Please click on the link to view the latest newsletter from our Principal, Mr. Kennedy.
Opening of Year Letter September ’24
Christmas Newsletter 2023 Piltown NS
Wellness Week
From the 24th to the 28th of April the whole of Piltown N.S took part in Wellness week. The week focused on the wellbeing of students and staff in our school. Everyday had a theme – Mindful Monday, Thoughtful Tuesday, Wellbeing Wednesday, Thankful Thursday and Friendship Friday. Each class took part in 5 minutes of mindfulness every day at 10am Also instead of traditional homework we completed an activity from our wellbeing calendar.
To prepare for wellness week the 6th class students made positive affirmation posters and put them around the school. They also made a gratitude tree so everyone in the school could show what they were grateful for.
Each day we were lucky to have volunteers from local clubs come to our school and complete activities with us. On Monday Niall came in for athletics, on Tuesday we had Trevor and Amy doing soccer, Wednesday we had Joe from Munster Rugby in for tag rugby and Kathleen came with some of her students to give a karate demonstration, on Thursday we did hurling, camogie and gaelic football with Paudie, Sheila, Tommy and Michelle and finally on Friday we had zumba with Inga.
We were all surprised when KCLR came arrived at our school on Wednesday afternoon. Boys and Girls from different classes were picked to get interviewed by Brian Redmond. They talked about wellness week, green schools and sports. Finally a group of musicians played “The star of county down” on the tin whistle.
Finally, at the end of the week the whole school spelled out PILTOWN N.S and a drone took a picture from the sky. Our whole school community really enjoyed wellness week and no traditional homework .Thank you to all the volunteers who made wellness week happen. We are all extremely grateful for this opportunity and we hope it continues into the future.
By Maggie & Millie 6th class
Junior Achievement Program
Mr Crowley’s 6th class took part in the Energize Junior Achievement Program for five weeks during Term 2. Trevor Grant from West Pharmaceutical came to teach us about science and many other things.
On the first week Trevor talked to us about health and wellbeing. He also introduced us to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals .Trevor made us aware of the importance of acting fast if someone is having a stroke and how to use a method called FAST. F is for if their face looks droopy, A is for them to move their arms, S is to get them to speak and T is to time how long they had a stroke.
For the second week we learned about biodiversity and how everything in the world depends on something else to survive. We also had to plan the Iverk Show while being aware of the natural environment and wildlife.
The third week Trevor talked to us about types of fossil fuels, renewable energy and non-renewable energy. We discussed different types of turbines like the wind turbine and the helix turbine and how they are used. At the end of the lesson we got to make a model helix turbine and a conventional wind turbine.
On the fourth week we learned about safety. We were given a big poster and had to find out what was dangerous. We also talked about how a hazard is likely to hurt you and a risk is the likelihood of it hurting you. Finally Trevor made us aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide. If someone passes out from too much carbon monoxide you get them out of the room, ask if they are ok and call an ambulance.
On the fifth and final week we talked about light. Trevor got us to think about life without the sun. Then we used two mirrors to write a word backwards and after that we made a periscope with the mirrors.
We were also kindly invited to go to West and on the 29th of March for a tour. We got go and see the laboratories, inspect some products and complete an experiment.
In conclusion the Junior Achievement program has been very interesting and educational and our class is very grateful to Gas Network Ireland for delivering the program. We also want to say a special thank you to Trevor and West for choosing our class to take part, it has been a great experience and everyone enjoyed learning about energy and science.
By Maggie Anthony.
Nationality Report and Fundraiser
This report shows all the different nationalities in our school. The survey was done by Mr Crowley’s 6th class and our green schools committee. We completed the survey to show how culturally significant our school is. It is also part of our global citizenship and marine environment action plan. We went around to all the classes and asked them 2 questions.
- What country were you born in?
- What country were your parents born in?
7 out of the 15 classes in our school have all Irish children. The remaining 8 classes have 2 or more countries represented. The results of the survey showed that there are 16 different cultures in our school. Ms Leydons 4th class is the most culturally diverse class in our school with 7 different nationalities in her class. The parents in our school come from 23 different countries. In conclusion the survey shows that we are a very diverse school and we value all the different cultures in our school.
Also this week the green schools committee held a non-uniform day on Wednesday to raise money for UNICEF. This money will go to help the people in Turkey and Syria that are affected by the earthquake that happened last week. We are delighted to announce we raised €1,600. The Green Schools Committee would like to thank everyone for their very generous donations.
By Susan and Lily.
Christmas Newsletter
Please click on the link below to view our Christmas Newsletter. We wish all our school community, a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas.
The school will re-open on Thursday, January 6th.
Christmas Newsletter
Click on the link below to view the latest newsletter from our Principal, Mr. Kennedy.
October Newsletter 2021
Click on the link below to view the latest newsletter from our Principal, Mr. Kennedy.
Famous Artist!
Tom Moore is the founder of ‘Cartoon Saloon’. He is a film-maker, an animator, an illustrator and a comic artist. He is also a famous, award-winning director of the films ‘The Secret of Kells’ ‘Song of The Sea’ and ‘Wolfwalkers’.
Imagine our surprise in Piltown National School when Tom sent us a beautiful, personally inscribed book to present to Aoibhe, praising her work as very special and encouraging her to keep drawing!!!! What a precious gift.
Well done Aoibhe!
Return to School Newsletter
Principals letter to Parents – 24 August, 2021
Preparation is well underway for the return of all classes on Tuesday, August 31st, following our summer break. Please click on the newsletter to view the most up to date guidelines from our Principal, Mr. Kennedy.
End of Year message from President Michael D. Higgins
Please find below an end of school message from the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.