On Wednesday, 30th September 2020, our Principal Caitriona and Deputy Principal Anita held a 90-minute consultation meeting with our school inspector, Caitriona Ni Bhriain.

The agenda for the meeting was set by the Department of Education:
-        Health and safety protocols for the safe opening of schools
-        Curriculum implementation for the 2020/2021 school year
-        Wellbeing support for the school community

Caitriona (Hand) had a presentation ready, which had been approved by our Board of Management at their meeting last week. Under each point, Caitriona and Anita outlined what we feel our school has done well, followed by the challenges we have faced and finally recommendations and requests we asked Caitriona Ni Bhriain to share with her team.

The inspector was very impressed with how our school had coped with reopening. Her particular comments were that:

1. We have a clear vision, centred on children, well-being and learning.
2. We have been very creative in our approach.
   
3. We have foreseen challenges that show a deep consideration of the issues.
   

Caitriona took a number of our ideas to share with her team and asked that we send on some of the documents that we referenced in our meeting.

In return, Caitriona helped us to further develop our thinking around planning, especially in using the content of the curriculum to develop skills and getting deeper into thematic planning and teaching.

This meeting was a very positive and affirming experience. The inspectorate is an important part of the school community and we relish the opportunity to have professional conversations that push our thinking and help us to grow.

Many thanks to Caitriona for taking the time to meet with us and for the commitment to bring our concerns and suggestions to others in the Department of Education.

Please see admissions notice here.
Applications can be made here.
Applications should be made before 31st January 2021.
Any applications made from 1st February 2021 will be categorised as late applications.

Our first pupils walked through our doors on 3rd September 2012.
For 9 Septembers, we have been a developing school, waiting to hit that magic number each year that would guarantee that we get to keep all of our teachers. We made it every year other than 2015, when we were granted a special extension on the deadline and secured the necessary numbers in December. In fairness, we grew by 4 classroom teachers that year, making it our biggest jump ever!

Today, 28th September 2020, with 4 new children joining our school, we finally hit our magic number for this year. I can breathe easily now, knowing that all teachers can stay for the year and that all the support we have planned for learning this year can go ahead, uninterrupted by staffing losses.

This is the largest our school is ever expected to be. We will have 19 classes for the next two years and will then settle into the size we were always destined to be - 18 classrooms, which is two classes at each level.

Today is the day we become an established school. We are no longer a developing school.

Our 8 years of being a developing school was a lovely chapter in our history book. Today, we close that chapter and start a new one. From today, Monday 28th September 2020, we are an established school, no longer spending September wondering whether we will get to keep all our teachers for the year. From now, we will know each February what our staffing for the coming year will be.

It is a day to celebrate. Thank you all so much for being part of Chapter 1. Let's make Chapter 2 just as great!

Caitriona.

We had such a lovely response to our Golden Book nominations last week, we decided to share the nominations again. Here are the nominations for the Golden Book this week:

• Isaac has been a great team player this week. He has helped out his table group lots and really encouraged his classmates in PE.
• Giovanni said "thank you very much" to his classmate who was holding the door open for our class.
• Vincent saw that his friend was sad and he went to check on him to see if he was okay.
• Jonathan saw that his teacher was carrying a lot of things and he offered to help.
• Azlan and Robert were kind and helpful to their teachers.
• Danylo is always offering to hold the door.
• Ava is kind to everyone in the class.
• Richard helped a friend when she fell.
• Holly helped a friend when she got hurt.
• Ianis and Daniela for always being super kind and polite when asked to help out.
• Szymon for always saying thank you when someone helps him in class
• Daniel for always being helpful and hard working in class
• Julia for being kind in class to others and providing brilliant and neat Home Learning
• Aoife's 6th class: Thank you for being patient while other classes walk past your yard at yard time. Thank you for being safe and keeping a 2m distance.
• Lucas saw some art had fallen off a display in the corridor and stopped to pick it up and hang it back in the display.
• Oisín showed kindness: when a classmate was hurt on yard he went and collected their coat to bring it back to the classroom whilst they were being looked after.
• BOTH First Classes for being really kind and using their manners, and saying "Thank you" at all times during the day.
• Brandon helped his friend come down on the slide and then said 'best friends' when he reached the bottom.
• Vicky saw that one of her friends was finding it hard to come down from the climbing frame and she held her hand and guided her down all the way to end!
• Purple Pod, Laura's Senior Infants: each child in the Purple Pod showed kindness to their friend by offering to help clean up water that leaked from a bottle. They worked as a team and helped their friend to feel better about the leak.
• PJ, Aidan E, Eymran: When we got out to yard the chain link barrier between classes was moved to the side and they offered to put it back before the other classes arrived out.

