Dates For Your Diary for the New School Year

by | Aug 27, 2017 | Guest Post | 0 comments

This ever popular post is back for the fifth year, thanks again to Ciara Reilly (@PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) for compiling it. It is an annual list of dates to keep in mind when doing lesson planning for the forthcoming school year. It also includes dates of conferences that will be of educational interest to teachers. Links are provided for further information. Save the dates in your school diary.

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. So if you are in the midst of planning the year ahead, why not incorporate some of these special occasions into your plans.

If any occasions/dates have been omitted, please email me to let me know and I’ll update the list.

  1. All-Ireland Hurling Finals, Sunday 3rd September – http://www.gaa.ie/
  2. Read A Book Day, Wednesday 6th September
  3. Innovative Practices with iPads (Thurles Chamber Education Centre), Saturday 9th September – http://bit.ly/MICOOLIPAD
  4. All-Ireland Camogie Finals, Sunday 10th September – http://www.camogie.ie/
  5. Roald Dahl Day, Wednesday 13th September – http://www.roalddahlday.info/
  6. International Dot Day, September 15th-ish – http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/
  7. All-Ireland Football Finals, Sunday 17th September – http://www.gaa.ie/
  8. International ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ Day, Tuesday 19th September – http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
  9. National Ploughing Championships, September 19th – 21st – http://www.npa.ie/
  10. International Day of Peace, Thursday 21st September – http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
  11. Culture Night, Friday 22nd September – http://www.culturenight.ie/
  12. Autumn Equinox, Friday 22nd September – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
  13. Children’s Book Ireland Conference 2017, Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th September – http://childrensbooksireland.ie/the-new-laureate/
  14. All-Ireland Ladies’ Football Finals, Sunday 24th September – http://www.ladiesfootball.ie/
  15. European Day of Languages, Tuesday 26th September – http://edl.ecml.at

  1. Féilte – Teaching Council event in the RDS, Saturday 7th October – http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/
  2. World Animal Day, Wednesday 4th October – http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/
  3. World Space Week, Wednesday 4th – Tuesday 10th October – http://www.worldspaceweek.org/ ; http://spaceweek.ie/
  4. Literacy Association of Ireland 40th Annual Conference – 5th – 6th October – https://www.literacyireland.com/
  5. World Teachers’ Day, Thursday 5th October – http://www.worldteachersday.org/
  6. National Tree Day, Thursday 5th October – http://www.treeday.ie/
  7. EU Code Week, Saturday 7th – Sunday 22nd October – http://codeweek.eu/
  8. World Homeless Day, Tuesday 10th October – http://www.worldhomelessday.org/ (also Focus Ireland Resources)
  9. Code-a-Thon at St Joseph’s PS, Ballinrobe (as part of EU Code Week), Friday 13th October – more information from sighleshoes@gmail.com
  10. Maths Week, Saturday 14th – Sunday 22nd October – http://www.mathsweek.ie/
  11. Global Handwashing Day, Sunday 15th October – http://globalhandwashing.org/global-handwashing-day/
  12. World Food Day, Monday 16th October – http://www.worldfoodday.ie/
  13. UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Tuesday 17th October – http://www.17october.ie/
  14. Signs of Autumn (or Hallowe’en) Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates
  15. Clocks go back an hour (2am to 1am), Sunday 29th October
  16. Hallowe’en, Tuesday 31st October
  17. Blue Star Programme, TBC but registration usually closes in October – http://www.bluestarprogramme.ie/

  1. Cork Pops concerts in Cork on November 7th and 8th and Limerick on November 10th – http://www.corkpops.ie/site/schools-concerts-november-2017/
  2. International Tongue Twister Day, Sunday 12th November – Try These Tongue Twisters
  3. Origami Day, Saturday 11th November – http://www.origami-instructions.com/
  4. Science Week, Sunday 12th – Sunday 19th November – http://www.scienceweek.ie/
  5. Library Week Ireland, dates tbc – http://www.libraryirelandweek.ie/
  6. Teachmeet Clare, Friday 17th November – more details TBC from http://teachmeetireland.com/
  7. Thanksgiving, Thursday 23rd November
  8. Advent, Sunday 26th November
  9. World Fisheries Day, Tuesday 21st November – http://www.gdrc.org/doyourbit/21_11-fisheries-day.html

  1. Birthday of Walt Disney, Tuesday 5th December
  2. Christmas Day, Monday 25th December – Christmas resources available from http://nollaigshona.ie/
  3. New Year’s Eve, Sunday 31st December
  4. Winter Solstice, Thursday 21st December – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html

