Wednesday 21 December 2011

Christmas Concert

Well done to everyone for the great job you all did in the play "Rock around the Flock", playing tin whistles and singing carols. The Christmas Concert was a great success and you make everyone very proud. Also, thank you to everyone who supported the raffle on the night! It was for a very good cause!! 

Thursday 1 December 2011

Our Trip by Cáel McDonagh

We went to Ballinafad Wildlife Center.We learned about birds on the whiteboard and we learned about the birds names.  We went up to the bird-hide and studied the birds. We were going to listen to the birds but there was nothing around so we listened to toy birds. We went outside and used binoculars.We saw some crows.We went in side.We stuck seeds onto pictures of birds.  We went home. It was a great time. 




Thursday 24 November 2011

Baked Potatoes

Last Spring, with the help of Darragh's Mum, we planted potatoes, carrots, onions and strawberries in our raised beds. Chris dug up the potatoes and carrots this November.  Ms. Jordan made carrot sticks and baked potatoes for us.  Everyone tried some and found our school grown produce delicious. 

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Pot Planting

We planted daffodil bulbs in three pots at the front of the school to brighten up the yard and the school entrance. Hopefully in Spring we will see the fruit of our labour.  



Sunday 20 November 2011

Science Week 2011

This year Science Week took place from the 13th to the 20th November.  To participate in the week all the children submerged themselves in scientific endeavours. The Junior Room designed and make waterproof shelters and experimented with mixing, heating and melting materials. The Senior Room made magnetic car and then had races using magnets.  The highlight of the week was using mixing, heating and cooling to make jelly, rice krispie buns and iced biscuits.  Our "Science Party" was a fitting end to a very productive and educational week!!!



Thursday 10 November 2011

Games Day


The day of our Halloween holidays we played some board games for an hour (while enjoying our chocolate apples)!!!





Wednesday 9 November 2011

Halloween

Halloween is over for another year.  The costumes this year were very impressive especially the home made ones. The Junior Room played some traditional Halloween games such as apple ducking and snap apple.  We also played "Chop the cherry" and had peanut races.  Fun! Fun! Fun!  To end the day we had some chocolate apples!!! Yum! Yum! Yum!  





Tuesday 8 November 2011

Handwriting Competition

Well done to the winner of the Senior Room handwriting competition.  



Monday 31 October 2011

Green School

This year we are beginning on our next Green Flag based on the theme of Energy.  We began by  electing our new committee with representitives from most classes within the school.  


Tuesday 25 October 2011

Maths Week

Another very successful maths week has just come to an end.  Well done to all the children in the school.  We had lots of fun doing puzzles, maths trails and playing maths games.   Estimating how many sweets in a bag proved to be a very popular activity!!!


Thursday 6 October 2011

National Tree Day

The 6th of October was National Tree Day.  To celebrate the children planted horse chestnuts and hazel nuts.  The hazel nuts were collected in the school yard.   The Junior Room also did some leaf prints and art work.

Thursday 29 September 2011

Senior Room Art Work

The Senior Room children have been working on the theme of homes and houses. To complement this theme the children have constructed different types of houses from boxes and created a variety of homes from clay.  

Thursday 1 September 2011

Céad Míle Fáilte

Welcome back after the summer holidays.  A special welcome to our new pupils Gráinne O'Beirne, Cathal McKeon and Nikita Hogan.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

School Tour

On the 29th June we went on our school tour to Athlone Baysports.  We went canoeing and we made our own rafts.  We went on a speed boat and a water trampoline.  We make a tent and toasted marshmallows over a camp fire.   We competed in an obstacle course and had go-cart races.  It was a great school tour.



Tuesday 28 June 2011

Sports Day 2011

Unfortunately our sports day this year had to be cancelled midway through because of the bad weather.  We did complete our obstacle course!!!!   

