Scoil Ghormáin Naofa, Castletown

I was so proud of our students who sang so beautifully today at the Big Sing for Mental Health. It would certainly lift your spirits! Thanks to Barbara Duffy and her team for a lovely morning. Well done to all the other schools who were in fine voice!

I am delighted to announce that we have successfully secured Music Generation for our school. This year, they will work with 3rd/4th class, teaching strings for 28 weeks. The exact instrument is to be confirmed. It is hoped that this will be a sustainable project that will embed in our school’s culture. Many thanks to Ms. ní Shúilleabháin for her enthusiasm in applying for this for our school. We are very excited!!

Click the link below to see our progress after lesson 1!

Our junior infants took a little wander to our Maths Wall where they discussed the chart collating favourite icecreams in the whole school! They were able to count and work out which was the favourite and which was least favourite! Not bad for September

The students of Scoil Ghormáin Naofa, Castletown are working towards making their school more sustainable. Last year, through their Junior Entrepreneur project, a water bottle made from recycled materials was introduced as part of the school uniform. The idea behind this is that it eliminates single use plastic bottles. Children are encouraged to refill their bottles from one of the fountains on the school yard so it compliments their healthy lunch policy also!

This September, the students have decided to ban glitter from Art lessons. Lots of children love using glitter but it was discussed at assembly how microplastics such as glitter have a devastating effect on marine life. At Scoil Ghormáin Naofa, the students are mindful of protecting marine biodiversity, having hosted a visit from RTÉ’s Éanna ní Lamhna last week. The school took an educational field trip to Clone beach where they investigated the ecosystems there. They learned about how to detect phosphates in the streamlet running into the sea.

Other initiatives include reducing litter in classrooms and the creation of junk art. We have a beautiful green field for play on dry days and we look after our wooded area here. Scoil Ghormáin Naofa has raised five green flags and has an active green school committee who wear their badges with pride!

Greta Thunberg is a real inspiration to the students who downed tools during assembly time on Friday, 20^th September in support of Global Strike for Climate Change. This inspirational young eco warrior inspires the students at Scoil Ghormáin Noafa to see that our young people can and must change the world.

Féach ar rang 1/2 ag déanamh an Haka inniú! Éire abú!! #RugbyWorldCup

Today, 19-09-2019, we welcomed nature expert Éanna ní Lamhna to our school to talk to us about marine biodiversity at Clone Beach. We enjoyed a beautiful walk to the beach that is just on our doorstep and had some play time while we were there. We learned about natural grasses and how the environment affects the ecosystems on the beach. We hope everyone enjoyed their day.

We are looking at ways to promote Maths outside the discrete Maths lesson and as such have developed a Maths Wall. Periodically, we will change the content here which will reflect a whole school approach to a given strand. Currently, we are looking at data. Over the year, we will use this wall to support the spread of Maths language in our school from juniors to 6th class. We will run little competitions and hang Maths related artwork and puzzles. We hope that this will pique the interest of our students!

Thank you to Ms. Carroll for her hard work!

Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework celebrates early childhood as a time of being, and of enjoying and learning from experiences as they unfold.

The sound of pure joy emanates from the infant rooms during designated Aistear time. Check out these photos to see how a successful Aistear class works!

Some new information for parents around internet safety. There are some really useful, specific tips relating to various social media platforms (Snapchat etc.) here. Just click on the links:

Internet safety parents

fivethings

We are looking at introducing a revised healthy eating policy. I am inviting parents to view the sample at the link below and email any feedback to cns.iaswx@gmail.com. Your input is very welcome.

HealthyEatingPolicy sample