Dear Parents,
Christmas Concert
Well done to Mr. R. McHugh’s third class, Ms. Staunton’s fourth class and some of our fifth and sixth class boys who performed a wonderful Christmas Concert last night in our school hall. We are very grateful to Ms. Hunston who prepared the boys for this amazing event. We were entertained with songs in English, Irish, Latin, Spanish and German. Finn and Harry were our excellent comperes. Artemii Bumbu and Tanay Jadar played a lovely piece on the piano. Reagan Jimmy is a talented singer and sang a solo verse of ‘When I Grow Up’. Roan Brunton gave an impressive performance of ‘Jingle Bells’ on the xylophone.
The poem ‘Music Brings Joy’ was recited in three different languages. Andrii Tykhonov spoke in Ukrainian, Sarbesh Dhanasekaran read in Tamil and Dawid Wisz recited in Polish. Evan Stevenson recited a funny winter poem called ‘The Turkey’. Jonathan, Cillian, Ross and Padraig played a verse of Silent Night with musical bells which was very festive and their timing was impeccable. We are very grateful to Alison Thomas who accompanied the boys on piano and Eva Coulton who played percussion. Kathy Nugent was our special guest and she sang a beautiful rendition of The Prayer, Silent Night and Oh Holy Night. Thanks to our caretaker, Donie Gaire, for assembling a very impressive stage and thanks to Anna Dunne and our SNAs for designing the props and displaying the boys’ artwork in the hall.
Parents’ Association – Christmas Door Decorations & Hot Chocolate
There was a great buzz in school last Friday with the culmination of our Christmas Door Decoration competition. Thanks to Teresa Ellis (mother of Oisín in Mr. Lynch’s fourth class) from our PA for putting posters together and giving teachers some ideas in how to decorate their classroom door. Teresa is an art teacher and we are very grateful to her for taking the time to judge the Christmas door decorations last Friday. The winning classes were divided into the junior category and senior category. The junior category was won by Ms. Joyce’s Junior Infant class, second place was Ms. Donnelly’s first class and third place went to Ms. Kenny’s first class. The senior category was won by Mr. Keegan’s fifth class, second place was Mr. Clandillon’s sixth class and third place went to Mr. Lynch’s fourth class. Our PA organised some nice prizes for all the winning classes.
Parents’ Association – Hot Chocolate
Thanks to our PA Chairperson, Tricia McGargle, and all her team of volunteers, who provided hot chocolate and chocolate lollipops to all the boys today. We are very grateful to Áine Maher (mother of Donnacha in Ms. Joyce’s Junior Infants) who was in school late last night preparing a fantastic display of balloons for the boys today.
Santa Claus visit
There was great excitement this morning when Santa arrived at our school in a vintage car from the 1930s. Thanks to Alan Nason for giving Santa a lift. All the boys got to spend time with Santa as he visited each classroom. Our ‘Pyjama Day’ really added to the whole buzz in the school today.
Christmas Jumpers and/or Santa hats on Friday 19th December
We are asking all boys to wear Christmas jumpers and/or Santa hats tomorrow. The boys can wear their tracksuit bottoms with their jumper. The school is planning to make a donation to Vincent de Paul so that we can help some poor families over the holiday season.
School Facebook Page – New edition of ‘S-Cool News’ coming soon
Please check out our Facebook page as we have uploaded photos of our Christmas Concert, artwork and recent school events. The latest edition of our ‘S-Cool News’ will be available this weekend.
No Hot Meals tomorrow
There will be no hot meal served in school tomorrow as we are finishing early so please make sure you pack some lunch for your son tomorrow.
STEAM After-School Club starting Tuesday 13th January from 2.40pm to 3.40pm
Ms. Norris and Ms. Murphy will run a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) club every Tuesday for 6 weeks starting Tuesday 13th January. The club will cost €50. For more information please contact m.norris@stmarysbnslucan.com or ms.murphy@stmarysbnslucan.com
Fish Tank Upgrade
Thanks to Cian McGuirk (father of Alex in Ms. Killane’s Senior Infants) who upgraded our fish tank last weekend. We now have some nice new fish, a new filter and a new air pump in our aquarium which is a big hit with all our boys particularly some of our boys with special needs.
Mr. Rory McHugh – All-Ireland Junior club hurling semi-final
Mr. McHugh plays with the Sligo Senior hurling team. Best of luck to Mr. McHugh and his club team, Easkey, who play against Burt from Donegal in the All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling semi-final on Saturday in Ballyshannon.
Christmas Holidays
School will close at 11.40am for all infant classes on Friday 19th December for the Christmas Holidays. Boys from first to sixth class will finish at 11.45am. School will re-open again on Monday 5th January 2024 at 9am.
I would like to thank everyone for their support this term and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Le dea-ghuí,
Dara Burke, Principal.