Latest News from St Mary's Ns
​2021-2022

Our Incredible Edible Healthy Eating Project is well underway here in St Mary's NS Partry. The children are learning all about where our food comes from and how we can grow our own fruit and vegetables here in our school.  This project has been launched by Agri Aware in conjunction with Board Bia.  We hope to grow, cook and eat all the fruits and vegetables that we grow over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more updates. 
World Book Day - 3rd March 2022
Some fantastic costumes today in St Mary's NS to celebrate World Book Day.  Well done to all the boys and girls for bringing in their favourite book to show to their friends. 
The children are working on their Amber Flag this year which is run by Pieta House and promotes positive mental health among children and young people. The children have been engaged in the area of well-being and mindfulness for some time now and this year we will  explore more ways of promoting positive mental health in St Mary's NS. 

lots of fun Becoming a farm safe school 
Agri Aware in partnership with the IFA and supported by the Dep pf Agriculture, food and Marine teamed up and launched the first of its kind 'Farm Safety Schools Programme' in February 2022.  St Mary's NS were delighted to sign up to help create a safer, brighter future on Irish farms.  The programme ran over 3 modules and was closely linked to the primary school curriculum. The children really enjoyed engaging with all the fun, interactive resources and webinars.  

playing with numbers :)

out and about with Gerard Butler from cycling ireland

The Senior Rm had lots of fun out and about learning the vital skills of road safety for cyclists.  A sincere thanks to Gerard Butler and Cycling Ireland for running the cycling workshop. 

busy learning our tricky words together. 
Congratulations to all the winners of the Credit Union Art Competition. We are all very proud of you here in St Mary's N.S

The very hungry caterpillar is on the loose in Ms daniel's room



st brigid's day crosses by MS Daniel's Rm
This year the children were very excited to get involved once again in the Annual Team Hope Christmas Shoe Box Appeal.  This is an Irish organisation dedicated to helping vulnerable children around the world.  They deliver these gifts straight into the hands of children affected by poverty.  Often these shoe box gifts are the only gift that a child will receive at Christmas and the joy that they bring is incredible.  Since 2010 they have delivered over 2.1 million shoebox gifts.  Well done to all the boys and girls who got involved.

our winter wonderland
Wow!!!  Take a look at the  fantastic cribs created by the Senior Room. There was lots of excitement in the junior Room when they got to pick their favourite.  
Congratulations to Emma and Lucy Duignan from Ms Horan's Senior Room who won prizes for their entries into the Barna Recycling Art Competition. Well done girls!!
GAA skills practice in full swing with our coach Patrick. Sincere thanks to CIG Tuar Mhic Éadaigh for providing GAA coaching to our school. 
Congratulations to Séamus Burke and Seán Grimes on their fantastic achievements at the National Cross Country event in Kilkenny on the 5th of December.
Séamus Burke (6th class) came 9th in the under 13 category. He was also a member of the Connaught team who came second.
Seán Grimes (4th class) came 29th in the under 11 category and he also got a silver team medal for Mayo. 
The boys kindly brought in their medals to show everyone at school. Well done Séamus and Seán! We are all very proud of you!
There was lots of excitement in St Mary's NS this week as we welcomed Lynda from The Lough Carra Catchment Association. 

She brought along a tree to plant in our school and one for each pupil and adult in the school.
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Lynda & Ms Horan alongside many other schools in the area have come together to raise awareness of the importance of taking care of the natural environment around Lough Carra.  The children learnt all about 'Planting a pesticide free Tree ' this week and all about biodiversity.  
It was a spooky playground today in St Mary's NS with the boys and girls dressed up for Halloween. 
Lots of fun, games and experiments during our Maths and Science week.  Bringing the classroom outdoors we ventured off on our STEM trail. 

​Maths & Science Week 2021
​Our New SET Room
SET: Ms. Conroy
This year we were delighted to move into our new extension. It includes a bright, spacious SET room with lots of room for larger groups and plenty of storage. Inclusion and meaningful differentiation are important to us. Everyone benefits from our wonderful new extension.
We have lots of areas within our new SET Room including: 
​Literacy
Numeracy
Occupational therapy
Learning with Numicon
We have a fantastic range of resources for each area including:
An extensive range of graded readers, including PM readers
Numicon
Literacy and numeracy games suitable for all class levelsEAL Resources, Social Stories, OT Resources, Nexus Pegs to Paper, Handwriting Without Tears, 13 Chrome Books and 5 Apple Ipads, Mindfulness meditations and activities

These resources are also utilised during team teaching lessons.

Our skills and resources enable us to ensure that we facilitate all learning styles using a multi-sensory approach.  We enjoy utilising a variety of programmes and assessments within our SET Room including:

Literacy (Test 2r, Jackson Phonics Assessment, Circle Time, Phonological Awareness Training, Toe by Toe, The Schonell Graded Word Reading/Spelling Tests, Single Word Spelling Test, Literacy Profiles)
Oral Language (EAL flashcards, games and assessments, Non Reading Intelligence Test)
Numeracy (The Maths Assessment for Teaching and Learning Levels 5-7, Numicon)
Typing Skills (BBC Dance Mat Typing Program)
Fine Motor Skills (Nexus Pegs to Paper, Handwriting Without Tears Program)
Gross Motor Skills (BIAP, OT Resources, Yoga)
Creative Writing (Mind Mapping)
Sight Words (Jolly Phonics Program, SNIP, Dolch words games)
Reading Fluency (Fry Sight Word Lists, Reader’s Theatre, Social Sight Vocabulary)
Mindfulness Matters – (Still Space for Kids - Meditations for Children designed by Ann Caulfield and Derval Dunford)

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