School News Term One September - December 2018
Important Dates for Term One
Christmas Holidays
School closes with a half day on Friday 21st of December
Junior Infants - First finish at 12:00
Second - Sixth Class finish at 12:20
School reopens Monday 7th January 2019
Christmas Shows December 2018
Tuesday 11th December: Junior Infants @ 11:00 : Angel Express
Tuesday 11th December : Third Class @ 1:00 The Shepherd's Field
Wednesday 12th December : Senior Infants @ 11:15 : A Little Nativity
Wednesday 12th December : Fourth Class: Mrs.Hanrahan @ 1:00 : Pantastic
Thursday 13th December : First Class @ 11:15 : Hey Ewe
Tuesday 18th December : Second Class @ 1:00 : Straw and Order
Wednesday 19th December : Fourth Class: Ms. Butler @1:00 : The Innspectors
Tuesday 11th December : Third Class @ 1:00 The Shepherd's Field
Wednesday 12th December : Senior Infants @ 11:15 : A Little Nativity
Wednesday 12th December : Fourth Class: Mrs.Hanrahan @ 1:00 : Pantastic
Thursday 13th December : First Class @ 11:15 : Hey Ewe
Tuesday 18th December : Second Class @ 1:00 : Straw and Order
Wednesday 19th December : Fourth Class: Ms. Butler @1:00 : The Innspectors
21/12/18: As is tradition in St. John of God we finished term one with a whole school Christmas Carol Service in the hall. As you can tell from the pictures below the girls had great fun and were all in fine singing form. We are now closed until Monday January 7th. Thank you to all the girls and their teachers for all their hard work and dedication this term.
We wish all the girls and their families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
A Little Nativity: Senior Infants 21/12/18
20/12/18: The inaugural Quizmas took place this afternoon. It was a fiercely fought battle between the teachers and sixth class with so much laughter and fun along the way but although we tried our best the teachers sadly lost to sixth class( but (only by one point ! ). A huge thank you to Ms.Fitzgerald for organising the quiz and for being compere.There was so much thought and effort that went into every little detail. We have to say her outfit wins best Christmas outfit this year.
Well done to the sixth class girls.
19/12/18: We braved the rain and cold and went on our Christmas Turkey Trot around the park this morning. The entire school went on the walk and we all looked so festive in our Santa hats,reindeer antlers and lots more unusual headgear. The walk was another whole school initiative in connection with our Active Flag.
19/12/18: Congratulations to all the winners in our Christmas Raffle for 2018. A full list of winners can be found below. Thank you to everyone who donated prizes and to everyone who bought tickets. The money raised will go towards new curtains for the stage, the defibrillator and new whiteboards for the upstairs classrooms.
Christmas Raffle Winners 2018
150 Symths Toy Store Voucher Connor Barden c/o Ms Hartrey
Artifical Tree Miriam Butler
Specsaver Voucher Deirdre Gunnip
One for all voucher Des White c/o Layla White
Afternoon Tea in Mount Juliet Stephen Power c/o Gracemarie Conway
Cinema Voucher Karen Ryan / Emma Kelly
Smyths Voucher Isabella Doris
One for All Carmel Brennan c/o Aoife Brennan
Hamper Mairead Brennan c/o Maeve Brennan
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Coffee Machine Tilly Colclough
The Hanger Voucher Eimear Cadogan
The Hanger Voucher Millie Hearne
Hamper from The Book Centre Karen Ryan c/o Emma Kelly
One for All Voucher Richard Zamora c/o Kelsey
Car Valet Elena Phelan
Drinks Hamper Liz White
Gracie’s Buns and Cakes James Larkin
Drinks Hamper Billy Power
Mc Donald’s Meal Voucher Lisa O’Byrne
Top Trumps / Balderdash Games Dara Herlihey
Slice Voucher Chloe Hogan
Gingerman Voucher Olivia Mulligan
Juicer Eva Doherty
Rapid Cab Voucher Anna Walker
Case of wine Kieran O’Brien c/o Ciara Sealy
Golden Ticket for Ferris Wheel/Helter Jonathan Doyle
Baby Cardigans, Throw, Treasa Burke c/o Meabh White
One for All Voucher Christine Fowler
Odeon Cinema David Ziza
Spirit Spa Voucher Ivy Hartrey
One for All Voucher Ms Crowley
18/12/18: The Innspectors: Fourth Class: Ms.Butler
18/12/18: Junior Infants decorated Christmas Cookies.
