We participate in our local Credit Union competitions and events. They are great fun.

We participated in the Claremorris Credit Union Quiz.  We entered two teams, an A team and a B team. On the A team were Conor Lydon, Evan Flynn, Orlaith Heaney and Amy Hession. On the B team were Ellen O’Conor, Jamie Hession, Megan Commins and Clíona Mc Greal. There were ten rounds made up of six questions for both teams but team B got two extra rounds. Team B came joint third with a score of fifty two. We had to compete in a three question tie-breaker with Gaelscoil de Búrca. We got all three correct and came third. The teams that came second and first got fifty three and fifty four points. We really enjoyed the experience and were proud of our accomplishment.

The Credit Union visits our school twice a month. We have plastic savings cards with which we can lodge money into our accounts. Ciaran Sweeney and Miriam Duffy help us with our savings accounts.

Miriam first visited to tell us about the savings card. We give her our money and then she scans our card. When she is finished the total amount of money is written on the card. We can bring our cards to our local Credit Union and we can take our money off it.

This is the computer that scans our cards.

Every year we also enter the Credit Union art competition. We enter three different age groups.  It is good fun and you can meet new people at the prize giving ceremony.

Congratulations to Ms. Naughton and husband Brian on the birth of their baby girl, Beth, at 12.05pm yesterday.

Baby and mum are doing fine and we wish them the very best.

C’mon Mayo, bring home Sam!! 🙂

Pictured at our recent Open Day in Gortskehy N.S.
Back: Aoibhinn, Calum, Diane & Senan
Front: Fiona, Dayna, Lily & Sadhbh

Parents and children at Gortskehy N.S. Open Day with Principal Pádraig Ó Beirn, Teacher Niamh Naughton and Board of Management Chairman John Hession.

We had great fun with Nancy the clown.

“@gortskehy: “Our Open Day” foilsithe ag Thomas. bit.ly/Yh0jGM”looks great !

— Anne White (@AinedeFaoite) May 2, 2013

Niamh Gallagher, Teacher; Teresa Higgins, retired Principal, Phil Roche, retired teacher; Marian Harkin, MEP; Mairéad Uí Raghallaigh, Learning Support Teacher; Pádraig Ó Beirn, Principal.

MEP for Ireland North and West Marian Harkin has paid tribute to rural national schools and has said everything must be done to ensure that they continue to provide a service to their communities.

Ms Harkin made her comments when she unveiled a plaque earlier this month to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of Gortskehy National School in South Mayo. She said she had been hugely impressed with the school’s achievements over the past number of years. “Before I visited, I was extremely impressed with the school’s website which lists its students’ achivements and progress in areas as diverse as sport and film, participation in the Cross Border Orchestra and the Young Scientist Exhibition in 2012”, Harkin noted.

“When I visited the school itself,” she added “its energy and dynamism was so obvious – the bright colourful classrooms; the beautifully kept grounds; the enthusiastic, confident boys and girls; the committed parents and the dedicated teachers; all combining with the wider community to deliver a world-class education.”

On the day of Harkin’s visit, the school welcomed teachers from Turkey, Romania, Austria, France, Italy, Estonia and Hungary – collaborating on a Euro-project entitled “Follow our Footsteps”.

The Independent MEP said that “the sense of being rooted in the Community and the continuity of doing so for 125 years, the linking of the past and the looking forward to the future clearly showed the hugely valuable contribution that small schools can make to any Community”.

Ms. Harkin said “the Minister for Education, Mr. Ruairí Quinn T.D., should be very wary of closing small schools in rural areas. The Minister for Education should visit schools like Gortskehy before he speaks of a ‘critical mass’ or ‘value for money’ in relation to the closing down of smaller schools. Having visited Gortskehy, I am absolutely convinced that the children attending this school will leave their primary education fully equipped to make their way in the wider world, proud of their local area, full of confidence, following a first class Primary Education”.

Western People, October 16th 2012.