KNS May 2018 Newsletter

                                                                                             

                                                                                               17^th May 2018

Dear Parents,

Here is our school newsletter for this month, to keep you in touch with the goings on in KNS. We hope everybody is enjoying the nice weather.

Best wishes,

Mr.Ciarán Caulfield, Priomhoide

·      Best wishes to our 2^nd class pupils who will be making their First Holy Communion this coming Sunday in St.Margaret’s Church. The ceremony starts at 11am. Monday is a normal school day for 2^nd class pupils – we ask that all First Communicants wear / bring their Communion cloths to KNS on Wednesday next for a  class photograph.

·      Best wishes to Teacher Valerie, who has now started her maternity leave. Teacher Aoife will teach 1^st & 2^nd class until the summer.

·      Child Protection: school will again close at 12pm for all pupils on Friday 1^st June to facilitate further Child Protection training for all staff, in line with Department of Education requirements.

·      Feet First Friday happens every Friday from now until the summer – we meet at the Coolquoy Lodge at 8.45am to walk to school.

·      Food Dudes programme: This is currently underway in KNS – we are encouraging our pupils to develop a taste for a wide range of healthy foods.

·      New infant induction visit to KNS: Wednesday 13^th June from 10am – 11am.

·      School books and resources lists for next year, along with pupil end of year reports will be issued to parents on Friday 22^nd June. This gives one week for parents to seek any feedback etc. from class teachers, before the summer holidays.

·      Thanks to the KNSPA and all who handed-in clothes for our recent clothes collection.

·      Our whole school themes from now until the summer: Green Flag Environmental Education and Active School work. On Friday 8^th June we will launch this year’s KNS Fitness Fortnight with a whole school marathon relay. The marathon will run in partnership with our KNS Parents Association. It will involve our pupils each running a short leg of a marathon and when we add up all the full distances run at the end of the day,  hopefully it’ll add up to 42kilometres! We will issue sponsorship cards for this on Monday.

·      Well done to our 5^th & 6^th class pupils who will represent KNS at Ireland’s first Young Philosophers Awards tomorrow in UCD.

·      Well done to all pupils who sent in short videos for our recent Gaeilge celebrations – we showed them all at a recent assembly and they were all super - Maith sibh go leir!

KNS April Newsletter

                                                                                                                        24^th April 2018

Dear Parents,

Here is this month’s newsletter for KNS to keep you in touch with what has been happening in April and to let you know of upcoming events etc.  

Best wishes,
Mr.Ciarán Caulfield, Priomhoide

·         Gaeilge Fun: From tomorrow, we’re going to try out a fun Gaeilge (Irish) activity. We are inviting all school families to make a 10 second video of themselves saying an Irish phrase. It can be filmed at home or in the park or anywhere appropriate. The phrases for each class are attached to this newsletter. If you’re happy to be involved, just pick the phrase you’d like to film with your child, gather round your camera, say the phrase out loud / sing it / dance it, etc. etc. and record it for 10 seconds. If you like, do it in a fun way (eg. with actions or featuring the family dog etc.!) If you choose to be involved, then please email the 10 seconds of video to the email address we’ve created for this: kilcoskangaeilge@gmail.com All the videos will be shown at an assembly at the end of next week. The closing date for entries will be 2^nd May 2018. We’ll have a raffle prize at each class level for pupils who can convince their families to participate. The purpose of this initiative is to encourage our pupils to see that Irish is a living language and to encourage them to have fun with the language too – of course, it is not obligatory.

·         Cancellation of parents talk on Cyber Bullying: following just 10 votes to attend the rescheduled cyber bullying talk (7 for the morning, 3 for the evening), we have had to cancel the event.

·         Well done to our KNS football team who have been participating in the small schools Football League recently. We’ve had 2 tough matches against Mary Queen of Ireland NS and St.Margaret’s NS – but we performed bravely in both and we’ll come back stronger and even more skilful in the Joe Crowe Cup later this year!

·         Trocaire boxes must be returned to KNS by this Thursday morning at the latest.

