A note from Tim
Dear Parents and Guardians,
What a brilliant start to the new school year! Our corridors and classrooms are buzzing with energy, learning, and fun. We have been so impressed by how wonderfully all the children are settling in, and we are especially delighted with the fantastic impact our new Junior Infants, our new children in Setanta, and all new pupils across the school have made to our school community.
There has been so much to celebrate already! We are thrilled to share our excitement and pride for all the children who have won Star of the Week and the classes who have earned Class of the Week—your hard work and positive attitudes are fantastic. A huge thank you as well to all the pupils who have been representing our school so brilliantly across a wide range of sports. Above all, it is the exceptional manners, kindness, and daily contributions of all our children that truly make this such a wonderful school.
I would also like to extend a sincere thank you to all parents and guardians for your ongoing support and cooperation—particularly with the smooth running of morning drop-offs and afternoon collections. Your support makes a huge difference every day.
Finally, thank you for your continued patience and understanding regarding the current industrial action. We share your hope that a resolution will be reached nationally very soon so we can return to our usual full calendar of events.
Wishing all our families a wonderful midterm holiday ahead!
Tim
Classroom Updates
Báetán’s Class
Room 7 has been busy learning all about ourselves and our families. We have looked at our interests, our strengths, our body parts and even our skeletons! We each made work for our own display board and the children chose to be photographed showing off some of the work that they are most proud of.
Caitlin’s Class
Caitlin’s class have had a great start to the school year. It has been so lovely getting to know all the children and seeing them begin to grow in confidence as they become familiar with their new surroundings and routines. We have been busy exploring our classroom and getting to know each other, while also enjoying lots of fun autumn activities. The children have loved getting creative with autumn leaves and paint to make some beautiful pieces of artwork. We are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead filled with lots of learning, fun and new experiences.
Ben’s Junior Infants
Ben’s class have settled into life at school excellently. We have learned all about the expectations of the classroom and having kind hands, feet and words. We have been doing lots of colouring, drawing and cutting to help improve our fine motor skills. We have also been painting, learning about shapes and colours as well as working on our counting. We are learning all about our school and the different roles within the school from the Principal to the teachers and SNA’s and the maintenance and cleaning staff that help our school run. As part of this exploration of the school we are playing schools to allow everyone to pretend to be one of these roles giving the students a chance to be the teacher.
We have had a great start and are looking forward to the rest of the year!
Cormac’s Junior Infants
We have had so much fun learning and playing with our friends in Cormac’s Class. Our favourite activities include storytime, art, Aistear, and PE in the hall! Have a look at some of our art below, including our elephants just like Elmer in the storybook!We have learned about our school and the people who work in it, and have already become so independent!All the mams and dads should be very proud of their children. They are all so polite and well mannered, and have adapted really well to school! Well done to all the boys and girls in Cormac’s Class!
Orla’s Junior Infants
What a busy and fun half term it has been in Orla’s class. We have been getting to know each other and have been learning all about our new classroom and school. We have been working lots on our listening skills, fine motor skills and independence – we have done so well!
Our daily Storytime in our classroom library is one of our favourite parts of the day – we have enjoyed lots of stories so far, especially Dear Zoo, Where’s my Teddy? and Elmer.
We are looking forward to a great year ahead!
Ciara and Leah’s Senior Infants
We have had a lovely start back in Senior Infants! We have been learning all about Autumn and went on an autumnal trail to the park. We explored the signs of Autumn around us and collected lots of colourful leaves along the way. We brought our leaves back to the classroom and used them to create our very own hedgehog art. We had great fun getting creative and using the natural materials we found on our autumn adventure!
Vicky’s Senior Infants
We have been learning all about Autumn in our class. We went on a walk to the park and we collected leaves and twigs and we made pictures out of them. We also learned about Hedgehogs and we painted some hedgehogs too. We learned about plants and what helps them grow and we planted our own plants in the classroom. We got to bring them home when they got bigger. We had great fun learning all about Autumn.
Meredith’s Senior Infants
As part of the Senior Infants study of the seasons, Meredith’s class have “adopted” one of the silver birch trees outside the school. We have taken bark and leaf rubbings, and will be drawing “our” tree as it changes through the seasons. We have also been examining signs of autumn in different ways: looking at them closely with magnifying glasses, drawing them, sorting them into groups called sets, and ordering them.
Ciara’s First Class
We have had a lovely start back in First Class! In Maths, we have been learning how to use a number line to help us with our counting and number work. In SESE, we have been exploring hibernation and discovering how animals prepare for the winter months. We have also been learning about our senses. In Art, we have been making our own self-portraits. In Music, we have been composing our own spooky soundscapes and we have been working hard to practise our handwriting over the past few weeks too!
