Year: 2014

-  General School Information

Leanne to line out in All Ireland Semi Final


Best wishes to our Sixth Class student Leanne Duffy who later today plays with the Mayo U-14 Ladies team who line out against Dublin in the All Ireland Semi Final in Longford.

Leanne has worked incredibly hard over the past year on her skills and fitness, consistently showing a fantastic attitude to working hard with and for her teammates.

Leanne recently played a starring midfield role on our school teams success at the Mayo Cumann na mBunscol Finals and has been an excellent role model for our younger students.

We are very proud of Leanne’s achievements and wish her every success with this very special assignment!

Finally, best wishes also to our past pupil Carrie Loftus who along with Leanne is an important and talented member of the U-14 squad.

Go n-éirí an t-adh libh !

-  General School Information

Blue Star European Project / Dulux Let’s Colour Project

Some great news filtered to us on two fronts this evening, brightening up this dreary Monday!

Blue Star Project

Firstly following a review of our Final Report and supporting documents, it was confirmed to us that we have successfully completed the Blue Star Programme 2013-2014.

We are thrilled with this news as it recognises the wonderful work of all our children in learning about the European Union, its role and function, its member states and the role of Ireland in the Union.
Our European Day was a great success and we were delighted to welcome the MEP’s Marian Harkin and Jim Higgins to our school. Also a special word of thanks to all our families who baked / cooked for this morning and for the beautiful food that we all enjoyed tasting. The happiness, joy and pride in the children’s faces explaining what each dish was and when they would have it at home will stay with me and proved how worthwhile this project was.

As a successful school we will receive two A3 laminated certificates and a European flag to display proudly at our school.
Well done again to all of our students and all who helped in any way with our European Day .

Dulux Let’s Colour Project

The overall winners of the 2014 Dulux Let’s Colour Project were announced last week and while our project was not one of the three projects that received the most votes in our category, we were delighted to receive news this evening that it was one of a number of submissions selected to receive free paint courtesy of Dulux.


Thank you so much to those who supported this project throughout. From the organisation of how to vote (not an easy feat I might add!) to those that voted daily.
A special word of thanks also to Mr.Rushe and his 3rd/4th class who composed the wonderful piece which really got our project going and to the boys and girls of 5th/6th class for their role in the application video.

As always, it was a real team effort!

-  General School Information

Students of the Week Friday June 6th

Even though we had a day less, we had another extremely busy week here in St.Attracta’s.

Speech and Drama is ongoing in all our classrooms and we’re really delighted with the progress the children are making in preparation for their performances at our graduation day at the end of term!

We’re also looking forward to our end of year school tours which we all hope to enjoy:
Jnr/Snr/1st will travel to Tullyboy Farm outside Boyle on 24th June.
2nd/3rd/4th have another exciting tour planned for Monday June 16th when they will visit Bodaborg in Lough Key Forest Park and the Arigna Mining Experience.
5th/6th Class will visit Delphi Adventure Centre on Thursday June 19th for what promises to be a memorable end to their school year!

We could not forget also the wonderful evening we had in McHale Park on Wednesday last, our children played their hearts out. We were so proud of each of them and very appreciative of the great support we received from our fantastic school community. It certainly was an evening that will remain with us.

As always also we had many of our students in class determined to finish this year on the right note and this week the wonderful students chosen for students of the week have really set an excellent example in class and indeed right throughout the school. A popular comment this week was how well these students get along with everyone, great team players who always work so well in groups and with others. Some have made huge improvements in class becoming more confident with the English and Irish Curricula while others always tackle every task with enthusiasm and interest.

We also had a student rewarded who is so talented in her favourite sport swimming and works so hard in preparation for school competitions. Despite being tired after her training she never lets it affect her positive outlook on life! A great example for us all !

Well done as always to these students and indeed all our excellent students on a very positive week.

-  Discover Primary Science

Western Seaboard Science Project

On Wednesday morning 5th and 6th Class enjoyed a wonderful science workshop from Tom Finnerty as part of the Western Seaboard Science Project, which we are very fortunate to participate in.

It was a very informative morning in which the children learned about :

1. Batteries and their make up/components
2. Electrons
3. Circuits
4. Magnets and their properties
5. Electromagnetism
6. Electricity
7. How to generate electricity

The children really enjoyed this workshop, exploring first hand the relevance of science in our everyday lives.

We were delighted to welcome Tom to our school and look forward to his return in the coming weeks to complete further workshops in our Junior classrooms.

Finally a special word of thanks to all involved in the Western Seaboard Project who sponsor this wonderful programme.

-  Sport in St.Attracta's

Girls and Boys teams contest thrilling Cumann na mBunscol Finals

What an evening we had in McHale Park where our school teams both contested County Finals !

It was a great achievement for our school to have both our teams featuring at this final stage, highlighting also, the great work that is ongoing in Charlestown in the juvenile section of our local G.A.A. Club.

First up were our boys who were pitted against an exceptional Cooneal side who proved more than a match for everything that was sent in their direction. To their immense credit our boys never gave up, battling to the final whistle, giving their all.

