Trojan work happened at breaktimes today and will hopefully continue for the remainder of the week. Well done to all the wonderful volunteers. The ground was prepared for planting radishes, beans, parsnips and peas, durable labels were painted, with thanks to Mr Russell for cutting lengths of timber for us, saplings were made more secure and general tidying and weeding were done.

Enormous thanks to all the pupils involved, not only for your enthusiasm and hard work but for remembering your wellies, which will continue to be needed!

As usual, watch this space everyone...and cross your fingers for some warmer temperatures, a bit less rain and GROWTH! 

Check us out on page 28 of April edition of 'The Meath Coaster'. We are hoping to be a more regular contributor to the Meath Coaster.

https://www.meathcoaster.com/LibraryMC/2024/April-2024-Meath-Coaster/index.html#page=28 

Well the families of Stamullen have done it again .... raising over  €3000 for Daffodil Day !

We had our Daffodil Day with a difference again this yar  and headed up to Elmgrove Farm to pick our own daffodils. The children had so much fun amongst the muddy drills and choosing their own daffodils. Huge thank you to Farmer Darragh for allowing us into the fields, to our three amazing bus drivers from Gormonston Coaches, to the teachers and snas that helped to change muddy boots, but most of all to our fabulous school community who donated so generously !

The Parents Association got us all very 'eggcited' about their Easter competition this year. Each class had to guess how many mini eggs were in the jar. There was a prize of an Easter egg for the closest guess in each class.

The staff also got made some 'eggcellent' guesses. Well done to Ms Keary and Ms M McKeown who were closest.

The answer was 434!

We had an amazing Daffodil Day yesterday. Lots of daffodils collected on Elmgrove Farm and lots of happy children going home.

Here are a small snippet of some of the pictures and the link for a few more classes. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1H8xBHZOS57nU34uNUdjBYGrnIYkdQOb-?usp=drive_link

We had an absolutely super day today for our Lá Glas. The children looked fabulous for the parade, they took part really well in the ceilís and all joined in all the activities that happened today. Special shout out to our winners of the gaeilgeoirí na seachtaine, the winners of the Seanfhocail competition, Mr O'Grainne's class for their play, and all the individual dancers. The link to see some photos/videos from the day can be seen here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yXWZxuqTU5-o_8lxfPZL9EU4D55Krjrn?usp=sharing

We’ve had an amazing day celebrating World Book Day 2024 at St. Patrick’s N.S.! Students that dressed up looked incredible. We were blown away with the creativity and imagination on show around every corner of the school. Other students looked super comfortable in their reading clothes! Many events were happening throughout the school to celebrate the day! One of the highlights was the 2nd-6th classes attending live webinars with the esteemed author Anthony Garvey! All students received their World Book Day book token. Pictures of the kind of books available for free with the token are showed in our displays in the school library. Hope you had a great day.

We were delighted to have a visit from the community Gardaí in Duleek over the past couple of days. Garda Sarah and Deirdre had a chat to us about the role of the Gardaí, being kind online and the impact of our behaviour.

Some lucky children got the chance to dress up as a Garda which they were very happy about. They looked at the uniform and learned about what the Gardaí do on a daily basis.

Thank you to Sarah and Deirdre. It was very informative. 

Last Friday, Sue Carvell brought her wild and wacky Magical Science and Engineering Shows to the school. There was great excitement and the children really enjoyed all the interactive experiments on the day and hopefully they learned lots too!🧪⚗️🧫 

Our 4 6th classes performed in the RDS last Saturday at their Peace Proms Concert. They worked on the songs and dances since November including choreographing some of them. If you check out our powerpoint, you’ll see a little timeline of all their hard work. During their performance they sang in a choir made up of over 2000 children and were accompanied by a full orchestra led by conductor Greg Beardsell. The families of Stamullen were there to support and we hope they had a great night.

A huge thank you to our 6th classes who did themselves, their families and our school community proud. They sang and danced so well and their behaviour was impeccable. We are blessed to work with such talented young people. If you'd like to see some clips from the night check out our school instagram page @stpatricksnsstamullen! The band 'The Afters' even shared a video of our students singing their song 'This is our Moment'. How awesome is that!!!!

