Parents Association After-School Activities
The Parents Association After-School Committee offers a variety of sporting, musical, and creative after-school activities. Being involved in activities outside of the classroom enables students to widen their social skills, build lifelong skills, and develop a sense of belonging to our school community. We encourage all students to take advantage of these valuable opportunities.
There are 3 types of after-school activities (ASA) in GBDMS:
- Teacher-run after-school activities: These may vary but have previously included languages (French, Spanish), art, and sports (hurling, camogie). Teachers will reach out to parents directly regarding these activities.
- Parent Association activities: These are organized by external providers and have included options like soccer and dance.
- Music activities: Run by private music teachers, with initial expressions of interest collected by the Parent Association.
Dates
- Term 1 will commence the week of the 23rd of September 2024 and run for 9 weeks.
- Term 2 will commence the week of 20th of January 2025 and run for 10 weeks
- Term 3 will commence the week of the 12th of May 2025 and run for 5 weeks.
(*Note: Dates are subject to change)
After-school activities for Junior Infants begin in Term 2, allowing them to settle into school life. Teachers work until 2.20pm so they cannot offer activities during the infant hour. ASA runs from Monday to Thursday. No ASA’s on a Friday.
You will be notified when the Forms go Live via the Schools Email System at the beginning of each Term.
Registration
An Expression of Interest Form will be made available at the start of each term. The dates are published through the school email system and newsletter. Parents are encouraged to submit the form before the closing date to secure a spot for their children in the activities.
Payment
The cost per activity for each term is detailed in the Registration Form. The ASA Committee will send an invoice by email, and payment will be requested through our online Stripe Payment System. To secure a place before the class begins, payment must be made by the specified deadline.
Supervision
A supervisor is on-site to help younger children get to their activities and bring them to the Sherpa or Collection point afterward. All external tutors are Garda-vetted through the school's vetting system.
Cancellation Notification
If an activity is canceled on short notice due to bad weather or a tutor's unavailability, you will be notified through the school’s text system. In such cases, a Board Game Class will be provided by the on-site supervisor to ensure the children have an organized and supervised activity. Children will not be allowed to leave the substitute class. This policy is in place to ensure the safety and well-being of the children. You will be informed by email if an additional date at the end of the term can be arranged.
ASA Guidelines and Policy
- ASA places are allocated randomly following the child's class preference (1st choice vs 2nd choice, etc.) and the number of places already offered to that child (to ensure fairness across children).
- If a class is over-subscribed and your child is not offered a place in that class, you will be notified via email that your child is on a waiting list.
- Where possible, the allocation will prioritise siblings in the same activity.
- The ASAs are provided by third-party companies, therefore once enrolment has been accepted, payment is required for the full term.
- ASA runs parallel with the school calendar and activities will not be held during Mid-term breaks, School Holidays or on Bank Holidays.
- All children attending any ASA are under the same Code of Conduct as during school hours.
- Children must be collected on time. In the event your child is absent from school or cannot make a class, please notify the supervisor before the class. Contact details for the supervisor will be provided upon enrollment.
ACTIVITIES ON OFFER:
SOCCER
Smart Soccer Academy www.smartsocceracademy.ie
2 classes: (1) Junior & Senior Infants Kickers at 1.20pm and (2) 1st to 4th Class at 2.20pm.
Coach: Redouane Saidi
Smart Soccer Academy takes a new approach to football, by teaching players how to understand soccer. These sessions build ABC fundamentals. Through fun games, kids receive technical instructions, which help them make their own decisions in play and enjoy soccer away from the pressure of teams and clubs. It’s the SMART way!
CHESS
Class: Term 1 from 3rd to 6th Class at 2.20pm and in Term 2 and 3, 2nd class pupils will be accepted.
Coach: April Cronin
The Chess course will be facilitated by April Cronin, former Irish Ladies No. 1 chess player and retired principal teacher. April has been teaching chess and running school chess clubs throughout her career and has a wealth of experience to share. April also teaches chess to Rang 2 students in GBMDS. The sessions will be active and engaging, with plenty of time given over to practising the concepts.
HIP-HOP DANCE CLASS
Catch Dance Academy www.catchdanceacademy.com
2 Classes: (1) Junior & Senior Infants at 1.20pm and (2) 1st to 6th Class at 2.20pm.
Tutor: Melanie Berenger
Lauren is trained in ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, ballroom, musical theatre, and Irish dancing. Lauren has QQI level 5 qualifications in dance performance and dance production. Students will learn hip hop foundations, weekly choreography as well as freestyle. This class is very dynamic and helps children improve flexibility, musicality, rhythm, and coordination.
