St. Gerard's Junior School Winter Newsletter 2023

Junior School

A WORD FROM THE HEADMISTRESS...

And so this is Christmas - time to relax, to leave our cares aside for a little while and to spend happy times with our families.

It is also a time to be thankful and as we look on the child Jesus in the manger, we give thanks for all the blessings that have been bestowed on us this term - and most especially for each and every girl and boy in our Junior School. We are indeed thankful for the great joy which they bring into our lives. I am also thankful for the superb and caring Junior School staff and for the magical learning environment which they create for the children; and I am thankful for you our wonderful 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.

Christmas Reflection Is it far to Bethlehem? No it’s not far How will I get there?

Take the road that goes through the heart of a child.

For Christmas is the time to recover our lost childhood.

If we see with the eyes of a child, we see the wonder of the true meaning of Christmas.

We see a baby in the manger who has come to make all things new.

We see love, goodness, gentleness and kindness.

And we know that we each need to bring these gifts to our world which is broken but which can indeed be made new by the true gifts of Christmas…..

So let us come to Bethlehem, to this place of new hope and new beginnings.

Let us come to the Lord who makes all things new.

Let us come, and with Mary beside us, take the Christ child to our heart Dr. Deirdre Farrell – Principal

Bray Drug Awareness Competition Reporters: Anna Polyzois and Robyn Wilson Bray Drug Awareness, a local organisation that promotes drug awareness in the community, ran their annual Art Competition in October 2023. This competition kicks off their drug awareness month and received around 600 entries. A number of St. Gerard’s Junior School students were among the finalists, and were invited to attend the Prize Giving in Bray Community Centre, along with many other local primary school students.

We left school at 12:30pm and when we arrived at the Little Flower Hall we were amazed by the wonderful spread of tea, coffee, lots of jellies and plenty of juice. Following that we had a delicious lunch of spicy wedges, chicken nuggets, mini sausages and chicken goujons! Then the Chair of Bray Drugs Awareness announced the winners, and the room turned into a bundle of nerves…

Gabriel Gibbons from Std 5 was highly commended, Alexander Yan-Rock from Std 4 and Robyn Wilson from Ms. Byrne’s Std 6 won Best Artwork in their age categories, and Anna Polyzois from Ms. Byrne’s Std 6 won the overall prize!

It was a very successful day and we enjoyed it immensely!

Congratulation to all our winners.

St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Toy Appeal A sincere THANK YOU to all of our Parents for your support with the St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Toy Appeal once again this year which makes such a different to many families in our local community.

OUERTTER NEWTSELAM Pag e 2

Chloe McDonnell, Bella O’Reilly, Saoirse Smith, Korina Budimlija, Keb Carroll, Sebastian Cobbe, Leonardo Carvalo e Silva Kracke, Sebastian Cobbe, Jemima Ellis, Ciarán Farrell, Jamie Fogarty, Brian Jones, Emerson Kane, Neasa Kenny, Aoibhín Kocikowska, Charlie McMorrow, Juliette Nery, Anna Polyzois, Leila Reynolds, Dhruv Sisodiya, Brooke Torpey, Evelyn Wang, Robyn Wilson, Isabella Yan-Rock, Zoe Boydell, Oliver Duffy, Tristan Fleming, Holly Gillespie, Lily Hingston, Taylor McGillyculddy.

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t te r W inte r 2 3

Drumming Wor

kshop

One afternoon we were all instructed to head into the Hall. As we walked over, we chatted and wondered what this could be about?! To our lovely surprise, we found out that every class in the school was going to have a drumming workshop over the next 2 days! We all sat in a circle and listened enthusiastically as our drumming teacher gave us a few examples of things we would be doing. We were all very excited! After the introduction, we all got a drum from the middle of the circle and began our lesson. First, we all did a few rhythms together on the drums. Then we all got parts to play and we sounded great!

Before we knew it, time had flown and our lesson had come to an end. It was a great day.

Reporter: Korina Budimlija

by Korina Budimlija

www.stgerards.ie

Page 3

our Teachers The Newsletter Team asked are time sp ir he t in do to ke li y he t what say!... and here’s what they had to

Simon

Dr. F

Cahty henjyoys

on Ms. Glebeoosks and teaching

ng re time m correcti Apart fro in Ms Gleeson’s spa , uppy children, walk her p she loves to ke yummy Lulu, ba a sit down to treats and Gleeson also . Ms. nice book some yoga in t loves to ge

Ms. Mellon

arrel

Cat e ing tim spend on Jack, er s ly. with h ic and fami Para fiance t hopefully Bu as hristm lot C r e v o do a get to d visit l l i w she ng an se ridi of hor atives too. rel

Dr. F arr classi ell likes lis ten ca conce l music, go ing to r spend ts, readi ing to ng , a ing ti nd me and fr with fami ly iends !

l

Ms. Carlos I like reading and spending time with family and friends!

