Many thanks to Ciara Brennan (@PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) for compiling this great 3rd annual list of dates to keep in mind when doing lesson planning for the forthcoming school year. All of these dates give teachers great opportunities to celebrate special occasions in school and to see how they can be integrated into the curriculum for educational purposes. If any occasions/dates have been omitted, please email me to let me know and I’ll update the list.
September
1. All-Ireland Hurling Finals, Sunday 6th September – http://www.gaa.ie/
2. Roald Dahl Day, Sunday 13th September – http://www.roalddahlday.info/
3. All-Ireland Camogie Finals, Sunday 13th September – http://www.camogie.ie/
4. Culture Night, Friday 18th September – http://www.culturenight.ie/
5. Ireland’s opening match in the Rugby World Cup (against Canada in Cardiff), Saturday 19th September – http://www.rugbyworldcup.com
6. International ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ Day, Saturday 19th September – http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
7. All-Ireland Football Finals, Sunday 20th September – http://www.gaa.ie/
8. International Day of Peace, Monday 21st September – http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
9. European Day of Languages, Saturday 26th September – http://edl.ecml.at
10. All-Ireland Ladies’ Football Finals, Sunday 27th September – http://www.ladiesfootball.ie/
11. Lunar Eclipse (‘Red moon’) – Monday 28th September
October
1. Féilte – Teaching Council event in the RDS, Saturday 3rd October – http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/
2. World Animal Day, Sunday 4th October – http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/
3. World Teachers’ Day, Monday 5th October – http://www.worldteachersday.org/
4. Comhrá ’15, 6-13 October, week long world record attempt for the longest conversation as Gaeilge – https://cnag.ie/
5. Road Safety Week, dates TBC but usually second week in October – http://www.rsa.ie/
6. World Space Week, Sunday 4th-Saturday 10th October http://www.worldspaceweek.org/
7. National Tree Day, TBC – http://www.treeday.ie/
8. World Homeless Day, Saturday 10th October – http://www.worldhomelessday.org/ (also Focus Ireland Resources)
9. Maths Week, Saturday 10th-Sunday 18th October – http://www.mathsweek.ie/
10. EU Code Week, Saturday 10th-Sunday 18th October – http://codeweek.eu/
11. World Food Day, Friday 16th October – http://www.worldfoodday.ie/
12. Teachmeet Cavan, Friday 16th October (also, a similar event ‘PowerUp’ a day later, in the same location)
13. Signs of Autumn Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates
14. Credit Union Art Competition: closing date end October/early November – http://www.creditunionart.ie/
15. Clocks go back an hour (2am to 1am), Sunday 25th October
16. Halloween, Saturday 31st October
17. Rugby World Cup final, Saturday 31st October – http://www.rugbyworldcup.com
November
1. International Tongue Twister Day, Sunday 8th November – Try These Tongue Twisters
2. Gaeilge 24, 24-hour challenge to speak as Gaeilge – https://cnag.ie/
3. Science Week, Sunday 8th-Sunday 15th November – http://www.scienceweek.ie/
4. Library Week Ireland, Monday 16th-Sunday 22nd November – http://www.libraryirelandweek.ie/
5. Thanksgiving, Thursday 26th November
6. Advent, Sunday 29th November – Kandle Advent Resources
December
1. Birthday of Walt Disney, Saturday 5th December
2. Christmas Day, Friday 25th December – http://nollaigshona.ie/
3. New Year’s Eve, Thursday 31st December
January
1. MATHLETES Challenge 2016 – registration begins in January – http://mathletes.ie/
2. RDS Primary Science Fair, Thursday 7th-Saturday 9th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
3. RDS Primary Science Fair Limerick (at Mary Immaculate College), Friday 15th-Saturday 16th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
4. Martin Luther King Jr Day, Monday 18th January
