Author: Mary C

Our former Sixth Class pupils were treated to a unique and very special Confirmation ceremony on Saturday. It was spiritual, intimate, relaxed, empowering and very moving. Just like God’s Holy Spirit would have wanted! (Please click the red tab ‘Read More’ here).

Fr Séan, Paddy Daly, Aoife Daly and Eileen Doyle had arranged and overseen all the major and minor details: the beautiful Liturgy, the charismatic music, the inviting, colourful altar and the welcoming Confirmation booklets at each family pew…. and much more. Ushers, all volunteers, kept a close eye, discreetly sanitizing everything as we exited into the evening sunshine. Thank you, all!

Catherine Galway and Conor Falvey, parents, read the readings eloquently to a captive congregation, followed by Fr Séan who gave a perfectly pitched, reassuring and engaging homily, sprinkled with humour, encouragement and philosophy. Our ‘Sixth Class Stars’ were attentive and respectful, as always, resplendent in their lovely smart new uniforms, representing seven Secondary schools! Bród! Those seven schools will be all the richer for enrolling such talented, unique , kind and enthusiastic students, not to mention their supportive parents, in their school communities. These ‘gifts’, from Caherleaheen NS, of whom we are so proud will be welcomed in the seven secondary schools, I have no doubt! We will miss them here in Caherleaheen NS…….

Seamount College, Kinvara

Coláiste Íde agus Iosaf, Abbeyfeale

Presentation Secondary, Milltown

Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, Trá lí

Presentation Secondary, Tralee

The Green C.B.S., Tralee

Mercy Mounthawk, Tralee

The Confirmation Rite itself was like no other, thanks to the preparation, intimacy and powerful peacefulness. Fr Séan moved through the main aisle, anointing each candidate with the oil of Chrism, while Paddy and Aoife’s choice of background music held us all, mesmerized.

We exited, as directed, and managed to grab a few, quick photos and a chat outside, as best and as safely as we could. There are a few pupils missing from these lovely photos, unfortunately, due to time commitments, compliance and due care. That’s the hard part, these days!

However, anyone I spoke to was positive and only missing Caherleaheen a little or a lot! They had all grown a little bit more, in many ways, these last few months (again!) There was a really happy and energizing air as we bade farewell. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit are in good hands!

I know I speak for all our parents, staff and the whole school community when I wish every single student the very best in their respective schools. Keep in touch. Take care and be kind to yourself and all others. Be brave and good.

Beir bua.

Mary

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Mon 14th September: These are the revised times for robins and blackbirds. Please remember that children cannot leave their cars to approach the gate, under any circumstances, until the gate is opened by staff and the bird banners are displayed at the entrance. Thank you all for your support and for ensuring that our staggered time-slots work safely and well.

Robins’ Arrival 8:30am to 8:40am

Robins’ Collection 2:25pm to 2:35pm

Blackbirds Arrival 8:40am to 8:50am

Blackbirds’ Collection 2:35pm to 2:45pm

We are delighted to announce that all our graduates will be confirmed on Sat 19th September in St John’s at 4.30pm. All candidates are required to wear their secondary school uniforms. There will be five secondary schools represnted and I imagine it will be a very special day, celebrated by Fr Séan. This is our favourite photo from their graduation in June. So we will all meet again, almost three months later! Please observe social distancing guidelines when entering the church and finding a family pew. This is really important. Exiting and any photos outside, will have to be managed and controlled by all families, as we support the continued, safe, re-opening of schools.

Darragh Reen returned yet again, with his mates, Corn Uí Mhuirí Champions, after beating The ‘Sem’ Killarney (handsomely). CBS The Green are now Munster Colleges Champions and if they can nail the semi-final on March 21st, they will play in Croke, giving chase to the Hogan Cup. Can you imagine the pride we felt as we welcomed Darragh and two other former Caherleaheen pupils. David and Jack Moriarty ( Kerry Minors:) The whole panel arrived on Thursday and all were cheered by our young hopefuls in the yard at lunch time. Comhgáirdeas libh! However, a night of Active Homework received the wildest cheers! Thanks Darragh! I suppose if you get to Croke again, we will have to give you a night off study. Ádh mór oraibh go léir 21/3/20

We secured funds to enable our pupils to enjoy and share books in their native language. We are sure that parents will enjoy reading time at home! Dziękuję ci, míle buíochas agus gracias, Ms Claire!

