Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School

We kick off the Summer Term by hosting the A.G.M. of Educate Together.  Paul Rowe, the E.T. CEO will be present in our school on Saturday 28th April as will Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa, the chairperson of E.T. and about 100 E.T. members from all around Ireland. The Minister of Education, Mr. Ruairí Quinn will be the guest speaker at 2.15 at the public session. Interested parents / guardians are INVITED to attend and participate. There are many interesting developments alongside the  austerity measures in the educational sphere. It’s not often one gets the chance to meet a Minister of Education in ones own school and a good attendance at the Saturday afternoon would be appreciated, especially as Educate Together has applied to be the Patron of the new 2nd level School in Tyrrelstown.

The Official Opening of our school will be on Friday 15th June. All our pupils will be involved and all our parents/guardians are invited to attend. Also on that week will be our School Sports Day on the Tuesday ( 12th June) – resheduled from earlier, and Niall De Búrca, the famous storyteller, will be telling stories to the whole school on Thursday 14th June. We will also be organising a cycle around that time as well. A busy week for everyone is in prospect.

School tours will also take place this term with different classes going on different days.

We had a super afternoon on friday 20th April when nearly all our new Junior Infants for September 2012 came to visit the school. it was a lovely occasion for all concerned. Always a highlight of the year.

The school term ends on Friday 29th of June.

We have 11 school weeks in our Summer term with 2 extended weekends at May and June bank holidays. Check the school ‘Openings & Closures’ above for details.

Our new Junior Infants for September 2012 will be visiting the school at 3pm on Friday 20th April. They will get to see their new classrooms and have a chance to play with some activities and meet some new friends. The parents/guardians will also have a chance to get to know the school and meet some other parents and staff before we all go for a little tour of the school. The visit will be over by 4pm.

The Tyrrelstown Community Centre has it’s official opening on Sat 21st April at 11am. Both the Mayor and County Manager of Fingal will be attending along with our very own government ministers, Leo Varadkar & Joan Burton. Hopefully they will have further good news for us regarding the development of Tyrrelstown Park. It would be fantastic for our schools if a well planned park joined up to our new community centre and schools campus.

We are also hosting the Educate Together National A.G.M. on Saturday 28th April and our PTA will be helping out on the day. There are public sessions and if you wish to attend some of the agm please let the school know in advance.

Clodagh O Donovan, one of our community representatives on the B.O.M. is heading up our state 1% Art Project committee. We hope to have some beautiful outdoor mosaic’s in place by next September. All the children in the school will be involved from both the ideas and practical side of the project.

Our annual school Sports Day is set for Friday 1st June and you can start training for the parents races now! The summer term also brings school tours and extra outdoor activities so we hope the weather helps everyone to really enjoy this coming school term.

This is a very special year for Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School and we will be having our official school opening on Friday 15th June. We hope to have a few other events that week. Please pass on your ideas to our Board of Management or PTA.

It’s that time of year again when all our classes go on  their Spring Trips. Some classes are / have gone to The Botanical gardens (above), the DSPCA near Marley park, Art Galleries, Ardgillen Park and Gardens and The Natural History Museum. All our pupils go on three trips per year and the enjoyment and educational value is considerable.

 Easter Holidays start at 12 noon on Friday 3oth March and the school re-opens on Monday 16th April @ 8.45am.

Adrian, our school photographer, will be taking photo’s of each class and each pupil between Friday 23rd and Tuesday 24th March. There is NO COST to families for this as it is part of our preparations for our Official Opening Ceremonies in June. If parents/guardians want a sibling photo then they can have that taken on Tuesday between 1.30 and 3.30pm. Adrian will also provide large photos of individuals and classes if requested. Envelopes will be provided with details.

Best of luck to the 15 pupils from 6th class who will be making their Confirmation in Mulhuddart Catholic Church on Sat 24th march @ 11am.

Well done to all concerned last week with the  fantastic Athenry Orchestra visit, Parade around Tyrrelstown and the Ballaí Luimní dancing for Seachtain na Gaeilge.

The EDUCATE TOGETHER national A.G.M. is taking place in our school on Sat. 28th April this year and parents, guardians, committee members etc are welcome to attend. Our own Official Opening will be on Friday 15th June and a sub-committee will be set up shortly to organise the celebrations.

COFFEE & TALK! Our PTA hosted an interesting talk about Nutrition & Fitness for children and adults last Friday.   Stephen from B.M.I., was the guest speaker.

