Last week to celebrate Greens Schools National Walk to School Week the children met at the playground village each morning to walk some laps and up their steps before the school day began. On Tuesday morning, we had a lovely visit from Orla our Green Schools Officer who brought the children around on a investigation of the park. It was a great start of our Green Schools year and look forward to ‘Walk on Wednesdays’ once the spring arrives.

On Wednesday 14th June, the children spent time mixing with their peers in various stations for the afternoon. The stations included; art, i-pads, construction using polydrons & blocks, board games, lego & magnets. It was a great opportunity for the children to explore, create and have fun before the end of the school year.

As part of Wellbeing this year we decided to make some slight changes to our yard. The children and staff upcycled some furniture – an old wooden bench. The function of the Buddy Bench is to allow pupils to go there if they are feeling upset or would like to talk to someone. The Buddy Bench was designed and painted by the children themselves. We would like to thank those parents who kindly donated paint to the initiative.

Although the children may have been a little disappointed this morning that they had to come to school and weren’t on a snow day at home, the children made the most of the situation as they built a snow castle and a snow wall. There was impressive team work skills on show and it was a joy to watch the pupils co-operating and supporting one another outside the classroom.

This week, six of our senior pupils went to Shiven Rovers, Newbridge and played in a 5 a-side soccer tournament. Unfortunately the team came away defeated after a number of matches against some tough opposition but the children really enjoyed the outing. The students were thrilled with our new jerseys and we look forward to using them again in the near future.

Over the last six weeks, the pupils in the senior room researched their family trees using the census, Irish genealogy and land registry websites. We welcomed historian Martin Curley as he worked with the children investigating the historical evidence in the village of Aughrim. The pupils also got the opportunity to learn alongside some of their peers, the 5th/6th class of St. Catherine’s N.S. The two schools visited the local churches, graveyards and the townpark with Martin and their teachers. It was a very enjoyable and informative experience for all involved.

The children in the Junior room decided to post their Valentines letters this year with a trip to the local post office and shop. They got a lovely treat from the shopkeeper which made the delivery of the letters even sweeter. We hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day<3