Firhouse ETNS

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The children have now settled very well into the school year and are making great progress in their learning and routines. We look forward to meeting you all at the Parent–Teacher Meetings next week, where you’ll have the opportunity to discuss your child’s achievements and goals for the coming term.

Please note that the school will be closed on Thursday, 27th November for staff training on child protection.

We are also excited to announce our first Winter Fair, taking place on Saturday, 6th December—a wonderful opportunity for our school community to come together and raise vital funds for the school community.

Thank you for your continued support.

Niamh

Week beginning 17th November: Parent teacher meetings

27th November: School closure due to child protection training for all staff

6th December: Winter Fair (see further information below)

We are delighted to share our amazing attendance figures for September and October.

For September, our attendance was at 93.7%.

For October, we reached 94.4%. This is really fantastic so keep up the good work!

In relation to school punctuality, a reminder that school begins at 8.25am and finishes at 1.05pm (for infant classes) and 2.05pm for 1st to 6th class.

The first 10 minutes of the day are for children to get settled and organised for the school day. This is essential time for the children to chat to their friends and classmates and transition comfortably from home to school.

Following this, lessons begin. If your child is repeatedly missing the first 20/30 minutes of the school day, they are missing this essential assembly time and likely missing out on learning of key concepts at the beginning of lessons.

While we understand that there can be exceptional circumstances, we hope that this should be rare and appreciate your co-operation in getting your child to school on time each day.

We are delighted to welcome you on the following dates for Fáilte Friday. A reminder that Fáilte Friday is between 8.25 and 8.40am and a chance for you to bring your child to their class, meet their teacher and other staff that work with them and see some of their favourite pieces of work.

Please book a slot to meet with your child's class teacher through Aladdin Connect. If you are unable to attend in person, please message your child's teacher through Aladdin and request a phone call instead at the time you have booked.

Thank you so much for the amazing resonse to our toy collection for the Winter Fair. I will be collecting toys for the month of November so if you are still planning a clear out, keep us in mind!

Crafts - If you would like to donate some crafts to the fair we'd love to accept them! Please leave at reception

Bric a Brac-Gifts - if you have any gifts at home that are not being used we'd love to accept them too:

Candles, ornaments, gift sets (boxes can be damaged as we will rewrap them), stocking fillers that are in lying the drawer, bottles of drink (wine, spirits etc), chocolates.. anything at all that you keep meaning to use or gift but that you know you'll never get round to it!

Please leave at reception - if there is alcohol please make sure to hand it to an adult and it will be stored away safely :)

Volunteers - we are still looking for volunteers to help make the day a success - if every family gave one hour it would mean everyone would get to enjoy the day with their children while also making the day a success. Please sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Qj725kWV51Cqz-z69DHYMG5Uez_IWAHItyW1g8i-6w/edit?usp=sharing

Maths Eyes Competition: This is a competition for families to do at home but it would be great if teachers could discuss it in the classroom and have a look at the previous posters on the https://haveyougotmathseyes.com/poster-resources/ website. The competition will run from November 10th to 21st.