Category Archives: School Blog
Enrolments
Click on the link below to see our Annual Admissions Notice 2023-’24
Please follow link for our Application for Admission Form for the 2023-’24 school period.
Pupil’s Voice-Their Distance Learning Experience
My Lockdown Experience
During lockdown i’ve been playing alot of games on the ps4 andbeen playing outside alot too with my dogs. Ive been helping my mam a lot too with jobs and shopping. I learned how to cook pasta bake. Im looking forward to seeing my friends and playing with them. Im also looking forwrd to going to the beach in youghal and for the swimming pool to open. I hope corona virus will be gone soon.
By Owen
My Lockdown
Every morning I get up early, log on and quickly get my maths done. After that I do the rest of the stuff during the day which is pretty easy.
Also sometimes I would go running at least 1km around the village most days.
Some other things I like to do are my guitar lessons, art and reading.
I know there were a lot of bad things with covid and everything, but there were a few good things like the friday zoom meetings that I would enjoy. I also got a completely new desk and chair which are both a lot more stable than the first one.
With all those out the way there were lots of bad things as well we couldn’t go on holiday again. I also missed not seeing friends.
At times, I have felt happy and sad at different times.
Some of the things I look forward to is getting back swimming, cinema, going further than 5km, GAA and just generally getting outside again.
By Matthew
LOCKDOWN
In lockdown Ive been trying to do things to stay busy even though I feel like
there’s nothing to do, but during lockdown I still did some fun things. My
friends and I facetime a lot more just to keep in touch and even if you were
just facetiming when I was emptying the dishwasher or cleaning our room it
was still a lot of fun to just see a few of us on a call.
Ive also been kept busy with a bit of school work to do every day and it’s just
something to do for a few hours instead of watching tv of going on my
phone.
I also really enjoyed listening to music and expanding my taste in different
genres during lockdown which was one of my ways of escaping into my own
world.
Another way Ive been escaping into a world of my own is by reading which I
have always enjoyed. I re-read the Harry Potter series many times during
lockdown (and before lockdown) because I simply can’t get bored of it. I have
also been reading fantasy books about children exploring into a land of fairy
tales and classics as well as I have read lots of books based on true stories
which I didn’t start reading until last year, of children growing up in a war or
stories from the perspective of different people.
One of the most recent things Ive been doing is learning how to play the
ukulele which has been challenging but lots of fun!
In lockdown I enjoyed spending time with my family and getting more times
to got to the woods of hiking and spending the day at the beach.
I also loved buying things to send over to family in different countries even
though I still missed them a lot.
There were also lots of things I disliked about lockdown like not being able to
see anyone or go to school. Or staying at home and not even going on
summer holidays even thou9gh we went on a few trips around Ireland, but
one of the things I have hated the most recently apart from missing people is
boredom.
There are still many tasks that I still find difficult during lockdown like having
a routine since there’s not much to do so it’s hard to wake up early in the
mornings and go to sleep late at night.
#
Another thing I found challenging was just having to stay home with my
family and as much as I love them sometimes it gets tiring of only seeing
them and no one else.
I’m looking forward to go back to school and see everyone again and have
lots of fun visiting places when this is all over.
By Carla
My Lockdown Experience
Like everyone my lockdown experience has been extremely different to what
was once normal life to us. Even though lockdown has been quite boring at
times it has made us more aware of the things we took for granted before
which we would love to be doing now.
This year and last year we had to move from going to school normally to
having to go to school online. Which is harder for the pupils and teachers at
every school. As soon as we moved to online school it became more difficult to
communicate between our teachers and friends like we used to do. Overall, I
much prefer going to school normally.
Another thing that happened during lockdown was that we were not able to
meet our family and friends. Although we were able to use texting, phone calls
and video calls to communicate with people it was not the same as being able
to meet them in person.
Although the lockdown has been tough at times. It has also made me more
independent when it comes to schoolwork and has helped me to improve my
I.T. skills. This will help me next year in secondary school.
My hobbies have also changed over lockdown before I was used to going to
dance classes for most of the week whereas now I have become a lot better at
baking.
So even though lockdown is hard it has helped me to understand not to take
everything for granted!
