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Our school is very committed in ensuring the needs of all of our pupils are met, especially those who are most in need.

Our DEIS Action Plan 2023-202 outlines ways in which our school will support students & our targets for the coming years.

Our DEIS plan can be viewed by following this link: https://www.presentationprimarywaterford.ie/assets/2023/11/DEIS-Plan-for-Presentation-Primary-School.pdf

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We love celebrating the diversity of our students.

Ms McKeon has been busy updating our world map, representing all of the different nationalities in our school. This is located on the bottom corridor of our school, close to reception. We love showing it to visitors that come to our school.

We have students from 36 different countries in our school!!

Our students love looking at this map and learning about different countries.

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Our students have been busy exploring what it means to be a School of Sanctuary.

Students learned that sanctuary means a place of refuge and protection. We explored that a school of sanctuary is a place that is welcoming and safe for everyone, it is an inclusive environment that benefits everybody, especially families seeking sanctuary.

Students discussed our school and it's current practices and we all agreed that our school is definitely a safe, welcoming place.

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Friendship has been one of the main themes on our School of Sanctuary journey so far. In our school we are inclusive, we treat others with kindness and respect and we celebrate each other!

Friendship week is always a very enjoyable week, where our students were busy exploring the theme of friendship through lots of lovely activities and also working with their buddy classes.  Our classes are busy working on our school song ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ – we can’t wait to sing it together at assembly!

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Toy Story - You've got a friend in me - Randy Newman - Lyrics

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We are so incredibly proud of our wonderful school community, for the amazing response to our school Christmas Appeal.

A massive thank you to everyone for coming on board and getting involved, your donations will go a long way to ensuring that lots of people in our community will have food this Christmas! Well done to our 6th Class pupils and our School of Sanctuary Ambassadors for leading this initiative! The season of goodwill is well and truly alive in the Presentation.

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Presentation pupils are spreading kindness this Christmas...

We are so incredibly proud of our wonderful school community, for the amazing response to our school Christmas Appeal.

A massive thank you to everyone for coming on board and getting involved, your donations will go a long way to ensuring that lots of people in our community will have food this Christmas! Well done to our 6th Class pupils and our School of Sanctuary Ambassadors for leading this initiative! The season of goodwill is well and truly alive in the Presentation.

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Presentation pupils are spreading kindness this Christmas... We are so incredibly proud of our wonderful school community, for the amazing response to our school Christmas Appeal. A massive thank you to everyone for coming on board and getting involved, your donations will go a long way to ensuring that lots of people in our community will have food this Christmas!

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We have buddy benches in our school, where children can go and sit if they are feeling alone, or left out in the yard. Students and teachers go over and check on students and help their find their way.

Our buddy benches are really useful tools!

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Our school community works to ensure that every child sees themselves represented in the school, on posters, in toys that resemble, depict, and represent them.

Our school recently purchased diversity dolls, which are used in our infant classes and are really loved by the students!

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If everyone does something small, together we can make a big difference!

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We managed to fill 6 cars with donations for people and groups within our local community!

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Our SoS committee recently ran a poster and colouring competition for 3rd - 6th class.

The theme of the competition was 'Our school, a place of sanctuary'.

We were so excited to see the finished pieces!

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Our sixth class students were our School of Sanctuary Ambassadors for the 2022/2023 school year and what a wonderful bunch they were!

These students laid the foundations of our SoS journey and have left a wonderful legacy in our school!

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Our 6th class of 2023 put together a wish list for our SoS Ambassadors.

This was shared with our current students and they were asked to consider these points before putting themselves forward!

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We were absolutely delighted to welcome Homayoon to our school in December, as part of our Croke Park hour.

Homayoon spoke about becoming a School of Sanctuary and his positive experience of how a welcoming, safe environment can have on a new student.

He spoke about his journey to Ireland and the difficulties he faced.

We are so appreciative of his support!

