In the past week, we celebrated Autism Acceptance Week in school. It was a wonderful opportunity to appreciate, celebrate and support our students in their understanding of what autism is and to further develop acceptance and inclusion in our school. We are very proud that this is very much in evidence daily already! Throughout this week, all classes completed activities based on Autism Awareness and Acceptance.

Finally, on Friday we celebrated with a Rainbow Colours theme to celebrate the beauty in the diverse spectrum of the human mind. Here all the children and staff wore rainbow and/or colourful clothes to school on this day. This finished off our week brightly, celebrating all of the wonderful children and adults that we have in our school community.

A very special word of thanks to Ms.Durkan who coordinated this wonderful week in our school. We really appreciated her hard work and support.

Finally, we would really appreciate it if you could take five minutes to watch these short videos to inform your own thinking and understanding.

Comhghairdeachas to our most recent ‘Students of the Week’ winners.

As we gathered online to award our students of the week, we were consistently reminded of students who could get this award every day of every week. This is as a result of caring and kindness towards others and a conscientious attitude to their class work.
We also learned of students who are continuously positive. They refuse, despite obstacles, to be anything but optimistic in their outlook making significant progress throughout this year and their teachers have enjoyed tracking this.

Finally to see how our students interact with each other and observe the levels of respect they have for each other and our school is very rewarding for us as teachers.

Maith sibh go léir! Keep us this wonderful work.

Seachtain iontach speisíalta a bhí againn anseo i Scoil Áthracht Naofa ag céiliuradh Seachtain na Gaeilge. Chun chriochnú mhaith a chur leis, bhí lá Gaelach, lá lán de spórt agus craic againne inniú.

Bhí gach duine páirteach ins an lá go léir ó na Sonas, Spraoi, Sásta, Súgradh, Saolta agus na Naonáin go dtí a rang a sé. Bhí rannta le gníomhaíochtaí ann. Bhí amhráin ann freisin le guthanna laidre binn.

Bhí na Naonáin go léir ag damhsa gan feadbh ar bith. Ghlac na ranganna eile pairt fresin le rinceanna eile pairt freisin le rinceanna céilí sa chlos. Táimid fior-bhuíoch don na muinteoirí go mór-mhór Ms.Sloyan as ucht a buanna. Bhainimid an-taitneamh as ceiliúradh chuile rud Éireannach agus a bheith bródúil as.

What a special week we had here in St.Attracta’s celebrating ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’. We had a fantastic end to it today with lots of spórt agus spraoí sa chlós.

This year, in particular, it was very special that we could all enjoy this together here in school. We were privileged to see our student’s talents in our schoolyard. We had lovely performances from all classes. A very sincere thank you to all our teachers and in particular, to Ms.Sloyan who for her help and hard work in the background. Míle buíochas!

Well done to our ‘African Drummers’ for a wonderful performance at the St.Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday last

A sincere word of thanks to all our students/parents/guardians and families for all their hard work and wonderful support. Well done and thank you for the fantastic effort you made. As always this is/was very much appreciated.

A huge thank you to our teachers and staff for their fantastic work behind the scenes. We are so grateful for your continued hard work, effort and time invested on our behalf. Thank you also to all who helped us earlier.

Thanks also to all the Charlestown Development Committee who coordinated this fantastic day. It was a brilliant day for us all to enjoy. Míle buíochas!

Finally, thank you to Anthony who prepared our students for our drumming entry. His vision, talent and enthusiasm made this a wonderful experience for young and old.

Congratulations to the boys and girls of Ms McHugh’s/Ms. Quinn’s and Ms Durkin’s 2nd classes who last week celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We’re so proud of you all.

A very special word of thanks to Fr. Johnston and Ms.Grazyna Drury for all their hard work in the background. Thank you as always to our teachers who prepared their students so well. The students of Sásta and Second Class certainly made you proud.

Next up is First Holy Communion which the children will receive on Saturday, May 25th. The children certainly have lots to look forward to! Maith sibh!

Comhghairdeachas to Tom (5th Class), Robert (6th Class), Alaistair (6th Class), Mikey (6th Class) and Matthew (Third Class) who will represent our school at The Irish Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge National Finals at Maynooth University on Saturday, April 20th.

This is an outstanding achievement to have reached the National Finals and we are so proud of the boys who have been shortlisted. We hope they all enjoy this wonderful experience.

The Bebras Computing Challenge introduces computational thinking to students, by allowing them to solve interactive tasks online. It is run in over 40 countries and takes place every November. The tasks can be answered without prior knowledge about computational thinking or information and communication technology. Bebras aims to get students all over the world excited about computing.

Well done to all our students from Second to Sixth Class who took part and thank you to our teachers who have supported and promoted this challenge in our school.

We cannot stress the importance of reading to children enough as it opens an entire world of opportunities and new experiences. It is so important for children to have access to books and to be encouraged to read and develop this hobby.

There was a brilliant atmosphere as we celebrated World Book Day in school yesterday. A day to focus on the joy and love of reading. Our wonderful students brought treasured books to school and dressed up as their favourite characters and showcased their costumes on our catwalk!

