Results from Rás na hÉireann
Oldbridge Estate, Sunday 7th February

Under 9 team - 3rd place
Under 11 team - 1st place
Under 13 team - 2nd place
Under 15 team - 1st place

Congratulations to all involved

Congratulations to the boys who competed in and won medals in this years Rás na hEireann


The theme for this months Assembly was "Mad For Maths" - well done to those who received their awards today

We welcomed our new chaplain, Fr. Noel Weir to our school yesterday with our Christmas Mass in the school hall. And today we gathered again for our Christmas assembly. We’re looking forward now to Christmas, to the gift giving, to time with friends and family and to celebrating the birth of Jesus. We wish you all a happy and safe holiday and a wonderful New Year. School will resume on Wednesday 6th January 2016.

Congratulations To All Of Our Christmas Hamper Winners

Thank you to all of our sponsors and parents who donated so generously - Nicki Wells, Boyne Valley Foods (Mc Closkey Family), Fuschia Make Up (Gillian Brady), Callaghans Butcher, Glow Hair & Beauty, The Lime Kiln, Oisín Blinds (Mary & David Brady), Relish Café, Sweet Quarters Sweet Shop, Woodview House B&B (Jean & Ronald Strong)

1. Finn Lacey  - Baby Boy Hamper
2. Arlo Delaney - Baby Boy Hamper
3. Josh Hayes - Baby Girl Hamper
4. Mateo Higgison - Baby Hamper
5. Cillian Wade - Chocolate Hamper
6. Eoin Ryan - Chocolate Hamper
7. Joe Daly - Pet Hamper
8. Brandon Clarke - Sports Hamper
9. Mrs Byrne - Party Hamper
10. Conor Russell - Food Hamper
11. Daire Nevin - Food Hamper
12. Tadhg Ryan - Gardening Hamper
13. Conor Clifford - Bathroom Hamper
14. Conor Gunning - Bathroom Hamper
15. Tom Lambert - Art Materials + gift card
16. Edward Hu - Kitchen/Cookery Hamper
17. Séan Elder - Kitchen/Cookery Hamper
18. Caelum Tunstead - Car Maintenance Hamper
19. Dylan Healy - Christmas Hamper
20. Aaron Grant - Christmas Hamper
21. James Lambkin - Crackers & Cheese Hamper
22. Ms Burke - Crackers & Cheese Hamper
23. Donagh O Keefe - Toy Hamper
24. Dylan O Brien - School Supplies Hamper
25. Ciarán Brennan - Candy Hamper
26. Ms Brennan - Chocolates, Wine & Beauty Hamper
27. Séan Kelly - Boyne Valley Foods Hamper
28. Sam Tierney - Fuschia Make Up Hamper
29. Séan Reilly - Fuschia Make Up Hamper
30. Colin Hayes - €50 Callaghans Butcher Voucher
31. Nicholas Chmura - Glow Hair & Beauty Voucher(wash                                                                                                                                                        & Blow dry)
32. James Matthews - €30 Voucher The Lime Kiln
33. Ms Carragher - €200 Voucher Oisín Blinds
34. Daniel Mc Kenna - €30 Voucher Relish Café
35. Ms Callan - 2 Tickets for Colmcillles Strictly Come Dancing

Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara was the coolest café in Donacarney last Friday, as the school community gathered together for our Christmas Coffee Morning and Cake Sale.   Our school hall was suitably bedecked with boughs of holly and resonated to the sounds of Christmas music. It even had a sofa and a roaring turf fire to set the festive scene.

Members of the Parents’ Committee and friends were at the helm in the kitchenette, ensuring a steady flow of teas and coffees for our thirsty customers. And our wonderful school community had supplied a wonderful array of confections for the cake sale.

Even Santa was there in the form of Ms Brennan selling tickets with her two helpers for the ever popular hamper raffle.

Meanwhile, Ms Byrne and her two helpers were thrilled with the sales of the school calendar.

Of course there was always time out to attend to a little bit of reading.  

But scoffing the goodies and taking the cash were the priorities for the day.

 A big Thank You to anyone who helped in any way with thjs event. The Fundraising Committee, the Parents’ Association and the broader school community made Bunscoil Buachaillí the coolest Christmas café in town.

