School News in Brief….
10th September 2021
From the Principal’s Desk….
As we come to the end of our second week back, a sense of calm has returned as children, families and staff find the familiarity of routines and settle into their new settings.
Our Junior Infants are doing splendidly - walking in all by themselves in the morning. They will be doing a full day from next week starting at 8.30 a.m and finishing at 1.10 p.m.
Once again, thank you for all your co-operation with Covid Guidelines as we aim to keep our school as safe as possible for all our children and staff. We love to see all of our children at school every day. However, it is essential that pupils do not attend school if displaying any symptoms of Covid-19. Thank you to all our families who have observed this so well since our return. A reminder to all that symptoms of COVID-19 include:
In addition, do not send your child to school if they have:
If your child is going for Covid testing please let the school know, as so many of you have been doing. I would also ask parents to please remember to continue to wear a mask at pick up and collection times.
Please observe the lining up points in the morning - especially at the back gate. Remember, Junior Infants line up to the left of the gate on the footpath; Senior Infants to the right of the gate on the footpath; Rang 3 to the left of the gate and Rang 4 to the right of the gate. There are signs up to remind everyone! It is by maintaining these measures at the moment that we are able to keep everyone at school as safe as possible.
Also an important reminder - please do not drive around the school in the morning or the afternoon. Please remind grandparents and minders also. This is vital for keeping the children safe during our arrival and departure times. Please be mindful of our neighbours who may require access to their premises during these times also and keep moving along.
I’m sure there are a lot of tired children coming home this afternoon after a busy first full week!
Wishing you all a lovely weekend!
Rosemarie
From the Green Schools Committee….
This year we are continuing to make a big effort to cut down on disposable waste throughout the school. With that in mind all children should bring in a face cloth or a small hand towel for drying their hands throughout the day. When it is not being used it can be placed in a clear plastic bag or even better, a little cloth bag or something like a cosmetic bag. Children can bring their towel home every day so parents can change it as often as required. Every child washes their hands at least twice a day at school in addition to as required so this initiative has a huge impact on the use of paper hand towels throughout the school. Thank you for your support!
From the Green Schools Committee & the Active Committee….
Next week the 12th - 18th of September is National Bike Week. We are running a few events in RMDS for the occasion including recording how far we cycle over the course of week and trying to cycle to school one day in the week if possible (Each class will be given a specific day to cycle so the bike racks do not become overwhelmed). Each class teacher will let their class know what events they are taking part in and what days they are taking place. You can also send in pictures of your child cycling if you like - we would love to see them! There is a link to the National Bike Week below if you would like to take a look…..
https://www.nationaltransport.ie/smarter-travel-workplaces/cycle-challenge-ie/bikeweek/
From the PA….
The PA hosted a coffee morning to welcome Junior Infant parents this morning. It was great to meet new parents and to see some familiar faces too! Thanks a million to everyone who helped out and to those who dropped in lovely baking! Shout out to Laragh Strahan for the delicious Lolly & Cooks treats!!
We'll share details of the PA AGM very soon, where we'll elect our new committee and start planning for the year ahead. We're still seeking a new chair/chairs, so give us a shout if you're interested or if you'd like to find out more!
THIS WEEK’S
News from around the Classes…..
Junior Infants
A big welcome to our wonderful Junior Infant Class of 2021!
Senior Infants
Week One in Senior Infants has been very busy. We are having lots of fun settling into our new classroom and new routine. We are learning lots of songs and poems such as Wise Old Owl and Whisky Frisky. We have started Aistear too and our theme is ‘Homes and Houses’.
Rang 1
Rang a hAon have been super busy this week and have been working very hard during their first full week of 1st Class. We have been getting to know each other, reading stories and playing games; it has been lots of fun! The Blue Pod are this week's Classroom Correspondents and they have written all about what we got up to this week.
"We did Kadinsky paintings in Art to make colourful circles. We went to Pirate Island in Drama and went to the park and played obstacle courses in PE. We played Go Noodle in the classroom and Higher or Lower in Maths. It is lots of fun!” by Thomas, Ava, Benjamin and Lauren
Rang 2
Hi everyone,
It has been such a busy week and a half in Rang 2 already!
Miss Coogan can tell we are a very hard working and talented class already. We made beautiful name art, learned a song about friendship and have been discussing rules for discussions in school. We had great ideas!
We also made a lovely RAINBOW display for outside our class and did “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Irish!
We have a Pom Pom Jar to encourage us to work hard and be respectful. We already earned a game of rounders as we have been improving all the time.
In PE we played a great game called “Rob the Nest”. The rules were a bit tricky but we will be better next time.
By Darragh and Alicia
Rang 3
We have been settling into Rang a 3 really well so far.
We have given ourselves Pod names which are: Flying Fluffy Hamsters, The Minions, Black Panthers, Ninja Piggies, Golden Eagles! (These names were decided by the class!)
In the afternoons, as a team building activity, we had some Lego challenges to see who could build the highest tower and a bridge. Ms. Blayney was extremely impressed with our ability to work together as a team.
We did portraits based on the artist Matisse. You can see them in the photos below. See if you can see who is who in the photos by looking at our portraits first!
We made a class agreement after discussing what makes a good classmate and teacher and we have agreed that we will :
In Maths we played Buzz. It was a lot of fun!
We have read some books including one about listening and have been practising tuning in and out of sounds around us.
Rang 4
In our first art lesson, we were given mirrors and drew self portraits, inspired by Matisse. We planted daffodil bulbs in Linear Park. We completed an ‘All About Me’ as Gaeilge on paper hot air balloons. We’ve played plenty of games such as BuzzBee, Scattegories and dice games.
Rang 5
On the first day of school we got up to date on everything, meeting our teacher, sharing news and seeing our new classroom and displays. The next day we decorated the classroom with our lovely self portraits and ‘About Me’ bunting. We also made and decorated name cards for our door so everyone knows who is in our class.
We learned about place value in Maths this week. We finished off this chapter with our first Maths test today. We think it went very well. We also did P.E. today where we learned about types of throws and practiced catching and throwing. We ended P.E. with a big game of ‘No Man's Land’ which was really fun!
We do mindfulness everyday for at least five minutes which calms us down for the start of the new day! We really like our new teacher Ms. Nic A’Bhaird and we are really happy to be working with her and Ms. Brennan.
By Lois and Amaya
Rang 6
We had a great first week back here in Rang a Sé. In Maths we started place value and are really enjoying it. We learned about a positive self image and drew self portraits with stuff we enjoy and our strengths in them. In English we read a newspaper article on the first man to land on the moon and we learned all about grammar and punctuation. In History and Geography we learned about Ancient China and the physical features of China. We drew a detailed map into our copies. In Gaeilge we wrote about ourselves and our family. During DEAR time two pods went outside and read in the sun. We are learning the Cup Song in Irish and have learned the actions really well.
By Isabel and Lila
Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School, Ranelagh Road, Dublin 6, D06 Y658
Telephone/Fax: (01) 4961722 ● E-mail: secretary@rmds.ie
______________________________
Roll No. 19928Q ● Principal: Rosemarie Stynes
