The girls enjoyed their first day at Our Lady of Good Counsel. They went outside to play together and they met their buddies from 6th class who will help them throughout the year. The girls got to play with some of the resources in the class and they even got to do some painting. A successful day all round!
Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
I hope you all had a lovely summer. As we are fast approaching our return to school, please find an update below with regards to access to our school, hot meals and Aladdin Connect among other things.
Access to the school
If you have passed the school over the summer, you will see that the largescale works have been ongoing. We are delighted to have a new Drop Off/Set Down area to the front of the school along with a new yard including a basketball court.
I have attached a two videos below to go through how access and exit will work on a daily basis. If you have any difficulty playing the videos, you can access them on the school bell on the school website here – https://goodcounselgns.ie/category/school-bell/.
Please note that BAM construction will have traffic management in place to facilitate the movement of traffic when the schools reopen.
Opening Times
School gates open; 9.00am
School Starts; 9.10am
Please note that supervision will not be provided before 9am.
Collection Times
Junior Infants; 12 noon for the first 7 school days.
Senior Infants; 1.45pm
1st and 2nd Class; 2.45pm
3rd to 6th Class; 2.50pm
What to bring to school
All books and copies will be provided here in the school. Your daughter may bring stationary to school but we will have some here available for the girls who need them as well.
Your daughter needs to bring;
A school bag
A small lunch box with a healthy snack for morning break
A drink (no fizzy drinks allowed)
New pupils
We are delighted to welcome the new pupils starting in our school this week and we hope that they enjoy many happy years with us here in Good Counsel. If your daughter is starting with us and is not in junior infants, please bring her to the gate on her first day and we will look after her from there!
Junior Infants
A gentle reminder to Junior Infant parents that the incoming junior infants will start school a little later @ 9.30am on their first day (Thursday). Ms. Hall will collected them from the yard at this time and bring them to their new classroom!
Hot Meals
We are delighted to have Mrs. Michelle Grant on board as the Hot Meals Operative for Fresh Today. Hot Meals will be provided to all pupils throughout the year starting on Thursday. Login information has been sent out by Tracey our Secretary at the end of the last school year. If you need to get your login details, please contact Tracey here in the office via email or phone – secretary.ferrybankgns@gmail.com or (051) 832984
Please note that you need to have your options selected for Hot Meals by Thursday @ 5.00pm for the following school week. If you have yet to make any selections, your daughter will receive the default meal which is chicken curry and rice.
The girls on their first day of school will be provided with a lunch box for their hot meal. When they finish their meal in school, they will put whatever is left over in their lunch box and bring it home. Parents will be able to see what they have eaten from what is left in the lunchbox. Please ensure that your daughter’s lunchbox is empty and clean and that she brings it to school the following day and every other school day.
Aladdin Connect
We have begun using Aladdin Connect in Good Counsel this year. Aladdin Connect is a school software that enables the school to communicate with parents and families. Some of the features include the noticeboard where we will send out notes and general information, online payments, absence reasons, homework, permissions, report cards etc. We will send out further information regarding Aladdin Connect and how to use it throughout the year.
Login details have been sent out via email and many parents and families have logged in. If you have yet to do this, you are kindly asked to login as we will be communicating via Aladdin Connect going forward. This also means that notes will no longer be sent home with the girls but will be sent directly to you via Aladdin Connect.
Uniform
The Good Counsel uniform consists of;
Royal blue tunic or skirt
Yellow blouse
Royal blue jumper
School tie
White/Navy socks or tights (no leggings are allowed)
Flat shoes
P.E. Gear (on P.E. days only which will be given by the class teacher)
Blue Tracksuit
Yellow polo shirt
Rubber soled runners
Pupils are expected to be neatly presented at all times. Please ensure that your daughter is wearing the correct uniform coming to school.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday,
Yours sincerely,
J. Nagle
Principal
It feels like we just started off together at the start of the year and now the end is almost here. What a wonderful year it has been full of new experiences, new learning, new opportunities and a whole lot of fun along the way. The girls arrived each day with a smile on their face and brightened up each and every day.
