Junior and Senior Infants had a great time exploring the theme of Africa. They learned about the animals that live on the savannah. An African market was set up in the role play corner where crafts, bags and jewellery were sold. Many African homes are very basic compared to the homes we live in. The children painted their own Ndebele huts. Many African tribes have their own special masks and jewellery and the children made and modelled their own masks and beaded necklaces. Don't they look great!

We hope your child enjoyed Wellbeing Week. In Greaghrahan N.S., wellbeing is the focus of
our School Self Evaluation. It is also the theme of this year’s Peace IV project with
Newtowngore N.S. The committees from both school worked collaboratively to plan the
activities for Wellbeing Week and we are grateful to them for organising such a successful
week. Thank you to all our families who donated to the fundraiser for Pieta House. €320 was
raised for the charity in our school. The activities completed last week contribute towards the
achievement of our Amber Flag. 

On Safer Internet Day Junior and Senior Infants were introduced to Digiduck who had a very difficult decision to make when someone sent him a funny picture of one of his friends. Luckily for Digiduck, Wise Owl arrives in time with some good advice before he makes a big mistake. 

The students in the Middle and Senior Room have been busy learning about how to keep safe on the internet. They have created Internet Safety Posters promoting how to keep safe online and completed a class quizz on Kahoot. 

Safer Internet Day is an EU-wide initiative to promote a safer internet for all users, especially young people. All classes participated in lessons on Internet Safety. In celebration of Safer Internet Day, all the students have been taking part in lots of fun activities to raise their awareness about being safe when online. Always be SMART while online and remember to STOP, THINK and TELL.  We took part in a Safer Internet Poster Competition and created posters to promote why it is important to stay safe online.  ​

The Students in the Senior Room celebrated St. Brigid's Day by following the tradition of making St Bridgid Crosses. They students researched key facts about their Patron Saint and created a poster fact file with the information they had found. The students also created a St Bridgid Poem and have written some beautiful prayers to our Saint. 

The Students in the Senior Room based their writing for Grandparents Day on the mentor text 'Our Granny.' The students had great fun writing and adding funny detail to their own version of the story. They created a portrait of their Grannies and described all the reasons why they loved them. 

​Catholic Schools Week will take place from Sunday 23rd January to Sunday 30th January 2022. The theme for Catholic Schools Week, this year is, 'Catholic Schools: Living Life to the Full'. Pope Francis encourages us to reflect in the unique contribution of Catholic schools to our young people's education. In Greaghrahan NS we share an ethos that is inclusive and welcoming. We promote a vision where each child strives to reach their full potential: academically, spiritually and socially. During Catholic Schools Week each day has a specific theme that we hope, will help the children will come to understand that we are all part of God's family.

Cavan’s ‘’Operation KEEP WELL’’ aim is to encourage people to get active and KEEP WELL.    
This initiative is part of the Government's National KEEP WELL campaign and is aimed at showing people of all ages how we can mind our own physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to our daily and weekly routines.
Cavan Sports Partnership are organising an ‘Operation Keep well’ programme in January and running alongside the Televised Operation transformation. The Students will be participating in 'The Daily Mile' by completing 15 minutes of daily activity. 

There was much excitement in the Greaghrahan school community when on Monday 15th November, Krafty Kidz Playschool and Creche, Ballyconnell opened a new After School facility at the school. This is a new venture which we hope will alleviate the difficulty many parents have in sourcing suitable after school care for their children. The one hour club is proving very popular with the infant classes, while the older children are kept busy with activities provided by Diane, Emily and Margaret. Places may be booked by contacting Annette or Elaine ny email at playtime16@gmail.com or on (049) 9526045. A breakfast club may be provided in the future if there is sufficient demand for such a service. 

This Christmas the students have worked really hard and are delighted to present their recorded Christmas performance video. The boys and girls have recorded a number of songs and poems and performed a range of Christmas songs on the ukulele. This link has been shared with parents via our private You Tube Channel.
We are all very excited for Christmas here in Greaghrahan NS and we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. 