Congratulations to all the entrepreneurs in Fifth Class! Our Twitter account tracked the four wonderful teams, who progressed to the D.Day: Dragon’s Den, yesterday. The winning product was announced today: Multi-Bands👏👏. Well done to all on this team! We are immensely proud of how all the teams congratulated the winners, commiserated with each other, hugged and held the odd tear back. The world would be a better place if we had more people like the children in Fifth class. They will now all rally behind our 2020 JEP product, as will parents, staff, pupils and fans/sponsors. Best class, by a Dragon’s mile!

The children had a lot of questions when they saw this banner, today. We don’t want the kids to miss out…..so we MIGHT hold a Junior Spring Grill here at school! (Just need a couple of gazebos, a chef, sausages and burgers, fruit and balloons etc) Easy peasy? YES, especially if we can get three parents to join our 4 Staff/5 parents, who are on the HH/Caherleaheen NS Sub-Committee. It would be great! This whole fundraiser is a 50/50 affair! All donations will be split 50/50. So that’s a win/win for both Hugh’s House, Caherleaheen NS. However, we need four more parents to link with the teachers & parents who are now committing to this dual fundraiser. Its’ a small tight sub-committee, but we need a few more pairs of legs!We also need and welcome all your suggestions, your support, your creativity and any help or time which you can give. ALL STAFF met with P.Assoc Grill group and have committed to displaying posters, approaching specific potential sponsors and bringing home donations to this 50/50 Fundraiser. It’s all very exciting and uplifting!

Ms Sinéad’s class were slightly bananas……so are the staff perhaps🤣. Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile, b’fhéidir!

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Many thanks are due to Louise L and Aisling F for attending a planning meeting with our Students Council. They explored many ideas on how best to claim our prize and get best use of our 10 sessions in the Kerry Sport Academy. Everyone listened to all the various suggestions, and hopefully our schedule will please all the children between now and June. We also agreed to defer some sessions until Autumn.

Dear Parents, please be aware that the DoES requires all national schools to attend PLC ( new Primary Language Curriculum)  courses throughout the year. Therefore, our school was closed on Monday January 13th 2020, for PLC training. We are also required to take a half day to train (PLC) as a staff in Term 2 and another half day in Term 3. Our Term 3 date has yet to be confirmed. These dates are not related to termly staff meetings. Therefore please download this updated calendar of  important holidays/training days/graduation and confirmation dates. (Please keep an eye on the live calendar ‘ Upcoming Events’, which you will find on this website’s home page). We will also do our best to  keep you abreast of any important upcoming events/meetings/fundraisers as they arise during the year via emailed newsletters and reminders on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. You will note, that due to a leap year, there is an extra vacation day on Friday 27th March (the day after Sixth Class are confirmed). Some of you have asked for the return date in August. Staff return on Thursday 27th. Pupils return on Friday, 28th August. Many thanks. Mary C.

Primary school teachers are required to attend in-service training, on various days, this academic year. Caherleaheen staff will attend their training day, next Monday in the Tralee Education Centre, with two other local schools. Apologies to our parents for any inconvenience. No doubt, our pupils will find it a great pleasure, to curl up in bed for an extra snooze, on a typically, dark Mon morning!

We had super fun today. Bhí gach páiste gléasta suas, nuair a shroich siad an scoil ar maidin. Most children brought €2 or more! (Thank you!). We raised €443! We intend rounding this off to a neat and tidy sum of €500. Well done, everyone! It would not have been possible without the talented face-painters from Art and Hobby : Parent Michelle O’ Connor and her assistant Shannon. The kids absolutely loved the wax wounds: oozing blood, pus, sores! Most of us opted for delicate thorny roses, unicorns, butterflies and all things less gory! Michelle and Shannon did not let up for a solid 5 hours, no break.( It’s hard on the back !)They were helped by girls from Sixth Class: Sophie, Rachel and Lila, along with Shauna from Fifth. So, thank you parents for your time spent dressing the kids in such creative costumes, as well as your support of Jigsaw Kerry.

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Well done to all the children for sharing their Math Games with their partner classes! It meant that children had to show younger children how to play the games! They had fantastic fun and even though some of the challenges were tough, they enjoyed every minute of it! On Tuesday Junior Math Fair was hosted by Sixth Class. I cannot recommend Sixth enough! Such great organisers they are! Then on the following day, Fifth Class hosted the Senior Math Fair. The games, challenges and puzzles were intriguing. Both Fairs were a huge success. Tomorrow the Math Quizzes in the hall will have multi-class teams going head to head with their peers. This is always a hotly contested activity. Mangahigh took precedence over all other homework this week. Children logged on at school and at home. Each child had his/her own special Avatar and Code. Thanks to the parents for facilitating this worldwide Math activity for homework. Special thanks to Ms Claire for coordinating yet another busy Math Week.

