St. Gerard's Junior School Winter Newsletter 2022

Junior School

A WORD FROM THE HEADMISTRESS...

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful ~ Norman Vincent Peale

I know I say it every year – but hasn’t the term simply flown by?! In September, two hundred and ninety two pupils raced through the doors of the Junior School - uniforms pristine, faces aglow, new books and bags at the ready and eager to begin the new school year. We were delighted to see all the old familiar faces as well as warmly welcoming many new pupils from Montessori to Standard 6. We also said céad míle fáilte to our new Standard 6 teacher - Ms. Orla Cunningham, and to Anne and Marta in the Montessori.

Everyone is now well settled in and part of our Junior School community!

After the hustle and bustle of start-up, the term settled into its normal routine and rhythm. A real delight this term was the simple feeling of “normality” after

two long years living in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. Parents could once again come into our School in the mornings, our first in-person Parent Information Evenings took place and it was also lovely to welcome parents for face-to-face Parent-Teacher meetings.

Other highlights of the term included our annual walk up Sugarloaf in the Autumn sunshine on St. Gerard’s Day and Mass that evening to celebrate our School feast-day and remind us of School motto - “Memor”; myriad sporting events including rugby and hockey matches, basketball, soccer and equestrian events; and lots of activities organised by our Greens School Committee, Coiste na Gaeilge, Junior Librarians and Student Council - well done to one and all for all of the learning and fun!

And then came the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season - the Std. 6 Toy Stall, hand-made Christmas cards for charity, the Student Council raffle, toys under the tree in aid of St. Vincent de Paul and a visit from the great Mr. Claus himself! And of course term ended with our wonderful Christmas plays from Montessori to Standard 3. Everyone

performed fantastically well and our new Junior School Musical Ensemble, under Aoife’s baton, played beautifully!

On the last day of term we all enjoyed the Carol Service which reminded us of the true meaning of Christmas and sent us home with Christmas spirit in our hearts.

So now it is time to relax and to enjoy time together with our families. It is also time to take a moment to give thanks for all that we have shared together in our first term. As Christmas is a time for children, we give thanks especially for the joy which they bring into our lives.

Thank you also to the wonderful Junior School staff who make our School such a caring, warm and inclusive learning environment, and to you our parents for your constant support and encouragement of all that we do.

Nollaig shona daoibh go léir and may you all enjoy the peace and joy of the Christ child this Christmas.

Deirdre Farrell – Principal

Charitable Giving in the Junior School

Once again this year, we have had some amazing fundraising initiatives in the Junior School. We raised a whopping €3,000.00 from our Used Uniform Sale earlier in the year and these funds were donated to the Pakistan Flood Appeal and Autism Initiatives.

At Christmastime we raised an astounding €1,600 for I am Alex and €1,500 for St. Vincent de Paul from our Christmas Cards and Christmas Activity Evening.

A further amount was raised from our Student Council Raffle and the Std 6 Bazaar Day – the amounts were still to be confirmed when we went to print.

And finally, we had the most wonderful response to our Christmas Toy Appeal – the results of which you can see for yourself!

A huge thank you as always to our parents for all of your wonderful support!

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A big thank you to our Newsletter Team: Oscar Ballagh, Noah Hobson, Rozzy Finnegan Quirke, Percy Moore, Blanca Garcia Gonzalez, Jordi Werlau, Luna Kovalenko, Evan Barry Keane.

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It was a nice sunny day on St. Gerard’s Day, and on a bright Octobers’ morning, the Junior School set up the Sugarloaf.

We took pictures of all the classes together with their teachers and we came down nice and promptly. Everyone got on the bus and drove back to the school, and when we got back, there was a lovely treat for us. School ended early and everyone went home, but that wasn’t the end of a great day!

We came back to the school in the evening, and sang in the St. Gerard’s Day mass which was beautiful. The Junior School Choir even sang with the Senior School Choir, which was amazing and they sounded like professional singers! Ms. Olohan had obviously done a great job as Choir Teacher!

