6 BLANCH GAZETTE 21 April 2011
GARDAI: PREPARING FOR SCHOOLS Parents delighted with show in new building BANK HOLIDAY TRAVEL
Road safety crackdown GARDAI are appealing to road users to heed the warnings on road safety over the coming bank holiday weekends and help “stop the carnage”. An Garda Siochana want to make roads safe this Easter and May Bank Holiday by appealing to road users to heed the warnings on road safety. Since the start of 2011, 61 people have died on our roads. This is an increase of six people, compared to the same period last year. Gardai will be mounting additional checkpoints over the bank holiday weekends and in the intervening days. In the last two years (2009/2010), 13 people were killed and 33 people were seriously injured on Irish roads at this time. Speaking at Garda Headquar ters, John
Twomey, assistant commissioner for traffic, said: “Let’s keep our roads safe this Easter and May Bank Holiday. I am asking every person in Ireland that use the roads to make a commitment that they will do so safely, and with care and consideration for the other people they meet along the way. “Please take heed of the warnings from An Garda Siochana and our partners in the Road Safety Authority and community organisations. This carnage on our roads has to stop. “Gardai will be active over the forthcoming holiday period, with the objective of saving lives. In particular, we will focus on drivers driving under the influence, speeding and also those using handheld mobile phones while driving,” he said.
Lynn McDonald, coordinator; Noreen Behan, principal and Orla Doyle
Sean and Deirdre Deery. Pictures: Peter Doyle
Ridwan and Kevin
St Benedicts’ pupils brush up on art work Q LAURA WEBB blanchardstown@gazettegroup.com
PARENTS flocked to St Benedict’s school in Ongar last week, to catch a glimpse of a multitude of talent that the students had on display. The students were displaying their work as part of the school’s first art exhibition in their new state-of-the-art building. Proud as punch to see their kids’ artwork displayed in the school hall,
many parents purchased the work that was professionally framed for all to see. The school first moved into the modern facilities on November 1 and, as a way of showing off the new building, and also the talent of the students, Lynn McDonald, art coordinator and teacher, decided that an art exhibition was the best way to do both. She said: “We just wanted to celebrate
the children’s work and invite the parents to the new school building. “All the kids were involved in it, and children from the special needs class can also get involved; it’s just very inclusive. “We wanted to bring the parents in and for the children to see how proud their parents are of them.” In conjunction with the exhibition, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) hosted a cake sale in the community centre, which is set to be a shared facility with the school and the community. According to Principal Noreen Behan, the exhibition and the PTA cake sale also helped to create “a networking” event with the parents.
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‘We wanted to bring the parents in [to see the art exhibition] and for the children to see how proud their parents are of them’
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“This is where integration will start. Parents came in and sat together, and parents who never met each other had coffee together. It creates networking [opportunities],” she said. All of the 374 students entered a piece into the exhibition. Their art-
work was then framed by Images School Art Exhibition, which gave the exhibition a very professional gallery look. Lynn McDonald said: “Parents could buy the pictures in the frame for €10. This was done through Images School Art Exhibition. It looks great. “Art, for the school, is a very important part of the curriculum, because it is inclusive and allows children to express themselves,” she said. Principal Behan said: “I am gobsmacked by it. I have never seen anything like it. “It’s fantastic, and everyone worked really hard on it. “This is also a nice fundraiser for the school, which is always the icing on the cake,” she said.