Christmas Newsletter December 2023
Christmas Newsletter December 2023
Term 1 of St. Beacon’s National School has been an extremely busy and successful one and bodes well for the future of the school. During Term 1 the school organised and participated in a number of events outside of normal day to day account. I will now give a brief account on all these events before including a piece from each of the teachers from the classes in our school high lighting what took place in their rooms.
Science Week
Science week was held during the 12th – 16th November and all throughout the week the school was alive with scientific investigation. Children relayed their findings of their experiments to different classes providing the opportunity to learn from their peers and promote all the pupils self-confidence to speak publicly.
Team Hope Shoe Box Appeal
The school took part in the Team Hope Shoe Box Appeal this year. This initiative required the children to create and donate shoe boxes filled with gifts for those less fortunate. The effort and participation from all the students was fantastic to say the least. Well over 100 boxes were donated. To see the charitable enthusiasm of the children and the realisation of how some people are less fortunate than they are was really uplifting. We also received a visit from five soldiers from Kilkenny Army Barracks to collect the shoeboxes. Children received the opportunity to speak with and quiz the soldiers about life in the army.
Gymnastics
Juniors to 1st class enjoyed and participated in 6 weeks of gymnastics in Mullinavat Community Hall from November to December.
Swimming
2nd to 5th class attended and enjoyed 6 weeks of swimming lessons in the Apex Swimming Pool, New Ross in Term 1.
Christmas Show
Without a doubt the highlight of the Term was on Friday 1st December when the school held its Christmas Show in Mullinavat Community Hall. Every pupil did an excellent job on the night and the bumper crowd in attendance were treated to a lovely display of the different talents our pupils possess. Big thanks go to all staff, Pat Grant, parents and community members who helped out in so many ways to make the night possible.
Board of Management
Our new Board of Management for the next 4 year term met on Tuesday 5th December. We have five new members on this terms Board of Management. Our Board of Management will meet again on Tuesday 6th February at 7 pm in the staffroom. We thank our previous Board Members for their contributions to our school.
Parents Association
A new Parents Association has been formed in St. Beacon’s National School. We thank the parents who have put themselves forward to be our new Parents Association and act as a representative body for our school community. Our new Parents Association will meet on Tuesday 23rd January in the school hall at 6.30 pm. Two reminder texts will be sent to Parents Association members in advance of meeting. There will be a management teacher present at all Parents Association meetings. Our new Parents Association is as follows:
Philip Lonergan (Principal)
Anthony O’Keeffe (Deputy Principal)
Heather Kenneally (2nd class and Senior Infants)
Hazel Reddy (Junior Infants)
Stephen Barnes (Junior Infants and 2nd class)
Maura Rohan (Junior Infants, 4th and 6th class)
Irene Frisby (6th class)
Sarah Maher (Junior Infants and 1st class)
Jason Cahill (5th Class)
Barry Kelly (4th class and 2nd class)
Green Schools
Ms. Glancy and our Green Schools Committee have been very busy again this term. Climate Action week proved very informative and interesting in our school community. We held two well supported WOW Days (Walk on Wednesdays). All our school are being proactive in keeping our playground litter free, keeping doors and windows closed to conserve heat and energy and turning off lights at break time.
Junior Entrepreneur Programme
Our 6th class have been very busy and proactive with their Junior Entrepreneur programme. 6th class sought out sponsorship, created themes for calendar months and helped organise photographing day to create our 2024 St. Beacon’s National School school year calendar. Calendar is a lovely finished product and have over 220 calendars have been sold to date. Well Mr. O’Keeffe and all in 6th class for including all classes in the production. We sincerely thank all the local business who rowed in behind 6th class effort with generous sponsorship.
Chess Club
Members of 4th, 5th and 6th class received opportunity to play chess in school on Tuesdays at brig break. Thanks to Ms. Fitzgerald for providing children with the opportunity to learn and play chess.
School Choir
Our school choir meet with Ms. Collins on Thursdays to rehearse pieces for Christmas show, school mass and Christmas Carol performance.
HSE Visit
Some Senior Infants received the Flu Vaccination in school on Monday 27th November. Junior Infants received 4 in 1 and MMR vaccines in early October. Vision and hearing nurses attended for screening tests with Junior Infants in mid October.
Creative Clusters
Mr. O’Keeffe has attended 3 creative clusters workshops. Creative Clusters promotes STEM and problem solving opportunities for pupils. Two new creative clusters noticeboards have been put up in the school corridors. Our school will be seeking donations of Lego once Lego board frames have been attached to new noticeboards.
