Rathmore National School

The Rathmore NS boys’ hurling team secured an historic back-to-back victory in the Kildare Mini 7’s Hurling Tournament on Thursday, April 16th. After topping their group in the qualifying rounds held at Naas GAA two weeks earlier, the team progressed to the finals at Hawkfield GAA grounds.

Rathmore faced a strong St Corban’s team from Naas in their opening match. Despite playing excellent hurling and leading in the closing stages, two late goals saw St Corban’s claim a narrow two-point win.

The Rathmore boys responded impressively in Round 2 against Ardclough NS. After an early Rathmore goal, Ardclough fought back and led heading into the final minutes. However, Rathmore showed great determination and teamwork, scoring a crucial late goal to secure victory.

Confidence continued to build as Rathmore delivered a dominant performance against Gaelscoil Uí Fhiaich, setting up a decisive final round. With St Corban’s facing Ardclough NS, Rathmore knew a win against St Brigid’s NS would be enough to retain their title. They rose to the occasion, producing their best performance of the day with skilful, free-flowing hurling from start to finish.

At the final whistle, Rathmore NS were crowned champions once again, proudly bringing the trophy back to the school for the second year in a row.

The children in Mr Bolton’s 6th Class have begun taking part in an 8-week Climate Literacy Programme, delivered by Sanja Dunne from Education for Sustainability. The programme takes place each Wednesday and aims to build the students’ understanding of climate change and empower them to take positive action.

Throughout the programme, the children will explore topics such as the science behind climate change, the impact of human activity on the environment, and the importance of biodiversity. They will also learn about sustainability, renewable energy, and practical steps they can take in their everyday lives to help protect the planet. The lessons are interactive and encourage discussion, critical thinking, and teamwork.

The children have really engaged with these important topics over the first few weeks and love having Sanja in the classroom. 

Huge thank you to the Jones family for bringing in their pet lambs for all the children to see. Everyone had a great time holding the lambs and running after them!

Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine

The winners of this year’s Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine have done an amazing job and should be very proud of themselves! Over the course of Seachtain na Gaeilge, they made a fantastic effort to speak Gaeilge as much as they could, both in class and around the school. They didn’t just use it when they had to—they looked for every chance to practise, whether chatting with friends, answering questions, or even trying out new words and phrases. That takes real confidence and bravery!

They showed us all how fun and important it is to use our native language every day. Gaeilge is a special part of our culture, and by speaking it, they are helping to keep it alive and strong. Their hard work, positive attitude, and willingness to give it a go have set a brilliant example for everyone else. Well done to all of you—you are true Gaeilgeoirí!

Comórtas Ealaíne

Congratulations to all the winners of our Seachtain na Gaeilge art competition—what a fantastic display of creativity and effort! Our Junior artists did a brilliant job bringing their leprechaun pictures to life, using bright colours and careful colouring to make each piece unique and full of fun. Meanwhile, our Senior entrants impressed us with their thoughtful and beautifully designed seanfhocal posters. A seanfhocal is a traditional Irish saying or proverb, often passed down through generations, that shares wisdom or a life lesson in just a few words. The way the students illustrated these sayings showed great imagination and a real understanding of their meaning. Well done to everyone who took part—your hard work and talent truly shone through!

At Rathmore NS, we love exploring, discovering, and creating. As proud participants in the SFI Curious Minds Award, our students enjoy a wide range of STEAM activities throughout the year. One of the criteria required to achieve the Silver Award is to take part in a Show and Tell activity. Ms. Malone’s class embraced the opportunity, carefully selecting experiments to investigate and present to the rest of the school.

What followed were weeks of preparation where the students explored ideas, tested theories, learned from experiments that didn’t go to plan, and worked together to improve and refine their projects.

Here’s what some of the children in 5th Class had to say about their Show and Tell journey and the big day itself…Louis loved seeing the other children interact with his group’s project, Emilia enjoyed teaching them something they didn’t know before and Éabha liked working as a team with her friends. Kate said seeing her other classmates’ projects was interesting and exciting and Oliver admitted it was tough to keep the younger children focused on one thing! Isabel explained that although their project was messy, everyone found it lots of fun! Stay tuned to hear if we qualify for the Curious Minds Silver Award for a second year in a row.