Volume 20, Issue

04 / 05

An Nollaig 2014 /Eanáir 2015

Linking home and school.

Enrolling for next year: Tuesday 10th

and Wednesday 11th of February @

2.00 p.m.

Midterm break: Thursday 19th and

Friday 20th of February

School closed: Tuesday 17th of March

Easter Holidays: Friday 27th of March

@ 12.00 p.m. Back to school Monday

13th of April.

Confirmation: Wednesday 29th of

April, 2015. School closed: Monday 5th & Tuesday

6th of May.

First Holy Communion: Saturday 23rd

of May at 11.00 a.m.

School closed: Monday 1st of June.

Scoilavision 2015: Wednesday, June

17th, 2015

Summer Holidays: Fri-

day 26th of June @ 12.00

p.m.

Click here

Christmas every year is a busy time in SnB - getting ready for Christmas Con-

certs (see page 4), Santa visits the school (see page 5), Remembrance Tree set-

ting up and Lighting Up Ceremony (see page 6), Parish Carol Service, Carol

Singing outside O’Donovan’s Hotel for “Just One”, Carol Singing for the Annu-

al GAA mass, Carol Singing in Bushmount, Christmas Magazine etc etc.

However this year was completely different as we decided (urged on by Ms.

Karen O’Regan, whose idea it was) to release a single - celebrating coming

home to Clonakilty for Christmas. Little did we realise where the single would

take us over the coming month.

At the end of November we recorded the single in Lettercollum Recording Stu-

dios with the tremendous assistance of

John Fitzgerald (past pupil) - who

also produced the single. Ms. Karen

O’Regan not only sang lead vocals

but also arranged all the harmonies.

12 staff members in total sang on the

CD, plus past pupil Jack Archbold

who provided percussion and parent

Margaret Deegan who played the

haunting flute pieces throughout the

song. Then John came to the school

to record the boys singing.

The Examiner came to visit and photographed and vide-

oed the song. The YouTube video now has over 7275

hits. Ms. Regina Fitzmaurice and her class uploaded

the “Official Video” a week later showing the recording

process and beautiful scenes of Clonakilty. This has now

over 5600 hits!

Within a week the song with no radio play - just social

media assistance (especially from Flor McCarthy who

set up a special website to support the song) reached

number 48 in the Irish Charts. This was just the begin-

ning!

(Continued on page 2)

If you have a Smart phone

just scan the QR Code on the

right and it will bring you

straight to our website.

@snbclonakilty

“This school should be used as a model for other schools

around the country” - The Minister for Education and Science

Email: info@snbclonakilty.com

Website Address: www.snbclonakilty.com Mobile site: m.snbclonakilty.com

Telephone/fax: 8834487

Twitter: @snbclonakilty

Page 2 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

David O’Regan & Co. Chartered Accountants

Registered Auditors

Our services include: Financial Accounting &

Bookkeeping

Audit & assurance – Taxation Consultancy

Small & Medium Business Support

Contractor Solutions HR & Payroll

Company Secretarial & Formation

Strategic & Business Planning

Please contact:

David O’Regan on

Mob: 087-2043800

Email: david@dor.ie

Web: www.dor.ie

Hire some fun for any occasion

Phone: Clonakilty

023 88 35595

Mobile: 086

8315744

Bantry: 027 50713

Mobile: 087

9081273

C103fm with a little encouragement from Eileen Kingston invit-

ed us to the studio in O’Donovan’s Hotel on the 5th of December

to play the song live. The only stipulation was .. we could only

bring 10 people (so we brought 15) - 5 boys - one from each class,

8 staff, Jack Archbold and

Margaret Deegan. It was

a great success. Patricia

Messenger loved the song

and our performance, and

played the song on her

showed throughout De-

cember and even played it

on her special Christmas

Eve programme. She also

complimented the boys and the staff again. Eugene Scally ar-

ranged to have the song played in Supervalu every 25 minutes

(thanks Eugene and John Coleman). But there was more to

come!!

That same night we launched the song at the Remembrance Tree

Lighting Up Ceremony. The boys also sang many other carols

and Christmas songs. Spiller’s Lane was packed to capacity with

the Mayor of Clonakilty Colette Twomey, Monsignor O’Dris-

coll and Mrs. Noreen Minihan (Chairperson of the BOM) all

in attendance.

