Welcome to our News Archive for year 09/10
GETNS Newsletter – 24 June 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
If you haven’t done so yet, please inform the school as soon as possible if your child will not be coming back to our school in September. (Hopefully there won’t be many..). We need to get the class lists ready for the new school year. Thanks for your co-operation.
End of year reports will be posted out to all families this week. Please check your post….
Voluntary Contributions
Please check your children’s bags for envelopes with receipts regarding your last payments for Voluntary Contributions if you haven’t received it yet. Helena will be in the foyer tomorrow morning to receive any outstanding contributions.
Gifts
Please don’t feel obliged to give personnel any gifts when the school closes for the end, of this school year. We know
that you appreciated the work that the principal, teachers and special needs assistants have voluntary done. A friendly word will do..
A reporter from the Galway Independent will visit our school tomorrow to talk to children about the World Cup and to take pictures. If you do not want your child to be involved, please inform the class teacher.
A reminder to all parents to check your home for school library books and return it asap, please. We need to finalise the library stock list.
GRADUATION DAY
Just to let parents of our 6th Class children know that graduation day will be on Mon, 28th of June at 8pm. If parents – other than 6th Class parents - will be available to help out with refreshments on Mon from 7.30pm, please let us know. Thanks.
A pair of new runners got lost during the sports day. It is a Junior Infant boy’s size 3 with a little bit of red in it. Could you please return it to Genevieve if your child took it by accident? Thanks.
School closes on Wednesday, June 30th, at 12 noon for the summer holidays.
GETNS Newsletter – 17 June 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Congratulations and well done to all our students who competed in City Sports this week. You have all made your school very proud. A special mention to Eddie Madden in 5th class who became our first ever medal winner, winning a gold in the sprints and a bronze in the long distance.
Thanks to everyone who participated and to all the parents who came.
Voluntry Contributions
We have received only a few contributions since our last appeal.
Your child receives excellent education.
Please make an effort if you have not contributed yet.
End of year reports will be posted out to] all families next Thursday 24th of June.
Frása na Seachtaine Comhgairdeas! (Pronounced “co-har-je-cus”)
(Phrase of the week…) Congratulations!
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Liam O’Conaola
Sr Inf Daniel Kearns
1st Cl Tara Johnson Moore
2nd Cl Rowan Dowling
3rd Cl Siomha O’Brien
4th Cl Karin Loughrey
5th Cl Iseult Murphy
6th Cl Tom Mucha
Seomra Shona Brandy Milandu
Please remember that the school will be closed tomorrow, Fri the 18th of June, for Staff Training.
Any parents who haven’t used the bus transport service to the school yet and would like to apply for the next school year, please do so before the end of next week by contacting Ester, or contacting the Bus Transport Office at Ceannt Station, tel. 537694 / 85.
GETNS Newsletter – 10 June 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Sports Day
Thursday, June 17th Dangan Sport Centre, from 9am – 1pm
Please collect your children promptly at 1pm. (Bus transport available to children who normally use it).
We need parent volunteers to help run the Activity Stations in order to make this day a success. Please leave your name at the office.
There is a place available in the new Junior Infant Class for September 2010. If you know of anyone who might be
interested please let them know.
Voluntry Contributions
We are sending out letters by post today to every family, regardless of who paid, in order to encourage all the parents to contribute. Helena will be in the foyer tomorrow morning and Monday morning at the start of the school day to accept payments.
Frása na Seachtaine Rith go tapa. (Pronounced “ri gaw tapee”)
(Phrase of the week…) Run fast!
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Mary Waweru
Sr Inf Naoise Breathnach
1st Cl Sofiya Dovgaleva
2nd Cl Fiona Cunney
3rd Cl Paris Ediagbonya
4th Cl Auryn Purtill
5th Cl Jake Tiernan
6th Cl Heather Ellis
Seomra Shona Wiktoria Banaszkiewics
Please remember that the school will be closed on Friday 18th June for Staff Training.
GETNS Newsletter – 27 May 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
School Closures
Mon, 31st May: School Development & Planning Day
Thu – Mon, 3rd – 7th of June: Extended Bank Holiday
Tue, 8th June: School closes at 12 noon – staff meeting
Fri, 18th June: Staff Training Day
Any parents who haven’t used the bus transport service to the school yet and would like to apply for the next school year, please note:
- Get the application forms from me as soon as possible.
- Return completed forms to me, or Bus Eireann, before the end of June.
- Only pupils who live 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) or more from school are entitled to this service.
- For more info, contact the local school transport office at 091-537512 / 537694 or use this link: http://www.citizensinformation.ie (follow the education, primary link until you find the link for school transport).
Parents currently on the school transport list, who will not use this service again, must please let me know. I have amended the existing list: if you have any queries, please feel free to check with me - the sooner, the better.
Thanks.
Ester
Frása na Seachtaine Mí Ádh! (Pronounced “me aw”)
(Phrase of the week…) Hard luck!
*****Stars of the week*****
Jr Inf Aengus McBrierty
Sr Inf Oran-Fionn McDonnell
1st Cl Miguel Guerra-Gallagher
2nd Cl Racha Hammer
3rd Cl Sarah Robb
4th Cl Selkie Hennessy-Packman
5th Cl Iseult Murphy
6th Cl Jack Counihan
Seomra Shona Liam Haynes
Remember that tonight is the second part of the RSE programme for 6th Class in GETNS, starting at 8pm sharp. All children attending must be accompanied by a parent.
School Tour Deposits
If you have been asked to submit a school tour deposit, please do so as soon as possible, as we need these deposits to secure the bookings.
Garden Tip:
Why not make your own Summer Box Garden…
You don't need a plot of land to grow fresh vegetables. Almost any vegetable can be adapted to growing in a pot. Vegetables that take up little space, such as carrots, radishes and lettuce, or crops that bear fruits over a long period of time, such as tomatoes and peppers, are perfect for container vegetable gardens.
What you can grow in a container vegetable garden is limited only by the size of the container and your imagination. How about a Summer Salad container? Plant a tomato, a cucumber and some parsley or chives all in a large (24-30") container. They grow well together and have the same water and sun requirements. By late summer they might not only be very pretty, but they'll keep producing into Autumn. They also make great housewarming presents too!
GETNS Newsletter – 20 May 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
IMPORTANT – From the Board of Management
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION
As we are all aware, the “Voluntary Contribution” is money that the Board of Management spends directly on your children. Without the “Voluntary Contribution” the Board simply does not have money to spend on our children and in the classroom.
This year the target was to raise €25,000 from the Voluntary Contribution. However, so far we have only collected €11,000. Half of all families have paid NOTHING. With the school year coming to an end and with money now running out, we would ask that ALL families pay what they can afford towards the Voluntary Contribution of €130. The Board would also like to thank those families who have paid what they were able to afford.
OPEN MEETING
There will be an open meeting at 8.30pm next Tuesday 25th May in the school to discuss fundraising strategy for next year. We would encourage everyone to attend.
May 2010 International Day
We had a brilliant day! We are very proud of our school community and the way we can all come together to celebrate each other. Thank you for coming in and setting up a stall. We had lots of fun this year. We liked all the food, flags, drinks and artefacts from all the different countries. We hope to see you again next year.
* From all the children and adults in Galway Educate Together *
DENTIST
Please note that the dentist is visiting the school tomorrow. If you want your child to be seen by the dentist, please complete the consent form and hand it in when you drop off your child.
Swimming
We want to remind parents to USE THE TURNSTILE designated to GETNS when collecting their children at 3.30pm.
This is a procedure put in place by Leisureland for child protection.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Louis Hughes
Sr Inf Minnie Gask
1st Cl Rory Fleming
2nd Cl Bella Bredican
3rd Cl Ronan Sarkar
4th Cl Siofra Bloomer
5th Cl Roberto Prior
6th Cl Ronan Timothy
Seomra Shona James O’Connor
Take note that in the near future ESB will be doing road works from the main road to the sub-station at the school’s entrance. This will affect the use of the road – please be careful and patient.
GETNS Newsletter – 13 May 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Don’t forget that this Friday is International Day. The big bouncing bazaar will take place in the hall from 10am – 12:30 pm. If you would like to volunteer as a helper, please contact Sinead or Aoife. All welcome to attend. ?
“One World ……One Heart…… Our School …Let’s Celebrate!”
Please note that the Dentist will visit the school on Fri, the 21st of May. It is a free service offered to primary schools. The children have received consent forms in their bags today. If you agree for your child to be examined by the dentist, please complete the form and return it to the class teacher asap. Children without forms will not be examined and will miss this opportunity.
Congratulations Galway Educate Together School on winning a prize in the 2009 Galway Tidy Town and Garden Competition.
We came 1st in the school Garden category and won a trophy and plaque for best School Garden in Galway!! We also won a €100 voucher from Dangan Nurseries to buy more seeds and plants for our school garden. So if anyone is interested in spending our winnings, just let Genevieve know! Thank you to Dangan Nurseries and to Galway Tidy
Towns Committee… and to everyone who worked so hard in the garden!
Garden Tip
If you want pumpkins of a reasonable size or you’d like to try one of the giant varieties, plant them out now for impressive Halloween treats!!
1. Seedlings that have three or four true leaves are ready to plant out.
2. Dig a fair- sized hole with a trowel or bulb planter, add organic matter, then firm in the plants and mulch well to retain moisture. Pumpkins are very thirsty plants.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Ben Rosewell
Sr Inf Felix O’Neill
1st Cl Fiona Voisin
2nd Cl Maria Fiona Ngani
3rd Cl Damir Nurzhanov
4th Cl Sadhb Lynch
5th Cl Dawid Hydzik
6th Cl Joshua Marvesley
Seomra Shona Mihailo Kovacevic
We will have a two session programme on Relationships and Sexuality Education for the parents of 6th Class.
1st meeting tonight Thu, 13th of May – 8pm (parents only)
2nd meeting Thu, 27th of May – 8pm (parent & child)
GETNS Newsletter – 29 April 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
The envelopes for voluntary contributions are attached to this newsletter. Please check the envelopes inside for
previous receipts (not all envelopes will have receipts inside). If you have already paid the full amount, please ignore the envelope. Helena will be in the foyer tomorrow morning to receive your contributions, as well as the following
Friday, the 7th of May. We are near the end of this school year, but far from our target of €25000. (This year we tried to be reasonable in requesting €130 per family, but on the condition that we need to reach the €25000 target to keep up with costs). We will keep you informed of where we stand on this matter in the next newsletter, which will go out
on the 13th of May.
