School Opening/Closing
Our school will close on Friday, the 28th of October, at 3pm. Our school will re-open on Monday the 7th of November at 9:20am. Our bus has been informed.
Failte!
St. Michael’s National School would like to give a warm welcome to Layla Foley, Sienna Burns, Alex Shaw, Mikotaj Hubisz, Adrian Rudnicki, William Mulcahy, Szymon Salak, Jacob Hickman, Oleksandra Holubieva, Lexie Pilz, Joshua Pilz, David Mashchenko and Dmytro Mashchenko.
We hope they will all be very happy in their new school.
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.
The Sunshine Room
On the 29th of August last we opened our second ASD classroom. We hope all attending this new classroom in our school are happy in their new surroundings.
Relax Kids Programme
Mrs. Joan O’Connell will complete a 6 week workshop in our school shortly. Relax Kids is a positive mental health programme for school going children that concentrates on mindfulness and wellbeing.
St. Michael’s National School is embracing Wellbeing for our School Self Evaluation this year. We hope to not only incorporate wellbeing into our school plans but also embrace as many workshops , experiences and programmes as we can to promote positive mental health over the course of the year.
This is the beginning of our campaign to be awarded an Amber flag for the active promotion of positive mental health for our school in June 2022.
Music with Peggy
Mrs. Peggy Healy comes every Tuesday and teaches Music in our school. We are delighted to have Peggy with us this year.
Forest School
Twelve lucky randomly chosen students are attending 6 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 takes place on Wednesdays from 11.30 am -2.30pm each week. Our participants travel to Forest School in Blueberry Hill Farm by bus.
Football with PJ Reidy
Football has once again resumed on alternate Fridays with PJ Reidy.
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!
New Resources
To meet our new profile we have purchased the following:
* New books for our libraries.
We had € 405.66 in credit to spend on library books after our Book Fair in Term 3 of last year. We are very grateful to everyone who bought books at that fair allowing us to re stock our classroom libraries for the benefit of all our pupils
*New Portable Whiteboard
*New Whiteboard in the SET classroom
* 15 Chromebook Spins
*15 JBL Noise Cancelling Headphones
*Toys for the Infant Classroom
*Whole School Art Supplies
*3 Large Classroom Whiteboards
*Whole School Art Supplies
*Rainbow Room Thinking Toys
*Sunshine Room Chewy Toys
*ASD Rooms Curriculum Books
*New storage presses inbuilt in two classrooms
SNA Schedule for our new school year,2022-2023
The Infant Classroom: Ms. Joanne Kelly
The Middle Classroom: Ms. Caroline Clifford
The Senior Room: Miss Marion O’Sullivan
The Rainbow Room: Mr. Danny McClure and Mrs. Mary O Dwyer
The Sunshine Room: Ms. Stephanie Cahill/Ms. Eleanor Doyle
Staffing Schedule for school year,2022-2023
Administrative Principal: Áine Murphy
Deputy Principal /Senior Class Teacher: Mike Hussey
SET Teacher: Mrs. Anita Murphy
SET Teacher: Mrs. Claudine Davies
Infant Class Teacher: Mrs. Niamh Dignam
Middle Class Teacher: Mrs. Tracy Long
ASD 1: Ms Joyce Bambury
ASD 2: Ms Emma Treacy
EAL: Ms. Leanne O’Neill
SEN Bus Escort: Mrs. Mags O’Brien Brady
Wellbeing
A circular was issued by the Department of Education and Skills in 2021 on Wellbeing. This circular states that all members of the school community must engage in a collaborative process of change to instill a wellbeing ethos throughout our school.
The Department of Education and Skills hope that every school will have used the School Self Evaluation process for Wellbeing by 2025.
Our school is embracing wellbeing which is a process of well becoming this year.
After the holidays we will be asking parents and pupils to complete questionnaires so that we can compile information which will inform our plans , teaching ,programmes. workshops and initiatives going forward.
Thank you in advance for your co operation in this matter.
World Mental Health Week
World Mental Health Week took place from the 10th to the 14th of October .During this week
- The Infants completed a series of breathing exercises.
- They also read stories about emotions and feelings
- The Infants finished their week with popcorn and the movie,Zootropolis.
- First, Second and Third Class completed the Moularostig Loop.
- The Rainbow and Sunshine Rooms talked about and explored feelings and completed an Art lesson on Franks Feelings.
- The Senior Room completed a workshop on friendships exploring this topic in depth and answering the question “what makes a friend?” This also tied in with Friendship Week ,which took place recently.
- The Seniors completed their week with a walk on the Kerry Way.
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.
First,Second and Third Class Activities
Our First, Second and Third classes have been very busy this half term
- Nutrition is their Mission webinar series where children are learning how to choose healthy and nutritious foods to best fuel their brains and bodies.
- Third class have been interacting with people living and working in the local area. They each chose a person and conducted a survey gathering interesting facts and information to inform each other and their class about their chosen person.
- First, Second and Third are also embracing all things spooky and with a Halloween theme!
- They are creating witch puppets as a fun Halloween craft!
Mock the Mic
A special congratulations to our very own Joe Dolan, Noele, Johnny Casey ,Vincent Casey and Sonny Looney on winning Mock the Mic in the Sneem Hotel recently.
A special well done to Stephanie for organising it with all monies raised going to local charities.
American Student
Rayvern Lucero who hails from the University of Wyoming will join us on the 19th of October. Rayvern will work in our school until mid –December. We are delighted to welcome Rayvern to our school and we hope she will be very happy in Sneem.
The pupils in our school receive excellent SNA, SEN and EAL support daily so another teacher only adds to our many hands and can only be another great advantage to the students of our school.
Infant Autumn Activities
- The Infant classes are on the hunt for spider webs in our garden
- They are also making magic potions in their Witches Hut for Aistear.
- For Maths Week the Infants are going to the Garden of the Senses to complete a Maths Trail.
Kerry County Mobile library
Kerry County Mobile library has once again started visiting our school. We are very grateful to them for parking in our bus stop and giving our pupils time to discover the joys of reading.Their next visit will be on the 8th of November next.
The Rainbow and Sunshine Classrooms
September and October were busy months in both of our ASD classrooms. The children were busy each day with Literacy and Numeracy. They have also been cooking up a storm!
Each week they have worked hard in the kitchen to create
- Apple and Blackberry Crumble
- Pancakes
- Pizza
- Milkshakes
- Apple and Cinnamon Roll Ups
As well as cooking our wonderful students have created scary monsters, googly eyed spiders, crepe paper pumpkins, leafy hedgehogs and have designed their own Christmas card.
They have enjoyed visits to the Garden of the Senses and the local playground.
In History ,our pupils learnt about their family tree and their life so far..The children also learnt about their bodies and created Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The Senior Room
Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Classes are currently working on writing, designing and creating a newspaper!
This newspaper when finished with be distributed throughout the school.
We are all looking forward to reading it!
Pumpkin Competition
A pumpkin competition will be held among all adults in our school on Thursday the 28th of October .We each have to carve and create a decorative pumpkin. This fun competition will be judged by the pupils of the school.
Halloween Fun!
On the day of the Halloween holidays each student is allowed to dress in their Halloween costumes and bring a treat to school. To celebrate this holiday we are asking everyone to bring € 2 to school. The money raised will be donated to Down Syndrome Ireland.
As the dark evenings return we wish you all a happy, warm and safe Halloween holiday.We look forward to working with you and for you once again in the new term in November .
Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh go léir!
Mise le Meas,
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Áine Murphy (Principal and Staff )