ICT Grant and Podcast

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Kiltiernan NS received a grant in 2021 to implement initiatives aimed at addressing the digital divide and support our learners at risk of educational disadvantage as a consequence, as part of the Irish National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) a project under the Recovery and Resilience Facility funded by the European Union through NextGenerationEU.

This funding was used to purchase ChromeBooks which we have used to research our Local History. This research led to a wonderful project that the Senior Room completed recently. ‘Reeling in the years’ was an Oral History project, undertaken by the pupils in 4th, 5th & 6th class. It was  produced and edited by Freeway Media. It was part funded by the Heritage Office, Galway County Council under Community Support  Grant scheme and Burren Beo.

We began with a series of Zooms with Burren Beo exploring ‘Our Place’ in term 1.

We then settled on our project theme and title. The project was divided into four areas to explore-Local History, Folklore in the area, School life in the past, Culture in South Galway.

Sally Ann Barrett from Freeway Media hosted a workshop to show us how to use the sound equipment and record the podcasts. Invitations were sent to local historians, past pupils, friends of Kiltiernan to join us for the recording. Meanwhile the pupils got busy compiling their questions, outros and intros for the recordings.

Finally the day of recording arrived on May 15th. It was a huge success & a wonderful intergenerational exploration of our local community. Editing followed and we are delighted with the finished products!

Please click on the links below to access the podcasts.

 Kiltiernan Folklore Ep 2 (1).mp3

Kiltiernan History Ep 1.mp3

STEM AWARD FOR KILTIERNAN N.S.

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STEM AWARD FOR KILTIERNAN N.S.

In the beginning of February Ms Forde introduced us to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). STEM is a programme to interest children in technology, engineering etc. We were working towards the SFI Discover Science Maths Award.

One of the days in school we had a showcase for the parents so they could see the results of all our projects. Ms Forde took some pictures after that we were finished our STEM programme.

 A few weeks later our school received a notice saying that they were satisfied that we had met all the criteria for the STEM award.

Here is some feedback from the Discover Primary Science and Maths Team: ‘Great log, clearly laid out, focussed on children’s work and colourful with lots of photos. Your towers, wells and wind farm looked fantastic. Congratulations on your award and keep up the Award and keep up the good work!’

                                                                          By Lauren

                                                                           5th Class

 

Junior Room Blog

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September This month as we settled back to school we welcomed the new infants to Kiltiernan N.S. We had to get used of our new surroundings and as part of this Ms. Forde brought us on an autumn nature trail outside. We spotted different signs of autumn in our environment like leaves changing colour and […]

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Halloween Dress Up 2018

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Halloween Dress Up 2018

The pupils of Kiltiernan gathered in the halla for an assembly in October and the principal told everyone that there would be a Halloween dress up competition on the last day of school before the holidays! 

Sadhbh, Katie, Gabriel and Róise were some of the winners. My favourite costumes were the bookworm, the Rubik’s cube (Eimear), the fairy pirate (Róise) and last but definitely not least, ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ (Erin, 5th Class). Every year the children dress up in their costume feeling proud on stage with their class and as a pupil, I can safely say this is the highlight of our Halloween.

Biz-World by Bank of Ireland

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Biz-World 2018

The Senior Room from Kiltiernan N.S decided to participate in a small business programme run by the Bank of Ireland for primary schools. Alan (our coordinator) simply walked us through each step of this programme. We were put in groups and had to come up an invention or idea that we thought we could use in the future. We also had to come up with a clever name for our companies, a name for our inventions and come up with a slogan. Alan had told us that when all the groups have finished their new ‘inventions’ he would be sending in ‘dragons’. Biz-world was very similar to Dragon’s Den except, that this wasn’t real money, and this was a children’s version but we all had a blast taking part in this programme. We had 2-3 weeks to work on our ideas until all the groups were finished. By the final day all the groups had amazing inventions and such clever ideas!

Finally, when all the groups were finished, the day came that we would be presenting our inventions to the dragons. Group by group we went up to the top of classroom to present out brilliant ideas to the dragons.  The dragons were all really impressed with our ideas and they knew that we put a lot of hard work into them. Some of the ideas include the following:

  • A pair of Bluetooth gloves that can work by themselves
  • A fitness app that you must use before using an electric device with many options of exercises
  • A self-functioning cage for dogs
  • A layer of mesh under the bottom of the car so no animals can get caught in the engine

Overall we thought this programme was very fun and enjoyable and we all agreed we would do it again!

