Dress Up Day  was  on 28^th October  and €129 was raised by the pupils and staff for the Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice. Thank you to everyone who supported this. The pupils were dressed in a very colourful array of costumes -a lot of time, creativity and effort went into many of the outfits-well done, children-and parents!

Art Competition. Well done to Beverley Colton in 6^th class and Jayden Gaffney in senior infants who were both picked as finalists in the Conlan’s Family  Centra Healthy Eating Competition.  We wish them the best of luck in the final.

5th and 6th class went on a barge trip on the River Barrow on Monday 14th November, along with their teacher Dave Mc Inerney and student teacher Cheyenne Holmes. After the barge trip they went on a tour of the Heritage Centre where they got to meet and talk to the Norwegian Ambassador. They really enjoyed their  visit and learned many interesting facts about Norway and wildlife in Athy! They  have since completed projects under the guidance of Miss Holmes. A big thank you to Cheyenne for her hard work during her time with us.

Parents Association Christmas Trips We are really looking forward to our Christmas trips. Infants, 1^st and 2^nd class are going to see ‘The Curious Case of the Christmas Lights’ in the Visual Theatre in Carlow on Wednesday 7^th December. 3^rd to 6^th class are travelling to Dublin on 8^th December to see’ A Christmas Carol’ in the Ark Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin. Thank you to the Parents Association committee for organising both trips.

Green Schools The Green School’s Committee members this year are Mya McAleenan, Kate Burns, Cian Cobbe, Beverley Colton,  Cayden Gray and Brendan-Fredric Lynch. We extend a warm welcome to our new members from 1^st and 2^nd class, Cayden Gray and Brendan-Fredric Lynch.

We held our parent teacher meetings after school during November for all classes.

We welcome a new pupil, David Certeza to Junior Infants. David has come to us from St. David’s N.S. in Naas.

Swimming The last swimming session for infants, 3^rd and 4^th will be Monday  12^th December.

We will be having  a school practice for the carol service on Thursday 15^th December and school will be held in the Parish Centre that day.

A reminder that our School Carol Service will take place on Sunday 18^th December in St. Michael’s Church at 11 am.

Christmas Holidays School will close on Thursday 22^nd December at 12 noon for Christmas holidays and will reopen on Monday  9^th January.

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful Christmas from all of us in the Model School.

The Parents Association AGM took place on Monday 10th October. We welcome the following new members onto the committee: Maeve Reeves, Adrienne Kavanagh, Setanta Mellor, Sinead Kelly and Tracey Dowling and look forward to working together. We wish to thank the outgoing members:  Chris Bradshaw, (chairperson) for his hard work, commitment and support during his term on the P.A.

Our Book Fair was very well supported and we earned nearly €350 worth of books for our school. Thank you so much to pupils and parents for your support.

We had an incidental school inspection on Thursday 29th September where an inspector from the DES spent the day with us. She spent time in various classrooms. The day went well and she was very pleased overall.

A Board of Management meeting took place on Wednesday 12th October.

6th class attended the annual Diocesan Schools Service in Christchurch Cathedral on Thurs 13th October . They visited Dublinia the Viking exhibition, as well as a stopping at Mc Donald’s on the way home afterwards. Our pupils behaved exceptionally well on the day. Well done to the whole class- Liam Yek, Beverley Colton, Charlene Pere, Mischa Adeniranye and Henry Alabi who performed their drumming piece so well in front of a very large congregation. Well done, all and thanks to Rev. Olive for recording it and showing it to us all in assembly. We would like to thank the Board of Management who paid for the bus to Dublin .

We had a Dress Up Day on Friday 28th October in support of the LauraLynn House Children’s Hospice. Well done to everyone who dressed up and supported this.

Our Guided Reading sessions have finished until February. We sincerely thank the parishioners,  parents and grandparents who gave up their time to listen to our pupils reading in small groups. We really appreciate your input.

Word Wasp sessions are continuing on Tuesday, Wednesday  and Thursday  mornings. Again, thank you to the volunteers who work with the children on this. We are very fortunate to have so many people willing to give their time and assistance to our pupils. If you are interested in helping with Word Wasp  or with Guided Reading in February, please let us know.

