Welcome back to a new school year. This year, the focus for Good Friends Week is on how we greet each other. One of the easiest ways that we can be friendly to others is by saying ‘Hello’ to those we meet each day. This week the children in St. Gabriel’s will make an extra effort to show how friendly they are by greeting the people they meet in our school and at home.

Each class will explore some of the many ways we can greet others such as by smiling, waving, saying ‘good morning’, ‘hi’, ‘hello’ etc. We are very lucky to have lots of children who have family from all corners of the world. These children will help us to learn how people greet each other and say hello in other languages all over the world. When greeting someone we will try to remember to look at the person, smile and use their name. We will also make sure that we can respond appropriately when somebody says ‘hello’ to us.

As usual, each class will draw up their class charter during Good Friends Week. They will use these as important guides to help ensure that each classroom is a friendly, safe and productive place to be this year.

Mr. Flanagan’s 5^th and 6^th class will greet their new buddies in Junior Infants this week. They will have a friendly ‘hello’ for Junior Infants and look forward to introducing them to lots of games and fun activities on the playground during the week.

As we have the freedom to open our doors and welcome parents and families back into the school, we look forward to using our greetings during assemblies, seasonal performances and other fun events in the school throughout the school year.