Recently seen in the Turner’s Cross area, a large man with a white

beard, dressed in a red suit. When asked what he was doing around

the school, he replied, ‘Ho, ho ho!’ You are asked to be on the lookout!

Christmas Newsletter 2013

He had no Royal palace only a stable bare,

He had no watchful servants, a cow and a lamb stood there,

But light shone fourth from where he lay,

The King of Love upon the hay

T he simplicity of the Christmas message is indeed resonant in those few lines. We may sometimes lose

perspective with all that goes on in the lead up to the holidays. Yet the school is filled with that simplicity and

innocence, particularly of the younger children. The school has that special atmosphere of this lovely time of year

that is far more than just decorations or lights. The school is a hive of activity – rooms and corridors are being

decorated, the noise of concert rehearsals pours out into the corridors, preparations are being made for the toy

sale and the sound of festive music and song waft through the school.

O nce again we have reached out to ask for your generosity with our toy sale for the Philippines typhoon

victims. The appeal is particularly appropriate as it helps families closely related to pupils in our school. You

continue to be magnificent supporters of the school, and we thank you in particular for another successful School

Walk, raising over €14,000, and for your great response to the start of the Book Rental Scheme. Be assured that all

monies will be channelled into the enhancement of the pupils’ educational experience. Already in the last while we

have equipped a new food-science room and established a sensory room for pupils with special educational needs.

With your support, we will continue to offer a premium experience of teaching and learning to our pupils.

C ongratulations to our past pupils Robert Heffernan ,gold medal World Champion in the 50km walk in

Moscow, and Dylan Fitzgibbon, who retained his Taekwon Do World Title in Benidorm. Dylan has held European

and World titles at junior and senior level. We are very proud of both champions.

T he Feast of the Presentation was celebrated recently with classes attending a special Mass where they were

addressed by a representative of the Presentation Sisters. The day was a significant milestone for the Presentation

Sisters’ Order with the announcement from Rome that their founder has been elevated to the title of Venerable

Nano Nagle. At a special world wide event in St. Finbarr's South Parish to mark Nano’s new status the school

were represented by 6th class pupil Alison Barry who carried the banner of the local Presentation schools.

B unscoil Chríost Rí has become the first primary school to be awarded the Amber Flag for the promotion of

positive mental health among the school community. A programme of positive mental health initiatives including

guest speakers and classes with senior pupils on a new primary school mental health leaflet will continue in the new

year.

F inally, I want to say míle buíochas, Nollaig agus Ath-Bhliain sona

sásta to all our very special pupils, our very dedicated staff, our very

supportive parent body, especially our Parents’ and Friends’

Association, and all our school partners including the Board of

Management, trustees and

patron.

Parents and Friends Association

The Christmas season is once again upon us.

On Thursday 12th December we were delighted to assist Santa in his visit to the school.

Arriving by Fire Engine, he later visited each class taking time to talk to the children and

answering their questions. It's always a lovely day and certainly we are delighted to be part

of it.

The Association held the AGM in September, where the Officers for the current year

were elected. There were many new faces on the night and some have already joined us

and become active in the association. We would encourage people to become involved in

the association. It can be busy but it is a worthwhile and fulfilling experience. All parents

are welcome to our meetings and new ideas are very welcome.

We hosted a Book Fair in November of this year in the Nano Nagle Hall. The Fair ran for

a week and there was a great atmosphere of excitement as the children came to browse

on the first day , taking their ease on cushions and beanie bags and buying books on

subsequent days. There was a huge range of book types and prices, with something for

everyone. We hope the children enjoyed the experience. It's a great opportunity to

encourage reading and even in these days of Play Stations and computer games it's clear

that children still love a good book. The school benefits also as the Book Sellers provide

the school with vouchers the value of which is related to the sales, to help stock the

school library. We would like to thank the parents, children and teachers for their support

of the Book Fair. A special thank you goes to the children who provided artwork, poems

and stories to decorate the Hall. It's quite obvious to us that Bunscoil has got talent!

We wish you and your families a very happy, peaceful and safe Christmas. We look

forward to 2014 and to meeting you all again.

