Blog Posts

Junior Infants offers Round 2

8/2/2022

In Round 1 of offers for Junior Infants 2022, 84 offers were made and 42 places were accepted. The deadline for accepting offers has now passed.

We are now proceeding to Round 2 of offers. In Round 2, 17 offers are being made. These are for children who are in Category 2 of our new policy i.e. children who do not have siblings in the school, who were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22 and who turned 4 years of age by 31/12/21, starting with the oldest. Those being offered places in Round 2 have dates of birth ranging from January 2017 to May 2017. These families will have one week to accept these places.

Should places remain, we will proceed to Round 3 of offers. All families who applied will receive a decision email from us by 21st February.

Category listings on the waiting list are now as follows:

Category 2 (non-siblings, 4 by 31/12/21) = 49 children
Category 3 (non-siblings, 4 by 31/3/22) = 10 children
Category 4 (siblings, 4 by 30/6/22) = 4 children
Category 5 (all others who were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22) = 12 children
Category 6 (late applications) = 1 child

Total 76 children on our waiting list

Junior Infants offers of place for September 2022

31/1/2022

It's 1st February and it's a big day in our calendar, the day on which we send the first round of offers for places in Junior Infants for the new school year.

As for previous years, our school is heavily oversubscribed. We received 177 applications for 50 places in Junior Infants 2022/23.

These applications were categorised as follows, as per our Admissions Policy:

Old policy i.e. any child pre-enrolled for JI 2022 by 30/1/2020.
1. 71 children in this category.
New policy Category 1 i.e. siblings who will be 4 by 31/3/22 and were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22.
1. 13 children in this category.
New policy Category 2 i.e. non-siblings who turned 4 by 31/12/21 and were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22.
1. 66 children in this category.
New policy Category 3 i.e. non-siblings who will be 4 by 31/3/22 and were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22.
1. 10 children in this category.
New policy Category 4 i.e. siblings who will be 4 by 30/6/22 and were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22.
1. 4 children in this category.
New policy Category 5 i.e. all other children who were pre-enrolled by 31/1/22.
1. 12 children in this category.
Late applications
1. 0 children in this category so far.

First-round offers were sent this morning for children in categories 1 and 2 above i.e. those who were pre-enrolled by 30/1/2020 and siblings who will be 4 by 31/3/22. Those families have one week to respond to the offer.

We will continue to offer places over the coming weeks and months according to the list set out above. Within each category, children are listed according to date of birth i.e. older children at the top of each category list.

We understand the frustration and worry that might be present for those awaiting an offer. Please understand that we are not in a position at this time to let you know your place on the waiting list. After the first 3 weeks, we expect movement to settle down and, if you have not received an offer by that stage, we would be happy to let you know where your child is on the waiting list.

We hosted Ireland AM

13/1/2022

On Tuesday 11th January, we were delighted to host Ireland AM, live from our school building. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to show off our new building, with camera crews recording live segments from our PE Hall and one of our classrooms.

Caitríona (our principal) and Jessica (the chairperson of our PA) both spoke brilliantly about the challenges faced by schools all around the country due to Covid. You can watch the show here.

We were on RTE Prime Time

17/11/2021

We were pleased to welcome RTE Prime Time to our school yesterday. Prime Time is the flagship current affairs programme of Ireland's national broadcaster, RTE.

They interviewed our principal Caitriona & took some video around our school. Watch the segment here. It lasts one minute, starting at 04:00. Caitriona's key message was that worry, stress and anxiety is the biggest challenge facing school communities and that parents and school staff need to feel reassured that measures are being taken to keep schools safe. Measuring the level of Covid in schools would be a logical starting point. Caitriona also pointed out that creative solutions are required, particularly in the area of staffing for schools.

Caretaker needed!

15/11/2021

We are looking for a hardworking, reliable and enthusiastic caretaker to join our dedicated team at Citywest Educate Together National School.

A suitable candidate:
- is competent, can problem-solve and takes pride in their work
- understands their role as a supportive member of our school team
- will be responsible for the care and maintenance of the school buildings and grounds
- has a business / trade qualification (plumber, electrical, carpenter etc.) and/or experience as a caretaker: although these are not essential
- will uphold our school values.

The job is listed here on Education Posts.ie - please view it and use the email address listed to apply.

Restorative Practice

4/11/2021

Our school is committed to the use of Restorative Practice, which is all about building relationships through positive communication.

Over the past number of months, we have hosted two information evenings to share an overview of the philosophy. For the coming two months, we are sharing weekly videos with families via email. These videos share a restorative lens through which to view our daily interactions with our children and others. They are light and invitational - we hope they can give you food for thought.

Many of the topics Michelle discusses in these videos overlap with the learning that is taking place in our classrooms. You may notice that your child recognises some of the images/ language shared with you by Michelle.

We hope you enjoy and benefit from this resource as much as we are!

After-School Classes return!

22/10/2021

Our after-school classes are returning on a phased basis from the 1st November. We are initially starting with 5 classes - one per day. All classes will take place in the school hall.

The schedule is as follows:
- Mondays: Capoeira
- Tuesdays: Hip Hop and Jazz Dance
- Wednesdays: Irish Dance
- Thursdays: Sports Training
- Fridays: Speech and Drama

Please follow this link for more details. You can sign up for classes here.

School Strategy Review

23/9/2021

Our Strategy Plan highlights what is important to our school. It guides those leading our community in what to focus on. It also lets existing and prospective members of our community know what to expect when they engage with us. The Strategy Plan is our shared vision for our school and community.

The Board of Management reviewed progress on the school’s Strategy Plan over Summer 2021. Following this review, the Board agreed on the items in the document below remaining in the strategy plan for the coming term of the plan.

This creates limited capacity in the strategy plan to add a new item or items for piloting. We would like to invite the community to work with us in choosing what to add. We are using a two-step process for this:

Collect ideas - please complete this form by Friday 1st October to let us know your suggestions. Two suggestions already on the list are:
1. Being an actively Anti-Racist school/community
2. Being a Safe Cycling/Sustainable Transport school/community
Choose from the ideas suggested - in November, we will send you another form listing the ideas suggested that the Board considers viable or manageable over the coming 4 years, asking you to rank them according to preference.

We are interested in hearing from everyone in our community - local businesses, creches, sports clubs, resident associations and others as well as students, parents and staff. We are part of the same community and we want to know your thoughts on how we can improve our community over the coming 4 years. Please let us know your thoughts!

We hope to confirm our Strategy Plan by the end of December so that we as a community can work together on progressing priorities agreed.

Caretaker wanted

14/9/2021

Citywest ETNS is seeking to recruit a caretaker/cleaner to join our team.

https://www.educationposts.ie/post/view/160173

Back to school!

6/9/2021

Last week, we were thrilled to return to school for a new year. We had a staff day on Monday the 30th August, before we welcomed our pupils back on Tuesday the 31st. It was wonderful to hear the campus full of energy and fun again - we are excited for the year ahead!

Here is some key information for the return to school:

You can see the calendar for the 2021/22 school year here.
You can see the staff list for the upcoming year here.
The Covid Response Plan for this year was ratified by the Board of Management on the 26th August and can be found here.

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