Christmas Newsletter Holy Family BNS
Dear Parents,
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. I would like to thank you for all your support and encouragement during the last few months. As you an see from the newsletter things have been very busy! I would like to thank all the children and teachers for their dedication and hard work. I really think that the children are very lucky to have such talented and hard working teachers!
We had a very succesful visit from the Dept. of Education’s Inspector. Mr O’Loinsigh.Such an inspection is mandatory every five years. He was with us for two weeks and gave an excellent report on the school. He especially wanted to thank all the boys for their excellent work.. Unfortunately due to this visit and the fact that our choir teacher Sue Phillips who was ill,the Carol service has to be postponed until Easter. Also the Parent teacher meetings have had to be moved to the end of January. Sincere apologies for any inconvience caused.
An important part of this term was the In Career development organised by the Dept. of Education. These days are important to the successful implementation of the new curriculum. I would like to thank the staff for the level of professionalism displayed.
I would like to offer a special word of thanks to the Parents Council who have put in tremendous work into the development of the school. They are undoubtedly the best parents council in the country!Have a happy and safe Christmas! I hope Santa will be good to you this year!
Closing dates:
The school will close on Thursday at 12.00 and will reopen Monday 8th of January 2001.
The school will be closed for an English In-service day on Monday Jan. 15th
Upcoming dates:
Enrolment service for 1st Confession. Monday 22nd of Jan. at 7.30 Foly Family Church, Askea.
1st Confession. Monday feb. 26th 7.30 Holy Family Church, Askea.
1st Communion: May 19th
Confirmation:Sunday June 10th.
Millennium project: During the Summer, the school erected an Ogham stone to mark the Millennium. The stone was blessed by Fr. Breen on the longest day of the year with a little help from the boys in Junior Infants. Now in December, which has the shortest days of the year we completed the project. Every boy in the school went out to the Ogham stone and placed a penny in the foundation. This was to give the Ogham stone good luck and it was also a way of marking the last Irish penny as we move onto the Euro.
Each boy also received a bar or a small packet of sweets. This was sponsored by Bord na Gaeilge. Míle Buíochas.
School Website.
The school website was selected as one of the top three school websites in the country by PC LIVE magazine. As a result the school was presented with a state of the art printer HP printer sponsored by PC Pro. You can get all the details in the Christmas issue of PC Live which is available everywhere. Congratulations to everyone involved.
Recycle through Art!
In 2001 we are going to make a big effort to use more recyclable materials for our art lessons. In order to help us build up a store of such materials we would welcome on an ongoing basis carboard e.g. cereal boxes, centres of toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, left over fabric, left over wool, buttons, washed out butter cartons, used wrapping paper, bubble paper, polystyrene, wood shavings, sawdust, corks, bottle tops, old tooth brushes, seashells, any empty containers such as large coke bottles, that you think that could be used in this way. These can be given to your son and will be collected from his classroom.
Music: Our new music lessons have been well received by both pupils and teachers. Michael Perkins has been teaching recorder to 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes on the last two Fridays and music will begin for those classes on Friday 12th of january. The boys have shown great enthusiasm at their lessons this gives us great confidence that music will become one of our strong points.In fact, as expertise develops and boys hopefully graduate to learning a variety of instruments we hope to be able to form a band or ochestra. This of course, will take time but has been very successful in other schools under Mr. Perkin’s direction. I very much look forward to the day when our own band/orchestra/group can entertain pupils, parents and teachers at concerts and other functions.
Quiz: Boys from Room 12 to Room 18 are continuing to take part in quiz practice which are now running on both Mondays and Thursdays from 3.00 to 3.30.
National Concert Hall.
David Doyle, Mark Mealy and Jamie Kennedy performed in Bugsy Malone in the National Concert Hall on Nov. 12th. They were brilliant!!!
Handball:
Cian Clancy was on the All Leinster winning handball team representing Tinryland. They are current Carlow champions. Cian is in the 60x30 semi-final in Garryhill shortly. We wish him the best of luck!
Soccer Report.
[Report:Sean Gannon Room 18]
On Friday 17th of November our school soccer team travelled to the C.B.S. gym and they came out on top beating Levistown 8-0. Then they went through to the final where they had to beat Bennekerry after going down 1-0. They came back with a winning finish of 3-2 to the lads.
The final was on Monday 20th of November during the C.B.S. open day. It was against their arch rivals Bishop Foley NS. It was nothing less than a thriller. At the end it was 5-4 to Askea. The goalscorers in the final were Edward McKenna, Seán Gannon and Keelan Doyle. The other players on the team were Michael Hennessy, Cian Clancy, John Mannion, Cormac Mullins, Jamie Hanly, Dale McGee and Desmond Garvin. They all received medals for winning and Seán Gannon received the cup for the school.
Snooker.
Seán Gannon from sixth class got into the snooker u.14 All Ireland quarter finals in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. Well done Seán.
Indoor Hurling.
