URGENT AND IMPORTANT - Please see email just sent!
1. Public meeting 8pm tonight for 2nd level campaign
2. No school tomorrow
3. Info evening this Thurs
Thanks.

Dear parents and guardians,
We have a very busy week ahead!

1. Public meeting this evening for the 2nd level campaign - we have now reached the critical time for this process and it is so important that everyone gets involved. Come to the meeting and bring your neighbours, your friends, anyone who might have a vote and anyone who might influence someone who has a vote. We welcome people who have already decided which patron to vote for and those who are not yet sure. Children are welcome to come along. 8pm in our PE Hall. See you there.
2. No school tomorrow, Tuesday 17th September, due to staff training.
3. Information evening for all parents this Thursday 20th September, 6.30pm to 9.10pm. We are delighted to have secured Helena Murphy, a doctoral researcher with The National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in DCU, to give a talk to parents about bullying, preventing bullying and dealing with bullying. We are a community and we need everyone working together to ensure that our community is free from bullying. Each classroom teacher will also give a presentation about life in their class and I will talk about our new strategic plan and the work of our Board of Management. We have a full evening planned for you and we hope that you come for the full evening, 6.30pm to 9.10pm. This event is for adults only; children will not be allowed in to the school building.

Looking forward to seeing you this evening and on Thursday evening and I wish you a great week,
Caitriona.

Dear families,
A pupil in our school, along with the child's family, have now been homeless for 15 months. This family of two adults and two children are currently living in one room in a hotel, which is very difficult.
They are desperate to find a place to live. As their child is so happy and connected in our school, they would love a place to live within travel distance to our school - they are currently commuting from Lucan to get here each day. They would love to live in Tallaght, Citywest, Rathcoole, Saggart or nearby areas.
The family is entitled to Homeless HAP and can pay rent up to 2100 euros.
If you know of any place available for them to rent, please pass the details - or your details - to Nicola in the school office, who will pass them on to the family.
We are a community and we look after one another. This family has been through enough. If we can find them a place to live, that would be wonderful!
Wishing you all a happy, restful weekend,
Caitriona.

​Dear families,
It is with disappointment that we are writing to you to let you know that we are reluctantly removing our school teams from the GAA league due to lack of parental involvement. In the early years of the school, we heard from a lot of parents who wished for our school to have sports teams. We put work into this over the last few years with a view to getting fully involved in the league this year including lunchtime training sessions, fundraising for jerseys, making connections with GAA clubs and other schools. We were very encouraged by the attendance at the meeting before the summer.
 
Each game takes time to organise - booking a pitch, arranging a referee, liaising with other schools, organising cover within the school for a teacher to accompany the team, etc. Having to call each of those people on the morning of a match to cancel is very difficult - the other team have already booked and paid for a bus, the referee has taken time off work, the GAA Club have arranged for their caretaker to have everything ready for us.
 
We understand that parents have work and other commitments. However, this is a venture that cannot proceed without parental support and involvement. 
 
Therefore, we have withdrawn our team from the league. We will continue with the lunchtime training sessions and we hope that we will be able to work together on this in future years.
 
Yours sincerely,
Caitriona Hand, Principal, and Shane Smith, Teacher and Coach.

It's time!! Let's get voting, your community needs you to #VoteEducateTogether
✅ Get your child/children’s PPS numbers and your eircode to hand.
✅ Go to: http://bit.ly/VoteETCitywestSaggart
✅Follow the instructions and make sure Vote No.1 Educate Together
The vote is open to all children in the defined geographic area of the Tallaght and Rathcoole/Newcastle School Districts, between 2nd to 6th Class, with parents getting one vote per child, voting will take place from 9th September to 4th October 2019. This is a unique, historical opportunity for you to shape the future of our wonderfully diverse and vibrant community.
Thank you for your time and most importantly for making the choice for real equality based education for the whole community!
#VoteEducateTogether
We also want to let you know that we will be holding a public meeting this Monday 16 September in Citywest Educate Together National School at 8pm. We need you and your family to be there.
We have a number of speakers joining us to share their experiences, and insights on education and the Educate Together model.
These include:
Claire Matthews (Principal) and students from Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School
Paul Murphy TD
John Lahart TD
Caitriona Hand - Principal of Citywest Educate Together NS
Parents Association Chairperson from Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School
Jennifer Buttner - Educate Together Regional Development Officer
Dave Murphy - Chairperson Citywest Educate Together Second Level Campaign
This a child friendly event, please bring your children to the meeting. Remember school is closed on Tuesday, 17th September 2019.
This is a great opportunity to find out more about Educate Together, what an Educate Together secondary school can offer your child and how our unique Ethical Education curriculum is used during the school day.

