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.

The Haka ! - 5 Months Late !!

Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men come to nil....In other words accidents happen....things that should be done aren't done....this video was made by Ms. Mullins 3rd Class on 21st October 2011 in honour of the Rugby World Cup....
It would be great to be able to blame somebody for not uploading the video but I can't ...it was my fault...

Click here to enjoy a belated HAKA.

ROOM 12 - DESIGNING PAPER BRIDGES

We worked in pairs using only three A4 sheets of paper and our task was to create different models of bridges.
We constructed beam bridges and arch bridges out of the paper.

When we corrugated the paper we discovered that it was much stronger because the bridges that had the corrugated paper were able to hold much heavier loads.

Click here for a slideshow of our work.

Active School - Blue Flag

Last year, under the stewardship of Mrs. O'Loughlin, the Active School committee of Ms. Fitzgerald, Ms. Piper and Ms. Murphy set about doing exactly that. With the help of both staff and students an Active Week was organised in May. The new state of the art MUGA (multi-use games area) facility, our playground equipment and ‘yard game’ markings are all conducive to enhanced physical activity in the school.

In October, DES co-ordinator, Mick O'Callaghan came to school to review the efforts and he was so impressed with the documentation and resources produced that he forwarded the folder to Mary immaculate College of Education, Limerick, to be used in the initial preparation of student teachers as part of their degree courses. A week later he informed the school that a ‘Blue flag’ had been awarded.

The BOM and staff were elighted to have past pupil, and current Irish U-19 Ladies Soccer international, Rianna Jarrett, return to the school to officially raise the flag. Mr. Whelan acted as M.C. for the event during which Ms. Griffin-Jones' 5th Class won the 'Most Active Class Award' while Ms. Cronin's 6th Class received individual tokens for facilitating the lunch-time activities. Mr. Whelan then presented Rianna with a gift from the BOM marking her achievements to date and wishing her well into the future.

 

A fine crowd of parents joined Rose-Marie O’Loughlin and Orla Fitzgerald from the school’s ‘Active School Committee’ Principal, Liam Turner, Councillors Paddy Nolan and George Lawlor (representing the Mayor Cllr. Davy Hynes)as Rianna rose the ‘Blue Flag’ following a countdown orchestrated by Mr. Whelan. After the ceremony many of the parents enjoyed a ‘cuppa’ provided by Mags, Caroline and Shirley from the Parents Council.

The flag remains valid for a period of three years and all in school are looking forward to seeing it fly proudly outside the school beside the Green Flags awarded for environmental initiatives carried out in the school.

Story Time in Room 2

We have really been enjoying Story Time in Room 2. Many parents have already joined us and helped us with fun activities. We can't wait for the next Story Time session!

If any parents are interested in attending a Story Time session please talk to Ms. Mac Fadden (Room 2) or Ms. Duggan (Room 8). Next session Wednesday 8th at 09.10.

St.Brigid's Day in our school.

On the first of February it was St.Brigid's Day. Everybody in our school celebrated, firstly by going to a school mass in Bride Street, and after, by making a St.Brigid's cross. Emma's nanny Ann came in to our class room to show us how to make them. Mr.Murphy brought his senior infants up to our classroom. We paired up and made them together. Mr.Murphy kindly brought in lots of rushes. We all had a wonderful day and the sun was shining so it really did feel like the first day of spring.

             

Click here for Slide Show

                                                       

Our Visit to the Dun Mhuire Theatre

 On Thursday 2nd of Febuary 5th and 6th class went to the Dun Mhuire theatre for the book launch of the  'Spirit of the Titanic'. Many other schools were there too. Every school performed on stage, we sang ' Sailing ' by Rod Stewart.

The author, Nicola Pierce, was also there. She made a small speech about the book. She spoke about how emotional she became when she heard the song ' Nearer my God to Thee'. This was the last song which was played by the band aboard the Titanic before it sank.

The Mayor spoke about how special this book is to the people of Wexford because of its long standing sea faring tradition.

There were people, 'the Titanic Crew', from secondary schools helping out at the event.
We had a terrific day and we can't wait to read the novel.

Green School Committee

On January the 24th, Dara Dever from An Taisce came to visit the school. We are setting up two 'Walking Buses' to promote walking to school, as part of our Green Schools Project on Travel.
Dara, along with some members of the Green School Committe and our parent volunteers did a 'walkability audit' to see how safe the routes the 'walking bus' will take are.

We found lots of positive safety features on our audit, such as pedestrian crossings and wide footpaths.
We also found some things that were not so safe, such as cars parked on the footpath.

Our walking buses will be up and running for our WOW days (Walk on Wednesdays). We are having a trial run with our community guard Thursday the 2nd of February and Wednesday the 3rd February.
We have two routes, one going from Bernadette place, up to Maudlintown, down William Street and up Fisher's Row. The other 'bus' starts on King Street/Lambert place, passes Tesco, goes through the Folly and onto school. Thanks to Mags and Caroline for volunteering to do this, and to their volunteers, Jimmy and Siobhan. If any parents would like to help these buses or start their own please let Ms. O'Connell Room 10 know.