The Bake sale raised €885 for Temple Street & The Dylan Finglas Fund. Many thanks to the students in Mr Lynch's class for their initiative.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I am delighted to announce that tickets for the St. Luke’s Easter Raffle will go on sale on Wednesday 22/03/17. Tickets will cost €2.00 per strip or three strips for €5.00 and be available from the front door at 8.50am and 2.40pm daily. The raffle will take place on Thursday 06/04/17.

Prizes include Easter Eggs and a selection of Easter goodies.

All money raised from the raffle will go towards the purchase of books and reading materials for the school.

Thanking you for your continued support,

Vivienne Bourke

Principal

Please see link to Saint Patrick's Day Celebrations in Saint Luke's NS

https://flic.kr/s/aHskWhi3gk

Please see link to Lego Club in Saint Luke's NS

https://www.flickr.com/gp/131823121@N07/1opX70

Please see link  to knitting club pics !

https://www.flickr.com/gp/131823121@N07/8kN823

Please see links to  bake sale organised by sixth class in aid of Temple Street Hospital & Dylan Finglas Fund

https://flic.kr/s/aHskR24T1G

Sorcha Flanagan, one of our student teachers,  won the Donaghy Cup Final with Marino College on Saturday 11th March beating the Royal College of Surgeons with a scoreline of 3-11 to 1-10.Congratulations Sorcha.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back after the midterm break. We have an exciting few weeks ahead before the Easter holidays.

At the moment on our religious calendar we are in the midst of the season of Lent. The Lenten season is a time when many Christians observe a period of fasting, repentance, moderation, self-denial and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - His suffering and His sacrifice, His life, death, burial and resurrection. On Easter Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after His Crucifixion. Eastertide represents new life and Christ’s triumph over death. It is a time of great hope for all. We wish everyone a very Happy Easter holiday.

Cake Sale Friday March 10^th 2017

This Friday we will hold a cake sale in the hall during the school day. All children may wear their pyjamas on the day. The event will be run by the 6^th class students and they will be assisted by staff. We had a very successful cake sale last year and we are hoping for a repeat performance! Please donate any cakes, buns, treats etc. The money raised will go to Temple Street Children’s Hospital and the Dylan Finglas “Saving Dylan” Charity. We will hold a raffle on the day too. Please remember no nuts or chocolate spread in the cakes which you send in. We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to having a great day on Friday. If you are sending in cakes please label your containers clearly with your name on both the top and bottom part of the container. We would like to return your containers safely to you.

Collaboration with ITB Sports Management Course: Val Andrews

We hope that St. Luke’s will win the Active Schools flag in 2017/2018. At the moment we are very lucky to be collaborating with the Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown. Val Andrews, Senior lecturer at ITB from the Sports Management Degree Programme brings 40 students here every day to coach the children on various sporting disciplines and games. The students are very lucky to have this chance to be exposed to such a wide variety of sports and coaches. We thank Val Andrews and all of his students for coming to St. Luke’s and giving us this wonderful opportunity to advance our sporting skills.

Quiz Team Success

We wish to congratulate the quiz team at St. Luke’s on their success at the recent Blanchardstown Credit Union quiz. The team was trained by Mr Neary. The children worked really hard and we are delighted and proud of their representation of St. Luke’s on the night. Congratulations to them all. We hope to participate again in next year’s quiz. A big thank you to Mr Neary for giving his time to coaching and looking after the quiz team.

Collaboration with ITB Social Studies Course: Deirdre Bonar

The 4^th class children are very lucky this week as they will get the chance to collaborate with the Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown Social Studies students under the guide of Senior Lecturer, Deirdre Bonar. The 3^rd level students will be doing an Easter Art project with the 4^th class students. We will post their fantastic Easter art work on our website.

Irish Centre for Cycling

The 5^th and 6^th class children have been given a wonderful opportunity to learn about road safety and cycling skills with the Irish Centre for Cycling. Mick Breen and his team will come and coach the children over the next 6 weeks on how to ride their bikes safely. The children will get plenty of practice on the bikes supplied by the Irish Centre for Cycling and hopefully this initiative will encourage more children to ride their bikes to school.

