Good evening to all members of our school community!
The month of September is flying by at Ballinteer ETNS and it is wonderful to see our new pupils settling in. It is hard to believe we are now over three weeks into the first term of the year.
As the weeks go on, you’ll see more and more content, posts and photos being uploaded by teachers to our new website. Hopefully, this will offer you a sense of the diverse range of learning activities taking place in our busy school. If you have a particular interest or skill you feel could add to the learning in our school, please reach out to your child’s teacher to discuss it further.
We will be communicating with all families shortly about our planned Parent Welcome Mornings which will take place next month. These will offer parents and guardians an opportunity to meet their child’s teacher and to gain a better understanding of the work planned for the year ahead. These meetings will take place in the morning at drop-off time and PowerPoint slides with pertinent information will be made available afterwards for those who cannot attend in person.
Today, a new team member joined our school. Melinda Meghen will be working as a part-time secretary in our office alongside Ellen. We welcome Melinda and hope she will enjoy her time with us.
This year, we have a Monthly Value which aligns to our ethical education curriculum, Learn Together. For September, our value is Cooperation. In class, our pupils worked together to agree Class Contracts and to revisit how we treat each other kindly in school. On the yard, the children have been practising turn-taking, fair play and looking out for one another. From October onwards, one class level per month will take responsibility for sharing their learning on the Monthly Value, perhaps through a drama, a song, a poem or a rap at our weekly assembly.
Next week will see our elections for the Green Schools Committee in first to sixth class. Last summer, we were awarded our first flag for the two-year theme of Litter and Waste. We are now entering into the next two-year phase over which we will work on the theme of Energy.
As you may be aware, we are hosting a guest speaker for parents and guardians on Tuesday, October 3rd at 7pm in the school hall. Brendan Smith will be speaking about cyberbullying awareness and internet safety. We hope that as many of you as possible will join us on the night to learn more about this topical issue.
On a final note, could I please remind all motorists to drive slowly and with care when on our shared campus. The management of St Tiernan’s CS will be making a similar request to their school community. Please drive on the left at the roundabout and follow the instructions of our caretaker Jim as you approach the car set-down lane. Drivers should not leave their vehicles parked in the set-down lane as this blocks other cars from entering the lane. Thank you for your cooperation on this issue.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend!
Paul O’Dwyer, Principal