A message from the Board of Management

The Department of Education has granted our school a Change of Status to allow us to enrol infant boys. Accordingly, this enrolment will come into effect not for the coming school year but for the following school year, 2011/2012, with the enrolment of Junior Infants.

Turas Scoile Rang a Sé

The two 6th classes went to Dublin on their school tour.  While there, they visited Kilmainham Gaol, The Dáil, The National Museum and the Zoo.

Outside the Dáil.

Green School News

Summer is here and what a really great summer it’s been so far! The Committee has been encouraging every pupil as much as possible to try to walk some or all the way to school each day. We monitored the results and found that Rang a Trí achieved the highest average in the months of March & April. There are 31 pupils in this class and on average 23 of them walked to school each day. On one day 28 of them walked—an astonishing figure! So well done to Mrs McCarthy/Halley’s boys and keep it up! Ms. Power’s boys came in second with an average of 22. May 19th was national Walk to School day and 37 pupils along with several teachers made a walking bus from the GAA Club to the school. Everyone else made an effort too, so that on one day alone 167 pupils out of 232 walked to school! Ellen Murphy of An Taisce has been a great help to us throughout the year. On June 16th she presented a workshop on Bike Maintenance to our fourth classes in the yard. Many boys brought in their bikes and learned new cycle and repair skills.
My thanks to the Committee and to all who helped during the year. Enjoy the summer and remember:


Think about how you travel—there just might be a greener way!

(Mr. Barry, Green School Co-ordinator)

Visit of Mike Jones

Mike Jones, past pupils of Scoil Iosaef Naofa and of Mr. Kenneally, visited the school during the third term to give a talk and photo presentation on his achievement in rowing with four others across the Atlantic Ocean The boys of Ms. Harte’s and Mr. Kenneally’s heard the Cobhman tell of his adventures as he crossed the 5000km of the great Atlantic. They asked lots of questions and Mike answered in a very informative, humourous and interesting way. Mike was given a small token in appreciation of his visit to his old school. We are indeed very proud of him.

Naval Base Visit

 Mrs. McCarthy-Halley’s Rang a Trí travelled ‘trasna na dtonnta’ recently to the Naval Base at Haulbowline. Their guide for the day was naval officer Pat Dermody. Firstly, the boys were treated to a lovely trip of the harbour. In the base itself the boys visited the L.E. Eithne, the gunnery and the viewing tower. A lovely meal was enjoyed by all in the Officers’ Mess. Special thanks to Mr. Ken Kavanagh (father of Keelan) who arranged the trip for us, to parents Ms. Suzanne Coyne-Kelleher, Mrs. Ger Kavanagh and to Ms. Scriven who accompanied the class on their trip.
　


 

Scoil Iósaef Naofa - Book Fair 2010

Our annual book fair was held from the 17th – 20thst May and was a great success once again.  Organised by Mrs. O Connell, it gave a chance to parents and pupils to buy books for the appropriate age groups. Our theme this year was ‘Our Locality’ and classes did some fantastic artwork and displays such as a 3D piece of Belvelly Castle & Martello Tower, wall maps of the Great Island & the Harbour and paintings of various places in Cobh.  Many thanks to the following parents for helping out during the week– Sharon Furmedge, Sinead Hackett, Paula Courtney, Eileen Aherne, Imelda Doody, Helen Hayes, Marie O’Flynn, Aine Farrell, Julie Hallahan, Margaret Barrett, Sarah Devlin, Jillian McCrossan-Donnachie & Fiona Keogh - your help is always appreciated.  Thanks also to the following members of staff who helped in the preparation of the art work, printing, fliers, shopping and putting up of the displays – Jacinta McMahon, Rosemarie Doherty, Petrice Scriven, Nora Healy, Tracey Lucey & Martin O’Driscoll. Winners of the competition ‘Guess the amount of stones in the jar’ (112) were Seán Thomas, Joe Khan-Moss, Andrew O’Reilly, Jamie Gilmartin & David O’Connor. Winners of the classroom worksheets competition were: Szymon Nakielski, Eoin Kelly, Kevin Foster O’Reilly, Jack Savage, Patrick Carey, Olan Mackey, Trevor Sawyer & George Keating. 

Volcanic Ash comes to Scoil Iósaef Naofa by POST!

