Good Sports and Class celebrations

Down Syndrome Ice-cream at Sports Day

The ice-cream/coffee stand raised just over €570 for Down Syndrome Ireland, which is a fantastic outcome for a very worthy cause. The children were great and waited patiently and politely for their turn. Thanks to the teachers for organizing the visits and to the volunteers manning the stand. And a very special thanks to those who arrived early for set up, made copious urns of coffee and then stayed late for dismantling and clean up. We simply couldn’t do it without you.

DSP Newsletter

Have you got your family copy of the summer issue of the DSP Newsletter ? It’s full of news and pictures about the school year 2016-2017. Check schoolbags – the youngest child in every family is the one to take it home. Call in to the office if you did not get a copy.

Reports and Booklists

End of year reports and booklists for September 2017 will be issued tomorrow Thursday by email. Let us know if you do not receive an email or if would like a paper copy.

Dates for your diary

Thursday 22 June: Junior Infants songs and photos 9:00am – parents/guardians invited

Friday 23 June: 6th class soccer blitz at Monkstown ETNS

Monday 26 June: 2nd class Moving On ceremony 9:00am – parents/guardians invited

Tuesday 27 June: Final Whole School Assembly 11:00am

Wednesday 28 June: 6th class graduation 11:00 – parents/guardians invited

Friday 30 June: School closes for summer holidays 12:15

Sports Day Timetable Update

There have been a few changes made to the timetable. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Sports Day Timetable 2017

	Junior Infants	Senior Infants	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th
8:50 – 09:10	Buddies Relay	Buddies Relay	–	–	–	–	Buddies Relay	Buddies Relay
9.10 – 9.30	Sprints	Hopper Race	3 – legged Race	Egg & Spoon	Parachute Games	South Side Sports	Dalkey United Station
9.30 – 9.50	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race	3 – legged Race		Parachute Games	Ice – Cream	Dalkey United Station
9.50 – 10:10	South Side Sports	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race	Dalkey United		Parachute Games	Ice – Cream
10.10 – 10.30	Hopper Race	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints	South Side Sports	Ice – Cream		Parachute Games
10.30 – 10:50	Partner Race	Parachute Games	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Ice – Cream	Dalkey United Station	South Side Sports	3 – legged Race
10.50 – 11.10	Egg & Spoon	Dalkey United	South Side Sports	Ice – Cream	Sprints	Hopper Race	3 – legged Race	Sack Race
		L	U	N	C	H
11.40– 12.00	Ice Cream	South Side Sports		Dalkey United	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race	Egg & Spoon
12.00 – 12.20		Ice – Cream	Parachute Games	South Side Sports	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race
12.20 – 12.40			Dalkey United	Parachute Games	3 – legged Race	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints
12:40 – 13:00			Ice Cream		Hopper Race	3 – legged Race	Egg & Spoon	South Side Sports
13:10		R	E	L	A	Y

Choice Names

‘Choice Names’

Some staff prefer to be called by their first names rather than their surnames. Following a mini ‘World Café’ style staff meeting, we are celebrating the diversity within our staff by facilitating each staff member’s individual choice. Below are the staff choices:

Teachers: Miriam Hurley – Miriam; Angela Beary – Ms Beary; Paul Finucane – Mr Finucane; Niamh Malin – Ms Malin; Clodagh Robinson – Clodagh; Maura D’Arcy – Ms D’Arcy; Fiona O’Donoghue – Ms O’Donoghue; Jenny Dungan – Jenny; Úna Kennedy – Ms Kennedy; Deborah Reynolds – Deborah; Brian Mannion – Mr Mannion; Tracey Flynn – Ms Flynn; Maryrose Leeson – Maryrose; John Doohan – Mr Doohan; Jane O’Connell – Ms O’Connell; Rachel Nea – Ms Nea

SNAs: Alice Andrews – Alice; Debbie Mulligan – Debbie; Carmel Kavanagh – Carmel; Sharon Bridgeman – Sharon; Sandra Fitzsimmons – Sandra; Ruth Lyons – Ruth; Joan Carroll – Joan; Lisa Maher – Lisa

Secretary Gillian Hudson – Gillian; Caretaker Mike Cahn – Mike

As this is a change, it may take a while for people to become familiar with it. If your child asks, Why did teacher/SNA change his/her name? or I wish teacher/SNA would/would not change names, the simple response we recommend is, It’s their name. It’s a personal choice. Isn’t it great people are different.

Class Allocation for 2017-2018

We are pleased to have another special education teacher post sanctioned by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) increasing our SEN team from four to five resource teachers. We will be recruiting over the coming weeks for teachers and will await confirmation of our SNA allocation from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

Junior Infants – Tracey Flynn, Carmel Kavanagh

Senior Infants – Deborah Reynolds, Joan Carroll, Lisa Maher

Early Intervention – Niamh Malin/ Jenny Dungan (job share)

1st – Paul Finucane/Fiona O’Donoghue (job share), Alice Andrews

2nd – Maryrose Leeson, Sharon Bridgeman

3rd – Teacher To Be Confirmed (TBC), Debbie Mulligan

4th – Brian Mannion, Sandra Fitzsimmons

5th – Teacher TBC, Ruth Lyons

6th – John Doohan, SNA TBC

Resource Teachers – Angela Beary, Clodagh Robinson, Maura D’Arcy, Úna Kennedy and one post TBC

School Trips

We appreciate every payment we receive from parents to enhance the opportunities we can offer the children. Please remember, payment online is our preferred method of payment as it does not generate additional bank charges. Cash and cheques generate significant extra work for teachers, secretary and principal and generate bank charges.

