Shronell National School Welcome to our Christmas 2014

Shronell
National
School
Welcome
to our Easter
Newsletter
Welcome to our Christmas 2014 Newsletter
Shronell N.S welcomed a very special visitor on the day of the
holidays– Santa Claus himself in a Vintage car no less! He arrived
with a treat for each child. A big thanks to Christy Matthews,
Peter Franklin and the Parent’s Council for helping to organise his
visit. School will re-open again on 5th January 2015. We will close
on January 6th for the Holy day and will reopen on Wednesday
7th. We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and safe
Christmas.
Art Exhibition to celebrate new website.
In conjunction with the launch of our school
website, we had our first ever School Art Exhibition. Each pupil designed their very own
picture based on the theme “My Family”. After all the pictures were finished, a man from
“Images School Art” professionally framed
them and put them on a display for the Exhibition. Parents and family came to view and purchase our artwork. The exhibition lasted for 3
days. The Parents Association kindly opened it
on Thursday night for working parents and a
big thank you to Tesco for the delicious array
of food. We also had the official launch of the
school website. Past pupil Donal Vaughan was
very thorough in designing it for us. Thank
you Donal for the wonderful design! The website is www.shronellns.ie and we hope you
enjoy browsing it to see a snap shot of the
activities and events that we enjoy at Shronell
N.S
Cross Country Champions
In October, 3rd – 6th classes went to the annual
primary schools cross –country. Luckily the
weather was favourable and the rain held off. Each
category was called up - Firstly 3rd & 4th, then 5th
& 6th. The atmosphere at the starting point was
tense. Mrs Devlin would have been very proud of
the students, as they all crossed the finish line. The
5th & 6th class race started with the anticipated
blow from the whistle. It was a sudden scramble
to get out in front. I led at the beginning but was
overtaken half way by one eager student. I stayed
on her heels until the final stretch when I managed
to surge in front. From then on it was a struggle to
the finish line. I had to avail of a reserve of energy
to hold her off and I finally crossed the finish line,
tired but victorious. The real icing on the cake was
the bronze team medal won by Mai (23rd) Lucy
(27th) and myself (1st)
Written by Bríd Nash.
Written by Mai Heffernan
Test your knowledge
On 13th November, the Glenbrohane memorial quiz took place. We had two teams taking part simultaneously. The A
team consisted of Conor O`Grady, Hannah Kate Heffernan, Robert Mullins and Simon Crehan. The B Team consisted Tadhg Carey, Jamie Browne, Shane O`Grady and Lucy McCormack. The A team won 1st prize scoring an impressive fifty out of sixty points. The B team had a final tally of forty five out of sixty. The silver trophy was engraved in Keanes Jellewers who coincidentally didn’t charge us because he was a past pupil of Shronell N.S.! The
trophy takes pride in the trophy cabinet for the second time.
Test your general knowledge with some of the sample questions below:
1.
What would you describe as strata or cumulus?
2.
What forest did Robin Hood live in?
3.
Who wrote a book called “The Test”?
Written by Jamie Browne
(Answers
on the bottom… no peeking!)
Best Art Fest!
All classes entered the annual Credit Union Art Competition. This year students
were asked to interpret the theme “Art
Fest”. Three weeks later it was announced that we had three finalists –
Lauren Franklin (2nd class), Hannah Kate
Heffernan (6th class) and Dave Russell (5th
class). Hannah Kate exclaimed, “When I
got the letter I was ecstatic”. Lauren remarked, “When I received the letter, I
was over the moon!” . On 12th November
our three prize winners were invited to a
prize giving ceremony. The ceremony was
held in the main office and I would like to
say a huge thank you to the staff of the
Credit Union because they were so supportive and generous to all the prize
winners who attended.
Written by Dave Russell
Heavenly Handwriting
This years first handwriting competition was of a
very high standard. As our sub teacher Ms
Hickey was impartial, she was picked as the
judge. She was looking for correct letter formation and overall presentation. The students who
came out on top were Junior Infants: Orpha Gallagher
Senior Infants: Áine O`Dwyer
1st class: Nikola Melnik
2nd class: Lauren Franklin
Sarsfield Rock
On 28 November 5th & 6th staged a history
play about the War of Two Kings, King James
& King William, for Ms Kelly’s class. Everyone
had outstanding costumes and weapons. It was
obvious that they put in a lot of work into
their preparation. It was a source of great
knowledge for Ms Kelly’s class. When we finished our performance, a mini bus collected us
and brought us to the actual site of the infamous siege. As we were getting ready for our
play, a woman and her two dogs came up for a
walk and watched it so we had an unexpected
audience! Subsequently she told us she loved
it! When we were on our way home, we got our
picture taken at a gable end wall which had a
painting of Patrick Sarsfield on it. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and have a much
more comprehensive understanding of these
historic events as a result of learning it
through drama.
