Lumcloon National School

We had an exciting Pancake Party on the 21st of February in our school hall. We had the Pancake Day to raise money for Aisling Camon going to India. Every child made a small donation. We raised €127.
Some of our parents made pancakes at home and brought them in to school. Most of the pancakes were crispy and fluffy. Ollie McGough, a chef, came into school and showed us how to make pancakes. We invited Fr. Pierre in as well. Ollie showed Fr. Pierre how to make pancakes. We could smell the pancakes on the way down to the hall and they smelt delicious.
Sixth class got to flip pancakes. Paul got to wear the white chef’s hat because he was the only one that caught the pancake on the pan. It was funny when the others dropped the pancakes.
We all stood in line and got our pancakes. We got to pick different toppings from, sugar, butter, fruit, chocolate syrup and lemon. After we had our pancake we were asked if we wanted another one and most people said yes. The Pancake Day was a great success and the pancakes were really tasty!

By 5th and 6th classes

In our school we have a Christmas concert every second year. We had a concert in the church this year because our G.P. room floor is damaged. We normally have communion and confirmation in Cloghan parish so we decided to have our concert in Boora Church in Ferbane parish. We originally planned to have a play but because of the bad weather we had to change our plans and have a Carol Service instead. The infant classes prepared songs with actions, rhymes and poems. The sixth class told the story of Christmas. Second to sixth classes sang traditional Christmas carols.
Mrs. Morris, Carina and Carmel made brooches of ivy for the singers. The infants and First class wore tinsel ties. Carmel made booklets and Carina, Carmel and Mrs. Morris made decorations for the seats.
On December 16th at 7.00pm we were ready to begin.The infants started with their songs and rhymes. We sang our carols and told the story of Christmas. Then all the children in the school sang some Christmas favourites.
Everybody sang well and we had great fun.

On the 19th of February we had a mass for Fr. Simon Cadam because he was leaving our school for Granard in Longford. In the mass I had to give Fr. Cadam a big card and an envelope with some money. I kept the card and envelope under my chair for the mass. After Fr. Cadam leaves we are getting a new priest. We are sad that Fr Cadam is leaving. I don’t know the name of the new priest. Some of the children in fifth and sixth class know who it is but some don’t. Mrs. Kerin gave a long speech for Fr. Cadam. I hope Fr. Cadam has a nice time in Granard.

My name is Dean. My school had a mass for Fr. Cadam our priest. He is moving to Granard. I carried up a gift at the beginning of mass.  I brought the vestments. I was the very last up.  I gave him the vestments.  I had to stand at every seat. There was Shane, Conor, Aoife, Emily and Rebecca. It was a goodbye mass. The pupils were singing.  I was singing too. Mrs. Kerin gave a speech. It was very good and I hope that Fr. Cadam will have a good time in Granard Co. Longford.   

On Tuesday, February 10th we went on a bus to St. Mary’s Hall in Ferbane to see “The Sound of Music”. Fourth, fifth and sixth classes were invited to attend. The musical was performed by the pupils of Gallen Community School. We saw some of the past-pupils of our school who were taking part. Everyone enjoyed the show and we sang along with some of the songs we had learnt beforehand like “Doh a Dear” and “A Few of my Favourite Things”. We had a small break during the show and everyone got fizzy orange and crisps. The week before the show, some of the Transition Year students called to our school and asked us to design a poster advertising the show. These were on display in the Hall but we don’t know who the winner is yet.
It was a fun day out and we are looking forward to next year’s show already!
Hannah K, Reveina and Chloe C

Dale Treadwell visited our school recently. He is an Australian environmentalist living in Ireland and is really in to “bugs and beasts” as he calls them. His visit was sponsored by Offaly County Council. When he came into our classroom, he showed us all the insects he brought with him in bug-viewers. He passed around a stick insect which some people were afraid to hold. He had clips on his laptop of all the times he has been on T.V., especially with Dustin on “The Den”. On the T.V. he was showing people how to grow your own garden. He talked about all the different types of plants for your different senses, like plants that are nice to touch, to smell, to look at etc. He also showed us all the weird and wonderful plants that grow in Ireland, like giant pine cones and huge branches that have big fat growths on them or have grown in a spiral shape.
He also took part in garden competition called “Bloom” where he showed the wonderful gardens that children can make and how to grow their own flowers. We really enjoyed his visit.
Michael.

Our school took part in the annual Banagher Credit Union Quiz again this year. It was meant to be held in Lumcloon N.S. this year, but due to unexpected problems with our heating, it was changed to Lusmagh N.S. on Friday night last.
We entered two teams, one Under-11 and one Under-13. Michael Daly, Celine Camon, Reveina Devery and Jarlath Stevenson made up the senior team and Ethan Roe McCormack, Chloe Mullen, Nathan Heffernan and Róisín Cockram represented our school on the junior team. Unfortunately, neither of our teams won on the night, with Lusmagh and Banagher going on to the next round. However, both our teams had very high scores. The quiz lasted for an hour approximately. Our parents were there and so were our teachers. We weren’t 100% sure of the answers to some of the questions, but we still got them right! I think we did very well. Afterwards, we got Tayto and Fanta before we went home.
Jarlath

Last week we were presented with a new Interactive Whiteboard from local company, Lumcloon Energy. This company is going to build a new natural gas power-station on the site of the old Ferbane Power Station. Last Thursday, we had the official presentation of the Interactive Whiteboard to the school by Councillor Barry Cowen, who is a brother of An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen. He is the Chairperson of Offaly County Council and he came out from Tullamore for the presentation. Two people from Lumcloon Energy were there too along with some people from the media and Fr. Cadam. A reporter from Midlands Radio 3 interviewed some of the younger children and photographers from the local papers took lots of photos. Mrs. Kerin welcomed everyone and there were lots of speeches. It was all on the radio the next day. We got to play some of the educational games on the new Whiteboard and we watched a movie on it the next day. It is fantastic!
Ryan.