Author: Brian McDermott

-  General School Information

St.Attracta’s supporting the New York Ladies Team !

Best wishes to our past pupil Dean O’Connor and the New York ladies team as they face Wexford in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Junior Football Championship Final this coming Sunday September 28th in Croke Park.

Dean is part of the New York management team and will have great support from his family and the wider Charlestown community in Dublin. Dean was a student here with us from 1980 to 1989, before moving to New York in 1999.

We wish Dean well and hope his nieces, nephews and all his supporters have an enjoyable day on Sunday. Best wishes also to the Charlestown u-12,u-13 and u-14 Girls teams who are travelling to the games on Sunday and will no doubt be shouting for New York with their strong Charlestown connections.

-  General School Information

A Great First Week Of School !

A warm welcome back to all parents/guardians and pupils to the St Attracta’s for the new academic year 2014 – 2015.

We have had a great first week, and are very happy with how all our students have come back to school,starting as they mean to go on!

Our new Junior Infant class in particular has settled very well into the routines of school life, working hard for their teacher and making new friends.
A special welcome also to new students who have joined us throughout the school. Again, we’re delighted with how well you’ve integrated into our classes/school and are delighted with your progress.

We hope all our new children and their families will be very happy here with us and have a long association with our school.

Reminder our Junior Infants will continue to finish at 12 Noon each day this week, however as and from Monday next September 15th the children will finish at the normal time of 2.05 p.m.

Building Update
All our Parents/Guardians should by now have an update of where we are at with our building works from the letter sent home to each family on Friday last. We expect that there will be great progress this coming week and hope that the main works will be finished inside the next fortnight.

-  Parent's Association

Back to School !

It’s all systems go for tomorrow morning. At present we expect works to continue for at least two weeks. We will give you a progress report towards the end of our first week.
A heath and safety plan is in effect. As always we would really appreciate your co-operation.
We are really looking forward to welcoming all our students back to school and in particular meeting our new Junior Infants.
We hope they will have many happy years with us in St.Attracta’s.

Reminder:School will finish for the first two weeks at 12 noon for our Infant class.

-  General School Information

School Opening Monday September 1st.

We look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday 1st September and in particular welcome our new Junior infants.

As you are all aware work is progressing well on the replacement and upgrading of the flat roofs to the front of the school.
We are delighted to inform you that this afternoon Friday 22nd August 2014 we have been allocated additional funding to enable us upgrade and repair the pitched roof to the original school block at the rear.

While confirmation of this funding has come late in the year, we are going to continue with the works and get them completed as early as possible before the winter approaches. We appreciate this will cause disruptions for the first two weeks of the new school year but are confident the benefit of these works will pay off immediately.

We ask that you prepare the children for this prior to their return to the school. While every possible provision will be made to have the grounds safe and secure,we would appreciate your co operation as construction works are in progress in order to help the children settle back in to school as easily as possible.

We really are delighted to have received this additional funding and are confident that it will greatly improve the environment that all of our children and school staff work in each day. We will outline,prior to our return, any changes to our students’ arrival and dismissal as a result of the works.

Reminder: School Uniform collection this Monday August 25th 2-4 p.m. in the Pastoral Centre

Again as always we appreciate your cooperation and support.

Have a great weekend ! Maigh Eo Abú !

-  General School Information

School Jumper and Tracksuit Collection Monday 25th

On Monday afternoon the school uniform jumpers and tracksuits will be available for collection from the Pastoral Centre between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Please note that this is from the Pastoral Centre and not the school due to the building works.

We hope you all have had a lovely summer and enjoy the remainder of the break!

-  General School Information

Good Luck to Leanne and Carrie

Best of luck to Leanne Duffy, past pupil Carrie Loftus and the Mayo U 14 team who play Kerry this Sunday July 20th in McDonagh Park Nenagh in the All Ireland U14 A Final.

This is a fantastic achievement for the girls and indeed the ladies section of Charlestown GAA to have two representatives at this level.

We wish the girls the very best for Sunday.

-  Junior/Senior Infants

Cahir Wins ‘Story box ‘ Writing Competition.

At our final assembly on Friday last Cahir Vesey from our departing 6th Class was announced as winner of the Helena McDonagh Story box Writing Competition.
Ms.Connaghan who adjudicated, praised all the entries, mentioning how high the standard was this year. She was delighted to announce Cahir’s entry ‘The School Tour’ as the winner. It is a gripping composition one that Ms. Connaghan found very hard to leave down!
Cahir is the first boy to win this competition and is a very popular choice. We really hope you enjoy reading his entry. We are very proud of Cahir’s efforts.

