Change to School Calendar
As you know the Referendum on the European Stability Treaty will take place on Thursday May 31st. This is the Thursday of the Bank Holiday weekend. We had scheduled to take Tuesday June 5th as a school holiday to pair with the Bank Holiday Monday. To simplify matters we will now take Friday June 1st as a school holiday instead. This means that the school will be closed on Thursday, Friday and Monday (May 31st-June 4th). School will reopen on Tuesday June 5th for a full school day.
Classroom Extension
Work has begun on our extension and the contractors hope to be finished by August. While there will be some disruption to school life, the new classroom will continue to enhance the facilities of the school.
Tesco Tokens/Dearbháin Tesco
It is Tesco Token time again. If you are shopping in Tesco please collect the tokens and send them into school. We can exchange the tokens for sports equipment to use in our P.E. programme.
Gáirdín na Scoile/School Garden
This month each class will plant their plot with carrots, lettuce, turnip, beetroot and radish. Mr. McGrath and his budding gardeners will assist in the planting, growing and caring for the vegetables in each class plot.
Bóthar Walk
Junior Infants 1Km Sponsored Walk in support of Bóthar in Templemore Park was a great success. They completed the 1Km in great style in their special t-shirts. Through your very generous support the walk raised the amazing amount of €792.05 on behalf of Bóthar. Well done to Ms. McCullagh and the infants for this wonderful initiative. A representative from Bóthar will visit our school to accept the cheque and thank Juniors for their fundraising initiative.
Coiste Scoil Ghlas – Green Schools Committee
On March 30th Seán Hartigan from An Taisce came to the school to assess us for the Green Flag Award for Energy. He met with the committee and visited some of the classes. He made a thorough examination of all the Green Flag projects going on in the school and our application. Having gone through all of this he was impressed and will be giving a favourable report back to An Taisce. We will hear in the coming weeks whether we were successful or not and will let everyone know. Well done to all the members of the Green Flag Committee and to Ms. McCullagh, the schools co-ordinator.
The Green Flag Committee:
Elaine Dwan (6th class), Vincent Long (5th class), Eamon Ryan (4th class), Stephen Quinlan (3rd class), Aoife O’Regan (2nd class), Ciara Ryan (1st class), Audie Lohan (Senior Infants) and Rosa Ryan (Junior Infants).
Cóineartú/Confirmation
The boys and girls from 5th and 6th class made their Confirmation on Wednesday 28th March and what a day we had. The children for Confirmation were very well prepared and made the day a very special occasion for all. Great credit is due to the boys and girls, their parents and their teachers Mr. McGrath and Ms. McCormack. The work they had done in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation here at school was wonderful and teachers’ work with the children enabled them to fully appreciate the significance of the day. The School Choir were fantastic. They sang their hearts out accompanied by the organist, Kay Wallace. Well done to Mrs. Tuohy, Ms. Clarke, Ms. Doran and Ms. Lowry who trained and led the choir.
A special word of thanks to school secretary Teresa for the lovely booklets and to Lucy and Elaine for the displays around the altar.
First Holy Communion
First Confession for Second Class will take place next Wednesday 25th April at 7.30 p.m. in the Abbey. The children will make their First Holy Communion on Saturday 19th May at 11 a.m.
Spórt ar Scoil – Sport in our School
Our school league continues each lunchtime. The Cumann na mBunscoil competitions begin this week. Good luck to the boys and girls who will represent Scoil Micheál Naofa in the coming weeks.
Fixtures:
Camogie
Thursday April 19th U/13 v Ballina – Holycross at 12.30p.m.
Thursday April 26th U/13 v Nenagh – Holycross at 11.30 a.m.
Friday May 11th U/13 v Cahir – Cahir at 12 noon
Hurling
Tuesday April 24th U/11 Blitz – Holycross starting at 12 noon
Friday April 27th U/13 v Clonmel – New Inn at 1p.m.
Friday May 4th (provisional) U/13 v Carrick – New Inn at 1p.m.
A bus will bring the players to and from the match. At the recent Tipperary v Kilkenny Allianz Hurling League clash, Darragh Woods played for Tipperary in the half-time exhibition game. James Ryan will don the blue and gold and play in an exhibition game next Sunday in Semple Stadium at half time of the Allianz National Hurling League Semi-Finals. We await news of how Anna Gavin, Elaine Brennan, Jessica Crosse, Bryan O’Mara and Darragh Woods fared at the recent Primary Game Selection Days.
Soccer Coaching with James Scott for classes 1st to 3rd continues on Thursday mornings. Many thanks to Thomas Dwan who assists James every Thursday.
Trail Walking
North Tipperary Sports Partnership are promoting a Mother and Daughter Trails Walking Programme for girls aged 8-12 years. Walks will be on various trails around Upperchurch. It is envisaged that girls would walk with a female adult (mother, sister, aunt etc.) on set routes.
Dates are: Thursday 3rd May, 10th May, 17th May and 24th May @ 6 p.m. in Upperchurch. Contact details for more information: Wayne @ 067 43604 or wayne@ntsp.ie
An Taisce have just informed us that our application for a 2nd Green Flag has been successful. The Green Schools Award Ceremony will be held in Athlone on the 23rd May. Ms. McCullagh and a representative group from our committee will travel to receive the Green Flag. We are delighted with this great news and we look forward to hoisting our latest flag at a ceremony in June.