Principal's Email - 12 November 2021
Dear Parent(s), Guardian(s), Staff and Students,
Please see the attached Friday Newsletter below.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the 3rd Year Parents for their participation in the Virtual PTM. The staff really appreciate the efforts that you made to attend.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the staff, who have worked tirelessly to maintain teaching and learning during this pandemic.
A little note on World Kindness Day on Saturday 13th of November. World kindness day promotes the importance of displaying kindness towards oneself and others. Students are encouraged to always demonstrate kindness and consideration to everyone.
Simple ideas to promote kindness at home and in the school community
1.Smile at others.
2.Help those that are struggling
3.Write a positive message or note for someone.
4.Compliment someone.
5.Hold the door open from someone.
Always remember in a world where you can be anything …be kind.
Have a lovely weekend,
Edel Greene
Principal
Please see the attached Friday Newsletter below.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the 3rd Year Parents for their participation in the Virtual PTM. The staff really appreciate the efforts that you made to attend.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the staff, who have worked tirelessly to maintain teaching and learning during this pandemic.
A little note on World Kindness Day on Saturday 13th of November. World kindness day promotes the importance of displaying kindness towards oneself and others. Students are encouraged to always demonstrate kindness and consideration to everyone.
Simple ideas to promote kindness at home and in the school community
1.Smile at others.
2.Help those that are struggling
3.Write a positive message or note for someone.
4.Compliment someone.
5.Hold the door open from someone.
Always remember in a world where you can be anything …be kind.
Have a lovely weekend,
Edel Greene
Principal
Principal's Email - 15 October 2021
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the European Day of Languages Poster Competition. Each student who entered received a certificate, and the overall winners of the competition were
Thank to Mr. Ryan and Ms. Convey the Transition Years are enjoying a fabulous day out at the Zoo and the weather today is an added bonus. We hope that they have a great time.
St. Mary’s was delighted to hold our first virtual Parent-Teacher Meeting. I am so grateful to all the Staff and Parents for the efforts made on behalf of the girls to make this experience work very successfully. Sincere thanks to Sharon in the Office for assisting us with the package, expertly guiding us through the process and helping all the parents out. The Second Years were tasked with teaching their Parents Microsoft Teams and I’m delighted to report they made excellent Teachers. This was a significant school initiative that saw technology assist us in maintaining our strong relationships with parents and work always in the best interest of the girls. Many thanks for the ongoing support and I know the girls are very proud of their students!!
Thank you to all the Parents who attended the Parent Association AGM on Monday 11th October. Congratulations to Mr. Paul Keyes and Mr. Peter Cunningham who were elected as the Parents Representatives to the Board of Management. Thank you to Ms. Tricia Flynn and Mr. Jonathan Cooke for all their work as the outgoing Board members.
Sincere thanks to the Parents Association Ms. Carmel Cunningham, Ms. Trish Flynn, Ms. Ann Marie Graham and Ms. Sharon Evans, who worked tirelessly on behalf of the school and supported many fundraising events, bag packing and policy developments. We are sorry to see Carmel leave on her daughter’s graduation, but we are very grateful for all her support over the years. She will be missed. I am delighted to welcome Ms. Marian Keyes, Ms. Eva Cunningham, Mr Cuan Robertson into the Parents Association, and I look forward to working with all parents into the future.
Well done to our TY Literacy Team who, as part of the Gaisce Awards, are working on developing literacy capacity and teaching English to support our local community. Thank you to Mr. Ryan, Ms. de Brun and all the staff involved. This is a fantastic initiative and is very much in line with the spirit of our school ethos.
The new Board of Management for St. Mary’s 2021-2024 is
The Board serves a three-year term of office. I would like to express my gratitude to the Chairperson Mr. Gerard Dwyer who has been a fantastic source of support and encouragement over the last two exceptional years in the experience of education. The previous Board met a significant number of times to support the opening, re-opening and remote teaching and learning requirements over the past two years. I would like to thank the trustees Ms. Lynda McKenna, Ms. Eibhlin O’Reilly and Ms. Susan Brown for their time, work, energy, and support on behalf of the whole school community. I know that they welcome Mr. Rocco Mulvey and Mr. Shane O’Neill onto the Board and wish to thank Ms. Siobhan de Brun and Ms. Denise Morgan for all their work as Teacher Representatives.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend
- Aoibhe Bond - 1st Year
- Mia Burnett - 2nd Year
- Nikola Stipska - 3rd Year
- Martyna Sawicka - 4th Year
Thank to Mr. Ryan and Ms. Convey the Transition Years are enjoying a fabulous day out at the Zoo and the weather today is an added bonus. We hope that they have a great time.
