Last Wednesday, 2nd Class went on a trip around Cloyne village to visit all the beautiful historical sites. We really enjoyed exploring inside the Cathedral and graveyard. We had so much fun seeing what we have been learning about in the classroom!

St. Colman’s National School, has won the “Environmental Competition for Primary School Children in Munster 2019” for our ‘Water and Beach Safety Brochure’ that was produced in 2017/18 school year.                                                This competition was run by Sherkin Island Marine Station and it is the twenty-second year that they have run this competition. They use it as an opportunity to make children more aware of how important it is to protect the environment.  The school have won a set of reference books and our brochure is currently posted on their website below if you would like to have a look at it and view some of the other winners. Maith sibh!

Check out Skerkin Island Marine Station website here

Today sees the start of Maths Week so the Maths Dept in Midleton CBS Secondary School invited local schools to attend their inaugural Maths Quiz for primary pupils.

On Wednesday 16th of October, children are invited to walk to school with our ‘Walking Buses’. (Weather permitting!)

There will be three meeting points where the ‘buses’ will leave from.

Point 1: (for children living in Pairc na Habhainn estates, Coisna Crainn or Ballinacurra direction)

The Great Wall Restaurant @ 8.40am

Contact person leading the bus: Maria O’Brien.

Point 2: (for children living in Cloyne Meadows and Churchtown south direction)

Car park by the Round Tower @8.40am

Contact person leading the bus: Catherina Blackmore.

Point 3: (for children living in Traonach or Whitegate direction)

Outside Traonach @8.40 am

Contact person leading the bus: Carroll Carroll.

Buses will meet at 8.40am and set off at 8.45am to walk to school. Children living closer to the school than the meet up points can join the buses along the way. All welcome – remember to wear your Hi-Viz vest!

Today four 6th class pupils Caoilte (team captain), Meadhbh (designated speller), Darragh and Eoin headed to Youghal GAA clubhouse to take part in Cryfm Radio Brain Blasters Quiz 2019. 16 schools compete to win the title.We faced Curraglass NS in round 1 with a place in the quarter finals awaiting the winner. After 7 exciting rounds featuring history, science, maths, spellings, sport, audio and Captain’s Blast off we came out on top. It was exciting to see how a radio show is produced with sound checks aplenty.Our next opponents in the quarter final were Gaelscoil Mhainistir na Corann this was a much tougher challenge as we’d already seen them compete in their 1st round and knew it would be fairly competitive. Both teams were even up until the 3rd round where Gaelscoil then gained momentum. Cloyne NS fought back with a really strong performance by our team Captain in the final round but alas we were pipped at the post. We thoroughly enjoyed the morning and wish Gaelscoil Mhainistir na Corann all the best in the semi finals. A big thank you to Cryfm for what is an excellent opportunity for primary school children. The programme airs in early November.

A big thank you to all who helped with Green Schools and the School Garden – parents, teachers, pupils and the Cloyne Men’s Shed and all in the Cloyne Community, without you it wouldn’t have been possible!

The following is an extract from the Tidy Towns Adjudication report: 

Consider also collaborating with the local schools involved in the Green Schools programme around the area of more efficient use of resources such as water, energy and transport.

Working closely with the Green Flag activities of the school can be hugely beneficial to Tidy Towns under this category as the pupils are learning about a wide range of environmentally conscious actions which can be communicated and replicated across the wider community.

We visited the school garden at St. Colman’s National School which was a delightful experience, brimming with colourful flowers and an abundance of vegetables and fruit in the polytunnel and vegetable garden. The imaginative wall art, recycling of pallets as fencing, old cable reels and other inventive containers and their colourful presentation was excellent and we applaud all involved.

We admired the colourful treatment of the vacant building and site on Rock Street with attractively planted bicycle and creative artwork using old bicycle wheels. We read from your Facebook page that this project was carried out by the Junior and Senior Infants from St. Colman’s National School with their teachers and parent volunteers and applaud their work– what a lovely way of showcasing the children’s work while introducing a sense of pride in their town.

In September Maura Smiddy, a parent in our school who works in the  School of Public Health in University College Cork spent two days in St. Colman’s visiting all classes to talk to the children about the chain of infection and the importance of handwashing. We also carried out an experiment to check how well we washed our hands. After putting gel on our hands we put them under a UV light which showed up the germs on our hands.

Maura also ran a competition where we had to design a poster or write a poem that would help remind teachers, parents, pupils and friends to wash their hands. Below are some of the winning entries. We would like to thank Maura for coming to St. Colman’s and Maura’s colleagues in UCC for judging the competition and to Complete Office in Midleton for sponsoring the prizes.

Please Note: Tomorrow’s Beach Clean that 6th Class were to take part in has been cancelled due to poor weather forecast.