School News in Brief….
From the Principal’s Desk….
Beannachtaí na Féile Imbolc oraibh go léir,
For those of you who may not know, before we had St. Brigid’s day the celts were welcoming spring and celebrating the feminine goddess Imbolc or Imbolg on the first of February. I always think that this is a good time to recognise and acknowledge some of the famous women who have perhaps been overlooked in the past. I was in one of the junior classes and I asked who knew of famous Irish women and I was amazed that Mary Robinson's name was mentioned. I was amazed not because she doesn’t deserve the recognition but because I didn’t expect someone in Rang a hAon to know her. As we get ready to celebrate the start of spring and enjoy the bank holiday you can see how many famous Irish women you know in your house.
This week we welcomed Therese Curran back to Senior Infants and said goodbye to Ailbhe McHugh who has been a substitute teacher since September. While the parents, the teachers and I were wondering how this would work, the children showed us the way and just got on with being themselves and enjoying the change. We were fortunate that we got to see Ailbhe for the rest of the week as a substitute teacher in other classes and we hope to see her in a similar role during the year. Thank you to the parents who were so appreciative of the work Ailbhe has done and in being so welcoming to Therese and most importantly thank you to Ailbhe for the dedication and effort she has brought to her role since September.
The classes have been finishing up their work in gymnastics. I saw Rang 6 making great shapes as I walked through the school but I was most impressed by the art they had outside their door. The image of St. Paul’s Cathedral shining above the dust of London after a bomb attack struck me as being very similar to that feeling of coming out the other side of winter. The wonderful art in Rang 6 was complemented by Rang a Cúig’s art inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the plants blooming again but especially curious to see the fruits of our bulb planting in the local parks last September.
Another item that we have had to wait for is the City Councils work on making the school more visible in order to offer greater protection to the children coming to and leaving school. I’m attaching a letter from the City Council with more details. The council are looking for your input regarding a cycle route which will run adjacent to the school.
Next week we will start our preparations for the Céilí Mór as we focus on the dance strand of the curriculum. We haven’t had one in many years so at our staff meeting we were discussing the beautiful chaos that 220 children bring to the event. Think of the Siege of Ennis at a wedding and quadruple it. We hope to be able to showcase some of our very talented dancers from Adrian’s extra curricular Irish dancing class at the céilí, some of whom represented us at the Leinster Irish Dancing Competition last week and placed third as part of the 8 hand céilí reel.
After a false start to Rang a Dó’s forest school due to the threat of high winds which never materialised we look forward to getting back to the forest.
The Peace Proms are on this weekend for Rang 3 agus 4. We hope that you get to enjoy the fruits of months of dedicated time, effort and fun.
Have a lovely long weekend everyone,
Paul
Please check the RMDS Calendar on our website for all dates of upcoming events.
Dates for your diaries!!
World Book Day is the 2nd March and we're planning a book swap to take place in the yard at drop off time - 8.30am. We're only looking for books for children of school going age, that you think other children in the school will enjoy. We'd love some volunteers from each class to collect books and help organise them and we'll need volunteers to take away any books that are left over. More details to follow and if you'd like to volunteer please let your class rep know, or email pa@rmds.ie
Cinema Night on the 3rd March
This is the highly anticipated much loved event making a come-back after a two year break. The school turns into a cinema for one night only, with four or five films being screened. Each child buys a ticket to see their film of choice (tickets will go on sale the week of the 20th February) and the ticket price includes a goodie bag. Parents come to the cinema too, to volunteer (please!) / have some adult refreshments which will be on sale in the hall. This is not a drop off event, you are responsible for your own children at the event as we just can't provide enough supervision. For that reason cinema night will only be for JI up to R4 inclusive and arrangements will be made for an R5 and R6 event to take place another time. We need lots of help to run this event so please volunteer through your class rep or email pa@rmds.ie
That's all for now!!
Gráinne & Lorraine
PA Co-Chairs
Green Schools Tips
Approximately 1% of domestic metered customers use 25% of metered water consumption.
A huge quantity of water is wasted every day at homes around the country. And then more resources are wasted when it has to be processed at a wastewater treatment plant.
There are three main causes:
A small trickle of water down the inside of the bowl.
A small but constant noise from the cistern (tank) filling.
Condensation on the outside of the cistern from cold water constantly entering.
Signs are a constant noise in the attic from the tank refilling, especially at night when household usage is light.
Some storage tanks have an overflow pipe that usually exits the building just below the roof line. If there’s water flowing out of this, you need to investigate!
Roland Ramsden
Andrea Scott
Green Schools Committee Parent Representatives
The senior student councillors were busy with drills and screwdrivers. They successfully installed some new games for the children to play with. They are proving very popular. There are more to come but we are being forced to be patient.
Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School, Ranelagh Road, Dublin 6, D06 Y658
Telephone/Fax: (01) 4961722 ● E-mail: secretary@rmds.ie
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Roll No. 19928Q ● Principal: Rosemarie Stynes
