The roof of the hall is badly in need of repair. We are waiting the full pricing for the costs, but the estimate is expected to run into thousands of euro.

‘Tús maith leath na hoibre”, so our 6th class boys led by Ms Quinlan and with assistance from all in Ms Starrett’s class, all in Mr Crotty’s class all in Ms Wogan’s class are getting ready for the ‘Valentine Cake Sale’

All baking contributions will be gratefully received and parents are welcome to the hall between 11.00am and 12.30pm on Friday 13th February.  All classes will be brought to the hall in turn to buy something tasty and the boys will be escorted.

There will be lots of help on hand for the boys in choosing what they would like and in getting change etc.

Big, big thanks to the boys in 6th class, with Ms Quinlan, who have taken this on under their own steam and are showing us their great leadership potential.

We celebrated everything that is around us in our biodiversity assembly, led by Ms Walsh.  Biodiversity means learning how we can work with nature to create a happy and healthy environment. We had a slide show showing the school what biodiversity means and a presentation was given by the Green School Committee, who are the student council members.

Photos of the assembly are available for viewing on the website.

Every class has been working on a green school code all about biodiversity and the boys have also been working on posters, which are currently displayed in the front hall. More photos of the boys work will be on view on the website.

The school is in the application process for our next Green Flag, which is for Biodiversity. This will be our fifth flag. We have one for anti-litter, one for water conservation, one for sustainable forms of transport and one for being energy efficient.

Big ‘thank you’ to Ms Walsh and the Green School team for their hard work. Our next assembly will be announcing the winners of the poster competition and please watch the web site carefully for photos.

‘A festival of spelling’ was held in St Joseph’s. Ms Mc Bride, in 4th class, guided and advised the staff on strategies for success with spelling. We extend a very big ‘thank you’ and congratulations to Ms Mc Bride, for all her hard work and for helping us all to see that we can have great fun learning our ‘spellings’. Fran bought the trophies and made a big display in the front hall with pupils’ work. This added to our pride in all that was achieved, all around the school. ‘Thank you’ to Fran.

Super-spell was a great success. The boys played games to master their spellings. Some of the highlights included:

• Spelling Race: The boys wrote words that teacher called out on the board. First to get it right and be back in their place was the winner. This became more complex as the week wore on and the boys had to run farther. • Hot Potato: The boys challenged each other to spell a word and catch the ball/beanbag. • What’s the word? Teacher would say a sentence with a missing word in the sentence. In groups, the boys had to predict what the missing word could be and also they had to spell the word. • Everyone in the class wrote a poem based on all the words they had learned to spell during the week. • Every class had a super spell test. Every boy who got 100% received a certificate. • Last Man Standing: The class winner became the super spell champion and was presented with a trophy at a very special assembly led by Ms Mc Bride.

‘Go raibh míle to all for participating and doing so well and ‘Watch this Space’ for the ‘Tables Champion Challenge’ which will be coming soon.

We recently received a visit from the Digital School of Distinction inspector. The inspector made a report on the use of digital media within the school, for example the use of the interactive white boards in each classroom and the use of our website including posts added by our pupils. On 9th of February we received a letter, which announced that Joey’s has achieved the Digital School of Distinction award. We were congratulated by the Chair of the Digital Schools of Distinction Steering Committee and in particular he applauded the

‘very high standard of ICT integration achieved’

by our school to the benefit of both teachers and pupils. Well done to all and a special word of thanks to everyone who takes photographs and posts entries with news and progress, which is then shared, via the website with the entire school community. If you have not already done so please sign up to our text alert service which will notify you every time there is a new posting.

Don’t worry about the lbs….spend the Euro!!

Its just a reminder Cake Sale fundraiser is on this Friday 13th, 11.00am to 12.30 am in the school hall-unlucky for some but good for you if you’re eating our cakes!! See you there