Dress up for Halloween
Well done to all the students who put in such a great effort for our dress-up Friday before the Halloween holidays. This is a fun-filled day and a strong tradition in St. Mary's. Students (and staff) demonstrated great creativity and community spirit.
Building Works
We were delighted to return to a warm, cosy building as the heating system is now fully operational. The windows on the three storey building are also now installed and there is a massive improvement in the insulation. Our roof was also insulated during the midterm break.
Wellbeing Week
Our recent One Good School Wellbeing week was action packed and a great success. The following activities took place:
Theme days:
- FRIENDSHIP DAY
- SMILE DAY
- BE KIND DAY
- HELPING HAND DAY
- INCLUSIVITY DAY/DRESS-UP DAY
Meditation:
Every morning 9am - 5min GUIDED MEDITATION for all classes....
Moral fables:
Moral fables written and presented by students over the intercom at 10.55am.
Competitions:
Battle of the Notice Boards – 1st and 2nd Years
Peer Educators:
Peer Educators (5th years) delivered the 'It's time to start talking' workshops to the two 1st year classes:
The Peer Educators ran the 5-A-DAY One Good School Treasure Hunt for all 1st years on Friday 28th (Dress-Up Day)
Jigsaw Talk for 5th & 6th years
Yoga & Zumba For 5th & 6th year students
Jigsaw mental health workshops delivered to all classes:
Parents: 'COOKIES FOR COOKIES' 😀
Aspire Mentoring Program
Senior cycle students who are part of the Aspire 2 mentoring programme travelled by bus to the DPS offices in City West on Thursday, 10 November to be mentored by DPS employees/ They were brought by bus to and from City West. This event was sponsored by DPS.
Writing Competition
Well done to students across all year groups who entered for the Halloween Poetry competition. We had a record number of entries and the standard was outstanding. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Ms McGahey and Ms Smullen for co-ordinating.
Visiting Students
A group of Hungarian and Latvian students visited the school on Thursday, November 10th to talk to TY students about education in their countries. A further group will visit our first year students on Thursday, November 17th.
Calendar
Please note the following upcoming events from our calendar
| November 10th |
Thursday |
3rd Year Parent Information Meeting |
| November 14th |
Monday |
6th Year Parent Teacher Meeting |
| November 18th |
Friday |
Careers Fair |
| November 24th |
Thursday |
1st year Parent Teacher Meeting |
| November 28th |
Monday |
Occasional Holiday |
| November 29th |
Tuesday |
Occasional Holiday |
| December 1st |
Thursday |
3rd year Parent Teacher Meeting |
| December 2nd |
Friday |
2nd Year Trip (rollerblading) |
| December 12th |
Monday |
Carol Service |
| December 14th |
Wednesday |
Christmas Assessments |
| December 21st |
Wednesday |
School Closes at 1.15pm |
3rd Year Information Evening
An information evening for parents/guardians of 3rd Year will take place by zoom on Thursday November 10th. The focus of the information evening will be a) preparing for the Junior Cycle b) information about Transition Year and c) information about the Leaving Certificate Applied programme. A link will be forwarded to all parents. We encourage all parents/guardians of 3rd year students to attend.
6th Year Information Evening
An information evening for parents/guardians of 6th year will take place by zoom on Thursday, December 8th. The focus of the information evening will be a) preparing for the Leaving Certificate b) Pathways to further and higher education. Ms Ruane from the Guidance Department will be present.
Mock Exams
A letter has been sent to all parents of 3rd and 6th year regarding Mock Examinations which will commence in January.
Christmas Assessments
Christmas assessments for 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th year students will take place from December 14th until December 21st.
Basketball Victory
Congratulations to our U19 Basketball team who defeated Santa Sabina in their recent match. Thanks to coach Ms Thakarar.
Rugby
The school is working in partnership with Leinster's Grainne Vaugh this year. Fourth year students are working towards a coaching course and a concussion awareness training. 1st and 2nd years are enjoying participating in tag rugby with schools across Ireland.
Parent Teacher Meetings
As per our calendar, our in-person parent teacher meeting schedule for the coming weeks is as follows. School finishes at 3.30pm.
6th Year: Monday, November 14th → 4.15pm-6.45pm
1st Year Thursday, November 24th → 4.15pm-6.45pm
3rd Year: Thursday, December 1st → 4.15pm-6.45pm
Modern Language Department
Un grand bonjour à nos assistantes Marie et Marta!
We welcome our two language assistants, Marie from Grenoble, in France and Marta from Seville, in Spain. They are fantastic authentic language tools in our classrooms this year for our students.
Mucha suerte chicas!
On Thursday 17th of November, Transition Year students will be involved in the 'Think Languages' day in cooperation with Languages Connect. Students will have a talk from DCU about studying languages in college, as well as taking part in language workshops throughout the day.
Fire Drill
A fire Drill was held on Monday, November 8th in line with our health and safety policy.
Uniform
Students should wear green coats during the winter months to stay dry en route to school. Students may wear their PE uniform to school only on the days on which they are timetabled for PE.
Occasional Holiday
The school will be closed on Monday, November 28th and Tuesday, November 29th
Careers Corner
Ms. Ruane (Guidance Counsellor)
UCD’s Open Day is this Saturday 12th November - those who plan to attend are asked to register online at
https://ucdopenday.ie/register/ Due to the size of the campus students need to plan their day in advance using the timetable of events available online.
TU Dublin also have their Open Day this Saturday 12th November at their Grangegorman campus. Please register online at
https://www.tudublin.ie/study/open-days/university-open-day/ TU Dublin offers a huge choice of CAO courses at levels 6, 7 and 8 and their city-centre campuses in particular may be easy to reach for many of our students.
NCI (The National College of Ireland) at the IFSC Campus have an Open Day taking place on WEDNESDAY November 16th. The school is fully supportive of Sixth Year students attending. would suggest that students look at the courses on offer in NCI and if you feel that some of the courses may suit, students should register to attend. The majority of their courses are covered by the CAO Fees initiative (some courses do have additional fees). Sixth Years are asked to research prior to the Open Day if they are planning to attend and to let their Year-head know in advance if attending.
https://www.ncirl.ie/Students/CAO/School-Liaison-Programme/Open-Days. The majority of their courses are part of the free fees initiative (please be mindful of the few exceptions to that).Their Open Day should be easier to navigate as they have a smaller campus than some of the other Third Level Institutions.
Our school’s Career Fair will take place next week on Friday November 18th. Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Years will be allowed to attend during the course of the morning. We hope to have representatives from Universities and PLCs in attendance on the day.
The CAO application system is now open. All sixth years who plan to apply to the CAO are reminded to watch the video guides on
www.cao.ie
DCU will hold one of their Open Days on Saturday 19th November.
Fifth and Sixth Year students should be receiving regular Careers’ reminders on their Teams accounts. Those who are having difficulty accessing the updates are asked to contact Ms Ruane.
Coláiste Dhúlaigh will hold their Open Evening on Tuesday November 22nd from 4pm to 7pm. They will offer information and advice on their courses and potential pathway options for current Sixth Year students.