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.   🙂   🙂

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.

Congratulations to all pupils and staff who were involved in the Science Foundation Ireland project during this school year.

This week the “Discover Science & Maths Award” wall plaque was delivered to the school.

Well done .  🙂   🙂

The Bake Sale was a great success on Thursday 8th June. The pupils of 6th class under the guidance of their teacher Ms Doyle planned and executed the organisation, advertising, displaying, sales and manufacturing of the delicious food. They were greatly assisted by parents and guardians as well as other generous donors. A huge thank you to all who provided assistance in any way including sponsoring of some raffle prizes.

Apart from the delicious food on sale many pupils were excited by the other fund-raising side-shows.

The number of “sweets in the jar” was correctly guessed by Saul from Junior Infants.  His guess of 161 sweets was the key to winning the jar  of sweets.

The raffle was also a source of great excitement and anticipation!

The following list shows the lucky prize-winners on this occasion:

1st prize: Family tickets to Funderland: Nathan from 1st class 🙂  🙂

2nd prize: Large teddy: Samantha from 3rd class.

3rd prize: Sweets hamper: Margaret from 3rd class.

4th prize: Junior tennis raquet set: Luca from 1st class.

5th prize: Carraig-Donn bracelet: Alex from 5th class.

6th prize: Make-up bag: Leah from 3rd class.

7th prize: Scented candles: Mrs O Connor from Senior NS.

8th prize: Mermaid doll: Ameya from 3rd class.

9th prize: Frisbee: Nathan from 1st class.

10th prize: Frisbee: Ann from 6th class.

11th prize: Skipping rope: Lorcan from 2nd class.

12th prize: Soft toy : Leah from 2nd class.

13th prize: Soft toy: Lauren from 5th class.

14th prize: Soft toy: Alexis from Senior Infants.

     Raffle Prizes

The 6th class in Askeaton Senior NS under the direction of Ms Doyle, have been busy planning a major fund-raiser for the past number of weeks.

They have used their various talents and skills in a great display of team-work as they prepared for this occasion.

This Thursday 8th June is the day of    THE BIG BAKE SALE!!

This Wednesday evening there will be wonderful baking events happening in homes all around Askeaton.

Hopefully the families will enjoy the baking process as much as they will enjoy sampling the finished products.

Thursday promises to be a day of sweet aromas throughout the school.

Pupils from each class are looking forward to their trip to the GP room to buy some delicate food for their lunch.

Parents, guardians and other family members are most welcome to buy goods from the Bake-sale, as are the wider community.

Other fund-raising events will be a Monster Raffle and “Guess the number of sweets in a Jar”.

The fabulous raffle prizes are shown on the posters above.

 Raffle Prizes:

First Prize: Family pass to Funderland

Second Prize: Big Teddy

Third Prize: Sweets Hamper

Other prizes

• Bracelet from Carraig Donn
• Make-up case
• Yankee candles
• Frisbee
• Skipping rope
• Mermaid doll
• Teddies
• Soft play Tennis Set

Tickets can be purchased from Majella at the office or in the GP room on Thursday.

Cost of tickets for this great raffle : 1 euro for 1 strip of tickets or 2 euro for 3 strips of tickets.

Come along and support our 6th class in their fund-raiser.

Every euro counts!!!

Rinne gach rang in ár scoil  iarracht speisialta an Ghaeilge a chleachtadh i rith Seachtain na Gaeilge.

Bhí  imeachtaí Ghaeilge  éagsula ag tarlú i ngach rang mar shampla damhsa, amhránaíocht, filíocht agus  tráth na gceist, chomh maith le cúrsaí ealaíne.

Bhaineamar an-taitneamh as usáid na Gaeilge sna ranganna go léir.

Rinne gach duine sár-iarracht an Ghaeilge a usáid.

At Askeaton Senior NS today the pupils really enjoyed making and eating pancakes as they participated in carrying out some of the age-old traditions associated with Shrove Tuesday.

The following text is from a website called  http://www.thisischurch.com/index.html

                                           Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent. It’s a day of penitence, to clean the soul, and a day of celebration as the last chance to feast before Lent begins. But there’s more to Shrove Tuesday than pigging out on pancakes or taking part in a public pancake race. The pancakes themselves are part of an ancient custom with deeply religious roots.

