Hello all!
As we come to the end of a most successful school year, I wish to celebrate what we have achieved this year. And invite you to a great day out in celebration of that!


A Year of Massive Growth
This year was most likely the year of biggest growth in the history of our school. Indeed, I doubt there are too many schools in existence that have ever experienced a year like it! Our enrolment grew from 156 last year to 220 this year, with the addition of three mainstream classes and our first ever special class for children with ASD, which has been a massive success! In the previous school year, we had a principal, 8 teachers, one SNA, a secretary and a part-time caretaker. We now have a principal, 15 teachers, 5 SNAs, a secretary and a full-time cleaner-caretaker. We undertook a massive building extension in the first term, with the addition of a PE Hall, meeting room, library and GP space, along with numerous classrooms, offices and storage rooms. 
Being a caring school became very important to us this year. We worked on numerous projects throughout the school, such as Friends For Life, Zippy's Friends, Restorative Practices, Playworx and, of course, our Golden Book! As a community, we take care of each other. And that makes it a wonderful community to be a part of.


Curriculum Projects
Celebration weeks: We continued to host many celebrations, such as Maths Week and Mother Language Week, and we added in some new ones too, like Active Schools Week and Autism Awareness Week! Many celebrations grew bigger and better this year - Seachtain na Gaeilge being one that stands out, with the introduction of Raidio Citywest, ceilithe and dramaiocht i ngach rang!
Art: Art played a large part in our year, with 2nd class taking part in CRAFTed and with donations of beautiful art work and art installations from members of our community.
Ethical Education: Our programme of visits as part of the Learn Together curriculum started this year and was a great success - every class either visited a place of worship or had a visitor come to the school to talk with them about their belief system. 2nd and 3rd class children also went to the highly-acclaimed drama Aunty Ben in Rua Red, where we had great fun dressing up and learning about accepting difference. We also extended our relationship with our friends in TLC nursing home and different classes visited at different times of the year.
Following whole-school consultation last year, we introduced a thematic approach to teaching the ethical education curriculum and we are very happy with how that is developing.
Home learning: We have been so proud of the children in 2nd and 3rd class who have been trialling a new approach to Home Learning for our school. The projects they have undertaken have blown us away! They are so inspiring! Well done to all the families involved!
Swimming: This year saw our children going to swimming lessons for the first time ever - well done to 2nd and 3rd classes who piloted the swimming programme for us. We look forward to sending 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes to swimming classes next year!
Support teaching: This year, the size of our support teaching team doubled. The team did tremendous work in expanding our station teaching and team teaching approach. Every child benefits from these approaches.
Library: We spent the first half of the year fundraising for a large purchase of books for our new school library and the second half of the year redesigning the library space and buying those books. We are very excited at the work progressing there - in secret! And we can't wait for the Grand Opening of the library in the new school year.


Our Community Groups
Management: Our Board of Management welcomed four new members, as did our In-School Management team, including the appointment of our first ever Assistant Principal!
Student Council: Our Student Council got a new lease of life and have been busy in the school. We are also extremely proud to announce that our pupils are leading a fundraising event! The pupils of 3rd class have decided that they would like to see more Science equipment in the school and are working hard on stalls for our Family Fun Day in an effort to raise money for this. We are most proud of them!
Parents' Association: Our Parents' Association have been busy, as always! Along with many coffee mornings and evening meetings, we had our first ever Quiz Night, which was great fun! Parents introduced after-school crafts sessions, which were great for building community spirit and were great fun for all who attended! We also had three clothes collections and a copper coin collection, as well as a Mad Hatter Day, Jersey Day and a Dress Up Day. We had the Scholastic Book Fair too. Lots of fundraising for specific projects took place throughout the school. We are still spending some of that money but are already enjoying play resources, Learn Together resources, books and a brand new parachute, just arrived!
Very importantly, dedicated parents continued to provide the much-appreciated Drop-Off service every morning. I'm sure you will all join me in thanking them for their work on this. It can't be easy to stand out there, come rain, hail or shine, but they do it with a smile and a helping hand and I am sure that we all appreciate that!
Second-level campaign: The campaign for a 2nd level Educate Together school in the area really took off. We have full faith in our parents that this can be achieved, and achieved in time for our children to benefit from it - if you haven't signed up yet, please do so ASAP!


