Notes from the Principal’s Desk …….Welcome to the last newsletter of the school year 2014-2015. The month of June has (as usual) been action packed. We started with our ever popular Grandparents’ Day where we had 60 visitors from far and wide. Sports Day was well organised by Cathy and a great day of activity was enjoyed by all pupils and staff. Open day for our two new Junior Infant pupils and parents was packed with enthusiastic infants and parents all looking forward to joining us in September. As we come to the end of our 20th Anniversary year we can look back at many highlights since last September. We held several events to mark our anniversary including, a release of 20 balloons, planting of 20

trees, daffodils planted in the number 20, a reunion of past pupils, a reunion of past Executive, Board of Management, current and past staff members.

We moved into our beautiful new extension in November. Our old classrooms and hall were fitted with acoustic ceilings as part of our extension package. 2nd class performed Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Musical Our 5th and 6th classes performed at the Peace Proms in the RDS. We won the Discover Primary Science Award for the 8th year in a row. We brought home 2 trophies for the Girls’ and Boys’ relay races in Santry and 16 medals. Our Quiz teams came 1st and 2nd in local quizzes against a large number of schools. We had our extension officially opened by Minister Jan O’ Sullivan on May 7 th. We received a very positive report after an incidental inspection by the Department of Education

and Skills on June 18th (See BOM corner) SAP Corporation once again gave us grants. We purchased Numicon Maths equipment and their

volunteers painted our playgrounds.

Our 30 graduates from 6th class are our best achievement each year. We will miss our Junior Infants of 2007. They have been a very active positive class group in the school and have shared their talents and ideas with us generously over the past 8 years. I wish them and their parents every happiness in the future as they start a new stage in their educational journey together.

On behalf of the staff I’d like to thank all our parents for your support at home and in school during the year. Our partnership has made it another great year for our pupils! I wish you all a lovely restful fun filled summer ahead and we’ll see you back on Tuesday September 1st.

RITA

DATES FOR YOUR DIARYSchool re-opens on Tuesday 1st September. Gates will open at 8.35am. Parents are asked to ensure that their child does not arrive unaccompanied before 8.35am as there is no supervision available and the children are not insured before official opening hours.

New Junior Infants hours will be 9.15am – 12 noon from Tuesday 1st September to Friday 11th September inclusive. Normal school hours from Mon.14th September.

June 2015 www.nketns.ie

AFTER SCHOOL CLASSESWe can confirm that the following after- school classes will take place in the new school year (details to follow):Monday: Keyboard Lessons with Krisha McPhillips (Creative Keyboards); Speech & Drama with Geraldine O’Brien(Playacting) and Basketball with Shane (6th class teacher 2015/16)Tuesday: Soccer with Niall and Orlaith; Tennis with Michael DonaghyWednesday: Spanish Language Lessons with Carmen Llamas; Rhythmic Gymastic Lessons with Kristina Pancheva (new 2015/2016)Thursdays: Art classes with Dermot (Artzone);.Fridays: Little Gym with Kate Ryan (Stretch n’ Grow).

6 th CLASS GRADUATION It’s hard to believe that we have already reached our twelfth graduation in our new school building, but our eighteenth graduation overall, and it took place on Monday 29th June.

Michael Costello thanked 6th class and their parents for their input to the school over the years. He represented the Board of Management and the Executive Committee. Paul Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Educate Together joined us on the night and also spoke to 6th class to wish them well in the future.

This year’s Graduation Theme was ‘Learn Together to Live Together’. In keeping with this theme Ella McDonnell did a wonderful job designing this year’s Graduation Programme cover (see page 4)

Each year the graduates work on a project which is retained by the school as a memento of their time with us. This year’s graduates have given us a fabulous wooden jigsaw which can be seen in the link corridor between the old and new school buildings. Each pupil has been given their jigsaw piece as a memento of their time with us. They each decorated their jigsaw piece to their own design. Thanks to Sean Gallagher who very kindly bought the wood, cut the jigsaw pieces and assisted in the design of the school piece before 6th class did a wonderful job in decorating it. The beautiful backdrop for the Graduation Ceremony was created by parents of 6th class and Jenny would like to extend her thanks to them for their time and effort.