We were amazed at the thought and effort that went into the portrayal of characters from reading books. It was so interesting to see the books that are so popular with our children at the moment and we were delighted to see some of our own personal favourites making a re-appearance!

The children were proud to present themselves and tell us who they were and what book they were from. A huge thank you to our parents for all their help and support as always in the background.

Ghlac Rang a Ceathair agus Rang a Sé páirt sa Féile Dramaíochta i gCill Mobhí inne sna Dramaí Rumplestilskin agus Fear Draíochta Oz. D’eirigh go hiontach leo agus bhí an craic againn.

Tá súil againn go mbainfidh na paistí go léir taitneamh as an lá. Táimid an bhrodúil as na páistí mar go n-oibríonn siad go crua agus go ndéanann gach duine a ndícheall agus iad ag foghlaim agus ag labhairt gaeilge.

Buíochas mór le gach duine a chabhraigh linn chun na dramaí a chur ar siúl go háirithe na múinteoirí. We really appreciated Ms.Delaney’s and Ms.Tierney’s hard work, interest and enthusiasm in putting these dramas together and to all who helped in the background. Thank you also to Ms.Munelly and Ms.Kenny who helped out on the day.

Bhí na paistí ar fheabhas agus tá Rang a cathair ag dul tríd na Féile Scoldrámaíochta Chonnacht. Beidh Féile Scoldrámaíochta Chonnacht ar siúl i Seanscoil Sailearna in Indreabhán (Invern Co Galway), Co. na Gaillimhe ar an 20ú lá de mhí Márta 20/03 . Ádh mhór do na bpáistí go léir.

Sincere thanks to the parents who travelled to see the children on stage in Kilmovee, we really appreciated your patience and as always your support!

Last evening, we heard the wonderful news that Ms.Delaney’s play was selected to go forward to the Connaught Finals which will take place in Galway on Wednesday, March 20th at 11.30 am.

To top this news off we learned that Rang a Ceathair had been selected as the Best Drama of the day. Finally, Luke McDermott from our Fourth Class was awarded best actor of the day, maith thú Luke!
Well done to all the children who were fantastic on stage yesterday. You can be so proud of all your effort and performance. Bhí sibh thar barr. We are all very proud of you. Maith sibh go léir!

5th Class have spent the past month predicting, researching, investigating, experimenting and recording their question for this year’s Science Blast. The question was “How often is Once in a Blue Moon?” Yesterday, was the culmination of their studies, when they went to the RDS to showcase their project. 

The children were buzzing with excitement this morning ahead of their trip to Dublin. The bus journey flew as they all chatted, laughed and sang their way to the Big Smoke! Once we arrived, we set up our project display at stall number 59. Immediately, visitors called to view the investigation, and everyone commented about the visual representation of the project and the wonderful knowledge of the children. It certainly looked fabulous on the stand!

The children were divided into groups, and each group spent 30-40 minutes “on duty” showcasing the wonderful work they had done. Everyone got ample opportunities to wander the main arena and see all of the exhibition area, as well as attend both shows “The Science of the Circus” and “Limitless” with Mark the Science Guy. The shows were brilliant scientific experiences and great fun. Three of our students had their recommendations noted as possible upcoming storm names….Abby, Jenna & Olivia! Olivia also got a chance to be a scientific helper in the Limitless show, and James won the propeller challenge of the day, generating a whopping 224 KWH of electricity with his design! Ky’rah made some huge noise with a wind instrument, and Ryan excelled at explaining Python coding to RDS Staff! In fact, all of the children made a big impact on the RDS today.

Our judge, Dr. Leeanne Hinch from Dublin City University was blown away by the knowledge and input of all the children and commented on the teamwork that was evident in abundance. 

Her feedback was:

“ I really enjoyed this project! Students had a very clear question that they wanted an answer for. They gathered the information they needed to answer their question, and they figured out a lot about the moon at the same time! They demonstrated their findings in numerous ways, including some lovely hands-on experiments at the stand, and some very impressive Python coding. If students had unlimited resources, they would go straight to the moon to find out more…but without an astronaut, they did very well!! 

Students said that one of the problems they had was that there was not much information to find about a Blue Moon, but they clearly expanded their project to inform us about several moon-related topics. 

The students chose this topic after learning about the moon, so they used the knowledge that they had, and built upon it. The students were very creative in their display and their findings- particularly the models and the quiz!

Students very clearly worked well together and all had aspects of the project they were responsible for. This was really impressive to see!  

Students communicated their findings BRILLIANTLY!! They did so well when answering questions and in how they had displayed their project. I was really impressed. 

This was a brilliant project. The students did so well and it’s clear they had great support from their teacher.”

Super praise indeed for our children in 5th Class….and well deserved! We are so proud of them and the effort, energy and enthusiasm they brought to this project, and everything else they do! They were a pleasure to take away to a big day out like Science Blast, and made their teachers and families proud. We are very lucky to be able to enjoy challenging and fun initiatives with respectful, mannerly, kind, brave and great students. Maith sibh go léir.

Finally, a very special word of thanks to Ms.Sloyan, Ms.Peyton, Ms.McDonagh and Sarah for all their hard work and enthusiasm in preparing the children so well, this was a wonderful learning experience for all.