Sligo native and Member of the European Parliament, Marian Harkin visited our school recently. She came to view our projects which formed part of our application for our Blue Star Programme award. 

The Blue Star Programme encourages us all to grow our knowledge and understanding of the European Union. Boys in various classes chose from a wide variety of themes from Ancient Rome. to the Flags of Europe, and the workings of the European Parliament.

Programme co-ordinator for the school was Ms. Orla Carragher. She represented us at the Blue Star seminar in Dublin recently and led the project presentations to Ms Harkin.

Boys from Ms Smith, Ms. Dunne, Mr Lynch, Ms Gerrard and Mr. Arthur`s classes presented on various aspects of the EU and afterwards engaged Ms Harkin in a lively question and answer session about her work and about the EU.

Ever the teacher, Marian delighted in engaging with the boys and was impressed by both their projects and by their questions. But, the demands of her hectic schedule meant she had to peel herself away and head to another round of meetings, another set of negotiations.

And in her wake, our EU flag flutters proudly in the Mornington sunlight,  symbol of unity, solidarity and harmony.

The boys in Sixth Class are thoroughly enjoying their final term in Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara.  They are kept on their toes with their classwork but also, quite literally, out in our back yard at break time. Ms Smith has made sure of this by encouraging the boys to get involved in a summer handball league. 

We are lucky enough to have a fantastic handball wall in our yard. This, and a handball are all that's needed to ensure a half hour full of fun. Cheering classmates are an added bonus!

It's a wonderful game to watch and to play. And it's been especially good to see some new talent being unearthed as the boys get increasingly competitive. Keep up the work, and the games, boys!

Last Wednesday saw our soccer team emerge victorious after a thrilling of games at the Meath District League in Navan.

The boys played St Colmcille's Kells first and the game ended with a score of 5 goals to 3.

Afterwards, they took on St Joseph's Primary School, Navan. It was thrilling game. St Joseph's really tested our team but in the end there a couple of goals in the difference, with our team winning.

Whitecross were a tough team to beat. Both teams were on equal points but eventually, our team pulled away and finished with a score of 6 2 to claim the Meath championship in this league. The next round of this league sees us in the MDL on one more occasion for the North Leinster round of this championship.

Thanks to Jake from Sixth Class for all the inside information on the MDL series! Best of luck boys with the next round.

1. What word beginning with F is someone who makes arrows?
2. What word beginning with G do you use to describe a traffic situation where no-one can move?
3. Gary and Phil Neville played for which Premier League soccer team?

These were just some of the questions facing our two brave quiz teams in the Credit Union Chapter quiz in Athboy on Saturday.  The audience listened intently, as genial quizmaster, Tommy Weir, fired out the questions to the top teams in Meath's primary schools. 

The quiz would decide which teams from the Junior and Senior squads would qualify for the Leinster Quiz final. Our school were unique in having two teams to represent us. Seán, Lauchie, Daithi and Daniel represented us in the Junior section and Joe, Cormac, Jack and Conor were on our Senior team.

They battled manfully through ten rounds of questions, with an extra two rounds for the senior team. And, at the end of the evening, the Junior team came out with a very respectable fourth position, while the Senior team along with St Patrick's Primary School, Slane got through to the All-Ireland Final!

April 8th is the date, the RDS is the venue and our Seniors are on their way. Meanwhile, the Junior team have two more years of quiz fun and competitions lying ahead of them. 

And the answers to the above questions are:

1. Fletcher
2. Gridlock
3. Manchester United.

All roads lead to Athboy tomorrow, for the next round of the Credit Union Quiz! Our two teams beat all the schools in our local area to claim first place in both the senior and junior sections of Round One!

They`ve been chewing up the quiz books for the past few weeks, and bracing themselves for what is sure to be a hotly contested event  in the next round.

The very best of luck boys! See you tomorrow in Athboy Community School for a 2pm start!

While we all battled with the snow and ice last week, Ms Smith's First Class were navigating ice-bergs and Arctic waters as they re-created the doomed passenger liner Titanic and her final moments at sea.