18/12/18: Carol Singing in Ardkeen Stores: Sixth Class
17/12/18: Straw and Order: Seocnd Class
Ms.Crowley and Ms.Dowling
17/12/18: The Shepherd's Field : Third Class
16/12/18: Christmas Newsletter from Mrs.Morris
In the busy run-up to Christmas we sometimes forget to be thankful. So ...... a fewThank Yous!
Thanks to 5th and 6th classes and to all who supported the Vincent De Paul Cake Sale. €1,000 raised for the Saint Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. -Claire Hearne and 6th Class delivered a gift bag for every patient in Saint Patrick's Hospital on Friday. We had gifts left over and these were dispatched to the Mens' Hostel and to Oasis House Womens' Refuge. Thanks to all who donated gift bags.
Thanks to everyone who attended the Annual Christmas Carol Service in Saint Joseph and St Benildus Church last Saturday - Sr. Úna, Fr. Liddane, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes and their teachers. A lovely mass every year.
Defibrillator Fund - thanks to the PA and the girls who collected at Ardkeen Stores - €500 raised. Also thanks to Sr. Úna's sister, Maura, who knitted the gorgeous Santa Family. These were raffled for the fund and brought in €600. We now have enough money to purchase the defibrillator. We also have an offer of free training for the staff involved. Brilliant work by all involved!
Thanks to everyone who bought Christmas cards - over €1,300 raised for school funds.
Thanks to the girls and their teachers and SNAs for all the work making such beautiful Christmas decorations -the classrooms and corridors look wonderful. They will soon adorn your homes and Christmas trees.
Thanks to everyone involved in the Christmas plays - a real whole-school effort!
I think they provide Christmas treats for everyone. -
Our Christmas Raffle takes place on Wednesday. Thanks to the PA and Paula for all the organisation. A big thank you to everyone who donated prizes - we all agree that they are brilliant this year. Please return cards before Wednesday.
Mrs. O' Neill passes on her thanks for all the good wishes and presents sent to Ríona. Both are eagerly awaiting Santa in Newcastle.
We have a wonderful school community spirit in Saint John of God and I am most appreciative. All the funds raised for the school will be used to update whiteboards, to purchase a screen for the Computer room and to upgrade the stage curtains. We could not do this without your generous support.
Have a lovely Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir, Anne Morris.
14/12/18: Sixth class accompanied by Claire went to St.Patrick's Hospital to deliver the gift bags which everyone has so generously donated to over the last few weeks. The girls sang Christmas carols and all the residents were delighted to receive such lovely gifts. Claire has already given gift bags and toys to Oasis ( a women's refuge in the city centre) and any gifts remaining will be donated to the men's hostel. A huge thank you to every girl and their parents who were so generous with everything that was donated this year. It is really appreciated and it's lovely to do something so nice for others at Christmas time.
Christmas in St. John of God December 2018
13/12/18: Wow we raised an incredible €950 for St. Vincent De Paul at today's cake sale. A huge thank you to fifth and sixth class and their teachers for organising the sale and to everyone who bought cakes. The money will be brought up during the offertory procession at Saturday's Christmas Carol mass in St .Joseph and Benildus at 6:30.
13/12/18: Ms.Butler's fourth class had a great day when Tina from Heritage Ireland paid them a visit. She did a Science workshop on rocks, minerals and gemstones.Tina is a geologist, gemologist and jewellery maker. The girls had a talk on rocks.Then looked at them with microscopes and other practical activities. They finished the day with a jewellery making session. A huge thank you to Tina for visiting our school today.
11/12/18: Hey Ewe ! First Class
10/12/18: Pantastic : Fourth Class : Mrs. Hanrahan
6/12/18: Angel Express: Junior Infants
6/12/18: First Class made Salt Dough with Catherine and Jane
Waterford Crystal Factory Tour Fourth Class: Ms.Butler : 6/12/18
5/12/18: This year alongside our normal chocolate Advent Calendar,Ms. Crowley's girls have a book Advent Calendar. There are lots of books wrapped up and placed under the class Christmas tree and each day a girl can pick a present and unwrap it to see what book they have gotten which they can then keep.Hopefully the girls will enjoy this extra little treat in the run up to Christmas. We'll update the slideshow with more pictures as the girls open their books and as we get nearer to Christmas.