Angela Murphy

Parents' and Friends' Association

Girls’ Football News

During September we played seven

matches in the Sciath na Scol.

Unfortunately, we lost four of them,

which meant we did not qualify for the

final.

Our first match was against Scoil Niocláis,

Frankfield. We played well, but we lost.

Our second match was against GS Carraig

Uí Leighin. We won that match. Next was

GS Uí Ríordáin and we lost that also. Our

next match was against Kilmurry. We won

that one. Then we played Belgooly and we

won that as well. Our last two matches

were against Inishannon and Ovens, and

we lost both. In total, we won three out

of seven. Overall, even though we didn’t

get into the final, we are very happy with

the matches that we did win, and we hope

to do better next year.

The panel was: Estelle Neenan, Grace

Clehane, Emma McCarthy, Ciara Hurley,

Megan Murphy, Caoimhe Hennessy, Helen

Manning, Aoife McTaggart, Elaine Kelly,

Cliona McTaggart, Megan Cambridge,

Mikayla Hennessy, Sofia Murphy, Alana

Neenan, Ríona Treacy, Kate O’Connor,

Lucy O’Brien, Zoe Waters, Orla O’Leary,

Fridaous Moussa, Alison Barry

Boys’ Football News

The Bunscoil Chríost Rí Boys football team

competed in Roinn DF. 1 & 2 for the first

time this year. They had a topsy-turvy

season. Having lost the first three games

against Scoil Niocláis, G.S. Uí Ríordáin and

G.S. Carrig Uí Leighin by narrow margins,

they showed great strength of character to

win the next three games against Scoil Eoin

Inishannon, Belgooly and Kilmurry. The boys

then managed to draw the final game against

Ovens, the team who went on to win the

division. We are tremendously proud of the

boys, the panel of which is as follows:

Brian Joyce, Alan Senkus, John Holland,

Conor O’Keeffe, Fionn Sheehan, Mark

Guinnane, Ben O’Connor, Luke O’Sullivan,

Robert Dermody, Jack O’Brien, Darragh

O’Connor, Fionn Molloy, Chris O’Reilly,

Timmy O’Reilly, lan Barry, Colin Twohig,

Dylan Gilhooley, Dylan Twomey, Kevin

McGorey, Adam Sherlock, Daniel Kennefick

Orienteering

Bunscoil Chríost Rí

attended two schools

orienteering events

this term in Curragh

Wood and Farran

Wood to give the

pupils an experience

of the sport and to

p r epa r e t hem fo r t he

championship events after

Christmas. The Cork schools

or ien teer i ng As soc ia t ion

(C.S.O.A.) is going from strength

to strength as up to 700 pupils

attended each of these events

and the sport is proving very

popular with the participants.

The association now has

good S.I. equipment and aims to

promote the sport in individual

schools as school maps can be

drawn easily by some of its

members. On the day of the toy

sale (13/12/2013), there was a

quality event in our school

which has been

mapped. The course was over

two kilometres and proved to be

quite educational and challenging

to all who took part. Hopefully

the pupi ls ga ined good

experience and we look forward

to competing well in in the New

Year.

Christmas Holidays

School Closes Friday December 20

2013

12:00 Midday

School Re-opens

Monday January 6 2014

8:45 am (full day)

School Choir.

The school choir has been working very hard

since September when they went to CIT Cork

School of Music to record a Christmas CD.

They were accompanied on piano by Evelyn

Grant.

They were then chosen from an entry of over

one thousand to audition for The Late Late

Toyshow .The boys and girls had a wonderful trip

to the RTE studios during mid-term and even

though they wowed the adjudicators with a

magnificent performance they lost out to a rock

band for the final slot on the night.

They were guest singers at the recent launch of

the European Poetry Festival in St Luke’s

Church.

They are very happy to be singing at the crib in

Daunt's Square on Monday December 16th at

lunch time. Don't forget to tune in to Lyric FM

between 10 and 2 o' clock on Thursday

December 19th when they have been chosen to

sing" When Christmas Comes to Town".

Nollaig shona from all our choristers.