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.

St Joseph’s NS were well represented at this years Schools Cross Country as 27 children took part in very difficult conditions. Congratulations to every child who took part especially Daire Byrne and Eve Johnson who both won medals in their races.

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