Dear Parents,
We would like to inform you of recent developments regarding our building. For the month of September we will be sharing our building with Rush and Lusk Educate Together. The senior classes (3rd to 6th) of Rush and Lusk will be using our empty classrooms until their school building works and repairs have been completed. We look forward to welcoming our new temporary residents and hope they enjoy their time at Skerries Educate Together.
26th September 2013
Assemblies
Assemblies are a very important part of school life in Skerries Educate Together. At assembly we talk about our ‘Theme of the Month’, share news, celebrate birthdays and occasions, encourage participation from the children and we also award our Pupil of the Week certificates. We would love parents to be part of these occasions and would like to invite you to come along to assembly on the first Friday of each month for the rest of the school year. We hold two assemblies – the first one is at 8.45 and is for children in Louise, Dee, Jenny, Joanne and Caroline’s classes. The second one is held at 10.30 and is for Deirdre, Cian, Conor and Sylvia’s classes. Both assemblies last between thirty and forty-five minutes. Please feel free to ‘drop in’ at any of our assemblies. Children and staff will be very happy to see you.
Dates for Assembly:
October 4th November 8th December 6th January 10th
February 7th March 7th April 4th May 2nd
October is Anti-Bullying Month
October is Anti-Bullying month in Skerries Educate Together. During the month children will be learning what bullying is, how to recognise it, how to stand up against it and how to speak out. We want our school to be an anti-bullying zone – a school where children feel safe and where we can all stand up confidently and say ‘no’ to bullying. This month will be the springboard for the year ahead where lessons and assemblies referring to anti-bullying will feature regularly.
Please come and see our Anti-Bullying Resources – Friday 4th October
We have a range of resources, activities and books that we will be using for the year ahead to support this campaign. We would like to invite you to the school to view these resources on Friday 4th October. These resources will be on display after each assembly. You can view them from 9.15 to 9.45 and from 11.00 to 11.30 on this day. If you cannot make it and would like to view the resources please make an appointment with Jean before this date and we will make every effort to meet you and discuss our resources.
Tuesday 5th November – Anti Bullying Ambassador Programme hosted by Skerries Educate Together National School
We are very proud to announce that Skerries Educate Together have been successful in our bid to host a large Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme. Please check out the following web site to learn more about the programme: http://diana-award.org.uk/anti-bullying. Fifteen children in our school will become anti-bullying ambassadors thereby empowering our children to participate meaningfully in our campaign. These children will be supported by our anti-bullying staff team – Jean, Sylvia, Louise and Jenny. Students from other Educate Together schools, local national schools and secondary schools have all been invited to the event. We also hope to liaise with another anti-bullying initiative that is being run in our community, SABI (Skerries Anti- Bullying Initiative). This initiative gives information, advice and support to parents.
Anti-bullying Policy
Our anti-bullying staff team have worked very hard to review our anti-bullying policy and this pro-active and practical policy is in the process of being discussed with the Parent Association and the Board of Management. Once it is ratified it will be available on our website and in the secretary’s office for view.
We look forward to seeing you on Friday 4th October.
Tomás
26th September 2013
Dear Parents,
We need to inform you about a change with regard to lunches in the near future. As you are probably aware funding for school lunches comes from the Department of Social Protection. The original amount granted to the school has not and will not be increased. This means that the same amount has to go further. We had a choice between finishing the lunches before the end of the year – possibly the end of April – or not having a drink supplied each day. Having consulted the Parents’ Association it was agreed to go with the second option. This means that our funding should last all the way to the end of the year or near this time at any rate. So, we are asking parents to ensure that their child has a drink with them each day when they come to school. This will begin on Monday 7th October.
Apart from this we would ask parents discourage children from changing choices during the term as this takes up a lot of administrative time. We will send out new menus in January for children to review their options at that time.
Thank you for your cooperation,..
Best regards,
Tomás
P.S. We will also send this note via email. It is difficult for us to work out if parents are happy to receive emails only. However, some parents might prefer this and it would also cut down on paper usage. Please sign below if you have also received this message by email and if you are happy to proceed with receiving messages from school in this way instead of receiving letters. Return it to the child’s teacher then please. If you haven’t received an email or if you prefer to continue to receive letters then there is no need to return this letter.
I confirm that I have received this message via email. I am happy to receive emails only going forward.
Name of child/ren ___________________________________________
Class ____________ Name of teacher ___________________
Signed ______________________________
By now parents will have received their letter explaining our new entrance procedures which we are giving a try for the month of April. Thanks to teachers and parents who came together to talk about this. We hope that by letting all children enter the school building unaccompanied they will be encouraged to be independent and responsible for themselves. We also hope that it will help us to get started as soon as possible every day with the important teaching and learning that the children deserve. Most important of all, it helps us to ensure that the school is a safe environment for all children from the time they enter the front door until they leave at the end of each day. If parents have any concerns about this new practice they are most welcome to make an appointment with their child’s teacher and discuss the matter. We will prepare the children over the next week and ask parents to talk to their children about this over the Easter Holidays. I hope everybody enjoys the holidays. Be sure to read our on-line newsletter next week when it comes out.