 Everyone in the school got a surprise recently when we received some lava rock and volcanic ash from our twinned school in Iceland! These actually came from the Eyjafjallajokul volcano which has been causing all the havoc over the last number of weeks.  Our twinned school is in Siglufjordur, northern Iceland, but a sister of teacher Gudny Robertsdottir acquired the pieces for us.  They were then sent on by post and arrived here to the school on one of the days that the ash cloud was covering part of Ireland!  The pupils inspected the rock and the ash and found that the ash itself was a hard, crystal-like, glassy substance.  It was easy to understand what damage a whole cloud of it would do to aeroplanes.  Here is a photo of the volcanic ash.

Green School News

This term we have begun serious work on the Travel Module of the Green Schools Programme. Our target is to get as many pupils as possible walking to school. Walking helps the environment—it’s part of the solution to pollution! It also makes us fitter, brings us in touch with nature, cuts down on traffic, helps us meet people and have fun!

First of all we created a giant map of Cobh with Scoil Iósaef Naofa at its centre. Using the scale on the map it is possible to calculate how far from school each pupil lives. The message on the map reads: Where you live is no excuse! Take steps-think green! We sent the map to each class to let the pupils study it and place a sticker where they live. We also gave a chart to each class to help keep a daily log of how many pupils walked to school each day. There will be prizes for the class that shows the greatest improvement.

 

Scoil Factor!

Finally, we organised a rap-song competition called Scoil Factor. Each class was invited to compose a rap-song on the theme of travel-walking-the environment. The competition was staged on Thursday March 25th in our halla. Each class entered a group. The judges were Ms. Ellen Murphy (Kylie Minogue) of An Taisce who has been guiding us on this module, Ms. Twomey (Cheryl Cole) & Mr. O’Driscoll (Simon Cole)!  We had a great afternoon listening to all the rap songs.  Every class made a fantastic effort but difficult decisions had to be made by the judges and they picked two winners.

In first place for the junior competition was the song ‘Walking to School’ performed by 20 Cent from Mrs. Power’s Rang a hAon.

In first place in the senior competition was the song ‘Every Little Helps’ performed by The Green Fiends from Mr. O’Loingsigh’s Rang a Cuig assisted by Mrs Franklin.

 

Here are the words of Every Little Helps!

 

Chorus

If you’re going to walk to school

You gotta have some fun,

You’re saving energy

And you’re saving everyone

You’re saving de world,

It won’t hurt

Every little thing can help the Earth.

 

Verse 1

It you’re walking with your friends

You will turn around the bends,

You will go to school

And you’ll be pretty cool!

 

Verse 2

And when you get to class

Give trouble a pass,

Then walk away from school

And you’ll be pretty cool.

 

Verse 3

You should only go be car

If you’re going really far,

And if you go on your feet

You might get a little treat!

 

 

Spring is upon us now at last after a long cold winter. So let’s get out into nature. Think Green and take some steps for the environment! (Mr. Barry, Green School Co-ordinator}

Bag Packing

Our bag packing at Super Value on Saturday 13th March was a great success. Many thanks to the parents and pupils who helped on the day and to all who supported our fund raiser. Thanks also the staff at Garveys and Kevin O’Connell, the manager, for all their help and cooperation

 

 

 

 

World Book Day

 World Book Day was celebrated on Thursday March 4th. All the pupils received a book token which could be used to get a discount off new books. Pupils were also asked what their favourite book were and who their favourite authors were. Here are the results:
Rang a hAon/a Dó
Favourite Books: ‘The Secret Seven’, ‘Horrid Henry’, Beast Quest’ , ‘The Guinness Book of Records’, ‘Hank Zapper’, ‘Transformers’, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, ‘Where’s Wally?’, ‘Ben 10’, ‘Samson’s Titanic Story’ ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ & ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’.
Favourite Authors: Martin Hamford, Enid Blyton, Francesca Simon, Adam Blade, Henry Winkler, Lauren Graham & Roisin Matthews, Roadl Dahl.
Rang a Trí/a Ceathair:
Favourite Books: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, ‘ The BFG’, ‘Mr. Majeike’, ‘Matilda’, ‘Horrid Henry’, ‘100mph Dog’, ‘Point Blanc’, ‘Dog’s Big Bone’, ‘The Twits’, ‘Robot Dinner Lady’, ‘Club Penguin’, ‘Pickle Hill Primary’, ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’, ‘Danny the Champion of the World’, ‘The BFG’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Ben 10’, ‘The Giggler Treatment’.
Favourite Authors: Anthony Horowitz, Roadl Dahl, JK Rowling, Darren Shan, Roddy Doyle, Anne Holm,
Rang a Cúig/a Sé:
Favourite Books: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, ‘The Vampire’s Assistant’, ‘Charlie Small, Gorilla City’, ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’, ‘The Dream Master’, ‘Igor’, ‘Snakehead’, ‘Bec’, ‘Nasty Nature’, ‘The Spook’s Curse’, ‘ The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, ‘Fernando Torres, Autobiography’, ‘Holes’, ‘Brigands MC’, ‘Guinness Book of Records’, ‘I Am David’, ‘Captain Underpants’, ‘Jamie Carragher, Autobiography’, ‘Ronan O’Gara, Autobiography’.
Favourite Authors: John Boyne, Louis Sachar, Robert Muchmore, Jeff Kinney, Anne Holm, Dav Pilkey, Darren Shan, JK Rowling, Anthony Horowitz, Roadl Dahl, Michael Lawrence, Joseph Delaney, Stephanie Meyers, Roddy Doyle, Jeremy Strong.

