ST. PETERS NATIONAL SCHOOL DUNBOYNE
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    • Autism Awareness Month

We have been busy!

March 2025
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The month of March was a very eventful month for all in Third and Fourth Class. This month we welcomed Ms. McMahon to our class. Ms. McMahon was busily working with the boys and girls on various lessons and activities for the past number of weeks. 
A big thank you to Ms. McMahon from Mr. Corcoran and all the boys and girls. 

To mark Seachtain na Gaeilge we engaged in a variety of Gaeilge/Irish themed activities such as Ceili Dancing, Tráth na gCeist and Celtic Knot themed art. As Engineering week also fell in Marc, we took part in manner engineering themed science activities. I believe the coding lessons with Microsoft DreamSpace was among the most popular. Not to mention, building our bird-feeders and compasses. 
We have also started our Spanish lessons each Friday, and the girls and boys are rapidly adding another language to their repertoire. 
Great work done all round, and we are all looking forward to April and the start of our longer days. 

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Stay connected with all the fun activities of our 3rd, and 4th classes below.

February 2025

With the turning of Spring, Third and Fourth class have sprung into life. We have marked the start of Spring by learnig about St. Brigid and making our very own St. Brigid's crosses. Hopefully their presence on our door will bring much luck and good fortune for the year ahead. 
The boys and girls enjoyed a wonderful story telling session from the brilliant Seanchaí Niall De Búrca. 
With the coming of Spring and the birth of new life, we've been learning about the birds of our local environments. We've been trying to replicate the various tunes, patterns and rhythms one hears in throughout the Dawn chorus with our classroom instruments. All in all, a very lively, productive month to bring out of Winter and into Spring. 
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January 2025
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3rd and 4th Class burst into the New Year with a highly productive, energetic January. The boys and girls enjoyed making rain gauges to help us keep record of the amount of rainfall on course for the year ahead. Let's hope the well made rain gauges won't be overflowing anytime soon. 
The School's class teachers, SNA's and fellow pupils all enjoyed a wonderful Ukulele performance of 'The Best Day of My Life' from our 3rd and 4th Class group. Well done everyone on an excellent performance. 
The boys and girls thoroughly enjoyed a baking lesson, in which we baked two loafs of delicious brown bread. Well done everyone on the wonderful baking. 
Our 3rd and 4th Class pupils also produced some excellent 'Ancient Rome' History projects, which were of a very high level. 
Well done one and all, let's keep up the great work for the year ahead. 
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September 2024

A brand new start in our brand new school! September has come and gone like the blink of an eye. The boys and girls have been enjoying getting to know their new school. We have enjoyed plenty of play times in the very popular new Soft-Play area, as well as numerous quiet reading opportunities in the wonderful new library.  For Maths, English and Irish we have been working well on the revision of previous topics. While for Science the boys and girls do a great job designing bridges that could allow for a various items to be transported across them. In Geography the Children have been studying the counties, rivers, mountains and lakes of Ireland. The children had their historians hats on when studying the differences between schools in the past with their modern school life. 

Well done everybody on a great start to the new year and life in our new school. 

April 2024

We had our last couple of sessions of gymnastics with Sports for Schools, we really put all of the skills we had learned to the test in our final week with all of the stations made at a harder level. We had a visit from Junior Einstein's this month. We learned all about static electricity and electric circuits, it was very interesting. During book week, we had a session on narrative writing with a local author. We also did buddy reading throughout the whole school, 3rd & 4th class were paired up with students in Junior and Senior infants and took turns reading books. 

February 2024

Our theme this month was Animals and Animal life. We incorporated this theme throughout all of our learning for the majority of this month. In English, each student researched an animal of their choice to write a report on. They took down the information they gathered on the chrome books and decided on the subtitles they would need to use in their report. ​They then wrote up their report and drew a picture of their animal of choice. In Art, they either worked individually or in small groups to create a diorama. They had to create a habitat for an animal of their choice, it had to include everything that animal would need to survive. Thanks to the PTA we had freshly made pancakes with tasty toppings on Pancake day to mark the start of Lent. We also did some Valentines Day art and activities. Take a look at the pictures below to see all of our hard work this month. 