The following Monday we received a phone call from Kevin

McAnally asking us to perform five songs at the Cork Opera

House, supporting the West Cork Ukulele Orchestra! We rose

to the challenge and now with twenty

boys and all the staff who sang on

Home, we rehearsed and rehearsed,

ably lead by Karen O’Regan and were

ready….. or nearly. We had to first

sing in the Parish Carol Service with

seventy boys! This was a great success

despite some hitches with sound, false

starts (yours truly!). It was great prepa-

ration for what to come.

We arrived at the Cork Opera House early - two hours before our

performance and were shown our dressing room. We watched the

West Cork Ukulele Orchestra set up and sound check. It was

fascinating.

Then it was our turn. We sound checked for about 8 minutes and

looked out into the auditorium - ENORMOUS! One of the boys

was told it held 937 people. We believed him. And then we were

told it was SOLD OUT! 8 o’clock came and we went on stage to

(Continued from page 1)

rapturous applause. That was encouraging at least.

We played our set and we were excellent - boys,

staff, Margaret and Jack. We did ourselves and the

school proud. It was a really marvellous occasion -

one I don’t think the boys or staff will ever forget.

Then we got the chance to sit in the audience and

watch the West Cork Ukulele Orchestra perform

their set. They were also brilliant!

Thanks to Debbie and Ivan and Craig Bateman

and to Kieran and Liz O’Regan who provided

refreshments for the boys when they came off stage.

Thanks also to Mark Coombes for photographing

the occasion (see page 9). Thanks to Tina Aherne

for photographing c103fm and Spiller’s Lane.

And finally… all 500 copies of the CD were sold!

Page 3 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

On Friday 21st of November 5th and 6th class went

orienteering in Fota wildlife park, but don’t worry it

wasn’t with the animals but around the house and

gardens! I’m not sure about 5th class but the 6th class

got to see a buffalo at one of the points! We did very

well considering the weather conditions. It was

very, very wet, boggy and the rain was lashing

down. The top three for fifth class in our school

were Conor Daly, Cian Scally and Cian Downey.

The top three for sixth class were Stephen O’ Hea,

Eoghan Ferguson and Liam Crowley. We were de-

lighted with ourselves and well done to everyone

who took part. We met Mr O’Brien at the start

which was great. Many thanks to

Thelma, who organised the buses

and to Ms.O’Shea, Ms. O’Keeffe

and Ms. Fitzmaurice who came

with us on the day. The day was a

great success! By: Craig Bateman Click here

Click here

Click here

Basketball 14/15: Basketball training has

started on Tuesdays and Thursdays once the

Sciath na Scol competition is finished. Keep

an eye on the Dates for your Diary section

of the website.

Quizzard ’14/15: has started. Classes from

Rang 3 - Rang 6 will be participating. Ernie

McCarthy is in charge of the quiz this year

and has made out all the teams for

2014/2015. Liam Crowley is assisting.

Chess: started in October. Check Dates for

your Diary if unsure about when it’s on.

Thanks to Mr. Gavin O’Riordan for his as-

sistance.

Soccer Competitions -

Senior Infants Soccer

Held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or

Thursdays. No Soccer on Friday. Teams are

on website.

Rang 1

Held on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Extra

day’s soccer on Fridays - between Rang 1

and Rang 2. Teams are on website.

Rang 2

Held on Mondays or Thursdays. Extra day’s

soccer on Fridays - between Rang 1 and

Rang 2. Teams are on website.

Rang 3 - Rang 6

Held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays

and Thursdays, depending on what team you

are on. These are all up on the school web-

site - just click the Link on the right.

Multi-Media Authoring / Video Editing / Computer Lessons /

Coderdojo - for Rang 2/3, Rang 3, Rang 4, Rang 5 and Rang 6 has

started. Many thanks to Margaret Deegan for her assistance.

Swimming: Ms. Kathryn O’Shea’s / Ms. Maire Houstoun’s 1st class

and Ms. Grace O’Shea’s 5th class.

Wardens – Boys in fifth/sixth class have trained with Mr. Harte

for Junior Warden Duty. Many thanks to Mr. Harte.

Choir - Ms. Karen O’Regan and Mr. Coman Duke are at present

teaching songs to their classes in preparation for the National Chil-

dren’s Choir.

