Our Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Classes enjoyed a visit to the National Concert Hall last week. The Music in the Classroom event features the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra. It gives the audience an opportunity to experience the unique sound of live music in a purpose built setting, along with encouraging them to enjoy a broad range of classical music.

The programme included work from the composers John Williams, Jean Sibelius, Peadar Townsend and Piotr Ilyih Tchaikovsky. Audience involvement was very much encouraged with singing and ceilidh dancing.

Above all, it's great to have fun with music- a great way to encourage the musicians of the future. 

With their eyes on the prize, Mr Arthur and Mr Culligan arrived into school very early last Wednesday morning to get the sliotar rolling for another great season of hurling.

Forty one boys gathered for the 8 o'clock session. Soon the air was filled with the steady thump of sliotars on walls and the clash of the hurleys as the Clare men coached the boys on some vital hurling skills. 

This sport has gone from strength to strength in the last few years in our school. And we are grateful indeed, to all who rise so early for these sessions-and to all of the parents who support this great work.

These boys have been elected by their classmates to form our Students Council for this year. They do amazing work bringing suggestions from their classmates for making life even better all around our school.

So far, they've helped out at our monthly assemblies and our annual Christmas Coffee Morning and Cake Sale. They added their thoughts to our new Code of Behaviour and have given us ideas for improving our yard such as refreshing the yard markings and adding benches to our sheltered areas.

Best of all-these guys can talk!  Along with Ms Smith and Ms Callan, we all meet every third Wednesday at lunch time. They are full of great ideas, of enthusiasm, school spirit and bring the pupils' perspective to decisions made in our school.
Congrats on earning your Students Council pins this week, lads!

Street Smart is the exciting and highly interactive programme that all of our pupils are enjoying this week.  The brilliant education arm of the Road Safety Authority brought it to our school hall this week. The entire scene was set up by Sonny and his team on Monday morning. It stays in place for the week and Celine and Tim, both teachers with the RSA, take each class through their paces and teach them lots of aspects of traffic safety.

The venture has been well received by a variety of classes so far.  Traffic safety has been a huge concern for both staff and parents. Encouraging our pupils to Stop! Look! and Listen! when crossing our roads, and understanding the perspective of drivers, cyclists and other road users too as they role play traffic scenarios improves their road safety awareness.

At the end of their session each participant receives a personalized safety licence. And, while the lessons are highly engaging and great fun, there is a serious message at the heart of it all:road safety is all our business.

Welcome back to a whole new term and whole new year in Donacarney Boys' School. Lots of boys were delighted with this week's Drogheda Independent's full page spread on our recent concert! High praise from our Creative Arts' Asociate, Declan Gorman! The article appeared in last Tuesday's edition of the newspaper but there is still time to grab a copy from your local newsagent. 

Watch out for the Meath Coaster too, this month. They feature regular articles on our school. You'll find their archive here and their magazines are also widely distributed in our locality.

And what on earth in happening in our school hall this week? Tune in here tomorrow to find out!

Pics from today's Christmas Mass. We celebrated as a whole school. We are still in the Advent season, waiting for the Birth of Jesus and looking forward to Christmas. Thank you Fr. Joseph for coming to our school to celebrate this special Mass!

Wishing all our pupils and families a lovely, safe, joyful holiday! See you all next year!

Ms Mullen's Sixth class have been beavering away with an exciting Christmas craft project. They have recently taken to sewing and, having practised stitching pieces of material together and, taken very practical lessons in how to sew on buttons, they came up with their own unique Christmassy craft creations!

As you can see from the photos, the sewing classes were great for their concentration. 

But look closely at the finished Christmas ornaments. Yes, every boys sewed several buttons onto the felt material. Then they stitched the felt shapes together, stuffed them and added the ribbon.

Who knows? These boys could be masters of craft making in years to come. They might develop their own craft companies. Or just be able to sew a button on a shirt.  Either way, they've each got a Christmas creation to take pride of place on any Christmas tree.

​Merry Christmas everyone! 

Well done to the boys in Ms Mullen and Ms McBride's classes. They visited Moorehall Nursing home this week to sing for the residents there.

The residents were delighted with the boys' visit but none more so than Eamon Faulkner, former Donacarney boy, now ninety one and as sharp as a tack. Eamon had attended Donacarney school in its original incarnation in the red brick building at the top of our road and recalled a very different era when teachers weren't quite as kind nor life as easy.

The caregivers and nurses in Moorehall also had a warm welcome for all our boys and presented them with selection boxes at the end of their recital.

Thanks to bus drivers Barry Ussher ans John Shiels who brought our choir to Moorehall and to Ms Mullen and Ms McBride who's idea this wonderful, thoughtful and inspiring visit was.

Mr Arthur's Fifth Class love Christmas. They will persuade you to love Christmas too, after you have looked at all their reasons.

Last Thursday evening our third, fourth, fifth and sixth class teachers brought joy and delight to the  extended school community with our Christmas Concert. An estimated crowd of seven hundred people turned up on the evening and were thrilled with a variety of performances which were delivered by all of the boys with great concentration, expertise and talent.

Both Sixth Classes formed the choir for the evening. Under the direction of Ms Mullen, Ms McBride and Ms McWeeney, they were expertly accompanied by Ms Milne, Ms Gerard, Ms Cronin, Ms Smyth and Seán McWeeney.  They delighted with a broad range of music in between the various staged productions.
 
 First up were Third Class boys with their stage production of Yo! Ho! Ho! A Pirates Christmas. Singing and dancing beneath the Jolly Roger, the boys performed with aplomb under the direction of Mrs Brennan, Mr Lynch and Mr Ryan,
 
 Mr Culligan’s and Ms Colleran’s Fourth Classes delighted with their Shadow Dance. Their innovative choreography played out behind a specially constructed set to the Ms McWeeney’s melodious rendition of “Fix You” by Coldplay.
 
Our marvellous Parents’ Association’s had recently gifted the school with a set of ukeleles. And this was well rewarded when Ms Gerrard’s Fifth Class delighted the audience with their playing and singing. This, after just one term of lessons was a truly remarkable achievement! They rounded off their session with Amhrán na gCupán(The Cup Song) as Gaeilge.
 
 Mr Arthur’s Class delighted with a medley of pop songs and an original and very funny version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, referencing everything to do with their school lives from hurling, to tricky spellings, PE and Clare jerseys!

Ms Smyth’s Fourth Class had spent hours rehearsing for their Synchronized Swimming Skit. It was an hilarious dance and dive session to a waltz by Johann Strauss.

All of the performances were interwoven with beautiful singing by Ms McBride's and Ms Mullen's Sixth Classes. Well done, everybody! With supreme effort, dedication and talent you have raised the bar for our future performances and created a night to remember for years to come!
 


​