Please take note that the school will close tomorrow at the usual time and only re-open on Thursday, the 6th of May (extended bank holiday weekend). Junior and Senior Infant Classes will be having teaching students in from
Mary Immaculate College (Limerick) on teaching practice from Thursday, 6th of May, to Wednesday, the 12th of May.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Rowen Curtin Illien
Sr Inf Christian Lally
1st Cl Lewis Waweru
2nd Cl Ameerah Neche
3rd Cl Wilson Waweru
4th Cl Eoghan Cheung
5th Cl Giacomo Degano
6th Cl Emma Steiner
Seomra Shona Brandy Milandu
Gardening Tips
The arrival of warm weather offers parents the prime opportunity to start a spring vegetable garden with kids. Choose a spot in the yard that gets the most sunlight each day. If this is your first time gardening with kids, start with a small area to avoid being overwhelmed by the experience. Or, ask each child to plant a different vegetable in his/her own pot and to look after it. Once everyone gets the hang of gardening, the area can be easily expanded. During the spring months, kids can plant vegetables such as cabbage, celery, lettuce, parsley, peas, radishes, scallions, spinach, chives, cucumbers, okra, squash, and tomatoes. As the spring makes way for summer, children can add more vegetable selections to their garden.
There are grow bags and seeds available in the school for any parent who would like to come in next week to do planting with their child’s class. Please consult with the class teacher.
Galway Educate Together
One World Week
10th -14th May 2010
Well it’s that time of year again!!! Next week we are celebrating One World Week and we are very grateful to the many parents so far who have offered to come in and help in their child’s class or run a stall at the International Fair on
Friday!
But it’s not too late to help!!! We are inviting as many parents as possible to come in during the week to share the many wonderful cultures we have within our school.
Here are some suggestions of how you could help:
set up a stall at our International Fair
teach your child’s class a song or dance
read or tell a story in a different language or from another country (We have a selection of bilingual books in our school!!!)
demonstrate a dance or play a piece of traditional music
come in and teach your child’s class how to say hello or write their name in a different language
exhibit arts and crafts or other artefacts
teach your child’s class to cook a traditional dish
share a recipe with us for our One World Cookery Book
If you can come and participate in any of the above activities or if you would just like to come and help us celebrate on Friday between 10am-12.30pm you are more than welcome!!!! You can let us know by contacting Aoife or Sinead in the
Language Unit or letting your child’s teacher know as soon as possible.
So please come and help us to celebrate! We look forward to seeing you there!!!
(Cut off and return to class teacher asap, please)
Child’s name: Class:
Contact number: Country:
N.B. Any costs in setting up your stall will be reimbursed by the school (with receipts provided).
GETNS Newsletter – 22 April 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Our school and our Green School committee are in the process of seeking the renewal of our Green Flag for Environmental Awareness.
“Feet for Friday” is happening tomorrow. The idea is to encourage parents and children, who normally travel to school by car, to walk as an alternative.
Please assemble at one of the two meeting points (Westside playground, or the Westwood Hotel rear car park) at 8:20 a.m. The walk will commence at 8:30 sharp. You are welcome to have a cup of tea or coffee in our Parent Room before returning to your car.
Irish Classes
Aimed at parents with little or no Irish Basic rules and pronunciation explained, basic conversation and reading skills.
Mondays 26 April, 10 May, 17 May and 24 May 8-9.30pm Venue at Galway Educate Together School €50 or less (depending on enrolment number) for the whole course.
For further information and to book a place: Contact Jude 086 066 0483
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Alex Gordon
Sr Inf Brady Kondjo
1st Cl Kara McCleane
2nd Cl Naoise Faherty
3rd Cl Dennis Onuoha
4th Cl Milan Kovacevic
5th Cl Li Lu Savage
6th Cl Fionn Dowling
Seomra Shona Wiktoria Banaszkiewicz
Gardening Tips
Get Ready, Set, Mow! Here are some tips before you start mowing…
WEEDING:
There are different weed and moss killers (both chemical and organic) available in the market. Carefully spray this onto the area you want cleaned. RAKING: Raking is for more than just removing leaves: it removes grass blades that died over the winter too, as well as the dead weed and moss.
AERATING:
Use a garden fork to make holes all over the grass area. This will increase the amount of air, water and nutrients getting into the soil.
FERTILIZING:
Lawns can be fertilized organically by using slow-releasing compost and fertilizer… but be careful…Too much fertilizer in spring
Parents are welcome to come in next Thursday morning early and help with a bit of garden cleaning.
Congratulation to all parents and teachers with new-born babies! May they be a blessing, always.
GETNS Newsletter – 15 April 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Welcome back to the final term of this school year. It will be a very busy term with lots happening. The weekly newsletter will keep you up to date so please be sure to read it every week.
We will be participating in a pilot scheme with Educate Together examining how effectively our ethos is delivered in the school. The aim of this scheme is to devise a self-evaluation toolkit for all ET schools. We will be conducting surveys of all the members of the school community and we hope everyone will make the effort to assist with this project.
We are also taking part in a survey on autism that is being conducted by Dublin University.
There are also two closures this term that were not on the original calendar:
We are closed on May 31st for a School Development and Planning Day and on June 18th for staff training on working
with children with autism.
The dates for the two remaining staff meetings are Tuesday May 11th and June 8th.
We will have our “One World “ week in May, standardised testing will take place, school tours, sports day, the
Readathon, Cycling Safety classes and lots, lots more. If you have some free time to help out this term please let your child’s teacher know, as an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
Every so often we find stray dogs on the school premises. If you see a dog on the school ground, please chase it away and report it to the office. Any parent who brings a pet to the school, must keep them on a lead. Thank you.
GETNS Weekly Gardening Tips
We are looking for any keen gardeners who would like to come and help in our school garden!! If you are interested, please let Genevieve know in Junior Infants, as she is trying to draw up a schedule for the final term.
As the weather warms up, slugs and snails become very active on warm damp nights and they can cause severe damage as new foliage comes through the soil and especially on small new plants.. Use crushed up eggshells and
scatter them on the perimeters of your garden. This will prevent slugs and snails from slithering in and eating your yummy vegetables and flowers!!
Fundraisers
Skipathon
A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!!
We raised a GRAND TOTAL of €2500.00!
It was a great success! We hope the children will be skipping right through the rest of the year. Certificates will be distributed to all participants and there are prizes to be won!
Knitathon
Thank you for your wonderful support. The sale of the blankets and raffle tickets totalled €1700.68, which brings the OVERALL TOTAL to €2214.18! And the children are still knitting away…
Readathon
The Readathon is coming up for the entire month of May. Get your books ready. Sponsorship forms will be given out shortly. Thanks in advance for your continued support.
The Readathon Team (Aoife, Fiona & Eavan)
Language of the Month:
This months language is Hindi and the board will be kindly decorated by first class!
If you have ever visited a country that speaks Hindi or have any interesting artefacts that you would like to share with the children and teachers please come on in. We would love to see you. Many thanks, the Language Unit.
Swimming will commences next Thursday. An information leaflet was distributed to the children today. Please check for details on registration.
One World Week
It's that time again, dust off your pots and pans and shine up those dancing shoes, One World Week is coming up on the 10th to the 14th of May. This will end with the grand finale of 'One World Day' on Friday the 14th of May. We are looking for all available parents (and friends) to come in and help make this a special day for everyone.
This is a day for families to come in and celebrate all the different cultures in our school community with their children . Each country will have its own 'stall' on the day. These will be decorated with flags and posters. You are very welcome to bring in pictures, artefacts, drawing or anything that reflects your country to brighten up the stalls. Some stalls will have crafts, others music and some will have food. Yummy!If you are supplying food, we are not expecting you to feed the entire staff (and children- of course), it can be cut up into bite size pieces so everyone can get a little taster.
We are also looking for parents to come in during the week and teach a song, dance or read a story in their own language to their child's class. (We have lots of bilingual books available in the Language Unit). Please let your class teacher know if you can pop in during the week.
We have around 40 different nationalities learning and working together at our school. This is amazing and should be celebrated in style. We need your help to make this a fantastic day for the children.
Please sign the attached form below and return it to your child's class teacher as soon as possible
Many thanks,
The Language Unit
Parents Name: _______________________________
Contact no.__________________________________
Child's Name:________________________________
Class________________________________
I am willing to help set up a stall for country_________________________
I can provide _________________________________________________
I am willing to come in and help others with a stall____________________
Country______________________________________________________
Green News
14/04/10
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Our school and our Green School committee are in the process of seeking the renewal of our Green Flag for Environmental Awareness. This year’s theme is Sustainable Travel. As a means of creating awareness of Sustainable Travel, we are promoting travel to school by bus, walking, cycling and car-pooling. Throughout the year, teachers and classes have been busy with many activities to promote this year’s Green Flag theme and to revise previous themes. To further increase awareness of our Travel theme, we are having a Day of Action on the 23rd of April.
Our Day of Action will be a whole school day of activity and workshops centred around Sustainable Travel and environmental issues. Some of the activities planned include; Feet for Friday, Golden Boot competition, Bling your Bike, Cycle Trip, Bike Maintenance workshops, Road Safety lessons, Bus to School Competition and many more.
Our Green School Council actively encourage all means of sustainable travel to school including walking, travel by bus, cycling (taking into account the RSA recommendations), and car pooling. Our Green School Council is encouraging and promoting the Action Day “Feet for Friday” as a means of highlighting one type of sustainable travel to school. The key objective of Feet for Friday on the 23rd is to encourage parents and children who normally travel from their home to school by car, to shorten or cancel that car journey and walk as an alternative. Another aspect is the sociable aspect of friends getting together to walk and talk together on their route to school.
What Happens on 23rd of April? If participating in our Feet for Friday, please assemble at one of the two meeting points (Westside playground, the Westwood Hotel rear car park) at 8:20 a.m. The designated parent walk leaders will take names and distribute high visibility vests. If you have a high visibility vest at home, please bring it with you to wear on the walk. The walk will commence at 8:30 sharp. Parents are welcome to park their cars at the meeting point and accompany their child on the walk but this is not necessary. Any parent who participates is very welcome to have a cup of tea or coffee in our Parent Room before returning for their car. Children are expected to cooperate with the designated walk leaders.
The staff would welcome any parent who has a particular interest in Environmental issues or Sustainable Travel who would like to make a presentation to a class or organise a workshop on an appropriate theme. In particular, we need parent volunteers for our Feet for Friday.
Please contact Martina, Marina or Ester
Thank you to all our school community for supporting our endeavours to be a Green School.
Regards,
Green School Committee GETNS
GETNS Newsletter – 25 March 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
SCHOOL PLAY TONIGHT AT 7PM SCHOOL PLAY
RAFFLE TICKETS to be SOLD – Knit-a-Thon BLANKETS
Skip-a-thon Fundraiser
To take place tomorrow. Good luck to all!!
Please ensure that your child wears suitable footwear for skipping!!
This is the final week to gather sponsors for our school fundraiser. We would ask all the children to have their money in by TOMORROW. Each class has been given a 20-minute slot to skip out in the yard on Friday morning. Then, immediately after break, the whole school will skip together. The idea is that the yard is never left empty on Friday! Thank you in advance for your support and let's hope that this will be another successful fundraiser for our school!
Thanks Miriam for always looking after our flowerbeds
Miriam is ‘retiring’. We need a parent who would like to tend to the flowerbed at the front door to our school. It’s the sunniest patch at school, brilliant for tanning! Please leave your name with Ester.
