Dear Parents,
Behaviour on the Yard
Our school takes great pride in our good behaviour. We continue to encourage boys to behave properly on the school yard as we want to ensure the children’s safety in school. We are trying to discourage rough play so that the boys have a positive experience during their lunch break. We operate a colour card system and give white cards (minor offences), yellow cards (serious offences) and red cards (very serious offences). All of these cards have reflection notes at the back for the boys to write what they did and why they are sorry for their actions. We are proud to say that we give more green cards to boys for good behaviour and acts of kindness. These green cards are displayed as leaves on our ‘Positive Tree’ to acknowledge all kind acts during the school year. All parents tick a box on our application form accepting our Code of Behaviour and we thank you for your continued support. This policy can be viewed in our school office and we hope to upload it on our school website shortly.
First Confession meeting for parents of boys in second class – St. Mary’s Church on 7th February at 7.30pm
There will be a meeting for parents of second class boys in St. Mary’s Church on the 7th February at 7.30pm to help prepare boys for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our second classes attended Mass today as part of Catholic Schools Week.Fourth Class Tour
Our fourth class boys had a super tour on Tuesday. They went to see the Andy Warhol collection in the Hugh Lane Gallery. Their tour bus then brought them to Trinity College where they visited the Book of Kells. A new immersive exhibition allowed the boys to step into the pages of the 9th Century illuminated manuscript. This digital experience contains stage sets, 360 degree projections, digital mapping, animations and audio storytelling. All the boys were well-behaved and we are very grateful to Ms. Hunston and Mr. Lynch for organising this trip.Quiz teams
Best of luck to our three quiz teams who are taking part in the Credit Union Quiz in St. Lorcan’s in Palmerstown tomorrow evening at 7pm. The three quiz teams include:
Under 11 team:
Senan Mullan
Finn Ford
Finn O’Toole
Caleb Ubando
Under 13 team:
Finn Brunton
Adam Finucane
Finn Crawford
Jonathan Hsiao
Under 13 team:
Evan Gormley
Aedan Forster
Jazim Khan
Ross Nolan
Thanks to Ms. Geraghty and Ms. Staunton for preparing the boys for this competition during their lunch break.
Cultural Awareness
Last Friday we were entertained by some wonderful poetry and music from Germany. Logan McCann (Mr. Lynch’s fourth class) recited a poem and Liam Mansfield (Mr. Shannon’s second class) gave us some useful German phrases. We look forward to hearing about the culture and history of New Zealand tomorrow.
National Parents Council (NPC) – Transitioning to secondary school
The NPC is offering free online sessions, providing tips and advice for boys transitioning to secondary school. This course would be more suited for parents who have boys in fifth and sixth class. The sessions take place from the 29th January to the 2nd February at 10am and 7pm. Please check www.npc.ie for more information or click on the following link for registration: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TPPP_Feb_2024
TUSLA Fostering Team recruiting Foster Carers
The Child and Family Agency TUSLA are trying to recruit Foster Carers in Dublin. The shortfall in foster carers has now become an urgent crisis. For more information please email nicole.wynne@tusla.ie and ciara.rowan3@tusla.ie
Table Tennis
There was loads of table tennis action over the past week. Last Friday saw Team I (Ted McHugh, Aodh McGonigle, Finn Crawford and Ross Nolan) and Team III (Peichiu Liu, Sam O’Brien, Finn O’Sullivan & Ruairí Dowling) visit neighbours Lucan East Educate Together for two league matches and a cup match. St Mary’s prevailed in all three fixtures and move on to Round Two of the Cup with their Team I.
Another cup match took place on Tuesday when The High School, Rathgar visited St Mary’s to take on Team II (Daniel Abbott, Conor Crowley, Matthieu Higgins-Portet & Adam O’Donnell). St Mary’s produced a super performance to progress to the next round of the Boys U13 Cup; a competition comprising of both primary and secondary school teams.
Finally, Ballyroan visited St Mary’s today with both their Division 1 and Division 2 teams. In two epic encounters, the points were shared in each match.
Thanks again to Mr. Clandillon and Mr. Lynch for all their help with our table tennis teams.
Le dea-ghuí,
Dara Burke, Principal.