Ann

Ms. Cunningham In Ms. Mellon’s spare time she likes to go to coffee shops, play music and spend time with her dog

Simon loves to spend time with his family, watches lots of footbal and likes to rap a bit too!

Ann e love swim s min and g walk ing

e

Marta In Marta’s spare time she likes to go on hikes and go to the gym

In Ms. Cunningham’s spare time she likes to play GAA and go home to Tyrone to watch her home team play as well.

Aoife

Ms. McCabe I like playing Tennis and Golf in my spare time!

Aoife loves to walk on the beach and in the woods, drink cappuccino and play with her String Quartet

Sarah Sarah’s favourite thing to do in her spare time is to go on walks in nature

Steph

anie

phy r u M rs. likes

M

Pag e 4

urphy gs Mrs. M eative thin r c doing gardening and

ie Magg er spare

h ie uses Magg e to swim tim ym! and g

Steph an free ti ie said she playi me with h spends h n e e hopes g rugby fo r family o r r r Ark the te lo a next y m will let w! She h e er ar enjoy some so she can retire thing strenu a little le ss ous!

Julieto run

es Julie lik ld or park a fie around es to spend and lik ime with t quality ily. fam

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

Anne Anne enjoys Baking in her spare time

Ms. N. Byrne

Ms. Olohan

Denise walk by likes to Powers the river in court w dogs M ith her a and Wil rgo son!

Pat listens to Music in his spare time

Ms. Olohan swims in the sea as often as possible!

Ms Byrne likes to listen to a choir singing in her free time

Denise

Pat

Brien Brien likes to go sailing, play golf and spend time with his grandchildren.

Mr. Dwyer likes to climb Bray Head.

He also likes to play rugby

Mr. unt m g y Z nt

Alex

ygmu Mr. Z hiking o go likes t

Alex likes to list to Music in his spare time

Ali

Mr. Dwyer Mr. Caraher Ms. Christian loves walking and reading time with her dog

Ali likes to grab a coffee in a nearby coffee shop, go for a walk, watch as people walk past and visit her mum.

Mr. Caraher likes to swim, ski, and hang out with friends and listen to political podcasts

Maria Maria likes to r ead and walk her dog

Ms. Christian Ms. Christine Madam Christine likes to go hill walking in her spare time.

.

Ms. Ce Bys.rBnyrne M

Ms. Su

sanne

Ms. Su s told us anne that sh e enjoys yoga garden and ing

www.stgerards.ie

enjoys g playin nis n e t , y hocke golf d an

Ms. Gregory

Louise

Ms. Gregory likes to go for a run in her spare time

Louise loves tennis and walking Page 5

with Louise and anne

Montess ori Reporters: Chloe McDonnell and Isabella Yan-Rock The Montessori class have been working on some Autumn themed artwork over the past few months. They had a Hallowe’en dress up party, games, planet work and lots of projects.

They have also been working really hard on their Christmas Nativity Play. For the Nativity Play, they each dressed up as the various characters like Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Angel, the Three Wise Men and some animals. They all had a great time and everyone enjoyed the show!

Pag e 6

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t te r W inte r 2 3

y t i r i N o s v s i a t e t n o M

www.stgerards.ie

Page 7

JUNIOR INFANTS

WITH Ms. McCabe

Fast and furious is the only way to describe how quickly the time has gone since September. I have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know my little students. Daily, I encounter their individual personalities unfolding in front of my eyes and it is a delight to be part of this. Each child has their own unique spark and it makes my teaching life very interesting!

Friendships are being forged, adventures being had, and lessons are being learned. In the spirit of being a good global citizen we try as best we can to operate in “Kind Mode” as much as possible!

In and outside the classroom there is constant learning underway.

The children are learning their sounds, Irish is sung out, games are played and number work is underway. The children seem to simply embrace every learning opportunity. Whether it is drama with Susanne, music with Ms. Broxson, Movement to Music with Claire, Arts and Crafts with me or we are in the Library with Sarah, they give it their all. This was apparent in the Glow Up Day where the whole school got together and decorated the school doors.

We have a marvellous school community where each person is recognised, valued and nurtured. Have a lovely Christmas and I look forward to 2024 and all it brings.

Pag e 8

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t te r W inte r 2 3

SENIOR INFANTS WITH Ms. Glee son Senior Infants have had a busy first term. They come to school each day brimming with energy and enthusiasm and are a joy to teach! They are loving learning to read and are becoming great little budding readers.

They love all the literacy games and activities we do everyday, especially ‘I Spy’ and ‘Jigsaw Stories’. They love number challenges and games in maths too.

In Science this term the children designed and made their own musical shakers and had great fun testing out to see which was the loudest one! They learnt all about Autumn and painted beautiful autumnal trees inspired by our nature walk around our fabulous school grounds.

They learnt about the artist Henri Matisse and then tried out his ‘painting with scissors’ technique themselves and created stunning, colourful paper collages.