CAPOEIRA
2 Classes: (1) Junior & Senior Infants at 1.20pm and (2) 1st to 6th Class at 2.20pm.
Tutor: Renato Scapin
Renato Scapin, known at Tatu by friends and on social media, began his Capoeira journey in the late 1990s and has since been dedicating himself to the study of this art that is now recognised as a Brazilian cultural heritage. In the mid-2000s, theater dances alongside with other arts, such as performing dance work in festivals, and the chance to direct musicals improved his abilities. To improve his studies, he graduated as a physical educator with a postgraduate degree in Psychomotricity. This led him to work with the motor rehabilitation of people with disabilities for almost a decade. Today Tatu lives in Dublin where he created the group Capoeira Malandragem and the recent course “The Capoeirista’s Body as a Tool for Modern Dance”. Tatu sees Capoeira not just as a game or dance. Capoeira is an expression, a struggle for freedom. It’s fun, a philosophy of life, as an old Master once said: “Capoeira is everything the mouth eats”
MUSIC CLASSES
Junior & Senior Infants and 1st to 6th Class
Tutor: Rita Garland - Guitar Lessons
Rita Garland has been teaching Guitar at GBMDS since 2005. The lessons consist of teaching children how to play classical guitar and read music and acquiring simple chord shapes to accompany songs. There are elements of songwriting and games that encourage the child to explore their creative potential while playfully learning guitar techniques.
Rita studied Arts (Portuguese and English Literature) at Universidade de Coimbra in Portugal and in 1994 came to study in Dublin, UCD with the Erasmus Programme. Rita has studied with Eamon Sweeney, Conal Rae, Cecile Berranges and Alan Grundy. AVCM Royal Victoria College 2014, Grade 8 in DIT, 2018, and a Diploma in Community & Music Group Teaching at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, 2021.
Community Projects:
Some of the past projects Rita has been involved with include monthly music sessions for mothers and children in the context of HSE’s “Community Mothers” programme and guitar lessons/ music sessions facilitation with the residents at DEPAUL.
Rita has played with the Leonard Cohen tribute band, Leonard’s Corner, and played gigs at the Spirit of Folk festival, D8 Live show, Blue Light Festival and the Unitarian Church. Rita enjoys playing in unusual venues such as public buses and Pearse St. Station for Poetry Ireland. Rita is a long-term member of the Resistance choir, who sings in solidarity with social justice and human rights-related causes. Rita plays with a group called The Polytonitcs Guitar Quartet we aim to explore the rich classical and contemporary repertoire for classical guitar ensembles.
As part of Rita’s Riam Diploma, she created and facilitated weekly workshops with the Portuguese-speaking community in Dublin. Rita also collaborated with a multicultural music group associated with Balfolk Dublin as a musician playing world music at festivals, folk dance workshops, and other events.
Tutor: Arash Kazemi - Guitar Lessons
https://www.arashkazemi.ie/about
Arash has performed with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the Late Late Show. He has won various prizes, such as Flood Trophy for Guitar Performance (2013) and RTE’s competition to attend a master class with the great flamenco guitarist Paco Peña and renowned classical guitarist John Williams. Arash was nominated for The Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year (2013). In 2012, Arash performed for President Michael D Higgins at the UN International Day, in Kilmainham, Dublin. Arash completed a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance with First class Honors, in 2013. Masters in Music Performance at the DIT Conservatory of Music in Dublin, 2016.
SPOTIFY LINK https://sptfy.com/arashkazemi
Tutor: Filipa Quintino - Vocal Coach
Vocal Coach and Early Years Music Teacher Filipa Quintino graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Jazz Performance from Newpark Music Centre in 2014. Filipa did 2 years of training in the 3-year teacher/singer Complete Vocal Technique course in Copenhagen, Denmark. With a passion for teaching and a broad understanding of music, she tailors each lesson to each individual/student creating an environment where you feel safe to explore and develop your voice. Jazz, MPB, Fado, Musical theatre, Pop and Rock.
“With The Flow” was Filipa’s debut album released in 2016. In 2020 Filipa released new music with wiremeproject.com in which Filipa and guitarist Chris Cole explore original music, Musical theatre, and some singer-songwriter covers creating a moment for their passion with improvised music.
Tutor: Caroline Moreau - Piano Lessons
Caroline is a French piano teacher, vocalist, performer, educator, composer and researcher in musical pedagogy.Piano Premier Prix (Marcq/Baroeul- France). Degree of DUMI (Pédagogie musicale-Diplôme Universitaire de Musicien Intervenant) University of Strasbourg. Director of “French Singing In Schools” since 2014
Tutor: Mathias Garnier - Guitar Lessons
Mathias started to learn to play the guitar in France about twenty years ago. For the first few years, there was a focus on country blues and fingerpicking before moving on to the classical repertoire. Mathias has completed grade seven at Trinity College London. Alongside the classical guitar studies, he also plays in a string quartet. Regarding teaching, Mathias finds that the best approach to learning music is through fun games and activities. Then, the music theory can be gradually introduced.
Contact Details
Queries can be sent directly to the ASA Committee at: gbmdsafterschool@gmail.com