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BarnadergNS Newsletter
Issue 5
Jan 12/13
Catholic Schools Week Prayer Service—As part of Catholic Schools Week there will be a prayer service held in the G.P. Room in the school on Thursday, 30th January at 11:30 to mark ‘Grandparents Day’. Parents, Grandparents and friends are all welcome. A cup of tea will be provided afterwards by the Parents Association.
Credit Union Table Quiz will be held on Friday, 1st Feb in the Mercy Convent at 7pm. Best of luck to our two teams who will be competing: Team A—Oisin McHugh, Liam Lennon, Chloe Mitchell and Megan Nestor. Team B—Ronan Dunleavy, Katie Murray, Ruth Staed and Ryan Roche.
Puffin Books -We would like to apologise on behalf of Puffin books for the huge delay that has occured in our last order. Unfortunately, Puffin Books are under new management and there appear to be a number of teething issues. Some children have received their orders, but a number of orders were not received. Some children received cheques at their home address and some cheques arrived at the school. There has been a significant breakdown in communication between the school and the company. However, we have a list of books received and we have will be in a position to return any money owed next week. If anybody has received a cheque/books at their home address, we would appreciate if you could ring Pauline to let her know.
Vigilance encouraged over children’s internet and TV use.
Christmas has brought new tablet computers, smartphones and even bedroom television sets into some homes. Now is a good time to ensure that children are protected from inappropriate material. Become familiar with facilities offered by broadband and phone service providers. Parental controls will allow you to filter the content that reaches the devices used by children.
Content of TV programmes should also be monitored for language and themes suitable for children.
The official Department of Education website for Safer Internet Awareness is It offers parents resources and support in this area. Also, February 5th is Safer Internet Day in Europe. Events from schools around the country will be displayed on the website promoting the theme ‘connect with respect’.
School News
National Children’s Choir — The first practice in Presentation Primary School, Tuam will take place on Wednesday, 30th January. The bus will be leaving the school at 9:30 am and returning at 1:00. The price for the bus will be €6 per pupil.
Ceili Dancing - As stated in text-a-parent sent earlier this month, Ceili dancing will not be going ahead this year. We hope to arrange an event to replace the annual Ceili Mor. Further details to follow.
Write-A-Book Project 2013—Pupils in all classes will be taking part in this project. All books must be completed by and submitted by Monday, 4th March.
Chess— Information for 2 Chess Tournaments listed below. Pupils must register if interested in taking part. Feel free to contact school for further information.
*Galway Junior Chess, Saturday, 26th January from 1-5 in Bridge Club, St Mary’s Road, Galway. Cost: €10. All player levels welcome (7-15 yrs) Trophies for winners. Bring light lunch/drink. Contact:
*Tournament of Champions, Saturday, 23rd March, Pavilion Restaurant, Leopardstown Racecourse. FREE entry. Each player will receive chess set and free meal. Closing date for entry 28th Feb—Contact:
American Tea Party—The American Tea Party will be going ahead and the Fund Raising Committee will be meeting soon to decide a date. Watch this space for more details.
Seminar regarding upcoming ‘Perspectives on Understanding Emotional Challenges for Children’ are available to both SNA’s and parents. It is being held in Menlo Park Hotel Galway on Saturday, 9th March from 9-3:30. The cost is €90 More information can be found on website or by e-mail .
List of Secondary School Open Nights for 6th Class Pupils
Holy Rosary College Mountbellew, Thursday, 24th January (6-8 pm)
Archbishop McHale College, Tuam, Monday, 28th January (7:30-9:30)
Presentation College Tuam, Tuesday, 19th February 2013
Mercy College Tuam, Thursday, 21st February 2013
Green-School
Santa Cycle - We had a Santa Cycle before Christmas as part of the work that we are doing to get a Green Schools Travel Flag. Two people from An Taisce dressed as Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus and we cycled for about 10km around the parish. Mike Staed, a Garda, came with us as well as parents Teresa Murray, Kathleen Flynn and James Glynn. They all cycled too. It was difficult, but it was great fun. Some people fell off their bikes, but Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Nicholson drove in cars behind us with the seats down to take care of people who got hurt. It was great exercise and the weather was good. We told the local paper and a photographer came too. Lots of people wore festive clothes. Everyone was exhausted but we all want to do the cycle again. We all wore high visibility vests and helmets. Some people decorated their helmets and lots of people wore Santa hats and Santa scarves. What an exciting adventure!
