Rochestown Educate Together NS

Reminder about School Closure: School is closed tomorrow (Tuesday, 7th January 2020) to facilitate staff training for our teachers in the new Language Curriculum. We will re-open again on Wednesday.
Le dea-ghuí,
Alan.

Our school's first Whole School Evaluation (Management, Leadership and Learning) (WSE – MLL) took place in February. Inspectors from the Department of Education and Skills visited our school over three days. The WSE-MLL looks at the work of the school as a whole. It praises the positive aspects of the school's work and suggests areas for improvement. Our final WSE-MLL report has been published. To view the report please visit www.rochestownetns.ie or https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Inspection-Reports-Publications/Whole-School-Evaluation-Reports-List/

The response of our Board of Management to the report is also included. I would like to thank our inspectors for their work with our school and for their diligence in having the report prepared so promptly. I would also like to thank all of our pupils, parents, staff and wider school community for your role in creating such a special school environment. I am especially proud that our school’s approach to supporting our pupils’ well-being was acknowledged in the report as being of an “exceptionally high standard”.

As a staff, we are delighted that our approach to teaching, learning and assessment was commended. It is significant that in the report the inspectors call our school a “centre of excellence and innovation”. I believe our staff (teachers, SNAs, secretary) are due great credit for their outstanding professionalism. Our pupils are noted as being “curious, enthusiastic, highly motivated learners”. It is truly a pleasure to work with such wonderful pupils and staff.

The report also contains recommendations to continue to improve the quality of education in our school, especially as we grow both in pupil numbers and staff size. We will of course take heed of these suggestions and I look forward to working collectively with our staff and families to ensure that our school is continuously improving and evolving.

I have attached an image of a tree that we completed to mark our first WSE. Each of the pupils has left their thumbprint as the leaves and the staff has left their thumbprint in the roots. This tree signifies our development to this point. Thank you very much to one of our SNAs, Terri, who drew and painted the tree. We look forward to hanging this artwork, along with the WSE report, in the foyer of our permanent school building!

Le dea-ghuí,

Dr. Alan Sheehan

Principal

Dear parent/guardian,

School will re-open again tomorrow (Monday). I would ask that everyone drive carefully on the roads. Most of the roads have been cleared but there is a build of slush in places - especially on the road to Douglas Hall. Please use extreme caution on the footpaths as they are still covered with snow and ice this afternoon.

We will not be marking anyone as being late tomorrow on the attendance records so please take your time when coming to school.

Le dea-ghuí,
Alan.

Dear parent/guardian,

I hope that you are all safe and that the children have been able to enjoy the snow. The DES has released the following statement regarding whether schools can re-open again on Monday:

"Where possible schools, colleges of further education and third level institutions will re-open on Monday.
However, decisions will be made by schools, colleges of further education and third level institutions on an individual basis depending on the circumstances and conditions in their area.
As always, schools must ensure the safety of those in their care and give due consideration to this when making a decision to re-open."

I will check conditions at both school sites tomorrow and then email everyone with an update as to whether our school will re-open again on Monday.

Le dea-ghuí,
Alan.

Dear parent/guardian,

We have received the following update from the Department of Education and Skills:

"Given the disruption to transport and the safety risks arising, most particularly in relation to the ability to get home safely before blizzard like conditions hit Munster and Leinster, all schools, third level institutions, colleges and centres of further education in red areas will be closed tomorrow and Friday".

I would advise everyone to take care over the coming days and not to travel unless it is urgent. I will see you all again on Monday.

Le dea-ghuí,
Alan.

Dear parent/guardian,

School is closed today (Wednesday) due to the dangerous conditions. I would advise everyone to be careful on the roads and not to make any unnecessary journeys. I will email everyone later today with an update about tomorrow's situation.

Le dea-ghuí,
Alan.

Last Tuesday we had a 'Green and Black' day at Rochestown Educate Together National School. This was held to celebrate the successes of Douglas GAA Club. We were delighted to be visited by Cian and Donnchadh from their football team who won the County championship for the first time in 126 years!

We were also very fortunate to be visited by Pamela Mackey, who plays camogie with Douglas. Pamela was part of the Cork team that won the All Ireland Final against Kilkenny last September. She was thrilled when she heard that we held a 'Red and White' day to support the Cork team. We couldn't believe how big the O'Duffy All Ireland Cup was!

