Parents' Page / Leathanach na dTuismitheoirí

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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!!!!