St. Mary’s was delighted to hold our first virtual Parent-Teacher Meeting. I am so grateful to all the Staff and Parents for the efforts made on behalf of the girls to make this experience work very successfully. Sincere thanks to Sharon in the Office for assisting us with the package, expertly guiding us through the process and helping all the parents out. The Second Years were tasked with teaching their Parents Microsoft Teams and I’m delighted to report they made excellent Teachers. This was a significant school initiative that saw technology assist us in maintaining our strong relationships with parents and work always in the best interest of the girls. Many thanks for the ongoing support and I know the girls are very proud of their students!!
Thank you to all the Parents who attended the Parent Association AGM on Monday 11th October. Congratulations to Mr. Paul Keyes and Mr. Peter Cunningham who were elected as the Parents Representatives to the Board of Management. Thank you to Ms. Tricia Flynn and Mr. Jonathan Cooke for all their work as the outgoing Board members.
Sincere thanks to the Parents Association Ms. Carmel Cunningham, Ms. Trish Flynn, Ms. Ann Marie Graham and Ms. Sharon Evans, who worked tirelessly on behalf of the school and supported many fundraising events, bag packing and policy developments. We are sorry to see Carmel leave on her daughter’s graduation, but we are very grateful for all her support over the years. She will be missed. I am delighted to welcome Ms. Marian Keyes, Ms. Eva Cunningham, Mr Cuan Robertson into the Parents Association, and I look forward to working with all parents into the future.
Well done to our TY Literacy Team who, as part of the Gaisce Awards, are working on developing literacy capacity and teaching English to support our local community. Thank you to Mr. Ryan, Ms. de Brun and all the staff involved. This is a fantastic initiative and is very much in line with the spirit of our school ethos.
The new Board of Management for St. Mary’s 2021-2024 is
- Chairperson - Mr. Gerard Dwyer
- Trustees - Ms. Lynda McKenna Ms. Susan Brown Ms. Eibhlin O’Reilly
- Teachers’ Representatives - Mr. Rocco Mulvey Mr. Shane O’Neill
- Parents’ Representatives - Mr. Paul Keyes Mr. Peter Cunningham
- Secretary to the Board of Management - Dr. Edel Greene
The Board serves a three-year term of office. I would like to express my gratitude to the Chairperson Mr. Gerard Dwyer who has been a fantastic source of support and encouragement over the last two exceptional years in the experience of education. The previous Board met a significant number of times to support the opening, re-opening and remote teaching and learning requirements over the past two years. I would like to thank the trustees Ms. Lynda McKenna, Ms. Eibhlin O’Reilly and Ms. Susan Brown for their time, work, energy, and support on behalf of the whole school community. I know that they welcome Mr. Rocco Mulvey and Mr. Shane O’Neill onto the Board and wish to thank Ms. Siobhan de Brun and Ms. Denise Morgan for all their work as Teacher Representatives.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend
Principal's Email - 8 October 2021
Concluding another week in St. Mary’s, I want to thank all the staff and students for the immense work that was put in, both, in class and remotely with teachers.
I wrote last week to make you aware that we have had several staff absent due to illness and required to follow Public Health Guidelines. I am sure you would join me in wishing them a speedy recovery. Staff have been extremely facilitative in assisting with supervision and substitution. I am very grateful for the staff support. Huge efforts have been made to provide supervision to classes but the shortage of qualified teachers available in our area to substitute for an absent teacher is at crisis point. We managed to have all classes covered and teachers were very supportive in posting work on Teams, which we are so grateful for. This, however, is not always possible, as you would be aware, and the girls need to continue to engage with their learning despite teacher absence as best they can.
I would like to congratulate the members of the St. Mary’s Student Council on their election. The girls had their inaugural meeting today and we hope that they have a great year. We look forward to working with them and look forward to having their photographs on display for all the school to get to know our council members. Thank you to Mr. O’Neill working with them. The members of the Student Council are, Eryn Gormley, Molly Mulvey Kenny, Ella Keyes, Leah Keyes, Zarah Dempsey, Erika Daly, Hannah Kaye Ricablanca, Martyna Sawicka, Aisling Farrelly, Sarah McMahon, Emma Duffy, Keisha Tchouteau and Laura Walsh.