Our school was honoured to receive a visit today from the wife of the US Ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Rooney. She read a story to Junior Infants, which they enjoyed very much.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Ellis Morillas-Mol
Sr Inf Tara O’Neill
1st Cl Kosta Ognjenovic
2nd Cl Cian Flaherty
3rd Cl Antoine Lannegrand
4th Cl Alicia Carreyette
5th Cl Jenny Cunningham
6th Cl Betty Wright
Seomra Shona Grady Milandu
Frása na Seachtaine Tabhair dom _____ más é do thoil é.
(Phrase of the week…) Can I have _______, please?
SCHOOL CLOSURE TOMORROW, 26th of March, at 12 noon.
Re-open after the Easter Holidays on the 12th of April at 8.50am.
GETNS Newsletter – 18 March 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Tomorrow Friday, March 19 Buns, chocolate apples, etc, will be on sale during the morning. (To be eaten during Golden Time or brought home). Healthy baked treats are also welcome.
Regarding allergies:
If your child has any food allergies, please let the class teacher know. If you wish to send in a treat for your child, e.g. nut- or dairyfree, just label the treat box with your child’s name and class on it.
Swimming Class Urgent Appeal
We got no reaction to last week’s plea for help. Please rethink this matter. If any parents see their way open to help out on Thursday afternoons, please leave your name with Ester, or with Winky at Leisureland on Thursday.
Skip-a-thon Fundraiser
To take place on Friday morning, the 26th of March. Good luck to all!!
****STARS of the Week****
Jr Inf Erica Kuregenov
Sr Inf Anne Chege
1st Cl Tara Johnson Moore
2nd Cl Dara Jones
3rd Cl Alex O’Loughlin
4th Cl Luke McInerney
5th Cl Seamus O’Brien
6th Cl Calvin Kelly
Seomra Shona Wiktoria Banaszkiewicz
Frása na Seachtaine Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig ort!
(Phrase of the week…) Happy St Patrick!
The school closes on Friday, 26th of March, at 12 noon.
We will re-open after the Easter Holidays on the 12th of April at 8.50am.
GETNS Newsletter – 11 March 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Raidío Rí Ra, the Irish Language pop music station will be visiting 4th Class tomorrow!
Tune in to Raidío Rí Rá on 99.6FM between 10am and 12pm and you might be lucky enough to hear our 4th Class students live on air!
Next week – Friday, March 19th
Bring your buns, chocolate apples, etc, in on the morning of the sale. The treats can be eaten during Golden Time or brought home to eat. Healthy baked treats are also welcome.
Regarding allergies:
If your child has any food allergies, please let the class teacher know. If you wish to send in a treat that your child can enjoy, e.g. nut- or dairy-free, just label the treat box with your child’s name and class on it. We welcome parents who would like to come and help out on the day.
Ethos - Pilot Scheme
Our school has been invited by Educate Together to take part in a pilot scheme, which will allow schools to conduct a self-evaluation on our ethos. The PA is seeking two / three parents to get involved on the survey in our own school.
The survey is expected to be completed by the end of this school year. While the workload will be kept to a minimum, those involved would be required to attend a number of meetings. (More info to follow as it becomes available). If you are interested, please leave your name with Ester.
Voluntory Contributions
We have reached the €10 000 mark this week. Thanks to everyone who paid – we know it doesn’t come easy this year. The direct debit seems to work very well for some of our families. A copy of the form is CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE for your convenience. (Forms are also available outside the office). Our target is €25 000, which was calculated by every family paying €130 towards it. In doing this, we were hoping to lighten the burden on our families. Please help us lighten the burden on our school – we are not halfway there yet and the school year is nearing its end.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Aryan Sarkar
Sr Inf Ruairí Anthony
1st Cl Fiona Voisin
2nd Cl Keelin O’Donohue
3rd Cl Yasmin Aitkaki
4th Cl Laoise Brennan
5th Cl Reuben Parry Fleming
6th Cl Hannah Russen
Seomra Shona James O’Connor
Garden Update
This week we have planted hazelnuts, blueberries, blackcurrants and raspberries in our garden. We also have some yummy rhubarb, strawberries and artichokes put down to grow.
Some parents have kindly cleared away all the class beds and have them ready to be sown with potatoes on Monday. Each class has been given a time slot to plant their spuds; the times are outside Ester’s office on the parent’s notice board.
Please come and support our green little fingers. Everyone welcome.
Frása na Seachtaine An bhfuil cead agam ..e.g. leabhar a léamh…,
(Phrase of the week…) … e.g dul ar an ríomhaire…,
más é do thoil é?
Can I (Do I have permission to)…e.g. read a book…,
…e.g. go on the computer…,please?
Book Sale – 16th of March, next Tuesday
Sixth Class is gladly accepting all second hand(and in good condition) children’s books.
Please place your donated children’s books in the Book Box outside Ester’s office. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed.
Skip-a-Thon
This event takes place on the 26th of March. More sponsorship forms are outside the office. Money raised will go to our school. The forms and money will be collected next week after St Patrick’s Day.
Knit-a-Thon Raffle & Family Directory
Michelle is still selling raffle tickets at €5 each. The blankets will be raffled on the night of the Senior Classes’ School Show, the 25th of March at 7pm. She is also selling the Family Directory at €3 each.
Remember that all our children are covered 24 hours a day by our insurance for any medical expenses that might have been incurred. This insurance covers the whole year, even holidays.
March’s Language of the Month is Irish
Please call in and admire all the hard work 2nd class having been doing for the language of the month display board. We really want to celebrate our National Language with as much support as possible from parents and guardians so, if you are willing to teach a song, poem, play a musical instrument, cook some traditional Irish food or partake in some of our traditional customs, such as storytelling, etc (this does not necessarily have to be in Irish) please call in or send a note in with your child. We welcome all involvement. Until then here are a few phrases to get you started:
Dia duit - Hello
Slán - Bye
Tar anseo - Come here
Le do thoil - Please
Go raibh maith agat - Thank you
Celebrate with us!! Celebrate with us!! Celebrate with us!!
Next week we’ll be celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge. There will be lots of fun activities for the children. Our main highlight will be the visit of a local SUPERSTAR! The wonderful sean nós singer, Lasairfhíona Ní Chanaola, will visit our school next Tuesday at 12 noon. You are very welcome to attend.
Friday, next week, we’ll be holding an assembly in Gaeilge to celebrate our Irishculture. Please feel free to drop in and if you’d like, sing a song or play a tune.
We’d love to see you there! Slán go fóill.
GETNS Newsletter – 4 March 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Urgent appeal
We need a few volunteers to help sign children in on Thursdays after school at Leisureland (for an hour). We also need
someone to be the liaison between our parents, Leisureland and the bus company.
It does not require a lot of time, but it rather requires someone with a hands-on approach. Ann Faulkner, who did a terrific job, is standing down very soon. If we have nobody to take over from her, it may result in the cancellation of our children’s swimming activities. If you are interested, please leave your name and telephone number on Thursday at Leisureland (with Michelle & Winkey), or with Ester in the office.
Aquatics is a component part of the Physical Education Strand of the Primary School Curriculum. Irish Water Safety has developed a course that incorporates all aspects of the Aquatics Strand – called PAWS (Primary Aquatics Water Safety). This programme was specially tailored for primary school pupils and is exclusive to schools. After completing the PAWS Programme pupils will have the ability to swim, interact with others, and most importantly be responsible around water.
On 14th & 21st of March the children who attend GETNS swimming will do their PAWS exam at Leisureland. We would like to encourage all swimmers to attend lessons on these dates.
The children have been prepared for this exam by the swimming instructors at Leisureland and by their Class Teacher. The PAWS syllabus is available to download online at www.iws.ie
Stay Safe
March and April are dedicated to the Safety and Protection curricular strands in the SPHE programme. To facilitate the teaching and learning of this strand, we will be implementing a personal safety education programme called Stay Safe in all classes, excluding Junior Infants. The primary aim of the programme is to teach children personal safety skills in situations, which could be potentially upsetting or dangerous (ie getting lost or being bullied). The programme also teaches children the safety skills necessary to protect themselves from physical or sexual abuse, essentially teaching children to tell a trusted adult. It is important that parents are aware of the content of the Stay Safe lessons and are able to discuss the lessons with their children.
The lesson content is available on the following website www.staysafe.ie. if you have any questions, please make an appointment with your child’s teacher to discuss the lessons. Thank you in advance for your co-operation.
The Family Directory
The Family Directory has been updated and is available to buy now. It is very helpful when you need contact details for children’s parties, working together on fundraisers, etc. Thanks to Pauline O’Donohue for all her hard work on it. The Directory will be on sale for €3 tomorrow morning from Michelle, and also tomorrow afternoon at 2.30pm.
Voluntary Contributions
The envelopes for voluntary contributions are attached to this newsletter. Please check the envelopes inside for receipts up to end Feb (not all envelopes will have receipts inside). If you have already paid the full amount, please ignore the envelope. Helena will be in the foyer tomorrow morning to receive your contributions. Thanks to everybody who has paid already – we appreciate every cent received.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Ella-Máire Treacy-Wolnik
Sr Inf Naoise Breathnach
1st Cl Melissa Njugi
2nd Cl Thomas Sloane
3rd Cl Samuel Morcos
4th Cl Milla Gordon
5th Cl Dearbhail Comerford
6th Cl Heather Ellis
Seomra Shona Liam Haynes
Book Sale – 16th of March
Sixth Class are gladly accepting all second-hand (and in good condition) children’s books. Please place your donated children’s books in the Book Box outside Ester’s office. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed.
Lost & Found
The lost property (mostly clothes) have been taken to all the classes and very little has been claimed. It is taking up unnecessary space and property not claimed by the end of next week, will be recycled.
Introductory Course – Gaeilge, free for parents
Galway Education Centre, Thursdays 4 & 18 March 7.45 – 9.15pm Booking essential: tel 745600. (A few of us are meeting outside our school at 7.20 sharp, to travel together as a group).
Frása na Seachtaine Slán leat agus go raibh maith agat.
(Phrase of the week…) Goodbye and thank you.
Garden Spring Clean
Come along to the school garden on Monday morning, after dropping your kids off, to get the garden ready for spring planting in a few weeks. Bring your shovels and ideas, weather permitting. The more parents we have on the ground, the more we can grow!!
GETNS Newsletter – 25 February 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
On Tuesday we had a lovely surprise visit from John O’Halleran and Emma O’Sullivan, who made our feet itch to dance away the rest of the day! They are participants on the All Ireland Talent Show on RTE1 on Sunday evenings.
An American student on teaching practice placement is looking for home-stay accommodation in Galway City, for 8 weeks, beginning in March. If anyone is interested in offering her accommodation, please contact us. Much appreciated.
A big thank you to everyone who made offers on the blankets. The winners have been notified, but there is a few blankets left. You can contact Michelle regarding these blankets. Michelle is available every morning at the start of the school day. (There will also be a raffle in March for two of these blankets. Tickets €5 each).
Book Sale March 16th
6th class students are organising a Book Sale on Tuesday, the 16th of March.
Take this opportunity to donate / recycle any good quality children’s books you no longer want. Please place your
donated books in the Book Box outside Ester’s office.