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This year, we decided to invite students from 3rd to 6th class to become School of Sanctuary Ambassadors. Students met with Ms Duke & Mrs O'Donoghue in the school hall and discussed the role and what we would be looking for.

Students were invited to put themselves forward, if interested, to their class teacher.

We now have 20 wonderful ambassadors, who are leading our school on this journey. They are:

3rd Class: Emma, Paige & Melissa.

4th Class: Robyn, Sienna, Matea & Victoria

5th Class: Zainab, Emily, Lucy, Gracie, Nandhana, Abigail, Kim & Jesh.

6th Class: Demilade, Lily-Grace, Ellen, Mia & Kimi.

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Welcome to our school padlet!

The Presentation Primary School is an all-girls school apart from two Speech and Language Classes which caters for boys and girls. We aim to provide a learning environment that is inclusive and welcoming.

Our dedicated staff are committed to the welfare of the pupils and to providing a broad range of learning experiences in a safe, supportive, caring environment. Our school is a happy place where the pupils engage productively in learning.

In partnership with parents, we work to achieve the best possible outcomes for all pupils so they can reach their full potential in body, mind and spirit. The Presentation ethos, inspired by Nano Nagle, is to cherish all and be especially mindful of those most in need.

We hope this padlet will convey to you the vibrant, creative atmosphere in our school where everyone is treated with courtesy and respect.

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Students in our school have come from all over the world!

Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Congo, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy,Jamaica, Libya, Lithuania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa,Spain, Sudan, Syria,Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe & Zambia

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6th class students were really intrigued by a conversation we had with author Kensika Monshengwo, during his visit to our school.

We were amazed by the amount of languages spoken by our students. We decided to do a survey of our school and make a list of these languages - we couldn't believe how many there were! We found that students in our school speak over 40 different languages!

We decided to research how to say 'welcome' in each of these languages and we created a display for our school reception!

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We have 5 teachers on our School of Sanctuary committee this year and we are so grateful for all of the wonderful work they do for our school.

Our SoS coordinator, Miss Duke, regularly meets with Mrs O'Mara (Principal) to update her on our journey - we are very lucky to have such a supportive principal!

These teachers are: Miss Duke (6th class), Ms Feighery (2nd Class), Mrs O'Donoghue (3rd Class), Mrs Mundy (Senior Infants) and Ms. N. Power (Senior Speech and Language Class).

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Presentation Primary School, Waterford is a Catholic Community which aims:

To provide a caring environment where management, staff and parents work in partnership through mutual respect to develop the spiritual, personal and academic potential of each child according to his/ her talents, skills and abilities.

In keeping with the original vision of Nano Nagle, to secure a broad and balanced curriculum for all children especially those most in need.

To support the on-going professional development of management and staff.

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Our SoS journey officially began in 2022, when Mrs O'Mara (Principal), Ms McGovern (HSCL) and Mrs O'Dwyer attended a talk in Mount Sion CBS in October.

It was so lovely to meet other schools already on their SoS journey and those starting out, just like us!

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In November 2022, Mrs O'Mara & Miss Duke met with Homayoon Shirzad, a wonderful School of Sanctuary Ambassador, about the journey and the next steps.

It was agreed that Homayoon would come and speak to staff at a staff meeting about School of Sanctuaries and his journey to Ireland.

Homayoon spoke about becoming a member school by signing our school pledge.

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Our students were introduced to the idea of becoming a School of Sanctuary by their teachers.

Students were invited to sign our school pledge to show their commitment to making our school a safe, welcoming and inclusive place!

This commitment was renewed by all classes in October 2023, to include all of our new students in our school.

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After a very insightful guest speaker in December 2022 (Homayoon Shirzad), our staff were invited to sign our school pledge.

This pledge has been updated, to include all new staff members.

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Following our discussion on the meaning of sanctuary, a student mentioned she had heard the word before, she had read about an an elephant sanctuary.

