The school closes at 12 o' clock tomorrow for all classes.
The school reopens on Monday 24th April at 8.50
Have a great Easter break!
Our Trip to Dalkey Castle
Ms Connolly's class went to Dalkey castle this week to learn all about Early Christian Ireland and the Vikings.
we had great fun learning how to make Viking money and how to protect the Castle using a bow and arrow.
um...a bit too small..Dont you think?
UCD week 4
Today, for the fourth time we went to UCD. We had a lot of fun. We learned about energy.
Someone's looking sad!
Scientists in action!
Thumbs up!👍🏻
Mixing hot water 💦 and cold water 💦
Red Stains on the table!Opps!
Scientifically Putting Colours in cups!
Looking scientific!
pose for the camera 🎥
Gather around! It's amazing 😉
Look 👀 it's working!
Yay 😊 Science!
Balloons 🎈
Italy and Australia
In 4th class we have been learning all about Italy and Australia.
We know all about the Ancient Romans, Mt. Vesuvius and the foods of Italy. We even learned some Italian words.
We learned all about the weird and wonderful animals of Australia and the native aborigine people. We did some art work just like the aborigines do. It is called Dot Painting.
We decided that we were such experts on Italy and Australia that we should make some PowerPoints on the computer and present them to each other. The classes had great fun learning new skills on the computer and presenting our projects to each other - it was pretty nerve wracking standing up in front of a whole class like that but now we know how teacher feels every day!
Here are some pictures of our presentations, and our displays,,,
UCD Science Club
4th class went to UCD again today. We made robots and had a robot war. Unfortunately some of them fell over. We had lots of fun! We had a bumpy ride there and back!
The winners of the war in action!
Very Scientific-ish!
Waiting for a robot to work....Boring isn't it?
Here is the ring for the robot wars.
Gather Round folks! Welcome to robot wars!
The 2nd Placers...Ohh we'll try again next time!
The winners are Victorious!
Here is a close up of one of the robots we made
The new fashion:Toothbrush shoes!
Bad weather Policy
St. Fergal’s National School
Snow and Severe Weather as Critical Incidents
Policy Statement
Introduction
This Policy Statement has been prepared in light of the school’s experience during the snowfalls of 2010 and following a review with staff and parents in January 2011. The statement is presented in the context of the school’s Critical Incident Policy. It is also forms part of the school’s Health and Safety Policy.
Statement
In all instances, it is our aim to ensure that St. Fergal’s National School will remain open for business and that teaching and learning will not be unduly affected by adverse weather. That notwithstanding, we will be mindful of health and safety considerations for staff, pupils and families who must make their way to and from the school.
The following are situations where the Board of Management must consider closing the school.
· Heating system out of order
· Water supply cut more that one day
· Impassable roads
· Sufficient staff cannot arrive
· Damage to school building/grounds that poses a Health and Safety risk to pupils and staff.
In all other situations, the school will remain open.
If weather conditions are severe, e.g. heavy snow, floods or storm force winds, staff should make their way to work as it is safe to do so. In such conditions, it is expected that local staff will walk to school and that those more distant will take public transport or drive when it is safe to do so. Staff members who do not arrive at work when the school is open will be considered to have taken a day’s leave (Force Majeure, EPV, or unpaid leave.)
In such conditions, it is expected that parents will make the decision to bring their child to school when it is safe to do so. Absences occurring during severe weather episodes will be recorded as such. Should weather conditions deteriorate significantly during the school day:
· Staff members who have a distance to travel home will be facilitated to leave as early as possible.
· Children may be collected early by their parents, or by an adult nominated by the parent. The class teacher will note in the Day Book who has collected each child who leaves early.
In any case the school will remain open until 2.30p.m or until the last child has been collected from the school.
Deciding to close the school:
The decision to close the school will be made at the earliest possible opportunity so that parents can be informed in time. In most instances, it is not possible to make this decision until morning. The Principal will make contact with Bray School Project, and St. Kilian’s School regarding any decision to be made. The decision to close will be made by the Chairperson and the Principal and will be based on any combination of the following:
· Heating system out of order
· Water supply cut for more than one day
· Impassable roads
· Sufficient staff cannot arrive
· Damage to school building/grounds that poses a Health and Safety risk to pupils and staff.
· Advice from Garda, Roads Authority or emergency services.
Communication:
The following methods of communication will be used as the most effective means for contacting parents:
· Text a parent
· School Website
· The local radio may also be used.
Clearing Entrances of Snow and Ice:
The Caretaker will be responsible for access to the school premises. The school has supplies of Ice-melt or similar. The school also has yard brushes and snow shovels for path-clearing. A Parent Volunteer Group has been formed to assist the Caretaker and other staff in path clearing. This group will be contacted by text message should the need arise for path clearing.
The following priority will be followed for clearing paths:
1. Main Entrance to both buildings
The school yard will not be cleared and the gates to the yards will remain shut. Normal access and egress will not take place through the school yard. However, the area around all exits doors will be cleared in case of emergency evacuation.
Preparing for Winter, including Snow and Ice.
- Ensure all staff are aware of the Policy statement
- Boiler service in Term 1
- Check any exposed pipes and insulate
- Order supplies of ice melt or similar, as required
- Check supplies of yard brushes and snow shovels and replace if required
- Ensure Text a parent lists are up to date
- Circulate all parents with snow information
- Request Parent Volunteers for snow clearing
- Maintain Volunteer Text a parent list
- Investigate arrangement with local radio.
