RMDS
School News in Brief….
6th May 2022
From the Board of Management…. 2
From the Green Schools Committee.... 3
This week we marked Eid-ul-Fitr in our school and will have a whole school assembly to learn more about the festival of Eid and it’s importance in the Muslim calendar.
A reminder that school will be closed for all the children on Friday, 27th May to facilitate inservice training for staff on the new Primary Language Curriculum.
We are delighted to say that our Junior Infant Reception Day will take place for incoming Junior Infants on Friday, 17th June. The present Junior Infants will have no school that day.
Finally, if you haven’t already registered and downloaded the Aladdin Connect app, please do so immediately. It is a vital part of our communication between home and school. If you have any difficulty in doing this please let Mary know in the office and we will get it sorted immediately.
Rosemarie
The Board welcomes everyone back to school for the final term of the year. As another step out of the pandemic, the school is now open to parents, who are welcome into the school at drop off and collection times every day.
The Extra Curricular activities are back up and running, and proving very popular. It is hoped to have the full range of Extra Curricular activities in place for the next academic year, 2022/23.
The Sensory Room is now finished and being enjoyed by all the children in the school. It is hoped to have a video to release to all parents in the next week or two so you can also see it. Building work is being planned for the summer, with the final items on the 5 Year Plan to be addressed over the coming months, including the gutters and changing the boiler. The continued support of the parent body, including through the voluntary contributions, remains much appreciated.
Dates for your Diaries:
Parents’ Summer Social, 26th May in the Hill from 8.30pm - All welcome!
Next PA meeting, 30th May in the Hill - All welcome!
Sports Day, 18th June - Anyone interested in volunteering please contact pa@rmds.ie
Joss & Gráinne
PA Co-Chairs
Green Schools Tips
The Building Energy Rating Certificate: Part 2 - Understanding the BER
The A to G rating of a BER Certificate depends upon which bracket the final calculation of kWh/m2/yr it falls into. To clarify, that’s the total energy required for one metre squared of the home each year.
So the BER Certificate allows you to compare how efficient a metre squared of one home is, with a metre squared of another home.
The BER Certificate does not indicate how much energy the whole home will use and cost to run.
Multiplying the kWh/m2/yr figure by the size of a home in metres squared wouldn't give an accurate total energy calculation in any case. The kWh/m2/yr figure only includes energy used for heating, cooling, lighting, pumps and fans. As discussed last week, it doesn't take into consideration appliances or the variables caused by how occupants actually use energy.
So the BER Certificate is less useful for working out how much energy bills will actually be but a very useful tool for researching how efficiently a home is constructed and it comes with an enhanced Advisory Report. This report uses the research and analysis undertaken for the BER Certificate to give personalised home energy upgrade advice. It uses a BER B2 rating as a target and advises on the upgrades, their costs and the grants available to achieve this.
Next week: Quantifying your Energy Use
Roland Ramsden
Andrea Scott
Green Schools Committee Parent Representatives
On Wednesday, the Student Council (Rowan, Izzy, Joe, Alice, Lila, Ben and Isabel M.) visited the Ombudsman do Leanaí (for children). We travelled on the Luas from Ranelagh to O’Connell Street with Ms. Stynes, to learn all about Children’s Rights.
After we entered the building, we were greeted by a guide, who showed us all around the building. First we went to the Cinema Room, a sleek looking room where a projector displayed an interesting slide show which she talked us through.
It explained just exactly what they do.
They fight for cases where Children’s Rights have been violated, in which they gave us an example where a young girl had gotten too big for her wheelchair, and while she was high priority, the HSE wasn’t providing her with a new one because they had budget restraints. They also explained that they are impartial, meaning that they don’t take orders from the Government. Afterwards, we got to ask questions about how their system works, and talk about instances and areas where Children’s Rights have been needlessly abused.
It was a fascinating and fun experience, and we hope to visit the Ombudsman for Children again soon.
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