We also distributed certificates at assembly:

• Ruth Maxwell's Junior Infants got the certificate for Cleanest Class - well done, Junior Infants!
• Emer's 1st class got the certificate for Friendliest Class
• Sarah OT's 4th class got the certificate for Best Line

Aoife B's 4th class also got their certificate for last week (18th September) as they had the best line that week.

Well done, everyone, and thank you for making Citywest ETNS a kind, friendly, clean and caring school!

We are pleased to publish our Annual Admissions Notice.
The admission process for the 2021/22 school year will open on 1st October 2020. 

Every Friday, we have a whole-school assembly. At assembly, our principal Caitriona reads out the nominations to the Golden Book that she received from staff members during the week. These nominations recognise children who celebrate our school values. We celebrate a  different value each month. Each September, we celebrate Kindness.

Here are the nominations we had this week. We hope it inspires you to add a dose of kindness to your day too!

• PJ made sure his class waited for a child in the bathroom before we went to the daily mile.
  
• Ruby and Danial showed kindness to the new children in the class, including them in games.
  
• Anastasia kindly offered to help carry PE equipment for her teacher.
  
• Hugo & George spotted someone on yard with no one to play with and invited them to join in their game.
  
• Áine very kindly stopped in the line to let Anita pass. She also remembered to give Anita a lot of space and she smiled and was very friendly.
  
• Ariana, Emilija and Zara were very kind during yard. A child in the class didn't have anybody to play with and they kindly let them join in with their game.
  
• Stephanie's Class are so polite when entering the building. They always say good morning and thank me for holding the door for them.
  
• When a child from 1st class was lost, and didn't know where to find her classroom, Sanjana told a teacher so that we could arrange for the child to be guided to her class.
  
• Chloe walked very safely around the back of Sarah C's line in the morning to get to her own, keeping safe distance from everyone who was not in her pod.
  
• Alexa helped her table with Maths.
  
• Robyn helped a classmate look for her bracelet on the yard at playtime.
  
• Aleksandra showed kindness and consideration towards her teacher by inviting her teacher to join in on a game she was playing.
  
• Vesta shows kindness to others by giving compliments.
  
• Olivia and Dean made great choices during play. They really listened to each other.
  
• Cara was walking past Aisling's support room in her line and she stopped the line to let Aisling pass by.
  
• Einoras noticed that an adult was finding it tricky to carry PE equipment outside so he offered to help.
  
• Emer's whole class are being nominated this week for their kind words to Natasha as she said goodbye to them and to their extremely welcoming and kind words to Damaris who has joined us.
  

Weaving Well-being is a programme for 2nd - 6th class pupils, designed to teach skills and strategies which develop positive mental health and promote well-being. The skills are based on current research from the field of positive psychology. You can read more about the programme here.

We introduced Weaving Well-being to our school in 2018 and are continuing it this year, for the third consecutive year. Following consultation with our NEPS psychologist and our Board of Management, we have decided to run the programme in September/October and again in January/February. 

​Well-being is very important to us and we run various programmes throughout the year, aimed at giving our students the skills and strategies to deal with everyday challenges and to build up self-esteem. In Term 3 last year, we also ran a very successful (virtual) Well-being Fortnight, which you might also get some nice ideas from!

Assembly has always been an important part of our week here in Citywest ETNS. In our old school building, we used to have 2 assemblies on Fridays, with half of the school attending each one. When we moved to our new school building in January, we were able to have whole-school assemblies in our lovely new hall. In Term 3, when the school building was closed, Caitríona hosted virtual assemblies for each class level, to help everyone stay connected.

This year, we wanted to ensure that we could still all meet for assembly once per week. We decided that the best way we could do this is to have everyone meet on Zoom. This morning, each class logged on and had a short meeting with Caitríona, in preparation for the return of our Friday assembly this week!

It is our chance to celebrate our Learn Together value for each month and to hear who has been nominated for the Golden Book. ​