May - Summer approaches!

Only one major event has occurred in May (just this past Friday the 18th), but it was so major that we needed to share it immediately!
On Friday, we travelled to O'Reilly Hall in University College Dublin, Belfield for the very first Irish Young Philosopher Awards. We have long participated in philosophy in this class and school in general, with Mr. Caulfield leading us in Philosophy 4 Children circle time sessions. After our involvement in the Newpark project, much of our discussions in these circles revolved around ageing and wisdom. As such, we decided to create individual projects (in the form of booklets) based on some of the questions around these topics which came up in circle time, and these were so good that we entered them in the Young Philosopher Awards, which only began this past September.
Unfortunately, our projects did not win any awards on the day. However, our students did fantastically well in presenting their work to judges and members of other schools. See if you can spot the special guest who spoke to the crowd at the end of the day!

After Easter...

Moving in to April, which was a very busy month for us, our project with Newpark Care Home really began to move in to high gear! After our first visit doing pair interviews in January, a second visit creating Spring art in February and an exchange of handwritten letters between us, we had two visits in April! The first was on April 11th in our first week back after the Easter holidays: a number of the residents of Newpark, along with their care assistants, paid a visit to the school. After a quick tour of the school with Mr. Caulfield, the residents led us in a discussion about holidays and the positive travel experiences they had in their lives. It was wonderful to see the residents and the students engaging with each other and sharing interests in such a natural way and some very interesting discussions were had!

Following this, we had our fifth Newpark visit on April 26th. Once again, our students made the journey down the road to present projects to the Newpark residents. These projects were based around people we considered to be our heroes, and we also got the opportunity to discuss the idea of heroes and heroism with the residents also. This was a truly lovely visit and the residents and staff at Newpark made us feel so welcome as always!

A final mention should be made for a visit that four of our students paid to Coláiste Mhuire, Marino on April 19th. Amelia, Roisín, Lily and William accompanied myself, Mr. Caulfield and SNA Rosemary to a showcase for the National Council of Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

The reason for our attendance at this showcase was that Kilcoskan NS was one of just 8 schools nationwide which took part in an NCCA project entitled Sharing Inclusive Practice. This project aimed to promote student involvement in inclusion in school and the wider community.

Our class began this with World Religion projects which the 6th class pupils would have done last year with Teacher Aoife. We have extended this year into a community project with Newpark Care Home this year.
Our four students were chosen in a random class lottery to come along to explain our projects to principals and teachers from other schools, pupils from other schools and professors and other professionals who work in this field. Our project was unique among the 8 schools and garnered a large amount of interest from those in attendance. Most of them commented on how exceptionally well the four pupils presented the project. They were a true credit to themselves and the school at large. During the day, before presenting the project, the pupils did workshops with the other visiting pupils. For their participation, they received medals, and the school received a framed certificate of participation.
A huge congrats to these pupils who represented us so well, but all of our class pupils deserve credit for how well they have participated in this project from the beginning.

It's May? Yikes! Here's a recap...

It's been a while since we have posted here, so it's time to update you on what has been going on for the past few months in our class!
A lot of things have happened in our class since our last post, but we will try our best to condense what has happened.
After a February that was fraught with preparation for it, our Confirmation eventually came around on March 8th. Our thirteen 6th class pupils (along with two pupils from Teacher Eoin's class) made their Confirmation, with Mary Queen of Ireland N.S. and St. Margaret's N.S. in St. Margaret's Church. The rain held off and it was a truly lovely day that I'm sure you all enjoyed!
That was not the end of it however, as the following Tuesday, our 6th class pupils came in to model their Confirmation outfits for the other classes and take a class photo. This day highlighted just how far these pupils have come in this school (some of the other teachers and staff were gobsmacked at how different and grown up they all looked!), and it highlighted for me, as their teacher, just how well they conducted themselves throughout the ceremony and the lead up to it.

A great looking bunch they are, and the other classes and teachers were very impressed!

March was also the first of two months we had in Kilcoskan NS celebrating the Irish language. On Friday the 16th, we had a fantastic Gaeilge assembly agus bhí gach duine ag baint sult agus spraoi as an craic, ceol agus damhsa tríd ár dteanga náisiúnta! At our assembly, we performed two songs le chéile as Gaeilge as well as two dances, and watched a collaboration video of clips of our students showing off their scileanna labhartha agus grinn sna físeáin! A special notable mention should also go to the 6th class members of our school band who played along as we sang 'Beidh Aonach Amárach', playing the guitar, ukulele and the box drum!

Our finally notable occurrence in March was our final day before Easter where we made Easter baskets thanks in large part to our SNA Gráinne. They came out beautifully and the school at large were very impressed.