Senior Infants have also loved lots of thematic play this term. At Halloween the children enjoyed using the Puppet Theatre to perform spooky dramas, building haunted houses and using the Sensory Tuff Tray to create magic potions during playtime. They made pumpkins and witches at the crafts table. At Christmas time the Puppet Theatre was used to act out scenes from the North Pole, and the Tuff Tray became a present wrapping and card writing station!

They designed their own Christmas jumpers and decorated Christmas baubles at the art table.

Senior Infants performed their very first Aassembly this term all about friendship and working together as a team. They played a blinder saying their lines and singing the songs in front of the whole school. Everyone was so impressed and I was so proud of them all.

Senior Infants have been looking forward to performing on stage for their Christmas Play all term and have been busy preparing their ‘Baarmy Bethlehem’ in recent weeks. They took on their roles with relish and sang out each and every song. I wish them all a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing what next term brings!

Welcome to Senior Infant s Sophie and Th omas! www.stgerards.ie

Page 9

Standard 1

WITH Ms. Carlos

We were delighted to make three new friends in September and to welcome them to our school – Aoife, Dash and Ben. They feel like old friends already!

It’s been a busy term with lots of work, fun and excitement.

Wednesday mornings are a great hit with Mr. Mansfield’s Story Telling - reading all sorts of exciting and funny stories. It’s the one day that no-one wants to be late! Roald Dahl Day was celebrated as usual and Hannah Dent won the golden ticket – lucky Hannah! Dot Day was equally exciting with stories and art combined.

Well done to Toby and Finn for bringing the Irish Trophy to our classroom.

The last weeks have been so busy! We had a visitor showing us how to play the African Drums, and Toy Show Bags were very popular. We also had Activity Day and watched a movie after school.

We have had such fun preparing our play “It’s a Party” – thank you Susanne and Ms. Broxson for helping us and for making it such fun!

And finally, Santa came and gave us all a gift. He is so generous – so we had to sing some songs for him!

Merry Christmas to all. Have a happy and safe Holiday.

Pag e 10

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t t e r W inte r 2 3

Standard 2

WITH Ms. Gregory

Well what a wonderful and busy term we have had in Std 2, from starting school to our wonderful performance in the Christmas Play. The boys and girls have worked extremely hard in all areas of school life! We haven’t wasted a minute of our time. Some of our highlights from the term have to be celebrating Hallowe’en, St. Gerard’s Day, Swimming, Science Week as well as Maths Week.

Halloween was a super time in our class. We made pinch pot pumpkins as well as looking at different artists that have used 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 huge success. We had lots of fun solving problems and working together on some Maths challenges.

But we can’t forget our Christmas Play - ‘The Inspectors’. What a super performance all the boys and girls gave. You were truly suburb! A huge thank you to Ms. Broxson, Susanne and Mrs Olohan for all their hard work in putting the production together. A huge Happy Christmas to all of the wonderful boys and girls in Std 2. What an amazing group you are. I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and I can’t wait to see you all in 2024!

Welcome to www.stgerards.ie

Std 2 Eric Page 11

Standard 3

WITH Mr. Dwyer

I am delighted to share some of the exciting happenings in Std 3 as we approach the festive season. It has been a joyous and eventful term filled with learning, creativity, and exploration. In our History lessons, the children embarked on a fascinating journey through time and discovered their own roots by creating beautiful family tree projects. They eagerly traced their ancestry, learning about their heritage and the importance of family connections. Our Geography lessons took us on an incredible adventure around the world. The children explored different types of homes, from igloos in the Arctic to stilt houses in Southeast Asia. They marvelled at the diversity of cultures and gained a deeper understanding of how people adapt to their environments. Science has been a blast in Standard 3!

Through fun and engaging experiments, the children discovered the effects of tooth decay and learned how to take care of their oral health. They also explored the wonders of the respiratory system by measuring lung capacity and understanding the importance of keeping our lungs healthy. We are thrilled to announce that we will be participating in the ESB Science Blast at the RDS in the new year! The children are eagerly preparing an exciting science investigation exploring a food hygiene myth - the five-second rule!

Art and Crafts have been another highlight of our class activities. The children have let their imaginations run wild, creating beautiful popsicle baskets, spooky witches for Halloween, and adorable winter owls. Also, we had the opportunity to visit the Makerspace for language and literacy lessons every Friday. The children brought their written stories to life this term using their devices, Seesaw and Greenscreen technology. I am so proud of the progress the children have made in all subject areas and the enthusiasm they bring to their learning every day.

d3 Welcome to St Pag e 12

Donncha and M

arta

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

Standard 4 WITH Mr. Zygmunt Standard 4 have been hard at work this term and have settled into Standard 4 school life at St. Gerard’s remarkably well.

Students have had ample opportunities to establish and reinforce friendships at school through regular school life, after school games, shared group projects and even simple instances like everyday visits to the dining hall.

