Our students from 2nd to 6th Class completed a six-week drumming workshop recently as part of the Creative Schools Initiative Project.

This initiative is led by the Arts Council and provides opportunities for children in schools to build their artistic and creative skills. We were thrilled to have an application accepted alongside our partner school’s St.Angela’s Castlebar GNS and St.Patrick’s BNS Castlebar.

Skilled percussionist, freelance drummer, and music teacher Anthony McNamee has worked with our students throughout this block. It has been a fantastic learning experience for the students with many new talents emerging. The sense of joy and fun at each workshop was a privilege to witness alongside progression through the age groups. We are most grateful to Anthony for his energy, hard work, and interest in all of our students. This ensured each workshop was memorable for the boys and girls.

It was hoped at the end of this block that our students would perform for their parents and family members. Unfortunately, this was not to be given the current climate. However, in order to share with you this wonderful work, we recorded their final performances, as each class performed for a younger class group.

These are now available to view from the Creative Schools Project in the quick links section on the homepage of our website.

At present, Anthony is working with our Junior Infants, Senior Infants, First Class, and Sonas/Spraoi/Sásta and Súgradh. We look forward to sharing their performances with you in the coming weeks.

Finally, a very special word of thanks to Ms.Henry who has co-ordinated this wonderful project in our school. We are most grateful for her time, hard work, and talents. Young and old are thoroughly enjoying this creative project!

We were delighted to welcome our past pupil Alisha Towey Gallagher to school recently to present her with a Certificate of Commendation Award from the Texaco Art Competition.

This award was for her wonderful entry in last year’s competition. Alisha is a very creative and talented artist and we were delighted and proud to see this recognition at a national level.

Well done Alisha, we look forward to learning about many more achievements in the years to come.

We wish Siofra McGuinness from Ms. Tierney’s Sixth Class the very best this weekend as she represents Mayo U-13 Girls Soccer team in the Gaynor Shield.

Siofra has had a very busy autumn, starring in a number of codes. Firstly for her club Charlestown Athletic/Mayo U13’S Girls (Soccer), Charlestown (GAA), and on the Cross Country tracks (Athletics) for her club (East Mayo AC) and school.

We are very proud of Siofra’s achievements and wish her well this weekend in Castlebar, where her U-13 team faces Galway. Ádh mór Siofra!

Comhghairdeachas to our past pupils now in First Year who received the sacrament of Confirmation in St.James’ Church on Friday evening.

Míle buíochas to the student’s parents, family members, and sponsors who played such an important role in the lead-up and during the ceremony. A very special word of thanks also to Ms.Tierney for her help in the preparation, guidance, and support of this wonderful group in such unprecedented times.

A very sincere thank you to Bishop Paul Dempsey who confirmed the children. It was our privilege to have Bishop Paul officiate and share this special celebration in the children’s lives. We thank him for a lovely ceremony. Thank you also to Fr. Johnston and to Fr. Doherty who assisted and again added so much to Friday evening’s celebration.
Finally, it was really lovely to share this special day with siblings and friends from other schools. We hope everyone had a lovely evening!

We were delighted to begin our Creative Cluster project earlier. This is an initiative led by and in partnership with the Association of Teacher Education Centres Ireland. As part of the Creative Cluster, we have come together with two other schools St. Patrick’s BNS (Castlebar) and St. Angela’s NS (Castlebar).

The three schools have collaborated on the design and implementation of a creative plan with the assistance of our Creative Cluster Facilitator Tom Meskell.

Earlier, we commenced a percussion project through drumming with percussionist, Anthony McNamee. Anthony is a freelance drummer and music educator experienced in a wide range of musical styles and settings.

The project is being split into two blocks of six weeks to cater for all the children in our school. As alluded it started earlier for the students of 2nd to 6th Class. The second block of six weeks will commence after Halloween and this will include all children from Junior to First Class, Sonas, Spraoi, Sásta, and Súgradh.

This is a very exciting project and we are looking forward to seeing and hearing the new skills that the children learn from this experience.

We were delighted to support former Irish rugby captain Rory Best as he travelled through Charlestown this morning. This, as part of his 180-mile challenge from Newcastle Co.Down to Cong here in Mayo, to help children across Ireland cope with the impact of a cancer diagnosis.

Well done to all our young supporters who waited patiently for Rory’s arrival and gave him a fantastic welcome to Charlestown.

Further details of Rory’s walk and this very worthy cause are available from https://cancerfundforchildren.ie/event/rorys-miles-2-mayo/

We wish Rory well as he concludes his challenge.

Our preparations continued for Saturday’s All Ireland Final with a lovely morning in school earlier.

All the children and staff came dressed to support our team ensuring our classrooms, corridors and yards were a sea of green and red.

We had a ‘ Tionól Gearr amuigh sa chlós’ followed by a stirring rendition of ‘The Green and Red of Mayo’. A special word of thanks to all our parents who helped with the preparations at home and of course to Ms.Horkan who coordinated the event this morning.

A sincere thank you also to Mrs.Quinn who organised a fun Mayo Treasure Hunt and Orienteering Challenge for our Junior and Senior students to enjoy.

It was fantastic that all our younger students were with us for the first time. Ms.Duffy’s, Ms. McNicholas’s and Ms. Durkin’s classes joined us for what turned out to be a very enjoyable and fun morning.

We hope you all enjoy tomorrow’s game. We wish Charlestown’s Paul Towey and all members of the team and management the very best of good luck. We are all hoping in the not-so-distant future we will have the pleasure of welcoming Sam Maguire to our school.

Maigh Eo abú!

What a great second week we’ve just had. A second week to get organised and settled into the routines of school life.

Our teachers all reported their delight with the efforts of their students throughout this past week, many working very hard in class, displaying great focus, concentration and a willingness to succeed. We hope all can continue to work in this manner throughout the school year!

Finally, well done to the wonderful students of Sásta, Súgradh, and Junior Infants, many of whom have now completed their first full week with a normal school day in Primary School. We are all delighted with how well they each have settled into their new school and school life.

Maith sibh go léir!

Tomorrow, Saturday May 9th was planned as a very special day in the lives of the girls and boys of Mr.Rushe’s and Ms Colson’s Second Class’ as they received their First Holy Communion. Unfortunately, as a result of the current restrictions it is now not to be.

However, our wonderful Second Class pupils and their families will be very much in our thoughts and prayers. Fr Johnston will remember each of the students individually at his morning mass at 10am. This mass will be available on the St James’ Church webcam at https://www.mcnmedia.tv/camera/charlestown.

A very special word of thanks to Helen and Joseph McCafferty for the beautiful card to mark this important date. We all look forward to a time in the very near future when we can celebrate this special occasion together.

Finally, please keep in touch with our social media channels for a very special message to our students. Míle buíochas to Michael and Siobhán for their thoughtfulness with this.