Attendance Certificates 2011 / Green Poster Winners

On Thursday 22nd December Ms. Griffin-Jones presided over a lovely ceremony in the Sports Hall where all the students who had 100% Attendance since last September received a certificate to mark their achievement. Each class teacher presented the certificates to the '100%ers' in their own classes.

In all there were 57 students who received certs. The best attenders were 5th class with 13 who missed no days followed by Ms. Mullins who had 10 with perfect attendance.

To finish off the term two pupils were presented with Book Tokens for having designd the Best Green  Posters. This year we are focussing on transport to and from school.

Alannah O'Leary (Ms. Kelly's 2nd Class) was the downstairs winner and Caoilfhionn Doyle from Ms. Griffin-Jones 5th Class.

Very well done to all.

Christmas 2011

The North Pole isn't the only busy place in the world at Christmas time as the Faythe School was in a spin in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The Choir, under the direction of Ms. Griffin-Jones who was assisted by Ms. Fitzgerald, rehearsed for weeks and the started off the Christmas Season at the Festival of Three Choirs which took place in the School Hall on Tuesday 14th December.
In a show lasting just under an hour, the Faythe School Choir started precedings and were then followed by the Barntown Youth Choir under the direction of Ian Grey. Ian is a past pupil of the school but moved out 'the country' years ago...however he comes into his Mammy's once a week for his tea....and also conducts the South End Family Resource Centre Golden Oldies Choir. It was Ian's second Choir who closed the concert with a selection of Festive favourites. The audience of two hundred people from the locality were enthralled by all three choirs who really gave their all on the night.

On Monday 19th December the Choir again took centre stage at the Swan. Over ten years ago, a local lady, Kathleen Whelan, began a lovely traditional of illuminating a Christmas tree at the Swan and holding a small ceremony to 'turn on' the lights attended by a local clergy man and the children from the locality who attend the Faythe.
Over the years, the traditional has changed ever so slightly. Kathleen is still to the fore but the trees at the Swan are now illuminated and after the Ceremony the children attend a party back at the school....agin organised by Kathleen.

This year the crowd was blessed with the weather and Fr. Brian conducted the ceremony, the Choir sang accompanied on the organ by Éanna McKenna, before retiring to the school for the party organised by Kathleen and her sons Enda and James. A huge debt of gratidtude is due to the Whelan family for establishing and continuing this lovely tradition.

The Choir's final engagement was a more poignant one....taking place at Tesco's Christmas Tree but marking this company's fund raising on behalf of the Irish Cancer Society. In the last two years this company has raised over €40,000 for this worthy cause and this fact was marked by a lovely Prayer Service, conducted this time by Fr. Michael Ó Sé accompanied by the Choir and Ms. Griffin-Jones.
It was brilliant that so many families made the effort to get the girls to, and from, Tesco on such a rainy night. Well done to all!!

A small photovid is available by clicking on the Advent Wreath below.

Christmas Story Book

In December Ms. Kelly's 2nd Class wrote and then illustrated their own Christmas Story Book. After many weeks work invitations were sent out to all parents and guardians inviting them into the school on Tuesday 20th at 1.15pm.
That day was hectic as the children had been down to Bride Street to practice for the Advent Service but had to hurry back to school to prepare the room.
All was fine in the end and a great crowd attended that afternoon when the children proudly read and displayed their work.
After the 'reading' there were a selection of treats for all to enjoy.
The photos of the reading day are part of a 'photovid' available by clicking on the book below.



School Mass - 8th December

Thursday 8th December was one of the windiest days ever. Some people said that it was really hard to walk to school and it was so windy that the Infant Classes did not walk down to Bride Street for 10 o'clock Mass. It was great fun walking down and the wind was so strong at Tesco that you could nearly lean forward and the wind would push you back up standing again!!

"The Prayers of the Faithful"

There were lots of people there for Mass and the Choir was really good. Ms. Griffin-Jones had to play and conduct the first two songs before the organist came for the last few. Ms. Conroy's Class did all the readings and the "Prayers of the Faithful" and they read loudly and clearly.

Fr. Brian told us all how important Mary was and that today is the day when we remember this.

It was a nice Mass.

Safety stations in Wexford County Council

On Tuesday the 29th of November five girls from 5th class and all of 6th class went to visit the new Wexford County Council building.There were three other schools there.We split up into ten groups and every group had a leader from the Vocational College.There were ten stations altogether, each one was about being safe in different ways:

*Fire safety
*Road safety-Cycling,walking,bus.
*Mountain rescue
*Safety in the home
*Water safety
*Safety on a construction site
*Safety with wires
*Knowing the Recovery Position.

At each station we did activities which helped us to learn the safety message.After visiting all the stations we got certificates and a gift bag which included a high visibility jacket.We enjoyed our day and gifts.

                                                                       Photos to follow.....

DRUMMING MANIA

Eddie O'Neill visited the school on Wednesday 26th and Friday 28th October to do drumming with all the classes.
In the video you can watch below you'll notice that many princessess, fairies, witches, vampires, ghosts and pop stars attend the Faythe....this is because on that Friday we also had our annual Halloween Fund Raising Walk and this year we focussed on Music as the curricular theme for the walk and because most of the photos were taken on Friday for this clip, all of the percussionists were in 'fancy dress' apart from Eddie himself.

