As part of ECO-Week, pupils in the Senior Room took part in a webinar presented by Dr. Nóirín Burke from the Irish Ocean Literacy Network at Galway Atlantaquaria. Map of all the traffic in our oceans This year we are working towards our Green Flag on the theme of Global Citizenship: Marine and this webinar provided us with a lot of information about life under the waves around Ireland and the dangers it faces. Map of ocean gyres (where rubbish collects in the ocean)

Exploring Ireland's Wildlife Webinar This week we are celebrating UNESCO Eco-Week by tuning in to some webinars which explain the sustainable development goals (STGs). On Monday, we met Ross from Ulster Wildlife who taught us about our native red squirrel. The good news is that the red squirrel is making a comeback - thanks to the pine martin! The grey squirrel is in decline. If you spot a red squirrel or a pine martin, you can let the team at Biodiversity Ireland know here: https://biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/2026-all-ireland-squirrel-and-pine-marten-survey/ On Tuesday, Solene presented a webinar about Fast Fashion. We learned that the fashion industry is the third most polluting industry in the world after construction and food. We learned about natural and synthetic fibres and we also learned that every person in Ireland throws out an average of 35kg of clothes each year - this is the equivalent of three Titanics!

Thank you to Lauren from Rinka, Moate who visited the school recently. Rinka - Kids Fitness and Wellbeing - classes will return to Moate in October. The children got a taste of the range of fun activities involved. The Rinka motto is 'Strong Heart, Strong Body, Strong Mind'. Information on classes is available here.

Whole school parachute games

What a wonderful school we had on Tuesday, 16th June. Our first stop was the Derryglad Folk and Heritage Museum just outside Athlone. Thank you to Charlie and Bridie for showing us all the artefacts in the museum. Next, we headed to Hodson Bay where we boarded Viking Mike's boat and took a trip as far as Athlone Castle. Our final destination was Planet Play Centre where everyone had lots of fun!

Egg Toss Challenge Sports Day at Horseleap N.S. took place on Monday, 15th June. Pupils participated in a range of races including the sack race, egg and spoon race, skipping race, shoe mix up race and ladder race. The highlight was our annual egg toss! Potato Picking Race!

Congratulations to the Senior Room pupils who travelled to TUS, Athlone on 11th June to showcase their BRICS projects. The pupils have engaged with the Lego BRICS programme over the past year in conjunction with Athlone Education Centre and Oide. They learned how to use Lego to make and programme robots. For the showcase day, they were tasked with designing and creating a robot to solve a real-world problem. Horseleap N.S. had three robots to display: 'The Big Beak Blocker' which was a robot designed to help smaller birds access food and keep larger birds away! 'BRICS Basket' was an automated delivery service controlled by an app which delivered shopping. 'Aqua, the plant waterer' watered your plants when the sensor noticed that the weather was dry! The pupils had a very enjoyable day, presenting their projects and visiting the other displays. Well done to all these scientists and creators of the future! Aqua, the plant waterer The Big Beak Blocker! BRICS Basket - an app to get your shopping delivered!

As part of S.E.S.E., we designed our own parachutes out of various materials. We brought them outside to the playground and dropped them to see what would happen in the wind.

Thank you to Kevin and Christy for coming to our school and guiding us on fire safety.

The Swifts have returned to our attic and we hear their distinctive, high-pitched screams as they rapidly dip and dive in the sky.