Newsletter March 2016

D o o r a N. S . Newsletter
March 2016
Editorial
By Beate
Welcome to our March newsletter. We have lots of news for you. All teachers and
pupils were busy with 1916 history work and preparing for Proclamation Day.
Some pupils were busy with their Write-A-Book entries as they had to be done by
Easter. We celebrated some special occasions in March too. We only had 12 days
at school in March as we got our Easter holidays on 16th. We will come back on
Monday 4th April for a long term with the 3 months of April, May and June.
We wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day and a Happy Easter!
Birthdays
March
3 - Jasmin Haan
4 - Laura Burke
9 - Ciaran Griffin
6 - Patrick Duggan
Doora Celebrates Proclamation Day
11 - Alex Kirwan
Staff, pupils and parents commemorated the 1916 Rising on Tuesday 15th March. 11- Ciara O’Halloran
It was held in the yard and we were lucky the day was sunny. Pupils and staff were 14 - Daire O’Connor
dressed in our Irish colours of green, white and orange. Our commemoration began April
at 12 noon with the Raising of the National Flag and the reading of the Proclama2 - Evan Creavan
tion. Then we continued with a school celebration of being Irish with music, song
3 - Lily McGuire
and dance. 3rd to 6th presented their projects based on the men and women of the 6 - Cillian Foley
Rising. Parents viewed various projects which the pupils completed over the last
Happy Birthday to all!
few weeks. Read more on page 2 and see all the reports and photos on our Blog
and also some photos in the Clare newspapers.
Junior Entrepreneur Showcase Day
Newsletter
Team—2nd
5th and 6th class unveiled their project on Tuesday 15th March. We worked hard
since January to set up our small business. We received some orders for our product and will continue with our marketing. Read more about our business and our
JEP day Showcase Day on page 3 and see all the reports and photos on our Blog
and also some photos in the Clare People newspaper.
March Special Days
Beate Vitenberga
Cathal McMahon
Ciara Flynn
Ciaran Griffin
Ellie Molyneaux
Emily Kelly
Gracjan Ciesielski
Thomas O’Connor
Lent Lent started on the10th February and it last until Easter Sunday.
Mothers’ Day Mothers Day was on Sunday 6th March this year. It was a
very special day for all mothers. We gave them a break, did jobs for them and
Co-ordinator:
made their day nice. Many gave their mothers gifts or flowers. Children in Infants
Miss Geraldine Greene
and 1st and 2nd made cards at school. By Beate & Emily
St. Patricks Day Celebrations by Ciara Flynn
Many pupils will take part in the Ennis parade and many will watch it with their
families. Flags and bunting in green, white and orange will be everywhere. Parades
will be held too. We hope the weather will be nice for the day. Some floats will be
about the 1916 Rising and the Fleadh Cheoil in Ennis.
Easter
We will celebrate the Easter days at the end of March. Holy Thursday
is on 24th, Good Friday is on 25th, Holy Saturday is on 26th and Easter Sunday is
on 27th. Some Infants helped Miss Greene decorate a bush in a pot with plastic
Easter eggs and lots of daffodils. Infants, 1st and 2nd had an Easter Egg Treasure
Hunt on Wednesda 16th March.
Dates & Events
March 2016
2nd - 3rd & 4th trip to Limerick
3rd - World Book Day
5th - Hurley Hoey
6th - Mothers Day
8th - Boys’ Basketball
11th - Daffodil Day
13th - Ceremony of Light
15th - Proclamation Day
15th - JEP Showcase Day
16th - Easter Holidays
17th - St. Patrick’s Day
27th March - Easter Sunday
4th April-Back to school
9th April - Confirmation
Spring is here
Spring is here and the weather is
improving. The evenings are getting
longer and the mornings are getting
bright earlier. We can play for longer in the Spring evenings.
