NOLLAIG SHONA DHÍBH!

A Happy Christmas to You All!

CHRISTMAS DECORATION
COMPETITION

Children took part in a Christmas Decoration Competition. All decorations had to be made from recycled materials. One entry from the school has been sent into Sligo County Council to the Council's Competition. Everyone was a winner; the energy and enthusiasm were exceptional. Teachers had to chose three entries from each class. Here are most of the winners with their decorations.

Well done to these and all the children, and a special thanks to Mary Power for organising the event. Here are some of the decorations:

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And this angel went forward into the Sligo County Council Competition representing Rathcormac and the efforts of all the children:

The Two Sixth Classes Produce Chrismas Plays:

Ms O'Boyle's Class produced an excellent play called Jack's Gift in which a young boy with very little money works and saves to give his mother a gift of a lifetime, a Christmas Crib with all the figures. With some help from friends and strangers he succeeds.

They performed the play to classes in the school and to their parents. There were songs and dances in the production and this water fight that also soaked some of the audience as well!

Ms Coggins' class produced a musical feast with some excellent singing accompanied by talented musicians playing between them a fiddle, a harp, a keyboard and several flutes. The play was called "The Gift" and took the audience on a journey to discover the real meaning of Christmas. The spirit of the play is captured in this final moment when santa hats were thrown aloft!

Well done to both classes who gave children in the rest of the school two magical performances.

Early Years Nativity Plays

Congratulations to all children in Junior & Senior Infants and in 1st Class for their wonderfully entertaining Nativity Plays. Here are three photos from the three plays:

Junior Infants

Senior Infants

1st Class

WHOLE SCHOOL EVALUATION

Two School Inspectors, Suzanne Conneely and Máire Ní Mháirtín, were in school for four days from Monday15th November to Thursday 18th November, conducting a Whole School Evaluation. They visited every class in the school and talked to all the 'stake holders', the Principal, the Teachers, the SNAs, the Post Holders, the Board of Management, the Parent Association,and of course the Children themselves. They were very thorough in their appraisal of the workings of the school and will officially be reporting back to staff and Board of Management on the 7th December.

Initial feedback suggests that they were very impressed with the quality of Teaching and Learning in the school. They will have recommendations on improving systems within the school and on how we could move the whole school forward. We look forward to hearing their recommendations and working on them.

What is important is to acknowledge where we are, our strengths and weaknesses, to use this outside inspection as a time for taking stock and addressing any weak areas and improving the quality of the service we provide. It should be a continual process of evaluation and improvement.

However it is also a time too for recognising and congratulating the staff, parents and Board of Management for all their hard work, support and involvement in ther life of the school. The children themselves were wonderful during the week and were congratulated by the inspectors. We too would like to thank the inspectors for the positive approach they brought to the inspection, and for their warmth and support of our school.

Under Age Soccer Training

We have been asked to put a notice on our news board that the Under Age Soccer Training run by Michael Flannol is taking a winter break and will resume in Spring 05.

Future Dates:

15th - 18th November School Inspectors Visiting the School

7th December School Closes at 12.30pm for a Staff Meeting

8th December School Closed - Church Holiday

22nd December Christmas Holidays Begin

10th January School Re-opens for the Spring Term

17th & 18th February School Closed Mid Term Break

17th March School Closed St Patrick's Day

24h March School Closed Easter Holidays

4th April School Opens for Summer Term

2nd May School Closed for Public Holiday

6th June School Closed Public Holiday

27th June School Closed for Summer Holidays

1st September School Re-opens for the new school year