Vol

NB Change of December Staff Meeting Date

Due to meeting of staff with the local Inspector from the Dept. of Education and Science, our December Staff Meeting has been moved to Friday December 10th. On this day children will finish at the following times:

Infant classes finish at 11.40,

1st & 2nd class at 11.50 & the remainder at 12pm

Group Meetings

The Group Meetings are now all finished and we thank all the parents who took the time to come and meet their child’s teacher for this year. These meetings give you the opportunity to hear something about the work planned for the class for the year ahead. Thanks to the teachers for their hard work and preparation. Individual Parent/Teacher Meetings will be held at dates yet to be decided. We will advise you of those as soon as we have the relevant information.

To Russia With Love Ruth,Yvonne, Robyn

On Wednesday 13 September, after a long discussion in class about the tragedy in Beslan, we decided to try to help by having a Wear a Hat Day. Children from 1st —6th would pay €1 to participate and the JI & SI could bring in a cuddly toy. We raised a fantastic €1067 which has been sent to the above charity. Well done all!

Changing Rooms

As you may be aware the school office has changed location. For everyone’s convenience and ultimately the safety of the children the office has moved nearer the main door. Now when you come in through the main doors the reception window is immediately on your left. Work is almost complete and plans include the installation of a buzzer system on the second set of doors. Only authorised personnel and those visitors on school business will be admitted to the rest of the building. This will provide increased security for the children and staff. There are times when the office is unattended, if Liz is going to be away from the office for longer than 5 or 10 minutes the blind will be pulled and you will know not to wait. We would ask you then to call back later or telephone with your enquiry.

Wine Extravaganza Time!

The Gibney family and Cheers Off Licence have once again kindly agreed to donate a share of the ticket proceeds of this years Wine Extravaganza to St. Oliver Plunkett School. The night takes place on Thursday November 25^th in the Grand Hotel from 6 – 10 pm. As usual there are over 200 wines to be tasted as well as a ‘blind tasting’ stand and also the chance to win a mini cellar worth €1,000. Tickets which are €15 each or 2 for €20, will be available from the school shortly. All ticket proceeds from tickets purchased through the school go directly to school funds. Don’t miss this fantastic night.

Credit Union

The school’s Credit Union savings scheme recommenced last week. Children, who were members last year, need only bring in their savings book and the amount of money they are saving. Children from 1st—6th class who wish to become members may do so. They will need:

A completed application form available from Ms. Leahy

A copy of their baptismal or birth certificate

The money they are saving on the day

A completed pay in slip (available from class teacher)

The Credit Union is situated on Railway Ave., behind St. Sylvester Church. It is open Monday & Friday 10 am to 2 pm, Saturday 9.30 to 12.30 and again on Tuesday & Friday evenings 6 to 8pm.

Bolivian Project

You may be aware that Ms. Coffey has taken some time from teaching at St. Oliver Plunkett School to work with underprivileged children in an orphanage in Bolivia. Recent communications have indicated the very difficult and somewhat disturbing circumstances she has encountered both in relation to the sparse and rundown facilities and also the plight of the children’s lifestyles. Initial work has involved cementing an outdoor play area, plastering and painting indoor rooms and buying basic play materials for the children. We have learned however, that all bathroom and toilet facilities need to be replaced urgently and that Niamh hopes to set up a small library for the children. As Niamh’s work is self funding, it is hoped that the Malahide community can continue to support her efforts by raising much needed funding for the project. All donations will be most gratefully received and if you would like to do so, please contact Liz in the school office.

St Oliver Plunkett School is pleased to announce the continuation of its Rainbows programme for children whose parents have separated or who have experienced the death of a family member - parent, grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle. The separation or bereavement does not have to be a recent event - grieving can be carried on long after the sad event itself has taken place.

Must Be A Record!!

Of the 2004 Leaving Cert class 5 past pupils from this school have registered in Colleges of Education for Primary Teaching. This is an all time record! We congratulate, Sarah Dixon, Colm Morris, Laura Tierney, Karla Kelly and Louise Campion, and welcome them to the other side of the education world. We wish them well in their studies and look forward to working with them during their student years . It augurs well for the future of teaching to see such fine young people joining the ranks.