By Éabha
My Lockdown/Distance Learning Experience
So far, I’ve really enjoyed Distance Learning, it’s given me a bit
of structure. I obviously miss seeing my classmates everyday
but I can still see them on the Zooms we have every Friday.
These Zooms are really fun. I’ve learned a lot since Christmas
with the projects and the fun activities. Learning from home
has been fun and manageable thanks to the fun activities and
the instructional videos that are sent out every day. Seesaw is a
great app which makes everything a lot easier as everything is
together in one place.
During Lockdown I’ve taken up some new hobbies to keep me
busy along with some hobbies I had before Lockdown. I’ve been
drawing and painting a lot recently which is a good activity to
do while the weather is so bad. I still enjoy playing video games,
Minecraft, Roblox and Animal Crossing being my favourites.
Before Lockdown, I was learning French on an app called
Duolingo and that was really fun so now I’m learning German
too. I also use it to help me get better at Irish. I practice piano
every day and I recently learned how to use a sewing machine,
so I’m having lots of fun doing small sewing projects with scrap
fabric. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been running a lot.
I’m lucky to live so close to Kilbarry Wood, every day that my
Dad is home we run a few laps of it with our dog Jane.
Even though I’m really looking forward to Lockdown being over
so I can go back to school and see my friends again, I still enjoy
these days and like online learning a lot.
By Cathy
MY LOCKDOWN
During the Christmas holidays it was announced that we would not be going back to school as planned. Ireland went into another lockdown to reduce the spread of the third wave of Covid-19.
Since January, every morning Mr. O’Sullivan puts up our schoolwork online on seesaw. Seesaw is an online learning app that helps connect teachers and students. Once we have done our work on seesaw, we take a picture of it and send it to our teacher. I think that seesaw is easy to use and good for our homework.
Everyday in lockdown my family and go for a long walk. While we are on the walk my sister collects pinecones and I try to take pictures of different types of birds. My dog Prince also comes on these walks with us and at times scare the birds away.
I also picked up baking during Lockdown. One of the first things I made was a loaf of white bread and a loaf of soda bread. The white bread crumbled to dust when It was touched but, the soda bread was very fluffy and tasty. Other things I attempted to bake was cake, banana bread, pancakes, and biscuits.
My overall experience of lockdown is positive. I get to spend more time with my family and do my hobbies like baking and gaming. The negative side of lockdown is not being able to see my grandparents or my friends. I miss going out to restaurants and going out to the shops. These are things I will look forward to doing again in the future.
By Caolan
Life in Lockdown
Everyone’s lockdown experience is different some people found it nice to have time off work and school for a while and some found it boring and they had nothing to do. I found it nice at first especially in the first lockdown when I could see people outside because it was mostly sunny but during the second and third it got a lot more boring because there wasn’t as much to do. I find it really annoying having to wear a mask in shops and when I’m in town but I’ll put up with it to protect others and help stop Covid-19. The sanitising is also really annoying but after this I will probably wash my hands and sanitise a lot more often. It can also be really annoying not being able to see loved ones and friends or give anyone a hug. During the first lockdown I started baking I made, cakes, buns, cookies and brownies. I also read a lot of books when I was bored. Over Christmas we made the dinner and played a board game. Even though lockdown isn’t that bad at times it would be nice for this to end and be able to see everyone again and get back playing sport and going up to Cork.
By Emma Louise
My lockdown.
I do my homework in the morning or afternoon and then I watch tv or do something else. Then when its dark outside my dad and I go for a run and when we come home we have our dinner. I don’t really like doing the homework in the morning. I like going for a run at night because there isn’t a lot of people running or walking and you can’t see how long the road is and we run 4km.
Aideen
Covid -19
September 2023
For up-to-date information on Covid 19 please consult:
https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/
September 1st 2023
Dia daoibh a chairde,
I hope you are all keeping well and have all settled back to school life
Please see the attached video with advice on Covid-19 and sending your child to school
In the meantime, keep up the fantastic work you are all doing and stay safe.
All the best,
Mr.O’Sullivan,
Principal
School News-Latest updates
School Year 2023/24
Front Page News!
Communion and Confirmation 2021
Last years 5th and 6th Class received their Confirmation on November 3rd.Here the 6th Class girls are pictured after the ceremony, Well done all!