Please look through the lost property on the stands next to the office to see whether any item belongs to your child. Any items not collected, will be recycled by the beginning of the Easter Holidays.
School Closure
Next Tuesday, 2nd of March, at 12 noon – staff meeting.
Frása na Seachtaine Dia dhaoibh ar maidin.
(Phrase of the week…) Good morning.
Tá duine ag an doras.
There’s someone at the door.
Introductory Course – Gaeilge, free for parents
Galway Education Centre, Thursdays 4 & 18 March 7.45 – 9.15pm
Booking essential: tel 745600. (A few of us are meeting at our school beforehand to travel as a group. If you want to join, contact Ester.)
Swimming fees
Please make sure that you’ve paid for your child’s swimming: there are a few amounts outstanding and we would like to finalise the payments asap. Contact Winkey on 087 9111 353. Thanks.
GETNS Newsletter – 11 February 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
We are very short on parent volunteers to either run activities or help out with them. The success of this week depends on your involvement. The aim of this week is to provide the children with alternative learning experiences and at the same time giving parents an opportunity to play an active part in supporting and encouraging children’s learning. 1 hour of your time will cover most activities. Everyone has something to teach, come teach it to our children! Please contact the office or your child’s teacher directly to offer your time.
Please note that the Bake Sale and coffee morning of tomorrow has been cancelled. The new date will be announced at a later stage.
Children are not allowed to use their mobile phones in school. Any communication with parents, if necessary, must be made through the office. At school phones must be kept in the children’s bags - and turned off.
Frása na Seachtaine Tá mé réidh!
(Phrase of the week…) I am ready.
Introductory Course in Gaeilge
- FOR PARENTS –
Galway Education Centre
(Wellpark Rd, further up the road from Atlantic Home Care)
Emphasis on oral conversation, vocabulary and phrases children encounter in the primary school classroom.
Thursday: 4 & 18 March
7.45pm – 9.15pm
Free of charge
Booking essential: tel 745600
(If anyone wants to attend it with me, or need a lift, let me know – Ester)
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Cormac Keane
Sr Inf Felix O’Neill
1st Cl Swiss Ediagbonya
2nd Cl Kim Li Loke
3rd Cl Cian Ridge
4th Cl Maria Cunningham
5th Cl Cuan O’Brien
6th Cl Robert Flynn
Seomra Shona Grady Milandu
School Closure – Midterm Break
The school will be closed next Thursday and Friday. (Monday to Wednesday will be normal school hours).
Knit-a-thon Fundraiser
This is your last chance to put in your bid: the closing date is Wednesday, the 17th.
The Language of the Month for February is Mandarin.
If you speak Mandarin or have any interest in coming into a class to share some past experience related to the language, please contact Aoife or Jacqlyn in the Language Unit, or Marina in 6th class. Sixth Class will be exploring and researching China throughout the month of February.
Here are some phrases to get you started.
GETNS Newsletter – 4 February 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians.
Voluntary Contributions
The envelopes for voluntary contributions are attached to this newsletter. Please check the envelopes inside for receipts up to Dec 09, which haven’t been claimed yet (not all envelopes will have receipts inside). If you have already paid the full amount, please ignore the envelope. Helena will be in the foyer tomorrow morning to receive your contributions. Thanks to everybody who has paid already – we appreciate every cent received. We are now at nearly €9000 towards our target of €25000.
Activity Week
Our Activity Week will take place from the 15th – 17th of February 2010.
The children and teachers love to see the skills and talents parents display. It is one of the most enjoyable weeks of the year: come on, show off!! Let the teachers know, so that they can plan the programme accordingly.
Knit-a-thon
Please keep the bids coming for the auction of the lovely blankets. Remember that the closing date is the 17th of February.
Calendars
We still have calendars on sale at €3 each. If you buy two calendars, you will receive one free.
Frása na Seachtaine Gabh mo leithscéal.
(Phrase of the week…) Excuse me…
******STARS of the Week******
Jr Inf Synjen Hennessy-Packman
Sr Inf Brady Kondjo
1st Cl Egor Potapov
2nd Cl Tom McGuinness
3rd Cl Séamus Dewar
4th Cl Aindle O’Beirn
5th Cl Naoise Jordan Cavanagh
6th Cl Tom Mucha
Seomra Shona Mihailo Kovacevic
GETNS Newsletter – 28 January 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
HAITI FUNDRAISER
We would like to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who helped to raise much needed money for the crisis situation in Haiti. We raised €893.51, which will be paid into the account of Doctors Without Borders.
We would like to say a special THANK YOU to our Student Council for their initiative to begin this fundraiser. We are very proud of their thoughtfulness and dedication. Keep up the excellent work!!
KNIT-A-THON FUNDRAISER
The final drive of the Knit-a-thon fundraiser begins today!! Each family will receive a note explaining our Silent Auction with today’s newsletter.
Huge credit and thanks must go to Michelle Gibbons for coming up with the idea and following it through. From helping each class to start knitting, collecting all the squares, organising prizes for all participants, assembling all the squares into beautiful blankets and endless encouragement, help and praise for everyone’s efforts, Michelle has enriched our school in ways far more important than the amount of money it raises. The success of the project can be gauged in the enthusiasm and enjoyment of the children learning a new skill, parents remembering an old one and bringing us together as a community to create something beautiful. Please support this wonderful fundraiser as best you can.
School Closure
The school will close at 12 noon on Wednesday, 3rd of February for staff training.
Parent Association Meeting
We are meeting on Saturday the 30th of January at 11:00 in the school. All parents are welcome.
PowerPoint Tutorial for 6th Class
Tomorrow Friday 29th, 6th class will have a PowerPoint tutorial session in NUI, Galway. Each student will have access to a laptop. They will work in small groups with a tutor and an IWB to learn how best to use PowerPoint to present their findings on a research project based on France. Thanks to the Business School in NUIG.
Frása na Seachtaine Is liomsa é. It’s mine.
(Phrase of the week…) Ní liomsa é. It’s not mine.
******STARS of the Week******
Jr Inf Alex Gordon
Sr Inf Christopher Onuoha
1st Cl Kadiatou Ba
2nd Cl Shivon Karundu
3rd Cl Uan Murphy
4th Cl Luka Malesevic
5th Cl Abaigh Donohue
6th Cl Jack McGuinness
Seomra Shona Brandy Milandu
Activity Week
Our Activity Week will take place from the 15th – 17th of February 2010.
Please consider how you can lend your talents, time or skills during that week.
-FUN FRENCH FOR CHILDREN- "LES TOUT-PETITS"
Fun French Clubs for Junior & Senior Infants will be starting from the 9th of February, each Tuesday, 1.30-2.30 (12.00-1.00 on half days). Term fee is €50.
To reserve a place for your child please contact Jennifer: 556-996/086-3914678.
A bientot!
GETNS Newsletter – 21 January 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Important Notice
The staff meeting scheduled for February 2nd has been changed to Wednesday February 3rd. This is to facilitate staff training with Kilcolgan Educate Together NS provided by ET national office.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Alexandra (America) and Jana (Germany), our two overseas students, who are completing teaching practice placements at our school this term. Alexandra will be working with third class and Jana with fourth. We hope they enjoy their time in Ireland.
Thank you everyone for your feedback in response to the Healthy Eating Policy. The majority of you that responded expressed satisfaction to the current policy, specifically allowing one treat on a Friday.
The staff will implement this current policy, but we need your support to adhere to the rule of one treat, only on a Friday. Please do not send in treats on other days.
Lastly, we will see how we can broaden our current policy and encourage healthy eating to a greater extend. We will look at providing more information on healthy living and giving various ideas for healthy lunches. More details will follow…
Fundraisers for the Haiti earthquake victims.
The children of the school decided that the best fundraisers would be the following:
CraZy Hat / Crazy Hair Day This Friday, 22nd January
No-Homework Day Next Wednesday, 27th January
All children are encouraged to bring in €2 on each day. Of course, all donations to this most worthy cause will be accepted. All money raised will go directly to aid the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. We are very proud of the children for initiating this fundraiser. The children may come to school in crazy hats or crazy hair.
Meeting
The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) met on the 28th of November of last year to welcome new members, honour the hard work of long-standing members and organise the winter fair. I would like to thank those who were able to attend and everyone who helped out with the Winter Fair.
We will be meeting again on Saturday the 30th of January at 11:00 in the school to organise the year’s activity and discuss the role we would like the PTA to play. All parents (not just those on the committee) are invited to attend and share their ideas.
We hope to build on the existing excellent work of the PTA and explore other areas in which the PTA might be active. This is your opportunity to contribute to the important work of the PTA and in doing so, help out your school and your children in these challenging times. If circumstances allow, we would greatly appreciate it if you could attend.
John O’Reilly, Joint-Chairperson PTA
Family Directory
We have received some of the forms with your address details for the family directory. The last date to hand these forms in, is tomorrow. If you have mislaid it, another form is attached to the newsletter for your convenience.
Calling all Grandads and Grannies!!!
Have you an hour to spare each week? Would you like to help out around the school? Perhaps reading to children or listening to them read? Playing board games? Maybe you could get involved in project work in some area of interest to you. If so we would love to hear from you. Please think about it and if you’d like to find out more please call the office and leave your name. We guarantee you won’t have to do any homework!!!
We would like to invite any parents that speak Spanish or have any interest in the language to come into the school, perhaps to do some cooking, read a book (we have some Spanish books) or just talk about their experiences. You are one of our greatest resources. So please, if you can spare the time, let Aoife or Anita in the Language Unit know.
Attention! Attention! Attention! Attention!
We need your help on the following matter.
We still have children that arrive quite late for school in the morning. All children are expected to be in school by 8.50am and formal teaching begins at 9am. Any arrivals after this time are disruptive for the class in progress and can
be upsetting for the child arriving late. Please do your utmost to arrive at school on time. We want to give all our children quality class time.
- Thank you for your co-operation -
Next Thursday our Junior, Senior Infants and First Class will be attending the Teddy Bear Hospital in NUI Galway. This is
a very exciting day for them and their teddies and dolls. There will be press attending and if this is a concern for any parent/ guardian, please inform your child class teacher as soon as possible!
Second-hand Book Sale
Keep watching this space for the second-hand book sale soon. If you have any unwanted children’s books (in good condition) that you want to get rid of, please place them inside the brown box opposite the office. It’s always welcome.
*************STARS of the Week*************
Jr Inf Matthew Kehelly-Fogarty
Sr Inf Christopher Onuoha
1st Cl Brian Chege
2nd Cl Fia Poliautre
3rd Cl Oisin Sammon
4th Cl Not this week
5th Cl Mairéad Dewar
6th Cl Aisling Faulkner
Seomra Shona Liam Haynes
Open Evening – Presentation School
Presentation Secondary School will have an open evening on Thursday, the 28th of January. Please attend if you are interested.
Frása na Seachtaine Go raibh maith agat. Thank you.
(Phrase of the week…) Tá fáilte romhat. You’re welcome!
Please check your children’s bags for a lovely Environmental Calendar – 2010.
