All-Ireland Success!

Congratulations to Eva, Isobel and Grace who took part in the All-Ireland Variety Show in Traboolgan, County Cork on Sunday 24th March 2019. The girls took home numerous trophies and came first place overall as part of the ‘Born to Perform’ stage school.

We are super proud of the three girls!

5K Fundraiser

On Sunday 10th March 2019, all roads led to Donaghmoyne as our annual 5K Walk/Run took place. We would like to say a huge thank you to our Parent’s Association for their efforts in organising the race – it was a huge success and raised some very much needed funds for our school!

Congratulations to all of the winners listed below!

 

Men’s Winners

1st PlaceHenry Campbell20 minutes 11 seconds
2nd PlaceRyan Duffy20 minutes 45 seconds
3rd PlaceDeclan Martin20 minutes 54 seconds

 

Women’s Winners

1st PlaceOrla Hamill23 minutes 18 seconds
2nd PlaceErin Smyth26 minutes 20 seconds
3rd PlaceDeirdre McMahon27 minutes 07 seconds

 

Children’s Winners
Boys – 1st PlaceOran Smyth
Girls – 1st PlaceÁine Smyth25 minutes 10 seconds

Mini Me Yoga in Mrs Mc Guirk’s Room

In December, teachers completed a ‘Mini Me Yoga’ Foundation course with Natalie Boyle. Today the children in Mrs Mc Guirk’s room got the opportunity to engage with yoga in a fun and active, but meaningful way. This is another step towards helping increase the overall mental health and well-being of both pupils and teachers as part of our Health Promoting Schools Campaign and Active Flag Campaign.

Here are some of the many benefits of teaching yoga to kids:

Yoga helps kids to:

  • Develop body awareness
  • Learn how to use their bodies in a healthy way
  • Manage stress through breathing, awareness, meditation and healthy movement
  • Build concentration
  • Increase their confidence and positive self-image
  • Feel part of a healthy, non-competitive group

The children enjoyed their session today and I can definitely see the children reaping the many rewards listed above!

Bricfeasta Folláin i rang a haon, a dó agus a trí

As part of our Health Promoting Campaign and our Irish topic ‘food / bia’, we practiced our food vocabulary with a variety of poems and teacher-designed flipcharts. Then we designed a breakfast menu (biachlár). Then, we enjoyed a Healthy Breakfast as Gaeilge. We enjoyed some food, while practicing our ‘Gaeilge’ at the same time.

See some photographs below!!

A Healthy Start to 2019!

Active Breaks for January & February 2019

We as a staff decided to commence the new year with adding an active break to our daily schedule. Each teacher decided which activity they would undertake, from running, dance or an exercise break. We concentrated on this for four weeks. See below for an example of our work.

Well done everyone for your active participation!

 

60 Minute Physical Activity Challenge

We also dedicated a total of 60 minutes to physical activity both in school and at home as part of our Active School Campaign. We really have kicked 2019 off to a Healthy Start!!

Operation Transformation Donaghmoyne 2019

Our Parent’s Association have taken on the task of organising this weekly event in Donaghmoyne in 2019. This is the first year St. Michael’s National School and the people of Donaghmoyne have taken part in this initiative.

The first weekly event took place on Tuesday 15th January with over fifty people turning up on the day. The campaign will take place for eight weeks, occurring every Tuesday at 7pm. This is a great opportunity for people in this rural area to meet socially, while being active at the same time.

We look forward to seeing you all every Tuesday!

Mini Me Yoga

On the 10th of December, teachers completed a ‘Mini Me Yoga’ Foundation course with Natalie Boyle. We received lots of ideas for teaching children how to engage with yoga in a fun and active, but meaningful way.  We found this course an excellent resource for allowing us the chance to acknowledge each individual child and help them develop a positive self-image. This was another step towards helping increase the overall mental health and well-being of both pupils and teachers as part of our Health Promoting Schools Campaign.

Friendship Slogan and Friendship Poem Competition

To further encourage friendship and its importance in our school (as part of our Mental Health and Well-being Initiative), we held a ‘Friendship Slogan’ and ‘Acrostic Poem’ Competition. This was to encourage children to think about friendship and what a ‘good friend’ is.

We had lots of fantastic entries! Our chosen poem and slogans that represent the meaning of friendship can be seen below. Well done to all of the children that entered!

 

‘Friendship’
by Joseph
Friendship is caring,
Respecting others!
I think friendship is nice.
Everything about friendship is nice.
Nothing can break up friendship.
Don’t let anyone bully you!
Step up if your friends are getting bullied.
Helping others is friendship.
I like to play with my friends.
Please don’t be nasty to people and get more friends.

 

Friendship is …
by Ella 

 

Friendship is …
by Millie

Aldi Rugby

Our senior boys took part in the Aldi Rugby this year. Dedication, hard work and good team play under the guidance of their coaches, certainly had its reward. The boys successfully made it through all rounds of the competition and the ultimate success lay in the team being chosen to play in the Aviva Stadium on 26th April. The highly esteemed Paul O’Connell was present to greet the team and their supporters! This was an astonishing achievement for the boys together with their coaches, families and the school that will be held in high regard for many years to come. (more…)

The Importance of Water

As a result of our recent lunch box survey (September 2019), we noticed that some children continue to take diluted drinks to school. Our Health Promotion Committee created a Drinks Sugar Display Board to show how much sugar are in the most popular drinks. See a picture of this below!

They also talked to classes about the importance of drinking water! Some of these advantages can also be seen below.