We have also been lucky to attend swimming lessons and, perhaps the greatest highlight of the year so far was visiting the zoo!

Standard 4 has been actively engaged with the national curriculum framework. In Maths, some things students have been learning about are fractions, place value, angles and working through different word problems. In English, they have worked on their comprehension skills through fact-finding exercises responding to different texts and have worked to understand various aspects of grammar, like contractions, verbs and nouns.

Students have worked on writing recounts, information reports and have begun drafting their Write A Book. For SESE, they particularly enjoyed presenting their zoo and history projects to the class.

With Christmas just around the corner, everyone in Standard 4 is looking forward to a well-deserved rest. However, there is much to look forward to in the coming months! Students will continue being active learners and will challenge themselves in class. They will continue to develop friendships with peers and engage with the Christian values of St. Gerard’s.

www.stgerards.ie

Page 13

t

Pa g e 14

str e h c r O l o o h c S r o he Juni

a

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t te r W inte r 2 3

This term the Junior School Orchestra performed before the Christmas Plays and played two beautiful pieces. We started with The Pirates of the Aegean and finished with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. We played all sorts of instruments from the trumpet to the violins to the harp, xylophone, percussion instruments and many more! We were led and conducted by the lovely Ms. Broxson.

The orchestra practices every Friday before lunch and we always have a good time. The orchestra is great fun and enjoyable and it is lovely to all play together.

Reporter: Evelyn Wang

www.stgerards.ie

Page 15

as m t s za i r n h a C The ag av r t Ex

This year we were blessed with a spectacular Christmas Extravaganza thanks to our talented students who performed in the Christmas school plays from Junior infants up to Std. 3.

I think everyone can agree it was an absolute joy watching all the rehearsing and preparation to make these plays come to life. It’s an understatement to say they put a lot of hard work into every element because as we all witnessed they really gave it their all! At the helm was our talented Drama Teacher Susanne and Music Teachers Ms. Broxson and Mrs. Olohan, who once again managed to make it the best festive play yet, and a pleasure to watch right here in St. Gerard’s Junior School.

On the big day, all of the performing classes were dressed to the nines - costumes, hair and makeup! Everyone took their places and the plays started to great applause, everyone captured their roles perfectly and the music sounded stunning. There were some truly superb dancers, singers and actors!

First up we saw a wonderful portrayal of the classic nativity from Junior Infants. They did their best job singing and dancing to the music with lots of humour too. Then Senior Infants put on a breathtaking performance of “Baarmy Bethlehem”, followed by Standard 1 who offered an amazing performance in their very own ‘It’s a Party’. It was wonderful to watch and it really showed their dedication to the Christmas spirit.

The performance of ‘The Inn-Spectors’ brought to us by our very own Standard 2, was also a joy to watch, and each and every one of the actors did amazingly. Standard 3 rounded it all up and really gave a memorable spectacle of a show. They performed the classic “Christmas Carol Story” and each character was portrayed perfectly.

The Christmas plays this year blew us away and I’m sure every single one of the parents watching and the whole St. Gerard’s Community where just as impressed as we were. With a big thanks to Mrs. Murphy for the incredible costumes, Helen for the make-up and all of the class teachers. Bravo St. Gerard’s!

Reporters: Brooke Torpey and Aoibhin Kocikowska

Pa g e 16

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

www.stgerards.ie

Page 17

as m t s i r h The C

E

Pag e 18

za n a g a v a r xt

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

www.stgerards.ie

Page 19

Standard 5 WITH Ms. Byrne Our Faith Journey Std. 5 kicked off the year with a school Assembly themed around ‘Kindness and Friendship’. They recited poetry, prayers and even produced a version of Aesop’s Fable, ‘The Lion and the Mouse’ before finishing with a rendition of ‘You Can Count on Me’ by Bruno Mars.

To celebrate All Souls Day in November, 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.

Std.5 thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate a Class Mass with Father Jimmy and Sister Patricia in our beautiful school chapel. The boys and girls prepared a beautiful Mass on the theme of ‘Gladness and Joy’. We have so much to be glad and joyful about and I was very proud of them!

My class was thrilled to receive a visit from Sister Maureen from the Archdiocese of Dublin who was overwhelmed by the children’s articulate and knowledgeable RE presentations during her visit. A true reflection of their commitment as they continue on their faith journey!

Story Time with Junior Infants The class was very excited to be given the opportunity to engage in paired reading with the pupils from Junior Infants in our Library 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!

A Feast of Famine Projects Std.5 produced fabulous projects on ‘The Irish Famine’ producing one element for every subject on our curriculum and linking it with the famine. We enjoyed poetry, drawings, roleplays, videos, instrumentals and vocals, mind maps, bar charts, graphs and more! Well done boys and girls!

Pa g e 20

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

Standard 6 WITH Ms. Cun ni

ngham

Well, what a busy few months we have had in Standard 6! All of the students have settled in well and made fantastic new friends! It has been a pleasure to work with such positive, enthusiastic students who are dedicated to doing, and being their very best! Well done everyone!