We also said farewell to the 17 families who are leaving the school entirely as they have no other children in the school. We hope that your years with us have been happy for you and your child.

Every year our graduates get a ‘send off’ by all our pupils. On Tuesday 30th June @ 10am they made an emotional exit from the school building through our traditional ‘guard of honour’ made up of all the staff and children in the school who clapped and cheered 6th class on their way. They were greeted by equally emotional parents at the school gate. We wish them happy years in their secondary schools and hope that they will visit us often. Go néirí an bóthar libh.

COUNTRY KIT APPEALMost of you will be aware of our Country Kits we use as a learning resource for our pupils. Each year, at this time, we ask parents who are travelling abroad during the summer if they could pick up one or all of the following items and to drop them in to the school office in September. Timetables Maps Tickets Currency Newspapers Traditional clothing Traditional utensils & tools Traditional hats & jewellery Photographs & postcards Tourist information on local areas of

interest.

SPORTS DAY Our Sports Day took place on 4th June in ideal weather conditions. The children had a great day taking part in the variety of activities organised throughout the school. Thanks to Cathy O’Brien who organised all the activities and timetabled the events of the whole day.

GREEN NEWSSpecial thanks and farewell to our 6th class Green Flag Committee members Hollie Farrell and Dylan Walsh. Thank you for your input.

Don’t forget to hold on to any old mobile phones, batteries or chargers for our recycling bank during the summer holidays and bring them into the school when we return in September.

Our Battery Recycling Bank has been a great success over the years and is a great means of disposing any old batteries you have at home from torches, toys etc. Again, hold on to any old batteries and bring them to school in September for our recycling bank. This also applies for any printer cartridges that you may wish to dispose

of during the summer – remember we have a Cartridge Recycling.

If you have a clearout of your wardrobes during the summer, please hold onto your discarded shoes and clothes for our Clothes Recycling Bank.

Thanks to everyone who answered the call to donate plastic bottles to rebuild the Serenity Community Garden greenhouse which had been vandalised recently. We had a huge response and we are delighted to say their greenhouse is up and running again.

SPORTING SUCCESSSee Children’s Corner for details of our pupils achievements.

FUN DAY 28 TH JUNE Pat Kerr (organiser of our Fun Day) and the Board of Management would like to express his sincere thanks to the following in making the Fun Day a fantastic success. They were Rob King, Zsuzsa Janossy, Enda Martin, Cindy Bradley, Sue Smith, Tracy Minnock, Sylvain Corre, Meadhbh Conlon, Ciara McCarthy, Paul Kelly, Adrienne Kelly, Lorcan Claffey, Fiona Kyle, Lorna Green, Gemma Carroll, Terri O’Brien, Helena McMahon and Cliona O’Malley. Special mention should go to Sarah Kerr, Mick Wallace, Damien Farrell, Eszter Kis and Anna Knight who went beyond the call of duty! If any names have been omitted please know that your help was sincerely appreciated.

We were entertained by two brilliant musicians Eoin Cronolly and Eanna Harrison who did it all just for the joy of playing!

The weather on the day was perfect. The climbing wall was a huge success as were the bouncy castles, face painting, games etc.

GO RAIBH MAITH AGAIBH to the following:Books: Noah and Elliot Curran-O’Brien, Isibeal Costello and Amy Madden.Outreach toys/Jigsaws – Ciara Martin, Caitriona O’ConnorWorking with Classes:

Yoga – Anja Kruger (past parent) who very kindly gave yoga classes to our Outreach classes throughout the year. These classes were always eagerly awaited by our pupils and it has been of great benefit to them.

Sonya Harnett came into Senior Infants on 22nd June and gave them a yoga lesson. They thoroughly enjoyed this experience.