Parent teacher meetings will take place in the afternoons, after school, beginning the week of Monday 14th November

The Christmas Trips organised by the P.A. this year are as follows: The Junior Christmas trip will take place on Wednesday 7th December to the Visual in Carlow while the Senior trip will be on Thursday 8th December to The Ark in Dublin. Many thanks to Dolores Delaney, P.A. secretary, for organising these trips which promise to be very enjoyable.

Please note that our School Carol Service will take place on Sunday 18th December in St. Michael’s Church at 11 am.

School is closed from Monday 31st October  to Friday 4th November for midterm break. The school will be closed on Wednesday 9th November for staff training in the new language curriculum. We wish everyone a well-earned rest!

We also welcome Ruth Armstrong who is teaching 1st and 2nd Class and Conor MacGabhann who is teaching 3rd and 4th  to the Model School.

Swimming is up and running again for 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th classes until the Halloween break, and for infants, 3rd and 4th classes for six weeks after Halloween.

5th and 6th class  attended the Athy College Open Day on Friday 23rd September. Many thanks to Richard Daly and his staff for his hospitality.

Student Placement We would like to welcome Cheyenne Holmes and Eva Cullen to the school. Cheyenne is a 3rd  year student in CICE and will be joining Mr. McInerney, in 5th  and 6th class, on observation in October, and on student placement for three weeks in November. Eva is a first year student in Frobel College in Maynooth and will be joining Mrs. Cole on observation from October to December and she will do a three week placement in January 2017.

We are hosting the Scholastic Book Fair this year and it will be open after school for parents and children, from Thursday 6th October to Tuesday 11th October as well as on the night of the Parents’ Association A.G.M. Scholastic has a great range of books at reasonable prices and the school earns books from monies raised so please come along, browse and buy! More details will follow.

PA AGM The Parents Association AGM will take place on Monday 10th October at 7.30 pm. We strongly urge all parents to attend the AGM. It is a great opportunity to learn about the work the P.A. does as well as any recent developments in our school.

Christchurch Diocesan Service will be taking place on Thursday 13th October and pupils from 6th class will be in attendance.

We will start guided reading and the ‘word wasp spelling programme ’ soon and we are looking for volunteers. Please contact Karyn Cole on 086 6033972 if you are available to help out.

We will be having a Dress Up Day on Friday 28th October.

A reminder that school will be closed for midterm break from Mon 31st  October to Friday 4th November and we will be closed on Wednesday 9th November to facilitate a staff  training day in the new language curriculum.

School reopens on Tuesday 30^th August at 8.40 am and pupils will go home at 12 noon (Junior Infants at 11.30 am) on the first morning to facilitate a staff meeting.

New parents’ coffee morning on first day A reminder that new parents are invited to meet in the Bay Tree restaurant on the first morning of school, Tues 30^th August, for coffee and to get to know one other. This has been organised by the PA committee.

6^th Class Sale

A total of €2,104 was raised at the 6^th Class Sale on Friday 24^th June. This is a fantastic result and 6^th class pupils, parents and staff, particularly Dave Mc Inerney and Concepta Davidson, deserve huge credit for the amount of hard work involved in achieving it. A total of €1500 will be donated to the Kildare and West Wicklow Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The remaining €604 will be spent on extra resources for the Aistear Room. Thank you to everyone who supported the sale.

Upcoming dates for the first term: Swimming for 1^st, 2^nd, 5^th and 6^th classes starts on Monday 19^th September.

The Parents Association A.G.M. will take place on Monday 10^th October. The Book Fair will be open on the night.

The 6^th Class trip to the Diocesan Schools Service in Christchurch Cathedral will be on Thursday 13^th October.

Further details about these events will be given to parents closer to the time.

