February News

The month of February got off to a very busy start with the feast of St. Brigid’s Day. Children learned all about the story of St. Brigid and made crosses.

Fourth class presented their history projects to the class. They had been working on their projects for the past month and the finished products were simply fantastic. The theme of this project was to make a model of a place of historical interest in Ireland. They also had to present a written and oral presentation to the rest of the class based on their topic of choice. Some of project titles were as follows: The Devil’s Bit, Hook Lighthouse, Round Towers, Cullahill Castle, Mitchelstown Caves, The GPO, Roscrea House, Newgrange, Skellig Michael, Giant’s Causeway, Poulnabrone Dolemn, Carrick-A-Rede and Jacob’s Biscuit Factory. Well done to all the boys and girls who made such a fantastic effort. A special congratulations to our three prizewinners Eoghan, Luke and Patrick. A big thanks to all the parents and cousins who gave a helping hand also.

The celebration of Grandparent’s Day has quickly become the highlight of Catholic Schools Week for growing numbers of schools across the country. This year we decided to celebrate the very special day with a lovely service down in the church. A huge thanks to Fr. Everard for making it such a memorable occasion. The day  reminded us that the relationship children have with their grandparents is characterised by unquestioning love and support, of knowing that they will always be welcome and that there will always be a hug and  a space for them in their lives.  The children’s singing and beautiful prayers really added to the service. Everybody agreed that it was a huge success. It was wonderful that we got the opportunity to celebrate the gift that grandparents are to their grandchildren. We pray for them, we give thanks for them and we ask God’s blessing on them.

The Chinese New Year was celebrated in style in Scoil Naomh Cualán. Children learned lots of interesting facts about China, how the Chinese celebrate the New Year and they also got to do some beautiful Art based on the theme of the Chinese New Year. Children in the senior school had a traditional Chinese meal  served up to them. This year they thoroughly enjoyed chicken curry and rice. They even got to use chopsticks. Some children were ‘naturals’ at using them. Kung Hey Fat Choy!

Children from juniors to sixth enjoyed a wonderful Shrove Tuesday in school. All classes got to taste some delicious pancakes with toppings galore. Some children proved masters at flipping pancakes!

All things LOVEly were in the air on Friday, 12th February. All classes were busy making cards, posters, decorations etc. for Valentine’s Day. Fourth class even tried their hands at sewing and made beautiful little pillows for their ‘Valentine’. They also made some beautiful nightlight holders to take home.

Fifth and sixth class are very busy every Friday doing knitting classes with the help of Mrs. Murray, Ms. Ryan and Mrs. Kiely. They are all thoroughly enjoying the knitting experience. We look forward to seeing some of their knitted pieces in a few weeks time.

It is with heavy hearts that we had to bid farewell to our caretaker, Martin. Martin worked in the school for over a year and made many fantastic transformations to our school environment. He was a friendly, good humoured, hardworking and talented man and he will be sorely missed. A presentation was made to Martin on his last day from the staff, pupils and Board of Management. We wish him all the very best in the future.

Huge congratulations to our four children from the senior room, Emma K., Valerie, Colm and Andrew who took part in the chapter level of the Credit Union Quiz on Friday, 26th February 2016. They managed to secure third place in the competition which was an amazing result. Well done to the children who made a fantastic effort practicing questions over the last number of weeks and also to their teacher Mr. Small.

We has two special visitors to Scoil Naomh Cualán on Monday 29th of February.Two newborn lambs followed Niamh to school one day.It certainly made all the children  laugh and play to see some lambs at school!

On the 16th of February, Michellle Castiaux came to the senior school as part of our Green School programme. Michelle did a workshop based on rock types and water. It was a very interesting talk and we learned lots of new facts about water.

Well done to all the children who took part in the ‘Be Water Smart’ Art Competition. Some of the entries were exceptional. The effort of Shane in fifth class was outstanding. A copy of his picture has been made for all classrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Please go to photo gallery to see some photographs of the above)