Christmas Newsletter, 2022
School Opening/Closing
Our school will close on Wednesday, the 21st of December, at 12 noon. Our school will re-open on Thursday the 5th of January at 9:20am. Our bus has been informed.
Our New School Building
The Department of Education and Skills have granted the application by the Board of Management of our school for a new school extension .Our school will receive substantial funding for this build .The Board of Management and Staff of the school are delighted that the Department has acknowledged and supported our application .We are honoured to have the opportunity to continue to enhance and improve our surroundings to meet our ever changing needs.
A grant has also been provided to our school to fund interim accommodation until our new building is complete. This prefab will be placed in the front of the school.
Our New Design Team
All school building works completed on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills are now lead by a Design Team .This Design Team was chosen through a comprehensive tendering process which closed on Friday the 4th of November, 2022.
Our New Extension Design Team are:
Architect:Wrkshop Architects,Tralee.Co.Kerry
Electrical and Mechanical Engineer:TEM Engineering.Mallow.Co.Cork
Civil Engineer:Crocon Engineering,Bantry.Co.Cork
Quantity Surveyor:Quddy QS,Limerick.Co.Kerry
This project will be led by the Architect. Our first Design Team meeting will take place on the 10th of January, 2023.
Music with Peggy
Mrs. Peggy Healy comes every Tuesday and teaches Music in our school. We are delighted to have had Peggy with us this year. Peggy will complete her term of Music on the 13th of December next.
Forest School
Twelve lucky randomly chosen students attended 8 weeks of Forest School this term. It is our hope to continue to work with our exceptional leaders, Mara and Yvonne each term for 6 weeks.
Forest School builds confidence and self- esteem surrounded by the beauty and wonder of the forest.
Our Forest School took place on Wednesdays from 11.30 am -2.30pm each week. Our participants travelled to Forest School in Blueberry Hill Farm by bus. Our first group enjoyed 2 extra weeks of Forest School this term finishing on Wednesday the 7th of November last.
A special thank you to Joyce and Danny for attending Forest School weekly.
Diocesan Visit
On the 25th of October last we had a Diocesan Inspection with our Diocesan Advisor. Mr .Dermot Kelly .Dermot visited each classroom and had a lovely chat with each of our classes in their respective rooms.
We were delighted to receive such warm praise and feedback from our first visitor of the new term.
Infant News
The Infant Classes have been busy practicing for their school play “It’s a baby!”.
They also enjoyed Science week completing lots of different experiments, some with Skittles!
The Infants also experienced the Artic in Aistear designing and making their own Polar Bears.
Middle Room News
The Middle Room celebrated Science Week with experiments, explorations and plenty of fun. Pupils worked together and impressed us with an array of experiments, Explosive Volcanoes and Elephant Toothpaste to name a few!
Pupils had an Extreme Reading Challenge where they were photographed reading in weird and wonderful places.
The Middle Room have been busy preparing their version of Oliver. Songs have been trickling into pupils’ homes as excitement builds for Seó na Nollag in December!
Senior Room News
The Senior Room recently studied Amazing Features in World Geography and presented their findings orally displaying their structures to their peers.
They are also wasting no time rehearsing for Mock the Mic. It promises to be quite a show!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Children’s Books Ireland
This Christmas Children’s Books Ireland and An Post have come together to give the gift of great books to schools all over the country. We are delighted that our school has been chose to receive thirty –five excellent books .Some of them have been shortlisted for an An Post Irish Book Awards .Some of them have been shortlisted from Children’s Books Ireland s recommended reading guide, Picture This ,which celebrates illustrated books for children of all ages and abilities .All of them have been picked because they’re brilliant ,and it is the belief of An Post and Children’s Books Ireland that young readers will love them.
We were delighted to receive this early Christmas present .All 35 books have been distributed across our classrooms.
Art Supplies
Our school is very grateful to Diana Muller and Brushwood Studios for the wonderful boxes of Art Supplies they gifted us recently.
We were delighted to receive them!
Míle Buíochas!!
Football with PJ Reidy
Football takes place on alternate Fridays with PJ Reidy.We are delighted to have PJ with us again this year.
EAL Classroom
In order to meet the ever changing needs of our school we have set up an EAL classroom complete with new portable whiteboard.
Our EAL students are taught in this classroom by Ms. Leanne O Neill.
sneemschool.ie
Our website is up and running and well worth a look!
Down Syndrome Ireland
Thank you to everyone for bringing €2 to school on the day of the Halloween holidays for this most worthy cause.
€140 was raised on the day for Down Syndrome Ireland.
Bon Voyage,Rayvern Lucero!
We wish Rayvern , our USA exchange student safe travel as she travels home to Wymoning after completing her teaching practice with us.
Rayvern was hardworking and helpful and was a great support to all our pupils on her visit here. We wish her only the best of luck as she begins her teaching career.
A Visit to Santa Claus
On the 8th of December last the Rainbow and Sunshine Classrooms visited Santa in his Winter Wonderland in the Mills in Ballyvourney, Cork. A great day was had by all!