Yvonne Griffin

Infant Induction Afternoon It was great to meet our new Junior Infants for next year along with their parents on Monday 13th June. The children spent time with their new teacher Mrs Cole and had a lovely time playing together. They got to spend some time upstairs in the Aistear room which was very exciting for them!
School Tours The infants, 1st and 2nd class had a fantastic time on their school tour in Castlecomer Discovery Park on 14th June. They took part in an assault course and paddled in the river (safely!) searching for all sorts of tiny river bugs. They also had time to play in the playground. All arrived home quite grubby, damp, tired but happy after a very active day!! Thank you to our parents Liz, Laken, Tracy and Anna, who helped us on the day.
The Senior Tour was a great hit too. 3rd to 6th class travelled to the Jump Zone in Sandyford on 15th June. The Jump Zone has over 14,000 sq feet of trampolines so the pupils spent the day literally bouncing off the walls!
Willow Weaving 3rd to 6th class enjoyed learning the art of willow weaving with Beth Murphy, on 14th June. This was under the ‘If I had an Artist for a Day’ scheme for schools. Thank you to the PA for supporting this venture.
Drumming Workshops The children had a great time drumming with David Day on 8th June in what is now an annual visit to our school.

Our End of Year service took place in St. Michael’s Church on Sunday 19th June at 11am. During this service, we said a fond farewell to all our 6th class pupils who will soon be starting secondary school-Clare Cole, Lisa Badakin, Jordan Coyle, Liam Mc Donnell, Dylan Rowan, Dearbhla Bradshaw, Ellen Burns, Tyrone Adeniranye, Ben Leahy, Eoin Cobbe, Ivanka Manase, Anna-Mart Mielmann, Jemimah Famose, George King, Daniel Kashchenko, Leila Phoenix-Spratt, Owen Dowling, Sam Massey and Quincy Macharia.

All of 6th class received autograph books, certificates, photo stories of their time in the Model and book tokens. Congratulations to: Ellen Burns who was awarded the Loftus Warren Cup for effort and progress, to Clare Cole who was awarded the Scripture Prize, to Cayden Gray who received the William Ashmore Plaque for effort and progress in 1st class, and to the following who received certificates and book tokens for full attendance in the school year to date-Harry Cole, Maita Phairah, Taz Chinamasa, Kahlen Gaffney, Darragh Lazenby, Caitlin Kenny, Ryan Cooke, Kia Forde, Lauryn Cole, Eleanor Delaney, Clare Cole and Jayden Gaffney.
Well done to the following who missed just one day this year: William Delaney, Clare Kingston, Jack Monks, Emmanuella Badakin, Saoirse Rourke, Ivanka Manase, Tom Cole and Oli Adido.
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Concepta Davidson, our SNA, who has been with us for nearly eighteen years. Concepta has been a wonderful colleague: efficient, kind and caring to all children, and a valued member of staff. We wish Concepta happiness in the future. A presentation of gifts and flowers were made to Concepta on behalf of the Board of Management, pupils and staff during the service.
Tennis We’d like to give you an update on how we’ve put funds raised at last year’s table quiz to use. The children will receive tennis coaching from a Tennis Ireland coach for six weeks in the summer term next year. We have also purchased mini nets, rackets and balls and look forward to using them during P.E. sessions to practise our tennis skills. Thank you to everyone who supported the Table Quiz in March and made this possible.

Our Annual 6th Class Sale took place in the school on Fri 24th June. Proceeds raised this year went to Kildare and West Wicklow S.P.C.A, as requested by 6th class. This was very well organised by Dave Mc Inerney, Concepta and the 6th class pupils and was a great success. Thank you to the 6th class pupils and parents, who worked tirelessly on the day. Thank you to everyone who supported the sale, whether by donating raffle prizes, helping or coming along on the day.
Thank You On behalf of our staff, pupils and parents, I wish to thank the Board of Management and the Parents Association committee for their hard work and support throughout the last school year.
Thank you to Rev. Olive for her weekly assemblies which we all enjoy.

School closes on Weds 29th June at 12 noon.
School will reopen on Tues 30th August and will close at 12 noon, (11.30 for junior infants) to facilitate a staff meeting.

New Parents 2016-17 A reminder that new parents are invited to meet in the Bay Tree restaurant on the first morning of school, Tues 30th August, for coffee and to get to know each other. This has been organised by the PA committee.