Seachtain na Gaelige celebrations

For the next week and a half we will celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge at St. Luke’s. Seachtain na Gaeilge is a week when we celebrate Irish culture, language and history. We have many exciting events planned for the children during this special time. We would encourage you to ask your children to sing Irish songs, recite Irish poems, or use their Gaeilge in the home. Perhaps they can talk to you about some of the things they are learning in school about Irish history or culture. We will have a Céilí - a traditional Irish dance, for the children on March 16^th. We are looking forward to a fun packed week ahead.

Road Safety Ireland

The Road Safety Authority of Ireland will be in the school to train the children on Road Safety in the coming weeks. Each class will receive a presentation and an educational leaflet explaining the rules of the road and how to keep safe when coming to and from school. We are all aware of the traffic challenges in the Tyrrelstown area. Hopefully this will help to protect the children in some way by educating them about road safety. Please see www.rsa.ie for more information.

Asthma Society of Ireland

The Asthma Society of Ireland came to talk to staff this week about the correct use of inhalers for our students who have asthma. They have also given us some advice on school policy and emergency procedures. We hope to become Ireland’s first “Asthma Friendly School”. We will continue to work with the Asthma Society of Ireland over the coming months. Our aim to become an asthma friendly school will involve more training for parents and students in the coming months.

Green Flag for Energy Conservation

A huge thank you to Ms Hardiman and Ms Doyle and all of the children on the Green schools committee. We were successful recently in winning our second Green Schools Flag. This means so much to the school and is a huge achievement for St. Luke’s. We will have a flag raising ceremony for our new flag in the coming months. Well done to everyone on this fantastic school wide effort. We are immensely proud of our Green flags.

Cricket

The 4^th, 5^th and 6^th class children have commenced cricket training and hope to compete this year in the Leprechaun Cup. Each class will compete at their own class level and the tournaments will occur during school time in the coming months. We thank Reinhardt Strydom and his team for coming to coach the children and giving them a fantastic opportunity to learn all about cricket.

Intercultural day

We will celebrate intercultural day on the 24^th of March. There will be lots of things going on in the school that day. Children may wear traditional clothes from their country of origin and bring a small sample of food to show the class their traditional foods. Please remember no nuts in the food which you send in. We will have music, drumming, dance, martial arts displays and many other exciting things around the school that day. Some footage from the day may be used in a documentary which is being made locally by local resident, Carol Azams, which is all about Tyrrelstown.

Easter Camp

This year the staff will run an Easter camp from 10th-14th of April for 1st to 6th classes. The cost of the camp is 50 euro per child, with special rates for brothers and sisters. There is a deposit of 10 euro per child needed to secure your place. Activities will include art, sports, cooking, dance, computers and games to name but a few. Please speak to Ms Hardiman if you are interested in enrolling your child in the camp.

Basketball

The children in the basketball club were at the opening of the National Indoor Arena where they played basketball in the court. The Taoiseach was there to open the arena, the children met him and were filmed having fun while he was watching. There are pictures up on the school website. The children are also taking part in a 3v3 in the National Basketball Arena on Tuesday 14th March. We wish both the boys and girls teams the best of luck.

 Lego Club

The boys and girls from 2nd and 3rd class attend a Lego Club each Wednesday for an hour. They are given instructions and can use their imaginations to build buildings, animals and anything else they want. There are pictures of the 1st Lego class on the school website.

The Student Council

Members of the Student Council were voted in this week. They have had their first meeting and have lots of new and interesting ideas on what they can bring and do in the school. The first thing that they are going to do is collect old batteries that children bring in from home. They will also be organising a fun day to raise funds for new yard equipment.

School Website & Parents Association

You can keep up to date with all of the school activities on our school website www.stlukesns.ie. You can also keep up to date with our parents association on the St. Luke’s NS Parents Association page on Facebook.

Dates for your diary

March 17th 2017: School closed for St Patricks Day.

March 29th 2017 @ 10am: Sacrament of Reconciliation 6th Class Confirmation students.

April 7^th 2017: School closes at 11:45am for Junior and Senior infants and 12pm for all other classes for Easter holidays.

April 10th- April 21st 2017: Easter Holidays. May 1st 2017: School closed Bank Holiday.

May 4th 2017 @ 7pm: Ceremony of Light for 6th Class Confirmation students, St Luke the Evangelist Church Mulhuddart.

May 11th 2017 @11am: Sacrament of Confirmation, St Luke the Evangelist Church Mulhuddart.

