Tag Archives: school

AN Ennis school has become the first in the country to get on board with an innovative fitness and learning tool, writes Jessica Quinn. St Clare’s has just taken delivery of four ActivAll Boards for use throughout the school with all 83 learners. The learning boards are all based outside in the school grounds and work off electricity helping learners with daily physical and mental activities to get their heart rate going as well as developinng hand-eye coordination and motor skills. Principal John Murphy said the school community and young people have waited a long time for the boards to be installed but now they are here the staff and learners are using them constantly throughout the day. “Covid and Brexit delayed the arrival of the boards which come from the UK,” said Mr Murphy, noting St Clare’s is the first school in Ireland to engage with this new technology. “All staff received training last week and the boards went …

ENNIS National School students are showing that they aren’t ‘knit-wits’ when it comes to getting ahead for Christmas. The school’s ‘Crafty Crew’ knitting club of third to sixth class students are creating knitted squares for their now annual Christmas tree project. For the past three years instead of pine needles have been using knitting needles to made a community Christmas tree. As part of the project hundreds of knitted squares made by the students, their families and friends, are sewn together to create the unique festive decoration. They are now appealing to anybody who would like to get involved by making their very own patch for the tree to donate it to the project. Ciara Harding from Ennis National School explains, “The children at Ennis National School are currently working on knitting squares for their annual Christmas Tree Project. Over the past three years we have combined our work at school with squares from parents ,grandparents and friends of Ennis National School …

WHILE the sun was shining and temperatures were well over 20 degrees, the children of Ennis National School were in their classrooms on Wednesday, their summer holidays over once again. Under normal circumstances very few people, either teachers or pupils, would look forward to going back to school, but with so little time having been spent in the classroom since Covid jolted everyone out of their old routines, the late August/early September blues might be a little softer this year. Ennis National School principal Brian Troy said that while much work had to be done to get his school ready, it wasn’t nearly as severe as when reopening in 2020. “There was a lot of preparation, but it wasn’t as intense as last year with all the changes in relation to Covid-19. All of those changes are remaining in place, we’re advised by the Department to keep those going and we have all the normal stuff, there’s the maintenance of …

A SCHOOL in the county was targeted by fraudsters who managed to compromise the principal’s email, however no funds were stolen, gardaí have confirmed. According to Clare Gardaí the financial officer of the school was contacted by a scammer pretending to be the school principal authorising payment to a company. In light of this, Clare Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks has issued advice to businesses, urging “robust policies and procedures” be put in place when it comes to dealing with banking details. She outlined, “The financial officer in a school in the county received an e-mail which looked like it was from the principal of the school authorising payment to a company who had not done any work in the school. “The principal’s email had been compromised but thankfully it was discovered before any payment was made.” Sergeant Brooks advises, “Ensure staff take great care and attention each time they are asked to change bank account details. “Check the …

EFFORTS by patrons to ensure a place at second level is made available to all pupils in Ennis and feeder communities have been commended. Deputy Joe Carey praised the “proactive action” of the patrons of Ennis post-primary schools in helping to alleviate parents and children’s stress about the issue. A statement issued by George O’Callaghan, CEO Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, (LCETB) has said that a virtual meeting of the schools concerned took place recently. The statement was issued on behalf of the school patrons. “The meeting was to review progress on the issue of pupils without school places for the forthcoming academic year at post-primary in Ennis and establish a unified process to address the problem for the school year 2022/2023 and in forthcoming years,” the statement read. Deputy Carey said that this approach will help to alleviate what has been an ongoing issue for several years in Ennis. “In planning ahead on this and seeking to …

A LACK of secondary school places in Ennis is causing “untold anguish” for local pupils and families. That’s according to Clare TD Joe Carey who has called on Education Minister Norma Foley to address the lack of secondary school places in Ennis “as a matter of urgency”. Deputy Carey spoke out after he was contacted by several distressed parents in recent days whose children have still not received placements in schools in the Ennis area. The local Fine Gael TD has repeatedly made representations on the issue in recent years. But he warned the problem has gotten worse and is creating “a most disturbing situation for pupils’ mental health and well-being”. Deputy Carey this week wrote to Minister Foley urging her to intervene in the crisis. He also attached a letter on behalf of 10 local primary school principals in which they expressed “very serious concerns” for the well-being of students who are still without placements. The deputy said, “The lack of secondary …

AS it stands now, Peter Walsh, principal of St Conaire’s National School in Shannon, expects that he will be welcoming children back to school in September and to be making plans for the return quite soon. “At the moment, we are watching for guidelines from the Department of Education and Skills. They have said that they are going to issue guidelines sometimes towards the third week of June. We’re talking to each other, watching the unions to see what they say and the INTO have published a very good piece on it. Locally, we’re watching and we’re doing a deep clean at the moment. We’ve invested in a lot of sanitisers for the entrances and we’re talking to staff as well.” At the moment, it is a little early to do very much, as any measures could be overtaken by events and what the guidelines will ultimately say. St Conaire’s is one of the larger national schools in Clare and …

AN Ennis primary school has been taking homeschooling to another level, keeping connected to students by launching its own online channel. Like all schools across the country, Holy Family Ennis has been deeply impacted by the arrival of Covid-19. A group of teachers at the school came together to formulate an online learning plan to support their students and from this, Progress TV was born. Co-ordinator and fifth class teacher, Darryl Eade explains, “Social media was inundated with homemade videos when the lockdown began. There were cooks, fitness instructors, health experts and musicians posting recordings from their living rooms. We wondered could a few of us record some simple educational lessons and present them in a fun and light-hearted way. Our hope was that the students would be naturally motivated to engage with each activity. We assembled a team and got started on episode one.” Progress TV has grown into a weekly video classroom with staff from Holy Family Senior …