Tours - A big thank you to all the parents who were drawn from the

hat to accompany our teachers on the various class tours. We hope you had fun!

Helpers – (See SRG for face painters)

Helena McMahon and Audrey Phillips who helped Senior Infants plant pumpkin seeds on 18th May; Terri O’Brien, Carrie Martin, Olga Gallagher and Caitriona O’Connor who worked on the 1st class garden on 22nd May, weeding and tidying it up.

If we have forgotten to mention anyone, please accept our thanks for your help.

CONTACT LISTSIt cannot be emphasised enough the need for us to have up-to-date contact phone numbers for your child. It is of the utmost importance should we need to contact you in case of an emergency. Therefore please ensure that any changes over the summer in phone numbers (including mobile phones) addresses, minders etc. are notified to the school office in September. In particular, if you have changed mobile number, inform Adrienne if you wish it to be used in our Text-a-Parent communication system.

NEW JUNIOR INFANTSOn 21st May we had our annual Information Meeting for our new Junior Infant parents. It was lovely to meet some new and old faces! As you are aware we are taking in two sets of Junior Infants for the very first time. There will be 30 in each class, with 16

siblings between the two classes. On Thursday 11th June the children were able to come to the school to meet their teachers for September, Jenny and Aoife (who returns to us after her maternity leave) during our Open Day. They were delighted to see their classroom and play with some of the toys. We look forward to seeing them again in September.

SRGThe S.R.G. stands fro Student Representative Group. It has been a joy for all of us to represent our classes this year for the S.R.G. One of the great achievements of the S.R.G. this year was our involvement in bringing our new Junior Infant parents for 2015/2016 on a tour of the school during January/February. We answered all their queries about our school and we received many compliments from them, in particular, how confident and knowledgeable we were about the school.

Another highlight was Grandparents Day held on 3rd June. We had approximately 60 grandparents this year, the biggest amount since we introduced Grandparents Day. We were delighted to be able to greet and entertain them all, and we hope they all enjoyed themselves too.

We raised money for a multi-coloured buddy bench for our Senior Yard. This is on order and we await delivery very soon. We also raised €277.30 for Holly’s Horse Haven – a 24/7 critical

care rescue centre in Ireland. We would like to thank Maddie Doyle-Corre (Mum of Juliette 1st Class) for coming in to meet with us to tell us about this charity. We organised an Art Competition on a ‘Horse’ theme and we also arranged face painting. We would like to thank parents Paula Martin, Susan Smith, Szusza Janossy, Sarah Kerr and Amy Kerr (past pupil) for coming in on 12th June and again on 15th June to paint our faces!

From: Saul Knight, Isibeal Costello, Eoghan Connell, Nina Martin, Maciej Kwasnik, Fiona Shah, Ella McDonnell and Jack Geagan-Murray

MEDLEY OF SONGS!On Thursday 25th June our Junior Infants showed us that they have beautiful singing voices and are well capable of performing on stage! They sang a selection of songs from Jolly Phonics and a medley of songs they have learned throughout the year. After performing in front of the entire school that morning, they were rearing to go to perform for their parents later in the day. Well done Junior Infants and thanks to Lydia for her hard work putting the show together.

PICNICJunior Infants and Senior Infants had a great time at their Teddy Bear’s Picnic on Wednesday 24th June – the bears did too!

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT NEWS

By now you have all heard of Anne Finn’s retirement from the staff. Anne joined the staff 3 months after the school opened and has been a super Deputy to Rita over the past 20 years. Her knowledge of education, exceptional organisational skills, school vision and sheer dedication and hard work will be missed hugely by the school. We wish her every happiness in this new stage of her life and look forward to many visits in the years to come.

