Nuacht 04/12/2017
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Can you believe it’s December already?
Christmas shows and concerts are upon us. Please see below for details.
Please make sure your child is punctual every morning and please make sure your child is picked up on time to reduce any unnecessary stress for the children. We are lucky to have a childcare facility on our premises if you need to use them.
A focus on children being ready to come into classrooms is underway quietly after the bell in the morning and we welcome your support.
A Christmas Concert
It is an amazing thought to look back on and see how much Karen and Peter, and their choir accomplished in such a short space of time. We not only learned some nice songs, but we even sang in the Solstice Arts Theatre too!
On the big day, we hopped on the bus, and had a great time laughing and thinking about our show in a few hours. When we arrived, we were led down to our dressing rooms (very fancy) and sat on the chairs practising our songs. At five o clock, we made our way down to the stage to do the rehearsal with the other choir, Donore National School.
On our way down the stairs to perform, we saw some interesting acts, such as; solo singer Rebecca, all dressed up, some Glee cheerleaders warming up for their dance, and a dancing duo.
1, 2, 3... And the curtains opened to reveal our families and friends, waving at us from their seats, and the spotlight shone on our faces. We sang our hearts out, much to the delight of the audience. During the interval, we listened to all the other brilliant acts, singing along to the ones we knew.
At the very end of the night, the presenter called out one teacher from each choir, to choose from two envelopes, one of which containing a prize! Peter opened up his envelope, and a winning smile spread across his face. We had won! We made our way up to the dressing room to celebrate. YAY!
It was an amazing experience, and we hope that by next year, pupils will follow in our footsteps and join the choir. Many thanks to Karen and Peter, for making this all possible.
Ruby W, Daniella, and the rest of the choir
Grandparents’ Visit
A big thank you to all grandparents who made last Thursday so interesting and enjoyable. The children were very proud to welcome you and show you their school. We are also very grateful for our helpers Ann, Noeleen Sheena, Luke, Alben and the Student Council members from 5th & 6th classes who helped by supporting the coffee morning afterwards.
5th class assembly
Our assembly was on human rights. We learned all about it and we realised how lucky we are to have rights that other people in the world don’t have.
We worked very hard on our assembly and we sang two songs. We told people all about famous people who stood up for human rights for example, Nelson Mandela who stood up for black people’s rights in South Africa. We performed some
little dramas because we were doing a programme for the two 5th classes called Friends For Life and we showed green thoughts and red thoughts. We also made up some raps and we designed some posters of fists and stars that say our wish to make the world a better place.
We had lots of fun practicing and performing our assembly!
Winter Concerts at CETNS
Monday 11th Dec: Middle Songs Concert (3rd & 4th classes) @ 2pm in school hall
Tuesday 12th Dec: Senior Songs Concert (5th & 6th classes) @ 1:45pm in school hall
Wednesday 13th Dec: Infant Songs Concert (Junior & Senior Inf) @ 9:30am in school hall
Friday 15th Dec.: Junior Songs Concert (1st & 2nd classes) @ 9:30am in school hall
Karen’s 3rd class show @11.15 am in school hall
Intel Science Exhibition
We had our INTEL science project on the 23rd of November. Parents came to visit all day, and so did all the other classes. 5th & 6th class showcased projects and judges came down to judge
them. A group of four girls from 6th class did ‘Slime’ and they won 2nd place. A group of four boys from 5th class who did “How polluted is your commute to school?” won 1st place and are advancing to the regional finals this Tuesday.
We had lots of fun and enjoyed showcasing our projects, we can’t wait to do it again!
By Áine and Abdullah (5th)
Budding Physicists at CETNS
Science Week 2017 finished with a fun filled family day of scientific shows and workshops organised by Science Foundation Ireland at the Convention Centre Dublin on the 18th November. CETNS students Sean and Oscar from Karen's 3rd class were on hand to discover the physics of kite flying, jump into super soap bubbles and explore the fascinating world of Science through a variety of experiments and multi-sensory workshops that required them to make, smell, taste and listen!! Scientific Sue shared her latest journey of scientific discovery - the magical world of bubbles and James Soper showcased the Physics of the Circus include juggling from a 5 foot unicycle.
Sean and Oscar were honorary members of the national Physics Busking team which aims to use everyday objects to explain scientific concepts. The boys got to make their own mouth organs, using rubber bands and lollipop sticks, to demonstrate how musical instruments work and showed off their skills to the 600 visiting children to the event. This was Oscar's favourite make and take activity and he christened his creation a "mini-kazoo". Sean's favourite activity was making mini-light sabers using a straw, watch battery and LED light.
Art by 4th class
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Student Council Update:
Inner City Homeless Shoebox Appeal & SVP food appeal:
Get a shoebox, mark it male or female and fill it with items such as: Scarves, gloves, underwear, socks, chocolate/sweets, roll-on deodorants, toothbrush/paste, soap, gift vouchers or a Christmas card. If you would like to do a Shoebox for a child please mark it Male/Female and specify the age group it is for. We will collect non-perishable food from 11th December until 20th December in a box in the main foyer.
Daily Mile is back: The yard has been cleaned, a big thank you to Fingal Co Council who arranged this. Children need to be careful when running to avoid unnecessary accidents.
Green Team update:
Batteries for Barretstown: Reminder to bring in old batteries and put them in the relevant boxes beside the staffroom/at reception, as we got new battery recycling boxes from Barrettstown where we can collect old batteries so the important chemicals and resources in them can be taken out, recovered and used to make new batteries or in other products, thereby raising funds for Barrettstown camps for children and their families living with a serious illness.
Gardening Club: We are looking for adults to help run our gardening club at lunchtime, a few days a week. We have lots of ideas but need someone to come help make them a reality as many of our children are so eager to be part of it. Thanks to Andreas for running his gardening club every Friday after school.
New rooster arrival: Thanks to Maja's parents for sourcing “Rodrigo” our new rooster, it will make the children really happy and hopefully we will have more chickens arrive in the new year as company for our lone white chicken.
Marine Litter Survey: As part of our Green Flag programme, we are working on the theme Marine Environment over a two year period. In November, our green team members conducted a Marine Litter Awareness Survey in all classes from 1st to 6th.Here are the results of the survey for Year 1.
58% have heard of the term marine litter
21% can list three sources of marine litter.
43% can list three reasons why marine litter is bad for the marine environment.
32% can list three ways we can prevent marine litter entering the marine environment.
31% can list three ways in which climate change affects the marine environment all over the world.
We will repeat this survey in year 2 and hope our upcoming work will be reflected in improved scores.
Sam Maguire Cup’s visit
James McCarthy came to the hall with the Sam Maguire. He was the 'Man of the Match'. He won it for the third time in a row. He was proud. We sang Molly Malone for him. He came into our classroom to have a photo with us. It was a blast!
By Sarah Murphy (1st)
Parent-Teacher Association
Many thanks to all the parents who were able to come to the PTA AGM on Friday 24th. The presentation and minutes are both available from your class rep if you would like to see them. Officer roles to be decided.
PTA meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month @ 8pm in The Halfway House on the Navan Rd. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 13th December Parents are welcome to join the PTA committee. Coffee mornings are held on the last Friday of the month after drop off in The 12th Lock.
Beir bua,
Aedín and Andreas