5/12/18: Ms.Crowley's second class have been hard at work making salt dough decorations for Christmas. The girls used salt, plain flour and water to make the dough and then they baked it in special Christmas cupcake tins. When the salt dough had cooled, they painted their decoration in bright colours. The next step will be to varnish the decorations and tie some ribbon on them so they can be hung on the tree. Thanks to Catherine for helping us.Check out some photos below.
5/12/18: Fifth and Sixth class will hold a cake sale on Wednesday 11th December .All proceeds will go to S.t Vincent De.Paul and the money raised will be brought up at the offertory procession at the Christmas Carol Service on Saturday December 15th.
4/12/18: Our annual Christmas Raffle will take place on Wednesday December 19th.The girls will receive their tickets this week to sell. Thank you to everybody who donated prizes this year.It is very much appreciated. All proceeds from the raffle will go towards school funds and the purchasing of new whiteboards for the upstairs classrooms.
4/12/18: Fourth Class: Mrs. Hanrahan :
Visit to the Library
The Importance of Rainforests
3/12/18:Reminder: Gift Bag Appeal : This week is the last week to donate to this appeal. We still need items for both men and women to make up some gift bags.
Dear Parents,
Gift Bag Appeal for St. Patrick's Nursing Home.
The pupils are asked to support our Christmas Gift Bag Appeal.This Christmas we weill deliver Christmas Gift Bags to elderly patients in St.Patrick's Hospital Waterford which is a nursing home for the elderly.
We ask for your help in gathering the following items for gift bags.
t-shirts, socks, hats, scarves, gloves, hankies, tights.
chocolate, soft jelly sweets, biscuits.
deodorants, hair brush, comb, shower gel, shampoo, soap, face cloth/small towel, shaving items, toothpaste
Any small Christmassy items.
Medium sized gift bags.
Please give any items to your daughter.Sixth class will make up the bags. They will be delivered to the hospital before Christmas.
This is a voluntary collection and it is up to each family to decide if they would like to take part or not.
Thanking you in advance.
Class Teachers.
30/11/18: Congratulations to the winners of the raffle for Mr. and Mrs. Claus as knitted and donated by Sister Úna's sister. There were a few extra prizes too so we had several winners. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket.All proceeds will go towards funding the defibrillator the school is hoping to purchase. A group of staff members will receive training in this in January.Below are a list of the winners.
Cludeo: Hannah Carmody : 5th class
Twister: Hannah Carmody: Fifth Class.
Connect Four: Grace Marie Conway : Third Class.
Monopoly: Mila Coade: First Class
Snowmen Family: Rhea Dolan: Fifth Class
Mrs. Santa: Sophie Power: Second Class- Miss. Dowling.
Mr.Santa: Charlotte Freeman - Second Class - Miss. Crowley.
First Class Maths Stations :30/11/18
23/11/18: Ms.Butler's fourth class wrote letters to the Taoiseach about how dangerous smoking is to people's health and how we would like if smoking were banned altogether .
The Taoiseach's secretary sent them this reply.
21/11/18: Fifth and Sixth Class have been getting to grips with Izak9 which we had on loan from the Teacher's Centre. The girls enjoyed trying to work out various maths challenges using this new equipment.
28/11/18:Fourth Class: Mrs. Hanrahan :
Baking Chocoloate Chip Cookies with Jayne
14/11/18: Congratulations to Sophie Murphy from fifth class who came second in the senior category in the recent Credit Union Art Competition. The theme was 'Force of Nature'. Well done Sophie.
