• Three teams from the school took part in the local area Cumann na mBunscol Sports Quiz. Claiming second prize on the night were Caoimhe Duffy, Amy Sharkey, Coilin Duffy and Peter Horan. This qualified the team to compete at the County Quiz Final in Castlebar.
• All pupils in the school took part in the local Féile Dramaíochta in Kilmovee Community Centre. The children in Infants and First Class sang two songs ‘as Gaeilge’ with their teacher Ms. Burke accompanying them on keyboard. Second, Third and Fourth Classes staged ‘Píobaire Hamelin’ under the direction of their teacher Mrs. Meehan, while Fifth and Sixth Classes performed ‘An tAsarlaí ó hOz’ which was produced by Mrs Deery. Adjudicator Joe Byrne was fulsome in his praise of all three performances and awarded prizes to Nathan Duffy, Ava Duffy, Liam Boyle, Micaela Roddy, Aoibhinn Duffy and Stephen Shiel. The children had great fun during the run-up to the day and accrued many skills during the process, in terms of cooperation, voice projection and in the use of the Irish language.
• Fifth and Sixth Classes began ‘The Junior Entrepreneur Programme’, which introduces children to the various skills of entrepreneurship. This initiative which is led by Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, is cross curricular giving pupils the opportunity to use skills from various subjects and apply them in real-life situations. As part of the process, the classes were divided into four groups, with each group bringing forward an idea which could be translated into a commercial venture. In common with “Dragons Den”, each team presented their ideas and prototypes to ‘Dragons’, Mrs. Pauline Regan and Miss Burke. Team One planned on producing a fridge magnet with local phone numbers on it, Team Two presented a letter holder, Team Three proposed to put together a lucky bag containing a puzzle, key ring and sweets, while Team Four tendered the idea of selling key-rings with photos of places of local interest. After much consideration, the ‘Dragons’ chose the concept of the production of key rings as they felt it was the most marketable option. The principle of the Programme is that once a particular concept is chosen, all of the class work collaboratively to bring it to fruition. The children quickly and enthusiastically set to work on the production of the key rings.
• As part of the JEP process, a business person is invited to the school to speak about the journey of becoming an entrepreneur. Mr. Pat Towey (Towey’s Spar Express and Top Oil) was the ideal choice as he recently sponsored a set of jerseys for the school team. Pat gave an informative talk on setting up your own business and emphasised the importance of having a plan and sticking to it. He also gave some valuable marketing advice and even placed a substantial advance order for the key rings which will be produced by the children in their participation of this Programme.