Well done to the boys and girls who competed in the hurling amigos skills competition in very pleasant conditions at the Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence in Scarden.

We all love reading in Rathlee NS and this year's Book Fair has been a tremendous success. Thanks to everyone in our school community for your support.

Creative Writing Workshop We were delighted to welcome author Gerry Boland back to our school. This week we worked on writing short stories and we got loads of great tips on how to become better writers.

Well done to our sports quiz team who represented Sligo and put in a great performance in the Cuman Na mBunscol All Ireland Sports Quiz held in Tullamore.

Bonjour! Our 3rd - 6th class children have just completed a very enjoyable and useful series of French lessons with tutor Brendan Doyle.

We were delighted to participate in the Easkey St. Patrick's Day Parade. The children dressed up in environmental themed costumes and played their tin-whistles. Thank you to all who took part and all the staff in our school who helped on the day.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh!

This week in science, we investigated surface tension using our art lesson on the northern lights as a starting point. We mixed food colouring with milk and then dipped soap in to observe the chemical reaction.

Seachtain Na Gaeilge is ea an tseachtain seo. Comhghairdeas le buaiteoiri ar dtrath na gceist rang a cuig agus rang a se!

Author and poet Gerry Boland worked with our 3rd-6th class children in a very enjoyable poetry workshop. We were delighted to welcome pupils from Killeenduff ns who also participated as part of our Creative Cluster.

Well done to our boys and girls teams who performed very well in the Cuman na mBunscol Amigos gaelic footballl skills competition held at Enniscrone GAA club.

Congratulations to our 5th and 6th children who received the sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop Francis Duffy in St. James' Church Easkey. Thank you to our Parents Association and all who helped prepare refreshments for the children and their families back in our school after the ceremony.

We had a very enjoyable morning in Easkey yesterday where we played Enniscrone and High Park in an indoor hurling blitz. Well done everyone.

At break we took some photos. We were very excited to spot a small nest in a tree in the front yard. We painted some lovely spring flowers in our art class.

This week in science we investigated polymers and how their molecular chains form seals when punctured by a sharp object. We tested this theory using a sharp pencil and a bag of water.

Our 5th and 6th classes worked with artist Kiera O'Toole as part of the Blast Arts and Creativity in Education Residency. Over a number of days, the children used recycled materials to create some fantastic pieces of art.

It was a beautiful day for soccer in Cranmore. Our boys did the school proud and came tantilisingly close to qualifying for the next stage of the competition.

Well done to our 5th and 6th class girls who put in a great effort today in McSharry Park in the Sligo FAI Soccer Competition.

Thanks to Fina, Fr. Valerian and Fr. John for hosting our Confirmation retreat at the Fr. Peyton Centre.

3rd - 6th class had a very enjoyable day of creative writing with Pierina and Emily. Both classes used their imaginations to develop exciting food themed stories based in our local area!

We had great fun trying out a STEM challenge today in class. In groups we made a boat from tinfoil. The boat floated in water and we counted how many tens and units the boats could carry before they sank. We practised our skip counting in 10’s.

We are really excited to be hosting our annual Enrolment Evening on Tuesday January 28th. We are really looking forward to meeting the children and parents in our community as they take the first step in their primary school education.

Wishing you a happy, peaceful Christmas from the staff and pupils of Rathlee National School

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our chosen charities - Vincent De Paul and the Red Cross Childrens' Gaza Appeal.