Ms. Broxson played a brilliant violin piece, there were fantastic singers singing and we even had some students (both Senior School and Junior School students) reading out lovely readings too. We also learned about Gerard Majella and how wonderful he was, about the history and what he did for our school.

We really enjoyed St. Gerard’s Day!

by Percy Moore

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with Louise and Rachel

Montesori

The Montessori children started the new school year in September talking about Autumn and about how the leaves fall off the trees. Along with talking about Autumn they did hibernation and how the animals hibernate in the winter time. Louise and Rachel taught the kids about the big bang and how the solar system was created and they studied all the planets they even painted their own planets and had a picture of themselves on the wall as astronauts.

They are currently learning about the continents. They have just finished learning about the wonderful continent of Antartica and now are learning about North America. They are getting ready for Christmas by decorating the classroom.

In Montessori we reward kindness by having the kindness tree. If you have been kind this week your picture will be pinned up on the paper tree on the classroom wall. When it is your birthday you get to be special person of the week which means you get to play with the toys and lead nature walks etc.

The children have been working hard learning their lines and songs in preparation for their Nativity Play which took place on Tuesday 13th December. Their performance was absolutely marvellous and we were delighted to have our parents back in to see the show for the first time in a couple of years!

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by Blanca Garcia Gonzal

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with Anne and Marta

Montesori Since September, after getting everyone settled in Montessori, the children have been busy exploring space - lots of the children are going to be astronauts when they grow up! They have loved discovering Antarctica, the penguins were particularly popular. North America was a fun and interesting subject to explore. And of course they are getting the classroom ready for Christmas, singing songs and practicing their Christmas Nativity Play.

by Luna Kovalenko

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JUNIOR INFANTS

WITH Ms. McCabe

Well it has been a rollercoaster and a hive of activity since September. We welcomed our new families back in September and now it is like we have all always been together. I have witnessed the seeds of long term friendships take root. It is a joy to be a part of the first steps in the adventures in striving for independence and doing it by themselves. From putting on their coats to writing their numbers, each step forward is a personal achievement.

We have had great winners in the Irish competition three of our class in total. We have been working on all areas of the curriculum with gusto. We are eagerly waiting for our Snowdrops to peep up. We have painted and created lots of masterpieces. Reading and writing is well underway.

We have winners in the Christmas decorations and well done to the children who took part. Our Christmas play was a masterpiece and the singing was divine!

On a personal note I have really enjoyed getting to know these little treasures. It is lovely watching their characters develop and unfold. Watching them run every in morning full of fun is a joy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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SENIOR INFANTS WITH Ms. Gleeson Senior Infants were delighted to have four fabulous new pupils join our class at the start of term: Cassie, Conor, Jack and Santino. The children have all settled nicely into Senior Infants and have certainly been busy exploring, creating, playing and, of course, learning. Every morning they check the day’s timetable to see what exciting activities are ahead of them - from art to music, drama, library and dancing to name a few.

They are an active bunch and love using ‘Go Noodle’ for their movement breaks throughout the day, especially the popular ‘Freeze’ dance and ‘running the red carpet’!

Since the mid-term Senior Infants have started doing reading groups and the children are all reading superbly and love chatting about each book they read. They have also been writing lots this term and have started brainstorming, writing and illustrating mini stories each week. Lots of stickers are awarded each day for careful writing and colouring, and many of the children love sticking these onto their chairs to show them off!

The girls and boys had great fun in Science recently designing and making a musical shaker instrument of their choice using recycled plastic bottles they brought it - pasta was a popular choice of filling!

There are lots of budding artists in Senior Infants this year. They love cutting, painting and creating.

We learnt about the artist Matisse and the children all were inspired by him to create beautiful, colourful pictures using his ‘drawing with scissors’ technique.

Playtime is undoubtedly one of the favourite times of the day in the Senior Infant classroom. If you come visit us during this time you’ll see lots of playdough creations, towers under construction, marble runs and maybe even the Puppet Theatre in action!

