The students of Grange PPS took part in many events for Seachtain na Gaeilge. The week was promoted within school with all students getting a chance to take part. Students participated in cluichí biongó, word search and cross word puzzles, designed posters and a held a Tráth na gCeist. We were even entertained with some Irish dancing from our senior students. Lollipops were given as prizes to students who made an attempt outside of class to speak as Gaeilge. The week was enjoyed by all, with all teachers taking time to promote Seachtain na Gaeilge within their subject.

Congratulations to Ruairí Mc Loughlin, Shauna Watters and Stanley Dimes who came in first place in our Irish quiz. Congratulations also to Damien Waters, Daniel Keaney, Darius Cawley, Shaun Herity, Rachel Scanlon, Gillian Rooney and Elaine Flanagan who came in joint 2nd.

Tá Seachtain na Gaeilge anseo. Beidh na daltaí in Iarbhunscoil na Grainsí ag déanamh imeachtaí chun béim a chur ar labhairt na Gaeilge. Beidh imeachtaí ar nós cluiche biongó, tráth na gceist ar siúl, agus beidh na daltaí sa dara bhliain ag déanamh e-leabhar filíocht.  Beidh duaiseanna ar fáil do dhaltaí a dhéanann iarracht Gaeilge a labhairt taobh amuigh den seomra ranga.

Seachain na Gaeilge is here. During Seachain na Gaeilge the students of Grange Post Primary School will be participating in events during school to promote the Irish language. These events will include, cluiche biongó, tráth na gCeist and the 2^nd year students will be creating their very own Irish poetry e-book! Small prizes will be awarded to students making an effort to speak  Irish outside of the classroom!

Our 4^th year class recently spent a week out on work experience after the midterm break. Work experience is an integral part of the L.C.V.P. programme. Our 4^th year students have put a lot of time and effort into selecting suitable career paths and possible placements.

Students wrote letters and made phone calls in the hope of securing a placement, many of which were successful. Some students made arrangements with local employers whilst some have looked further afield – even as far as Philadelphia! This process has helped student’s improve their communication and interpersonal skills through the correspondence with possible employers.

We would like to thank all the employers who facilitated our students on Work Experience and Mr Downey who met employers and students during the week.

Miss McArt’s Leaving Certificate English class participated in a workshop dedicated to the poetry of Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney. This interactive workshop included elements of drama, art and visulisation to stimulate the students in their responses to the poems.  Most interestingly, in their analysis of Heaney’s ‘Bogland’, students used peat to create their own visual representation of the key terms in the poem. The student’s thoroughly enjoyed this experience and are hoping to follow it up with a ‘Hamlet’ workshop later this year. The Leaving Certificate students would like to thank Mary Pat Ryan and her team from the Performing Arts Department, Sligo IT.

Second year pupils from Grange Post Primary School have recently undertaken a project in their woodwork classes to construct a number of  bird and bat boxes for erection in the local park. Members of the Tidy towns committee were present to accept the bird boxes on behalf of the community. Third class students from Scoil Naomh Maloise were also present for the handover as some of the boxes will be located on their school grounds

Ten of our first years attended the second residential of this year’s LET Programme in the Share Centre in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, from 11^th -13^th January.

The activities this time included a trip to Omagh to participate in a day of sporting activities including Gaelic, soccer and rugby. Back at base we enjoyed circus skills, mountain biking and Human Fuzzball which were all great fun. In the Enterprise Education  session budgeting was covered. Ms Folen had fun doing Boxercise with the other teachers and entertained us all with her moves on the dance floor to “Just Dance” on the Wii.

We thank Ms Fiona Folen for coming with us on this trip and the hardworking Share Centre Staff and LET coordinators Geraldine and Lydia for making our stay so enjoyable. We look forward to our final residential in April.

The first team, Killian Murry, Paul Carton and Daithi Byrne are doing a project on reducing your carbon footprint. The second team of Leanne Barbour, Gillain Rooney, Shauna Waters and Daniel Keaney are doing an interesting projects on making fashion ‘greener” more environmentally friendly.

We wish them all well in the competition.

On the 15^th of December 2011, our second year English class recreated John B. Keane’s play ‘The Field.’ We wrote out our own version of the script and sourced some costumes. We then acted out the play which we filmed using iPods. The play was taken from different angles with the iPods by various students. This was directed by our English teacher Miss Gaynor. All students found this an educational and enjoyable activity. Thanks to Paul Carton and Shaun Herity for writing this report on this novel way of  recreating ‘The Field’ Grange Style!

Senator’s Visit

Senator Susan O’Keefe visited our school on Friday December 9^th at the invitation of the 3^rd year CSPE class, to speak about her experiences as a newly elected Senator  from Sligo. The class also invited the second year class to join them and meet the Senator