- Everybody was delighted that schools reopened after the Christmas holidays despite the persistently high level of COVID-19. Children in the middle and senior rooms were thrilled to discover that new Promethean Interactive Boards had been installed during the break. The new boards are touchscreen, provide an extremely sharp image and do not require a projector. They facilitate the easy use of power-point presentations, videos and educational games. Pupils and Staff are extremely happy with them, and it is planned that one will be installed in the junior room in the near future.
- We were very pleased to welcome back Mrs Shevlin after her maternity leave and hope she has a productive year ahead. We also wish to warmly welcome Finnegan Cassidy who has joined the pupils of Senior Infants. We are very pleased to have him and his parents as part of our school community.
The following piece was written by Conor Duffy – 6th Class.
- The sixth class pupils of Kilmovee NS were offered a zoom call by the Principal of St. Nathy’s College, Ballaghaderreen, Fr. Martin Henry, at the end of January. Fr. Henry talked about our future at St. Nathy’s and introduced us to some of the teachers. We were then given a brief description of the various subjects on offer in the school such as Woodwork, Metal work, French, Home economics, Business, Technical graphics, and Art. Next, Fr. Henry gave us a virtual tour of the classrooms, sports hall and school campus. Some of the current First Year students were videoed telling us about their favourite parts of school life in Nathy’s. It was great to see Kilmovee NS past pupils Ryan Egan and Ewan Duffy on those videos. Finally, Fr. Henry gave us guidance on filling in the school application form. The forms had been dropped to the school prior to the zoom call and included all the information we needed to know.
- Catholic Schools’ week was celebrated at the school. Fr Joseph visited each of the classrooms to mark the start of the week, where he prayed with the pupils and talked about the theme for this year-Living Life to the Full. Grandparents Day and the recognition of the important role that they play in the lives of children, is central to this week in the school calendar. Due to ongoing concerns around COVID-19, it was not possible to invite grandparents to the school. However it was decided instead, that children could make and decorate a card for them with a special message inside. Grandparents were delighted to receive the cards and messages, which were both hand-delivered and posted. In instances where grandparents have died, pupils designed cards of remembrance for them. This was a great opportunity to reflect on the special bond that exists between children and their grandparents and the importance of nurturing this unique relationship.
- Enrolment forms and information packs for St Joseph’s Community College, Charlestown, were delivered to the school by Deputy Principal, Mr John Bones. It is hoped that a tour of the school will be organised at a later date when restrictions are eased
- Two table-tennis tables were purchased for the school. Pupils derived much enjoyment from them during a number of P.E lessons.
- Orlaith Llongo was the only winner in this month’s lotto.
- Frása na Míosa- Ní neart go cur le chéile.
- This month’s Aistear theme was The Ice Rink. It was a lovely way to start the New Year, with children experimenting, practising new skills and working together to learn through play and fun. Pupils used messy play, small world, games and role play to explore the theme. During messy play, learners used ice cubes to make ice rinks (and igloos!) and experimented with the shape and texture of the ice cubes by balancing them and observing what happened as they were handled. It was discovered that heat melts ice-even the heat from cold hands! Pupils also made stalls and treats from boxes, cotton and other materials which were ‘sold’ at their ice rink in the last week of January. In the small world area, ice rinks, surrounding stalls and in some cases, little villages were made. Children thought it was important to have a hospital nearby and even more important was the school, just beside the rink! Role play was used to act out being skaters and coaches. Judges were at hand to give the skaters scores out of ten for their dancing skills and they didn’t hold back! Moves such as axel jumps, butterfly jumps and crouches were learned to impress the ‘judges’. Pupils played a version of ice hockey using straws and cotton balls. Lots of fun was had blowing the cotton ball with straws to score goals. The class also experimented with the cotton ball to see what would make it move faster across the table; tearing it in half, wetting it and blowing without straws. The conclusion made was that tearing it in half made the ball faster as it was lighter. The children really enjoyed this theme and are now expert ice skaters…well, on carpet anyway!!!