School Football
Good consistent efforts have been put in to promote Gaelic Football in our school during Term 1. Interested girls and boys from 4th to 6th class have received 15 Gaelic football training sessions from October onwards at big break. Our girls team had a great year and reached a County Final on Saturday 11th November in James Stephens. As they did all year the girls performed bravely and lost out to a stronger Moneenroe National School side. The girls received their runners up medal at November assembly. Our boys had good results against Kilmacow, Piltown and Mooncoin but narrowly missed out on a quarter final spot. It was great to see how much both teams improved as the season progressed. We now look forward to Mini 7’s in the new year and camogie and hurling in term 2. Thanks very much to the GAA Club for the donation of 5th/6th class sizes indoor hurls, having indoor hurling and Gaelic football equipment will allow the pupils of our school to train in Mullinavat Community Hall on wet weather Mondays and Wednesdays. Football training resumes on Wednesday 10th January. Thanks to Miss Murphy, Miss Glendon and Mr. O’Keeffe for providing GAA coaching to our school.
Celebration for Mr. O’Brien
A celebration to remember Mr. O’Brien’s time and contribution to St. Beacon’s National School was held on Friday 13th October. It was lovely occasion. Big thanks goes to Jeanette our school secretary and all others who helped out to make the night possible.
Bus Inspector
Bus Eireann Bus Inspector visited our school on Thursday 30th November to check tickets and speak with pupils about suitable behaviour while using buses. Children receive monthly Road Safety and correct bus behaviour advice at monthly assemblies.
Junior Infants
Junior Infants have been busy this term. We have explored the Aistear themes of School, Autumn, Halloween, The Doctors Surgery, The Post Office and Santa's Workshop. We have enjoyed playing with blocks, jigsaws, board games, arts and crafts and role playing all the different characters. We dressed up for Halloween and had lots of fun making spooky potions. We also went on a Nature Walk and found lots of mini beasts and objects. We learned about Road Safety and wore our high visibility vests for our Road Safety Walk. We had a fun week during Science Week and got to do lots of different science experiments, we even got to visit our 6th class buddies and see their experiments. We have been busy over the past two weeks creating Christmas art work to display outside our classroom and learning new Christmas songs. Happy Christmas and New Year to all our children and their families.
Senior Infants
Senior Infants have had a wonderful term and have learned about lots of fun and interesting things. Aistear is always a firm favourite amongst the pupils and they have explored many themes since the start of the year- they’ve even had a Post Office, a hair salon and a toy shop in the class! The Infants enjoyed their gymnastics lessons immensely and were fantastic when performing their songs and dances at the Christmas Concert. However, a notable highlight for all has been getting to know their 5th Class buddies better during Friendship Week- the collaborative art project was a big hit as was the Autumn Nature Trail. We look forward to spending more time with 5th Class throughout the year.
1st/2nd Class
First and Second Class have been working very hard since September. Some of our learning involved working with other classes. For example, we worked with 5th class on learning maths games, building Lego and playing card games during Maths Week in October. As part of our P.E curriculum First Class participated in 6 weeks of gymnastics while Second Class completed 6 weeks of skill development in aquatics. One of the topics we were leaning about in SESE was homes and habitats. We designed and constructed houses using recyclable materials. We had a book swap in our classroom as part of Climate Action Week. This was to highlight the importance of reusing and promoting the circular economy. We took part in the Credit Union art competition and had winners in our classroom. In Maths we have tried out target boards, number of the day and maths puzzles to develop our mental maths skills and have been using our 'maths eyes' inside and outside the classroom. In Gaeilge we have practised our nuacht and our aimsir everyday and use our gaeilge neamhfhoirmúil as much as we can. In English we have been practising recount and revising procedural writing. We will continue to work hard in the next term in the new year. We are sad to say goodbye to Gracie but wish her and her family well on their new adventure in Australia.
2nd/ 3rd Class
Well done to 2nd and 3rd class on a great first term. Everyone is working hard and making excellent progress. We had a trip to the playground in September to reward great behaviour. We celebrated Maths week with lots of oral mental maths activities and a maths trail in the school grounds. Everyone participated in school activities to mark Climate Action week in November. 3rd class welcomed Zeeko speaker Zuki and learned how to keep themselves safe online. 2nd class have started working on their prayers for First Penance and will continue after Christmas. 2nd and 3rd enjoyed 6 weeks of swimming lessons in the Apex Pool in New Ross. Finally we would like to say farewell to Ava who will be leaving our class at Christmas. Ava is moving to Australia with her family. We wish her a safe journey and the best of luck in her new school in Australia.
4th Class
4th class learned how to do some fun science experiments during Science Week. They did some fun maths quizzes online with SETU for Maths Week. They also learned about how Christmas is celebrated in Italy and they sampled some of the traditional Italian Christmas cake, Panettone dipped in hot chocolate which is an Italian Christmas tradition. They did a STEN activity with Lego where they had to design and make a vehicle for Santa. 4th class also wrote some brilliant Christmas stories. Ms. Collins and all of 4th class would like to wish everyone a very happy and peaceful Christmas!