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Oíche Shamhna On the last day before the Hallowe’en break, everybody in the school had a chance to express themselves and dress up for the day. Almost everyone dressed up and even those who didn’t still had a great time. It was a nice relaxing and joyful day away from school work. We all had lots of fun and we even got to showcase our costumes to the whole school by walking around the in the “Playground Parade”. Junior Infants were the first ones to do this and then it went up in age all the way to Std 6. Everybody had a blast and there were many spectacular costumes! We also had a tuck shop during which anybody with a costume could spend €2 to get chocolate, jellies and crisps. Of course, all the money collected from the shop was generously given to charity by the Student Council.

Later in the day, the nature walk had been transformed into a scary scene. All of the classes went on a spooky walk and saw lots of scary monsters! Spooky ghosts were hanging from the trees and even four ghost children walking around a tree! Later on, the whole area was covered in cobwebs and scary signs. If you were brave enough to go even further there was a witch’s hut with a witch inside! Monsters and ghouls were all around the area frightening children (and some of the teachers!). It was a spooktacular day and the whole school had a wonderful day!

by Evan Barry Keane

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St . Gerard’s Junior Sc hool

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Standard 1

WITH Ms. Carlos

We were delighted to welcome Kate and Fiona to our class in September. They have become ‘old friends’ already!

The term has been busy with lots of learning and fun going on. We all enjoyed dressing up for Halloween and scaring each other in the playground.

We love Friday mornings when Mr. Mansfield comes in for storytelling in the ArtsZone.

We started lots of new activities this year – hockey and rugby (mini games!), Art club, French club, tennis and extra Speech have all been great!

We all enjoy our early morning play time with lego, bricks, animals and construction toys. We play very well and are learning to share fairly – all before the work begins in class!

We really enjoyed practicing for and performing in our Christmas Play “Knock Knock”. Our costumes were so colourful. And we loved learning our new songs.

Happy Christmas Everyone!

www.stgerards.ie

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Standard 2

WITH Ms. Gregory

What a fantastic term we have had in Std 2. We were delighted to start the term with 2 wonderful new additions to our class this year – welcome Alison and Molly! We have had such fun learning lots of new things. The pupils in Std 2 have worked extremely hard in all areas of school life from academics to the arts.

Some highlights have been St. Gerard’s Day, Halloween, Science Week, Maths Week, Tree Day and of course our Christmas play. We started this term off by celebrating St. Gerard’s Day. It was our first time climbing the Sugarloaf Loaf. It was such a great day. Halloween was also a super time in our class. We made pinch pot pumpkins as well as looking at different artists that use pumpkins as their inspiration.

We have also been very busy doing lots of different types of science experiments, from gummy bears to the water cycle. Maths Week was also a roaring success. We had lots of fun solving problems and working together on some maths challenges.

The Christmas play- Christmas Stars has been wonderful. We have had lots of great fun learning our lines and songs with the help from Ms. Broxson, Susanne and Mrs. Olohan. What a fantastic term in STD 2. I wish all the boys and girls a wonderful Christmas and very happy new year.

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Standard 3 WITH Ms. Flanaga

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What a busy first term in Standard 3. We welcomed 5 new pupils at the beginning of the year: Angela, Lola, Madeline, Olivia and Shay. They have become part of our class and are truly immersed in school life in St. Gerard’s! The boys and girls have loved coming upstairs to the senior end of the school, especially enjoying games after school and delicious hot lunches in the canteen!

This term, we have enjoyed engaging in our PALS reading sessions. The boys and girls have been partnered up with a friend to read and they are bringing their stories alive with fantastic expression and enthusiasm to boot!

We thoroughly enjoyed our biodiversity nature walk with Patrick Hunt in October. We learnt so much about the different native and non-native plants around our school and we were staggered to hear that if we lined up all of Ireland’s hedgerows, they would reach the moon! We have relished learning multiplication this term and the pupils in Standard 3 are always vying for the coveted position of “Tables Champion of the Week!”

