Maths Week took place last week and all classes got the opportunity to engage in different mathematical activities to mark it. We had a busy, fun filled week with challenges, maths activities, a maths trail and daily maths problems. Many thanks to Ms Conroy for organising a very successful Maths Week.

There were many creative patterns on display to mark Pattern Day as part of Maths Week.

We had some fantastic entries to our Maths Eyes competition. We can see maths everywhere in our daily lives. Well done everyone!

The pupils recently enjoyed the opportunity to use Bee-Bots as an introduction to coding. They practised their sequencing, estimating and problem solving skills.

Pupils in 2nd-6th class took part in the Kildare Bio Box initiative this month. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Sorcha and learned many interesting facts about their local habitat, including the trees, insects and plants within their local area.

The pupils in 2nd-6th class had an exciting day on Monday working with Research Ireland to put together a short segment for Science Week 2024. 2nd and 3rd class worked on a sound experiment with Phil Smyth and 4th-6th class created a pond in the school garden with Nuala Madigan. We are all looking forward to seeing this segment in November during Science Week.

Our Green-School Committee recently organised a Halloween Costume Swap to promote reusing and recycling within our school. They would like to thank all the families who donated costumes and participated in this appeal.

There are 20 school days from November 4th to November 29th. We are promoting good attendance for these 20 days, encouraging pupils to come to school every day for the 20 days. Unless a child is sick, we expect to see them in school. This drive is part of our DEIS plan to promote attendance. The Student Council are promoting this campaign in our school.

Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st class had a great time carving pumpkins in preparation for Halloween.

Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st class have been busy learning all about Autumn. They collected a variety of items from around the school grounds to add to the nature table in their classroom.

Have a look at some of the spook-tacular Halloween art completed by our pupils over the month of October.

Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st class created these spooky Halloween witches to display and used apples to print these Halloween pumpkins.

Second and Third class were busy creating Halloween themed art and displayed their masterpieces in the hallway.

4th, 5th and 6th class used water to create a background for their pumpkin art and created Halloween themed art to display in their classroom.

The boys and girls enjoyed taking part in this years Witch and Wizard Walk. The whole school came together and walked our Active Schools Walkway around the perimeter of the school grounds. We had some amazing, creative and innovative costumes creeping around the school today. There were witches, ghosts, skeletons and other spooky creatures spotted around our school. We all got the opportunity to see the wonderful costumes during our school assembly. Awards were presented and we got to listen to the Junior Room perform 'Oíche Shamhna at assembly.

The pupils had great fun today dressing up in their wonderful costumes. Happy Halloween from everyone in St. Brigid's National School.

The enrolment for new entrants will begin in October this year as per requirements set by the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Admissions for 25/26 will open today the 25th October. If you have a child, or know a new family, who intend to apply for enrolment in the next school year, please take note of the above. Applications can be downloaded from the school website or collected from the school office.

Team Hope's Christmas Shoebox Appeal is an annual campaign that delivers gifts straight into the hands of children affected by poverty. Every year we are proud to support the Team Hope Shoebox appeal. We are asking families to put together a shoebox of gifts that will be given to a child affected by poverty. Please include €5 with each shoebox in the envelope provided. This is a wonderful opportunity to teach children about the importance of giving to those less fortunate so we hope that as many people as possible will get involved. Shoeboxes must be brought to school on Monday, 4th November. We also accept filled shoeboxes from friends and neighbours. Additional leaflets are available from the school if required.

Remember the 4 W's

Wash: A toothbrush, hairbrush or facecloth

Write: A notepad, colouring book or colours

Wear: A hat, gloves, socks or scarf

Wow: A little toy, skipping rope, doll or ball.

The HSE school teams are visiting our school on Monday, 4th November to offer vaccines to children in Junior and Senior Infants. Information leaflets and consent forms have been sent home with the pupils. Please ensure forms are returned with the pupils on the first day after midterm.

