Attention Parents and other members of our School Community!
​
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.

Team teaching is "a group of two or more teachers working together to
plan, conduct and evaluate the learning activities for the same group of learners" (Goetz, 2000).

Take a look at team teaching in action in Junior Infants!

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),

It has come to our attention that there was an attempted abduction of a young boy on Wednesday, 13th April at approximately 3.50 p.m in the Saggart area.

It is our understanding that this incident occurred as the child walked home from his school in Saggart, following an after-school club.

Fortunately, in this case, the attempted abduction was unsuccessful, as the child refused to get in the car with these strangers, and ran to safety.
This incident is currently being investigated by the Gardaí.

We would encourage all parents to talk to their child about the potential dangers of talking to strangers.

We would urge all parents to be extra vigilant around our community and report any suspicious behaviour to the Gardaí.

Yours faithfully,

Anita Collings
​Acting Principal

Information from Nicola:
Bokwa is a new and completely different approach to group exercise that is rapidly spreading across the globe. Bokwa Participants draw letters and numbers with their feet while performing an energizing and addicted cardio workout routine. Moving together to today's most popular music, participants of all ages draw Bokwa L, 3, J, K and dozens of other steps. No counting steps as these steps are structured and based on the forms of letters and numbers, doing Bokwa does not require you to count steps, like a traditional 8 count followed by most dance fitness programs. Simply feel the music and freely move with the beat. And the dozens of other class participants that are sharing the energy and excitement with you. No choreography once you know the step, you own it and can do it without following an instructor’s personal choreography. Because the steps follow the same structure, whether you are doing it in Taiwan, Australia, England or the US, Bokwa is truly universal. Everyone can do Bokwa, Because the steps are structured as letters and numbers everyone can do Bokwa. 4-year-old kids, 75 year old men and women. People with two left feet who cannot dance. World champion Latin and ballroom dancers. All having a terrific experience in the same class! It Does Not Feel Like working out at all because of the energizing music, the fun and predictable steps and great motivation coming from people moving together to music, participants become addicted to Bokwa. You would not even realize you were burning up to 1,200 calories in one workout.

Take a look at the collection of resources we have built up to help us with the teaching of Belief Systems! These boxes are filled with items that have been generously donated by families in our school community, along with items that were purchased using the money raised by our Mad Hatter Day.
We look forward to continuing to build upon these resources in the years to come. But if you notice anything that's missing, that you could donate to us, please drop it in!!

Kidorama Academy will have a facility based in Citywest Educate Together National School from September 2016!

​This facility will include:

• Free ECCE year for eligible pre-school children
• Before- and after-school childcare for children attending primary school

Free ECCE year
As part of the ECCE programme, Kidorama Academy will have a pre-school class in our school. Class times will be 9am to 12pm each school day.
The pre-school class is open to all eligible children in the community, not just those with siblings at Citywest ETNS or those who intend to progress to our school.


Before- and after-school children for children attending primary school
Kidorama Academy will open at 7.30am each morning, when parents can leave their child(ren) to be cared for before school. Kidorama Academy staff will accompany the children to school at 8.30am. When the children finish school at 1.10pm (Junior and Senior Infants) or 2.10pm (1st to 4th classes) or finish an after-school class at 2pm (Junior and Senior Infants) or 3pm (1st to 4th classes), Kidorama Academy staff will collect the child(ren) from school or after-school class and take care of them until the parent finishes work and collects them, no later than 6.30pm. This care will include dinner. Rates are available from Kidorama.


This is a wonderful development for our school and for our community. Please see the flyer below for contact information for Evelyn, the manager at Kidorama who is coordinating enrolment of children to the new facility at Citywest ETNS. Feel free to share this great news with friends, family, neighbours and others!

Today, Maeve; an artist from the local community; came to our school to present us with two pieces she painted for us. Caitríona welcomed her and her two friends, Leona and Ciara, to the school and introduced them to some of the classes. 
We had a brief presentation with some Junior and Senior Infants, from Jenna's, Eldon's, Aoife's and Denise's Classes. Maeve made a small speech before unveiling her artworks.
Everybody agrees that these two paintings will make a wonderful addition to the gorgeous artwork already on display in the school. We look forward to seeing the paintings hanging in the school soon. Watch out for them!

Please see below a flyer and some information we have received from Kids Guide.

Our tours for parents got off to a great start this morning, as a group of parents visited Tallaght library for a tour of the facilities as well as a tour of their 1916 Exhibition. By all accounts, it was an interesting and enjoyable morning.
Watch this space for information about further parent trips!