Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 1

Oíche Shamhna i .

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 2

New Pupils

We extend a warm welcome to the following

students who joined us at the beginning of

this term: Mae Landers (Senior Infants),

Darragh Fraher, Gabriele Silva, Kate

O’Connor (First Class), Seán Sheehan, Ricky

Kiely, Daniel Fraher (Second Class), Ciara

Hennessy, Jack Kiely, Lily Ní Ruaidh

(Fourth Class), Bonnie Trigg, Sylvie Topps,

Harry Smith Huskinson, Victoria Kolodzie

(Fifth class) and Anna Stapel (Sixth Class).

We hope all the children will be very happy

in our school.

Sacramental Meetings

Sister Antoinette Dilworth, our diocesan

advisor, held meetings with the parents of

the children who will receive their First Holy

Communion on Monday 19th

of September.

She met the parents of the pupils preparing

for Confirmation on Wednesday 21st of

September. Sister Antoinette stressed the

importance of these sacraments in the lives

of the children. She offers valuable advice to

parents on how best to support their children

during this important year.

School Choir

The school choir has started

practising their new repertoire

every Wednesday during lunch

break. The choir is made up of

students from fourth to sixth class.

They are preparing for an up-

coming performance in a primary

school’s competition in Cork early

in the New Year. They will also be

learning other pieces purely for

enjoyment, exposing them to a

wide variety of choral music. We

are delighted to have so many new

members in the choir this year and

welcome back the many familiar

faces from last year. Exciting times

ahead!

Child Safety

In the interest of child safety we would ask all parents and guardians to observe the following procedures:

If you need to collect or speak to your child during school hours, please report to the office first.

Children should be collected and returned to the classroom for doctor or dental appointments. During lunch time please report to the teacher on yard supervision.

Children and adults should walk down the path to enter and exit the school. Please do not walk through the car park.

Please note that for insurance and the safety of children the car park is for staff use only.

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 3

Balance Bicycle Course

Mrs. O ’Mahony, Ms. Maher and Mrs.

Killigrew participated in a training

course on Wednesday 28th

of

September to become instructors in

balance bicycles. Thanks to the

generosity of our Parents Council, we

hired the special bicycles for two

weeks. The infant pupils received

daily lessons training them how to

balance on the bikes. This was done in

a fun manner and they achieved great

success!

Don’t forget to check out our website www.bunscoilbhotharnanaomh.ie for more photos etc.

Important Dates to Remember

Parent/ Teacher meetings: First to Sixth Class Wednesday November 30th

.

Junior and Senior Infants Week beginning January 23rd

.

School Closure: Thursday 15th

December due to in-service for New Oral Language

Curriculum.

Sacrament of Confirmation: Sunday April 2nd

2017

First Holy Communion: Saturday May 13th

, Lismore

Sunday May 14th

, Ballysaggart.

Safe Cycling Programme

The Road Safety Authority recommends that every child in the

country should complete a cycling course before they leave primary

school. This initiative was funded jointly by Waterford City and

County Council and our own Parents Council.

Fifth Class received instruction from Dermot Blount from Tramore

Bike Tours. This was a four week course. Dermot provided the

bicycles and helmets. He laid out the two front yards with roadways,

ramps, roundabouts and parking areas. Each lesson had a specific

objective and the children monitored each other’s progress. They had

great fun while learning valuable lessons. Many of our pupils enjoy

cycling in their leisure and we have found this course extremely

beneficial. The emphasis was on skill, safety and enjoyment,

hopefully leading to a more active childhood.

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 4

Irish Guide Dogs

Two volunteers from the Cork branch of the Irish Guide Dogs Association visited the school on Tuesday October 17th & Friday 28th . Pam and Jill had two very

special companions with them, namely Sonya and Siofra. They visited all of the classrooms and told the children about the educational training the dogs receive from a very young age. The puppies are taken into training at eight weeks of age and they usually complete it by the

age of two. This training is very specialised and disciplined as they have very important jobs to do. They guide the visually impaired around busy streets and help

them cross roads safely. Some of the dogs assist children with autism. We were delighted to welcome

these very special guests to our school. The children were so impressed by these dogs that they volunteered to host an “Odd Shoe Day” on Friday 28th of

October to raise much needed funds for the society.

Sixth Green Flag

Global citizenship- litter and waste is the sixth theme. This theme enables schools to discover how

the Green Schools work has positively influenced people and environments worldwide while

revising the previous litter and waste theme. The “Green Team” are spearheading this project.

Once again attention is drawn to further decreasing our waste to landfill. While all pupils have

been very diligent over the last number of years, the “Green Team” are convinced that with

renewed effort further gains can be made. They will be visiting each class and conducting surveys

on waste management in each room. There will be a renewed effort to control litter in the school

grounds, and further reduce our energy consumption. We request that all pupils are provided with

a lunchbox to enable them to take home any uneaten items of food.

The Green Team will also raise awareness about the concept of “Fair Trade”.

They will introduce younger children to the logo and ask them to buy food with

this logo. Look for the fair trade symbol on bananas, chocolate and other

products and know that people were paid a fair wage for producing them. Our

actions can improve the lives of others who live far away.

