Volume 18, Issue 09

Bealtaine / May 2013

Linking home and school.

First Holy Communion - boys

who are making their Holy Communion go

home at 12.30 p.m. on Friday 24th of May.

First Holy Communion: Saturday the 25th

of May, 2013 at 11.00 a.m. Please send in a

copy of your child’s Baptismal Certificate if

he was baptised outside of Clonakilty.

Surfing for the second half of Rang 6 starts

on April 26th and ends on 17th of May.

Kayaking: for Rang 5 starts on May 15th

and 16th (Ms. Forristal’s). The following

week - 22nd and 23rd it’s Ms. O’Brien’s

class.

School Closed: Mon. 3rd, Tuesday 4th

June.

School Tours: Please see page 11 for full

list of tours. Scoilavision 2013: Wednesday

19th of June

Summer Holidays: Friday 28th

of June at 12.00p.m. Click here

“This school should be used as a model for other schools

around the country” - The Minister for Education and Science

Email: info@snbclonakilty.com

Website Address: www.snbclonakilty.com Mobile site: m.snbclonakilty.com

Telephone/fax: 8834487

Twitter: @snbclonakilty

On April 17th last twenty four pupils from 5th and

6th classes travelled to Glengarra Wood near Cahir

in Tipperary to represent their school in the Irish

Primary School Orienteering Championships.

In terrible weather conditions, the boys did amazing-

ly well over the two and a half kilometre course

against schools from all over the country.

Fifth class claimed first team prize for our school in their competition with

Dean Harte and Eoin Cronin coming joint first with a time of 17:06 mins.

They were followed by Jack Conway, Callum Holding and Brian White in

2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively. This was a truly remarkable result and full

credit to all the 5th class boys.

In the 6th class competition, our team came 2nd and also put in fantastic perfor-

mances with Robert Downey, Tomas Batterberry, Oisin O’Sullivan and

Keelan Crawford putting in four really fast times . Well done to all the boys

who travelled and represented our school to the best of their ability. Their ef-

forts paid off and finished off the year being successful at the highest level in

(Continued on page 7)

If you have a Smart phone

just scan the QR Code on the

right and it will bring you

straight to our website.

As you know there is an increased number of

children using Smartphones and iPads. A lot of

the Confirmation class purchased iPads / tablets

recently.

Please be extremely vigilant about when and

what your child is accessing on the internet.

Many phones now have unlimited access to the

internet. Children should never have unsu-

pervised access to the internet - either at

(Continued on page 3)

@snbclonakilty

This year’s Daffo-

dil Day was our

best ever, with

€1908 collected on

the day.

Pictured on the

left: Organisers

Liz O’Regan and

Therése Hayes

with representa-

tives from SnB.

Page 2 Volume 18, Issue 09

David O’Regan & Co. Chartered Accountants

Registered Auditors

Our services include: Financial Accounting &

Bookkeeping

Audit & assurance – Taxation Consultancy

Small & Medium Business Support

Contractor Solutions HR & Payroll

Company Secretarial & Formation

Strategic & Business Planning

Please contact:

David O’Regan on

Mob: 087-2043800

Email: david@dor.ie

Web: www.dor.ie

Hire some fun for any occasion

Phone: Clonakilty

023 88 35595

Mobile: 086

8315744

Bantry: 027 50713

Mobile: 087

9081273

Best wishes to this year’s Holy Communion class - Rang 2 - who

are making their First Holy Communion on Saturday 25th of May.

Many thanks to Ms. Karen O’Regan, Ms. Mairéad Dwyer, Mrs.

Josephine Files, Mrs. Mairéad Coombes, Mr. John Files, Fr. Col-

lins, Mr. Finbarr O’Connor and Mrs. Thelma Barry for all their

hard work and assistance they have given to the boys in prepara-

tion for their big day.

We request that parents would be sensitive to all the children

when giving out cards/gifts on the day and to choose an appropri-

ate time and place to do this.

Some parents have asked if they have to give a card/gift to each

child in the class. Of course you don’t, just give cards to close

friends.

REMINDER: boys who are making their Holy Communion go

home at 12.30 p.m. on Friday 24th of May.

