Blog Archives

Skipping ropes on yard!

28/3/2014

The pupils in 1st class thought they would enjoy having some equipment to play with out on yard. They put together a very thorough proposal, which was discussed at length by the teachers. Together we (1st class pupils and teachers) decided to run a pilot programme.
So, for the past week, 1st class pupils have organised their own rota and used a separate yard area to play with skipping ropes for one break each day. They will report to Caitriona next week and tell her how its going and how it can be improved. Once we (again, 1st class pupils and teachers!) consider that we've ironed out any teething difficulties, we expect to invite Senior Infant pupils to take a turn too! We might even eventually progress to inviting Junior Infant pupils!
So far, the teachers are very impressed at how responsible the 1st class pupils have been. We are also proud of the other children in the school, who haven't been too distracted by the extra goings-on!

Nicola has a new-look office!

28/3/2014

Since Luke has been visiting us on work experience this week, we've had him working hard on clearing out the school office. After a big clear-out, the children in Senior Infants came to visit Nicola and saw her bare walls. They decided to do something about that and brought back a whole selection of beautiful pictures for her to add to the walls to bring a bit of colour to the room! Luke will mount them and put them up next week. Come take a peek and admire all of the hard work!

Parents' Association

28/3/2014

Our very first Parents' Association was set up last Autumn. They spent the last few months working on a Constitution and are now working on a plan for the coming year. Looks like there are lots of exciting ventures planned, mainly for the children but a few items thrown in for the parents too! Watch out for updates and for their new noticeboard in the school! They are also going to take a page on our website. We are very excited about this progress and can't wait to hear more!

Their work will include working on school policies, fundraising, providing refreshments at school events and, very importantly, organising some fun events for our community!

If you would like to get in touch with them in the meantime, mention it to Caitriona, Nicola or any of the staff in our school and they'll point you in the direction of someone on the Parents' Association committee.

School reopens on Monday 24th March

21/3/2014

Thanks to all of our families who have been so patient with our building issues. Due to more fallen roof tiles, we had to close the school on Friday 21st March. We could not take the risk that a tile would fall on a child.

We have been assured that the building will be safe for Monday morning. Work on the roof will continue for another week in an attempt to prevent further issues.

We sincerely hope that this is the last time that we will have to close due to fallen roof tiles and we thank all of the school community for their patience and understanding.

Mother Language/Book Week 2014

8/3/2014

We have had a hugely successful Mother Language/Book Week. In all, 13 adults visited us and read stories to us in 8 different languages. Our visitors included fathers, step-fathers and grandfathers; mothers, grandmothers and big sisters. The children really enjoyed it. It was so lovely to see a child's face light up when they heard their "home" language being spoken at school! Some children spoke more during the discussion after a story than we've heard them speak before - what a wonderful chance for these children to express themselves freely using a language they are comfortable with! Other children enjoyed learning new languages and listening to the mother language of their friends.

See photos of each visit here:
Polish stories with
- Kamila
- Lucasz
- Peter and Peter's parents
- Katarzyna
Lithuanian story with Jurgita
Spanish story with Ruth
Italian story with Emmanuela
Hindi story with Anjala
Catalan story with Sandra
Irish story with Ailish
English story with Sophie

Thank you so very much to everyone who visited us. We hope you enjoyed your visit as much as we did!

dziękuję ¡gracias धन्यवाद ačiū Gràcies Thank you
grazie Go raibh maith agat!

Room on the Broom - an English story with Sophie

8/3/2014

The last story of Book Week and Mother Language Week was a story in English. Sophie read us Room on the Broom. We had a great discussion about whether this was a kind or a mean witch and we talked about what we would do if we were in her position. It was a lovely finish to a most successful week!

Short stories with Katarzyna

8/3/2014

On Friday, Katarzyna read us a selection of short stories from this book of Polish Playschool Stories. We all wanted to sit right beside Katarzyna!

This Lithuanian tortoise was just too slow!

8/3/2014

Jurgita read us a Lithuanian story about the tortoise who wanted to find a mate but was always too slow. The illustrations in the book are beautiful and we really enjoyed the story, though we felt sad for the poor tortoise.

A Catalan story with Sandra

8/3/2014

Sandra visited us on Friday and read us a beautiful story in Catalan. Sandra was very interested to hear all about our own mother languages and gave everyone a chance to tell her about their language. We had lots of questions about the story she read, which was about how a very hairy rhino and a bald flamingo helped each other out!

Grandparents came too!

8/3/2014

What a lovely morning we had with Julia and Filip's dad, grandad and grandma! Following the story that Peter read, there was a great discussion in Polish. Having three native Polish speakers in the room was so wonderful and gave every child a chance to speak and to be heard and answered in their own mother language. There's something special about having grandparents in the school and something extra-special about ones that travel across many countries to do it!

dziękuję!

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