The School Tour

Mathew clinged on for dear life, he clinged on to the last few pieces of grass that were uprooting from the ground. He realised that it was either him or his best friend Fergus. Mathew just had a grip of his petrified friend’s hand. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back up onto the ledge if he kept hold of his best friends hand. He thought of it once then looked at his friend. He thought that if he was going to live then he was going to have to let go of his best friends hand……….

——————————————————————

It was Wednesday morning, the day of 12 year old Mathew’s school tour. He got dressed, went downstairs, got a bowl and a box of coco pops from the cupboard, some milk from the fridge and put it all into the bowl. He put his bowl in to the microwave and set it for 1 minute and 20 seconds. While he was waiting for his breakfast to heat up, he went outside and fed his German shepherd, Bonzo. By the time he got inside the microwave was finished. So Mathew washed his hands, retrieved his bowl of coco pops from the microwave and ate up as fast as he could knowing that he had to be at school for 8:45 for the school tour bus. When he was finished he put his lunchbox into his bag, zipped it up, put it on his back and rushed out the door to school.

As he struggled to climb up the hill to his school, he saw his also 12 year old best friend Fergus entering the school gates. He put all of his panting and spluttering aside and managed to roar out his best friend’s name. Fergus hesitated as he was walking up the steps to the school door. He peered around to try and find the person who roared his name from a distance. Then he saw Mathew stumbling up the hill. He raised his hand and shook it side to side and Mathew did the same. Just as Mathew caught up with Fergus the principal and their teacher exited the school building and had a look at what all the children outside the school were doing. “Get on to the bus and no messing,” said Mr Kelly. So we all lined up with no messing and got onto the bus because if they did mess then they all knew they wouldn’t go on any school tour at all. Mr Kelly was the strictest of all the teachers in the school. Nobody liked him, not even the teachers. He was a rough looking man in his thirties. He was never nice to anyone. It would actually kill him if he had to do something nice. He was bald, single, had loads of fillings and really dirty teeth because he never brushed them and the only good looking part about him was his tidy little ginger moustache.
No student knew where they were going on the school tour because the teacher never told them. On the 1 hour long journey that it took to where ever it was that they were going, it was a very long journey and although it was only 1 hour long it seemed a whole lot longer. After they all got there they all jumped out of the bus and had a nice look around for themselves but no one knew where they were, they were all puzzled. They all waited for Mr. Kelly to get out of the bus so he could tell them where they all were and what they were going doing. The principal hopped out of the bus and stared at everybody rather joyfully. “We’re at Death-trap Mountain and as you have probably already figured out we’re going mountain climbing”. Everyone stared at him but he didn’t even hesitate, he just turned around and walked off. The children had no other choice but to follow him.

They were quarter of the way up the mountain and Fergus and Mathew were a little bit behind. Mathew didn’t want to fall too far behind or they might get a little too far from the group and get lost. It was unlikely but it was a possibility. “Hold up,” panted Fergus “what’s wrong,” asked Mathew “I think I’m getting a cramp,” answered Fergus. “Can I have a sip of your drink” asked Fergus – “sure but where’s yours” replied Mathew. “Even though we didn’t know that we were going mountain climbing you should have still brought a drink with you” – “I forgot my drink, it’s not like I forgot it on purpose” said Fergus sarcastically. —————-

It was 3 minutes before Fergus’s cramp had gone away. When they looked up the group had gone just over a really steep hill. The two boys looked at each other and then sprinted up the steep hill. When they had gotten to the top of the hill the rest of the road was flat but the road had also split in two. Neither of them had any idea on which way their school group had taken and randomly they had chosen to take the left road hoping that it was the right one. The two boys sprinted as fast as they could, hoping to catch up with their school group and also fearing that they had taken the incorrect road. They were both so distracted on trying to catch up with the group they never noticed that they were sprinting on a very thin ledge. Mathew was the one to notice that they were on a very thin ledge. When he grabbed Fergus’s arm he said “look at what we’ve been running on all this time”. Fergus looked down and then grabbed Mathew by the arm as tight as he could. They didn’t even need to think about it they both turned around as careful and as slow as they possibly could.

But suddenly Fergus’s foot slipped and he fell. Fergus was so scared that he was going to fall down he grabbed Mathews leg and Mathew fell down with him. Mathew just managed to get a grip of the side of the ledge. Mathew kept trying to pull himself back up onto the side of the ledge but to no avail. Mathew felt like giving up, he felt like just letting go, he thought that it was hopeless but he gave one last pull and he was nearly up but a part of the ledge crumbled so he quickly stopped. Then Mathew thought if he could let go. He wondered if it was a long way down so he looked down but it was longer than long. If he or Fergus fell then they would be dead instantly. ———————–
Mathew clinged on for dear life, he clinged on to the last few pieces of grass that were uprooting from the ground. He realised that it was either him or his best friend Fergus. Mathew just had a grip of his petrified friend’s hand. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back up onto the ledge if he kept hold of his best friends hand. He thought of it once then looked at his petrified friend. He thought that if he was going to live then he was going to have to let go of his best friends hand……….