January 2024

We have been getting back into the swing of things after having a lovely Christmas break. It has been especially lovely to have some more mindfulness sessions with Una. Have a look at 3rd & 4th class enjoying the guided storytelling on each others backs.
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December 2023

We had our last session with Stephen from music generation before Christmas. During this session 3rd & 4th class performed a Christmas song on the ukulele for 1st & 2nd class. After all our hard work prepping for the nativity over the last few weeks, 3rd & 4th class enjoyed a well deserved hot chocolate party... yum!!
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November 2023

On our first day back after the Halloween break Frankie visited from heritage in schools. She came along with a collection of artefacts and talked to us about the medieval period. The class got the chance to carefully explore these artefacts. Our topic in SESE this month was Egypt, we looked at Egypt as it is today as well as life in Ancient Egypt. The class made group projects at the end of this topics and presented them in assembly. They followed the steps of researching their topic, planning out the layout of their information and then the design. A parent of the school came in to help us make our crafts for the Christmas fair, we made lanterns out of recycled jars and decorated them using stencils, paint and lots of glitter!
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October 2023

We started off our month with a science experiment to find out the effects some drinks can have on our teeth. We enjoyed taking part in some fun activities during Maths week including working in groups to crack the code to Harry Potter's "Secret Chamber". Úna visited our school this month and delivered 3 mindfulness sessions. Our topic in History was The Stone Age, we went outside and gathered some sticks to try replicate stone age houses from the beginning of the period. At the end of the month some children took part in the school pumpkin carving competition. Take a look at some of the amazing entries in our class!
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September 2023

We have had a great start to the year here in 3rd & 4th class. We have welcomed some new faces in both classes and have been enjoying getting to know one another. We had a visitor in from the RSA, we were reminded how to safely cross the road as well as how to safely walk and be seen on roads without footpaths. We have started our ukulele lessons again with Stephen from music generation. It was our week to showcase some of our learning in assembly during September, we were learning about the eyes and how they give information to the brain to tell us how far away something is or how big or small something is. We made optical illusions because when we focus on them with our eyes they trick the brain into thinking the picture is moving. 
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June 2023

We have had such a fun and busy month of June in 3rd & 4th Class. We had a visit from Tom and the Agri Aware Mobile Farm. We had great fun during our Active Week, taking part in activities such as Ultimate Frisbee, Skip 'n Rope and Drumming. Together with 5th & 6th Class we went on a fantastic school tour to Croke Park and Jumpzone. It was the perfect mix of learning and fun. We are immensely proud of our 3rd and 4th class students for their enthusiasm, dedication, and endless curiosity. Their passion for learning and their ability to think outside the box has become a trademark of this wonderful group of learners. Have a look through the pictures below to see more of our June activities. 

May 2023

Enjoying reading our class novel 'The Wreck of the Zanzibar' by Michael Morpurgo in the Sensory Room. 
Sewing with hessian.
Drama in the Soft Play Area. A group of friends out exploring for the day come across a spaceship in a field ... what happens next?
Developing striking, passing and stopping skills in hockey. 
Numeracy Power Hour focusing on Length, Tesselation and observing Lines & Angles in the environment.
Exploring how friction impacts the forward momentum of a car. 

April 2023

When we came back after our Easter holidays we had just two gymnastics sessions left with Mark from Sports in Schools. It has been incredible to see the progress the class have made in the past six weeks and very exciting to see them performing backward flips on the rings!

Paul Klee inspired art.

We looked at some of the art of Paul Klee and created our own Castle and Sun inspired artworks using a variety of fabric and fibre. 
We created some really cool comic books as part of our literacy lessons this month.
We are learning to play 'Roar' by Katy Perry on the ukulele with Stephen from Music Generation Meath. 
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March was such a busy month and we were so lucky to have student teacher Ms. Jaclyn Uchida Cook in with us. Take a look below to see our work this month. 

Some highlights of the month included learning about area by designing the floor plan of a rocket ship, researching projects on Space, exploring magnets, planting spinach and learning about a day in the life of a Dairy Farmer!
Sketching and painting from observation.
Exploring friction in Science by designing, creating and testing parachutes. 
We are very thankful to our PTA for funding a 6 week Gymnastics programme with Mark from Sports In Schools.
We had a lot of fun celebrating Seachtaine na Gaeilge. The PTA arranged for renowned storyteller, Niall DeBurca, to visit the children and he raised the roof with his tall tales as Gaeilge. We played go leor cluichí, dramaí beaga agus tráth na gCeist during the week and also crowned our Gaeilgeoir na Seachtaine. 
Designing and making rockets out of clay.
We took part in Junior Achievement Ireland where 2 volunteers from Meta Clonee gave the class fun workshops designed to help us learn more about caring for the environment. 
Incredible creativity on display for our Easter Bonnet parade!

