Newsletter June 2017

KNOCKANEAN N.S

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

This is the final newsletter of the 2016/2017 school year and the pupils look back at some of the

events / highlights as they saw them since Easter.

JEP:

On Tuesday the 25th of April 6th class went to Treacy's West County to showcase our JEP Fairy

Doors. The event was held by Tom Glynn on behalf of the JEP. Many other schools attended, in-

cluding, C.B.S. whose teacher Colm Davern spoke about what a great opportunity the JEP is. Each

school had two pupils speak up on stage about what their class project was and what they

learned. The two people that represented our school were Éabha Warner and Aoibhínn O’Sulli-

van. They did a great job and then were presented with a JEP plaque and flag for our school. Anne

Norton, our mayor gave a speech about entrepreneuring and so did Domhnall Slattery, CEO of

Avelon. After that they provided a small lunch for us. Overall the JEP was a brilliant opportunity

for us and we really enjoyed it!

By Molly Sheehan, Isabella Crowley & Hannah Hegarty

Girls 7 aside Football Final:

On 24th of April it was the girl's mini sevens football final and qualifiers. In the first match we

played Clohenbeg.. The final score was 2.0-0.2. Phoenix Mc Govern Wolfe and Éabha Ó Driscoll

scored 2 amazing goals!! The second match was against Clonmoney. We hammered them

11.2 - 1.0. Eabha ,Phoenix and Aoife Carey lead us to victory with 11 cracking goals as others won

the ball and brilliantly passed it in. It was great teamwork!!!!!!!! The next match was the final

against Annagh/ Mullagh. Very early in the game they got three goals and it wasn't looking

good . We tried our hardest but we could not break down their excellent defence. Unfortunately

we ended up as the second best team in the mini 7’s competition.!!

By Éabha Ó Driscoll and Ella Courtney

Escalation Concert :

On Friday May 5th, 4th and 5th classes , went to music the generation concert in Danlann an

Chlair. There were two other school with us - Quin NS and Educate together NS. Some of the

songs we sang were “Rhythm of Life” “ Feet of a Dancer”, “ Somewhere only we know”,” Bonsai

Abba”. We rehearsed from 4.00 pm until 6.30 pm. Then we had a break and our parents came on

to see the show at 7.00 pm. We sang as a class and then we came together with the other schools

for some songs. It was really good evening.

By Fiadh O’Shea and Oisín O’ Donoghue

Skip - Hop Day:

On Friday, Lee from the skip hop came to our school to teach us some cool tricks with skipping

ropes, like the Texas 360, Double Under and the Criss Cross Cross Criss. We were able to buy

proper ropes to do tricks with. We all got 45 minutes of skipping for each class, and he wrote

down one name to do a trick in front of the whole school. It was nice to see all the classes perform

especially the younger ones. We had a most enjoyable and the weather stayed fine!

By Niamh Mulligan and Olivia Cosgrove.

Girls Football:

On Monday the 12th of June the girls from 4th 5th and 6th class played against Barefield National

School in Cusack Park. Barefield got a good start with the first point. We had 31 players on the

panel. At halftime the score was 1-3 to 1 point to Knockanean . They caught up with minutes to go

but we still had a good lead. Barefield were a tough team but Knockanean had head and heart.

The referee blew up the final whistle and we had won 3-11 to 1-1. We went to Liddys for ice cream

to celebrate after. We would like to thank Mr. Curran and Mr. O Reilly for a great day :)

By Hannah Doyle , Ella Bohannon and Laura Butler

Bluegrass Band:

On Friday, the 12th of May, a Bluegrass band called Thunder and Rain from Colorado came to per-

form at our school. All the classes came outside to watch. They played a couple of songs and ex-

plained what Bluegrass is. They didn't use drums so they kept the beat with various stringed in-

struments. They made it very interactive for the students. After they finished the younger classes

went back inside and then the band chatted with a couple of the sixth class. They played some Ed

Sheeran songs and generally just talked and messed. They

even wrote a funny song called Anna, The Cheerio God!!

By Anna Purcell and Emma Higgins, 6th Class.

Drumming Workshop:

On Friday, John the drumming teacher came into our school with lots of drums and called us all

class by class to come out and drum. He taught us lots of different rhythms. It was so much fun. I

loved it and so did all my friends.

