Dear Families,

Spring has sprung and with it comes the easing of Covid restrictions and the hopeful and optimistic return to normality. School will again be a hive of activity this term with many themed weeks coming up and special events and sacraments to be celebrated. Family is central to the ethos of St.Christopher's and with this in mind I am launching a new Family Photography Project! Totally optional but secretly hoping that many of you will find it appealing and take part.

And as always please reach out at the following email address: hscl@scps.ie, if I can be of any assistance to you.

Following on from the very successful Family Christmas Wreath Project I now bring you another family project to get your teeth into it. Please see link below for all of the details:

https://bit.ly/3KuNkf1

And hopefully by now every household has received a little Easter Chick!

Alongside our four classes that we have been running since September in Health and Fitness and Art we now have two new classes on offer. The first new class is English Language for Beginners and the second new class is App Coding.

Our new classes have come about from a partnership with Europass Teacher Academy, located in the building that was formerly St.Mary's Boy's School. Hopefully this partnership will result in many more opportunities for you, our families in the future.

I wish to thank the parents who contributed to our online Zoom meeting to discuss nut and food allergies in children. The meeting was a launch pad for sharing experiences and knowledge on the topic. At the moment we are gathering a list of safe food items that can be included in school lunchboxes and unsafe food items that should not be on the school campus. We will share this list with the school community once it is finalised.

These free online workshops will take place at 10am on Friday 11th March and each day on the 14th, 15th and 16th March, at 10am and 7:30pm. Each workshop will last approx. 75 minutes.

Click on the link to reserve your place.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/FMfcgzGmvLXcSzzdpwsxfxCdDMSLKtMQ

All of our classes received online sessions from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) in February and following on from this our 6th class children will receive 8 hours tuition on cycling skills. The programme will deliver high quality training from fully qualified and accredited instructors, who will develop competent and confident cyclists who have the skills to safely manage all road and traffic conditions. These are important lifelong skills, particularly in a busy city like Dublin.

Seachtain na Gaeilge takes place from 7th - 16th March and the children will be learning lots of new songs, poems and phrases throughout the fortnight. Many classes will also be participating in the Seanfhocal and Draíodóir Focail Competition. The finale of Seachtain na Gaeilge will be our 'Green Day' and Céilí which will take place on Wednesday 16th March. On Green Day/Lá Glas we encourage the children to wear something green to school and to donate €3 to Barnardos our school charity, via the Aladdin app. The children will then get to dance and jig in the yard to traditional Irish music for the Céilí.

Take to the streets of Dublin with your family for the highly anticipated return of the spectacular national St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Thursday March 17th. No tickets are required for you to attend the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Simply pick a spot along the route and enjoy the spectacle and excitement! The parade will wind its way through the streets of Dublin, from Parnell Square to St. Stephen’s Green.

The Parade will be broadcast live on RTÉ, and promises an exciting new look and feel for millions of viewers in Ireland and across the world.

Please note that the school will be closed Thursday 17th and Friday 18th March.

Many of our families continue to be impacted by the invasion of Ukraine with family members in Ukraine and in Russia. We have pupils from both Ukraine and Russia and need to be mindful of the emotions of both. Guidance always suggests to answer the children's questions as asked rather than provide more information that they can manage to understand.

This is a link to some guidance published by Save the Children:

https://www.savethechildren.net/news/ukraine-5-ways-talk-children-about-conflict-0

This is a link to a Barnardos publication on the same topic:

https://www.barnardos.ie/media/14835/talking-to-children-about-war.pdf