Linking home and school.

“This school should be used as a model for other schools around the country” - The Minister for Education and Science

“I get the sense that this is a school that really ‘gets’ boys.” - Catherine Shanahan, Irish Examiner

An Samhain 2018 / November 2018 www.snbclonakilty.com Volume 24, Issue 03

Email: info@snbclonakilty.com | Mobile site: m.snbclonakilty.com | Telephone/fax: 8834487 | Twitter: @snbclonakilty

Parent / Teacher Meet-

ings: November 22nd. School closes at 2.45 p.m..

Lion’s Club Concert: 5th of December @ 7.30 a.m.

Christmas Concerts: De-cember 11th and 12th see page 10for more details.

GAA Mass: Thursday, 13th December @ 7.30 p.m.

Singing at Astna Square: 14th December 2.30 a.m.

Carol Service: 16th of December @ 7.30 p.m.

Singing in Bushmount: 18th of December during the day.

Christmas Holidays: Boys will get their holidays on the 21st of December at 12.00 p.m. Back to school on 7th of January.

February Mid-Term Break: 21st and 22nd.

School Closed: Monday 18th of March

Confirmation: April 10th @ 10.30 a.m.

Easter Holidays: Boys will get their holidays on Friday 12th of April at 12.00 p.m.. Back to school on 29th of April.

School Closed: May 6th. First Confession: 7th of

May @ 7.30 p.m. First Holy Communion:

Saturday 11th of May, 2019 @ 11.00 a.m.

School Closed: May 31st, June 3rd and 4th.

Scoilavision: Wednesday 19th June @ 8.00 p.m. for parents.

Summer Holidays: Friday 28th June@ 12.00 p.m.

As stated in Links 24.01 in September we are trying to cut down the size of the Links. Each month we upload pho-togrpahss of the activities in the school to the photosite… www.photos.snbclonakilty.com Below please find the photos uploaded during October.

Page 1 : Gentleman, Penman and Lift Off boys Page 2: Lego Page 3: Sciath na Scol Page 4: Aistear Page 5: Miscellaneous Page 6: Running Track Page 7: Tree Day Page 8: First Friday Page 9: Box Project Rang 5 Page 10: Orienteering Page 11: Kilgariffe Church Page 12: AGM Parent’s Association Page 13: Drama Page 14: Roots of Empathy Page 15: Rugby Blitz Page 16: Active Lunchbreak Page 17 a & b: Hallowe’en Parade Page 18: Sinéad O’Regan

In early October we held many parents meetings. The meet-ings were all well attended. Many thanks to everyone who came and thanks also to the staff who presented on the nights. Then we had the AGM of the Parent’s Association. It was also well attended. On the night the outgoing committee (pictured above) were thanked for their very hard work over the past two years. Ms. Eileen Collins was thanked by all - Barth Har-rington (Principal), Mrs. Noreen Minihan (Chairperson of the BOM) and by parents for her dedication and leadership of the association during her tenure. On the night a cheque for €15,000 was presented to the Board

(Continued on page 5)

On the 17th of October all Rang 5 and Rang 6 set off to Farran Woods for the first competitive day of Orienteering. The fifth class boys did not know what to expect. When they got to Far-

ran, there were over 900 chil-dren in attendance. Wow! This wasn’t going to be easy. However for Rang 5, it was - the fifth class came 1st and we had an individual 1st - Emmet Nolan as well. The sixth class also did them-

(Continued on page 2)

selves proud coming a close second. Well done to all the boys who all enjoyed their day. Many thanks to Ms. Re-gina Fitzmaurice who coached the boys, to Ms. Niamh Mac Auley, to Ms. Karen O’Regan and to Sam Aerts who all accompanied the boys on the day.

The boys are now all looking forward to their next day out on November 16th in Don-eraile Park. 5th class team (top 4) Emmet Nolan, Eddie Morris-sey, James Deegan & Paddy O’Crowley. 6th class team (top 4) Cailim Van Dam, Tom O’Donovan, Oran Blackburn and Seán Maguire.