The students had a wonderful discussion and deciphered that an elephant sanctuary is a place of refuge for the elephants, escaping lives of intense labour, neglect and beatings!

We love seeing students using their knowledge and applying it to different situations!

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Students in our school have been learning about what a refugee, migrant, asylum seeker are and the differences between them.

We explored the emotions they feel at various points in their journey. Students within classes shared their stories with their classes too, which was a really special moment.

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Our 4th, 5th and 6th class pupils took part in the 'Refugee Journey webinar' on to mark World Human Rights Day.

This webinar was a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about seeking sanctuary here in Ireland, hearing directly from refugee and migrant communities, with a focus on exploring practical ways to help.

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What does a new student coming to our school need?

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What does a new student coming to our school need?

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At a recent staff meeting, we explored some of the barriers people face coming to Ireland, as well as the supports they need when they come to our school. It came staff a chance to reflect on current practices in our school too!

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Ms Duke presented a powerpoint to staff which introduced School of Sanctuary & shared a brainstorm of the current practices in our school.

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We completed a student wellbeing survey! We wanted to get an insight into our students and their experiences in school.

91% of our students said our school was a friendly and welcoming place.

94% of the students said that they feel happy in school

94% said that they feel safe in school.

There were excellent conversations had around this and classes explored what our school does to make students feel happy, safe and welcoming!

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Members of staff in our school engaged with some of the Mary Immaculate College Spring Teaching for Inclusion Webinars.

These webinars included:

Seminar 5: Discussing Migration in Irish Classrooms: Strategies and Resources for Exploring Migration with Pupils. (December 2022)

Seminar 4: Schools as Places of Sanctuary and Safety: Growing and Sustaining a Whole-School Culture of Sanctuary for Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and All Who Seek Safety in the School Environment. (March 2023)

Seminar 6: You, Me and Diversity: Discussing Experiences of Refugees and Asylum Seekers Through Children's Literature Presented by Dr. Anne Dolan (April 2023)

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Some of our staff members completed the Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom course with Rahoo.ie.

It prompted some great conversations amongst staff and ideas from the course were shared to ensure our classes are inclusive environments that celebrate diversity.

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Staff were provided with this wonderful resource, from School of Sanctuary Ireland, to ensure they had the relevant information and understanding.

Staff were also shown the many resources available on the SoS Ireland Website so that they could explore them in more detail!

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As a school, we are very much inspired by the work of Nano Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Order. Nano devoted her life to serving the most vulnerable in society and we endeavour to continue her legacy in all that we do.

In the face of fear, she chose to be daring,

In the face of anxiety, she chose to trust,

In the face of impossibility, she chose to begin.

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Donate to Nano Nagle Place!

Your donation supports heritage, learning, social justice & community development.

The Story of Nano Nagle

"In the face of fear, she chose to be daring,
In the face of anxiety, she chose to trust,
In the face of impossibility, she chose to begin.
What will you choose to do?"
Woman of Hope - Sr Raphael Consedine (2001)

If Nano Nagle were alive today she would be the kind of person to win a Nobel Prize. Before her death in 1784, Nano had opened 7 schools for poor children across Cork city, founded an almshouse for poor women, and most notably, founded the Presentation Order, who continue her education and social inclusion work today. Born to a wealthy Catholic family in 1718, Honora Nagle was given the pet name Nano by her father. The Nagle family home at Ballygriffin, near Mallow, was on the banks of the river Blackwater.

Here Nano experienced an idyllic childhood with her younger siblings. The repressive Penal Laws meant that education for Catholics was not available in Ireland (unless they were willing to attend proselytising Church of Ireland schools) and Irish Catholics were forbidden from traveling to the continent to be educated. Despite this, Nano's family had Nano educated in France. Afterward she went to Paris to live with her relations.

