Many thanks to Ciara Brennan (@PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) for compiling this great 2nd 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 – alternatively leave the date in the comments section below.
September
1. All-Ireland Hurling Finals, Sunday 7th September – http://www.gaa.ie/
2. Roald Dahl Day, Saturday 13th September – http://www.roalddahlday.info/
3. All-Ireland Camogie Finals, Sunday 14th September – http://www.camogie.ie/
4. International Dot Day, September 15th – http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/
5. Culture Night, Friday 19th September – http://www.culturenight.ie/
6. International ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ Day, Friday 19th September http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
7. International Day of Peace, Sunday 21st September – http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
8. All-Ireland Football Finals, Sunday 21st September – http://www.gaa.ie/
9. European Day of Languages, Friday 26th September – http://edl.ecml.at
10. Khan Academy Mathletes symposium, Saturday 27th September – http://mathletes.ie/
11. All-Ireland Ladies’ Football Finals, Sunday 28th September – http://www.ladiesfootball.ie/
October
1. Children’s Book Festival (Ireland), month of October –http://www.childrensbooksireland.ie/childrens-book-festival/
2. World Animal Day, Saturday 4th October – http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/
3. Féilte – Teaching Council event in the RDS, Saturday 4th October – http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/
4. World Teachers’ Day, Sunday 5th October – http://www.worldteachersday.org/
5. Road Safety Week, dates TBC but usually second week in October – http://www.rsa.ie/
6. World Space Week, 4th – 10th October – http://www.worldspaceweek.org/
7. National Tree Day, Thursday 9th October – http://www.treeday.ie/
8. World Homeless Day, Friday 10th October – http://www.worldhomelessday.org/ also Focus Ireland Resources
9. Maths Week, 11th – 19th October – http://www.mathsweek.ie/
10. EU Code Week, 11th – 17th October – http://codeweek.eu/
11. World Food Day, Thursday 16th October – http://www.worldfoodday.ie/
12. Signs of Autumn Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates
13. Credit Union Art Competition: closing date end October/early November – http://www.creditunionart.ie/
14. Clocks go back an hour (2am to 1am), Sunday 26th October
15. Halloween, Friday 31st October
November
1. International Tongue Twister Day, Friday 7th November – Try These Tongue Twisters
2. EXCITED Connects, Friday 7th November – http://www.excited.ie/
3. Science Week, 9th-16th November – http://www.scienceweek.ie/
4. Library Week Ireland – dates TBC but usually third week of November – http://www.libraryirelandweek.ie/
5. Thanksgiving – Thursday 27th November
6. Advent – Sunday 30th November until Wednesday 24th December – Kandle Advent Resources
December
1. Birthday of Walt Disney, Saturday 5th December
2. Christmas Day, Thursday 25th December http://nollaigshona.ie/
3. New Year’s Eve, Wednesday 31st December
January
1. MATHELES challenge 2015 – registration begins in January – http://mathletes.ie/
2. RDS Primary Science Fair, 8th-10th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
3. Martin Luther King Jr Day, Monday 19th January
4. Catholic Schools Week – Dates TBC (likely last week in January – the Wednesday of this week is also National Grandparents Day) – http://www.catholicbishops.ie/catholicschoolsweek/
5. Australia Day, Monday 26th January
6. Storytelling Week (UK), 31st January – 7th February – http://www.sfs.org.uk/national-storytelling-week
February
1. Lá ‘Le Bríde – Sunday February 1st – St. Brigid’s Cloak PPT
2. Ireland’s first game in the 2015 Six Nations (in Rome v Italy), Saturday 7th February – http://www.rbs6nations.com/
3. Engineer’s Week, February 8th-14th – http://www.engineersweek.ie/; http://www.steps.ie/
4. Safer Internet Day, Tuesday 10th February – http://www.saferinternetday.ie
5. St. Valentine’s Day, Saturday 14th February – Valentines Resources
6. Ireland’s first game at the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (v West Indies), Monday 16th February – http://www.icc-cricket.com/
7. Pancake Tuesday, Tuesday 17th February
8. Ash Wednesday, Wednesday 18th February
9. Chinese New Year (Year of the Sheep), Thursday 19th February
10. Texaco Art Competition: 2015 dates TBC, but deadline for entries is usually end of February – http://www.texacochildrensart.com/
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/activities.html
4. World Book Day, Thursday 5th March – http://www.worldbookday.com/
5. International Women’s Day, Sunday 8th March – http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
6. Mother’s Day, Sunday 15th March
7. St Patrick’s Day, Tuesday 17th March – St. Patrick’s Day Resources
8. Solar eclipse, Friday 20th March
9. World Poetry Day, Saturday 21st March – http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/
10. World Water Day, Sunday 22nd March – http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday
11. World Meteorological Day, Monday 23rd March – http://url.ie/ue26
12. Clocks go forward (1am to 2am), Sunday 29th March
13. Palm Sunday, Sunday 29th March
* Note: It is proposed to hold a series of referendums (same-sex marriage, lowering the voting age, role of women in the home, etc) on some date ‘in the first half of 2015’. Exact date TBC, but a Friday polling date between April and June is likely.
April
1. Digital Art Week, early April, dates TBC – http://www.digitalartweek.com/
2. April Fools Day, Wednesday 1st April
3. Holy Week, Thursday 2nd – Monday 6th April (Easter Sunday: April 5)
4. Earth Day, Wednesday 22nd April – http://www.earthday.org/
5. Tech Week Ireland, 26th April – 2nd May – http://www.techweek.ie/
May
1. Europe Day, Saturday 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. EXCITED Ireland conference, Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd May – http://www.excited.ie/
June
1. World Environment Day, Friday 5th June – http://www.unep.org/wed/
2. World Oceans Day, Monday 8th June – http://worldoceansday.org/
3. Father’s Day, Sunday 21st June
4. Bike Week, June but exact dates TBC – http://www.bikeweek.ie/
Please let me know if any other special occasions have been omitted and I’ll update the list.
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