(Continued from page 1)

2 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

All cans gratefully received. Please contact Ms. Regina Fitzmaurice if you have any query re. this matter. Many thanks to Ms. Fitzmaurice.. She and her class will also look after the school garden and glasshouse. The money that is collected by this scheme is used in the school garden. Thanks to David and Mark for or-ganising the cans this year.

At 17,125,200 square kilometres Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Floyd Money Mayweather, the boxer is the world's high-

est-paid athlete in 2018 earning a salary of $285 million.

The tallest ice cream cone in the

world measured 10 ft 1 inch in height and was achieved in Norway in 2015.

New Lego has just been purchased by Ms. Regina Fitzmaurice to supplement the al-ready large store we have. Each week many classes use the Lego in the Chess room.

The Sciath na Scol matches are over now for another year. Thanks to everyone who helped out this year with coaching and transport: to Mr. Gavin O’Riordan and Mr. Seán Daly for coaching the boys after school, to Conan O’Dono-van and Timmy Anglin for their support and coaching, to the par-ents of the boys on the teams for bringing the boys to matches.

On 16th October 4th class went to the library for a talk about water safety. First we walked from out school to the library. We had to wait 5 minutes because we were early birds. At 12 the talk began. The speaker was called Graham and he was a lifeguard in Chile, Mexico and Australia. He talked about flags in the beach, how to prevent drowning and 14 steps about how to save your life in the water. He told us about a famous surfer who drowned in North California in a big wave after having no sleep. It was a very interest-ing talk and we learned a lot.

3 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

Boys in Junior Infants busy at Aistear in October.

Lately a number of parents are parking on the double yellow lines outside the O’Rahilly Street entrance - endanger-ing your child’s life in the process. Please DO NOT PARK THERE. The Board of Management has a duty of care for all the children and are presently in contact with the relevant authorities - the Gardaí, the traffic war-den etc - to assist us with this very dangerous practice. Please also DO NOT PARK outside the main gate of the school on the by-pass.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in our Fancy Dress Parade this year and also our Story/Poetry/Drawing Competi-tion. Thanks to Ms. Orla O’Keeffe for organis-ing the parade and to Mrs. Elaine Connol-ly for organising the Story/Poetry/Drawing Competition. Prizewinners in the Story/Poetry/Drawing Competition. Luca O’Donoovan, Seán Kennedy, Killian Whooley, Naidas Pocevicius, Rian Kelle-her, Johnny Lyons, Harry Ellis, Matthew

Kingston, Etaoin Mulcahy, Ethan McNamara, Bill Bennett, Edvinas Vasiliauskas, Conor Mulcahy, Conall McAuley, Arjun Singh Negi, Jamie O’Donovan, Cahal Curtin, Oran Blackburn, Seán Maguire and Shay Murphy. Costume Prizewinners: Kevin O’Brien, Francesco Bakaj, Antoni Matuszak, Mark Birlea, Will Gallwey, Leon O’Callaghan, Aidan Whooley, Jacob Kelleher, Olan Quirke, Richard Kennedy, Joseph Cahalane, Darragh Murphy, Eoghan Minihan, Michael Francis Collins, Ben Hastings, Emmet Nolan, Finn O’Boyle, Jack Cro-nin, Michael Birlea, Seán Maguire, Daniel Kingston, Ryan Twomey, Oisín Has-sett, Billl Bennett. Photos on page 6 and on our Staff site.

Parents: now that children are back in school, please be vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for head-lice. If you find any please notify the school and we will send a note to all parents in that class. It is vital that all parents in the classroom check, otherwise the problem can’t be solved.

Children are not allowed to walk in the staff carpark - even if accompanied by an adult. Please use the main school yard for access. Also during the school day, parents are not permitted to use the Staff Carpark. It is too dangerous. Parents can park in the Clonakilty Carpark if they wish. After school - e.g. after Chess or Bas-ketball or Sherpa, parents may use the Carpark.

