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Principal�s Note
Dear parents and guardians
With just a few days to go to the Easter holidays its time to gather our thoughts about BETNS� progress and development.
With the continued hard work of the supportive teams of the BOM, the staff, PA and our recently formed committees the school is putting a new phase of development in place. From gardening to IT, from Maintenance to PR and fundraising the schools development is both targeted and structured. On 29th April the Department of Education and Science have facilitated a School Planning Day where it is envisaged that representatives from the entire school team would come together to discuss our joint vision for the school and to plan for the future to ensure BETNS is a school of excellence. Good communication, teamwork and planning are vital for this process to be fruitful. Your thoughts and ideas are vital to our school planning day. The PA will invite suggestions before 29 April.
As school principal I am delighted to see the school progress in this collaborative way. I am always delighted to bring back to our school the latest trends in educational thinking and best practice for excellence in school development from conferences and workshops. As a teaching principal my dual roles of classroom teaching and daily agent of management are combined. From time to time urgent issues require my immediate attention. The welfare of the children in both my class and the entire school are always my priority. With this in mind every effort is made to maintain a consistent working environment within the school and classroom. The priority is to facilitate a happy learning environment for the children.
Wishing you all a very enjoyable holiday and see you all on 31st March for our summer term.
Rosemary

New Computers
We are very excited to announce the school is getting new computers for every classroom and a new laser colour printer. A grant of 5000 euro from the Department of Education will fund most of this IT development. We are working towards having our classrooms on a wireless internet network. Many thanks to Paul Leach and Ian Mc Donnell for their assistance.

Assemblies
Our weekly assemblies themes are based on Educate Together�s Ethical Education Curriculum.
This term the Junior and Senior infants have presented assemblies to the rest of the school on Friendship, Compromise and Solving Problems, Recycling and Reducing Waste, Saving Water and Electricity, Chinese New Year and St Brigid.
We also had an assembly on basic First Aid procedures and on understanding conditions such as Asthma, Epilepsy and allergies.
A huge thank you to Yuki and Ian Mc Donnell and Maria Dowling Diez for two very special assemblies. Yuki and Ian taught us about Japanese culture and we were really impressed with Yuki�s origami skills. The Japanese sweet rice treats were a big hit too. Maria joined us to share the Spanish celebration of Easter.

Parents� Association Fundraising Events
The Parents� Association have organised a Bag Pack in SuperValu on Thursday 13th March from 3 pm to 9pm. Ongoing Coin Collection: Money boxes have been sent home to store any loose change. Once a month we invite you to return the boxes to the school. Once the money has been counted the money boxes will be returned. Our thanks to Fiona Browne for organising this. Over 5000 euro was raised at the Race Night in December.

Registration Forms
It is essential that parents or guardians keep us informed of information such as medical issues or allergies. Information will be treated confidentially.

Nutritionist visits with a healthy Eating Message
Marie, a Nutritionist from Super Valu, visited each class last Friday. The children discussed healthy foods and how to keep our bodies healthy. The best part was the boxes of boxes of fruit to enjoy. Thanks to all who sent in Kids in Action tokens. We will be ordering our free sports equipment shortly.

Competitions
The Senior classes have been busy entering the INTO Handwriting Competition as well a cookery and recipe competition. They are also entering the Community Games Art Competition.

P.R.
We have compiled a school brochure that is available to interested parties. The Open Day on Wednesday 2nd April 7.30 pm has been advertised in local press. Thanks to all the parents helping out with the PR committee.

Magic of Music Workshops
Magic of Music Workshops are happening on this Friday.The children will have the opportunity to cover elements of the Music curriculum with a visiting specialist.

Student Council Report
Thanks to all who bought our Valentines roses it was a real success. The Student Council have meetings most Thursdays. We talk about how to make the school better. We came up with lots of ideas and from our ideas we chose Green Day to celebrate Patrick�s Day and Seachtain na Gaeilge. Green Day is when we all dress in green and we will have lots of games in Irish, Irish songs and dancing. If the weather is good we will have a parade. Some children had an idea of selling flowers for Valentine�s Day. We all agreed. It was a success. 33.15 euro was raised. The money was distributed to each class to buy art materials or games. Empowering children to make a difference through positive action is a core element of the Educate Together Ethical Curriculum, which includes strands such as understanding democracy, decision-making processes, social inclusion and equality. Children are encouraged to actively contribute to our schools development by means of the Student Council.

Best Wishes
Our best wishes to all those in 2nd and 6th class preparing for their Communion and Confirmation with the after school scripture classes.

Children Eggcited about Pancake Tuesday
By 4th class Student
On Tuesday the 5th February we decided to hold a pancake party in the school in aid of the National Children�s Hospital. The parents made pancakes and crepes and we had great fun picking our own toppings. There were balloons and we had pancakes with chocolate spread, bananas, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, maple syrup, lemon and sugar and chocolate and strawberry syrup. All the classes really enjoyed it and we played toss the pancake. Elaine Mooney and Siobhan O Neill heated all the pancakes and Maria Dowling Diez and Bridie Mulally helped out as well. We got a thank you letter back from the National Children�s Hospital because we raised 101.00 euro. I can't wait for next year.

Lollipop Day a Sweet Success
As you all know on the 20th to the 22nd of February at the end of the school day lollipops were sold to raise money for Oesophageal Cancer. They raised a total of �160 from the lollies sold at the school. This money contributed towards the �600 raised in total that week. We would like to thank you all for the generosity, and we hope you enjoyed the lollipops!

Website Update
The school website has been redesigned. We have a new email address very shortly.
We will be adding to the site gradually. Many thanks to Nad Strelitz for his help.

World Book Day
The entire school celebrated the joy of reading last week with many activities. On Thursday some parents joined us on World Book Day and read stories to the classes. Friday was a colourful affair as the children dressed as characters from their favourite books. We all braved the chilly weather for a fun parade.

Thank you
Thanks to all the kind help in tidying our gardens, additional cleaning and the help with maintenance around the school. The Ancillary Grant from the Department of Education is not sufficient to pay for all maintenance and upkeep of the so we are reliant on those who give so generously of their time.

Seachtain na Gaeilge and La le Padraig
Ta gach duine ag caint cupla focal i rith an seacthaine.Beidh assembly Gaeilge spesialta again De Cheadaoin. As well as our assembly on Thursday, on Friday we are having a green day. There will be face painting, games, songs, tin whistle and Irish dancing. Pupils are invited to wear green on Friday.

Sports
A committee has been set up recently to develop sports at BETNS. We will let you know of projects when they are finalised. Any parent with an interest in sport and who is willing to help please contact us. Football after school continues and basketball will start for the senior classes in the Summer Term. Planning is also underway for our annual Sports Day.

Gardening
A gardening committee has been set up to help maintain and develop our lovely grounds.
Any other green fingers out there�?
National Tree week was celebrated with a tree planting. Wicklow County Council donated the trees, which thankfully we have the space to plant. Many thanks to all the adults who helped out and those who donated plants and equipment.
We are also fortunate to have received a very generous gardening grant of 500 euro from Ballyknockan Heritage Group courtesy of Paul Sullivan.