Many thanks to Ms. M. Fox, Ms. O. Duff, Ms. Kelly-Whyte, Ms. Uzun, Mr. Carew and Mrs. Grehan for helping me to make this happen. I couldn’t have done it without their hard work and passion for spreading a Grá of music.

We hope that taking part in Peace Proms encourages the students to join a choir, learn an instrument or go to a concert as a family. 

‘Music is the heart of life’ - Frank Liszt

Ms. C. Fox

Peace Proms Co-Ordinator 

Lá Domhanda na Leabhar Éire/World Book Day Ireland - The countdown has started! We are so looking forward to celebrating World Book Day on March 7th this year!

In preparation for this we will be holding our annual Scholastic Book Fair from the 20th-27th February. All classes will have an opportunity to view and buy the books during this time. Class teachers will tell you nearer the time what days the students will be viewing and buying the books. You can look at https://bookfairs.scholastic.ie/bookcases to get an idea of what kind of books may be available during the fair. Please note not all titles may be available at the time of our fair. This is just a guide so that parents can see a bigger selection of the books. Thanks as always to our amazing Parents’ Association for making it run so smoothly every year. All funds we get from this event help to stock our classroom and school libraries. A video of our school library is attached. It’s growing daily and we now have over 6,160 books in stock! If you have any books or soft furnishings that you wish to donate please drop them to the reception anytime. Every donation is much appreciated.

To celebrate World Book Day on March 7th we will have a book character dress-up day on the day. Students are invited to dress as their favourite book character. Please be as creative as you want with costumes or outfits! Great ideas can be found on https://www.worldbookday.com/celebrate-world-book-day/dressing-up/. If students do not want to dress-up that’s no problem, they can just come to school in their comfortable reading clothes. On this day students will also receive their €1.50 Book Token. More information on how to redeem this and for general World Book Day information can be found at https://www.worldbookday.com/about-us/ireland/

We look forward to celebrating Lá Domhanda na Leabhar Éire/World Book Day Ireland in 1 months time! 

Grandparents’ Day…..what a great buzz there was in the school as we welcomed hundreds of grandparents who had travelled from near and far to visit their grandchildren in our school! It was heartwarming to see grandparents with their grandchildren, chatting with neighbours and staff, and some even catching up with friends they hadn’t seen in a long time. Thank you to everyone who came along and made the day a very special day for the children, and for us all.

Thank you to the staff who went to great lengths to make grandparents’ visit such a unique experience in each class, along with those who helped in corridors and at the lift, and to Mr. Russell for all the heavy-lifting!

As always, the Parents’ Association worked tirelessly serving teas, coffees, treats and quality chat! Our magnificent school choir performed a number of beautiful songs accompanied and guided by our many talented teachers. Grandparents’ Day simply wouldn’t have been the success it was, if it hadn’t been for the very warm welcome of the Student Council and Sixth Class helpers who accompanied grandparents to the various classrooms, throughout the day. They were truly outstanding and we are so proud of them. Finally, thank you to Ms. Slacke and Mrs. McEvoy for all their hard work for Grandparents’ Day.

We are in the process of compiling the many photos that were taken on the day. We’ll put them together in a slideshow & share it with you here, over the coming days.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all again next year, already! 

What a wonderful week! Well-being week went very well.

I want to say a very big Thank you to the children from the student council who were amazing at helping out this week. You should all be very proud of yourselves!

I want to thank all the staff too who really put a lot of effort into the week especially Ms. McKeown who worked with the student council on Thursday.

The children had such a lovely time focusing on all things well-being. They were mindful on Monday , thankful on Tuesday , it was all about their wellness on Wednesday, Terrific Thursday was Art and getting some fresh air! Today the children chatted about being a good friend, wore some very colourful clothes and visited the library to read some of their favourite stories! So well done to everyone! I hope everyone got a chance to practice some mindful activities at home too!

Mrs. Hickey 

Well that is a wrap for 2023 ! It has been some year with lots of exciting things happening throughout the year.

Our final assembly was a very special one.

Ms Griffin light the 3rd candle in our Advent wreath. It was made even more special because it was lit using the Peace candle.