Mathew closed his eyes and began to shake the leg that Fergus was holding on to. After realising what Mathew was trying to do Fergus started to shout at Mathew “WHAT ARE YOU DOING….ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?”
Mathew didn’t want to be a coward. He kept thinking to himself that he wasn’t going to give up but he already knew that he wasn’t going to get back up onto that ledge. His hand was getting sore. He was going to let go. He let one finger off the ledge then another when he could hold on no longer………… When suddenly something or someone grabbed a hold of his arm. He looked up and looking into his eyes was a bald man with dirty fillings and a perfectly combed ginger moustache. It was Mr. Kelly who grabbed Mathews arm and was trying to pull him up. Mathew had to give Mr. Kelly his second arm to get back onto the ledge but he refused to give his arm to Mr. Kelly and offered it to Fergus. Fergus knew that if he grabbed Mathew’s arm then Fergus would fall and bring Mathew with him. Fergus said “I’m sorry” to Mathew “what for” Mathew replied……….

And Fergus let go. He kept falling with the wind blowing on his back. Mr. Kelly pulled Mathew up, unaware that Fergus had let go. They both looked over the edge to search for Fergus but when he caught sight of him he couldn’t bear it. He burped and then gagged and a bit of sick came up. Mr. Kelly put his arm on Mathew’s back and walked him back to the bus. When they got back to the bus Mr Kelly called the ambulance, Mathew was still throwing up and all of the children were wondering where Fergus was but by seeing Mathew’s reaction they had figured out that something was wrong. The ambulance arrived within ten minutes to remove the body. Mathew was sitting on some rocks by himself when Mr. Kelly walked over to him. Mathew looked up “thank you” he said. Mr Kelly didn’t know what to say so he just said “your welcome”. Mr Kelly signalled to the group to board the bus and with that Mathew followed.
It was a long bus ride home but eventually they got there. Mathew was the last person to get dropped off. Mathew dashed in the door and ran upstairs to his room. Then there was a knock on the door and Mathew’s mother answered it. It was Mr. Kelly “may I come in”, he asked “of course Mathew’s mother answered.
Mathew was upstairs in his room listening to the conversation of his mother and Mr. Kelly

He turned around in his bed and looked at the picture on his locker of him and his best friend………

He just lay there and fell asleep, wishing it was all just a nightmare hoping that he would wake up

THE END !

-  Junior/Senior Infants

Cillian O’Connor Opens School Pitch

We were delighted on Wednesday morning to welcome Cillian O’Connor to our school to open our new school pitch.

Cillian visited all of the classrooms chatting with the children about the demands of being an inter county footballer – the preparation, nutrition , hydration and even the sport’s psychology! He passed on top tips (which we will return to later in this post) and asked the children about their own playing experiences to date. While he was asked excellent questions in all the classrooms, it was lovely to see some of the children lost for words in the presence of their hero!

Upon completion of his classroom visits we assembled to open our new pitch. Cillian spoke of how fortunate we were to have this wonderful resource at our disposal and he hoped that in time many footballers who play on it would develop and get the opportunity to wear the Charlestown and Mayo colours.

A special word of thanks to Cillian for taking the time to visit and for the wonderful way he spoke to and engaged with the children who really enjoyed his visit. We often speak in our school about role models and Cillian is most certainly an excellent role model for someone so young. Finally a sincere thank you as always to Kieran Durkin for all his hard work and interest in developing our pitch. It is unrecognisable from how it was when we closed last summer. We hope all our children continue to enjoy using it for years to come!

Cillian’s Top Tips

1. Practice – Practice – Practice !
Strong and weak side , handpassing and kicking .
2. Have fun , make sure each time you go out to play, you enjoy yourself and have lots of fun.
3. Be confident and believe in yourself. It’s ok to make a mistake.
4. Listen to your coaches. Work with your teammates. Respect your opponents but have no fear!
5. As in class you must work hard to achieve on the sports field. Similar to tip 1, you must keep focusing on improving your skills!

-  General School Information

Graduation at St.Attracta’s

This afternoon we will have we will have a short graduation ceremony for each class in the school hall.

Please see the timetable for our afternoon below. All parents/guardians/family members are invited to our school to enjoy this special occasion!

Graduation Timetable

Junior/Senior Infants Ms. Delaney 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.

Sixth Class will have their Graduation Mass on Thursday June 26th evening at 7.30 p.m. here in school.