5th Class
In 5th class we have been doing some wonderful work over the past few months. We have mastered long division, long multiplication and tackled fractions. We sang “Nóra Bheag” and “An Chéad Nollaig Mhór” and had conversations at “An Margadh Nollag”. We have also taken turns at “Teaching Tuesday” which we all enjoy. We have learned some delicious new recipes and were happy to be taste testers! In the build-up to Christmas, we have been very creative; singing Christmas songs with Irish Sign Language, making beautiful Christmas crafts, playing the tin whistle and writing festive narratives for our buddies in Senior Infants. We are all looking forward to the holidays!
6th Class
6th class have been reading with their buddies in Junior Infants since September. Junior Infants have really enjoyed them coming to them every week. It has helped with their reading skills. 6th class would like to thank Miss Murphy and Mr. O’Keeffe for letting them read to their buddies and are looking forward to continuing in the New Year. Liam Hogan 6th class and Jack Hennessy 5th class went to Duiske College, Graiguenamagh to take part in Creative Clusters. They built a set with lego and recorded an amination. They had a great time.
Handball
Robert Frisby and Michael Reddy won this years South Kilkenny 60x30 Handball Competition beating pairings from Graiguenmanagh National School and Tullaroan National School. Handballers now look forward to 40x20 singles and doubles in 2024.
School Comunication
All parents receive weekly Friday emails. All parents receive regular TextaParent notices. School website stbeacons.com is updated weekly to include activities taking place in our school. Weekly emails and termly newsletters are also available on school website.
New Primary Maths Curriculum
Mr. Lonergan and Ms. Glancy attended a Maths Curriculum training day on Monday 16th October. All teachers watched an introdution webinar on the New Primary Maths Curriculum at staff meeting before Halloween An information page re: New Primary Maths Curriculum was sent out to all families. Our school has received its date for whole school training it is Monday 19th February 2024. The school will be closed that day.
Library
All classes have timetabled visits to our well stocked school library. Our school has also built up a good relationship with the Mobile Library and exchanges boxes of books for different class groups once a month. Mobile Library visits the village once a month. We encourage all in our school community to use this great facility.
Christmas Activities
All children enjoyed mass on 19th December, Santa Stroll on 20th December and Christmas carols singing and raffle at assembly on Thursday 21st December. Our schools sensory garden is suitably decorated for Christmas season and children enjoyed visiting the Sensory garden on their timetabled day.
Active Schools Committee
Ms. Glynn and the Active Schools Committee kept everyone on their toes in Term 1. Senior class members acting as Exercise Activity Instructors providing safe fun games/exercises proved very successful on Junior yard. Obstacle courses, Monster dash and Halloween disco were enjoyed by all classes in late October before midterm.
Things to look forward to in Term 2
- First Confession on Tuesday 5th March for 2nd class
- Monthly Assembly and class performances
- 5 A side soccer and FAI Soccer Coach visits
- Noel Devlin Rugby Coaching visits
- Hurling and Camogie training
- Gaelic Football Mini 7’s
- New furniture (our school has received a grant to replace all old yellow/red/blue and green furniture). We hope to have new furniture in place for late January
- First Responder Training for Senior classes
- Photovoltaic Solar Panels (our school has expressed an interest in new scheme and will work towards getting panels in place around Easter 2024).
- In school and outside school courses
- School Cycling Programme for 6th class
Christmas Raffle Winners
1st prize €100 One 4 all voucher sponsored by Greensbridge Engineering - Katie Aylward
2nd prize Hamper sponsored by Jones Business Systems, Waterford – Rian O’Meara
3rd prize Hamper sponsored by Supervalu, The Hypercentre, Waterford – Kitty Kenneally
4th prize Hamper sponsored by Supervalu, The Hypercentre, Waterford – Sarah Frisby
5th prize €50 Kilkenny Chamber shopping voucher sponsored by Prochem – Una Kent
6th prize €50 one 4 all voucher sponsored by Manor Properties – Mia Hannan
7th prize €50 Kilkenny Chamber shopping voucher sponsored by Prochem – Richie Kearns
8th prize €50 Kilkenny Chamber shopping voucher sponsored by Prochem – Eamonn Sutton
9th prize €40 Symths Voucher sponsored by Vale Oil – Debbie Roche
10th prize Family pass for the Apex, New Ross – Ellie Doyle
11th prize Box of chocolates – Seb Maher
12th prize Box of chocolates – Annabelle Walsh
13th prize Tin of sweets – Niamh Reddy
14th prize Tin of Sweets – Michael Murphy
15th prize Tin of Sweets – Damien Reid
16th prize Tin of sweets – Sophie Maher
Sellers prize Family pass for The Apex, New Ross – Patrick Maguire
Lets look forward to 2024, embrace it with positivity, energy and be ready to continue building a great school community around St. Beacon’s National School.
From all associated with St. Beacon’s National School, Mullinavat thank you for your continued support and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Le gach dea-ghuí
Mr. Lonergan
St. Beacon's National School, Mullinavat, Co. Kilkenny | Phone: 051 898 442
