St. Clare’s N.S. Ballyjamesduff

June June

NewsletterNewsletter June 2015

Musical- 3rd to 6th class pupils performed a musical pantomime “Cinderella and the BJD

Fella! Vitor Nazario was Rockerfella and Aoife McCaul was Cinderella. Auditions were

held in November. Rehearsals started in January and the show was put on Friday 28th

May in St. Joseph’s Hall. Ms. Carroll directed the show, Mr. Mc Hugh was the musical

director and Ms. Sheridan was the artisitic director. The show was a fabulous success!

By Larissa Mendes & Seainín Ó Fallúin 5th class

As the school year draws to a close we are thankful for the many blessings we have re-

ceived throughout the year- our families, our friends, our health and the many activities in

which we were involved. It has been an exciting and action-packed year and we have all

earned a well-deserved rest. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy plenty of sunshine and have

a safe and happy holiday.

Open Day 56 new entrants to Junior Infants were invited to visit our school on Friday, 12th

June. It gave the children an opportunity to meet their teachers and to view our school.

There was a large turnout of excited young boys and girls, ready to go to the “big school”.

Slán agus beannacht do na daltaí i rang a sé We bid a fond farewell to the 57 children

who are leaving us and moving on to secondary school in September. It is the end of chapter

one in their lives. We wish them health and happiness as they move on to chapter two.

Staff Changes We wish Ms. Sheridan (5th class) all the best as she moves to St. Mary’s

N.S., Virginia. We thank Ms. O’Reilly, Ms. Woods, Mr. Reilly, Ms. Donohoe, Ms. Ní

Thailaigh, Ms. Clarke and Ms. Doughty for their work and service in our school.

Congratulations to Ms. Burns and Ms. Mc Entire on the birth of their baby boys Cillian

and Jamie.

Inspector Visit This term we had three Department of Education Inspectors visit St.

Clare’s. All were very pleased with the work taking place in our school. Congratulations to

Ms. Woods and Mr. Reilly who successfully completed their Diploma during the Inspector

visits.

Míle Buíochas A very sincere thank you to all the people who have helped and supported

our school throughout the past year. Thank you to the wonderful staff for their energy,

enthusiasm and dedication. They have worked steadfastly to ensure that the children are

given every opportunity to succeed and be happy. The ancillary staff - Josephine

(secretary), Annmarie (cleaner), Eugene (caretaker), Pascal (groundskeeper) have been

very supportive and diligent in their work –Thank you. The Parents’ Association and the

Board of Management, especially our Chairman, Fr. Tully, have been extremely co-

operative and supportive of all ventures. We are blessed to have such hard-working and

dedicated committees, for which we are extremely grateful. We would also like to thank all

the parents who provided refreshments, and helped out at the various celebrations in

school. A special thank you to parents, who helped with extra curricular activities in the

school. Last but not least, a sincere thank you to our wonderful pupils who are to be

commended for their commitment and hard work throughout the year.

We have a great school here in St. Clare’s, a school with all parties working together. Enjoy

the holidays!

Le meas,

Karl Mc Cartin

Principal

Class Arrangements 2015/2016

Junior Infants: Ms. McCahey

Junior Infants: Ms. Croarkin

Senior Infants: Ms. Dolan-Brady

Senior Infants: Ms. Browne

1st Class: Ms. Mulvey

1st Class: Ms. Brady

2nd Class: Ms. Smith

2nd Class: Ms. Burns

3rd Class: Ms. Murphy

3rd Class: Mr. Mc Hugh

4th Class: Ms. Carroll

4th Class: Ms. Sullivan

5th Class: Ms. O’Growney

5th Class: TBC

6th Class: Ms. O’Connell

6th Class Mr. Smith

RT: Ms. Flood-Clarke

GAM: Ms. Mc Kelvey

GAM: Ms. McEntire

GAM: Ms. Mc Govern

Language Support: Ms. Cunningham

St. Clare’s N.S. will re-open on Thursday, 27/08/2015 at 9.15 a.m.

