The following link is to the Department of Education Circular 0075/2022
Commencement of the Education (Provision in respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022 and Commencement of remaining sections of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018
Discover Primary Science and Maths Plaque of STEM Excellence
In September, we received notification of our successful application for this award during 2020/2021. We received some very positive feedback from the awards team;
“Congrats to everybody in Curtlestown NS on a great year’s work. You have show a very wide and varies range of activities with great use being made of your own environment. I love your “pet day” and the wildflower naming activity is great.
The school seems to be full of budding engineers and that section of your project is excellent.
Once again, well done to all the pupils, teachers and parents involved during a very trying year. You have well merited your award and keep up the good work.” -the Awards Team
Well done everybody!
Inspection Report on Supporting the safe provision of schooling
EU Blue Star Programme
The children have been working on our application for the Blue Star Award.
We celebrated Europe Day on Friday 14th May, with dress up in traditional European costumes and typical Eu dishes for lunch. We also had a ‘Taste of Europe’.
The Junior class visited famous landmarks in the EU http://stpatrickscurtlestown.ie/eu-blue-star-programme/
Remote Teaching and Learning Policy
The Board of Management has recently drafted and ratified a new Remote Teaching and Learning policy. It is available to read in our policy section at this link Remote Teaching and Learning Policy
Garden Bird Survey
The Garden Bird Survey takes place in Ireland starting in December and runs for 13 weeks. It is the largest civilian science survey in Ireland and has been running for 30 years.
These are photographs of the most common garden birds. These photographs have been downloaded from the Birdwatch Ireland website http://www.birdwatch.ie Click on this link to identify birds, which may be in your garden.
The Outdoor Classroom
Remote Teaching and Learning Policy
The Board of Management have recently drafted and ratified a Remote Teaching and Learning policy. This is now available to view in our policy section.
Hallowe’en at the Learning Lodge
The Senior Class have created a spooky experience for our Junior and Middle classes.
Our outdoor classroom has been completed and this past week all pupils have been up there for some lessons. You can see from the photographs above the wonderful new learning environment which has been created for our students.
The children have suggested and chosen a name. The winning suggestion was very appropriately called ‘The Learning Lodge’.
We hope to make full use of this facility and be outdoors whenever possible. Please send a microfibre type fleece into school with your child, in addition to his/her coat on cooler days. While the area is sheltered, sitting outdoors in class requires more layers than would normally be needed running around at break times.
The Board of Management would like to thank sincerely all those parents involved who spent many evenings in all sorts of weather creating this wonderful gift to our children.
Draft Admissions policy
Please click on this link to read our proposed Admissions policy.
Christmas Giving Tree
Ecumenical Memorial Service in Glencree.
In November, Jamie Smith, Vincenzo and Saoirse Di Biasi read the Prayers of the Faithful at a memorial prayer service in St Kevin’s church and carried candles to the cemetery in Glencree. The service was celebrated by Pastor Stephan Arras and Fr. Bernard Kennedy was attended by the German Ambassador to Ireland German Ambassador Deike Potzel. The renowned Goethe choir also performed at the service.
Curtlestown by Candlelight
Many thanks to Catherina Limoni and David O’Doherty who treated us to a wonderful evening of music on Saturday, 7th December. They were be accompanied by well-known cellist Moya O’Grady and harpist Geraldine O’Doherty. Pupils from 2nd to sixth class performed a Christmas carol. Also, a big thank you to our parent volunteers, Eoin, Sorcha, Gavin, Suzanne and Niall for organising the drinks and mince pies on the evening.
Fundraiser
All pupils are invited to dress up in Hallowe’en costume and donate €2 to a collection for Oxfam’s Clean Water Programme on Friday 25th October.
Maths Week
Maths Week 2019 has commenced. We are focusing on Maths in the school environment. Some classes are taking part in the Mangaigh High maths challenge on line. The Senior class will run a Hallowe’en themed Maths Fair for the middle and Junior classes next week.
Book Fair
Our annual book fair is currently underway.,until Monday 7th October. It is a great opportunity to promote reading among the children. This year the school are using Celtic Book Fairs. As with previous fairs, the company make a generous contribution in books to the school, based on a percentage of the total money spent.
HSI Equestrian Interschools Competition
Hannah Bolger, a HSI Equestrian coach and parent of a pupil in Powerscourt has been in touch. She is interested in putting together an interschools team to participate in HIS’s Interschools Competition.
Equestrian Interschool’s Ireland (EII) is a membership based organisation offering structured equestrian competitions for teams and individuals attending schools across Ireland. The competitions are mostly showjumping throughout the winter, held in different locations each Sunday and hosted by different schools for Secondary and Primary School children. There are leagues for the different levels; Open, Novice, Primary, and points are gained at each competition, depending on the team’s placing. A team consists of a minimum of three and maximum of four members.
If you are interested in your child participating in Interschool competitions please please register them by joining EII on their website https://www.itsplainsailing.com/club/eii It is only €20 to register your child.
Welcome meeting
Our welcome meeting this year will take place on Tuesday 1st October. You are invited to come, meet with your child’s teacher and find out about their programme for this year.
Head lice are an ongoing problem again this year and Grace Farrell has kindly agreed to deliver an informative presentation on how to prevent, spot and treat these unwelcome visitors.