February 2023

The children outdid themselves with their science projects on hibernating animals.
Our young chefs celebrated Pancake Tuesday in style. Many thanks to our PTA for supplying the freshly cooked pancakes and choice of toppings. Yummy!!!
While learning all about 3-D shapes this month we played 'Guess the Shape' and made 3-D shapes from their nets.
For Valentine's Day we held a 'Red Day' fundraiser for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkey & Syria. Children were invited to wear red and we created art works with a red theme. Monies raised were donated to the Irish Red Cross.
We celebrated St. Brigid's Day with some art based on her cloak and we joined a storytelling webinar all about Brigid.

January 2023

With the New Year comes new learning activiites. This month we focused a lot on the weather. We created a weather station to monitor weather conditions over the week and the children also got opporunities to present their weather forecasts to the class. In Art we created wintery mountain landscapes using pastels. We also looked at the artist Henri Matisse and his use of colour and shape. We created artwork inspired by his style and we also created imaginative pieces entitled 'Through the Keyhole'. Our focus in Maths was on fractions and we spent a fun afternoon playing fraction games. 

December 2022

We have been spilling over with festive cheer this month. For the first time in over 2 years we were able to put on our Christmas Play in the Church for all our families. It was such a special day and the children put on a wonderful performance. Another big highlight of the month was, of course, the World Cup. There was a great buzz of excitement around the matches and we really got into the spirit by researching and compililng projects on each competing nation. Have a look below to see how we spent our snow days, held a pizza party, faced off in a fiercesome staring competion as well as all the other fun things we got up to this month.

November 2022

This month we moved into our new classroom and we have been busy filling the walls with our fantastic work. With the extra space we have a created a 'chill out zone' complete with our very own teepee tent, twinktling lights and calming activities. We also got to experience the Sensory Room in the new building and we were bowled over! All the kids absolutely loved spending time in there. We celebrated Science Week with a visit to the library to take part in a STEM workshop. We made flying crafts, tested which objects woudl float/sink and we experimented with acids and bases using very stinky cabbage water! Back in the classroom we explored how to build a bridge capable of holding weight and we researched some very famous bridges across the world. Have a look at the pictures below to see what we have been up to!

October 2022

October has been a really great month for us in 3rd & 4th Class. We enjoyed a fantastic visit from Reptile Haven, we experienced mindfulness with Una Curran and we celebrated Hallowe'en in style. Have a look at the pictures below to get a taste of all the exciting activites we enjoyed over the last month. 

Welcome to 3rd & 4th Class - Septmember 2022!

We have had a fantastic start to the new school year and are really looking forward to many fun and exciting learning experiences. This month we have been learning all about the skeleton, with the help of our skeleton buddy 'Skully'. In art we have made really insightful split self-portraits and friendship bracelets. We are delighted to be learning to play the ukulele with Stephen from Music Generation. Our playing of 'Twinkle Twinkle' is coming along nicely! This month we have been focusing on the Athletics strand in PE and have also incorporated the History strand unit Games in the Past into our PE sessions. Have a look below to see hightlights of our month.

June 2022

What a memorable month June has been! We had lots of extra curricular activities for the children to enjoy in their last month of the school year. We raised the roof with a Drum Workshop, we released our beautiful butterflies into the school garden, we celebrated ASD Awareness Day with brilliant talks from our SNA Karen and a psychologist from Enable Ireland, and, of course we had our school tour to Tayto Park! Have a look at the pictures below to see more of our fun activiites. 

May 2022

We had lots of fun learning all about Italy. We explored how challenging painting the Sistine Chapel must have been for Michelangelo by painting underneath our tables. We decided that after four years, he definitely had back pain! The boys and girls created amazing projects inspired by their study of Italy. Take a look below to see their fantastic work! 

Our City

We are working with Junior Achievement Ireland and Meta to learn all about the creation of a city. From city planners, to builders, from restaurant owners to banks, we are learning how society interacts to make and sustain the world around us. Most importantly we are seeing how we can shape the future. 

Sketching in our fabulous new garden, just outside our classroom door!

Sports Day!

We had such a fun day at the community centre - make sure to take a look at our Sports Day page for more pics!

Maths Stations

Have a look at some of the hands-on Maths learning acitvities we have been doing over the last month.

April 2022

We celebrated Easter by creating lovely Easter Cards and the children wowed us with their creativity in the Easter Bonnet Parade!

Planting in our new School Garden

Celebrating our new playground art - created by us!

For Earth Day we wrote a poem and created a map using tinfoil.

