Dear parents/ Guardians,

I hope you are keeping well. Our news this week is as follows

• 1^st-6^th classes will be doing standardised tests in English reading and maths starting this week and being completed over the next few weeks. These tests measure your child’s achievement compared to other children in all schools at the same class or age level. The results of these tests will be communicated on the end of year report. These tests are only one measure of your child’s learning this year and teachers will also take into consideration their work throughout the year, if they can explain their opinions and ideas, how they answer questions both orally and in written form, how they create things or their ability to problem solve across all subjects. Standardised tests are not administered in Junior or Senior Infants.
• We are currently doing a stock take and audit of books we have here in the school. If you have any PM readers at home belonging to the school we would appreciate if you could return them. We generally have 6 copies of each PM title and when a copy goes missing it makes it difficult to use that title with a group for Guided Reading. Have a look around the house, under beds, in cupboards and we would be delighted to get any titles back. Similarly, if you come across any AR books we would be delighted to get them back also.
• Discover Primary Science and Maths Programme commissioned five artists, each paired with an SFI Research Centre, to create an artwork which interprets a scientific concept. On Wednesday, 4^th class pupils took part in a virtual exhibition of three art pieces: ‘The Invisible Made Visible’, ‘Machine’s Eye View’ and ‘Shifting Patterns of Light’. Each artist collaborated with scientists who inspired their work. Through ‘The Invisible Made Visible’, the pupils learned about DNA and how the process of PCR testing is similar to the process of lino printing. Shevaun Doherty created a beautiful print of jellyfish and worked in collaboration with APC Microbiome Ireland. We all avoid jellyfish while swimming in the same way that we are avoiding the spread of Covid19 through social distancing. Peter Nash collaborated with Lero in creating ‘Machine’s Eye View’. The pupils learned about self-driving cars and that they will be better drivers than their mums and dads! David Beattie partnered with Future Neuro in creating ‘Shifting Patterns of Light’. The artwork was inspired by connectivity in the brain. We learned that our sense of smell brings memories back faster than any other sense. The artists spent approximately two months on each art piece. Thank you to all involved for such an interesting and engaging webinar! 
• 3^rd class pupils have been working on the Junior Achievement programme virtually over the past few weeks. They have been learning about people who live and work in the community and the contribution they make to society as a whole. It is done in a very hands on way. The facilitator joins both classes via video link at the same time. Well done 3^rd class!
• Thank you to Shannon Tidy Towns who donated some lovely books to the school recently on biodiversity in your garden. They also gave us some lovely posters in relation to the importance of pollinators. We have put a map of Shannon up in the hall showing the no cut areas in Shannon to encourage wildlife and support biodiversity. Lots of pupils has spotted the signs when they were out and about around Shannon.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, Principal