We wish everyone a restful and enjoyable summer.
Yvonne Griffin

Darkness into Light 13 of our pupils, along with their parents, took part in the Darkness into Light Walk on Sat 7^th May. Well done to you all!

We had a visit from the dental nurse on 13^th May. She gave the children lots of important advice to do with brushing teeth and good oral hygiene, as well as foods to avoid.

 3^rd and 4^th class enjoyed their visit to Athy Library on Monday 25^th April to learn all about beekeeping.

Five members of the Board of Management attended training in Dublin on Mon 23^rd May. A big thank you to Karl Colton for driving us there.

Reminder to parents: School will be closed for pupils on Monday 6^th June (Bank Holiday) and on Tuesday 7^th June (the day after the bank holiday) in order to facilitate a whole staff workshop on the new language curriculum (Irish and English).

We are looking forward to David Day of Jabba Jabba Jemba fame, returning on Thurs 9^th June, to inspire the pupils in the art of drumming.

1^st and 2^nd class are off to Athy Library on Weds 8^th June for a Science Workshop. This workshop will introduce children to the wonders of nature and the marine environment. Children will get to examine marine creatures in small groups!

We are making the most of the fine weather at the moment and are busy practising for the West Glendalough Children’s Festival and Sports Day in Blessington on Fri 10^th June. Please remember that all pupils are expected to attend this service and sports day. It is probably the highlight of our summer term so is not to be missed!

All new pupils should have received their invitations to our induction afternoon for new pupils and parents which takes place on Monday 13^th June, from 1.20 to 2.20 pm.

The Junior School Tour for infants, 1^st and 2^nd class will take place this year on Tuesday 14^th June. We are off to the Castlecomer Discovery Park for fun and frolics involving a junior assault course and water ecology. The Senior School Tour for 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th class is to the Jump Zone in Sandyford, a first time for all, and takes place on Wednesday 15^th June.

Our End of Year service takes place on Sunday 19^th June, at 11 am, in St. Michael’s Church. This is where we say goodbye to our 6^th class pupils and the William Ashmore Plaque, the Scripture Prize and the Loftus Warren Cup are awarded, along with full attendance prizes. We will also be saying a sad farewell to our SNA, Concepta Davidson, at this service. Concepta has been a valued member of staff with us for eighteen years. All families are asked to attend this service.

The 6^th Class Sale takes place on Friday 24^th June this year from 10 am until 12 noon. As usual, there will be lots going on, including a bric-a-brac stall, a cake sale, raffles as well as teas and coffees. The senior pupils have decided on the West Wicklow and Kildare ISPCA as their chosen charity to which most of the funds will go. Everyone’s support is most welcome.

A big thank you from Mrs Cole and all the junior and senior infants to Brendan-Fredric and Felix Lynch’s mum, Kristina, who made a special type of play dough for the Aistear Room. Thank you so much!

Aistear Mrs Cole has been very busy getting the new Aistear Room ready upstairs and Junior and Senior Infants are really enjoying it. We are very lucky to have such a bright and spacious room in which the infants are learning so much through play. It is great to see them becoming more independent in the mornings and walking up by themselves. Well done to you all!

Incubator As of Tuesday 26^th April, two of the eggs from Nore Valley Park have hatched and there is great excitement amongst the pupils and staff! We hope the chicks can cope with all the curious faces crowding around them daily!

Athy Library 3^rd and 4^th class greatly enjoyed their visit to Athy Library on Monday 25^th April to take part in a Poetry Workshop.

School will be closed from Mon 2^nd until Fri 6^th May (inclusive) for midterm break.

School will be closed for pupils on Monday 6^th June (Bank Holiday).

Please Note: School will be closed on Tuesday 7^th June (the day after the bank holiday) in order to facilitate a whole staff workshop on the new language curriculum (Irish and English).

We will soon be practising for the West Glendalough Children’s Festival and Sports Day which takes place this year in Blessington on Fri 10^th June. Although school is closed on this day, all pupils are expected to attend this service and sports day. It is a wonderful day out for the whole family.

Our Induction afternoon for new pupils and their parents takes place on Monday 13^th June, from 1.20 to 2.20 pm. This is a great opportunity for new pupils and their parents to meet each other, see the school, and spend some time in what will be their home from home for the next eight years!