5. Catholic Schools Week, Sunday 31st January–Saturday 6th February – http://www.catholicbishops.ie/catholicschoolsweek/
6. National Grandparents’ Day, Wednesday 3rd February
7. Australia Day, Tuesday 26th January
8. Storytelling Week (UK), Saturday 30th January-Saturday 7th February – http://www.sfs.org.uk/national-storytelling-week
February
1. Lá ‘Le Bríde – Monday February 1st – St. Brigid’s Cloak PPT
2. Ireland’s first game in the 2016 Six Nations (in Dublin v Wales), Sunday 7th February – http://www.rbs6nations.com/
3. Chinese New Year (Year of the Monkey), Monday 8th February – http://cny.ie/
4. Safer Internet Day, Tuesday 9th February – http://www.saferinternetday.ie
5. Pancake Tuesday, Tuesday 9th February
6. Ash Wednesday, Wednesday 10th February
7. St. Valentine’s Day, Sunday 14th February – Valentines Resources
8. Texaco Art Competition: 2015 dates TBC, but deadline for entries is usually end of February – http://www.texacochildrensart.com/
9. Engineer’s Week, Sunday 28st February-Saturday 5th March – http://www.engineersweek.ie/; http://www.steps.ie/
March
1. Signs of Spring Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates, but usually first week in March
2. Seachtain na Gaeilge, 1ú-17ú Márta – http://snag.ie/
3. National Tree Week, early March (exact dates TBC) – http://www.treecouncil.ie; http://www.treeday.ie/
4. World Book Day, Thursday 3rd March – http://www.worldbookday.com/
5. Mother’s Day, Sunday 6th March
6. International Women’s Day, Tuesday 8th March – http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
7. World Cricket T20 championships (featuring Ireland) begin in India, Friday 11th March – http://www.icc-cricket.com/
8. Deadline Day for Seachtain na Gaeilge competitions – http://snag.ie/
9. Proclamation Day, Tuesday 15th March – http://www.ireland.ie/youth/
10. Féile na Físe, 15 Márta, Gaeilge event for Proclamation Day in conjunction with DES – https://cnag.ie/
11. St Patrick’s Day, Thursday 17th March – St. Patrick’s Day Resources
12. Palm Sunday, Sunday 20th March
13. World Poetry Day, Monday 21st March – http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/
14. World Water Day, Tuesday 22nd March – http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday
15. World Meteorological Day, Wednesday 23rd March – http://un.org/news
16. Holy Week, Thursday 24th-Sunday 27th March
17. Clocks go forward (1am to 2am), early hours of Sunday 27th March
18. Easter Rising: Wreath-laying ceremonies, military ceremony at GPO, and State Reception – Sunday 27th March – http://ireland.ie/state/
Note: A general election must be held before April 3rd, 2016. The government has indicated it intends for the Dáil to run its full course, so an election is likely to be held on some Friday in late February or in March.
April
1. Digital Art Week, early April (dates TBC) – http://www.digitalartweek.com/
2. April Fools Day, Friday 1st April
3. Earth Day, Friday 22nd April – http://www.earthday.org/
4. Tech Week Ireland, dates TBC – http://www.techweek.ie/
May
1. Europe Day, Monday 9th May – http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/symbols/europe-day/index_en.htm
2. National ‘Walk to School’ week – TBC, usually second week of May – http://www.greenschoolsireland.org/
3. Water Safety Week: IWS usually hold various awareness weeks on a regional basis in summer months; exact dates TBC, but check on http://www.iws.ie/
4. Potential EXCITED Ireland conference, TBC – http://www.excited.ie/
June
1. World Environment Day, Sunday 5th June – http://www.unep.org/wed/
2. World Oceans Day, Wednesday 8th June – http://worldoceansday.org/
3. Father’s Day, Sunday 19th June
4. Bike Week, June but exact dates TBC – http://www.bikeweek.ie/
Please let us know if any other special occasions have been omitted so that the list can be updated.
Ciara Brennan is a 6th Class teacher in St. Peter’s Primary School, Bray Co. Wicklow. You can follow her on Twitter @PrimEdTeacher and the school Twitter account is @StPetersBray