·         Well done to the four 6^th class pupils who represented KNS at last week’s NCCA Conference on Education for Inclusion and Mutual Understanding. Only a very small number of schools, considered innovators and leaders in this area, were invited to the conference. At it, our pupils displayed some of the work we have been doing in KNS over the last 2 years or so to encourage mutual understanding and inclusion and we understand that this innovative work will inform the NCCA’s work in curriculum revision.  Samples of the work are on display in our school reception. Check out www.ncca.ie and follow the links to primary developments - education about religions and beliefs and ethics – and finally sharing inclusive practice to see some of the great work done by our school in this area.

·         KNS Code updates: Thanks to those parents who submitted feedback to help the Board of Management in its review of the school Code of Behaviour. Having consulted with our KNS Students’ Council too and taken a vote from all our pupils at assembly, from today, pupils will no longer get the Excellent / Good / Needs Improvement stamps in their school journal. Instead, the stamps will be a smiley face, a neutral face or a sad face. These faces will serve as meaningful daily feedback and reminders to our pupils that it’s important to keep to the values of the KNS Code:

                        Be kind to yourself and others

                        Think and make smart choices

                        Always do your best

The Board of Management will continue with its review of the Code of Behaviour at its next meeting.

·         Update re. class teachers until the end of the school year: Teacher Valerie will be going on maternity leave after the First Holy Communion on May 20^th whereupon Teacher Aoife will return as the 1^st & 2^nd class teacher until the summer. Teacher Keelan will remain as class teacher of 5^th & 6^th class until the end of the school year. All other classes will remain the same until the summer holidays.

·         Reminder about recycling: we still ask that all pupils bring their lunch waste home with them to be recycled. After the May break however, we’ll be collecting daily any leftover lunch fruits / vegetables for our KNS Compost system. The sealed compost box is located in our recently fenced-off KNS Eco-Zone corner, within the school garden. Don’t forget to admire the daffodils and other new life in the garden when you’re passing – including the flower pot people made by our Gardening Club - spring is finally springing, hooray!

·         Thursday Swimming is now over for all pupils. We therefore revert to having our weekly tracksuit days for the whole school on Tuesdays and Fridays as before.

·         Healthy fundraiser on the horizon: On Friday 8^th June we will launch our KNS Fun Fitness Fortnight with a super-cool whole school marathon. The idea is that between all 110 or so of our pupils, the staff and even parents (if they wish), we’ll run a marathon during the school day (ie. a few hundred metres or so each, depending on age etc.) Pupils will be asked to get sponsorship for this and it will be organised in partnership with our KNS Parents Association in aid of outdoor, yard and educational equipment and experiences for our pupils.

·         Reminder re. May school closure: School will be closed from May 7^th to May 11^th inclusive and will reopen for all at 9am on Monday May 14^th.

March Newsletter

                                                                                                           

                                                                                          15^th March 2018

Dear Parents,

This is our KNS March newsletter to keep you in touch with the goings on in our school. Happy St.Patrick’s Day to all – top o’ the mornin’ to ye!

Best wishes,

Mr.Ciarán Caulfield, Principal

March School Theme: This month our theme is Gaeilge and all things Irish. As part of this, tomorrow we’ll be having our annual Ceili Mor sa Seomra Glas (Big Ceili dance in the Green Room). Of course, as in previous years, all pupils can wear green for the day.

School Shamrock: Thanks to all those who have ordered school shamrock. This is due to be delivered to KNS tomorrow and we’ll look forward to distributing it to everybody in time for St.Patrick’s Day.

“Bring a Book buy a Book” and Book Character Dress-Up Day: We had been due to hold a bring a book buy a book sale and hold a book-character dress up day earlier in March. However, due to the snow closures these were cancelled. We will reschedule these for after Easter.

Congratulations to our 6^th Class Pupils: Well done to all the boys and girls in 6^th class who made their Confirmation last week.

Easter Plans: On Friday 23^rd March we close for the Easter holidays at 12pm. On this day we’ll hold our annual KNS Easter Egg Hunt – but this year the clues for all will be as-Gaeilge (in Irish!). Thanks to the KNS Parents Association for sponsoring the eggs.