We celebrated the theme of kindness at our recent class Mass in the chapel with Father Jimmy and Sister Patricia. The boys and girls sang beautifully and read their prayers with reverence and meaning. Thank you boys and girls.

Finally, what a super performance from the boys and girls in “Alice in Christmas-land.” Thank you Ms. Carey, Ms. Broxson and Ms. Olohan for creating this superb production. The boys and girls made us all proud, putting us in the mood for a wonderful break ahead.

I look forward to another wonderful term with this amazing group of children. Beannachatí na Nollag daoibh go léir!

www.stgerards.ie

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The lights on the Christmas tree weren’t the only things shining brightly in St Gerard’s Junior School, because the Christmas plays were back – with an Audience for the first time in 3 years!

Ms McCabe’s Jolly Junior Infants performed a wonderful play called Leo the Little Star - he couldn’t shine as bright as the other stars, but the angels helped him and they all helped the three wise men!

Ms Gleeson’s Snowy Senior Infants put on a cracker - The Scarecrow at Christmas! The poor scarecrow had no coats and he was very cold, so the ducklings, polar bears and fish gave the scarecrow their coats, and then the scarecrow gave its coat to the moon.

Ms Carlos’s Fabulous Std 1 did a classic Christmas Nativity, which mesmerised the whole audience!

Ms Gregory’s Super Std 2 class showed some great talent, in the Christmas Stars, but let’s just say there was a little twist of X-Factor in it!

And last, but definitely not least, we had Ms Flanagan’s Tremendous 3rd Class, who performed Alice and Christmas-Land, which was like Alice in Wonderland, but she went down the wrong hole and met lots of strange characters, and she had to save Christmas against the Grinch and Scrooge!

A special thanks to all the class teachers, our Drama teacher Ms. Susanne Carey, our Music Teachers Ms. Aoife Broxson and Ms Jackie Olohan, our Costume Creator Mrs. Anne Murphy and all the people who helped make the Christmas plays happen! Happy Christmas everyone!

by Percy Moore

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Standard 4 W I T H M s . Po w e r It has been a really busy term for everyone here in Standard 4!

We have worked so hard in all our subjects and have learned so much together.

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We started our term off by getting a beautiful map for our classroom. We absolutely loved putting it up together and learning about different countries. Our new map also shows us some of the world’s most famous buildings. We learned about The Eiffel Tower in Paris, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, The Taj Mahal in India, The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and so much more! Our curiosity inspired us for our first project of the term where we researched and constructed famous buildings from all around Ireland. Everyone got so creative and we got inspiration for future staycations!

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We spent a lot of time in history, geography and science learning all about outer space and the space race. We had so many amazing questions that we decided to write a letter to Irish astronaut Dr. Norah Patten to see if she could help us - and she replied! We were so delighted to hear back from her and she even told us she sent us something in the post. We can’t wait to see what it is!

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Getting into the Christmas spirit was so much fun. On December 1st, we arrived into our classroom only to find that our elf had decorated our whole classroom! We decided to share the Christmas joy with Senior Infants too, and we made parachutes and sent chocolate Santas down to the younger children and we all shared in the fun together.

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We have spent lots of time reading together this term and everyone has worked so hard to reach their AR target. We are reading “There is a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom” as our class novel and it is a book filled with twists and turns. It is so unpredictable! We always sit in our reading corner together to enjoy some relaxing time listening to the story and trying to guess what will happen next.

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Standard 5 WITH Ms. Byrne What a busy term it has been in our class. There have been so many wonderful experiences for us to enjoy from our super Sugarloaf walk, swimming in Shoreline, dress up day for Halloween, hockey, rugby and soccer blitzes and not to mention all the tremendous learning that has taken place within our classroom. I want to take this opportunity to thank all my students for their enthusiasm, hard work and for sharing all of their unique talents with me this term. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching them and look forward to continued good times in the New Year.