In December each year, a candle is lit in the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. This flame is brought to

Tel Aviv Airport by Israeli and Palestinian Scouts for onward travel to Austria. From Vienna, Scouts

transport it across Europe and beyond. After arriving in Dublin from Holyhead in Wales, a Peace Light

ceremony is held in a Dublin Church. From there, the Light is brought to many parts of Ireland and

distributed to Scout Groups who then bring the Light to their communities.

Siobhan McGarrell, one of our local scout leaders brought the light to our assembly. She was joined by Tina, Michelle and Clive as well as two past pupils Adam and Heather. Any scouts or beavers in the school came up on the stage. We lit some school candles in the hope of bringing peace to our own hearts and to our community.

The Peace candle will be in St Pats GAA tomorrow, Saturday, if you would like to bring a candle along to share and spread the light.

Finally, Mrs O'Carroll came in today to help Ms M Fox, Mrs Corrigan, Mr Carew and Alex and our wonderful choir sing us out of 2023.

Pictures  and videos can be found here  

We hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in 2024. 

Our 4th class superstars blew everyone away this week with the their performance of 'No one wraps like an Elf'

Our hall is looking very festive with all our Christmas Art. We got a mention on Navan Education Centre's Christmas Compilation! Well done to everyone involved ! We make a couple of appearances, so watch until then end.

What a morning we had in Whytes! We all got into the Christmas spirit, between the delicious mince pies, provided by Centra, and the steaming hot cups of tea & coffee from Whytes, and then our amazing choir.

The choir entertained a huge crowd of people for over an hour with their amazing singing. Thank you to Ms M Fox, Mrs Corrigan, Mr Carew, Ms O'Carroll, and all the children for their wonderful performance.

We had over 50 prizes in our raffle and I have attached the list of winners. A huge 'thank you' again to all our sponsors, we really appreciate every single donation.

Congratulations to all the prize winners. I hope your day was made a whole lot brighter by your win!

We raised €5435 with idonate - after we paid their admin fee the total was€5222.56. This morning €109.50 was donated so the final amount raised was a whooping €5332.06!!!!!!!

This money is going to make such a huge difference to the children in the school. We are extremely grateful to each and everyone of you. I would personally like to also thank the AMAZING Parent's Association for their Trojan work organising the raffle. There was so much to do and they did it so well and seamlessly 

Our Christmas raffle is live!

This year, we are hosting the raffle on idonate,  so you can share the link with family and friends.

We have some AMAZING prizes up for grabs, and we are so grateful to all our wonderful sponsors.

All proceeds will be used to buy much needed equipment for the school . 

It isn't too late to donate a prize if you have one, you can just contact the school and we will pass it on to the PA.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Press Release from the awards: In the first round, we received more than 550 applications across 21 categories, and the standard was exceptional. Leading businesses, innovators and organisations from across the country made submissions, and it goes without saying, that our judging panel had a momentous task in selecting five finalists in each category. In acknowledgement of your incredible achievement in reaching this stage of the process, we have recognised each of you and your businesses in a dedicated advertisement in the yesterday’s Business Post  . 

Dia daoibh a chairde Gaeil!

Tá súil agam go bhfuil gach éinne go maith! Ba bhreá liom míle buíochas a ghabháil leis na páisti, múinteoirí agus tuismitheoirí go léir a ghlac páirt i nGaeilge 24. Bhí craic iontach ag na páistí go léir!

We would like to thank all the children, teachers and parents who took part in Gaeilge 24 this year! The children had great fun practicing their cúpla focal at school and at home. We would like to thank Centra & Coco Bliss for their continued support! Maith sibh go léir!

Mol an Óige & Tiocfaidh Sí

Míle buíochas,

Mr. Ó Gráinne 

We are delighted with the addition of dual language books to our school library. Libraries offer services such as BorrowBox (see https://www.librariesireland.ie/sites/default/files/media/file-uploads/2020-04/bbx_digital_user_guide_1.pdf) and LOTE4Kids (see https://www.dublincity.ie/library/blog/lote-online-kids) that also might help students.

We are still accepting books for the school library and we’re delighted to say we currently have over 5200 books in the library. Thank you to everyone that has supported the library growth so far. 