KNS Garden News: Last week was National Tree Week. As part of the celebrations our school gardening club members were invited to an event in Fingal County Council Head Offices in Swords. We won an award of excellence for supporting native biodiversity in our school garden! We also got a personal tour of the Fingal County Council chambers from the Mayor of Fingal. Well done all!

Early School Closures: Reminder – school will close at 12pm on Friday 16^th March and Friday 23^rd March for all pupils.

                                       Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig daoibh go léir!  

Kilcoskan NS to remain closed due to snow

Good morning all, following overnight snow unfortunately and for safety reasons, KilcoskanNS will stay closed today. We will be in touch in due course with further updates. Kilcoskan NS

KNS February 2018 Newsletter and our Term 2 Extracurricular Activities Schedule

                          

                       Kilcoskan NS Parents’ Newsletter – February 2018                                                                                                                                                    12^th February 2018

Dear Parents,

This month’s KNS news items are listed below. On the reverse of this letter, we are pleased to provide this term’s KNS Extracurricular After-School Activities schedule too.

Best wishes,
Mr. Ciarán Caulfield, Priomhoide

·         Extra-Curricular Activities (open to pupils from 1^st – 6^th class, see overleaf): If your child is interested in any of the activities, please complete and return the slip to reception by Wednesday 14^th February. All activities will start from next week, for 6 weeks (except after school Gaelic football open to 3^rd – 6^th class, which runs to the summer and which has already started.)

·         Pancake Tuesday Tomorrow 13^th February: All pupils will be able to buy a pancake and toppings for €2 during our class pancake parties. Thanks to the KNS Parents Association for helping with this. Money raised will go to the National Children’s Hospital. Ashes will be distributed on Ash Wednesday.

·         In KNS we are selling Shamrock: This year in KNS we are pleased to be selling Paddy McShamrock’s “Living Irish Shamrock”. The “Living Shamrock” will be delivered in little golden vases which can be attached to your coat etc. Each clump of shamrock costs €4 and €2 goes to KNS. Shamrock order cards were issued to all on Friday. It is of course parents’ decision if they want their child to sell the shamrock and for those who do, we ask that the order cards and monies are returned to the school by Friday 2^nd March at the absolute latest. Children will bring the shamrock home for distribution once delivered to KNS on March 13^th / 14^th.

·         KNS Garden and Environmental news: Since Christmas, we have replanted 11 native silver birch trees along the southern perimeter of the yard. We are also now proud to have in the garden area a “Forest in a Box”. This is an initiative of the Swords Woodland Association with whom we are working. The forest-box contains about 20 small acorns, resting and hopefully germinating within a bed of leaf mould – replicating the floor of an ancient Irish oak forest. Also in our KNS garden we have had installed a 3 phase composting system which we’ll get up and going soon. Finally, soon we will also be setting up a school wormery!

·         KNS Class Multicultural themes: Thanks to those parents who are volunteering in our classes this week and next to speak on their national cultural practices (Polish and Lithuanian). One of our pupils has also bravely volunteered to speak in classes about her family’s Belarussian culture. In April we will host a speaker from Pavee Point to talk about the Traveller Community culture too.

·         Code of Behaviour Review: As part of the KNS Code of Behaviour review, parent feedback is now invited. Such feedback must be submitted to the school in writing, marked for the attention of the Board of Management, by Friday March 2nd. Feedback submitted anonymously will not be accepted.

·         Anti Bullying: Our Parents Association will host a speaker in Kilcoskan NS on the theme of anti-bullying - on Monday 19th February 2018 at 7.30pm. All are welcome.

·         Early School Closures this term: School will close at 1.40pm for all pupils on Wednesday March 14^th and at 12pm for all on Friday March 16^th. These early closures are to facilitate whole-staff training in a number of new Department of Education procedures, including updated Child Protection legislation. These closures are in line with Department of Education policy. Note that school will also close at 12pm on Friday 23^rd March for the Easter Holidays. School will reopen for all on Monday April 9^th for the first day of term 3. 

