School Newsletter-March 2023

World Book Day is a celebration of books and reading. To this end and to underline the concept of reading being fun and exciting, children had the opportunity to dress up as their favourite characters. Much merriment was had, as Gangsta Granny, Rose Gold, Matilda, Harry Potter, The Worst Witch and many others attended school on this day! Each pupil was also given a voucher which could be put towards the cost of a book. It is hoped that these initiatives will go some way towards establishing a lifelong habit of reading for pleasure.

The senior pupils attended the FAI soccer blitz held in the Knock/Kiltimagh pitch. The girls finished top of their group securing a place in the semi-final. This was a tight game with the girls losing by a single goal. On the following day it was the turn of the boys to participate at this event. They drew in three of their games and won one. An enjoyable time was had by all at the competition.

In order to decide on a product to proceed with for the Junior Entrepreneur Programme, the various groups had to pitch their ideas to the “Dragons”. The Dragons were Ms. Kedian, Mrs Warde and Mr. Pat Towey. The children gave clear, confident and articulate pitches and listened attentively while their classmates were being questioned on their products. It was a tremendous learning opportunity. Eventually the Dragons chose the wellbeing pack as the idea that should proceed to market. The entire class will now collaborate in order to have this product ready for the JEP Showcase Day. In addition, some other products which were deemed very worthy but too ambitious to produce during class time will be put forward to the “Bright Sparks Awards” category.

Michael Bell of ‘Nature Learn’ visited the school and provided workshops to each of the classrooms. Michael shared his vast knowledge and expertise with the children through slideshows, exhibits and a nature trail in our school environs. Children listened to birdsong, identified trees and went on a mini-beast hunt. Michael was most impressed with our ‘bug hotel’ and gave tips on ways in which it could be improved.

Mike Raleigh returned to the school to provide hurling training to the senior pupils. We welcome Mike back and are delighted to have someone with such experience in hurling to tutor our budding stars!

Congratulations to Second Class pupils- Ava, Molly and Talia who celebrated the Sacrament of First Penance. This is an important milestone on their faith journey.

The School Band was delighted to accept an invitation to play a number of tunes for the senior citizens of our parish at their annual party in the Community Centre. Eloise also performed her hilarious poem, ‘I’m Fine Thank you’, complete with ‘old lady regalia’! This was a very fitting way to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge, by sharing our traditional music with members of our community. We were delighted to have this opportunity to perform and thank Ms. Sheila Hunt for her invitation.

The pupils of Fifth and Sixth Class welcomed Shairoze Akram to their classroom who spoke on the topic of entrepreneurship. This visit was organised to help the children as they progress with their Junior Entrepreneur Programme. Shairoze is one of the founders of local sports apparel company GRG. Shairoze gave advice to the class as they develop their product for the JEP and offered much encouragement and advice.

The pupils of Fifth and Sixth Class along with children from Kilkelly and Tavrane National Schools travelled to Attymass to the Father Peyton Centre for their Confirmation retreat. It was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the meaning of this Sacrament in their lives. One important part of the day saw students working collaboratively to present their insights on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Fr Joseph also attended this special day. The retreat concluded with a very reverent prayer service.

Well done to all of the children who have agreed to become Altar Servers this year.

Pupils in Fifth and Sixth Class took part in a developmental hurling blitz in Ballaghaderreen. They were delighted to win the B final, especially as the vast majority of the team are newcomers to this sport.

The following piece was written by Nathan Duffy, Sixth Class
On Thursday, March 30^th,we were invited to play in a fun blitz of hurling in Ballaghaderreen. In our first game we played Carracastle but unfortunately lost on a score line of 4-2 to 1-1. In our second game we played Brusna and beat them 2-6 to 1-2. These two results meant that we would go on to play in the B Final versus Derrinabroc. Carracastle played Ballaghaderreen in the A Final and Brusna played Tavrane/Cloonlyon in the C Final. In our final versus Derrinabroc we won by a generous margin. We enjoyed our day preparing for Cumann na mBunscol and hope to win silverware in the near future for hurling!

There were three winners in the School Lotto this month- Caitlin Llongo, Corey Duffy and Cillian Boyle.

The Aistear theme in Mrs Shevlin’s room was food. Pupils listened to the story of Little Red Riding Hood and talked about what was in her basket and what they would have loved to have been in the basket if they were Granny! Children were very creative in designing apples in art. As writers, learners wrote funny poems and stories based on food. The class built meat farms and factories in construction. Pupils had a great time playing Food Bingo and really showed their creative talents when they designed wrappers for new chocolate bars!