Desmond Castle

Desmond Castle

On Monday 26th of September 5th and 6th class went on a tour of Desmond Castle for a History lesson. Our tour guide Sandra provided us with very useful facts.

Firstly we walked to the Heritage Centre and waited roughly fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive. When the tour guide arrived she introduced herself as Sandra. We got on the bus and took a short journey to Desmond Castle. While on the bus Sandra told us a few facts about Adare’s oldest monuments, one of those facts was how the Dunraven was three houses and one Post Office, she also told us that the fountain on the side of the church was dedicated to the people of Adare after they helped put out a fire. When we arrived we entered the castle through a large oak door that weighed half a ton each. When we entered we noticed a portcullis and a murder hole. A portcullis was the large, metal, grate like gate which was lowered down to keep enemy’s out of the castle and a murder hole was a square hole in the ceiling where a guard or archer would stand in and make sure no unwanted visitors enter the castle. They would drop stones, boiling water or, sometimes even poo, this was definitely an effective manoeuvre to keep out enemies.

We walked into a massive area that was called the main yard. This is where merchants would sell their items and produce to the king. There was also a pantry, the place where food was served, and a buttery, where people would make wine and alcohol. Both of these buildings were connected to the Dining Hall through small passageways. The Dining Hall was the eating room/entertainment room. The entertainment was basically the king and his followers talking about hunting and the animals they would have killed. Underneath the hall there would have been animals kept in fences. These animals were there because they generated heat that would keep the diners above warm.

We walked into a building which was under lock and key and this was the Keep. The Keep was a living area where the King and his family lived. It was heavily guarded with a guard in every corner. The Keep had a Yew tree and a garden in the centre of the court yard. Back then the law was very strict and you would be given the death penalty for committing a minor crime such as stealing a loaf of bread. During an attack the king would retreat to his bedroom. The only way to enter was up stumble steps which were uneven to slow or trip attackers.

We then left the castle and returned to the school. We conferred with the class and everyone agreed it was an amazing day because it was interesting, adventurous and, most importantly, fun!

P.S We’d like to thank Stephan for taking us to Desmond and we’d also like to thank Sandra for putting up with us.

Written by Eoin and James

ARD SCOIL RÍS BLITZ

On Saturday 21st of October, 2016, ArdScoilRís hosted a tournament which Adare, ScoilNaomhIosaf are invited to annually. Everyone played their hearts out just like every year.

Our first match was against Ballybrown but unfortunately we lost. Everyone played amazingly and in the end we only lost only by two points. After the match we had a team talk and Stephen Lavin, our coach, told us that we played our hearts out and that’s what he wanted in the next match. When we went back to the changing room and the first thing we found was a whole packet full of Lucozade bottles which only made us hyper!

Next we went on to play Kilmurray who were even better than Ballybrown, yet amazingly we managed to draw with them. The score was Adare: 2-10 to Kilmurray: 1-13. Sam hickey was our top scorer with two goals and four points in the last match. If not for the controversial decision from the referee on whether one of our scores should have counted, we could have won the match and gone on to win the shield.

When the day was over we didn’t mind going home because we knew we played excellent and had plenty of fun.

By SohaybEssefiani and ÓranHanrahan.

HISTORY PROJECT

About two months ago, 5th and 6th class started their History projects about ancient buildings or sculptures. We were split up into pairs where 6th class boys had to show 5th class boys how to use PowerPoint.

There were a range of projects to do. We were only allowed to do one project and we had to gather as much information as possible for PowerPoint. When we gathered the information we started putting the facts together and began the project.

Every Monday we had one hour to work on our project. If we did not complete it in the three Mondays, we had to finish it at break time. When we had finished the PowerPoint we had to practice presenting the PowerPoint.

After each presentation was finished, Stephen would give us advice on how to improve it and we would also get our results after everyone presented their project. We all enjoyed the experience very much and we are all looking forward for the next presentation.

By Andrew Flaherty ,Gearóid Lowry and Michael Keating.

GAELIC FOOTBALL 2016

It was September of 2016 and the Gaelic Football season had begun. Our Coach, Mr Lavin, trained 4th class, 5th class and 6th class every Wednesday from 3-4 o clock outside on our pitch.

Everyone was excited when the training after school started. As well as training, we were also divided into teams and every Tuesday and Thursday two teams went out on the pitch to battle it out to win points for their team in the league. Everyone performed well and our coach had a difficult choice to pick a team. Our First match was against Abbeyfeale and we trained harder than ever to prepare for the match.

