Visit to the Boat Shed with SEFRC

On 16th October 2012, 5th Class went on an interesting trip to the Boatyard in Maudlintown. Beforehand we were shown a DVD about the craft of local building in our classroom. It was fascinating to learn about this ancient craft in such detail from Murt and Pat from the South End Family Resource Centre (SEFRC). Visiting the boatyard made the experience much more exciting, especially when we saw the boat ‘An Crúidín’ built in ‘Viking style’ as shown in the earlier DVD.
The outing continued down to the ‘pontoon’ and the bay where the class saw three boats….The Goose, Nobody’s Child and The Gulbar. It was exciting to sit in these boats and imagine being at sea!!!

Parents Pumking Carving

Today, Tuesday (16th October), a group of very enthusiastic parents joined Mrs. Duggan in the Sr. Marie Room armed with knives of varying sharpness. However no-one was in danger as the ladies first drew designs and then carved the pumkins beautifully. Each classroom then had two pumpkins delivered to be used as a resource between now and Hallow'een. The children are thrilled with them and want to thank all concerned. After all their hard work the ladies were joined by the Parent and Toddler Group and the Zumba girls for a very well deserved cup of coffee.

Planting in 2012...for 2013!!

Last Wednesday, the 10^th October, Colm and Nicola from the South End Family Resource Centre visited our classroom. We were shown how to plant cuttings from a variety of plants. What fun we had using compost and rooting powder and finally planting our cuttings in pots.

Later we put them in our School garden. We are hoping they will develop into beautiful mature plants.

Wexford in Bloom - School Garden Winners 2012

On Friday 10th October the school received the great news that it had won the 'gold medal' for the 'School Grounds / Garden' category of the Wexford in Bloom Festival 2012.



The award is just reward for Ms. Mullins, Eleanor Egan and Colm Ó Muirí from the SEFRC for all their hard work done with various classes in the past twelve months. This is the second year in a row that the school has been acknowledged, as it won the silver medal in the same category in 2011.

Gaelic Blitz

On Friday 21st September the 3rd class and the 3rd & 4th Class took part in a Gaelic Football Blitz. It was held in the Clonard pitch in Coolcotts and we took a bus up to the field. The day was rotten because it was a bit rainy at the start and got worse before it got better again. The bus was a bit late and when we we got up there the gate was locked anyway so we were in loads of time.

We were all divided up and mixed in with the children from the other schools to make up the teams. We got back to the school by break which was good. We had a nice time at the Blitz even though it was rotten weather for the start bit.



On Friday 5th October we went back up to the same field to finish the Blitz. This time the weather was better and we had a great day. Our teachers took pictures and made them into a film with music that you can see just below.





Bike Rack.....thanks to 'An Taisce'

Yesterday the school took possession of a beautiful, 10 bay, covered Bike Rack, compliments of the ‘An Taisce ~ Green Schools’ programme. Thanks to the great work in promoting sustainable travel / cycling in the school community Dara Deever from An Taisce nominated the Faythe for the shelter. Last year saw a fourth Green Flag presented to the school and Safe Cycling Training / Bike Maintenance classes were provided for pupils from 3^rd to 6^th. We were told the good news when we went to Croke Park to be presented with the school's 4th Green Flag.

Bike Rack with 'All-Ireland Camógie Bunting' flying!!

Routines Week

The first full week of school was given over to the promotion of ownership and pride on what we do in the Faythe School and in our area. All concerned with the school are encouraged to be tidy, punctual and responsible for all their possessions and to have a heightened awareness of litter.

Ms. Kelly co-ordinated the plan which focussed each day on stressing  importance of walking through the school on the left hand side and lining up promptly at bell time  and in a safe manner.

Each day was a also a ‘special focus day’……

MONDAY – ME

Personal  belongings eg books, copies , pens , pencils, pencil case, lunch box, folders, coat, uniforms and art shirts were discussed. It was emphasised that  your table and your chair are your personal space but it is up to each one of us to organise and keep it tidy. For homework we were given stickers to label all our school books.