Information sites
www.winterredy.ie
www.education.ie
www.cpsma.ie
www.allianz.ie
The Critical incident Team and Severe Weather
The duties and responsibilities of the members of the Critical Incident Management Team are as follows. Responsibilities that may not naturally arise are in italics.
The Chairperson of Board of Management will be kept informed of all developments
The Principal and Deputy Principal will normally be responsible for:
Care of and communication with staff
Organising the supervision of pupils
Liaising with ancillary staff
Liaising with the Parents Association
Liaising with external support agencies, the emergency services, the Board of Management and the Department of Education and Science.
Drawing up a letter informing all parents of the critical incident and the school’s response, reporting incidents to the Health and Safety Authority, and/ or communicating with the media, as appropriate.
Health and Safety Representative will normally be responsible for:
· Assessing the Health and Safety issue.
· Liaising with other members of Critical incident Management Team.
· Assisting with reports of dangerous occurrences or accident for the Health and Safety Authority, as appropriate.
The School Secretary will normally be responsible for:
· Ensuring that the Office is manned at all times
· Liaising with other members of Critical incident Management Team
The Caretaker will normally be responsible for:
· Controlling access to the school premises
· Maintaining security procedures
· Maintaining services such as heating, light, water and communication lines.
· Liaising with other members of Critical Incident Management Team.
The Teaching Staff will normally be responsible for:
· Supervising their own and colleagues’ classes
· Assisting in identifying and supporting pupils at risk
· Assisting in information gathering
· Maintaining normal procedures
The Ancillary Staff will normally be responsible for:
· Maintaining normal procedures
· Assisting in indentifying and supporting students at risk
The Chairperson of the Parents’ Association will contribute by:
· Representing parents’ concerns and wishes and regard to the school’s response to the critical incident.
Policy typed and awaiting ratification by the Board of Management 16/1/17
School Mission policy
Ethos Statement
St. Fergal’s School is a Catholic Primary School under the patronage of the Catholic Archbishop of
Dublin2. The school models and promotes a philosophy inspired by belief in God, and the core values of
Life long learning, respect, inclusion, justice, truth and joy.
It aspires to be a positive place of openness and acceptance where children can feel safe and will be listened
to, where we wish them to grow physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually through actively relating to
self, others, the earth and spirit.
These values find expression in our daily work, our processes for decision making, planning and
Policy making, and in the implementation of all school polices, curricular, pastoral and organisational.
Discover Primary Science
As part of the competition Ms Connolly's class had to investigate which material would be the best for making windmills - We used Paper and Card. We predicted what we thought would work best and then conducted our fair test to find out the results. Here are our pics...
6 Week 4th Class UCD Science Program
Ms Connolly's 4th class have been very lucky. We were invited to the UCD science Department for a 6 week program.
Every Tuesday we hop on the bus to UCD to take part in some very exciting experiments.
The first week we got a tour of the whole building and did a cool whirlwind experiment using plastic bottles. Check out our pics...
This week we learned how to make slime. We experimented with different materials to see which makes the best slime. Here are our pics...
School closed
We hope you had a wonderful St Patrick's Day and weekend. Just to remind you the school is closed today, Monday 20th March.
It will reopen tomorrow Tuesday 21st at 8.50am
Sea life visit
2nd class visited a Discovery Primary Science Centre today. The children walked down and were fantastic! Thanks to our guide Dave who was a fountain of knowledge . We learned so much from him from clown fish to rays and toxic fish. Here are some photos!
Check out our tadpoles below. Soon we will return them to our pond.
Aistear in Senior Infants
Senior Infants had great fun in Aistear recently learning all about the Fire Station. We were very busy putting out fires, filling in incident forms and constructing fire engines!
Ms Stewart's and Ms Thorpe's class are learning about space. They made a brilliant Space Station to explore our solar system.
Having fun in Aistear at the Fire Station and dressing up for St Patrick's day.
Celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge
Ceili
Claire Dowling ran a ceili for all the children in the school. She paired an older child with a younger child and they practiced their Irish dancing. The children really enjoyed themselves!
DPS Science Fair
As part of the Discover Primary Science, Third Class organised a science fair. All the classes had a chance to attend and try lots of experiments. Mr. Creamers class were responsible for showing off the bee bots, making lava lamps and making circuits. Ms. Clakes class were cleaning coins with various things, making string phones and using static electricity to move tin cans. Ms Roche's class worked on rocket launches, materials for a parachute, making white light, testing reaction speed and the smell test!! It was a very successful day enjoyed by all!!
Fergal Ógs Girls Training
Fergal Ógs Girls Training sessions are back on Wednesday 15th March at 4-5pm.
All girls aged 8 and up are welcome to attend.
Please meet at the Fergal Ógs pitch which is beside our school.
School Choir
The children from 1st - 6th class have been busy learning lots of new songs for the school choir.
Both Ms. Devlin and Ms Malone were very happy with their performances at the Christmas concert back in December. Well done to all involved.
We are excited about singing at the sacraments of Confirmation and Communion this April and May.
Discover Primary Science - Weather/Recording Rainfall
Ms Devlin/Ms. Grogan's 2nd class observed and recorded rainfall over 2 weeks (using their handmade rain gauge) as part of their Primary Science Awards.
Investigating Materials - Chromatography
2nd class discover that ordinary colouring markers can contain more than just one colour. They conducted a Chromatography experiment (using water and kitchen roll) to separate them out.
Measuring Height
Ms. Devlin/Ms. Grogan's 2nd class measure each other for the second time in 6 months to see how much we have grown in this school year.