Basketball 18/19: Basketball training is on Tuesdays and Thursdays . Thanks to Ms. Anna Kingston / Ms. Carol Anne O’Donovan for assist-ing again with Basketball this year. Teams are up on our website. Cahal Curtin and Conor Daly are in charge.

Quizzard ‘18/19: will start in November. Classes from Rang 3 - Rang 6 will be par-ticipating. Micheál Kelly, Tom O’Donovan and Cal O’Mahony are in charge of the quiz this year.

Chess: for Learners is on every Tuesday 3.00 - 4.00 p.m. Chess for Players is on every Wednesday 3.00 - 4.00 p.m. Chess will end by the Easter Holidays.

Thanks to Ms. Niamh Mac Auley for her help with the Learners. Thanks to Mr. Gavin O’Riordan for his continued assistance with the Players Chess Club.

Soccer Competitions

Senior Infants Soccer Held on Monday, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. No Soccer on Thursday or Friday.

Rang 1 Held on Tuesdays or Wednes-days. Extra day’s soccer on Fridays - between Rang 1 and Rang 2.

Rang 2 Held on Mondays AND Thursdays. Extra day’s soc-cer on Fridays - between Rang 1 and Rang 2.

Rang 3 Held on Mondays

Rang 4 Held on Tuesdays

Rang 5 Held on Wednesdays

Rang 6 Held on Thursdays All teams are up on our School Website.

Multi-Media Authoring / Video Editing / Computer Lessons / Coderdojo - for Rang 2, Rang 3, Rang 4, Rang 5 and Rang 6 have start-ed with our new laptops in our new computer room. Thanks to Mrs. Margaret Deegan for teaching Coder Dojo to Rang 2 each week. Swimming: for Rang 2/3 - started on 19th of October

until the 7th of Decem-ber. Rang 1 AND Rang 5 are staring on Dec. 14th.

Wardens – Boys in fifth/sixth class are trainig with Mr. O’Driscoll for Junior Warden Duty. Many thanks to Mr. O’Driscoll. Thanks also to Chris Hinchy for his help.

GAA - Timmy Anglin Rugby - with Kevin O’Re-gan has finished for the year. Christmas Carol Singing has started on Tuesdays and Thursdays at break time for Ranganna 3 - 6.

4 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

“Cent” boxes will continue this year. Rang 5 - Ms. Karen O’Regan’s) will be in charge of or-ganising the collection each week. Last year €800 was raised last year for The Thorntree Pro-ject. Patrick, Pat-rick, Ryan and Eddie will try and beat last year’s record as they are now in charge for the coming year. The total so far has not been counted yet, but should be ready by the next Links.

Park Hote l

5 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

If you would like to book an ad for the com-ing school year 2018 - 2019 please let Thel-ma know as soon as possi-ble. The num-ber of ads is limited. Our Links goes to all parents in the school - 10 times a year - at the beginning of each month. The cost is €20 per issue or at a dis-count of €150 for the entire year! Please ring 8834487 if you are interested.

Work is just getting underway on this year’s Christmas Mag-azine. As was the case last year, lo-cal businesses can place ad-vertisements in the magazine. Advertisements are priced as follows:

Half-page: €20

Whole page: €40 The magazine is in the same format as last year – that is A5 size. Money raised by advertisements last year was spent on our computer network - used by all in the school. This has become an invaluable source of revenue to the school - it was also used to repair and purchase computers for the school. Please place your advertisement by con-tacting Thelma at the school at 023-8834487/or send in a note with your child, as soon as you can and a space will be booked for you.

of Management to help pay for our new running track. What a tremendous achievement. On the night a new committee was elected: Sarah Jane O’Donovan (Chairperson), Terry Lyons (Secretary), Elaine Dinneen - Treasurer, Ciara Lucy - P.R.O., Karen Daly - Vice-Chair, Barry Nash - Vice-Secretary, Ann Phair - Vice-Treasurer

Jean Farrelly – Vice Pro Noel White was elected as Parent’s Rep. on the BOM to re-place John Coleman.

