We know many of our boys and girls enjoy walking on Slieve Gullion’s slopes and on their walks some have been lucky enough to have encountered a red squirrel. A lucky few, have been fortunate enough to meet the conversationalists whilst they have been out recording and monitoring the pine martin population. So, we thought you might all like to know about a documentary on tonight, Sunday 28th, of March @ 6:30 pm on RTE 1. The programme is called “Back from the Brink”, and will feature some of the red squirrels and pine martins from Slieve Gullion in a documentary about conservation successes across Europe.
Over lock down in the coldest winter weather the “Ring of Gullion and Cooley, Red Squirrel Group” put out a call for donations to buy food (peanuts) for the squirrels. A donation from our Erasmus funding on behalf of all the pupils and wider school community of St Mary’s was made. So, tonight we can all watch with pride in the knowledge that St Mary’s has played a small part in this success story!
Congratulations to everyone involved, (especially Marie Mc Cartan for the wonderful photos above), we look forward to tonight’s programme and chatting about it tomorrow.
Dear Parents, Guardians, Past Pupils, Friends of St Mary’s,
Before closure we were working on a joint Art/Music/Dance Project, with our Erasmus + partner schools. Each school/country inspired and challenged the others with a piece of music, a dance or song, to create their own versions of the chosen piece.
As we can’t under the current circumstances complete the work we are asking all our musical, creative, dancing families, (and we know we have plenty of those, we’ve seen the videos 😉), to come up with their own versions of this catchy song sent by our French partners, “L’amour à la française”, and send them to us.
We hope to make a compilation of all the pieces, so it can simply be: a musical version, a chorus of the song or a section of the dance, even recreate the running scene in front of a Mullaghabawn landmark, be as creative as you want and involve the whole family!
We would be eternally grateful as it will enable us to fulfill our obligations and complete the project… and it might be good fun!
The clips to the original song are attached below, when you have completed your piece email us and we will organise a way for you to share your work with us.
Primary 7 had a fun filled afternoon on Friday, as we hosted a class céilí as part of the Erasmus+ project. The activity was centered around Irish cultural music and P7 decided to explore the age-old Irish tradition of céilíng.
Some pupils baked bread, scones and other tasty goods which went down a treat with a cup of tea. The class sang the “Rattlin’ Bog” and jived along to the “Galway Girl.” We had two girls who entertained the class by reciting old Irish stories that they learned from parents and grandparents. Two other pupils brought in old games that they taught to their friends. The timing of our céilí was perfect, as St Mary’s welcomed two teachers from our partner school in Loch an Iúir. Mairead and Marrianne taught the class some steps to the “Waves of Tory” and the class absolutely loved it!
As well as giving pupils the opportunity to explore and learn about other cultures, Erasmus also gives our pupils an appreciation of their own culture. Check out the video to see it all in action.
You are cordially invited to join us this Friday, from 10-12 in Ti Chulainn for a tea /coffee morning in aid of the Southern Area Hospice who are celebrating their 50th year!
Whilst enjoying your “cuppa” you can view our recently completed glass and felt artwork, watch our amazing documentary about the ancient herd of goats which roam the slopes of Slieve Gullion, and surrounding hills, as well as hearing how we have recreated Mullaghbawn village in the late 1800’s /early 1900’s… digitally, using Minecraft, and you will have the opportunity to meet some amazing goat characters!!🐐
It will be a morning not to miss…everyone is welcome: parents, grandparents, extended families, friends and neighbours of St Mary’s. Please spread the word far and wide, we would love to have a big crowd to support this fantastic organisation which has helped so many connected to our school. 😀
Some photos from our trip today to the Pop up Museum of Languages in Belfast. We had a great day… a big thank you to the MEITS Project of which Queen’s University is a part. If you’ d like to find out more click on the link below.
A reminder for Miss Mulkerns’s P6 Class that they have a trip on Monday, a note was sent home but not everyone had returned their permission slip, before the Hallowe’en break. If permission slips have been misled please write a note giving permission, otherwise pupils will not be able to attend. See below a copy of the letter which was sent home.
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Dear Parent,
Did you know, the UK has a museum for dog collars and lawn mowers, but not for languages! This autumn a new initiative is coming to Belfast…a “Pop-Up World of Languages Museum” and we have been lucky enough to have secured a slot for one class to visit free of charge.
The interactive Museum is divided into 3 zones through which pupils will travel to uncover the hidden treasures of languages, through child-friendly hands-on, activities and games:
The zones are:
Languages and Me
Why should we bother to learn languages? You may be surprised to find out :-
How learning a language can boost your brain power.
How many languages you already know without even realising.
Where languages can take you in life.
Languages Around Me
All you have to do is stop, look and listen! Here, you will explore :-
Different accents, and your reactions to them.
Translating the untranslatable… can it be done?
The many languages around us in our cities, towns and villages
Languages in the World
There are thousands of different languages in the world! Here, you will discover :-
Which languages are most spoken and which are in danger.
Whether some languages are trickier than others.
The different sounds and writing systems languages use.
The activities draw on the research in a large project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, entitled ‘Multilingualism. Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies’ (www.meits.org), involving four universities: Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Cambridge (the lead university) and the Universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham.
The event takes place on Monday, 4th of November, at theAccidental Theatre, 12-13 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, BT2 7DB.
As we have been lucky enough to secure funding for both the event and transport, there is no cost for this trip. Pupils can wear their PE uniform. They will need to bring a packed lunch. We will leave school at around 10.30 and we will be back for normal home time at 3.10 pm.
You may have noticed that we have changed “the flag” flying outside of school, to mark, “European Language Day” tomorrow. Today we counted 10+ languages, connected to our school, through our families and our Erasmus+ project. Some of the languages we have identified are : Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak, Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, French, Basque, Greek, and Irish and we are sure there are more!
Learning other peoples’ languages is a way of helping us to understand each other better and to overcome our cultural differences. Tomorrow we will recognise the great linguistic resource we have within our school community and celebrate our school diversity, by learning some words/greetings in another language.
Following from my recent trip to Prague at the start of June, I am delighted to announce that our Nursery is eTwinned with a Kindergarten in Norway. The Scandinavian approach to play is extremely interesting and I’m really looking forward to introducing new ideas that I have learnt from our Norwegian friends and to continue developing our project. It is an honour to be part of the exciting eTwinning network.
Thank you for all the well wishes that I received on the school’s Facebook page, it meant a lot and showing it to other participants they all commented on what a supportive school community we have.