Congratulations to our Senior Prefects who are working hard as school leaders involved in planning and developing St. Mary’s for the student body. You can see some above beside their noticeboard. Thank you Mr. Moore for all your work on that with the girls.
Please remember that the Parents Association AGM is on Monday 11th October at 7pm for the election of the Parents Representatives to the Board of Management a letter was sent out last week.
Our virtual Second Year Parent Teacher Meeting is taking place on Thursday the 14th October. We are really looking forward to meeting parents again and we hope that the virtual experience is successful for all. Please follow the instructions for the booking system and get your daughter to help you. Certainly, the girls are the experts on Teams and I know that they will be anxious for you to meet their teachers in person. We are aiming to innovate and adapt to the circumstances that we find ourselves in and we hope that you will find it a positive experience. If you are experiencing any difficulties, please contact Sharon in the school office. Thank you to Sharon for all her work on the software we are using.
Detention will commence next week, email notifications will be issued to parents and students will be informed. Please look at your daughter’s behaviour record on VSWare. This will give you an indication if she is due to be on detention.
I would like to remind you that the school has an Anti-Bullying Policy printed in the school Journal and on the school website. It has been recently updated by the Board of Management on the 23 May 2021. Currently, some teachers are undertaking CPD with DCU’s Anti-Bullying Centre and hope to run the FUSE project. FUSE, is an Anti-Bullying and Online Safety Programme, developed by the National Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) at Dublin City University. The Centre hosts the UNESCO Chair on bullying and cyberbullying and the Irish Research Observatory on Cyberbullying, Cyber-hate and Online Harassment.
The FUSE Programme is supported by Facebook, Rethink Ireland and the Department of Education and as such is currently offered free of charge to all schools nationwide. It is the first research based Anti-Bullying and Online Safety programme in Ireland and is founded on over 20 years of research and is proving highly successful in improving the self-efficacy of children and adolescents in relation to tackling bullying and online safety issues. It is designed to support the wider SPHE/RSE/Wellbeing curricula in schools and involves teacher training, parental support, and student agency.
The FUSE Programme is recommended for 2nd year students and consists of four mandatory workshops of approximately 40 minutes in duration namely:
Creating an Anti-Bullying environment is a whole school responsibility and begins with accepting the fundamental need to respect each other. I would encourage you to read our Anti-Bully Policy and we look forward to working with the girls to making it a reality in our school.
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
I wrote last week to make you aware that we have had several staff absent due to illness and required to follow Public Health Guidelines. I am sure you would join me in wishing them a speedy recovery. Staff have been extremely facilitative in assisting with supervision and substitution. I am very grateful for the staff support. Huge efforts have been made to provide supervision to classes but the shortage of qualified teachers available in our area to substitute for an absent teacher is at crisis point. We managed to have all classes covered and teachers were very supportive in posting work on Teams, which we are so grateful for. This, however, is not always possible, as you would be aware, and the girls need to continue to engage with their learning despite teacher absence as best they can.
I would like to congratulate the members of the St. Mary’s Student Council on their election. The girls had their inaugural meeting today and we hope that they have a great year. We look forward to working with them and look forward to having their photographs on display for all the school to get to know our council members. Thank you to Mr. O’Neill working with them. The members of the Student Council are, Eryn Gormley, Molly Mulvey Kenny, Ella Keyes, Leah Keyes, Zarah Dempsey, Erika Daly, Hannah Kaye Ricablanca, Martyna Sawicka, Aisling Farrelly, Sarah McMahon, Emma Duffy, Keisha Tchouteau and Laura Walsh.
Congratulations to our Senior Prefects who are working hard as school leaders involved in planning and developing St. Mary’s for the student body. You can see some above beside their noticeboard. Thank you Mr. Moore for all your work on that with the girls.
Please remember that the Parents Association AGM is on Monday 11th October at 7pm for the election of the Parents Representatives to the Board of Management a letter was sent out last week.
Our virtual Second Year Parent Teacher Meeting is taking place on Thursday the 14th October. We are really looking forward to meeting parents again and we hope that the virtual experience is successful for all. Please follow the instructions for the booking system and get your daughter to help you. Certainly, the girls are the experts on Teams and I know that they will be anxious for you to meet their teachers in person. We are aiming to innovate and adapt to the circumstances that we find ourselves in and we hope that you will find it a positive experience. If you are experiencing any difficulties, please contact Sharon in the school office. Thank you to Sharon for all her work on the software we are using.