A series of life changing events inspired Nano to devote her life to the service of the poor. On her way home from a ball in Paris she saw paupers mustering around a church door in search of alms. When Nano's father died and she and her sister Ann returned to Dublin to be with their mother, Nano began visiting poor families with Ann. Ann died suddenly, quickly followed by her mother. Nano decided she would devote her life to helping the poor. At first she thought this might be achieved by entering a religious order and she travelled to Paris and joined a convent. But Nano found that her life of religious enclosure allowed her little access to the needy. She felt her vocation was to offer poor Catholic children the chance to better their lives and engage in their religion through education. She made up her mind to leave the convent and return to Ireland to live with her brother Joseph and his wife Frances, who lived on Cove Street (now Douglas Street).

Since under the Penal Laws, operating a Catholic School could result in three months imprisonment, Nano had to work in secret. She began by opening a school for young girls next to our site at Nano Nagle Place in the early c. 1750s. This girls' school focussed on reading, writing, Catechism (Catholic religious instruction) and needlework.

Within ten years demand for the education which Nano provided was such that she was operating seven schools across the city of Cork, teaching both boys and girls. When Nano's family moved to Bath, Nano took a small cottage on Cove Street. By day she visited each of her schools, and by night she visited the poor of the Cork city. This was dark and treacherous work. The city streets were neither lit nor properly policed. Nano travelled by the light of the lantern she carried, and across the city of Cork she became known as 'Miss. Nagle, 'the Lady of the Lantern'.

In the 1760s Nano began to plan for the future of her educational mission. In 1771 she used money inherited from her wealthy uncle to build a convent for the Ursuline sisters, a teaching order, whom she invited from France. This convent survives as the oldest building at Nano Nagle Place today.

"I often think my schools will never bring me to heaven, as I only take delight and pleasure in them"
- Nano Nagle to Eleanor Fitzsimons, 17 July 1769

Nano's tireless work in her schools across the city and for the poor of Cork could never have been done if she were a sister in an enclosed order, as the Ursuline sisters were. Thus, she founded her own order 'The Institute of Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus' in 1775. She and three followers promised poverty, chastity and obedience to God until death, but they did not take enclosure and continued to teach and care for the poverty stricken where they lived. For five years, the small cottage near Nano's first school, on modern day Douglas Street, just south of Cork city centre, was their first convent. Nano then built a small convent on the same street, where sisters from the order are again living today (albeit in a newer building on the site).

Nano's long days and constant walking across the city took a toll on her health. She died at the age of 66 in 1784. During her life full of such remarkable achievement, she had wondered if there could be any greater joy in heaven than she had gained from teaching the children of Cork. Her order, the Presentation Sisters, have continued her mission across the world and into the present day.

If you would like to learn more about Nano's life and the work of the Presentation Sisters, book a guided tour to our museum.

Donate to Nano Nagle Place!

Your donation supports heritage, learning, social justice & community development.

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Skip to content Donate to Nano Nagle Place! Your donation supports heritage, learning, social justice & community development. "In the face of fear, she chose to be daring,In the face of anxiety, she chose to trust,In the face of impossibility, she chose to begin.What will you choose to do?"

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The following list are some of the many topics and themes that are explored in our school that link with our School of Sanctuary journey.

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All staff were furnished with the SoS Primary School activities pack to explore.

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Students from 1st - 6th class had a wonderful workshop with Kensika Monshengwo, author of Okani and the Crocodile Queendom, on Friday September 29 th – he was absolutely amazing to listen to!

We explored the concepts of diversity and inclusion with him and we learned lots of different languages too! We loved his analogy of the euro coin - there are many different variations of the euro coin (e.g. the harp in Ireland and the King in Spain) but no matter where you are, they still hold the same value!

He was delighted to hear all of the ways we celebrate diversity in our school and we told him all about our School of Sanctuary journey! He agreed that our school felt like a welcoming, safe, inclusive space!

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Our SoS Staff Committee planned some workshops for our students from 3rd to 6th class, which took place in October.

Some classes decided to do these as workshops and others decided to do them as mini-lessons over a number of weeks.