Tennis Lessons-This term first and fifth class had tennis lessons. Our coach was called

Michael and he was a lot of fun. During the lessons he taught us lots of skills to help us

when playing tennis. After a few weeks he brought nets with him and we started to play

matches over the nets. At the end of every lesson we got to play fun games like popcorn,

graveyard and around the world. After 6 weeks Michael had to go but we really enjoyed

our time at tennis! By Mark McCabe 5th class

May Procession-This year our May Procession was held on the 28th May. The children

prepare by learning hymns and prayers. There were a few showers but that did not stop us

from going outside. Second class wore their Communion outfits and sixth class wore their

Confirmation outfits. They all looked lovely. The children also had banners to represent

our love to Mary our

Mother. We walked

around the school

and said prayers and

sang songs. Fr.

Tully came to the

school and said

prayers.

By Toms, Cara &

Kate 4th class

School Tours - 2nd went to Funtasia Waterpark for our school tour. It was on Monday 8th

June. We went on a big bus. When we got there we got pink wristbands. First we went to

the play area and we had fun. Then we got our lunch and we went to the waterpark and we

all went on big slides. We had a wonderful day. By Caitlin Carroll 2nd class

6th Class went to Loughcrew Adventure Centre on 16th June for our school tour. There was

a load of amazing things to do such as zip lining, rock climbing, obstacle courses and

water activities. Even though it was mucky it was still fun and it was hilarious not know-

ing who people were with mud on their faces. We had a load of fun on our last school tour

in St. Clare’s! By Gearóid Condren & Damien Dunne 6th class

Credit Union Quiz-The Credit Union quiz took place on the 30/01/15 in St. Clare’s Col-

lege. We trained very hard for the quiz and Mr. Mc Hugh pushed us to the limit. Some of

the questions were very very hard and some were easy. Unfortunately none of our teams

won. We had fun and were rewarded with crisps and drinks, and we got no homework!

By Cormac Lynch & Dylan Hanney 6th class

Spring Clean-Earlier this year we

held a Spring Clean all around

Ballyjamesduff. Before we went

we learned all about recyclable

and non-recyclable items. Each

class was given a designated area

to clean. Our class was given the

GAA pitch. We cleaned one half

of the pitch and Mr. Smith’s 6th

cleaned the other half. Other

classes worked on green areas

around the town, the Church and

the carpark. We had to wear big

green gloves and plastic bags like

t-shirts. We looked so funny. I

love helping to keep the school

area clean as last year we won the

green flag. I’m looking forward to

doing it again next year.

By Skye Stanley 5th class

Girl’s GAA-The girls from 4th, 5th and 6th class took part in the GAA for the school. We

trained every Tuesday after school for one hour. The 5th and 6th classes took part in

matches against the Farnham,

Mullagh and Virginia. The 6th

class played against St. Anne’s

and Kingscourt. Out of all five

matches we beat St. Anne’s

and Virginia. We are very

proud of all the girls who took

part and thanks to Ms.

Croarkin and Ms. Brady for

training us this year. By

Megan Brady & Kiera Cooney

6th class

La Glás- Was held on 16th March. La Glás is a day where we celebrate being Irish. It

was a very fun day.

We all wore green

clothes and we had

a Ceili at the end

of the day. We all

lined up and Mr.

McCartin showed

us what to do. We

all had a Freestyle

at the end. It was

great fun!

By Fiona Behan

6th class

Tin Whistle - Mr. Clarke taught us how to play the tin whistle. We learned loads of songs

like Hot Cross Buns, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Horse. This was a great

experience for all of us. It was lots of fun too. We all love playing the tin whistle now.

By Sheena Ledwich 2nd class

Graduation Preparation-It’s been an exciting few weeks preparing for our Gradua-

tion. The two 6th classes learned a dance, a poem and songs. We are sure there will be a

few laughs and tears from both students and parents. The classes have been busy creat-

ing Graduation art. We brought in cute and funny photos of when we were young. We

hope it will be a great night! By Rory Smith & Sinéad Quigley 6th class

Trench Warfare- 6th class learned what life was like as a

World War One Solider when they went on a visit to the fan-

tastic trench display at the Cavan County Museum. The class

dressed in soldier's uniform, handled weapons and received a

fantastic real life experience of what life was like in WW1.