Detention will commence next week, email notifications will be issued to parents and students will be informed. Please look at your daughter’s behaviour record on VSWare. This will give you an indication if she is due to be on detention.
I would like to remind you that the school has an Anti-Bullying Policy printed in the school Journal and on the school website. It has been recently updated by the Board of Management on the 23 May 2021. Currently, some teachers are undertaking CPD with DCU’s Anti-Bullying Centre and hope to run the FUSE project. FUSE, is an Anti-Bullying and Online Safety Programme, developed by the National Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) at Dublin City University. The Centre hosts the UNESCO Chair on bullying and cyberbullying and the Irish Research Observatory on Cyberbullying, Cyber-hate and Online Harassment.
The FUSE Programme is supported by Facebook, Rethink Ireland and the Department of Education and as such is currently offered free of charge to all schools nationwide. It is the first research based Anti-Bullying and Online Safety programme in Ireland and is founded on over 20 years of research and is proving highly successful in improving the self-efficacy of children and adolescents in relation to tackling bullying and online safety issues. It is designed to support the wider SPHE/RSE/Wellbeing curricula in schools and involves teacher training, parental support, and student agency.
The FUSE Programme is recommended for 2nd year students and consists of four mandatory workshops of approximately 40 minutes in duration namely:
- Bullying and the importance of noticing
- Cyberbullying and the importance of noticing
- Online Safety - Privacy and Sharing Online
- Online Safety - Cyber Security Awareness
Creating an Anti-Bullying environment is a whole school responsibility and begins with accepting the fundamental need to respect each other. I would encourage you to read our Anti-Bully Policy and we look forward to working with the girls to making it a reality in our school.
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Correspondence Home, 2019-2020
Letter from Principal, Dr. Greene, 10 January 2020
Given to students to take home on 10 January 2020 and 13 January 2020
Dear Parent(s)/ Guardian(s),
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year. We hope that you enjoyed our Christmas Newsletter available on the school website, thanks to Ms. Morrin and Mr. Moore and thanks to all the staff for the impressive array of events and activities documented last term. We are delighted to see the girls returning to school looking so well in their uniform and we are very proud of all their achievements on display in the Newsletter.
We would like to thank the Transition Year Students who held a Market Fair in the School before Christmas and their teachers who supported them. The Fifth Year LCVP students ran a ‘Golden Ticket Cinema event’ for our First Years. They did an outstanding job together with Ms. Martin and the First Year girls had a fantastic time. The sponsored popcorn machine by Clevamama at the cinema event was a big hit and we really appreciated it. We are always very grateful for sponsorship and would like to thank Baldoyle Credit Union for further sponsorship of the event.
Well done to our Transition Year Students who participated in a bag packing fundraiser for their Musical ‘Annie’ in Dunne’s Stores in Donaghmede, they were complimented by the Staff for their work and efforts. I am very grateful to the Parents’ Association and Parents who helped at this event. This fundraising is essential because without which we cannot cover the costs of the musical ‘Annie’. Further bag packing initiatives will be coming up soon and we would appreciate more volunteers to assist the girls. If you are interested in sponsoring the show, posters, tickets or taking an advert in the musical programme, please contact Mr. Moore.
We were delighted to welcome our First Year’s Grandparents for a Service in the school before Christmas and we hope that they had a great day. The girls were very proud to show them around the school. Indeed, the lovely market stall by Mr. Brown’s Fifth Year’s in the entrance to the school and the sounds of singing from Ms. Madden and Ms Morgan’s Choir in preparation of our Carol service added to the wonderful atmosphere. The First Years were Carol Singing for Baldoyle Meals on Wheels in Donaghmede Shopping Centre, thanks to Ms. Madden and Ms. Convey. They raised over two hundred euro, well done girls. Our festive season was made very special by both the Carol service, thanks to Sr. Marie Therese, Ms. O’Donnell, Ms. Sheridan, Mr. Aungier, Ms. Madden and Ms. Morgan and the Talent show, thanks to Mr. Ryan, Mr. Fennell and the Sixth Years who helped out.
Congratulations to our Transition Years who received their JCPA’s at the Carol service on the last day. Well done to the girls and their teachers on fantastic Junior Certificate Profiles of Achievements.
I hope that you have had the opportunity to discuss the Christmas report with your daughter. I am very grateful for all the work of our Staff, our Year Heads and our Middle Leadership Team in striving to promote all the students’ potential. Please take time to discuss class teacher’s advice on progress with your daughter, take into account the advice of her Year Head and be mindful of the significance of her attendance.
