Ms. Henry and her 4th and 5th class got the wonderful opportunity to work with ceramists Henri and Fiona Hedou from Terrybaun Pottery, Bofeenaun, Ballina, Co Mayo, through the very educational, creative and fun, CRAFTed programme run by the Mayo Education Centre and the Design and Craft Council of Ireland.

It was a fantastic opportunity where the children got to explore art through the medium of clay. As part of the project, they got to make pinch pots, hanging masks and an overall group project “The story of the Aztecs” which was made from 32 individual tiles that were decorated with symbols and designs from the Aztec period in history. When they were put together it created a beautiful picture.

While completing the project, the children worked on many skills and brought so much to the project. Some skills quite evident were their social, group work, team work and collaborative skills along with exploring their creativity and integrating the study of the Aztecs across the curriculum.

Today, in the Mayo Education Centre, Ms. Henry’s class showcased their beautiful work with a wonderful presentation and creative display of their project completed over the past number of weeks. It was a wonderful day for all the children involved and they should be very proud of their work.

Ms. Henry and her class would like to extend a very big thank you to Henri and Fiona for their help, guidance and expertise throughout the project. At a later date, the children’s work will be exhibited in the school…..so watch this space!!

What a fun filled day we had in school yesterday as Lee from Skip-Hop returned to teach our students skipping techniques.

Each class again enjoyed revisiting and learning a variety of skipping steps and techniques. To conclude, a skipping demonstration was held and children from different classes were chosen to show off what they had learnt.Lee also wowed us with his skipping skills. Many children purchased new skipping ropes and we hope that they will keep up the skipping.

One of the best aspects of Skip-Hop was watching the children learn new skills so quickly while having fun! Lee was amazed at the progression of so many of the children from his visit last year. It was great also to see the children recognising the achievements of their peers. Maith sibh!

Finally a special thank you to Mrs Quinn who organised today’s event. Mile buíochas!

We’ve had few more memorable mornings as this morning in St.Attracta’s with our 5th and 6th Class Junior Entrepreneur project ‘Don’t Judge’ which focused on delivering a message that while we are all unique and different we should be treated the same.

Our keynote speakers Helen Rochford Brennan and Freya O’Hora both inspirational ladies delivered personal messages that will stay with us all, they were supported by our students who told of our journey here in school in recent times.

It was a wonderful team effort from all of the students who in their respective roles ensured that the morning was most enjoyable and a great success.

A huge thank you to Mrs Sweeney not alone for all her hard work in class but also also for her catering skills. Also to Mrs Quinn and Ms.Connaghan for all of their musical help. Mr Clarke and Ms.Henry for their continued encouragement, support and enthusiasm of their pupils who were a credit to each of them. Finally to Ms.McDonnagh who co-ordinated this wonderful programme. We are very grateful to her for all her talents, drive and the time she invested on the children’s behalf. This morning really was a tribute to her hard work. Maith thú!

Thank you all who supported our project. We appreciated sincerely the great attendance this morning and to Angelique, Bernadette and Marzena who provided lovely treats for us all to enjoy. Finally to Helen and Freya, your presence added so much to this morning. It was our great pleasure to welcome you to our school.

It’s all systems go for our 5th and 6th Class’ wonderful Junior Entrepreneur ‘Don’t Judge’ project.

As mentioned in earlier posts key note speakers include Helen Rochford Brennan and Freya O’Hora who will share their personal stories along with our own here in St.Attracta’s. The children are very excited and look forward to welcoming you all to our school.

Trust us this is a project with a difference!!

Please find all details below…
http://stattractasns.ie/helen-rochford-brennan-freya-ohora-keynote-speakers-at-our-jep-morning/

This morning we had an extra special assembly where our wonderful First Class were presented with their All Ireland Féile Dramaíochta Cup by Fr.Johnston Chairperson of our Board of Management.
It was a wonderful celebration with many glowing tributes to the children and their teacher Ms.Sloyan. Again, we are so proud of each of the girls and boys and of course Ms.Sloyan.This was a very special team effort with everyone playing an important part. We thank again all the students for all their hard work, effort and commitment. This achievement will live long in the memory here in St.Attracta’s!

Maith sibh go léir.

We are very excited to be involved with the Junior Entrepreneurs Programme, and this year we have chosen to be Social Entrepreneurs!

As always, we rely on the support of students, family, friends and community members to help us on our journey. In addition, this year, we feel that we can help to provide very valuable and informative input into our local community. Our chosen project this year is “Don’t Judge”.
In this day, and age, we are constantly being reminded of the difficulties of people who are encountering challenges in their everyday lives. As part of our mission to be an inclusive school, we wish to address issues which are affecting many members of our community. The children have decided that they would like to tackle hard-pressing issues of exclusion, pre-judgement, social inclusion and acceptance. The crux of tackling these issues is education and understanding.
We have found that our children have embraced and accepted the needs of everyone in their school community, through informative sessions, and they want the same outcome from their family and friends.

As a result, we will be holding a presentation morning on May 19th which will showcase guest speakers discussing difficulties they have faced in their daily lives. We hope that this will be a ground-breaking initiative in the JEP journey, as well as being ground-breaking for our visitors.

Helen Rochford Brennan – Chair of the Irish Dementia and Alzheimers Group and Freya O’Hora All about Autism will be our keynote speakers on Friday morning. We very much look forward to welcoming both our speakers to our school.

The morning itself will comprise of teas/coffees & scones for all visitors. It will allow our guests a social opportunity to meet with other families. Presentations by the children will be interspersed throughout speaker presentations.

The children have designed, and ordered wristbands to highlight awareness of their message, to be sold on the day. These will also be sold throughout the school and community over the following week. The cost of the morning is €5.00. This will cover tea/coffee & scone and presentations. All proceeds will go towards our senior school tours.

We hope that you can make time to attend on Friday morning…our success is dependent upon it!

See you all there!!