                                         

                                   Kilcoskan NS Extra Curricular Activities for Term 2: (Click the timetable to enlarge)

KNS January 2018 Newsletter

 

                                                                                      

                                                                                                         16^th January 2018

January 2018 Draft Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Happy new year to all (it’s still not too late to say it!) and welcome back everybody to KNS for the new term. Below is our latest news and some notices for the coming weeks.

Mr.Caulfield, Priomhoide

·        KNS Curricular Themes: As you will know, most months in KNS we have a whole school theme which, at whole school level, informs and shapes some of our curricular lessons and assemblies. (Eg. September’s theme was friendship, October’s theme was Harvest and Halloween and December’s theme was Christmas). The themes for January and February are Celebrating diversity in KNS. In February we will work on Anti Bullying and online safety too. The March theme will be Mi na Gaeilge agus Lá Fheile Padraig.  Noting our current theme, if there are any parents who would like to speak to a class group on the topic of their own family / cultural / national heritage, please contact the principal. The school will be sourcing speakers on the themes of multiculturalism and diversity too.

·        KNS Swimming: This school year our 1^st – 6^th class pupils (mainstream classes) will be going swimming in the new and modern Finglas Sports and Fitness Centre. In previous years our pupils swam once weekly for 6 weeks but as it’s now every second year, so that our pupils have a sufficient engagement with this important curriculum area, our pupils will go for 8 weeks. The cost will be €50 which covers bus transport and your child’s eight 1 hour swimming lesson with trained instructors. This represents very good value for money. As stated, swimming is a primary school curriculum subject area. Therefore, only in very exceptional circumstances may a child be exempt from swimming – eg. with a doctor’s letter / certificate. Lessons start on Thursday February 1^st.  Please submit €50 to the school by next Wednesday 24^th January in the attached envelope for your child to go swimming – clearly label the envelope too please. We are working on a swimming package for our pupils in our 2 special classes too – which will be issued soon.

·        Parent-Teacher Meetings: On Tuesday and Wednesday February 6^th and 7^th we will hold our annual parent-teacher meetings (for mainstream pupils, our special class teachers will contact parents individually for tailored arrangements). All parents are being allocated a 10 minute slot to meet with their child’s teacher/s. Your time allocation is attached to this newsletter. Please now confirm in person, by phone or via email (kilcoskansecretary@gmail.com) whether you will or will not be attending. If parents cannot attend at the allocated time it is parents’ responsibility to arrange an alternative time.

·        Sacramental Dates: (all in St.Margaret’s Church): 

o   2^nd class Sacrament of First Penance: Tuesday 17^th April at 7.30pm

o   2^nd Class First Holy Communion: Sunday 20^th May at 11am.

o   6^th Class Service of Light (preparation for Confirmation): Tuesday 20^th February at 7.30pm.

o   6^th Class Confirmation: Thursday 8^th March 2018 at 11am. Communion, Penance, Service of Light

·        Extra-Curricular Activities: The term 2 schedule of extra-curricular activities will issue by the end of January.

·        Parent Volunteers Requested: On an ongoing basis, we like to keep a list of parents who might be available from time to time to help in our infants – 2^nd class groups. In the past for example, we have had parents helping with reading (ongoing) and maths for fun. If you think you might be interested in helping with any such in-class activities (eg. For 25 minutes once a week for about 6 weeks) please email kilcoskansecretary@gmail.com or contact the school in person. All such volunteers are Garda Vetted.

·        Grandparents Day 2018 in KNS: This year we are going to have 2 Grandparents Days in KNS. On Wednesday 31^st January all Grandparents of pupils from infants – 2^nd class are welcome to call to KNS from 1-1.40pm, to hear a few songs and poems and to have a cup of tea with us all. On Friday 2^nd February, Grandparents of pupils from 3^rd – 6^th class are welcome to call from 2 – 2.40pm for songs, poems and a cup of tea! We will send more specific invitations to this event closer to the date.

·        Credit Union Quiz: Good luck to our 2 teams who will represent KNS in the upcoming Ashbourne Credit Union Quiz – scheduled for Friday 26^th January at 7pm in St.Declan’s NS.