All are welcome to join us on Friday, December 11th for our Christmas Coffee Morning, Cake Sale & Hamper Raffle. It will take place in our school hall. A fabulous array of hampers have been created by each class and will be raffled of the day. They range in theme from baby hampers to chocolate hampers, sports hampers, pet hampers, gardening hampers, make-up hampers and many many more! Some of the hampers have been generously sponsored as have vouchers - you won't be disappointed!
All donations of cakes and buns would be greatly appreciated (please label all containers with your name etc).
Tickets for the Raffle are on sale from Ms Brennan and will also be on sae on the day - 0ne strip of tickets = €2          and            Three strips of tickets = €5

We have processed the POD forms we have received before the summer and have given out forms for Junior Infants and new entrants. We need to process these forms as soon as possible. We are also seeking the return of a number of forms from pupils who have not returned the information prior to the summer holidays. They have been re issued with forms again.

We now need to input this data as soon as possible, and would be obliged if you could return it by Thursday December 3rd.

Please see the department of education information on the POD especially the frequently asked questions section https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Primary-Online-Database-POD-/POD-Information-for-Parents.pdf if you have any concerns about your data.

Please note that our school grants, and teacher allocation will only be granted on the basis of those pupils in the school who have a form filled out.

Please also note that if you have any objection to filling out the form you must forward that objection in writing to the school. We are then obliged to keep that letter on file for future inspection on request by the Department’s inspectorate. Otherwise your record will be transferred to POD within four weeks from Wednesday Dec 2nd.

Food Dudes

We’re always keen on healthy eating here in Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara. And with that in mind, we got involved with the Food Dudes programme once again. This programme is managed by Bord Bia.  It is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine , and by the EU. And our school were delighted to be selected to participate in it this year.

Thanks to this programme, the boys get to taste a wide variety of fruit and veg every day and they are awarded for their efforts with stickers and prizes.  Of course, the biggest prize is in acquiring a taste for healthy food and a willingness to acquire different tastes.

The real stars of the show are Ms Carragher’s Fifth class. Every morning they take delivery of the fruit and vegetables and distribute them to the various classes. Their task afterwards,  is to gather up the plastic packaging and whatever waste food is left for recycling.

Happy, healthy and environmentally friendly-the Food Dudes programme is ticking a lot of boxes for us in Donacarney!

Congratulations to the boys on winning the Allianz Cumann na mBunscoil Boys Div 1 Shield final. It was a wonderful display of football in challenging weather conditions against Duleek BNS. The final was played in Dunganny on Wednesday 18th November.

The walls of Bunscoil Buachaillí resounded with the strains of Amhrán na bhFiann as  stood proudly saluting our nation and our flag.
They were marking a very important occasion in the history of the Irish nation and a proud day for the East Meath boys’ school. As part of the state’s plans to commemorate the 1916  Rising, the army has been given the task of delivering a National Flag to every Primary school in the country.

Two representatives of the army arrived at the Mornington school. They were flanked by a guard of honour from both sixth classes and went on to receive a rousing welcome from all the children in the school hall.
As part of the ceremony, the soldiers spoke to the children about the flag, the etiquette associated with it, and the significance of the proclamation.
After reciting some of the proclamation, the defence forces handed over to Rúadhán Kelly and Oran King of sixth class who both gave stirring renditions proclamation extracts in both Irish and English.
They were joined by two other pupils whose families claim ancestral connection with this period in Ireland’s turbulent history. Mason Gifford spoke about Grace Gifford, wife of the martyr, Jospeph Plunkett. While Cormac O’Sullivan gave a stirring account of the adventures of his great grandfather and great grand uncle who struggled for the cause of Irish independence in both Cork and Dublin.

To commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising and to celebrate 100 years since the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, the Government has tasked Óglaigh na hÉireann with delivering a National Flag to every Primary School in the country.
This is a key part of the Ireland 2016 commemorative programme and will see members of Óglaigh na hÉireann, in uniform, visiting schoolchildren, teachers and parents in over 3,200 schools across the Republic.
Each school will be visited by a team, led by an Officer or senior NCO, who will formally present the National Flag to the School in a special ceremony. Our personnel will teach the schoolchildren about how the
- See more at: http://www.military.ie/en/info-centre/defence-forces-2016/flags-for-schools-initiative/#sthash.oUnbKV52.dpuf

It was a clean sweep for the athletes of Réalt na Mara at our first athletics event of this school year. We travelled to St. Joseph's Secondary School in Drogheda to compete in the 28th annual Drogheda & District School's Cross Country championship.

Three of the 6th class boys came home in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the race, a feat which was never before achieved by Réalt na Mara runners! They were helped in no small way by their teammates and this culminated in our school being awarded gold medals for the best team.

Well done to all twelve athletes and we will now start to prepare for our next cross country race which will take place in Bellewstown on November 25th.

Individual medals - bronze, gold, silver

5th Class winning team

6th Class winning team

Many thanks for your continued support of our School Book Fair. Two years ago we had a wonderful response and as a result we were able to stock our new School Library with a wide variety of wonderful books for the boys of Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara.

With the super attendance at this years Book Fair we will now be able to add to that.

Our school's Book Fair is all set to run from Monday next, the 12th of October. Along with supplying hugely popular books from the Scholastic company, the school library also benefits from all profits raised as Scholastic will give us up to 60% profit on the total sales. And this profit will come in the form of brand new books which we can order for our library.


An added benefit, of course, is the sheer pleasure our boys get from browsing through the books on offer.


So break out those piggy banks boys, and buy yourself a book. It will benefit you and your school in a variety of ways.


Book Fair Opening Hours--3pm Monday 12th and Thursday 15th. Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-5.00pm.

Meet Freddie

Freddie, our school scarecrow, was delighted to see all the boys back in our school yard after the long summer holidays. He tended our garden very carefully over the summer and surprised us with a great harvest of vegetables which the boys cooked and ate in our school kitchen.

Freddie was delighted to see our new Junior Infants coming into the big yard with all the other boys. The boys from Gliondar Mara have also been around to see Freddie. And he has shown them the beetroot, courgettes and pumpkins that he is minding for harvesting in October.

And now, with early morning Gaelic training up and running already,  Freddie stands tall and proud every week, cheering the Gaelic players and their teachers on.

Summer Holidays

The new school year will resume on Monday 31st August. Our new Junior Infant classes will commence at 9:45am and end at 12 noon for the first two weeks.

All other classes will run for normal school hours.

Parents of new Junior Infant pupils are invited to a welcome cup of tea, courtesy of our Parents’ Association, in the School Hall on the 31st August at 10 a.m. This is a good opportunity to meet up with other parents with whom you will be sharing the school journey, hopefully, over the coming years.

All parents please note, your son’s school booklist is available for viewing here.

We wish all our pupils, their families and friends, a safe and enjoyable summer break.

Artist at Work

We will have a unique piece of art in our school, thanks to the Percentage Art Scheme. Our Art Committee have engaged artist and sculptor Michelle O'Donnell of Glasshammer Studios to fulfil this commission.

Michelle is noted for her wonderful work in glass. Her art has been purchased by Shell Oil, Glaxo Smith Kline, the OPW, Dept of Finance, Compaq computers and other institutions, along with an extensive portfolio for private collections. She is also responsible for the fantastic artwork in the girls' school.


In our picture you can see Michelle drawing out templates on our windows. The next stage will involve her using those templates to outline and cut the coloured glass. That part of the work will happen in Glasshammer Studios.  The artwork will embody all that is important to us in Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara so stay tuned for previews over the coming weeks.

Walk on Wednesdays                              

WOW (Walk on Wednesday) will take place this Wednesday May 13th and every subsequent Wednesday. Pupils should assemble at 9.00am at either Blackhills or Castle Glen from where they will be accompanied to school.

Alice in Donacarneyland

The pantomime came to Bunscoil Buachaillí last Friday in the form of M&M Theatrical Productions. It was a wonderful opportunity for the whole school to experience great theatre in our fantastic new hall. M&M Theatrical productions  gave the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland, a new lease of life with an Alice who actually grew on stage and, in the best tradition of pantomime, had all sorts of things popping up behind her including the White Rabbit, doorways, the Queen of Hearts and a magical key.  