MIRIAM CHEEVERSThe Board of Management would like to thank Miriam Cheevers for all her hard work during her year with us in Junior Infants. Miriam has been a great addition to the staff during her short time with us. We will miss her skills and great sense of humour. She has to leave due to cutbacks in Special Needs Allocations this year. We hope she finds a job in another school very soon

BARRY HORGANWe are also losing teacher Barry Horgan from the staff this year. Barry has been with us in a temporary capacity for the past three years. Barry will be missed by all the staff and pupils for his Cork wit, great teaching skills and huge interest and input into sport in the school. We wish him well in England next year.

We are delighted to announce that Aoife Hogan and Shane O’Neill join the staff as permanent teachers from September this year.

DEPARTMENT INSPECTIONOn Thursday June 18th, we had an incidental inspection by the Department of Education & Skills. These inspections can take place at any time in any school and are focused on checking the teaching and learning in the school. The Inspector said she had “a very enjoyable visit”. She said the standard of teaching and learning in the school was very high. She particularly remarked on how articulate and confident our pupils are at speaking about their learning. She examined planning and assessment and said it too was of a high standard. She remarked that the standard of Irish was very good throughout the classes and the Visual Arts and the building itself were remarkable. She made some minor recommendations to focus on in the year ahead.

The Board of Management would like to thank our fantastic teaching and ancillary staff for another great report from the Department.

The Board of Management would like to sincerely thank Maria Alcazar and SAP Corporation for funding the purchase of Numicon Maths equipment totalling €7,000 for our pupils this year. This equipment has a proven track record in helping to improve children’s understanding of mathematical concepts. The grant has also funded specific training in Numicon for the teachers over the Summer.

SAP Corporation also very generously funded the paint for our playgrounds recently and provided 8 volunteers to do the painting. Thank you to Lisa Keegan, Julie Melia and Naomi Clancy for designing and painting the areas too. It looks fantastic and the pupils are really enjoying it.

ENROLMENTS - Please remember to advise your friends, relatives etc. of our Enrolment Policy i.e. first-come first-served should they wish to enrol their child(ren). This should be done as soon as possible after birth. REMEMBER – siblings do not get first preference so we would encourage new born siblings to be enrolled as soon as possible after birth.

CLASS ALLOCATIONS FOR 2015/2016 - The following are the class allocations for the coming year:Junior Infants x 2 classes – Jenny McCarthy and Aoife Hogan Senior Infants – Lydia McGuinness-Tyrrell 1st Class – Orlaith Tobin 2nd Class – Sinead Gallogly (Temporary Teacher) 3rd Class – Niall Keating 4th Class – Grace Larkin (Temporary Teacher)5th Class – Elaine Harten 6th Class – Shane O’Neill

Outreach Classes – Class 1 Teacher: Fiona Knox – Special Needs Assistants Team: Brenda McCrory and Edel Hutchinson Class 2 Teacher: Áine O’Donnell – Special Needs Assistants Team: Betty Mullins, Linda Heraty and Anna Ryan

Special Needs Learning Support Teachers - Cathy O’Brien, Lorraine Dunne, Arlene Higgins Fiona Cooney and Audrey Phillips (Job Share post).Special Needs Assistant Mainstream Team: Sheila Rossiter and Viv Butler-Rees

Support Teacher for 2015/2016 (rotating post) – Pat Crowe (Deputy Principal)

Finally, the Board of Management hope that all N.K.E.T.N. S .pupils, parents and staff have a sunny and relaxing summer. See you all in September!

Executive Notes Fundraising is becoming more and more challenging, but we really do need your support. We do encourage everyone to sign up to the voluntary contributions and give whatever they can. Standing Order Forms are available at the school office. Thanks to everyone who has helped out this year and we will see you all again in September!

NOTICEBOARDSchool Books

Please ensure that your child has all their books on the first day back at school. Due to copyright rules, we are not permitted to photocopy pages from textbooks/workbooks for your child to work on. Rental books will be distributed by the class teachers in September.

Pupil TowelsDon’t Forget – each child is to bring a small towel or face-cloth into school each day with them, for the purpose of drying their hands. They are to be kept in your child’s schoolbag, either in a side-pocket or in a plastic re-sealable bag. Towels should be replaced frequently by parents.

