A Message for Confirmation Candidates from Fr. Ger and Bishop Denis

Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the day on which we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. Bishop Denis decided to take this opportunity to record a message for those who are still waiting to celebrate Confirmation and for those who had been confirmed before COVID19 made its presence felt.

You can watch the video here https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=549403842436869  and it will also be available on kandle.ie.

Bishop Denis is asking students to do a number of things as they continue to get ready for their Confirmation whenever it will eventually happen;

•  Watch the Video and listen to his message;
•  Write him a letter or send him an email
•  Decorate your Front Door for Pentecost
•  Say a Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Fr. Ger invites you all to Join him in a special Mass next Sunday at 11.00 on Baltinglass Parish Webcam Livestream for the Feast of Pentecost.

Further information on how you can do the tasks above is outlined in the booklet below which can be downloaded by clicking the following link:
https://www.kandle.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Waiting-for-Your-Confirmation-Living-Your-Confirmation.pdf
People are invited to send in images of their door to the kandle facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KANDLEi/
OR admin@baltinglassparish.ie.
See Baltinglass Parish Newsletter for further information: http://www.baltinglassparish.ie/publications/newsletter/Ascension_Sunday[2020-5-23].pdf

The Staff at Scoil Naomh Iósaf know that the children are very disappointed not to be making their First Holy Communion on May 17th. We know that you are still looking forward to receiving First Communion as soon as this can be organised. In the meantime, click on the link below to listen to the thoughtful and supportive message from Bishop Denis to all the students preparing for First Holy Communion.
https://www.kandle.ie/message-from-bishop-denis-for-all-preparing-for-first-holy-communion/
 
Below is a link to a lovely booklet informing children how they can continue to stay getting ready for their First Holy Communion. Bishop Denis outlines three things he would like the children to do during the month of May.
https://www.kandle.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/My-First-Holy-Communion-Home.pdf
 
Special Invitation to a virtual Mass on May 17th
To acknowledge the day when second classes were due to celebrate their First Holy Communion, Fr. Ger has invited all the pupils to tune into Mass on Sunday May 17th at 11.00. He will welcome the children and reach out to them in prayer on this postponed Holy Communion Day. Fr. Ger’s Mass and message of support will be available on the Parish Webcam and Radio 100.2fm.
So please join Fr. Ger on the Parish webcam from St. Joseph’s Church on Sunday May 17th at 11.00am. 

Dear parents, 
Please find the letter below in relation to Seesaw online learning which was emailed to all families today. 

At the moment the teachers are setting up the platform for their classes. Children will be able to access the app from Monday from 11:00 am when the teacher has emailed their login details to parents. In the meantime, please read the letter carefully.  Seesaw is a popular choice for educators and is currently used in over 200,000 classrooms all over the world. We hope it will be a support for children, parents and teachers in these very difficult times. 

The third page of the letter will be useful on Monday when you and your child start to use Seesaw. It has helpful tips and 'how to' advice for pupils and parents. 

Visit https://web.seesaw.me/parents  to watch a video about seesaw for parents.

I hope everyone in our wonderful Baltinglass Community is keeping safe and well.
On behalf of the Board of Management and Parent Association of Scoil Naomh Iósaf, I would like to thank everyone who has supported our Buy a Brick campaign to date with kind words and generous donations.
Given the current health crisis and associated worry and potential financial implications for many in our community we have decided to suspend Buy a Brick for SNI for now. We understand that families and businesses concern right now is the health and welfare of their loved ones. The fundraising committee will not be following up on the Buy a Brick letters that were delivered to all our families or businesses in the town and the road signs will be taken down within the next few days. Instead, we will re-launch Buy a Brick For SNI when the time is right. The Go Fund Me page will remain active in the meantime for those who wish to access it.

A letter was emailed to all parents on the 19th March in relation to the current school closure.
All the staff at Scoil Naomh Iósaf hope that our children and families are blessed with good health and well being at this difficult time. We will keep parents updated with the latest news from the Department of Education by email and on this website. The letter from Ms. Hennessy also included a number of suggestions for parents in the event that children need alternative or further work for the coming weeks.

The letter and additional documents including a parent pack for children in our junior classes are available for download below:

Important information about school closures. 
The Department of Education have instructed all schools to close from Thursday 12th March until the 29th March due to the Coronavirus. We will keep all parents updated with further information as it is received from official sources. Each teacher has organised a pack of work for the children in their class. If you have an urgent request please email our principal, Dr. Mairead Hennessy at principal@snibaltinglass.ie . Over the next number of weeks we will update the website and email parents with new information as it arises. Thank you for your support and understanding at this difficult time. ​

Season’s Greetings from Sarah, Ella, Abbey, Owen, Berton, Joey and JP from 5th class. First of all, we would like to thank all of the teachers and students for supporting the Christmas joke competition. We have had a great giggle reading all of your entries. All of the jokes were even funnier than Mr Walsh’s awful dad jokes!
 