We will keep parents updated on the activities of the Green Team during the

year so that you can support the younger pupils to become actively involved.

Fire Safety

Members of Lismore Fire Brigade visited

the school on Thursday October 27th

to

educate the children on fire safety. They

discussed the correct procedures to

follow in the event of a house fire. The

main lesson to learn is “Get out! Stay

out!” The children were informed about

the risks of smoke inhalation. Many

stories were shared and lessons learned.

We are very grateful to them for sharing

their time and expertise.

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 5

G.A.A. Coaching Scheme

Barry Dunne coached the junior classes in Gaelic football over a

three-week period. Junior infants to Second class classes benefitted from his great expertise and really

looked forward to his visits.

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 6

Lismore Library Children’s Book Festival

Lismore Branch Library is very proactive in devising schemes to foster good reading habits among children. They ran a very successful Summer Reading Challenge and many of our pupils were awarded Certificates of

Achievement on their return to school. We are very grateful to be invited to the Children’s Book Festival in October. Mrs Killigrew’s senior infants were treated to storytelling from Jellybean Julie. It was a very interactive experience with lots of puppetry, songs and

magic! First, second and third class visited the library on Wednesday 19th of October. They could be forgiven for thinking

that their local library had turned into a zoo! Dave explained how animals hunt, how they perceive the world, how they eat and catch their prey. The children had the unique experience of handling and touching crocodiles, tarantula’s, snap-eating turtles, snakes and large lizards. All the children were presented with a beautiful

certificate for being so brave! On Tuesday October 25, fourth and fifth and sixth class were introduced to the author Alan Early. They explored the lives and secrets of the Vikings, how they lived, what they believed in and how they kept themselves clean!

Under the direction of Alan, they created their own Norse God and after considerable discussion and interaction they developed their character and brought their story to a conclusion. This workshop gave the pupils a great

insight into the dilemmas faced by an author while crafting a story. It was a fantastic opportunity for all the children and we are very grateful to the staff of Lismore Library for

organising these events.

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 7

If the contact details for

any parent /guardian has

changed could you please

inform the teacher or

Tanya in the office.

Looking Ahead!

Mr. Denis Ring, principal of Blackwater Community School, visited the pupils of Sixth

class. He informed them of the facilities on offer in his school. He discussed subject choices with

them and answered any queries they had.

Parents’ Council Notes

We would like to thank all parents and guardians for their ongoing contributions to the biweekly collections made within the school.

Changes to Parents’ Council

Two new parents have been elected to the Parents’ Council recently. We would like to welcome John Howard and Enda Mc Cafferty and also thank our two outgoing members Sinead Motherway and Paddy Houlihan for their time and commitment. We would also like to welcome Anne- Marie Maloney who will

now be an addition to the council as the teacher liaison representative.

School Activities

As well as the usual activities such as the visit from the Red Kettle and gymnastic lessons, several new activities are being considered to be part funded by the parents council and more details are to follow

in the next newsletter.

Santa Sale

We are delighted to announce the date of this years Santa Sale for the 16th of December. As well as being a very popular and exciting day for the children it is also an important fundraiser for the council

to continue its work through into 2017.

Wishing all staff, pupils, parents and guardians an enjoyable Halloween and mid-term break.

Gymnastic Lessons

A six week course of gymnastics will commence after Halloween for the senior classes. The

junior classes will be timetabled for early January. The usual fee of €3 will be collected

from each child. We are grateful to the Parents Council for subsidising these lessons.

Birthday Party Invitations

We would earnestly request that

party invitations are not

distributed in school. This

profoundly upsets those children

who are not included.

Bunscoil Bhothar na Naomh, Lios Mor, Co. Phort Lairge. Ph. / Fax No 058 – 54685. E – Mail Lismoreprimsch.ias@eircom.net Page 8

We started off the year with lots of training at each break, in preparation for the

Girls’ Western football competition. Our first game saw us go into battle against

Cappoquin. After a great victory, on a score line of 4-8 to 1-0, our next game saw

us line out in an away fixture to Ballymac. Unfortunately Ballymac proved too

strong for us on the day, winning comfortably in the end. Since our defeat to

Ballymac we have trained much harder, as we now prepare for an away semi

final against Garranbane. Hopefully we can return to winning ways and reach

the Western Final once again this year. Thank you so much for your effort in

training us Mr. Smith and all your great support!!!

By Jane Landers and Sophie O Keeffe

Since the start of the new school year, the boys’ football panel has progressed well beating Cappoquin, Ballymacarbry and Abbeyside to reach the Western final. Our first match was against Cappoquin who we beat by 16-13 to 0-0. The second match we played was away to Ballymacarbry.

Ballymacarbry put up a good fight but in the end Lismore were successful winning by 1 goal and 6 points. Beating Ballymac, gave us a home semi final

against either Abbeyside or Garranbane. Abbeyside lost to Garranbane leaving us to play Abbeyside in the semi final which we won by six goals and seven points. We will be playing either Garranbane or Ballymacarbry in the

Western final. We would like to thank Mr. Prendergast for his brilliant coaching and Mr. Smith for his excellent advice

By David Boyd and Joseph O’ Keeffe

School re – opens on Monday 7th

November at 9.15am.