Our wonderful 3rd class pupils finally received their Communion in September this year
Internet Safety Day 2021
Check out some of 5th and 6th class’ experience on the day:
Internet safety talk.
On Tuesday we learned about how dangerous the internet actually is.
Ger Brick, the person giving the presentation, first showed us a video about a boy being bullied and cyberbullied. He had no one to talk to. A boy named Robert was the only one not bullying him but Robert was a bystander and did nothing to help.
Then Ger Brick wanted to know what apps and games we used.
After that he asked us how much we knew about David Walliams. We found out that we only knew the stuff he wanted us to know.
Then he told us when we download a game and it asks you to give location we should think and ask does this really need my location and 99.9% of the time they don’t need to. He then showed us how much information google has on you because he looked up where he was on
Christmas eve 2019 and it knew everywhere, he went.
Finally, he told us about how we should change our password at least 3 times a year so there is less of a chance of getting hacked. Mr O’Sullivan then had a question for us, “What does a toothbrush and a password have in common?” The answer was, you should change them a few times a year. You shouldn’t give your toothbrush to anyone and you shouldn’t give your password to anyone. I learned quite a lot.
By Shane
Internet Safety
Yesterday we had a Zoom call with a man named Ger Brick who taught us about internet security. He taught us about how easy it could be to track someone down online and the effects that cyberbullying has on people. He showed us an example of Google tracking his location on Christmas eve 2019, it knew he went to Italy, it knew that he stayed on the second floor of a house and it knew where he went to get coffee. It made me think of how easy it is for someone to track you just by using a phone and carrying it around. We also watched a video of people cyberbullying a boy named Joe. There was a scene on the bus where everyone was laughing at Joe except for a boy named Robert. Though Robert never stood up for Joe because he was probably too scared. At the end Joe’s mom comes into the school with the video that Joe made about the bullying and she brings it to the principal. It turns out that Joe wasn’t the only one being bullied his teacher had been too. The Gardaí also came to the school to talk to a girl named Kim who was the person putting up posts about Joe and texting him mean comments anonymously. Ger also had a few phrases that he made us say like “don’t be a bystander be an upstander” and “what you do now in years to come can come right back at you and bite you in the bum.” He also had a challenge for us to do where we had to find the similarities between a passcode and a toothbrush the answers were, “you shouldn’t share your toothbrush or your passcode” and “you should change both your passcode and toothbrush every once and a while.” He told us how careful we have to be on social media platforms and online games and not to upload anything onto the internet that’s embarrassing or that we wouldn’t say to someone if they were standing in front of us.
From now on I’ll probably be much more careful when I go online on my devices.
By Emma Louise
What I learned about cyberbullying :-
What happened??
There was a boy who his friends turned on him, they betrayed him and bullied him at school and online. He didn’t feel safe in his own home.
Cyberbullying is not funny. It can really hurt it can happen at anytime of the day. The bully or bully’s can reach you on any device once things have been said or sent to the person receiving it.
What I learned about apps and the dangers around them
Well some apps ask for your location. Then at any time they can track you and know where you are so don’t give it to them.
What I learned about giving my picture, my location, my name and age
If you give any of those to someone they could Google you and find out personal information and maybe even stalk you. Thats unlikely but possible.
What I learned about passwords
Passwords are like toothbrushes, you have to change them every now and then. Toothbrushes get worn out or too old and if you don’t change your password its more likely you will get hacked.
What I learned in the seminar
Well I really enjoyed it because Mr O’Sullivan and Ger Brick communicated to us easily and I have changed all my passwords and checked my Toothbrush!!!!
By Summer
Internet Safety Day – What I Learned
What Happened:
He spoke about internet safety and how it is so easy to track people and find out their passwords.
What I learned about cyber bulling:
You shouldn’t do it and that bulling in a choice and a decision and it can really hurt someone’s feelings and even if you are the bully you still might get hurt back.
What I learned about apps and the dangers around them:
If you download an app and it asks you for your location and you accidentally tap yes you can’t go back and change it and it can track you everywhere you go and where you live. If you want to go back and press no you would have to delete the app and download it again.