Supervised study is up and running again. We highly recommend good study habits to the girls and the opportunity to have study time in school is very beneficial to not only Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate Students but to all students.
The Staff of St. Mary’s work very hard to promote student physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Extra-curricular activities are promoted throughout the school in many areas and involving many Staff which provide huge wellbeing benefits. Please encourage your daughter to consider getting involved in extracurricular activities for very valuable learning outside the classroom. Thank you to all the Staff involved in facilitating groups, sports, events, games, classes and activities before and after school.
Once again I would ask you to support us in encouraging the girls to arrive to school on time and to aim for perfect attendance. This avoids disturbing classes and learning of other students. Students who attend school, do better in school. School attendance promotes social skills, develops friendships and is essential to quality teaching and learning.
We would like to remind you that the Staff will be participating in a Junior Cycle Assessment and Reporting Professional Development Day on Thursday 16th January. On this day our Senior Basketball Team will be competing in the Dublin Division Two Final in the National Basketball Arena Tallaght. A supporters’ bus will be put on to facilitate students to attend and support the team. This is now on EPP for payments. Details from Mr. Fennell will follow next week. Best of luck to the girls and well done to Mr. Fennell and Mr. Collins. We would really like the girls to come out to support the team and parents are very welcome to pop out to Tallaght.
We are pleased to inform you that the Architect has been appointed to the Phase Two refurbishment and the plans for a new Home Economics Room, a Universal Access Toilets, Toilets on the Second Floor and Administrative area are now being drawn up. We look forward to Department approval of the drawings and the opportunity to share the project plan with you. Ongoing work with the Department of Education and skills is taking place on the restoration of three classrooms and costs have been approved.
In preparation for this coming term, we would like to remind you of a number of information evenings on the Monday the 13th January from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.
Please attend the relevant event with your daughter.
We look forward to seeing you in the coming term and wishing you a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.
Kind regards,
Edel Greene
Principal,
Secretary to the Board of Management
Given to students to take home on 10 January 2020 and 13 January 2020
Dear Parent(s)/ Guardian(s),
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year. We hope that you enjoyed our Christmas Newsletter available on the school website, thanks to Ms. Morrin and Mr. Moore and thanks to all the staff for the impressive array of events and activities documented last term. We are delighted to see the girls returning to school looking so well in their uniform and we are very proud of all their achievements on display in the Newsletter.
We would like to thank the Transition Year Students who held a Market Fair in the School before Christmas and their teachers who supported them. The Fifth Year LCVP students ran a ‘Golden Ticket Cinema event’ for our First Years. They did an outstanding job together with Ms. Martin and the First Year girls had a fantastic time. The sponsored popcorn machine by Clevamama at the cinema event was a big hit and we really appreciated it. We are always very grateful for sponsorship and would like to thank Baldoyle Credit Union for further sponsorship of the event.
Well done to our Transition Year Students who participated in a bag packing fundraiser for their Musical ‘Annie’ in Dunne’s Stores in Donaghmede, they were complimented by the Staff for their work and efforts. I am very grateful to the Parents’ Association and Parents who helped at this event. This fundraising is essential because without which we cannot cover the costs of the musical ‘Annie’. Further bag packing initiatives will be coming up soon and we would appreciate more volunteers to assist the girls. If you are interested in sponsoring the show, posters, tickets or taking an advert in the musical programme, please contact Mr. Moore.
We were delighted to welcome our First Year’s Grandparents for a Service in the school before Christmas and we hope that they had a great day. The girls were very proud to show them around the school. Indeed, the lovely market stall by Mr. Brown’s Fifth Year’s in the entrance to the school and the sounds of singing from Ms. Madden and Ms Morgan’s Choir in preparation of our Carol service added to the wonderful atmosphere. The First Years were Carol Singing for Baldoyle Meals on Wheels in Donaghmede Shopping Centre, thanks to Ms. Madden and Ms. Convey. They raised over two hundred euro, well done girls. Our festive season was made very special by both the Carol service, thanks to Sr. Marie Therese, Ms. O’Donnell, Ms. Sheridan, Mr. Aungier, Ms. Madden and Ms. Morgan and the Talent show, thanks to Mr. Ryan, Mr. Fennell and the Sixth Years who helped out.
Congratulations to our Transition Years who received their JCPA’s at the Carol service on the last day. Well done to the girls and their teachers on fantastic Junior Certificate Profiles of Achievements.