By: Caoimhe Lahiffe and Sean Hayes

School Tours

Junior Infant Tour

Last Wednesday June 21st mid summers day ,we went to the Burren Nature Sanctuary . A big bus brought us there. We left

our bags in a big Tee Pee. Then, we went for a walk to see all the animals. The llamas were big and furry. The bunny hugged

Siara . Then we visited the fairy forest. The tooth fairy lived by the wishing well. After lunch we had great fun in the play-

ground. It was the best day ever.

By Mary's Junior Infant

Last Wednesday June 21st mid summers day ,we went to the Burren Nature Sanctuary . A big bus brought us there. We left

our bags in a big Tee Pee. Then, we went for a walk to see all the animals. The llamas were big and furry. The bunny hugged

Siara . Then we visited the fairy forest. The tooth fairy lived by the wishing well. After lunch we had great fun in the play-

ground. It was the best day ever.

By Mary's Junior Infant

Senior Infant tour:

On the 20th June, we went to Moher Hill Farm. When we arrived, we ate our snack. Then we put our bags in the corner so

Alan could put them in a pile for us. We went outside to feed the animals. We fed a peacock, Millie the pony, a donkey, Ham-

let the pig, an ostrich, a greedy goat. After that, we ate our lunch outside. We went on a bouncing castle and we went into the

ball pit. We went to the tree house and went on the Go Karts- 5 at a time. We played at the playground for little while. Then,

we went on the bus and came back to school. Everyone had a super day!

By Sophie O'Connor, Orla Blake, Naya Sorohan and Chloe Cosgrove.

1st class school tour:

On Monday 21st of May 1st class went to the Aquarium in Galway. We were very excited leaving

the school and everybody was cheering. We saw lots of fish, crabs, sharks, flatfish ,starfish , John

Dory and many more. We got to cut a squid in half. We got to feed and rub fish. They felt really

hard and slimy. On the way back we stopped in Coole Park in Gort. We got to make bases and

play soccer. When we got back to school we got capri suns,penguin bars and crisps. We had a

great day!

By Patrick Mc Inerney and Aoife Reynolds.

2nd Class tour:

On Thurs 25th of May we went to Bunratty Castle. When we got there we walked to the castle, and

looked at the different rooms. I was really big and old. We went up the stairs and they were very

dangerous. After the castle we went around the village to see the different cottages. We went into

the school there and the teacher was telling us how to say words in different languages, like Span-

ish, French and German. We then had our lunch. And then we had another walk around the vil-

lage because we didn't get to explore it properly before lunch. After that we went to the Fairy Vil-

lage. We then had lunch again! After our second lunch we went to the playground and then we

came home. We had a really good day and we were tired after it!

By Amy Reynolds and Sean O'Callaghan.

3rd Class Tour:

On Wed May 24th we went to the Burren.The first thing we did was to climb Mullaghmore. We

had a guide with us. This was very interesting because we saw lots of flowers and limestone. We

saw lots of slugs. There was one was called the European Black slug. We also saw frogs.Our guide

told us that in 3 million years there will be no rocks in the Burren- only a hill of grass. He also said

there was a lot of sink holes there that are very dangerous. The climb was a bit tiring though..

When we got to the top if it we ate our lunch. At the very top there is a tomb. From the top of

Mullaghmore we saw Father Ted’s house. After Mullaghmore we went to the Planet in Ennis. We

did bowling, quasar and soft play.

By Liam Hughes Keane and Ella Farrell

4th class school tour:

On the 21st of June, we went on our school tour to Galway Museum and Pure Skills in Salthill. Co. Galway. First we went to

the museum, which was very interesting and interactive. We learned about ancient Galway, Galway during the rebellion and

about underwater creatures.

At Pure Skills we were in small groups of 4. We got to try many different sports such as baseball, cricket, golf chipping, rugby,

basketball, tennis, hurling, gaelic football and soccer. After two hours of fun and sport, we ate delicious pizza, wedges and

chicken. Everyone had a brilliant day!

By Ella Courtney, Éabha O'Driscoll and Ines Sheehan.

5th Class tour:

On Tuesday the 30th of May 5th class went on their school tour to Killaloe Adventure Centre on

the lake of Lough Derg. We left the school at 8:40 that morning and arrived in Killaloe at 9:30 .

We were then divided into two groups. One group did the climbing wall and another did

orienteering . After that the two groups switched activities . We then did archery where there were

2 groups and the played each other. Then we had a 40 minute break .Afterwards we got into our

wetsuits and headed for the water . We did canoeing, wind surfing, kayaking and sailing .We fin-

ished off the day with jumping off the pier . It was a great day.