GAA - Timmy Anglin

Rugby - Ian Rea

Click here

Click here

Click here

Click here

Click here

Page 4 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Pictured below: Christmas Concerts | Thank you very much to

all the staff and boys for producing such wonderful concerts again

this year. Thanks to Mrs. Elaine Connolly for acting as MC.

There are loads more photos going with this

Links online >>>>>>>>

Click here

Page 5 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Pictured below: Santa visits SnB. Thanks to the Parent’s Associ-

ation for inviting him.

There are loads more photos going with this

Links online >>>>>>>>

Click here

Page 6 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Photos:

Spiller’s Lane

Remem-

brance Tree

Lighting Up

Ceremony |

c103fm | Car-

ol Singing for

“Just One” on

the 8th of

December.

Click here

All cans gratefully received .

Please contact Ms. Regina Fitz-

maurice if you have any query

re. this matter. Many thanks to

Ms. Fitzmaurice.. She and her

class will also look after the

school garden and glasshouse.

The money that is collected by

this scheme is used in the school

garden. Thanks to Cian and

Jack for helping with cans this

year.

Page 7 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

In 4th/5th class we were studying autobiographies and I brought

in a book written by my Granddad, Mr John Sexton “All in a

lifetime”.

Ms O’ Regan suggested I invite him in to the class to read a

piece from his book and answer some questions. When asked

why he wrote the book he answered that he wanted to put to-

gether the events that happened in his lifetime. It is based on

his life growing up in Courtmacsherry. It is unique that while

Grandad is a farmer, he has been over 50 years reporting with

the Southern Star. He loves English and he enjoys writing.

The book is available in all local bookshops, the ideal Christ-

mas present.

Written By: Fergal Murphy 4th/5th Class

If you would like to book an ad for the coming school year 2014-2015 please let Thelma know as soon as possible. The number of ads is limited. Our Links goes to all parents in the school - 10 times a year - at the beginning of each month. The cost is €20 per issue or at a discount of €150 for the entire year! Please ring Thelma 8834487 if you are interested.

Thanks to Blaise McCarthy, Dan Twomey and

Leon Krawczyk who are responsible for the

collection for Just One this year.

So far they have collected €110.17 for the

Charity. December’s monies are not included

in the above amount.

This very popular scheme will start again on Friday, 9th of January,

for all classes except Junior Infants. Stamps cost €1 each. Junior

Infants will start collecting later in the year. Thanks to Eileen

O’Donovan for her assistance.

Children in Rang 6 will use this scheme for saving for their Surfing

lessons and boys in Rang 5 will use it for Kayaking.

Congratulations to the school Swimming team on their recent

success. Thanks to Sarah Jane O’Donovan for organising it.

Page 8 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Thanks to all the staff of SnB for producing marvellous shows again this

year. They were really brilliant and the boys one and all were a credit to

their class. Thanks to Mrs. Elaine Connolly for introducing the Concerts on

both days.

Thanks to the Sound and Lighting crews. Thanks to Josie Files for accompa-

nying the classes on piano. Thanks to Finbarr O’Connor for his work on the

stage. Thanks to you the parents for the wonderful costumes you created.

As you know a collection was made at the door for the St. Vincent de Paul

Society. A total of €839.24 was raised over the 2 days. Many thanks for

your generosity.

A number of boys in the school are allergic to nuts and for them any contact

with nuts or products containing traces of nuts can be dangerous for exam-

ple NUTELLA!!!!

Please be aware of this when organising your child’s lunch and if possible

do not allow your child to bring anything containing nuts to school. Your

help in this matter is very much appreciated.

p.s. Please give your children water to drink coming to school - not

sweet or fizzy drinks.

Parents: now that children are back in school, please be vigi-

lant and check your child’s hair regularly for headlice. If

you find any please notify the school and we will send a

note to all parents in that class.

It would be so much safer if you did not bring chil-

dren across the road by the hand at 3.00 p.m. often

crossing between cars and traffic, which can be danger-

ous and may even encourage another child to attempt

the same on his own with possible disastrous conse-

quences.

Please, always use the wardens, when on duty and, at

the very least, the zebra crossing which is there for this

purpose.

Thank you.