Bicycle Racks—The Green Schools Committee wrote to several different people before we succeeded in getting new bike racks for Barnaderg NS. The County Council gave us 5 bike racks which can accomodate 10 bicycles. Kevin has set them in concrete and they are ready to be used now. We hope that we will have many more cyclists now that we have a safe place to store our bicycles. We will be counting the number of cyclists every Wednesday from February on. Wednesday will be called C.O.W. Days (Cycle-on-Wednesday). We will also resume our Feet First Friday (FFF) days in February (weather permitting).
Green Schools Day of Action—We will have a Green Schools Assembly on the 13th February. We will have lots of competitions in the classroom beforehand and we hope to have lots of fun at the assembly. There will be a cycling workshop for pupils from 3rd-6th class on the 13th of February also. The workshop will be of 4 hours duration and will include 1 hour of classroom work and 3 hours outside. It will be an off-road workshop and will take place on the school grounds . The workshop will be limited to 30 pupils in total. The cost will be €20 and the children will get €10 back from the RSA at a later date. We hope to get some of the remaining €10 back from An Taisce but we do not know if our application for financial support will be accepted. There will be more information about this workshop and the Green Schools Action Day later in the week.
Christmas Card Recycling— Thank you to all who donated their card fronts to the school. Any other items like ribbons, bows, button etc , are always very welcome as well.
Jack & Jill—As well as getting items for our own school we like to support the work of Jack & Jill. If you have any old mobile phones lying around, please send them into school. As Coordinators, Emma, Mary, Aoife and Conor, are doing a great job and have collected 15 phones so far this year.
Christmas Raffle Results
These are the results of the Barnaderg NS Christmas Raffle: 1st Prize, €150 Hamper- Adam Hynes; 2nd Prize Galway Crystal Glasses- Oisin Joyce; 3rd Prize Omniplex Family Ticket – Patsy Mannion. Sponsored prizes won by Niamh Boyle, Katie Devaney (Kilconly), Bernie Nestor, Terry Costello, MachaelaMiskell, Sean O’Connor, Niall Flynn, Darren Mitchell, Tony Considine, Enda O’Flaherty, Mike Mulryan, Chloe Mitchell, Laura Donnellan, Kayla Ryan, Pakie Rooney, Anne Marie Langan, Emma Lydon, Kevin Finnerty, Shaun Flynn, Nathan Flynn, Rosaleen Parsons, SaoirseGreaney, Anne Treacy (Imanebeg), Eimear O’Flaherty, Joseph Fahy. Children’s Raffle won by Ava Murray. Seller’s Prize won by Sean, Eanna and Niamh Donohue.
Thank you to all the parents for their continued support. A very special Thank You to all our generous sponsors: Ms. Geraldine O’Connor, Conveyors & Packaging, Craft Art, Happy Tots (Caroline Lohan) Joyner’s Pub, Pat Nolan Bus Hire, Sean Fahy Post Office/Pub, Schoolwear Centre, GME Concepts, CW Distributors, It’ll Grow Back, Gerry Fahy Bus Hire, Cosyhome Heating, Harpy’s Bar/Dunleavy Engineering, Pat O’Connor Agri Contractor, The Book People, ABC Bookshop, Bill Treacy Bus Hire, Galvia Clothing, Western Hygiene, Ms. Mary Hurley, Mr. John Flattery.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year.
Work Experience -Every year the school receives a number of requests from secondary students, third level students and adults on training courses to gain work experiences in a school setting.
Currently it appears that the number of requests is on the rise. Understandably we may not be able to accede to all requests on short notice. We will give priority to past pupils and those who apply well in advance of proposed work experience
Holiday Time-table
February:14th—15th,
March: 18th (BH), 25th—29th (Easter)
April:1st—5th (school resumes 8th April)
May:3rd; 6th (BH)
June:3rd (BH), (Last day of School—27th June)
(All days inclusive)
First Holy Communion: Saturday, 11th May 2013