·        And finally, from time to time in KNS local businesses drop in flyers etc. advertising after-school children’s activities, Easter / summer camps etc. It is the decision of the KNS Board that in order to support these local initiatives and where they may be of interest to children, they will be sent home with your child. However, the Board accepts no liability for any such non-Kilcoskan NS programs and parents who book onto them do so at their own discretion. 

December 2017 KNS Newsletter - Ho Ho Ho!

             December 2017 KNS Newsletter

                                                                                                                 21^st December 2017

Dear Parents / Guardians

As we approach the Christmas holidays and reflect – wow, what a quick term this has been in KNS! We’ve had of course lots of class learning – and sports day, Harvest Fair, coffee mornings, our Haunted House, our Christmas Carols Concerts, 3 new teachers on-board and much more besides!

Thanks to all for supporting KNS this past term. We really value our close, positive and trusting relations with you, our pupils’ parents. Thanks also of course to our KNS Parents Association for all their volunteer support.

Below are just a few short notices to keep you informed in advance of term 2.

Nollaig shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go leir!

Mr.Ciarán Caulfield, Priomhoide – Ho Ho Ho!

• ·                Teacher Trish, school Deputy Principal is now on maternity leave until September 2018. Acting Deputy Principal during this time will be Teacher Eoin.
• ·                Teacher Ana is the new class teacher in our junior special class.
• ·                 We are delighted to welcome Terri back to reception. Terri and Susan will continue to work “front of house” as secretaries into the new year.
• ·                 Well done to our school choir who sang 2 weeks ago in Charlestown Shopping Centre Finglas. We were delighted this morning to give a cheque for €300 raised by our choir to Temple Street St.Michael’s B Ward – the Temple street ward for sick babies.
• ·                 Well done also to our 5^th & 6^th class pupils who sang for the residents of Newpark Care Centre last week. 5^th & 6^th class will be starting a project with the Newpark residents in the new year.
• ·                 And finally on the singing front…a huge well done to all our pupils for singing so well in our recent Christmas Carols Concerts. Thanks to all parents, grandparents and well wishers etc. who came along and bought raffle tickets etc. All funds raised will go towards supporting your child’s education in Kilcoskan NS.
• ·                 Mr.Laurence Skelly is the new Chairperson of the KNS Parents Association. Congratulations to Laurence on his election to this important role and best wishes.
• ·                 Finally, tomorrow Friday 22^nd December 2017 is the last day of term. School closes for all at 12pm and will reopen on Monday 8^th January 2018 at 9am for a full school day for all.

KNS Christmas Carols Video

   

                                                                       

                                                                                           12^th December 2017

Dear Parents,

This Friday, we will be doing a full dress-rehearsal for our upcoming Christmas Carols Concert. We ask that if our pupils have a Christmas Santa hat / reindeer antlers / Christmas jumper etc. that they wear it into school on Friday with the rest of their uniform / school tracksuit.

Also on Friday, a generous member of our Parents Association has volunteered to make a video of the rehearsal concert which we will then be able to sell to parents as a seasonal memento. The cost of this digital video will be just €12. The video will be provided on an 8 gigabyte memory stick which alone would cost close to €12 in most shops. So of course, if you wish you can transfer the video file off it and reuse the memory stick.

If you would like to purchase the digital video, so that we know approximately how many digital video copies of the concert to make for parents, please complete the slip below and return it to school by this Thursday 14^th December at 9am with the appropriate fee. We will then be able to make you a copy which will be issued to you early next week. We’ll take orders on a first come first served basis as we only have a limited amount of memory sticks.

Finally, if for any reason you don’t want your child to feature with their class in the Christmas carols video please inform reception before Thursday 14^th December at 9am by emailing kilcoskansecretary@gmail.com and we will withdraw your child from their scheduled dress rehearsal this Friday morning.

Best wishes,

Mr.Ciarán Caulfield, Principal

------------Detach and return to Kilcoskan NS by Thursday 14^th December at 9am-----------

I would like to order____________________ copies of the KNS Christmas Carols Concert 2017 digital video. I enclose _____________ Euros to cover the cost.

Signed:______________________________ Child’s name:______________________ Date:__________