Eimear’s First Class
Eimear’s first class had a super start to the new year. The students have been working hard in lots of different subjects while also getting used to the longer day at school. In Maths we have been working hard on our number formation and addition from 1-20. Our SESE has explored the changes we see in Autumn. We have also done some nice art based on this topic. We have been creating our own personal timelines and have enjoyed getting to share our stories and differences. I would like to wish you all an enjoyable midterm break.
Sophie’s First Class
We have had a wonderful start to the year in Sophie’s 1st Class! We have been busy learning all about number in Maths, including learning our very own ‘Number of the Day’ song. In English, we have been practising our phonics and developing our handwriting skills. We have enjoyed lots of exploring in SESE, learning about the different parts of a plant and creating our own personal timelines. In Music, we have been exploring our voices and learning how to keep a steady tempo. In Art, we have been busy creating self-portraits and experimenting with blending colours together. Perhaps our favourite time of the day is when we practise our assembly song using sign language! It has been lovely to see everyone getting involved and learning together. A well-deserved rest is just around the corner, and I hope you all have a wonderful midterm break!
Eoin M’s Second Class
Eoin’s 2nd Class have been busy exploring the work of two famous artists, Pablo Picasso and Romero Britto. The children created their own self-portraits inspired by their distinctive artistic styles. They also enjoyed drawing and painting a variety of animals, including owls decorated with the colourful patterns and bold designs associated with Brazilian artist Romero Britto.
In Geography, we have been learning about our local area. The children developed their map-making skills by creating simple maps of different areas of our classroom. We then explored some of the amenities in our locality, including Lidl and Tesco, and practised locating them on maps.
In Science, we investigated electricity and explored how electrical circuits work. The children had great fun constructing simple electrical circuits and discovering how to light up a small bulb.
Claire O’s Second Class
Claire O’s 2nd Class pupils recently took on an exciting STEM house-building challenge! After learning about different types of homes in Ireland and around the world, the children worked in teams to plan, design, measure and build their own two-storey houses using recycled materials.
Throughout the activity, the children developed important skills including teamwork, communication, creativity and problem-solving. They also had the opportunity to peer assess each other’s work and reflect on the building process.
Of course, no house was complete until it faced the ultimate test — could it withstand the power of the Big Bad Wolf? 🐺💨 The children had great fun putting their designs to the test and were very proud of their finished creations.
Méadbh’s Second Class
Méadbh’s 2nd class have settled into the new school year and have been working hard. We learned about the different types of homes in Geography and the children took on a STEM challenge to create a house, using lollipop sticks, straws and pipecleaners! They showed great teamwork skills as everyone worked so well together.
The children have also been making a great effort with their Gaeilge and have been using it throughout the day more and more.
In art we talked about different perspectives and the children painted some beautiful autumn trees.
Francis’ Third Class
Francis’ class has been busy exploring the frontier of space across subjects like Art, History, Geography and Science! Other little projects we’ve worked on include the book Journey by Aaron Becker, designing hoop gliders, the introduction of multiplication, visiting the mobile library for the first time and beginning our digital literacy on the chromebooks!
We even secured Class of the Week recently due to a strong improvement in our lining up and preparation skills.
John’s Third Class
John’s class has had a very productive start to the year. We have been enthusiastic about all their learning.
Keith’s class has been teaching us how to play the ukulele. All the students showed great perseverance and resilience whilst learning the ukulele. The class was very excited to perform with the ukuleles at assembly on Friday the 16th of October.
Lauren’s Third Class
The children have had a fantastic start back at school! We have been exploring the theme of ‘Myself, My Family and My Friendships’ across all areas of the curriculum. The children have been learning more about themselves, their families and what makes each of them special.
In Irish, we have been practising how to describe ourselves and talk about our families, while in Art, we have been busy creating our own self-portraits. The children have really enjoyed sharing their ideas, expressing their creativity and getting to know one another even better.
Shane’s Fourth Class
Shane’s class have settled very well into their new class and have made a great start to the year. In the first few weeks we have been working very hard at developing a growth mindset; understanding that making mistakes is an important part of growing and learning and always striving to improve.
We have been trying to integrate this way of thinking into everything we are learning such as descriptive writing in literacy, colour mixing in art, learning ukulele and xylophone in music and researching non-European countries in geography.
One of our early highlights has been playing the xylophones along to Try Everything by Shakira for whole school assemblies.
Mallorie’s Fourth Class
Mallorie’s 4th class is off to a great start this year! They were the first senior class to win Class of the Week at assembly. They also put on an amazing assembly performance playing the xylophones with Shane’s class in front of the whole school. Working together as a team has been a huge focus in this class. There has been lots of project work completed already. Projects on the lungs and how we breathe. Projects on counties Galway and Kerry. In addition the children have been having fun making drama role plays on ‘schools in the past’ for History. In English the class have been working on descriptive language and are currently working on their own Halloween descriptive poems that Mallorie can’t wait to read!
Keith’s Fourth Class
We have had a great start to 4th Class. We’re a newly formed class but we’ve become fast friends.