Enfo Outing Hannah, Matthew E8

E8 have been very busy during the last month and on Thursday 23 Sept. we all headed off on the train for a presentation in Enfo about energy conservation. We had great fun learning how to save energy not only in our homes but around the country. We also got more ideas on how to reduce pollution. We did some experiments which showed us that you can learn while having fun. It was a great trip and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI)

The above centre as established at DCU in 1992. The centre provides weekend and summer programmes for academically talented students aged 8 - 13 years and 12 - 16 years. There is also a programme for children aged 6 -7. Students must first sit an assessment. These assessments are held on the first Wednesday of each month from Sept - April and on Sat Nov 13,

- Sat March 5^th 05.

A Fresh New Look - Thank You

The BOM, teachers & children would like to say a big thank you to those parents who so generously contributed to the cost of painting classrooms this summer and also to the parents who painstakingly prepared the classrooms for painting during their holidays. Thanks too to Ernie Kestell who did a great job on the face lift! We hope the children appreciate all the hard work & take care their classrooms.

Honk!

Congratulations to the Teachers Musical Society and our teachers, Ms. Connole, Ms. Curry, Ms. Sheedy, Ms. Quinn, in particular on their outstanding success in the Waterford festival. Their production of HONK came 2^nd overall and they took 7 awards, the highest number this year.

Going for Gold!

Special Olympics Ireland phoned one of our pupils, Diarmaid in E1, to ask him to participate in a football league in Blanchardstown, on 20 September. Diarmaid did us proud and came to school on Tuesday 21st with a gold medal. Well done Diarmaid!

Malahide Pride Scott E5

At the beginning of the new school year Ruth, Adam, Orlaith and I welcomed judges from the Pride of Ireland Competition to our school. We all went to Mrs. Nugent’s new room and we told the judges about all we have done in our school for the environment. We told them about our green buttons on the toilets, the compost and paper bins, our vegetable patch at the back of the school and how we went about getting the Green Flag. The judges were very impressed with the school. At our first Assembly in September representatives from Fingal County Council came and presented us with books and flowers for Mrs. Nugent. Thanks to everyone for making this happen.

Green Team 04/05

The Green Team for 04/05 has been selected. Volunteers from 4th—6th class attended their first team meeting on Monday last. The children elected to represent their class on the Green Team are: Louis Walsh E5, Shane O’Callaghan E8, Erika Kelly E4, Fiona Mahon E6, Megan Nicholl Lawlor E7, Philip Dwyer E3, Daniel Kelly Atkinson & Megan Dalglish E2, Ian Kelly PC3, Karl Gillespie PC1, Ciaran Costello PC6, Emma Ahearn E1, The teachers and SNAs involved are Ms. O’Donnell, Mrs. Prenderville, Mrs Cannon, Mrs. Costigan and Mrs. Nugent. We look forward to the year ahead and wish the new team every success.

Author in our Midst

Congratulations to Mr. J. Byrne on the recent launch of his new book entitled Byrne’s Dictionary of Irish Local History. Mr. Byrne has been the school’s expert on local history for many years now and many children have benefited from his expertise. In addition he is renowned for his talks to other groups in the area.

Club Draw

Our current Draw will finish on the October 31. The new Draw will be organised during the month of November and the first Draw will be held at the Senior concert in December. Watch out for your new Club Draw cards in November which should be completed and returned as soon as possible. The Board of Management wish to thank you for all your support and look forward to it continuing during the coming year.

How does Rainbows help?

Rainbows helps by providing a safe setting in which children can talk through their feelings with other children who are experiencing similar situations. They are helped to articulate their feelings by an adult facilitator or listener.

Confidentiality - children agree, at the first meeting, to keep their discussions confidential. They are, however, encouraged to speak at home about what they themselves have said in group, but not about what any other group member said. Children are facilitated in groups of 3 - 5 and Rainbows will be resuming on TUESDAY 12 October @ 2.45 - 3.30. Contact Mrs. Keating (E Bldg)

Athletics

Athletics has started again and we train every Wednesday from 2.45 – 3.30 pm in Bridgefield (weather permitting). We train for the Portmarnock Cross Country event and the Baldoyle races as well as sprinting and hurdles. We are always pleased to see new faces.


	Vol: 20 No: 2	5 October, 2004