Junior Infants
We welcome the new Junior Infants who have joined us this year. The pupils are an energetic happy group and the remainder of the school were delighted to welcome the boys and girls to assembly. As usual the playground equipment is a big hit with the children.
Board of Management
• The Board welcomes back Ms Louise Hickey and Ms Mary Wyer for the year. We wish Ms Crowley well in her new position with the SESS and welcome Ms Clodagh Lalor who is replacing Ms Crowley for the year.
• Over the Summer we engaged a tree surgeon to make safe a number of trees in the car park. The timber from the trees will be used as raffle prizes before Christmas.
• The development of the hurling wall is still delayed. ESB Networks have been in contact and work on moving the power lines will prove too disruptive during school time. It would mean the field could not be used for a number of months. Therefore we as a Board have made a decision to postpone the work until next Summer.
School Self Evaluation
The directive from the INTO of non participation in the School Self Evaluation process is still in place. However, as outlined in last Summer’s newsletter the following will continue:
• Literacy Lift Off has resumed in First Class and will take place in Senior Infants later in the year
• The genre in the First Steps in Writing programme this term is Procedural Writing. Examples of the childrens writing will be on display in the halla.
• As part of our Numeracy strategy we will continue with a “Problem of the Week” board in the school halla. Two different problems will be introduced each week at assembly – one for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class, and another for 4th, 5th and 6th Class. The problems will be discussed on a Monday with the problems being solved on Thursday morning.
• The Maths for Fun initiative will continue again this year. Details will follow in our next newsletter.
School Mass
Our school chaplin Fr Michael Harding came to school today to celebrate mass for the beginning of the school year. Once again the children were delighted when Fr Harding suggested that if the children were good during mass he would encourage Mr Hanamy to go easy on the homework. Needless to say the pupils were thrilled when Mr Hanamy decided the children had behaved excellently and deserved a night off homework. Due to drama, homework club etc Mr Hanamy has nominated Monday next as no homework night.
Upcoming Events
• Friendship Week takes place next week. Each class has organised a number of activities to coincide with this and assembly each morning will incorporate the theme of friendship. The “Random Act of Kindness” nomination box is in the school reception. Those nominated for their acts of kindness are in with a chance of winning a prize over the coming weeks.
• Thirty two boys and girls will go to Tullamore Harriers Stadium tomorrow to take part in the Offaly Cross Country Championship. Good luck to all.
• Slieve Bloom Storytellers will visit the school in two weeks time as part of their annual storytelling festival.
School Activities
• Hughie Hannon has recommenced the GAA coaching with the pupils in 3rd and 4th and 5th Class.
• Rugby coaching for 6th Class pupils under the guidance of Mark Lown will start next Monday.
• Our footballers played their first match on Tuesday against St Rynaghs. Although the boys put in a sterling performance unfortunately is wasn’t to be our day. Our next match is against Birr next week. The girls in 5th and 6th Class have started football training under the expert eye of Ms Hickey and hope to play a number of challenge matches in the coming weeks.
• Choir has will resume with the pupils of 4th, 5th and 6th Class. Pupils are welcome and encouraged to join the choir.
• Pottery sessions for the pupils in Senior Infants, 1st, 3rd and 5th Class are ongoing with potter Fin O Hara while Junior Infants will start their sessions in two weeks time.
Class News
In 6th Class we had the honour of being the first class to perform in assembly for this school year. We really wanted to kick things off on a lively note so we got everyone involved in our own version of the GoNoodle classic Pop See Ko. We loved leading everyone in this catchy dance/rap. Well done to our 6 classmates who led each verse. We can’t wait to get everyone dancing again soon……..Fifth Class performed an uplifting rendition of the pop classic ‘Reach’ by S Club 7. It got the whole school up and dancing to the wonderful choreography and really set us up for the weekend. Maith sibh!…….Well done to all the children in 4th Class who each created their own miniature garden……..In Third Class, we are off to a great start. Tá an-chuid obair ar siúl le Gaeilge sa rang agus tá súil againn go mbeidh an bua againn sa chomórtas “Gaeilgeoirí na Coicíse” go luath. We are lucky enough to have Mr Hanamy joining our team during Maths time……. For the month of September Second Class have been busy learning playground games in PE class. We have learned some playground games which our parents may have played when they were in school such as ‘In and Out the Dusty Windows’, ‘Four Corners’ and ‘Flush the Toilet’! The children even made up their own games……In First Class we are learning all about pirates – we love singing pirate songs, making masks and writing about parrots. We are also busy looking at and recording the signs of Autumn…….What a busy month it’s been in Senior Infants! Our theme this month is Autumn and we have been learning all about the life cycle of the apple tree in Science. We created our own class graph in Maths to find out what our favourite colour apple is. We cut apples in half and printed them. The most popular apple by far was the red apple! Yummy! We listened to the story of ‘Johnny Appleseed’ and created our own ‘Johnny Appleseed’ in Art. ……Junior Infants have been learning all about their school this week. They toured the building, talked to teachers and interviewed the secretary. This really helped the children to get into character during role play, where they took on the roles of teacher, principal, caretaker and secretary! They printed patterns using the school colours and built beautiful school buildings using blocks, one even had a staffroom!! In Aoibhneas Class 1 we had our first social play group gathering this week and really enjoyed lego construction with Aoibhneas Class 2. Our new Junior Infants have really settled in their new class and are enjoying exploring, discovering and creating. We are starting our cookery class on Friday and can’t wait to get “stuck in”.
Dates for your Diary
• Parent / Teacher Meetings – Monday 21st November
• First Confession – Wednesday 1st March at 7 30
• Confirmation – Saturday 25th March 2017 at 11 00 am
• First Communion – Saturday 13th May at 2 00 pm
