Christmas Newsletter 2012
The staff and pupils of Scoil Maelruain Senior wish you a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. The school will reopen again on January 7th.
Board of Management: A sincere thanks to all members of our B.O.M. – Frank Moran, Thomas Conway, Mairead Cullivan, Martina Comerford, Aileen O’Toole, Paula McGuigan, Margaret Murphy and Caitriona Hogan.
Enrolment and Staffing: 361 pupils, 19 teachers and 1.5 SNA’s
Parents Association: Chairperson: Martina Comerford, Vice Chairperson: Sinead Tighe, Secretary: Mary Giglione, Vice Secretary: Margaret Griffin, Treasurer: Pamela Conway, Vice Treasurer: Anita Duff. Committee Members – Alison Kiernan, Catherine Clayton, Deborah Dunne, Deborah Hegarty, Debbie McLeod, Deirdre Harris, Fiona McCormack, George Carroll, Mairead Cullivan and Rhona McCarton. They organize fund raising events, the sixth class disco and the confirmation breakfast amongst other things. They subsidise the Music in the Classroom event and the cycling course. Recently they purchased our first ever basketball kit. They are always on hand to support and assist with whatever is happening in the school. Mile buiochas daoibh go leir.
Lotto Committee: Susan Thomas, Rhona Mc Carton, Catherine Clayton, Pamela Conway, Claudia Winder, Annette Condon, Alison Kiernan, and Niamh Geoghean organize the weekly lotto draw. They recently donated a generous amount of money to both schools. Thank you so much.
Christmas Activities
The choir, directed by Ms. Murphy, performed a medley of pop songs and carols on Sunday December 16th. We wish to thank Ms. Biesty for accompanying them on the piano and the Parents Association for their support. An enjoyable evening was had by all.
Well done to all the classes that took part in our Christmas Concert this year. It was a wonderful success. A special thanks to our drama teacher Ciara Byrne who helped with some of the items this year and to our Irish dance instructor Natalie Mowlds who produced the dancing.
Art and Craft: All classes decorated the halla with poems, stories and art. It looked fantastic. A separate craft competition was organized by Ms. Roberts. The winners were: Lauren Maguire, Robyn Gillespie, and Sophie Grady. Dylan Brady, April Leach, Louise Murphy, Orla Doyle, Holly Nolan, Lauren Gillespie, Eve Griffiths, Rudi Byrne, James McLeod, Mileaha McCarton, Marcus Cullivan, Ryan Flood, Eva Kershaw, Niamh McEneaney, Karla Nolan, Orlagh McGuigan, Mark Mangan, Niall Murray and nikki Cowzer all received prizes.
Ms. J. Walsh and Ms. S. Murphy organized a fund raising event for St. Vincent de Paul. They raised an amazing €1620.50. . Thanks to all who baked cakes, bought cakes and donated prizes. Thanks also to Louise and Kelly Redmond and Beatrice Nestor who contributed €45.45 they raised carol singing. A huge success.
Sport
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Our Junior and Senior Boys competed in the Cumann na mBunscol League. The Senior Boys were narrowly beaten in the quarter finals. The Juniors did very well. Thanks to Mr. Moore and Mr. O Neill who are now concentrating on the third and fourth classes.
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Our girls were also beaten in the quarter finals. They played exceptionally well and were very unlucky not to win. Our thanks to coach, Paula McGuigan, and to teacher, Martina Flood, for all their hard work. Third and fourth class girls recently played St. Martin’s in a blitz.
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Basketball takes place after school on Tuesdays and Fridays for fifth and sixth class pupils. Ms. Calally, Ms. Flood and Ms. J O’Reilly are involved.
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Swimming is currently on for fourth classes. Third class swimming starts at the end of January.
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Congratulations to the Thomas Davis Ladies team who won the All Ireland Club championship recently. a fabulous achievement. They have had an amazing year winning four titles in all. Congratulations to everyone on the team especially all our past pupils – Christina McGinty, Siobhan McGrath, Ciara McGuigan, Olwyn Carey, Jade Sweeney and Kelly Saul.
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Thanks to everyone who supported our forecast cards this year. It was a great success. There were three winners – Brendan de Lappe, Paula McNaughten and Alison Deering.