The whole class are passionate Titanic buffs. They've done their research and know that the Titanic set sail in 1912 with just over passengers aboard.  The storm of last week has given them some idea of what the cold waters of the Arctic were like for the cruise ship as it sailed at speed towards America.

The boys know that the owner of the ship was keen to impress on the world just how fast the enormous passenger ship could travel across the Atlantic. He urged the captain to pick up speed. That decision alone, as the boys in First Class realise, was a foolish one. 

An iceberg was spotted from the ship's crow's nest, directly on the ship's course. But it was too late. 

There are wonderful reconstructions of the Titanic outside the classroom door. Some show the ship in all her glory. Others show it slipping into the Arctic depths, surrounded by drowning passengers and its inadequate supply of lifeboats. 

Some have written about the bravery of Captain Smith. Others about the greed of the ship's owner. Each of them have their own angle on the story.

The ship never made it to America of course. But the tragedy of the Titanic has made its way into every boy's heart in Ms Smith's Class.  

The boys in Ms Smyth's and Ms Campbell's  Senior Infants had a very special visitor to help them celebrate the Chinese New Year. Mrs Zhao-Dunne is a parent of one of the boys in Ms. Smyth's and she had come to tell the boys all about the traditions around the great Chinese celebrations.

The boys were clearly enthralled. They had already explored the topic of China through their Aistear sessions.

​ Mrs Zhao-Dunne explained how the phases of the moon determined the start of the Chinese New Year. She told them the traditional tale of the mythological creature Nian and explained that each Chinese New Year was dedicated to a different animal, with 2018 being the Year of the Dog.

The boys especially loved the Chinese New Year tradition of giving children red envelopes containing money, perhaps a custom they might like to adopt here!  And they delighted too in Mrs Zhao-Dunne's parting gift to them all-their names, written in Chinese characters.

Thank you for such an entertaining afternoon, Mrs. Zhao-Dunne!

                               谢谢 

Mairead McGuinness is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and also Vice President of that Parliament.  The boys from Ms Carragher's Fifth Class and Mr Arthur's Sixth Class were delighted to welcome her to our school during the week.

Mairead has a special interest in education, particularly, of course in relation to the European Union and she came to support our project for the Blue Star Programme. This programme encourages our students to build their knowledge of Europe's culture, history and politics. 

Mairead got to see the work of every class in a slide show presentation of the school's work. Then, the boys in fifth and sixth presented their own projects in person to Mairead. 

An MEP since 2004, Mairead spoke a little about her background in agriculture and media. She also spoke about the difficulties of life as a politician commuting from Dublin to Brussels each week but of the importance work of the EU. Getting representatives from twenty seven nations to agree with one another was often difficult but ultimately has brought a lot of improvements and, vitally, has encouraged peace among nations.

Laytown lady, Emir Smith-Duff also accompanied Ms McGuinness and was equally delighted to chat with the boys and their teachers and answer their questions. She pointed out that the twelve stars on the EU flag symbolized the EU ideals of unity, solidarity and harmony.   

With a plane to catch and meetings to attend, Mairead was whisked away to Dublin Airport but left us all inspired to learn more about the vital work of our European politicians and its parliament.

Wednesday last saw our boys from fifth and sixth classes take on Duleek Boys' School in the second round of the Cooney Cup.  Conditions were perfect on the day and our boys had a spring in their step as they lobbed point after point over the bar.


Duleek boys put up a superb defence. They were fast on their feet and quick to tackle. With a terrific pitch on their school campus, they no doubt had put in plenty of practice in honing their Gaelic football skills.

But the Donacarney boys had been training hard for this occasion too. Under the direction of Mr Arthur, Mr Culligan, Mr Lynch and Mr Duffy they had turned out in droves for their 8 am training sessions and everyone in the squad had a chance to play on the Duleek pitch.

Donacarney also had very welcome support from parents and from the former principal, Mr O'Conghaile. They were thrilled of course with the Donacarney win but know that the next match will be a tough one too.

On the 16th March we will line out again. This time against St Mary's Primary Parish School. We're looking forward to the challenge!