St. Peter's Primary Bray Blog

It is autumn and in 2nd Class we are taking part in the ‘Signs of autumn 2013 Twitter Project’ with 5th Class. We are going to get in contact with other schools on our new Twitter account and talk about autumn. We will record podcasts, make art, tweet messages, take photos and get outside to see Autumn in our area. We want to see signs of Autumn and tell you all about it!

We are following the #anfomhar hashtag on Twitter and we will put this into all of our tweets so you can see our messages with all of the tweets from other schools. We are so excited! Listen to our first #anfomhar podcast!

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Also, look at the amazing artwork that Abbi made at home last night. Ms Brennan asked us to bring in some ‘signs of autumn’ and Abbi made this wonderful picture with her sister and her Mammy! We all loved it and gave her cheers. Well done Abbi!

A huge thank you to all of the parents, past, present and future pupils, families and local supporters who made Saturday’s Open Day such a great success. It was wonderful to see so many new and familiar faces and we hope you enjoyed the day. It was a day that highlighted those things that makes Peter’s such a special school and we couldn’t have done it without your continued support.

The day started at 2pm with an energetic and entertaining performance of the Circle of Life. There was great joy and delight as each class joined the stage and 2nd Class got a special welcome as they entered the hall. The boys and girls went on to perform a number of medleys and they got a fantastic reaction. Ms. Whyte spoke to those gathered and welcomed the audience to the school, inviting everyone to enjoy the day’s activities.

After the performance in the hall, everyone was encouraged to take part in various activities in each room. We had Science, IT, Arts and Crafts and Numeracy and Literacy work on show and we also gave people an idea of what an infant classroom in St. Peter’s will look like in September 2014! Our neighbours at Hollyoaks Montessori were also open on the day and it was lovely to see all of the younger children taking part in activities with the older children, and many thanks to Susan and Gretta who are always so supportive of our school. We brought people on a tour of St. Peter’s and everyone got a chance to chat to the teachers, current parents and pupils. While all of this was happening, the Parents Council kindly provided free refreshments, teas and coffee in the hall. We also had face-painting and cupcake decorating, with huge interest in the outdoor/PE activities which took place outside in the backyard.

We gave out special passports to attendees and you got a stamp on your passport for every room you visited. We almost had to ring the passport office to help us out with extra copies as the demand for the passports was so high! All completed passports were entered into a free draw with some great prizes on offer.

Newcomers to our school commented on how colourful, bright and child-friendly the school was and there was a really positive reaction when everyone saw the different Disney/Pixar themes picked to decorate each room and corridor. Why don’t you check out which movies we picked on the video above?

Anyone who took enrolment forms on the day are reminded that the enrolment morning will be on this Wednesday, 2nd October, between 9am and 12pm. Please note that forms cannot be accepted before this date. Extra forms are available from any of the teachers or from Karen in the office. Please don’t hesitate to contact anyone in the school for more information. Keep an eye out for a post later in the week thanking all of our amazing and generous local sponsors!

Thanks again for your involvement and support on such a great day in our school!

Last week, Culture Night took place across the country. We already posted about our fantastic contribution to the Signal OutDoors project – worth checking out here if you haven’t already! The Mermaid ran a number of events on the night, including children’s animation workshops.

We in St Peter’s booked two places for our students to take part in the stop-motion animation workshop. Leon from 5th and Eduard from 6th took part and had a fantastic time. Both students are looking forward to teaching their classes how to use stop-motion animation. Maybe Film Club will be in the style of Wallace and Gromit this year! Another famous example of stop motion animation is Fantastic Mr Fox, which we went to see (also in the Mermaid) two years ago as part of our FAB (Film And Book) Project.

The group who organised the workshop edited the stop-motion clips from all the children into one video. Well done to Eduard and Leon – their clips are very entertaining. You might notice that Leon’s clip is a sequel to Eduard’s! Thanks to the staff of the Mermaid for organising the workshop – the Mermaid’s excellent children’s programme can be found here – some great films coming up in the next few months. Without further ado, St Peter’s proudly presents…

Culture Night at The Mermaid Arts Centre from Eimhin McNamara on Vimeo.

Are you coming to our Open Day this weekend? It’s on between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday 28th September. The countdown is on!

In case you need a little bit of help finding our school, you can use this Google Map to see where we are.