I hope that you have had the opportunity to discuss the Christmas report with your daughter. I am very grateful for all the work of our Staff, our Year Heads and our Middle Leadership Team in striving to promote all the students’ potential. Please take time to discuss class teacher’s advice on progress with your daughter, take into account the advice of her Year Head and be mindful of the significance of her attendance.
Supervised study is up and running again. We highly recommend good study habits to the girls and the opportunity to have study time in school is very beneficial to not only Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate Students but to all students.
The Staff of St. Mary’s work very hard to promote student physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Extra-curricular activities are promoted throughout the school in many areas and involving many Staff which provide huge wellbeing benefits. Please encourage your daughter to consider getting involved in extracurricular activities for very valuable learning outside the classroom. Thank you to all the Staff involved in facilitating groups, sports, events, games, classes and activities before and after school.
Once again I would ask you to support us in encouraging the girls to arrive to school on time and to aim for perfect attendance. This avoids disturbing classes and learning of other students. Students who attend school, do better in school. School attendance promotes social skills, develops friendships and is essential to quality teaching and learning.
We would like to remind you that the Staff will be participating in a Junior Cycle Assessment and Reporting Professional Development Day on Thursday 16th January. On this day our Senior Basketball Team will be competing in the Dublin Division Two Final in the National Basketball Arena Tallaght. A supporters’ bus will be put on to facilitate students to attend and support the team. This is now on EPP for payments. Details from Mr. Fennell will follow next week. Best of luck to the girls and well done to Mr. Fennell and Mr. Collins. We would really like the girls to come out to support the team and parents are very welcome to pop out to Tallaght.
We are pleased to inform you that the Architect has been appointed to the Phase Two refurbishment and the plans for a new Home Economics Room, a Universal Access Toilets, Toilets on the Second Floor and Administrative area are now being drawn up. We look forward to Department approval of the drawings and the opportunity to share the project plan with you. Ongoing work with the Department of Education and skills is taking place on the restoration of three classrooms and costs have been approved.
In preparation for this coming term, we would like to remind you of a number of information evenings on the Monday the 13th January from 5:30pm - 6:30pm.
- The Sixth Year Information Evening on the CAO - Study Hall
- The Third Year Junior Certificate Information Evening - Room 24
- The Amsterdam Trip Information – Canteen.
Please attend the relevant event with your daughter.
We look forward to seeing you in the coming term and wishing you a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.
Kind regards,
Edel Greene
Principal,
Secretary to the Board of Management
Letter from Principal, Dr. Greene, 12 September 2019
Given to students to take home on 12 September
Dear Parent(s)/ Guardian(s),
On behalf of the staff at St. Mary's, I welcome you and your daughter back to school for this exciting academic year.
I would like thank all the girls, staff and parents for their outstanding support and contribution to the school ‘Open Night’ on the 10th of September. All the girls who helped out were absolutely brilliant and there was a fantastic atmosphere in the school. Consequently, it was a great honour and privileged for me to welcome visitors into St. Mary’s.
The dedication of staff, the collegiality and the commitment to the school was evident throughout the ‘Open Night’. The students involved were a credit to both themselves and the school. We were absolutely delighted with the girls, they were so well turned out and represented the school impeccably. Thank you to all the parents, brothers and sisters who collected them on the night. The girls have much to be proud about their achievements but it was the confidence and courtesy that represented the very positive relationship between the students and their teachers that was commented on by all our visitors.
You will no doubt be impressed by the volume of work, activities and events that have occurred in the build up to the ‘Open Night’. Classrooms continue to be painted, new benches for the girls to sit outside, notice boards, new group work classroom and new chairs for the canteen. A new laptop trolley should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. The girls were working feverishly with their teachers displaying their work and demonstrating their skills in Home Economics, Sport, Art, Music, to name but a few, over the course of the last few weeks. We look forward to you coming into the school to see all the improvements.
The AGM of the Parents’ Association will take place on September 24th at 7pm in the Study Hall. That night at 7:30pm we are also holding Information Meetings for First Year Parents, Second Year Parents and Transition Year Parents. Unfortunately, the Sixth Year Information Evening is postponed until further notice. Once a new date has been set we will notify you and the girls. A Meeting For Third Years Parents will also take place on this new date.
I would encourage all students to avail of the Supervised Study programme in the school which starts on Monday 23rd September. Mr. Bowler and Mr. O’Neill can be contacted for further details.