What I Learned about giving my information (my name, picture, location and posts
That if you put up your name and location people can type your name into google and track where you are and where you live and where you went in the past. If you put a picture up on the Internet they could also track you. If you post something it can be copied in 60 seconds.
What I Learned about passwords:
Password and toothbrushes have two things in common they both have to be changed every couple of months and you don’t share them with anyone. You have to change your password every couple of months because if you don’t change your password it gets easier and easier to get hacked.
What I That about the seminar overall:
I kind of enjoyed it because he told us how easy it is to track someone it they have there location on and that if you post something that it can be copied in 60 seconds.
By Aideen
Happy St. Valentines day from Clondulane N.S!
Happy St. Valentines day
5th and 6th class pupils recently received the certificate of participation award for our commitment in the One Million Steps Fermoy Schools Challenge.
The One Million Steps
Cinderella & Rockerfella
On Thursday 20th December 2018 the 5th and 6th classes performed a play called Cinderella & Rockerfella.
We opened the show with a few jokes by Darragh and Conor and followed with a group musical performance. Cinderella and Buttons (played by Amy and Aidan) were joined on stage by the Ugly Sisters (played by Blaithín and Lucy). At this stage of the story you’re pretty familiar with the original tale, but later on you realise that Prince Charming is no longer a prince and has chosen to become a rock star! (Rockerfella played by Katie).
The next scene shows Rockerfella meeting the press with his manager, and shows that he is tired of his new lifestyle. The ugly sisters had three tickets for the ball but did not give the last one to Cinderella.
Cinderella was feeling down with the amount of work she had, but when her fairy godmother and the fairy brigade arrived for her makeover, she was overjoyed. We went straight into the ball scene which started with a song and then a waltz. As the crowd dispersed Cinderella made her appearance and met Rockerfella. Being true to the story Cinderella leaves the ball before midnight leaving her glass slipper behind.
The search for the foot that would fit in the shoe was acted through another song and received great applause and laughter from the audience. Rockerfella is feeling sad about not finding Cinderella when Buttons announces there is one more foot left (which was Cinderella’s.) It ended with another song about happy ever afters and everyone got the chance to take a bow during the last song.
By Ethan
The Halloween Party
Our school had a Halloween Party on Thursday the 25th of October.
All the children arrived with amazing costumes on, we played all around the yard before school! Of course we had to go back in though when the bell rang. Even though we had to do work in the morning we were all excited because we knew we were going to have a party.
At 12 O’ clock we were so excited because all classes went into the hall to have a parade (where everyone) went around showing off their costumes, each class one by one. After that we played musical statues with songs like: The “Ghostbusters” song, “Thriller”, “Monster Mash” etc. It was so much fun with the teachers going around trying to make us laugh.
In 5th and 6th, we went into the hall and started playing musical chairs, after that, we played a game with toy guns and cups. We set up the cups in a little pyramid and tried to shoot the cups down. When we were finished, we went back into the classroom and we got a load of sweets and watched the very first Ghostbusters!
We finally went back home all full of sweets. We had such a nice time!
By Amy
The Doolan String Quartet
On Friday 12th of October, the Doolan String Quartet visited our school to perform live for us. The musical workshop is part Tuning Up – a music-in-schools programme designed to foster music appreciation and to enhance our understanding and response to listening to classical music. The group told us they had only been together for a year. They were also touring around different schools across Ireland.
The whole school – from junior infants to 6th class – assembled to take part. The musicians Mark and Rachel playing the violin, Martha on the viola, and Grace – who is from Fermoy, playing the cello, took us on a musical adventure discovering the difference between rhythm and melody, harmony and pitch.
We had fun discussing methods of composition, string playing techniques and recognising musical ideas and guessing which animal were being depicted by certain parts of music
By Christopher & Ethan
*************************************************************************************
Congratulations to Fermoy GAA team
Good luck Fermoy!
The St. Colman’s Blitz
On Wednesday the 26th of September, 14 of the 5th and 6th class pupils left to go to the St. Colman’s blitz. We left on the bus at 9:40am and arrived at 9:50am.
When we first arrived we went to our pitch. Our pitch number was number 2. This was where we played all our matches. The girls went to a different pitch where they played their matches. The girls played football and the boys played hurling.