See below for the link for paying for your child’s school trip:
website: http://payments.dspns.ie
code: DSP2016

National Parents Council

Find out about the LEGO six bricks and how your child can learn through play, hear how in an age of technology there is still one thing that reaches the heart of the family ‘Storytelling’, listen to our keynote speaker tell you the value of engaging in your child’s learning and also listen to the Minister for Education and Skills. All these quality speakers and information stands of interest to parents will be available to you and all parents who are interested this Saturday, the 10^th of June in the National College of Ireland from 10.30am to 4pm.

ADMISSION FREE, lunch will be provided.

To register click here http://www.npc.ie/register_conference_2017.aspx or just email info@npc.ie or Tel: 01 8874476.

Looking forward to seeing parents from your child’s school this Saturday, all welcome!

Kind regards

Michelle Davern

PS: if you have already registered please circulate this information to other parents

A ‘Good Sport’ Day

Thanks to Photogenic Dalkey for sponsoring our annual class photos for Junior Infants and 6th class.

Photos will be taken tomorrow 9:00am

Sports Day Timetable 2017

	Junior Infants	Senior Infants	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th
8:50 – 09:10	Buddies Relay	Buddies Relay	–	–	–	–	Buddies Relay	Buddies Relay
9.10 – 9.30	Sprints	Hopper Race	3 – legged Race	Egg & Spoon	Parachute Games	South Side Sports	Dalkey United Station
9.30 – 9.50	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race	3 – legged Race		Parachute Games	Ice – Cream	Dalkey United Station
9.50 – 10:10	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race	Dalkey United		Parachute Games	Ice – Cream
10.10 – 10.30	Hopper Race	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints	South Side Sports	Ice – Cream		Parachute Games
10.30 – 10:50	Partner Race	Parachute Games	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Ice – Cream	Dalkey United Station	South Side Sports	3 – legged Race
10.50 – 11.10	Parachute Games	Dalkey United	South Side Sports	Ice – Cream	Sprints	Hopper Race	3 – legged Race	Sack Race
		L	U	N	C	H
11.40– 12.00		South Side Sports	Ice – Cream	Dalkey United	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race	Egg & Spoon
12.00 – 12.20		Ice – Cream	Parachute Games	South Side Sports	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints	Hopper Race
12.20 – 12.40	Ice Cream		Dalkey United	Parachute Games	3 – legged Race	Egg & Spoon	Sack Race	Sprints
12:40 – 13:00					Hopper Race	3 – legged Race	Egg & Spoon	South Side Sports
13:10		R	E	L	A	Y

Sports Day Thursday 15th June 2017

We want to encourage our children to be ‘Good Sports’. Here’s what our Mission Statement says:

Mission Statement

Dalkey School Project National School strives to create a happy, friendly, inclusive, educational environment where each child is unique and valued. We are a welcoming school where diverse talents are appreciated and the school community works together respectfully. We cooperate to have a peaceful and safe atmosphere in which to learn and teach. We nurture each person’s potential and aspire to excellence.

Children shine at different activities. In class and yard we foster positive commentary such as

Well done.

Nice try.

Have another go!

I liked the way you did that.

Great effort.

Hard luck.

Better luck next time.

You did it. Hurray!

I tried my best and I finished.

I’m proud to be a good team player.

Fantastic participation. You’re a great sport!

Sports Day is a fun day. Sports Day is an opportunity for parents/guardians to model positive behaviours towards each other, the children and staff.

Do encourage all children.

Do praise children for good participation, good attitude, enthusiasm.

Do value all activities, not just the races.

Do encourage your child to use positive commentary and compliment others.

Do accept decisions made by staff.

Do be grateful for time spent with family and friends.

If you are concerned your child may be anxious, please take some time to talk to your child before Sports Day. Remind them that everyone has different talents. Talk with them about how to deal with disappointment and how to compliment others. If your child is very sporty, talk with them about being a good sport, gracious in success, thoughtful and considerate of others.

Think about holding in mind something you and your child can appreciate based on our focus of the month:

Our focus for the month is Appreciation for the Good Things in our lives.

We will be thankful for the good things in our daily lives.

We will notice and thank people who are kind to us.

We will show appreciation by caring for the good things in our environment.

Sports Day can be great fun. It is a busy day and a tiring day with lots of people around – and this is a challenge for some children and adults. Let’s be kind to one another and appreciate our different talents.

Summer Camp

I am running an Arts and Crafts summer camp for two weeks in July. I have attached the flyer.

I have taken lots of photos over the year. I’ll send them to you if you want to add them to the info on Arts and crafts on the DSP website.

Have a great summer!

Stella

Free workshops in Lexicon

Hello All

Just a quick reminder that we still have spaces available on all three FREE Children’s Workshops on the 17^th June.

Can you please distribute the attached flyer to parents who might be interested in getting their child involved. (Ages 7 yrs. plus )

Kind Regards

Carolyn Hanaphy