Bealtaine shona daoibh go léir! Happy 1^st day of summer to all! Another busy week is in full flight here at DSPNS. On Monday we made a recording of five well-loved songs that will remain part of our song anthology at school for many a year to come. Many thanks to choir teacher Karen, and parent Nic for helping us with this achievement. We’ll let you know when CDs are available!

2nd class Friendship Cafe

Dance teacher Catherine reported that children in classes Jun Infants – 2^nd are making very remarkable progress. Dance, like other aspects of PE, helps enhance children’s motor skills and ability to participate in team projects.

5^th class had a busy morning cooking and emailing Spanish pen-pals as part of their activities sessions today. 4^th class was rewarded for getting Tidy Classroom of the Week by being taken to Sallynoggin play area for over an hour of splendid sunshine yesterday. 1^st class was rewarded for their good learning first thing in the morning by going out to look for signs of Samhraidh in the patio and in the garden. They noticed scent of rosemary, sounds of children playing in the sunshine, tulip bulbs, birds singing – and they got to see the beginnings of a bug hotel that is under construction in the back garden!

We are carrying out punctuality spot checks in classrooms also. Yesterday, 1^st class learning early in the morning looked something like this:

8.35 – 8.50 handwriting of ‘oi’ words and paired reading

8.50 – 9.00 tidy up and oral spellings check

9.00 – 9.10 Gaeilge conversation

During this time, children who completed handwriting, had the choice of silent reading or story writing as additional learning. They were very proud of their work, as they should be! Other classes have various learning tasks on-going in the mornings also. It is important that punctuality remains good for this term and that children are in class ready to learn first thing in the morning.

Friendship Cafe 2nd class

We have a good number of students walking or cycling to school. That’s a very healthy habit to develop. Encouragement of independence skills will add to your child’s resilience and ability to deal with the many situations life gives to us. Managing their own belongings is a simple but worthwhile skill for children. If children are in school before 8.30am, they are welcome to assemble in the yard. Our school insurance begins at 8.30am. Only staff are due in school before 8.30am unless an arrangement has been made for a meeting with a staff member.

Congratulations to the Student Council who raised €492 for the Irish Cancer Society through their Day at the Movies last Friday!

Thanks to all staff who supported them in organizing this event. And thanks to parents/guardians for generosity of contributions!

Friendship Cafe 2nd class

Board of Management

The Board of Management regularly reviews the school budget.  As you may be aware, our expenditure has exceeded our income for the last 4-5 years but, as the school has been lucky to have a small cash reserve saved during earlier years, we have met the funding deficit by drawing from this reserve.   The Department of Education and Skills withdrew Minor Works grants to primary schools in 2011 which was worth approximately €10K in annual income to the school.  This has led to the situation where we are currently running a deficit of €15K per year on an annual budget of roughly €190K.  We have and will continue to look at where we can reduce costs – the staff and students have been supportive by reducing electricity and photocopying/printing costs, recycling and composting through the Green initiative.  We have installed new windows and tap restrictors to reduce heat and water charges.  The annual Book Lists are currently being reviewed to see where it may be possible to save.

We appreciate that these are not easy times financially for families but, unfortunately, we will not be able to balance up the school budget through cost savings alone.   We have identified two areas where we need to generate more income.  Starting in the next school year 2013/14, you will see two changes to the list of expenses included on the Book List.  An additional €15 “IT maintenance” item will help to cover the expenses associated with the school IT equipment, for example, photocopiers, printers and laptop computers.  Secondly, as a member of Educate Together, the school contributes an annual subscription to ET per child which was €13 for 2012 and will likely rise to €15 next year.   We have been requesting only €9 per child annually, and funding the difference from the school reserves.   In future, you will see the full subscription amount appear on your child’s list.

Thank you to all in the school who have helped us with reducing our costs – and please keep thinking about and let us know other areas where we might save.   We would also like to say a huge “Thank You!” to everyone involved in the many fantastic fundraising efforts, particularly those on the PTA committee.

Scott Jungmann Chairperson, Board of Management

Don’t forget DSP AGM Monday 13^th May 8pm in the hall! 

Senior Infants dance

It’s Friendship Week at school, which will be celebrated on Friday with a cinema day for all children organised by the Student Council to raise funds for Irish Cancer Society. Meanwhile staff are pleased with a number of children who have been given extra time to sort out yard time issues. It can be hard dealing with differences of opinion between friends but this is part of learning good interpersonal skills.

We are delighted to have dance with Catherine this term. Matt and Kieran are our new Playball coaches. They are delivering a very structured motor skills programme of lessons to Junior classes. These activities are made possible by PTA fundraising events. Also this term, the 6^th class trip (4 days) to the Gaeltacht was subsidized by PTA funds. Our gardening and arts projects are funded by PTA so thanks to everyone who attends and contributes to these events.

We will be saying goodbye to our choir teacher Karen  in the near future. Under Karen’s direction we had a splendid opportunity to build a whole school repertoire of songs to celebrate different events. Last Monday Karen taught classes an Earth Day song. We will be making a recording of all classes singing with Karen to produce as a CD before the end of the school year. Many thanks and best wishes to Karen.

PTA NEWS

Curriculum

Our Inspector Leo Kilroy visited last week. He made a presentation to staff on School Self Evaluation during a staff meeting. Work is in progress to report to the Board on our  Evaluation on Numeracy in the school. Other areas under review are Ethos Self Evaluation and Health and Safety Policy. These projects involve a significant amount of behind-the-scenes effort to finalise. Thanks to staff and parents/guardians involved.

Winning Teams

Congratulations to Junior Infants who won Tidy Classroom of the Week last week – the first class to win the trophy! Congrats also to Evie who received a Merit Award for her book which she wrote for Write-a-Book project. Well done to all the children in 1^st class who took part in the project.

Ethos

The Board of Management ratified our Mission Statement – one aspect of our Ethos Evaluation. Thanks to 5^th and 6^th class students who created beautiful designs to reflect the message of our Mission Statement. They are on display throughout the school – look out for them.

 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.

Our Spring Clean has been a great stimulus to make our school look welcoming and well maintained. This week we are initiating a Tidy Classroom of the week competition. Ms Healion and the Green Committee will assess each class based on tidy floors, bins, sinks etc. DLRCC Litter Wardens visited yesterday to do the first check up. They were very impressed with our biodiversity projects. Thanks to all staff for putting extra time into getting environmental plans into action. Thanks to the children who are really doing their best to keeping our school tidy.

PTA NEWS

Earth Day Celebration

Earth Day celebration in the DSP Halla on Sunday, 21st April – all families, children & friends are welcome! Full details are on the Secular Parents Group

Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/secularparentsgroup/

DALKEY SCHOOL PROJECT

Fáilte roimh gach éinne ar ais ar scoil i gcomhair an triú téarma! Welcome back everyone to school for the third term! We’re springing into action with our annual Spring Clean. Each class has a different area of the school and premises to clean.

Garden gets a makeover

We have entered a Tidy Schools Competition. Representatives from DLR County Council will visit the school any day this month to make their assessment on how clean and tidy we are. They will also be interested in hearing about our environmental projects. We ask for everyone’s help to keep the entrances particularly clean as first impressions have a big impact.

5th class spring clean in the garden

BOYS HOCKEY FINAL!

On Tuesday the 8^thof April, DSP Boys hockey team 1 were in the Leinster under 12 hockey final against Castlepark. Loads of students,family and friends came to support the winning team. Both teams played really well. Unfortunately Castlepark scored a goal, but it didn’t count. Dalkey scored five goals: Oisin, Adam and Justin all scored one and Matthew scored two! Congratulations to both teams for getting into the final, and especially Dalkey for winning:) Everyone was so happy when we won:)

Leinster U-12 Boys Hockey Winners

LETS GO DALKEY LETS GO!!!

By Aoife  and Alannah O’Leary

PTA NEWS

Buddies reading at the Book Fair

Book fair – It was very successful again this year and the children enjoyed the visits from authors Sarah Webb & Joe O’Brien and the junior classes met illustrator/author Chris Judge.  The book fair raised over €2,000 and once the commission voucher has been received the teachers will be able to order new books for each classroom.  Thank you again for all your support.

Browsing at the Book Fair

 BAND NIGHT fundraiser with The MOOGIEs – Make sure to book the babysitter for Friday 19th April, we are having a band night fundraiser in The Vico Suite at The Queens Dalkey which promises to be a great night out. Tickets will go on sale this Friday 12th April and will be on sale on Monday 15, Wednesday 17 & Friday 19 at drop off 8.30-9am.  Alternatively, contact Nikki (0872283571) or Isolde (0870567965) to get tickets. Tickets are €8 for 1 or €15 for 2. Please note there is a capacity of 150 people so get your tickets early to avoid disappointment! See you on the 19th with your dancing shoes on! band night that tickets will also be available in the office.

Secular Parents’ Group

The Secular Parents Group is holding an Earth Day celebration in the DSP Halla on Sunday, 21st April – all families, children & friends are welcome! We’ll have greetings and presentations from special guests, a few short talks on local and global environment, space exploration and science in general.  This will be followed by tea, buns and coffee, then a Kids Science Hunt in the Sally Glen.  Full details are on the Secular Parents Group

Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/secularparentsgroup/

Please text Rachel (087-7865862) or Robin at (087-2356308), or email Rachael on rachaelprendergast@me.com to confirm, just so we can get an idea of numbers. Thanks!

Browsing at the Book Fair

Today is the Spring Equinox. Day and night are approximately of equal duration. We are approaching the end of our second term at DSPNS. A great variety of learning opportunities have been offered at all class levels. Last week, we enjoyed the Book Fair, author and actor talks, family art sessions in 4th and 6th and Lá le Phádraig assemblies.

Buddies reading stories at the Book Fair

This week we say goodbye to Béa and Josefina who are returning to Madrid. We welcome Ms Ryan to teach in 2nd class until the end of June 2013.

6th class art session

4th class art session

Tomorrow Thursday we will have end of term assembly with many of the new choral works learned with Karen, our choir teacher.

2nd class wear green for St Patrick's Day

Mad Hatter Hats ET Fundraiser!

We’re joining in with many other Educate Together schools to raise funds for Educate Together (see below). We invite everyone at DSPNS to make or wear a Mad Hatter Hat on Friday morning.

Wear a Hat and bring €2 or more for ET!

All parents/guardians are invited to a Mad Hatter Tea Party as part of the fundraiser from 8.30 – 9.20am in the Hall! This will be followed by a parade of all classes with their hats in the yard – weather permitting. Thanks to the PTA for hosting the fundraiser tea/coffees. Homemade cakes and buns most welcome too – drop them into the kitchen if you get a chance to bake.

School closes 12.15 this Friday 22nd March.

ECAs on Friday straight after school at 12.15 except for hockey at 2.45 in Newpark.

5th class make hats for Mad Hatter morning

One Day Together

Board of Management – seeking candidates

The Board of Management’s main function is to manage the school on behalf of the patron (in our case, the Dalkey School Project who is patron for both DSPNS and METNS) for the benefit of the students and to provide an appropriate education for each student in the school.  There are 8 members, 2 nominated by the Patron (in our case, the Dalkey School Project), 2 elected by the parents from the parent body, the principal, one other teacher elected by teaching staff and 2 Community members agreed by the representatives of the patron, teachers and parent.  The Board is ideally made up of members with a broad range of complementary skills.  The term of office is 4 years, and a number of the current members will be reaching the end of their respective terms over the next several months– so we are looking to build a list of potential candidates to fill upcoming vacancies.  Are you or do you know someone in the school community who works well in a team, willing and eager to volunteer time to contribute to the running of the school, who has, perhaps, a particular talent or skills set that would be useful?  If so, please provide details to the BoM post box, or with Miriam.

Educate Together

Our school is a member of Educate Together, which is an umbrella organisation that coordinates and facilitates communication and activities between multi-denominational schools, and is itself patron of a number of these schools.  ET is also looking for nominations to its Board – individuals who will bring the range of experience, expertise and enthusiasm that will contribute to the success of the multi-denominational and national educational sectors.  Diarmaid MacAonghusa (chairperson) and Simon Bradshaw (new business) are current DSPNS parents serving on the ET board. April 5 is the deadline for submissions. If you are interested or know of someone who is, please leave details in the BoM post box, or with Miriam.

Yard time, senior classes

Morning Assembly

Children are welcome to gather in yard from 8.20am in the mornings. This period is not supervised by staff, parents/guardians are still responsible. On very wet mornings, or during icy conditions, children are supervised in the Hall from 8.20 – 8.30am. Official school opening time is 8.30am. We would like to thank the many children who have shown great independence and responsibility over the past two terms by gathering in the yard in a calm manner in the mornings. Thank also to families for cooperating in getting children to school punctually. We have enjoyed two terms of a prompt start on literacy and numeracy activities in classrooms, which is benefitting the children tremendously.

6th class use their voices!

Congratulations to 6th class students who responded with enthusiasm to a request for contributions to the newsletter!

2012/2013 hockey season

This year hockey has changed in Leinster. Last year there would be eleven players on a pitch, but they have changed it to eight a side on a half pitch.

The girls team played very well this year and were short of a chance of getting into the final.

This years boys team had enough players to make two teams. Team two(which is made up of fourth class and some fifth) did very well for such a young squad but unfortunately didn’t make it to their final.

The boys team 1 have done amazingly this year and have only lost one match, because of that they have gotten their way into the final!

It is on the 11th of April, please come and support the boys team!

Written by Eve, Oisin and Molly

Thanks to Daniel and Sam for Jokes. Unfortunately, only one transferred to our website:

What do you call a bear with no teeth?

A gummy bear

Our value for the month of March is Freedom.

Craft work 5th activities time

Art Projects

Parents/Guardians of 4^th and 6^th classes welcome to join in art sessions with their children tomorrow. Check homework notebooks for details.

Cadenza

Music Concerts

Many thanks to our musical visitors, Cadenza, who visited last week. 1^st – 6^th classes enjoyed a short concert and learned something about the sounds of the String Family of Instruments.

String Instrument concert

Mad Hatter Fundraiser

Friday 22 March is last Friday of term. We are participating in the Educate Together national fundraiser. Our theme is Mad Hatter Hats – make, design, wear – and bring €2.00-€5.00 – or more! We hope to have tea/coffee for parents/guardians with help from the PTA. Weather permitting, we’ll have a parade and enjoy everyone’s creativity!

PTA NEWS

Student Council meeting

Seo linn ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ agus sinne ag ullmhú le haghaidh Lá le Phádraig. Cad tá i gceist ná Coiccís na Gaelige! Ar scoil táimid go léir ag déanamh iarracht an Ghaeilge a labhairt níos mó i rith an lae.  Comhgháirdeachas do na ceathrar as Rang a Cúig a bhí ag caint Gaeilge amuigh so chlós agus do na páistí i Rang a hAon a bhí ag imirt, ‘Deir Ó Gráda’ sa rang!

‘Seachtain na Gaelige’ – in effect Irish Fortnight – has begun as we head toward St Patrick’s Day celebrations. At school we are all trying to speak more Irish during the day. Congratulations to the four students from 5th class who were speaking Irish during yard time and to 1st class who played ‘Simon Says’ in the Irish in the class.

Student Council meeting

The Student Council met last week. They are busy planning a fundraiser for the summer term. They are learning how to work as a committee, make a plan and put it into action, record minutes of meetings, including decisions made. Higher order thinking skills and interpersonal skills are practised regularly in these sessions.

Technical drawing in 4th class

Many classes have activities with parents/guardians helping either in class or in the hall. Paired reading continues upstairs in the lobby, resource rooms and classrooms. 1st and 5th classes are trying out different recipes in the kitchen and hall. 4th class are learning knitting, technical drawing skills, cross-stitching, cooking and the basics of hurling and camogie.

Art work in progress 6th class

4th and 6th class are getting a great chance to develop their artistic skills at a higher level with artist Liz through Creativity in the Classroom. 6th are also gaining confidence and ability in script-writing with playwright Michelle. Children from 1st – 6th are enjoying Music Creativity with Una once a week, though due to time and space limitations we cannot offer this to all students at the moment. Senior Infants have welcomed Ms McCabe to their class to work with them for the next three weeks. Having another teacher in the class is providing more opportunities for group work and projects to take place regularly. We continue to enjoy and benefit from our visiting Spanish Teachers who are helping in different classes every day. 2nd class visited 2nd class in St Bernadette’s N.S. in Clondalkin, last week and we look forward to their return visit tomorrow Thursday.

PTA News:

TONIGHT – Wednesday 6 March - Internet Safety & Cyber Bullying talk for parents and guardians @ 7.30pm in the halla. Tea/Coffee afterwards.

Book Fair week is confirmed for week 11-15 of March. This is an annual event we hold at our school to encourage reading and also to get new books for our school library.  Books will be for sale on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th and the children will be given a chance to get down to have a look at them during class time, we would encourage them to buy a book but of course they do not have to. They will range in price from about €3 upwards, mostly being around the same price you would pay in a book shop.  For the junior classes they may pick their books and we will put them aside for them and parents can come in to check them and pay for what they want on Thursday at pick up time or Friday at drop off 8.30-9.30am or pick up 12.30 -2.30pm.

The school will receive a percentage of money spent to buy books for our classrooms. If we purchase €1000 on books at the Fair, the school will get 60% back to update class libraries.

We will have a few different authors coming in to school to do workshops with classes, Chris Judge will be coming in to Junior infants, Senior Infants and 1st class on Wednesday 13th.  Sarah Webb is also confirmed for some workshops with the older classes.

Another date for your diaries; Please book the babysitter now for Friday 19th April!  We will be having a band night fundraiser which will be held in The Vico Suite at The Queens Pub, Dalkey.  The band performing on the night will be The MOOGIEs (Late 70s/Early 80s, New wave/Punk rock). Doors will open at 9pm, tickets €8 for 1 or €15 for 2.  Tickets will go on sale from Tuesday 19th March from the PTA or call Nikki on 0872283571.  They will also be sold at the school gate after the Easter holidays.

What a busy time we are enjoying at school these days. We continue our problem solving challenges – check out display boards uptairs and downstairs to find out this week’s challenge. Well done to 5th class last week for working on it straight away and congratulations to Muireann who gave us the solution at assembly!

1st class use cards to learn maths

1st class solving problems in the resource room

Our literacy work continues with novel studies in the senior class e.g. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in 6th class and Holes  in 4th class. At the junior end of the school, Infants – 2nd classes begin literacy work first thing in the morning with variations of writing news, reading individually, in pairs or in groups.

Storytime for Junior Infants and 5th buddies

Last week 3rd – 6th classes were very fortunate to have a brass quintet treat us to some great music. After the concert, 5th and 6th classes were given the opportunity to try playing a trumpet, trombone, french horn and tuba. Ask them how to make a home-made brass instrument!

Trying a Trumpet

A brass instrument?

Green School Activities

Today we had representatives from Dun Laoghaire Co Co talking about tackling litter. This is part of increasing our awareness of environmental issues and making our school green and clean. David from DLRCC said the children were a credit to us. It’s great to hear that our DSPNS pupils are impressing people – whether it’s at hockey matches, GAA games, on school trips or at talks- with their respectful, cooperative behaviour!

4th class learn about litter prevention

Don’t miss this great opportunity!

Board of Management Meeting – Summary Report

A meeting of DSPNS Board of Management (BOM) was held on Wednesday 23^rd January 2013Items on the agenda included the Treasurer’s Report & School Accounts, the Principal’s Report, the Maintenance report, the Voluntary Contributions report, and the Buildings report.  Specific items included:

1. Job Share policy was reviewed and ratified.
2. The Board is aware of Relevant Contracts Tax.
3. The Board is in process of reviewing cleaning procedures with cleaning contractors.
4. The Board thanks parents/guardians for Voluntary Contributions of  €17,125 to date.

Next meeting: 13^th March 2013

We are delighted to welcome Spanish teachers Beatriz and Josephina from Madrid to work with us for seven weeks. We are very fortunate to have two experienced teachers funded through a Spanish bilingual initiative. Beatriz and Josephina will be working with classes, groups and individuals while with us.

Senior Infants playing board games with Transition Year student

We welcome back former students on work experience as part of their Transition Year programme. It is great to have multiple opportunities for children to do different activities in small groups, in addition to the challenges of class work.

Love

Our focus of the month for February is Love.

We will try to do our best and take pride in our work.

We will include others in work and play.

We will compliment and encourage others.

Solve this week’s Problem!

How many triangles and quadrilaterals are there in this diagram?

Problem solving diagram from upstairs

Problem solving diagram from downstairs

6th class cake sale this Friday 8th February 2013

Don’t forget this important date! 6th class will welcome all offers of cakes, buns etc. which can be delivered to the kitchen Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Please give some money to your child to buy something nice on Friday!

Quiz Teams

Congratulations to our 4th and 6th class teams who participated in the Credit Union quiz last Friday! Thanks to Mr Mannion for giving the children this opportunity to take part in a local event.

Happy Midterm!

We wish everybody a safe and relaxing midterm break next week. Thanks to all who helped spread happiness and love even on days when temperatures were really low and things didn’t go as well as we planned. It is great to see people rising to the challenges of disappointments and changes in routines. We keep in mind the families who have lost loved ones this year. We hope our friendly words and actions will prove encouraging.

We’re doing our best to get outside for break times this week in spite of the wet and blustery weather. 1st – 6th classes have been most cooperative in keeping off the grass which is too wet and mucky. Each class was given a new set of yard equipment today thanks to PTA funding. We hope this equipment will be minded carefully and shared between all.

Knitting in 5th class

We are delighted to have parents in helping with activities in 5th class this term. They are learning knitting and cross stitching.

Knitting in 5th class

As part of our focus on numeracy, throughout the school, we are learning how to solve problems. This week our problem is : Why aren’t manholes covers square? Look out for our new problem each week and try to solve it at home!

Problem Solving display

Let’s solve a problem together!

Turning Circle

Cakesale fundraiser  Friday February 8th

Internet Safety and Cyber Bullying Talk for Parents/Guardians

Put this important date in your diary! John Wills from Barnados will give a presentation on Internet Safety on Wednesday 6th March @ 7.30pm. John has great ideas on how to help children develop good habits using the internet, phones and social networks.