Engineer's Week 2020
Look at 5th and 6th class roller-coasters/ marble runs which they created using only card and tape.
Chess Tournament
Chess has many benefits including development of concentration and memory, critical thinking, logic and creativity. It is with this in mind that we are encouraging as many pupils as possible to learn how to play chess.
Atfer the introduction of a chess board by Fr. Bannon, 5th & 6th class pupils set about learning the basic moves and strategies. The pupils demonstrated a great interest so we decided to set up a class tournament among all the pupils. Fr. Bannon challenged the top five players to a match where he played all five players at the one time. Fr. Bannon was the victor receiving E20 to be donated to Trocaire. He also donated three chess boards as prizes for the top three players which were won by Caolan Fitzpatrick, Caolain Madden and Fiachra Brady. Aine Martin was the overall winner of our first Chess tournament.
Seeing how much enjoyment the pupils got from playing chess, we entred two teams in the Brian Collum Chess tournament, in Newtownforbes, Co. Longford. There were a total of 126 teams participating in this tournament, from Galway, Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford and Cavan. Our A Team finished in 5th place and our B Team in 37th place. This was a fantastic achievement for our first time competing in an official chess competition. Great thanks goes to Ms. Boyle and Fr. Bannon for their help and support towards the pupils.
Atfer the introduction of a chess board by Fr. Bannon, 5th & 6th class pupils set about learning the basic moves and strategies. The pupils demonstrated a great interest so we decided to set up a class tournament among all the pupils. Fr. Bannon challenged the top five players to a match where he played all five players at the one time. Fr. Bannon was the victor receiving E20 to be donated to Trocaire. He also donated three chess boards as prizes for the top three players which were won by Caolan Fitzpatrick, Caolain Madden and Fiachra Brady. Aine Martin was the overall winner of our first Chess tournament.
Seeing how much enjoyment the pupils got from playing chess, we entred two teams in the Brian Collum Chess tournament, in Newtownforbes, Co. Longford. There were a total of 126 teams participating in this tournament, from Galway, Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford and Cavan. Our A Team finished in 5th place and our B Team in 37th place. This was a fantastic achievement for our first time competing in an official chess competition. Great thanks goes to Ms. Boyle and Fr. Bannon for their help and support towards the pupils.
Spring is in The Air!!!
March has arrived and thankfully brought some sunshine with it. A great chance to get some planting done! The infants sowed peas, 1st & 2nd sowed salad leaf Mizuna and carrots, 3rd & 4th class sowed spinish, chard, green kale and purple kale and 5th & 6th class sowed turnip and lettuce. We look forward to replanting all seedlings in our vegetable patch in a few weeks time.
World Book Day 2020
Here are just a few of the photos taken during our World Book Day celebrations. We shared many stories in both English agus as Gaeilge. We also enjoyed Buddy Reading between Senior and Junior pupils. At the end of the day over 1500 books were shared!!!
- Look how many books
- our Infants shared
- on
- World Book Day!!!
Dear Parent/Guardian
We’re writing to you about our exciting and important SHARE A STORY FOR 10 MINUTES TODAY campaign to get everyone sharing stories from breakfast to bedtime on World Book Day, 7 March and beyond. Reading with your child now can have long-lasting benefits for their future and, because we know how busy you are, the great news is that reading together for JUST 10 MINUTES a day can make all the difference. Here are some fun and easy ways to join in:
- Find 10 minutes on World Book Day and every day to read with your child. It doesn’t just have to happen at bedtime – reading and sharing stories can happen anywhere at any time.
- Visit your local bookshop & help your child choose their FREE World Book Day book with their £1 book token.
- Why not play our fun Are You A Share A Story Reading Star? game with your child? Play online or download a copy of the game at worldbookday.com/reading-stars and have fun collecting your stars and discovering all the exciting ways you can share stories together.
- Choose a book at your local library to read together – join the library and start a new habit of visiting the library on a regular basis.
Celebrate stories. Love reading.
