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Travel Flag

Angela from the Green’s School Initative visited our school and talked to us about road safety. We talked about the importance of wearing high visibility jackets when walking, running or cycling on the road. High visibility jackets help us to be seen and keep us safe. Muinteóir Jennifer gave us a high visibility jacket earlier in the year and we practiced walking through the town and crossing roads safely, using the Safe Cross Code!  Angela asked us to bring our bike helmets into school and we discussed why we wear a helmet. Angela helped us to adjust our helmets so that they fit just right.

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Stranger Danger

A recent investigation found children were happy to walk off with a friendly stranger after only 90 seconds of persuasion, it could not be more important for mums and dads to make children aware of ‘stranger danger’.

Here are some tips and key words for addressing the issue with your child.
Grab
If a stranger ever tries to grab you, scream “stop touching me like that stranger!” at the top of your lungs. You should also hit, kick, claw, wriggle out of your clothing, and do whatever you can to get away. Run to the first adult you see and ask for help.
Nice
Just because someone looks nice, that doesn’t mean they are nice. Bad strangers look the same as good strangers, so we need to be careful around them all. Stay away from people you don’t know unless the adult who is watching you is right there by your side.
Lure
Would you like to see my puppy? I found something on the side of the road, can you come here and tell me who it belongs to? An abductor might use all sorts of tricks to try to lure you away or get you close to their car. Don’t fall for it. Stay safe, and stay away!

Useful Websites:

http://www.mummypages.ie/how-to-teach-your-child-about-stranger-danger?gclid=CM7ZjtnwiboCFeM72wodUlYA7A

http://www.keepyourchildsafe.org/stranger-danger-kids-page.asp

http://www.keepyourchildsafe.org/child-safety-worksheets.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z33Uao4qows

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Healthy Eating

Newmarket Boys’ School has a healthy eating policy and it encourages children to eat fruit and vegetables. Popular fruits in our school are apples and oranges.
Our school thinks one day in the month is enough to have chocolate or sweets for lunch. It is a fact that just over 10% of children worldwide are overweight and in Ireland over 22% of children are overweight. On school trips, there is no limit to sweets so it is actually another sweet day. Our school had a Food Dudes initiative where children tried new food and even got prizes for eating the food. In addition, people thought Food Dudes was a good idea.
In my opinion, it is a positive step to improve our health.

Cian Crowley, 6th class

In Ireland, there is an estimated 300,000 obese children. Obesity is the cause of 5% of heart attacks and strokes and it is the cause of 30% of cancers. It also costs Ireland over 1.1 billion euro per year in health care. It is therefore in our best interests to prevent obesity. In our school, we are always cutting down the amount of unhealthy food we eat and we promote healthy eating. Did you know that drinking a can or bottle of fizzy drink everyday can increase your chances of getting diabetes by 1/5 or 20%.
We are not allowed crisps or fizzy drinks. Years ago, we were allowed sweets every single day but now we have cut it down to only once a month. We participated in a programme called the “Food Dudes” where we ate different kinds of fruit and vegetables each day to get prizes. We are encouraged to bring in our own fruit and vegetables into school now.
Healthy eating is a major priority and we have a very healthy school.

Darragh Lynn, 5th Class

Newmarket Boys’ School puts a particular emphasis on healthy eating. In addition to that, the teachers arranged a programme called the Food Dudes to promote healthy eating, which is very important because 22.8% of children in Ireland are overweight.
The Food Dudes gave out fruit and vegetables and if you ate all the fruit and vegetables you would get a prize. In school, we are allowed one sweet thing on the last Friday of the month. One time in our school, you were allowed to go up town but that had to stop because boys used to buy unhealthy food. On school trips there is an exception where you can bring sweets.
In my opinion, healthy eating is a great thing to improve our health.

J.J. Cronin, 5th Class

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Stop & Stare – Anti-bullying

Dráma ar ‘Anti-bullying’

Inné, tháinig an ‘Stop agus Stare Production’ go dtí Scoíl na mBuachaillí in Áth Trasna. Bhí sé bunaithe ar mhaistíneacht. Bhí drámaíocht, damhsa agus scréadaíl sa dráma. Bhí Liam Ó Dochartaigh i gceannas air. Bhí Katie agus John ag cuidiú leís. Chuaigh na ranganna eile isteach sa halla agus tháinig tuismitheoirí isteach freisin.
I mo thuairim bhí sé go hiontach. Bhain gach duine taitneamh as. Tháinig na múinteoirí isteach ar a do a chlog chun an drama a fheiceáil. Ní dhéanfaidh mé dearmad ar an lá sin go deo na ndeor.

Jamie Kenneally, 5th Class

Inné

Inné tháinig Liam Ó Dochartaigh go dtí an scoil agus bhí Katie agus John in éineacht le Liam. Bhí siad ag ciudiú le Liam. Bhí sceitch bunaithe ar mhaistíneacht ar siúl. Bhí Liam í bhfeighil an seisiúin. Chuaigh rang a cheathair, cúig agus rang a sé go dtí an seisiúin. Rinne gach duine dráma. Bhí Katie ag damhsa le na páistí. Nuair a chonaic Ben agus Dylan an chliseadh, thosaigh siad ag screadaíl. Nuair a bhí an chleachtadh críochnaithe acu, tháinig na tuismitheoirí agus ranganna eile go dtí an halla. Bhí siad ag féachaint ar an drámaíocht agus bhain gach duine taitneamh as.
I mo thuairim, bhí sé go hiontach. Bhí an-spórt againn agus ní dhéanfaidh mé dearmad ar an lá sin go deo na ndeor.