Since September, we have had various activities and events; Kilruddery Trip, St. Gerard’s Day, Halloween activities, Glow up day as well as opportunities for group work in our board game projects and Black History Month projects!

Most recently we have had a Christmas Glow up day, this was organised by Ms. Byrne and her Student Council and was a roaring success!

Students of every age and each class were mixed and sent to a new room to “glow” it up for Christmas! I must say the students in Standard 6 were absolutely fantastic, taking on a role to help the younger students decorate the classes and helping to keep them entertained! Fantastic work by all!

In class, the Standard 6 students have had many opportunities to showcase their talents on their chromebooks through coding, creating presentations, creative writing and much more. Recently I asked them to unleash their creativity, imagination and literacy skills to create a poster advertising a flying car! I’m confident that our class harbours future entrepreneurs and inventors, given the remarkable creativity, imagination, and literacy skills displayed in their captivating advertisements!

According to my class there have been many stand out moments so far this year, from our annual St. Gerard’s Day celebrations to Maths Class where we played human battleships to help with coordinates! There hasn’t been a day that has gone by where we haven’t laughed or learned something new! Everyone has been working so hard in the lead up to Christmas for their Tests and I have no doubt Standard 6 are enjoying the build up to their final Christmas in Primary School!

It has been an absolute joy to work with this group, they have learned so much and brought motivation and enthusiasm to our Class every day! Go raibh maith agaibh! Nollaig shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir.

www.stgerards.ie

Page 21

Standard 6

Pag e 22

WITH Ms

. Byrne Ms. Byrne’s Std 6 class had a super start to the year, busy but exciting with everyone settling into Sixth Class life and into St. Gerard’s School very smoothly.

The class have been involved in many different projects such as creating stress balls, blubber gloves and launching rockets in Science class. We investigated famous figures as part of our Black History Projects and are exploring the class novel ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’. We teamed up with Junior Infants and became their buddies while creating ‘Sock Snowman’. We are currently designing and building our own trenches as part of recreating ‘World War I’.

Since the beginning of term, we have had a huge representation from Ms. Byrne’s class spread throughout the different school activities with students playing hockey and rugby matches, football competition and track running in Santry with Nessa Kenny winning the overall 1st place! Robyn Wilson and Anna Polyzois represented the class and won the Bray Drug Awareness Art Competition and Jemima Ellis was selected for the Primary School Handwriting competition. Students from the Student Council and Greenschool Committees have kept us on our toes with a full school Glow Up Day turning the school into a Winter Wonderland and creating innovative Christmas decorations from recycled goods.

Happy Christmas to one and all!

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

Standard 6

It has been a busy and exciting term for the Standard 6 pupils.

The year began with a rush of excitement as the students acquainted themselves with each other and for the some, with their new surroundings. All enjoyed an action-filled day of adventure in

The Std.6 Toy

WITH M

Alive Outside Activity Centre in Kilruddery on Thursday 21st of September. It was a wonderful day out, where every student participated in obstacle courses, archery sessions and other teambuilding exercises. It was a great success.

Stall

On the 15th of December Std. 6 presented their annual Toy Stall. Everyone in the school had a great time. Each child had to bring in 4 euro to receive 2 toys of their choice! And some of the Std. 6 students dressed up as Santa and Elves!

In Ms. Mellon’s class they sold toys such as slinkys, pens, marbles, and in Ms. Byrne’s class they did activities like basketball, guessing games and rubber ducking. Ms.Cunningham’s class did decorating cupcakes/cookies and lots more activities. The Friday before the Toy Stall, Std 6 decorated the classrooms and got all the preparations

www.stgerards.ie

s. Mell on

Across the months of September and October, the pupils were tasked with designing a board game using recyclable materials. This group project involved each of the 3 Standard 6 classes and combined STEM, sustainability and team-work.

The students enjoyed the final day of the project where they were given the opportunity to play each others’ games. The board games are now stored away safely - to be brought back out on wet play days!

October also brought Black History Month. To introduce the theme to the year group, they watched the movie ‘Hidden Figures’, before completing a group project on a person of interest within the theme. The projects are not only detailed and well-researched but also creatively designed and presented.

They are proudly displayed outside the classrooms for all to see.

November has been a busy month with lots of progress and hard-work going into the various subject areas.

Incorporating ICT with Gaeilge has brought a new dimension and excitement to the language. The students have enjoyed practising their Irish verbs through the use of an online platform called ‘Kahoot’.

It is wonderful to see the pupils so engaged in the subject.

With Christmas fast approaching, the class is in the midst of creating recyclable Christmas ornaments.

The only requirement given was for the majority of the materials to be recyclable… the rest is left to their own imagination! We are excited to see the finished products and hang them from the Christmas tree.

Happy Christmas everyone!

ready. All the money raised from the Toy Stall was donated to the St. Gerard’s Christmas Bazaar Appeal with the proceeds going to myriad local charities.