The School Canteen offers a range of healthy options and hot meals that would benefit anyone staying behind for after school study or extracurricular activities. We are working hard to provide healthy food, however, the girls choices do tend to dictate what is viable. Please see the school website for further details.
https://www.stmarysbaldoyle.org/canteen.html.
I would also like to emphasise that good school attendance is vital to students’ success. Punctuality is a significant life skill and we are particularly, proud of the girls who always arrive on time. It is however, important that students’ realise that arriving late is extremely disruptive to classes, has implications for health and safety and affects teaching and learning. It is not our aim to dissuade any student from coming to school and we would rather that a student makes it into school, than not, but we do have an obligation to aim for full attendance and punctual arrival as an essential preparation for the world of work after school. You can use VSWare to monitor and check your daughter’s attendance and we would hope that you would do this on a regular basis.
This year we are planning to change the route of our School Walk on Friday 27th September, this will allow us to try something different and build in a surprise reward for the girls who are undertaking the walk. I would appeal to you to encourage your daughter to be in on the day of the walk and to participate. Ongoing research on mental health and exercise all point towards the benefits of exercise for positive wellbeing. This event is a whole school community event and is part of our wellbeing programme. Our First Years walk with their Big Sisters, girls get an opportunity to chat, walk and bond as a class. Please do not make appointments for that day or let girls stay at home. There are a few very memorable activities in the life of a student and this is one of them. We aim to have the walk completed by 2 pm at the latest.
We are very grateful to you for your continued support with the walk and indeed any efforts that parents make in getting sponsorship or funding for the school are really appreciated. Our school Parents’ Association works very hard in this area and I am very grateful to them for all their efforts on behalf of the school. We would be delighted if you would be interested in sponsoring any school activity.
This Friday 13th September the school will close at 1 pm for students as the Staff are undertaking CPD with the PDST. Ongoing Staff training in Junior Certificate programmes, Child Protection, First Aid and NCSE Autism Education have taken place already this year and I am very grateful to the Staff for their commitment, to professional development and enthusiasm, for all initiatives that serve their students.
Looking forward to seeing you on our information nights.
Best wishes,
Edel Greene,
Principal,
Secretary to the Board of Management.
Given to students to take home on 12 September
Dear Parent(s)/ Guardian(s),
On behalf of the staff at St. Mary's, I welcome you and your daughter back to school for this exciting academic year.
I would like thank all the girls, staff and parents for their outstanding support and contribution to the school ‘Open Night’ on the 10th of September. All the girls who helped out were absolutely brilliant and there was a fantastic atmosphere in the school. Consequently, it was a great honour and privileged for me to welcome visitors into St. Mary’s.
The dedication of staff, the collegiality and the commitment to the school was evident throughout the ‘Open Night’. The students involved were a credit to both themselves and the school. We were absolutely delighted with the girls, they were so well turned out and represented the school impeccably. Thank you to all the parents, brothers and sisters who collected them on the night. The girls have much to be proud about their achievements but it was the confidence and courtesy that represented the very positive relationship between the students and their teachers that was commented on by all our visitors.
You will no doubt be impressed by the volume of work, activities and events that have occurred in the build up to the ‘Open Night’. Classrooms continue to be painted, new benches for the girls to sit outside, notice boards, new group work classroom and new chairs for the canteen. A new laptop trolley should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. The girls were working feverishly with their teachers displaying their work and demonstrating their skills in Home Economics, Sport, Art, Music, to name but a few, over the course of the last few weeks. We look forward to you coming into the school to see all the improvements.
The AGM of the Parents’ Association will take place on September 24th at 7pm in the Study Hall. That night at 7:30pm we are also holding Information Meetings for First Year Parents, Second Year Parents and Transition Year Parents. Unfortunately, the Sixth Year Information Evening is postponed until further notice. Once a new date has been set we will notify you and the girls. A Meeting For Third Years Parents will also take place on this new date.
I would encourage all students to avail of the Supervised Study programme in the school which starts on Monday 23rd September. Mr. Bowler and Mr. O’Neill can be contacted for further details.
The School Canteen offers a range of healthy options and hot meals that would benefit anyone staying behind for after school study or extracurricular activities. We are working hard to provide healthy food, however, the girls choices do tend to dictate what is viable. Please see the school website for further details.
https://www.stmarysbaldoyle.org/canteen.html.
