Last evening, we had one of the highlights of our school year. A night to celebrate the wonderful talents and gifts of teachers and pupils as we told the Story of Christmas through song. We thank each and every one of our teachers and pupils for their energy, hard work and enthusiasm. This was a special night.

There are so many people we would like to acknowledge and thank for ensuring it was a great success:

Firstly, Fr. Johnston, Fr. Doherty and the Pastoral Council. We felt very privileged to be in St.James’ Church and are very grateful that this could happen. Thank you also to Francie for all his support in the background.

A very sincere thank you to Richella O’Connor who worked so hard alongside our teachers preparing for this night. We are so appreciative of her enthusiasm, interest and effort.

To our performers – Sarah Kilcoyne, Tony Fitzgibbons and Declan Folan who added so much to the night. We really appreciate the generosity of time and talent. Holy night will live long in many of our memories. Thank you also to Joanne Gallagher for her support with harmonies. We are so grateful for her time and interest.

Thank you to Brendan Nugent and Adrian McDermott for their support with sound and lighting and also to Donal Healy for his help with photography and video. Again, this added so much to the evening.

Míle buíochas to Leo Gavin and all at the CE Scheme for their great help prior to the evening and again after the event. Thank you also to all who helped in any small way in the tidy up after.

To our Parents Association, for their wonderful support on the night and of our school. We are so grateful for their kindness, generosity, wonderful work and interest in the background.

Finally, thank you to all who travelled and made great efforts to be with us on the night, to our parent body and the wider Charlestown community who as always supported us in such great numbers. It was lovely to be together again and your presence was very much appreciated.

A little later than usual this week but as always we enjoyed a wonderful assembly on Friday morning. Our recurring theme was consistency.

Our teachers spoke of children who could get this award every week of the school year as they consistently try their best.
We heard of pupils who despite all that is going on around them in school, preparations for our Carol Service, artwork and changing of timetables are still working hard and applying themselves to any task set before them. We all know and appreciate how busy and hectic this week can be in school and how this impacts on us all. We also learned of children who confront challenges and fears and are reminded that these students are role models for young and old.

As always, it was an opportunity to be reminded that here in St. Attracta’s N.S. we are motivated by our students who take pride in their work, their classroom and school.

We are proud to award these children our students of the week. Maith sibh go léir.

Students from 3rd – 6th class have recently taken part in a community participation art project. This has been made possible by the support of the Charlestown Community Development group and funding secured by the Mayo County Council Arts Office.

This project is to commemorate the 75 lives lost in the 1908 Maypole Mining disaster in Wigan, UK. A number of those lives lost came from Co. Mayo, some of which hailed from the Charlestown area. We are very lucky to have been invited to take part in this project and to have worked with and been guided by the very talented and helpful lantern sculpture artist Tom Meskell.

The children’s work will be exhibited and open to our school community from 6-8 pm on Tuesday / Wednesday, November 22nd/23rd. It was a wonderful experience for the children and we are very proud of their hard work and effort.

There is an open invitation to all, to visit the exhibition and admire this wonderful project and the children’s work. We would love to see you there.

Finally, a very special word of thanks to Ms. Jennifer Henry who coordinated the project here in school and to the children’s class teachers, Ms.Delaney, Mr. Clarke and Ms.Tierney. Finally, it would not be possible without the talents. help and guidance of Tom Meskell. We really appreciate his work with us.

We were delighted to welcome international athlete Sarah Quinn to our school this afternoon as part of the Dare to Believe programme.

Sarah gave an inspirational presentation to our senior classes, outlining her journey to date and pursuit of her Olympic dream. She spoke of the values required to be an Olympian and how these are transferrable to all our everyday lives.

Sarah reinforced the importance of physical fitness, nutrition, sleep and effort! She spoke of the joy of effort and courage, fair play and striving for excellence. This we can all do every day! We then compiled our own personal goals and even our Olympic-sized dreams!