First we did a few warm ups by taking a few side lines and penalties. Our first match was Conna vs Clondulane. Conna won by 5 goals and 7 points. We were quite disappointed losing our first match. While we were waiting we went down to the girls’ pitch and we watched them play. The girls of Clondulane (in football) lost against St. Josephs. After that we ate some lunch and did a few warmups. Later on, once our pitch was ready we took our positions again on the pitch. We played and lost against Bishop Murphy’s but we were very close. The final score was 3 goals and 6 points to 3 goals and 5 points. Next, we went down to the girls’ pitch again and watched them play Kilmagner.
Then we went back and we did another few warm ups. We did passing, picked up the ball, took penalties, frees and side lines. We picked up our hurley’s and we took our positions. We all played well but we lost against Ballygown. We were quite disappointed in losing all our matches so far. We went back and took our lunch and we did more practice. despite the practice, we still lost our last match.
We all were very disappointed. But then a man came over and announced that we were in the shield semi-final! We were all surprised and we thought it was a joke. But then we ended up on the pitch. Our goal keeper, Oisín made an excellent save and we were all proud of him. During the last few minutes of the game the girls came over and were cheering us on. They were very supportive. We played hard but lost in the end by two points.
We were very disappointed but we all had a good day playing hurling. The girls however, came back winning their final! We were all happy and we had an excellent day.
By Liam & Ethan
Orienteering and map reading with Sean Cotter
On the 11th of September 2018, Sean Cotter came to our school to teach 4th, 5th and 6th classes about map reading, navigation skills and orienteering.
Firstly, we had to get a dictionary and a big book and keep each book on one corner of the table. Then Sean came around and put two other objects such as a small plate of metal, a coin or a small container on the table. After that he handed each of us a piece of paper. Then he told us to take a look at the table from a bird’s eye view then we drew what we saw.
Sean said that this would be our “map”. The map would probably look like one big rectangle in one corner, a circle in the other, a medium sized square in another and a small circle in the last. Next he taught us about setting the map. To set the map was to study the table carefully then align the map with what you saw. The next thing we did was to walk around the table and keep the map set at the same time. Then we went outside.
Firstly, (after we went outside) we were each paired up with another person. We got control cards and a different map. Then he set nine cones in a specific order and he put one cone in the basketball hoop to mark the north. This was to help us to keep our map set.He then gave our groups letters from A to D. These were the names of the different courses we had to take. If we got course A once we finished it, we would take course C and if we got course B once we finished that we did course D. On our maps there was a specific route we had to follow. When we reached each cone we had to flip it over take a look inside and inside there was three letters. We wrote the three letters on to our control cards. The letter combination on the cones may be GUL or HEQ and others.
Once we finished this we sat down and Sean taught us about handling a big map. He showed us a map where every five centimetres would be fifty thousand kilometres. He said to fold the map into sections to help you to then avoid handling a huge big map. Then he gave us a map of the school grounds and a control cards. Then he named the colours on the map. All our maps had different numbers on them.
First we set our map and then we were off. On the markers there were punchers with different patterns on them.
Once we finished our map we traded our current map for a new one. Sean also said that the last person back would be the winner. He meant that we should take our time and not to rush it. Once we completed all our maps we waited by the wall. Then after everyone was back Sean told us about how to fold maps that get damaged when you fold them. He said to take a photocopy in colour no bigger the A4 size and fold it into sections.
We all had a great time with Sean and we are looking forward to go Orienteering at Corrin Hill.
By Ethan
May 2018
Sciath na Scól Indoor Hurling Blitz 2018
The pupils from 5th and 6th Class played Ballygown N.S., Ballygiblin N.S. and Buttevant N.S. on 14th March in Mallow GAA Sports Complex. Well done on a great performance!
April 2018
The Parents’ Association have elected a new Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary. They are: Kim Wheeler-Neligan – Chairperson Seán Madden – Treasurer Aidan Sheridan – Secretary for contact details Click on the Parents Info tab at the top of the page and in the drop down menu Click on Parents’ Association
March 2018
Please see Child Safeguarding Statement on Parents Info page. Click on Parents Info tab at the top of this page and in the drop-down menu Click on Policies.