There was great excitement in the school on the Friday before Christmas when the children swapped their school uniforms for pyjamas and boarded the Polar Express for the Greaghrahan NS Christmas Party. After having their tickets stamped it was time to climb aboard to begin the magical journey. The day's activities were based around the theme. The children decorated gingerbread men, completed film and book studies on the movie, wrote a recipe for hot chocolate, performed reader's theatre, and completed writing and art based on the Polar Express theme. All classes had a thrilling ride on the magnificent steam engine which was decorated by the Senior Room. Music and steam engine sound effects enhanced the magical atmosphere for the excited passengers. Of course the day would not have been complete without a viewing of the movie. Giant cookies were provided, washed down with hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and marshmallows. The day ended with a surprise treat from Santa for all who believe! Thanks to SNA Karen, Ms. Smith and secretary Rhona for helping the teachers to prepare this special day for the children. 

Dale Treadwell from Heritage in Schools visited the school on Thursday, 16th December. Dale is the author of a series of children’s wildlife books and a former children’s television presenter. The children had the opportunity to learn about the natural environment through Dale’s popular presentation and field study.

The children all wore their Christmas Jumpers on Wednesday, 15th December to support Temple Street Children's hospital where Senior Infant pupil Kohen Fitzpatrick receives his treatment. Thanks to all our families for your generous donations. Altogether we raised an amazing €720.

The students in the Senior Room were delighted to be presented with a selection box from Mrs Smith in St Mogue's College, Bawnboy. The Transition year students have been working with the Senior Room every fortnight on an Irish language initiative between St Mogue's College and Greagharahan NS. The main aim is to develop the students conversational skills and create an environment where the language can be promoted. We look forward to working with St Mogue's College in the new term.
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The Active School committee organised some successful Christmas themed activities to end the term on a healthy note. The boys and girls looked great in their Santa hats as they completed a Santa vs Grinches game. We had so much fun.

Thanks to the committee for all their hard work.
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As part of our Amber Flag application, all students in Greaghrahan National School are completing Advent Random Acts of Kindness. They are busy completing random acts of kindness each day. Then, they are drawing or writing about these acts of kindness into a blank calendar of their own. The calendar pictured below is a list of suggested acts of kindness that the pupils are adopting. Well done everyone!
Please feel free to share our calendar and keep on spreading the kindness 😊

The Junior Room listened to the story How Full is Your Bucket? The book teaches children about kindness and is based on the premise that everyone has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel happy and proud of ourselves but when our bucket is empty, we feel lonely and sad. In the story, we followed a boy called Felix as he went about his day and we watched his bucket emptying and filling depending on how he was treated by others. We used some of the ideas in the story to complete our Kindness Flowers. We are going to become bucket fillers in our class.

The Middle Room created Friendship Recipes describing all the qualities of a good friend. They discussed why they are a good friend and how they show these qualities every day in school towards their friends. 

The pupils in the Senior Room took part in a mystery 'Give a compliment challenge.' The aim of the challenge was to pick the name of a student out of a hat and give a compliment or two to their nominated person throughout the day. The children had great fun trying to guess who had picked them and it was lovely to hear all the wonderful compliments the children had been giving each other.The students complemented their Art work with the motto 'Be the I in KIND' 

Thanks to all our families and everyone in the school community who supported the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal. We collected over fifty shoeboxes this year. They are already making their way to less privileged parts of the world to spread some Christmas joy. 

The children celebrated Science Week by doing some fun experiments. We all predicted what would happen when gummy bear was left in water overnight or when we added hot water to the skittles. We were expecting a big mess when we stuck the pencils into the plastic bag filled with water. We made a lava lamp and the colours were really spectacular when we put a light underneath. Check out these and our other experiments in the pictures below. What a fun week we had!