Junio

r /

Sen

ior

Infa

nts

Chri

stm

as B

akin

g

wit

h M

s. O

’Nei

ll a

nd

Sar

ah J

ane

O’D

ono

van

Page 9 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Pictured below: SnB wows the Cork

Opera House

Click here

Rehearsals

Page 10 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Craftwork with Kathy Twomey | Pottery in

Rang 5 | Active Maths Rang 1 / 2 | Science

Week

Thank you to Finbarr, Mr. Michael Harte and

Mrs. Elaine Connolly and for decorating the school

foyer again this year for Christmas. It looks magnifi-

cent.

Thanks to all who are helping out with the Literacy

Lift Off Programme this year.

Thanks so much to Mark Coombes for all the photo-

graphs - especially the ones recently of the Opera

House. They were tremendous.

Thanks to Tina Aherne for her photographs of Spill-

er’s Lane and c103fm.

Thanks to Colette Twomey for allowing us to use

Spiller’s Lane again this year.

Thanks to Thelma for all her hard work.

Thanks to Mary Foley and Martina O’Donovan for

all their hard work.

First Holy Communion: 23rd of May, 2015 at 11.00

a.m.

Confirmation: Wednesday 29th of April, 2015.

Children who were baptised outside of the parish of

Clonakilty will have to send in a copy of their Baptismal

Certificate (unless you have already done so).

Please send in these certificates as soon as you can. Chil-

dren in other classes who have not sent in their Baptismal

Certificate can do so at any time – it will be photocopied

and the original returned immediately.

For children in Junior Infants it is the ideal opportunity to

locate and send in your Baptismal Certificate – we won’t

have to ask for it ever again.

Over 60 shoeboxes

were collected in

November for needy

children.

Many thanks to all those who sent in Shoeboxes. Thanks to Dylan and

Rory for collecting the boxes.

Page 11 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

These boys have made an extra effort to be polite and “gentlemanly” during the month of November and December. Some of the pho-

tos are missing as there was just no enough time to take them in December. We’ll be back on track again this Friday.

Pictured below: “Gentlemen of the Week” during the month of November and

December

Our Christmas Magazine was a

great success again this year with

over 220 pages.

Many thanks to all the teachers for

their help with the Christmas Mag-

azine this year. Thanks also to the

SNAS and Finbarr and Thelma for

their help.

The senior classes were especially

involved in the magazine and a

special thanks to their teachers for

their help.

Thanks to everyone who adver-

tises in the magazine. Your support is very much appreciated.

Reminder:

If you are not collecting your child on a particular day but a

friend or a relative is, please notify us about this by:

a note in your child’s bag/lunchbox

telephone the school on 8834487

email the school on info@snbclonakilty.com

We cannot allow a person who is not a parent or a designated

contact person to take your child without your permission.

Thanks to the Parent’s Association for all their help and for

inviting Santa to come to the school again this year.

Thanks also for providing the “goodie” bags for the children -

this year all children in all classes received a present. The

work in preparing these presents in quite onerous and is very

much appreciated.

Photographs of Sana’s visit are up on our school website.

Congratulations to Mr. Coman Duke and his wife Mairéad on

the birth of their baby daughter Ciara recently.

Thank you to boys who sang / played / worked on the Sound & Light-

ing crews just before Christmas at the following occasions - Ahamilla Christ-

mas Mass | Lighting of the Tree in Spillers Lane | Carol Singing outside

O’Donovan’s Hotel on the 8th of December | Christmas Carol Service (Parish Church) | Carol Singing in Bushmount | Christ-

mas Concerts.

Thank you to Christine and Richard (sacristans) for their help with the practice for the Carol Service and all our First Friday

Masses.

Thanks to Mrs. Noreen Minihan for her encouragement to all the staff and the boys.

Thank you to Monsignor O’Driscoll and Fr. Collins for attending the Remembrance Tree Lighting up Ceremony and their co-

operation throughout.

Thanks to Mrs. Noreen Minihan for her work with the altar boys in 2014.

Thanks to all the parents and past pupils who help out every day with the Literacy Lift Off programme in the school - organised

by Ms. Carol O’Boyle.

Apologies for forgetting anyone we should have thanked and possibly repeating myself in this Links - though it is important to

say thank you - even if it is more than once.

Milk from Monday next 12th until Easter costs €10.00. Last day

is Friday next the 9th of January.

Photocopying (Term 2) : €10.00

French: Term 2 - (2nd - 6th) €6.00

Elocution: (Ms. Horgan’s, Ms. O’Neill’s, Ms. K O’Shea’s/ Ms.

