First Holy Communion & Confirmation Meeting:

Parents of children making their First Holy Communion and Confirmation were invited to a meeting in the school on Monday 5th November with Fr. Dónal.

Following the meeting Fr. Dónal Roche has organised Sacramental Preparation Masses at Star of the Sea Church, Brittas Bay which First Communion and Confirmation children can attend. All Masses are on Sunday at 10.30am on the following dates the 20th January, 17th February, 24th March and 14th April.

FAI Futsal:

Third and Fourth class took part in an interschool Futsal Competition on Thursday 15th November in Arklow. It was extremely well run. The children really enjoyed it and every child participated. Our thanks to Richie Fitzgibbon and his team for the invitation and organisation of this event.

Junior Infants Vaccinations:

On November 21st the HSE visited the school to carry out vaccinations on Junior Infants.

Tug of War Blitz

Third and Fourth class were invited to take part in the ‘Tug of War Blitz’ in Shoreline Leisure Centre, Greystones on Thursday 29th November. This was run by The Wicklow Sports Partnership who had previously been to the school to train 3rd and 4th classes in tug of war skills. The Brittas Bay teams gave their all and won several of their bouts; it was great fun and a chance to try a different sport. Well done all!

Christmas Plays:

The Christmas plays took place in school on Monday 3rd December and Tuesday 4th December. The children were amazing and they all performed so well over the two days. Due to the lack of space a great effort was put in by everyone to facilitate the children getting to the performances and allowing as many parents and families as possible to see the plays. Well done to everyone. A big thank you to staff and parents who helped on both nights.

The Wizard of Oz:

On the 11th December all classes went to Dominican College, Wicklow to see their musical ‘The Wizard of Oz ‘. Some past pupils were involved in the musical. Congratulations to them all on a great performance. The children really enjoyed it from infants to sixth.

Blainroe Lodge Nursing Home:

On Thursday 20th December children from Mrs. O’ Doherty’s room and Mrs. Burke’s room visited Blainroe Lodge Nursing Home and performed Scrooge for the residents. The Parents’ Association have kindly paid for a bus to bring children to Blainroe.

Fundraising:

A huge thanks to all the parents that helped out with the Christmas Raffle, Christmas Market and the bucket collection. €5,200.00 euro was raised for the school and will go towards funding for much needed technology for the school.

The winners of the Christmas Raffle which took place in the school on the 10th December were, 1st prize €300 Smyths Voucher April Donohoe, 2nd prize €200 Dundrum Town Voucher Louise McCall and 3rd Prize €150 Gaiety Panto Voucher Gina Byrne.

€307 was made on the Christmas cards. Thank you to the parents who orgnised the Christmas card fundraiser. This will go towards the running of the school.

Awards:

Congratulations and well done to:

• Ricardo Whelan who won the World Champion Kickboxing 2018
• Ríonach Fleming who was awarded highest mark in her group for Individual Singing in Leinster
• Leila Fitzpatrick ran in the All-Ireland Cross-Country in Abbotstown in Dublin. She finished in the top 10 for Leinster and qualified for the National Cross Country.
• Caitlin O’Connor won a medal in Gymnastics Ireland in The National Sports Centre, Dublin.
• Anna Morrissey, Joseph Morrissey and Sloane Rangitaawa who represented Scoil Mhuire Réalt na Mara in horse riding in the interschool’s fundraiser in Wexford Equestrian Centre.

Recycled Christmas Decoration Competition:

Children from Mrs. O’ Doherty’s room participated in the Recycled Christmas Tree Decoration competition, run by Wicklow County Council. There were lots of lovely, imaginative decorations made, and entries were chosen from the school to go forward to the competition – Sarah Curry 4th class, Grace Donohoe 5th class and Senan O’Donovan 5th class. Sarah won a prize in the county wide competition. Well done to the winners and all who participated in this very enjoyable project.

INTO Anniversary Competition:

Sixth Class composed a poem for the INTO anniversary competition and we were very lucky to win €150. The class have decided to put it towards a trip in 2019.

Open/Enrolment Day:

Open/Enrolment day for Junior Infants starting in September 2019 will take place in the school on Friday 18th January 2019. If you know of any children of school going age in the area, please let them know.

Arklow Music Festival:

Arklow Music Festival is fast approaching, and will take place from Saturday March 2nd to Sunday March 10th 2019. Details will be given out after the Christmas holidays. This has proven to provide children with an invaluable skills set going forward. It helps them deal more effectively with oral presentations which now constitute a large proportion of their secondary school and university exams.

Accord:

Accord will visit the school in May 2019 and give a follow up talk on growing up to 6th class.

Garda Vetting:

Parents wishing to help with any activities in the school must have Garda vetting. Please contact the school office for details on how to apply.

The Staff and Board of Management would like to wish all families a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Nollaig Shona daoibh go Léir agus Athbhliain faoimhaise daoibh freisin.