Extra-Curricular Classes and Activities
After-school programme: Our after-schools activity programme grew even further and we extended the activities into late evening, with a number of classes for adults available in our PE Hall on weekday evenings. We introduced school tours for parents and Irish classes for parents. We also invited parents to use our meeting room in-between collection times (1.10 to 2.10 each day). This led to new friendships between families.
Being Irish: It was a big year for Being Irish! We loved collaborating with our neighbours in Citywest and Saggart Community National School (previously called Scoil Niamh CNS) in receiving our Irish flag and in the flag-raising ceremony. We also had a great day out at the St. Patrick's Day parade and festival and we were particularly proud to be chanting a song composed by one of our very own pupils!


The year finished on a great high, not only with Sports Day, school tours and Family Fun Day, but with the announcement that planning permission will shortly be applied for in relation to our permanent building. Please see information below about our Family Fun Day, which is organised by 3rd class and school staff and supported by the whole community. We hope to see you there!
What a fantastic community! Led by a dedicated Board of Management, taught by committed and passionate teachers and staff, supported by hard-working and enthusiastic parents and Parents' Association and, centre of it all, our caring, happy and friendly student population! Thank you all so very much for making our school the amazing place that it is. I hope you have a wonderful summer break and I look forward to seeing everyone again at 8.30am on Wednesday 31st August.
Very best regards,
Caitriona Hand,
Principal,
Citywest ETNS.


Family Fun Day
Family Fun Day will run from 10am to 1pm on Thursday 30th June. 
Family Fun Day is a lovely way to finish off the school year, with the whole community coming together for a celebration, while also raising some money for our school. There are lots of exciting activities planned. Our 3rd class decided that Science resources are their priority right now and so money raised on the day will go towards buying Science resources. Some activities will be free while the ones that are charged for will cost between 10c and 3 euro a go. We look forward to seeing you all for a great day out!

• After-school class demos and workshops
• Bouncy castles
• Reptile zoo
• Tuck shop and Hydration Station!
• Activity stalls such as Penalty Shoot-Out, Angry Birds, Crazy Golf and much more!
• Face painting

We have one parent and one teacher who have volunteered to do face painting on the day. As this proved to be very popular last year, we would love to have a few more volunteers for this, both so that more children can get their faces painted and so that we can allow those volunteers to do just half the day volunteering and take the other half of the day with their family. If you think you could paint faces and could spare an hour and a half on the day, please let us know by replying to this email.
Also, the children loved the balloon sculpting last year and we would love to offer it again this year. If this is something you can do and you can spare an hour and a half on the day, please let us know. We are happy to buy the materials but we need the talent!
We have had a number of parents volunteer already - thank you so much! We will be allocating volunteers to tasks at lunch time tomorrow, Monday, and contacting parents on Monday afternoon or Tuesday so please let us know if you can offer just half of the time of the Family Fun Day to help us out. 
Here's to a great end to a fabulous year!

Dear parent or guardian,
I am writing to let you know of class allocation for the coming school year. Teachers are allocated as follows for the 2016/17 school year:
Junior Infants will be taught by Ross, Jenna and Ailish. 
Senior Infants will be taught by Claire, Mary Treasa and a new teacher, yet to be appointed.
Our additional class with both Senior Infant and 1st class pupils will be taught by Leonie, who is a new teacher for our school.
1st class will be taught by Orla and a new teacher, yet to be appointed. 1st class are also allocated Deirdre as full-time support teacher. 
2nd class will be taught by Aoife and Mary. 
3rd class will be taught by Julie Ann, who is a new teacher for our school.
4th class will be taught by Eldon.
Anita and Aisling will continue in their roles as support teachers and will be joined by Sarah, who will be new to our school, and another new teacher, yet to be appointed. 


Your child will have (teacher's name) as class teacher. The classroom will be located (location described).