(Continued from page 1)

The Board of Management

recently reviewed our Child Protection Policy and our

Anti-Bullying Policy. For your information the Desig-

nated Liaison Person is

Barth Harrington (Príomhoide) and the Deputy

Designated Liaison Person

is Regina Fitzmaurice.

Our Anti Bullying Policy and

Child Protection Guidelines are available on our school

website.

Our Christmas Magazine is due out in the week of December 17th if not before! The price of the magazine is €4.00. Many people have ordered their magazine already in September. If you did not order yours and still wish to do so, you can by sending in €4 to your child’s class teacher on or before Fri-day the 10th of December. There will be a limited number available. This year is our 23rd year of the magazine. Many thanks to all the teachers for their help with the Christmas Magazine this year, it promises to be the best one ever. Thanks also to the SNAS and Finbarr and Thelma for their help. The senior classes are especially involved in the magazine and a special thanks to their teachers for their help. The fol-lowing boys are this years’ editors and assistant editors. Editors – Conor Daly and Conor Mulcahy Imperial Hotel Crossword – Conall McAuley, Jack Burton and Jack O’Crowley

Thanks to everyone who are helping out again this year with our Literacy Lift Off and Maths for Fun groups. Thanks to all the resource teachers, parents and friends and TY students from the Sacred Heart School. Thanks also to the SNAs who help when they are in a position to do so. If you would like to help, please contact the school (Carol or

Thelma) and we will sign you up! Please note that Gar-da Vetting has to organised first and this takes about 3 weeks.

Thanks to everyone who came to our Parent’s meetings in October. Thanks to the Parent’s Associa-tion for organising

refreshments on the night.

6 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

First Holy Communion (second class) will be held on May 11th, 2019 at 11.00 a.m. in the Parish Church. First Confession: will be held on 7th of May 2019 @ 7.30 p.m. Confirmation: will be held on 10th of April, 2019 @ 10.30 a.m. Children who were baptised outside of the parish of Clona-kilty will have to send in a copy of their Baptismal Certifi-cate (unless you have already done so). Please send in this certificate as soon as you can. Children in other classes who have not sent in their Baptismal Certificate can do so at any time – it will be photocopied and the origi-nal returned immediately.

Gum Shields must be worn for Football, Hurling and Rugby GAA with Timmy Anglin on Wednesdays Classes Juniors A, Juniors B, Seniors and 2nd October 24th and November 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and De-cember 5th Classes 1st, 2nd/3rd and 4th December 12th, 19th and January 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th Classes 5th, 5th / 6th & 6th February 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th Classes Juniors A, Juniors B, Seniors and 2nd March 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th

Classes 1st, 2nd/3rd and 4th April 3rd, 10th, May 1st, 8th and 15th Rugby with

Kevin O’Regan on Mon-

days. This training is now

finished for the year.

We are assisting Clonakilty Red Cross Youth Group with the Penny Dinners Advent Box. It’s a great way to foster young people thinking of those less fortunate and increase generosity . Three boys, Oliwier, Christopher and Robert are in charge of this initiative in Scoil na mBuachaillí. Each week different items will be requested - please see below:

Week 1 Monday 26th of November Tea Towels Tins of Fruit Hand Wash Jelly Cling Film

Week 2 December 3rd Tins of Beans Refuse Sacks Custard, Tin Foil Tins of Peas,

Week 3 December 10th Pot Scourers Biscuits, Toilet Roll Tins of Soup Washing up Liquid Week 4 December 17th Coffee &Tea Bags, Paper Towels, Cooking Oil, Salt or Pepper, Sugar, All weeks we will be looking for Toothpaste, Shower Gel, Face Cloths, Towels, Toothbrushes(new) Hats, Scarfs

7 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

Pictured above: Lego, Codo Dojo, Running Track, Tree Day, Box Project, Visit to Kilgarriffe Church, Drama with Liz.

