2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Hallelujah Concert 2011

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When I heard about the Hallelujah Concerts I was really excited and nervous because I thought that we were going to be the only school at the RDS. But there were loads of schools there. We had loads of fun rehearsing. We started rehearsing near the end of September. The date of the show was the 10^th of December. At the end of October we started ordering our t-shirts and tickets. I brought my torch and Santa hat to the Hallelujah Concerts. When the day came I was really excited. We hired a really cool bus. It had a television. We watched Toy Story 3 on the way up to Dublin and we went to Mc Donald’s. There was a playground there and I went in there of course. When we got to the RDS we were in a really big line. When we got in there we saw shops and loads of other schools. There were 3000 children in the choir. When we got into our seats we started to rehearse. Our conductor was really moody. But we had a great day. When it was over I was really upset. But it was the best day ever. On the way back we were playing Mario Kart. Bobby was the best at it. I had a great day and my parents and Aunties did as well. It was a day that I will treasure forever.

Hannah 4th class

The End

Community Games All Ireland Champions

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This  summer  Aghaviller  won  the   community  games  under  eleven  hurling  final .The  finals  took  place  in  Athlone . In  the  semi  final   we  played  Claregalway and  we  beat  them   well  .The  next  day  we  played   Douglas  in  the  final . It  was  the  hardest  match  we  played .We  beat  Douglas by  one  point .That  was  our  third  time  in  a  row  winning  the  under  eleven  hurling   final . At  the  Kilkenny  county  senior  final  we  were  brought  on  to  the  pitch  and introduced to the crowd. We got a great reception.  It was very exciting.  We got to do a lap of honour. Aghaviller is made up of three clubs: Ballyhale, Carrickshock and Dunamaggin. We  got  gold  medals  for  winning  the  All  Ireland .This  is  my  best  sporting  achievement  so  far .It  was  great  playing  with  lads  from  different  clubs  and  representing  Kilkenny.

Liam 4th class

Collecting and Recording Folklore

In 1937 a major project was undertaken in Irish primary schools to preserve the folklore and traditions throughout the country. Pupils from 5^th and 6^th classes (aged 11-14) were asked to collect  the traditional cures, prayers, proverbs, curses and local history from their parents and grandparents. This was then written in special copybooks in school and transferred to the National Archives in Dublin for preservation. Over 5,000 pupils took part in the project and a vast collection of folklore was preserved for future generations. In 2010 the  Irish National television station R.T.E. decided to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the folklore commission with a series of programmes called Ó Bhéal go Béal. (From Mouth to Mouth) In the third programme four people were interviewed who had taken part in the project in 1937-38 when they were in primary school. Now in their eighties, these four people were shown the manuscripts which they had carefully written down 72 years previously. One of the people interviewed was Criostóir Ó Tuama, who was principal of our school in Newmarket from 1953 to 1988. Mr Ó Tuama had collected the folklore from his grandmother who was 96 at the time. Mr. Ó Tuama is a native Irish speaker from Ballyvourney in West Cork and his description of the prayers and sayings of his grandmother was recalled with great clarity. The programme was beautifully made and the four people interviewed provided a wonderful description of their schooldays and the rural Ireland of the 1930’s.

You can watch the programme here:

Hallowe’en in Newmarket

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Today was the last day of school before the Hallowe’en mid term break. There were some wonderful costumes and scary characters floating around the school.   4th 5th and 6th class  wrote and performed their Hallowe’n plays. We had a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the day.

The Hurling League Final!

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On the 15th of  September was a very special day for some people. Each year we have two or three hurling leagues. Jake’s and John’s team were playing in the league final today. First they warmed up and took some pictures. Then it was game on. I  was the scorekeeper. Jake O’Dwyer opened the scoring with a goal. Thankfully it was not a rough match and no one was injured. Sean Cassin was commentating for the first half. At half time the score was 3 goals and 1 point for  Jake and 3 goals to John . Jake opened the scoring once again with a good point. Then Liam Barron scored a great goal. Kiah was commentating . She did a great job ( well compared to Sean’s it was brilliant job). When Mr. Duggan blew the whistle Jake’s team leaped into the air. They played an outstanding game and won by just a point. John’s team also had a marvelous game but unfortunately for him Jake’s team played  better on the day. Jake received a mini trophy and free homework. Well done to both the teams.