May 13th 2017 @ 11am: First Holy Communion, St Luke the Evangelist Church Mulhuddart.

May 24th 2017: School closed to facilitate training for staff on the New Primary Language Curriculum.

June 5th – June 9th 2017: School closed for mid-term break.

June 30th 2017: Last day of term. School closes at 11:45am for Junior and Senior infants and 12pm for all other classes.

Kind regards, Vivienne Bourke, Principal St Luke’s NS

A fabulous cake was baked by a Ms Deirdre Maher, a parent in the school, which has a lot of sweets on ! If you can guess correctly how many sweets are on the cake , it is yours ! The cake will be on display in the hall tomorrow during the bake sale ! 

Please click the link to count the sweets !

https://www.flickr.com/gp/131823121@N07/P0323T

Dear Parents,

There will be a Bake Sale in the school hall on Friday in aid of Temple Street  Childrens’ Hospital and The Dylan Finglas Fund ! Please label your plate so we can return it to you. Children & Staff will wear Pyjamas on Friday and those who do so are asked to contribute €1 to the above. 

Please see link to new after schools Lego Club run by Ms Gerraghty & Ms Butler

https://www.flickr.com/gp/131823121@N07/x78VF6

Cycle training is provided under an agreement between Fingal County Council and Irish Centre for Cycling Ltd.The school has paid €10 per child towards the lesson with Fingal CoCo paying the other €10 per child. We hope to raise safety awareness and cycling skills.

Please see link to a class in the school today

https://vimeo.com/207098113

Please watch "Friends For Life" Video to learn about program to be taught in Third Class. The workbook will cost 10 Euro per child. https://youtu.be/TdEMCm2rxeU

The "Friends For Life" program is currently being taught to Fifth & Sixth classes. 

We will extend it to Senior Infants to  First Classes and Third to Fourth Classes going forward.

Please see link to Primary School Mini-basketball Ireland below. 

Noel Keating, a former principal of Mulhuddart National School, joined the National Executive of the Irish Basketball Association in 1972 before rising to become PRO in 1979, president in 1980 and chief executive in 1983. In recent years he oversaw the construction of the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. He served as assistant chef de mission with the Irish Olympic team at the Barcelona Games in 1992 as well being a member of the Cospoir executive.

If you look carefully at the page linked below, you might spot some familiar faces from the staffroom and some children from the school as well as Noel Keating being honoured!

http://www.primaryschoolsminibasketballireland.com/

Please see link to pics below !

https://flic.kr/s/aHskR3YrLD

Please see link below to our push to save energy in the school and at home .

http://www.stlukesns.ie/page.php?pid=133

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome Back

It is with great pleasure that we welcome everyone back to school for the new year. We would like to wish all parents, staff and students a happy, healthy and safe New Year for 2017.

Attention: New Enrolments at St. Luke’s

If you have a child who will be four years of age this year before 30^th June and would be eligible for a school place, we would be delighted if you would fill out an enrolment form with the school secretary Kate. Please notify us if your child has any special educational needs. The cut off date for applications is January 28^th 2017. We will then notify families if their child will have a place for the 2017/2018 academic year. Places are filling up fast this year so please ensure you get your application in on time.

Thank you

We wish to extend our gratitude to all of the parents who helped us before the Christmas holidays with the raffle and Santa visit. The children had a fantastic time. We really appreciate your kind support and efforts. As always, the Parents Association will need new volunteers for the new year. If you have any spare time, even on an ad-hoc basis, we would be delighted if you could come and lend a hand. All of the work that is done is loved by the children and helps to create a warm and fun atmosphere in the school. The Parents Association can be contacted on the St Luke’s Parents Association Facebook page.

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week 2017 will run from the 29^th January – 3^rd February. The theme for this year is “Catholic Schools: Learning with Pope Francis to care for Our Common Home.” On Wednesday 1^st February we will celebrate Grandparents day as part of our activities.

Special Educational Needs

If your child has any special educational needs and you think that they may require the help of an SNA or additional resource time, we would urge you to arrange a meeting with your class teacher and the Principal as a matter of urgency. The deadline for applying for additional support is late January 2017 with the NCSE. We would need to have all up to date paperwork submitted in advance of the deadline.

Label Personal Belongings

We would like to remind parents to label their children’s jumpers, jackets, hats, scarves, gloves etc. If something goes missing or gets mixed up it is easier to find if it has a name on it. All lost items are left in the entrance area to the school. Please check there if you are missing an item of clothing.