#WorldBookDay
The more you enjoy reading a book, the more the child you’re sharing it with will too. My biggest tip is to cosy-in for the moment and go at the pace of the child… stories, like life, are more fun when you slow down and savour the journey.”
RACHEL BRIGHT, AUTHOR OF THE SQUIRRELS WHO SQUABBLED
For lots of ideas on how you can make story time fun as well as advice on sharing stories with your little ones and encouraging a lifelong love of reading, visit www.worldbookday.com. PLUS, our list of the top 100 stories to share is there to help you to discover new books and stories that you’ll love sharing together.
We’d love to see what you’re reading and your favourite stories, so please share them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using #ShareAStory.
A love of reading is one of life’s greatest gifts so happy reading together and happy World Book Day!
The World Book Day Team
World Book Day is a registered charity.
Digital Excellance Project - A Visit to Combilift
One of the targets of this year’s Digital Learning Plan and as part of the Digital Excellence Project, was to provide pupils with an opportunity to see digital technology being used in industry. A visit to Combilift, Co. Monaghan, for the schools involved in our cluster group, provided this wonderful insight. Our only regret was that we were limited to bringing 8 pupils, but the following is a report they gave to their peers of what they learned on their visit.
On the 28th of January 8 pupils from our school got the opportunity to go to Combilift Lifting Innovation, in Monaghan as part of the Digital Excellence Program. Combilift is the largest global manufacturer of multi-directional forklifts. They have customers in 102 different countries with 25% sales in the UK. Only 2% of Combilift forklifts are sold to people in Ireland. Their first ever forklift made was sold to an Irish man, just in case there was a problem with it, they could fix it easily.
People wear different coloured hi-vis in Combilift. Once we got there, everyone got an orange high-vis vest. The reason that the vests were orange were so we could be told apart from the workers there, who wore yellow high-vis. We also got safety goggles to make sure that nothing got into our eyes and we also got ear plugs so we didn’t damage out ears with the loud noises from the machinery.
Then we split up and each group got their own tour guide, ours was Dominic. We all went into a cinema room where we watched a short power point presented by Catherine Fox, and we got the opportunity to ask some questions. Then we went off on the tour. We started in the computer offices were we saw lots of busy workers on computers. Then Dominic went on to show us into the design area were we got to see a worker on his computer designing a 3D format of one of the forklifts which he would then show to a customer before they purchased it. We were amazed by this use of technology, to see how they design their forklifts so that every customer gets exactly what they want. Then we were shown the safety exits before going into the actual manufacturing part of the factory. The transition between a quiet working office and a busy working factory was really cool. We were guided through the different rooms which had different productions stages. Each room in the production area was very high.
One of the last rooms we went into, we could see all the different Combilift products in action. We saw people putting pallets with parts on them, up onto very high shelves with the help of cameras on the front of the forklifts. These people were extremely skillful and could reverse into tiny spaces thanks to the Aisle Master. We went on to see a Straddle Carrier being dismantled and put into a shipping container. Then we went on a sky walk over one of the manufacturing areas of the building which looked tremendous!
Martin McVicar, one of the founders of Combilift, never went to college. When he was in his early 20’s, he won young entrepreneur of the year. This year, Combilift celebrates its 21st year in business. Combilift now employs over 650 people in their Monaghan head-quarters. Combilft are now working on a fully automatic, coded forklift.
This once in a lifetime opportunity was amazing. It has really helped us consider our future. We are very grateful for this extraordinary day. We hope we will be able to see Combilift again one day.
Written by: Kilian, Kyla, Hannah, Skye, Raymond, Cormac, Francesca and Ella.
On the 28th of January 8 pupils from our school got the opportunity to go to Combilift Lifting Innovation, in Monaghan as part of the Digital Excellence Program. Combilift is the largest global manufacturer of multi-directional forklifts. They have customers in 102 different countries with 25% sales in the UK. Only 2% of Combilift forklifts are sold to people in Ireland. Their first ever forklift made was sold to an Irish man, just in case there was a problem with it, they could fix it easily.