This has been another busy term with lots of outdoor adventures as the weather picked up. In P.E. the girls were learning some orienteering skills and learned to work as a team to succeed in completing tasks.
The girls finished their final genres in English– Persuasive and Procedural. They took great care in their presentation and even got to impress some of the younger and older classes, as well as the teachers! They persuaded children and teachers that ‘Spring is the most important season’ and also explained ‘How to plant a seed’ step-by-step.
To finish off our year of History the girls did a timeline of all the memories of 2nd class. They discussed all their memories in groups, decided which ones were more important and then put them in order. Following this, they drew a timeline from September to June and drew images and captioned these events. We also had some fun this term learning about old playground games. To celebrate May, they girls learned a dance called ‘Here we go gathering nuts in May’. Why not ask the girls about the Hawthorn bush and the bunch of flowers! They also learned another playground game called ‘The big ship sailed on the alley-alley-oh’. To finish these lessons, the girls asked parents and grandparents about games they used to play when they were young and they shared these with 2nd class.
In Science we discovered the many habitats that there are in our school environment. Second class’s focus is ‘Walls and Paths’. At first, the girls wondered what plants and animals live by paths and walls, but with lots of equipment on board, we discovered a lot of new plants and minibeast live in these areas. We used equipment such as pooters, flytraps, magnifying glass, bug viewers and nets, as well as some minibeast keys, tree and plant identifiers, and google lens. We discovered clover mites (the real name for blood suckers!), woodlice, ants, worms, snails, ivy leaved toadflax, moss, ivy, forget me nots…to name but a few!
In connection with our English procedures, we planted some seeds. We grew some Garden peas and Sunflowers. These will move out to out outdoor garden and hopefully we will have something to see in September!
The girls were set a challenge in Art and were given two skewers, paper, cellotape, crepe paper, string and colours. They had to discuss what they could make with these items. After some of them guessed, a kite, I then asked them to figure out how to make one. Following these suggestions, we set about designing and making. In the end, the girls had fun flying their kites!
We also created an end of year wall hanging. Over a number of weeks we painted the background, cut and designed 3D fish life, added some crepe and other fabrics to create a bright ‘Under the Sea’ art collage.
We also had some really fun events in Term 3. We had a visit from the Gardai, but thankfully for a positive reason. The guards came to teach the children what it is they do and wanted the girls to realise that they are their to help us to stay safe and prevent any unlawful activities. They girls had so many question for the guards and they were more than happy to answer all their questions. To finish off, the guards invited the girls down to see their Garda car. And one of the girls was lucky enough to sit inside and turn on the lights and siren! Great excitement all round!
We also had a wonderful week during ‘Friendship and Wellbeing Week’. We had lots of gentle and kind activities during the week – meditation, yoga, mindful colouring, healthy fruit and vegetables, morning messages, special assemblies, fundraising and presentation of friendship bracelets to their secret friends. Everyone ended on a high. It was a lovely way to stop and make connections with everyone in our school community and also think of others.
In June the girls had a fantastic day for Sports’ Day. We had fabulous weather and the girls didn’t stop smiling and having fun all day. From races to obstacle courses, inflatables to bucket races, and even an ice-pop to finish off.
The Parents’ Association organised a really successful cake sale fundraiser too, and the girls and parents brought in a huge amount of tasty treats, which were enjoyed by children, staff and parents.
And finally, the girls went on their School Tour to Ardmore Mini Farm. It was a fantastic trip with so much to see and do. Tours, large and small animals, indoor and outdoor play. By the end of the day, all the girls were pretty tired and some even had an afternoon nap on the bus journey home!
And that brings us to the end of the year. The girls have been such an enthusiastic group and I will be sad to part with them. It’s been a whirlwind year full of adventures and I wish them a very happy summer break and best wishes next year when they begin 3rd class.
Until September – Slan libh
Mrs. Power
We have been learning all about transport in Junior Infants. We had visits from the gardaí, the ambulance service and Irish Rail. We got to look inside the ambulance and the garda car. We turned on the sirens and the flashing lights.
The girls had lots of fun on sports day last week. They all joined in and some of the girls even showed their competitive side! Well done to all the girls.