Kind regards,
Caitriona Hand,
Principal,
Citywest ETNS.

Additional paragraph sent to parents of children who will be taught by a new teacher next year:
It will most likely be late in the summer when this teacher is appointed. I will email you as soon as the teacher is appointed and we hope to post a profile photo of the teacher on our website before the start of the new school year so that you and your child can know what he/she looks like.

Additional paragraph sent to parents of children moving into 1st class:
As I announced to the parents who could attend the meeting yesterday, we are reforming the class groups as the children move from Senior Infants into 1st class. We were very lucky to be able to allocate three class teachers to this group of children for Junior Infants and for Senior Infants. This gave each child a great start to their education with increased pupil:teacher time and more space for each child to express him/herself. Though we are now obliged to move them into two classes for 1st class, we are still allocating three teachers to this group so that there will continue to be lots of support for the children. Class size will still be only mid- to high-20s. The children know each other well already and so this should be an easy transition for them. We have put a lot of thought into allocating children to new groups and have done our best to make sure that every child has friends in their new class and has the best opportunity for success in their new class.

Additional paragraph sent to parents of children moving into 2nd class:
As I announced to the parents who could attend the meeting yesterday, we are reforming the class groups as the children move from 1st class into 2nd class, as we did when they moved from Junior Infants into Senior Infants. We are doing this in order to obtain a better balance of personalities, needs and strengths in each classroom. All of the children know each other well already and so this should be an easy transition for them. We have put a lot of thought into allocating children to new groups and have done our best to make sure that every child has friends in their new class and has the best opportunity for success in their new class.

Dear parents and guardians,
We are delighted to be able to share some wonderfully positive news with you today!
 
We visited the Department of Education (DES) offices in Tullamore yesterday afternoon, together with management and Patron representatives from both schools, where we met with DES Senior Planners in relation to permanent buildings for our schools.
 
At this meeting, we were shown floor plans for both schools. We will continue to share a campus when we relocate and we look forward to continuing to work closely together.
 
We are very excited about the plans for our schools. Both schools will have 16-classroom buildings, with two special classes each as well as a GP Hall each and separate outdoor play areas. 
 
We still do not know the exact location of our permanent campus but we are assured that it will be within walking distance of our current campus.
 
It is hoped that planning permission will be applied for over the summer. At that time, the intended location, ground plans and building plans will be made public.
 
The timeframe for moving will depend on whether there are planning objections. Fortunately, once planning is granted, DES expect that we should be on site approximately one year after that. We feel very fortunate to have been placed on the Rapid Build Scheme, which makes that fast turn-around possible.
 
Please be assured that we will continue to be well provided for in our current building until such time as our permanent building is ready. We are very lucky with such wonderful provision for our temporary accommodation and we are thankful to DES and DDLETB for taking such good care of us.
 
We look forward to sharing more good news with you as we get it!
 
Caitriona Hand,                       Seamus Conboy,
Principal,                                 Principal,
Citywest ETNS.                       Citywest and Saggart CNS.

Dear parents and guardians,
As you may know, we are eager to work with the community in providing opportunities for everyone - for people of all ages, interests and availability!
To this end, we have been working on our programme for adults. We now have a number of evening classes taking place in the school, as well as School Tours for Parents and many opportunities for parents to become involved in school life. 
The evening class schedule is now as follows:
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 7-8pm Fitness Bootcamp
Mondays and Wednesdays 8-9pm Bokwa Fitness
Tuesdays and Thursdays 8-9pm Aerobics Fitness - new class starting next week!
Tuesdays 7.30-8.30pm Irish language
We hope you can find something that is right for you. If you know anyone else who is looking for a venue in the area, feel free to put them in contact with us.
Kind regards,
Caitriona Hand,
Principal,
Citywest ETNS.

Booklists distributed.