Our address is:

St. Peter’s Primary School,

Hawthorn Rd.,

Bray,

Co. Wicklow.

We’re looking forward to seeing you this Saturday!

View Larger Map

Seo Rang a Dó ag obair go dian, ag caint agus ag canadh as Gaeilge. Tá an-obair déanta acu. Maith sibh ar fad!

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Congratulations to the boys and girls of St. Peter’s on their involvement in another wonderfully organised local event.

We  were absolutely delighted to be a part of the incredibly colourful and creative project ‘Signal Outdoors’ displayed, on the 20th September, Culture Night 2013.

Individual artists, schools and local groups were invited to paint or cover doors with their own images and designs. The doors were assembled to create the centrepiece of the evening’s events. The doors were on display outside the Signal Arts Centre on Albert Avenue and it was a sight to behold.

There was also a series of workshops on the night, including printing, plaster casting and painting. Everything was free of charge and it was well enjoyed by everyone.

I think you’ll agree that the door looked absolutely wonderful, it was so colourful and presented all of the best things that you’ll find behind the doors of our school; reading, writing, maths, song, music, science, play, dance and sport. The back of the door had a beautifully painted image of a boy handing a lantern to a girl dressed in our new school uniform, signifying the enrolement of girls to St. Peter’s Primary. The name of every child in the school was also put on flowers at the back of the door.

Congratulations to Paddy and the students who worked so hard to present and prepare the door. You are a credit to your school and the local community!

From early morning, it became clear that Friday wasn’t an ordinary day in St Peter’s! Staff and students raided their wardrobes for their brightest clothing and took part in Rainbow Day – a very special non-uniform day in aid of Wicklow Hospice!

Each class had wonderful outfits and prizes were awarded – Abbi Douglas in 2nd class managed to wear every colour of the rainbow. 3rd class did a fantastic job of sticking to the theme – Ms Byrne had a tough job narrowing it down to just one, but TJ was the eventual winner. In 4th class, Abhishek was a worthy winner thanks to his fantastic jumper! 5th class was another tough  choice, but Luke O’Brien edged it because he risked frostbite with shorts and t-shirts for the day! 6th class had two winners, unsurprisingly awarded to the double act of Kyle and Sky – we hear rumours that they’ve already planned their Halloween costumes! The staff also got into the swing of things –  special mention should go to Ms Byrne, whose multicoloured boots were the source of great jealousy! Paddy wore green and red, convenient considering Sunday’s big game!

Apart from admiring the fantastic effort put into the outfits, we’re extremely grateful for all the donations we received today – we raised €366.60 for Wicklow Hospice, a huge achievement for a small school!

We presented the cheque to Billy Porter, who does a lot of fundraising work for Wicklow Hospice, and for many other charities and community groups. Billy is turning 50 next week and he’s having a party in Rathdrum in aid of Wicklow Hospice so we had more than just a cheque to present to him. Billy also does fantastic work with athletics in the county and helps to organise many of the school athletic events. To say thanks, the staff and students of St Peter’s presented him with the cakes for his party, which takes place on Saturday. Billy was delighted with the cakes, the donation to the Hospice and with the excellent rendition of Happy Birthday by the whole school! We were delighted to welcome Billy to the school and we hope to turn our non-uniform days for the Hospice into an annual event. Thanks to all who helped out – especially to Ben and Oisín in 5th, who are available for event planning and cake protection!

Shiver me timbers! Sure today be Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Some of us wandered around the school and recorded some students talking like pirates – what do you think? We had great fun! We’re off to the high seas!

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ps. Ms. Sexton had a cool joke. What is a pirate’s favourite letter? ARRRRRRRRR!

Flickr/kafka4prez

In the first of a series of posts about the wonderful after-school clubs in St. Peter’s, we’d love to introduce you to our Singing Club!

Singing Club is held in the library after-school on Thursdays. It is run by Paddy and Ms. Sexton and everyone is welcome! The group sing lots of different types of music and have sung in the RDS and in the local Gospel Rising celebration.

Our favourite type of music is pop music, and we love karaoke style singing. We will be taking part in the Hallelujah Choir singing competition this year, singing in the RDS, and also hope to play a part in 2014’s Gospel Rising.

Do think you have what it takes to be a part of the group? It costs nothing but your effort counts for everything. We’d love to see you there! Just ask Ms. Sexton or Paddy for more info!