Scoil na hEaglaise

Eglish National School

“Work together, do our best, repect each other

…………………………………………………………………………….

“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege,
than the raising of the next generation.”
-C. Everet Koop, M.D.

NEWSLETTER Easter 2016

Dear Parents / Guardian

 Here is an update on what’s been happening in Eglish NS since Christmas.

Visit from Local Hurling Heroes:  On January 21st, our local All-Ireland Champions, Eoin Delaney and Mark Kelly visited us and inspired us to keep hurling.

 Engineer’s Visit:  On January 28th, local engineer Ivan Merrick visited our students from 3rd-6th Class, gave a talk about Engineering and carried out some fun experiments.

Healthy Schools Promotion Committee:  Our Healthy School’s Promotion Committee continued to ensure the implementation of their Action Plan.  There was a focus this term on Healthy lunches.  To deepen the learning, we held an Eglish Master Chef for Healthy lunches.  Thank you to Mrs. Devine and the Healthy Schools’ Committee for their continuing great work in this area

SEAI – Energy Workshops:  Will from St. Brigid’s Garden in Galway visited our school on February 1st to present 3 different workshops to our students on Energy Conservation.  We loved meeting Guzzler and all our students learned a lot.

Green Flag for Energy:  In February, we had a visit from Mark Molloy from Galway County Council who took a look at the conscientious work that has been done by all in our school, especially, The Energy Committee under the guidance of Mrs. Moore to reduce our energy consumption.  Energy Detectives from the Middle Room have been patrolling our grounds very diligently.

Scoil Drama:  We had our first outing with our ‘Scoil Drama’ on the 8th of February to Kinvara.  Our students performed their play ‘Aimsear Caite, Aimsear Láithreach, Aimsear Uafásach’ which was written by 5 of our Senior Room Students.  This was a fantastic, Team achievement.  Our students performed very well, receiving very high scores for their play.  We received a reward for the play with the most inclusive cast.  We are very proud of our students’ achievement.  Well done to them and thank you to Mrs. Moore for initiating and Coordinating our entry.  Many thanks also to all the staff who got involved, lending a helping hand to support when and where needed.

 Sacraments: 7 of our students will receive their Confirmation on Tuesday, April 12th and 8 students will receive their First Holy Communion on Saturday, May 7th.  Preparations are ongoing.  Our 6th Class students enjoyed a RETREAT to Knock, organised by our Parish Priest, Fr. Reynolds on Wednesday 9th of March.   Our 2nd Class students had their First Confession in St. Cuan’s Church on Thursday 10th of March.

Write a Book and Scríobh Leabhar’:  Well Done to all of our students who took part in ‘Write a Book’ and ‘Scríobh Leabhar’ projects.  Once again we had many award winners whose names will be listed in the Summer Newsletter following the Awards Ceremony.

Sporting Achievements:  Well Done to our Soccer Team who took part in the FAI blitz in Salthill on Tuesday 8th of March.  They represented themselves and their school very proudly. 

Extra-curricular activities:  Since January, Mr. O’Leochain has been coaching our students in soccer skills every Monday from 3-4.  Many thanks to Mr. O’Leochain for giving his time freely and well done to all who are taking part.

New Arrivals in Eglish NS:  On March 7th and 8th, we welcomed 7 new arrivals into our school community.  7 beautiful chicks hatched in the Senior Room under the care and watchful eyes of Mr. O’ Leochain and students.  The incubation and subsequent hatching of the eggs was a wonderful project all of our students thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from. 

Sionnach na hEaglaise:  Mr. O’Leochain’s camera has picked up a night-time visitor to our Bird-feeder, a beautiful fox.  Check out our website blog to see more at www.eglishns.com 

Erasmus Plus:  What an exciting time!!  At time of writing, we are looking forward to welcoming our partners from Finland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and the UK to Ireland, Ballinasloe and to our school during the week of the 14th – 18th of March for a Project Meeting on our collaborative project:  “Invaders, how they shaped the Europe of today”. We have an action-packed agenda planned for them and all in our community have been invited to get involved.  More information to follow in the Summer Newsletter.  Many thanks to all the staff for the huge amount of extra work they have put in to make this event happen.

Sensory Garden:  Many of our students have been busy planting, gardening and painting in our Sensory Garden and Polytunnel.  Thank you to Bernie G. and Bernie P. for organising and co-ordinating the work in this area.  Our students take great pride in what they plant, care for and watch grow. They have also constructed a very effective scarecrow, a hedgehog shelter and a Bug Hotel which is now open for bookings!!

Remembering 1916:  On March 15th, we will raise our National Flag, plant a tree and read out the original proclamation followed by our new Eglish NS Proclamation to remember the events of 1916 and proclaim our joint vision for our future.

Please be reminded, your child’s happiness and all-round educational development is our priority here in Eglish School.  If you have any concerns in relation to this, please do not hesitate to let us know.  To ensure that these concerns can be dealt with efficiently and in a dignified manner, please follow the steps as outlined in the Complaints Procedure Policy, a copy of which was sent home in September.

Many thanks for your support and ongoing cooperation

Wishing you a very Happy Easter

 ‘Le gach dea-ghuí’

Siobhán Fitzgerald, M.Ed. (Principal)