School Uniform
The orders for school uniforms can be collected on Monday 24th of August from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Green School’s/Sports Day/Graduation Ceremonies

Thank you also to all who attended these recent events. It was great to have your support. These were very special school occasions. A big thank you to all who baked and helped with the lovely treats which we were served in the school hall for the both the Green School’s and 6th Class Graduation Ceremonies. Also, a special word of thanks to Joe Lowther who organised sound for these events.

Finally well done to all our students who as always displayed their wonderful talents. Maith sibh!

School Self Evaluation Literacy

Thank you again for your feedback from the survey we placed on our website of late. As you are aware the focus for our School Self Evaluation in Literacy is Oral Language. As part of a three-year cycle we will be focusing on speaking and listening skills, vocabulary development, auditory memory and spoken text types. Throughout our next school year your child/children will be asked to do elements of homework that is oral language based from week to week.

Through this focus we hope to
• improve in our pupils the process of thinking, understanding, knowledge and skills in order to speak and listen more effectivel
• to enable our pupils to communicate clearly and confidently orally
• To enable our pupils to use an expansive vocabulary, and become fluent and explicit in communicating ideas and experiences
We are excited by this new initiative and looking forward to implementing new teaching approaches

Thank you !

We would like to thank all our parents/guardians for the huge contribution and support you give to the school. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the wonderful school staff – teachers, SNA Helen, Eileen, Geraldine and Paddy for their generous commitment to the school.

We look forward to welcoming you back for another great year at 9.25 a.m. on Tuesday September 1st.
Tá súil agam go mbeidh Samhradh maith agaibh. We wish you all a happy and safe summer and thank you once again for your continued support.

Slán agus beannacht.

Congratulations to Kate Buckley from our 2nd Class who was this years winner of the “Helena McDonagh Writing Competition”. This was a fantastic achievement for a student from our junior classes of this annual event which is very much a favourite in our students’ calendar.

Mrs. Helena McDonagh who taught in St. Attracta’s for many years before retiring in 2003. As a legacy to creative writing in the primary school and as a published author herself, Helena presented the school with a perpetual trophy to be used as we saw fit.

Kate’s composition ‘The caterpillar who always wanted to fly’ is a lovely story of ‘Butter’ the caterpillar who changes into a butterfly. Ms.Connaghan who adjudicates the competition praised the many entries and the very high standard of creative writing with which she had to choose from. While it was a very difficult decision she commended Kate’s wonderful entry and hard work . We all enjoyed Kate reading her story to us at our final assembly of the year.

Maith thú Kate we are so proud of you!

Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Classes had a very busy action packed school tour visiting Downpatrick Head, the Céide Fields before concluding at Wild Wet Adventure’s at Lough Talt.

We had an early start at Downpatrick Head where we were met by Gretta Manager of the Céide Fields Visitor Centre who kindly gave us a fantastic insight into the physical landscape and the legends that are associated with it.
It really was an open air History and Geography lesson where we explored the various rock types and formations before walking to the exciting blowholes on the headland and examining how they were formed. We heard of the connections with St.Patrick and explored the ruins of an old church.
It was then we saw Dún Bríste for the first time standing impressively away from the sea cliffs, we talked of how sea stacks were formed and even heard of the ruins of houses on top of it! We ended our visit hearing of the connections with World War 2 with the look out post for planes and ships and saw where Éire was carved into the landscape with stone to ensure all sides were in no doubt where they were flying over!

We then made the short trip to the Céide Fields where we learned much about how Stone Age people lived. The remains give a unique insight into the daily lives of some of Mayo’s earliest inhabitants

The story of the discovery of the Céide Fields happened by chance. In the 1930s, a local man named Patrick Caulfield noticed something unusual when he was cutting turf in the bog. As the peat was cut away piles of stone were revealed. The stones were arranged in a way that suggested they had been placed there by humans. Because it takes many thousands of years for bog to form, Mr. Caulfield knew that people had made these piles many, many years before.
Some years passed and Mr. Caulfield’s son, who had become an archaeologist, carried out further investigations into the stones in the bog. It was not long before the importance of the site became clear.Evidence showed that farming had been practised in the area more than five thousand years before. These early Mayo farmers divided land up with stone walls, cultivated their fields, kept animals and grew crops.

We all viewed the wonderful exhibition in the visitor centre before walking through the bog and seeing at first hand the aforementioned remains. It was a very interesting ned to our morning.

The final leg of our journey took us to Lough Talt where we incorporated some fun activities such as Stand up Paddle Boarding, Kayaking and Canoeing with an exciting hike to the Frenchman’s Grave on Humbert’s Way. This was a most enjoyable way to conclude our tour. We returned to school exhausted after our exciting school tour!

Junior Infants had a marvellous time at Graune Pet Farm with Mrs. Delaney, Ms. Connaghan and Ms. Reilly. The trip along the bumpy road set the foundations for a super exciting day.

Great fun was had in the indoor play area, especially on the huge slide. Even Ms. Connaghan was brave enough to give it a few goes! Poor Mrs. Delaney wasn’t allowed!

The animals were excited to see us. We fed the goats, cuddled the rabbits and tickled the kittens. Our guide told us that the emus came in especially to meet us!

We saw Shetland ponies, deer, sheep, dogs and owls! What an exciting day we had! We were exhausted on our journey home!

At Friday afternoon’s assembly we were delighted to welcome back Mr. Horgan who had arrived on a visit. He was very pleased with the changes in our school and reminded us that we should be proud of our school and that it is a credit to us all.

Our students awarded this week are also a credit to themselves. We had students who were described as mature and conscientious about all aspects of their school life. We heard of children who are always willing to help others without being asked and those who are constantly making sure that everyone is included. These are high accolades indeed and we as teachers are very proud of our classes and their endeavours.

Maith sibh go léir. 

We have a very busy end to the school year planned from our school tours to sports day to raising our latest Green Flag.

School Tours: Jnr Infants: Monday June 15th Graune Pet Farm and Play Centre
Snr/1st/2nd: Wednesday June 17th Eagles Flying Ballymote /Funny Bones Colloney
3rd/4th/5th/6th: Wednesday June 17th Céide Fields/ Downpatrick Head/Dún Bríste – Wild Wet Adventures Lough Talt.

Green School Flag Raising Ceremony / Sports Day : Friday 19th promises to be a very busy day here in school. We will raise our Green Flag at 10.30 am here in school and at 1 pm will have our annual Sports Day. This is always a very enjoyable afternoon on our school calendar. We invite all parents / guardians / family members to both events!

Graduation Ceremonies: This year we will again have a short graduation ceremony for each class on Thursday June 25th. Junior/Senior Infants, First/Second Class and Third/Fourth/Fifth will be timetabled together.

Junior/Senior Infants Infants Ms. Delaney / Ms.Sloyan 1 p.m.
First/Second Class Ms.Sloyan / Mrs.Reilly 1.30 p.m.
Third/Fourth/Fifth Class Mr.Rushe / Mr.McDermott 2.15 p.m.

Again all parents/guardians/family members are invited to enjoy this special occasion!

Finally Sixth Class will have their Graduation Mass on Thursday evening June 25th at 7.30 p.m. here in school.

We hope all students enjoy this very busy end to their school year.