Nature is busy and flowers, buds
and grass are growing. We see the
beautiful colours and we can hear
the birds singing. Baby animals are
being born on the farms and other
animals are waking up from hibernation. Special occasions in Spring
are Mothers Day, St. Patrick’s Day,
Daffodil Day and Easter. By 2nd
Weather in March
The weather in March has been mostly dry and
we had a few sunny days. We had some rain
too. It has been cold at night.
The days get longer in Spring and it is bright
from 7am to 7pm. The clocks will change on
the last weekend in March and then it will be
bright until after 8pm. We can play outside
later and stay up later in the evenings.
Next Newsletter - end April 2016
Our BLOG is online. Log on and enjoy!
News and information welcome. Drop them to
Miss Greene or pupils in 2nd class by last week
in the month. The Editors
1916 Commemorations - Proclamation Day
Stafff and pupils commemorated the 1916 Rising on Proclamation Day on Tuesday 15th March. Many parents also attended. It was held in the yard and we were lucky the day was sunny. Pupils were dressed in our
Irish colours of green, white and orange. Many pupils wore badges, hats and special hair accessories. 1st & 2nd had special Easter
1916 Rising badges. The school building was decorated with the Irish colours and shamrocks.
Our commemoration began at 12 noon when Miss Curley introduced the events in Irish. The Raising of the National Flag was done
by Michael O’Connell from Knockhogan in Doora. His wife and daughter were with him. Mr O’Connell’s uncle John was the bodyguard for Michael Collins who was shot dead at Beal na mBlath in Cork in August 1922. Then the 1916 Proclamation was read by
Oisin, Kate and Josh from 5th and 6th. After that, Laura Burke and Cillian Foley read the Doora Proclamation which was written by
Ciara O’Halloran and Ava Flynn in 6th class. Then we all stood facing the flag and sang our National Anthem Amhran na
bhFiann.
We continued with a school celebration of being Irish with music, song and dance. Zoe and Emilie Keane danced a brush dance.
Three girls from Senior Infants danced an easy reel. Four girls Aoibhinn, Avril, Laura and Zoe from 3rd and 4th danced some reels
and the St. Patrick’s Day. Eight adults including teachers and parents danced a figure of a Caledonian set. All pupils danced the
Siege of Ennis together with help from all the teachers. It was the first time most pupils danced it and all did really well especially
the Infants. All the pupils sang some songs Oro Se Do Bheatha Bhaile, the Foggy Dew and Off to Dublin in the Green. Thanks to
Miss Curley for teaching the songs.
3rd to 6th presented their projects based on the men and women of the Rising. Parents viewed various projects
the pupils have completed over the last few weeks.3rd and 4th did projects about the men involved in the 1916
Rising. 5th & 6th did projects about the role of women during and after the 1916 Rising. We had worked in
groups, typed and made posters with our work. We learned much about the 1916 Rising in history from them.
Their projects were put them on display for all to see and read in the foyer and Mr Darmody’s classroom.
All the pupils stood in the numbers 1916 in the basketball yard. Photos were taken by
Jackie Elger and will be on our school blog soon. By Beate
Junior and Senior Infants
by Ciara Flynn
We coloured the Irish flags and hung them up on our classroom windows. We learned about what life was like for children in 1916
- how they dressed, what games they played, what school was like and what the GPO was like.
1st & 2nd class By Thomas, Gracjan & Cathal
We made buildings from 1916 Sackville Street in Dublin. It is now called O’Connell Street. We made the GPO, buildings, houses
and shops. We covered them with the 1916 newspaper. We made Nelson’s Pillar. Pauline spray-painted Nelson on a shoe box and a
yoghurt carton. We also made Kilmainham Gaol. We painted the buildings a lot of different colours - red, yellow, gold, rusty brown
and grey. Our street is about 2 metres long and 1 metre wide. We painted it grey. We also made footpaths. We made lamp-posts
from straws and sellotape which we covered with a black bin liner. We worked in groups. We used cardboard boxes, cardboard
tubes, newspaper, paints and other materials. We put Lego people and soldiers around the buildings. It was put on display on a few
tables in Miss Clune’s classroom and Irish flags were put around the edges. We also had a display with many books and newspapers
about the Rising. The parents and visitors thought it was brilliant. Thanks to Mrs O’Grady and Pauline for doing this project with
us. We also learned a lot about the streets and the Rising on some virtual websites. We liked the Dublin Easter Rising Tour on the
internet. Miss Greene entered some pictures of our art work in the Clare Conradh na Gaeilge competition. We hope to display our
project in other places soon - maybe in the Museum, the Library or Clare Education Centre. We will have more news in our April
Newsletter and the Blog.
