Our School Concert in the Mill Theatre!

October Newsletter 2016

Thank you to all our parents, staff and children who have worked hard together to make this a fantastic start to the new school year. As our Autumn half-term draws to a close, we take a look back at all the news of the last two months, but first . . .

Our School Concert in The Mill Theatre!

On Tuesday, 29th November the children of Ballinteer Educate Together will be taking to the stage in The Mill Theatre Dundrum. Each class will be performing their own imaginative take on a familiar fairy tale, with plenty of fun, singing, dancing and acting to entertain all our parents! Rehearsals for this wonderful event are already well under way in our classrooms and excitement is building. Just when you thought costume design season was nearly behind you!

Tickets for the concert will be available to buy in the coming month. The suggested price is €5 per ticket and proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to our school.

Further details about show times, arrangements for ticket buying, costumes etc. will be finalised soon and emailed to you. Shows will be held in the late afternoon/ early evening of the 29th.

Thanking you in advance for your support of what we hope will be the first of many visits for our school to the stage.

Class News

Junior Infants have been working very hard and having lots of fun since starting school in September. Our theme for the month of September was ‘Myself’. We learned lots about our senses and body parts and we got to know each other’s likes and dislikes. We even know how to name some body parts in Irish!

On the 27th of September, we were very lucky to have a visit from Clodagh and Neasa’s dad, Joey. He came in to talk to us about safety around electricity and he gave each child a hi-vis jacket that we can wear on our class outings.

Our theme for October was ‘Food’ and it was a very busy month. In English, we read the book ‘Handa’s Surprise’ about a little girl bringing fruit to her friend. There were lots of exotic fruits mentioned in the book and we decided to have a fruit party so that we could taste them all. In science, we learned all about the importance of food. We sorted foods into groups by deciding if they were ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ and we designed our own healthy lunches. We also conducted an experiment to see if certain foods melted when heated. In SPHE, we have been learning about food hygiene and how to stop the spread of germs. As part of our Learn Together Curriculum, we looked at the different foods that are eaten all over the world.

On the 6th of October, Junior Infants celebrated National Tree Day by taking a walk to the trees on the grounds and thanking them for all they do for us. We went on a number and shape hunt in the playground for Math’s Week. The children worked together in groups to find and take photos of the numbers and shapes in the trail.

We have also begun practicing for our show ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.’ We are very excited about the performance in November.

Senior Infants have been learning all about the Optician and Autumn in October.We went on an Autumn walk and collected pine cones, acorns, leaves, conkers and twigs. We even got to go to the playground afterward. It was a fantastic adventure!

We have also been learning about the Optician during our Aistear hour of play. We have been getting our eyes tested, making glasses, designing eye testing equipment and even checking our teddy bears eye sight!

We have also been having a lot of fun in math. We have been playing lots of exciting math games and we have been using the interactive whiteboard and ipads too. We were practicing our number formation using play dough, sand, shaving foam, chalk and blocks which was really messy but great fun!

We have been having a fantastic time in Senior Infants!

As part of the ethical curriculum, First Class have been learning all about Fair Trade. We have explored what Fair Trade means and have discovered many products we can buy in our shops that display the Fair Trade symbol. . We have learned about villages in other countries where Fair Trade corporations have improved living conditions for all. We have passed on our knowledge at home and have become more aware of how we can make the world a fairer place, through the buying of Fair Trade products.

We have also been very busy learning all about the signs of autumn and created some wonderful pumpkin drawings, inspired by pumpkins grown in our very own school vegetable patch!

This month Second Class have been learning all about Autumn trees, plants and animals. We took a nature walk to Balally Park and collected lots of leaves, acorns and conkers.

We also had a visit from Concern about becoming Hunger Heroes! We learned that 1 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in Ireland.Claire taught us how to avoid wasting food by recycling.

Third Class have had an amazing first half term and we were so pleased to see each other after the holidays and share our stories and news! We have packed so much in already including a competition which we all entered for the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Social Inclusion Week. Kuba won the trophy but we were all rightly proud of our designs which can be seen on the school website.

We had a visit from a firefighter called Tommy last week which was very interesting and informative. He discussed fire safety and gave us each a pack to take home and share. We devised an escape plan in collaboration with our families and discussed the information we had learnt.