It may not have been the

Camp Nou in Barcelona or

even the Aviva in Dublin

but the lads from S.N.B. had

a great day out recently

when they once again took

part in the F.A.I. Primary

Schools Five-a-Side soccer

competition. The venue was

the excellent all-weather astro turf pitch in Mayfield in Cork on a

beautiful sunny spring day, a rarity indeed!

We brought a squad of eight players, complete with shin guards

and plenty of enthusiasm. The first game was against St. Colum-

bas Douglas and having fallen two goals behind, battled back to

draw level at three goals apiece but suffered heartbreak to lose to

an injury time winner for our opponents.

Next up were the lads from the famed North Mon. who were that

bit stronger physically and they took the points by a two goal mar-

gin. Nevertheless, the display by the Clon lads was noticeably

better in terms of their overall display as they were now coming to

terms with the artificial pitch.

This was really evident in the final game against Glasheen as, in

spite of having to play two games in a row, the boys gave as good

as they got and with the whole squad, subs and all playing their

part, battled to a tremendously exciting four all draw.

The event was a great learning experience for players and mentors

alike where they had to compete against some very big city

schools with soccer as their main sport and with a number of their

players already on the books of Cork City at schoolboy level!

Well done to all the squad which was: Gearóid O’ Donovan, Ad-

am Hunt, King Iyalla, Dean Harte, Tomás Batterberry, Craig Mc.

Dermott, Devidas Brazas and Michael Mensa.

Many thanks to Mr. Michael Harte for managing the team

and to Mr. O’Brien for accompanying Mr. Harte and the

boys. More photos on page 7.

“Just One” Cent box-

es are still very popu-

lar.

So far €216 has been

collected and this

money will be given

to Declan Murphy

when he visits us next

year.

Page 3 Volume 18, Issue 09

7 - a - side : Mr. O’Brien’s competition is in full swing at present.

Click here

Click here

Basketball: Training is on Tuesdays and

Thursdays. All matches are on the homepage

of our website. Please check to see when

your child is playing.

Quizzard ’12/13: is now in Quarter Final

Stage. Classes from Rang 3 - Rang 6 are

participating. Colm Brennan, Rang 6 and

Adam Sexton Rang 5 are be in charge of the

quiz this year.

Chess: Learners for Learners is now fin-

ished for the year.

Players Top 16 are on Tuesdays/

Wednesdays. All classes are on the site.

Soccer Competitions -

Senior Infants Soccer

Held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or

Thursdays. No Soccer on Friday. Teams are

on website. Please check site for days.

Rang 1 and Rang 2: now held on Mon-

days / Tuesdays / Wednesdays and Thurs-

days - depending on which team your son is

on. He has been told and the teams are on

the website.

Click here

Click here

Click here

home / outside the home. Please set ground rules

with your child:

Never use the ipad/tablet/phone unsupervised.

Never allow the child to access the internet in

his bedroom on the tablet, phone or pc. These

should be handed up to parents before a child

goes to his bedroom.

Children in Primary School are too young to

access Social Media sites like Facebook etc,

though we realise many of them do. There-

fore you have to be extremely careful of what

he may be saying / receiving on these sites.

Remind your child regularly to inform you if

he sees or receives any message which he

finds uncomfortable.

(Continued from page 1)

Multi-Media Authoring / Video Editing / Computer Lessons /

Coderdojo - for Rang 2/3, Rang 3, Rang 4, Rang 5 and Rang 6 have

restarted with our new laptops.

Swimming: Rang 6 (1/2) and Rang 5/6 started on April 26th and con-

tinues until May 31st.

Wardens – Boys in fifth/sixth class train with Mr. Harte and Chris

Hinchy for Junior Warden Duty.

Rugby - has finished now for the year. Many thanks to Barry Dillon.

GAA - with James O’Donovan has finished now for the year. It is

also James’ last year in Scoil na mBuachaillí as he has now retired.

Best wishes to James and many thanks for all the work he has done

over the years.

Surfing for Rang 6 (2nd half) started on Friday 26th of April for 4

weeks. Thanks to Ms. Regina Fitzmaurice for organising this for

Rang 6.

Kayaking is starting later this month - dates are on page 1.

