As you can read below, we've had a jam-packed term. It was tougher than we expected as Covid-19 took an unexpected turn and made school life difficult again. Despite this, parents and guardians should be very proud of their children's work and commitment to getting into school (or working at home when they couldn't attend). We can only hope that our Term 3 is less impacted by Covid-19 and we can return to more normal school routines.

I offer my sincere thanks to our wonderful staff, teachers, SNAs, ancillary staff, interns and student teachers. We are so blessed to have such highly committed, enthusiastic and loving staff who care so much for the children. Everybody has contributed to this term's work which you can read about below.

Thank you also to the parent volunteers who came in April 7th to manage the catering for our first ever reception after the Confirmation service yesterday. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate together in our lovely hall.

I wish you all a great Easter break and look forward to school reopening on Monday, April 25th for a sunny, fun-filled Term 3.

Annemarie Hogan

Principal

Sixth Class have had a busy few weeks. As part of Engineers Week, we designed and made our own structures. Robyn created a tower using paper tubes, Kimberly was inspired by the Ha'penny bridge in Dublin and Dylan's construction was of Tsutenkaku in Japan. Some children had the opportuinity to share their creations with younger classes. We have also been perfecting our cricket skills this month and Kartik has become a skillful leader on the field! Our Cycling Safety programme is in full swing with Dr. Bike and we hope the children have begun to share their new knowledge and skills with their families.

To celebrate Green Day, we dressed up in our finest green clothes and performed Ballaí Luimnigh out on the playground.

We made our first trip of the year to Merrion Park at the end of March and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

The three Fifth Classes have had a very busy term. We finished reading our amazing novel ‘Journey to the River Sea’. The story, set in the Amazon, inspired much discussion and learning about rainforests, climate change, biodiversity etc. Ms Horan and Mr Moran’s classes made dioramas based on a rainforest theme. Ms Dermody’s class completed projects on rainforests and produced jungle inspired paintings.

Among our other activities this term we:

• Celebrated Engineers Week in March with bridge building and construction projects. Ms Dermody’s class researched and constructed interesting structures from around the world.
• Learned about the work of Henri Matisse and Paul Henry during art lessons, with the students producing their own masterpieces as follow up activities!
• Continue to work hard at mastering Fifth Class Maths. Percentages, equivalent fractions, decimals, long division, timetables - all of these topics can be challenging but the three classes are making great progress with a very packed curriculum!
• Enjoyed cricket coaching. This was a new sport for a lot of the students and was a great introduction to one of the world's most popular sports. We are now enjoying dance with Elaine every week as part of our PE programme.
• Learned three new dances for the Céilí on Green Day and had great fun dancing in brilliant sunshine on the day!

We are now looking forward to a well deserved rest over the Easter break!

Ms Ryan's and Ms O'Toole's classes have been busy doing the Incredible Edibles programme; planting strawberries, potatoes, carrots, spinach and more. We will be getting ready to plant in our new garden space soon.

4th class has been learning lots of amazing facts about the Aztecs. Ms Ryan's class created Sun Gods made from clay. Ms.O’Toole’s class created Sun and Moon oil pastel pictures with Ms.Bradley. Ms. Scanlon’s created their own sun designs and decorated them with various patterns, shapes and colours.

4th class enjoyed Seachtain na Gaeilge and did some great posters based on different themes and seanfhocails.

This term, Ms. Scanlon’s 4th class are taking part in the Blue Star Programme and are learning all about the European Union. This month they participated in the Blue Star elements quiz on Kahoot and had great fun testing their knowledge and learning some new facts about the EU. They are looking forward to trying out the next quizzes in Geography and Cultures.

Emmy Bo, Jessica, Leila, Giuseppe and Leonilo from 4th class have reached the top six finalists of the STEPS Young Engineers Award 2021 with their project entitled ‘Water Saving Shower’. This is a fantastic achievement. It was selected by a panel of 6 judges comprising senior engineers from Intel, ESB, Tandem, ARUP, Kildare County Council and Engineers Ireland over a series of 3 judging rounds and over 500 entries.

Harley in Ms Scanlon's fourth class has been working hard creating his own Dogman comic. He has shown great creativity in coming up with his own exciting plot and storyline. He has also been learning lots of new I.T. skills whilst using Microsoft PowerPoint. He is looking forward to publishing his comic and displaying it in the school library for all to read. Well done Harley!

We have been very busy in 3rd class this term. We’ve learned so many new things and have had lots of fun! In Ms. Sweeney’s class we welcomed two new boys Yan and Artem who joined us from Ukraine. They are settling in well and are enjoying being a part of our St. Christopher’s family.

Some highlights from our term:

• We learned all about maps and map skills this term and had a chance to put our skills in practice on our trip to Merrion Square.
• We also started swimming lessons this term and have really enjoyed it!
• We started our Incredible Edibles journey and so far have planted potatoes, strawberries, carrots, spinach and chives. We can’t wait to taste them once they’re are grown.
• We celebrated Pancake Tuesday and even made some pancakes of our own.
• We had lots of fun during Engineers Week!! The children worked together to create structures which were both tall and stable using straws!
• 3rd class loved working on projects as part of International Women’s Day 2022 and learning more about some incredible women who inspire them and others!

Mar chuid den Seachtain na Gaeilge, d’eagraigh an Coiste Gaelbhratach gníomhaíochtaí spraíúla. An tseachtain seo, ghlac na páistí páirt sa chomórtas seanfhocail agus draíodóir focail. Bhí orthu pictiúir a chruthú is a tharraingt chun seanfhocal agus foclóir áirithe a léiriú. Rinne na páistí sár jab agus bhí duais speisialta bronnta ar an mbuaiteoir i ngach rang. Comhghairdeas ollmhór leis na páistí go léir!!

As part of Seachtain na Gaeilge, the Gaelbhratach Committee organised a range of fun activities. That week, the pupils took part in a seanfhocail and draíodóir focail competition.

As part of this they created a picture to convey a specific Irish language proverb and Irish vocabulary. The pupils did a fantastic job and a special prize was awarded to the winner in each class. Huge congratulations to all the children involved!!

In February we took part in Engineers Week. The classes were very busy brainstorming, predicting, designing, creating and testing different structures that they built. It was super to see all the fantastic engineering happening throughout St. Christopher’s! Students built boats, aeroplanes, bridges, towers, rockets and even roller coasters! It was very exciting when 6th class presented their engineering designs to Junior Infants and students from Ms. Sheridan’s class taught the Infants how to test paper bridges!

Lots of learning and fun was had!