Horseleap N.S.

Congratulations to Ms. Reid who completed the Dublin City Marathon with an extraordinary time of 3 hours and 19 minutes! Well done on this wonderful achievement which involved an enormous amount of dedication and commitment. Perhaps we have some future marathon runners in our midst!

Well done to all our pupils and parents on the amazing Hallowe'en costumes! We have a wide variety of interesting characters hanging around Horseleap N.S. today!

This year we are aiming to achieve our third Active School Flag. The chairperson of our ASF committee this year is Alannah Daly, ably assisted by Eva Gaynor, secretary. All pupils were invited to compose a slogan to promote active schools. The winner was chosen by pupils last Friday. Well done to Leo for his slogan: 'Don't sit in the car and talk. Get out for a walk!' Here is our display of all our active school slogan entries: Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter. All the posters look so creative! Ms. Robinson does exercises to begin the school day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This term we also participated in the Relay Takeover on 27th September. We learned about the Irish mixed relay team who participated in the Paris Olympics and we practiced how to pass the baton to our team mates.

Chefs Molly and Lauren have been cooking with Ms. Robinson on Fridays. So far they have made stewed apple and rice krispie buns, which we all enjoyed!

Thank you so much to all the staff, pupils, parents and Board of Managements who worked tirelessly to prepare for our open day on 19th October. For the past few weeks, parents and BOM members have been busy distributing posters and leaflets inviting prospective families to visit our school. It was a resounding success with lots of new families visiting and lots of past parents and pupils calling in to visit also. Thanks to everyone who helped with refreshments and organising tables, chairs etc. Lots of work goes on behind the scenes! Application forms for September 2025 can be accessed here:

Craig, our gymnastics instructor, visited the school for eight sessions in May and June 2024. As you can see, the children were engaged in a variety of enjoyable activities which developed their balance and co-ordination.

All classes participated in a wonderful day of creativity hosted by The Brickx Club. The pupils learned new techniques to create structures from Lego, part of our STEM curriculum.

20th June 2024 was both a happy and sad occasion in our school. It was a happy occasion as Ms. Pettit raised our sixth Green Flag on the theme of Global Citizenship - Litter and Waste. Well done to Ms. Carey, Green Schools Co-ordinator and all the pupils who have worked hard for the past two years to achieve this. Thank you to all the parents, grandparents and Board of Management members who joined with us to celebrate. It was a sad occasion as we said goodbye to Ms. Pettit who as worked in our school as Special Education Teacher for the past five years. We wish Ms. Pettit well in her new position in Raharney N.S.

Thank you to Ms. Carey who co-ordinated the creation of this beautiful school mural as part of our Green Flag project on the theme of 'Global Citizenship - Litter and Waste'. All year, the pupils and staff have been collecting plastic bottle tops. The pupils organised these into a picture showing the famous horse from which Horseleap derives its name. The pupils also included some flowers and insects to highlight the rich biodiversity of our school grounds.

On Tuesday, 10th September, we held a book buffet in the Senior Room. The classroom was organised with six tables covered in tablecloths and soft background music played. On each table was a different genre of books: fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, picture books and graphic novels. Pupils had an opportunity to move from table to table to 'taste' each genre of book. They spent ten minutes at each table, examining the books and reading the opening chapters. Then they had to fill in their menu about the book and rate it. Pupils now have a shortlist of books which they can read during daily DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read).

Thank you to Dr. Paddy Madden and Dr. Des Murtagh who visited our school on Monday, 17th June to film a video on how to prepare a raised bed for the summer months. Pupils from Junior Infants to 6th Class took part in this video which now becomes part of the Department of Education resources on Sustainable Development. The video is now available to watch on https://www.engagewithnature.ie/esd/ . (Scroll to the bottom of the page.) Here is a photograph of our raised beds when we returned to school: Two weeks later and the sunflowers have appeared!

Our new chess table is a wonderful addition to our school grounds. This week we are having a draughts tournament and next week, we will begin our chess tournament.