Written by Sam Quinn and Shane O`Grady
th
3rd class: Katelyn Heffernan
4th class: Jack Ryan
5th class: Ciara Nash
6th class: Sorcha Smith
Best Improver: Áine Crowe
Congratulations to everyone who took part and to
those who were not successful, persevere with
those handwriting books and try again next time.
Written by Conor O`Grady
Funky Friends
In September we got the year off to a great start by holding a Friendship Week. It was a marvellous
idea. We all got paired with someone in our class. For all of us, it was our first time doing it and it was
very tense. It was engaging and most importantly, we all became better friends. There were certificates
given out for people who helped others smile when they were sad or helped them up when they fell.
Every child received a bookmark about bullying. One side talked to us about how being bullied is not
your fault. The other side asks you to reflect on if you are bullying someone? These are really
important questions that we got to talk about and reflect on so that we can continue to have a kind,
caring atmosphere in our school.
Written by Helena Clifford
Healthy Eating Habits
This year Healthy Eating Week took place from 29th September to 3rd October. Throughout
the week, we brought in lunch boxes filled with healthy fruit and vegetables. We took part in
the Cheerios Childline Breakfast morning and raised €83 for Childline. On Thursday and
Friday , 5th & 6th class made brown bread and yeast bread. “It was a very enjoyable
experience and I had great fun”, quoted Aoife Maher. “It was good fun and thankfully my
bread was edible!” added Tadhg Carey.
During the week Ms Kelly’s class also made smoothies. “The smoothies were delicious and
we had great fun making them”, stated Jack Ryan. “I loved the way they were healthy and
tasty at the same time,” remarked Lauren Franklin.
Ms Riordan taught her class how important and essential healthy food was and together,
they created their own food pyramid. “I liked making the food pyramid”, explained Oisín
Pearl. Let’s try to be less fastidious and extend the formative habits we learned during
Healthy Eating Week.
Written by Hannah Kate Heffernan.
Our Christmas shows
We went to see “Zombie Prom” which was a coproduction between the Abbey C.B.S and St.
Anne’s. It was a wonderful show. We all knew
somebody in it so it was interesting to see
some familiar faces including Angela Heffernan
and Aisling Ryan. It was about a boy called
Jonny and a girl called Toffee. Jonny and Toffee fell in love the second they met, despite
being discouraged by her parents and the principal Ms Strict! It was a lovely entertaining
show and is a credit to the two schools in-
volved. Ms Riordan’s class also went to see a
Christmas show in the Excel called “The Three
Little Pigs”. There was excitement in the air as
they headed off on the bus with their Santa
Hats and teddies! The show didn’t disappoint
and they came back absolutely enchanted. “The
Big Bad Wolf ran down between the seats
shouting” laughed Rory. Thanks to the Parents
Association who helped fund the cost of the
buses for both shows.
Written by Jack Ryan
G.A.A Quiz
On 27 November, Shane O`Grady, Robert Mullins, Dave Russell and myself,
Simon Crehan took part in a G.A.A quiz. Melanie O`Grady kindly volunteered
to transport us to the location, Golden. When we arrived, we questioned another school if they wanted to play football with us as there was a ball and a
goal and they eagerly accepted. When we finished playing, the quiz began.
There were 64 questions varying in difficulty. “It was exciting waiting for
the results” quoted Dave after the quiz. Overall we achieved 4th position, a
very commendable result. Everybody enjoyed themselves and it was a great
opportunity to further our knowledge.
th
Written by Simon Crehan
M.S Readathon Book Worms
As usual, our school once again took part in the annual M.S Readathon in October . It is a great success for students as it helps improve their reading
and encourages them to become voracious readers.
The students who reached the target of 25 books
were Hannah Kate Heffernan (6th), Jamie Browne &
Lucy McCormack (5th), Ellie Ryan (4th ), Katelyn Heffernan (3rd), Lauren Franklin (2nd), Benjamin Franklin
& Susan McCormack (Senior Infants) and finally Orpha Gallagher must have been a book worm with a
full score of 25 books!. Altogether we raised a grand
total of €102 for M.S. Ireland, while increasing our
vocabulary and enjoyment for reading.
Written by Sorcha Smith.
