Our school has recently purchased sets of Lego Education Spike kits for the children. These sets can be used to teach simple coding lessons or to solve complex real-world problems in engineering, design and computer science.
Fifth class had the opportunity to try out these kits and work together in groups to create some wonderful Lego designs. Everyone had great fun!
For wellbeing week Ms. Galligan’s Junior Infants paired up with Ms. O’Reilly’s 5th Class for some fun activities. The junior infants particularly enjoyed it when the boys and girls in 5th class came to their classroom to read stories to them.
Ms Peyton’s class had great fun today making St. Brigid’s Crosses on this special day. They used rushes and worked together really well to produce beautiful crosses.
Paired Reading with Ms. Smith’s 1st class and Ms. O’Reilly’s 5th class. The 5th class boys and girls visit 1st class every week to take part in paired reading activities.
This is a very enjoyable experience for everyone and all children look forward to it every week!
Senior Infant children learned all about different types of houses and homes during the month of January. We went for a walk down town to see all the different types of houses in Virginia. We visited the Estate Agents Sherry Fitzgerald, Fintan Cahill, DNG and Browns. We looked at all the different types of homes that are for sale and for rent in Virginia. Fintan and Kathryn Cahill invited us into their lovely new office to see their brochures, keys, camera and drone. Fintan even demonstrated how the drone works in his backyard. It was great fun. We went back to school and explored the theme further during Aistear Play. For Role Play we acted out the Estate Agent’s office, for Construction we built wooden houses and put them up for sale or for rent, for Creative Play we made a range of houses using junk materials, for Small World Play we furnished and decorated a range of dolls houses and put them up for sale or rent, and for Literacy Play we wrote and illustrated property brochures. We really enjoyed exploring the theme of houses and homes.
Friday 25th March 2022 was a very memorable day for students, staff and parents of St. Mary’s NS as television cameras, shovels and trees descended on our school. As it was Greenbelt Ltd.’s 40th birthday, and National Tree Day, the local business had pledged to donate 50 native Irish trees to our school and to help students from every class level take part in the planting of said trees around the school grounds. The trees ranged from Crabapple to Birch to Alder and to our own Yew tree – which our own town Achadh an Iúir (Field of the Yew) is named after – to a host of beautiful trees, which will now adourn our grounds for generations to come.
However, the day became even more exciting on Wednesday when we learned that Greenbelt staff would not be our only visitors on National Tree Day. Deric Hartigan from Virgin Media and Ireland AM, along with his cameraman Gareth, would be joining us too from 7.30am. 6th class were the early birds and were bright and early to school to greet Deric as he landed, along with Maurice and his team from Greenbelt. Have a look at us below in 2 of Deric’s 4 broadcasts from the school.
With our School Trad Music Group playing, and 6th class showing off our fantastic spirit, manners and work-ethic, I’m sure Ireland AM and all those watching around the country were envious of our amazing school.
After Virgin Media departed at 9.30am, 6th class and the Greenbelt team had some well deserved breakfast, before it was time for all our other classes to get their hands dirty and get planting. We were blessed with beautiful weather and every child had a day to remember with lots of fun.
Have a look at our pictures below from a wonderful day.
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Happy new year. I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas break and we look forward to welcoming our pupils back tomorrow.
Please find HSE information below that was sent to schools today to be shared with parents & staff.
Infection prevention and Control Measures:
1) Before attending school:
Symptoms – Please be aware that pupils/staff do not attend school if they have any symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
Symptom profiles are available here [https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/symptoms/overview/]. Parents are advised to take a precautionary approach, particularly for children less able to articulate their symptoms, that if a child appears unwell, observe them at home and contact their GP as appropriate.
Close contacts – If staff/pupils have been told by the HSE services that they are a close contact of a case of Covid-19, they need to adhere to the advice on the HSE website in relation to restricted movements and testing. Children under 13 years who are household close contacts must restrict their movements for 14 days and they are offered PCR testing at day 0 and day 10. On receipt of a day 10 not-detected PCR test result, they may exit restricted movements.
It is important that anyone who has been identified as a close contact, is very aware of COVID-19 symptoms, and isolate and undergo testing should they develop any symptoms.
2) Re-enforcing general public health messages
In addition to ensuring that staff and children do not attend school if they have any symptoms of Covid-19 infection, please note the importance of abiding by the national public health measures currently in place at all times e.g. vaccination (including boosters), social distancing, use of face masks, hand hygiene, ventilation and minimising social contacts.
With Covid 19 infection levels at the highest since the beginning of this pandemic, we are now, more than ever, relying on each other to act cautiously & responsibly to protect our pupils and staff and keep classes open.
Thanks for your continued support and patience.
Le gach dea ghuí,
Jacinta Jordan
All our staff at St. Mary’s want to send a special message to all our students and parents this week, as we welcome back some of our students to school. So have a look at our message below…
World Book Day is just around the corner on March 4th.
Mrs. O’Reilly has put together a fantastic group of resources for both our junior (Junior Infants to 2nd Class) and senior (3rd to 6th Class) classes.
To have a look at the resources, click the link below:
Ms Geoghegan has been very busy and with help of family and friends, made these amazing traditional Irish music video tutorials. The videos introduce musical instruments, their appearance, characteristics and sounds. We are then also treated to samples of traditional reels and jigs being played on the instrument in question.
They’re a lovely resource to have and something different to add to our homeschool resources. Enjoy below.
