With a week remaining to Santa’s arrival, most children in Ireland have been busy preparing for the big day on December 25th. However, Bernard Ibirogba’s big day was this past Saturday where he was competing in Ireland’s Fastest Feet Competition at Athlone I.T. International Indoor Arena (race videos below). Bernard was one of 24 finalists fighting to become Ireland’s fastest 8 year old over a distance of 50 metres and win a place at the world famous Millrose Games in New York City. Before any thoughts of New York City’s bright lights came to mind, Bernard had to overcome the obstacle of qualifying from his semi-final of 8 runners. With only two guaranteed qualifiers from each semi-final, Bernard cruised to victory and qualified in 7.78 seconds. As the fastest semi-finalist, Bernard was rewarded with a middle lane draw for the final. Less than an hour later, Bernard laced up his spikes and lined up against the 7 other finalists. The boys took their marks and the starting gun fired…..Bernard got off to a solid start but it was still too close to call at the half way mark. The next 25 metres were just astonishing, Bernard accelerated with every stride and his lead grew with every second. Like a world class sprinter, Bernard didn’t look back to see where his nearest competitor was and he blazed to victory in a remarkable 7.69 seconds.  AN AMAZING RUN!!!

The entire school community of Scoil Naomh Pádraig would like to congratulate Bernard and his family on his remarkable achievement. Bernard travelled to Athlone with his family and was cheered on by current and former schoolmates Michael and Davidi Ijoma; I can only imagine the excitement and joy shared on the return trip home to the Curragh. It must be said that Bernard’s great run didn’t happen without hard work and commitment. Bernard is a member of the school’s Cross Country Club and he has trained every Tuesday and Thursday since early September so he thoroughly deserves his win. Bernard’s victory will be also be shared and celebrated by his teammates who have all helped in pushing one another during some difficult training sessions throughout the year.

Next up for Bernard is the Millrose Games in New York City on February 11th where he will represent Ireland and follow in the footsteps of Irish Greats Eamonn Coglan, Ronnie Delaney and Marcus O’ Sullivan to name just a few. Bernard will compete against America’s fastest 8 year olds in The Fastest Kid on the Block race. We have no doubt that Bernard will represent his family, school and country with pride. Congratulations on your fantastic achievement Bernard, you deserve every success.

Race Video – Fastest Feet race begins on 30mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSOkxmXEMqE

Trackside Race Video: https://twitter.com/believe9achieve
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2016 Millrose Games Fastest Kid on The Block Video: http://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&do=videos&video_id=165234-Boys-NYRR-Fastest-Kid-on-The-Block-NYRR-Millrose-Games-2016

The entire school community of Scoil Naomh Pádraig would like to wish Bernard Hazeez Ibirogba best of luck in Ireland’s Fastest Feet Finals (info below) which takes place on Saturday 17th December in Athlone IT International Arena. Over the past few months, thousands of children from all over Ireland have entered the preliminary stages of the competition with the aim of qualifying for the finals. Thousands of children have now been narrowed down to just 24 finalists with our very own Bernard winning qualification last month. The overall champion will represent Ireland at the prestigious Millrose Games in New York City. Whatever the final outcome, we are all so proud of Bernard’s fantastic achievement. BEST OF LUCK BERNARD!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IeArR4c898
Firefly's Fastest Feet is the search for Ireland's fastest boy and girl no older than 8 years of age. Partnering with the prestigious Millrose Games, Firefly Foot & Ankle Clinics send a boy and girl (along with a parent each) to New York to compete in the Fastest Kid on the Block sprint race. Firefly's Fastest Feet sees thousands of children across the island of Ireland get involved, testing their speed over 20 metres in what is called a Flying 20. The fastest children qualify for the finals where the winners are crowned Champions of Firefly's Fastest Feet. The Champions then fly to New York to compete in the Fastest Kid on the Block event at the Millrose Games.

In order to mark Science week, Junior and Senior Infants have been busy learning all about colours as part of this year's 'Light' theme. Early in the week we discussed primary colours and made predictions about what would happen when we mixed these colours. We experimented with paint and painted pictures with the primary and secondary colours we had created. We then decided to experiment with food colouring and water and recorded our findings in pictorial form. We really enjoyed experimenting with colour this week. See below for a link to the milk & food colouring experiment we tried out. 
https://youtu.be/rqQSlEViNpk

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Junior and Seni0r Infants have been working really hard this month, learning sounds and numbers, working on patterns and sorting sets using various diagrams with the help of Mrs. Knight and Finola. We have learned the names and attributes of 2D shapes and sorted sets of these shapes in Maths. 

We have also had lots of fun in am spraoi learning all about doctors and hospitals this month- we have created xrays using cardboard and cotton buds, pretended to be doctors and patients, built hospitals and trolleys from lego blocks and even made our very own ambulance! For the month of October we will be learning about Dinosaurs and archaeology!
Well done to all of the boys this month with a special mention to our stars of the week so far: Conor O'Reilly, Iyanu Ojo, Sam O'Connor and Kai Sage- keep up the great work :)

Dunnes Stores have very generously given Scoil Naomh Pádraig the opportunity to raise some much needed funds for IT equipment and renovation of our School Courtyards. This Thursday, 19th May, we will be bag packing in Dunnes Stores Newbridge, from 10am to 6pm. If you (or a family member or friend) have a couple of hours to spare this Thursday, then please let your son's class teacher know, or get in contact directly with myself. All help will be greatly appreciated.
Mr Healy