Bright and early on a beautiful sunny Tuesday morning all the boys and girls from 3rd to 6th class set off on their school tour to Castlecomer Discovery Park. The buzz of excitement could be felt as we all boarded the bus and it wasn't long until the singing and chanting began. Our day at Castlecomer Discovery Park was jam packed with fun activities. Each class got the chance to get their leg muscles pumping with a cruise on the lake in the peddle boats. They also got the change to test their aim with archery using real bows and arrows. The toughest and scariest activity came when we faced the Octagon High Ropes challenge. All of us, teachers included, where harnessed up and took to high heights to test our balance and bravery across a number of tricky bridges and ropes. We all had an amazing day so much so that some of us were very sleepy on the bus journey home!Below you can see a slideshow of pictures of all the activities we completed.
Congratulations to the boys and girls in 2nd class who made their First Holy Communion on Saturday. Each of them scrubbed up so well. The girls looked stunning in their pretty dresses and the boys were so dashing in their suits. Well done to all of the children who read and brought up the gifts. A special mention to Lucy and Roisin who played a beautiful duet on the tin whistle. Thank you to Ms. Creane and Leona for all their hard work in preparing the children and decorating the church with lovely art work. Thank you to the members of the choir lead by Ms. Bolger and Trad group lead by Ms. Lawlor whose singing and playing really added to the ceremony.
Finally a thank you to the parents and volunteers who helped with the annual Communion breakfast refreshments in the hall.
Last Friday four pupils represented our school along with players from Ballycanew NS and Ballyoughter NS at a hurling and camogie blitz held by Creagh College. The girls came up against some very tough competition but should be very proud of how they played. Martha scored a beautiful point from a free. The boys got off to a rocky start but came together as a team and made to the shield final where they faced Loretto. This is when the players began to show their true skills and come out on top. Jack Stafford made some vital tackles and Alex scored a super goal. He was also awarded with a Fair Play trophy for his sportsmanship.
Thank you to all the coaches and parents for their support.
All classes in our school have been working very hard to improve their attendance at school. We started a new challenge after Christmas to see which class could colour nine letters in the word ATTENDANCE. For each day a class had everyone in they got to colour in a letter. Our first class to get all nine letters in were Junior and Senior Infants. The lucky winners enjoyed a pizza party as a reward for their great work. Well done Junior and Senior infants!
Also a big thank you to Renata's Dad, Mansoor, from The Tasty Spot for sponsoring the delicious pizza and chips.
Over the last couple of weeks boys and girls from 4th-6th class have joined forces with students from Ballycanew and Ballyoughter to represent our school in the Rackard League hurling competition. Both teams played their hearts out each time they lined out on the field. Unfortunatly the matches did not go our way but they should all be so proud of the respect they showed and effort they put in!
Yet again our students from 6th class knocked it out of the park with our annual bake sale on Daffodil Day. A huge effort was put in making and baking lots of yummy treats to raise much needed funds for the Irish Cancer Society. We would like to say thank you to all the boys and girls in our school, parents and local businesses for their support. We are delighted to say we as a school raised a whopping €1,009.25!
Our newly elected Student Council members did not wait long in getting activities and events orgainsed for our school. Over the past few weeks, with the help of Ms. Leacy, they have been extremely busy preparing for our first Christmas Craft Fair. On Wednesday 14th December the schools G.P. was turned into a winter wonderland, decorated with children's Christmas artwork and filled with creative crafts and goodies.
For sale were wooden and recycled Christmas tree decorations, snowglobes, Christmas cards to name a few. Tasty treats like brownies, cookies and cakes had our mouths watering and tummies rumbling.
A huge well done to the Student Council members on running such a successful event and raising funds for our school. Thank you to all the children too for putting in big effort in creating, making or baking items to sell. We all look forward to a whole school treat soon!
This week all classes were busy celebrating all this spooky in the lead up to Halloween. Junior and Senior Infants drew very scary ghost and witches. Our artists in 1st and 2nd Class painted beautiful autumn sunsets over a pumpkin patch. While 3rd and 4th Class created witches cauldrons.
Some of the boys and girls in 5th and 6th Class got creative carving and designing pumpkins for the annual pumpkin competition.
We would like to introduce our newly elected Student Council to you. This is a new enicitative set up by Ms. Leacy that we hope will give the students in our school a voice. The canditates from 3rd-6th class all delivered very convincing speeches at a recent assembly. It was then down to the teachers and students to cast their votes and choose who they think will make a difference. We look forward to all the ideas the Student Council will bring to the table at each meeting and allowing the children of our school be part of the decision making.
On Friday 25th of March we celebrated Daffodil Day in our school. As is tradition, the pupils of 6th class held a bake sale and raffle to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society, a charity that is very close to our hearts. On the morning the school was a hive of excitement and activity as the 6th class prepared their stalls for eager customers. Their tables were adorned with yellow tablecloths and daffodil bunting displaying beautiful and delicious homemade goodies. Pupils from junior infants right up to 5th class, dressed in a sea of yellow, had their pocket money ready. Feelings of joy and happiness filled the air as huge smiles filled our faces. Daffodil Day was a huge success as we raised an amazing €1,295 for the Irish Cancer Society.
We are thankful to all the families in our school who supported Daffodil day in may ways. Also a number of prices for the raffle were donated by local businesses which we greatly appreciate.
Finally, we share this lovely video created by Leona which captures snippets of our celebrations.
Bhà lá glas agus céilà mór ar scoil innú chun Seachtain na Gaeilge agus Lá Fheile Phádraigh a ceiliúradh. Bhà an spraoi ag gach duine ag damhsa, ag séinnim ceol agus ag cannadh. Feach ar an bhfÃseán thÃos chun chuid dár lá a fheiceáil.
The boys and girls were learning all about St. Patrick this week. On Monday Miss Leacy asked them who they thought St. Patrick was and they had some super answers that are sure to put a smile on your face! Lots of fun was had drawing St. Patrick and creating beautiful green shamrocks.
On Tuesday the children in second class made their First Confession in the church. All of the boys and girls did an excellent job at reading their prayers. Like their beautiful artwork says, they have now washed away all of their sins in preparation for their Fist Holy Communion in May.
St. Patrick, finding pots of gold, story writing and tin whistle were all part of the learning happening in 3rd and 4th class this week. The children used facts they learned to write reports about St. Patrick in English. In art they created glittery green shamrocks and rainbow chains with pots of gold. The boys and girls have also been practicing their tin whistle tunes very hard and preformed for the school during the Céilà Mór!
This week Junior and Senior Infants have been learning all about Spring. In SESE they learned all about the new baby animals that are born during spring such as chickens, lambs and calves. They created these cute lambs using cotton wool during art time.
The boys and girls have been buzzy bees this week as they were learning all about the life cycle of a bee. During art they used bubble wrap and paint to create beehives. Aren't they BEE-autiful!
Lucy joined 3rd and 4th class this week to do some planting. Each child made a grow bag with lollipop sticks to add structure, a wet tissue for moisture and two scoops of compost. Two green bean seeds sit on top of the compost. Now we wait and watch to see if they will grow!
This week we had the long awaited return of Rackard League football. The boys and girls from 3rd-6th class joined with Ballycanew and Ballyoughter for training on Monday and Thursday.