There will be no Irish Dancing class for a few weeks.  The teacher, Elaine, has injured herself and is unable to teach dancing.  Elaine will contact parents with a new start date once she has recovered.   We wish her a speedy recovery!

A letter went home today in relation to the Primary Online Database (POD). Please check your child's schoolbag for further information. The text of the explanatory letter can be read, in full, on our Notes Home page.

Citywest ETNS calendars for 2015 are already hanging up in hundreds of kitchens around Citywest, Saggart, and further afield! If you've missed out on this fantastic opportunity to keep your diary organised; as well as catch up on some of the fun things we've been doing at school this year; make sure to drop in to Nicola and get your copy tomorrow!
Calendars are only €6, or even better, buy one for your parents too, as they're two for €10!

December saw the first meeting of our Ethical Education Committee. The committee is composed of a Teacher Nominee, a Parent nominee and a Board Nominee, and is tasked with ascertaining the aims of our school community, in relation to the teaching of Ethical Education in our school, as well as our celebration of cultural and religious festivals within the school.
The committee's first meeting was very productive and gave the members of the committee an opportunity to consider the issues that are specifically relevant to Citywest Educate Together. 
The committee are currently working on creating a survey to be circulated to all parents, which will give each member of our school community an opportunity to have their say. 
We look forward to engaging in this process and to the further development of our school vision.

The Department of Education last month announced payment of the Minor Works grant for schools with permanent recognition - but not for those with temporary recognition. Our principal Caitriona felt highly aggrieved at this inequality and has been working hard since then to get funding equality for all schools and for all children.

With the support of our Board of Management and staff, Caitriona contacted all principals in the country and amassed a group of principals who felt the same. She recruited the help of the INTO and together they fought this inequality.

We are extremely proud that this hard work has paid off. Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan today announced that the 55 schools in Ireland with temporary recognition will be paid the Minor Works grant after all. This means an additional €8300 for our school this winter, which will go a long way toward bridging the funding gap suffered by us as well as by all schools.

A school must be open for 3 years and fulfil certain other criteria such as adequate enrolment numbers (which we have long surpassed!) in order to be awarded permanent recognition.

Today's announcement is the first time that such a reversal in funding allocation to permanent/temporary schools has taken place and is a wonderful precedent to have set.

We are very proud to have been part of this petition for equality for schools, which in turn means equality for all children. Well done to Caitriona and huge thanks to our Board of Management, our staff and the INTO for their support.

Read the Department of Education announcement here.

Today was a day of firsts in our school's history - we hosted our first concert in our PE hall on the Second Floor. The hall underwent a transformation as a 'stage' was erected and a curtain effect helped to lend the day a sense of occasion.
The school was abuzz with parents and family members all eager to see our performances and the children couldn't wait to show off the songs they've been practising for weeks.
Each class had been paired up with a parent volunteer, who taught their assigned class a song in their native language. Our first Multi-Cultural Concert saw Catalan, Polish, Croatian, Malaysian, Italian and Swahili all represented, as well as English and of course, Irish! Guests were also treated to another first - Second Class proudly played a tune on their tin whistles.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the entrance hall, members of the Parents' Association were busily preparing a feast for the eyes, as well as the taste buds, in the form of a fabulous cake-sale and very well stocked table of prizes for the raffle.
Several hundred euro was raised (exact amount to be confirmed) towards the purchase of a range of Science resources - be sure to watch this space to see photos when the order arrives.
Finally, a first for the school in terms of our online presence - we have set up our own YouTube channel. We hope to develop this aspect of our web presence over the coming years - it will be a useful tool for family who cannot make it to school events, and may even be used as a learning tool by the children. For the moment, check out our channel to view videos of today's performances - we hope you enjoy reliving the show!
We hope you and your family have a healthy and restful holiday and look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.

Wonderful news! The Department of Education and Skills today announced that Citywest Educate Together National School is on the building list for 2015!

This means that a permanent building will be built for us very soon, with work starting in 2015! We hope that this means moving in for September 2016.

We are very lucky that our temporary accommodation is a strong, warm, large building on a beautiful site. This site has treated us very well for the last two and a half years and continues to provide very well for our needs. We expect to expand further on this site for September 2015, occupying more of the ground floor with additional accommodation in the front of the building. Our classrooms are large, spacious, warm, welcoming and well kitted out and we have a large PE hall as well as additional offices and support teaching rooms.

Nevertheless, we are very excited to hear that we will be moving into our permanent home so soon. This will be a purpose-built school, built with the exact needs of our particular school in mind.

The exact location has not yet been confirmed but we have been assured that it is very near to where we are at the moment. As soon as we hear more details, we will share them with our school community.

The Department of Education announcement can be read here and you can see the list of projects announced here - we are number 29 on the list!

Thank you so much to everyone who has worked so hard in getting our school to this stage and who continues to work in making our school the best that it can be. Together we are building a wonderful community and our own permanent forever-home will be the icing on the cake!

Our school calendar is now available to buy in the office.  A bargain at €6.00 each, they would make a lovely gift for friends or family in Ireland or overseas. 

A member of the Parents' Association will also be selling them each day this week at 1:10pm.

On 25th November we had our first Fire Drill of the year. All of the staff and children of both Scoil Níamh and our school evacuated the building to practise safety procedures in the event of a fire.
Our building was evacuated within three minutes! We were very pleased with our speedy and safe exit, and with the children's behaviour as we lined up and took attendance.
Well done all!