By.Eoin Begley, Thomas Barry and Crevan Lane

6th class school tour

Croagh Patrick: On Thursday the 25th of May sixth class climbed Croagh Patrick. We left Liddy's Gala

at 6:15 and we arrived in Mayo at 9:00 and we started climbing at 9:30. Nearly everyone made it to the

top with help from parents and teachers. While we were at the top we took pictures , had a snack and went

to the church to light candles. Everyone was on their way down the mountain at 12:15. Once we were all

down we went for our dinner in Campbells restaurant . We stayed there for roughly 3 hours . We all head-

ed for the bus at 5 o clock. On our way home we stopped in Ballindine for a treat. We were back at home

at 9:00. A big thanks to John, Mary and Mr Curran for a great day and lots of fun.

By Ella Bohannon and Laura Butler

Inis Oirr:

On Wednesday the 14th of June 6th class went to Doolin on their school tour. On the first night

we went camping in Nagle’s campsite. Sleeping in tents was great craic. All the boys were put in

the same tent . The campsite was great because it had a games room and a playground which we

had great fun in.The next day we left for Inis Oirr on the Happy Hooker .It was a very rocky jour-

ney but we got there in the end . When we arrived in Inis Oirr we put our bags in the Bru Hostel

which was our accommodation . We were put in our rooms with our friends . The best part about

Inis Oirr was the fact that we were able to do what we liked . On the island there was a GAA

pitch,an astro -turf and a playground . At night time we went to the ceili which was great craic.

Later that night we went for a midnight walk to the castle and the graveyard which were both

very interesting. On our way back we were greeted by a roaring bonfire . The following morning

we went for a swim at the beach. Later that day we went on the Wanderly Wagon where we got a

tour of the island in which we saw the plassey and a seal . After that we got chips, sausages and

goujons in Tigh Ruari’s . That was the conclusion to our very enjoyable trip to Inis Oirr . Thanks to

Mary ,Seamus , Mhairi and especially John for making the trip possible.

By Ben McDonough , Brendan Keane, Patrick Brogan and Ciaran O’Driscoll

Swimming Gala:

On Monday the 12th of June 5 boys and 5 girls from 3rd class up went to the Ennis Swimming pool for a

school swimming gala. Overall the school came third. The first class to swim was 6th girls. It was a tight

race but they came second. The boys in sixth did well but came 7th..5th class girls came 1st, the boys

came second in their race.4th class boys came 2nd .The girls in 3rd came 5th and the boys soon were to

follow and came 3rd.It was a nice day out for all the school and everyone had fun.One thing we didn't like

was John wouldn't let us go to McDonalds!!!!!

By Ellen Blake, Garbhan Monahan, Orlaith Ni Choileáin

Active Schools Week:

Active schools week was from the 12th-16th of June. Active schools week is really great fun for eve-

ryone. We also had sports day on Tuesday which was also really good. We also did the Dreoilin

and the Macarana on Friday. On Friday morning Chloe Morley came into our school to talk about

camogie. We did way more stuff like a penalty shoot out and long puck. Its was all so fun but the

week went too fast.

Golf:

On Monday the 19th of June, six pupils from 5th and 6th class went to Ennis Golf Club to play a round of

golf against Barefield N.S .The first match was Mark O’Connor and Ian Williams against two students

from Barefield. Knockanean won the first few holes, but Barefield came back to win. The next match was

Ciaran O’Driscoll and Phoenix McGovern Woulfe. They started well but fell behind on the last few holes.

The last pair were Ailbhe Wright and Olivia Cosgrove. They were equally matched with their opponents

and finished level. Unfortunately, Knockanean lost overall and Barefield took home the Claret Jug. It was

a great day out nonetheless and we had brilliant fun.

By: Ian Williams and Mark O’Connor

Can I take this opportunity to thank our school community- parents, pupils, Board of

Management, Parents Association, teachers and staff, Fr. Jerry and Canon O'Carroll, for all their

hard work, dedication, commitment and help, in what has been a very busy year. We wish 6th class

all the best as they leave us and move on to secondary school and we thank them for their enor-

mous contribution to the school over the last eight years. Have a wonderful summer and we look

forward to seeing you all safe and well on August 30th

Yours sincerely,

Jim Curran