OUR NEW LIBRARY!

St. John’s NS recently received a new school library worth €2,500 – thanks to the efforts of a former sixth class pupil with an aptitude for spelling.
Emily Meehan was a finalist in last year’s Eason Spelling Bee in association with the Ryan Tubridy Show on 2FM, having won the Clare County Bee earlier in the year.

Emily is presented with her medal by RTE's Ryan Tubridy

She then saw off stiff competition at the Provincial Final at the Strand Hotel in Limerick to take the crown as Munster champion.
The Grand Final took place in RTE Studios in Dublin and Emily represented the school extremely well – coming in 4th place and winning a massive library of books for both classrooms.
Principal, Tina Noone, and teacher, Vera Knowles, are very proud of Emily’s achievements. The whole school population was behind the sixth class girl, even travelling to RTE by bus at 5.45am on the morning of the Final!
The pupils of St. John’s NS are certainly enthusiastic spellers – and we hope to repeat Emily’s success this year!

WE TAKE FIRST PRIZE AT SCIENCE QUIZ!

In addition to our spelling success, St. John’s NS won the inaugural Schools’ Science Quiz, organised recently by St. Caimin’s Community School.
Our team of 5th and 6th class pupils - Arainn Daley, Owen Meehan and Liam Rattigan - took first place in a heavily contested competition that featured 52 teams from national schools in Shannon, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Doora.
This was a great achievement for a school of just 20 pupils – proving that we are punching above our weight in curricular and extra-curricular activities.

VISITING LOCAL HERITAGE SITE – HASTINGS’ COTTAGE!

Third to Sixth Class recently visited the site of one of the oldest buildings in Shannon – Hastings’ Farmhouse. Located close to Ilaunamanagh Cemetery, the house is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1840. Members of Duchas na Sionna, Olive Carey and Rosemary Power, gave the children an excellent tour of the site and a synopsis of the history of the building and its former inhabitants. The children also had an opportunity to handle artefacts recovered from the site during its conservation.

CAROL SINGING AT SKYCOURT, SHANNON!

We may be small in number but we are big in heart (and lungs!). The pupils of St. John’s sang their hearts out in our annual carol singing fundraiser at Skycourt in December, raising €210 for two charities which help educate children in the developing world.