Parents'
Page / Leathanach na dTuismitheoirí
Parents,
for information on Griffeen Valley ETNS' policy in regard to the Pandemic
H1N1, commonly referred to as Swine Flu, please click here to be brought
directly to the About Us/Policies
web page.
Newsletter,
School Calendar, Important
Dates, 2009/2010 Booklists
NUACHTLITIR/NEWSLETTER
An Nollaig/December 2009
A hearty Congrats...
to the parents of children with special needs in our school who recently
fought a titanic battle to maintain the additional resources necessary
for their children. Thanks to their courage, audacity and determination,
they managed to maintain all of the additional resources their children
have and need. In the current climate of indiscriminate cutbacks, this
represents a phenomenal achievement on their behalf.
Speech and
Drama Class
One of our 5th class teachers, Karen, will run speech and drama classes
in our school after school hours beginning after Christmas. The classes
will take place on a Monday afternoon at 3pm. Please don’t hesitate
to contact Karen upstairs in Room 13 for further details
So What about
Ethos?
“Respect Fortnight” was a major event in our ethos
calendar during the month of November. This ranged from discussions
around self-respect to respect of others to respect as outlined in the
Equal Status Act (eg race, culture, language, gender etc.)
Early December will bring
lots of discussion and chat on the issue of Climate Change. Our Green
Schools Committee have decided to write to Brian Cowan asking him to
stand up and be counted at the forthcoming meeting on climate change
in Copenhagen. Please have a read of their letter below – don’t
you just love the last paragraph!!
Student Union
Matters
Among the issues being discussed at our Student Union are the preparations
for the visit of Suman from India. Suman runs an ‘ashram’
in India for children, most of whom have been rescued by her from the
carpet factories that use these children as child labourers. She visits
Griffeen Valley in late January and will bring, no doubt, tales of courage
and compassion, hope and heroism that will enthral the little scholars
in our school.
Bereavement
and Loss
In September Barnardos came to the school to train eleven members of
staff in Bereavement and Loss and how to work with children who have
experienced loss in some way. We are in the process of setting up a
drop in centre, during school hours called 'Our Space' which aims to
provide a safe, caring and supportiveenvironment for children to work
through their grief. We hope to begin in the new year and will have
more information on this available in January. We have also received
a variety of reading materials from Barnardos for parents whohave children
coping with loss. This material is available now in the school.
As for our
very busy Parent-Teacher Association·
Raffle tickets for our annual draw need to be back in school by Monday
7th December· The draw for the raffle will take place on Wednesday,
December 16th.· Donations of prizes for the raffle are still
being gratefully received.· School calendars for 2010 are still
on sale in the school office. Our thanks to the very hard-working people
on the P.T.A.... the financial life-line they provide for the school
has never been more needed.
Letter from the Green School’s Committee
November 2009.A Thaoisigh a chara,All of the children who have
signed this letter to you are members of the Green Schools Committee
in Griffeen Valley Educate Together School. We want to write to you
about the meeting on Climate Change that is happening in Copenhagen
this month.We know that the leaders of many of the world’s countries
will be at the meeting in Copenhagen. We also know that there are disagreements
and arguments between some of the world’s leaders about what needs
to be done to save our world from global warming.We strongly request
of you that you agree with the leaders who want to really stop global
warming, and not those who don’t seem to care very much. Ireland
should show real leadership on the issue of climate change and fight
for an agreement that will force countries to reduce the amount of carbon
they put in the air.We will be watching to see how strongly you argue
for real change and hope that we will be proud of Ireland’s role
at the Copenhagen meeting. It is too important for us and our future
so please speak out for us, for our future and for our wonderful world.Yours
Sincerely,_____________________Green Schools CommitteeGriffeen Valley
Educate Together N.S.
Phones to
Go.....
You are not doubt, aware that the school is frantically trying
to gather 500 used mobile phones for the Jack n Jill foundation and
it’s wonderful work. In return, we will receive the ultimate educational
resource... an interactive whiteboard. To date, over 360 phones have
been collected. Please help us to push this figure up to the required
target of 500 so that we can access this fabulous resource.
A Ceremony
of Lights and Giving
The campaign to establish an Educate Together Secondary School
in Lucan will hold the above ceremony in Griffeen Valley School at 7
pm on Monday 21st December. The ceremony will involve representatives
from all 5 ET primary schools in Lucan in a united call for an ET secondary
school for our children. A decision on another secondary school for
Lucan is imminent – a big turn-out from our schools will put pressure
on the Minister to consider granting permission for Ireland’s
first ET secondary school in Lucan. Please come along for your children’s
sake – the prize at stake would allow for a fundamental change
in Irish second level education.
Christmas
Fair....
an array of items will be on sale in the school hall throughout Friday,
11th December...all proceeds to help reduce the cost of next year’s
trip to the Gaeltacht for our Seniors.
Christmas
Concerts ...
Wednesday, 16th December·
Junior & Senior Infants ..9.30 – 10.15· 1,2,3rd classes...
10.30 – 11.15· 4,5,6th classes ... 11.30 – 12.15
We look forward to seeing you there!!!!
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