Maths week
In October all the classes took part in
Maths Week. Some activities included a
maths quiz, a maths trail and many more.
Ms Riordan’s class did lots of games such
as finding patterns in music, playing with
2D shapes and designing an aesthetically
impressive display entitled “Shape Farm”
which was created by Ms Power’s 2nd
class. Mrs Franklin’s and Ms Kelly’s
classes partook in a mathematical table
quiz testing their facts and concepts. The
winning team comprised of Hannah- Kate
Heffernan, Robert Mullins, Aisling Corcoran, Mai Heffernan, Lucy English and
Patryk Melnik, whose prizes were well
deserved homework passes!
Written by Ciara Nash
Inaugural Art Week
In November we had our inaugural Art
Week. On Monday we welcomed artist
Jackie Cosgrave. We did our own impressions of Jackson Pollock’s unique style. “I
liked splattering on the pages”, explained
Drew. “We liked painting and stamping
around”, added the senior infant girls. On
Wednesday we welcomed Geraldine
O`Sullivan to do a weaving lesson and also
made bracelets from wool. “I liked weaving
and spinning on the spinning wheel” remarked Katelyn. We also did the drawing
for our first Art Exhibition. Our Art Week
was a resounding success and it helped us to
develop our artistic talents.
Written by Lucy McCormack
Should all children have a mobile phone?
Every pupil in 5th & 6th classes got a chance to be
on a debating team. Following a difficult decision
for the teachers, the team was announced , Captain
Sorcha Smith, Tadhg Carey & Robert Mullins,
Chairperson Helena Clifford and Time Keeper
Bríd Nash.
When the day dawned the team were nervous and
apprehensive. We arrived at Castleconnell N.S, and
received a warm welcome from the pupils and the
teachers. The motion was “ Every child of school
going age should have a mobile phone”. The debate began with speeches that showed confidence
and conviction. Over all Shronell N.S lost by one
point. However Tadhg Carey got a tremendous surprise when a birthday cake emerged! They kindly
treated us to refreshments and we returned, not victorious but proud of our assertive performance!
Written by Tadhg Carey & Robert Mullins
Santa is Here
Today Shronell N.S was delighted to welcome the elusive Santa Claus! Even though he should have been in
the North Pole getting ready for his long journey on Christmas Eve, he still made the time to visit Shronell .
A lot of parents attended. When all fifty –six children had received a treat from him, we waved a big good
bye as he departed in his vintage car. We hope to see him again on Christmas Eve, when he will reward us
for our good behaviour!
Written by Aoife Maher.
Go Raibh míle maith agaibh!
We would like to extend our gratitude to the young people who have helped out in our school
this term .
Firstly Angela Heffernan chose Shronell N.S. as her T.Y. placement and we were delighted to
see her return. She helped in all the classrooms and in the office and even taught some lessons! Hugh remarked, “We would love to see her come back again”. John Glasheen has been
with us every Wednesday as part of his Leaving Cert programme. We will miss him in January
as his placement has now come to an end. We would like to thank him for all his help with office work and assisting the teachers. Korisse remarked, “ He helped me out with my writing
and taught me how to play cards!”.
Lisa Buckley chose to help out in our school when she was on a break from college and she was
kept busy with many art and display tasks in the run up to Christmas. Michael commented
“Lisa helped me with my numbers”. We would like to thank her for volunteering, as an extra
set of hands is always helpful in our school!
Written by Cliona Hourigan
Get Well Soon Mrs Devlin!
Thanks From Mrs Devlin!
We all wish Mrs Devlin well and miss
Thanks to everybody who sent cards,
her lots here in Shronell. We wish
texts, messages of support to me over
her a speedy recovery and a healthy,
the last few months. I really appreci-
happy 2015.
ate all your kindness. I wish you all a
From all the staff, pupils, B.O.M. and
merry Christmas and I hope Santa
the Parents Association of Shronell
comes with lots of good things!!
N.S.
Mary Devlin.
Christmas Holiday Fillers!
There are a number of competitions available for children to enter over the holidays – details
below:
Competition:
Details:
Closure Date:
For more details
see:
Doodle 4 Google
Theme “My Perfect Day”
6th Jan (Strictly)
www.google.ie/
doodle4google
Sightsavers Junior Painters Award
Theme: “I want you to see”
16th Jan
www.sightsavers.ie/
juniorpainter
Texaco Children’s Art
Competition
Theme: anything
27th Feb
Answers to Quiz
1: Clouds
2: Sherwood Forest
3: Brian O`Driscoll
Questions on page 1.
www.texacochildrensart.
com

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