Dear parents and guardians,
While we are busy focussing on providing a high-quality primary level education for your children, there are a number of parents and others in the area thinking ahead to your child's second-level education. To this end, there are two campaigns, both requiring immediate support:

1. Please see below a communication from Educate Together Head Office regarding an Educate Together Second-Level School for Firhouse, also in Dublin 24. A second-level school has been announced for that area and we have only until next Tuesday, 7th June, to collect as much support as possible for this being an Educate Together school. Please take action on this over the weekend by completing an expression of interest for the school. 

2. Our parents are still working on petitioning for a Second-Level Educate Together school in Citywest. The earliest we can hope for now is 2019 for this school and, even for then, significant work and support is needed. As one of the parents commented, it would be such a shame to see our children separated and moving to different schools for their second-level education. We would all much rather they move together to an Educate Together school in our own area.
​
In support of both campaigns,
Caitriona Hand,
Principal,
Citywest ETNS.
 
Hi there,
Thanks for much for your support for the Firhouse Educate Together second-level campaign to date. The deadline for Educate Together’s application for the school in Firhouse is on Tuesday June 7. This doesn't leave us much time to gather more Expressions of Interest! 
What can you do to help secure an Educate Together secondary school for Firhouse?
1) Social media 
You can share campaign images and links on your social media accounts to raise awareness - download material from our digital pack here. Feel free to send this material to local businesses and community groups via both Facebook and Twitter, asking them to share the campaign material to help spread the word. We have also put together a list of local businesses and their online / social media contact details.

Parent Carly Bailey has set up a Facebook group to co-ordinate efforts in this last week of the campaign. Please join to keep up to date with the campaign. 

2) Leaflets 
You can help with leaflet drops in houses and local business in the general Firhouse area. Copies of the Firhouse poster and leaflet can also be downloaded from our digital pack here and printed.  
3) Tell everyone! 
Most importantly: go to www.educatetogether.ie/firhouse-2L-2018 to fill in the Expression of Interest form if you live in the Firhouse area. Please ask as many people as you can who live in the general Oldbawn / Firhouse area to do the same - fill in the all important Expression of Interest form! 
Any questions / feedback, just reply to this email. 

Thanks so much!
The Educate Together team

Dear Parent/Guardian,

We are running a clothes collection again!

It's a great opportunity to get ready for the summer by clearing out the wardrobe AND support our school at the same time. Simply bring any unwanted clothes to the drop-off point in the GP space in our new wing when you bring your child to school or collect them. It doesn't have to be a big load we will take any donations large or small. The collection will run until Wednesday 25th May.

We can turn those clothes into money to buy play resources for the children.

Thank you so much for your support for the last collection it was a simple and easy and made a huge difference to our growing school by allowing us to buy books for the library.


Let's make this collection another success!

With kind regards,
Caitríona Hand"

​Dear parent/guardian,

The school year is flying by and the Quiz is fast approaching! It will take place on Friday 10th June in St Mary's GAA Club in Saggart Village. Save the date and spread the word – invite your friends, your family, and your neighbours for a fun night out!

We would love your support in getting ready for the night, if you can give it. Can you help us with any of the following?

• The raffle is a huge part of the night and we want to make it a big one. We are looking for donations of prizes of all shapes and sizes. If you have anything to donate please bring it to school and leave it in the office with Siobhán.

• We would love the winners of the quiz to walk away with a terrific star prize. Do you, or does anyone you know work in an industry such as the hospitality industry? We can offer a business the opportunity to promote themselves by donating an attractive star prize. For example, a hotel voucher would make for a highly sought after star prize!

• Can you charm a room of nervous and tense quiz competitors? We need an MC to keep the quiz going in the fun relaxed spirit we hope this night will have. Please let us know if you, or a friend can do this.

• We need a good PA system so that everyone can hear the questions clearly and get their answers right! Can you help us with that – do you own one, or have access to one? Please let us know, if you do.

All money raised on the Quiz night will help the Parents Association to raise money to buy Jaggo Blocks for the school. So please help if you can!

