met yesterday for the first time and we will hold our first Wellbeing Wednesday next week (Wellbeing Wednesdays will take place on the first Wednesday of every month), on which all classes will focus on the area of wellbeing and homework will be comprised of a wellbeing task only. Ms. De Faoite has also been busy updating our school website with a new Wellbeing Section, which will be further updated with lots of resources for parents and information on the area of wellbeing and resilience-building. We are currently seeking yoga mats for the school. If any family has a yoga mat in good condition that is no longer used, we would be very grateful if you would consider donating it to the school.
- Football and Camogie: Today our U-11 Footballers took on Ballymany N.S. in a closely-matched contest, in which they were narrowly defeated. Well done to the girls who put in a great performance, in what was their first outing this year. Our camogie team look forward to taking part in the Cumann na mBunscol Camogie Blitz in Prosperous on Thursday next.
- National Fitness Day: We are celebrating National Fitness Day at school today, with all children engaging in fun, physical activities throughout the day. I want to thank our PE Co-ordinator, Ms. Rowley for coordinating our involvement in National Fitness Day. Photographs of the events will be available to view on our school website www.bunscoilbhride.ie
- Uniform: Please ensure that all items of your child’s uniform and coat are clearly labelled with her name.
- Assembly: On Friday, we will hold our whole-school assembly for the month of September. Ms. De Faoite’s Sixth Class and Ms. Ryan’s Junior Infants will lead our assembly and we look forward to coming together as a school community.
- Walk to School Week: National Walk to School Week takes place this year from October 2nd-6th. This week is all about celebrating walking as a positive mode for school journeys. We are asking our students and their families to celebrate with us and try to make this a week to remember. We are aiming to encourage as many students as possible to walk or Park and Stride to school. Walking to school is one of the best ways to start the day with multiple benefits to children’s physical and mental health. It also has a positive impact on academic performance and behaviour with higher levels of concentration and focus. Walk to School Week is also a great opportunity to teach your child about road safety and the Safe Cross Code.
- Volunteers: We are always looking for volunteer parents to help out in classrooms or to accompany classes on trips / tours. All volunteers coming into the school must be Garda Vetted through the school. The process takes three/four weeks to complete and is relatively straightforward. We would be extremely grateful if you were available and willing to help us out. If you feel you would like to help out at any stage of the year, we would really appreciate it if you phone Catríona in the office and ask her to send you on the vetting forms.
- Oral Language: The theme for the month of October is ‘Listening’. Communication and learning skills grow out of effective listening. Hearing and listening are not the same – listening is an active process of focusing on sound; hearing is passive reception of sound. Listening means focusing on some sounds and “tuning out” others. All classes will be focusing on this theme for the month and we would ask that you support us at home, by encouraging and modelling good listening, asking your child to follow oral instructions, playing auditory listening games and questioning your child often.
- 24-hour Pupil Personal Accident Insurance: For parents who have opted to pay for the 24-hour pupil personal accident insurance, please be advised thatall medical costs associated with an accident involving your child, whether at school or at home is covered by this insurance. It is 24 hour, 7 days a week cover. If you have to take your child to A&E as a result of any accident, the cost will be fully covered. Please just phone the office to let us know and we will send you out the Allianz claim form to be completed.
- Christmas Shoe-Box Appeal: The children will receive a leaflet next week from ‘Team Hope’ detailing the Christmas Shoe-box Appeal. If you wish, you can put together a shoe-box which will benefit needy children around the world (this is optional). Shoe-boxes may be brought in to school on Friday 27th October only. They will be collected from the school on this day.
- Dangers of the Internet: While the internet is a wonderful resource, I would like to remind you that it can also pose many dangers to your child. While the school has safeguards in place with regard to pupil internet/website access at school, use outside school falls under parental responsibility. Children should never be allowed access to the internet at home without supervision.
- Head Bumps: It is our school policy to phone home when a child bumps her head, however minor.
- Dates for the diary: All dates for the diary this term are available to view on the Aladdin Connect app under ‘Calendar’.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson