Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa
Easter Newsletter - April 2019 Issue no. 105
Digital Technology in Sacred Heart 6th Class Science Blast
As many of you will know, we are the lead school in
the Dublin West ICT cluster. As a result of our
participation in the initiative, it has been a hugely
successful term for the development of ICT in our
school. The pupils have been using iPads to improve
their oral language skills as part of the primary
language curriculum. We have seen excellent
improvements in the pupils’ attainment levels in
literacy as a result and most importantly the pupils Congratulations to the boys and girls from Mr Burke’s
are thoroughly enjoying the experience of using 6th class who were recently invited to take part in the
digital technology! ESB RDS Science Blast event. Their investigation
We have received excellent feedback from the “Which liquid makes the best bubbles?” drew a huge
Department of Education regarding the school's amount of interest from the public and received great
approach to teaching ICT and this has led to our praise from the judges. The children received
nomination as a model school for the European Digital excellent feedback from the judges in relation to the
Schools of Distinction initiative. In February, we had
a visit from a group of principals from Malmo, Swe-
den. They were all
very impressed with
the positive ethos
that has been created
in our school and the
standard of work pro-
duced by the pupils
using digital technolo-
gy. The pupils should be very proud that their work
has been commended on such a high level. Our Special Needs Assistants celebrating
An Active Term
Developing coding skills with Scratch Junior in There has been so much happening in our school this
2nd Class term as part of our participation in the Active Schools
programme. Well done to all for taking part in our
recent “Kilometre a Day Challenge”. Students clocked
up countless kilometres each day, taking them all
around Europe. Our Active Flag Committee also set up
RTE News2day came to visit the school in March and a “Climb the Heights Challenge” where everyone was
once again the pupils excelled! They demonstrated encouraged to take up their skipping rope and record
their impressive communication skills and knowledge the number of skips they completed each day. This
of digital technology in their usual confident manner. week has been particularly exciting with several
As a staff we are very proud of the way the pupils activities taking place each day as part of Active
Schools Week. Children have been delighted to escape
A Message from Mr. Lyons
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are having our official Active Schools Week in Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa this week,
however I can assure you that this school is a hive of activity every week of the year! We have
had a very busy term here in Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa since Christmas and there have been
many notable events.
Pupils performed an Intercultural Concert for all classes on 5th March and for parents and
guardians on 28th March. This was a very successful and hugely enjoyable event; well done to
the backstage crew, announcers and performers and also to Ms. Dixon, Ms. Bacon and Ms.
Mullany for the Trojan work that they put in to organising the concerts.
We held our annual Book Fair at the start of March and hosted a visited of author Marguerite
Tonery on World Book Day on 7th March. Thank you to parents and guardians for supporting
the Book Fair and to the Parents’ Association for helping to run the event.
Many children in 2nd class received the Sacrament of Forgiveness at their First Confession on
12th March. They are now looking forward to receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist at their
First Communion on 25th May. Many 6th class pupils had their Ceremony of Light on 2nd April
and are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on Friday 3rd May. Well done to
all of these pupils and thank you to their teachers and SNAs for helping them to prepare for
the sacraments.
Well done to the 5th class pupils, teachers and SNAs on their National Children's Choir Concert
in the National Basketball Arena on 26th March. Their incredible efforts definitely came to
fruition on the night and everyone in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
Our Coiscéím classes really enjoyed their recent music therapy classes and are looking forward
to their horse riding lessons after the Easter holidays. Staff and parents are also looking for-
ward to a talk in the school that will be delivered by AsIAm founder Adam Harris on May 14 th.
The school’s use of ICT in supporting the delivery of the primary curriculum continues to
develop. The purchase of an additional 16 iPads for use in the school was facilitated by the
great efforts of the Parents’ Association in organising the Christmas Raffle and the support of
the raffle by our school community. Mr. Hanley’s 2nd class showcased the school’s use of ICT on
the News2Day programme on RTE recently and they certainly did themselves, their families
and the school proud. We are currently revising our ICT Acceptable Use Policy in the school. A
draft policy will be issued to parents after Easter and we will invite contributions from parents/
guradians at this time.
The Active Schools Flag initiative continues at pace in the school. Congratulations to Mr. Shelly
and the Active Schools Team for all their efforts, in particular for the fantastic Active Schools
Week that will finish in the school on Friday. The pupils will have earned a rest over Easter
after all the running, skipping, hoola-hooping, 10 at 10s, Get Up, Shake Ups, Tug of Wars and
Active Homework that took place this week!
I thank parents and guardians for their continued support and thank staff for their profession-
alism and commitment to school community of Huntstown. I hope you all have an enjoyable
Easter break and look forward to seeing you after the holidays. Kieran Lyons
Parents’ Association Update
It has been a busy term as always and we would like to start by thanking you all for your
support in the Christmas Raffle which raised over €10,000 and enabled us to purchase 16
brand new iPads for your children’s education and development.
We continue to support the progress of the IT department and have written to the
Department of Education on your behalf to secure further investment in our school.
It was great to see the children appear on RTE Junior as part of the Dublin West ICT cluster, it
gave them a platform to show the skills they have acquired with your support.
Under the guidance of Ms. Mullany, we helped to man the annual book fair, with this year
being the best yet. It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm the children have for reading! We
also helped to sell the tickets for this year’s intercultural show which was a great success and
showcased the best of the children’s talent from Senior Infants right up to 6th class.
We have funded new equipment for the girls’ soccer team, with new shorts, socks and
footballs being purchased.
We also ran a poll on our Facebook page to see how many of you would be interested in a
new optional school jacket. The overwhelming majority was in favour and it will be available
for the coming year, the purchase of which is at your own discretion.
Finally, we would like to draw your attention to our Facebook page and our noticeboard at
main reception where you will find contact details if we can help represent your voice in the
school.
Wishing you a very Happy Easter!
Sacred Heart of Jesus NS Parents’ Association
Please Note:
Parents/Guardians are invited to attend a talk on autism by Adam Harris (Founder &
Chief Executive Officer AsIAm.ie) in the school at 1. 30 p.m. on 14th May.
The school will be closed on Tuesday 7th May 2019 to facilitate Primary Language
Curriculum in-service training for teachers.
The school has been requisitioned to act as a polling station for the European Parliament
and Local Government Elections and Referendum on Friday 24th May 2019 and will be
closed as a result.
School Calendar – Term 3, 2019
Easter Break: Monday 15th to Friday 26th April 2019 inclusive.
School will reopen after the Easter break on Monday 29th April 2019.
May Public Holiday: Monday 6th May 2019.
School Closure - Teacher Inservice:
Additional
The school will be closed on Tuesday 7th May to facilitate
Closures
in-service training for teachers in the new Primary Language Curriculum.
School Closure - Elections: The school will be closed on
Friday 24th May 2019 due to Local and Eur opean elections.
June Mid-term Break: Friday 31st May to Tuesday 4th June 2019 inclusive. School will r eopen on
Wednesday 5th June 2019.
Engineering Week 2019 Art and the Environment
Engineering week 2019 was thoroughly enjoyed with lots
of activities across the school. Look at the ingenuity of
our boys and girls!
Ms. Gillan’s 6th class students were delighted to
welcome Emily Robyn Archer to the school in
Ms. O’ Connor’s 2nd class were tasked with designing February. She is an environmentalist and artist
and making an egg protection device. who shared with them a workshop on the health
of our oceans and the impact of plastic on marine
life. The students created sea turtles using
Rejoice!
Meanwhile Mr Thynne’s 4th class took on the task
Our Intercultural Concert on 28th March was a
Log on to www.sacredhearthuntstown.weebly.com
wonderful celebration of culture and heritage.
