There was lots of fun activity on Tuesday June 18th as we held our Sport’s Day.

4th to 6th Classes have been working with artist and insect lover Nessa Darcy over the past few months.  Together they have learned lots about insects and bees and their importance in the pollination process.  They have created some lovely artwork and have sung this song which contains an important message.

Where have all the Wildfowers Gone?

Some of the artwork is on display in the village phone box.

There are some very interesting events taking place as part of the Geashill Bioblitz.

A meeting of the Board of Management took place on Tuesday 28th May.
You can read a report of the meeting here.

Workshop for Parents
This information session will explore some of the key elements in preparing your child for post-primary school. For first time parents, the session will give you an understanding of what secondary school is like. We’ll look at ways in which parents can support their child through this time bearing in mind that going to First Year also coincides with adolescence for a young person.
The session will also give a brief overview of the new Junior Cert and provide some website links where parents can keep on top of developments as their child moves forward. Furthermore, we will briefly look at the structure of parent/teacher meetings, home school communication and people your child might meet in post primary school.

Venue: Central Hotel Tullamore
Dates: Thursday 13th June 2019
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Facilitator: Margaret Joyce, National Parents Council Facilitator
To book a place on this presentation, please contact Yvonne, Laois Education Centre at (057) 8672402 or yvonne@laoisedcentre.ie

· There is no fee for the above course.
· Booking is essential.
· Places are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Congratulations to the children from 2nd Class who made their First Holy Communion on Saturday.

Thanks also to the children who sang so beautifully in the choir on Saturday morning and to their parents for getting them there.

Over the past couple of months all classes have been covering the Stay Safe Programme as part of the SPHE curriculum.

What is Stay Safe?
The programme aims to give children the skills necessary to enable them to recognise and resist abuse/victimisation and teaches them that they should always tell (an adult that can help) about any situation which they find unsafe, upsetting, threatening, dangerous or abusive.

You can find out more about the programme and the lessons taught in school here.

It is important to speak to your children about the topics covered in the programme and encourage them to talk to you about any issues that may arise.

We undertake standardised testing twice in the school year. 1st to 6th Classes complete these tests in October each year and results are communicated to parents at our Parent-Teacher meetings in November.
Every May 2nd, 4th and 6th Classes are tested again. Results are given to parents in the school report and are also submitted to the Department of Education. 6th Class’ results are also given to the Secondary Schools as part of the Education Passport process. To find out more about standardised tests click here.

Offaly County Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development provided funding under the Digital Innovation Programme to roll out this new digital initiative for 16 primary schools in Offaly. The aim is to expose students to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) fundamentals within the context of building, coding and programming a robot using Vex IQ.

The students competed against 15 other schools from Offaly in the Vex IQ Offaly Championships on the 16th of May.
After an evening of various challenges the Geashill team won the Coding and Programming 1st prize. This was a great achievement and well done to the pupils in 6th Class who along with Mrs. Bell worked very hard on the project over the last couple of months. Special thanks also to Offaly County Council for organising this event and for all their support throughout the process.

The picture above shows the pupils being presented with their trophy by Seán Canney, Minister of State for Digital Development.

Active School Week takes place next week.  As well as all our usual activities we will be trying out badminton, tug of war, zumba, ju jutsu and much more besides.  We’ll also be having active homework for all classes.  Get all the family involved and remember Be Active!