Sunday 26 June 2011

Green Flag


 
There were great celebrations in St. Ronan's National School on Tuesday 21st June as the school hoisted its first Green Flag.  Pupils, teachers, parents, grandparents, public representatives and members of the local community gathered at the school for the occasion. The Green School Committee spoke of the importance of the Green School Campaign in the life of the school and the work that had been done.  The children from the Junior Room performed the play "The Litter Muncher" while the children from the Senior Room played the tin whistle.  Following the speeches there was great excitement as the Green Flag was raised. The fun continued with bouncy castles and a visit from an ice-cream van.  The following day we travelled to Strandhill to meet Cian Egan of Westlife. He congratulated the school, posed for photographs and signed autographs. 





Wednesday 25 May 2011

Football

Congratulations to our football team who competed in the Sligo Cumann na mBunscoil 1/2 Teacher Mixed Final in  Markievicz Park on Saturday June 18th.  We  played Kilrusheighter N.S. in the County Final and were successful for the second year running. Well done to the entire team, the captain and the managers.   Up the blue and whites!!!!

Green Schools National Award Ceremony

On Monday 23rd May our school was presented with its first Green Flag in the McWilliam Park Hotel, Claremorris, Co. Mayo.  Three of the senior members of the Green School Committee went with Ms. Jordan to collect the flag and certificate.   It was a very enjoyable day despite the windy weather and we are all very proud to have become an official Green School. 

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Green Flag News

Today we got great news. We have been awarded our first Green Flag.  Yippee!!! Congratulations to everyone involved especially the Green School Committee.  Four of us will be going to Claremorris to the Green Flag Award Ceremony on Monday 23rd May.  

Our Fieldtrip

On Tuesday 3rd May we went to Knockvicar on the bus. It was a lovely, sunny day. We were guided around two different habitats - a woodland habitat and a bog habitat.  We saw bluebells, hazel trees and insects in the woodland habitat. We saw frogs, dragonflies, heather and bog cotton in the bog habitat.  It was really nice day out!!



Friday 8 April 2011

Sports at St. Ronan's

Swimming
Every year during the last school term the children go to swimming lessons in Carrick-On-Shannon.  The BOM subsidises the cost of the lessons.

Dance
This year we had 6 modern dance lessons at school.  The children really enjoyed learning “break dancing” and hip-hop moves.



Some Dance Moves!

Sports at St. Ronan's

Tag Rugby Blitz
On Tuesday 15th February, the children in the Senior Room took part in a Tag Rugby Blitz in Sligo I.T.  Over 600 children were involved on the day.   Our tag rugby team won all their four matches on the day.  Well done!!  Thanks to Geoff Gardner who helped train the children for the blitz.

Sports at St. Ronan's

GAA Trainers
Every year, usually in the Spring Term, two Gaelic Football Trainers come to the school for up to 12 weeks to train all the children and teach them Gaelic Football skills.


Sports at St. Ronan's

Cumann na mBunscol Final
Well done to our school Gaelic football team who took part in the 7 aside mixed Cumann na mBunscol Final in Markieviz Park in Sligo on June 12th and won against Kilrusheighter N.S. 
The final score was 6:1 to 1:4.  A big THANK YOU to all the supporters who came on the day to cheer the team on!!  The school was very well represented. 


Our Fire Station Outing

 

 Showing us the equipment!

We went on a tour of Ballymote Fire Station on Friday 8th of October.  We looked at the equipment, the fire engine and the fire station.  We all got to climb up on the fire engine.  We got to use a water pump.  We watched a chip pan fire demonstration.  We also watched the firemen rescuing a man from a car.  It was a great day out. 


Monday 4 April 2011

Music in the Classroom

The children from First Class to Sixth Class all learn tin whistle. 

This year we have also had visiting musicians coming to the school with their instruments and playing different genres of music live in the classroom for the children to enjoy.  We have listened to Jazz and Classical styles of music.
On Thursday the 11th of November a Jazz trio came in to play some jazz music for us.  They played a selection of music in a jazz style on the keyboard, drums and double bass. Everyone enjoyed “The Simpsons”.



On Monday the 7th of March a Classical Trio came in to play pieces of music by Vivaldi.  They played the recorder, violin and cello.