Gaelgeoir Glic
The whole school gathered together today  for the March Assembly. This coincided with Seachtain na Gaeilge. The assembly opened with the boys singing Peigín Leitir Mór . Awards for Gaeilgeoir Glic went to one pupil in each class who had made an especially good effort to speak as Gaelige. As a special treat the boys from Sixth Class entertained us all with an exciting version of Amhrán na gCupáin.

Author Michael Smith Visits Our School

Ms Rice's class invited a very special guest to their classroom today. Michael Smith is the author of nine books and an expert on the life and times of Irish explorer, Tom Crean.

The boys in First, Second and Third Classes had done a lot of explorations of their own, all on the subject of Tom's Antarctic exploits. They had read "The Ice Man" and some even had the grown up version of the book " An Unsung Hero" on hand to be signed by the author. They listened very carefully to Michael's presentation on Tom's life and then asked lots of questions afterwards.

And so the tales of one of Ireland's great explorers lives on for another generation.

Rás na hÉireann

Thirty athletes represented Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara at Rás n hÉireann on Sunday 22nd at Oldbridge.
Individual medals were won by Sam (U-9) and Caelum (U-11).
In the team event the U-9 team came 3rd and both the U-11 and U-15 teams came 2nd.
We are especially proud of the seven boys from 6th class who completed a 2,500m course in very muddy conditions.

Eason’s Spelling Bee

In an exacting final, Simon beat off sixty eight contestants from 5th and 6th class to win our spelling bee. He now will go forward to represent our school in the Meath County Final. Well done to Raphael, who was placed second in our final.

Boys at Realt na Mara enjoying visits from Eddie Phelan VCL civil and structural engineer and Amanda Guire IBM during engineers week February 9th - 13th

Our digital hub will shortly be available to all classes in the school. We also have a bank of iPads for classroom use, thanks to our wonderful Parents’ Association. With this in mind, we have updated our Acceptable Usage Policy for the Internet. You can read that here, under the Policies section of this website. Your son has a permission form for you to read and sign in relation to this policy. We would appreciate if you could return this form to the school by Tuesday February 9th. Go raibh maith agaibh.

We are committed to encouraging a healthy lifestyle in Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara. As part of that commitment we have reviewed our Healthy Eating Policy. Please read it under the Policies section of this website. Please pack a healthy lunch for your son. Your cooperation with this policy encourages others to eat more healthily too. Thank you.

After two days of skipping workshop with master skipper Mark McCabe, our boys were very keen to demonstrate their skipping skills. With tricky manoeuvres and great athleticism, boys from infants up to sixth class took to the floor and wowed the crowd. Thank you Mark for inspiring us all with your skill and talent.  Wishing you and your company Skip 'n Rope every success!

Our December Assembly
We held a whole school assembly in our hall today. Special awards went this time to all the boys who worked so hard with their writing during the past four weeks. They were presented with their certificates and also personalised their star for our Wall of Fame with their own handprint. A special Spirit of Our School award was presented to fourth class. They received this award for their kindness and helpfulness towards one another.
Sports awards were also presented at this event.
Our next assembly will be in January 2015. There will be a Spirit of Our School award for one of our classes and also individual awards for pupils in each class. So keep up the good work boys!

Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara School Garden Update!

Bunscoil na Buachaillí Réalt na Mara have been very busy planning and developing the early stages of their school garden. The Gardening Committee have had plenty of help from the 5th & 6th Class boys and volunteering parents giving up any free time to get the project started.

They have been digging trenches and planted over 300 hedge plants already.

Many thanks to all parents who helped and donated. Your continued support is much appreciated.

Our First Assembly in Our New Hall
A big part of our work in Bunscoil Buachaillí Realt na Mara, is to encourage our boys to make a bigger effort with all their work.
Ár ndícheall í gconaí is our school motto: we always strive to do our best.
It was also the theme for our November assembly.
In our photos here you will see our boys gathered in the school hall. One boy from each class was awarded for striving to do his best over the month of October.
You can also see how the boys created their own special memento of this occasion as they made a handprint for the wall of Fame. This Wall of Fame is in the school reception area.