Stamps for the Missions

A note from Sr. Nuala Glynn of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Limerick:
‘A thousand thanks for the big bag of used stamps which Mr. McSweeney brought to us during the mid term break. We were really delighted to get them. We appreciate how much effort you put into collecting them. Please keep up this great missionary work. The proceeds of the sale of these stamps go to our missions. God bless each one of you.’

A Letter from Concern Worldwide

 ‘Thank you very much for your very generous donation of €1,557 towards the Concern Haiti Emergency Appeal from your Christmas Fast. The earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th caused many to lose their lives and left many more in desperate need of help. Thanks to your generosity, we can provide much needed emergency supplies to people at this time. Right now our staff is working to provide people with clean drinking water, latrines, blankets, tents and special highly nutritious food for malnourished children. When you think that just €3 can buy a blanket to keep a survivor warm at night and €112 can but a box of water purification tablets—well, your donation will go really far towards helping survivors during the tragedy. Haiti faces a long, difficult road to recovery. We can all work together towards this. Thank you for being part of this and for helping the people of Haiti in their hour of need. We really appreciate all that you have done.
Thank you from all at Concern—Fionnagh Nally, School Liaison Officer, Concern Worldwide.

First Confession

Pupils from Rang a Dó received their First Confession on Thursday 11th March at a lovely ceremony in the Cathedral. It was celebrated by Fr. Robin Morrissey who was assisted by Fr. Jim Killeen & Fr. Peter O’Farrell. A great crowd of parents, grandparents and family members attended. Many thanks to their teachers Ms. Harte & Mr. Kenneally in preparing them for this sacrament and Mrs. Healy. Also thanks to Mr. Farrell, Mr. O’Loingsigh, Mr. McSweeney and Imelda Doody who helped out on the night.

Quiz Success!

Pupils from the school took part in various quizzes during the term and we are delighted that some teams represented the school very well indeed!
Cobh Credit Union Quiz
Well done to all the boys who took part in the local Cobh Credit Union Quiz. We are delighted that a team from the school came 1st in the Under 13’s and we also had 2nd and 3rd in the Under 11’s! The teams were:-
U13’s – Ist Paidi Kearney, David O’Connor, Calvin McKeown & Christopher Lowry.UII’s – 2nd Adam Carroll, Ciaran Leahy, Kieran Stack & Brandon O’Carroll
3rd Olan Farrell, John Gardiner, Matthew McCarthy & Breandan O’Brien.
The winning Under 13 team represented Cobh in the next round at the Rochestown Hotel on Sunday 6th March coming in a very deserving 3rd place and narrowly missing out on a chance of going through to the ensuing round which was to be in Dublin! Well done to the boys!
Scór na bPáistí
On Sunday 14th of February a quiz team made up of Calvin McKeown, David O’Connor & Páidí Kearney represented Cobh in the East Cork Finals of the Scór na bPáistí competition. They finished in a very commendable second place. Well done to the boys and their parents who gave them wonderful support.


 

 

Drama Class in Rang Mrs. Power

 

Our Visit to the Heritage Centre

 

‘On the 28th January 2010 our class went to the Heritage Centre. We saw a model of the Sirius. The Titanic was built by Harland and Wolff.  It could hold up to 100 busloads of people.  It was the size of two hurling pitches.  The Lusitania was built by Cunard Lines.  It had three funnels. The German u-boat sunk the Lusitania with a torpedo.  The people who lived were brought to the Queen’s Hotel.  Annie Moore had two brothers and they were called Anthony and Philip.  There is a statue of them outside the Heritage Centre.’ 