Please take great care in our car-park and outside the school gates. Cars MUST give way to pedestrians at all the ‘Zebra Crossings’. Watch out for small children in particular. The ‘Drop Off’ areas are not for parking. Speed limit signs and ramps are being put in place shortly.

International Book Day was last week and we encouraged you to read to your children or get your older children to read to their younger brother or sister. Some people visited the Blanchardstown Library in the Centre. Some wrote or made a book!  Our senior classes were paired off with our infant classes and all had a great time reading together. All our pupils brought a book to the assemblies last Friday. Our older pupils received a FREE BOOK TOKEN and you selected one of 9 free books. Books, reading, information, education. It’s all enjoyable and has lifetime benefits for everyone!

Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Week) is next week from Dé Luain (12/3/12) go dtí Lá le Pádraig on the 17th March.

SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE 2012

Dé Luain:      Visit of Athenry Youth Orchestra – Classes timetabled to go to hall for one of 3 sessions.   Infants @ 11am with Marks class, 1^st & 2^nd @ 11.45 with Claires class and 3^rd & 4^th @ 1.30pm with Emma’s class on xylophone.                                                         

Dé Máirt:  DVD gaeilge sa halla. Na naoinán ag 11.00, Ranganna 1&2 ag 11.30 agus Ranganna eile ag 12.00

Dé Chéadaoin:       Tráth na gCeist – cúpla ranganna le chéile (m.sh. Seomra                               15, 16 & 17 le chéile sa “Space”.

Deardaoin:              Ballaí Luimní sa chlós – gach rang sa scoil – tar éis loin.

Dé hAoine:   Mórshúil timpeall Baile an Tirialaigh ag tosú ag nóin (12.00). Banna cheoil Samba agus cheoil gaeilge &rl. All welcome to join our little parade. Annual fundraiser – The Parade through Tyrrelstown (in aid of books for our library) will take place during Seachtain na Gaeilge week, on a fine weather day. Children may dress up if they wish. The PTA will be distributing sponsorship cards through the school next week. We request that the sponsorship is limited to family and rich relations! We DO NOT WANT pupils to go door-to-door and there is no obligation to collect money.

Junior Infants for Sept 2012 were recently registered. We still operate a ‘first-come’ enrolment policy and request that you to pre-enrol your younger children.

  Slán go foil, Maurice

Our new Junior Infants for September will be registering on Friday 10th February from 3pm to 5pm. Following this proceedure we may have a few more places to offer. Always remember to put your child on our pre-enrolment waiting list a.s.a.p. as we operate a First Come Enrolment Policy and some children have been dissapointed every year to date due to late applications.

Recent visitors to our school included The Heineken Cup, Norma’s Theatre/performance group and  Tina Mation, the RTE artist who gave a free lesson to the whole school. We will have our great friends from the Athenry Youth Orchestra playing with us again on 12th March and our annual Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Week) kicks off on the same day and includes a Paráid Mór timpeall Baile an Tirialaigh (Tyrrelstown parade) and a massive Baillí Luimní Rinnce (dance) in our school yard with almost 500 participants. busy times ahead. Details later.

Well done to all concerned with recent Parent-Teacher meetings. Great turn-out for this most important event. Don’t forget …. our teachers are always ready and willing to discuss your child’s progress. Just make an appointment – the sooner the better if there is an issue to resolve.

Our PTA have been busy preparing for upcoming events such as the Friday morning talk with a nutritionist (in a few weeks time) and the sponsored Paradearound Tyrrelstown during our Seachtain na Gaeilge  on Friday 16th March. Proceeds to develop our library.

All our pupils from 1st to 6th class are now attending the weekly swimmingcoaching sessions in nearby N.A.C. and reports indicate great excitement every Monday. Many after-schools activities have begun in our school and in the Tyrrelstown Community Centre beside us. Check out the notice-boards outside both for details.

Our new Board of Management, headed up by Prasanna Bandi, is currently looking at organising our Official Opening Day in June and also looking to organise a large Art Works in the School scheme. Ideas from parents/guardians/friends may be left in suggestion box at our reception. We also will be improving our website blog in the next few months.

We have received a draft copy of our WSE (Whole School Evaluation) Report from the School Inspectors and we are very pleased with it. The document will be put up on the Department of Educations website (www.education.ie) in March for public viewing.

Athenry Youth Orchestrawill be coming from Galway on March 12th to play with our pupils. This is a fantastic annual event and classes will be preparing for the sessions.

Finally, we have begun the process of offering places for September. 84 Junior Infant offers have been made and if and when some places are not accepted we then offer places to the next in line on our lists. Please note that siblings are not guarenteed a place so it is wise to put your child on our pre-enrolment waiting lists as early as possible.