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We were delighted to welcome Funmi Young to our school for a talk with 3rd – 6th class during World Refugee Week. Funmi is a wonderful ambassador for School of Sanctuary and she shared her wonderful story with us. She spoke about her decision to come to Ireland, the difficulties she and her children faced at first and her life now.  Funmi led a very engaging discussion on how we could support new students coming to our school and opened our eyes to the challenges some students face.

We are so grateful to Funmi for coming in to us and sharing her story, she is truly inspirational!

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We are so lucky that we have so many people within our community who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with us!

6th class and our SoS ambassadors met with Homayoon recently to have a discussion about our school as a place of Sanctuary.

He spoke about his experience coming to Ireland and the practical things that can help students starting school here.

He spoke about the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee.

He then invited the students to ask him questions and was really impressed by the insightful questions asked!

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Some lovely art work by our senior infants! The girls loved talking about what makes them special and unique.

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Our students love learning about the flags of the world, so we purchased this wonderful large flag for them to explore.

We set challenges such as 'flag of the day' and they love learning about the meanings behind flags too.

Students love sharing a flag that has a special meaning to them, such as the country they were born in or somewhere significant to them.

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A very popular activity in our school is exploring how Christmas is celebrated around the world. Children love to share their experiences and knowledge about other traditions and countries.

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Elmer the Elephant teaches us that everyone is unique and has something that sets them apart from everyone else, and that there's no point in trying to hide or disguise this. We should embrace our differences and always be true to who we are.

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We are a DEIS 1 school, under the Department of Education's social inclusion strategy. DEIS stands for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, it aims to help children and young people who are at risk of or who are experiencing educational disadvantage.

It focuses on targeting additional resources to those schools included in the programme to ensure every child has an equal opportunity to achieve their potential.

Information on the DEIS programme can be found at the following link:

https://www.presentationprimarywaterford.ie/assets/2023/11/Schools-in-the-DEIS-Programme-Note-for-Parents-and-Guardians.pdf

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Kindness and respect are at the centre of our classroom rules, which are decided by the students at the beginning of the school year. Student voice is so important to us here in the Presentation!

We treat others with kindness and respect.

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Our students learn to celebrate themselves and what makes them unique! Our 'I am art' is a very popular piece, that really shows off the students individuality!

It prompted a wonderful discussion on how different all of the art pieces were, but how beautiful they were in their own way. This led into a wonderful discussion of diversity!

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Students learn all about traditions and festivals from all over the world as part of their S.E.S.E curriculums.

These include Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah and many many more!

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We are so proud of our students! They are always willing to help out.

We have language leaders in our school, who are available to meet with and help new students who speak their language.

They act as a familiar friendly face for new students and a real support to them, particularly in their first few weeks here.

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Our school uses the wonderful Helping Hands programme, which is very informative, beneficial tool, used to gain an insight into the underlying dynamics and relationships of our classes, it is an award winning programme which promotes cooperative and psychologically safe schools.

Teachers can use this knowledge to:

Prevent bullying

Intervene early before bullying becomes entrenched

Create inclusive psychologically safe classrooms

Develop classroom teams that are welcoming to all

Build support networks around vulnerable students

Create conditions that make it safe for students to tell

Help empower students who are victimised

https://cooperation.ie/#programme

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On Thursday 21st September, the students in our school celebrated World Gratitude Day. Every class has a place in our ‘school garden’ to share our gratitude flowers, where students could share what they are grateful for!

Senior classes had wonderful discussions about appreciating what we have and recognizing that people around the world might not always be as lucky as us.

Students identified some wonderful things they are grateful for such as their safety, access to health care, supportive people around them to help them, the opportunities they have and many more. Be sure to stop by our gratitude garden!

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We are so excited for Wellbeing week 2024.

Check out our weekly line up!

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Thank you to everyone who supported our no uniform day. We were delighted to be able to donate the money collected to support children who are impacted by war.

Thank you to Ms McGovern for organising this!