All Souls’ Day Assembly Std. 5 held an Assembly to celebrate All Souls’ Day in November.

Through songs, poetry and prayer we remembered those who we love who have died. The boys and girls made remembrance hearts for the whole school and these were tied to our beautiful remembrance tree in the school entrance hall. https://drive.google.co m/drive/fold

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Paired Reading The class was very excited to be given the opportunity to engage in paired reading with the pupils from Std.1 this term. All the girls and boys chose a suitable book from our beautiful library and cosied up for a lovely story. What a wonderful scene to hear the hum of reading around the library and the look of pure enjoyment in the faces of our younger pupils. Std.5 make superb storytellers!

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Project Work Std.5 are currently engaged in a collaborative group project to create a puppet show. Each group will write a script, design puppets and props and perform their puppet show for the Junior classes in the New Year. We can’t wait!

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Oodles of Doodles There is nothing more my boys and girls like than doodling! I must say there is an amazing amount of artistic talent in my class. Be sure to watch our art doodle video montage on our Google Classroom page!

Thank You Mass Std.5 thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share Mass with Father Jimmy in our school chapel. The boys and girls prepared a beautiful Mass on the theme of giving ‘Thanks’. We have so much to be thankful for and I am very proud of them.

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Standard 6

Pag e 20

WITH Mr

Dwyer

So far this year has been a lot of fun. For St. Gerard’s Day, we organised a whole-school assembly about St. Gerard Majella.

We sang a song that Mr Dwyer wrote called ‘Best School Ever.’

That was a great success. We also sang an Irish song, ‘Go Barr na gCnoc,’ to celebrate climbing the Great Sugar Loaf.

At the end of October, Standard 6 made a spooky Halloween trail and decorated it. When it was finished, we all dressed up in costumes and surprised the little pupils while some pupils walked the little ones through the trail. All the decorations were handmade art by sixth class pupils.

We played quidditch, the sport from Harry Potter. We all brought in broomsticks and we played quidditch for our P.E. It was great fun and we all enjoyed it very much. We made popsicle baskets and we designed and painted them. We also made self-portraits in art inspired by a Brazilian artist named Romero Britto.

As a class, we all did MLK (Martin Luther King) projects. We were in groups of three and we learned a lot about him. We are all very much enjoying life in Standard 6 and we are looking forward to more fun and learning in 2023!

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Standard 6 WITH Ms. Cunni

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It has been a wonderful few months in Std 6, with both the new and current students making many friends and settling into their classes here in St Gerard’s. It is so pleasing to see their enthusiasm and motivation to learn each day.

So far, as a class we have conquered some key Maths concepts, mastered many elements of English Grammar and are getting to grips with Gaeilge. We have used Quizlet and Kahoot to put our knowledge to the test and have some fun!

We have thoroughly enjoyed putting together science experiments based around the heart. In Geography, we looked at the formation of landscapes, boarders around the world and some map reading. In History we explored the Peace Process in the North of Ireland, WWI and the history of the GAA. We were also first to deliver a class assembly, which was on Irish Sign Language. All the students put on a stellar performance. They put their heart and souls into researching ways to learn sign language, international sign language day, interesting facts, misconceptions and a beautiful signed performance of ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’.

The students loved crafting and decorating the Halloween trail for all of the classes to enjoy, we put our acting skills to the test to create a ‘spooktacular’ experience for all to enjoy!

A big warm welcome to Ms. Cunnin gham!

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ppy to hav e Ms Cunn St. Gerards ingham at School this to teach in year! She u a school ca sed lled Holy F for the Dea amily Scho f, and she ol knows sign She is very language! sporty. Her favourite sp netball and orts are GAA and sh e is from Ty in Northern rone Ireland. M s Cunningh is such a w am onderful te acher and I’m sure th e school a lready love s her!

by Percy Moor e

The students have particularly enjoyed creating projects and getting a chance to present them. So far we have presented projects on various counties in Ireland as well as Nelson Mandela, as part of Black History Month. We also took part in an online escape room and we hope there are more to come!