Time Constraints Please note: each parent will be allocat-ed approx. 10 minutes for the Parent/Teacher meeting. However if you re-quire more time than this please contact the school at any time and make an appointment to meet your child’s teach-er / Learning Support Teacher / Re-source Teacher / EAL Teacher / Princi-pal.

School Attendance

The importance of a good education As you know, a good education gives your child the best possible start in life. A good education helps young people to obtain secure employment and develop into mature and responsible citizens. The purpose of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 is to encourage regular school attendance and participation in educa-tion and training for as long as possible. It is desirable that every child stays in school and completes the Leaving Cer-tificate.

Tusla Under the law, every child must attend school regularly up to sixteen years of age or complete at least three years edu-cation in a post primary school whichev-er comes later.

Our School Policy As a parent, you must let the school know if your child is absent and the rea-son why. It is school policy that rea-sons must be given in writing. The school will Tusla if a child is absent for 20 days or more or where the absence gives rise to concern. If your child is sick or is absent for other good reasons, no action will be taken by the Tusla. However, if there is concern about your child’s attendance at school or about the reasons given, you may be visited by an Educational Welfare Of-ficer who will discuss your child’s edu-cation with you. The Officer will work with you and take full account of the circumstances of the child and the fami-ly before deciding what further action is necessary to ensure that the child re-ceives his/her entitlement to an educa-tion. In the summer report we will inform parents of your child’s absences during the school year.

Further information concerning the new service and about school attendance matters generally can be obtained from the national Lo-Call Education Helpline (Telephone 1890 36 36 66) which is staffed by an Educational Welfare Of-ficer. Roll Call Please note: the roll is called every morning from 10.00 a.m. – 10.10 a.m. If your child comes in after this time he will be marked absent - unless we are notified beforehand by note, email or phonecall.

Headlice Please check your child’s hair regularly for headlice and treat if necessary. If headlice are found please inform the school also so that we can notify the rest of the children in the class.

Bed Earlier Please ensure that your son(s) go to bed on time each school night. Many of the boys are coming to school tired and be-cause of this are unable to concentrate on their lessons. You may be unaware that many boys are also watching television / DVDs / on Computers etc in their rooms late at night or may be on their phones/tablets. Please note that many of the pro-grammes on at this time of night are unsuitable for young children and young child should not be given unsupervised access to the internet. In fact children should not bring the phones to bed with them.

Healthy Lunches It is important for growing children to get a healthy lunch every day – sand-wiches and fruit especially. You should also give water to your child to drink. Children should not get sweet/fizzy drinks and treats every day for their lunch – these should be as a treat not as a rule. Children can bring fruit and veg-etables to school for their lunch. If you want a copy of our Healthy Lunch Poli-cy please ask Thelma for one. Please use Lunchboxes and drink bot-tles for your child. Please do not use tinfoil or clingfilm as they cannot be recycled. If you do have to use them please remind your son to bring it home with him.

Good Manners

There is an emphasis on good manners in the school. We ask that all parents support same. Our “Gentleman of the Week” initiative supports good manners every day. If you visit the school and are impressed by a child who is very well mannered towards you, let Thelma know and nominate the child for “Gentleman of the Week”.

Handwriting

This year we are again putting an extra emphasis on good handwriting in the school. We ask that all parents support same. Our “Penman of the Week” sup-ports this initiative.

Encourage your child to read Please encourage your child to read. If the library is convenient encourage him to join and to visit it regularly. Unfortunately television, Playstations, Wiis, Nintendos, mobile phones etc are taking over children’s lives at present. Please allow access to the above in mod-eration – your son will thank you later on!

Literacy Lift Off As you may know we are now running the LITERACY LIFT-OFF PRO-GRAMME throughout the school (from Junior Infants – Sixth). Part of this programme requires a parent/carer to read with their child EVERY DAY. In the Junior classes the entire short book is to be read and in the Senior Classes it may be a chapter of the book. The parent/carer then signs the sheet accompanying the book. It should be an enjoyable session taking no more than ten minutes. After reading, you might discuss the book eg. What do you think is going to happen? What was your favourite part? Did you like the ending? Who was your favourite character? Can you relate to what hap-pened? To be a good reader takes PRAC-TICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!

It is so important that you play your

part. We have a new initiative to rein-

(Continued on page 9)

8 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

force and support the Literacy Lift Off

Programme – it’s called “Lift Off Boy”

and you can see the recipients of this

award in each Links.

Punctuality

Please ensure that your child in on time for school each day. Assembly is at 9.05 a.m. approximately but if possible he should be in school for 9.00 a.m.

Homework

We strongly recommend that parents check Homework each night – written and oral and ensure that it is done to the best of the child’s ability. If your child is experiencing any difficulty with his homework please contact his teacher about it. Please also keep an eye on the state of his school books (especially the Rental Schemes ones and Literacy Lift Off books) and schoolbag through-out the year.

Internet Dangers: If your child has access to a computer / iPad / Tablet / Smartphone at home please ensure that it is supervised ac-cess and that the computer is in a shared area e.g. kitchen and not in his bed-room. Many of the boys are spending time on Facebook, Snapchat, What’s App which can be unsafe as anybody can be communicating with your child without your knowledge. Please be very vigilant.

Ahamilla Door: This door has to be locked throughout the school day for security reasons. Parents must use the main door (by the playground).

Pictured above: Hallowe’en, Yard Games, Rugby Blitz, Orienteering, Box Project and Start of Year Mass.

Many thanks to all who supported our Shoebox Collection this year. In all 136 boxes were collected. Out of this 43 boxes came from Canice O’Regan and Old Brewery Montessori School. Thanks to Tom and Shay for their help again this year.

If you want to get a guarantee that your letter will reach San-ta before the big day and support a wor-thy cause at the same time, please purchase a Santa Enve-lope from Thelma for just €1.00. All proceeds go to Cork Simon Community Appeal.

(Continued from page 8)

9 Volume 24, Issue 03 November 2018

Boys from Rang 3 - Rang 6 are partici-pating in these events: Lion’s Club Concert: 5th of Decem-

ber @ 7.30 a.m. Time to be con-firmed.

GAA Mass: Thursday, 13th Decem-

ber @ 7.30 p.m. Be in Ahamilla @ 7.20 p.m.

Singing at Astna Square: 14th De-

cember 2.30 a.m. Should finish at 3.00 p.m. and then walk back to school.

Carol Service: 16th of December @ 7.30 p.m. Be there @ 7.15 p.m.

Singing in Bushmount: 18th of De-

cember during the school day @ 11.30

Pictured above: Roots of Em-pathy, Rugby Blitz, Hallow-

een Parade, Ms. Sinéad O’Re-gan’s Presentation

I have received and read the aforementioned Links. Child’s name: _________________________ Class:_______________ Signature: ____________________________

This very popular scheme has started again, for all classes except Junior Infants. Stamps cost €1 each. Junior Infants will start collecting later in the year. Thanks to Eileen O’Donovan for her assistance. Children in Rang 6 have to

use this scheme for saving for their Surfing lessons and boys in Rang 5 have to use this scheme for Kayaking.

A number of boys in the school are allergic to nuts and for them any con-tact with nuts or products containing traces of nuts can be dangerous for example NUTELLA or Peanut But-ter!!!! Please be aware of this when organis-ing your child’s lunch and DO NOT allow your child to bring anything containing nuts to school. Your help in this matter is very much appreciat-ed. p.s. Please give your children water to drink coming to school - not sweet or fizzy drinks.

Tuesday 11th of December: Juniors A, Juniors B, Senior In-fants, Rang 1 agus Rang 2 Wednesday 12th of December: Rang 2 / 3, Rang 4 and Rang 5 (together), Rang 5/6 and Rang 6 (together). Times will be sent home closer to the date.