Houstoun’s, Mrs. Breen O’Riordan and Mr. O’Riordan) €7.00 Most parents paid for the above (except milk) in September.

Page 12 Volume 20, Issues 04 / 05

Many thanks to all who supported our

Remembrance Tree again this year. Spill-

er’s Lane looked magnificent and really

captured the spirit of Christmas.

Thanks especially to Patrick Murphy, John

Coleman, Pat Murphy, Shay Murphy, Tim

O’Donovan, Cian O’Donovan, Tim Mur-

phy, Ger and Mark Allman, Canice O’Re-

gan, Robert Hancock, Kevin Enright, Liz

O’Regan and Billy Crowley - who erected

the Spirit of Christmas in Spiller’s Lane.

Thanks to Collette Twomey for her cooper-

ation throughout.

Thanks also to Liz O’Regan and Thelma

Barry for all their hard work.

Thanks to Finbarr O’Connor for his work on the new Christmas Tree.

Thanks to all the sellers who braved the very bad weather this year to sell the

lights on the tree.

Thank you to the very large crowd who attended the lighting of the tree on the

5th of December. Thanks to the Mayor, Mrs. Colette Twomey, Mrs. Noreen

Minihan, Monsignor Aidan O’Driscoll and Fr. Collins for their words of en-

couragement. Thanks to Ger Allman, Mark Allman, Liz O’Regan, Coman

Duke and Regina Fitzmaurice for their help with the Sound / Lighting equip-

ment after the Carol Service.

At present we have collected €5703 - this includes money from the single

“Home” though does not take into account the expenses in producing the single.

Attached to this Links for some classes are the fol-

lowing:

Stay Safe Notes for Seniors (and booklets) / Rang

3 / Rang 6.

Booklets are given to the Senior Infants only as Rang

3 and Rang 6 have received them in previous years.

If your son is in these classes and would like to re-

ceive a replacement booklet, please contact Thelma

at 88344487 or email info@snbclonakilty.com

More Science Week Photos - Thanks to Ms. Regina Fitzmaurice for organ-

ising the visits to the Science Week Workshops.

Name of Band: _________________________________

Band Members (Maximum 5)

1.________________________________________ 2._______________________________________________

3.________________________________________ 4._______________________________________________

5.________________________________________

Band Leader/Manager (may be one of the band but doesn’t have to be) ________________________________________

Song chosen: __________________________________(You may leave this blank)

I agree to give 10% of all future millions made from music to Scoil na mBuachaillí, as it gave me my first start!!

Page 13 Volume 20, Issue 04/05

ScoilaVision 2015 is coming up - on June 17th, 2015. ScoilaVision is a Scoil na mBuachaillí version of the Eurovision/

XFactor, held every second year, only it’s better!!!.

Boys from Rang 5 and Rang 6 are eligible to enter the competition with their band or they may enter as a solo / duet act if

they prefer. However all boys who wish to participate in the competition must fill out an entry form and give to

Mr. Harrington on or before Friday the 30th of January at 12.00 p.m. No late entries will be accepted!

Parents: Please encourage your child to become involved. It’s great fun and builds self confidence.

This year also we are interviewing for a Producer, Assistant Producer, FOH Manager, Backstage Manager, Sound Crew

members, Lighting Crew members and Judges. These positions must also be applied for. (see below).

A. Producer for ScoilaVision 2015(6th Class

only B. Assistant Producer (5th / 6th Class only)

C. Front of House Manager (5th / 6th Class

only)

D. Backstage Manager (5th / 6th Class only)

E. IT Manager (5th / 6th Class only)

F. Judge on the Panel (Any class - Infs. -

Rang 6)

G. Sound Crew Member (4th, 5th and 6th)

H. Lighting Crew Member (4th, 5th and 6th)

CLASSIFIEDS SITUATIONS VACANT 001

1. Position applied for:____________________________________

2. Why have you applied for this position: (You can use a separate

sheet for this answer if you prefer. DO NOT LEAVE THIS BLANK)

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

3. What experience do you have in this area:

_________________________________________________________

4. Please sign :___________________________________________

5. Applicants must have parent’s permission. One parent must

sign below.

_________________________________________________________

Date: ___________________________________________________

2015

5th and 6th class boys may only apply

on this form.