Askeaton Senior National School

The mid-term break began on Friday evening 27th October after an eventful day at school.

The pupils arrived to school dressed in amazing costumes – some naughty, some nice, some very very scary as the Hallowe’en season came within our reach at last!!

In the afternoon, following the talk by Paul Meehan on the Hope Foundation, the pupils assembled in the school GP room for the annual fundraising draw. Once again this year the sponsorship draw was very successful thanks to the sponsors, the great effort made by the children and the support of their parents and the wider community.

The pupils were very excited as the draw drum was filled with the numbers of the cards sold and the line numbers. All families in the school had an interest and were delighted to be involved.

The following are the lucky prizewinners on this occasion:

1st prize: Membership for 3 months for 1 at Askeaton Pool & Leisure Centre sponsored by Coral Leisure. The lucky line was sold by Alex in 4th class, and the winner is Edward Kelly, 176 Hyde Park, Prospect, Limerick.

2nd prize: Two 50 euro vouchers sponsored by Twohig’s Supervalu in Askeaton. The winning line for this prize was sold by Amber Rose in 3rd class to Eddie O Shaughnessy.

3rd prize: 5 bags of coal sponsored by Galtee Fuels. This prize was won by Kiana Sachdev and the line was sold by Brenna in 4th class.

The other prizewinners on the day were Alex (4th class) for selling 1st prize, Leah (4th class) won a prize in the draw for all full cards  and the duo who sold most cards were Shane (3rd class) and Patrick (6th class). The latter two boys had been very busy and each sold 8 full cards.

Congratulations to all the winners and to all who worked hard to make the fund-raising such a success.

Happy Hallowe’en.   🙂   🙂

We  were delighted to welcome our past-pupil, Paul Meehan to the school on Friday 27th Oct to speak about the Hope Foundation. Paul delivered his information eloquently and thanked the pupils and their parents for all donations made by their non-uniform day for the benefit of this worthy charity. Paul intends to travel to Kolkata, (also known as Calcutta) in India over the Easter holidays in 2018 and he will present all funds raised to the Hope Foundation in location.

Mr O Connell invited Paul to return to speak to the pupils once again after his return from India.

Best wishes Paul on your trip.

Thinking of clearing out at home????

Please remember that used clean clothes, bags, shoes and other textiles will be gladly accepted by Askeaton Junior and Senior NS Parents’ Council. These recycled goods may be dropped into the school reception on any school day until Wednesday 8th November.  The Parents’Council will be delighted to accept your clobber and use all donations as a fund-raiser for the two schools.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Pupils from Askeaton Senior NS participated in the Limerick Primary Schools’ Cross Country competitions for the first time this week. The event took place at Limerick Racecourse in Patrickswell on Wednesday 25th October. We had 34 representatives taking part in the various races from 8 years to 12 years and they all enjoyed the events.

The following pupils were on the school teams for Cross Country running:

300m races:

8 year old girls: Lily, Ciara, Maggie-Mai and Mercy.

8 year old boys: Lorcan.

400m races:

9 year old girls: Samantha and Aoife.

9 year old boys: Shane, Tommy, Alex and David.

500m races:

10 year old girls: Ruby, Faye, Amanda, Leah and Bethannie.

10 year old boys: Paddy, Zach, Terry, Dylan and Paudie.

600m races:

11 year old girls: Lily and Libby.

11 year old boys: Michael James, Josh, Jimmy and Matthew.

800m races:

12 year old girls: Nicole, Aimee, Myah and Lauren.

12 year old boys: Sam, Luke, John and Daniel.

The competitions were a great experience for our pupils who had never tried such events previously. Hopefully many pupils might take part in other cross country running competitions in the future.

The Community Council event called “Unity in the Community” on Sunday 1st October was a great success.

The pictures show some of the project-work prepared for this community event.

The Community Council of Askeaton / Ballysteen have launched a new initiative this Autumn called “Unity in the Community”. The big event will take place this Sunday afternoon (1st october) in the Community Hall, and all are invited to attend. (Children need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.)

Each organisation, club and school in the parish has been invited to submit a display to portray its place in the community. The theme of “Unity in the Community” has been adopted in each class and integrated into the various strands of the school curriculum for the past few weeks. The pupils from 3rd to 6th have examined the various aspects of the local community in an age-appropriate way through projects in Gaeilge, English, History and Geography as well as Art and Craft.

Due to the limited space available in the Community Hall for the display, only some of the projects will be taken there. The other project work may be viewed in the school.

The pupils put a great effort into completing their various projects and are justifiably proud of their achievements. It was beneficial to all to raise awareness of the positive features in the Community of Askeaton /Ballysteen.

The pupils of each class from 3rd to 6th were involved in poetry writing, story writing, art work as well as in GAA games for the special Askeaton /Ballysteen GAA event last Sunday 24th September.

The photos show some of the many memorial trophies presented on the day.

A Cois Sionna Under 12 Hurling Tournament was played with some local parish teams taking part. The final was won by Cappagh with the Askeaton /Ballysteen Under 12 team being awarded runner-up medals .

The Mark Ryan Memorial trophy was presented to the “Player of the Tournament” Sam from 6th class.

The Mal Keaveney Memorial Trophy was presented to Cathal from 5th class for “Goalkeeper of the Tournament”.

The Michael D Ryan Award was presented to John from 6th class for his winning entry to the 2017 poetry competition.

Congratulations to all the winners and to the Askeaton /Ballysteen GAA on hosting such a positive event.

On Wednesday 20th September the pupils of 5th and 6th classes were taken to Adare Park on a field-trip as the 3rd and 4th classes had on Tuesday. Expert guide and author Geoff Hunt once again accompanied the school groups and guided the exploration and investigation of the pond as a habitat. The weather was very wet but the pupils still enjoyed the exploration. They learned about the vegetation of the pond and the many little creatures that reside in our locality. In the afternoon the pupils had another opportunity to follow-up on the information learned from the field-trip. Geoff Hunt gave a great insight into the lives of the creatures of the pond.

Congratulations to Cois Sionna Credit Union on reaching the golden jubilee of it’s foundation. The community has been very well served by this fantastic organisation throughout the 50 years.

The Cois Sionna Credit Union has already donated a beautiful set of jerseys to our school earlier this year in recognition of this special anniversary.  As yet another gesture of goodwill the Cois Sionna Credit Union arranged for an ice-cream van to visit the grounds of Askeaton Junior and Senior NS where each pupil and staff member were given a delicious gift of a ice-cream.  Thank you Cois Sionna Credit Union.