Art and Craft
We had a fantastic Hallow’een Art and Craft Display in the halla. The standard was exceptionally high. Ms. Roberts judged the entries. The winning entries were made by Lauren Maguire, Lauren Gillespie and Logan McBride. Twenty other children received prizes.
Ms. Scully organised the Fancy Dress in aid of Temple Street Hospital. €425 euro was raised. Approximately five prizes went to each class. Again the standard was exceptionally high and a lot of effort went into making the costumes. Thanks to all involved.
Hajar Alviny, Taha Mohamadzadeh, Emily Whelan, Tina Maher, Ben Noctor, Laura Healy, Rudi Byrne, Ellie Boyle Josh Dunne all won prizes in an art competition run by South Dublin County Council. Winners were invited to a reception in the County Hall and received Smyths vouchers. Congratulations to Bianca Nistor and Martin Clayton who won prizes in a Credit Union Art Competition.
Music:
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Ms. M Murphy’s choir practice every Tuesday lunchtime and Thursday after school.
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Ms. Biesty is running a music group with third classes after school on Wednesdays.
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Ms. Murphy, Ms. Biesty and five children attended an awards ceremony in The Workman’s club organised by Craft Zone. Our school song was nominated for an award. Unfortunately we did not win but a great day was had by all.
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A Bodhran and Uileann pipe workshop took place on in October. Third and fifth classes really enjoyed it.
Recycling:
Ms. McHugh’s green committee are busy recycling clothes, batteries, stamps and phones etc. We have exceeded our target of 250 mobile phones and will be exchanging them for a defibrillator in the New Year. Well done to everyone who donated so far this year and thanks to the green committee for all their hard work
Rainbows: An after school rainbows group is on every Tuesday. Rainbows support children coping with loss. Seven of our teachers have been trained to deliver this program. Thanks to Ms. S. Murphy, Ms. N. Biesty and Ms. F. Callaly who are involved this term.
Comenius Project: Ms. J. Walsh is coordinating the Good Life project. Ten of our classes are involved. Our aim is to work with our partner countries, Denmark, Finland, Wales and Italy exchanging ideas towards enabling our children to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Our project is progressing well to date. We have set up a website for our project which will enable all partner countries involved to share information, photographs and short videos: the-good-life.dk. Each year group has chosen one of the partner countries to study in more detail in geography class. Skype conferences will commence this month amongst the schools involved in the project. Christmas cards and details of how we prepare for and celebrate Christmas in Ireland were also exchanged. The children recorded singing Silent Night ‘as gaeilge’ and this will be shared via our web site. Overall the children are very enthusiastic about the project and looking forward to communicating with our partner schools in Europe.
Chess: Mr. Lucas has set up a chess club. The children will participate in an inter schools competition after Christmas.
Tallaght Person of the Year: Congratulations to Zack McLoughlin who was given a Heart of Gold award this year at the Tallaght Person of the Year awards.
Website: Check out the school website for all the latest photos of events taking place in the school. www.scoilmaelruainsenior.ie
Thanks to ALL the staff of Scoil Maelruain for their commitment and hard work and the parents who are always so supportive and involved in our school. Many thanks also to our wonderful secretaries Christine and Valerie who do sterling work in the office, Orla and Joan who keep our school clean and fresh. Last but certainly not least Bernard who is always cheerfully on hand!!!!!!!! Go raibh mile maith agaibh go léir!!
Nollaig Shona agus Bliain Nua Faoi Mhaise Dhaoibh Go Leir
I Love Christmas,
I love Christmas,
It’s my favourite season,
Everyone likes it for some kind of reason.
It’s about Faith, Hope and Love,
Blessed with peace from God above.
It’s a time for caring
A time for sharing
It’s a time for clothes you like wearing.
Christmas each year is a lot of fun
For me, you and everyone.
By: Shauna Tighe 3rd class
Its time for Christmas
Its time for Christmas,
Christmas is here,
Christmas is joy,
Christmas is cheers.
Christmas is fun,
Christmas is great,
Please Santa Claus don’t be late.
I am getting Just Dance 4,
Mario Cat and Dozens More,
I asked for more than that,
But Mum threw a fit after I mentioned the cat,
I asked for a bike,
She said take a hike,
I asked for tickets to the X Factor tour,
That’s when she let out that horrible roar.
I love Christmas,
You probably do too,
So Merry Christmas to all of you.
By: Kacey Mullins 4th class
Compiled by Ms. D. O’Reilly