News & Events
Spring Newsletter 2023
Message from our Principal
Thank you to every member of our remarkable school community for making our time in school this term so vibrant and happy. The whole school community continues to provide wonderful opportunities for students, whilst maintaining a safe learning environment. An enthusiasm prevails in every aspect of our school. Activities and events this term have included choir, dance, swimming, forest school, sports team events and more recently The Book Fair, attended by parents, friends, and neighbours in the local community. Senior students are engaging in the School Leaver’s programme and preparing for the next step in their educational journey. LCA students have excelled in their contribution and commitment to year 1 of this course. Junior Certificate students are preparing for exams and putting the finishing touches to their portfolios. In addition, wonderful progress continues in the Primary school, with emphasis on literacy skills and the new Primary Language Curriculum. Spring is most definitely in the air, as we look optimistically to our new term which begins on Monday, 17th April 2023. In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy Easter!! Glenda.
Events and Celebrations
Wear Green for St. Patricks Day.
World Book Day
This year we celebrated World Book day on March 2nd. We had zooms with authors Visits to Book Centre Used out tokens to buy books down town Recorded Story telling Read eBook’s online. Dress up Day on Following Monday. Thank you Miss Sinnott for organising the activities.
Book Fair
We held our very first Book Fair March 15th. We sold new books from Scholastic Books and Preloved books, from donations. We sold over 170 Preloved books. We received Free books from Scholastic Books to start our new School Mobile library.
Thank You All So Much!!
Miss Sinnott
School Based Summer Provision ‘Building Confidence and Connections’
It is our intention to offer School Based Summer provision this year under the Special Schools Pilot Scheme. The Board of Management have approved the initiative for two weeks this summer: From Monday July 3rd to Friday July 14th. Miss Melissa Sinnott will be the Programme Manager.
The students will be offered four hours per day of student centred, play based engagement. The school day will be from 10am to 2pm. School Transport will be organised. There will be no lunch Breaks or School Lunches! There will be snack breaks which each parent will need to provide for their own child.
It is our wish to accommodate all interested students, but if we cannot recruit enough staff we will be starting with the youngest learners. Staff will be recruited and paid by the department in accordance with student enrolment and attendance.
If you wish to enrol your son/daughter, please contact Miss Sinnott. msinnott@ladyoffatimaschool.ie or Class teacher for a school application form.
Senior Primary
The pupils in Senior Primary have been very busy. We are preparing for our Confirmation which is on the 12th of May. We are learning about the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Ten Commandments and the Seven Sacraments. We are also researching Saint names that we identify with.
We are really enjoying drama. We have just finished dance. It was great fun! We are starting swimming this Friday, which we are super excited about!
Preparation Class
News from PC, we have had a great term. WE had dance with Johnny, Guitar with David and Forest School. We also have 5 students making their Confirmation in May, preparation is ongoing along with 10 students from Mrs Ryan’s Senior Primary. Amy, Kyle, Leighton and Scott will be making their Confirmation with students from Senior Primary on May 12th. Issac will be making his in his local parish in April.
Post Primary 1.
Busy term for our students in PP1. Sarah , Caroline and Ms O’Meara have been very impressed with the students hard work and dedication.
We would like to thank the parents for donating board games to the classroom. The kids are going to enjoy playing these moving forward on wet days and at golden time.
It’s important to learn skills such as turn taking, losing graciously, and winning while remaining humble.
Congratulations Pierce !!!on his success with his dancing. His trophies are testament to the work he has put in. He has been busy practicing for the parade in Dublin as well.
Well done to Mia on her boxing success this term as well. They are both doing themselves, their families, and the school proud.
Well done to the pupils on their dance term. A special mention to Eoin who put us all to shame with his dance moves . I don’t know how the kids memorise the routines as I forget them weekly.
It was great to be able to use the kitchen again this term . Learning life skills such as cooking and cleaning are invaluable lessons for the students, and they seem to be benefiting no end from the experiences they are having in the kitchen .
I would also like to mention the fun that they have been having at drama. The acting skills at times with the improvisations they do are fantastic.
The students had great fun for St. Patrick’s day doing activities in the hall and a big march around the school. Much fun was had .
The students continue to participate in learning how to care for themselves and the world around them. Personal care has been a topic we have really focused on this term and how to take care of our bodies and what to fuel our bodies with . We have also focused on creating some fun board displays in our classroom. Focusing on our emotions, food and wellbeing and finally, the Egyptians .
Students are learning the time and are practicing this skill. Keep practising at home everyone as it’s an important skill we would love to learn this year .
We have also listened to music and responded to how it makes us feel This is part of their Junior Certificate level 2 programme.
Sincerest thanks to parents for your continued support throughout the year. We look forward to working with you for the summer term . Thank you to Sarah and Caroline for all your support and the care you give the children . You are invaluable to the children and to me .
News From Post Primary 2.
Typing Club
Everyone in PP2 Class are learning to position their fingers properly on a keyboard and learning to increase their speed in typing.
