carrigduffns.scoilnet.ie

Welcome to our new teacher Miss Anita Bass. Miss Bass came to us from Gorey Central School and we are delighted to have her with us. Tá súil againn go mbainfidh sí taitneamh asainn!

Congratulations to three of our boys from 3rd class Damien, Max and Niall, who are part of the Bunclody AFC U10 team that won “An Corn Cairdis” (The Friendship Cup) over the weekend. The boys were delighted this morning to bring the cup around the classrooms and everyone gave them a big clap!

The boys told us about their matches and one of the boys Max scored a goal! The boys said thanks to their coaches Charlie, Nicky and Brendan.

Some of the Carrigduff boys who play with Bunclody AFC U10s.

What a great day we’ve just had! This morning we all got onto two buses and headed off to Ferns United AFC in Clone, Ferns for the Small Schools Diocesan Soccer Blitz. This is held every year in the Diocese of Ferns. The larger schools compete in a separate blitz for the bigger schools.

This year St. Edan’s NS, Ferns were hosting the small schools section. Junior and Senior class teams from Kilnamanagh NS (Oulart), All Saint’s NS (Carnew) and Carrigduff NS (Bunclody) took part. The Carrigduff children were split into two junior and two senior teams, the Carrigs and the Duffs as there are a lot of pupils in Carrigduff.

We had a great day playing lots of fab soccer in a really brilliant venue. Thanks to Mrs Deacon and all in St. Edan’s for organising a terrific day. We had a ball (Ha ha – nice pun!)

In the end St. Edan’s NS won the Junior section and the Carrig team from Carrigduff NS won the Senior section. Funnily enough this was a reversal of last year’s results when the junior shield went to Carrigduff and the senior shield went to Ferns!

One of the sixth class boys accepts the Senior Shield from Dean Mooney

The Carrig team from Carrigduff NS

The girls are delighted!

Watching

The Carrig team are watching the Duff team!

The junior team head off for their pitch

We’ve been having super coaching in the GAA grounds in Bunclody since January. Every Friday during PE time we go to the new indoor facility in Bunclody where a number of adult coaches and a number of transition years from FCJ help the children to learn new skills in gaelic football. We are really grateful to Mr Daly and the transition years who organise this. We were particularly delighted to have Adam, Tara and Glenn, our past pupils back with us this year for transition year work placement.

On the last Friday before the Easter holidays one of our GAA coaches Mr Mullins invited us to  have our PE lesson in the FCJ! Mr. Mullins is a teacher in the FCJ and said we could do PE in the hall. What a great day we had. We don’t have a GP room or hall so we never do PE indoors. It was great fun and then Mr. Mullins brought us around the school. Thanks to Mr. Mullins for inviting us!

Last week two other FCJ teachers Ms Behan and Ms Doherty came to talk to the teachers in our school about Project Maths. It was great to hear more about the curriculum our pupils face in secondary school and to highlight the areas which will help our students in the future. We know that group work, problem-solving and mathematical language are key areas where skills should be developed.

Tomorrow on Thursday 23rd April the children in 1st – 6th classes are walking down to the FCJ for a concert. We’re going to listen to instrumental and choral music with the band and choir of the Mount Saint Charles Academy, Rhode Island USA. The American and Irish schools have been working together in an exchange programme.

It’s been really lovely to work closely with another local school. Thanks to Mrs Threadgold and all of the staff in the FCJ!

http://fcjbunclody.ie/

It’s a busy time of year!

April

Thurs 23rd: 1st – 6th classes go to concert in FCJ

Mon 27th: 6th class start transition programme to secondary school

Wed 29th: Swimming starts for 1st – 6th

May 

Mon 4th: School closed – bank holiday

Mon 11th – Fri 15th: Testing week

Wed 13th: Staff Meeting at 3.00pm / PTA meeting at 7.30pm

Fri 22nd: School closed – polling station

Wed 27th: BoM meeting

Thurs 28th: Soccer Blitz in Ferns

Fri 29th: School closed – vacation day

June 

Wed 3rd: Staff meeting at 3.00pm / Meeting for new Infant parents at 7.30pm

Mon 8th: Jun Inf immunisations

Tues 9th: School tour for all classes

Fri 12th: Choral Festival in Carnew / Miss Woodroofe’s last day

Sat 13th: PTA BBQ (to be confirmed)

Mon 15th: Mrs Hobson is back

Thurs 18th: Infant Induction Day 11.30 – 1.30pm

Fri 19th: Reports out

Sat 20th: Bunclody Parish Dance

Wed 24th: End of Year Assembly

Fri 26th: School holidays at 12.30pm

The children in the senior room took part on a great local project organised by our neighbouring school Our Lady Of Lourdes NS in Bunclody. The local school has published the third in a set of books remembering a deceased pupil Ben Markey. Ben’s stories have been published and completed by other pupils. The other children read the start of Ben’s story and finished it in so many different ways. This year Our Lady Of Lourdes NS invited the other local schools to take part.

Well done to three of our sixth class pupils who were included in the published book. The children were delighted to be invited to an official launch of the book yesterday, Tuesday 21st April. They were each given a copy of the book to keep and also three copies of the book for our school libraries. They also got an ice cream on the way back to school! 😉

Well done to Mr Roberts and all in Our Lady Of Lourdes NS who organised this great event, included us and who remember a lovely pupil in a really lovely way!

6th class pupils write great stories

We separate waste in each classroom and in the staff room. Bins are provided for compost, recycling and litter. This maintain our Green schools standards.

Last year, we put up bird boxes and insect hotels around the school and in the garden. This allows us to watch wildlife common in this area.

We have four raised fruit/ vegetable beds at the front of the school. Pupils in the middle room planted / tended/ harvested last year.

A litter bin is provided for break time litter and pupils also eat lunch indoors at big break. The pupils do litter patrol in black – spot areas as required. Litter pickers are provided.

The Board of Management and the Parent Teacher Association provide helps with Green schools work. Last year we got the Energy Flag and had  a low energy day of action. Parents and local committees were invited. In the past , pupils have assisted the Local Residents Association with local planting activities.

The children in the senior classes wrote a code for online safety. We have signed a large copy in school but want to publish it on our school website so that everyone can see. We worked in groups and these are the points that we thought were the most important.

1. Trust: Don’t trust people you meet online. A profile pic can be false. A profile can be false. You don’t know who you are texting, you can’t see them.
2. Sharing: Sorry Barney but “Sharing” is not always “caring”! Be careful with your private information and photos. Anyone can take a screenshot, once a photo is online it is NOT private!
3. Texting: Think before you text. You can sound angry or offensive unintentionally. Don’t write things online that you wouldn’t say in person.
4. To Do: If you are being bullied online don’t reply, keep the message, tell someone you trust, BLOCK ‘EM!

Good luck to the pupils in Rang a Sé who will all be attending entrance exams for secondary school in the next few weeks.

• FCJ Bunclody: Saturday 7th March
• Incorporated Scholarship Exam Kilkenny College: Thursday 12th March
• Vocational College, Bunclody: Saturday 14th March

Do your best guys!