 

 

By Gráinne, 6th class

Our Christmas Fair

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Our Christmas Fair

Our Christmas Fair was held on the 9th of December 2018. There were lots of preparations for the fair weeks beforehand. Before the fair officially opened, our choir walked down to the church and we sang a few carols to encourage everyone at Mass to follow us back to the hall. The fair had many stalls including baking, slime and books and there was an area where you could do some art with the help of Orla, who had been coming to after-school for a few weeks to give art lessons. The fair also contained a kids area where you could make a donation and get your face painted, you could get your nails painted and there was also a sweet shop. There was also a Christmas fair raffle which took place by the stage of the hall. There were also guessing games such as how many sweets are in the jar. Overall, the Christmas Fair did extremely well this year. We raised a total of €11,887 for our school. Our raffle netted €5,295 and our Christmas Fair on the day netted €6,592. The Christmas Fair was a great success and it was lots of fun to help out with the 6th Class Baking Stall.

By Eimear, 6th Class

History Trip with Tom O’Doherty

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History Trip with Tom O’Doherty

 

On October 12th 2018, classes from Kiltiernan NS hopped on a bus with local history expert Tom O’Doherty to visit and learn about a few local history sights including the Mausoleum (Caher Cré) and Kilmacduagh Tower just outside Gort and Coole Park.

      First, we visited the Mausoleum in Ardrahan. I was very excited as I had never actually visited the Mausoleum. Mr. O’Doherty told us that the Mausoleum was built to house the remains of John Charles Robert Bingham who died in 1876. His wife and brother were also buried here, and all were removed in 1945 for reburial in Ardrahan Church. Unfortunately you can’t actually see where the Bingham’s are now buried in Labane Church. Tom told us that the coffins were placed in metal “boxes” so no air could get in meaning that if you opened the coffin now all the bodies would look the same as they did the day they died.

      We then jumped back on the bus to visit the Round Toweer at Kilmacduagh, 5km south of Gort town. On the way to Kilmacduagh Tom told us about St Colman’s Well where St Colman is said to be baptised.

      After we arrived in Kilmacduagh most of us went straight to the round tower which is over 32 metres tall. Tom O’Doherty told us that according to legend, Saint Colman MacDuagh was walking through the woods of the Burren when his girdle fell to the ground. Taking this as a sign, he built his monastery on that spot. It is also said no man will ever die from lightning in the Diocese of Kilmacduagh. After we saw the monks round tower, we walked over to St Colman’s grave which is enclosed by yew trees. Yew trees also surround the wall at the Mausoleum, Tom said this is because the berries on the yew trees are full of deadly poison.

      On the way back we stopped at Coole Park for a short visit to the famous Autograph Tree and Lady Gregory’s dog’s graves. Tom told us about the Autograph Tree and about each signature on it. We then visited Lady Gregory’s dog’s graves which lie at the back of Coole Park’s walled garden.

Overall I think we all had a very enjoyable day and enjoyed learning about some of our local history.

 

Edel, 6th Class    

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Active School

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Kiltiernan NS recognises the importance of keeping fit and being fit for both physical and mental wellbeing. In conjunction with the 3 local schools, we are engaged in a programme during school hours that has been designed by Aoife Lynskey, a PE Teacher from Gort Community School. Last year Gort CS were presented with the prestigious award of Ireland’s Fittest School, and we are excited to be working with Aoife to promote an active and fun programme for our students. Aoife recently conducted beep tests for students from 3rd-6th classes, and each child is aiming to beat their original results over the next 4 weeks – so keep moving everyone!

Hospice Coffee Morning 2018

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We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported our 5th Annual Coffee Morning in aid of Galway Hospice, on September 20th. As always our wonderful bakers provided lots of goodies for this special morning. We raised an amazing €715.60 for the Hospice which will be used to provide services in the Galway area. Go raibh maith agat.

Graduation 2018

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On Thursday the 21st of June, 2018’s sixth-class graduated from our school. We put a lot into the preparation, like choir practice, making memory sheets, and practicing our readings. Each child was given a job that- however small and would contribute greatly to the ceremony, including the opening precession, singing solos, and readings.

We started off with the opening precession, which had eight of the sixth-class students bring up items that acted as symbols of our experiences over the years in Kiltiernan N.S.

Then we read out the Liturgy of the Word. Following that we had the Gospel, the Blessing of the Young People,  a parent’s Reflection, a  Blessing of the Parents and Guardians, the Statement of young People, and finally the Prayers of the Faithful.

We followed  this  with the presentation of the Certificates of Attendance and the performance of two songs from the incredibly inspiring musical ‘The Greatest Showman’

Before the ceremony we were told to write letters of thanks to our parents and vice versa. We exchanged them and read them later. Subsequently we were given prayer rocks by Elaine Cunningham.

Afterwards our principal, Miss Leech, gave her address, We received had our special Kiltiernan blessing and we finished with our symbolic balloon release on a beautiful summers’ evening.

 

By: Erin, Adam, and Grace