Penitence

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them. When a person receives absolution for their sins, they are forgiven for them and released from the guilt and pain that they have caused them. In the Catholic or Orthodox context, the absolution is pronounced by a priest. This tradition is very old. Over 1000 years ago a monk wrote in the Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes:

In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him.

Shrove Tuesday celebrations

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it’s the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren’t allowed in Lent. Giving up foods: but not wasting them. In the old days there were many foods that observant Christians would not eat during Lent: foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods. So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn’t last the forty days of Lent without going off.

The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras; meaning fat Tuesday. Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour.

The pupils of Askeaton Senior NS were given the opportunity recently to enter a handwriting competition run by  Askeaton / Ballysteen Area Community Games.  Congratulations to the following pupils from our school whose entries were chosen as winners by the judges:

Girls Under 10:

1st :Brenna Sachdev,  3rd class.

2nd: Niamh Mc Carthy, 3rd class.

Boys Under 10:

1st :Jamie Ruane, 3rd class.

3rd : Kai Tucker, 3rd class.

Girls Under 12:

1st : Rachel Reidy, 5th class.

2nd: Nell Brennan, 5th class.

3rd : Ava Haddock, 5th class.

Boys Under 12:

1st : Archie Murphy Peters, 5th class.

2nd :Sam Harty, 5th class.

3rd : Cian Ahern, 5th class.

Girls Under 14:

1st : Kate Blessing, 6th class.

2nd : Alison Finucane, 6th class.

3rd : Ann Murphy, 6th class.

Boys Under 14:

1st Mike O Sullivan, 6th class.

2nd :John Fitzsimons, 5th class.

3rd : Billy Brewer, 5th class.

Congratulations to all the winners listed. The pupils named above will be presented with their Community Games Area medals this Sunday night 29th January at Askeaton Community Hall during the Community Games Area Talent Competition.

The winners of the Under 10s and Under 12s will be invited to represent the Askeaton /Ballysteen Area in the County Limerick Community Games Final in the near future.

Rules of this competition can be read in the following link: www.communitygames.ie/handwriting.html.

Two of the rules from this web page are as follows:

Rule 4:At the National Festival Handwriting competition under the supervision of the adjudicators, a competitor will be required in their own handwriting, to copy a piece of text. This could be an extract from a newspaper, a poem or an extract from a book etc. This piece of text will be given out to all participants before the start of the competition. It should be between 100-150 words in length.

Rule 6: Competition at Community Games Festival will be adjudicated on supervised work only. Adjudication will be based on: –
 Correct letter formation
 Neatness – uniform letter size, uniform distance between words
 Legibility
 Fluency: style and flair
 Completion of piece
 Punctuation.

The staff and pupils of Askeaton Junior and Senior NS are extremely thankful to the management of Centra, who facilitated us today, 16th December for carol-singing in aid of school funds. The pupils from 1st to 6th classes sang carols throughout the school-day with each class singing as a class group at the entrance to Centra.

The pupils loved the experience and sang a good selection of carols to entertain shoppers. They felt justifiably proud when admired by the customers of Centra who generously donated to our bucket-collection.  Thanks a million 🙂

The red hats will be required again next week when the pupils will sing carols at Super-Valu on Wednesday.  We look forward to another enjoyable day spreading Christmas cheer 🙂

The Junior NS Nativity Play performance for families was held yesterday 15th December in St Mary’s Church. The actors, actresses, narrators and singers were even better for the big event than they were for the dress rehearsal!

The parents/ guardians and families who viewed the Nativity Play were delighted with the entertainment and many supported the bake sale also.  The pictures show what a fabulous spread of food was donated so generously by the families of the Junior and Senior NS. Many pupils from the Senior NS were involved in making, baking and decorating and they were justifiably proud of the finished products.

Pupils from both schools were thrilled to go shopping for goodies along with books, DVDs and bric-a-brac. Every shop needs shop assistants, and each class in the Senior NS supplied pupils who filled these roles, and they loved the experience.  Some pupils showed a great flair for sales and marketing and many were very helpful to the younger shoppers.

Tickets were available for purchase for a Grand Raffle and there was also a competition called “Guess the name of this teddy”.

The teddy was won by Luke from 5th class who correctly guessed it’s name.

The Grand Raffle has 7 fantastic prizes and the winning tickets will be drawn on Wednesday 21st Dec.

Tickets can still be purchased for this raffle at the office from our secretary Majella until Wednesday morning.

Tickets  are being sold at a cost of “3 strips for a euro”.