Summer Newsletter 2022
SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2022
Welcome to the final newsletter of the year – and what a fabulous year it has been!
Junior & Senior Infants: Junior and Senior Infants have had a busy final term. We enjoyed our school tour to Playtown in Tullamore and had fun in Tullamore Playground. We visited our church for mass and Fr. Antony gave us a special blessing. We concluded our dance classes with a wonderful performance in the Marian Hall. Outdoor Classroom Day got off to a great start with a breakfast morning for all in the Junior Block. The girls were exhausted after an activity filled day. We are on the final countdown to the summer holidays and our Aistear theme ‘At the Seaside’ is getting us all into the holiday spirit. Have a great Summer.
1st Class: What a fun filled, active and enjoyable final term we’ve been having in first class. The list of things we learned and did is endless, but we’ll try to fit as many in here as we can. First class went on their first EVER school tour this year!! We went to Lullymore Pet Farm where we got to see lots of animals, learn about the history in our country and of course use the playground and indoor play area. We had a BALL!!! Sports day was a big success and we all participated with our teams and got to know girls from lots of different classes, of course the ice cream afterwards was the cherry on top!! We have been linking up with 5th class loads and we did lots of drama, buddy reading and art with them. 5th class also organised an outdoor games circuit for us and we loved every second of it. Juniors, seniors, first and second class all enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast morning of cereal, croissants and sausages. This was followed by brilliant activities outdoors. Of course we had our dance show in the Marian Hall which was a massive success and we just adored our dances that we performed to the songs 9 to 5 and Unstoppable. On top of all of that we have had lots of zooms, learned about bees and how they make honey, and had a brilliant lesson from Emma Ryan in 3rd class as she told us all about how she and her family are now bee-keepers. Amazing! We planted plants and watched them grow, and the most recent addition to our classroom have been our caterpillars, which we are hoping will transform into butterflies before the end of the school year. We’ve squeezed in a little bit of learning too…! It’s been a cracker of a term, and the girls have been brilliant! Have an amazing summer everyone!!
2nd Class: Second Class have had an action packed final term! It started with making our first Holy Communion. We had a wonderful day with our friends and family and the sun even shone on our special day! Along with 1st and 3rd Class we went to Lullymore on our school tour. Our day was filled with activities. We met a movie star goat called Toggles, took a trip on a bog train and played in ‘The Jungle’. Our favourite part was visiting the Fairy Village, making a wish at the Wishing Tree and getting to step inside a crannóg. This term was filled with lots of memories including a nature trail with 5th Class, planting peas and cornflowers with Mrs. Murray, attending Cuman na mBunscoil matches to cheer on our school team, researching habitats in the library, and having a breakfast morning and outdoor Classroom Day in the Sunshine. We are really looking forward to our Summer holidays.
3rd Class news!
What another jam packed term we’ve had in 3rd class. The first week back after Easter we were treated to a chocolate fountain for all we took on and gave up during lent. Marshmallows, strawberries and pretzels dipped in warm chocolate were just divine!
We headed off to Lullymore Heritage & Discovery park for our school tour and loved every minute of our day there. We travelled on the bog train where we sang our hearts out, walked the meandering trails through peatlands, viewed fascinating exhibitions along the way and had a ball playing in the fabulous indoor and outdoor play areas. We loved our May Procession where we sang songs and danced the beautiful ‘Deep Peace’ Celtic blessing. We loved well-being week where we learned new yoga poses, meditated and explored many ways of improving our physical and mental health. In art we designed ornaments and gifts for Father’s Day using clay, we painted summer beach scenes and designed a school sports kit! Our joined handwriting is on display outside our classroom and has been admired and complimented by everyone who sees it! We had a very active term with dance, athletics and sports day. We thoroughly enjoyed learning our dance routines with Lisa and our performance in the Marian Hall. We studied the hilarious novel – Diary of a Killer Cat which had us in stitches on many occasions. We explored narrative text and wrote fabulous stories on our iPads using Book Creator- a digital book making tool. We undertook project work with a partner and researched countries of the world using books, iPads and visits to the library. We presented our projects to the class and are very proud of them! We’ve had a wonderful year in 3rd class – together we learned, we laughed, we danced, we grew and we’re ready now to head up the stairs to 4th class! Have a fabulous summer everyone!
