First Holy Communion days evoke cherished memories in all of us of our own more innocent, carefree, childhood days. “Oh it was a great day. I remember it well……..”.
On Saturday last May 12th, a whole new set of those very special memories were created for a younger generation of children. Precious moments and treasured reminiscences to be stored in the deep recesses of the mind only to be retrieved and recounted at a later stage in life. Beautiful May sunshine, a gloriously blue sky and a ceremony befitting the word ‘perfection’! Our First Communicants sang and prayed their hearts out in a simple and moving ceremony surrounded by their families and friends. The mass was celebrated by our school chaplain, Fr. Billy O’Sullivan who made the experience special with his personal touch. Well done to the school choir under the direction of Ms. Terry Mc McCarthy whose contribution added greatly to the occasion. Congratulations to all our First Holy Communion pupils and their families on this most special of days. A particular and sincere word of thanks to class teachers, Ms. Orla McNamara and Mr. Kieran Dwyer for their incredible dedication and attention to detail which made it all possible.
Roll of Honour: Take a Bow!
• Congratulations to Joe Kelleher (Sixth Class) on winning the Community Heritage Award in the prestigious Discover Cork School’s Heritage Project 2012 with his project entitled ”The Titanic-100 years on: The Irish Connection”. Joe was presented with his award by Cllr. Kieran McCarthy at a Gala Prize Giving Ceremony in the Silversprings Convention Centre recently. Well done to Joe for keeping the past alive!
• Sincere congratulations also to Arina Veressova on scooping a prize in the distinguished INTO/EBS Handwriting competition 2012. This competition celebrates the skill of handwriting and recognises the talent of primary school children in this area. Arina not surprisingly took the second prize in Category E Area X11 with her absolutely beautiful script. Maith thú Arina!
• The final congratulations in the ‘trilogy’ goes to Stephen O’ Connor (Fifth Class) who won First Place in the Easter Colouring Competition organised by O’Brien’s Storage in Bishopstown. His prize included meeting the members of the Cork City Soccer Squad and a supply of chocolate eggs to munch through during the Easter holidays. Lucky Stephen!
Music lovers of all ages experienced a real delightful treat when they attended the Junior Cork Youth Orchestra (JCYO) 21st Anniversary Concert in windswept Ballincollig this afternoon. And what an absolute joy for the senses that turned out to be! Under the baton of conductor Ms.Terry McCarthy, these very talented young musicians delivered a beautiful concert to a packed auditorium in the atmospheric Cultúrlann in Coláiste Choilm. It’s interesting to note that Terry has in fact been conducting the JCYO since its inception in 1991. As part of its 21st birthday celebratory concert, the Scoil Barra School Choir also under the direction of Terry was invited to make a guest appearance in this special commemorative event. Our 70 member strong choir performed two numbers in the opening half which included their award winning Feis Maitiú pieces, “The Water is Wide” (arr Schram) and “Joy Inside” (White). Their second half choice of songs with its more contemporary feel, “The Climb” (Alexander and Mabe) and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” had the audience grooving and moving in their seats. The perfect fusion of harmonious orchestral sounds and sweet melodious voices! Who needs reality television shows to discover new talent, when we have our very own first class talent on our own doorstep! Comhghairdeas díbh uilig agus do Ms. Mc Carthy ach go háirithe! Rinne sibh gaisce inniu!!
The Irish Rugby Squad may not have secured either a Grand Slam or even a Triple Crown Title this year, but this has not dampened the enthusiasm for the game amongst the pupils of Scoil Barra. Today the pupils of fifth and sixth classes participated in our Annual Inter-Class Tag Rugby Blitz organised by Muster Youth Development Youth Officer, Matt Mc Grath and school co-ordinator Ms. Doherty. Tag rugby is an adaption of rugby that makes it accessible to children of all ages, skills and ability levels. A total number of 12 teams took part in the 18 games which were played over a two hour period. The pace was frenetic but the emphasis was on fun and enjoyment. There were wonderful displays of sportsmanship, co-operation and teamwork evident throughout the Blitz. Thumbs up for the organisers for a fantastically positive experience! Irish Rugby Coach Declan Kidney would be well advised to scout the local Ballincollig talent in his search for stars of the future!!
The interior of a real life size working ambulance has finally been demystified! HSE National Ambulance Service paramedics, Eoin O’Mahony and Tadhg O’Shea helped us to solve the puzzle recently! Eoin and Tadhg are part of a very dedicated emergency services team who respond every day to life threatening situations and provide care to patients with an acute illness or injury. They managed to take time out of their very busy schedule to come and visit the Infant Classes of Scoil Barra and provide the pupils with a rare opportunity to explore the interior of an ambulance. The children loved the experience and seemed less intimidated of the flashing warning lights and sirens at the end of the visit. Finding out what was actually inside the pale yellow coloured ambulance with the double row of green and yellow battenburg markings on the side was revelatory! The sounds of ‘Nee nah nee nah…’ will now take on a whole new meaning!
The pupils of Scoil Barra were absolutely thrilled with the visit this week of the Agri Aware’s Mobile Farm Unit to the school. All the animals were admired even the goat and the pig got the thumbs up but it was the ducklings, the calf, the chicks and the baby rabbits who stole the show! There were plenty of smiles, lots of cuddling and plenty of oohing and ahhing! Agri Aware is a charitable trust which was established in 1996 to work to improve the image and understanding of agriculture, farming and the food industry in Ireland. Its Munster Mobile Farm is owned and managed by Midleton farmer and food science graduate, Claire Stack. Claire was thrilled with the enthusiastic response of the children to the farm animals and to the wealth of their probing questions for her. Thanks to Ms. Smyth for organising the successful visit as part of our SESE programme. It’s obvious from the outpouring of affection for the animals on their visit that we are all softies at heart!
