Nath na Seachtaine/Phrase of the Week

An bhfuil tú ceart go leor?/Are you okay?

 

 

Fáilte ar ais!/Welcome back!

Scoil Mhuire gan Smál re-opens on Monday 6th November.  We all had great fun dressing up on the last day before the Hallowe'en holidays! Go to our Gallery page to see some fantastic (and scary!) photographs.  Staff members dressed up as crayons and were a great success! We raised €346 for Mary's Meals, an organisation that provides a meal per day for children in need.

 

Club Ceoil

We had a very successful club ceoil on the Friday before the Hallowe'en hoildays.  It was lovely to see our pupils and teachers enjoying the music and learning a new song. 

 

 

School Debating News

The first round of the Letterkenny and District Debating Competition was held on Thursday 26th October.  Scoil Mhuire gan Smál hosted one of the debates and we were delighted to welcome Woodland NS.  The motion for debate was "Social Media is a bad influence on children".  We were proposing the motion and Woodland NS were opposing the motion.  The debate was lively and interesting with excellent points made by both teams.  Well done to our team who won on this occasion.  Comhghairdeas a chailíní! Congratulations girls!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maths Week Trails

This year to celebrate Maths Week we have developed Maths Trails all around the school.  Go to our Gallery page to see photos of our pupils learning that Maths is all around us!

 

Science in Senior Infants

Recently our Senior Infants explored different tastes in Science.  They had to predict whether food would be salty, sweet or sour, then taste the food and decide if their predictions were correct.  Go to our Gallery page to see photos of this experiment.  I think we can guess from their facial expressions what the food tasted like!

 

 

School Calendar photos

A big thank you to Conor and Nicola Maguire of "Pure Purple Studios" and parents of the school who came in to take photos of each class for our school calendar.  This calendar will be for sale at the P/T meetings on 16th November.  It is a lovely keepsake. 

 

Loreto Sisters Visit

We were delighted to welcome two Loreto Sisters from Rome who came to visit us on Friday 13th October.  Sister Igoro, originally from India and Sister Maca originally from Spain met with staff and one of our 3rd classes and had a guided tour of the school.  They are visiting all Loreto schools around the country.  Of course they thought Donegal was the most beautiful county they had visited! It was lovely to meet them as our  Loreto ethos is very important to us. The core values of Mary Ward, founder of Loreto schools, are justice, freedom, sincerity, truth and joy.  These values are at the heart of school life in Scoil Mhuire gan Smál.

 

 

Europe Coding Week

To celebrate Europe Coding Week, Mr Pauric O'Donnell and students from St. Eunan's College came to our seomra ríomhaire (computer room) to work on coding with our 5th class pupils.  Our girls thoroughly enjoyed learning the basics of coding as you can see from the photos on our Gallery page! 

 

 

 

 

Junior Infants News

Our Junior Infants are learning all about patterns.  They have made their own colourful patterns as you can see on our Gallery Page. They are very creative!

 

 

 

 

 

Orchestra News

We are delighted to have Mr John Lee coming in to the school every Wednesday to work with our orchestra and our 3rd class pupils.  Beidh sé ag obair leis an ceolfhoireann agus le na scoláirí i ranganna a trí.  Mr Lee is a very talented musician and a grandparent of the school.  Go to our Gallery page to see photos of tinwhistle and orchestra classes in full swing!

 

 

 

Grandparents' Week

Once again this was a very special occasion for our second class pupils.  Lots of grandparents visited our two second classes to talk to our pupils about their experiences of school, baking, knitting, gardening, fishing and much more! We learned so much from them. We sampled some delicious home baking and treats too!  Grandparents are a very important part of our lives.  They care for us and support us and it's important to recognise this, especially during Grandparents' Week.

 

Parents' Meeting 23rd October

There will be a meeting on Monday 23rd October at 7.30pm in the school to discuss the possibility of the school becoming co-ed from September 2018.  This is an important meeting and the Board of Management hopes that as many parents/guardians as possible will attend on the evening.  

 

 

 

European Week of Sport

 

We had a wonderful week celebrating European Week of Sport. There were lots of extra activities: Blind Football, Drop Everything and Dance, Active homework and the celebrations finished with an Active Day in the GP Hall.  Everyone participated and our pupils really enjoyed "Take on the Teacher"! Go to our "Active School" page on this website to read about all the activities and to see lots of photos of a very active school!  Thank you to Mrs McFadden, our Sports Co-ordinator, who organised a thoroughly enjoyable week of activities.

 

 

 

Club Ceoil/Music Club

The first club ceoil of the year took place in the seomra cruinnithe (meeting room) on Friday 29th September.  Pupils from 3rd class upwards and teachers gathered together to play their musical instruments, sing favourite songs and learn more.  The emphasis is on participation and enjoyment and everyone was delighted to be there.  Thank you to Ms Gibson and Mrs Cheevers who organise our club ceoil each month.

 

 

 

School Orchestra News

Many thanks to Mrs Pauline Kavanagh and the Letterkenny Youth Community Band who donated four accordians and a pair of cymbals to our school orchestra.  Go to our Gallery page to see our pupils at their first orchestra practice of the year trying out the new accordians!

 

 

 

 

Active School News

This year we have added a new page to our school website-Active School.  It will be devoted completely to the many different activities taking place in Scoil Mhuire gan Smál to promote health and well-being in our school community.  We know how important it is to exercise regularly to stay healthy. The very successful A K a Day will continue this year with lots of other exciting new activities planned.  Check out the Active School page for updated information on these activities!

 

 

 

 

Cookery Classes 

Our 6th class pupils are delighted to have started cookery classes.  Go to our Gallery page to see photos of the girls hard at work in the cookery kitchen making banana bread and cheesecake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After School Guitar and Violin Lessons

Go to our Gallery page to see photos of our pupils learning to play the guitar and violin.  We have pupils at beginner and intermediate level.

 

 

 

After School Computer Club 

Once again this year, there will be a six week computer club for our 4th class pupils.  Places are limited so book early!

 

 

School Closures 2017-2018

A hard copy of the school closures was given to all pupils on Wednesday 6th September-please check your daughter's school bag. These closures are also available to view on the Parents' Info section of this website.

 

 

 

Webwise.ie link

We have placed a link to www.webwise.ie at the bottom of our homepage. Webwise promotes the effective and safer use of the internet by our young people by providing information and awareness strategies to parents, teachers and children themselves.  We use webwise lessons to teach our pupils about safe use of the internet.  There is a parents section on this website with lots of valuable information regarding use of IT devices.   

 

 

 

Parents' Association News

Our PA has set up an email address for parents/guardians to contact the association if they want to get involved in any way.  The email address is parents_smgs@outlook.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

 

School Opening Times:

9.20am-2pm:Junior and Senior Infants

9.20am-3pm First-Sixth Classes