Ennis National School

Spring has arrived at last and our young  Ennis N.S. golfers are taking to the range.  With our annual School Golf Classic teed up for April 28^th this year, Mondays and Wednesdays see some of our interested 5^th and 6^th class pupils getting in some early practice.

They have been receiving coaching at the Golf Arena in Ennis, and practising their swinging under supervision. Many thanks to Deputy Principal Mr. Glynn for setting up this opportunity.

Places Available!

Ennis NS staff members have completed three of the five Incredible Years’ Teacher Classroom Management training days. We now need parents to come forward for the Incredible Years Parent Programme which complements this. The programme will begin in February and continue for 12 weeks on Tuesday mornings. It aims to improve relationships between parents and children, by providing fresh ideas on how to praise and reward effectively, how to set boundaries, and how to develop your child’s self-esteem and learning through play. You will have the opportunity to meet parents with children in the same age group and make new friends.

The course will take place one morning per week for two hours at the Clarecare building on Harmony Row in Ennis. Lunch will be provided afterwards. The course is free of charge and will be facilitated by Eve Brennan and Nóirín Long of Clarecare. There will be treats and rewards provided weekly to be enjoyed at home.

The Incredible Years Parent programme uses video examples of real-life parents and children, and involves group discussions about everyday challenges and concerns that parents may have. Step-by-step suggestions on how to handle these will be provided. Quotes from previous participants: “It gave me more confidence; my child loved the praise and would do a lot more for me”. “It made my relationship with my child much stronger”.

Our Ennis NS Incredible Years Parent Course begins with a Coffee Morning on Feb. 6^th. The formal 12 – week sessions will commence after the midterm break. Places are limited so if you are interested please contact Eve Brennan (Clarecare) 065-9052817 or Nóirín Long (Clarecare) 065-6828178, or enquire in the school.

A fundraiser Flag Day for the school took place in town last Saturday. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful and there were not many people out and about on the streets. Despite this, our stalwart collectors managed to gather over 1,100 euro for school funds. Thanks to the parents and staff who took part as collectors: Bridget O’Brien, Susan Taylor, John O’Connor, Tom Murray, Tom Glynn, Sarah Bennett, Niamh Rynne, Marie Meere, Sheila Nugent, Teresa Roche, Claire Mungovan, Bernie O’Connell, Siobhán O’Neill, Emer Cunningham, Daire Dwyer, Leahnora Clohessy, Ann Bourke, Deirdre Mahony, Catherine Gleeson, Sandra Shanahan, Ester Chambers, Edel Murray, Pat Kearney, Geraldine Kavanagh, Eoin Walsh, Collette Browne, Roisin McAndrew, Niamh McDermott, Aileen Broderick, Claire Howard,Michelle Marron, Neil Coffey, Tara Cooney, Martin McInerney, Liz Spring, Anne Flanagan, Ken Hickey, Yvonne, Griffin, Ronan Doherty, Mary Moran.

Last week the Reading Class went on an outing to the Local Studies Library in Ennis where a huge collection of materials relating to the history of Co. Clare is stored. There we were met by Mr. Peter Beirne who showed us some really old newspapers from the 19^th century, both local and national. The earliest papers had no illustrations at all and were full of very small writing. Then some newspapers began to publish drawings and eventually photographs appeared.

There are copies of old Clare Champions and Clare People newspapers in the Reading Room. They are bound into big books for each year. Artist Hillary Gilmore happened to be there doing some research on Paradise House of which she is about to do drawings. We had an interesting chat with her.  Then we looked at the Champion of December 1945 and saw the obituary for Mr. Sean Gordon, who was principal of Ennis NS at the time of his death. In the Clare Champion of March 1946 we read about the appointment of Mr. Brian Kelly as the new principal. Some really old papers are available on microfiche in the Local Studies Library.  We saw a Clare Journal from 1898 with a big article about the foundation of our school.

Examining 19th century newspapers: http://tinyurl.com/7gb2xpn

Mr. Beirne kindly allowed us in to see former president Eamonn deValera’s old Dodge car up close. It is on display behind the Local Studies Library.   We really enjoyed this outing and learned a lot. It is a great place to go for information on Co. Clare and it is all for free.

Congratulations to 6th class pupil Karen McNamara who took part in the Leinster  Badminton Open on January 17th. She competed in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles competition. Her doubles partner was Ennis NS past pupil Lana Browne. Karen is a member of the Irish U-13 badminton squad.

Congratulations to our 6^th class students and their teacher Ms. Marren on their success at the Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin. They took part in the Primary Science Fair 2012 on January 12^th , with their science project entitled ‘Music and Sound’.

They demonstrated seven different sound experiments which illustrated the scientific principles behind the working of wind and stringed instruments.

These were very popular with the viewing public in attendance at the RDS and received a very positive evaluation from the judges.

Daniel accepted the crystal plaque on behalf of the class. Well done to our Ennis National School Young Scientists !