Kind regards,
Citywest ETNS Parents' Association.
citywestetns.parents@gmail.com 

*You are receiving this email because you have pre-enroled a child for our school. If you are no longer interested in our school, please let me know by replying to this email.
Dear parents and guardians,
Please see below two letters regarding the campaign for a second-level Educate Together school for Citywest. Our school only exists thanks to the hard and dedicated work of these parents, who campaigned tirelessly for five years to get an Educate Together National School in our area. The same commitment is needed now so that our children have a second-level school to progress to. All parents need to work together on this, for the future of our children and for the future children of Citywest. Please consider giving support in some way. However small that bit of support may seem, adding up lots of little bits of support makes for a successful campaign!
You can do this!
With my support and that of the Board of Management of Citywest Educate Together NS,
Caitriona.


Dear Parent/Guardian, 


Allow me to introduce the Citywest Educate Together Second Level Campaign Group. This group is made up of a small number of parents of young children currently in our primary school. This campaign was started because we (the parents) want all our children to continue their education primary and second level within the Educate Together ethos. Now, we need you. 


We need you and your time, to help all our children in the primary school have a second level school here in Citywest to continue their education and growth within the Educate Together family. In only a few years from now the first group of our children will complete primary school with Citywest Educate Together National School. So, where will they go for secondary school? 


If you want your child/children to continue to develop within an Educate Together setting and locally (here in Citywest) at second level, then we ask you to join our campaign. 

• We need your voice. 
  
• We need to send letters to the Department of Education. 
  
• We need Expression of Interest Forms filled in. 
  
• We need to lobby our local politicians. 
  
• We need to raise awareness within the local community. 
  
• We need to get publicity through the local media channels. 
  
• We need shares and likes on Facebook. 
  

All our children need you. So, please take this chance to be part of history, here in Citywest and help shape the future for all our children. 


On the following dates in the primary school reception area, volunteers from our group will be asking for your support. If you could please fill in the expression of interest form and sign a new letter for the Department of Education, that would be super. 


May 10th from 1pm to 3pm
May 11th from 1pm to 3pm
May 12th from 1pm to 3pm
May 13th 8:45am to 9:30am at the Parents Association Coffee Morning 


Over the last 9 months, since we started this group for a Second Level Educate Together School for our children here in Citywest, a lot has been done. 

• We have sent letters to the Department of Education, 
  
• Secured provision for multiple second level schools with South Dublin County Council in the 2016-2022 Local Authority plans for this area
  
• Set up an expression of interest form with Educate Together http://www.citywestetns.ie/campaign-for-a-second-level-school.html
  
• Gained initial support from Educate Together 
  

We have lots to do and so little time before our children head on to second level. We can not take for granted that a second level educate together school will just appear. We all need to come together and work for our children's future. I ask you please to spare any time you have to join the campaign and help us secure a second level Educate Together school for all our children here in Citywest. 


Best Regards, 


Dave Murphy 
Chairperson 
Citywest Educate Together Second Level Campaign Group
Email citywestetsl@gmail.com
Website
Facebook
Twitter @CitywestETcamp2 




Hi Parents and Guardians.
I am writing this blog about my experiences with the start-up group for our wonderful school, Citywest Educate Together National School, in the hopes that it ignites your interest in our campaign to get a secondary school in our area.


I have been a volunteer with Educate Together for the last 9 years. In 2007, we started out as three parents with a dream, three parents who felt passionate about our shared goal - to achieve an Educate Together Primary School in Dublin 24.


Our group grew in the next few years but not without the hard work that comes with publicity, political lobbying, fundraising, writing letters, public meetings and much more! We campaigned for nearly five years and look where we are now! In 2012, our school opened to much anticipation and excitement. Nearly four years on and our school has grown exponentially to 220 students! So, what does this mean for our second-level campaign? Instead of three parents starting an uphill battle, we've got a parent and guardian body of potentially 440 helpers!
Right?
We've GOT THIS!
A natural next step for all our children's education. All we need is YOU!


A lot of traditional schools seem to just “pop up” as and when needed in an area. Sometimes too late for too many, as our own community is experiencing. Sometimes, with luck, just on time for others. This is not the case for an Educate Together school, and indeed, never has been. They don't pop up out of nowhere. They are, for all intents and purposes, won by a start-up group of parents and guardians who often campaign and lobby for years for their ideal school for their children.