The Junior School Tour for infants, 1^st and 2^nd class will take place this year on Tuesday 14^th June. The Senior School Tour for 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th class is on Wednesday 15^th June. Further details will follow soon.

Our End of Year service takes place on Sunday 19^th June in St. Michael’s Church. This is where we say goodbye to our 6^th class pupils and the attendance and other prizes are awarded. We encourage all families to attend this service.

The 6^th Class Sale takes place on Friday 24^th June this year. As usual, there will be lots going on, including a bric-a-brac stall, a cake sale, raffles as well as teas and coffees. Everyone is welcome.

Tag rugby with Joey Carbery is continuing for the month of April. After that, we will begin practising for the Children’s Festival and Sports day which takes place this year in Blessing ton on Fri 10^th June.

World Book Day We all had a great time on World Book Day and the children really pulled out the stops to dress up in colourful and inventive ways. The dance and drama workshops with Gillian Perdue were such fun and added another dimension to the day.

Seachtain na Gaeilge   Well done to the following pupils who were chosen as Gaeilgeoirí na Bliana this year for their consistent efforts in learning and speaking Irish: Evan Stacey, Ryan Cooke, Brianna Pere and Jemimah Famose.

Christian Aid Lenten Campaign A big thank you to all families who supported this campaign, launched by Rev. Olive at the beginning of Lent. Our pupils raised €405 for Christian Aid. Thank you to Jane Burns for speaking to the children at Assembly on Fri 11^th March about the important work Christian Aid carries out.

Proclamation Day We had a wonderful turnout of family members and parishioners who joined us in raising our Irish flag at school on Proclamation Day. We’d like thank the pupils in 5^th and 6^th class in particular for entertaining us with Irish dancing and tin whistle performances, telling the history of our flag and drawing up and reading our school proclamation. Thanks also to their teacher Mr Mc Inerney and to Concepta for preparing the pupils so well. A big well done to everyone for working so hard on their projects. Thank you to Rev. Olive for conducting our prayer service and to Ron Condell, our chairperson, for raising our flag. Last of all, thank you to the P.A. ladies for serving refreshments to all who came to view the children’s work. It was a lovely occasion for us all. We will be framing both the original proclamation and our new one and they will be on display in the school shortly for all to view.

Table Quiz There was good support for the Athy Model School Parents Association Table Quiz  on Friday 4^th March. The Model School staff and pupils would like to thank all who supported it, whether by coming along on the night, donating raffle prizes or money or by buying raffle tickets. We’d also like to thank the P.A. committee, Clive, Laura and the Golf Club. Your support is greatly appreciated by us all.

Guided Reading Guided reading will be starting in mid April for six weeks. If you are interested in helping with this, please let us know as soon as possible. We really appreciate the support of parents and parishioners, and the children very much enjoy their help.

1^st, 2^nd, 5^th and 6^th classes are learning the tin whistle with Melanie Butler at the moment. Tag rugby is continuing every Monday until after Easter.

World Book Day We will be celebrating World Book Day on Friday 4^th March and we are, as usual, encouraging everyone to dress up as their favourite book character. There will be a prize for the best costume so start planning! Gillian Perdue, children’s author, will be paying us a visit to read from her books and bring them to life through dance and drama. This promises to be a lot of fun!

Proclamation Day We will be raising our Irish flag at school on the morning of Proclamation Day, Tuesday 15^th March at 11 am. Everyone is welcome to join us for a short celebration of this occasion.

Mindfulness Pupils in 3^rd to 6^th classes took part in mindfulness coaching on 23^rd Feb. This is part of the Local Education Committee’s initiative which is focused on mental health this year, and in which all local schools are involved. 5^th and 6^th class will be participating in a Self image workshop on Tues 1^st March, as part of the same initiative.

Go Green 3^rd and 4^th class took part in a recycling workshop on 24^th Feb, as part of our work towards achieving our second green flag for energy.