Edwina 6th class

Platform Dancing returns to Newmarket

A Night to Remember

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The people of Newmarket had much to celebrate at the open evening held at the school on Tuesday night. The event was held to celebrate the official opening of the new school extension. The school which was built in 1925 has had a prefab for the infants since 1983. After many years of negotiation the Board of Management finally received approval to replace the prefab with a new 80 sq. metre classroom. This was fully funded by the Dept. of Education but thanks to additional fundraising by the Parents Association and a contribution from parish funds, the school was also able to fund a room for the learning support/resource teacher. These lovely new rooms were officially opened in an open air ceremony and past pupil and Kilkenny star hurler John Tennyson was on hand to cut the ribbon to officially open the extension. Musical entertainment was provided by the pupils from all classes while there was also an exhibition of Irish dancing from current and past pupils, Kiah Dwyer, Shauna O’Dwyer and Rachel O’ Dwyer. The event also celebrated the raising of the school’s first Green flag and it also featured the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the school’s Comenius project. For the past two years the school has linked up with Akra school in Norway and Hartshead school in England and pupils and teachers from these schools were present to join in the celebrations. The night concluded with tea and a beautiful selection of sandwiches and home baking which was kindly provided by the Parents Association. There was also an interesting exhibition of old school photographs and there was a bouncy castle in the school field to entertain the pupils. It was a night of community celebration and everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed the proceedings.

A special trip to the Gairdín.

Yesterday 6^th class went down to Gairdín an Ghorta. We were going down to interview ex pupils of Newmarket N.S. We were down for the weekly gathering of the old folks in the Gairdín. We left the school at ten to two and were at the Gairdín for two. Some of the elders were asking who our parents and grand-parents were, so they would know who we are.  Just a little on the group. It was formed in March 2009, because they thought it would be a good idea to have a gathering for the elders, not to leave them on their own or anything like that. It started of with 23 members and now has in the region of 45. I think (and I know I am not alone when I say this) that the group is a major success and is held in a prime location. I think they gather every Tuesday in the Gairdín for a couple of hours. The gathering started at about quarter past two. We started with a prayer and then we got right down to business. We all introduced ourselves and sat back down. The first question asked was “What was your best memory of school?”. The five people we were interviewing were Mary Carroll, Bill Gorey, Mrs. Brophy, Danny Hearne and we cannot forget Teddy McBride. All of these  are past pupils in Newmarket N.S. Some of them had even gone to the old school built beside the church. Their answers for the first question all varied. Mary said that all her memories were good as did Danny and Bill, but Teddy, he had a totally different view. He said that he hated school and had no good memories.  Their school life was very different to ours. They had to walk to school, church and many other places, with the distances up to four or five miles. It was really funny and interesting listening to their stories, especially Teddy.  The next question asked was “What did your normal dinners consist of?” We strayed away from the question a small bit but we still got an answer. As we were a little late starting, we didn’t have enough time to ask all the questions. We were asked to play two songs on the recorder, which we did. We played Ode to Joy and The Magnificat. The rest of us got to ask one question which they gave a quick reply to. Before we left Ann Brennan sang a song for us, which was really good. Before we left we got a chocolate bar (which tasted delicious) and then we walked back to school. We weren’t back until ten past three, but I didn’t mind. I wish we could have stayed at the gathering for way longer and I really want to go down again some time in the future.

By Grace Aylward

6th class

Norway, England, Ireland

All from Newmarket would like to thank Norway and England for taking part in the Comenius project with us.

We hope that you enjoy the last visit in the Comenius project. Everybody who went to England and Norway said that they really enjoyed it. So we hope that you enjoy Ireland. Even though it’s the last visit I hope that we can still stay in touch!!

I’ve enjoyed all the visits and I’m sure everybody else has as well. I hope you like your visit to Ireland. I know I enjoyed my visit to England. I just hope that you love every bit of your visit!!!
Kiah Dwyer
5th class.

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