KINDNESS BOARD
PP2 made a kindness board where everyone is reminded of the importance to being kind to each other. Students could share hearts, with kind words on it and everyone enjoyed looking at the board.
GARDEN PROJECT COMPETITION
Class PP2 is going to do the Budding Gardener Project which is sponsored by Woodies.
The project starts on the 10th of March 2023.
We have to plan where we are going to place our garden patch. We have to select the area to place the garden.
The area has to be 1.5 metres x 1.5 metres exactly.
We can grow flowers and vegetables from seed and plant them when they grow a bit.
Every student filled an egg carton with soil and seeds and we hope to have loads of Vegetables and Flowers ready to eat in June. If we win the competition we could win 2000 Euro for the school. Woodies kindly gave us 50 euro to buy the seeds. The parents council gave the teacher, 20 euro also so we will spend that also on more plants. The sleepers and the soil were sponsored by the Principals Husband. Thank you to everyone for their help and hopefully we will win.
Post Primary 3.
PP3 are busy few months since Christmas. They have been working through our Level 2 work. The students have been hard at work to achieve their goals. They put the knowledge that they learned in class to make some interesting and yummy items! Using a measuring jug, they measured out the ingredients they needed to make some slime!
They then put their weighing skills to the test to make their ultimate pizza. Everyone was very brave and tried a new topping on one of their slices.
We are bringing a bit of nature into the classroom by planting some seeds and our bird feeder on our windows. Hopefully we’ll get a few new visitors! We also created our own little bit of nature with our daffodils.
To celebrate St. Bridget, the class was inspired by her story and created their very own cloak which grows and grows.
For something different the class tie dyed their unique bags and t-shirts.
Post-Primary 4
PP4 worked really well throughout this term. The students have engaged enthusiastically with their Junior Certificate subjects. The students continued completing their art portfolio’s. We had wonderful recipes made during Home Economics class. The students began attending integrated PE lessons at The Presentation Secondary School.. The students enjoyed the games and integrating with the students from the Presentation. To quote Reece and Oona “It was very very enjoyable” and “the school is really cool”. We would like to thank the students for being so welcoming to our students and also to PE teacher Mr. Doran for his time and support. See pictures of great fun and enjoyment below at the Presentation. The students took part in the St Patricks Day events within the school and really enjoyed the Book Fair. Students took part in the Green Schools, World Water Day activities. They enjoyed each activity and see below students undertaking the Walk for Water challenge. Thanks for organising great events.
Leaving Cert Applied L.C.A.
The LCA class had such a busy term completing their assignments.
As part of their social studies course they went on an educational trip to the 1798 centre and Enniscorthy castle. An extremely fun and interesting day was had by all.
The class went to visit the revamped Art centre where they saw an exhibition by Serena Caulfield. They were also given a tour of the facilities by a wonderful guide who has worked there for 25 years.
Finally, the students in LCA have set up their own business ‘Chirpy Logs’. These wonderful Decorative Easter logs will be on sale from next week. This is part of their vocational education task.
Vocational Training
Vocational Training have had a busy term taking part in various activities such as Dance, Guitar, Cooking and the Touch, Type, Read Spell programme in Wexford library. Some of the members in our class have won various medals in swimming, gymnastics, and special Olympics. Carima Murphy joined the glee club in Paris where they had a fabulous time! Both Jennie and Carima enjoyed their week of sampling in Windmill Adult services in February.
Post Primary 6
PP6 has being very busy the last 3 months. There have started their Junior Cycle woodwork projects and worked hard on their woodwork portfolios.
PP6 through Maynooth University have been taking part on Microsoft Dreamspace activities. As part of this we went to the Microsoft headquarters in Dublin and spent the day learning about coding. We got a tour of the amazing building worth €135 million. PP6 had a great day.
At the moment, we have 2 students from Maynooth visiting us every Thursday and we are on the process of coding our own individual games.
A lot of PP6 students have completed sampling/ work experience as part of their school leavers programs with some more sampling taking place after Easter.
As part of the School Leavers Program we also visited, Youth-Train, Rehab and the National Learning Network recently.
Alongside all this PP6 have been working very hard preparing for their Junior Cycle exams in June.
Enjoy your well-earned break over Easter.
World Water Day Walk
On Wednesday 22nd of March, students in Our Lady of Fatima took part in various activities for World Water Day. Students learned about the scarcity of clean water in less developed countries and how women and children walk miles every day for a water source. To show our support students “Walked for Water”. Students also took part in a Water Droplet hunt. 116 water droplets were hidden across the school. Sean in PP5, Bruce in PP1 and Tyler in SP collected the most droplets. Students were also asked to create posters on what water meant to them and why it is such an important resource. Well done to everyone for getting involved!
Winning Project for Water Week. Junior Primary decided to make a well as they had been discussing the distance people had to walk to access fresh water. Lots of Cross curricular links.
WELL DONE J. P.
Photo’s from Ms Leacy
Home Economic s and Quiz Team
Senior Sports
Sports Teams in Basketball, Soccer and Rings travelled to Kilkenny recently for some friendly games.