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Well done to the students from 5 th and 6 th class for organising such a wonderful bake sale! Thank you to all of our students who supported this and helped raise over 1000 euro for two special charities – Barnardos and Pieta House. We are so proud to be able to help these charities!

Our students made some beautiful cakes and treats, they were delicious! We had cakes and dishes from Brazil, Slovakia, Brazil and Afghanistan too! We loved having the chance to try new foods!

Barnardos work with families, communities, and our partners to transform the lives of vulnerable children who are affected by adverse childhood experiences.

Pieta offers a free professional one-to-one, in-person, phone or video therapeutic counselling and 24-hour phone and text crisis prevention services to those who are going through a very difficult time.

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The boys and girls in the Presentation Primary School showed a red card to racism.

On March 31st, the students and staff in our school joined schools all across the country by supporting Wear Red Day. Classes had wonderful discussions on the importance of treating everybody with kindness and respect and also the importance of celebrating diversity and our differences.

Sixth class shared a lovely message on the intercom and we all took a kindness pledge, where we promised to be kind to ourselves and others. Students were very proud of the fact that our school is a kind, caring and welcoming place and that we work hard to make sure everybody is happy in our school.

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A massive thank you to Ms. Lyons for all her hard work in securing the ‘Free to be me’ books for our school library, in association with Childrens Books Ireland. Ms. Lyons put our school forward, sharing some of our journey to ensuring our school is a place where everyone is welcomed, supported and represented and we were awarded a wonderful set of books for our hard work!

The ‘Free to be me’ project is celebrates diversity, representation and inclusion in books for children and young people aged 0–18, to ensure equity and visibility in both school and public libraries, bookshops and shelves in the home.

We were chosen as one of fifty schools (out of more than 640 applications) to receive the Free to be Me Little Library from Children’s Books Ireland in November. We received a selection of more than 100 books.

The schools chosen to receive these books demonstrated an awareness of a need for diverse books in their libraries, and work towards giving those for whom English isn’t their first language a welcoming community in which to learn.

The books we received ensures that all students can see themselves and their situation represented. Our books explore stories based on having to flee war, living as a refugee, experiencing homelessness, living with disabilities, discrimination, celebrating differences and many more. Make sure and check our Free to be me section in the library!

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Our 3rd class students have been taking part in the Peace Proms for many years and it is definitely a highlight of their year. Peace Proms celebrates culture and diversity and promotes peace, unity and tolerance through music. Peace Proms is for everyone and shares important messages through song.

Check out the 2023 concert here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMToVE-Bv5o

Here are our Peace Proms group from 2022 singing a selection of their songs, they didn't get a big performance in WIT because of COVID, they were delighted showing off their moves in school!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE58HILO-Xs

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We thought it was important that our school management were included, to show their commitment to our SoS journey.

All members of our Board of Management signed our pledge in 2022.

This was also renewed in 2023, as our current B.O.M came to an end and we welcomed our new members.

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Christmas around the World - The Musical!

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Christmas around the World - The Musical!

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Mrs McAra, Ms McNamara and our wonderful Arts and Wellbeing Club are busy preparing for their performance of 'Christmas around the World'. We can't wait to share the videos with you!

Christmas around the World is a charming Christmas musical about different festive customs around the world.

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Ms McGovern & Ms Power organised a wonderful coffee morning for parents in our school who are looking to improve their english!

It was a lovely morning, with delicious treats and lots of chatting :)

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We borrowed some reader pens from our local library recently, to see would they be beneficial for our students, in particular those learning english. By passing the Reader Pen over the text you can have text read to you immediately.
You can also record readings and voice memos to help your learning and pronunciation and use the Reader Pen to look up the meaning of words.

Our students really enjoyed trying these out!

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Mrs McAra's 5th class are beginning their work on their 'Challenge to Change' project, for the showcase in April!