TUESDAY –TIDY UP

 Each class looked at keeping the classroom tidy and what is the ‘tidy up at home-time’ routine. Bins were identified and labelled and the time table put up for ‘chairs up’ and ‘chairs down’ days because on two days the floors are ‘machine cleaned.’

WEDNESDAY – WALK

Each class went on an inside and outside walk of the building and we looked at how clean and organised the school looks e.g the classroom, the library, corridors. Everyone was shown where the ‘Lost Property Box’ is and we were reminded of the importance of not bringing wrappers and / or cartons out to the yard.

THURSDAY – TOILETS

On Thursday each class went through the importance of keeping the toilet areas clean and ‘washing and drying your hands, properly after a toilet visit.

FRIDAY – ASSEMBLY in HALL

On Friday all the classes went to the hall and Mrs. Kelly introduced each class who then showed something special they had done during ‘Routine Week.’ There were lovely poems and songs and loads of great posters with clever slogans.

Ms. Kehoe’s class made up and performed a song that you can see  below.

 

 

 

New Year.....New Faces

 

A special welcome goes to all new pupils the pupils, their parents and guardians, and our two new teachers Ms. Triona Roche and Ms. Amanda Kehoe who started in the Faythe school in late August. There are two new classes of Junior Infants and eight other new pupils 'further up the school.' 

Best wishes are extended to our former pupils, as they begin their Secondary School education or further their primary education in the local CBS, and two teachers Ms. Áine Cronin and Mr. Kevin Murphy as they begin new chapters in their lives. Similar sentiments are extended to Ms. Rita Conroy (JI teacher) as she begins Maternity Leave and her replacement Ms. Meagan O’Connor is welcomed back to school where she spent much of last year working in Learning Support.

Unique Hat-trick for 6th Class Girls

Last week, like many other pupils throughout Ireland, 20 girls from the St. John of God Primary School, The Faythe, 6th Class bade ‘good-bye’ to their teachers and fellow pupils after eight years in school there. However the graduation ceremony, which took place in front of parents / guardians and teachers on Wednesday evening last, celebrated two other significant milestones in these young students’ lives.

Since Easter the girls have been studying under Betty Dempsey, Genesis Business College, for a FETAC Level 3 Computer Course specifically designed to help students’ integration in Secondary Schools. The girls followed a structured course focussing on MS Word and Excel together with sourcing and presenting information and data safely sourced from the Internet. At the ‘graduation ceremony’ the girls were thrilled to be told that all 20 of them had successfully met the criteria required and will begin in their Secondary School of choice next September with their FETAC accredited Level 3 Certificate.

On May 21st two of the 6th class, Emma Busher and Molly O’Hanlon travelled to Croke Park, with ‘green school committee member, Ms Aisling O’Connell and school principal, Liam Turner, to collect the school’s fourth ‘Green Flag.’ On each of the three previous occasions the ‘flag raising’ ceremony was performed by a local dignitary or celebrity and the girls expected nothing less this time. However behind the scenes changes were afoot, as the ‘Green School Committee’ under the guidance of Deputy Principal, Ms. Anne Griffin-Jones, wanted to mark this particular class’ contribution to the Faythe School’s ‘green heritage.’

Each green flag takes two years ‘to earn’ and the eight years taken to be awarded the fourth flag, perfectly mirrored the girls’ time at the school. Resultantly the pupils who worked on all the ‘green school initiatives’ since Junior Infants were invited to raise the flag. The ‘Roll Book’ from 2004 was examined and the first two girls to enrol for September 2004 were identified. To round off a lovely evening Jade Foley and Jodie Phillips, representing the Faythe girls of 2004 – 12, raised the flag at the front of the school in front of the assembled crowd.

While this particular group of students will not be returning in September, ‘their flag’ will fly proudly over the purpose built bicycle shelter, that will be installed, over the summer holidays, by An Taisce, as reward for the school’ on-going commitment to the ‘Green Schools’ programme.