Page 23

Cross Country

Reporter: Neasa Kenny

The Cross-Country race this year was a great success. Many schools from far and wide took part. Neasa Kenny came first overall, Isabelle Galligan came 4th overall and Charlotte Dodd came 6th overall which led to St. Gerard’s Std 6 class coming in second place overall for the first time ever! The boys also did an amazing job with Brian Jones, Sean Nolan & Freddy Colley being the first three boys to place in St. Gerard’s.

games Hockey

Reporter: Bella O'Reilly

I’ve been playing hockey for many years and I really enjoy it! I play as goalie for my team and they are really supportive.

At games time, we do drills and training and sometimes even little mini-matches with each other! We have also played a few friendly matches. The Std 6 girls also participate in a league with many other schools and so far it’s been very good! We have won our first league match, and I hope that we can succeed in the future as well. Hockey is a very dear sport to me, it really is fun! I hope that others can find it as much fun as I do, because trust me - it is a great game to play!

Pa g e 24

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

Equestrian Team Reporter: Zoë Boydell This year the equestrian team has consisted of Isabelle Galligan, Nell McDonnell, Zoë Boydell, Niamh Winter, Dahlia Durkan, Charlotte Dodd, Isabella Di Biasi, Benjamin Galligan and Sophie Gleason. We have placed in many competitions and have had a really good start to the year. We came first in Equestrian Interschools Ireland at Coilog and fifth in Barnadown in the primary teams. The team also placed first and second in the Marlton Interschools League. Team members have also placed really well individually. It is great to be part of the team!

Blackrock Rugby Blitz

Reporter: Dhruv Sisodiya

On October 6th we had our first Blackrock Rugby Blitz. Our meeting time was 8:30 on Saturday morning. It was a very warm day. We had an hour to warm-up before our game so at 9:30 we were prepared to play against Willow’s C team. We started the game well by getting 2 early tries and we kept that momentum through the whole game. We ended up winning 21-0. Our coach told us we played very well but he wanted us to improve our intensity, we had 20 minutes before our next game. Those 20 minutes went in a flash but we were all prepared for our next game against Willow’s B team. We didn’t start well so after 10 minutes we found ourselves 3 tries down but our coach told us to end the game as well as we can. We ended up scoring a consolation try at the end of the game. The final score was 19-7 to Willow. Our coaches told us we were half asleep for the first 10 minutes but as the coach said we ended the game well.

Our final game was against St. Michael’s C team. The coaches told us to keep the momentum from the end of the last game going. In the beginning of the game we played amazingly well by getting 2 early tries and dominating the possession throughout the whole game. It was our last game and we gave it everything we had left in us. St. Gerard’s ended up winning 24-0. At the end of the game our coaches told us we played very well but we have a work to do especially on our tackling and our intensity but overall we played very well!

Standard 6 Rugby match against Willow Park

Reporter: Brian Jones

5-a-side Soccer Reporter: Keb Carroll and Charlie McMorrow

On the 21st and 28th of November, 2023, the boys and girls of St. Gerard’s Junior School had football try-outs for a 5-aside soccer team. Everyone who tried out got picked for the team. There was three boys’ teams and three girls’ teams. On the Friday morning of 8th of December, school teams from all over Wicklow and Dublin came to St Gerard’s to play in a soccer blitz. The blitz was a huge success and we all really enjoyed it.

Thank you Julie for all the effort in organising it!

On the 2nd of December 2023 the Std 6 rugby team had their fourth match of the season against Willow Park. The team was to be in St. Gerard’s at 8:30am for the warm-up. We were playing on the third pitch. The game kicked off at 9:00am and due to the frosty conditions with the pitch being too icy to play on it was decided by both the Willow Park and St. Gerard’s coaches to just play a game of touch rugby. The team was split into two teams and played on half the pitch.

Both games started well for Willow Park but St. Gerard’s came back in the second half with tries from Shane Dillon, Aidan Hopkins, Brian Jones, Freddie Colley and Tristan Fleming. Both games finished with a win for Willow Park but our coach Phil was happy with the performance from both of our teams.

www.stgerards.ie

Page 25

p to Kilrudd e i r T 6 d t S

ry

Reporter: Oliver Duffy

On the 21st September, 2023, every student in Std. 6 hopped on to buses and drove to Kilruddery. We had all packed our bags with a spare change of clothes and a packed lunch. To great excitement we arrived at Alive Outside. We were greeted by the instructors and we hung our bags and coats on hooks. We were then split into groups. The different groups were allocated different activities. My group did Bushcraft first. We were told different ways to create little houses out of sticks. We were put into groups and went to build our own little houses.

We hunted for sticks of all shapes and sizes and went on to build a hut under a fallen tree trunk. After we finished building houses we toasted marshmallows over a fire that one of the instructors had made. They were charred but still delicious! A few did disappear into the fire for good though including 2 of mine!