3rd to 6th class
Classes from 3rd to 6th sang some songs on Proclamation Day. 3rd and 4th did projects about the men involved in the 1916 Rising.
5th & 6th did projects about the role of women during and after the 1916 Rising. We worked in groups, typed and made posters
with our work. We all gave short presentations on our projects and also then put them on display in the foyer and Mr Darmody’s
classroom. By Seamus Og & Kate
There will be more reports and photos on our Blog. Thanks to all the photographers Michael Cusack, Jackie Elger and some parents for taking and sharing their photos. They will bring back many memories of our special day.
Doora School 2016 Proclamation
Pupils in 5th and 6th wrote their own Proclamations for
2016 and had to make the content of it relevant to the
times we have now. Ciara O’Halloran and Ava Flynn
in 6th class wrote their own ones then they were
combined to one full Proclamation. It was well thought
out and put together. Laura Burke and Cillian Foley
read it out to all the people gathered on Proclamation
Day. The adults were very impressed with it and
thought the girls will be great leaders in the future.
Well done to all.
We hope to have a copy of it on our School Blog soon.
By Emily & Beate
Junior Entrepreneur Project Showcase Day World Book Day
Our JEP Showcase Day was held after on Tuesday 15th March. Brian Hoey
on behalf of 5th and 6th told everyone about the JEP and encouraged all to
put in orders. Many parents and guests viewed the range of products
available and read the posters in the classroom. Clare People Newspaper, the
sponsors sent their photographer to take many photos of our launch, our
products and each group who worked on the project. Thanks to Mr.Darmody
for his help. By Kate, 5th and Brian, 6th
5th and 6th class were busy working on our JEP for the last few weeks. We
designed Hurley Hooks and Initial Hooks in the shape of a person’s initial
letters of their names in various colours. Both have hooks to hang keys or
medals. We worked in different teams such as Marketing, Finance, Public
Relations, Design, Production, and Sales. The roles of the different teams
include designing, marketing, selling, reporting in our JEP folders and
filming the products. We did some team-building games such as Talent Hunt
to help match our talents to our skills and help us decide which teams to join.
We selected a manager and assistant manager of each group. The Finance
group manage the loans from the Principal, our class teacher & Parents’
Council and the manage the orders. The Marketing team are in charge of
advertising, flyers and marketing. The Design and Production team are in
charge of creating and producing the products.
We also got assistance and advice from a business man named Conor
Naughton who has the proud owner of the Suas cafe business in Ennis. He
told us about how he started his business, profits and losses. We also had a
mini Dragons Den at school when Michael Loughnane, Chairperson of the
Board of Management, Miss Curley and Mr
Darmody looked at the many various original options
we had and decided that the Hurley and Initial Hooks
was the most suitable project.
Our market will be adults, children, families, clubs,
schools, halls, tourists etc. We have become junior
entrepreneurs and learned much about business. We
will have more news in our April Newsletter and also
have photos on the blog soon. By Ava and Ciara, 6th
by Cathal
World Book Day was on Thursday 3rd March. All
pupils got special book tokens worth €1.50 to use in
book shops for free books especially published for
World Book Day or money off other books. Most
children used their tokens to get money off their
Setanta Book Club orders. Some new books were
bought for our library. Thanks to Miss Greene and
4th class for co-ordinating the orders.
Write-A-Book
by Ellie
Pupils in Miss Curley’s 3rd class English group
wrote stories. Ellie and Beate in 2nd and Cillian in
1st wrote stories and typed them with Miss Greene.