'Look out of my eyes'.....song composed by 6th class

Since January, a music student called Kevin Murphy has been coming into sixth class to explore all elements of music with us.

He brought in instruments for us to try out. We loved the guitars, especially the baby guitar.

 

 Our aim was to write a song that said something about us. After brainstorming and putting lyrics together, we drafted and edited before editing some more and then some more. In the end our song finally came to be.

 We recorded the song in the PE room on Friday 22nd June. Kevin brought in a friend, Tommy who had loads of recording equipment. They brought the recording away and will produce it over the summer. Maybe next year's 6th class will produce a sleeve / CD cover for it and sell it a fund-raiser for some charity.

 We have learned loads with Kevin, we have learned about different musicians, different types of music and different instruments. It was great fun and we wish we could do it again. We did our first live performance of our song on Wednesday 27th June at our Graduation Ceremony. Kevin said he was never as nervous performing for an audience as he did that night performing for all the parents / guardians. He also said he remembered being sent up to our classroom on messages when he was a pupil in the Faythe.....'way back when!'

Here is a video of us singing our song in our ''Recording Studio''!!!!!!!!

Faythe School Rock Choir

On Monday 6th February 2012 the first meeting was held in the Faythe School of a new choir. The meeting was attended by Ms. Mullins, Mr. Turner, a past pupil named Ian Grey and his wife Louise Jones and twenty two girls from 4th to 6th classes. Ian and Louise told the girls that they would try to form this new choir and the only thing they wanted from the girls was that they would enjoy themselves.



The girls obviously enjoyed themselves because the following Monday evening twenty eight girls turned up, with six more on the third Monday. At this stage Ian and Louise had decided that the Choir would be called "The Faythe School Rock Choir" and the girls were really enjoying the choice of songs.

Ian told the girls that he hoped they would be ready to sing at the School Mass on Thursday. Every night they rehearsed under the watchful eyes of both teachers as Ian played the guitar and Louise played the keyboard. This was the first night Louise asked for any volunteers who wished to sing solo. The girls were all very nervous but after many tried out, Ian and Louise picked out a few girls to sing together and one or two to sing parts on their own with the Choir backing them.

On the Thursday morning of their first ever performance, they girls walked down from school to Bride Street Chirch with Ms. Mullins and Mr. Turner. They were obviously nervous as most of them couldn't stop chattering. By 10 o'clock there was much bigger than normal crowd in Mass and after the first song the entire Church burst into applause......the girls were on their way.

At the end of Mass there was a standing ovation from the entire crowd and many people came forward to the Altar rails to congratulate the Rock Choir.


Rehearsals continued and the adults knew that the Choir was now on a firm footing when over the May and June 'Bank Holiday weekends' the girls themselves voted to practise and on each Monday over twenty five turned up.

By this stage Mr. Turner had organised hoodies for the Choir but was insisting that they would be 'dunfunty grey with brown embroidery'....yeeeuch!

The second performance was at a Sunday morning Children's Mass on Sunday 17th June. By this time the hoodies had arrived and just as well (for him) that Mr. Turner took Ms. Mullins'  'fashion tips' as the hoodies were 'baby pink with petrol blue enbroidery.' Not only did the girls look the part but they also sounded great too!!


The final performance of the year took place in the school hall on Tuesday 19th June when the 'Rock Choir' joined up with the 'Golden Oldies' from the South End Family Resource Centre for a show named 'Golden Rock.' The hall was full and the audience were treated to an hour and a half of top class singing from two very different groups firmly based in, and around, the Faythe.

The Choir are currently enjoying their summer break but all concerned are looking forward to 2012 - 13......ROCK ON !!

Huge thanks are due to one of our Dads, Darren Fortune, for taking the vidoes shown above.

Swimming Certificates

In September 2011 our teachers Ms.Kelly and Ms. Fitzgerald organised Swimming Lessons in the Talbot Hotel for us. So on two different days we had our lunch and went into the yard for a small playtime. Then our teacher lined us up and we went out the school gates and walked down to the Talbot. 