  1. Nollaig na mBan (Little Christmas) – January 6th – Nollaig na mBan PPT
  2. RDS Primary Science Fair Dublin, Thursday 11th – Saturday 13th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
  3. RDS Primary Science Fair Limerick (at Mary Immaculate College), Thursday 18th – Saturday 20th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
  4. Martin Luther King Jr Day, Monday 15th January
  5. International Share a Compliment Day, Wednesday 24th January
  6. Australia Day, Friday 26th January
  7. Catholic Schools Week, Sunday 28th January – Saturday3rd February – http://www.catholicbishops.ie/catholicschoolsweek/
  8. Storytelling Week (UK), Saturday 27th January – Saturday 3rd February – http://www.sfs.org.uk/national-storytelling-week
  9. World Braille Day, Thursday 4th January – https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-braille-day/
  10. World Day of the Snowman, Thursday 18th January – http://worlddayofsnowman.com/homepage/
  11. National School Photography Awards – closing date Friday 19th January – http://www.inspa.ie/
  12. Backwards Day, Wednesday 31st January – https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/backward-day/
  13. Goal ‘Write the Future’ writing competition, dates TBC (usually January) – https://www.goalglobal.org/write-the-future

  1. Lá ‘Le Bríde, Wednesday February 1st – St. Brigid’s Cloak PPT
  2. Ireland’s first game in the 2017 Six Nations (in Paris against France), Saturday 3rd February – http://www.rbs6nations.com/
  3. Safer Internet Day, Tuesday 6th February – http://www.saferinternetday.ie
  4. Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday, Tuesday 13th February
  5. Ash Wednesday, Wednesday 14th February
  6. Valentine’s Day, Wednesday 14th February – Valentines Resources
  7. Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster), Friday 16th February – http://cny.ie
  8. Engineer’s Week, Saturday 24th February- Friday 2nd March – http://www.engineersweek.ie/; http://www.steps.ie/
  9. Rare Disease Day, Wednesday 28th February – http://www.rarediseaseday.org/
  10. Texaco Art Competition: 2018 dates TBC, but deadline for entries is usually end of February – http://www.texacochildrensart.com/

  1. Signs of Spring (or it might be Easter) Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates, but usually second/third week in March
  2. Seachtain na Gaeilge, 1ú-17ú Márta – http://snag.ie/
  3. Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) Annual Conference – dates TBC but usually first weekend in March – http://www.cesi.ie/
  4. National Tree Week, early March (exact dates TBC) – http://www.treecouncil.ie
  5. International Women’s Day, Thursday 8th March – http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
  6. Mothers’ Day, Sunday 11th March
  7. St Patrick’s Day, Saturday 17th March – St. Patrick’s Day Resources
  8. Spring Equinox, Tuesday March 20th – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
  9. World Poetry Day, Wednesday 21st March – http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/
  10. World Water Day, Thursday 22nd March – http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday
  11. World Meteorological Day, Friday 23rd March – http://un.org/news ; https://www.met.ie/
  12. Clocks go forward (1am to 2am), early hours of Sunday 25th March
  13. Holy Week, Sunday 25th (Palm Sunday) – Saturday 31st March (Holy Saturday)

  1. April Fool’s Day, Sunday 1st April
  2. Easter Sunday, Sunday 1st April
  3. World Autism Awareness Day, Monday 2nd April
  4. Digital Art Week, early April (dates TBC) – http://www.digitalartweek.com/ (Although it didn’t run last year)
  5. Tech Week Ireland, dates TBC – http://www.techweek.ie/
  6. Earth Day, Sunday 22nd April – http://www.earthday.org/
  7. World Book Day, Monday 23rd April – http://www.worldbookday.com/
  8. Shakespeare Day, Monday April 23rd – https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/shakespeare-day
  9. ICT in Education Conference, Thurles, Saturday 28th April – http://www.lit.ie/ictedu
  10. International Jazz Day, Monday 30th April – http://jazzday.com/

  1. Europe Day, Wednesday 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/
  5. Outdoor Classroom Day, Thursday 18th May – https://outdoorclassroomday.com/

  1. Butterfly Education and Awareness Day, Sunday 3rd June – http://afbeducation.org/butterfly-conservation/butterfly-education-and-awareness-day/
  2. World Environment Day, Tuesday 5th June – http://www.unep.org/wed/
  3. World Oceans Day, Friday 8th June – http://worldoceansday.org/
  4. First game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Thursday 14th June – http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html
  5. Bike Week, Saturday 9th – Sunday 17th June – http://www.bikeweek.ie/
  6. Fathers’ Day, Sunday 17th June
  7. Summer Solstice, Thursday 21st June – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
  8. International Music Day, Thursday 21st June – https://musicday.org.uk/
  9. FÍS Film Festival – dates TBC but deadline for submission is usually the end of June – http://www.fisfilmproject.ie/

For additional fun days or events, I recommend:

  1. http://fun.familyeducation.com/calendar/holidays-and-seasonal-events/59741.html
  2. https://www.daysoftheyear.com/
  3. http://www.onthisday.com/

(Months of the Year visuals are available as a download HERE)

Ciara Reilly 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.

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