St. Oliver's National School

Everyone in St. Oliver’s N.S. has lots of fun as we learn in school.

Below you’ll find our blog with lots of pictures and news of what we have all been up to throughout the school year.

A huge thank you to all the staff (teaching and non- teaching), parent helpers and pupils for a wonderful day of active fun and super team spirit. A massive thank you to Paul for all his help, enthusiasm and organisation. We all had a fantastic day.

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If you go down to St. Oliver’s N.S. today you’re in for a big surprise…

The children of St. Oliver’s N.S. have been involved in a nationwide top secret campaign to bring an explosion of colour and creativity to the community. Mums and dads that came to collect their children from school this week were greeted by a sea of colour as the boys and girls of St. Oliver’s transformed the school gates and surrounding areas.

Take a look at some of their colourful creations.

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Lots of children in the school took part in the Education Games online for World Maths day and World Literacy day in March and were awarded with their certificates at assembly in April.
A few children even received distinction awards for completing 50 games! Well Done to everyone who took part in these games!

Our cross country runners competed in DKIT this month and ran very well.

Finally, lots of children in the school competed at the Credit Union games at the Bush last week. Well done to everyone who came and represented the school so well.

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Everyone in St. Oliver’s N.S. had lots of fun working scientifically this year.

We worked frantically to complete all the steps for the Science and Maths Award.

Details of all the steps completed for the award are below.

Click the links to see pictures and details of the scientific investigations completed this year!

Step 1 – Greenwave and Maths

• Species Uploaded
• Weather Investigations
• Data Collected and Graphs Created

Step 2 – Prescribed Activities and Maths

• Energy and Forces – Designing Traffic Lights
• Materials – Designing Bridges

Step 3 – Invite a Science Speaker to the School

• Birds of Prey

Step 4 – Hold a Science Event

• Exciting Engineering Event

Step 5 – Engineers Week

• Electronic Engineers – Designing Traffic Lights
• Biosystems Engineers – Exploring properties of Yeast
• Civil Engineers – Designing a Catapult
• Computer and Software engineers – Use Scratch Programming to design computer game

Other Scientific Investigations

• Sock Matching
• Heat Investigations
• Light Investigations and Burning Questions
• Growing Snowdrops

Kids Yoga with Kiera 2013

Thursday 16^th May, 23^rd May, 30^th May, 6^th June

This is part of our P.E. programme along with swimming for this term but more importantly it can be considered an important part of SPHE and self-care for children in learning relaxation techniques! We are so lucky to have such talented people in our community willing to help our school and children .

Everyone knows that yoga is good for you – even those who are not quite sure exactly what it involves!

Yoga has so much to offer children but most importantly for them it is fun. Yoga is a complete form of exercise which develops stamina, strength and flexibility.

Childhood is becoming an increasingly stressful time for our children and attending a regular yoga class gives them a chance to take some time out.

A typical session will include postures which are modified to become fun for children to practice. They will practice some gentle breathing and relaxation techniques which they are encouraged to use at stressful times in their lives. All of this is done in a non-competitive environment which allows every child to participate equally.

We are so delighted in St Oliver’s that our children can avail of this wonderful opportunity.

While it may feel like winter 1^st and 2^nd class have been watching out for the signs of spring. We have been on the hunt for frogspawn, primroses and swallows and we are currently keeping a close eye on Horse chestnut, Hawthorn and Ash trees to spot any changes that signal the arrival of spring. As part of the Greenwave project we also undertook numerous weather observation tasks. We built an anemometer to record wind speed and a rain gauge to record rainfall. Many thanks to everyone who took photos to help us record our observations.

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Advice from 5th and 6th class

When you miss the bus,

Don’t get in a big fuss,

Just get a teacher or a friend

And you’ll be home safe and sound.

Lost in a shopping mall

With no phone to make a call,

Don’t panic, don’t stress,

Go to the Information Desk.

If there is a stranger at the door,

Don’t panic, don’t roar,

Simply don’t open the door

And just ignore!

If a stranger looks for advice,

Don’t worry, they might be nice.

But go with your gut

And run if you must.

A friend wants to go to the river,

But you sense danger,

Stand up and be braver,

And you will be safer.

Lost on a school tour?

Don’t worry I’m sure

They are just around the corner,

Stay put, a little more.