. Rang 3 | Rang 4 | Rang 5 | Rang 6

Matches are on Monday - Thursday. Boys have

been assigned a particular day and they will play

their games on this day right up to the Summer

Holidays. Extra day’s soccer on Fridays. Please

check site for days. Click here

This very popular scheme started in Sep-

tember for all classes except Junior Infants. Stamps

cost €1 each. Children in Rang 6 will use this

scheme for saving for their Surfing lessons and boys

in Rang 5 will use it for Kayaking. This is compul-

sory - all children must save each week for

Kayaking / Surfing if they wish to go rather than ask

their parents at the last minute for the fee.

Remember no saving NO Surfing/Kayaking!!!

Boys from Rang 2 /3 agus Rang 2 had a great day at

Clonakilty Credit Union recently.

At present we are sorting out classes for 2013/2014

and if you are not returning to Scoil na mBuachaillí in

September please let us know as soon as you can by

contact Barth Harrington (Príomhoide) on 023

8834487 or by email on

info@snbclonakilty.com

Page 4 Volume 18, Issue 09

Pictured below: Photographs from Confirmation 2013 and

Senior Infant Hurling with James O’Donovan

There are loads more photos going with this Links

online >>>>>>>>

Click here

All done 18.09

Page 5 Volume 18, Issue 09

Pictured below: Photographs from Confirmation 2013, Elocution

boys with their certs, Seniors/Rang 1 Healthy Eating, Yard Con-

struction

There are loads more photos going with this Links

online >>>>>>>>

Click here

All done 18.09

Page 6 Volume 18, Issue 09

All cans gratefully received . Please contact Ms. Sarah

O’Brien if you have any query re. this matter. The

money that is collected by this scheme is used in the

school garden. Thanks to Eric and James for helping

with cans this year.

Photos

above

All-Ireland

Orienteering

in Cahir, Co.

Tipperary,

Gardening -

Rang 6 help-

ing Rang 3,

Seniors/

Rang 1 en-

gage in Sci-

ence Les-

sons - but

what are

they mak-

ing???

Thanks to all who made this year’s Confirmation a memorable day -

Ms. Regina Fitzmaurice, Ms. Sarah O’Brien, Mrs. Marie Forristal,

Mrs. Mairéad Coombes, Ms. Tina Aherne, Mrs. Mim Hill, Mrs. Josie

Files / Mrs. Susan McCarthy, Mrs. Elaine Connolly and Ms. Grace

O’Shea.

Click here

Page 7 Volume 18, Issue 09

Pictured on right: Confirmation 2013, FAI 5 a side Soccer

Competition

Pictured above: Rang 3 at the Hurling Blitz in Ahamilla recently

and Rang 2/3 agus Rang 2 at the Credit Union.

this schools’ event.

Many thanks to Mr. David O’Brien for all his hard work training

the boys. Thanks also to Mr. Michael Harte for accompanying the

team with Mr. O’Brien on the day.

Special thanks to the Parents Association for subsidising the cost of

the bus. Photos on page 6.

(Continued from page 1)

On Friday the 3rd of May the boys from 3rd class , had a Hurling

Blitz in Ahamilla, playing different schools from around West Cork,

The teams included the Gaelscoil, Knockskeagh, Clogadh, Balli-

nacurra and Scoil na mBuachailli, The third class boys won two out

of three matches with each team, a great day was had by all, many

thanks to the parents and teachers who helped to organize the day -

especially to Ms. Karen O’Regan, Mr. Seán Daly, Ms. Elaine

Gleeson, Mr. James O’Donovan and all who ferried the boys to

and from Ahamilla.

Click here

Page 8 Volume 18, Issue 09

Click here

Well done to all the boys who did so

well in their Elocution Exams recently.

Young and old performed extremely

well.

Many thanks to Mrs. Irene Walsh for

all her hard work and interest in the boys

of Scoil na mBuachaillí.

There will be a meeting for Parents of children in the Job-Sharing Classes to explain how the Job-sharing arrangement will work.

We have had Job-sharing in Rang 1 for many many years now and it has been very successful.

This time Mrs. Mary-Buckley Healy will share with Mrs. Elaine Connolly and Ms. Kathryn O’Shea will share with Ms. Maire

Houstoun. The meetings will be held in October and all relevant parents will be notified in advance.