Maths Week 2023 was a huge success . Check out our photographs below. 

Amongst them you can see Mathematicians from Ms. M. Fox's class and from Ms. Corrigan's class working hard and enjoying themselves doing Maths Week activities! Ms. Uzun's lovely Maths Week 'Weight' Station for students outside her room . Ms. McKeown's 3rd class Mathematicians having a great time completing a Maths Trail & using their Maths Eyes outside yesterday . Fabulous Maths Stations in the hall organised by Ms. Kitson. Maths Buddies from Ms. Fox's, Ms. Duff's, Mrs. Corrigan's and Mrs. McEvoy's classes, all working and playing together and, most importantly, having a great time! Lovely photos of Mrs. Evoy's and Mr's O Sullivan's classes doing Maths Week activities in their classroom too . Mrs. Slacke & Fr. Brendan trying very hard to guess the answer to some Maths jokes! Ms. D. Keane's class have been doing some great work at the Estimation and Problem Solving Stations and also in class. Ms. M. McKeown's class have also been doing some lovely Maths Week activities in class too . Congratulations to all the pupils who won certificates and prizes for their Mathematical skills!

On Friday 23rd June, we celebrated Ms O'Carroll in St. Patrick’s NS at our Senior Assembly.  Ms O'Carroll has worked in St Patrick's NS for 42 years!!.

At her last assembly she was presented with her very own 'Reált na Seachtaine' certificate. Then Ms C Fox's class had written a poem for her.

This was then followed by some fabulous music and songs - Ms Griffin's class changed the words to 'Simply the Best', the choir sang 'Thank you for the Music' and then all of children wished her the very best by singing her out with 'Hall of Fame'

We know that she will be back to help out with the choir but we will miss her around the school.

The children and staff wish Ms O'Carroll health and happiness in the next chapter of her life. 

Click here for some pictures and videos

It was a very special day in St. Patrick’s NS. We proudly raised our Amber Flag that was awarded to our school this year.

The children and staff have made a huge effort to promote positive mental health and well-being all year. They should be very proud of themselves.

Thank you to Mrs. O Carroll and the Amber Flag committee who raised our flag and Mr. Russell who got a great picture of the whole school together in the grass!

We look forward to working hard on new and exciting ideas for next year! 

Well done to members of each of the sixth classes who worked hard to make a school crest for the White School gable wall. Thank you to the artists; Christian, Nina, Aoibhe, Isabella, Diana, Ida, Daniella and Naoise. Thanks also to Mr Russell for cutting, varnishing and hanging the crest, and providing another space for future art projects underneath the crest 

Congratulations to all the children for their phenomenal dancing today!  . What a colourful performance it was !

Well done to the girls football team today who had a fantastic win in the semi final against Gaelscoil An Bhradáin Fheasa. The girls put in a superb performance in very warm conditions.This is the second year in a row that the girls have made the final of the Jimmy Curran cup. The final takes place on June 15th in Pilltown. We look forward to the next two weeks of preparation for the final.

Two of the 6th classes, Ms M Fox's and Ms Duff’s classes, are learning Japanese with their teacher Therese sensei. This is part of a program called 'Say Yes to Languages', which we are very lucky to have been accepted on to.

The visitors were Norio Maruyama - Japanese Ambassador to Ireland, Kanako Ukai - Japanese Language Advisor with Japan Foundation, Ireland, Chisato Ofune - Japanese Language Advisor with Japan Foundation, London and Nakata Keiko san, Second Secretary to the Ambassador.

The visitors attended senior assembly. The children from 3rd – 6th welcomed the visitors in with the song 'Wonder'. Then, Ruby, Mary, Aoibhe, and Clodagh introduced themselves in Japanese. They sounded like they had been learning Japanese for 4 years instead of 4 weeks. The ambassador spoke to the children about life in Japan and opportunities for them to visit. The children then sang A Mhuire Mháthair and this was followed by some children from Ms D Keane's class presenting their projects on Japan. Natan, Becky, Tadhg, and Katie presented our guests with some flowers.

After assembly, our guests went to Ms Duff’s and Ms M Fox's rooms to join their Japanese lesson. Here, they got to see all the amazing work the children have been doing over the past number of weeks. They also got to practice using chopsticks.