Fourth Class had a wonderful last term. We learned so much together and here is just a short synopsis of our activities. Our English novels are completed and the girls are looking forward to watching the movie version of ‘The Sheep-Pig’ to compare and contrast the two. Our Maths challenges and Daily 10 were a big hit and our Gaeilge is improving every day through stories, poems, conversation and free-writing. A beautiful and solemn May Procession was held in the Garden of Tranquility where the children danced, prayed and presented pictures and flowers to Our Lady. Wellbeing Week was celebrated this term where the children enjoyed Guided Meditation, Art and Lego activities and a series of Mindfulness sessions with Ann Hoare. Jazz was the theme of our Dance with Lisa and the children displayed fantastic moves and great talent each week and at the amazing Dance Show in the Marian Hall. Two local firefighters visited our class and the children learned all about the important role they play in our community and also about fire safety in the home. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in Co. Clare. We visited Birr Castle and the children explored the scenic grounds taking in all the wonderful sights the Demesne has to offer, by following ‘The Flora’ trail, and they tried some Pond Dipping too! The highlight, of course, was climbing to the top of the treehouse and playing in the playground. Make sure to look at all our photos and posts on Seesaw and the school website. Thank you for a very enjoyable year. Have a wonderful summer!
5th Class: Andddddd that is a WRAP! We have reached the summer holidays! It is so super that we have been able to stay in school for the first full year since the pandemic. It is safe to say that we made the most of every single day together. The learning train never stopped up here in 5th class, lots of Maths, Gaeilge (is aoibheann linn an tsamhraidh) and English. We collaborated with rang a dó for a writing lesson where we created our very own characters! It was so much fun. We have been embracing the outdoors a lot for our SESE lessons. We enjoyed nature trails, using our senses, a biodiversity trail in the castle, and we even took part in an Art workshop with a botanist who brought us out to our local park to teach us all about the types of plants and flowers and their uses in today’s world – who knew you could make lemonade using nettles? We also collaborated with 1st class a lot this year – buddy reading and writing lessons, a summer scene drama lesson, art and chalk outdoors and a really enjoyable PE lesson where we created our very own games stations for the class to enjoy. There is an endless list of the highlights we shared together this year (our school tour in Bunratty, Dance with Lisa, Dress Up days, Sports Day and the ice cream van arriving to school and LOTS LOTS more) . We are all ready to hang up the uniform, grab some sunscreen and make the most of our well-earned Summer Holidays. Stay Safe everyone.
6th Class: What a year we have had!! And a full year at that. This term, like all the others was packed full of fun, learning, eating, laughing and excitement. In preparation of our Confirmation we spent a really nice day in Mount St. Joseph Abbey. Fr. Antony, Fr. Tom and Joan Hogan led us in a day of fun and mindfulness. To top it off… we had nuggets and chips for our dinner!! Yummmmm. This term saw the return of Lisa for dance. What a ball we had learning new moves and enjoying the craic with Lisa. All our hard work and practice paid off when we performed for our school community in the Marian Hall. We gave it welly and had a ball on stage. Our annual Sports Day was a great success. All of the girls in 6th class led by example and participated to the max. They were so helpful with the younger kids in the school and they played a big part in what made it such a fantastic day. The whole school was treated to an ice-cream after all the activities and they went down a treat. We made our Confirmation on the 1st June. We sang, we danced, we clapped! What an evening we had. The Holy Spirit was alive and well in Mercy for our Confirmation and we hope to bring all the gifts and fruits with us in our lives as we get ready for our next chapter! Our school tour was just fantastic. We had the best…and hottest day in the OEC. We went out to Banagher to canoe and dive and returned to the OEC for an afternoon of fun and games. We also ate a lot of sweets and ice cream…for energy obviously! Our Graduation ceremony took place on Wednesday 22nd June. It was a brilliant afternoon that we got to share with our parents, teachers and classmates. There is a mix of emotions leaving Mercy: we are happy and excited and a little sad. We have had an amazing 8 years here. We have laughed, cried, sang, danced, jumped, fallen over, won, lost, learned, been confused, been certain and most of all we have been happy!! Thank you to the staff, our parents and to our classmates, our friends for all the gorgeous memories.
Mrs. Murray’s Class: Mrs Murray’s Class have had a wonderful last term. We have been working really hard at Numeracy and Literacy, SESE and SPHE. We have been outdoors a lot and have planted and nurtured flowers and peas. We know how to take care of growing things. We have spent lots of time with our age appropriate classes and have had great fun dancing and playing with our friends. The outdoor fun day was the highlight of our term: sand, water and bubbles are just amazing! We have grown up a lot this term and have become more independent. We are ready for our new classes in September!!
We have come to the end of another fabulous year in Mercy Primary – a full and vibrant year in which we have learned lots and have grown greatly.
Next year will bring some changes – our wonderful Deputy Principal, Mrs Murray has decided to retire. She will be missed greatly but we wish her all the best in the new adventures that await her. Ms de Chaumont will take over as Deputy Principal and Ms Teehan will be the new teacher in our ASD class.
I want to wish our wonderful Sixth Class the very best of luck in their future – they have been a fantastic bunch of young ladies.
Thanks to our very hard-working staff for all that you do.
Enjoy the Summer
Barbara Hanamy
School closes for holidays on Tuesday 28th June at 12.15pm