Challenge to Change is a development education project aimed at young people attending the Presentation Sisters primary and post-primary schools in Ireland. The initiative seeks to raise awareness and understanding of development issues and global inequality through the exploration and engagement in issues surrounding as (in)justice, human rights, fairtrade, racism, exploitation, etc.

The goals for their project are:

Students recognise, celebrate & become educated about other cultures and traditions.

To highlight the adversities and difficulties people from areas of danger may face and have to overcome (when seeking sanctuary)

Students will understand the advantages of a multicultural society and how equality impacts wellbeing.

We can't wait to share their progress with you.. stay tuned :)

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Students in 5th and 6th class were really inspired by the map of our school, representing the countries where students have come from.

They decided that they would do a project on each of these countries, for a showcase in our school hall during Wellbeing Week, this is where the idea of 'Welcome to our world' came from!

Stay tuned for the finished projects :)

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Our students love learning about celebrations around the world.

Lots of classes are exploring the Chinese New Year at the moment - if you take a look around our school, you will see chinese dragons, writing activities, lanterns and lots more!

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Our students love learning about real people!

Recently they have been exploring people who changed the world and they learned so much! Some of these people were Malala Yousefzai, Rosa Parks, Greta Thunberg, Martin Luther King Jr, Bob Marley, Nelson Mandela.

They researched in our computer room & also using the books in our library.

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Every class in our school has a 'buddy class'. Classes are linked up for the school year & enjoy lots of different activities together.

It really strengthens our school community and the students love working together!

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We are in the middle of our book tournament and we are loving it!

We can't wait for the books to go head to head & we can vote on them.

Ms Lyons has organised this wonderful idea - she chooses two books every week for us to read, with important messages & themes.

We read the books or listen to the read alouds, discuss them together & reflect on the messages and meaning behind them.

Week one:

Tunnel vs When Jessie came across the sea

Week two:

Malala's magic pencil vs It's a no money day.

Week three:

The Journey vs Martin's Big Words

Week four:

Anne Frank A retelling of the iconic story vs The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

Week five:

Something Beautiful vs Click Clack Moo, Cows that type.

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On October 13th, we celebrated National Day of Prayer in our school.

We have students of many different faiths, who were encouraged to share their prayers with their classes.

We found a lovely message of thanks and adapted and added to it, to make our very own school prayer that everyone could participate in.

Students came up with lines that reflected our school community!

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Mrs O'Mara provides our parents with regular updates about what is going on in our school community.

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Ms McGovern, our HSCL, regularly updates our parents of courses and opportunities that come her way!

These include activities within our school community & further afield in the local community.

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Ms McGovern is in regular contact with the parents in our school.

She offers support to all, but particularly to new families coming to our school, to support their transition.

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Ms Landers keeps our website updated and we are really proud of it!

We love sharing our class & school news with everyone.

Our website is easily translated and available to everyone.

Check out our School of Sanctuary section, under School life!

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Welcome...

We are well into our new school year and everyone is working hard. It is great to be back with our friends again and enjoying school life too.

School Uniform

Details of our new school uniform can be found by clicking the link School Uniform. While the new uniform is being introduced this school year, pupils are not required to have purchased it for their return to school if their old one is still useable. We have the coming year to make the transition.

School Day

Junior and Senior Infants 8.50am to 1.30pm

First to Sixth Classes 8.50am to 2.30pm

Kind regards
Anne Marie O'Mara

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Presentation Primary School Waterford - A great tradition of education in Waterford since 1798

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We are well into our new school year and everyone is working hard. It is great to be back with our friends again and enjoying school life too. School Uniform Details of our new school uniform can be found by clicking the link School Uniform.

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We are very lucky to have some wonderful connections with other schools, some of which are on the School of Sanctuary journey with us!

We link in with the Presentation Secondary school & offer support to each other where possible.

Our committees are due to come together for a meeting in Term 2!

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Miss Duke had the chance to meet with some other schools recently who are on their School of Sanctuary journey.

