01 628 2691

Newsletter 9/2/2023

08-February-23
Newsletter 9/2/2023

Newsletter 9/2/2023

CTY (Centre for Talented Youth Ireland): For pupils with Exceptional Academic Ability. Courses on Saturdays and during the Summer months. CTY courses are academically challenging and allow students to meet and mix with like minded peers.If you are interested in learning more please seehttps://www.dcu.ie/ctyi

Parent Association Subs: Our Parents Association rely on support from our parent body. Each year the PA collect subscriptions of €10 per family in order to support the purchase of resources for our pupils or to support fun events within the school. Subs can now be paid online via databiz. Your support would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to all who have already contributed. Please also keep a close eye on the St. Thomas’ PA facebook page which keeps you up to date on upcoming events.

Midterm Break: School will be closed on the 16th and 17th of February for Midterm break.

Message from our lollipop lady Maureen: Due to unforeseen circumstances, please note that there will be no school warden for the duration of the day on Friday 10th February -Old Esker Lane, Lucan, 13 metres north of the junction with Esker Drive at the Pedestrian Phase. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

First Confession and First Holy Communion: As per correspondence sent to parents, First Confession for some of our 2nd class pupils will take place in St. Patrick’s Church on 6th March @ 7:30pm. First Communion takes place on May 13th @ 10am and 11:30am. Communion photographs will take place in the school on Tuesday May 16th. More details to follow on school celebrations and photography for the Communicants nearer the time.

Talented authors and artists: Check out the wonderful Rainforest projects created by Ms. Walshe’s 1st class pupils. They have been working so hard. Ms. Doherty’s 2nd class pupils have been busy creating Titanic projects while Ms. Finnegan's class have created fabulous Warhol artwork. Well done to all of our talented pupils.

Little Litter pickers: Our senior infant pupils in Ms. Gillen’s class have been busy helping to keep our school environment clean and tidy. Here they are on their way to do a litter pick.

Testing: Our senior infants completed MIST (middle infant screening tests) today to assess how well they are achieving in phonics, letter names, dictation and listening skills. Regular testing helps us to assess current learning and to assess for future learning and planning for our pupils.

Kindness and Restorative Practice: In St. Thomas’ JNS, we are focusing on kindness and positivity and are ‘catching’ the children being kind. A number of staff have been engaging in training over the last year in the area of restorative practice with Michelle Stowe. It would be fantastic if parents could encourage this at home also. When we catch children being kind to one another, we explicitly highlight this to the other pupils in order to encourage others to be kind also. If the children are chosen for a kindness award, they are beyond proud.

Images courtesy of Áine O' Shaughnessy

As part of our restorative practice journey, we use the giraffe as our symbol. The giraffe has the largest heart and because of its long neck, can see from others' point of view. Developing this empathy is key to developing relationships and positive behaviour in our pupils. We are all trying to be a PAL to one another also. When children make poor decisions we will encourage them to reflect on what happened and what they could do differently next time.

Kind regards,

Lorraine Murray

Acting Principal

Events
Mar
25 2024
Easter Holidays
May
06 2024
Mid-term Break
Jun
28 2024
School Closure at 11.50 (infants) and 12.00 (1st/2nd)
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Contact
Esker,
Lucan,
Co.Dublin,

01 628 2691





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