On the day of the match we got our gear bags and walked up to the Manor Fields where the fixture would take place. When the ref blew the whistle and threw in the ball we knew this would be a high tempo game. At half time we were a few scores behind but we kept our heads up and suddenly we were back in the game with two good goals, but unfortunately it was not enough and when the full time whistle blew we were devastated to have only lost by 2 points. Our next match was against Gaelscoil in Newcastle West. It was lashing rain and freezing cold. We were determined to win but Gaelscoil came out with all guns blazing, we gave it everything but we just couldn’t drag back the much needed scores. We lost the game and were out of the competition.

Although we were very unlucky with the two games we hope that we have better luck in the upcoming years with the future classes and hopefully bring the much deserved trophy to our proud school

By Aaron Flynn and Jonathan Byrne.

NATURE WALK

In October, 5th and 6th class went on an amazing Nature Walk in Adare Village and later moved on to the River Walk. We went as part of Science class. Stephen brought us on the factious tour. We were paired up andeach pair was given a sheet with every leaf on it.

Firstly, we all walked out to the school gate. We started walking down to the park and on the way down we stopped at lots of trees to admire their colourful leaves in the fall. Eventually, we entered the Park and collected lots of leaves for a competition. Stephen called us all back to see what we got. We were finished with the park so we moved on.

Next we crossed the road to the Bank to look at a majestic Oak Tree. We decided to look at the trees on the River Walk. As we made our way down Station Road, everyone collected a few conkers. Next we picked up some beautiful Sycamore leaves.

Eventually, we arrived to the River Walk. As we were doing it, we passed Oak, Birch and Hawthorn trees. After the River Walk, we decided to head back to School. We stopped at the Manor to look at the amazing Birch trees. When we arrived at the school it was break time. It was an amazing day and we would love to do it again.

By Ian and Seán

COOKING BY DAVID AND CALUM

This year fifth and sixth class started cooking with Stephen in our school six weeks ago in our staffroom. Stephen wantedto teach us how easy it is to cook.

Every Wednesday a group of people from our class would go into the staffroom with Stephen. Before we would started cooking we had get the ingredients for the meal we were going to make. Each person in the group would have to get an ingredient, for example: Calum had to bring in cream.

When we were cooking Spaghetti Carbonara, Calum and Dara had to beat the eggs, Jake and Christopher fried the rashers, while Matthew and Kyle boiled the Spaghetti. After everything was cooked we sliced the rashers and put them in with the Spaghetti , then we put the Carbonara sauce in with that.

David’s group made pizza, Calum’s group made Spaghetti Carbonara, Aaron’s group made chicken fajitas, Zach’s group made Minestrone Soup, Oisín’ O’Sullivan’s group made Spaghetti Bolognese while Sam’s group made a Mexican Dish!

Everyone loved cooking with Stephen and we all hope we can do it again……………….. P.S Because Stephen thought us how to cook, we can all help our Mammy’s when they cook, or if they’re lucky we might make the whole dinner for them!

INTERNET SAFETY TALK

A few weeks ago 5th and 6th class got to witness a very interesting internet safety talk. Luckily we had a full class that day. A man called Ger Brick introduced himself to us and told us what he was going to be talking about. He told us what his job was and that he used to work for Microsoft.

First he told us what cyberbullying was and how serious it could be. He also told us about pop up advertisements and why we should ignore them. He said there were apps we could we could get to prevent this from happening.

Ger then showed us a video about a boy who goy cyberbullied. His name was Jack. He didn’t want to tell anyone so he made a video and his mom found it and showed his teacher. Even the people Jack thought were his friends were cyberbullying him too. Gerthen gave us a piece of paper to write how hard it would be for us to tell someone if we were being bullied. We then threw the paper at him and no-one said easy.

He then told a few helpful tips on internet safety. One of the most important tips was to change your password 3 to 4 times a year and to use syllables, letters and numbers. Ger then showed us another video which made us realise everyone can see what we post. It is basically like someone walking into your house and talking important information from you.

Overall it was really interesting and we think everyone has learnt a lot from this experience. A big thanks to Ger, we will all be more careful on the internet from now on.

By James Corbett and Sam Hickey

The material presented to parents by Ger Brick isavailable for viewing atparentinfo.

