This week saw the start of our 6 week swimming programme with the pupils from 3rd & 4th Classes. This takes place annually here at St. Naul’s and it is very much looked forward to by the children! Here are the excited pupils on their way to the bus!
All the children dressed up today for some spooky fun at School! Some great costumes were on show!
We had a great day away at the Cross Country County Finals in Buncrana. Over 20 children from St. Naul’s qualified for the finals and we were delighted to have some medal winners on the day! Congratulations to our U13 boys, who won gold medals and the cup as county champions; and our U13 girls and U9 boys, who won bronze medals.
We were delighted to see some of the players from St. Naul’s GAA Mens Senior Team at the school today with the Intermediate Cup which they won last Sunday! Past pupils John Rose, Gavin Mulreany and Brendan McCole came along to show the cup to all the children. It was especially fitting to take the photographs at Fr. Seamus’ bench as today is his anniversary and while we remember him every day, today we celebrated mass for him as well.
Our school is excited to take part in the European Week of Sport. As part of our inclusive P.E. programme we are learning some new lámh signs. Class Teachers showed the pupils how to sign these action words, e.g. ‘to run’ ‘to walk’ and ‘to hop’. Each day the pupils practised these signs in class and today we completed 120 minutes of physical activity including a game of ‘Simon Says’ using the new lámh signs.
A big thank you to all the pupils and their families for collecting all the Aldi Play Rugby Stickers! We were delighted to fill three posters. Although we didn’t win the big prize in the draw, St. Naul’s N.S. received 3 Aldi Play Rugby kit bags, 12 rugby balls and 3 sets of Aldi Play water bottles. Excellent timing as this equipment arrived just in time for our Active Week!
Our annual school cycle was a great success again this year (despite the weather!). All the pupils brought their bikes to school and thanks to funding we received through the Donegal Sports Partnership, we were able to get a bicycle mechanic in to carry out a safety check on all the bikes. Our thanks to Oisín from our local Donegal Bay Cycling Club who also came to speak to the children about cycle safety
Once we knew everyone was good to go we organised the school yard with cones for the younger children to cycle their routes around, and set out with the older children for a cycle to the beach at Inver, where we had hoped to carry out a beach clean up. Unfortunately, the Donegal weather had other ideas, and sent a torrential rain shower down on us! Sadly, our idea of a clean up at the beach had to be abandoned and we had to quickly head for home!
Once we were back at school and all dried off (and the weather dried up a bit!), the older children joined in the cycling activities on the yard with the younger children. Everyone had a great day! We would like to thank the Donegal Sports Partnership for their support of the school, and the funding they granted us for our school cycle activity through the Department of Tourism and Sport and Donegal County Council. Thanks to their funding, we were also able to provide a nice hot lunch for the children as a reward for all their peddling! Great fun all round!
See below for some photos (when the camera could come out between rain showers!)
We held our own local elections today so that the children could get an understanding of the voting process. We had six party candidates all vying for the vote of the rest of the school. Poster were made and campaigning began! Our polling station was opened and everyone completed their ballot paper for their preferential candidates. Then the waiting began while the votes were counted and transfers worked out! It was a great learning process for our senior room and they enjoyed learning about the whole election process.
We welcomed Minister for Education Joe McHugh and members of the late Fr. Seamus Gallagher’s family to the school today in remembrance of Fr. Seamus, a much missed character in the community.
As Chairman of the Board of Management, Fr. Seamus assisted the school in many ways, and was a very popular presence on his regular visits to St. Naul’s N.S., with pupils and staff alike. The large turnout was a testament to the esteem in which his parishioners held him.
Minister McHugh and Hugh Gallagher, brother of Fr. Seamus, unveiled a memorial bench and willow dome after the pupils of the school had performed a number of musical tributes to Fr. Seamus, followed by a tribute by Fr. Seamus’ uncle, Danny Meehan.
Fr. James Sweeney, Parish Priest of Inver, spoke on behalf of the Parish. The school community was also joined by Seamus’ sisters Ann and Mary Catherine, as well as other members of his extended family.
Rory O’Donnell thanked the Board of Management, staff and pupils for all their hard work in the lead up to the day, and also thanked the Parents Association for their continuing support of the school.
Our thanks, as always, to Barbara McGroary for her fantastic photographs of the day.
