​The Boys from Senior Infants to 6th Class are engaging in a daily program of Physical Activity for the next 3 weeks. The Tour of Europe Challenge is an initiative promoted by Sport Ireland, encouraging pupils to put on their running shoes and visit some famous landmarks around Europe. In Scoil Na Mainistreach, Boys run a lap of the school which equals just over 330metres. Droichead, Infants and 1st Classes run 1 Lap, 2nd Class 2 laps, 3rd Class 3 laps (1Km), 4th Class 4 laps, 5th Class 5 laps and 6th Class 6 laps (2Km).
The boys in 6th class have taken on the organising of the Tour and are recording the no. of laps run by each class and converting into Kilometres. Each European city has been measured from Dublin and daily targets are set by the 6th class boys. Our Tour of Europe Map is on display on the school corridor and the cities reached are marked. 

Congratulations to our 6th Class pupils who graduated on Wednesday night. Lots of great memories recalled on the night from 8 funfilled years in primary school. The highlight of the night was a picture compilation video, that captured many of the memories from the boys 8 years. Thanks to Mr. Mulreid for all his work putting the video together. The video is attached below for all to enjoy.

The 6th Class History Squad under the guidance of Ms Holmes were crowned All Ireland Champions for 2018 in an essay writing competition commemorating the Decade of Centenaries. Having researched the Celbridge Roll of Honour during World War 1 the boys were crowned champions at a ceremony in University College Cork recently. It's a huge honor for the school and reflects the great effort put in by Ms Holmes and the boys. Our historians received tremendous support from many people within the community who provided so much information, artifacts and facts about their relatives who were involved in World War 1 and we are very grateful for that support. A copy of the winning essay is attached below. feel free to share with people who may be interested. We would welcome your comments in the section below.The essay will need to be opened in Word.
History Squad 2018: Cian Byrne, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Saket Cilaveni, Conor Casey, Sean Corduff, Lee Wallace, Robin Whelan, Conall Carey, Conor Liscombe, Brian McBride

Celbridge AC hosted their now annual, Celbridge AC Sports day for primary schools in the area in glorious sunshine. Like all the schools of the area, the boys of Scoil Na Mainistreach did themselves and the school proud, both on the track and off. Medals were won on the day by a number of boys but their sense of togetherness and teamwork throughout the day was a joy to watch. The support they gave each other in the various competitions was only matched by the exemplary effort put in by each boy in their respective events. 
Great thanks to Tracy and all the committee of Celbridge AC who were out in force. Their grounds are fantastic and reflect the huge community spirit in the club. We are fortunate top have built up a great partnership with the club over the last few years and that partnership continues to grow. 
Below is a collection of pictures that capture just some, of the many glorious moments from the day. Well done everyone and we look forward to next years Sports already. 

As part of our ‘Active Schools’ initiative and in an attempt to highlight the importance of physical exercise for children, Scoil na Mainistreach has teamed up with the globally-renowned ‘parkrun’ running event.
 
Castletown parkrun takes place every Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. and their Event Director, Sharon Ashmore has kindly invited the parents and boys of our school to join them for a ‘children-friendly’ parkrun on Saturday June 9th. We are very excited to have this opportunity which will be our 3rd year to run it as a school community. We look forward to lots of our students participating in this free event alongside their parents/guardians and a few teachers too.
 
We hope to have lots of our boys (accompanied by a guardian if under 11) at this event. If you wish to take part in this event, please follow these steps:

1. Log onto www.parkrun.ie.
2. Register EACH member of your family who wishes to run/volunteer.
3. Once registered, print out your unique barcodes.
4. Bring your barcode with you to Castletown parkrun (you need this barcode to get a time – the event director will explain how the barcode works during the pre-run talk).
5. Have a fun-filled, family morning walking, jogging or running around Castletown.
6. Visit ‘Castletown parkrun’ Facebook page for up-to-date event information.