Luke McCarthy

 

‘We learned about lots of fun things.  We learned about the statue of Annie Moore and her brothers.  We saw the White Star Line and the poor people that died from the famine.  We learned about the Titanic and the Lusitania.  We had our lunch in the playground and had a great walk back to the school.’

Ethan Prince

 

 

 

 

Cork Pops Concert

On October 12th Mrs. McCarthy-Halley’s Rang a Trí travelled to Cork City Hall to see the Cork Pops Concert. They were accompanied by Ms. Scriven, Mrs. Healy & Mrs. Coyne –Kelleher. Formerly known Children’s Music Hour the concert to introduce the pupils to the instruments of the orchestra ina pleasant and fun way. The orchestra played a variety of music ranging from classical to jazz to traditional Irish music. Classical favourites included Mozart’s ‘Eine Kleine Nacht Musik’ and Handel’s ‘Water Music’. Vocalist Claire-Anne Lynch sang a spirituals medley which included ‘I wish I Know How it would Fell to be Free’, ‘Down to the River’ and ‘This Little Light of Mine’. Inspired by John Spillane’s very popular 2008 album ‘Irish Songs We Learned at School’ Paul Frost was commissioned to arrange a medley of favourites for the pupils to sing with the orchestra including ‘Trasna na dTonnta’, ‘Beidh Aonach Amárach’ & ‘An Maidrin Rua’. Trombone Duo (Eoghan Kelly & Paul Frost) demonstrated a range of music genres from classical to jazz, blues, funk and soul music. Popular operatic melodies were used to demonstrate other instruments of the orchestra. The concert concluded with the singing of popular songs from musicals including ‘We’re all in this Together’ from High School Musical which the boys sang with great enthusiasm. A great day was had and enjoyed by all!

New Green School Christmas Song!

Sing along with this song that the Green School Committee wrote recently. It is sung to the air of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. It’s called ‘Jingle Green’.

Christmas is here, We’re all having fun,

But let’s not forget, The Environment everyone!

Let’s all make an effort this year!

We can recycle our waste, Save water and food,

Switch off some lights, Christmas will still be cool,

Let’s all make an effort this year!

Our world it is in danger, We all know this so well,

But if each person does one thing, Then the planet will get well.

So drive the bills down, Keep the heat in,

Put all those wrappings, In the recycle bin

Let’s all make an effort this year!

 

Scoil Iósaef Naofa at Christmas

Concern Fast: Our annual Junior Fast for Concern took place this year on Friday 18th December. We have been taking part in this annual fast since 1989 and have raised quite an amount for Concern in that time. 
Stamps for the Missions: As usual, at this time of year particularly with all the Christmas cards and New Year cards, we ask people to hold on to the used stamps and send them into Mr. McSweeney’s 5th/6th class. Please ensure that some of the envelope is left around the stamp. We collect used stamps on a weekly basis and send them on to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary who use them to raise funds for the missions.
The Park Road Centre: Pupils from Mr. Flemimg’s & Mr. McSweeney’s classes visited the Park Road Centre as part of their Edmund Rice Award Project. While there they sang some Christmas carols for our senior citizens.
Christmas Carol Concerts: Pupils from the senior classes took part in two concerts, conducted by Mr. Farrell - The Christmas Gala Concert on 12th Dec. and The East Cork Choral Society Concert on 17th Dec. both at the Great Island Community Centre.
Class Concerts: Classes put on their own concerts for their families, as usual, in the school hall.
Cathedral Evening Prayed Services: Three of our 6th class pupils took part in the Cathedral Evening Prayer Services on each of the four Sundays of Advent. They are - Chris Lowry, David O’Connor & Alan Leonardi. Thanks to Sr. Emmanuel for preparing them.

 

 

Grand Slam & Triple Crown Trophies!

Many thanks to ex-pupil David O'Brien for bringing the Grand Slam and Triple Crown trophies to the school.  Everyone was really excited to get a chance to see and hold these famous trophies.

Some of the staff got their chance as well!

Brother Athanatius.

 

 

 

 

Rang Mr. Kenneally and The QE2

Big crowds turned out to see the QE2 visit Cobh on its last voyage.  Mr. Kenneally took this opportunity to take his class down town to see this historic event.