To celebrate Maths Week, we split into six groups to complete Halloween themed Maths activities. The first station, involved estimating the height and circumference of four large 🎃. We used cubes to help with our estimations. We used string to gage the height and circumference. Using rulers, we measured the string to find out that Ms Hall has the widest and tallest pumpkin.

This week in Junior Infants we have been learning all about spiders.
Did you know spiders are not insects? Spiders are arachnids. Spiders have 8 legs but insects only have 6 legs.
We also learned the rhyme ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ and we completed a cut and stick activity to sequence the rhyme.
During art we made spiders using card, pipe cleaners and eyes. Our cutting skills are really improving!

This week in our school we celebrated Maths Week. We had great fun taking part in lots of Maths Activities.

Dear Mams, Dads, Pupils and Staff,

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our Information Evenings on October 6^th. I hope that you felt welcome and that you enjoyed the opportunity to meet with teachers, and to see where your children learn.

Thank you too to our school’s Parents Association for being with us and congratulations to Damien Walsh who was elected as a Parent Nominee to the school’s Board of Management. The Board’s role is to govern and manage the school and we are very fortunate to have people who are willing to volunteer their time and who are so committed to providing the best possible environment for the children.  The current Board will serve until November 2023 and it has eight members:

Chairperson/Patron’s Nominee:                     Dermot Walsh

Patron’s Nominee:                                           Fr. Kieran O’Shea

Parent Nominee:                                              Michelle Daly

Parent Nominee:                                              Damien Walsh

Staff Nominee:                                               Mary Ryan

School Principal:                                              Catríona O’Reilly

Community Nominee:                                      Sr. Mary Gough

Community Nominee:                                      William Doyle

This little quote from Patricia Gandara seems very appropriate: ‘There is no better place to create a caring community than in our schools – – – the heart of our future’

Yours sincerely,

Catríona O’Reilly – Principal

Mayor’s Visit

On Tuesday last, Cllr. Jason Murphy, Mayor of Waterford Metropolitan Area visited our school. He presented the Good Counsel Cup to Mrs. Power’s Second Class because they were the class with the best overall attendance in our school during 2021-2022. Well done to the girls, their teacher last year Miss Cunniffe and of course their Mams and Dads who made such a great effort to bring them to school.

The Mayor also raised our Amber Flag. The school was awarded the flag to recognise the efforts we make to promote positive mental health. Thank you to Mrs. Shanahan who led the campaign and of course a huge well done to the Wellbeing Warriors, the girls, and staff for making our school a happy place in which to learn.

Mission Week

Mission Week is a very long-standing tradition at Our Lady of Good Counsel GNS. It is three years since we have had Mission Week, which has always been one of the highlights of the school year and the girls are very excited that it is back!

The girls from Sixth Class to Third Class take a day each and set up stalls in the school hall. They sell cakes, buns, unwanted toys and books to the other children in the school, and they run lots of fun competitions as well.

This year’s sales are as follows:

Monday 24th  – Sixth Class

Tuesday 25th  – Fifth Class

Wednesday 26th  – Fourth Class

Thursday 27th  – Third Class

On Friday 28th, Sixth Class will organise and judge a Talent Competition. (The girls may wear their Hallowe’en costumes to school on that date. If your family does not celebrate Hallowe’en, your child may wear any other special outfit/costume/dress. There is no obligation to dress up.)

All the money raised during the week will be sent directly to a project in the developing world. In recent years our Mission Week funds have been sent to Uganda where Opportunity Knox is supporting girls to go to school.

It is a good idea for the small girls to bring a ‘shopping bag’ to school next week. There are usually lots of goodies for sale so it’s handy to have some way of carrying them.

Over the years, the girls and their families have been very generous and I’m sure that will be the case again this year. A little goes a very long way in the developing world.

If you are baking, please be kind enough to remember that Good Counsel is a ‘Nut Free’ school.

Hallowe’en

The school will close on Friday 28^th October for the Hallowe’en Break.

Junior and Senior Infants @ 12.30p.m.

First and Second Classes @ 12.40p.m.

Third to Sixth Classes @ 12.45p.m.

Stay Safe at Hallowe’en.

Maths Week – News from Mrs. Ryan

Maths Week Ireland takes place from October 15th to 23rd. Maths For All is at the core of everything we do.  This simple phrase encapsulates our belief that no matter what age, background or ability, Maths is useful, and it can enrich your life.

Maths Week promotes awareness appreciation and understanding of maths through a huge variety of events and activities.  This year our school will get involved through online events.   activities/games and in-school activities.  Every girl in our school will receive a Maths Week Certificate for their participation.  We have also been using our Maths Eyes to learn about Maths all around us.  We hope the girls will enjoy using their Maths eyes at home.  Try this Maths Riddle at home.  

A grandfather, two fathers and two sons went to the cinema together and everyone bought a cinema ticket each.  How many tickets did they buy in total?

Wellbeing Warriors – News from Mrs. Shanahan

We are delighted to announce that we have selected our Wellbeing Warriors Committee. We were absolutely thrilled with the number of children interested in joining the committee. The names were chosen at random last Friday in each class from Third Class to Sixth Class. We will have our first meeting tomorrow and we look forward to sharing news with you regularly.

Our committee members are

Claudine, Tiffany                     Third Class

Marcella, Sharon                      Fourth Class

Sophie, Natalia                        Fifth Class

Arina, Emili, Limar, Mia            Sixth Class

Congratulations from All of Us

Last week we heard the great news that Mrs. Power’s husband, Ian had won an individual silver medal at the World Surfkayaking Championships – what a fantastic achievement! Ian also won a bronze medal with Team Ireland in the team competition. Go Ireland!

Happy Diwali

We wish a very Happy Diwali to anyone in our school community who is celebrating on Monday 24^th. May the light of Diwali brighten each day of your life.

Reminder for Sixth Class

Abbey C.C. has asked us to remind the girls in Sixth Class to make sure that their applications for places in First Year 2023 are submitted before the closing time and date of 11a.m. on Tuesday 25^th October.

In maths, we have been learning about lines- horizontal,vertical, perpendicular, parallel, oblique. The class were tasked with the challenge of creating different lines in each section of a pumpkin. Autumn leaves, from our nature walk, were glued to the bottom, so that our pumpkins look like they’re nestled amongst the leaves. What types of lines can you see?