Ennis National School- 5^th Class

Teachers: Mr. Curtin, Ms. Moran and Mr. Enright

During the year the children participate in a wide range of activities as part of the fifth class programme including:

Sport

Over the course of the year, fifth class pupils have opportunities to represent the school in Gaelic football, hurling, camogie, soccer and basketball. School teams are entered in interschool competitions in each of these sports. It is school policy that a pupil will only represent the school in a maximum of two sporting areas. This ensures maximum participation of interested fifth class pupils on school teams.

The fifth classes perform a gymnastic routine for their peers and younger classes. They perform rolls, tumbles, jumps, balances, lifts and much more in group sequences.

Swimming lessons are offered in the first term. Pupils are chosen to represent the schools at the annual interschool swimming gala.

In the second term, cross-country running is offered at lunchtime for interested pupils. The training sessions conclude with cross country trials to pick teams for the inter schools cross country running championships. The highlight of the sporting year for fifth class pupils is the School Sports Day, The Sports Day is structures to facilitate both participation and competition. Eagerly anticipated events each year are the school mile and the school sprints. The McCullagh Shield tug-of-war brings with it great excitement and is a favourite event among parents and children alike.  The McCullagh Shield in concluded on Sports Day, making it extra special for the fifth classes.

5^th Class Football League

Every Spring We Start our fifth class football league. It begins with a few weeks of skills training and development. We then divide the children into six teams of equal ability and run off and fun league. We have a division one, two and three final so each child gets a chance to play in a final. The focus is on skill development, inclusion and above all else FUN.

Mc Cullagh Shield

The Mc Cullagh Shield began many moons ago, when Mr. Glynn was in his prime! It started out with a sporting focus. The three fifth classes competed against eachother in many different sports including Uni-hoc, soccer, Gaelic Football, Hurling, swimming, tag rugby, cross country, sprints, tug-of-war, basketball and rounders. The Mc Cullagh family, a local coal merchant family, donated the Mc Cullagh shield to the school when their 5^th class child was participating in the events. It is an all inclusive competition encouraging all children to participate in physical activity with the school. All Children are given the opportunity to participate in all the various sports. In recent years we have expanded the Mc Cullagh Shield into other areas of the curriculum. We now have competitions in chess, draughts, quiz, art, hand-writing aswell as the very exciting sing off!We also have random uni-form checks. The Mc Cullaghs have since donated another trophy to the school and the Mc Cullagh shield remains the highlight of the fifth class year.

Information and communication Technology

 On completion of fifth class the children will have acquired a minimum level of competence both in the use of I.C.T equipment and in computing skills. We have access to interactive whiteboard technology in two of our fifth classes with the other fifth class getting frequent access to the two whiteboards also. Each Child will become very familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint  and will complete many projects using this program.

Music:

Our school Choir is made up of pupils from fourth to sixth classes and practice twice weekly. The Choir performs at all school celebrations. One of the highlights of the year for the choir is the Christmas Morning Mass at Ennis Cathedral.

Our school church music group is open to traditional musicians from fourth to sixth class. Practices take place weekly. The group performs at all school celebrations.

The school band is invited to many public performances including the ‘big switch on’ of the Christmas in Ennis. Each year the band participates in the annual ‘Band Spectacular with pupils from Knockanean and Milford schools. Last year’s Band Spectacular took place in Thomand Park. The band practices weekly and is open to musicians from fourth to sixth classes.

We also hold a 5^th class concert, where anyone with a musical talent (or drama talent)

Perform in front of the other fifth class children. We have a sing-along of Christmas carols also during this concert.

Quizzes

Ennis National School has a very strong quiz tradition. Each Autumn, class and school quizzes are held to find the school’s Quiz Brain. School quiz teams have been very successful both locally and nationally and compete in many events over the course of the school year.

Boardgames

The chess and draughts clubs meet weekly, every Wednesday and the school chess tournament takes place in the summer term. Teams from fifth class also take part in inter-school chess tournaments throughout the year.

Draughts club is held every Tuesday during the winter months. Representative teams compete in the local draughts competitions and also in the Community Games

Awards

The Principal’s Awards are given monthly to pupils who excel in school life through attainment, community spirit or effort. Sportspersons of the year awards are presented at the sixth class graduation celebrations.

Art

The fifth classes have the opportunities to summit entries for the following art competitions:

Credit Union

Texaco Art

Féile na hÍnse ealaín

Community games

Tidy towns Art

Arts Festival

Health information Day

As well as interschool competitions

Science

The fifth classes attend the annual science show at Glór where they are exposed to a variety of experiments from all the different strands in the science curriculum including, forces, magnetism, electricity, heat and sound.

Library

Each fifth class visit and are encouraged to join the library. The children take out and return books to the library regularly during the summer term.

Write a Book

All fifth class children are encourage to produce and design a book during fifth class. We have had many winners in a variety of categories over the years.

Projects

In fifth class we produce many individual, paired and group projects on a variety of subjects, such as, history, geography, science, religion and art. We create many PowerPoint presentations as projects also. Each year we visit the Riches of Clare museum and complete a project based on what we saw.

Bóthar Cake Sale

Before the Christmas holidays we have a bring and buy sale in the fifth class rooms, where generous contributions form the parents (Including delicious cakes, buns, etc.) are sold by the children to raise money to send livestock to various African countries. It is a great opportunity for the children to help people in need, and one they thoroughly enjoy.