She attended a monitoring session in Ard Scoil and was so pleased to hear how other schools are getting on.

The advice and support offered by the teachers from Mount Sion & Ard Scoil was so helpful for our school!

We hope that one day, we will be able to share our experiences with other schools!

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Our SoS ambassadors love going on the intercom and going from class to class to share important updates and news!

Ehi, Sofia, Lily Grace and Aoife went on the intercom recently to announce the winners of our poster and poetry competitions!

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Our SoS & Wellbeing committees want to brighten up the walls of our school, so the idea of a positivity pathway was brought up.

Students researched and chose some appropriate, meaningful quotes for display in our school!

The positive & important messages really brighten up our days here in the Pres!

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Students, when speaking about their own experiences, wanted to put some visuals around the school, to help new students who might not speak english find their way around!

With the help of Mrs O'Donoghue, they designed these posters and they are now all around our school!

We hope the pictures will help students!

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Fourth class have been learning about connections and were discussing how we all rely on each other in some way! They linked this in with a lovely irish seanfhocal 'ar scath a chéile a mhaireann na daoine'.

The Irish phrase translates as we live in each other's shadows or we shade each other from the sun, or more generally that we depend on one another in various, sometimes hidden ways.

Themes of friendship, support and welcome can be seen in their beautiful posters!

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Students in our school love researching for projects, these can can be on a variety of things - countries, issues, people etc!

Mrs Cody's third class were learning all about Brazil recently!

Ms Fortune's fifth class were learning all about famous women who have changed the world!

Ms Duke's sixth class are learning all about human rights activists at the minute.

Students love sharing their learning with their peers.

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Our SoS teacher committee decided to build on the lists of books out there & we came up with our own list, based on books we have used!

This is the first list that was shared with teachers.

It is regularly updated with new books, as we come across them.

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Mrs O'Mara leads regular assemblies in our school, where we welcome new students, celebrate students achievements and focus on the theme of kindness, inclusion and support.

These assemblies allow students to share their thoughts, current practices and recommendations to Mrs O'Mara.

They are really enjoyable sessions!

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Our teachers are very familiar with the idea of building restorative classrooms. Restorative practices & relationship building are key features!

A restorative classroom is a place where relationships matter. The better the relationships in a classroom, the better teachers can teach, the better the students can learn and the fewer challenges and conflicts there will be.

The five key themes are:

Unique and equally valued perspectives

Thoughts influence emotions, and emotions influence subsequent actions

Empathy and consideration for others

Identifying needs comes before identifying strategies to meet these needs

Collective responsibility for the choices made and for their outcomes

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Our 6th class students were so inspired by the book The Journey, that they decided to use it as a stimulus to teach our school community about the emotions people feel on their journeys when seeking sanctuary & some of the reasons for them having to flee their homes.

We are so impressed with them!

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Our school has run DEIS summer camps for children over the last number of years. We are extremely proud of these camps and they are thoroughly enjoyed by the students!

Camps run for one week & focus on literacy and numeracy development through playful learning experiences, developing life skills, social skills and promoting students wellbeing.

Some of the camp highlights are the weekly trip on a bus & our adventure to the library, where every student is signed up for library membership.

Students loved making their own lunches.

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Celebrating the languages spoken in our school!

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Celebrating the languages spoken in our school!

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Classes have been celebrating the various languages spoken in our school in many different ways!

Classes have compared sounds across languages in phonics lessons, words and meanings, learned a phrase a day & some art incorporating it!

Here are Mrs Cody's beautiful Valentines Love Langauges!

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Many of the students in our class have family members in other parts of the world.

On Grandparents Day this year, Miss Fortune & her class made cards their grandparents and went on a trip to the post office to post them!

There are cards being delivered to many different countries!

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2024 is the year that our school newsletter returns!

We can't wait to share all of the wonderful things that are going on in our school with the parents.

We are looking into using an online newsletter called Smore, which offers translations in to many different languages!