People wear different coloured hi-vis in Combilift. Once we got there, everyone got an orange high-vis vest. The reason that the vests were orange were so we could be told apart from the workers there, who wore yellow high-vis. We also got safety goggles to make sure that nothing got into our eyes and we also got ear plugs so we didn’t damage out ears with the loud noises from the machinery.
Then we split up and each group got their own tour guide, ours was Dominic. We all went into a cinema room where we watched a short power point presented by Catherine Fox, and we got the opportunity to ask some questions. Then we went off on the tour. We started in the computer offices were we saw lots of busy workers on computers. Then Dominic went on to show us into the design area were we got to see a worker on his computer designing a 3D format of one of the forklifts which he would then show to a customer before they purchased it. We were amazed by this use of technology, to see how they design their forklifts so that every customer gets exactly what they want. Then we were shown the safety exits before going into the actual manufacturing part of the factory. The transition between a quiet working office and a busy working factory was really cool. We were guided through the different rooms which had different productions stages. Each room in the production area was very high.
One of the last rooms we went into, we could see all the different Combilift products in action. We saw people putting pallets with parts on them, up onto very high shelves with the help of cameras on the front of the forklifts. These people were extremely skillful and could reverse into tiny spaces thanks to the Aisle Master. We went on to see a Straddle Carrier being dismantled and put into a shipping container. Then we went on a sky walk over one of the manufacturing areas of the building which looked tremendous!
Martin McVicar, one of the founders of Combilift, never went to college. When he was in his early 20’s, he won young entrepreneur of the year. This year, Combilift celebrates its 21st year in business. Combilift now employs over 650 people in their Monaghan head-quarters. Combilft are now working on a fully automatic, coded forklift.
This once in a lifetime opportunity was amazing. It has really helped us consider our future. We are very grateful for this extraordinary day. We hope we will be able to see Combilift again one day.
Written by: Kilian, Kyla, Hannah, Skye, Raymond, Cormac, Francesca and Ella.
Grandparents Day 2020
Catholic Schools Week was celebrated from 27th to 31st January this year and is an all-Ireland annual event which invites Catholic schools to express the ethos of their Catholic schools. As part of this special week, we were delighted to celebrate Grandparents' Day in St. Patrick’s National School. This day allows us to acknowledge and celebrate the importance that grandparents have in a child's spiritual and moral development.
We welcomed many grandparents and even one great grandparent to our celebration. The service began with Kyla Hartin and her grandmother lighting a special candle of remembrance for all the grandparents who could not be with us on the day, and some children brought photos of their grandparents to the altar. Pupils were given the opportunity to thank their grandparents through prayers, readings, song and poetry. The pupils of 5th and 6th class had made St. Bridget’s Crosses and these were presented to the children in 2nd class who will be making their First Holy Communion in May.
Following the service which was led by Fr. Bannon and the 6th class pupils, the grandparents were then invited to have a well-deserved tea, coffee and biscuits. We would like to say a huge thank you to the all grandparents who made it on the day. We would also like to take the opportunity to remember the grandparents who couldn’t be with us. What a wonderful special day for everyone and we are looking forward to next year already!
We welcomed many grandparents and even one great grandparent to our celebration. The service began with Kyla Hartin and her grandmother lighting a special candle of remembrance for all the grandparents who could not be with us on the day, and some children brought photos of their grandparents to the altar. Pupils were given the opportunity to thank their grandparents through prayers, readings, song and poetry. The pupils of 5th and 6th class had made St. Bridget’s Crosses and these were presented to the children in 2nd class who will be making their First Holy Communion in May.
Following the service which was led by Fr. Bannon and the 6th class pupils, the grandparents were then invited to have a well-deserved tea, coffee and biscuits. We would like to say a huge thank you to the all grandparents who made it on the day. We would also like to take the opportunity to remember the grandparents who couldn’t be with us. What a wonderful special day for everyone and we are looking forward to next year already!
Christmas Shows
We are immensely proud of all our wonderfully talented pupils. On December 18th and 19th our students enthralled their audiences with their Christmas performances.
We are immensely proud of all our wonderfully talented pupils. On December 18th and 19th our students enthralled their audiences with their Christmas performances.