Fourth Class: Ms.Butler: Science Week Show: W.I.T :13/11/18
Halloween Dress Up 25/10/18
First Class: Halloween Toffee Apples: 24/10/18
Mayor's Visit to hand out attendance certificates 24/10/18
23/10/18:Third- Sixth Class enjoyed a trip to see the production of
'The Adams Family' by De La Salle Secondary School
22/10/18: Miss.Crowley's second class were once again busy baking this morning but this time they made some Halloween treats- Rice Krispie Pumpkins. It was a very enjoyable if sticky experience. They had great fun melting marshmallows and using food colouring to get a lovely orange colour for the pumpkins.Unfortunately when it came to rolling the mixture into balls for the pumpkins everything was just so sticky they couldn't get the correct shape. So instead they called them exploding pumpkins !! They still tasted delicious though. Check out the slideshow below.
17/10/18: This week is Maths Week and Mrs.Hanrahan's fourth class were lucky enough to be invited to the Central Library to participate in a range of maths games and tasks which challenged and tested their problem solving skills and strategies.
17/10/18: Junior and Senior Infants Gymboree Session
16/10/18: Junior and Senior Infants :
Tom Thumb in the Theatre Royal
15/10/18: Well done to Eva, Robyn, Saoirse and Oralith who participated in the Solas Run for Life.
12/10/18: Junior Infants Aistear: Theme: The Hospital
11/10/18: Miss. Dowling's second class enjoyed a session of yo-yo-yoga in Garter Lane today.
11/10/18: Today Miss.Crowley's second class made banana bread. The girls worked in groups and followed the recipe and had great fun measuring and mixing all the ingredients together.Then while they waited for the banana bread to cook each girl wrote out the recipe in their own words as part of our genre writing which this month is focusing on procedural writing.
10/10/18: A huge thank you to fifth and sixth class for organising the cake sale today and to all the parents who made and donated cakes. It was very much appreciated. We raised a phenomenal amount and the girls enjoyed all the treats.
9/10/18: Chill Out Charlie: First Class: Garter Lane
6/10/18: Miss. Crowley's second class have been working on literacy and maths stations for a five week block. Catherine comes to help out every Wednesday and Thursday morning. There are four different activities each week and the girls rotate between each station after 15 minutes. Check out the photos below of the girls hard at work on different maths activities.
5/10/18: Junior Infants are certainly keeping active with lots of Go Noodle and Irish Dancing.
In P.E they have been using the bean bags to work on balance.
28/9/18: Rang a cuig ag bácáil
24/9/18: This week all classes will be participating in the Sport Ireland: Tour of Europe Challenge. This is a collaboration between Sport Ireland and the Active School Flag. As part of the Be Active Schools Campaign schools are encouraged to walk, jog or run to the landmark sights of Europe and is a celebration of sport and physical activity. Each class has chosen a destination and now they have a week to reach their particular goal. Each day after break times the classes will complete laps of the yard in order to build up their kilometeres with the aim of reaching their intended target by Friday.Each child counts as a km. So if a class of thirty doing five laps will work out at 150km. Below are the list of destinations as chosen by each class and each day they will record how far they have walked and what distance they have remaining. Check back here during the week for lots of photos and to see the girls' progress.
Junior Infants: London 464km
Senior Infants: Paris 778km
First Class: Copenhagen 1,240km
Second Class: Ms. Crowley: Brussels: 777km
Second Class: Ms. Dowling: Berlin: 1315km
Third Class: Madrid: 1447km
Fourth Class: Ms.Butler: Pisa: 1621km
Fourth Class: Mrs.Hanrahan: Vienna:1045km
Fifth Class: Lisbon: 1645km
Sixth Class: Budapest: 1844km
18/9/18: Waterford Schools Cross Country: R.S.C
It was a blustery but thankfully dry day as a large contingent from St. John of God headed to the R.S.C for the Waterford Schools Cross Country organised by Mrs. Golden. We had a wonderful day with lots of girls winning medals and overall as a school we came third in the large girls schools category.Thank you to Ms. O'Connell, Ms.Dowling. Ms.Hartrey, Ms.Crowley, Mrs.Hanrahan and Lynn for accompanying the girls.
17/9/18: We're almost three weeks back and well settled into the new school year.The summer holidays are but a memory but the girls are all now working hard in their new classes and are excited for the new year ahead. As you can tell from the Walk on Friday pictures below Junior Infants have loved starting primary school and we are delighted to have Ms.Sheane covering Mrs.O'Neill's maternity leave.Junior Infants have already paired up with their buddies from fifth class and they are looking forward to lots of exciting things to come in their first year of primary school.