We wish them all well in the competition which is
run by the Clare Education Centre. The books will be
on display in the school in May.
3rd & 4th trip to Limerick
3rd & 4th went on a trip to Limerick with Miss
Curley on Wednesday 2nd March. We travelled by
bus at 10am and returned at 3:15pm. First we went to
the Science of Dragon Show at UL. We saw many
experiments and found out that dragon burp is explosive. We learned a lot and enjoyed the trip. Avril was
a volunteer helper for the experiments. We ate our
own lunches at UL. by Cillian Foley
Next we went to King John’s Castle. We learned
about how the Normans came to Ireland and about
their life in Limerick. We saw the interactive screens
and the church. Some of us got to dress up in the
clothes the Normans used to wear. We went inside
and outside the castle. We got rubbers from the girl
who works there and got to take photos too. By Jodie
Poems and Limericks
Miss Curley’s English group read a funny poem
called “Gorilla” which told the story of a gorilla who
came to tea! We learned that it is fun to have rhyming words in poems and we wrote poems which had
some. We also learned how to write Limericks and
wrote some funny ones. We have put some of our
poems and limericks on our blog and we hope you
enjoy reading them.
by 3rd class
1st & 2nd trip to Glor & Library
Coppers Collection
Doora are having a Coppers Collection and the proceeds will be given to
Nurture Africa. A student named Johanna Murray will travel to a school in
Uganda and this money will be a huge
support to the pupils there. When she
returns from Uganda, she will visit our
school and speak to the pupils about
her time there and how the money
collected benefitted the pupils. Any
1c, 2c or 5c coins would be greatly
appreciated so we would love everyone to have a look around the house,
the car and other places to find some
coins! Thanks
Green Schools News
We are continuing our work for our
Green Schools flag on water conservation. We check the water metre every day and keep a record.
We decided that each class would
do different jobs for different flags.
Juniors, Seniors, First and Second
class are doing the energy. Third
and Fourth are doing the litter and
Fifth and Sixth are doing the water. We must keep doing these jobs
because we were doing poorly at
them after we received the flags.
Litter wardens must keep doing
their jobs.
By Thomas
We went on a day trip on Monday 29th February
with Mrs O’Grady and Pauline. First we went to Glor
to see Monday’s Child, a play about a young teenager and an older lady who cannot remember very well.
Then we went to the Library in Ennis. We also went
to Lees Road and enjoyed running, the playground
and obstacle course in the forest. Lastly, we went to
Dennis Den and enjoyed all the indoor activities
there. We were lucky to be inside because it was a
really wet day outside. We went by bus. We had a
great day. Thanks to Mrs O’Grady for bringing us.
There are many photos of our day on our class blog.
5th & 6th News
We are busy preparing for our Confirmation. Our
Ceremony of Light was on Sunday 13th March in
Doora church. Our Confirmation will also be in
Doora Church on Saturday, April 9th at 11 am. We
are looking forward to our special day. There will be
more news and photos in our April Newsletter and
Blog.
Doora School Sports News
Boys’ Basketball
Gymnastics
We played our matches on Tuesday 8th March. We beat Inch
10 points to 2. Luke Enright scored 6 points and
Brian Hoey scored 4. In
the second match, we
beat Crusheen 3 points to
2. Seamus Enright scored
2 points and Cian
O’Loughlin scored a late
throw-in. In the final, we
beat Tulla after a very
tough game. We went 4 nil behind before a late flurry of scores
from Cian with 4 points and Luke with 2 to steal at the very
end. We now move forward to the next stage. Well done to the
boys involved. Our team was Kevin Burke, Kieran Sheedy,
Brian Hoey, Darragh McMahon, Cian O’Loughlin, Sean Griffin, Luke Enright, Daniel Kirwan, Conall Dorgan, Evan
Creaven, Colm Hynes, Luke Enright, Seamus Og and Oisin
Enright. Thanks to Mr Darmody for coaching us and to our
parents for lifts. By Kevin & Seamie, 5th
Congratulations to Emily Kelly in 2nd class who won 2
medals in gymnastics. She won them for vault and floor
gymnastics at UL on Sunday 6th March. Her team from
the Ennis Gymnastics Club got best U8s and first in the
regionals. She now has 6 medals and 6 grading photos.