Our Junior and Senior Infants performed "Everyone Loves a Baby". We all loved their singing and dancing and their hard work was very evident.
Everyone Loves a Baby
This year, we are participating in the Creative Schools Project and thanks to the funding we received from The Arts Council, we decided to hold our senior Christmas shows in the Backstage Theatre, Longford. Having the opportunity to perform in a real theatre was a fantastic opportunity for the children. The pupils got an insight into the professional staging and lighting of a show. This was a wonderful experience for the pupils, and one we hope they will remember for many years to come.
The show opened with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class pupils performing "Lights, Camel, Action" and then "Cinderella and Sherlock" was performed by 4th, 5th & 6th class pupils. An incredible amount of preparation went into staging all of the shows and huge thanks goes to all the pupils and their teachers for all their hard work and dedication. A special word of thanks also to Mary Farrelly, our Creative Associate, for her help in choreographing all the dances in the shows. A link to the two shows performed in The Backstage Theatre, will follow shortly.
The show opened with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class pupils performing "Lights, Camel, Action" and then "Cinderella and Sherlock" was performed by 4th, 5th & 6th class pupils. An incredible amount of preparation went into staging all of the shows and huge thanks goes to all the pupils and their teachers for all their hard work and dedication. A special word of thanks also to Mary Farrelly, our Creative Associate, for her help in choreographing all the dances in the shows. A link to the two shows performed in The Backstage Theatre, will follow shortly.
Lights, Camel, Action
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Sherlock and Cinders
Link to video: youtu.be/yf13RuOSNG0
Someone Like Me
Congratulations to our pupils in Junior and Senior infants who became the County Cavan Junior winners of the Someone Like Me competition. The children worked collaboratively, to create beautiful "Friendship Boats", and were worthy winners of the title. On 3rd December the class teacher Ms. Jennifer O'Reilly and class representative Darcy, attended a prize giving ceremony in Dublin City Hall. The class received a one hundred euro voucher which they used to buy new jigsaws and toys for their classroom. They also won a voucher for the school and this was used to buy new Christmas lights.
Congratulations to our pupils in Junior and Senior infants who became the County Cavan Junior winners of the Someone Like Me competition. The children worked collaboratively, to create beautiful "Friendship Boats", and were worthy winners of the title. On 3rd December the class teacher Ms. Jennifer O'Reilly and class representative Darcy, attended a prize giving ceremony in Dublin City Hall. The class received a one hundred euro voucher which they used to buy new jigsaws and toys for their classroom. They also won a voucher for the school and this was used to buy new Christmas lights.
Sporting Success
We had a very successful term, with our Camogie team and school boy football team both being crowned County Champions in the Cuman na mBunscol competitions. Many thanks to Ms Boyle for coaching both teams with assistance from Gearldine Brady,Jack Houldsworth, Niamh Boylan and Elaine Morris.
The following is a match report of the Boys County Final, written by Caolan Fitzpatrick and the Camogie Final, written by Ella Briody.
The School Boys Final
For the second year in a row, Gowna National School were playing Castlerahan in the Cumman ns mBunscol final. We had an easy build up to the final, hammering teams such as Castletara, Ballyhaise and St. Felims, but we knew it would be a lot different against Castlerahan in the final.
Gowna got off to a good start with Fiachra Brady and Cormac McEntee both getting early scores, but Castlerahan came back quickly with a shot fired at goalie, Ethan Butler, which he managed to slap over the crossbar. Gowna were slowly adding to their tally though, with Raymond Madden and Caolan Fitzpatrick getting scores, but just as Castlerahan were really getting back at Gowna, Dylan Corr and Odhran Madden played a great one-two up the pitch, which which resulted in Odhran Madden slotting the ball into the back of the net. The half-time score was, Gowna 1-07, Castlerahan 0-3.