[Report: Sean Gannon. Room 18.]
Two weeks ago Holy Family B.N.S. hurling teams travelled to St. Leo’s. Although both teams did well our first team came out on top and qualified for the final. In the first match they won 7-3 vs Ballinabranna. In their second match it was much closer but they pulled through 4-3 against the Gaelscoil. And in their last match they defeated Holy Family B.N.S.’s second team. The team consists of John Mannion, Desmond Garvin, Cian Clancy, Seán Gannon, Cormac Mullins, David Donovan and Shane Nolan.
Santa Letter
All the boys have been very good for Santa. Here are some sample letters from Room 6 and Room 7 that the boys wrote.
abcdefghij abcdefghij abcdefghij
Askea
carlow
dear santa,
thank you for last years presents you brought me. I would love if I could see you. Please can I have a silver scooter and chris jericho, big undertaker and kane and a surprise. Please and thank you. I will leave some biscuits and milk. I will leave some carrots for your reindeers.
Love from
Lar brennan
Age 8
abcdefghij abcdefghij abcdefghij
Askea
Carlow
Dear santa,
My name is barry hosey. I am eight years old. Thank you for last years presents. I would like a
1 :-forage harvester,
2 : robot
3 : manure spreader for big tractor.
4 : rifle 12 shot.
I will leave you milk and carrots for rudolph.
Love,
Barry hosey.
abcdefghij abcdefghij abcdefghij
ASKEA
CARLOW.
DEAR SANTA,
I HOPE YOU ARE WELL. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVELY PRESENTS YOU BROUGHT ME LAST YEAR. I WOULD LIKE A REMOTE CONTROL CAR. TWO PACKETS OF POKEMON CARDS. TROUBLE AND DEVESTATION. AND I WOULD LIKE A FOOTBALL AND A DECK OF CARDS. I WILL LEAVE BISCUITS AND MILK. I WILL LEAVE A CARROT FOR RUDOLPH. I WILL BE A VERY GOOD BOY.
LOVE FROM NEIL KANE.
abcdefghij abcdefghij abcdefghij
ASKEA
CARLOW.
DEAR SANTA,
I HOPE YOU ARE WELL. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVELY PRESENTS YOU BROUGHT ME LAST YEAR. I WOULD LIKE AN ACTION MAN JUNGLE DART AND A GAMEBOY AND A BIG GUN. I WILL LEAVE YOU SOME COKE AND BISCUITS AND I WILL LEAVE CARROTS FOR RUDOLPH. I WILL BE VERY GOOD.
LOVE FROM SEAN DELANEY.
abcdefghij abcdefghij abcdefghij
Reccomended Website: The sites we are recommending this issue have a Christmas theme. These have Santa pictures, games etc. You can even e-mail Santa and he will check against his computer if you have been naughty or nice! Go to and click on Christmas resources.
Science Week.
Sixth class went to the Regional College on Weds. the 15th of November. It was on a Weds. We went upstairs into a room filled with things to experiment with. A woman with Techniquest showed us things about air, gravity, weight and how the wings on a plane work. Then we went downstairs and we played with some more experiments. You could see the pressure of air and the life of a tree. It was a great day and everyone enjoyed it.
[Report: Michael Hennessy]
Computer club.
The school computer club will recommence in the new year. We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
4th class Soccer League
Congratulations to Eli Shaw who captained his team to victory in the school’s indoor soccer league. Well done Eli! In the New year there will be leagues for fifth and sixth as well as the Junior Classes from 1st up. Funds raised will go towards purchasing hurling helmets. A big word of thanks to everyone who has supported the leagues.
Basketball.
Traning for basketball in the school for Community Games has been going very well and will recommence in the New Year. A special word of thanks to all involved.
Raffles: A special word of thanks to everyone who supported the Parent’s Council Christmas draw and the Scooter draw. Many thanks everyone!!
O Hanrahans. Congratulations to the Blues on winning the Leinster final. A brilliant achievement!! Just incredible!! While wishing the Blues every success we would also like to especially wish the past pupils of Holy Family BNS who are part of the O’Hanrahans squad all the very best. These include the following:A. Corden, B. Quigley, Ken Walker, Gavin Walker, Brian Walker, Willie Doyle and Brian Bolger.
Mission News. A big word of thanks to everyone who contributes so generously to the school mission fund. Fluffy is having a great time in Africa! No snow!!
Indoor Hurling.
Brendan Hayden has been taking the boys for indoor hurling after school. It has been a tremendous succes with the boys enjoying the training and the games very much indeed.
Well done everyone.
Snapshot from Fourth Class.
The Inspector, Mr. O’Loinsigh was very impressed with the work being done in the school. The following is a “snapshot” of what is going on in Fourth class as compiled by Sean Farrell, Kenny Wong and Jody Nolan.