March 2022

March has been jam-packed with events here in St. Peter's. We started off the month with Pancake Tuesday. The children were treated to pancakes with Nutella or classic sugar and lemon. 
We are having so much fun playing with the new outdoor Jenga and Connect 4 sets!!
Each group created and performed a small drama for the class. They were brilliant!
In Religious Education, we explored the parable of the Mustard Seed and planted our own mustard seed to help deepen our connection to the meaning of the parable. 
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We are very excited to welcome back Teresa, to help coach us in GAA!
 Bhí go leor spraoi againn ar feadh SnaG!
We were extremely lucky to have a virtual session with Fighting Words. The children created a fantastic story  as a group and then wrote individual endings or new stories. It was an incredible workshop and wonderful for the children to explore their creative writing skills, not to mention let their imaginations run wild! Our story, The Volcano Between Two Friends has even been published on the Fighting Words website!
​You can check out the story by copying this link https://www.fightingwords.ie/stories-creative-work/school-stories/volcano-between-two-friends

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On Mental Health Awareness Day, we completed our 'It's a Walk in the Park' group event around the park. We took part in National Confidence Day, we created artwork and got a very special delivery of pizza!
Our Green Schools Action Day saw us partner up with An Taisce National Spring Clean. We donned our hi-vis jackets and went litter- picking around the village. We also created posters to promote our anti-litter message. 
For Engineer's Day, we designed and built boats then tested them to see if they would float. There were so many fantastic designs! We showed our boats to the Senior Class via Zoom and we completed a Kahoot quiz created by them for us. 

February 2022

February may be the shortest month in the year but we packed a lot in! Have a look below to see what we have been up to in 2nd, 3rd & 4th Class.

In Maths we looked at the topics of 3-D shapes and Time. We made our very own cyclinders, cuboids and cubes as well as clocks.
We celebrated St. Valentine's Day by creating Lovebugs. We wrote sweet poems inside the wings of the lovebug 💖
The children worked collaboratively on their 'Explorer's' project in History. It was also time for everyone to present their projects on Egypt to the class. 
We are very excited about all the new equipment we are getting for the yard. We were thrilled to design and create artwork that will be on permanent display for all to see! 
We were treated to a wonderful visit by Heritage Council expert, Ross who taught us all about the trees found locally in the Dunboyne Castle estate.

January 2022

​We are so excited to be going swimming in the National Aquatic Centre! We are taking lessons for 6 weeks and it is so much fun!
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We started off the New Year with a group music lesson. Each group chose a selection of instruments and came up with a chant to perform for the other groups. ​
As part of our SPHE programme, we focused this month on friendship. We created paper plate flowers to hang over the desks. Each petal says something nice about a person at that table. Being kind and respectful is a big part of being a member of St. Peter's N.S. !
This month we learned a lot about Global Warming. We learned how greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide contribute to global warming. We looked at the impact of climate change on the enviornment. We discussed how the harmful effects of climate change could be reduced and what we can do to help the planet. We planned and wrote a letter to the Environent Minister to express our concern and suggest ways he could tackle the situation. These letters are on display in our room and are full of excellent ideas. ​

December 2021

December is always a fun and busy month in St. Peter's. In between Christmas performances, Fun Days and parties we managed to squeeze in some Maths. 3rd Class began working with fractions while 2nd Class delved into Money. After exploring and learning more about these topics, pupils consolidated their learning with fraction games and playing shop-keeper. In Art, we created beautiful Christmas scenes that give the impression of looking in through a window into a warm and twinkling home. We were treated to the fantastic panto 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Huge thanks to the PTA for organising this as the whole class absolutely loved it!!! Have a look at the pictures below to see some of our December activities. Make sure to check on our News & Events page to see even more Christmas fun!

 STEPS Young Engineer's Award -Student Christmas Party!

To celebrate all our hard work in completing our Young Engineers Projects, the STEPS Team invited us to a virtual Christmas Party! Hosted by RTE's Mark Langtry, we got class selfies, shout outs, theories about how Santa's reindeers fly and we definitely broke the world record for the loudest digital cheer across the country!
​Make sure to check out our Special Visitors Page to see more pictures of the engineering process.

November 2021

This month we have been having so much fun honing our dancing skills, We have been focusing on traditional dance and learned An Damhsa Mór,  Ionsaí na hInse, The Shoemakers Dance and The German Clap Dance. Bring on the Céilí!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

We have started our class novel, 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl. This beloved story provides a wealth of opportunities to integrate Art, Music and Drama. 