My Football Game By Leon Guerin, 1st
Boys’ Football Mini 7s
On Monday 14th March, our Doora football team took part in
the Mini 7s at the Gaelscoil in Ennis. We played 4 matches and
each match was 7 minutes per half. We won 2 matches and
lost 2 matches. We won our matches against Scoil Chriost Ri
and Toonagh. We lost to Barefield and the Gaelscoil. Unfortunately, we did not get into the final and are now out of the competition. Our team was Seamus Og and Oisin Enright, Cian
and Ruairi O’Loughlin, Evan Creaven, Darragh and Eoin
McMahon, Henry Kennedy, Kevin Burke and Sean Griffin.
Everyone got a chance to play. Thanks to Mr Darmody for
coaching us and to our parents for lifts.
By Eoin McMahon and Henry Kennedy, 4th class
Hurley Hoey 2016
This year’s Hurley Hoey was on
Saturday 5th March. It started and
finished at Gurteen GAA Club
Grounds. The weather was nice and sunny but started cold in
the morning. The 50km cycle started at 10:30 and the 10km
run or walk was at 11am. The attendance was very good but
we don’t know the exact number yet. This year it was in aid of
Slainte an Chlair in Kilnamona and Kilrush Lifeboats. The
main organisers were John and Siobhan Hoey and Seanie
McMahon. Michael Fennelly and Richie Power were both at
the Launch of the event. There are some more reports and photos on the Doora-Barefield GAA website.
By Brian Hoey & Darrragh McMahon, 6th class
About 10 pupils from Doora School took part in the fun run
which was on Friday 4th March. It was one lap of pitch 1 for
U6s, U8s and U10s and was on around 7 o’clock. Some pupils
did the walk and cycle on Saturday. Darragh McMahon ran the
10km.. Well done to all.
By Cathal McMahon
Seamie, Luke and Brian were volunteers on the Saturdaythey
handed out cups of water as the runners or walkers passed by.
By Seamie
Darragh and
Eoin McMahon at the
Launch of
Hurley Hoey
2016
First I cut the top off a cardboard box. I coloured the
pitch green. Then I put brown marker on the inside
edge to be the mud. I used ice-cream sticks as goal
posts. I taped a bookmark of a football player scoring a
goal to the box. I used plasticine or mala to make the
players and stuck them on pins. Chelsea are the white
team and Liverpool are the brown team. I stuck them on
their positions on the pitch. I stuck the goalies at the
goalposts. I stuck a medal on the box. I stuck some
stickers on the outside of the box as well.
Community Games
The Doora-Barefield Swimming will take place at teh
Ennis Swimming Pool on Tuesday 5th April. Registration will be at 5m and the competitions will start at 6pm.
The competitions are for U8, U10, U12, U14 and U16.
All pupils got notes about the events from Joe Queally
last week. There is more information on the DooraBarefield website. We will all pupils well in their sports.
Matches in April
Girls Basketball will be held at Gurteen on Monday 4th
April. This is our first day back to school after the Easter holidays. Girls from 3rd to 6th have been training on
Fridays at lunchtime by themselves and with Mr Darmody sometimes. The team will be just girls from 5th
and 6th classes. By Seamie & Kevin
After-school hurling
After-school hurling training for boys and girls from 3rd
up will start on Tuesdays in April with Mr Darmody.
Liam Clancy will also help with this training. We hope
the pitch conditions will be perfect for training and
matches. By Seamie & Kevin
We have had good weather this month. The pitch is now
dry enough to play on. Most school teams have been
training during lunch time or at PE.
We enjoy getting out to play at break and lunch times
especially when the days are dry. We hope the weather
will be good for our Easter holidays and for the next 3
months of April, May and June. By Beate