Paradise Place ETNS Newsletter
17 September 2025
Thank you to all the parents/carers who have joined us for our 'Meet the Teacher' meetings this week.
If you weren't able to join us, please contact your child's class teacher and they will be happy to share the information you missed.
A reminder that we are always open to sharing information with you about your child's learning. If you have a question or a concern, please speak to your child's class teacher and they will do their best to help you or direct you the right person.
Keeping children safe is the most important thing we do in school. Everyone has a part to play in keeping children safe from harm and abuse and we take this responsibility very seriously. This week is 'Children First Awareness Week'. Children First is the name of the national guidelines for child protection and safeguarding.
At our school, we have clear and comprehensive policies and procedures in place to safeguard children and for reporting concerns, if and when they arise. Our staff are trained in child protection procedures and know what to do if they are worried about a child. We follow very careful procedures to carry out checks on any adult working with children in our school. Some new guidelines for schools have been published this year and our school will close on 1st December so that all staff can receive more training.
As part of our Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, we use the ‘Stay Safe’ programme, which develops children’s ability to recognise, resist and report risk situations or abusive encounters. In an age-appropriate way, we teach children to identify unsafe or upsetting situations, including some simple rules to help them avoid abuse. Children also learn to respect and value the rights of others and the language and skills they need to seek help if they feel unsafe.
In Ireland, all registered teachers are ‘mandated persons’ under the Children First Act 2015. This means that they have a legal obligation to report child protection concerns at or above a defined threshold to Tusla – Child and Family Agency. These mandated persons must also assist Tusla, on request, in its assessment of child protection concerns about children who have been the subject of a mandated report.
You can read more about Tusla’s guidelines and the Children First Act here or at the link below.
If you have concerns or questions about our safeguarding practices, you can speak to our Designated Liaison Person, Eadaoin Kelly (Principal). The Deputy Designated Liaison Person is the Deputy Principal, Brid Brophy.
You can find and read a copy of our Child Safeguarding Statement on our website at the link below. There is also a copy on display just inside the door of Liz's office.
The Board of Management of Paradise Place ETNS had their first meeting of the academic year this week.
The Board is made up of eight members - two nominated by our patron Educate Together - Tina Stallard and Neil Flaherty, two community nominees - Sevak Khachatryan and Maria O'Donoghue, two parent nominees Ludmila Paskova and Kunle Ogundola, and two staff - Sile McDonnell and Principal Eadaoin Kelly.
At the meeting this week, the Board looked at the school's development plan for 2025-2026 - we will share this with parents/carers in the coming weeks. The Board ratified the school's updated Attendance Strategy and looked at the standardised test results from the summer term. The Board also completed the annual safeguarding checklist to ensure all of our procedures are being followed.
We want to thank you for your patience with our hot meals provider, Glanmore Foods. The service since we came back to school has not been at the usual standard and a change in their ordering system over the summer has caused a lot of confusion and mistakes. We have made several complaints and they assure us that the issues are resolved.
Parents/carers should now have received a login to choose the food your child would like. Please use the 'recurring order' section so that your child's menu is set up for each week.
We have just been given access to the system so will be able to make changes and support any parents/carers who are having difficulty. Please come and talk to Brid, our Deputy Principal, if you need help.
All the research tells us that coming to school every day is so important for children's learning and for their social connections and relationships at school. Please do all you can to ensure your child is at school every day. And at school on time gets bonus points! Be on the line at ten to nine :)
We want to improve our school attendance and are aiming for 95%+ which takes into account a 'usual' amount of childhood illness and means that children shouldn't miss more than 8 days of school across the year from September to June.
Well done to Claire's 3rd Class with 100% this week! And to Shauna's 6th wtih 96.3%, Derek's 5th with 95% and Alannah's 2nd with 95%.
If you have a child with a significant support need who may need access to a special school or special class for September 2026 - you must have a letter of eligibility from the NCSE.
Please chat to Eadaoin for more information or if you need help.
Week of 15th Sept - Meet the Teacher meetings
Friday, 24th October - School Closed - Polling Station for Presidential Election
27th - 31st October - School Closed - Mid-Term Break
25th and 26th November - Parent-Teacher Meetings
1st December - Staff Training, Child Protection - School Closure Day
19th December - school clsoes at 12 noon for two-week holiday.
Contact us
Email: office@ppetns.ie
Website: www.ppetns.ie
Location: Paradise Place, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, Ireland
Phone: +353 1 8300 841
Twitter: @ppetns