GETNS Newsletter – 14 January 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Voluntary Contributions
Thank you for the contributions received so far. We have received nearly €8000 towards our target of €25000, so there is still quite a way to go. The envelopes for your contribution will be attached to the newsletter today. (If you have already paid the full amount, just ignore the envelope). Helena will be in the foyer tomorrow morning when the school starts to receive your contributions. Thank you.
Correction Correction Swimming Correction Correction
Swimming lessons only €26
Swimming lessons including bus transport €46
Apologies if this caused any confusion. Please contact Winkey with any queries: 087 9111 353. Swimming lessons commence today.
- We desperately need more volunteers to help us, please -
Michelle has been busy for the past couple of weeks! The knit-a-thon squares are all sewn together and on display in the hall.
So, come and have a look. (Please don’t interrupt if the hall is being used).
There are 16 blankets in all and they will be on sale / auction soon
Well done, everyone. A fantastic display!!!!
Bonjour & bonne annee !
Fun French Clubs in GETNS are starting again this term from next Tuesday 19th January, 2.40-3.40 for children of all ages. Limited spaces are available, please call/text Jennifer 086-3914678/091-556996.
Clothing Bank.
As part of our Green Schools activities, our school is participating in the Cash for Clobber Scheme.
Cash for Clobber is a nationwide scheme, which raises funds for schools by encouraging recycling.
All clothing and textiles are recycled locally in Ireland.
The scheme is organised by Cookstown Textile Recyclers, which is licensed by the Environment and Heritage Service to collect, process and store textiles.
Materials which can be collected, include:
• All types of clothing
• Bags & shoes
• Hats & belts
• Towels & curtains
• Bed linen.
To facilitate our participation in this scheme, we now have a Clothing Bank at the rear of our school. Children and parents can bring in bags of items to be recycled at the following times;
Monday to Friday 9:00 – 6:00
Saturday 10:00 – 12:00
Please feel free to mention this to friends and family. Each bag recycled raises money for our school. Thank you for your support.
GETNS Newsletter – 7 January 2010
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Welcome back and happy New Year to you all.
I hope the cold weather has not impacted on you too severely. Fortunately the Board of Management have decided it is safe for us to open our school and it will remain open unless there is a major change in weather and road conditions.
The weather has however affected our bus provision. Both Knocknacarra buses will not operate until Monday morning at the earliest. The Moycullen bus will operate only between Moycullen village and the school. The Kilcolgan/Doughiska route is running as normal, though pick-up/drop-off times may be affected. Please check with Bus Eireann School Transport office or your bus provider for further information. We will continue to provide you with whatever information we have throughm text messages and the school website.
The staff meeting for this month will take place next Tuesday, the 12th of January 2010.
The school will close at 12 noon on Tuesday.
GETNS Newsletter 17 December 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
As a staff we ask that you do not give us presents this Christmas. We know that children and parents would like to show their appreciation towards us, but in these times you might be able to put your money to better use…. and a warm word of thanks goes a long, long way!
Fundraising
Thank you to every family who has paid the voluntary contribution. We have collected almost €5000 so far. (Receipts for previous payments are available at the office). Although we are grateful to every family who paid, it is still a long way to go for our aim of €25,000, so please bear that in mind when you make your New Year’s resolutions! Remember this money is the only source of income we have that allows us to invest directly in providing resources for your child’s education.
Winter Fair
We are grateful to everyone who worked so hard and who participated to make this a success. We had a lovely time. When we have the final figure of the money we raised, we will let you know.
McCambridges
Thank you to everybody who supported this fundraising. We have accumulated €720 on that night! (Save up for tickets next year Nov and let’s see if we could raise €2000!) Thanks to all the people in the Parent Teacher Association who helped.
Jr Infants – 2nd Class
Winter Show Tonight: 7pm Please have the children at school by 6.30pm. It is going to be a great event, with hotdogs being sold and lovely prizes being ‘raffled’! School calendars will also be on sale again tonight, just in case you’ve forgotten to get one for Gran!
This year we are looking closer to home to help out those less well off than ourselves, namely Galway Simon Community. We are asking that you buy some non-perishable food items such as teabags, coffee and tinned foods and have your child bring these to school on Monday and Tuesday. There will be a drop off box in the lobby of the school near the office. Thank you.
Swimming
Allan Cavanagh and Juliette Poliautre have done a wonderful job in minding our children on the bus when they are collected for swimming. Unfortunately they will not able to carry on with this task in January. We want to sincerely thank them for their help. Of course, we need other volunteers now to help us.
The task involves:
- collecting the swimming bag from the office at 2.10pm on a Thursday,
- accompanying the children on the bus from the school to Leisureland,
- minding them until they are safely in the dressing room at Leisureland,
- arriving back at the school no later than 2.50pm (lift provided from Leisureland).
If you are interested and think you’ll be able to support us, please leave your name in the office.
******STARS of the Week******
Jr Inf Eoin O’Callaghan
Sr Inf Isabella Poskrobko
1st Cl Sofiya Dovgaleva
2nd Cl Eve Tiernan
3rd Cl Taibou Ba
4th Cl Selkie Hennessy Packman
5th Cl Roberto Prior
6th Cl Anzor Merzhoyev
Seomra Shona Brady Milandu
On behalf of all of us here at GETNS we wish you all a peaceful and happy holiday season, whatever way you celebrate it. May you find nourishment for the spirit in the time spent with your family and loved ones. We look forward to your continued support and partnership in 2010. May it be a happy and prosperous year for everyone.
Remember that the school are closing for the Christmas holidays on Tuesday at 12 noon.
GETNS Newsletter – 10 December 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
An incident took place yesterday where a man exposed himself to a pupil from our school near the pitch on Siobhan McKenna Rd. We ask that you be vigilant and report any suspicious person or activity to the Gardai. Please ensure you have taken all precautions to ensure your child’s safety travelling to and from school. Also, a handbag was stolen from a car outside the school last week. Again, please ensure you take suitable measures to keep your belongings secure.
In January we will be accommodating two international students, one from Germany and one from the U.S. They will be assisting throughout the school but will be placed mainly in 3rd & 4th classes respectively. The student from the U.S. is looking to be placed with a family in the school, as you can read from the following excerpt from an email from the student’s tutor-
We ask the host school to help the student teacher arrange living accommodations, typically a home stay in the placement community. Because this is a “cultural immersion” project, the home stay placement is critical in giving our student teachers opportunities to be active participants in the local community. The student teachers pay the going rate for room and board. Most often, they live with someone related to the school in some way – a teacher family, school staff member, parent family, etc. While usually a student teacher is placed in one home stay for the entire eight-week placement, it is sometimes the case that the home stay is divided, with four weeks in one home and four in another (or some such arrangement).
If any family is interested in accommodating the student please leave your contact details with the office so that we can pass it on to the student.
Class calendars are for sale each morning and afternoon outside the office. If you buy 2 calendars at €3 each, you receive a third calendar free. We want to give Vanessa Jordan a HUGE “Thank you” for doing the photos for us free of charge – a great job!!
We need help with the Winter Fair, specifically in the kitchen and for cleanup. There is a list outside the office where you can put your name down if you are willing to help.
If anyone would like to help the Junior Infants with face painting at 6.30pm before the show on the 17th of December, please tell Genevieve. Take note that the MMR vaccinations for Junior Infants are going ahead tomorrow.
Knit-a-thon Winners!!!!
Well done to all our knit-a-thon winners. A full list of prize winners is posted up at the notice board outside Esters office.
Congrats everyone!!
1st place…..Oscar (Senior infants) 112 squares!!!
2nd place….Fiona C (2nd Class) 106 squares!!!
3rd place…Abaigh (5th Class) 80 squares!!!
4th place…Eloise (sen infants) 75 squares!!!
5th place…Thomas S. (2nd class) 46 squares!!!
(Michelle is busy sewing up the blankets to be sold in January…so keep an eye out for posters and in the newsletter!!!)
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Emmet O’Reilly
Sr Inf Eddie Zhang
1st Cl Timoor Njugi
2nd Cl Lily Curley
3rd Cl Shayan Chege
4th Cl Naoise van Leynseele
5th Cl Not this week
6th Cl John Robinson
Seomra Shona Liam Haynes
The language of the month for December is Portuguese.
If you speak Portuguese or have any interest in coming into a class to share some past experience related to the language please contact Aoife or Anita in the Language Unit.
European Day of Langauges update….
Many children in the school entered the European Day of Languages Poster & Slogan competition. All entries were highly creative and all those that entered received a special certificate from Léargas for their hard work and achievements.
These certificates were presented to the children at a recent school assembly. Congratulations to Lily Curley (2nd class) whose entry received a special mention from the Léargas jury and is now displayed on their website. Go to www.leargas.ie to check out Lily’s lovely work?
GETNS Newsletter – 3 December 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Please have a look in your children’s bags for the following:
Voluntary Contribution envelopes. A parent will be available tomorrow morning to collect the envelopes. We will have a new total for all contributions by the end of next week. (The receipts will also be handed out after next week).
Family Directory form.
Primary Times magazine. (1st – 6th Classes)
MMR vaccination letter & form. (Junior Infants only)
Please return the blue form as soon as possible.
Once again the Book Fair was a great success. It was wonderful to see the children so excited and enthusiastic about the books and the school is set to receive €626.20 worth of books for the school library. We want to express our sincere gratitude to all those who supported it and a special thanks to the parents who gave so readily of their time to help run the fair. plus they have to donate a spot prize for the raffle. Come on, use that initiative that you’ve been bottling up and that’s been itching inside of you… and show us your interesting stuff!
Knit-a-thon News
A HUGE thankyou to everyone who participated in the Knit-a-thon which ran for the whole month of November.
Well done to everyone who helped….especially all of you Mums, Dads, Grannies and Aunties etc. who have been filling your evenings with clickety-click and encouraging and helping your children to learn this valuable new skill. They have done so well and the standard of squares is extremely high!!!
It was a great success….we raised a fantastic €513.50 and a total of 928 squares were created!!!!!!
As you can imagine, putting the squares together is going to take a while, so the finished blankets will be on sale sometime in January. They will be displayed for a short while for all to see before they go on sale. So, keep an eye on newsletters etc. Thank you again for helping raise so much money for the school. The prizewinners will be announced at a school assembly on Friday and then posted up on the parents’ notice board.
Wnter Show Junior Infants - 2nd Class is on Thursday 17th Dec at 7pm - all are welcome ...
The Christmas Annuals (€5 each) are available again. This is an activity magazine full of fun: games, puzzles, fiction, facts and much more (includes English and Irish material). Please get an order form from the school and return it before the 11th of December 2009. It is a great way to keep children busy, whilst having fun.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Eilis Morillas-Mol
Sr Inf Oscar Brehony
1st Cl Lisa Merzhoyeva
2nd Cl Jake Russen
3rd Cl Stephen Busby
4th Cl Oisín Fleming
5th Cl Giacomo Degano
6th Cl David Robb
Seomra Shona James O’Connor
Download the Christmas Poster for the annual winter fair and put in your car or local shops etc Click Here (right click and save to desktop)
GETNS Newsletter – 26 November 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) would like to invite you to a meeting this Saturday (28th) in the school at 10.30am to discuss…
· What is our vision for the purpose of the PTA?