Thanks to everybody for making a big effort to get to school on time. There has been a big improvement. Our school-day starts at 8.30 am. All children who arrive before this time are supervised from 8.15 am on-wards. The school doors open at 8.30 am and all children waiting at outside doors will be admitted and these doors will now be closed. It’s important that children are in school for this valuable settling -in time. It gives them a chance to chat with their friends and make a calm transition between home and school. Children arriving after 8.30 am will have to use the front door. On rainy days we allow children into the building where they wait in the downstairs corridor until the 8.30 am bell rings.
We need to let you know that all classroom doors, as well as the front door, are closed at 8.40 am. This is the time for formal teaching and learning to begin. Some children are being taught out on corridors so our school needs to be free of any visitors for this. Any children who arrive to school after this time need to press the buzzer at the front door. Sharon or some other member of staff will greet the child and bring them to their classroom. Please keep up the great
Hope we make it in time!
effort with coming to school on time every day.
Hi. My name is Tomás. Welcome to the Principal’s page of our school website. I hope you enjoy the content available throughout the site and that it gives you a good idea as to what our school is about. As with any other school in Ireland it falls to us at Skerries Educate Together to do our very best to create a warm, stimulating learning environment for the children who come to our school. This means that we teach all the subjects on the Irish Primary School curriculum as well as the Learn Together Ethics Programme particular to Educate Together schools. If you wish you can learn more about this programme on other pages of our website.
For the moment let me assure you that we are committed to doing our very best for the wonderful children who attend our school. If you are interested in enrolling a child with us you may do so through this website. If you would like to come and see us and just look around you are most welcome to do that also – just make an appointment with our secretary, Sharon. Fáilte roimh cách. We look forward to meeting you.
For anybody who may be curious about our school and how it sees itself I would like to provide some backround information and some thoughts on how we aspire to carry out the important task of nurturing a thriving community of learners.
The first Educate Together schools were set up in the mid to late 1970’s. They were set up by a movement of parents who wished to have a different model of primary school available for their children. It was important that the child was considered to be at the centre of all activity based at the school. This ranged from decision making about how the school should be run to the very style of teaching to be encouraged within individual classrooms. It was also important to these parents that boys and girls be educated together.(At that time there weren’t that many co-educational schools). Being from diverse faith backgrounds, or perhaps from a family which didn’t subscribe to any particular faith at all was seen as an issue which had not, until then, been fully understood and catered for within primary education in Ireland. It was important to these parents that children of all belief systems and none should have the opportunity to learn in the same school setting. It was also important that no specific religion or belief system should be treated as the only possible valid perspective through which to view and interpret life and it’s meaning.
The exchange of ideas and perspectives on the type of school these parents would like for their children lead to the founding of the first Educate Together type schools. As a result of discussions and explorations that took place on the journey towards setting up such schools a strong sensitivity and understanding of diversity evolved. This also lead to a commitment to equality which parents wished to be carried through to their own children’s learning. A final cornerstone of the Educate Together movement was the experience of using democratic methods of developing policy and guiding decision making. So, democracy itself was identified as an important social tool to use and guide us as we both make decisions as well as seek to encourage children to engage with and partcipate in society.
How does that all influence how we teach and respond to the children at our school? I suppose that at first I need to say that the education of each child is seen as a collaborative venture. It involves parents, teachers and the children themselves interacting with each other in a way that supports the child to grow as a learner. For this to be real we need to focus on a number of things which I would regard as important. It is important that all members of the school community feel valued and involved in the task of supporting children to develop their own gifts and talents and grow in their understanding of the world about them. It is also important that we are open and receptive to children and parents when they come to our school. It is important that we connect with parents and children – that we greet them in a positive cheerful manner and listen to their concerns when they arise. It is important that we give useful relevant feedback to parents and to children on how they are getting along as learners. It is also important that we enlist the support of parents in various learning opportunities we can provide to children such as tours, helping out with literacy or numeracy lessons and of course art! As teachers it is also important that we are open to each other as colleagues so that we share expertise and support and encourage each other in providing interesting, stimulating and relevant lessons to the children under our care. At the heart of all our interaction with each other is the need to communicate respect for each other, particularly if we disagree over something. Perhaps the most valuable lesson we can provide to our children is to witness differences of views or perspectives being resolved through genuine respectful dialogue.
And so, it is my hope that we have developed so far as a dynamic learning community committed to sharing views and to each others growth as learners. This could be learning as a child within the school, or, as a teacher developing their own professional skillls, or, as a parent learning new ways to support and encourage their own child’s development.
Looking forward into the future I would see our school as a place where children from all backgrounds, with differing religious beliefs or with no specific religious belief, with special educational needs and also without such needs, feel welcome and excited about coming to our school to learn. I also see it as a place where parents themselves know that they are welcome and that their roles as primary educators of their children are respected and valued. I would like to see parents feeling comfortable to come forward with their own ideas and initiatives on how their children’s experience of school may be enriched and full of joy. I would like to see teachers feeling enthusiastic about their work and fulfilled as a result of their efforts. I would like to see teachers’ interest in their professional development and their energy levels sustained and supported by the culture in which they find themselves working. I would like the school, within the wider community, to have a reputation for excellence with teaching and learning and for it to be known as a warm, inviting and dynamic place to visit or be part of.
I believe that the adults among us share a very special privelege – that is the privelege of bearing witness to the emergence of individual persons from four year old infants to twelve or thirteen year old young people. Lets hope that together we provide a safe and vibrant place of learning for these important people and that we succeed in preparing them well for moving on to a new and fresh challenge – the next stage in their lives – secondary school.