Marching On

As we march into the spring and the clocks have gone forward, we've been a busy school with loads of great things happening. You can see a selection of photographs from the month in this newsletter but there are loads more on our website and Facebook Page. Our big event this month was Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Week) where children were treated to an Irish-language juggler and some other special visitors. Earlier in the month, we were delighted to raise over €450 for Childline in our annual breakfast and a big thanks to Kathy and the parents for running the day. We also had a large donation of books to our school library thanks to the Lions' Club and we have some grand plans to refurbish our library as we have run out of shelves! The school garden is about to move to its growing phase and we'll be planting all sorts of vegetables in our front garden and our Hedge School is going to be a beautiful colourfest of poppies and primroses and sunflowers this summer. Finally, we also had some exciting news at the end of the month when our wonderful Junior Infants' teacher, Róisin got married. There's plenty more news below and I hope you enjoy the rest of the newsletter and until next time, keep happy, safe and learning.

Mindfulness

Thank you to everyone who filled out our survey regarding mindfulness. Over 95% of families want mindfulness to keep happening in school and for homework. We will continue daily mindful activities in school everyday and Monday will be Mindful Monday where homework will be a choice of 4 activities. These are:

1. One Moment Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6eFFCi12v8
2. Mindful Colouring in Silence
3. Family Walk
4. Play a Board Game

Collecting Children from other families

if you are collecting a child other than your own at any time, please make sure to speak to Siobhan first. If it is a case that you are picking up someone else's child at the end of the day, please let the class teacher know that you are doing so.

Sensational Kids Expo

We will be hosting Sensational Kids on Wednesday, 5th April from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. The company specialise in sensory equipment and have lots of excellent resources for children with additional needs.

Breakfast Club

Our Breakfast Club is open for all children from 8:30am Monday to Friday. Come and join Simon, Marita and Yousef for a slice of toast, juice and a chat before starting the day. There's no need to sign up - simply show up in the morning,

Cake Fridays and Knitting Club

Join the Parents’ Group for their weekly Cake Fridays and Knitting Club in the Parent Room after drop off.

Homework Club

The homework club is running well with nearly 20 pupils taking part. To sign up, contact the office and Marita will give you a call.

Attendance and Lateness

We are monitoring attendance carefully this year.

Attendance per month is

September: 95% | October 93% | November 92% | December 90.5% | January 94.3% | February 91.2% | March 92.9%

Overall: 93% | Target: 95%

• 14 pupils have missed 20 days of school or more and must be reported to Tusla
• 42 pupils have been more than 10 minutes late for school more than 10 times.

Please ensure that your child is in school on time. The school opens at 8:30am for breakfast club and 8:35am for morning supervision. Classes start at 8:50am and all children must be in school by then. There are a number of children coming to school after 9am and classes are well underway by then. Our attendance team will be in touch to talk to families of children where this is proving to be a persistent issue.

Second Level Campaign

Please register your interest if you’d like Carlow to have a second level Educate Together school. https://secure.jotformpro.com/form/52224353965962. The group also has a Facebook Page, which we’d recommend you to join.

Volunteer

We’re always thrilled to have parents and families volunteering in the school. We had over 100 parents in school already this year and we’d love to see more of you.

Nut Allergy

We have two pupils in our school with nut allergies. It is vital that no nuts ever come into our school. We cannot police every lunchbox so we are relying on you to cooperate with our nut ban.

Upcoming Dates For Your Diary

April

• 7th: Easter Hunt and Talent Show
• 10th - 21st: Spring Break, School Closed

Social Media

You can find us on various social media platforms:

YouTube – Search for Carlow Educate Together

Facebook – http://facebook/com/carlowetns

Twitter – http://twitter.com/carlowetns