 
If you or your child are unable/prefer not to run/walk this event, it would be great if you could volunteer instead. parkrun is a community-based initiative and its success depends on the support of volunteers. So all support would be greatly appreciated.  If you can volunteer, please make sure that you register with parkrun and email castletownhelpers@parkrun.com to express an interest in volunteering.
 
Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday 9th June (arrive early to warm-up). Please remember that all children under 11 must be within arms-reach of their parents during the event.

Dear parents,


Active Schools Week takes place this week in Scoil na Mainistreach. As part of this we are providing the children with many opportunities to engage in physical activities during school time.


We would also love for them to be active at home so we have decided to run our very own competition to find Scoil na Mainistreach's Fittest Family!


Taking part is very simple. All you have to do is email a picture and a short description of your family engaging in an active activity to snamfittestfamily@gmail.com. Each time you take part in an activity and email a picture your son's name will be entered into a raffle to win one of 25 super Active Schools Week prizes. The more times you enter with a different activity, the more times your son's name will go into the raffle! The photos we receive will be displayed in the school and on the school website. By entering and sending in a picture of you and your family you are agreeing to Scoil na Mainistreach displaying these photos around the school and online to celebrate Active Schools Week.


The competition will run for the next 3 weeks from Monday 14th May - Friday 1st June. Below you will find a list of suggested activities that you and your family could participate in over the next three weeks.


We are really looking forward to seeing some great pictures and to giving away our cool prizes!


Active Schools Week Team




Some suggested activities to take part in:

• running
• star jumps
• family walk after dinner
• walk in Castletown
• Queenie I O
• Hide & Seek
• Tip the Can
• hopscotch
• dancing to your favourite songs
• skipping (with or without a rope)
• hula-hooping
• bouncing on a space hopper
• playing with a balloon
• throwing and catching games
• tug-of-war or any other pulling/pushing games
• playing in a playground
• rounders
• cycling/ going on a skateboard/scooter
• gymnastics
• badminton
• basketball
• boxing
• martial arts
• swimming
• football
• hurling
• soccer
• rugby
• jumping on a trampoline
• table tennis
• canoeing/kayaking
• horse riding
• target games (throw a ball into a hoop)
• playing chasing

Kind Regards


Matthew Heffernan
Principal

Dear Parents,


We hope you enjoyed your Easter holidays. Welcome back to the last term. 


IN SERVICE DAY
This Thursday 12th April the school will be closed due to a staff in service day.


JEP SHOWCASE
As you know the boys in 6th Class have been participating in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme this year, selling Hamma Bead Art, Yo-yos and Keychains. Unfortunately the Hamma Bead Art has sold out, but there are still Yo-yos and Keychains available at HALF PRICE!!!
The Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) is an entrepreneurial awareness and skills enhancement programme for Primary School children, created & developed in Ireland! The programme aims to help children recognise enterprise and entrepreneurship and to foster an awareness and understanding of the entrepreneurs role in the community therefore empowering the child to start to think and act with the initiative, creativity, independence and ideas that are invaluable in the modern world.
As a result of their involvement with the JEP, the boys in 6th Class have set up their own companies to sell their products.
They are having their Showcase Day this Wednesday, April 11th in the Library in Scoil na Mainistreach, from 9:00am – 11:00am. They are inviting the public on Wednesday, in particular parents and all members of the school community, to come along and to have a look at their wonderful products and to support their business endeavours!


THANK YOU
Before Easter we did a non uniform day for Mr Mescal who took part in a cycle for 'Friends of the Coombe' charity and over €600 was raised. Many thanks for all of the donations.
We also raised €867.24 for Trócaire in the school. Thank you to all students and families for their ongoing kindness.


​

Dear Parents
 
 
EASTER
 
The boys are finished this Friday 23rd at 12.15 pm sharp. Can you please ensure all boys are collected promptly. School will re open on Monday 9th April.
 