As we have all seen, an Educate Together school is a school that teaches equality, justice, child-centredness and democracy. Specifically, an Educate Together school views each student as an individual with his or her own needs and hopes. A prime example of this is the start-up group for our own primary school: we lobbied and campaigned, tirelessly, for nearly 5 years.  This is apparently short compared to some other start-up groups’ campaigns. But many of the parents who worked on our campaign from the beginning were unable to use the school which opened in 2012, because unfortunately it came too late for their children - their children were too old to join our school by the time it materialised. Despite this cruel fact and devastating blow, they stayed on the campaign and worked on it until the end, volunteering their time and energy. This inspires me to this day. I have no doubt that we have our school because of these amazing people.


A lot of people take for granted that, because they are very busy, someone else will do it, someone else will campaign for a local secondary school, someone less busy. Or maybe it will just happen anyway? But I am here to tell you from my experience that great schools don’t come for free, not without people power, power in numbers, without political momentum and pressure, without community involvement and much publicity, without YOU! We need you!


In my experience volunteering with Educate Together, I didn’t encompass one single parent or guardian who wasn’t incredibly busy in their lives - with work, voluntary work, caregiving, studying, raising their children, double jobbing, or all of it!


When I joined Educate Together 9 years ago, I thought at the time that I had no skills to offer the campaign other than ambition and hope. I had no computer skills, I was shy and lacking in confidence, I thought I’d no experience to offer the campaign. However, I soon learned that not only was my contribution needed, it was also valued and appreciated. See, that’s what you’ll find in an Educate Together school campaign: everyone’s contribution is appreciated, big or small and there is an understanding that each person is doing what they can do. And if you’re not there, the same people are having to do more, even though most people have similar busy schedules, deadlines, pressures and stresses of everyday life. The old dictate remains very true: many hands make light work.


I can’t overstate how every contribution made a difference, big or little, to the overall success of our primary school start-up campaign. From marketing, fundraising, photocopying, letter writing, drawing, delivering, corporate sponsorships, politicking, publicity, cheering; it all made a difference. And the beauty of it is that it’s a grassroots movement made by ordinary people for their children’s education. In equal measure, that’s also its greatest challenge. We need our people, WE NEED YOU. Forget expensive toys and gadgets, what better gift to give to your children than your contribution to the betterment of their education?!


Another great challenge we face with our Second-level School campaign is that, at the moment, just a couple of members are incurring all the costs of stationery, paper, website fees, and other communication costs. We will change this with fundraising supports. You know the old adage - a problem shared is a problem halved!


You’ll find a co-op, not a clique; you’ll find a group of equal peers, not seniority; you’ll always find an appreciative welcome; you’ll find open minds to all kinds of ideas. You might even find, as I did, what a difference you can make. WE NEED YOU.


When I joined Educate Together many moons ago, I dared to hope and dream for an Educate Together School for both of my children. But I never could’ve imagined the wonderful experiences I had along the journey, the confidence I gained and the eventual school we got, which exceeded even my best dreams! The friendships I made for life are now invaluable to me. One way or another, no matter how much distance comes between our paths, I know I made friendships for life. I just know. And hey, we weren’t averse to the odd night off and the odd night out! We’re only human...


Let’s dare to dream for an Educate Together Secondary School for our children too, and let's put those dreams into actions together. WE NEED YOU.


You may be sensing a theme here… And at the risk of repeating myself (is it too late to apologise?!) WE really NEED YOU!
All of our primary school volunteer initiatives still need more of you too.


I will sign off with a quote that sums up Educate Together start up campaigns-


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead



Contact us at:
http://www.citywestetns.ie/campaign-for-a-second-level-school.html


Email: citywestetsl@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Citywest-educate-together-2nd-level-campaign-1668705970081598/
Twitter: @CitywestETcamp2


And please share your informal feedback with me here by email at leonamcmahon1@gmail.com


Thanks for reading this, looking forward to hearing from you,
Warmest regards,
Leona Mc Mahon, parent.

​