I would also like to emphasise that good school attendance is vital to students’ success. Punctuality is a significant life skill and we are particularly, proud of the girls who always arrive on time. It is however, important that students’ realise that arriving late is extremely disruptive to classes, has implications for health and safety and affects teaching and learning. It is not our aim to dissuade any student from coming to school and we would rather that a student makes it into school, than not, but we do have an obligation to aim for full attendance and punctual arrival as an essential preparation for the world of work after school. You can use VSWare to monitor and check your daughter’s attendance and we would hope that you would do this on a regular basis.
This year we are planning to change the route of our School Walk on Friday 27th September, this will allow us to try something different and build in a surprise reward for the girls who are undertaking the walk. I would appeal to you to encourage your daughter to be in on the day of the walk and to participate. Ongoing research on mental health and exercise all point towards the benefits of exercise for positive wellbeing. This event is a whole school community event and is part of our wellbeing programme. Our First Years walk with their Big Sisters, girls get an opportunity to chat, walk and bond as a class. Please do not make appointments for that day or let girls stay at home. There are a few very memorable activities in the life of a student and this is one of them. We aim to have the walk completed by 2 pm at the latest.
We are very grateful to you for your continued support with the walk and indeed any efforts that parents make in getting sponsorship or funding for the school are really appreciated. Our school Parents’ Association works very hard in this area and I am very grateful to them for all their efforts on behalf of the school. We would be delighted if you would be interested in sponsoring any school activity.
This Friday 13th September the school will close at 1 pm for students as the Staff are undertaking CPD with the PDST. Ongoing Staff training in Junior Certificate programmes, Child Protection, First Aid and NCSE Autism Education have taken place already this year and I am very grateful to the Staff for their commitment, to professional development and enthusiasm, for all initiatives that serve their students.
Looking forward to seeing you on our information nights.
Best wishes,
Edel Greene,
Principal,
Secretary to the Board of Management.
Dear Parent/Guardian,
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the new Academic Year in St. Mary’s.
Part IV of the Education Act 1998 provides for the establishment of a Board of Management “for the purposes that a recognised school is managed in a spirit of partnership”. As you may be aware the current term of the Board of Management of St. Mary’s will expire on 30/9/2018 and a new Board of Management takes up office on 15 /10 /2018.
On the occasion of the dissolution of the current Board, I would like to extend my sincere thanks, on behalf of all the school community, to the outgoing Board of Management, in particular Mrs. Margaret Campbell and Mr. Eugene Byrne the parents’ nominees to the board for their service, dedication and commitment to St. Mary’s.
The new Board of Management will need two parents of students enrolled in the school (one being a mother and the other a father) who must be elected by the general body of parents of students enrolled in the school.
The AGM of the Parents’ Association will be held at the school on Tuesday 18th September 2018 at 7pm in St. Mary’s Secondary School.
At this meeting:-
The Board and its Chairperson are appointed by the Religious Sisters of Charity, Trustees of St. Mary’s Secondary School and act as a corporate body. The Board serves for a period of three years.
I look forward to seeing you on the night.
Yours sincerely,
__________________________________
Edel Greene,
Principal,
Secretary to the Board of Management.
4 September 2018
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the new Academic Year in St. Mary’s.
Part IV of the Education Act 1998 provides for the establishment of a Board of Management “for the purposes that a recognised school is managed in a spirit of partnership”. As you may be aware the current term of the Board of Management of St. Mary’s will expire on 30/9/2018 and a new Board of Management takes up office on 15 /10 /2018.
On the occasion of the dissolution of the current Board, I would like to extend my sincere thanks, on behalf of all the school community, to the outgoing Board of Management, in particular Mrs. Margaret Campbell and Mr. Eugene Byrne the parents’ nominees to the board for their service, dedication and commitment to St. Mary’s.
The new Board of Management will need two parents of students enrolled in the school (one being a mother and the other a father) who must be elected by the general body of parents of students enrolled in the school.
The AGM of the Parents’ Association will be held at the school on Tuesday 18th September 2018 at 7pm in St. Mary’s Secondary School.
At this meeting:-
- Nominations will be sought from parents for persons to stand for election as parent nominees on the Board.
- A ballot will be held at the meeting to elect the nominees. If there is only one nominee for either panel, the nominees shall be deemed to be elected. If more than one nomination is received for either of the panels, a secret ballot shall be held at the meeting.
The Board and its Chairperson are appointed by the Religious Sisters of Charity, Trustees of St. Mary’s Secondary School and act as a corporate body. The Board serves for a period of three years.
I look forward to seeing you on the night.
Yours sincerely,
__________________________________
Edel Greene,
Principal,
Secretary to the Board of Management.
4 September 2018