Swimming went on for eight weeks before Christmas and another eight weeks after Christmas.

Our teachers were thrilled with the classes and as Ms. O'Connor stated in the Wexford Echo

'children were grouped initially in terms of ability and confidence in the water and their progress was monitored as the weeks progressed. The instructors were patient and encouraging during the lessons. At the end of the sessions all the children passed their examinations and received their certificates. It was wonderful to see the enjoyment and growth in confidence and ability in the water experienced by all pupils at the end of the sixteen weeks.'

We all love the pool..........

6th class visit Carlow I.T. Art Exhibition

Last week on the 17th of May some of the sixth class girls went to an Art Exibition by second year Art students from Carlow I.T. Campus. The students have an art campus in the old Wexford county buildings. We met Seánie who took us on a tour around the art campus.
 First we saw lots of marbles on the floor. Next we gazed at some 3D art and got some drinks.
 After that we went to see four drawings of a woman. Next was a small blue room. Seánie explained that blue is normally a cold colour but in this instance it was quite a warm room.
 After this we saw a big carpet which had been splashed with paint of many colours. Next we went to see a cardboard exhibit which was quite scary!
 Another exhibit was a dried wall with lots of coloured paint. There was a really awesome exhibit which consisted of old computers screens spilling water into a tub.
 Finally we saw the sand exhibition, it was brilliant. On the way back to school we got ice-creams!
Pictures of some of the exhibits to follow!

Active School Activities 2012

On the 11^th of May some 4^th year boys from the C.B.S Secondary School came to our school to facilitate different activities held during Active Schools’ Week 2012. There were four different stations…. GAA, a parachute game, an obstacle course and tag rugby. All the classes took part.
They came back in on the 15^th of May and they did more activities with all the classes again. We loved it, we got a break from class we had an epic time! I really enjoyed the matches that they played with us.
During that same week 6^th class did activities with all the classes too. They did GAA, hurling, disco dancing, skipping and obstacle courses. If a child participated in one of the activities they would get a sticker, they would bring the sticker into their teacher and their teacher would stick it on their sticker chart. The class with the most stickers will receive a trophy; the trophy will be presented later this week to the winning class.

Other various activities took place too throughout the week and various specialist instructors or coaches came in to do Hip-Hop dancing, Zumba, GAA coaching, Tennis, Kick Boxing and Tag Rugby.

At ‘breakfast club’ porridge was offered as well as cereal and toast with loads of healthy toppings. The porridge proved a big hit with all of us and set us up each day for loads of activities.

Everyone really enjoyed school activities week we can’t wait for next year. We are very proud of our Blue Flag and we hope to keep up the good work!! - C.R. 6^th Class.

Click here for a video account of Active Week 2012.
It could take a minute to upload but will be worth the wait!

Room 2 Go Fishing For Crabs!

On Wednesday 2nd of May the children from Room 2 went on an outing to Kat's Strand. The aim of the trip was to explore the natural habitat of the crab and to collect items for sketching. We were blessed with the weather and the sunny excursion was a enjoyed by all.

The boys and girls had been very busy on the lead up to the trip as they are taking part in the CRAFTed Art Project. This is where a local crafts person is paired with a class and assists in the undertaking of a project. The artist working with Room 2 is Phil Stewart. She specialises in textiles but is undertaking a project on drawing with the class.

The children first encountered the crab when Phil brought in some live ones for them to sketch! The children were so interested by the little creatures that we decided to learn more about them and what better way than going to see them in their natural surroundings. We were joined by upwards of ten parents on the day and I would like to take this oppertunity to thank them for their help-without which the trip would not have been as successful. Parents helped us prepare bait to fish for crabs and some of the Daddys even found some baby eels and rag worms for us to look at!

Apart from drawing crabs, the children have also tried drawing their shoes and have experimented with different ways of drawing.

Below you will see a picture of the children drawing at a distance using crayons which are duck-taped to the end of bamboo sticks!!!