 J.J. Cronin, 5th Class

Bullying!

Our creative writing… Names are fictional and detail is added to write our story. However, the underlying principles of anti-bullying are true!

It was a lovely May morning. We were in English class.
The teacher was asking us questions on Blue Skies. When it came to my turn I completely lost my thoughts and my answers sounded really stupid. I could feel everybody laughing at me. At break-time Tom came to me and began to call me “Silly Billy” and said I should be in the high infants class. A few other boys joined in and made real fun of me. I was too shy and they knew I was easily bullied. I wished I was never born!
Later on, Frank called me aside. He was upset for me and wanted the bullies caught. Both of us went to the Principal and told our story. She was shocked! The bullies were given double homework for a month as well as having no more breaks for the term! The support I received meant a lot to me. I felt happy again. Bullies have no place in our school!

Jerry Daly, 3rd Class

Bullying

One morning Dave was walking to school. He looked very sad because every day he got bullied.
When he got to school he got a dirty look from Tom. When the teacher left the room, they started to push him and call him names. Then the bell rang. During break, he played on his own because nobody would play with him. He got a ball and played with it, but then the bullies cornered him and took the ball and started hitting him. On his way home from school, he went to the sweet shop and bought some sweets. Just as he stepped out the door, the bullies were waiting for him. They took all his sweets and started punching and laughing at him.
After seeing this, I think I should tell a teacher or an adult that Dave is being bullied!

 Ronan O’ Driscoll, 3rd Class

Bullying…

One day Tim got a sum wrong. Some of the boys laughed at him and made him feel sad. This was not the first time!
Later that day the bullying continued. When Tim had to speak in class, the same three boys laughed at him again. I told them to go away and leave him alone.
What I should have done was told the teacher secretly and ask the teacher not to tell them that I told on them. I should have explained how bad he felt when he got laughed at.

William Cronin, 3rd Class

Dráma

Dé Luain a bhí ann. Bhí ‘Stop agus Stare’ ar siúl. Bhí Liam Ó Dochartaigh i gceannas air. Bhí Katie agus Seán ag cuidiú leis. Bhí mé ag damhsa agus ag déanamh dráma. Bhí an dráma fada. Dúirt Liam go raibh mé go maith ag an damsha. Chuaigh na tuismitheoirí go dtí an dráma. Bhí mé ag screadaíl in éineacht le Ben. Is maith liom an drámaíocht. Bhí an-spórt agam. Tar éis an dráma, bhí an múinteoir ag caint le Liam. Ní dhéanfaidh mé dearmad ar an lá sin go deo na ndeor.

Cian Crowley,  6th Class

Bullying

One day in the middle of June, we all got our summer test results back. Our class teacher told my friend Oscar that he had to do his test again because he had done so badly. I noticed that everyone in the class gave a brief giggle and the boys in the corner were giving him dirty looks as if they were planning something.
Oscar was so embarrassed and didn’t even talk ’til break. Eventually break came; the boys told him not to play. Oscar was going to tell but the boys started blackmailing him. If he told, they were going to put up on Facebook that he did badly in his test. Then I went over to Oscar and tried to cheer him up. He was slightly happier when I attempted to cheer him up, but he still felt left out. I had to do something, so I told the teacher. Later that day, the teacher sorted out the indignant bullies.
In conclusion, I was as proud as punch that I stood up for my best friend, Oscar.

Patrick Browne, 6th Class

Bullying

Pat is a new student at our school. He started at the beginning of the year and he got bullied weekly.
Last week, our teacher asked us a question in Irish and Pat put up his hand first. So the teacher asked him the question. This question was for us to get fifteen minutes extra break. Pat got the question wrong so we didn’t get the extra minutes. James gave Pat a dirty look. Later, when we went out for break, James got his friends and cornered Pat. They started pushing Pat.
When I saw them, I went to the teacher on the yard and I said to him “Pat is being pushed by a lot of bullies”. After the break the teacher gave the “bullies” strikes and they never hurt Pat again.
I felt very happy I did the right thing.

Rory O’Connor 5th class

Bullying

One day in the middle of December in class, George was asked a question and he gave a silly answer. When the class were eating their lunches before break, they were giving him bad looks. On the yard, first people were pushing him around and then a boy named David pushed him on the ground and he split open his head. After that, everybody was staring at him and the teacher phoned the ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, his friend Jacob came with him to the hospital. Later in hospital, his Mom and Dad arrived and finally he got better. The following day in school, David apologised, and the school made up a new rule:
Bullying will not be tolerated in our school and will be reported and the boy will be disciplined consequently.

Ben Daly, 5th Class

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Safe Cross Code

My name is Brion O’Keeffe. One day Múinteoir Jennifer gave us visibility jackets in school. We used them to cross the road and when we were walking on the road. When you are in the dark the lights of the cars shine on the visibility jackets and that makes the drivers see you. We went outside to practice crossing the road. We had to look both ways twice before we crossed. We watched a DVD about the Safe Cross Code and we learned a song.

Brion O’Keeffe, Senior Infants

safe cross code

Looking left, right, left

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