We are so proud of the classes and the guests couldn't believe how much the children had learned in such a short space of time. Thanks to Therese sensei, the teachers, but especially the children, for all their hard work to make today such a success. 

Yesterday, the children in 6th class in St. Patrick’s NS, Stamullen, had us all brimming with pride when they presented their European projects. They impressed Minister for Sport, Thomas Byrne, Finnish Ambassador to Ireland, Raili Lahnalampi, and EU Commissioner, Mairead McGuinness with their knowledge of the 27 member states. Our Chairperson, Mr Christopher Moore, also got to see all their hard work. Today, they will present to other classes in the school as well as Darren O'Rourke, Amanda Smith and Sharon Toland.Thanks to the four teachers, Ms. O Duff, Ms. C Fox, Mr. S O'Neill, and Ms. M Fox for all their work organising this project. 

What an AMAZING day we had in the daffodil fields! We were absolutely blessed with the weather. The children were fantastic and were super pickers! Thank you to Elmgrove farm for allowing us the opportunity to go into the fields. This was our fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society .We raised €3000 for the Irish Cancer Society! Thanks to all the families that supported this very worthy cause. It will really help a lot of people. 

The children from the four 6th classes were practising since September for Peace Proms 2023.

Peace Proms is a musical programme, which is tailor made to ensure it is fun and engaging for children, fulfils important educational requirements, is very rewarding to teach, and the end performance is an inspirational and thrilling experience for choirs, teachers, parents and audiences alike! 

Peace Proms engages children and young people in music and enriches their lives through exceptional musical experiences and performances. Peace Proms celebrates culture and diversity and promotes peace, unity and tolerance through music.

Taking part in Peace Proms gives the children a once in a lifetime opportunity to:

• Sing with a choir of up to 3,000 children

• Perform with a full symphony youth orchestra

• Work with one of the UK’s leading professional conductors – Greg Beardsell

• Perform at top venues e.g. the Echo Arena Liverpool, the RDS Dublin, Sports Arena Waterford, the SSE Arena Belfast and UL Sports Arena Limerick.

• Develop vocal technique, presentation and performance

• Experience a variety of musical styles and genre

Huge thanks to staff involved: Ms C. Fox, Ms M. Fox, Ms O'Carroll, Ms O. Duff, Mr O'Neil, Mrs Maguire, Ms Hampson, and Ms Uzun

On the 1st February we welcomed Grandparent's into St. Patrick's N.S.

• Everyone likes to celebrate things. A celebration gives us a chance to be happy about something important in our lives.

• Our grandparents love us very much and today we celebrate the love our grandparents have for us.

• Our grandparents are an important part of our family that we can go to for advice and help when we need it.

• We celebrated by invited grandparents' into the school.

• We also remembered those who could not be with us or those who had passed away

Check out the amazing art completed by all the classes to help make the halla look very festive 

The children started the day in assembly in the halla. There was great excitement seeing everyone dressed up in their costumes. The 'Bananas in Pyjamas' (Mrs Leavy and Mrs O'Byrne) even made a special appearance at the junior assembly.

We announced the winners of the Halloween Art competition - Mr Niall Leavy, local artist, was our judge this year. He couldn't believe how high the standard was.

Check out the winners here

After break we had our Halloween performances. Click on the teacher's name to see the performances

• Junior and Senior Infants

  • Mrs McEvoy's and Mrs O'Sullivan's class

  • Ms McKeon's Class

  • Ms Kitson and Ms Cowley/Ms Nic Amhlaí's Class

• First, Second and Third Classes

  • Ms Lennon's Class

  • Ms Conlon's Class

  • Ms Whyte's and Ms Ward/Ms Condren's Class

  • Mr Delaney and Ms McKeown

  • Mr O'Grainne's class

• Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Classes

  • Ms D Keane's, Ms N Keane's and Mrs Hampson's class

  • Ms Griffin's, Mrs Duff's and Ms Riordan's class - Part 1 and part 2

  • Ms M Fox's, Ms O Duff's, Mr O'Neill's and Ms O'Byrne's (Ms C Fox's)class

The children were excellent and we had so much fun watching everyone. Congratulation everyone