A special thank you to Joyce, Emma and their teams for organising such a fun events for their pupils.
Wellbeing
Our school is embracing wellbeing which is a process of well becoming this year.
We have now completed the pupil questionnaires and compiled the information on pie charts. The results of 4 of our most important questions are available to view below-
Thank you to all our parents and pupils who completed these questionnaires.
Our School Self Evaluation process is ongoing.
We are happy with these results and will allow these results to inform our teaching and programmes going forward.
We believe wellbeing is omnipresent and that it is our job to work daily to ensure all our pupils are doing well and feeling well in our care.
A special thank you to Leanne and Rayvern for compiling our pupil questionnaires onto pie –charts for us. All this information is available to view in the School Office by appointment.
School Portraits
Mr. Tom Naiman (Photographer) will come to our school on Monday the 13th of February, 2023 to take individual and family photographs of all our students.
These photographs can then be purchased from Tom.
Emma and Fionán Kissane to be!
Ms.Emma Treacy and Mr.Fionán Kissane will be married on the 15th of December .We wish them only the happiest of days and every grace and blessing as they begin their new life together.
Comhghairdeas Emma , Fionán agus Maitiú !!!
NCSE Training on Dyslexia
Ms.Niamh Cooke of the NCSE came to our school on the 30th of November to speak to us individually about Dyslexia and specifically about the Assistive Technology that is available to ease learning for our pupils.
We were delighted to welcome Niamh and very happy to discuss new and known information to enhance learning for all with her.
Kerry County Mobile library
Kerry County Mobile library visits our school every fortnight. We are very grateful to them for parking in our bus stop and giving our pupils time to discover the joys of reading.
Our Christmas Shoebox Appeal
Thank you to everyone who packed , prepared and decorated shoeboxes for the Annual Shoebox Appeal.34 shoeboxes were given by the parents and pupils this year.
Míle Buíochas!
Storytelling Workshop,10.11.2022
A special thank you to our wonderful storyteller.Mr.Paddy O Brien for coming to our school twice and completing a Storytelling Workshop in each of our classrooms.
A retired Principal and Teacher Paddy was engaging ,funny and dramatic .He entralled each classroom with his interactive stories and was a very welcome distraction from schoolwork for our pupils!
Battys Retirement
To mark the occasion of Mr.Batty Burns retirement from public life St.Michaels National School presented Batty with a painting by Annabelle Langrish of the Irish Countryside.
Batty left St.Michaels National School in June of 1994 to travel to the USA on career break.
Since then he has continued to visit our school regularly.He has always encouraged and supported our work by organising US students to travel here on teaching practice bringing with them a different approach and differing ideas.
We wish Batty many happy years of health and comfort in his retirement.
Seó na Nollag
For the first time in along time we will be availing of the wonderful facility that is the Community Centre and having our Christmas Show on Thursday, the 15th of December.
All our parents,neighbours and friends are welcome to what promises to be a great show!
Timetable of Show:
11am Its a baby!
The Infant Classroom
11.30 Oliver,the Musical.
The Middle Classroom
12.15 Mock the Mic
The Senior Classroom
The Shevchuk Family
St.Michaels National School would like to wish Abigail,Esther and Tikhon Shevchuk the best of luck in their new life in North Carolina.
Go n-eirí go geal libh!
Seó na Nollag Raffle Prizes
We have eight hampers for our Seó na Nollag.Two hampers for our pupils and six for our adults.Tickets are on sale at €2 euros for one and €5 euros for 3 tickets .All tickets are on sale in each classroom with tickets being sold on the day as well .All tickets will be entered for both prizes.
Spot prizes will also be available on the day.
Thank you to everyone for giving so generously to our hampers and a special thank you to Mary and her team for preparing them so beautifully for us.
All proceeds from the hamper raffle will go to much needed school funds.
First Confession,12.12.2022
First Confession will take place in our school on Tuesday the 22nd of December weather permitting.
Mass of Thanksgiving
We will attend Mass at 9.30am on Tuesday the 20th of December to give thanks for Term 1.
Pieta House
On the day of the Christmas holidays each child is allowed wear their own clothes and their Christmas jumper.To mark this ocassion we are asking each child to bring €2 to school.Thank you for supporting this most worthy cause.
As a Principal it is both my privilege and pleasure to work on a daily basis with a staff of this calibre. My colleagues both teachers and SNA’s never sherk from their responsibilities or from tirelessly finding new and innovative ways of accessing our curriculum for all.
As Christmas approaches we would like to take the opportunity to express our thanks to all our parents, neighbours, friends and grandparents for helping to make our school the special place it is. We send our best wishes to you all for a happy, peaceful Christmas with good health, prosperity and happiness in 2023. We hope you all enjoyed reading our newsletter.
Guímid Nollag Shona agus Athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise daoibh go léir!
Mise le Meas,
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Áine Murphy (Principal and Staff )