Gowna wasted no time in extending their lead, with Cormac McEntee and Caolan Fitpatrick both putting the ball over the bar, while down at the other end of the pitch, David Simpson and Caolain Madden were keeping two of Castlerahan’s best players very quiet. Castlerahan were slowly catching up though, with Ethan Butler having to pull off a number of superb saves. With only 10 minutes left Castlerahan got a great goal, which shortened Gowna’s lead to 4 points. That goal proved useless though, with Fiachra Brady getting a lovely goal, chipping the goalkeeper.
The game had an unfortunate ending with the Castlerahan midfielder injuring his back and having to get stretchered off the pitch. In the end, it was a good win for Gowna, with Ethan Butler being the captain and Odhran Madden getting the player of the tournament award.
The Camogie Final
On the 5th November we were in the Camogie Final in the 3 G Pitch. We were both excited and nervous. We were playing against Crosserlough and even though we had beaten them previously, we were still nervous as they are a very good team.
In the first half Áine Martin and Eimear Boylan both scored a goal each and left us winning 2:0 at half time.
In the second half, we were competing very well and Eimear and Áine once again scored a goal each. Then the final whistle was blown and we came out with a 4:0 victory. We were very proud of ourselves. Kyla Hartin was awarded ‘Player of the Match’. We all received medals.
We had a very successful term, with our Camogie team and school boy football team both being crowned County Champions in the Cuman na mBunscol competitions. Many thanks to Ms Boyle for coaching both teams with assistance from Gearldine Brady,Jack Houldsworth, Niamh Boylan and Elaine Morris.
The following is a match report of the Boys County Final, written by Caolan Fitzpatrick and the Camogie Final, written by Ella Briody.
The School Boys Final
For the second year in a row, Gowna National School were playing Castlerahan in the Cumman ns mBunscol final. We had an easy build up to the final, hammering teams such as Castletara, Ballyhaise and St. Felims, but we knew it would be a lot different against Castlerahan in the final.
Gowna got off to a good start with Fiachra Brady and Cormac McEntee both getting early scores, but Castlerahan came back quickly with a shot fired at goalie, Ethan Butler, which he managed to slap over the crossbar. Gowna were slowly adding to their tally though, with Raymond Madden and Caolan Fitzpatrick getting scores, but just as Castlerahan were really getting back at Gowna, Dylan Corr and Odhran Madden played a great one-two up the pitch, which which resulted in Odhran Madden slotting the ball into the back of the net. The half-time score was, Gowna 1-07, Castlerahan 0-3.
Gowna wasted no time in extending their lead, with Cormac McEntee and Caolan Fitpatrick both putting the ball over the bar, while down at the other end of the pitch, David Simpson and Caolain Madden were keeping two of Castlerahan’s best players very quiet. Castlerahan were slowly catching up though, with Ethan Butler having to pull off a number of superb saves. With only 10 minutes left Castlerahan got a great goal, which shortened Gowna’s lead to 4 points. That goal proved useless though, with Fiachra Brady getting a lovely goal, chipping the goalkeeper.
The game had an unfortunate ending with the Castlerahan midfielder injuring his back and having to get stretchered off the pitch. In the end, it was a good win for Gowna, with Ethan Butler being the captain and Odhran Madden getting the player of the tournament award.
The Camogie Final
On the 5th November we were in the Camogie Final in the 3 G Pitch. We were both excited and nervous. We were playing against Crosserlough and even though we had beaten them previously, we were still nervous as they are a very good team.
In the first half Áine Martin and Eimear Boylan both scored a goal each and left us winning 2:0 at half time.
In the second half, we were competing very well and Eimear and Áine once again scored a goal each. Then the final whistle was blown and we came out with a 4:0 victory. We were very proud of ourselves. Kyla Hartin was awarded ‘Player of the Match’. We all received medals.
County Cavan Schools Cross County
A wonderful day was had by 22 of our students as they participated in the County Cavan Schools Cross County races in Killinkere GFC grounds n Wednesday 16th October. A total of 988 athletes from all over Cavan, ran in this really well organized event.
All of our pupils ran superbly, on a very tough and mucky course. Our Junior teams ran 600m, and our Intermediate teams ran 800m. There was great excitement when Melissa Shiels and Odhran Madden, both on the Senior teams received individual medals for placing in 10th and 9th position, respectively, in the 1000m race. They were both, followed very closely by their team mates. The celebrations continued when our Junior girls and Senior boys teams won gold in the Small Schools team section.