Table Quiz A reminder that the annual Athy Model School Parents Association Table Quiz takes place on Friday 4^th March in Athy Golf Club. This is always a great night out and we would strongly encourage everyone to support it as all funds are for the benefit of our pupils.

September Enrolment Applications are now being invited for September 2016 enrolment. Please call to the school office to fill in an application form on behalf of your child if you have not already done so. If you have already applied, we will be in touch with you in early March.

Guided Reading Guided reading will be starting in early April for six weeks. If you are interested in helping with this, please let us know. We really appreciate the support of parents and parishioners, and the children very much enjoy their help.

Darkness into Light We hope that many of our staff and parents will join the town community in this 5 km walk which takes place in Athy, starting at 4.15 am (!!) on Saturday 7th May in aid of Pieta House.  Anyone interested will need to register online. Registration opens on Mon 7^th March.

Credit Union Quiz Well done to all the pupils who took part in the Credit Union Quiz on 29^th Jan. Although we didn’t win on the night, it was wonderful to see so many of our pupils taking part.

Please note in your diaries that the West Glendalough Children’s Choral Festival and Sports Day will take place this year in Blessington on Friday 10th June. As is usual, there will be a church service in the morning, followed by refreshments. Races for pupils from the following schools: Blessington, Athy, Donoughmore and Dunlavin, will then be held after the refreshments. Further details for parents will follow closer to the time.

School Closure School will close on Wednesday 16^th March for Easter holidays and will reopen on Monday 4^th April.

Knitting Mrs Deane has started knitting with 3^rd and 4^th classes. We would like to thank the ladies who have volunteered to come in and help the children with this. It is very much appreciated.

Computer Room We recently purchased new laptops, headphones and desks for our Assembly Room. In addition to assemblies, we will be using this as a computer room where the pupils can work in pairs on the laptops. Thank you to the Board of Management for supporting us in this.

Tin Whistle   1^st, 2^nd, 5^th and 6^th classes will be starting tin whistle lessons with Melanie Butler on Weds 2nd February. These will take place every Wednesday for seven weeks.

Tag Rugby All classes from 1^st to 6^th have started Tag Rugby with Joey Carbury which will continue every Monday until after Easter. The children really enjoy Joey’s instruction and get lots of exercise and fresh air during this time. We are so lucky to have the use of the campus Astro turf pitch which is a lovely surface for the children to play on.

Japanese students Our thanks to Richard Daly from Athy College who visited our school last week with fifteen host students from Japan. These young people had spent a number of weeks in Athy, attending Athy College and visiting places of interest including Newgrange, Trinity College and Glendalough. They spent a morning with our pupils throughout the school, teaching them Origami, the skill of paper folding, in small groups. The students were very pleasant and patient and our children really enjoyed the experience.

Credit Union Quiz The Annual Credit Union Schools Quiz is being held in Ardscoil na Trìonoìde on Friday 29^th January.     We hope to send along at least six teams and are busy brushing up on our general knowledge at present!

The Annual Athy Model School Table Quiz takes place on Friday 4^th March at 8 pm in Athy Golf Club. This is always a very enjoyable evening and we would welcome everyone’s support on the night.

Mid Term Break School will close on Friday 12^th February at the usual time for Mid Term Break and will reopen on Monday 22^nd February. Yvonne Griffin

Green Schools A big thank you to everyone who entered the energy motto competition. The overall winner was Caitlin Kenny, 2^nd Class with her motto, ‘Do the earth a favour, be a power saver’. The winners for best pictures were Neal Lazenby, Darragh Lazenby, Isabel Perry, Caroline Daly and Ellen Burns. Well done to all. The Green Schools Committee carried out an energy audit in November. The main findings were that lights were left on, interactive whiteboards were left on and the doors were left open. To fix these issues, there are now 2 energy detectives in each classroom who help us all to remember to close the doors, turn off the lights and turn off the interactive whiteboard. The children will take it in turns to be energy detectives. To continue the good work at home, we have signed energy pledges to save energy at home. Also thank you to everyone who completed our energy questionnaire at home. We had a huge response and the results of the questionnaire are displayed on our green board. Keep up the energy saving and remember, ‘Do the earth a favour, be a power saver.’  Liz Deane