Fifth and Sixth Class Assembly 21-11-2018

Opening Prayer Advent Prayer

O Jesus the source of all wisdom. The one who will show the way of peace.

Be the light that burns so bright, lighting up our lives. Prepare for the one who is coming.

Let us welcome him into our hearts.

Welcome from Mr Kearins

In our assembly today we are going to talk about advent. We know that God is with us at all times. We know that God was with us in the brightness of Summer, in the freshness of Spring and in the golden colours of Autumn. We know that God is with us now this Winter. The end of November is the beginning of Advent. Advent means arrival and it is the season of waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus. There are four Sundays leading up to Advent. The first candle in the Advent wreath symbolises hope. The second candle represents peace. The third candle symbolises joy and the fourth candle symbolises love. The last candle is lit on Christmas Day. The circle of the wreath reminds us of God. His endless mercy which has no beginning and no end. The evergreen branches and leaves symbolise the everlasting life which God gives us. During Wintertime long ago people would light candles on wheel shaped bundles of evergreen. The candle light gave comfort to people at the darkest time of the year.

Emily, Eoin and Aoife read the prayers from Mr Farrell’s class.

Prayer 1 Advent si a season of waiting, waiting in joyful hope for the coming of Jesus. We all have to wait in our lives for different things. We wait for friends to come to play. We wait for parents to collect us and we wait for lunch break each day. To wait is part of all our lives. Mary and Joseph waited patiently for the birth of Jesus on that very first Christmas. We now wait too.

Prayer 2

Advent is a time of joy. As Mary and Joseph waited during the first advent , they waited with joy in their hearts for the coming of the baby Jesus. We remember and celebrate the joy that the people felt as they waited for the arrival of Jesus all that time ago.

Prayer 3

Advent is a time of hope. Mary and Joseph like all new parents were filled with hope as they waited . The people of Israel waited in hope for the coming of Jesus. We look forward to and wait in joyful hope to celebrate that first Christmas.

Awards/ Prizes

Athletics Congratulations to the following children who participated in the Cross Country Schools Athletics Championship in Bellewstown. They had a great day out and did our school proud. Well done to Josh who came 3^rd in his race. Thank you to Ms Kelly for training the children and getting the ready for the event and to Mr Mc Keown for going with the children on the day. The children were from the following classes.

Room 2 – Romans Abarovics, Emily Scanlon, Isabel O’Kane, Aoife Derwin and Eoin Byrne

Room 4 – Hollie O’Hare

Room 6 – Andrea Pop

Room 8- Dylan Lematy, Leonard Murray, Alex Mc Adam and Andreea Mardari

Room 24- Josh Burke Andrews

Room 25- Mary Kate Harkin, Liam O’Connor and Gabriele Prankeviciute

The other two children on the team were Hannah Lumley and James Woodruffe from Ms Jenkinson’s 4^th class.

Taekwondo Congratulations to Orestas Varnas Room 6, Keela Price Room 24 and Adrians Zmijs Room 3 who represented Ireland from Master Joe’s class in Manchester last weekend at the English International Taekwondo Open Event. Jack Price from Room 20 also went with them. The children all won medals at the event and we are very proud of them. Also well done to Ryan Mc Gowan Room 6 who won a medal at a different Taekwondo event. Super stuff.

Pride Of Place Award

Well done to the children from Ms Jenkinson’s 4^th class who designed No Dumping posters for the Tidy Towns last year. The judges from the competition visited our school as it is in the middle of Garden City and they were really impressed with the children growing vegetables and our scarecrows. At the weekend Garden City won the All Ireland Pride of Place award in the estate category. They have given us bulbs to plant around the school. Thank you to Ms Coote who looks after the Green Schools in our school.

Philip Mullhare who is chairperson of the Residents Association spoke to our assembly today to say thank you tothe school as we were a part of the prize. Garden City was built in the seventies and was designed to have a lot of green spaces. Philip spoke to the children of the importance of keeping our neighbourhood clean and to look after it for the next generation. We need to pick up litter, make sure not to paint graffiti on the walls as we want the estate to look nce and to have respect for where we live.