Tomorrow, Monday 13th of May, all boys in Senior Infants will receive a note inquiring whether or not you wish to join the School

Rental Scheme next year. This is the one and only time you will be asked and this is the only time you can opt in.

ALL NOTES MUST BE RETURNED BY FRIDAY 17TH OF MAY.

If the note is not returned we will assume that you are not interested.

Photos below: New laptops in Rang 3, Rugby Blitz

for Rang 5, Junior Infants visit Bushmount.

Page 9 Volume 18, Issue 09

Pictured below: An Lá Mór, Guard of

Honour, Ms. O’Regan and her choir (with

a lot of SnB mothers, fathers and staff.

Click here

Our Colm

Page 10 Volume 18, Issue 09

Pictured above you can see our

“Gentlemen of the Week”.

These boys have made an extra

effort to be polite and

“gentlemanly” during the month

of April.

Dan Peet, Dean Peters, Joshua Leahy, Szymon Gomola are deemed to be “Gentleman of the Month” (for April) as they have been

nominated for 2 weeks out of the 3 weeks by either staff members or parents. Well done!

Some of the boys mentioned above have again got off to a great start for the month of May!.

Pictured below: “Gentlemen of the Week” during the month of April and May,

Tag Rugby Competition

On Wednesday the 1st of May, Ms. Forristal’s class were in-

vited to ‘The Vale’ for their annual Tag Rugby Blitz. An en-

joyable day was had by all, with each team playing four non-

competitive matches. Accompanied by Ms. Forristal, Ms.

O’Boyle and Mim Hill the boys got a chance to perfect the

skills taught to them during the year by Barry Dillon. With an

emphasis on fun, this was another great day at ‘The Vale’.

Well done to all!

More photos are on page 8 of this Links.

Many thanks to Mrs. Marie Forristal, Ms. Carol O’Boyle,

Mrs. Mim Hill and Mr. Barry Dillon.

Week ending Friday April 26th, 2013 Week ending Friday April 12th, 2013

Week ending Friday April 19th, 2013

Week ending Friday May 3rd, 2013 Week ending Friday May 10th, 2013

Pictured above: CoderDojo with

Margaret Deegan in Ms. O’Regan’s

Page 11 Volume 18, Issue 09

Click here

We have included this section again about school tours for

your convenience.

This week All boys (Junior Infants - Rang 4) will received a

Permission Form re. School Tours. This has to be returned

within the week.

You can now send in the more for school Tours. If the

price of the school tour is causing concern to any family,

please contact the Principal, Barth Harrinton about this

matter on 8834487.

4TH CLASS TOUR:

Date: Thursday, 13th of June

Venue: Tour of Spike Island involving boat trip from

Cobh to the island and Titanic walking tour of Cobh.

Leaving school at 9.00 a.m. and returning 4.15 p.m.

Price: €25

School Tracksuit must be worn on the day - includ-

ing polo shirt - there is no exception to this.

Children must bring a snack, packed lunch, drinks,

raingear and an empty plastic bag for rubbish.

3RD

Date: Wednesday 12th of June

Venue: Mardyke Arena (Activities: Basketball,

Soccer, Hip Hop, Olympic Challenge, Roacoloons

Leaving school at 9.10 a.m. and returning 4.00 p.m.

Price: €30

School Tracksuit must be worn on the day - includ-

ing polo shirt - there is no exception to this.

Children must bring a snack, packed lunch, drinks,

and an empty plastic bag for rubbish.

2ND CLASS TOUR:

Date: Friday 21st of June

Venue: Mardyke Arena

Normal School times apply.

Price: €27.00

Lunch and 2 drinks

School Tracksuit must be worn on the day - including

polo shirt - there is no exception to this.

Children must bring a snack, Packed Lunch, drinks,

and an empty plastic bag for rubbish.

1ST CLASS TOUR:

Date: Monday 10th of June

Venue: Mardyke Arena

Price: €27.00.

Normal School times apply.

Lunch and 2 drinks

School Tracksuit must be worn on the day - including

polo shirt - there is no exception to this.