The following is the PE timetable for 2015/2016. Please take note of when your child has PE.Junior Infants & Senior Infants Monday & Wednesday1st Class Monday & Wednesday2nd Class Monday & Thursday3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Classes Tuesday and ThursdayOutreach Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday

Children should wear the N.K.E.T.N.S. sweatshirt/polo shirt, navy tracksuit bottoms and runners to school on those days when their class has PE or swimming session. Non-Marking Soles: Please ensure when purchasing runners to purchase non-marking soles to protect our school floors.

School Hours for Junior InfantsAs always, to allow our new Junior Infants to settle in, they will attend school for a shorter period of hours for the first two weeks in September. From Tuesday 1st to Friday 11th September the Junior Infant hours will be 9.15am to 12.00pm; and from Monday 14 th September they will attend full school hours i.e. 9.00am to 1.20pm. Don’t forget to bring a camera!

School Closure Calendar 2015/2016Our School Closures Calendar for the 2015/2016 school year was distributed to parents recently. This calendar is also available on the school website. Correction made to Calendar (this was sent by text alert recently) - School closed Wednesday 23rd December 2015 NOT Monday.

During this term, 1st class looked at Ghanaian Folk Tales. The picture above is written and drawn by Adam Creighton (Anansi, the Greedy Spider) and Julie Janossy (Anansi and the Turtle)

Pupils achievements - Well done to the following Emily Kelly – 1st in the U11 Gymnastics Community Games held on 7th June. Emily is a member of Excel Gym Club in Celbridge Sean Auden came 1st place U14 National Champion at the Gymastics Ireland competition held on 17th May. Sean is also a member of

Excel. We had a number of pupils participating at the Celbridge Community Games held on 11th May – they were Olivia Rowland (1st U14

Javelin), Rhea Donnelly (1st U11 Javelin and 3rd in Ball Throw), Eve Wallace (3rd U14 Hurdles), Nina Martin (1st U12 100m and 3rd U12 600m), Ella Copeland (1st U12 600m) , Fiona Shah (1st U12 Ball Throw), Isabel Martin (3rd U14 100m), Ashla Copeland (2nd U14 Hurdles and 3rd U14 Shot Putt). Although not winners this time – both James Smith and Jack Dromgoole participated i the U10 100m and 200m races.

Ella Copeland and Niamh Gildea are members of the U12 Celbridge Camogie Team and they came 1st in Div 2 at the County Kildare finals against Naas at Eire Og on 7th June.

Leah Reddy-Gallagher and Sarah Quinn are members of U12 Celbridge Camogie Div 1 Team, and they came 2nd at the county finals held on 7th June.

Prior to the Camogie County Finals, Ashla and Ella Copeland played Naas in the U14 Div 3 county tournament held in Athy and won. Kirsty Higgins is a member of the Straffan Camogie Team and her team won the U14 Div 2 match at the same tournament.

Philip Perets received a trophy for Player of the Year in Basketball during May. He also received two medals for winning the U11 and U12 league. Philip is a member of the Liffey Celtics Basketball Club, Leixlip.

On 17th May Rhea Donnellyu took part in the Kildare Athletics Championship and came 1st place inj the U13 Walk. Breanna Magill, Ella Corry and Edana Magill had a weekend away in Edenderry with the Celbridge Brownies on 6 th/7th June. They had

a great time and came back with badges for Nature, Art, Language and Day Out. Congratulations to Lily-Thi O’Connor who was awarded a bronz medal in the U9 Individual Gymnastics floor routine in the Dublin &

Kildare Community Games Area finals. Lily-Thi went on to represent Celbridge in the U9 County Finals in Maynooth on 14 th June. Scott Keogh took part in the National Football Club Festival on 14th June and came away with a lovely medal. Sophia O’Toole and her horse ‘Cobbs’ took part in a horse-riding competition at the Ballina Horse Show , Co. Mayo on 14 th June and

came first! Paul Clarke, Aidan Copeland and Kevin MacCourt are members of Ballyoulster Foot ball Club and they participated in a football

tournament on 13th June. Paul and Aidan’s U9 team came 3rd place, and Kevin’s 7-a-side U9 team got to the final and won! Maeve Wollmer and Emma Brown are both members of the U8 Celbridge Camogie Team and their team came 3 rd in their club blitz on

21st June. Lily Thi O’Connor, Niamh Barnes and Ciara Martin took their electronic keyboard playing exams recently and receved Distinctions and

Honours.