We’ve been working on narrative writing. We’ve done lots of work on division in maths using notation boards, Splashlearn activities and the bus stop method. In Irish we’ve been working on talking about possession. We’ve started projects on our school life timelines and different counties in Ireland. In P.E. we’ve played a simplified version of cricket. On Mondays afternoons, we’ve been playing chess and we’re taking to it like ducks to water!
Paul’s Fifth Class
It has been a busy few weeks in Paul’s 5th Class! We have been using our iPads to assess our Fundamental Movement Skills and reflect on our progress. For Maths Week, we took on exciting STEM challenges, working together to design and build the tallest possible towers. In Art, we experimented with ratio and gradient painting, exploring how colours can be blended to create different shades and effects. We have also been learning about the famous street artist Banksy, exploring his thought-provoking artwork and creating some street-art-inspired pieces of our own. We have been enjoying plenty of opportunities to be creative with descriptive writing, making our own restaurant menus and writing about our favourite place on the chromebooks.
Aisleen’s Fifth Class
It’s been a very busy term in Aisleen’s 5th class.
We learned all about Mozart’s music and listened to some familiar pieces of music on the harpsichord. We didn’t realise how many pieces of music we recognised.
We’ve also been excellent at speaking as Gaeilge (in Irish) informally, not just during Irish lessons.
We’re well able to have a conversation as Gaeilge and can name the days of the week, the seasons and talk about Mé Féin. (Myself)
We’ve been revising many concepts in Maths, such as algebra, fractions and multiplication and we’ve been enjoying the new maths games on the interactive white board.
We were discussing ‘Who can make art?’ as part of our team teaching lessons and looked at the works of Jackson Pollock.
We also followed a procedure and made our own origami lions.
Claire C’s Sixth Class
In Claire’s 6th class we have been busy this term building a classroom community where everyone is kind, respectful and enjoying time together. We worked together in groups for a lot of games and activities and every morning we participated in morning meetings where we greeted one another, shared our opinions and played games. We have learned to greet each other in lots of different languages. We have also been using lots of accountable talk. For example the children have been learning that all opinions are important and it is okay to disagree with someone as long as we disagree in a respectful manner.
In maths we have been working on place value, algebra, multiplication and time. We incorporate games into our maths which makes it a lot more fun. In literacy we have been listening to read aloud pictures and participating in gallery walks. In science we did an experiment using baking powder, a balloon, an old bottle and vinegar to show the chemical reaction when the ingredients were combined together. It was a super fun activity.
In Gaeilge we learnt our poem ‘Na Ceisteanna’ and recited it at assembly. We are now learning all about Oiche Shamhna/Halloween as Gaeilge and we are using descriptive vocabulary in our writing to try to persuade people to purchase a haunted house.
Aisling’s Sixth Class
In Aisling’s 6th class, we have been busy building a positive classroom community where everyone feels included, respected and valued. Through our morning meetings, group activities and games, we have been developing our communication skills and practising accountable talk. We are learning that everyone’s opinions are important and that we can disagree respectfully. In Literacy, we have been putting our creative writing skills to the test by creating spooky, haunted house real estate listings! We have been using descriptive writing and sensory language to bring our haunted houses to life and persuade potential buyers to make a purchase. In Music, we learnt the World Cup song Dai Dai and incorporated singing, musical instruments and dance into a fantastic performance, which we proudly showcased at assembly. We have had a busy and exciting term filled with creativity, collaboration and learning!
GAA
Well done to the TETNS 3rd & 4th class Girls and Boys Gaelic Football Teams who participated in a blitz against St Luke’s, St Patrick’s, Powerstown ETNS and An Gaelscoil.
Attendance
Over the past number of years, we have been trying to improve the attendance in our school. Our main initiative has been to reward students who meet attendance targets at termly assemblies. Please see this term’s attendance email for more details.
Rugby with Leinster Rugby
We were delighted to welcome Dominick from Leinster Rugby, who has been coaching our 4th and 5th classes. The pupils have been developing their rugby skills and enjoying the opportunity to learn from a professional coach. Both classes are looking forward to putting their skills into practice at an interschool tag rugby blitz in Westmanstown next month. There is great excitement building as they prepare to represent our school!
Football with Shelbourne FC
Our 6th classes have also been enjoying football coaching sessions with Kristen from Shelbourne FC. The pupils have been developing their football skills, working on their teamwork and building confidence through fun, engaging activities. We are very grateful to Kristen and Shelbourne FC for supporting our pupils and providing them with these valuable opportunities to learn and develop through sport.
A big thank you!!
We were delighted to welcome Andrew from the FAI, who kindly donated a set of new footballs to our school. This generous contribution will help support our pupils’ enjoyment of football and provide plenty of opportunities to develop their skills during PE and break times. A big thank you to Andrew and the FAI for their support. Our pupils are looking forward to putting the new footballs to good use!