· How can we organise the PTA to be as inclusive as possible and maximise the impact of its work?
· The Winter Fair
We wish to honour the ongoing work of those long-term active members of the PTA who have done so much for the school and our children and invite other parents to become involved and contribute in whatever way they can, especially
(but not exclusively) those parents who have just joined the PTA committee. Strong parental involvement and voice is one of the special qualities of Educate Together schools, so please take advantage of this invitation. Members of the Board of Management will be present to support the work and participate as parents and John Farrell has kindly offered to facilitate the day.
John O’ Reilly - PTA chair
Last chance!! Last chance!! We have a few tickets at €15 each left for McCambridges tonight from 5 – 9pm, children welcome. This is a great way to get together and at the same time raise funds for the school.
Make sure that you buy your ticket when you collect your child from school today, before 3pm. Remember, all money goes to the school!!
We are trying to use our website more to let you know about school life. Each teacher has posted a little piece about activities in their class so far this year. Please take the opportunity to have a look, (Schoolife Page Click Here) perhaps with your child, and have a chat about it. If you have any ideas on how we can better use the site to meet your needs, please email them to the office.
Classes from Junior Infants to Second will be putting on a Winter Show on Thursday, December 17th. Teachers will need help with props, costumes and face painting. Please let your child’s teacher know if you are available to help in the next few weeks.
We all had a fantastic time at the Pinocchio Pantomime last Monday at the school. St Joseph’s school joined us for the performance. It was a well-earned and well-deserved treat for the children.
*****STARS of the Week*****
Jr Inf Matthew Kehelly-Fogarty
Sr Inf Daniel Kearns
1st Cl Rory Fleming
2nd Cl Naoise Faherty
3rd Cl Fionn O’Brolcháin
4th Cl Milan Kovacevic
5th Cl Jane Patterson-Etxebarria
6th Cl Robert Flynn
Seomra Shona Mihailo Kovacevic
Calling all Squares!!!
The Knit-a thon finishes this week so get those squares in before Tuesday!!!
A huge well done to everyone who took part…..there has been a knitting buzz in the school for the whole month and so many children have really caught the ‘bug’. Watch this space to see how much we raised for the school and for prizewinners!!!!
Thanks to all the teachers for their hard work and effort in preparation for the parent/teacher meetings this week. We hope it was of benefit to you as parents and that you can continue to support and encourage your child in their learning.
Any parent who was unable to make their meeting should phone the school to re-schedule.
19/11/2009
RE Day of Action November 24th 2009
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you are aware, there is a day of action planned for next Tuesday, November 24th.
Arising from this, the school will not be in a position to accept students on that day for Health and Safety reasons.
It is not the intention of the Board of Management to interrupt your child’s education and regret having to take this course of action.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Sloane.
Chairperson Board of Management
GETNS Newsletter – 19 November 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Parent/Teacher meetings will take place next Wednesday and Thursday. If you haven’t received notification of the time of your meeting by tomorrow please let us know immediately. Make sure to take a look at the advice on the appointment sheet on how to get the most from the meeting.
We urgently need volunteers to help with the Book Fair, taking place from the 23rd – 27th of November. If anybody have one hour to spare on these days, it will be much appreciated:
Monday between 1.20 & 2.20pm
Wed & Thu between 10am & 4.30pm
Friday between 9 & 11am
Please put your name down on the list outside the office. This is the only fundraising for the library each year.
We have a great wine-and-dine night to look forward to next Thu, the 26th of November, at McCambridges. Tickets at the very reasonable price of €15 are sold every morning before school in the foyer. The money from all tickets sold comes back directly to the school and will be added to our fundraising projects. (Example: If we sold 50 tickets, we will have raised €750 for our school). Come on; treat yourself, your partner and/or friends. Lets enjoy a great night out!!
Knit-A-Thon Update!!!!
As November comes to a close…we are also coming to the end of the Knita-thon, so this is the last chance to register to take part!!! Extra forms are outside the office. Michelle is still in the office - every morning before school starts - if you need to buy yarn and will now also take any squares that are finished…..you can still knit up until the 30th November and the last day for handing in squares is December 1st .
The classes have been doing so well learning to knit with Michelle each week and 100% of Fourth Class can now knit, so…. well done everybody!!! Keep up the good work!!
Bonjour! Fun French Clubs are now up and running on Tuesday afternoons for children aged 5-12 yrs.
For enquiries call Jennifer: 556-996/086-3914678
Thanks for the mobile phones we have received so far. Please remember to bring your old mobile phones in to support the Jack & Jill Foundation.
Next Monday morning the children will get to see a performance of the pantomime Pinocchio here in the school. This lovely treat is to say “Thank you” for trying their best to be great learners and great friends. We are very proud of them and hope they enjoy the show.
There are parents who applied for bus transport for their children (Moycullen), but they can’t be accommodated at this stage, because the bus is full. If there are any families who don’t need bus transport and perhaps forgot to cancel the bus ticket with Bus Eireann, please let us know as soon as possible.
A phantom sneaked into the computer and made last week’s star list disappear, but luckily we found out who the stars were! Well done to all of you!
Stars of this Week
Jr Inf Zach Murray
Sr Inf Naroa O’Kane
1st Cl Tiernan Tuite
2nd Cl Karina Kuregenov
3rd Cl Siomha O’Brien
4th Cl Bojan Petrovic
5th Cl Eva O’Callaghan
6th Cl Tiernán Archer
Seomra Shona Brandy Milandu
Stars of last Week
Jr Inf Eoin O’Callaghan
Sr Inf Minnie Gask
1st Cl Sammy Hammar
2nd Cl Martha McBrierty
3rd Cl Sarah Robb
4th Cl Fionn Barrett
5th Cl Emily Busby
6th Cl Troy Gawley
Seomra Shona Grady Milandu
A big “Thank you” to the parents and children who harvested the vegetables from our garden on Monday and cooked up a very tasty brew. We all enjoyed the soup!!
GETNS Newsletter – 12 November 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
The Board of Management would like to thank all the families who have sent in the Voluntary Family Contribution. The amount received so far amounts to €3310 from about 20% of the total families in the school. It is hoped that all families in the school will be able to make the €130 contribution towards our fundraising target of €50,000 for this year.
Parent Teacher Association
Fundraising can involve “FUN STUFF” too!!!! This month thanks to “McCambridges of Galway” where you can help out the school and have a wonderful evening at the annual “Food and Wine Fair”. It takes place at the Ardilaun Hotel on Thursday 26th November from 5 to 9pm. Tickets are €15 which covers the cost of everything on the night. The full cost of the ticket goes directly to the school. The tickets can be bought at the Office or a representative from the Parents Association who will be in the school foyer on Friday morning. If 100 people buy tickets for this event we’ll raise €1500!! Organise a few friends to go with you and have a great night out.
- Over €200 was raised at the Halloween Cake Sale. Thanks to all who contributed and helped on the day.
- There will be a new cooker available soon in the Parents room.
- Class pictures have been taken for the 2010 calendars – more information soon.
- In anticipation of the Winter Fair 2009, we would like to put out a call for donations of spot prizes to be raffled on the day. There will be a box available in the school soon where these can be left. Also, any parents who have a particular talent – balloon making, face-painting etc, and who would be willing to contribute on the day, could they please leave their names and contact numbers at the office. The aim is to provide some fun activities for the children.
- Lastly, Anne Hennessy who looks after the organic garden, would really appreciate some help as it takes a lot of time. Help from experienced gardeners and novices who want to learn more would be very welcome. Parents new to the school especially welcome. Please contact Anne/Ester.
- Next Monday some of the parents in the school will be coming in to harvest the vegetables from the garden and make soup for the children. We might be short of a few potatoes so if you have any to spare from your own garden please bring them in on Monday morning. We are very grateful to the parents who give their time to organise this very enjoyable event. The children learn so much from planting, tending, harvesting and cooking their own food. Well done to everyone involved.
Healthy Eating
This term we are reviewing the “Promotion of Healthy Eating” in our school. We will try various strategies to promote healthy food choices, which will include changing “Friday Treats”, while also encouraging the children to drink more water. We are interested in hearing your views on this subject and you can email us at admin@getns.ie or drop in handwritten notes to the office. We will also provide you and the children with information and ideas on how best to achieve this. We look forward to hearing from you.
Tasty Bunch Campaign
The children in 4th – 6th Classes participated in The Tasty Bunch Roadshow on Wednesday morning. The children’s knowledge of a healthy lifestyle was put to the test in a large “Fun Quiz”. The Healthy Eating Campaign takes the message “Eat it! Drink it! Move it!” across Europe. The roadshow travels through Belgium, France, the UK, Ireland, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. They only visit 180 schools, so we were lucky to be involved! The European Commission sponsors this campaign. Its objective is to raise awareness and promote a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. Well done to 4th, 5th and 6th Classes – you made us proud!
Book Fair
The Book Fair will happen soon. For the new parents: books are exhibited in the passage of the school and children can come (in their classes) to buy these books. If any parents are willing to help, Deirbhile would really appreciate it. Please place your name and number on the list ouside the office.
Please remember to send back the note indicating your preferred time for the Parent/Teacher meetings to be held on November 25th & 26th by tomorrow. You will receive the time of your appointment next week.
Keep knitting those squares… you have until the end of the month, so there is still time to register. Yarn (€2 per ball) is still available each morning before school when Michelle is in the office.
GETNS Newsletter – 5 November 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Student Council
6th Class
Dejana Calic
Robert Flynn
5th Class
Rian McKeagney
Eva O’Callaghan
4th Class
Luka Malesevic
Amy Sammon
3rd Class
Fionn O’Brolchain
Bianca Sloane
2nd Class
Rory McCleane
Eve Tiernan
Green School Committee
6th Class
Trióna Brown
Calvin Kelly
5th Class
Li Lu Savage
Isuelt Murphy
4th Class
Aindle O’Beirn
Johnny McMahon
3rd Class
Ailbhe Archer
Cian Ridge
2nd Class
Tom McGuinness
Doireann Ní Mhordha
Congartulations to all - These children play an important part in our school and we are very happy to have
them on board. Well done!!
Voluntary Contribution
As you are aware by now the Board of Management has set a fundraising target of €50,000 for this year toinvest in your children’s education. The funding we receive from the Department of Education for this year will cover the running costs of the school with little or nothing left over to invest in resources, technology and all the many other things required to ensure we provide a quality education for each child in the school.
It is hoped that half the fundraising target will come from a Voluntary Family Contribution which has been
set at €130. This amount works out at €2.50 per family per week for a year. See previous newsletters or
the school website to see how the Board of Management intends to use this money. This money can be
paid yearly, termly or monthly by using the family envelope we will send out once a month on the Thursday
following the staff meeting. It can also be paid by filling out the Standing Order Mandate attached and
giving it to your bank. Finally if you wish to pay directly we will have a parent volunteer in the lobby of
school this Friday to collect payments.