In preparation for the Late Late Toy show we had a fantastic Quiz for all 3 classes of Standard 6 and displayed our incredible knowledge of all things Late Late Show and Ryan Tubridy related!

I am incredibly proud of our class and all of Standard 6 for adapting so well to our new busy routine and all of the hard work each student does in order for them to reach their potential and be their very best selves. We are all looking forward to a relaxing break over Christmas and returning to school in January, re-energised and ready to tackle the forthcoming terms!

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Standard 6 We have had a fantastic start to Standard 6. All the new children have moulded so well into their new class with our ‘oldies’ being their ‘best selves’ in welcoming our new students. We have had many joint activities as three classes, allowing us to get to know everyone in our year group. We have enjoyed playing basketball matches as one whole year group. All three classes enjoyed a session of collaborative games on the astro.

In the classroom, we have been working very hard and enjoy any opportunity to get on our devices for revision on mentimeter, IXL or Quizlet! We manage to fit in some maths games every now and then as well. We have looked at Irish history during 1916 and also the events in Europe during World War 1. We have enjoyed learning about how the Earth works in geography through plate tectonics.

We have played ‘The Chase’ in Irish to help us learn our foclóir. We even

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W IT H M r . B u rk e had a winner against ‘The Chaser’ Mr. Burke. We have also had many competitive sessions of quizlet lives on our devices.

Our library time is an eagerly anticipated class during the week. An opportunity to wind-down and relax with a book. We are really enjoying the Accelerated Reader programme with help from Sarah.

As a whole year group, we had a fantastic celebration for Halloween with the help and vision of Mrs. Murphy. We created a spooky nature walk for the other children in the school. We all got dressed up in our costumes and brought the children on the spooky walk, some of us even became one with nature as a surprise for the younger children.

As a class we really enjoy games and PE sessions. We have played multiple rugby, hockey, soccer, basketball and uni-hoc matches.

We are really excited for what is to come during the second half of our Standard 6 year.

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W IT H M r . B u rk e

Since the start of this term we have thankfully been back out playing our various different sports and once again we are able to participate in matches against lots of different schools in basketball, football, hockey and rugby. The girls performed really well in their basketball against Castle Park and hockey against Loreto Dalkey, whilst the Std.6 boys excelled against Willow Park in football and Std 3-6 competed very well against St. Mary’s in their rugby matches. ‘Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much’.

by Noah Hobson

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ND U O A R Y L G P W E N R OU

This school year we were lucky enough to get a new playground, soccer nets, artificial grass, climbing frame, a sensory area with play house (and other sensory items like mud kitchen and sand pit to follow!) and new basketball nets. Thanks to Ms. Gregory and all the teachers for all the hard work and effort that went into creating this space for us over the Summer months. This has been a great addition to the Junior School!

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St . Gerard’s Junior School

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LITERACY CORNER

WITH Ms. Gregory The Junior Librarians have done great work for the school this term.

Earlier in the year, they started a poetry competition focused on the climate change theme, spreading a lot of awareness around the school. The Poetry Competition enabled lots of children to express themselves. The team recently hosted a Christmas poetry competition as well, which has gotten many brilliant poems from all who entered. Children also made bookmarks that were magnificent.

The Junior Librarians also created their own Junior Librarian Badge symbolising the team which they now wear with pride every day!

