See below details of Parenting Courses provided by One Family.

Our events for families with children in Senior Infants up to 3rd class this week are as follows:

Monday 31st August 

• First day of school
  
• 8.30 School starts - line up where you lined up last year
• 8.30 - 8.40 Drop-off programme starts
• 12.50 Meeting in the school for parents of children in Senior Infants
• 13.50 Meeting in the school for parents of children in 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes

Tuesday 1st September 

• Scoil Niamh CNS starts back - take extra time to get to school and take extra care in the car park
  
• If you arrive before 8.30, line up at your new line
• New collection point for each class at the end of the day

Wednesday 2nd September 
12.30 Senior Infant parent visits

Thursday 3rd September 
13.30 First Class parent visits

Friday 4th September 
13.30 Second and Third Class parent visits

All new staff members have now been appointed. We are all very excited about the start of a new school year. Visit our Staff page to learn a bit more about us!

Our school is on a shared campus. When we opened the school, there was a total of 50 families accessing the campus each day. We now have 450 families accessing our campus each and every day - approx 200 for Citywest ETNS, 200 for Scoil Niamh CNS and 50 for Care n Cuddles pre-school. As we grow each year, changes are needed to accommodate the extra families. 

Our landlord, DDLETB(Dublin Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board), works with the County Council and with the Department of Education in planning and providing access for our school. Most of the changes that are made are by necessity. 

For the first two weeks of the school year, we need to get 450 families - 500 children - onto the site and the parents off again in just 40 minutes. Once our Junior Infants move onto a full school day, in the third week of the school year, we will have just 30 minutes in which to do that.

From 8.30 to 8.40, the 200 families of Citywest ETNS need to drop their children to school. From 8.40 to 8.50, the 200 families of Scoil Niamh CNS need to drop their children to school. And from 8.50 to 9.00, the 50 families of Care n Cuddles pre-school need to drop their children to school. We need absolute efficiency in order to avoid clogging up not only our own site, but all roads nearby also.

We implore you to walk to school every day. If every family who lives within walking distance of our school campus walks or cycles to school, that would dramatically reduce congestion and solve a lot of problems. 


         Please arrange to walk whenever possible.

Your choices in bringing your child to school are as follows:
1. Walk
2. Cycle or scoot or use some person-powered mode of transport on the path!
These are very much the preferred options. This saves congestion on local roads, this saves congestion in the car park, this gives you lovely quality time with your child, getting fresh air and exercise. Please choose these options as often as you can.

When walking, use the pedestrian access only. Never walk through the car park.

If you must drive, please
1. Use the set-down/drop-off facility
2. Car-pool

Parent volunteers will be stationed at the front of the building from 8.30am to 8.40am each morning, in the designated set-down area, helping your child out of your car and supervising them until they walk into the school building and under the care of school staff. Using this facility means you are off the campus in the shortest time possible.

Car-pooling means getting together with another one or more families and having one parent drive all of the children to school. This drastically reduces the number of cars on the road and in the car park and so reduces congestion.

If you wish to drive and to escort your child into the building yourself, you will need to turn left after coming in the gate of the school - this is a new gate, further up Fortunestown Lane. (The gate we have been using will be for Exit Only - please come back over the weekend to see a map detailing the new system.) To the left is a car park, where you should reverse into a spot. You will then walk with your child along the front of the building and around to the school entrance. When you are leaving, you will still drive along the front of the building, past the set-down area and out the Exit gate. 

Anyone arriving before 8.30am or after 8.40am will need to park in the car park. The Drop-off facility is strictly for those 10 minutes only.

Finally, the drop-off facility is fundamental to the smooth running of the car park in the morning and in this way it needs all the help it can get. 10 minutes in the morning is all it takes to volunteer your time to help the school car park run smoothly and efficiently; the drop-off helps children on campus and helps parents to get back on the road as quickly and safely as possible. Please help if you can. Thanks in advance.

Such excitement and anticipation! Its a very exciting time for the families of children starting school for the very first time next Monday!

If you have someone starting with us, please check your email inbox, where you can find an email from us, telling you which Junior Infant teacher your child will be placed with this year.

We look forward to seeing you at 9.10am on Monday. Remember to check back on the website over the weekend to read about car park procedures.

Walking or cycling to school is recommended. Please plan to walk or cycle as often as possible.

We are trying very very hard to build a wonderful community in Citywest and particularly in our school. We can't do this on our own. We need you to come forward and to make this community work. It is a really special thing to do - you will get back so much more than you put in, we promise!

We need quite a few volunteers this coming Monday, the first day of term. Please consider giving us an hour of your time.

We need volunteers to:
1. Help John in the car park to direct traffic.

2. Meet children being dropped off in the car park and supervise them to the door of the school.

3. Help Nicola in the office to accept outstanding money and forms - we have enough volunteers for this one now. Thanks!

4. Prepare tea and coffee and present it to our new Junior Infant parents.

It will only take an hour. Please help.

Volunteer by submitting the form below.

Some children have known since before the summer break who their teacher will be for the coming school year and which other students will be in their class. Others have been waiting for news...

Interviews are taking place THIS week! And we will be able to tell everyone who their teacher is by the end of this week. So you will know the name of your teacher, and hopefully have seen a photograph of them and know a little bit about them, before coming to school next Monday.

We will email parents with this news by Friday afternoon.

Thank you for your patience.