24^th June 2021 – The sun shone on over 140 students from St Joseph’s NS, Hacketstown for a week of exciting fun activities to celebrate wellbeing week. It has been a year with a difference and the memories created during the fun filled week will last forever.

The week started with an art class provided by Rose from Tribal Art Studio. Every student had their own canvas and easel and created some fantastic pieces of art under the instruction of Rose. This was followed by outdoor fitness fun with Louise and to finish off a great day there was sausage and chip for everyone.

“We wanted to do something for the students to take their mind away from pods, bubbles and covid 19. The staff are amazing and pulled together the best week every for every student in the school. The excitement, fun and happy faces made the whole week and we were delighted to create these memories for everyone.” Commented Doireann Hester, Principal.

Day two saw 5th and 6th class students take a trip up Hacketstown’s beautiful Eagle Hill, while the younger classes paid a visit to the Biodiversity Garden Hacketstown. The sun was shining and there was happy faces all round.

The following day there was great excitement as the reptile zoo arrived to St Joseph’s and the children were a mixture of excited and nervous. Their faces said it all! This was followed by fitness with Louise which was a huge hit with all of the children.

Day four of Wellbeing week and students were treated to an African drumming class. This was brilliant. Check out the school facebook page to see the final result as music was created. Students were delighted when Rockfield Ice Cream rocked up to the school in the afternoon. A lovely refreshing homemade ice cream prepared by Gary after a basketball blitz.

Friday morning couldn’t have been better as 3^rd class performed an energetic, enthusiastic dance for the whole school. It’s all the kids could talk about as they prepared to showcase their moves. Spotlight eat your heart out – St Joseph’s NS, Hacketstown have some pretty nifty dance moves! Sports day was held in the afternoon and there was fierce competition as the 6^th class students raced across bales in a bid to be crowned champ. 

During the week all students wore their favourite jersey and brought €2 each to school for a local charity. Also 3rd and 4th class documented their experience during the past year and created a beautiful memorable booklet. Each student wrote up and typed out their own personal story, accompanied by fabulous illustrations. 

There is no doubt the students of St Joseph’s NS, Hacketstown will leave school for the summer holidays on a high.

ENDS

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October 2020 – Students were invited to dress up in their favourite costume for Halloween again this year. However, with social distancing the usual celebrations were slightly adjusted to ensure everyone had great fun and saw each others costumes. Ms O’Connell and Ms Caroline created an amazing Halloween themed run way where each class enjoyed walking through to some haunting tunes as all the other classes sang, clapped and enjoyed the show. Well done to everyone for making Halloween as super as ever.

December 2020 – The excitement hit an all time high in St Joseph’s NS on the last day of school before the Christmas holidays as Santa arrived to the school. From junior infants right through to sixth class everyone had a great time as we greeted Mr Clause from a distance!

There is great excitement in St Joseph’s NS this week as final preparations are underway for class performances for their virtual Christmas concert. Each class has had great fun preparing a song or poem for our social media platforms for parents and family to enjoy. The video link below is our 4th & 5th class students.

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12^th November 2020:  The tally is in and the Principal, staff, students and parents of St Joseph’s NS, Hacketstown are delighted to announce that this year’s fundraising event has raised €8,500. 

“This year we were doubtful if we would go ahead with the event and thought we might be at the loss of the cost of the fabulous 2020 medals which were ordered long before covid started. The initial sponsorship from Londis and O’Reilly’s Service Station set the scene to what became one of our most successful fundraisers to-date. We ran two events, one was a virtual online run where over 100 people took part and the other was a mini Break for the Border race where every student in St Joseph’s NS ran a race, class by class and all received their customised medal and goodie bag sponsored by O’Reillys. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the event and our local community for all their continued support.” commented Principal, Doireann Hester.

The support from the community exceeded expectations. With over 40 businesses in Hacketstown who came out in full-force with support for the school. Parents, family members and students from the school were also no exception as they dug deep and filled in sponsorship cards which raised nearly €4’000.

Over 60 members of the Hacketstown running club also took part in the virtual event, along with clubs from Carlow including Dolmen Athletic Club which made a huge contribution to the fundraiser.

“We are delighted the virtual event and school event went off so well, especially in the current climate. It is a brilliant good news story where the community gathered together “virtually” and raised so much money for St Joseph’s NS, all of which will go straight back into much needed equipment for the school.” commented event organiser Paula Butler.

ENDS

At the moment we can’t invite our incoming Junior Infants into the school for a tour of their classroom and to meet their teacher. So we have created this little video for all of them to have a look at their class room, facilities and play areas.

We are delighted to announce that as part of Catholic Schools week, St Joseph’s NS are holding a special “Grandparents Day” on January 31st. We invite all grandparents and parents in our school community to join with us for mass at 11.00am. After mass, everyone is invited back up to the school hall for refreshments.

There will be “Grandparents” art and projects on display in the hall. We hope as many of you as possible can join us on the day.

Following this event, school will close at 12.45pm for staff training.

St Joseph’s girls camogie team recently competed successfully in two competitions in Ballon & Blessington respectively. Considering that most of these girls have never played at club level the standard they set was very high. A number of local Wicklow & Carlow hurling/camogie clubs have since made contact with the school offering lucrative contracts in an effort to sign a number of high profile star players. Negotiations are ongoing.

Well done to our boys hurling team who recently competed in the Carlow Cumann na mBunscol indoor competition in Ballon. Whilst results didn’t go our way we put in an admirable effort and some fine displays against a number of schools which would hail from hurling strongholds. Well done to the lads on a great effort.