Dear Dads, Mams, Pupils and Staff,
I am delighted to let you know that our school has received two very special awards in the past couple of weeks.
The first is an SFI Discover Science and Maths Award. Thanks to all the wonderful work that the girls and their teachers took on in Science, Engineering, Maths and Technology (STEM), we have been awarded a Plaque of STEM. We look forward to the presentation ceremony which will take place online next Friday 17th June. Well done to Mr. Dooley who co-ordinated the project and who submitted the application.
Our second award is the 2021-2022 Pieta Amber Flag and it recognises the school’s efforts to promote positive mental health by encouraging teamwork and contributions from peers. A huge ‘Well Done!’ to the girls and the staff for making our school a happier place for everyone, and a special word of thanks to Mrs. Shanahan and her Wellbeing Warriors for managing the activities and for submitting the application.
The final School Bell for 2021-2022 will be published on June 23rd. Until then, we look forward to a busy end of term.
Kind regards,
C. O’Reilly – Principal
What the STEM Assessor had to say!
Well done to staff and pupils in Our Lady of Good Counsel. It was a pleasure to assess you Plaque application. Your Log was clearly laid out and provided lots of evidence of the many STEM activities going on in your school. You acknowledge that Technology is an integral part of every school and yet you are using it to provide so many learning opportunities to explore coding, circuits, programmes, throughout the school – even your younger students are doing coding. You used Tree Week to great advantage to examine the many trees in your locality. I particularly liked that you appreciated Mark the Caretaker’s input into STEM and the new greenhouse he constructed from old timber will give your bedding plants a great start before going out into the flower beds. What a great idea to showcase one of your projects for the school on ZOOM. presentation and communication are some of the important STEM skills – also building your confidence in front of the camera. You are worthy recipients of the Plaque of STEM for 2022.
Check our school’s STEM website here: https://sites.google.com/view/olgcstem/home
Amber Flag Award
We are delighted to announce we were awarded our first Amber Flag on Friday June 3rd. The Amber Flag is an initiative run by Pieta House. It recognises the efforts of schools, clubs and community groups to support mental health. We were not surprised because everyone makes a huge effort to support positive mental health in our school. Pieta House was extremely impressed with our application which included many of our initiatives such as the Good Citizen Good Counsel Award, Pieta House Fundraiser, Wellbeing Week, staff-pupil meet and greet every morning, The Daily Mile, The Stay Safe Programme, the Zen Den and Internet Safety Day. The list goes on. A huge thank you to the Wellbeing Warriors, Staff and all the special girls in our school who make Our Lady of Good Counsel such a happy, safe place. The Amber Flag will be flown proudly outside our school when we receive it.
Mrs Shanahan and her Wellbeing Warriors
Sports Day
We have fingers, toes and everything crossed that we will have some fine weather tomorrow for our school Sports Day. No matter what the weather is like in the morning, we will make the best of the day.
The girls should wear their school tracksuits and bring some spare clothes with them (a spare leggings, top and socks). Wear your rain gear Girls and be prepared to be outside (if it is not too wet or windy!) Drop off and pick up times are as usual. Bring lots of drinks too.
Book Rental
There has been a great response to our new online payments system for the Book Rental scheme. Thank you to everyone who has already paid the Book Rental fee for September. We cannot order books for or provide books to pupils who have not paid the Book Rental fee. Please contact Miss O’Reilly or Tracey in complete confidence if you have any difficulty in paying and another arrangement can be made.
To take part in the Book Rental scheme (First Class to Sixth Class) please:
- Register on the Databiz Portal (www.databizsolutions.ie) If you have not already received an email from Databiz, please contact the school office as soon as possible.
- Once you have registered, you will receive a request to make an online payment.
- Make the payment and you will receive a receipt.
- Sign the Book Rental Contract that your child brought home and return it to her teacher.
This is a new system for all of us, so if you have any trouble, please contact the school office on 051-832984.
Good Luck and Congratulations
During the month of June, we will pray during our Friday Assemblies for all the students who are sitting their Junior and Leaving Certificate exams at the moment.
Special congratulations from everyone at Our Lady of Good Counsel GNS go to the girls in Sixth Class who were confirmed in the Parish Church on June 2nd. They were a credit to their families and their teacher, Mrs. Power. We are very grateful to everyone in the Parish community who helped to make the occasion so special – Fr. Kieran, the ushers, the Sacristan, those who prepared the Church so beautifully, the Parish Secretary and the Choir.
Classes for September 2022
The new school year will begin on 1st September 2022 and classes have been allocated as follows:
Junior Infants Miss Ciara Hall
Senior Infants Ms. Carmel Fogarty and Mrs. Feana Foley
First Class To be appointed
Second Class Mrs. Maeve Power
Third Class Mrs. Mary Ryan
Fourth Class Miss Ann Cunniffe
Fifth Class Miss Eilís Walsh
Sixth Class Mrs. Clare Burke
Special Education/EAL Team Miss Monica Kelly
Mrs. Aisling Shanahan
Ms. Susan Rellis
To be appointed
The girls are finishing learning about the library this week through Aistear.
At the construction station, they built beautiful libraries.
At the role play station, they pretended to be librarians and patrons at the library.
At the creative station, they were illustrators, designing covers for a story we are writing as a class.
At the reading and writing station, the girls will become authors, writing their own book. They have really enjoyed learning about the library.
