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As you know by now, at Citywest ETNS, we operate a programme of educational experiences designed to increase our children’s understanding of, and appreciation for, a variety of belief systems. It is our hope that, during their time at Citywest ETNS, each child will have the opportunity to meet with a religious leader and/or visit the place of worship of each of the main world religions, as well as some non-theistic belief systems.
So far this year, different classes in our school have had visits to a synagogue, a Buddhist centre and a church, and have been visited by speakers from Atheist Ireland and the Humanist Association. These visits provide a real-life context for the learning that is already taking place at school. Learning about the beliefs and customs of various world religions encourages understanding and mutual respect of diversity in all aspects of life. There is no faith formation element to any of these visits. The focus is on information about the faith. Unfortunately, we have yet to establish a strong relationship with a Hindu temple. While in the past, we have had a visit from a leader of the Hindu community, we would love to make a lasting connection with a temple that we could visit. If you are a member of the Hindu faith, or if you know somebody who is, could you make an introduction for us? We would love to establish a relationship with a leader of the Hindu faith that is based in a local temple. That way, we will be able to arrange yearly visits to the temple for various class levels. So if you do have a connection, please get in touch with Aoife, via the school office! We have been having difficulty with our portable PA system for a couple of months and cannot seem to figure out what the problem is. Sometimes, when we plug the microphone into the system, it works, and other times, it is patchy or doesn't work at all.
At first, we thought it must be a problem with the microphone itself or the cable we were using to connect it. But replacing both the mic and the cable was not enough to solve the problem. Now, we think there must be a loose connection within the PA system itself. Unfortunately, the system is just out of warranty. But maybe there is somebody in our school community who knows enough about electronics to take a look and hopefully sort this out? If you think you might be able to help us get to the bottom of this problem, please drop in to Nicola in the office, or drop us an email to let us know, and we can arrange to let you have a look at it. Thanks! We are delighted to announce that we will have a guest speaker at the school this Wednesday, 22 November, speaking about the topic of Cyber Safety. John will be speaking to pupils in the Senior Classes (3rd, 4th, 5th) during the school day, and will then give a talk for parents from 7.00-8.30pm on Wednesday evening.
The talk will address some of the following issues:
 Yesterday, Davy Byrne - corner back for the Dublin Senior Men's Football team - visited our school, along with another very special guest - the Sam Maguire Cup - the trophy the Dublin team won when they beat Mayo in the All-Ireland Football Final in September. They were also accompanied by Peter, our local GAA outreach officer - who is currently teaching the boys and girls in Second Class how to play football and hurling. The whole school assembled in the PE hall to welcome them and they arrived to a chorus of 'Come On You Boys in Blue'! Some children had an opportunity to ask Davy some questions about the experience of playing a final in Croke Park and getting to lift the Sam. Then each class had their pictures taken with it.  As you may know, last year we made great strides in the development of our teaching and learning about belief systems and other cultures. We began to explore a thematic approach to our learning about world faiths and also established a programme that allows every class in the school to visit a place of worship, or speak with a leader of a particular belief system each year. This year, we are looking to broaden our engagement with belief systems, and international cultures more generally. Food is a central part of many celebrations, and we would love to use this as another window into world cultures. If you have a dish that you cook in celebration of a particular festival, or at a particular time of year, maybe you could come in and share it with a class? We are looking for cooks who could either
Please complete the form below if you think you could get involved in this new initiative.  We would like to put together a display that communicates the importance of family in our school, and the sense of family that we all feel here.
We would LOVE to have a picture of your family to add to this display! If you have a standard sized photo of your family, that you would like to contribute to this display, please leave it with Nicola in the office. Please note that we will not be able to return this photo to you. We've recently come across an initiative called Fáilte Isteach - "a community based project where older volunteers welcome migrants to the community through conversational English classes." This sounds like exactly the kind of initiative we would love to facilitate at our school! - it's a way for us to connect more with our local community, and to build relationships between the diverse members of our community. Read lots more about Fáilte Isteach on their website, below  If you know of anybody who you think could lead this exciting and rewarding project, please encourage them to follow the plan laid out on the Fáilte Isteach website - and ask them to get in touch with us to let us know! |
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