We are now in fourth class. We are on the senior side of the school. There are thirty four boys in the class. Fourth class is a very important class. It is a lot of hard work but it is still great fun.Our PE days are Monday and Friday. Our Computer Room day is Thursday.These are what make fourth class great fun![Sean Farrell]
In fourth class we made crannógs, dolmens, lanulas and abstract designs. We also did our impressionost paintings, pyramids and stone age tools.We also made colourful shoe-flies. The inspector liked our Greek Mosaics, stain glass windows, ceiling mobiles and our Carlow projects. We also made winter glow, Celtic designs and our home fire. We collected hips, haws, elderberries, spindlewood, chestnuts, acorns and blackberries during Autumn. We also made our Christmas presents, with modelling clay. We planted acorns, chestnuts and hyacinths. We even put the Christmas lights on. [Kenny Wong]
In our class James Kelly won a trophy and twenty five pounds in Éire Óg. Dermot won second place in the Kildare and Leighin regional cup quiz on the 4th of Nov. in the C.B.S. Willie Bermingham won a Playstation2 in a newspaper competition. Kevin Power won a plaque and a medal for the under ten Blues against Ballon. Shane Mahon. Robbie Brennan and Sean Farrell won medals for hurling with Carlow Town.[Jody Nolan]
Swimming. There will be a new group of boys swimming in the new year. Many thanks to the Parent’s council for organising and helping out with the swimming. It is brilliant to see the boys doing so well at the swimming lessons. It does their confidence wonders. Well done everyone.
Photographs. The photographs of the boys turned out very well. Thanks to everyone for their support.
Confessions: There are no confessions for schools. If your son wishes to receive Confession please attend the Penitential Service in Holy Family Church on Thursday 21st of December at 7.30pm.
The staff wish all the boys and parents a happy and peacful Christmas!
In each newsletter we try to include work from the children. In this Newsletter we have two excellent stories from Room 16. Class teacher Mr. Ellis.
The Magical Christmas
Ciaran Arshad
Once upon a time there lived a woman named Sandra.She had twins named Roger and Martin.They were not very wealthy as Sandra was a widow. Her husband David had died and since then they did not get very much money.
It was two days before Christmas and Sandra had ten pounds to buy Christmas presents for her relations. She went to the town and bought presents for her brother, her sister, her mother and her father. By the time she was finished buying presents she had eighteen pence left. She walked home.
When she got home she sank into a chair. Moments later Martin and Roger came in saying "I wonder what I'll get for Christmas". Sandra's eyes widened. She had forgotten the children's presents!! She ran to the corner shop thinking “What am I going to buy out of eighteen pence?” When she got to the shop she had an idea. "I know what I'll do. I'll ask for the left over news papers and boxes and when I get home I'll ask the children to go to bed and I'll wrap up the boxes with the newspapers and put nine pence in each box.” She asked for the stuff and walked home much calmer and happier.
When she got home, she told the children to go to bed and she put nine pence in each box and wrapped them in the newspaper. She thought the children would like their presents as nine pence was more than they had ever had before.
She was very pleased with herself. She had all the christmas presents sorted out but there was just one thing bothering her mind. Will the children like their presents?
Christmas eve came quickly. Martin and Roger were very excited. Sandra told them to go to bed at nine o'clock. She said that Santa woudn't come to them if they didn't go to bed early. She put the presents outside the door and went to bed herself.
The next morning Martin and Roger got up and walked down the stairs. They opened the door and saw two boxes on the floor. They ripped the newspaper off the boxes. But there was not nine pence in the boxes but a Playstation2 and two controls for Martin and a television for Roger. When Sandra got downstairs she saw them playing Smackdown2 on the Playstation2. "Where on earth did you get that thing"? "We got it from Santa" they both shouted together. Santa? Sandra repeated. But Santa doesn't...... She stopped and smiled as she walked into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Maybe Santa really does exist she thought to herself.
How We Stopped The Grinch
Cormac Mullins
Once upon a time there was a grumpy Grinch who hated Christmas because every Christmas before he never got a present! Now hes trying to stop Christmas! Keith,Brian,Ciaran and I ,Cormac,were playing a game of soccer in the yard,when suddenly there was a gust of wind and out of nowhere a reindeer came flying out of the sky and landed right in front of us.Then an even more mysterious thing happened!!Rudolph began to speak!
"Quick you must come with us.A grumpy Grinch has tied Santa and all his elves up. We'd untie them but we don't have any hands and Santa has our magic in his locked room. PLEASE come with us ,we need you!"So without thinking all four of us jumped in the sleigh and were whisked off to the North Pole.
"So anyway” I said while we were soaring up,”Why did you pick us?” "Well you were the nearest to us I guess."Excuse me”said Ciaran “but actually the O'Learys down the road are 9.8000 miles away and we were 10.000 away" “Huh!” said all the reindeer together."Oh don’t mind him” said Brian “he thinks he is a mathamatical genius or Einsteins nephew.” said Brian. Keith was still stunned from hearing the reindeer talk.Then at last he splutterd out something,"How deer talk.” “Eh !Are you sure we got the right guys?”