Athletics is the bedrock of all sports developing movement capability, agility, balance and coordination. We hope to see all our athletes and many more pupils supporting the Parents Association’s 5km event which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday 28th October.
A Spooktactular Halloween
There were lots of haunting and frightening creatures wandering about our school on October 25th!!! As we all gathered in the Hall, our Green Schools Committee had the unenviable job of selecting the winners of the best home-made costumes. From a washing machine to Mario Carts and a fridge to DJ Mashmallow, the standard of costumes was fantastic and the work and effort that went into creating them is to be applauded. Here is a sneak peek of some of the costumes.
There were lots of haunting and frightening creatures wandering about our school on October 25th!!! As we all gathered in the Hall, our Green Schools Committee had the unenviable job of selecting the winners of the best home-made costumes. From a washing machine to Mario Carts and a fridge to DJ Mashmallow, the standard of costumes was fantastic and the work and effort that went into creating them is to be applauded. Here is a sneak peek of some of the costumes.
County Cavan Schools Cross Country
A wonderful day was had by 22 of our students as they participated in the County Cavan Schools Cross County races in Killinkere GFC grounds on Wednesday 16th October. A total of 988 athletes from all over Cavan, ran in this really well organized event.
All of our pupils ran superbly, on a very tough and mucky course. Our Junior teams ran 600m, and our Intermediate teams ran 800m. There was great excitement when Melissa Shiels and Odhran Madden, both on the Senior teams received individual medals for placing in 10th and 9th position, respectively, in the 1000m race. They were both, followed very closely by their team mates. The celebrations continued when our Junior girls and Senior boys teams won gold in the Small Schools team section.
Athletics is the bedrock of all sports developing movement capability, agility, balance and coordination. We hope to see all our athletes and many more pupils supporting the Parents Association’s 5/10km event which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday 28th October.
A wonderful day was had by 22 of our students as they participated in the County Cavan Schools Cross County races in Killinkere GFC grounds on Wednesday 16th October. A total of 988 athletes from all over Cavan, ran in this really well organized event.
All of our pupils ran superbly, on a very tough and mucky course. Our Junior teams ran 600m, and our Intermediate teams ran 800m. There was great excitement when Melissa Shiels and Odhran Madden, both on the Senior teams received individual medals for placing in 10th and 9th position, respectively, in the 1000m race. They were both, followed very closely by their team mates. The celebrations continued when our Junior girls and Senior boys teams won gold in the Small Schools team section.
Athletics is the bedrock of all sports developing movement capability, agility, balance and coordination. We hope to see all our athletes and many more pupils supporting the Parents Association’s 5/10km event which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday 28th October.
Visitors to our School
There was great excitement in our school, when the Gowna Ladies football team, lead by their captain, Niamh Halton, paid a visit to our school after winning the County Intermediate Championship, and when Ollie Fitzsimons, Damien McArdle and Maggie Brady, from the Erne Eagles All-Ireland Rounders champions brought the Corn Aogh Rua cup to our school. Both teams were an inspiration to our pupils and reminded the children of the benefits and enjoyment that can be earned from playing sport.
There was great excitement in our school, when the Gowna Ladies football team, lead by their captain, Niamh Halton, paid a visit to our school after winning the County Intermediate Championship, and when Ollie Fitzsimons, Damien McArdle and Maggie Brady, from the Erne Eagles All-Ireland Rounders champions brought the Corn Aogh Rua cup to our school. Both teams were an inspiration to our pupils and reminded the children of the benefits and enjoyment that can be earned from playing sport.
New School Year
We celebrated our School mass for the opening of the new school year on Friday 20th September and afterwards, Fr. Bannon blessed our school and raised our 3rd Green Flag.
We celebrated our School mass for the opening of the new school year on Friday 20th September and afterwards, Fr. Bannon blessed our school and raised our 3rd Green Flag.
