Mrs Senior’s School year to date

April 2020

Books books and more books

  • This month we have been very busy with Book related activities. Jackie Burke, an author, came in to speak to 3rd-6th Classes. She has written a series of five books – The Secrets of Gringlewood. She brought in a large display and read to the children from her books. It was very interesting and the children were enthused about her books.
  • Gillian Perdue another author came in to speak to Junior Infants to 2nd Classes. This was an exuberant show. She entertained the children and had them dancing with shouts of Yee Haa sounding like cowboys. Great fun!
  • World Book Day was held on 5th March and as such we had a dress up day where children dressed up as their favourite character in a book. There was an array of different characters. Many carrying their books to show their efforts. A lot of work was done to achieve this.

March 2020

We have had several connections with quizzes in the school of late. 6th Class participated in the Core Credit Union Quiz with a team of four. They enjoyed this experience.

Our annual Adult Quiz took place in Shankill Tennis Club. As usual this was fun event with Kevin Smith being our Quiz Master. This came with smiles and laughter. The Parent Teacher Association ran the event providing refreshments and prizes. It was very well attended. Thanks to everyone for their support.

There are children from different cultures and backgrounds in our school. It is good to give the children a flavour of these to increase their knowledge and awareness. It also breaks down any barriers there might be about the unknown. To celebrate the Chinese New Year we had a workshop in for the children. 2nd Class to 6th Class attended these. They were held in the hall and involved dance, drama and activities. It was a colourful workshop with dragon heads, fans and umbrellas.

Cycle Training has commenced in the school. This involves an eight week programme teaching the children about bicycle maintenance and road safety. It is half sponsored by Dunlaoghaire / Rathdown County Council. A worthy programme especially with our 6th Class preparing for Secondary School, many of whom may decide to cycle to school.

January 2020

Shows took place under the instruction of Naomi Clarkson, our music teacher, and the class teachers. Both the Infant Classes and Second Class performed. Each one lightening your step and drawing at the heart strings!

6th class joined with Scoil Mhuire and St Anne’s to sing carols at a Carol Service held in the Active Retirement Association. It is good for the children to do something within the community at Christmas.

Garda Martin came in to talk to our 5th and 6th classes about cyberbullying.

A new PA system has been put in place paid for by both the PTA of Management. Announcements can now be made in individual classes and throughout the school. This is a serious upgrade to the school and welcomed by all the staff.

Great thanks to the parents who yet again put up and Advent calendar for the whole school. This had gifts for everyone, jokes, teachers doing silly things and no homework days. Enjoyed by all. Seasonal spirit included.

We held an Art and Wine evening which was very successful. The PTA provided refreshments whilst the teachers provided the Art. There were beautiful displays.

1st class visited Explorium. They won this visit through and art competition. It is a fabulous place to see with so much to see and explore, making children use their enquiring minds.

December 2019

3rd class has a seasonal show in October for their parents. This was enjoyed by all who attended. Great excitement was to be had by the children as they dressed up and performed. Naomi Clarkson our music teacher excelled herself once again.

The charity GOAL came to our school to present workshops to 3rd-6th Classes on Global Citizenship. This was all presented through drama which the children loved. The presenter was superb and had a very good handle on the children. We have just completed our Global Citizenship Green Flag so the children were familiar with the information and able to contribute knowledgably.

Garda Denise came to the school to visit our 5th and 6th Classes in the school. She spoke to them about the dangers of Fireworks and Bonfires to bring the children a sense of awareness before the Halloween festivities began. Our community guard Denise is a regular visitor to the school and will return again during the year.

Our school garden produced potatoes this year which the children in 3rd class were delighted to take home with them to cook. It is great to see the produce they have planted get to a table. This teaches them so much more than reading a book.

As part of our community outreach we collected food at our Harvest and brought it to the Old Folks Association in Shankill. They were delighted to see the young children and receive their goodies. It is good for the school to give back and this is a very positive way of doing this.

3rd Class visited Airfield, our city farm. This is always well run and enjoyed by all.

Our Cookbook is on sale now for €12. It was on sale on 2nd November in The Old Folks Association and hopefully again on 7th Dec. These are available in the school office.

November 2019

As part of our Green School programme, where we are working towards a Marine Flag, 5th Class chose to walk down to the beach to clean it. Tidy Towns supported this venture supplying us with blue bags and disposing of the waste. The 5th class analysed the waste collected. They were enthusiastic and cleaned the avenue and laneway on their way down.

Our annual Sponsored Walk took place in October. This is one of our larger fundraisers for the school. As the first one of the year it was well represented by the children and parents. It was great to see so many new parents getting involved. The walk is held up in Corrigolligan Woods and is very near the Lead mines.  A huge thank you to the PTA who supplied goodies at each stop and refreshments for all after the walk.

September 2019

We went down with our 5th class to Shankill beach to do our annual clean-up for tidy towns. The good news is that there was less than normal which is a very good sign. We went equipped with litter pickers and blue sacks which were collected by Dunlaoghaire / Rathdown County Council. It is good for the children to be part of keeping our immediate environment clean.

We held an Active Week in June. This was full to the brim with exercises and games for the week. This included exercises for us all on some of the mornings. A whole school relay was quite the feat!! The week included Frisbee, Pilates, Stretch and Grow, Irish dancing, Zumba dancing and sports from Southside Sports. The whole school wore orange t-shirts with ‘Rathmichael Gets Active’ across them. A banner went up on our pitch and our new Active flag was flown high on the grass area. A lovely way to end the school year.

Sonja Storm, a parent in our school, took part in the Celtic Challenge, which entails rowing across the Irish Sea from Arklow to Aberystwyth in Wales. They rowed 90 nautical miles or roughly 150km through the night. It’s a race against other crews so not just a ‘crossing’. She came in to speak about her journey, the preparations and the mental and physical endurance which was required. An inspiration to us All!

My thanks to all the pupils who participated in St Joseph’s Shankill “Cherished Memories” Art Competition which was sponsored by Explorium and Lidl. Congratulations to Lucy Miller who won 1st Prize in the 5th and 6th Class category and was presented with her prizes at a ceremony on 18th June. Senior Infants were the winners of Best Class Category and won a trip to Explorium next year – well done to Ms Fox and Senior Infants. Many more of our pupils were highly commended as finalists. The judges were very impressed with the extremely high standard of all our art work so well done to everyone who submitted a piece.

I am delighted to say that we now have the Cookbook to sell. Order Forms have gone home and thanks to Michelle Howe we had sales of over €400 on Sports’ Day. Please contact Trish, send a form and money in with your child or call into the Office.  The cost is €12 per book. Congratulations to the winners of our Cover Design Competition – Melissa Vinson for the cover of the Cookbook and Hannah Phelan for the first inside page. Illustrations by other class winners are on the third page – thanks to all the pupils who contributed recipes, drawings and photographs. A huge thank you to Colin Howe for compiling the Cookbook and ensuring its delivery to School in time for Sports’ Day.

The pupils went on several tours. 5th and 6th classes took a trip to Carlingford to the adventure centre. 4th went to Lully more. 3rd went on the Viking Splash Tour and Dublinia, 2nd went to the Chocolate Warehouse and Factory whilst the Junior end of the school went to Explorium. Senior Infants even won an extra trip to the Zoo. Who ever said school wasn’t fun!!!!

We look forward to our new term in Rathmichael and all it entails. Welcome back everyone!!