Click here for a photovid of Eddie's workshops.

It will take a little longer to open than usual, but it is worth the wait.

Halloween Walk 2011

The Faythe School was invaded on Friday 27th October by vampires, aliens, robots, princes, princesses, witches, ghosts, ghouls, pirates, oompa-loompas, super heroes, soldiers, pop-stars, Jedward, characters from "Grease" and even Henry Shefflin made an appearance as the annual Halloween Walk took place. This year's curricular theme was Music and the walk co-incided with the visit to the school of a drummer so all the children were in great form for the 'Walk.'

We were blessed with the weather, as although it was cold the rain stayed away for the event, which took place after lunch. There was a terrific attendance along the route and all the cheers and good-will shown to the children is very much appreciated.

A huge thanks is due to all the adults who helped prepare the pupils costumes and allowed them seek spomsorship for this event and to all who contributed in any way to make the 'Walk' the success it was. All monies raised will be used for the betterment of the educational facilities availalble to the children. More details of final amounts will be forwarded in the November Newsletter.

Two photovid albums have been uploaded for your enjoyment and can be accessed by clicking the links below. They will take a few moments to upload but are worth the wait.

Halloween Walk 2011 - Album 1

Halloween Walk 2011 - Album 2

Pupils start using MANGA HIGH

Mangahigh.com is a games-based learning website, where students learn Mathematics through purpose-built casual games that balance fun and learning, that reflect the Irish Curriculum.

The site is totally free to pupils and teachers at Irish schools and teachers in the Faythe have registered all the children in the school who now have an individual, unique password to allow them use this brilliant resource at home and in school.

Mangahigh, recently chosen as Scoilnet’s site of the week, is visually stunning, engaging and extremely interactive. It encourages active and investigative learning while being easy to use. The website can be used to re-enforce prior learning, providing a fun way to test knowledge and can be used by pupils at home.

While only in the early stages of use in the Faythe, it is hoped that Mangahigh will become an integral part of the children’s own learning as the games can be used all the way through to 6th Year in Secondary School.

Digging - 2011!!

Click on the link below to see Ms. Mullins' Class in gardening mode earlier this month.
Please allow a little time for this file to download as it rather big.
This blog entry will be updated and made more presentable in the near future.

Click here.

The Faythe School in Johnstown Castle ~ National Tree Day 2011

Thursday 6th October was National Tree Day and Ms. Cronin's 6th Class and Mr. Doyle's 1st Class travelled to Johnstown Castle just outside Wexford. Ms. Duggan and Liz accompanied the children. The older girls from 6th were 'buddied' with the younger children for the trip.

The weather wasn't great for a few days beforehand and as you'll see from the pictures, everybody had prepared for the worst. Luckily it was a beautiful day although the wellies came in handy. Everybody had a great time and lots of bark rubbings, leaves, seeds, conkers, fun memories, mucky boots and tired children (and adults!!) came back to the school.

We hope you enjoy the little movie of the day by clicking on the picture below.

Monty and Rosaleen in the Faythe School

Pupils and teachers in the Faythe School are very fortunate to have the services of a trained Irish Therapy Dog team coming to the school once a week. Pet therapy has been described as the use of dogs, in our case, to enhance the quality of life of children in caring environments by visiting and interacting with them. The dog therapy team of Rosaleen and Monty work to improve the lot of children in the Faythe School where they help children learn to read.

Monty comes into school with Rosaleen on Friday and usually goes to room 13 where he lies on his blanket in the middle of the floor. The children and adults sit around him on the floor too. Sometimes one of the adults might start reading a story and when Monty is looking and listening the “reading to Monty” begins. Often the children will show the picture to the others and Monty and read a few pages. While fluency is encouraged, the main aim is enjoyment of reading and being at ease socially in the company of others. There is no correction of reading during these sessions and the children are encouraged to keep reading as Monty just listens because he doesn't notice mistakes.

Children will often react to and speak to a dog more readily than to an adult. They seem able to understand the dog and can speak through him or identify a feeling in him that may be much more difficult for them to do when dealing with people. The children often choose their books by asking if Monty will like it? One child was fearful of dogs before spending time with Monty and now has a pet dog!

The children love reading for Monty and the adults involved are thrilled with the scheme. Many of the pupils in the school wish they too could read for Monty!! Long may the programme continue.

Click here to see Monty in action.

A.O'C. (SEN TEAM)

Garden Winners

The winners of the school and community categories for Wexford in Bloom received their prizes and certificates at a ceremony at Wexford Borough Council on Monday 26th September 2011. Mayor of Wexford Davy Hynes was on hand to dole out the honours to the various green-fingered winners, who all did their bit to make Wexford that bit more colourful and attractive in 2011.

The Faythe School won the Silver Medal in the Schools' Garden category and Ms. Mullins and four pupils from the school went down to the Ceremony which was held in the Borough Council HQ just off Hill Street. They were accompanied by Colm Ó Muirí from the South End Family Resource Centre who hand worked with the children on the project during the last school year.

Ms. Mullins organised a taxi to and from the ceremony and the lovely certificate that the school won is proudly displayed outside the Sports Hall.

A special word of thanks must go to Colm for all his help, the past pupils from the school now in 4th Class of CBS who had worked on the project and to Ms. Mullins who kept the whole thing. on track.