Ancient Egypt

We are learning all about Ancient Egypt this month. We have looked at the importance of the river Nile in the lives of Egyptians, the religious beliefs of the time as well as what people wore and ate on a daily basis. Jewellery was very important to Ancient Egyptians. They incorporated semi-precious jewels such as carnelians, amethetyst and turquoise in their jewellery. Inspired by their style, we made collars and head pieces decorated in a similar fashion. 

October 2021

This month we began our STEPS Young Engineers Award. Make sure to have a look at our Special Visitors page under News and Events to see all our hard work! I
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In Art this month we experimented with colour mixing, shading and explored silhouettes.
This month we learned about the legend of Óisín and Tír na nÓg. We acted out elements of the story and created wonderful collages to depict our favourite parts of the story. 

September 2021

Play!

In our school we value the importance of play in children's learning. Along with developing all-important social skills, play is vital for a happy, healthy mind. ​

Music and R.E.

This month we have been appreciating the wonder of God's creation. We have celebrated the big things and the very small things in our world. We sang 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and used instruments to enhance our group performances. We took advantage of a beautiful, sunny afternoon to perform in our fabulous outdoor classroom. ​

Science

Our special guest helped us learn all about the bones in our body. Do you know what is the smallest bone in the human body or the largest bone? If not, the children in 2nd, 3rd & 4th will be happy to tell you!
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Maths



​Place Value can be a tricky concept to master but it is fundamental to mathematical understanding. We had so much fun playing the Place Value game 'Nice or Nasty'. Games like this really help to cement our understanding of the concept. 
We have been learing all about 2D shapes. Second Class made some amazing robots using only 2D shapes!
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We are so lucky to have a set of Chromebooks for our class and we put them to good use challenging each other to maths games on Mathletics!

Physical Education

​This month we have been focusing on the Games Strand in P.E.
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​We developed our stopping, striking and passing skills in hockey.

Visual Arts

This month we have been looking at weather and the seasons. We created striking rain and umbrella images and also beautiful autumnal trees. 

Welcome to all the children in 2nd, 3rd and 4th class!

Look at all our happy 2nd, 3rd and 4th class children enjoying time out in the sun! Here's to a great year ahead!
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Reptile Heaven
22nd June 2021

A big thank you to Melanie from Reptile Haven who visited our school today.

​The children (and staff) loved every second of it!
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Phone:   01 8026741
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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our School
    • Our Ethos
    • Principal's Message
    • Our Team >
      • Junior & Senior Infant Teacher
      • 1st and 2nd Class Teacher
      • 3rd & 4th Class Teacher
      • 5th & 6th Class Teacher
      • Sonas Teacher
      • Spraoi Teacher
      • Special Education Teachers
      • Our SNAs
      • Our Ancillary Team
    • Assembly
    • Newsletters
    • PTA >
      • VHI Mini Marathon
      • PTA Members
      • Christmas Fair 2023
      • Charity Events
      • Pumpkin Carving
      • Spooky Walk!
      • St. Patrick's Day Dunboyne
      • Easter
      • Sport's Day
  • Our Classes
    • Junior and Senior Infants
    • 1st and 2nd Class
    • 3rd & 4th Class
    • 5th & 6th Class
  • Enrolment
    • Enrolment
    • Contact Us
  • School Policies
    • Academic
    • Administrative
    • Critical Incidence
    • Annual reviews
  • Afterschool Classes
    • Timetable
    • Guitar 2024
    • School Choir
    • Soccer Team
    • Homework Club
    • Junior Art Club
    • Senior Art Club
    • Playball
    • Drama Club
  • Initiatives
    • Gymnastics
    • Maths week
    • Special Visitors
    • School Garden
    • School trips and outings!
    • Primary Science Award >
      • Primary Science Presentation 2024
      • Step 1: Science
      • Step 2: Technology
      • Step 3: Engineering
      • Step 4: Maths
      • Step 5: STEM Showcase
    • Flags >
      • Active School Flag >
        • Physical Education
        • Physical Activity
        • Partnerships
        • Active School Week
      • Blue Flag
      • Amber Flag
      • Green Flag
    • Percent for Art
    • Sports News
    • Pancake Tuesday 2024
    • Pancake Party
    • Music Generation
    • Yoga 2024
    • Engineers Week in St. Peter's
    • Seachtain na Gaeilge sa scoil Naomh Peader
    • Lots of Socks Day 2025
    • Junior Einstein Day 2024
    • Book Week 2024
    • Tennis Lessons 2024
    • Come and See 2024
    • Dino Experience and Reptile Visit
    • Autism Awareness Month