Newsletter 16.06.2023 - Canal Way Educate Together National School, Dublin 8

Message from Dermot

Welcome this our newsletter. This newsletter has information regarding our upcoming tenth birthday celebrations, summer bbq, information on events and preparations for the end of year.

June is here, and as always, our school’s primary focus will be on the core value of Pride. This theme encompasses various aspects that our children will explore, including taking pride in our community, fostering a sense of self-pride, celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride, and instilling pride in our school and the achievements we have accomplished throughout the academic year. So much to be proud of at this time of year!

Enjoy the weekend, Dermot.

Happy Retirement Wilma !

Canal Way ETNS has it’s first staff retirement, and it is with a very heavy heart that we say good bye to Wilma. Wilma joined us back in 2014, and has been a pillar of our school since day 1. Wilma played a key part in the development of our school, particularly in the area of the arts, our beautiful school garden, and our parental involvement. Wilma also looked after children who needed that extra hand, and headed up the special education department for many years. Wilma was also our acting Deputy Principal and has been a great support to all of the staff and to me, both personally and professionally.

Wilma has so much to celebrate in her teaching career having worked in many schools in the city, and also in schools for children with additional needs, before coming to CWETNS.

Thankyou SO MUCH for everything you have done for CWETNS Wilma. We wish you a long, healthy and happy retirement.

CWETNS 10th Birthday Party in school on Wednesday 21st for our students

We will be celebrating our 10th Birthday on next Wednesday 21st in school. This is a day for our children to have a VERY BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY ! We will have entertainment for all the children, from Reuben. We will be having a festival disco in the garden and we have a surprise visitor booked also. This should be a great day and we look forward to celebrating our birthday with the children together.

We have also made a book to celebrate our birthday which will be available soon. This highlights all we have achieved in our ten short years.

Class Allocation / Staffing

The school is currently recruiting new staff for next year. We hope to inform you of your child’s class teacher for next year, by early July.

We say farewell to Mick, a longstanding member of Canal Way ETNS. Mick will be relocating to the other side of the country, and we wish you every success and happiness. Thankyou for all you have brought to our school and to the children of CWETNS.

We would like to wish Siobhan, Luke & Amy C all the best for their year ahead as they embark on career breaks. Good luck in all of your endeavours. We would like to wish Áine & Mary well for the future and good luck in your adventures also. Thanks.

Summer BBQ on Saturday

We look forward to seeing you at the summer BBQ on Saturday. There is a lot of work going into this event and we look forward to seeing you all there to celebrate our 10th birthday together. There will be activities, food, dance, music, and 99s!

Important Dates – End of year

The last day of school is June 30th and we will close at 12:00 sharp.

Our first day back is Thursday August 31st . The calendar for the school year 2023/2024 is on the school website – home page and scroll to the bottom.

If for any reason you will not be here for the first day back please let us know.

If you are not returning to Canal Way ETNS in September and have not already informed the school please do so now as it could affect our staffing allocation for September and we need to be prepared.

Bikes, Scooters, Lost and Found

With the warm weather lots of jackets and hoodies are being abandoned in the yard on a daily basis. Please clearly label all such items of clothing so that we can attempt to reconcile them with their owners.

Any lost property left behind on June 30th will be sent to a charity shop.

Free School Books

As many of you will be aware, the state are financing school books primary school children for the school year 2023 so you do not have to worry about book lists this year.

Huge thankyou to Eavan, who has organised this for our school, ensuring your child’s books are ready and available on-site for by September. I’m certain you’ll also be appreciative of her hard work – please say thanks the next time you see her. She has saved you that horrible job over the summer months!

We will circulate a link for our annual materials money next week. We have incorporated stationary into this to save you sourcing that yourselves, and some items are covered by the book grant, so the cost has come down to € 100.

DIY help needed on June 26/27

We are removing the large old blackboards from our classrooms, and we would really appreciate a vollunteer or two to help us take them down and get them into a skip. If you are free on either June 26 or 27, please contact us and we would truly appreciate your help. We want to carry out the work between 09.00 – 14.00hrs.

Please contact me on [email protected] or call the office

Packing Boxes – send them in please !

We are doing extensive decorating in the classrooms this summer, floors sanding, new notice baords, rooms repainted.

We have to pack up classes, and we would really appreciate if you could drop in cardboard boxes that you may have, that would be suitable for packing lots of books, paints, resources. Min size 30cm x 50cm.

Please drop them into reception or send them in with your class teacher.

Class Mixing

For a few years before COVID, CWETNS mixed classes every second year. This is a practice we started with positivity, but did not return to post COVID. The two year pilot was successful to a degree, but also proved near impossible to manage for some classes / children. The school encountered most challenges in allocating teachers to classes / children they hadn’t previously taught, making it a nearly impossible task in some cases. We would not like children to have the same teacher on numerous years in their time in CWETNS, so we are not returning to this again. Thanks for your support and patience on this one. It was worth a try.

LOST PROPERTY

As we approach the end of June, when any unclaimed items will be taken to the clothes bank, please check for your child’s clothing in the lost property collection. This is located just inside the doors at the Junior infant entrance.

English Plan update and spellings programme.

We’ve been diligently updating our whole school English plan, and we’re pleased to announce that we’re almost finished ! This has been a year-long project, with progress made in the previous year as well. Your valuable input, along with feedback from students and teachers, has helped to shape this updated plan.

As we approach the final stages, we wanted to give you a heads-up on what’s coming next. The ‘Spellings for me ‘ pilot program in 2nd and 3rd class will soon be concluding, and we’ll be exploring alternative approaches to enhance spelling skills. During our recent inset day, we focused on effective strategies to improve pupils’ handwriting in our school. Additionally, we have received comprehensive training in the Primary Language Curriculum and gained insights into the new Curriculum for Primary Schools. Link here :

https://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/84747851-0581-431b-b4d7-dc6ee850883e/2023-Primary-Framework-ENG-screen.pdf

Return books by Friday 23rd

By Friday, 23rd June , please return all reading materials to the school for our inventory check. Remember, the books come in packs of six, so it’s important that we have all of them. Please send the books directly to your child’s class teacher, not the office.