Slán go fóill, Maurice

The annual PARENT-TEACHER MEETINGS will take place on TUESDAY 31st January. All pupils will be given a time and we will try and have all brothers and sisters  timed close together. This is a very important event and as usual we hope we have a 100% turnout.

A 2nd level school for the Tyrrelstown and sourrounding areas is now almost a reality. The Department of Education have earmarked a 12 acre site beside our school/community centre with direct road access from the new N2/Hollystown Rd junction behind our new school and with pedestrian access from our campus and from the Belgree area. There is a PUBLIC MEETING in the CARLTON HOTEL on MONDAY, 23rd January and all potential parents are most welcome to attend. please come and listen to the possibilities and potential of the school having Educate Together as a patron body, what differences/benefits there might be and of course there will be plenty of oportunity to ask questions and voice your opinions. The proposed E.T. 2nd level school will be for pupils from the local area and will be open, on an equal basis, to all potential students no matter where they attend Primary School. The meeting is fixed for 7.45pm in the hotel. Please feel free to bring a friend.

The new school TRACKSUIT is available from the office any Friday from this week onwards. All sizes are available and they each cost €25. School trachsuits are optional.

There will be a second level school built beside us within the next two years and the Department of Education are in the process of deciding who will manage it. EDUCATE TOGETHER, our patron Body, have applied to manage the proposed school and so have others (The VEC and a Catholic Schools group).

We, in Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School, would ask you to seriously consider supporting the Educate Together application to open the first such 2^nd level school in the country here in Tyrrelstown. The local situation is that there are enough prospective pupils from the area to merit a sustainable second level school. Tyrrelstown and Hollystown themselves could supply up to 200 pupils per year in future years to a 2^nd level school. As Tyrrelstown is both an Irish and International area an Educate Together second level school which reflects the ideals and ethos of respecting all equally, the promotion of real togetherness and putting the students at the heart of the system could be an exciting boost for your children and indeed the whole Irish education system at 2^nd level.

If interested in supporting an Educate Together 2^nd level College you might:

Go online to: www.et2ldublin15.info (Educate Together 2^nd level Dublin 15) read about an E.T. 2^nd level school and click into the “Express Your Interest” tab on the top bar and fill in the Expression of Interest Form. This does NOT commit you to any school but it will help Educate Together make a case for an Educate Together Secondary School for the Tyrrelstown area. You are encouraged to put down the names of all your children – even pre-schoolers and infants!

Go to the next local E.T. organised 2^nd Level meeting which takes place here in our school on Thursday 15^th Dec @ 8pm

Contact Ann Ryan, the E.T. 2^nd Level Education Officer and offer to join a committee or support the project in some other way. Contact her at: ann.ryan@educatetogether.ie

Well done for attending and participating at our excellent Parents General meeting held on 16th Nov. Gabrielle Mc Manus and Domenico Procopio were both elected as the Parent Nominees to our new Board of Management. We also have many good ideas to follow up on.

We have a few of the old school tracksuits for sale @ only €10 each.

Our new school tracksuit (optional) has finally been agreed and supplies should be in the school within two weeks. They will cost €25 each and will be on display when we receive them.

Resource money is due from some parents/guardians. We appreciate the financial times we are living through but we have to pay for the books provided. Please talk to us if you need to spread the payments.

The Folens Christmas Annuals are for sale from the office. They cost €4 each and there are 4 different books in the series. They do make good presents for friends and relations.

We will have a special visitor in Tyrrelstown ETNS on Wed 21st Dec!

INVITATIONS:

We are having our ‘ONCE EVERY 3 YEARS ART EXHIBITION’ on Friday 9th December in our school hall. The exhibition will be open to the public from 8.30 am to 9.30am and from 1.30 pm to 6pm. Please bring your family and friends to have a look at all the great works of art! The framed pictures will be available for €8 each (or 2 for €15 or 3 for €20 for families) and all pupils will receive a complimentary class photo!

All parents/guardians invited to our Christmas Assemblies where the classes perform songs, poems, music & drama etc in just TWO weeks’ time!

Showtime as follows:

Junior Infants from 12.30 ish to 1.20pm on Thursday 15th December

1st, 3rd and 6th Classes from 1.30 to 2.20 on Thursday 15th December

Senior Infants from 12.30 ish to 1.20pm on Friday 16th December

2nd , 4th  and 5th Classes from 1.30 to 2.20 on Friday 16th December

Note: Our PTA will provide some seasonal fare for the adults.