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Clinstown N.S. December Newsletter 2016
Green School Amber Flag School Junior Entrepreneur School Digital School of Distinction
Hurling
Hurling will startthe end of January and is available for children from 3rd to 6th class. If your child is interested in hurling for the schools’ team please contact Mr. Dermody or Mr. Kinsella.
Lego Club
We are setting up a Lego club in our school in the new year. We hope to have all children who are interested in Lego throughout the school involved at certain times during the school year. While we have a small amount of Lego in the school, we would be very grateful if anybody could donate any unwanted pieces to Ms. Henry when school reopens in January.
Young Scientist
We are working very hard at present on our science project“How is nanoscience and nanotechnology affecting the world today”, which we will be exhibiting at the Primary Science Fair in the RDS next month. All classes from 2nd to 6thare working on the project with 5th and 6th class presenting the project. Well done to everyone for all their work so far, especially Mr. Kinsella for coordinating the work in school.
Christmas Show
The Christmas show took place in Conahy Church on Friday 9th December. We had a nativity play, a tin whistle performance and an original piece titled “Goggle-box” created from scratch by the children in the middle room. There are pictures of the evening on the school Facebook page @clinstownns. Thanks to everyone involved for putting in such a huge effort on making the evening so special.
Green Schools
We are currently in the 2nd year of a 2 year cycle for our 6th green flag. This flag is on recycling and global citizenship.Thanks to Siobhán Healy for giving up her to volunteer as the parent’s representative on the Green Schools Committee. They will be having their next meeting early in the New Year. Well done to Ms. Henry and all the Green School committee for all their work.
Maths
We are continuing to implement our school improvement plan for maths. As part of that we are completing station teaching every week. This has a particular focus on the measure strand. In January we will be studying Weight.There is no substitute for hands on measuring of flour or other baking ingredients and remember it is all in gs and kgs!!
We are continuing with 4 class groupings for Maths for the measure strands. So the Junior/Senior group, the 1st/2nd class group, the 3rd/4th class group and the 5th/6thclass group will continue to have their own teacher.
“20 Minutes or 20 Pages” Reading Initiative
Well done to all our prize winners in our “20 minutes or 20 pages” reading initiative. All the children who won prizes read everyday for 20 minutes or read 20 pages since the mid-term break until Wednesday 21st December. Our next will be on Tuesday 31st January where we will give awards to all children who read everyday from the 22nd of December to the 31st January (holidays and weekends included!!)
English
As part of our review of literacy in our school we decided to implement a few different strategies as part of our school improvement plan for English. All children in our school are focusing on NarrativeWriting for January. We are also focusing on Making Connections as the maincomprehension strategy for Januarythis year. Senior Infants, 1st class and 2nd class are implementing the literacy lift off programme.
Again, we have grouped 1st/2nd class, 3rd/4th class and 5th/6th class into three classes for the creative writing and comprehension strategy study as it will lower the pupil/teacher ratio and each teacher will only have to teach one curriculum to their class.
Aistear
We are implementing the Aistear programme in the Junior room. In January we will be looking at the story of Elmer which is about being unique, and celebrating everyone’s individuality. Details on the Aistear programme can be found at ncca.ie
Credit Union
The Credit Union is run in the school every Friday morning. Children bring in their money and lodge it into their accounts. We are delighted to have so many children saving! A special thanks to Gemma and Brigid for volunteering their time to run the Credit Union.
Junior Entrepreneur Programme
The children in the senior room will be taking part in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme this year. It is a 12-16 week programme where children are involved in all aspects of setting up a business, incorporating aspects from all areas of the primary school curriculum.
Amber Flag
In relation to mental health this term we celebrated kindness in our school. For December we created an Advent calendar of kindness where children performed acts of kindness to their peers during December. We also have a monthly award for Kindness which is given out at assemblies.
Debating
We have taken part in two debates already this year with the children performing very well in both debates. Our next debate is on “The school day should be made shorter” and we are opposing the motion.Interesting times ahead!!!
Zumba
Thanks to Rachel Dunne for visiting our school to teach Zumba dancing to the children for 6 weeks after Halloween. We had a Christmas Show in the school this week where the children showed off their dance moves.
Swimming
Swimming starts after Christmas and will last for 8 weeks. It takes place in the Watershed in Kilkenny from 12.15 pm to 1.00pm every Friday. The bus will leave the school at 11.30 am for swimming. Those travelling by car need to be collected before this time. Please remember to keep the lay by area clear at all times for buses.
Parents Association News
Thanks to all parents who contributed to the school raffle. It was a great success.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas and to thank everybody involved in the school for all their help and support during the year. It really helped in making 2016 such a successful year for our school and is much appreciated.
John Dermody (Principal)
St. Joseph’s National School (18607 O) Clinstown, Jenkinstown, Co. KilkennyPhone: 056 7767490
Email:website: clinstownns.com twitter: @clinstownnsFacebook: @clinstownns