Did you see that we have another trip for adults planned? Book your place on the trip here!

As part of Maths week 2016 the Dublin West Education Centre is holding a workshop for parents on Tuesday, 18 October 2016. It promises to be a practical, hands on session for parents  who wish to support their children's mathematical development.
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Please see the flyer attached for more information. 

Jacob Miller is currently running a course for parents at Trinity College, Dublin, entitled - 

"Learn to teach your children chess"

Why should my child learn chess?

Chess develops critical thinking, life skills and learning discipline.

The following articles emphasizes the many benefits of chess.
Why kids should learn to play chess
Playing Smart - The Benefits of Chess for Kids

Why should I learn chess?

Apart from all the reasons listed above, you will be able to teach your children chess!! That's wonderful. 
While there are chess programs in many Dublin schools, it can be difficult for children to learn a game like chess in a group setting. Nothing compares to 1 on 1 teaching, especially between child and parent.
Finally, its an opportunity for you! A chance to get out of the house, to socialize, to meet new people and to learn something new! You might find you fall in love with the game like so many others.

Why is this a great course for me?

• The course is fun, dynamic and designed specifically for parents. 
• The first few lessons of the course are designed to teach parents the basics of chess.  
• You don't need to be a great chess player to be a great chess teacher!!!
• We will then cover methods for introducing young children to chess.
• The most important thing is that your child is interested. We will show you a few little tricks to help your child fall in love with the game!!
• We'll then cover how to improve at chess and when to start going to a chess club.
• We'll help you find a chess club near you and get you set up and ready to go. 
• Lessons are fun, entertaining and always a good night out. 

If you are interested or have any questions please email me at millerjr@tcd.ie. 


Best wishes,
Jacob Miller

We would like to put together a display that communicates the importance of family in our school, and the sense of family that we all feel here.
We would LOVE to have a picture of your family to add to this display! If you have a standard sized photo of your family, that you would like to contribute to this display, please leave it with Nicola in the office. Please note that we will not be able to return this photo to you.

We've recently come across an initiative called Fáilte Isteach - "a community based project where older volunteers welcome migrants to the community through conversational English classes."
This sounds like exactly the kind of initiative we would love to facilitate at our school! - it's a way for us to connect more with our local community, and to build relationships between the diverse members of our community.

Read lots more about Fáilte Isteach on their website, below

If you know of anybody who you think could lead this exciting and rewarding project, please encourage them to follow the plan laid out on the Fáilte Isteach website - and ask them to get in touch with us to let us know! ​

Today we did a flashdance in the yard for Active Schools Week. We have been practicing this dance in our classrooms over the past week and this was the first time we all tried it together - we are pretty proud of how it turned out!
Junior Infants to Second Class were involved in this activity - Third Class were visiting the local Retirement Home to entertain its residents with their singing and tin-whistle playing!
Our Cha Cha Slide is just one part of an action-packed Active Week here at school. Our Active Week will culminate in Sports Day this Friday - don't forget to let us know if you are available to help out because without your help it can't be the success last year's was!

Dear Parents/Guardians,
 
Last year's Sports Day proved a great success. The children had a super time and that was due to wonderful parent and teacher involvement. Sports Day is on Friday 17th June 2016 and is again at St Mary’s GAA field in Saggart!
 
Here is how you can help!
 
1. We are looking for volunteers to help with sports activities
2. We need donations of equipment and plastic storage
 
1. Volunteers
Friday 17th June 08:45 to 12:30. Different sports activities will be set up by the teachers with clear instructions. You will run that one activity for the morning. Each class will visit your activity with their teacher.
 
Unfortunately, due to health and safety regulations, we cannot allow babies / toddlers to accompany volunteering parents for this part of the day.  You will join in / watch the whole school activities later in the day. Let us know you can volunteer by filling in the form below before Thursday 9th June 2016!

Last week our children in Junior Infants took a walk down to Saggart village to visit the Catholic Church there. This visit was a part of our ongoing project of visits to places of worship at all levels of the school.
Earlier this year, the children of First Class visited a synagogue and the children from Second Class visited a mosque.
These visits give the children an opportunity to see for themselves some of the aspects of each religion that we learn about in class.

Breda, a parish worker at St. Mary's was very helpful and accommodating. She showed the children the different parts of the church. The children also had a chance to explore the church with their teacher, and there was even time for a picnic before heading back to school.
Thanks as well to the parent volunteers who helped out on the day.

Evelyn from Kidorama Preschool and Afterschool will be here at the school between 8.00 and 9.00 tomorrow morning. It will be an opportunity for her to meet the families in our school. Parents who wish to avail of Kidorama's services from September can complete registration forms and pay deposits at this time too.

Attention Parents and other members of our School Community!
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We are in the process of exploring an exciting possible project for our school community. We are working with a corporate sponsor on establishing a CoderDojo here in our school. 

CoderDojo is a global movement of free, volunteer-led, community based programming clubs for young people. At a Dojo, young people, between 7 and 17, learn how to code, develop websites, apps, programs, games and explore technology in an informal and creative environment. In addition to learning to code attendees meet like minded people and are exposed to the possibilities of technology.

Within the CoderDojo Movement there is a focus on community, peer learning, youth mentoring and self led learning,  with an emphasis on showing how coding is a force for change in the world.

For more on CoderDojo, visit their website here.

We hope to establish one of these extra-curricular coding clubs here in our school. In order for this goal to be realised, our first challenge is to acquire a set of laptops, on which to teach the coding lessons. We are currently working on this.

But more important than the devices themselves are volunteers who can help at the club each week, to guide and teach the children as they learn to code. There will be experts on hand to lead the sessions, but we need more adults to ensure that each child gets maximum benefit from the class.

Are you familiar with coding (even very basic coding)? Would you be prepared to donate an hour of your time each week, towards helping young people in our school community to learn to code?

We have not yet allocated a day or time for this club. If you are interested in helping out, please complete the form below. Once we have secured the necessary laptops, we will be in touch with you to try to find a time that is suitable to all volunteers.

If you are not familiar with coding, but you have a friend or family member who is, and who might be prepared to help out, please let them know about this exciting initiative.