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These fantastic young hurlers won the South Kerry Hurling Perpetual Shield u 11, (Division 1 League). The U 10s won the Donie Brosnan Tournament, which was played in the Fitzgerald Stadium! They are all great friends and they LOVE playing with the Parnells. Training will start again in early spring. Bigí ann!

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St John’s has notified us of our Confirmation date : Thursday 26th March. at 11am.

There was huge excitement when some infants actually HEARD fairy sounds coming from our Fairy School! Many thanks to Mike Ross for his creative use of tree stumps and for ‘securing planning permission’! This will be an excellent resource for developing creativity, imagination, expressive language. The children found a school key hidden nearby, on the ground, in a magic container and now they ‘know for certain’ that little fairies can visit our classrooms when all the pupils are gone home! This was such an incredible discovery. We think the fairies are in fairy school from early morning until all the children go home. Then, they ‘tiptoe into our classrooms in the evening’. Ms Mary was shocked when she saw a tiny fairy disappear behind the magic red door , early this morning. She had never seen a real fairy before. Ms Eva thinks she saw one, but she’s not sure…..We will have to keep a very close eye (and ear) on our new little school.

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Our lovely Junior Infants arrived on Thursday. They were super! ALL the children had a smile when they arrived for the first day back…. teachers too 🙂 Photographers arrived on Day 2 and marvelled at how everyone had worn their Kerry colours. Our little Junior Infants filed quietly into the hall and arranged themselves effortlessly for their special photo. They have settled in so well, so quickly. Well done! Let’s hope Kerry settles in to the game on All-Ireland Sunday as quickly as our Infants. CIARRAÍ ABÚ!

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Congratulations to all our young athletes who participated in the Tralee Primary Schools event which was hosted by Tralee Harriers, last Thursday evening. Every single child competed whole-heartedly and many won medals in their individual races. We secured some stunning wins, overcame disappointment, celebrated each other and ultimately never gave up. As you can see in photo above, we won 6 medals in the 6 relay events () : 3 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze. All the subs were on standby and we needed them on the night due to injuries. What a fantastic result, when one considers the various challenges which they faced on the night! Here are some pics, with more to follow when the children return to school with their treasure-trove of silverware. This is our 3rd successive year winning the trophy, since its inception three years ago. We won by 6 points…..a very tight, fist-clenching battle! Our school has participated for over 14 years and the children never fail to give it 110%. Sincere thanks to Tralee Harriers for hosting this annual event. It has become a really important fixture in our sporting calendar. Thank you all for being so supportive of each other and let’s hope our medal winners will keep the momentum going as they prepare to represent Caherleaheen at the upcoming Kerry Schools Finals in An Ríocht, Castleisland (Date to be confirmed). Many thanks to Brian Sargent for the video above.

Lila Galway from Fifth Class received her Commendation Prize last week. Here is a photo of her beautiful painting. Isn’t it stunning? It’s now part of the Texaco Art Exhibition which will travel to various venues around Ireland in the coming year. Well done, Lila!! (These photos have been published with her parent’s permission).

Active Week had something for everyone: Gymnastics courtesy of Active Kingdom; Line Dancing with Cassie and Ms Adrienne; Athletics with Paul Griffin from Tralee Harriers; Obstacle Courses in the hall and yard; Handball with Alan and Basketball with Sinéad from IT Tralee. Many thanks to Ms Ann and Ms Caroline for organising the events. It was a great week with fine weather and whole school engagement.

We could not commend these young children enough. They fully appreciated and understood the meaning behind their third sacrament: First Holy Communion. They were responsive, reverent and attentive during their very special mass. Their teachers, Ms Claire and Ms Gemma agreed that all the preparation and attention to detail made for a very special ceremony. The choir of 27 and 4 musicians from Fourth, Fifth and Sixth were superb, having practised early every morning in recent weeks. Fr Sean Jones also celebrated his very First Holy Communion Mass as a priest and he attended to all the school work in the preceding months with great enthusiasm and infectious good humour. Carmel Foran kept a watchful and supportive eye over all the prep and proceedings in the church. The P.Assoc and First Class parents and children prepared a wonderful reception in the school hall after the church ceremony: savoury and sweet delights, coffee and teas, flower arrangements, decorations and they even arranged incredible sunbeams to shine through the newly decorated hall! The art work on display in both the Mary Immaculate Church and the school hall, from all the children in Second was truly beautiful and everyone had the opportunity to chat and meet up before every family went their separate ways. Thank you all for making this special day such a memorable one. God bless all our children. Of course, there were great celebrations when we all returned to our normal routine on Monday, which happened to coincide with the first day of our Active Week. That didn’t stop Ms Gemma from treating Second Class to ice cream wafers, or Ms Mary from treating the singers and musicians to icepops, or Ms Claire from treating teachers and assistants to warm scones!

