School Activities 2020-2021
Here are some of the activities that took place during the 2020-2021 school year.
6th Class Graduation
25th June 2021
On Friday, we marked the 6th Class graduation with an outdoor ceremony. Fr. Donnelly led us in a short prayer service and the pupil's families joined them for the special occasion. 5th Class helped to sing the opening and closing hymns. The very best of luck to all 6th Class pupils next year.
6th Class Tour
June 2021
On Thursday, 6th Class pupils, along with Ms. Madigan and Ms. McGarry spent the day at Shannon River Adventure Centre, Rooskey. They had a fantastic day out, starting with land activities in the morning and then moving onto the water activities in the evening.
Sports Day(s)!
June 2021
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we held our Sports Days. As Sports Day took place remotely last year, we made up for it this year with lots of races, games and fun activities over the week. On Tuesday we made the most of the dry weather in the morning and completed all the traditional races - the running race, the spud and spoon race, the three-legged race, the sack race, the teddy bear race, the slipper race and the relay race. Each classroom had a turn at the Water relay race with Mr. Kelly at the helm. The middle and older classes played crab football and some basketball shooting games. On Wednesday everyone played some parachute games and the Infant room brought their teddy bears out for a picnic when the children were suprised with a delivery from Apache pizza! Needless to say, everyone enjoyed a great feast of pizza out on the pitches! A special word of thanks to The Goal Post who held a fundraiser draw for the school at Christmas, the proceeds of which covered the cost of the pizzas.
Cuckoo Hill Bootcamp
June 2021
As we cannot go on a school tour as we normally would, Cuckoo Hill Bootcamp came to us today! Each classroom had a session with Tommie and Anna, with lots of fun challenges and team games. All our pupils really enjoyed themselves and worked up a sweat in the wonderful sunshine, as you can see in the photos!
First Penance - 28th May 2021
28th May 2021
Congratulations and well done to 2nd Class boys and girls who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time today. Thank you to Fr. Donnelly and to Sr. Elizabeth for making it possible.
Prayer Service to Our Lady
May 2021
To mark the end of May, the month of our Lady, we held a short outdoor prayer service. Every May we remember Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly as our school is St. Mary's NS. The pupils gathered in their bubbles and brought pictures, holy water, Rosary beads and flowers to the altar and prayed and sang to Our Lady.
Christmas Performance and Santa Visit
December 2020
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to our Christmas raffle by donating prizes and purchasing tickets and a special thank you to the members of the Parent's Association who put together the lovely prize hampers. We had 19 prize winners, who were listed in the email sent to parents. On Tuesday, we marked the Christmas holidays a little differently to other years. 5th and 6th Class performed a short Nativity play outdoors, while 2nd, 3rd and 4th Class sang carols alongside them. Junior and Senior Infants and 1st Class sang their favourite Christmas songs for everyone. Thankfully Santa was still able to make his annual visit and he dropped by to see everyone and deliver a small gift for each child! A big thank you to Santa for taking the time to call in and also to his fantastic helpers. We've attached a video and some photos of the action.
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https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V8kRJsIHVqmAbCvMDfRD0-A9XNPykRiL?usp=sharing
Barna Recycling Colouring Competition Winners
We were delighted to hear that our school had four winners in the Barna Recycling Hallowe'en Colouring Competition! Congratulations to Bobby, Declan, Sienna and Aaron! Each pupil won a €20 Smyths voucher.
Science Week
November 2020
Science Week ran from 8th-15th November. This year marked 25 years of Science Week and we engaged in lots of fun activities to celebrate. The Infant room carried out some Science Experiments - 'Storm in a Glass' and 'Dry Erase'. The Middle and Senior Classes learned about famous Irish Scientists, past and present. 2nd, 3rd and 4th Class designed their own inventions as well as learning about and investigating their heart rate. They also carried out some cool experiments - 'Storm in a Glass', 'Lava Lamps' and 'Walking on Air'. They watched an online Science Show from SFI titled 'That's Non-sense' which was really enjoyable. 5th and 6th Class pupils watched RTÉ's Science Week programme 'Future Island' as part of their homework. They worked on the Science Week Booklet challenge 'Design your School for Wellbeing' and planned and sketched what their ideal school of the future would be like. On Friday we finished off the week with a Science showcase - via Zoom! 5th and 6th Class pupils prepared various Science experiments at home and they carried them out while Ms. Gallagher's and Ms. Nolan's classes watched onscreen in their own classrooms!
Hallowe'en Fun
October 2020
Although it wasn't possible to celebrate Hallowe'en with our usual big party this year, each classroom had their own fun last Friday. All pupils came to school dressed up and we saw lots of spooky, scary and clever costumes. Pupils also brought in tasty treats that were shared out among the class. Infants and 1st Class watched a Hallowe'en movie. 2nd, 3rd & 4th Class played games and worked off the sugar with a disco. 5th & 6th Class carved their own pumpkins, which they brought home that afternoon. Luckily we could still have our usual BáirÃn Breac - thank you to Ellen's Mum Martina for baking and sending in a brack for each classroom!
Maths Week
18th October 2020
Maths Week Ireland was held from the 10th - 18th October. We made great use of the brilliant resources on the Maths Week Ireland website with children taking part in activities such as 'Emoji Problem Solving' throughout the week. Each classroom had a chance to use their Maths Eyes around the school grounds. Infants and 1st Class engaged in a Maths Scavenger Hunt. 2nd-6th Class took part in a Maths Trail in their own classroom bubbles.
First Holy Communion
3rd October 2020
The First Holy Communion took place on Saturday 3rd October in Ballinagare Church. Congratulations to Aaron, Cara, Ciarán, Evan, James and Pauric who received the sacrament and blessing. Thank you to Fr. Donnelly and Sr. Elizabeth for all the work they put into the lovely ceremony. We celebrated with a little party in school.
