North Bay National School

This week we are promoting Mental Health Fitness. We will be learning about positive self talk, looking after our emotions, developing resilience and practising mindfulness amongst many other things. For World Mental Health Day on Wednesday we ask that you try to wear yellow as it symbolises hope, positivity, optimism and happiness. If you do not have yellow, a similar shade such luminous green or orange, or gold is fine. Clothing items can include socks or a hairband.

The Learn Together Room is a unique space that we have created here in North Bay. A few years ago the idea was born that the room could be used for Learn Together lessons and active learning to take place, free of desks and chairs. The room was dedicated to the 4 strands of the programme and enabled the children to have circle time, to carry out group work and to role play scenarios.

At the end of last year we decided the room needed some TLC and a revamp but also we wanted to make the strands and the learning that takes place (as part of the Learn Together programme) very explicit for the children. Two very dedicated parents Niamh Bridgeman and Simone Fitzpatrick came on board and together helped to create a concept design for the room. The 4 colours chosen represent an individual strand. The colour green represents Ethics and the Environment, blue – Equality and Justice, yellow – belief systems and pink – moral and spiritual. There are a variety of bubbles painted in these colours on the wall and in each an image that reminds the children of some of the topics they have covered or indeed will cover over their primary schooling life. The colour concept and naming of the strands helps the children to understand what they are learning about and how the strands can integrate and cross over with one another.

 The colour palette selected was chosen to create a calm space. Mindfulness, meditation and yoga often take place in this room and so the colours needed to enhance these experiences. There are also numerous ornaments and artefacts relating to the various belief systems displayed in the room. The soft furnishings and fabrics selected create a warm and inviting space. The children’s art work on the walls demonstrates their experiences of the programme and these will be rotated on a regular basis so that their expressions and interpretations of the programme are recognised.

 The room has more greenery (some real, some artificial) and the children are going to play an active role in taking care of the room and plant life going forward. The library is bursting with beautiful new books on a wide range of topics and on the wall we have created a visual library separating the books into their various categories. The books on these shelves display books of interest for a particular theme being covered e.g. Martin Luther King Day. The space by the library allows for research projects, group work or individual reading to take place.

From the planning stage to completion the project took just over a year but already the fruits of the labour are clear to see with the children making great use of the space and enjoying their class time there. The youngest and oldest child in North Bay cut the official red ribbon on our launch day and a prize giving ceremony celebrated all the beautiful art work that the children had created for the room.

We hope that you will come and visit the room for yourself.

Many thanks once again to Niamh Bridgeman and Simone Fitzpatrick who dedicated so much of their time and energy to the project and without whom the room would not have come to fruition. Also many thanks to Paul Evans our wonderful caretaker for his skills and patience with our many requests.

Eimear

Enrolment for after-school activities and the homework club is taking place this week from 19 September 8pm to 21 September 8pm.

For more information download the latest leaflet.

Please contact Julia on 086 3393525 or northbaypta@gmail.com with questions.

NEW –Catholic Faith Formation Classes for Communion and Confirmation preparation are now facilitated by the PTA through the after-school activities enrolment process, however enrolments are only open in September and apply for the entire school year.

IMPORTANT: All participants in Catholic Faith Formation, existing and new, will have to register via the booking system!

Classes previously took place on Sunday mornings in the school building and will now take place on Monday afternoons in the Kilbarrack/Foxfield Parish Hall. For any queries in relation to Catholic Faith Formation contact Nichola on 086 8513974.

North Bay is a multi-denominational school. The PTA will facilitate any parent group who wish to make their own arrangements for any faith formation or other philosophical instruction classes.

Last Thursday 13th Sept. minister for education Richard Bruton visited our school along with representatives from the RDS Primary Science Fair to help promote the new format science event for primary schools.

Sixth Class, who took part in the fair last January, had some questions for the minister of a scientific nature.

On September 24th the Curriculum Meetings will begin, giving you a chance to hear from your child’s teacher about the year ahead. See the schedule below to find out what day your meeting will be. Please note that as a result of a suggestion and follow up survey we are having the meetings in the mornings this year in the hope that it will suit people’s schedules better.

A warm welcome back to all of our community.  We hope you have had a terrific summer and thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic weather. It’s so nice to have our first few days back so bright and sunny.

A very warm welcome to new members of staff for this year – Aislinn (Snr Infants) and Marie-Ruth (4^thclass), Sylvia who is joining the SNA team and Mary who is taking on the role of School Secr.  We hope they all enjoy being part of the North Bay family.

We have had improvements to the grounds of the school over the last few months.  The Junior yard has been resurfaced in a softplay surface which makes it safer for the children and more versatile in its use for P.E. classes. The Senior yard has also had some repairs completed and the basketball court has been given an overhaul.  Fully resurfacing the Senior yard is in the medium-term plans of the Patron.

The junior entrance, which is the main entrance and reception area of the school, has been extensively landscaped.  This has provided a large platform as a safe and comfortable gathering space for parents/guardians when dropping off and collecting the children.  New planting has been installed which has created more space and gives the grounds a more open feeling.  A new path has been laid to allow those pupils who cycle to school to safely walk their bikes around to the bike stand.  We would ask all those cycling to school to dismount on entering the school grounds and walk their bikes as the grounds are not large enough to allow for safe cycling.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Simone Fitzpatrick and Ronan Moore.  Simone designed and drew up the plans for the landscaping and sourced the contractor.  Ronan project-managed the development, spending a considerable amount of his already very busy time co-ordinating and overseeing the works.  Ronan even managed to install new shelving in the stores for the resources for the fairs and sundry large items. [ I think this gave him the most pleasure ]  So a huge Thank You to them both for their time, expertise and commitment.

Of course, none of this could have been achieved without the generosity of our school community over many years, volunteering for events and participating in fairs, raffles and sales, which generates funds that allow the Patron to plan improvements and provide resources to the school.

Another example of this is the teaching resources provided to support the new literacy and numeracy programmes (Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life).  Parent fund-raised monies have allowed the staff to access materials that enhance this teaching.

Inside the school, the revamping of the Learn Together Room kicked off a bit of a painting spree with Paul painting the doors and frames, and some of the Staff catching the bug, painting and redecorating their own rooms.  Thank you to all for making the learning environment so pleasant for our children.

So onwards into a new school year.  We wish all of the children a happy and healthy time together in North Bay.

The Board of Management

Sept. 2018

We hope you are having a lovely summer. Here are the class allocations for the coming school year. We look forward to welcoming you all back next week.