Pamela, Cian and Donnchadh told us about the importance of keeping active and persevering. They also said that playing sports help us to make friends. We would like to thank Pamela, Cian and Donnchadh for visiting our school. We would like to say a special thank you to Pat for organising the visit. Pat is a GAA coach from Douglas GAA who teaches skills to our pupils. Thanks Pat!

The children of Rochestown Educate Together NS celebrated their first term during this week. The two Junior Infant classes the two Senior Infants and the two first First Classes joined together to perform plays for their respective families. Our Second and Third Class made movies and had then showed them to their families. We are all incredibly proud of the pupils who did so well in their shows and events. Thank you to all of our parents for helping the children to learn their lines/songs/actions and for helping with the costumes!

As the first term ends, I would like to thank all of our parents and families for their support. Our close partnership between home and school most certainly has a positive impact on our children's education.

It has been a very busy term with a number of achievements including:

◾Welcoming over 70 new pupils

◾Welcoming 6 new members of staff

◾Special events: red day, Maths Week, Science Week, Lord mayor's Visit, end of term productions

◾new initiatives: New SEN model; New Language Curriculum; Piloting draft Mathematics Curriculum; Forest School in Third Class

I would also like to commend the wonderful work of our staff: Noirín, Chloe, Yvonne Cregan, Laura, Emer, Ann Marie, Erica, Clive, Clare, David, Pamela, Lia, Christine, Ann, Terri, Rebecca, Cathy and Dolores. I would like to thank Clodagh for all of her hard work with us over the past four months. We are a very fortunate school to have people with the most excellent professional and personal skills working with us. Finally, I would like to say well done to all of our pupils on a wonderful start to this school year. I think that the end of term productions encapsulate the fantastic learning that takes place at Rochestown Educate Together NS.

I would like to wish everyone an enjoyable break and please travel safely if you are making any journeys. We will see you all back at school on Monday, 8th January 2018.

Le dea-ghuí,

Dr. Alan Sheehan

Principal

Rochestown Educate Together National School celebrated Science Week in November. During this week, all classes learnt about the scientific method. All classes conducted one experiment each day. Examples include making flour in Junior Infants, a smell test in Senior Infants, an examination about how we hear in First Class, an experiment about colour mixing in Second Class, and creating catapults in Third Class. We also had a number of parents who visited classes as guest speakers - a big thank you to all of them!

Our First, Second and Third Classes also participated in a Science Showcase where families were invited into school and the pupils demonstrated some of the experiments that they had conducted during Science Week. Thank you to everyone who was able to visit!

The Educate Together ethos has four pillars: Child-centred; Co-educational; Democratic; and Equality-based. Part of being a truly democratic school involves having children as part of the decision making process at an age appropriate manner. Rochestown Educate Together National School lives this part of our ethos in part by having a Student Council.

Our Student Council is made up of two pupils from Second Class and Third Class respectively. We recently had our Student Council election campaign. Before this, interested pupils were nominated and then prepared election posters and speeches. They were also visited by a number of our TDs who spoke with the children about the importance of listening to others when you are representing them. Each of these TDs were also unsuccessful in being elected at some stage and they spoke with the children about how we can learn from our difficulties and persevere with things that we believe in. Thank you very much to Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire who visited our Third Class and Deputies Michael McGrath and Michéal Martin who visited our Second Class. A huge congratulations to the four pupils who were successful in the election!

Rochestown Educate Together National School celebrated Maths Week in October. This event gave all of our pupils the opportunity to use their 'Maths Eyes' to explore mathematics in the world around them. As well as number and operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), Maths includes algebra, shape and space, measures and data. Every class participated in special activities, from Maths Trails in our Infant classes to raft races in Third Class.

We are also delighted to be chosen by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) as one of eight primary schools in Ireland that will pilot the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum for Junior Infants to Second Class over the coming months. This new Maths curriculum is due to be rolled out to all primary schools across the country in the coming years. Our school is very proud of our approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics and we hope that our ideas will influence mathematics education in Ireland for the foreseeable future.

Here are some of the activities that our First Class undertook during Maths Week. These included surveys and tallying, place value games, card sorting, and addition pair work.