We really are so proud of each of the boys and are thrilled with the progress that they each have made throughout this year. It was a wonderful experience to compete on County Final day in McHale Park and a memory that will last with the boys forever.

After a short break our girls took to the field against Kilmaine N.S. who as with Cooneal proved to be very talented and competitive opponents. Despite starting well, our girls were rocked by three excellent goals which saw us going to the break three points down. However,the response from the girls in the second half was amazing, each player playing their part in a fantastic team performance and ensuring we were victorious by a six point winning margin.
It was a performance full of heart , determination, desire and never say die attitude from the girls who were really put to the pin of their collars to succeed!

As with the boys they each have put a huge effort into their training and preparation throughout this year and have been excellent role models to all the younger students throughout the school. We had some girls taking football up for the first time and also those that have taken a greater interest this year and others who excel consistently. Our team really was the sum of the all the girls’ efforts who each contributed so much!

Boys Panel
Evan Carney
Oran Duffy
Dillon Curry
Martin McCormack
Ben Crean
Jack Brennan
Pawel Fijak
Jake Casey
Michael Honeyman
Kasper Gawalkiewiez
Conor Gavigan
Cahir Vesey
Ciarán Honeyman

Girls Panel

Hayley O’Brien
Eva Walsh
Sophie Johnson
Leanne Duffy
Laura Loftus
Ella Durkin
Shona Mahon
Daria Domogala
Victoria Fitzgerald
Wiktoria Lurka
Holly McHale
Zoe Buckley
Leah Burke
Sarah McEntire
Erica O’Connor
Kate Rodosteva

Maith sibh!

-  General School Information

Change of Times for Cumann na mBunscol Finals

This evening we were informed by Cumann na mBunscol Maigh Eó that there has been a slight alteration to next Wednesday’s schedule of games in McHale Park.

The fixtures are now as follows..

Wednesday June 4th

4.45 p.m. Boys: Charlestown v Cooneal

5.45 p.m. Girls: Charlestown v Kilmaine

We are really looking forward to Wednesday evening and hope that we will have great support to cheer the teams on !

-  Parent's Association

6K Family Fun Run

The time is nearly here for the St. Attracta’s Family Fun Run.
Details have been updated on a circular sent home to each family this afternoon, on our school Facebook account and Charlestown community website but for those that need a quick reminder here they are;

• Date: Saturday 31st May, 2013 at 11.00am
• Registration: from 10.00am at school
• Venue: St. Attracta’s National School
• Route: 6km mostly Flat Surface
• Refreshments for all in the school afterwards
• High Visibility Vests to be worn

We would appreciate any assistance you would be able to provide and request that you contact Serena Horkan (083-107-3231) or contact the school outlining your availability to help on Saturday morning.

As mentioned Please remember your hi-vis vests. Happy Running, jogging, walking, crawling…

We look forward to meeting you all on Saturday!

-  Sport in St.Attracta's

School Teams Reach County Finals

Our great week continued this morning in McHale Park when both teams qualified for their respective County Finals which will take place on June 4th at the same venue.

First up were our boys who defeated Mount Pleasant N.S. on a scoreline of 2-10 to 2-08 in a thrilling game. It was very noticeable, despite at times being behind, that our boys never gave up. They supported and worked very hard for each other, in truth a fantastic team effort. We were so proud of each of them!

Our girls played Carrowholly N.S. Westport in their semi final and matched the boys performance winning 2-7 to 0-4. As with the boys all the girls displayed great work ethic, good decision making and teamwork.
As with our quarter final on Monday it was a full team effort, all those introduced made a great contribution, coming on and helping the teams get over the line.

We now have a very busy fortnight ahead. We are awaiting confirmation of times for the finals on June 4th however as of now these will be evening fixtures with proceedings beginning at 4.30 p.m. There are six finals to be played on the night.

Our boys will play Cooneal N.S and our girls will play Kilmaine N.S in their respective finals.

-  General School Information

School Teams Progress to County Semi Finals

What a Monday morning we had at at very wet Swinford Amenity Park. Both our teams came through thrilling Quarter Finals to progress to the County Semi Finals at McHale Park on this coming Wednesday.

First up was our boys who defeated Midfield N.S. on a scoreline of 6-3 to 4-3. This game ebbed and flowed all through with our boys showing great heart, playing very much as a team. All our players played an important part in this victory particularly in the second half when we came under real pressure from a very good Midfield team.

The same can also be said of our girls who played shortly after our boys against Meelick N.S. We came through another very stern test by 8-8 to 5-6 with all the girls playing starring roles. We were delighted particularly in the second half to see some of our younger students from 4th class gaining great confidence playing with the older girls and also to see these girls doing so well.

It really is fantastic for our school to have two teams representing us at the semi final stage.

The fixtures for the semi finals in McHale Park (Back Pitch) on Wednesday are as follows…

11.00 a.m. Boys St.Attracta’s N.S. V Mount Pleasant N.S. Pitch 2
11.45 a.m. Girls St.Attracta’s N.S.V Carrowholly N.S.Westport Pitch 2

All support for the teams would be greatly appreciated !