Last Thursday night's talk for parents was a great success! It followed on from a Digital Citizenship day at the senior end of the school, where children from 3rd to 6th classes participated in workshops with John Wills from schoolsupports.com.
Later, it was the turn of a room full of parents. John's comprehensive talk covered the topics listed below and answered parents' questions, too. 

• Understanding what apps are being used by children and how they work
• What steps can be taken to keep children safe online
• Managing Challenging online content
• Cyber Bullying
• Setting boundaries around the internet
• Working with the school if a problem arises
• How to tackle Cyberbullying

We are delighted to see parents in our community taking their role in raising good digital citizens seriously, and to be able to help facilitate this by providing workshops like these.
Check out John's website; https://www.schoolsupports.com/cyber; for useful links and some of the resources John directed us to during his talk.

We are delighted to announce that we will have a guest speaker at the school on January 31st, speaking about the topic of Cyber Safety. John will be speaking to pupils in the Senior Classes (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th) during the school day, and will then give a talk for parents from 7.00-8.30pm that evening.

We strongly encourage parents, particularly those with children at the Senior end of the school and those parents who engage with social media themselves, to make an effort to attend this talk, as social media has become such a normal part of many children's lives and of our own lives. As well as educating ourselves on the possible dangers of our own behaviour online, it is crucial that parents inform themselves regarding the apps and platforms that their children are engaging with, and to be aware of the steps that can be taken to prevent children exposing themselves to unnecessary risk. 
The talk will address some of the following issues, all of which are relevant for adults as well as for children:

• Cyber bullying
• Technophobia
• E-safety culture
• Digital footprint
• Applications  (Apps)
• Sexting
• Online gaming
• Discussing cyber bullying, including with your child
• Parents' responsibilities with regards children’s online activity

John will also be happy to answer any specific questions you may have around this topic. We hope to see a great turnout on the night. 

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:

• Cyber bullying
• Technophobia
• E-safety culture
• Digital footprint
• Applications  (Apps)
• Sexting
• Online gaming
• Discussing cyber bullying with your child
• Parents' responsibilities with regards children’s online activity

We would encourage all parents to make an effort to attend this talk and hope to see a great turnout on the night.

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. 

Did you see that we have another trip for adults planned? Book your place on the trip here!

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

• cook a dish in advance, and then share it with a class, talking about the significance of the dish in connection with a particular festival, or
• if the recipe is simple enough, perhaps cook the dish WITH the class, allowing them to gain an even deeper appreciation of the festival

Some festivals that might lend themselves to a food-related lesson include:

• Eid ul Adha (passed this year, but please let us know if you would be interested for next year)
• Sukkot
• Diwali
• Guru Nanek's Birthday
• The Winter Solstice
• Christmas
• St. Brigid's Day
• Chinese New Year
• Nirvana Day
• Fairtrade Fortnight
• Easter
• Vaisakhi
• Passover
• Bealtaine
• Ramadan
• World Humanist Day

*Please note that these are just some examples - if you have any other dates that are culturally significant, we would love to hear from you!

Please complete the form below if you think you could get involved in this new initiative.