All the children in 1st & 2nd Classes enjoyed listening to some Halloween stories written by the children of 5th & 6th Classes
5th & 6th Classes are taking part in a research project based on the creative building game ‘Minecraft’. This has been developed by Microsoft Dream Space and students take part in activities through Minecraft Education Edition over six weeks.
The pupils were delighted that the school was chosen for this project and we are putting our school iPads to good use!
The pupils of the Senior Room wrote and illustrated books for the children of the Junior Room. This is a project we undertake every year and it is always enjoyed by older and younger pupils alike!
The Senior and Junior Classrooms enjoyed some time together doing some paired reading. The younger pupils really enjoyed meeting their older buddies and we hope to do this again in the near future!
5th & 6th Classes embarked on a nature trail around the school grounds. We were looking for mini beasts, wild berries and wild flowers. It’s amazing what we found around the school environment!
The 6th Class pupils came to help the Junior Infants play some games.
The pupils of 5th & 6th Classes carried out design and construction projects. As you can see, we have some talented builders on site!
The children took part in their annual school cycle yesterday – in between the rain showers! The children from Infants up to 2nd Classes took part in cycle activities on the school yard and the carp park during the course of the day, while the older children in 3rd-6th Classes cycled to the Warren beach in Inver. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t allow for time to stop for long at the beach before they had to make their way back to school!
Our thanks to Sean Gallagher who organised the cycle to the beach – helped by Enya, G
race and Lauren. It is always good to see past pupils helping out at the school when needed – thanks girls!
Niall Bruton, an artist working from Donegal Craft Village in Donegal Town for over 30 years, was recently awarded the commission to design and make a permanent sculpture along the new N56 road at Drumconnor for Donegal County Council. Part of the commission asked Niall to carry out some art workshops in two nearby local schools and we were lucky enough to be asked to participate. Niall came to the school and talked to the 5th & 6th Class pupils and showed them a slide show of other sculptures he has made. He also showed them a model of the proposed sculpture for the new road.
After this, Niall held a clay workshop, getting the pupils to impress different objects into a prepared clay tablet. As the sculpture in this case is themed on the heritage of the area such as the local quarries, the mills, the creamery etc., Niall chose a heritage theme for the pupils to work on asking them in advance to bring in a hard object or two that perhapy represented their grandparents livelihoods such as old keys, farm or other old small tools, old small kitchen utensils etc. that could be pushed into the soft clay.
The finished clay tablets were then taken away and cast into decorative concrete kerbstones to surround the finished big sculpture that Niall is making Drumkeelan Quarry. The pupils put their initials on their individual tablets so that if they visit the sculpture in years to come they can look for their artwork and feel a part of it.
The finished sculpture will be on display hopefully in Autumn 2023 and the children will be able to see their artwork for many years to come! Our thanks to Niall for involving us in this project.
Great fun around the school today as the sun shone on our pupils as they celebrated the feast of St. Patrick. From artwork to dancing – great craic at St. Naul’s N.S. today!
