Fruit Bush Planting

The day of our Easter Holidays we planted raspberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant and gooseberry bushes in pots.

Easter Holiday Fun

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 15^th 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 12^th 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 8^th 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. 

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 11^th 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 7^th 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 22^nd 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