Confirmation-Our Confirmation Day was on 18th March. We were all very excited. The

Mass started at 3 o’ clock. There were loads of people making Confirmation. The Mass

took about an hour. We made our Confirmation with 3 other schools. We met the Bishop

and took loads of pictures after! The Church looked lovely with our wonderful art work.

By Ella Slowey & Pelumi Popoola 6th class

Basketball -On Tuesdays 2nd and 6th class had basketball lessons. The teacher’s name

was Carol. She taught us how to dribble and how to shoot properly. We had great fun

and we learned a lot. By Brían Slowey 2nd class

Green Schools-Here in St. Clare’s we have a Green School’s Committee who help us

keep our school clean, tidy and this year, save electricity. In the junior end of the school

ranging from our Junior Infants to 2nd class we have Power Rangers who help make sure

no unnecessary electricity is being used. In the senior end (3rd to 6th) two members of each

class make up our committee. We usually meet on a Wednesday along with Ms. Sheridan,

Ms. Brady and Ms. O’Reilly where we discuss what we have to do and how to get on

with our previous tasks. We have loads of different jobs around our school for example

switching off the switches in the staffroom, turning off lights and monitoring our electric-

ity around the school. If we keep up all the hard work we will hopefully have our second

green flag next year. By Aysha Melia 5th class

Sports Day-We had our sports day on Monday, 22nd June in the GAA pitch. We played

loads of games like egg and spoon race, sack race, football, running. After we played

rounders and games. Then teacher took out the parachute and we played popcorn, you

have to keep the balls on the parachute and find different shapes. It wasn’t too hard. We

also did an obstacle course. We had lots of fun on our sports day!

By Ms. Donohoe’s 2nd class

Reading Recovery

Couch to 5K Our wonderful Parents’

Association organised and ran

the BJD Couch to 5K. The

event was a huge success and

the proceeds (€2900) was

recently presented to the

school. The money will be

used to equip the classrooms

with new libraries next year.

Junior Infants had lots

of fun in the last term.

We went on a teddy

bear’s picnic and cooled

down with ice-lollies in

the sun. Our school tour

to Killinkere pet farm

was a great success. The

children enjoyed horse

rides, tractor and trailer

rides, feeding the

animals and holding

smaller animals.

New Classroom

Ms. Carroll’s 5th class

moved into their new

classroom in January.

It is a beautiful,

spacious new room.

The whole school

celebrated the official

opening in May.

Fr. Tully lead a prayer

service and 5th class

sang a song. By

Cherry Gao 5th class

Fireman Sam Watch Out!

Senior Infants had an exciting

adventure when they became

fire fighters for a day at the

Ballyjamesduff Fire Station.

The class got to dress up as

fire fighters, use the hose and

sit in the fire engine. The

class had a great day and

many no doubt will grow up

to become real fire fighters!

Camogie-This year girls from 5th and 6th got to do indoor camogie. Our coaches were

Ms. O’Connell and Ms. Sheridan. We had training every Tuesday after school until

4.00pm. The training was fun and enjoyable. The 5th class trained with Ms. O’Connell

for one half and Ms. Sheridan for the other half. We had a blitz in Killinkere hall against

a few other clubs. 5th class had their blitz the week before 6th class did. Both classes did

very well and won medals. We would like to thank Ms. O’Connell and Ms. Sheridan for

their excellent help in training us for the blitzes and for making us have a great time

during the training and matches. By Aoife Kelly 6th class

Fundraising- Our chosen charity this year was Oncology Day Care. €720 was raised

by our pupils and presented to the selected charity. We are very proud of our charity

work in St. Clare’s. By Ms. Sullivan’s 4th class

First Holy Communion- On 16th May second class received their First Holy

Communion. The Church was packed with families. Father Tully was doing the

Communion. We did our readings and then the big moment arrived, second class lined

up on the Altar and received their First Holy Communion. We took lots of photos. Eve-

ryone had a great day! By Emily O’Reilly & Dean Cahill 2nd Class