Green Flag Programme

For the past two years (2010/2011), the Green School Committee in St. Ronan’s N.S. has been working on obtaining our first green flag.  We started last year by carrying out an Environmental Review.  We found out that the school sent 3 bags of rubbish to the Landfill and 2 bags to recycling every week.   We also decided there was a litter problem in the yard, around the school and in the classrooms.  We noted that we were not using the bins properly and that there was a lot of waste created from lunches. 
We worked on the above issues.  Chris the caretaker came in to show us how to use the bins properly.  We took photographs of lunches to show parents at the Parent Association Meeting and to encourage the reusing of bottles/lunch boxes instead of tinfoil and plastic wrappings.  We banned food and drinks in the yard and had a Spring Clean to tidy up the existing litter.  Krzysztof, a parent, helped us make a bird table for bread scraps. We began shredding and recycling paper waste. We started Classroom Inspections to keep our classrooms tidy.
The amount of waste we produce has significantly dropped.  Now only two bags of waste leave the school each week, one and a half for recycling and only half a bag to the Landfill.  Our classrooms and the yard are kept very tidy and litter free. 
Also as part of the Green School Programme we encourage healthy eating.  We have set up a small school garden and grow healthy fruit and veg for the children to sample when ready.

St. Ronan’s N.S. Green Code

By putting our rubbish in the right bin,
Everyone in our school will win.
The yards and classrooms will be kept clean
And only healthy foods will be seen.
So let’s reduce, reuse and get recycling.


Bar chart showing the comparison between the number of bags of waste leaving the school before and after the Green Schools Programme.



 Green Schools Programme Activity


Féile Scoil Drámaíochta

“Na Trí Mhuca” in Kilmovee

Our journey began in Kilmovee where the children in the Junior Room took part in the Féile Drámaíochta, performing the play “Na Trí Mhuca”.  The children performed really well for their first time on a big stage.  The judge had lots of great things to say about the acting and the play. Caél McDonagh and Chloe Mullane won awards for the best actor/actress in the drama.  Everyone won a medal.   The school also won two trophies.  
We then moved onto to the Connaught Final in Inverin, Co. Galway.  The children again performed really well and were praised by the judge but unfortunately it was the end of the road for us. 


The children performed the play for their families, friends and neighbours in Cloonloo Hall on Tuesday 22nd of March. There was a great turn out and the play went off without a hitch.

The school staff, BOM and parents are all very proud of the children in the Junior Room and wish to congratulate them on their huge achievement, for doing so well the first time they entered the competition.
The school would also like to thank the parents who came to cheer the children on and who helped backstage and who helped supervise.

About St Ronan's National School

St. Ronan’s N.S. is a small rural school situated in Co. Sligo near the Roscommon border.  The school itself is located on a quiet country road with little traffic.
The school has excellent modern facilities as it was only recently renovated and refurbished in 2004.  We have two large classrooms, a Learning Support Room, a Staff room and Office. The school is equipped with computers, laptops, digital projectors and broadband access.  Soon we will also have modern interactive whiteboards.  Outdoors we have a large spacious yard and grassy area.  

We have a staff of two permanent teachers, one part-time learning support/resource teacher and one DEIS coordinator.  We also have a  part-time secretary and a caretaker.  Currently we have 17 pupils on roll.  This low teacher-pupil ratio has many advantages. 
Parents are very involved in school activities and are welcome to share their areas of expertise with the children.

School Activities:
  • Gaelic Football
  • Soccer
  • Basketball
  • Swimming
  • Dance
  • Tag Rugby
  • Drama
  • Tin Whistle Lessons
  • Music in the Classroom
  • Computer Lessons
  • Shared Reading
  • Maths for Fun
  • Ag Súgradh le Chéile
  • Green Schools Committee
  • Féile Scoil Drámaíochta
  • Maths Week
  • Science Week
  • Seachtain na Gaeilge
  • World Book Day
Principal:   Mr. Michael Heffernan 
Address:   St. Ronan’s National School,
                 Cloonloo,
                 Via Boyle,
                 Co. Sligo.

Phone No:  071 9663684
Fax No:     071 9664658
Email:        cloonloo@iol.ie