Well done to Lila Galway from Fifth Class. We were delighted that she received a coveted commendation in the national Texaco Art Competition! Lila has always been creative and her ‘Variations of a Sky’, really impressed the judges. Unfortunately, her painting will remain in Dublin until she receives her prize, but I will post a photo of it in June. We are thrilled for her. Also Mr Paul was delighted when his footballers from Fifth and Sixth comfortably won their match against Ardfert NS recently. The Spa NS got the better of them this week, but they must be commended for fantastic skill and heart! Well done, all!

Many thanks to the 9 parents and young helpers who arrived to school on a sunny Saturday morning: Paudie, Samantha and Kayden Sugrue, Cathy and Ken Fitzgerald, Tom and Adam O Brien, Ger Breen, Mike Ross, Ciara, Eric and Colin Buckley, Cliona Caplis, Tara, Ben and David Cullinan. We cleared hedgerows, pruned bushes, swept the HUGE yards, cleared drains, tidied organic garden and wrapped it all up with tea and coffee after a satisfying few hours. Paudie filled a trailer and took it all away. Thank you all! We are also very proud of the great work done by gardeners from Fifth and Sixth during the week, led by Niamh Ní Dhúill.

Thanks for keeping an eye on our website! Here are some photo-reports of our IT Tralee Sport activities, gardening, art etc. Unfortunately photos and reports work best on a laptop, due to an in’egg’splicable wordpress blip. You all received your Newsletter by email today, detailing all that’s going on here. But please dig deeper and take a look at our Science/STEM log too. It’s a Weebly link and you can access it here, under the ‘Initiatives’ menu above. It’s nearly complete. Míle buíochas do na daltaí agus múinteoirí. Obair ionatach ar fad!

Sonia ran with all the Tralee primary school children, this morning in the town park! What a super atmosphere and the weather was just perfect! She is a fantastic athlete and ambassador for Park Runs all over the country. Well done to all the boys and girls: Ar fheabhas ar fad!! Sonia greeted every runner (150+) as they passed the 2km line. Fabulous lady- sharing her Mother’s Day with all our young Tralee runners. Let’s hope her magic dust blows towards Croke Park this afternoon! Beir Bua !

The sun shone brightly yesterday on this important day. Congratulations to all our Sixth Class pupils. It was a really lovely ceremony with all the children fully cogniscent of it’s importance. Special thanks to Bishop Ray Browne, St John’s parochial office, the teachers and priests who worked so hard to prepare all the candidates from our local schools. Mr Paul and I were very proud of them all and we hope they will be filled with the joy and the gifts of the Holy Spirit when they return to school on Monday!

Bhuel, is dócha go bhfuil drochaimsir ag teacht orainn an deireadh seachtaine seo….ach bainigí sult as na grianghraif ón halla! Craic, ceol agus rince 🙂

What fantastic engineering and creativity in Senior Infants. They extended their Aistear theme,Transport, by creationg HUGE 3D Buses, trains,rockets, cars, ships and buses. Well done to all involved and thank you parents for the wide range of boxes. They had great fun and approached the whole week’s activity with great enthusiasm.

Fifth and Sixth received a generous invitation and welcome from Richard Barrett in Barrow Golf Club. They enjoyed a powerpoint presentation, lunch and played lots of golf, of course! Thank you! Ghey had a great time.⛳

I had trouble finding classes last Wednesday! Some of the classrooms were empty! Eventually, I found Sixth Class reading to Second, Fourth reading to Senior Infants. Fifth Reading to First. Third reading to Junior Infants. It was a great day….lots of reading, chatting, older children connecting with younger. Sharing books is probably the most important and rewarding learning activity you can do with a child. Highly recommended for every child and parent! The character costumes were so creative and they added that extra bit of magic to our Book Day. Alice, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter trio were just thrilled at how well the day brought everyone together 🙂. They were all full of energy from all the pancakes which they ate the day before, on ‘Shrove Tuesday’. Ms Gemma won ‘Teacher of the Week’ having cooked 60+ pancakes!! All the other teachers came a joint second. Sincere thanks to all our teachers and assistants for enabling the children to enjoy ‘flipping’ great pancakes!