The children came back with a huge amount of new information about their locality. The following piece, recounting the information the children learned, was written by Clodagh, AJ, Ruby, Katie and Mia from Ms M Fox’s Class. A massive well done to the children for their excellent writing and to Ms McKeon for organising the trip

Stamullen Cemetery Tour with Brendan Matthews

It’s hard to believe there is so much history just down the road in the small Stamullen graveyard. On October 6th 2022, all 6th classes met community Historian Brendan Matthews to give us a tour of the cemetery and its history. “I went to the very same school as you and when I was around your age, I had a very nice teacher who loved history” Brendan said. “He brought us to the hill of Tara and to Newgrange.” Brendan explained how that teacher instilled a love of history in him.

Location

This small cemetery is built on a round hill, overlooking what would have been the village at the time it was built (now a row of shops and apartments). It was the highest point in the village.

That’s Old!

The oldest gravestone (that’s legible!) is from 1722 (300 years ago) but the church in the graveyard dates back to the 13th century. Before that there was another church, but it fell to ruins. He brought us into the church ruins and pointed out where the altar, benches and doors would have been. He showed us two slates from the now gone roof.

Lady Butler

World famous artist Lady Elizabeth Butler lies in this cemetery. Elizabeth Thompson Butler was a British woman who specialised in painting soldiers who had come back from war. Her most famous painting is the Role Call and people from all over the world come to see her simple grave. Some of her paintings are currently hanging in Windsor Castle.

Lord Gormanston

The three main Celtic crosses are signs of the rich and all belong to the Preston family (apart from Lady Butler). Nicholas Preston is the last remaining Lord Gormanston. The Lord Germanton’s lived in Gormanston Castle and were a rather wealthy family. The members of that family that lie here are:

Jenico Preston, William Preston, Eleanor (Dowdall) Preston. The first principal of Stamullen’s old school who taught children even before the famine.

The Crude Heads

On the south side are two crudely carved stone heads. Nobody knows if they weren’t finished or perhaps, they have worn away from the weather.

The Monument

Beside the church is a tomb where all of the Lord Gormanston family are laid to rest. As you come into the room there is a monument carved from stone that features the decomposing remains of a young woman who died of the plague (Black Death). Did you know that the nursery rhyme of Ringa Ringa Rosie is the story of the Black Death. Rosie cheeks are a symptom of the plague, “a pocket full of posies” are herbs that you hold up to your nose to cure you (or so they thought), “a tissue a tissue, we all fall down,” symbolises death. Under this monument are stairs down to where all of the Lord’s rest. This tomb is dated back to around 1450. Only eleven of these tombs remain in Ireland and this one is thought to be the oldest.

Below it is another tomb that features William Preston and Eleanor Dowdall. On the side of that tomb, it shows a crest with several families represented. William is wearing one of the “White Armours” depicted in Ireland. On his right hip rests, a dagger. There was a sword, but it was broken off in an act of theft/vandalism. There is also a lion resting at his feet. Eleanor has a small dog resting at her feet and is wearing a gown and a veil.

All in all, the Cemetery in Stamullen is a very old and historic one, so if you have spare time, why don’t you stop by and have a look.

Ms. M. Fox, Ms. C. Fox, Mr. O’Neill, Ms. O. Duff and all of the 6th class children would like to thank Brendan Matthews for sharing all of his knowledge on Stamullen cemetery.

We had a fantastic Maths week in St Patrick'sNS.

Ms Riordan and her team of 'whizz kids' organised a fantastic Maths week for the whole school.

Children were taking part in lot of Maths puzzles, engaging with online forums as well as engaging in Maths trails around the school grounds.

Children from the older classes were excellent 'mini assistants' as they helped the younger children complete Maths activities outdoors.

The culmination of all the hard work was a 'Maths door' competition. To ensure fairness Ms S Duff (McGovern), Ms Hull and Mrs Thornton were ask to judge and they certainly had a very difficult job as the standard was so high.

The winners were Ms O'Sullivan's Junior Infants, Ms M Fox's 6th class and Ms Whyte's 5th class.