• Protects Against Flu Complications: The nasal flu vaccine helps prevent serious flu-related issues like pneumonia and worsened asthma, keeping children healthier.
• Reduces Flu Spread: Vaccinating children helps protect vulnerable family members and reduces flu transmission in schools and the community.
• Needle-Free and Child-Friendly: The nasal spray is a painless, easy option, reducing stress for children while providing effective flu protection.
• Further information on the vaccine, which may help you decide if you wish your child to receive it or not, is available here on the HSE website.
• Please accept/decline permission by Monday, 4th November to say if you would/would not like your child to receive the nasal flu vaccine here in St. Brigid's N.S.

If your child is unwell, keep them home from school. Many children might have a runny nose or a slight cough as the seasons change. However, if a child is feeling unwell they should be at home. For example, if your child:

• has a fever (a temperature of 38 degrees higher),
• is low in energy,
• has diarrhoea or vomiting, cough or a sore throat.

They should stay at home until those symptoms have finished. Children unwell with symptoms of one infection are more likely to get infected with another infection too, which might make them more unwell. Staying home when unwell will help prevent the spread of viruses to other children, families and staff. Here is a useful graphic which tells you how long children should stay home across a number of different illnesses.

Parent Teacher Meetings are scheduled to take place for pupils from Senior Infants to 6th Class on the week of 18th November. Information will be circulated on Aladdin once we return after the midterm break. As per the norm, we will have a staged release of PT meeting time slots on Aladdin with slots offered to families of 2 or more children initially, and then all families. We strongly encourage parents to take the time to meet and speak with class teachers about their individual child and their progress to date in this school year. Junior Infant Parent Teacher meetings will take place in January 2025.

We will be looking for volunteers for our Parents' Association. We would encourage all parents to join our Parents’ Association, by coming along to the AGM, which will be held in November. It is vital that we can continue with the great work and ensure school fundraisers are organised to enhance learning experiences for our pupils.

Our school will be taking part in the Creative Cluster initiative this year. Ms McNally has attended training on this initiative. This year we are concentrating on Drama and as part of this we are putting together a drama box for use in Drama lessons. We would be really grateful if you could choose one thing in your house that you no longer need and feel would be useful as a prop for our Drama lessons. Please just choose one item. If you have a suitcase on wheels at home that you no longer need and would like to donate to the school as a storage box for the props we would be very grateful. Many thanks in advance. See below some ideas for inclusion:

Wishlist for our Drama Box

• Top Hat, wizard hat, shawl, cape, old tickets, brochures, fans, cane, baskets, aprons, waistcoats, crown, Large pieces of cloth in a variety of colours- large dust cloth neutral colour
• Gold red colours, Trunk, Bodhran - musical instrument to make sound-scapes
• Moroccan bells, A variety of hats, puppets, microphone, cauldron, Old Keys

The Enrolment Ceremony for the Confirmation class will take place on Sunday, 8th December at 11am.

The Ceremony of Light for the Confirmation class will take place on Sunday, 23rd March at 11am.

The Parish Office wishes to inform parents of pupils in 6th class that Confirmation will take place on Thursday, 27th March at 11am.

The Parish Office wishes to inform parents of pupils in 2nd class that First Holy Communion will take place on Friday, 9th May at 11am in The Holy Trinity Church, Derrinturn.

All upcoming events for the reminder of the school year, as they become known to us, will be recoded on the Aladdin Connect app, in the 'Calendar' section. Please check the Aladdin Connect app regularly for notifications.

Please follow and share our school X/formally Twitter account @brigid_ns to receive reports of all the latest news, events, photos, activities and great work being done by the pupils and staff in our school each and every day.

Should you have any concern please note that the Designated Liaison Person (DLP) is Nóra Lynch and the Acting Deputy Designated Liaison Person is Eilís McCabe.

We had another busy and productive month in school and the pupils are all excited to be starting their midterm break today. There was a great buzz of excitement around the school today and fantastic costumes on display and the pupils enjoyed the fun activities.

Wishing you and your families a very enjoyable mid term break. Thank you for your ongoing support of our pupils, staff and school. Well done to our pupils and staff for their hard work throughout a very busy half-term. I look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday, 4th November.

Beannachtaí na Samhna oraibh go léir!

Le gach dea-ghuí

Nóra Lynch

Principal, St. Brigid's N.S.