Mr. Mansfield regularly comes in to read to the younger classes from the new Junior Infants to standard 2. He also reads James And The Giant Peach to the older classes monthly.

by Evan Barry Keane

Junioran i Librar ttee i Comm Mollie O’Donnell Egan, Ben Morgan, Grace Atherfold, Sophia Kinsella, Amy Devitt, Sophie Ava Diamond Burton, Isobel Murphy, Lauren Day, Chloe O’Keeffe, Oliver Duffy, Hannah Bruton, Charlotte Dodd, Izzy Quinn, Annabel Focas, Ríona Flynn, Benjamin Kelly Byrne, Olivia Nolan, Harrison O’Reilly, Lola O’Leary, Madeline von Haden

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St . Gerard’s Junior Sc hool

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The Student council WITH Ms. Flanagan After speaking to a few members of the Student Council, they have given me information about the extremely successful term they have had up to now. They ran a great Tuck Shop in October, made it possible for us to dress up in our Halloween costumes and they were also responsible for the lovely fundraiser of the student-made Christmas cards which raised funds for the charity “I am Alex”. They are planning on more exciting things for the future, but for now they have done a great job. I cannot wait to see more of the excellent things the Student Council has planned for us throughout the rest of the year!

The Student Council Committee are: Jenson Bruton, Belén McKeagney, Alex Butler, Milo Butterly, Cian Jones, Julia Alexander, Hannah Byrne, Rozzy Finnegan Quirke, PJ Cunningham, Korina Budimlija, Cuán Costigan, Julian O’ Leary, Éabha Brennan Hobbs, Oscar Caden, Matthew Deasy, Olivia Jordan, Sophia Finn, Miranda MacGreevy, Carragh McGillycuddy, Isla Murphy, Ruby Walsh and Cónal McDermott.

The Greenschools Committee This year the Green schools have been working as hard as ever.

They have been having a lot of meetings this year to plan all the fun activities. First the members applied for different positions like Chairperson, the Vice Chairperson, secretary or Ambassador as well as the international committee.

They started the year with a Poem competition about global

W I T H M s . Po w e r

warming, and amazing poems were made. They also have been monitoring energy levels used in the school and have been trying to reduce them by turning the lights off and using less electricity.

3rd and 4th class has been busy composting and making sure everything is in the right bin, While 5th class has made sure to close all the windows and save

warmth in the school to save energy. So make sure to turn the lights off when you leave the room because the Green Schools are counting on you!

The Christmas decorations competition has received the most amount of entries ever this year with an astonishing 96 Christmas decorations being turned in.

by Luna Kovalenko

Daniel O’Sullivan, Oliver Krepel, Alfy Willis, Daisy Jolly, Kate Buckley, Mysha Ali, Maya von Moll, Yan Bo Chen, Cleo Lynch, Bella O’Reilly, Isabelle Galligan, Aaron Carey, Olivia Condren, Emma O’Connell, Jack Brock www.stgerards.ie

Our ols scho Green mittee Com Pa g e 2 7

e g l i G e a a n e t s i Co Mr WITH

. Dwyer

Tá ár gCoiste Gaeilge ag déanamh obair iontach ar fad i mbliana chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn.

Tá sí mar aidhm ag an gCoiste Gaeilge na daltaí a spreagadh leis an teanga a labhairt sa scoil le bród.

St. Gerard’s Junior School is now in its third year of the Gaelbhratach Initiative and our Coiste na Gaeilge members have been putting their heads together to come up with fun ways of promoting the use of the Irish language in our school. The Committee is currently organising games of Buille Faoi Thuairim (Guess Who) for the senior classes and storytelling sessions (Seisiún Scéalaíochta) for the junior classes.

Our Coiste na Gaeilge members have also been busy running the weekly Dalta na Seachtaine raffle and making regular announcements on the intercom and at assemblies. Committee members equipped each classroom with a jar and a ticket book for our weekly raffle and colourful labels were organised for all of the classrooms to encourage everyone to speak more Irish at school. Our Coiste na Gaeilge members have many fun and exciting ideas up their sleeves for the new year and everyone is looking forward to celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge in 2023. Nollaig shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir!

Coistelge ei Na Ga ittee Comm

The Members of the Coiste na Gaeilge are: Tristan Fogarty, Mary Kate Cunningham, Finn O’Reilly, Sophia Kinsella, Matthew Kelly, Kevin Yan, Céad Hendley, Zack O’Dwyer.