Successful Science Week

Science week was a great success, with First classes organising displaying a range of experiments. Infant and Second classes visited the halla and First class children demonstrated the experiments for them and explained how they worked. 

The experiments displayed included a musical instrument made from glass bottles filled with water, mirror writing, butter making (the butter was delicious!!), floating and sinking experiments, lava lamps, moving patterns made from dish-washing liquid and food colouring floating on a sea of milk, the rubber egg (a demonstration of how important calcium is for our bones), the dangers of fizzy drinks to our teeth, how root vegetables grow and rocket launching for beginners. 

Watch the short video above to see one of our successful rocket launches. Well done to all who participated and especially to the First classes and their teachers who organised everything!

I Can't Believe It Is Real Butter!

We poured some double cream into a very very clean jam jar and closed the lid tightly. Then we shook and shook and shook some more.... all the tiny bits of fat stuck together into bigger and bigger lumps until we had one big lump of butter in the middle of the jar. We spread the butter on cream crackers and everyone had a taste. Yum yum!!

Green School

St. Patrick's Junior School along with other students all over Ireland will be celebrating Biodiversity week in May. We will also be having our annual beach clean up so we need all the help we can get.

We are very proud of all our students who save energy, save water and walk, scoot and cycle to school. Well Done!

We have four green flags and we are currently in the process of getting our fifth flag for Biodiversity.

We would like to thank Michael our caretaker and all the parents who have helped in our garden and especially Cate Monaghan. We have a range of plants, herbs and vegetables around our school and soon enough we will have a bug hotel and wormery.

As part of our biodiversity flag we will be having chicks in our school so the children can learn about their life cycle. We are very excited.

Our new green school Committee for Biodiversity are called the “Bio- D’s”.

                                      Go Bio-Ds!!!!!

Texaco Prize Winner

Well done Gráinne O'Reilly from Ms. Connolly's second class who won a Special Merit Certificate in the Texaco Children's Art Competition.

Ribbit-ing views at the Tadpole Hotel!

Spring is here! The leaves and spring flowers are blooming in Skerries and we have some "riveting" new additions to our school garden. Michael's hard work and Cate's advice have resulted in a new habitat for tadpoles. This term we hope to follow their development as they grow into frogs. This is how their new home was built:

First Michael dug a hole in the garden. We re-used a gardening bucket for our pond. Michael stacked stones around the edges and left a space for the frogs to hop in and out.

Michael put an old flower pot in the bottom of the bucket and Cate added a special plant. The plant will oxygenate the water so that the tadpoles can live in our pond.

Next, we helped our newest residents move in to our "Tadpole Hotel", and topped up the level of water.

Finally, we covered the top with chicken wire for safety reasons.


We will follow our tadpoles' progress over the next few weeks and post updates on this blog. 

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!

Seachtain na Gaeilge sa Scoil.

Bhí Seachtain na Gaeilge ar siúl an tseachtain seo caite agus ghlac Scoil Phádraig Naofa (shoisir) páirt le imeachaí gach lá. Bhí gach duine ag labhairt Gaeilge! Of course Gaeilge is heard in every room in St.Patrick's JNS every day througout the year, but during Seachtain na Gaeilge staff and pupils put a special emphasis on using Irish as much as possible. Seachtain na Gaeilge always takes place the week before St. Patrick's Day - a very special celebration for our school - so pupils of the school took part in a wide range of extra activities during the week. 

 The sound of Irish traditional music was everywhere this week. Pupils from St. Patrick's SNS came back to us and played traditional music for our pupils. Our pupils then returned the compliment with some of the tunes they had been practising. Pupils from the Community College played for first and second classes in the halla and answered children's questions about traditional music and their musical instruments.  Every class had a lively, engaging and enjoyable set dancing lesson with Mrs. Mary Keane. Green, White and Orange was visible everywhere as St. Patrick's day art was made and displayed in every classroom. 

Fun Walk

On Friday the children, parents and teachers braved inclement weather and completed the fun walk in the rain. All involved enjoyed the walk, proving that there is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing. After their walk children had a fruit snack kindly provided by the Parents' Association. 

Tinól Lá 'le Pádraig

Our St. Patrick's Day assembly brought this fantastic week to a close as each class performed a song or a poem, played a tune or danced a dance.

Many thanks to parents, teachers and all our friends and supporters in the community who made all these extra activities possible and helped to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge, a very special week in the life of our school.  

Mrs. McLoughlin Retires.

The pupils, teachers, parents and Board of Management of St. Patrick’s JNS came together on Wednesday the 29^th of February last for a very special assembly in celebration of the occasion of the retirement of Ms. Emer McLoughlin from the school.

Mrs. Bowe spoke about Ms. McLoughlin and how much she has contributed to the life of the school. She spoke about Ms. McLoughlin’s hard work and dedication, her commitment to the pupils of our school and to her colleagues, and her extraordinary knowledge of all aspects of teaching.  Mrs. Bowe then spoke about the new adventures which Mrs. McLoughlin will have as she starts this new stage of her life.

A PowerPoint presentation from the Green School Committee recalled all the work co-ordinated by Ms. McLoughlin which led to each of our first three Green Flags, and Ms. McLoughlin was delighted to be able to formally announce that we have been awarded our fourth Green Flag. Ms. Sandra Flavin from An Taisce (which co-ordinates the Green Schools Awards nationwide) presented Ms. McLoughlin with a cyclist’s kit.

Each class group sang a song for Ms. McLoughlin. Junior Infants sang “I’m being eaten by a Boa Constrictor”, Senior Infants sang “A Caring Day”, First Class sang a specially adapted version of “What Makes You Beautiful” and Second Class sang a new version of “Cailín na Gaillimhe” for our very own Galway Girl. The Teachers then sang a specially adapted version of “The Safe Cross Code”.

Ms. McLoughlin was presented with a huge card signed by all the children of the school and Mr. McGovern was present to wish her a very happy retirement on behalf of the Board of Management.

Finally, two pupils from the Senior School presented Ms. McLoughlin with a beautiful bouquet of flowers on behalf of all the pupils and teachers in their school. 

Ms. McLoughlin will be remembered for always putting the needs of the child first, for her attention to detail, for the professional approach she took to her job and her unwavering support of her colleagues throughout her long career. She was a good friend to all her colleagues, who wish to take one last opportunity to wish her a long, happy and fruitful retirement. Go n-éirí go geal leat, a Emer!

Our New Príomhoide

Welcome to our new principal Máire Ní Chróinín.

Miss Ní Chróinín took up duty as principal on Monday January 9^th 2012. Miss Ní Chróinín has come from Holy Spirit Girls’ School, Ballymun where she spent the last thirteen years of her teaching career. Already Miss Ní Chróinín knows St Patrick's JNS as a caring, friendly school with a skilled, enthusiastic and dedicated staff.

Miss Ní Chróinín has observed that while Skerries and Ballymun are very different areas they both have a strong sense of community and take great pride in their schools and in their children’s achievements. She aims to build on the huge achievements of her predecessor Mrs Jenkinson.

We wish Miss Ní Chróinín many happy, fulfilling years in St Patrick’s JNS.

Ní neart go cur le chéile!