When we had finished our marshmallows we did the Barrel Run. We had to drag a barrel through lots of different trenches filled with muddy water. We were split into teams for this and both teams were timed. My team didn’t win but it didn’t matter because we were all so excited for what we were doing next. We were going to be doing different parts of a huge obstacle course!

First we did a course that was made up completely of tyres. Then we were told we were going to do a big obstacle course where we had to jump over lots of walls and then slide through tubes and finish with climbing a huge ramp. It was hard but great fun.

After this we had our lunch. We had all worked up big appetites from jumping over walls and tyres and building houses. Once we had eaten, we walked over to the archery targets to do some archery. We each had three arrows to fire at the targets and we did this three times.

When archery was finished our group was split into two teams and we did a game where we had to do different activities to progress to the end and guess the code to open a box full of sweets. We were in a race to see who could crack the code first. After everyone’s last activities were finished, we packed our bags and put on our spare change of clothes as we had all gotten very dirty. Lastly, all of Sixth Class gathered around and we got a big photo taken before we all piled back onto the buses and headed back to the school. We were all very tired but happy that we had all had a fantastic day.

Pag e 26

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e tte r W inte r 2 3

S t, G e r a r d ’ s

D ay

Reporter: Tristan Fleming On the 16th of October the celebration of St. Gerard’s Day took place. This is naturally a very big event for our school.

It is our School Feasdt Day - so many fun and celebratory activities took place.

www.stgerards.ie

In the morning, Standard 2 presented a wonderful Assembly and drama about the history of St. Gerard’s Junior and Senior school. A trip to the Sugarloaf for Standard 2-6 was planned, but unfortunately, due to bad weather the trip couldn’t take place. Thankfully, the trip has been moved to a date after Easter.

Later in the evening, a very special Mass was held in the Sports Hall for the whole School. Father John O’Connor celebrated Mass along with many children from the Junior and Senior School reading prayers. Beautiful songs were sung by the Choir made up of children from Standard 5 and 6, and the Senior School Choir.

It was a great day.

Page 27

o ls Com m itt ee The Gree nscho This year in Greenschools, we have been focused on ‘Global Citizenship - Energy’ and how we look at energy on a wider scale than just in our own school and homes.

We have had many meetings getting to know each other and how to help our planet. We even went on a trip to Airfield to support our learning. We chose to go tp Airfield because it focuses on sustainability and grows lots of fruit and vegetables that are used within their own restaurant. What connects Airfield to our theme of Energy is that by growing their own food and using it in their restaurant Airfield save the energy that would be used in transport or packaging food from elsewhere. Also, by

having the ingredients grown onsite, Airfield can take just what they need, when they need it, which means less food waste.

In October, we started a weekly “Bin Competition” in which Std 4 and 5 check each class’s bin to see if they have been using them correctly so make sure you’re keeping your bins clean! They even check the Staffroom!

This Christmas, the Greenschools team made an Advent Calendar based on the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals have been promised by all world leaders to try to make this planet a healthier and fairer place and in St. Gerard’s we are trying to do the same.

This Christmas, the Greenschools are hoping for you to have the most sustainable Christmas. Please don’t forget to recycle old wrapping paper, try not to waste food and remember to turn off your Christmas lights at night time to save energy!

The Green Schools hope you have a wonderful Christmas and an even greener 2024!

Reporter: Jemima Ellis

Our ols scho e n e e r G itte m m o C The Greenschool Committee Members are: Aidan O’Neill, Cillian Ryan, Harrielle Thuillier, Henry Prestage, Donncha O’Neill, Jamie Greally, Olivia Nolan, Benjamin Galligan, Cathal Fitzpatrick, Charlie Hegarty, Arabella O’Dywer, Pippa Jolly, Katie O’Neill, Aidan Curran, Nessa Kenny, Isabelle Galligan, Juliette Neary, Jemima Ellis, Hannah Duggan, Essi Ashton, Aidan Hopkins, Nell McDonnell, Saibh Fitzpatrick, Oliver Duffy, Chloe O’Keeffe

Pa g e 28

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t te r W inte r 2 3

The Student council

The Student Council Committee are: Leo Barry-Keane, Dexter Bradshaw, Éabha Brennan-Hobbs, Jack Brock, Harry Browne, Korina Budimlija, Coco Curran, Sophia Finn, Holly Gillespie, Lily Hingston, Brian Jones, Daire King, Jean McCluskey, Finlay McGrane, Theo Mooney, Emma O’Connell, Conor O’Farrell, Brooke Torpey, Robyn Wilson.

As you all know, the Student Council has been keeping themselves very busy this term.

We started with a brilliant new idea…..‘The Late Late Toy Show Goodie Bags!’ They were packed with lots of sweets, including candy canes, chocolate, popcorn, jellies and most importantly a ‘stay up late pass’! We raised €800 and the money was donated to Down Syndrome Ireland. We can definitely assure you that it will be happening again next year, it was an absolute hit!