We must also say a huge thank you to Laragh Havelin who helped us to harvest the pumpkins from the school garden. After harvesting and delivering them to the other classes we tried some delicious muffins and roasted pumpkin seeds that Laragh had prepared for us.

In addition to these exciting events we have been tackling new concepts in all areas of the curriculum. We even created amazing project work around our theme of ‘Space’ which can be seen on display in our classroom and in the photos here. We are looking forward to November and December and particularly to preparing for our big performance in the Mill Theatre on Tuesday 29th November. Stay tuned for more!

Book Fair in Ballinteer

Our final week before midterm welcomed the return of the Scholastic Book Fair to Ballinteer Educate Together. Many thanks to the PTA who organised all the parent volunteers who donated their time and energy to the Book Fair. The children thoroughly enjoyed browsing and buying as well as engaging with exciting Book Week activities in their classes.

This year, the Book Fair raised around €1800 for the purchase of new books for our class libraries!

After-School Activities

The After-School Programme for the children in First to Third Class has had another very successful start this year. Our classrooms and grounds buzz with activity every afternoon. This term the children have been participating in Arts and Crafts, Chinese, Science Club, Drama and Gaelic Football.

Active School

In Ballinteer Educate Together, we work hard to nurture all aspects of our children’s growth, learning and development, including their physical development. We acknowledge particularly the strong links between physical and mental wellbeing in our children. With this in mind, our school is striving to overcome some of the limitations of our current facilities to ensure that the children enjoy a full and active PE programme in school.

In December, the children from Senior Infants to Third Class will be going for a day trip toUCDSports Centre.

This will be a fun and active day for the children, including a variety of sports and even some trampolining.

We hope that this will be the first of three trips toUCDfor the children to enjoy over the coming school year.

This term has also seen the launch of the Fit4Skool programme in Ballinteer Educate Together. This is an online resource which can be accessed by the children at home using their password and username. This programme is linked to the Irish curriculum for primary schools and encourages the children to get active, even in small spaces at home.

The children in First Class have enjoyed their first swimming lessons in Meadowbrook Leisure Centre this term. Orlaith’s class are looking forward to their turn in the pool after the midterm break. Second and Third Classes will be beginning their swimming lessons in Term 2. These lessons form part of the Aquatic Strand of the PE curriculum for primary schools. We hope that every children will have the opportunity to take part in two terms of swimming lessons (usually one in First Class and one in Second Class).

The children in Second Class have been enjoying weekly sessions with Carol from St John’s GAA this term, developing their Gaelic Football skills.

Rainbows and Family Support

The Rainbows Peer-Support Programme will take place again this year in Ballinteer Educate Together. This programme deals with critical events in the lives of children and their families including bereavement, separation and loss and offers children a safe space to explore these events with the support of new friends.

The programme will again be offered to children in 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class. Weekly Rainbows sessions take place after school and there is no charge. Further information about the programme and application forms will be emailed to you after the midterm. Órla and Ciara are available to answer any questions you might have and all applications are dealt with in the strictest confidence.

If there are any changes in your family’s circumstances that you feel it is important for your child’s teachers to be aware of, please do not hesitate to talk to us. Looking after the children’s safety and well-being is central to our child-centred ethos and of prime importance to the staff of Ballinteer Educate Together.

Seasonal Cards

As in other years, the children will be designing their own greeting cards again this year. The PTA are starting these preparations early this year to ensure that you have all your holiday card stocks supplied in plenty of time for the upcoming season.

The children will design their card in school. Your child’s card design will be professionally printed and available for you to order. A prototype of your child’s greeting card design will be sent to you along with an order form in the coming month.

Calling All Volunteers - Tesco Dundrum Bag Pack!

With huge thanks to Anna (Milena’s mum), and the efforts of the PTA, our school will run a bag packing fundraiser in Tesco Dundrum on Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20thNovember.

This is a huge fundraising opportunity for our school and will ensure that we can continue to support and resource all the wonderful programmes and curricular activities taking place in our classrooms this year. We will need all hands on deck to ensure its success.

We need as many parents (grandparents, aunties, uncles and friends!) as possible to donate a couple of hours over the bag packing weekend in Tesco Dundrum. This is sure to be great fun and very worthwhile.Details of how you can access the sign up for volunteering will be emailed to you shortly.

Tesco Dundrum are also supporting Ballinteer Educate Together through their Blue Tokens drive. Make sure to encourage everyone you know to support our school by dropping their tokens for us every time they shop!

