Togher N.S.

2007—A Winning Year!!!

The Christmas Holidays are almost upon us and a well-deserved break for one and all is on its way! It has been a tremendously busy year for the children the teachers and the parents but it has been good fun and worth the effort.
We have achieved great things this year with 3 National Awards in one term!! Our film won the Best Adapted Screenplay Award at the National Awards. We have a published author in 6th Class who’s winning story has been published in the Dear Grace Book. And we have a winning Artist in 2nd Class who won the Greyhounds as Pets Art Competition.
As always a huge Thank You to all the Parents who have given so willingly of their time throughout the year and especially at the recent Craft Fair. We are truly grateful. We couldn’t do without you. Happy holidays to you all. We hope that Santa’s good to you all.
From the Staff & Pupils

A Special Visitor for the Infant Classes

Keep it under your hat ….. On Monday the 17th of December a very special visitor will be coming to Ms Daly’s Class!! Ho Ho Ho Can you guess who?!?!

Christmas Creations

The children have been busy over the last week or two preparing for Christmas. The children in 5th and 6th Class made the traditional Christmas Cake! Lots of fun and lots of delicious smells and lots of mess!! In the Junior room you can see the beautiful crib which the children made with their art teacher. The children have also been busy this week making Christmas decorations. The school is very glittery at the moment and is looking lovely with Christmas trees and decorations. The children of 4th 5th & 6th made beautiful holly and ivy wreaths. Thanks to the parents who gave so generously of their time.

The Grace Nolan
Foundation—Published Authors in our Ranks!

During September the children of 5th & 6th participated in The Dear Grace letter writing. This is run by the Grace Nolan Foundation. Thousands of Primary School children around the country took part with only 30 winners. We were delighted that one of our pupils was one of those winners. Her letter has been published in the new Dear Grace book.
All of the participating children were invited to The Helix in Dublin for the Award Ceremony. None of them knew who the winner was going to be so there was great excitement and anticipation on the bus going up despite the fact that they set off at 5am!!
The Grace Nolan Foundation paid for the coach and provided treats for the children at The Helix. There were celebrities there to present the awards and entertain the children—Boyzone 21 Demands Brendan O’Carroll to name a few. It was a great day out—exhausting but great fun!!
The Parents Association will be buying a few copies of the book to have in the class libraries here at school.
And well done to another of the 6 Class pupils too! An extract from his story appeared in the “out-takes” section of the book.
All of the children deserve praise for the tremendous effort they all put in to their stories.

Greyhounds as Pets
Art Competition

To promote the Greyhounds as Pets Initiative the Irish Greyhound Board recently invited entries from all the national schools in Ireland to take part in an Art Competition.The competition was split into 3 age categories.The hundreds of entries were judged at the Limerick School of Art & Design and a winner was chosen in each category.We are thrilled to announce that one of our 2nd class girls won her category and received a fantastic art hamper courtesy of Faber Castell.Of course the real winners are the Irish Greyhound Board as they have used the 3 winning paintings as designs for their 2007 Christmas Cards!

Performance In February

As this has been such a busy term we’ve had no time to work on a Christmas Concert. However plans are afoot for an evening of “Performance” in February. Scripts are being written as we speak! More details in the New Year!

Science

We are placing a big emphasis on Science this year and are covering many of the experiments listed in the Discover Primary Science Programme. This programme is intended to be a resource for teachers and students to help young children to understand that science isn't just about people in white coats carrying out difficult experiments. It's about fun discovery and adventure and it is something which is fundamentally relevant to our everyday lives.

Award of Science Excellence

There are Awards of Science Excellence for those schools which excel in their levels of participation in Discover Primary Science which we are currently working towards achieving.
Last month pupils in 5th and 6th Class visited Discovery 2007 – Cork’s Interactive Science Exhibition in the City Hall Cork. This exhibition aim was to encourage an interest in science engineering and technology among young people. There were practical hands-on exhibits which proved to be very interesting and educational. The children enjoyed it enormously especially the robots!!
In February they will be going to Lifetime Labs in Cork for a day of hands-on science. This is always a hugely successful and enjoyable experience for the senior pupils.

Pride in Our School

Many of the older children are taking part in the “Pride in Our School” competition run by Irish Pride. They have written essays on why they are proud of their school. They are very good so you never know we may have yet another winner!.

Maths for Fun

Ms Hurley and Mr Gray recently ran some Maths for Fun sessions with the Junior classes. Several parents came in to help with the sessions where games are used to introduce the basic concepts of maths to young children. Many thanks to the parents who helped out. Great fun was had by all.

Music Lessons

For the next few months a parent in the school who is a very accomplished musician will be coming in each week to do music lessons with 5th & 6th Class pupils This is part of her Teaching practice. We wish her well. This is a great opportunity for the children to learn music from an expert.

Films In Schools

Two girls from 6th Class were the winners of the “raffle” and accompanied the Principal to The Helix in Dublin on Thursday 25th October to collect the FIS award. The award is in the shape of a clapper board and will look great in our display cabinet which is going to have to be extended at this rate!

“Puppet Power”

The older children enjoyed a day in Bantry at the Westlodge Hotel as the culmination of their work with Penny Hancock. There were performances from other schools of Indian Dance and our children performed Acrobatics. It was a fun day out very informative and interesting and delicious Indian food was enjoyed by all.

Panto Trip

This year’s panto trip will take place on Wednesday 19th December. It’s Cinderella this year (or is it “Cinder Fella”?!?!).
Because the cost of the ticket has increased to €20 per child the Parents Association has volunteered to pay the bulk of the transport costs.

Operation Christmas Child

Well done to all the families who sent in “shoe-box” presents for the Operation Christmas Child appeal. 30 boxes were delivered to Skibbereen from Togher NS and are now on their way to Belarus. We are so touched by your generosity and the huge response to this appeal. We think you are fantastic! Thank you so much. And a special thanks to Maighréad Peters who instigated the appeal within the school and who delivered the boxes for us. We hope to do this next year again.

Confirmation

Seven children from the senior class attended their Mass of Enrolment for Confirmation on Sunday 2nd December. Confirmation will take place on April 14th next year.

Recycle your old mobile phones!

If you have any old mobile phones lying around please bring them in to school in January next year. They will be collected by the Friends of Calcutta charity on 15th January and all money raised from recycling them will go to help educate children in Calcutta.

M.I.C.C.

The induction programme for 6th Class students wishing to enroll in M.I.C.C. is underway. Last month staff members came to visit the children and talk about life as a first year in secondary school. Application forms should have been returned to M.I.C.C. this week and confirmation of places will be sent out on 1st February. Option Night takes place on Tuesday 4th March.

Ombudsman for Children—Big Ballot

Earlier this year the Ombudsman for Children carried out a ballot amongst young people in Ireland in schools Youth Reach Centres and Traveller Training Centres in order to find out what children think are the “Big Issues” that affect them. The voting was carried out in school as part of SPHE classes. The results have just been published. By far the top priority for Irish children especially those of Primary school age is “Family and Care” followed by “Play leisure and recreation” “Children’s right to be heard” and “Health wealth and material well-being”.

Parents Association News

Christmas Craft Fair

Well done everyone!!! This was our best year yet. We raised over €4 800. An awful lot of hard work went into it but it certainly paid off. We’re very grateful to Martin Maybury of the Parkway for allowing us to use the hotel. It made the day for everyone.