Another fun packed event was ‘Glow Up Day’. On the first day of December every teacher was allocated a team of 2 or 3 girls and boys from each class, and they brainstormed ideas to ‘glow up’ every classroom door with exciting and fun decorations.

There was some amazing art work displayed and we have to say we have some future artists in this school and the doors look amazing.

Of course we also organised our ‘Annual Christmas raffle’ with the amazing teddy bear among the great prizes. Congratulations to all our lucky winners who won some wonderful raffle prizes.

Reporters: Holly Gillespie and Lily Hingston www.stgerards.ie

Page 29

e g l i G e a a n e t s i Co N

tán na S uac h

coil

e

Táimid fíor-bhródúil as obair agus díograis Coiste na Gaeilge i rith na téarma seo. Táimid ag dul ó neart go neart agus táimid ag súil leis an mbliain atá amach romhainn. Mar chuid den obair thábhachtach atá á dhéanamh againn, tá an raifil Dalta na Seachtaine á reáchtáil againn gach seachtain. Táimid ag súil go mór leis an raifil seo ag spreagadh spéis sa Ghaeilge i measc na ndaltaí. Tá duaiseanna iontacha le buachan agus táimid buíoch as tacaíocht gach duine.

Bhíomar thar a bheith sásta a chur in ord lipéid do gach seomra ranga. Tá na lipéid seo ag cur le foghlaim na ndaltaí agus ag cuidiú leo a gcuid Gaeilge a chleachtadh sa seomra ranga. Táimid fíorbhuíoch do gach duine a chabhraigh linn leis an obair seo.

Chuireamar taispeántas speisialta ar bun le haghaidh an Nollag. Bhí Seisiún Carúil Nollaig againn inar chan gach rang amhrán Nollag as Gaeilge. Bhí sé dochreidte an t-éacht a chloisteáil ag na daltaí agus bhí spiorad na Nollag i ngach seomra ranga. Táimid bródúil as a gcuid sár-iarrachtaí.

Chuaigh cuairt speisialta orainn le déanaí. Tháinig Síofra ó Gael Linn chun cainte leis an gCoiste. Bhí comhrá suimiúil ag Síofra leis an gCoiste agus thug sí spreagadh do na baill chun smaointe a roinnt don bhliain atá romhainn. Táimid ag tnúth go mór le cur i bhfeidhm na smaointe seo i rith na bliana.

Táimid ag súil le téarma iontach eile lán le spraoi, foghlaim, agus ceol. Táimid buíoch as tacaíocht gach duine sa scoil agus táimid ag súil le leanúint ar aghaidh leis an nGaeilge agus leis an gCoiste.

Beannachtaí na Nollag daoibh go léir!

An tUasal Ó Duibhir

Coistelge ei Na Ga ittee Comm

The Members of the Coiste na Gaeilge are: James Boyle, Jordan Huang, Heather O’Neill, Avery McGonnell, Molly Sandys, Emma Mullins, Miranda MacGreevy, William O’Neill, Harrison O’Reilly, Dylan Farrell, Matthew Deasy, Seán Knight Bollard, Jackson Stewart, Olivia Condren, Peter Gregan, Hannah Bruton, Ellie O’Neill

Pa g e 30

St . Ge rard’s Junior School

Ne w sl e t te r W inte r 2 3

Junior Librarians

Reporters: Zoe Boydell, Lily Hingston and Holly Gillespie

This term the Junior Librarians have organised a lot of special events. Our first event was Roald Dahl Day and a special Roald Dahl Themed Story Telling session was held with Mr. Mansfield.

Our weekly Story Telling with Mr. Mansfield is always a big hit and it is the responsibility of the Junior Librarians to set up the Artzone and to bring the junior classes to the Artzone area each week.

The Junior Librarians have also been doing supervised reading in the Library at big Break on Tuesdays and Fridays where you can come read a book while they are busy organising the books on the shelves.

Our weekly Story Telling with Mr. Mansfield is always a big hit and it is the responsibility of the Junior Librarians to set up the Artzone and to bring the junior classes to the Artzone area each week.

The Junior Librarians have also been doing supervised reading in the Library at big Break on Tuesdays and Fridays where you can come read a book while they are busy organising the books on the shelves.

The Junior Librarians are: Riona Flynn, Izzy Quinn, Beaux Healy, Caoimhe Beatty, Harriet Caden, Olivia Jordan, Dahlia Durkan, Niamh Winter, Sophie Khalifa and Cece Callaghan

Junioran i Librar ttee i Comm The Junior Librarians are: Riona Flynn, Izzy Quinn, Beaux Healy, Caoimhe Beatty, Harriet Caden, Olivia Jordan, Dahlia Durkan, Niamh Winter, Sophie Khalifa and Cece Callaghan

www.stgerards.ie

Page 30

Recycled Christmas

Tree Decorations