Winners at the Santry Sports were Nina Martin – silver Girls U11 600m; Ella Copeland – silver Girls U12 600m; Meaveen Ryan – bronze U14 Hurdles; Isabel Martin - U14 600m; Davinn Quinn – silver U14 High Jump; Kyran O’Regan – gold Shot Putt; Sam Browne – silver Boys U11 600m; Liam Kearney – bronze U12 Hurdles. We are delighted and proud to say that both our U14 Girls and Boys Sprint & Relay teams came 1 st

in their races and came home with two magnificent trophies and our Boys U11 Sprint & Relay came 3 rd place. They were Isabel Martin, Eve Wallace, Ashla Copeland, Meaveen Ryan, Ella McDonnell and sub Caitlin Floody, Kyran O’Regan, Davinn Quinn, James McMahon-Carr, Ferdia Tobin-Larkin and Sean Auden; Sam Browne, Philip Perets, Alex Dromgoole, Akshat Patodi, Shane Corry and sub Stephen Cullen.

Other members of the Santry squad were Aisling O’Connor, Jack Dromgoole, Alison Carroll, Liam Folan-Healy, Bea Melia, Adam Kelly, Isibeal Costello, James Smith, Amy Madden, Ruthvik Chava, Hollie Farrell, Sol Scanlon, Emma Creighton, Ryan Farrell, Sarah Quinn, Evan Scanlon, Katherina Perets, Dylan Walsh, Arwen Carroll, Jack Green, Leah Reddy-Gallagher, Daniel Herron, Ciara Drew, Tom McHugh, Fiona Shah, Jack Green, Ellie Gallagher, Sean MacCourt, Rhea Donnelly, Kirsty Higgins, Sophia O’Toole, Chiathra Siddam, Yvonne Lawlor, Olivia Rowland and Niamh Barnes.

We had a special assembly on Tuesday 9th June to honour the achievements of all our Santry Sports athletes – Well done to you all. We hope you really enjoyed participating at Santry – roll on next year!

Tremendous Tennis by Niamh Barnes (4th)

The tennis ball flies through the air at speed and the only thing that I’m thinking about is where the ball is going to land! As it began to drop I moved back and I hit it right over the net. “Yes” I just on the point. It’s now 40 love on the score board, one more point and I win or will I lose? And I just won. Yay!

I first got into the sport by watching my sister going down the tennis club and watching her take lessons. I loved the sound it made every time she hit the ball over. So one day after her lesson my Mom asked if I wanted to do tennis. I said yes, bursting with excitement. So we went off to a sports shop and I got a little pink tennis racket.

The main rules are you have to hit a serve into the green box and then you just keep on playing until someone hits it out. There can be 2-4 players and you can start at any age. It is very good for you. It keeps you fit and healthy because you’re running around a court and concentrating on the ball.

I love it because I have made so many friends and it’s loads of fun. But everyone is so encouraging. I think it’s great fun and everybody should take it up because there’s no bad tennis players, just ones have that not tried.

Junior Infants trip to Larchill. Drawn by Aisha McNamara

Junior Infants trip to Larchill. Drawn by Roisin Ennis

Senior Infants were learning about clothes from around the world.

Here are some traditional dress by Michaela Curtis and Emma Brown

Our Outreach Classes were putting together a Summer Bucket List of great things to do during their summer holidays.

Here is Aaron Cunningham’s Summer Bucket List.