Children must bring a snack, Packed Lunch, drinks,

and an empty plastic bag for rubbish.

SENIOR INFANT TOUR

Date: Friday 7th of June

Venue: Fota Island Wildlife Park

Price: €20.00

9.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.

NO POCKET MONEY

Children must bring a snack, Packed Lunch, drinks,

raingear, and an empty plastic bag for rubbish.

Rainwear/Sunscreen.

School Tracksuit must be worn on the day - including

polo shirt - there is no exception to this.

JUNIOR INFANT TOUR

Date: Friday 7th of June

Venue: Waterfall Apaca Farm

Normal school times apply.

Price: €12.00.

School Tracksuit must be worn on the day - including

polo shirt - there is no exception to this.

NO POCKET MONEY -

Sun Hat, sunscreen and Rain Jacket are necessary.

Wellingtons (if the child has them / or old shoes) Please note: the boys should bring a packed lunch and

drinks on the day.

Many thanks to all the teachers for organising the tours again

this year.

Thank you to Mrs. Margaret Deegan for teaching

CoderDojo in Rang 2 / 3.

Thanks to Mrs. Yvonne Shanley for helping us with

the purchase of 2 iPads and an Apple Tv recently.

The Apple TV is not a television. It allows the teach-

ers to show what is on the iPad on the Interactive

Whiteboard.

Thanks to everyone for the huge response to our Liter-

acy Survey (more about this below).

They were:

The timing of the Parent/Teacher Meetings. As

you know all parents are free to call into the school at

any time to discuss your child’s progress. It would be

preferable to ring beforehand - to ensure the availabil-

ity of the teacher as she/he may be teaching a class at

the time.

All the staff felt that they would prefer the Parent/

Teacher meetings at an earlier time also so it was

decided to do the following:

Parent/Teacher Meetings for Senior Infants

- Rang 6 will take place in November in fu-

ture. Next school year it will be the 21st of

November. The school calendar will be

amended at a later stage.

Parent/Teacher Meetings for Junior Infants

will take place in March - next year on the 7th

of March. This meeting is later as formal

reading does not take place until later in the

year in the Infant classroom.

More feedback to do with Literacy. To facilitate

this it has been decided to include a Feedback Section

on next year’s Literacy Lift Parent Form. This will

enable the teacher or the parent to write comments

about how the child is doing in this area.

However for this to be successful parents must sign

the LLO form each night and ensure that the reading

is done.

Page 12 Volume 18, Issue 09

We are redesigning our school sign at the moment and it

was suggested that it would be nice to have a slogan on the

sign.

To this end we would welcome all suggestions by email,

post or just drop them off at the office. The slogan should

be short - probably under 10 words but we will consider all.

Mrs. Buckley-Healy’s suggestion is

“ SnB is the place to be!”

Best wishes to Ms. Sarah O’Brien

who is leaving us this Friday to

take up the principalship of Scoil

Mhuire Rosscarbery.

Ms. O’Brien has been in Scoil na

mBuachaillí for almost five years

and has been a tremendous asset to the school.

She is an excellent teacher and has done her utmost for all the

boys who were in her care. Also she helped out with extra-

curricular activities in her own time.

She coached the boys in basketball, initiated the Spelling Bee

Competition and the Debating Competition and has also

looked after Mr. Pat Collins’ garden since he left.

We know she will do extremely well in her new role in

Rosscarbery. Ms. Elaine Gleeson is taking over the class

until the end of the school year.

All the parents and children in the school (except for Junior

Infants) were surveyed recently.

The Literacy Survey proved to be a very positive experience

with the vast majority of respondents expressing their grati-

tude for our Literacy Programme - primarily the Literacy

Lift Off Programme and also for the Reading Recovery

Programme.

I would like on your behalf to express our gratitude to Ms.

O’Boyle (LLO) and Ms. O’Keeffe (Reading Recovery) -

for all the hard work they both do.

Also I wish to thank all the staff of the school and the volun-

teer parents for the work they do with LLO programme - it

is very much appreciated and much valued.

There were two issues that came up time and time again in

the surveys and these were discussed at a recent staff meet-

ing.

Continued above

All - Ireland Orienteering Relay Champion - in Galway

recently .