It was very tough to decide upon winners as the standard was so high, but here are our top jokes. In Réalta congratulations to Lauren Hayes with her joke:
What does Mrs Claus say to Santa? ‘Looks like rain dear’
 
In 1st and 2nd class congratulations to Noelle Boland with her joke:
Who brings presents to dogs at Christmas? ‘Santa Paws’
 
In 3rd and 4th class congratulations to Holly Sheehy-Curtis with her joke:
What do you get if you cross a duck and Santa? ‘A Christmas quacker!’
 
And finally in 5th and 6th class congratulations to Abbie Kelly with her joke:
Who suspiciously creeps around the bakery at Christmas? ‘A mince spy!’
 
Congratulations to all of our winners and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Slán agus Nollaig Shona Daoibh!

Wednesday August 28th 2019 - School re-opens after the summer holidays. Classes begin for all pupils.
On Wednesday 28th only, Junior Infant pupils start school at 9:30. 

Please note new school opening and closing times: 
8:50 - 14:30 (First - Sixth Class)
8:50 - 13:30 (Junior and Senior Infants)
Junior Infants will finish at 12:00 pm for the first two weeks (from August 28th - September 11th inclusive)
From September 12th junior infants will finish at the normal closing time of 13:30. 

The front door will open each morning at 8:45. 
All pupils may walk from the front door to their classroom. There is no outdoor assembly area for senior pupils this year due to the construction work. Assembly time will take place in the classroom from 8:45 - 9:00. All pupils must be in their classrooms by 9:00 am at the latest.
Parents may accompany pupils in Junior and Senior Infants to their classrooms in September. On the first morning parents of children from Junior Infants to 3rd class may drop their children to the classroom door if they wish. 
​

This month, we began Aistear. This is a curriculum for early years development and learning, with play as the main focus.  Aistear includes daily structured play at four different stations.
​
This month our theme was Autumn and we set up a ‘Farm Shop’ in our role play area. We learned the names of many different fruits and vegetables and had great fun writing shopping lists.
 In our ‘Small World’ and ‘Construction’ areas we built animals homes and talked about all the work the farmer must do to get ready for winter. In our creative area, we created different hibernators such as the bat, the hedgehog and the bear. Take a look at our photos to see what we got up to! 

We had great fun on the Witchety Walk. Our costumes were fantastic! We had witches, skeletons, princesses and fairies, army men, ghosts, clowns, animals, a farmer and even Spiderman! We walked around the school twice, singing songs and reciting chants. Here are some photos of us enjoying our last day before the Midterm break. 

​September has been a very busy month in Senior Infants. We have all settled back into school really quickly and are learning lots of new things.
In art, we created self-portraits and designed monsters based on the storybook ‘Monsters Not Allowed’ by Tracey Hammett.
In P.E. we have been having great fun in Zumba with Patricia Murphy. Take a look at our photos to see what we got up to!
In History, we were learning all about old toys. We learned to play some games that our parents and grandparents used to play, such as; hopscotch, marbles, spinning tops and board games. We also conducted a short interview with our grandparents about their favourite toys. 

This week the new Junior Infants spent their first full week in 'big' school. They had great fun getting know all the children in their classes and learning lots of new things. They have also visited most of their brothers and sisters throughout the school and introduced themselves to the teachers. 

Here are some photos of the Junior Infants learning how to make the letter s: 

Congratulations to the Dublin team (in blue bibs) who won the Tom Hannafin Cup today after weeks of enjoyable and competitive matches. Well done to all 5th and 6th class participants who played their hearts out and developed their football and teamwork skills. Thanks to Patsy Barrett for refereeing and to Scoil Chonglais for the use of their hall. Here are some of Ms. Casey's photos taken mid way during the competition. 

The staff of Scoil Naomh Iósaf had a child protection training day on March 9th 2018. The purpose of the training was for the staff to become familiar with the Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools 2017, published by the Department of Education and Skills. These new procedures take account of the Children First Act 2015 and the 'Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children' published by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in 2017. These procedures came into effect from the 11th December 2017, except for those relating to the school safeguarding statement. From the 11th March 2018, all schools are required to have a Child Safeguarding Statement. This replaces the previous requirement to have a child protection policy. Please note that the Child Safeguarding Statement (CSS) below is a first draft and is subject to revision and approval by the Board of Management on Wednesday 21st March. ​