Parent Teacher Association

The second meeting of the PTA for this school year was held on Wednesday, 12th October.

• New PTA – A meeting of the PTA took place on 22nd September for any parents interested in joining the PTA. We are delighted that seven new parents joined.
• A number of members of last year’s PTA have decided to step down after a busy year. We’d like to thank Aileen, Maud, Olga, Walter and Max for all their work on the committee last year.
• On the 12th October, the first meeting of the new PTA, key roles of the PTA were decided. Full list of the PTA is below:
• Amanda Bailey – Chair & National Parents Council rep
• Darina Mulligan– Vice Chair
• Sinéad Smith – Secretary
• Mark Weldon – Treasurer

• Karolina Borowska
• Conal Carr
• Laragh Havelin
• Vivienne Bwalya
• Marie Vanasova
• Stella d'Atri
• Sarah Houston / Paul Longmore (will alternate)
• Dudley Colley
• Mariel Deegan
• Milena Delussu / Giacomo Bazzo (will alternate)
• Marie Gordon (Principal)
• Órla (Teacher)
• Muireann (Teacher)

As always the PTA can be contacted through -

• Meetings will be held on the second Wednesday of every month.
• Agreed to set up two sub-committees this year. Parents can join the subcommittees whether they are members of the PTA or not. (1) Building Action Group – first meeting has already taken place with around 20 parents involved and (2) Fundraising Group.
• Recent meeting of the Building Action Grouptook place on the 20th October at 730.
• Significant activity undertaken in relation to our permanent school building over the last month which has significantly raised awareness of our school at Ministerial and Department level. In addition to the hundreds of letters sent by parents to the Minister for Education, and our highly successful online petition, all Senators, TDs and Councillors in the area have been contacted. A number have visited the school and a number of additional visits are planned. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council wrote to the Minister in support of our school while a number of individual TDs also raised Dáil questions. Media focus has also been high with Newstalk and the Daily Mail running features on our school. A number of other media outlets have been in contact and the PTA and Action Group will be looking at the best way to leverage this interest. Our latest feedback is positive in that the Department are now actively working on resolving the access issue. There is likely to be a lull in information while the Department undertakes a number of commercial discussions.
• Fundraising – a number of parents have come forward interested in running a fundraising group. Please contact the PTA if you would like to get involved. There are a large number of fundraising ideas suggested for this year including Family Day (similar to last year), Celebration / Christmas Cards & Calendars, Music Night, Cake Sales etc.
• The Scholastic Bookfair will take place from the 24th to 28th October. Volunteers will be needed in the morning and at the 12.55 and 1.55 pickups. Class reps have agreed to coordinate the roster and will be looking for volunteers. Please get involved if you can.
• Tesco Blue Tokens - Good news, our school has been selected again for the Blue Tokens in Dundrum. Please collect your tokens and keep an eye for when the school pops up soon!
• The Tesco Bag Pack in Dundrum will take place on the 19th / 20th November. Details are currently being finalised with Tesco and we will then be looking for everyone to get involved in giving up a couple of hours to pack bags. This is a very significant fundraiser for the school so please keep the dates in your diaries.
• Parent’ Talk – First talk on the area of childhood nutrition will take place on the week of the 21st of November. Further details to follow.
• Garden – Keep an eye on our school garden beside the main building entrance. There are some pumpkins now growing! Well done to Jim for keeping them watered over the summer and to Laragh for all the work on getting this set up.

Notes to Parents

Early collection: Wherever possible, please email the school office to inform us if you need to collect your child early from school. Please also ensure that your child’s class teacher is informed if your child is being collected by somebody new. An email confirmation of the adult designated to collect your child is also very helpful.

Emergency contact numbers: It is our policy to always contact parents directly by phone in the event of a head injury in school or in the yard. It is particularly important that we have all relevant contact numbers for you and for your designated ‘in case of emergency’ people. Please ensure that the office has your currentmobile numbers, home numbers and work numbers.

Returning to school after home time: In an earlier email we asked that parents and children avoid, where possible, returning in to the school building after home time. Our lobby area now operates as a learning space for many children and their privacy and quiet learning time must be protected. We would like to thank all our parents who have made huge efforts to avoid returning to the school building after home time. Where there are toilet emergencies we will of course allow children to return in to the building but ask that parents make every effort to continue to keep these trips to a minimum.