NON UNIFORM DAY
 
Mr Mescal will be participating in a 400 km cycle to Galway (and back) in aid of  ‘The Friends of the Coombe Charity’. This charity provides a counselling service for bereaved parents. Scoil na Mainistreach is supporting this event by having a non uniform day this Friday 23rd March. All donations greatly appreciated.
 
IN-SERVICE DAY
 
The school will be closed for a staff in-service day on Thursday 12th April.
   
LOTTO
 
The lotto will take place this Friday 23nd March. It is still at €10,000. The cost is €2 per line. Please do not put your child’s name on the envelope, you must be over 18 to play. The results are posted on our website weekly.
 
 
TRÓCAIRE BOXES
 
If you have not already done so, please return all Trócaire boxes before 10 am tomorrow morning (Thursday 22nd).  We cannot accept them after this time. 

​The lotto is still at €10,000. If you wish to take part, choose 4 numbers between 1 and 28. The cost is €2 per line. Please do not put your child's name on the envelope, as you need to be over 18 to play. We would ask parents to please support the lotto. This week's jackpot was worth €10,000 and took place on Friday 16th March. This weeks winners of the €50 were S Mulcahy and E Forde. The numbers drawn were 3, 12, 15 & 17.

​Dear Parents,


SNOW
We would like to Thank the parents/staff/children who helped clear the snow on Monday, without them we would not have been able to open Tuesday. I am putting out an SOS for volunteers to help clear remaining snow tomorrow (Friday) morning from 9.15 am. Please bring a shovel!


BOOK FAIR
The Book Fair was cancelled due to bad weather. It is now scheduled for Thursday 26th April. We will give more details closer to the event.
You can use your World Book Day token at any good book shop. This gives €1.50 off any book costing €4 or more. There are books issued each year to celebrate the event.
There is a great website that gives details about the special issue books at  http://www.worldbookday.com/world-book-day-ireland/
The book vouchers can also be used at the Book Fair.


LOTTO
The lotto is now €10,000. As the old saying goes, if you are not in you can't win. If you wish to take part, choose 4 numbers between 1 and 28. The cost is €2 per line. Please do not put your child's name on the envelope, you must be over 18 to play. We would ask the parents to support the lotto.


CONGRATULATIONS
A huge congratulations to David Geraghty in 5th Class who came 3rd in the Kildare final of The Spelling Bee. The standard was very high this year and he made us all proud. 


Also Arnas Rancas from 3rd Class, who won a medal at the World Kick Boxing Championships. He is a future star in the making... 


GAMES CLUB
The games club for 1st to 3rd class is on Wednesdays. The 4th to 6th class is on Tuesdays. 


Kind Regards


Matthew Heffernan
Principal

After inspecting the school today the BOM have decided to remain closed tomorrow Monday 5th March on Health and Safety grounds. Access to the school is dangerous. We plan to start clearing access tomorrow from 11 am. All welcome to help - please bring a shovel. 

 The Department of Education & Skills has directed all schools in Leinster to close tomorrow (Thursday 1st March) and Friday (2nd) because of safety risks. Reopening Monday. 

Please see Department of Education & Skills Statement here. 

Dear Parents,


I wish to congratulate Dominic Tyrrell, on being appointed as Principal of Killina National School.


Dominic who is currently teaching one of our Junior Infant classes has been with us for 15 years and has made an enormous contribution to the school community.


This means he will be leaving us and taking up his new post after Easter.


We wish him all the very best in his new position and we know what an excellent Principal he will be.


Kind Regards


Matthew Heffernan
Principal

​The lotto is still at €10,000. If you wish to take part, choose 4 numbers between 1 and 28. The cost is €2 per line. Please do not put your child's name on the envelope, as you need to be over 18 to play. We would ask parents to please support the lotto. This week's jackpot was worth €10,000 and took place on Friday 2nd March. This weeks winners of the €50 were S Club 16 and C Gunning. The numbers drawn were 3, 8, 10 & 22.