Connaught Cross Country Championships
Best wishes to all of our athletes who will be taking part in the Connaught Cross Country Championships in Loughrea on Saturday 18th October. They will no doubt be wonderful representatives for our school. Good luck to Jack, Aaron, Emma, Christopher, Kayden, Szilvester, Zach, Kai & Shane.
Reeling in the Years-Cross Country Memories
Cross Country News
On Wednesday October 1st, 24 pupils competed in the County Roscommon Primary Schools Cross Country Championships. Almost 1000 pupils particpated in the event from over 50 schools from right across the county. Cloonakilla pupils were brilliant and displayed great resilience and stamina.So much so that 9 pupils won medals and go on to compete in this year’s Connaught Cross Country Championships in Loughrea on Saturday 18th October. Congratulations to our individual winners!
Jack O’Neill -4th place (3rd & 4th Class Boys)
Aaron Kelly- 6th place (3rd & 4th Class Boys)
Emma Kelly-8th place (5th & 6th Class Girls)
Christopher Kelleghan -5th place (5th & 6th Class Boys)
Kayden Costello-7th place (5th & 6th Class Boys)
Our Boys’ Team also came in 3rd place and qualify for the Connaught Final.
Well done Christopher Kelleghan, Kayden Costello, Shane Grogan, Kai Costello, Zach Lennon & Szilvester Krisztin.
All of our teams did fantastic!
3rd & 4th Girls came 8th out of 37 teams.
3rd & 4th Boys came 6th out of 34 teams.
5th & 6th Class Girls came 11th out of 38 teams.
They are super results and we are so proud of all of their efforts to show up and do their very best for their school and schoolmates!
Summerhill NS held their annual cross country competition on Wednesday 24th September. Five local schools were involved : Summerhill NS, Cornafulla NS, Ardkeenan NS, Clonown NS & Cloonakilla NS.There were 150 pupils involved.
31 pupils from our school attended and were not only great athletes but behaved excellently at the event. We are very proud of all who participated and we had some winners too.
3rd Class Girls
1st Hannah Lennon
2nd Polly Dignan
3rd Peaches Shine
4th Class Boys
1st Jack O’Neill
2nd Aaron Kelly
3rd Charlie Lyons
5th Class Girls
3rd Saoirse Rushe
6th Class Girls
1st Emma Kelly (tie)
6th Class Boys
2nd Christopher Keleghan
3rd Kayden Costello
🏃♂️ Active Schools Update
🌟 Active Schools Week (May 6–9)
Our Active Schools Committee worked hard to make Active Schools Week a fun and exciting time for everyone! From May 6 to 9, each class participated in various activities organized with the help of external coaches. We had sessions in Taekwondo, Kickboxing, Gaelic Football, Soccer, Tag Rugby, and Cycling. Additionally, students enjoyed penalty shootouts, a skipathon, and a basketball shootout against the teachers. The students emerged victorious in the basketball challenge, earning the entire school a homework pass! The week was a great success, and we were fortunate to have beautiful weather throughout.
🏅 Junior and Senior Sports Day
In May, we also hosted our Junior and Senior Sports Day. All teachers and students participated in various races, station activities, and a Tug of War/Penalty shootout in the afternoon. It was a day filled with excitement and friendly competition.
🏁 Active Flag Accreditation
We have completed our application for our second Active Flag and are awaiting an accreditation visit from David Costello. He will review all the efforts our school has put into the Active Flag over the past two years and will have discussions with our committee members, playground leaders, and coordinator Ms. Fallon. We will keep you updated on how the visit goes. Wish us luck!
Take a look at our Powerpoints to see all the ways we have worked to try to achieve our second Active School Flag at Cloonakilla under the guidance of Ms.Fallon, Ms.Kiely & their hardworking ASF committee members!
Cloonakilla NS made history this week by winning the Cumann na mBunscol B Shield Final in Ballyleague, Co.Roscommon !
The girls all played excellently and beat off stiff competition, St.Coman’s Wood, Roscommon. We couldn’t be any prouder of our girls! We congratulate their coaches Ms.Connaughton & Ms.Fallon. The girls were presented with their medals in front of 5th & 6th classes the following school day .
Active Breaks Challenge:
Active children learn better. Our school reinforces the message that children require 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. We as a school are committing to an active break every day from November 18th for four consecutive weeks. Five minutes of movement between lessons can have a hugely positive impact on the teaching and learning in the lesson that follows. It helps children to adjust energy levels, restore concentration and self- regulate emotions.
Active Schools Committee:
We have some new members in our Active Schools Committee from 1st and 2nd classes. A big welcome to Ellie Behan, Kate McVeigh, Áine Kidney and Cillian Keegan who have been busy working behind the scenes to ensure Cloonakilla can attain their second Active Flag by June 2025.
European Sports Day
European Sports Day was held on Friday, October 4th. Hourly challenges were set throughout the day over the intercom. Each class also participated in the ‘Relay Takeover’ races against their own classmates and other year groups. It was a huge success with all classes competing outside to see who would be the winning team for each class grouping.
Gaelic
Gaelic coaching with Clann na nGael has commenced on Wednesdays for the senior and middle classes. 5th and 6th classes enjoyed perfecting their football skills before mid term and now 3rd and 4th classes will train until Christmas.
Rugby
Rugby training is also up and running with Dermot from Buccaneers RFC. 3rd and 4th class had great fun playing tag rugby up until Mid-Term and Ms Finnegan’s class participated in a rugby blitz in Buccanners RFC on the last day of term. 5th and 6th classes are now working with Dermot each Thursday.
Soccer
A past pupil, Sophie Byrne, coached soccer in our school for 5 weeks as part of her transition year work experience. Sophie proved to be an excellent coach. She has recently been selected for the U-16 Ireland Soccer Team. We were delighted to have her showing off her talent and coaching the next generation in Cloonakilla.
A huge thank you to all our coaches who give up their time to pass on their skills and knowledge to our students.
Cross-Country
Students from 3rd – 6th Class have been very busy training for cross-country competitions over the past few weeks. Our school competed in two separate competitions – a local derby hosted by Summerhill NS and the Roscommon Primary Schools Cross Country competition held in St Brigid’s GAA grounds. Cloonakilla NS was very successful in both competitions and all competitors should be very proud of themselves. A special congratulations to Emma Kelly 5th Class, Kayden McCormack Costello 5th Class and our Senior Girls Team (Emma Kelly, Kiersten Keegan, Emily Dolan, Aoibhinn McGowan, Sarah Noone and Chloe Meares) who qualified for the Connacht Cross Country Final in Mohill, Co Leitrim. It was a very difficult course but they all performed very well and did their school proud. We have wonderful athletes in our school and we encourage all pupils to be active and to move as much as possible.
Parent Collaboration
There will be a questionnaire left outside classrooms during Parent/Teacher meetings this month. Please take a few minutes to fill it in to inform our ASF committee of your thoughts and ideas on achieving this very worthwhile flag.
Our school will need to purchase a new set of jerseys for our senior football team this year. If anyone is interested in sponsoring these, please contact the school. Your support would be greatly appreciated.