St. Francis’ National School

🌻Growing season🌻
Over the past few months all children have been busy planting in our polytunnel and recently we harvested some of our crop🍓🥬🫜 We look
forward to plenty more over the coming weeks. Well done to all the children involved in the daily watering and upkeep of our polytunnel, great work👏🏻👏🏻 A very special word of thanks to Jeremy for all his brilliant work and support with our polytunnel and outdoor areas, we are so lucky to have him and we really appreciate all that you do😀👏🏻 We look forward to a big harvest in the coming weeks 🥕🥔🍅

⚽️County Champions⚽️🎉
A fantastic day for our school, as our boys team became county Cumann na mBunscol champions. After a very tightly contested first half, the boys found themselves five behind at the break. However, a brilliant second half display secured victory. Well done to all involved, we are all very proud of you👏🏻👏🏻 A special thanks to Ms Carr, Mr McKiernan, Mr Byrne and Ms McNamee for all their coaching and support over the year👏🏻

📸 A moment in time… do you recognise anyone?

This photo captures the very last day Barnes School closed its doors — Tuesday 6th May 1986 — after serving the community since 1867. A special piece of local history and plenty of familiar faces in that final class!

👀 Take a close look…
Do you recognise yourself, a friend, or a family member? Tag them below or share your memories — we’d love to hear your stories!

🎉 Join us as we celebrate the next chapter!
This year marks 40 years of St Francis National School, and we’re inviting past pupils, staff, and the wider community to come together for a reunion.

📅 Saturday 20th June
⏰ 2–5pm
🎟️ Ticket-only event

👉 Register your interest here:
https://forms.gle/9QKmtJ8ud3T9tMtR6
or using the QR code image.

Let’s celebrate the memories, the friendships, and the generations of students who passed through these doors ❤️

🎉 St Francis National School – 40th Anniversary Reunion 🎉

We are delighted to invite past and present pupils, families, staff, and the wider community to join us in celebrating 40 years of St Francis National School 🏫✨

📅 Date: 20th June
⏰ Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm
🍔 BBQ: Served from 3:00pm – 4:00pm

🎟️ Tickets:

Adults: €15
Children: Free (children must be accompanied by an adult and registered to attend)
👉 This is a ticket-only event, with tickets available until Monday 15th June.

To register and secure your place, click here:
🔗 https://forms.gle/zrTYiSgzkEuZZcFWA

Once registered, an electronic payment link will be sent to your mobile.

Please help us spread the word by sharing this post with anyone who might like to come along — we’d love to see as many familiar faces as possible on the day 😊

3rd and 4th class have enjoyed taking part in hurling sessions delivered by Ulster GAA coach Reece Armstrong over the past number of weeks. Thanks to Reece and Shane McNulty from Four Masters for helping to organise this. The children showed great enthusiasm over the sessions and for any children that are interested, underage hurling/camogie training takes place every Tuesday in Tír Conaill Park from 6-7.

Cumann na mBunscol⚽️
Our boys and girls teams were both in action this week in the county semi finals against Creeslough.

Our girls put in a great performance, but were unfortunately defeated by a very strong Creeslough side. We are extremely proud of their effort and teamwork throughout the competition.

Our boys came away with a hard-fought 2 point victory after an excellent game of football. The team showed excellent work rate and skill to secure the win. They now look forward to a county final.

Both teams represented our school brilliantly and displayed great teamwork, effort and sportsmanship throughout. Well done to all involved! 👏🏐

Yesterday, our school came together in a sea of blue to mark Cleft Awareness Day 💙

It was wonderful to see all of our students and staff getting involved, showing their support, and helping to raise awareness about cleft lip and palate. One of our students visited all classrooms and shared his experience of being born with a cleft lip. Moments like these remind us how important kindness, inclusion, and understanding are in our school.

A big well done to everyone👏🏻