While the Board has set the contribution amount at €130 there may be families in the school that wish
to contribute more and such donations will be gratefully received. Whatever the nature of your
circumstances at home we are very thankful for whatever contribution you can make. Remember every
cent you contribute will go directly to providing resources for the children.
Parent/Teacher Meetings
Parent/Teacher meetings will be held on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th of November. This is an
important opportunity to speak with your child’s teacher about your child’s progress and development.
Please make every effort to attend the meeting. Check your child’s bag on Monday for more information.
Knit – a – thon Competition
This is a great opportunity to help raise money for the school and learn a new skill at the same time.
It costs €5 to register. Then you just knit as many squares as you can to win prizes. The squares
will be made into blankets and raffled or sold in December..…(and I’m not spinning a yarn here!).
Winning an Interactive Whiteboard
We are aiming to collect 500 old mobile phones in order to receive a FREE interactive whiteboard from
Jack & Jill for our school.
*****Stars of the Week*****
Jr Inf Sadhbh Butler
Sr Inf Eloise Street Byrne
1st Cl Amber Jordan Cavanagh
2nd Cl Rory McCleane
3rd Cl Ciarán Anthony
4th Cl Trinity Gask
5th Cl Thomas Butler
6th Cl Eve Murphy
Seomra Shona Not this week
Parent Link
Parent link is looking for volunteers to visit new parents at home, offering company, practical tips and
information about what activities and services are available in Galway. If you have about one hour a
week to spare and think you’d like to help making parenting as easy and enjoyable as possible, please
apply. For more information, contact Janet on 085 118 8658, or e-mail parentlinkgalway@eircom.net
Fun French Clubs – Date change!
Le Club Francais Fun French for Children Clubs will be running on Tuesdays (NOT Thursdays):
Start date:
Tuesday 10th Nov 2.40 – 3.40pm, 9 – 12 years & 4.00 – 5.00pm, 6 – 9 years
Term fees: €56 (includes membership pack with CD and songbook)
To register, please call / text Jennifer on 086 391 4678 or phone 556 996
On behalf of the BOM, staff, parents and children we would like to extend our sympathy to Deirbhile Ní Scholaí
and her family on the sudden death of her father.
GETNS Newsletter 21 October 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Parent Teacher Association Cake Sale Tomorrow ! Please bring your cakes to the kitchen tomorrow before 10am, and if possible, bring a lot of chocolate and toffee apples! Of course, remember to give your children money so that they can enjoy the day....
Halloween Party Tomorrow
Jr Inf & Sr Inf This exciting fancy-dress party will take place in the hall. The children will change in the classroom. Parents, please remember that they need to be accompanied by you, so come along at 1.30 to
2.30 and enjoy the craic.
Swimming Bags & Wallhangings As you may have noticed, we have lovely swimming bags and wall hangings (made from tea towels) exhibited in the window of the office. They are on sale at 5 and 6 respectively.
*** LE CLUB FRANCAIS, Clubs where children learn French while having fun, are starting in GETNS from Thursday 5th November, 2.40 3.40 for 9 12 yrs and 4.00 5.00 for 6 9 yrs.
To book a place for your child, call Jennifer: 556 996/0863914678. ***
****Stars of The Week****
Jr Inf Julia Baran
Sr Inf Rhian O'Callaghan
1st Cl Eohy Bernede
2nd Cl Andjela Calic
3rd Cl Jacklyn Prior
4th Cl Johnny McMahon
5th Cl Lorcan O'Mordha
6th Cl Dejana Calic
Seomra Shona Grady Milandu
If there are any parents who would be interested in translating the newsletter into their native language (to help other parents and children), please contact us.
School closes tomorrow, normal time: Halloween break, starts again 2nd of November.
Remember to change your watches this weekend: winter time.
School closes at 12 noon onTue, 3rd of November for staff meeting.
Thanks to everyone who have brought books for the Book Bank. If there are any parents who wants to get rid of their old children's books (in acceptable condition), please drop them in the brown box opposite the office.
Enjoy next week... and have a rest!
GETNS Newsletter – 15 October 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
A big “Thank you” to all of the parents who came along to the meeting on Tuesday night. We had about 50
families represented. Along with the newsletter today you will receive a letter from the Board of Management regarding the school finances and its plan to raise the €50,000 required for this year. If we are to deliver the
best we can for the children this money is a necessity. Without it we have little or nothing to spend on
educational resources. It is vital that every family makes an effort to contribute however much you can.
The Board has set a figure of €130 as a suggested family contribution. There may be some of you who feel
you can afford some more and that will be gladly accepted.
On the 5th of November we will send out the first envelopes for your contribution. We will also give you a
form that will allow you to set up a direct debit. If every family makes its contribution we will raise half the
target for this year. The other half will come from fundraising. Please consider giving your time to help us with
this. After all this is your school. You chose to it for your child. If it is going to be as good a school as we all
want it to be then everyone must play their part.
A new computerized library system was installed in September. Details of every book in the library had to be
entered into the system and barcodes generated for every child. This was a tedious and time-consuming job.
We would like to say a sincere thanks to the following parents who gave so readily of their time and undertook
this momentous job.
Gotzone O’Kane (Naroa’s mom)
Elke Rink (Felix Schlosser’s mom)
Tara McDonnell (Sean’s & Oran’s mom)
Miriam Hanney (Ailbhe-Lisa’s & Roisin’s mom)
Go raith mile maith agaibh! - Deirbhile –
Communion and Confirmation Classes
Religion classes will begin again for children in 1st and 2nd class for Communion and 5th and 6th class for Confirmation.
These classes will take place in the school on Wednesday afternoons, after school hours. If you are interested,
registration will take place next Wednesday, October 21st, from 2.30 till 3pm. Thank you.
****Stars of the Week****
Jr Inf Holly Durack
Sr Inf Christian Lally
1st Cl Nicole Plotnikova
2nd Cl Sahas Thyarala
3rd Cl Paris Ediagbonya
4th Cl Dragan Calic
5th Cl Dominika Antczak
6th Cl Diana Joyce
Seomra Shona Liam Hayes
This week has been Maths Week. The children have had lots of fun playing maths games, doing maths trails and learning
that maths can be fun, fun, fun! We want you the parents to join in that fun. Outside John’s office there is a challenge
for parents. There are some puzzles and riddles and problems to be solved. Take the sheets home and solve them with
your child. Send them back and John will correct them!!!
YIKES!!!
Each correct sheet will get a number of chance tickets
and will be entered in an extra draw for prizes on Friday 23rd of October. Everyone who gets a sheet correct will receive
a certificate. Come on, Mum and Dad, have a go! Let you child see that maths is fun, fun, fun!
Teacher: "Who can tell me what 7 times 6 is?"
Student: "It's 42!"
Teacher: "Very good! - And who can tell me what 6 times 7 is?"
Same student: "It's 24!"
GETNS Newsletter – 8 October 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Parents Association AGM - Board of Management Finance Information - 8 – 8.45pm - Tuesday 13 October
It is vital that you make every effort to be there as the matters discussed on that night have a direct impact on your child’s education.
• A new parents committee will be elected
• The Board will present its plans for a revised Family Voluntary Contribution
• There will be discussion on fundraising and how we see the school developing over the next few years
Galway Educate Together needs an energised parent body actively addressing the real concerns around the funding of our school.
See you there!
Leisureland Management is asking parents to be patient when children have to change before their swimming lesson.
Parents will not be allowed into the changing rooms until the Leisureland staff are in place.
Please do not ask to go downstairs until Leisureland staff give us permission to do so.
As always, we need more parent volunteers.
Please give your name to the parent on duty at Leisureland.
While it is a very nice gesture to celebrate your child’s birthday by sharing a cake or other treats with your
child’s class I am sorry to say we cannot allow the practice to continue. There are too many issues regarding
food allergies and parental decisions about what foods their children eat. Teachers are happy to acknowledge
a celebration in other ways such as singing a song if you wish to let them know.
Thank you for your co-operation with this matter.
*****Stars of the Week*****
Jr Inf Fionnuala Barrett-Barata
Sr Inf Felix O’Neill
1st Cl Reuben Street
2nd Cl Eva Zekaite
3rd Cl Cian McCann
4th Cl Síofra Bloomer
5th Cl James Moore
6th Cl Tom Mucha
Seomra Shona Mihailo Kovacevic
The information night that was postponed for parents of children in 1st Class will be held next Tuesday
13th October from 7pm to 8pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
Children from 3rd Class will be participating in a publicity photo shoot for Galway City Council to promote
sustainable transport. If you do not wish your child to be involved in this activity, please let us know by
tomorrow, Friday the 9th of October.
Next week is Maths Week – using Maths in a fun way in everyday life
Galway Educate Together Newsletter October 1st 2009.
Dear Parents / Guardians,
The Board of Management will be holding an information night on school
finances on Tuesday October 13th at 8pm in the school. The Parent Teacher Association will also hold their AGM on that
night. It is a really important event for our school community and we need a big turnout. The plans made at this meeting have a
direct impact on your child’s educational future.
You need to be there.
For the past year the Board has been working hard on examining school finances and trying to
put a plan in place to address the funding needs of the school. On the information night the Board will outline the current financial
situation and present its proposals to meet the shortfall for the coming year.
The facts are we will receive government funding of about €90,000 this year. We have
running costs of approximately €93,000. This is before we spend a single euro on resources for the children.
We are proud of the level of education we provide for the children attending the school. As parents
and teachers we want to give them the very best resources and technologies that help support their learning. We want to give
them a broad range of educational experiences that will equip them to be successful life long learners. We want to assist them
discover their talents and passions that will help them live happy and fulfilled lives.
We cannot do this on the level of funding we receive. Therefore we are faced with a major challenge.
How do we go about generating the funding we need to provide the children with all we want for them?
On Tuesday October 13th we hope to answer that question as a community. The meeting is about
much more than asking you for money. It is about ideas, energy and a drive to give the children the very best start we can. It is vital
we all do our bit. I look forward to talking and listening to you on that night.
GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!
The Board of Management has paid for accident insurance cover for all the children in the school for the
next 12 months. Your child is now insured for accidents 24 hours a day until September 30th 2010. You can see a copy of the policy
at the school office or read about online at
http://www.allianz.ie/allianz_ie/Other_Products/Schools/Pupil_Personal_Accident/Pupil_Personal_Accident_
Insurance.html
This is another step by the Board of Management in trying to provide the best support service we can
to families.
If your child’s class is going to a Baboro show over the next few weeks we need to get the
money in as soon as possible. The event organisers require us to pay well in advance and will not hold a place for us without payment.
Please send in the money to your child’s teacher in an envelope marked with the amount. All children must attend the show
with their class. If any family has difficulty meeting finding the money please speak with your child’s teacher or contact
John through the office.
****STARS OF THE WEEK! STARS OF THE WEEK!****
Junior Inf - Aryar Sarkar
Senior Inf – Judy Maina
Ist - Ailbhe-Lisa Hanney
2nd -Dara Casserly
3rd – Henrica Kondjo
4th – Roisin Hanney
5th – Iseult Murphy
6th – Jake VanLeynseele
Seomra Shona – Brady Milandu
Well done to all of you! You’ve all worked super hard, have been great friends and helped
your teachers. Thanks a million!
