December 2025

Step into December

Hi there

Every year I send out a short message about how we teach about Christmas in our school. As an Educate Together school, we must be mindful of the fact that while many Christians and non-Christian people alike celebrate the festival, there are many families where the festival is not celebrated at all. In fact, even those that do celebrate Christmas in their homes experience it in many different ways and often on different dates. For example, I'm writing this the day after Advent, which many Christians around the world mark the start of preparations for Christmas. Different denominations of Christianity mark this according to their own church's traditions.

Furthermore. many of you will know that the main celebration of Christmas is the 24th December or 7th January in some family traditions. However, there are other festivals of light around this time such as the Sikh festival of Gurpurab and the Jewish festival of Chanukah. Later in the month we'll see people celebrating Yule and Kwanzaa and other festivals.

Educate Together schools teach about all beliefs and none in an objective way. Children are encouraged, if they wish, to share their own experiences and to be able to converse in a respectful manner with each other. We teach children about Christmas and other festivals of light, and we teach them about the story of the festival and how it came to happen, how it is celebrated, and so on.

In order to ensure that everyone is included in our school, we try to use language that ensures everyone feels welcome. We also host a winter concert, rather than a Christmas concert. This year the theme for the concert is "All You Need is Love." We'll be celebrating our values and our work through the music of the Beatles.

Some families wonder if they are allowed to wear Christmas jumpers or Santa hats to our school, and the answer is the same as we would give to any faith group. Children are welcome to wear whatever they like, just as we would for any celebration.

CHRISTMAS CARDS

If your child wants to give Christmas cards (or any other festival) out to their friends, there is no issue with this. Please make sure not to leave anyone out though!

PRESENTS FOR STAFF

We never expect to receive gifts from families but, we really appreciate people taking the effort to say thank you. Similarly to Christmas cards, we don't want to ban anything or appear ungrateful. If parents would like to send in a gift, we will leave this to parents' own discretion.

WINTER FUNDRAISING

A huge thanks to Emma and our Parents' Association for taking the time to support the school. This year we are selling a 2026 school calendar. We are also holding a raffle with massive prizes thanks to the generosity of our school and wider comminity.

I hope this explains how we approach the season and that it’s taken in the spirit intended. I do feel that we do strike the balance of marking Christmas appropriately. It's a very special time of the year for many families in our community. Whatever way you mark December in your home, I wish you the happiest of times. I'll be in touch before we break up for the holidays

In the meantime, keep happy, safe and learning

Simon

Winter Concert 2025

Carlow Educate Together’s Winter Concert is nearly here and we cannot wait to celebrate with you. Our evening concert will take place on Wednesday 17th December (evening concert) and Thursday 18th December (day concert), This year’s theme is All You Need Is Love, inspired by the music of the Beatles. Our pupils will be sharing a mix of learning, creativity and song.

We are making a few changes this year, including two concerts grouped by age:

Concert 1: Junior Infants, Senior Infants, Fifth Class and Sixth Class
(Continuing our buddy system between senior and junior classes)

Concert 2: First Class, Second Class, Third Class and Fourth Class

More information and tickets can be found at https://www.carlowetns.ie/concert

Dates for your diary

The following dates may be of help to you

12th December: We remember Eric Ene, our former pupil, who passed away in 2021
17th/18th December: Winter Concerts
19th December: School closes for Winter Break at 12pm
5th January: School reopens after Winter Break

Smart Device Policy

The Smartphone Policy was ratified just before the summer holiday by our Board of Management after a huge collaboration with parents, pupils and staff. As part of that policy, families must now fill in a permission form if they need their child to have possession of a smart device on the school premises. As of today, only 16 people have filled it out. You can fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/duvoiiWoeABVPAtB8

SeeSaw and Google Classroom and Sustainability

If you are experiencing issues with Google Classroom or SeeSaw, please contact the school and we will try and help you.

Also, Paula from GreenSchools helped our Sustainability Committee conduct a Walkability Audit on the approaches to school. “Fred” the speed camera captured some worrying results

Workshop Wednesdays

Workshop Wednesdays are going well and we're into our second set of sessions. So far, children are giving great feedback and we're delighted with the new skills they are picking up!

Special Education

Our SET team are happy to discuss any issues you are having. Please contact the school if you are unsure who your support teacher is.

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