Dear Mams, Dads, Pupils and Staff,
The 21st of February marks UNESCO International Mother Language Day. We in Our Lady of Good Counsel School will celebrate this day with teachers and children all over Ireland.
The theme for this year is ‘a language garden’. This shows the importance of nurturing languages like growing flowers. The more diverse the range of flowers, the more colourful the garden.
Research shows that when a child has a solid foundation in their first/home language, it really benefits the learning of additional languages. Here in Our Lady of Good Counsel every classroom is a garden of languages. We have connections to 26 mother languages. These are English, Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Georgian, Portuguese, Croatian, Czech, Latvian, Arabic, Tamazight, Farsi, Yoruba, Igbo, Lingala, Bengali, French, Hungarian, Russian, Slovakian, Moldovan, Ukrainian, Welsh, Thai, Malayalam and Marathi. Some of our staff and pupils also communicate through Lámh and Irish Sign Language (ISL).
Happy International Mother Languages Day from all of us in Our Lady of Good Counsel GNS.
Yours sincerely,
M. Kelly – Deputy Principal
Things to Do on a Stormy Day
Go to the Latest News tab for ideas on how to stay busy today.
Check out our school’s STEM website https://sites.google.com/view/olgcstem/home
You could also check out this Winter Olympics themed Brain Break https://youtu.be/RNFTdiwTV_I
The younger girls could practise their sounds by finding items around the house that start with different letters. Practise your letter and number formation in flour. Pancake Tuesday is coming so why not listen to the story ‘Pancakes Pancakes’ on https://youtu.be/MjKUEJBpA4s ?
Well Done!
We would like to congratulate our pupils from Sixth Class who had great success at a Basketball Blitz in Tramore on Saturday last. It’s wonderful to see that the skills they have learned at school from Mrs. Burke are being put to good use on their club teams.
Reminder
The school will close for the mid-term break on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th February. We will re-open on Monday 28th February.
Thank You
Thank you very much to Ferrybank Community Group for noticing the lovely new lights on the front of our building. (Go to the Latest News tab for a photo). We look forward to marking different occasions during the year by changing the colour of the lights so keep an eye on us!
Internet Safety Day
We hope everyone enjoyed Internet Safety Day. As fantastic as the internet is, it is important to remind everyone about the dangers too. We hope the girls have learned how to stay safe on the internet and what actions to take, if they encounter a problem. We have been very impressed with the quality of colouring & poster competition entries. We can’t wait to announce the lucky winners next week!
Mrs Ryan & Mrs Shanahan
World Book Day
This year, World Book Day takes place on Thursday March 3rd. On that day, the girls can dress up as a character from their favourite book. Maybe you could take some time over the mid-term break to think about the books you enjoy and to decide which character you will be.
Attendance Rates
There has been lots of coverage in the media about the impact of Covid-19 on attendance rates at school, with some schools reporting pupil absences of up to 40%. In our school, we have certainly seen a rise in the number of Covid-19 infections since Christmas. However, thanks to all the measures that we have in place, the hard work of staff and the co-operation of our wonderful pupils, the level of absence has been relatively low. Thank you very much Mams and Dads for all your support and co-operation over the last two years – it is much appreciated.
Attendance Rates at our school
January 2020 93% January 2021 School Closed January 2022 84%
February 2020 88% February 2021 School Closed February 2022 85%
We are waiting for the Department of Education to publish new guidelines about the protocols that are in place. When they are published, the Board of Management will consider them, and update our Covid-19 Response Plan as necessary. What we have been doing is working, so we will take a slow and cautious approach. We have made it this far by working together, so let’s continue to do so until we can safely return to normal.
Getting To and From School Safely
At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Shanahan gave a high-vis jacket to every pupil in the school. The girls are encouraged to wear their high-vis vests every day to help to keep them safe on their way to and from school. As part of SPHE, the girls learn about lots of ways to keep safe.
The Seatbelt Sherriff Programme is taught in First Class and Fourth Class takes part in a Safe Cycling Programme
For their own safety, it is very important that the girls observe the rules of the road as they are walking, cycling or scooting to school. Perhaps this is something that you could talk about at home. This leaflet from the Road Safety Authority may be helpful. https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/road-safety/r3-education/rsa-going-to-school-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=3aa1845c_2
