Divine Word School, Marley Grange
Dear Parents/Guardians 22nd June 2015
We would firstly like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the Culligan family on the sudden death of Eoghan Culligan in the tragic accident in Berkeley. Eoghan was a past pupil here in the Divine Word NS and the whole school community will remember him in our thoughts and prayers. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Once again we have reached the end of a very busy active and fruitful school year…
a year full of memorable events, hard work and some changes.
Before we get to June 26th there are a few items to remember and dates for your diaries.
We would like to wish Ms O’Brien all the best as she commences her maternity leave.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Hayes, Mr Nolan and Mr O’Connell who will be leaving us and we thank them very much for all their hard work and dedication with Senior Infants and in the special education section in the school. Mr Reilly will be returning on August 28th. We also wish our SNAsMrs Walsh and Ms O’Riordan well as they will be job-sharing in the next school year.
As we come to the end of another year we would also like to wish our two 6th Classes the very best of luck as they move on to Secondary schools.
Holidays:
The school will close at 12 noon on Friday June 26th for the summer holidays
and will re-open on Friday August 28th at 8.50am.
School Calendar 2015 – 2016
October Mid-term: October 26th – 30th October (Inclusive)
Christmas Holidays: 23rdDecember– 5thJanuary re-open Wed, 6th January2016
February Mid-term: Thursday, February 18th & Friday, February 19th
St Patrick’s DayThursday, 17th March
Easter Holidays: 18th March to 1stApril - re-open Monday 4thApril
May Mid-Term: Monday, May 2nd – 6th May (Inclusive)
June Public Holiday: Monday 6thJune
Summer Holidays: Closing, TuesdayJune 28th
6th Class Graduation:
Our 6th Class Graduation will take place in the Church on Thursday June 25th at 7.30pm.All are welcome to the school hall afterwards for refreshments kindly provided by the Parents Association.
Zero Absences:
Congratulations to all those pupils who received awards for zero absences this year –
91 in total. Our attendance record for this school year was 96.8% -
well done to parents and children.
School Library:
We would like to thank our cohort of parent volunteers who have been working hard to upgrade and re-organise our school library. We thank Ann O’Regan, Zeena Ali, Fiona Haughey, Eithne Crowley, Cormac Somers, Sinéad Kelleher and Carmel Daly. Míle Buíochas also to Mrs Kernan for all her hard work in co-ordinating this project. We would also like to remember Kieran Swords who advised us on the organisation needed to upgrade our library. His advice and support was endless and we will continue to remember him in all the work we do in our library. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Library Books and Class Readers:
We would ask that you do a search of the house to see if you have any school library books or supplementary readers lying around. If so, could you return them to the class teacher as soon as possible.
Feis Maitiú:
Many congratulations to all our winners in the Feis Maitiu…too many to mention!!
Well done to their drama teacher, Ms Croine Flaherty.
Santry Sports:
This year’s Santry Sports produced an array of medals for the Divine Word Athletes. Well done to all our medallists:
(High-Jump U11 – Silver), Isabelle Mulholland. (U10 Boys 4th place in Relay), Bobby Pakenham, Lorcan Cattle, Fionn O’Riordan and Donnchadh Cullinan.
Congratulations to all our athletes who took part and special thanks to their coaches Ms Dempsey, Mr Lynch, Mr Mangan, Ms Ní Threasaigh, Ms Hynes, Mr Nolan, Mr Monaghan and Mr O’Reilly. Congratulations also to Tommy Cullen in Mr Timmons class who recently won the U8 60m Perpetual Cup in the recent community Games.
GAA:
Well done to all our G.A.A. teams who made us very proud once again this year. Boys drew with Terenure College in November and we were close to getting to Croke Park for the hurling and camogie finals. A big thank you to their coaches Mr Conlon, Ms Mullin, Mr Timmons, Mr O’Connell, Mr Lynch and Ms Gallaher.
Soccer:
Well done to our Boys soccer team who reached the final of their Dublin League.
Unfortunately they didn’t win against St Brendan’s NS, Artane but they put up a brave fight and we are very proud of them. Our supporters were fantastic on the day and thanks to all the parents and grandparents who supported the team throughout the season! A big thank you to the two coaches, Ms Hynes and Mr Mangan.
Sports Days:
We were very lucky this year with the weather on our Sports Days. Both days were a tremendous success thanks to the hard work and co-operation of our teaching staff.
A special thanks to Ms Gallaher, Ms Hynes and Ms Ní Threasaigh and all the teachers for organising both days and a special Go Raibh Maith Agaibh to our Parents’ Association for organising the fruit and liquid refreshments for both parents and children. Well done to those Mammies and Daddies who took part in the parents’ race.
Spelling Bee
Many congratulations to Cian Larkin (6th Class) who represented us so well in the Spelling Bee competition. Cian made it to the last 7 in his round – a wonderful achievement. Thanks to Ms Basquel for organising this event.
Quiz Teams
Well done to our Credit Union Quiz team who made it to the All-Ireland Final in the R.D.S. Congratulations also to the team who came 4th in the South Dublin Library Quiz –a magnificent achievement. Many thanks to their coaches Mr Timmons, Ms Hayes, Ms Gallaher, Mr Nolan and Ms Fagan.
Digital Schools of Distinction Award
We were very proud to receive our award which was presented to the school on Friday June 19th by Minister Alex White T.D.. A big thank you to all involved especially Ms Bracken who co-ordinated the work for this prestigious award.
Lost Property:
We have lots of unclaimed lost property in the school.Please call to the school to see our caretaker John, before the end of the school year to claim any lost jumpers,tracksuit tops and jackets.
Student Council:
A special thanks to all the members of our student Council who did Trojan work during the year. Well done to their mentors, Ms Larkin and Mrs Kernan.
Green Schools
A big “Thank You” to our Green Schools Committee who have been working very hard during the school year.
Parents’ Association:
We would like to thank most sincerely our Parents Association who did so much fundraising for us during the year. The P.A. presented the school with a cheque for €14,500 (€2000 of this will go to supporting our new library system)for extra school resources and a cheque for €4,000 towards future building initiatives. At their recent AGM they also presented a cheque for €7,000 towards the Special Education Department in the school. We would like to thank Mrs Hazel Mander for all her support and hard work during the year and congratulate the new committee under the leadership of Mrs Hazel Mander. We look forward to the continued support and co-operation of the P.A. in the next school year.
Sr Veronica:
We would also like to thank Sr Veronica for her endless devotion to the children in the school. As you know, Sr Veronica retired someyears ago yet she continues to provide Learning Support to a number of children in the school. She also helps with numerous Religious activities during the year. Míle Buíochas Sr Veronica!
Tours:
A big thank you to all the parents who helped this year with school tours. Your presence was an invaluable help to the children and teachers – hope you didn’t need too many headache tablets!!
On behalf of myself and the staff in the school I would like to wish you all a restful summerwith, I hope, continuous good weather!! See you all on August 28th.
Yours sincerely
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John Williams
Principal
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