Scoil Ghormáin Naofa, Castletown

Such a happy day here as we mark World Mental Health Day. Our Wellbeing Warriors council kicked off the day with free play in each class- this involved each child showing their favourite toys to one another and engaging in game playing. This fostered lovely interactions and conversations and everyone looked so happy. We have had random acts of kindness and lots of wellness/mindfulness activity and stories in class. Days like this are so important .

We also incorporated scooter day as part of our Active Flag endeavours and then sun shone for this lovely whole school outdoor activity!

We dressed in the colours of the rainbow to show light and happiness and each child contributed €2 towards the furnishing of a comfort space in each classroom. Stay tuned for more on this!

Huge thanks to Ms. Bergin and our Well-being Warriors for a really wonderful day!

We were delighted to welcome Conor McDonald, Wexford hurler, today. As a GAA star, we asked him to congratulate our amazing footballers who won the district final yesterday. We were thrilled to share this victory with our local schools, St. Kevin’s NS and Scoil Íosagáin

There has been so much going on with GAA games and tournaments that it has been hard to keep up! Here is an update as to how our teams have been doing so far. Huge thanks to Mr. Breen, Ms. D’Arcy and Ms. Carroll for their encouragements. Thanks also to all the staff who have helped out with supervision to make it happen!

Girls:

To date the girls have had a very positive start to the school football league. Our 6th class girls have won all their games and now compete in the district final TODAY in Naomh Eanna against Camolin @1:30pm. We wish them the very best of luck and are so proud of them!! Ádh mór a chailíní!!
Our 5th class girls have won all their games in the first round of Rising Stars and are through to the next round.
And….. our 5th & 6th girls also competed in the mini 7’s last week and are also through to the next round.
Maith sibh cailiní.

Boys:

The boys Rackard league team got through to the A quarter final on Monday v Bree in Castletown after qualifying top of their group after 3 very tough games v St. Joseph’s , Oulart and Blackwater. They unfortunately lost but we are so proud of their achievement.
The Rising Stars boys play their last group stage game v Loreto Gorey next Thursday and have also played brilliantly along the way with one win from 2 games.
The boys Mini 7s football team played last week in their first round blitz and showed determination and skill with a win v Gorey Educate Together but lost out to a very strong St. Joseph’s side who progressed to the next round. Well done boys!

Also pictured is Mr. Breen’s class proudly wearing our new set of jerseys which will be used for GAA, soccer, rounders and any other events. They were very generously sponsored by Mikey and Luke’s Mum and Dad of BET Technologies and the boys were delighted to join in the photo with the senior children. Thank you so much Lisa and Brian!

Our PA is running the Re-Turn initiative at our school to raise funds for school activities. The benefits of this are two-fold as it also teaches pupils the value of recycling! We hope you can support us!

Some lovely photos of our after school hub club for infants run by Ms. Rolland. Look at those smiles! We are delighted to be able to offer this facility for working parents/ parents with two pick ups. Thank you. Ms. Rolland!

We love this spread of photos of our wonderful Junior Infants in the Gorey Guardian! They are off to a super start!

Thanks to Ms. D’Arcy who coordinated such fun today with Relay Take over! Look at those smiles! Clink on the link for video!

We are thrilled to be learning Chinese on a weekly basis with Alana. Today,
older classes celebrated Chinese Mid-autumn Festival and sampled moon cakes. Ask your child to try out some of their phrases at home! This is an exciting part of the modern foreign languages component of the new Primary Language Curriculum .

Click below to hear some elementary Chinese from our pupils!

Pictured:
Ms. Penston’s class having fun with conjunctions! A lovely example of ‘Active Learning’ in our beautifully bright and comfortable Rainforest Room!

5th and 6th class enjoying their novel War Horse in the Rainforest Room. While it looks unconventional, fostering the love of reading is crucial to encouraging readers, so being cosy on a beanbag with shoes off creates a situation that is conducive towards the enjoyment of reading! There is a strong correlation between those who read and those who perform well academically so we would encourage this at home. Tips for encouraging reading at home can be found on our website at the following link: http://castletownnationalschool.ie/parents-2/support-for-parents/. Both the Arklow and Gorey libraries are fantastic for encouraging young readers.