We hope to see you there!
Remember, you can #VoteEducateTogether at this link before Friday 4 October. Every vote counts so please share this email with friends and family who live in the catchment area and have a child starting secondary school between 2020 and 2024!
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to vote for the patronage of a second level school for your children and the whole community. #VoteEducateTogether

Kind regards,
Dave Murphy
Chairperson
Citywest Saggart Educate Together Second Level Campaign

#VoteEducateTogether - http://bit.ly/VoteETCitywestSaggart ​

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),


Just a brief reminder that our After-School programme recommences on Monday, 9th September. We have 11 classes on offer for Term 1. Please check out our website for more information, including the starting date of each class. Please follow this link if you wish to register your child for a class.
If you have signed up for a class through a provider's own website, please also fill out the form on the school webpage, so we are aware of that. 


Happy weekend!
Orla (After-School Co-ordinator) 

Dear Parents/Guardians,
Firstly, congratulations to all our Junior Infant children who have just completed their first week in school! We are so proud of how the children have settled and we are excited about the year ahead.
This email has some reminders for you for the coming weeks:
Junior Infant School Day
Junior Infant children will be starting school at 8:30 am and will finish at 1:10 pm. Class teachers will meet the children in the yard as practised this week. At 1:10 pm, children will collected at the classroom door as usual.
Busy Campus
As school starts for all classes at 8:30 am, the school campus will be much busier. You may wish to speak to your child about this in order to prepare them for the change. Please allow time to settle your child in the line while you wait for the class teacher to meet the class.
Lunches
The children will be eating twice a day from now on. Please bear this in mind when you are giving your child lunch. The children do not dispose of waste in school, they will bring it home. As the children will be doing lots of activities, it is important that they bring a drink every day. It is a good idea to have a bottle with a lid so they can drink frequently throughout the day.
Allergies
Please remember that we are a nut-free school, so please do not send nuts for lunch. This includes items that contain nuts for example chocolate bars, biscuits, etc. We do hope that every family will realise the life-threatening nature of such an allergy and will respect this request. Please remind your child that sharing food is not allowed in school.
Coats
We will be going to yard twice a day weather permitting. Please ensure your child comes to school with appropriate clothing. Your child needs to be able to put on, take off and zip his/her coat independently. Please practise this at home. Also, please make sure to label coats, hats, scarves, etc.


We look forward to seeing you at 8:30 am on Monday morning at the yard line. We hope you have a wonderful weekend.


Thank you,
Ruth and Laura

Dear parents and guardians of children in Junior Infants,
Class Allocation Confirmed
Thank you for working with us as we tried out a new way of settling classes into Junior Infants. The children got to try out both rooms and some moved rooms as we figured out where each child learns best. We are now happy that the classes are set up for optimum learning. Each child will be staying in the room they were collected from today. 


Formal Junior Infants photographs
Next Wednesday, 11th September, County Photos will come to our school, during the school day, to take formal school photos of all children in Junior Infants. If a child has a sibling in an older class, they will take a family photo too. There will also be a group photo of each class.
The photos will be available for you to purchase later in the month.
If you do not want your child in the class photo that will be offered for sale to all families in the class, please reply to this email to let us know.
Otherwise, you do not need to do anything.
We cannot accommodate parents on the day, even to brush hair or help get the best smile - please trust that this is a professional photographer who will get a good photo!


Have a lovely evening,
Caitriona.

Good morning!
Some news and some reminders:

• Strategy Plan - we are pleased to share our work so far. We will be asking for your input later in September so that we can develop it further.
• Classroom Visits on Wednesday 4th September
  • Our Parents Association are hosting the first Parents Gathering of the year in the PE Hall from 1.15pm to 1.45pm. Please come along and help develop our community! All welcome, including Senior Infants children already collected from school.
  • Family members of children in Senior Infants visit from 12.45pm
  • Family members of children in 1st to 6th classes visit from 1.45pm 
  • Please let your child know if you will NOT be coming so as to avoid disappointment. If you think your child will be upset, let us know so we can support them. We don't want to see any child upset.
• Teacher Visits - this week, the support teachers who will be working with your child's class will be visiting them and getting to know them, including playing games with them. Take the time to look at the Staff page with your child and ask them to identify the support teachers who have visited their room!
• Last year we broke all records in terms of pupil attendance. It was by far our best year and we are so impressed at the strides made by families. Well done and thank you! If your child misses a school day, make sure to let us know why.
• If you miss any communication from us, you can catch up here. This page may be particularly useful for those families who secured school places with us in the last week.

Have a great week. I hope to see you on Wednesday.
Caitriona.