Last week we had a super assembly to mark European Languages Day. Many classes presented
excellent work done on learning about our European neighbours and used words they had learned from other languages. As many
of our children speak languages other than English we had a fun day celebrating that! The children also enjoyed a marvellous
demonstration of Capoeira. Ask them about it! Thanks to Contra Mestre Mola and his students for sharing their time and talent
with us.
GAA coaching has begun again in the school this year. We are delighted to be able to give the
children this opportunity to learn the skills of football and hurling. Senior Infants, Seomra Shona,1st class and 4th class are learning
hurling while 2nd and 3rd classes will be doing football. Our coaches Gerry and Denis do a great job and we are very thankful to them.
Student Council elections will be held next week. This weekend we are asking prospective candidates
to discuss with their parents the reasons they would like to serve the school community in this way. Perhaps you can help them
devise their manifesto. We will let you know the results when the polls close and the vote count is complete.
The weekly Newsletter is to keep you informed on what is happening in the school. You can receive
it on hard copy in your child’s bag each Thursday. We also email it to those who request such and would encourage more to
avail of this as it saves paper. It is also posted on the school website each week by a helpful parent…Thanks Mike!… and
we also leave copies outside the office just in case. Please make the effort to keep yourself informed. Thank you.
GETNS Newsletter – 24 September 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
A big thank you to all parents who came along to our Parent Information Evening last night. We hope it was useful for you and will help you support your child’s learning. You are the primary educators of your children and our role is to support you as best we can. Last night was an example of that support and we hope to provide you with other opportunities throughout the year. I am very grateful to all the staff for putting in the extra time and effort to assist you and ultimately the children in this way.
A vital factor in providing the children with the best educational opportunities we can, is ensuring that the classes are well equipped with all the necessary materials, technologies and educational resources. However these cost money and the grants provided by the government will not cover these costs. Therefore if we want our school to maintain our high standards we need to raise the money to do it.
The Board of Management will be holding a Finance Information Evening on Tuesday October 13th. On the evening the board will provide information on funding, outline a revised plan for voluntary contributions and host a discussion on fundraising. It is very important that each family is represented at this meeting.
Simply put, without your support we will find it very difficult to support you and your children to the level we all would like. This can be seen as an opportunity to galvanise the great energy and spirit we see every day in the families of our school community. Your children deserve the best, lets work together to ensure they get it.
Remember Tuesday October 13th! Put it in your calendar now.
This information is also available on the "Principal's Desk" area of the school website.
IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING SWIMMING
Parents need to tell children attending swimming that if they need the toilet during the session they need to tell one of the swimming committee. Either Allan or Winky are usually present. The committee member will then accompany the child. The changing rooms are accessible by gym customers so it's simply a precaution, but an important one. PLEASE DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR CHILD.
SWIMMING GEAR: Your child is required to have the following:-
• swimsuit or togs
• goggles
• swim cap
• towel
Any child without the above WILL NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE POOL.
CHANGING CUBICLES:
Please remind your children not to leave their belongings in the cubicles during our swimming session. Lockers are available. Clothing will be removed from cubicles by Leisureland in future.
Raising Awareness about Prader-Willi Syndrome
A new child who has recently joined our school has a medical condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). As this is a rare condition we would like to help raise awareness about it by including some information here.
PWS is a complex genetic condition that is present from birth. Although all people with PWS are affected differently by the syndrome, typical characteristics include:
* excessive appetite (which can lead to over-eating and/or obesity if access to food is not controlled)
* special dietary requirements (i.e., no fatty or sugary foods can be eaten)
* low muscle tone and general physical weakness
* occasional emotional over-sensitivity
* short stature (for which growth hormone treatment is given)
As such, children with PWS cannot eat any food other than their own, and cannot ever have snacks or cakes or other treats.
PWS is a rare condition. Overall, just 70 people are known to have PWS in Ireland. If you are interested in finding out more about the syndrome, please go to http://www.pwsausa.org/.
Green Schools Initiative
Our school is involved in a competition to raise awareness of climate change. Please encourage your family and as many people as possible to realise their impact on climate change by registering before the 10th of October under our group (Galway Educate Together National School) and find your carbon number.
For more information go to: http://www.change.ie.
**** Stars Of The Week****
Jr Inf Reuben Mueller-Wieland
Sr Inf Fiachra Tuite
1st Cl Luke McManus
2nd Cl Doireann Ní Mhórdha
3rd Cl Bianca Sloane
4th Cl Nathan O’Loughlin
5th Cl Eddie Madden
6th Cl Jack Counihan
Seomra Shona James O’Connor
There have been numerous complaints about people still stopping in the middle of the road (or stopping inside the gate entrance), dropping-off children. Please be considerate and park at the kerbs before letting your children out of the car.
GETNS Newsletter – 17 September 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians
As far as we are aware there have been no further cases of the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus at our school. It is likely however that there will be further cases over the coming months. Staff and students presenting with flu-like symptoms will be sent home as soon as possible and those that develop a flu like illness should stay at home for 7 days. There is no need for family contacts of cases to stay away from school, unless displaying symptoms themselves. You can get further information on prevention, symptoms and answers to any questions you might have on http://www.educatetogether.ie or http://www.swineflu.ie
Remember next Wednesday night September 23rd at 7.30pm we will be holding an Open Evening for parents. Please come along and meet the staff that will be working with your child this year. You will find out about classroom routines, the curriculum and ways you can support your child’s learning. Have a cuppa with other parents and see how you can get involved with the Parents Association. It is your school community - please play your part. We look forward to meeting you all on the night.
Rainbows Programme
Galway Educate Together would like to offer the “Rainbows Programme” to children who may need support due to painful transitions that may have taken place in their lives. In these circumstances children may find it extremely difficult to verbalise their feelings of grief, because of their age or inexperience.
Rainbows facilitators are caring, trained adults who will help these children put their feelings into words, work through their grief, build a stronger sense of self-esteem, and begin to accept what has taken place in the family. If your child is suffering the loss of a parent, has experienced the death of a loved family member, friend or sibling, or is struggling through a painful experience, this will be an opportunity for him/her to share on a private basis what is happening on the inside.
We are offering this support to children from 2nd to 6th Classes at this stage. If you feel that your child will benefit from attending this support group, please contact Noelle in the school for more details.
****Stars of the Week****
Jr Inf Zach Murray
Sr Inf Eloise Street Byrne
1st Cl Rosie Flynn
2nd Cl Carolina Poskrobko
3rd Cl Darragh O’Donohue
4th Cl Sean McDonnell
5th Cl Caoimhe Lillis-Greally
6th Cl Eoghan Kelly
Seomra Shona Grady Milandu
An introductory course in Gaeilge for parents over 2 nights with emphasis on oral conversation, vocabulary and phrases your child encounters in the primary school classroom will be held at the Galway Education Centre on Thursday 24th and Wednesday 30th of September. It is a free course but booking is essential. You can contact the education centre on 091 745600 and it is located at Cluain Mhuire on the Monivea Rd.
FIDDLE AND TIN WHISTLE LESSONS
Fiddle and Tin Whistle lessons will resume on WED 30th of SEP.
REGISTRATION will take place on WED 23 SEP @ 2.30 in the Hall.
Registration forms are available from Esther’s Office. If your child is a beginner please call me beforehand with any questions and for advice on instruments, etc. The term will run for 11 weeks until Wed 16th Dec and we will celebrate it with an end of Year Festive Concert. Class sizes will be small, between 3 to 6 children, to guarantee a satisfactory and inspiring learning experience! The COURSE FEE is €145 (fiddle) and €130 (tin whistle) for the 11 week term, payable at registration. Please CONTACT me in case of further queries: Tel. ANNA 0866095313.
Irish Dance Classes will resume on Friday Sept 25th from 2.30 to 3.30pm. The autumn session will run for 9 weeks, from Sept 25th to Nov 27th, and will cost 60 euros. Registration will be Friday, Sept 18th, at 2.15pm in the school lobby. For more information please contact Christine Maguire 0868215793.
If you have any children’s books (in good condition) and you do not use it anymore, please drop them into the Book Bank Box in the foyer. Books are always welcome and put to good use.
GETNS Newsletter – 10 September 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians,
We are inviting all parents to attend an open evening in the school on Wednesday September 23rd from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. The purpose of the evening is to give you a chance to meet the staff working with your children. Like last year this is an event for parents and we ask that you do not bring your children along.
On the night you will get information specific to each class that will help you support your child’s learning in a meaningful way. All the staff will be here on the night and it is a great opportunity to learn more about the programmes the children will be covering while at the same time meeting other families and building a sense of community. The Parents Association will provide tea/coffee and light refreshments. I really urge you to make every effort to attend this event and am looking forward to meeting you all then.
We will also be hosting a Board of Management and Parents Association night early in October. We will let you know more about this when everything is finalised.
A coffee morning will take place next Tuesday, the 15th of September, from 9-10am in the school kitchen. We would like to invite all parents of children who receive language support to attend. Looking forward to seeing you there!
SPANISH CLASSES
Learning the functional language spoken in ordinary life in Spain, through drama
JUNIOR / SENIOR INFANTS
MONDAY: 2.30 – 3.30PM
1ST – 6TH CLASSES
MONDAY: 1.30 – 2.30PM
Please call next week if you are interested so that all the groups can be set up. Thank you.
Eloisa Etxebarria, H/Tel 446463 / Mob 087 7474 990
PTA News
Thanks for all the support and talent at last June’s talent show. We raised €200 and have spent it on a bench for the foyer which we hope the children will get to design – watch their school bags for a competition!
Sewing Classes
If you missed signing up for Michelle’s knitting and stitching class this week there are still some places left. It starts on Tue 15th of Sep at 2.30pm in the school library… So, come along or phone/text Michelle on 085 738 6442..
****Stars of the Week****
Jr Inf Molly Terrins
Sr Inf Oran McDonnell
1st Cl Lewis Waweru
2nd Cl Lily Forrest
3rd Cl Ailbhe Archer
4th Cl Oisín Faherty
5th Cl Rian McKeagney
6th Cl Anesi Igunma
Sshona Not this week
GETNS NEWSLETTER - 3 SEPTEMBER 2009
Dear Parents / Guardians
Welcome back to a new school year, full of exciting events! We hope you had a wonderful holiday with the family and that you are well rested. A special welcome to all the new families - we look forward to having a long-lasting, beneficial relationship with you.
Congratulations
Our school won the prize in the Galway Tidy Town Competition for the best school garden! Thanks to all the people involved and congratulations!!
Staff meetings this year will take place on the first Tuesday of every month. The dates are as follows:
October 6th
November 3rd
December 1st
January 12th
February 2nd
March 2nd
April 13th
May 11th
June 1st
Remember that the school closes at 12noon on these days.
Traffic Congestion.
Please do not park on the pavement outside the school, in front of the gate or in the middle of the road when picking up your child and avoid reversing, as this presents a hazard to all our children. We'd appreciate your co-operation to the benefit of all.
Swimming.
Swimming will be starting up again soon. Please check your child's school bag. |