The project has been lots of fun so far. There are a few more weeks to go and we plan to exhibit our work at the end so keep an eye out for Room 2's magnificent artwork on display in the school.

Click here for the picrecord of our day at the beach.

Ms. Mac Fadden.

Yard mural by 6th class

On the 20th and 27th of April our class did a mural with art students from the Southend Family resource Centre. The mural was themed on the old Irish legend 'The Children of Lir'. The legend tells the story of a wicked stepmother who turns her stepchildren into swans. The mural shows Conn and Aodh after been transformed into swans as Fionnuala and Fiachra watch on in horror.
When the girls arrived we got straight down to work painting the mural. We think it turned out beautifully...do you?!

We signed our names at the side of the mural. Despite the fact we will not be here next year, this will be a lasting memory of 6th class 2011/12.

Junior Achievement in 6th class

6th class are doing a five week junior Achievement programme. It started last week and we learned about chromatography and forensic science. This week we learned about energy. Next week we are learning about the circulatory system.
Our junior achievement teacher is called DJ Delaney. He is very funny and kind. He is very good at science. We solved our own crime using chromatography. It was really good fun. This week we learned that watts is the unit of measurement when measuring energy. We looked at different household appliances and the amount of energy they use to function. We will all be more energy conscious in the future.

We are enjoying our junior achievement programme so far and we hope to learn more in the coming weeks. 

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2012

With the Faythe School Concerts clashing with Seachtain na Gaeilge the decision was taken to hold a ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge níos déanaí ‘ the week before Easter in the Faythe School. Not to be deterred by the delayed start to SnaG great work was done. Everyday posters were replaced with new Irish ones, extra posters were displayed throughout the premises and pupils who made an extra effort to speak Irish outside  the classrooms were rewarded with a ‘ticéad óir.’ Pop songs such as Galway Girl, Mama Mia, Price Tag, Poker Face and Do Do Run Run were sourced ‘trí mheain na gaeilge’ and sung enthusiastically throughout the week. Irish classic dances  such as ‘Balla Luimnigh’ and ‘Ag Baint an Fhéir’ were augmented by the ‘Cha-Cha Slide’ as Gaeilge and the yard at lunch-time was alive with activity. A list of ordinary phrases, complete with phonetic translations, were sent home and adults encouraged to’ bain trial astu.’

Events culminated on Friday afternoon when a large number of parents joined with children, teachers and Parnell St. native Thomas Byrne, organised by his former neighbour Mrs. Kelly, on accordion for a “Céílí Mór” out In the yard. Luckily the weather held off as Ms. Mullins gave out the instructions for the various dances before Ms. Fitzgerald presented the ‘ticéíd óir’ winners from each class with their prizes.

Mr. Whelan (R.1)	Cian Redmond	Ms. Fitzgerald (R.6)	Leah O’Rourke
Ms. MAcFadden (R.2)	Tomás McLead	Ms. Mullins (R.11)	Julius McMahon
Mr. Murphy (R.3)	Emma Roche	Ms. Conroy (R.12)	Greta Viatkute
Mr. Doyle (R.4)	Eloise Silva	Ms. Griffin-Jones (R.9)	Deimante Danileviciute
Mrs. Kelly (R.5)	Rebecca Rowe	Ms. Cronin (R.15)	Jade Ní Fhoghlú

Click here for a sample of the action from SnaG 2012

School Concert 2012

On the Tuesday and Wednesday a fortnight before Easter, the Faythe School Hall was packed to capacity for the School Concert. This year a ‘maritime’ theme was adopted to reflect Wexford’s, and particularly the Faythe’s, association with the sea and to tie in with the curricular area of S.E.S.E. (Social, Environmental & Scientific Education). The fact that the pupils from the Faythe were enthusiastic participants in the recently finished ‘One Book Project’ – The Spirit of the Titanic made the theme all the more logical.

