News

As the curtain comes down on the historic year of 2021, we take stock of all that has been done and all that has been overcome in the past 12 months.

2021 was certainly a challenging year for children and it is only right that we take the opportunity to applaud them and congratulate them on their resilience, positivity and adaptability. In saying that, it important also that we acknowledge that for some pupils, this didn’t come easy and to those children we genuinely say well done on being so brave.

To the staff of our school; teachers, SNAs, our secretary, cleaners, caretaker and bus escort, we say a massive thank you. Thank you for allowing the children the space and time to progress. Thank you for the kind words of encouragement when they were needed. Thank you for spotting the little successes that each child achieved. Thank you for the extra hours you invest in our school. And thank you for doing it all with a smile!

To our parents we say thank you for trusting us with your children during the past year. Considering all that was happening around us we are grateful for your patience, support and encouragement.

The children enjoyed a magical few days in school this week. There was hot chocolate, pyjama parties, pizza, Fitmas, talent shows, carol singing, art, storytelling, dancing and even a visit from the man in the red suit! We also presented our Star Pupil Awards for December. This month the theme was Positivity and Goodwill and unsurprisingly both could be witnessed in abundance throughout the school.

We hope all our boys and girls enjoy a fabulous Christmas. We wish all the parents a peaceful and restful holiday and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2022.

All of this week’s photos can be viewed in the gallery at the end of this post.

Nolliag Shona Dhaoibh go Léir!

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Here are some images from today’s Pyjamas Party in Junior Infants.

The boys are girls earned this as a reward for all their hard work and good behaviour over the past few weeks. The whole class had to work together towards been awarded 100 ticks and today the enjoyed the fruits of their labour! Well done boys and girls!

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For the past six years Seoidín has operated out of a small room at the side of our school, a room that was once run by Sr. Ursula as a Parent’s Room. Seoidín is our pre-school for autistic children and caters for 6 pupils each year.

Over the past six years the Board of Management and the principals of the school have worked tirelessly with the Department of Education to secure funding to erect two new purpose built classrooms for Seoidín. We are delighted that we have finally completed the administrative part of this project and have moved to the construction stage.

In total €1.44 million has been granted to build the two classrooms. We hope that the construction phase will be completed by January 2023. This will mean that we will be able to cater for 12 pupils and will be able to enjoy the space and brightness of a new build.

With any design and build project funded by the Department of Education, a Design Team and Building Contractor need to be appointed. Our design team are a local company called ABN, working our of Croke Street here in Thurles. ABN are very experienced with such projects and are currently working on a number of similar projects nationally. FDY Construction from Doon, Co. Limerick are our building contractors. Recently I met with John Brennan (Project Manager ABN) and Francis Kennedy (FDY Construction) as we planned for the commencement of works on site.

We look forward to watching this development progress over the next 12 months. There will no doubt be some disruption to traffic and parking during the construction phase but we will be making every effort to minimise this.

We eagerly await the opening of this new development and are very excited that finally Seoidín will become the modern, bright, building that was first imagined!

This week the children really began to feel the festive season around our school. The hallways are full of decorations and Christmas art work. The crib and the tree bring joy to the foyer and carol singing can be heard sporadically as you walk the corridors.

The infant classes are enjoying the Christmas theme in Aistear at the moment. Elves are busy sorting out that naughty and nice list as well as building the toys for Santa. There’s sleigh rides and Christmas art too.

Junior Infants made gingerbread men on Friday which was a real treat. We look forward to the run in to Christmas over the next few days.

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This month has been another busy time in the Presentation. We have celebrated Presentation Day, collected over 9o kilograms of coins and enjoyed Science Week!

We say a very sincere thank you to all those who supported the Parents’ Council Coin Collection. The money will now be counted and used to fund our Parents’ Council, our Christmas events as well as the purchase of resources.

Well done to all the classes who made such an effort. The heaviest bucket came from First Class – their bucket weighed a massive 15.7Kg! A special mention to Ms. Sheridan’s class who topped the list when we calculated the heaviest bucket based on class size. In all, over 90 Kg of coin was collected! All that’s left to do now is count it!!!!

Science Week 2021 took place recently also and the children really enjoyed experimenting and working scientifically with their teachers. This year we also have added STEM Club to our after school activities. This is proving a great hit with the pupils and we are delighted to see the boys and girls take such an interest in Science and Technology!

Here is a collection of photos from the past month!

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This week we prepared to celebrate Presentation Day. Presentation Day takes place each year on 21st November and it is the day when Presentation schools, convents and organisations celebrate the wonderful life of Nano Nagle and the work of the Presentation Order throughout the world.

On Friday morning we watched a Prayer Service that the children had prepared. As we can’t gather together as a whole school at present, we watched the prayer service at the same time, giving a sense of unity and togetherness throughout the school. 

Thank you to all the teachers who helped in preparing for Presentation Day and well done to all the boys and girls who read the prayers so well. Thanks also to Mrs. Margaret Healy and Ms. Mary Everard for preparing the hyms and the accompanying music.

Happy Presentation Day to all!

There was an amazing response to the TeamHope Christmas Shoebox Appeal again this year with 120 boxes being donated to support this wonderful cause. Mr. Healy explained as the children’s assembly what could and could not go into the shoeboxes. We hope that these gifts bring a smile to the faces of some children on Christmas morning. Thanks to all the parents who donated and supported TeamHope this year.

Our After School Activities continued this week. The children are loving being back at Cookery while our new STEM Club and the Monday Funday Club are a real hit too!

Our Coin Collection continues for one more week, up until Friday, 19th November. Thanks to all the parents and children who have donated. Pupils have been searching the car, the couch and that set of drawers in the hope of adding to their class bucket.

After a busy Maths Week, the children enjoyed a very ‘Fancy Dress Friday’ as we celebrated the Halloween Break. Ghouls and Goblins, Witches and Wizards, Minions and Marshmallows wandered through the school in a blaze of colour and smiles!

The children really enjoyed the novility of leaving the uniform at home and expressing themselves in costumes, facepaint and wigs!

Our Parents’ Council organised an art competition to celebrate Halloween and on Friday, Chairperson Fiona Connors presented smashing prizes to the winning entrants. Well done to all the boys and girls who did some wonderful artwork for this competition and thank you to Fiona and all the Parents’ Council for organising the event.

Here are some of the winners being presented with their prizes.

We wish all our pupils and their families a very Happy and Safe Halloween. During the week Garda Dan Brennan spoke to the senior classes about keeping safe at Halloween and we encourage all our pupils to take care over the midterm.

Here are all the photos from Friday for you to enjoy!

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