Renowned author and illustrator, Chris Judge visited us in Clontuskert as part of the Galway Schools Library Van revamp.
The students in Clontuskert were overjoyed to meet Chris who has written so many of their all time favourite books, such as The Great Explorer, The Lonely Beast, Danger is Everywhere and Cloud Babies.
Chris asked us to come up with ideas and draw what we would like to see on Galway Schools Library Van. He is tasked with designing the artwork and we look forward to seeing our ideas come to life at the hands of such a great artist.
Check out Chris’ work on www.chrisjudge.com
Thanks to Amie Lawless with Galway County Council and Sharleen McAndrew of Galway Libraries for this mind blowing opportunity.
Transcript
Today Seán and Josephine from Galway Library Services brought the Schools Library Van to the school for a very special reason as Alan and Elena from Soundtrack and Podcast in Galway were with us to help us record our Fierce Close podcast.
Over the past month we have been working with Orla and Annie from CURO NUIG to challenge our thinking, discuss our views, and form and unravel opinions around philosophical questions. Clontuskert’s critical thinkers prepared dialogues and monologues to record for the Fierce Close podcast. We look forward to sharing with you soon. In the meantime, here are some highlights from behind the scenes. Thanks to Elena and Ms. Tracy Murray for recording footage today.
*The Fierce Close Project*
The aim of this programme is to create critical thinkers and activists on Climate Change. The project takes its title from an Irish idiom for a humid day, one where a storm is imminent. Through sessions that build their philosophical skills and a creative outcome that can be shared with their communities, this project gives voice to young people’s perspectives on climate change while building their critical thinking skills and debating literacy. Project participants will express their ideas to one another with the support of professional philosophers and create and perform new monologues through skills building workshops and guidance in podcast creation from Soundtrack and Podcast
This project responds to the scale of change expected in Galway City Council’s Climate Strategy by allowing young people to meaningfully explore possible solutions together.
‘Climate change is a critical challenge for Galway. It will result in a range of impacts across a wide number of sectors that are likely to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Taking proactive action to adjust and prepare for anticipated changes will reduce losses, improve our environment and provide a host of community benefits.’ (Galway County Council’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2019-2024)
These young people will be engaged in philosophical dialogues, informed by Lipman’s Community of Inquiry method, to build an understanding of how and where perspectives need to shift in order to think and act productively in relation to Climate Change. These workshops will be led by community philosophers from Library partner Curo who will scaffold their acquisition of critical thinking skills. Through this process they will isolate the most important questions relating to climate action and climate justice that faces Ireland today. At its close this project will allow young people to give voice to nature itself, through guided reflection, and podcast creation workshops.
Core Outcomes:
-Participants will develop their critical and creative thinking skills through facilitated dialogue with professional philosophers.
-Participants will identify pressing questions in relation to climate change and climate justice creating collaborative answers to these by drawing on their own lived experience.
-Participants will communicate their thinking through the production of short podcast episodes that focus on emerging ideas and questions from their philosophical dialogue.
Check out our World Book Day Flipgrid. The students from Junior Infants to 6th class dressed up and told us about their favourite books today. Thanks to our German teacher, Ms. Boyan for help recording in Ms. Scott and Mr. Gohery’s rooms.
If you are interested in enrolling your child for 2023 or beyond, please complete this Expression of Interest Form to be kept in the loop of upcoming events including the Virtual Open Day. Expression of Interest Form.
We will also offer tours of the school outside of school hours as per HSE COVID-19 regulations.
Please contact the principal if you wish to avail of this.
Please click on the image below to view each page of Clontuskert’s School Brochure for 2022-2023
The Curriculum Evaluation of English Report by the Department of Education has been published.
The Staff and Board of Management of St. Augustine’s National School Clontuskert welcomes the findings of the Report.
We are pleased that the report recognises the many strengths of our school especially our very high-quality learning environments, respectful interactions between pupils and teachers, exemplary use of digital learning tools, high standard of early literacy skills and highly commendable formative feedback.
We value the recognition that our students enjoy learning in English and are very enthusiastic about the vast array of technology-based projects which have extended learning in English far beyond the classroom.
We are also pleased with the recognition and affirmation of collaborative learning as a notable feature of the work in the school and that the collaborative engagement with the SSE process is having a positive impact on learner outcomes.
We will continue to promote a culture of 21st Century skill development within the school.
Children’s author Patricia Forde visited the school today to introduce her new children’s book ‘To the Island’ to the infant class.
Patricia was commissioned to write the book by Galway 2020 as part of the European Capital of Culture programme.
RTÉ was in attendance to film the event for their youth news programme – News2day, which we looking forward to watching on RTÉ2 this week. As part of this news piece, the presenter, Pat McGrath spoke with some of the students and teachers to get their thoughts on the book.
The book was gifted to each of the nine junior infant students that have started school in Clontuskert NS this year, as well as all junior infant students in every primary school in Galway, in celebration of our year as European Capital of Culture.
Josephine Vahey with Sean and Aoife of Galway Schools Library Service visited with the Schools Library Van giving us the opportunity to restock our school library with some wonderful new reading material.
About the Author
Patricia Forde is a children’s author from Galway in the West of Ireland. Her first novel The Wordsmith was published to great critical acclaim in 2015. It has since been published in the United States, Australia, Denmark, Russia, Turkey and the Netherlands, and is an American Library Association Notable Book. In 2018 Patricia wrote Bumpfizzle the Best on Planet Earth. She is married to Padraic and has two grown up children. She still lives in Galway, her favourite city in the world. Her books have won two White Raven Awards and twice been shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year. Bumpfizzle the Best of Planet Earth was the Dublin UNESCO Citywide Read 2019. Her picturebook Fidget The Wonder Dog will be published by Puffin in 2021.
During the last school year, 5th and 6th class read her latest novel, Mother Tongue. Patricia joined us in live Microsoft Teams classes during lockdown. She inspired our young readers to write themselves and gave them tips to improve their own creative writing. Check out some highlights from the classes here.
‘To the Island’
Fia longs to go to the mysterious island that appears and disappears out in the bay. One night a moonbeam reaches across the water and leads her there, to where magical creatures stride around and the air is thick with secrets. Based on the mythical island of Hy Brasil off the West coast of Ireland.
Kevin O’ Brien is a professional Animatic/Offline Editor with 10 years’ experience in the TV / Film / Animation industry. He is currently Head of Editing in Boulder Media and has held a variety of other positions including Series Creator, VFX Editor, Post Production Supervisor and DV Director.
We were very lucky when he agreed to visit Clontuskert’s Virtual Classroom on Teams and we learnt about his work in Animatics and Editing. We had so many questions and even showed him some of our own work. Thanks Kevin for being so generous with your time and sharing your expertise with the students in Clontuskert.
Patricia Forde visited Clontuskert’s Virtual Classroom on Microsoft Teams to discuss her novel Mother Tongue which was the novel read by 5th and 6th Class this term.
Listen to her discuss her use of symbols and metaphors in her book.
Here she discusses her use of Title Cards for each chapter in her book.
Thanks also to Josephine Vahey, Galway Schools Librarian for lending the novels to the school and joining us on the call.