Food Dudes

We are taking part in the Food Dudes programme commencing this Friday 20^th January. Food Dudes is a programme designed to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables both in school and at home. It is based on positive role models (the Food Dudes characters), repeated tasting of fruit and vegetables and rewards. In large-scale studies the programme has been shown to be effective and results long-lasting across the primary age range, regardless of gender, school size, geographic and socio-economic factors. The programme in Ireland received a “Counteracting obesity” award from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2006. The programme will run for 16 days for the junior classes (infants to second 20/01/17 to Friday 10/02/17) and for 8 consecutive days for the senior classes (3rd to 6th 20/01/17- Tuesday the 31/01/17). You can find out more about Food Dudes at www.fooddudes.ie

Head Lice

In most schools head lice is a recurrent problem. We at St. Luke’s would like to stop the head lice cycle by asking parents to partake in “Bug Busting Fridays” with us. Every Friday night we would ask that you shampoo your child’s hair with a regular shampoo and then condition it. Leave the conditioner in the hair. Then using a special head lice comb we would ask you to check your child’s wet hair for any lice or nit eggs. Rinse the comb to dispose of the lice. Then rinse the hair and check again with the comb to ensure all lice and eggs have been removed from the hair. Treat with a head lice treatment if necessary. Please sign your child’s diary to say that you have checked their hair on Friday evening. Together we can combat the head lice problem in our school.

Emergency Contact Details

If you have changed your telephone number or moved house please remember to let us know as it is vital that we have emergency contact details for all children. Also, if you are not receiving text messages, please contact Kate, our secretary, to rectify this.

Dates for your diary

January 29^th – February 3^rd 2017: Catholic schools week.

January 26^th 2017 @ 7pm: Enrolment Mass for First Holy Communion children and parents, St Luke the Evangelist Church, Mulhuddart.

February 16^th 2017 @7pm: First Confession Ceremony, St Luke the Evangelist Church, Mulhuddart.

February 20^th – February 24^th 2017: School closed for mid-term break.

March 17^th 2017: School closed for St Patricks Day.

March 29^th 2017 @ 10am: Sacrament of Reconciliation 6^th Class Confirmation students.

April 10^th- April 21^st 2017: Easter Holidays. School closes at 11:45am for Junior and Senior infants and 12pm for all other classes.

May 1^st 2017: School closed Bank Holiday.

May 4^th 2017 @ 7pm: Ceremony of Light for 6^th Class Confirmation students, St Luke the Evangelist Church Mulhuddart.

May 11^th 2017 @11am: Sacrament of Confirmation, St Luke the Evangelist Church Mulhuddart.

May 13^th 2017 @ 11am: First Holy Communion, St Luke the Evangelist Church Mulhuddart.

May 24^th 2017: School closed to facilitate training for staff on the New Primary Language Curriculum.

June 5^th – June 9^th 2017: School closed for mid-term break.

June 30^th 2017: Last day of term. School closes at 11:45am for Junior and Senior infants and 12pm for all other classes.

Kind regards

Vivienne Bourke

Principal

Dear Parents,

The School  asks that a doctor's certificate for fitness to return to sport/PE in the event of a sports injury to a child, such as concussion or other serious incidents, be provided to the school on return to the school.

Job Title

School Bus Escort

Description

The School Bus Escort travels in a bus with pupils attending the

ASD Unit in Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School

accompanying them on the journey to and from school.

The School Bus Escort day runs from approximately 7.40am until

9.10am and from 1.00pm until 2.00pm (2.5 hours per day) for the

duration of the school year.

Candidates will ideally have experience in working with children

with autism and be able to deal with parents and school staff in a

professional way. School Bus Escorts will be expected to travel to

and from the pick-up and drop-off point near the school to meet

the bus driver

Training will be provided. Applicants must supply suitable

character references and must complete Garda vetting before

commencing employment.

Hourly rate of pay will be €12.94.

How to Apply: Applications should be sent, by email only, to

applications@tetns.ie before Monday, 24 th January 2017.

Location Tyrrelstown, Dublin 15

School closes for the Christmas Holidays on Thursday 22/12/2016 at 1200 and reopens on Monday 9/12/2017 at 0900.Staff and Management at Saint Luke's wish you all a Peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year.