Parents should use username parentinfo and passwordof inetsafety55 to access the page and file

ST VINCENT DE PAUL APPEAL

We had a great response to the recent St. Vincent de Paul collection of Hygiene Packs for the needy in the Limerick area. Thanks to everyone for their generosity and support this year and in the last few years.

MURDER MYSTERY

On Friday at one o’clock, 5th and 6th class went out to the court because we had heard that John had died in the court. Immediately, we all saw John lying on the floor and all the kids shouted “hurray!”

We went inside to our classroom to solve out who the murderer was. We were put into groups of three, Charlie was put with Jake Hogan and Oisín O’Sullivan, and I, Dylan was put with Zach O’Connor and Andrew Flaherty.

We got our first clue and it was all about shapes and every time we got an answer, we crossed out some suspects.

After we finished clue one, we got clue two and it was all about factors, we got the answer and crossed out more suspects. It was really difficult!

After we finished clue two, we were halfway through the murder mystery. Next, we walked up to the desk and got clue three and it was about length, degrees and angles.

We were extremely excited because we’re on the last clue before we found out who the murderer was. We got clue four and we got the name of the murderer. It was Father Noonan!!!! Everyone was surprised and shocked that the murderer was a priest!

By Charlie and Dylan

THE HALLOWEEN PARTY

On the 28th of October a day before the mid-term, the whole school got to wear their Halloween costume for the party in our school hall. The Parents’ Council organised the party.

On the day of the party the whole school wore great costumes. My friend Thomas wore a Freddy Kruger mask, black tracksuit and a red and black jumper. I wore a killer clown costume with face paint and a black wig. There were other great costumes such as: Mick was a rubix cube, Gearóid was a dead rugby player and Dylan was a werewolf. Aaron was a dead rugby player, Matthew was the joker and Ian was the Tape man

When break was over, we went over to the hall to play games such as Panetta, making a structure with marshmallow and pasta sticks .We got to use a nerf gun to knock plastic eyes and stick a tail on a donkey. We were allowed to get fake tattoos and drank a fizzy drink. The last game was the flour and grape game

At two o, clock we left the hall and went back to our classroom and watched a movie called “A Knight’s Tale” and it was about a man and his friend who are poor. They joust to make money and the guy who wanted to be on the horse wanted to impress a girl.

I thought the Halloween party was excellent and fun. Thomas thought it was amazing and the games were really fun . The whole school enjoyed the day!

RUNNING AT THE RACECOURSE

By Finn Parbat and Óisín O Sullivan

On Wednesday, November 9th 2016 5th and 6th class went to Patrickswell racecourse. We went because there was a running competition on.

We got a bus to the racecourse. It took about 25 minutes to get there. When we got there it was very wet. There were puddles everywhere. Then when we got off, Stephen gave us our numbers to put on our top.

When we went into the racecourse we did a small warm up, running up and down the hill. About 40 minutes later the 10s got ready to race. It was raining. READY! SET! GO! The race was tight at the start but then one runner bombed ahead and won the race our highest finisher for ScoilNaomhIosaf was Oisín O’Sullivan who came 9th place

Next up was the 11s race and we had a good few contenders from ScoilNaomhIosaf in that race. The race was nearly ready to start. On your marks! Get set! Go! Finn Parbat was in 3rd and managed to jump ahead to 1st. In that race we had a lot of high finishers including Finn Parbat who came 1st and Ian Supple who came 12th.

After that was the 12s race and we only had 5 competitors from ScoilNaomhIosaf in that race. The race was tight at the start but after the first lap gaps were made and our highest finisher was SohaybEssafiani who came in 7th place.

Overall our 11s came 3rd place out of all the 11 schools and we were very happy with the high finishes. We went back to the school after a great day!

PLANETARIUM

On Monday the 16th of November in the hall, two men came into the school to teach the school about space. They brought a planetarium in.

The planetarium looked like a giant grey bouncy castle in the shape of an igloo. We waited for about five minutes in the hall, and while we were waiting they taught about space.

When we went inside the planetarium we saw a huge projector. One of the men turned on the projector and a movie projected around the planetarium. We were told to lie down and watch the first movie.

The first movie was about the Lunar X prize which was a big competition between many teams. All teams had to make a spacecraft with a buggy inside of it. The spacecraft had to take the buggy to the moon, the buggy would have to travel five hundred metres across the moon to win the Lunar X prize.

The second movie was about how far some planets are far away from us. One of the cool facts was that if the sun blew up now we would not know until eight minutes have passed. Another cool fact was if we saw someone on Mars we would have seen those people from eight years ago.