Sarah’s visit included an interactive trip to the school yard, a torch relay and concluded with a fascinating question-and-answer session with the children.

We are so grateful to Sarah for her time, interest and engaging presentation. She is a wonderful and positive role model for our students. We look forward to supporting her in the pursuit of her dreams in the coming years. Míle buíochas Sarah!

We were thrilled to welcome Charlestown LGFA Connacht Champions to school earlier this afternoon to celebrate their wonderful achievement. What a fantastic performance we were treated to on Saturday afternoon as the girls secured the club’s first ever Connacht Intermediate club championship title.

The girls are wonderful role models for young and old in our community and have brought great joy and pride to so many. Thank you to Fergal, Paul, Deirdre, Chelsea, Jennifer and Patricia for taking the time to be with us this afternoon. Huge congratulations to all the players and management on this fantastic achievement.

All our attention is now focused on the girl’s Semi-Final in Longford on Sunday, November 27th. We wish them well as they prepare for it!

Well done to our Girls’ team, who this morning came through a very exciting Mini 7’s Quarter Final against a strong Bohola NS team, in difficult conditions.

We now progress to the Semi Final on Thursday next, November 17th at Connacht GAA COE (Dome) at 11.30am . Further details of the arrangements will follow.

This was a great team effort with all the girls playing a part. Maith sibh go léir.

Throughout the past week, we celebrated Maths Week, which was for us all, fun-filled, busy, interactive and collaborative week. In all classrooms, we used our maths eyes and focused on the relevance of maths to our everyday lives.

We had lots of opportunities to work and learn together in new and exciting ways. We place great emphasis in our activities on the key mathematical skills of number sense, representation, spatial sense, measurement, estimation, patterns, problem-solving and abstract thinking.

A huge thank you to all the teachers for getting involved with Maths trails, puzzles, and games throughout the past week. We hope everyone enjoyed it.

We were very well represented at Junior and Senior levels at the Mayo Cross Country finals in Belleek, Ballina last weekend.

As was evident in Swinford at the East Mayo Cross Country, our four teams gave their all. We were delighted to see the hard work, determination and commitment that had gone into their training throughout all of the races. There were many obstacles to overcome crowds, falls, hills and nerves but everyone picked themselves up and ran with great enthusiasm and spirit. All of our students were well-placed in their races. We are very proud of their efforts.

Huge congrats to our Junior Boys team who have qualified for the Connacht Finals on Saturday, October 22nd at Moyne Community School. Well done to Frank Muldoon, Luke McDermott, Tom Naughton, Daithí Gethins, Ted Munnelly and Ceilim Higgins on their fantastic runs. This is a great achievement. We wish the boys well in Longford later this month.

Finally, it was lovely to see so much support from parents and families at this event, we are most grateful for this. It has been a lovely start to our school sporting year, well done again to all!

On Friday, we had a very positive Zoom assembly. After the torrential downpours in the morning, we could not risk getting caught in the rain outside again! 

Our teachers all unanimously spoke of how difficult it was to choose one student who particularly shone out of each class, such was the standard of effort and enthusiasm over the past week. 

They awarded Student of the Week certificates based on achievements that stood out for many different reasons. One teacher noted that they had seen a great growth in the maturity of a student and they had been particularly helpful in class. Another praised the beautiful presentation and excellent attention to detail displayed by a student in their room. 

A student was praised for his lovely consideration of those around him and his delight at seeing his classmates reach their goals. It is wonderful to see children celebrating the achievements of their friends.

There were award presentations for a student who shows enthusiasm and great manners in class, a student who is a quiet but strong character exhibiting impeccable work while going the extra mile, a student who is popular and fun but knows where to draw the line and focus. 

A special mention was given to two students who have stood out for their admirable transition to “big” school while facing challenges, and being brave and strong and engaged. We could not be prouder of our students of the week.

The sounds of applause at each award were wonderful to hear from our classrooms and we love to see such a positive report each week on our children being the best they can be. Maith sibh!