For the weeks before pupils, teachers, SNAs and both the secretary and caretaker went into overdrive in school while the amount of parents / guardians / neighbours / grannies and granddads who were press ganged into service in making or sourcing outfits and props doesn’t bear thinking about. All was well on the nights as the children performed brilliantly. Two guest performance each night featured the Faythe School Choir under the baton of teacher, Anne griffin-Jones accompanied by Éanna McKenna and percussion teacher extraordinaire Eddie O’Neill who performed with the 5^th and 6^th Classes on alternate nights.
A splendid night’s entertainment was rounded off each evening with the Parents Association Raffle which raised much needed funds for their on-going support of a multitude of activities in the school.  €510was raised in total and your support of the Raffle Sponsors namely Evanna Beauty, McDonalds, Emily Scullion, Subway, St. Mary’s GAAClub, Whelan’s Cleaning Systems, The Book Centre, Burger Mac, Zumba, Omniplex, Whites Tranquillity Spa , is appreciated.  Huge thanks to Nutricia / Danone for supplying the ‘Drumming Outfits.’

TUESDAY NIGHT

Faythe School Choir with Anne Griffin -Jones and Éanna McKenna.

Lar Whelan’s Junior Infants – Rain Drops and Lemon Drops

photo to follow

Kevin Murphy’s Senior Infants – The Ugly Duckling

photo to follow

Ursula Kelly’s 2nd Class – Noah’s Ark

Caroline Mullin’s 3rd Class – Pollution in the Sea

photo to follow

 Anne Griffin-Jones 5th Class – Drumming Mania with Eddie O’Neill.

 

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Faythe School Choir with Anne Griffin -Jones and Éanna McKenna.

Doireann MacFadden’s Junior & Senior Infants – “Help! I’m a fish!”

Eoin Doyle’s 1st Class – Yellow Submarine.

Orla Fitzgerald’s 2nd Class – The Octopus’s  Garden.

Rita Conroy’s 3rd & 4th Classes – The Rio Grande and more!

Áine Cronin’s 6th Class – The Drummer Girls

MUGA Gaelic Football Final

Thursday 22^nd March saw a fitting finale of the Faythe Schools Lunch Time Gaelic Football League when eventual winners, Cork, faced off against Kerry in a closely fought thriller.

Since January 100 boys and girls, divided into ten teams competed in a tournament organised and run by teachers Lar Whelan, Kevin Murphy and Eoin Doyle. Running in tandem with the Wexford County Boards GAA Coaching Scheme the tournament was designed to get as many children as possible playing Gaelic Football and the ‘all weather’ pitch in the school is perfectly suited to this end.

Following the group stages where every team played at least four matches and hard fought semi-finals the two finalists emerged. Unfortunately the scheduled final was rained off but a large crowd of parents turned up for the re-fixed final last week.

Jimmy Stafford, Trevor Doocey and Paul Carty from the St. Mary’s of Maudlintown GAA Club who sponsored the competition were also in attendance as was the recently appointed Community Garda, Barry Brennan. Mr. Whelan refereed with Mr. Murphy keeping score with Mr. Doyle in charge of First-Aid if required.

Following a very sporting, hard fought match that saw Cork snatch victory from Kerry with a last minute goal on a 4-8 to 3-10 scoreline the Faythe School Perpetual Gaelic Football Cup was presented to winning captain Emma Busher while the captain of the runners-up, Emily Quigley, was presented with ‘The Player of the Tournament’ trophy.

The winning Cork team were Emma Busher, Kelly Ann O’Farrell, Caoilfhionn Doyle, Tiana Smith, Deimante Danileviciute, Mark Heneberry, Callum Doyle (substituting for Dawid Godula), Klaudia Czuba, Emma Downes (substituting for Evey Roche and Sara Betlejewski while the very gallant Kerry team were Emily Quigley, Katlyn Fitz-Harris Byrne, Caitlin Culleton (substituting for Mary Connors), Claire Downes, Rachel Healy, Luke O’Rourke, Conor Kehoe, Kamile Miranaite, Chloe Fortune and Nicola Pitman McCleod.