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Newbridge Gaelscoil choir raise €3,000 for Jack and Jill

March 8, 2017

The Newbridge Gaelscoil Chill Dara have raised a fantastic €3,000 for the Jack and Jill Foundations from the proceeds of their CD.

The choir, which is based at the school on the Green Road, was delighted to present Hugo Jellett, CEO of the Jack and Jill foundation with the cheque last week.

The funds were raised by the children of Gael Scoil Chill Dara as part of their social entrepreneurship endeavours: children helping children.

Part-funded by a recording bursary from Kildare County Arts Service, and drawing on the additional talents of some of Kildare’s best loved musicians, the school choir recorded an Irish-language CD, “Ding Dong Dedero”, on behalf of Jack and Jill.

The CD features some of the most famous Irish songs and music, performed by The Nás na Rí Singers, In Caelo choir, Frankie Lane, Conor Mahony, Ruth O’Hara as well as almost every pupil from Gael Scoil Chill Dara, and the school choir.

The first tranche of CDs raised €3,000 during December 2016. The CD will be on sale again in December 2017, but is currently available from the office at Gael Scoil Chill Dara, to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge and St Patrick’s Day.

The choir of Gael Scoil Chill Dara was founded in November 2014 and has sung with the Dublin Gospel Choir. It took first place in the Irish language choral class at the Kilkenny Music Festival 2016, and performs frequently during the school year.

The Jack and Jill Foundation is Ireland’s only charity specialising in providing home-nursing care to brain injured children across Ireland, including more than a dozen in Co Kildare at this moment.

The money raised by the CD project will fund almost two hundred hours of respite home-nursing care for some of Ireland’s sickest children.

Kildare Gaelscoil opens its doors

September 6, 2013

THE new Gaelscoil in Kildare town began the first chapter of its life when it opened its doors last week.

Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha Principal, Norma Ní Chonchúir, welcomed 13 junior infant pupils on Thursday August 29.
The school is to be temporarily based in the former vocational school building in Kildare town and is to move to a permanent building at a new educational campus at Magee Barracks.
In March 2012, the demand for Irish medium education in Kildare town was recognised by the Department of Education, and it was announced that a Gaelscoil under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta would be opened.
Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha is a multidenominational Gaelscoil. The new school will start out with Junior Infants only this year but it is expected that it will grow rapidly.
Norma Ní Chonchúir, principal of Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha is extremely proud of what the school community in Kildare town has achieved to date.
“The parents have given me great support,” said Ms Ní Chonchúir.
“They have decided on a lovely uniform and have designed the school crest. I am really looking forward to the year ahead.
“It is a great honour for me to be the principal of Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha.
“There is a great demand for education through Irish in the Kildare town area, and it is brilliant that this new school is opening to cater for that demand.”
Schools across the county reopened over the past week.
It was a big change for pupils of the former Scoil Bhride Naofa and De La Salle Manistreach schools in Kildare town, as the new amalgamated St. Brigid’s Primary school welcomed both boys and girls at the former convent school building.

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Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha in the newspapers

September 4, 2013

Leinster Leader: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=525045150905291&set=a.221395217936954.54298.185008058242337&type=1&relevant_count=1

Kildare Nationalist: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=525047977571675&set=a.221395217936954.54298.185008058242337&type=1

A very Irish revolution taking place in Naas

March 26, 2013

There is an Irish revolution of sorts taking place in Naas and the surrounding areas these days. It’s the As Gaeilge Revolution.

Kildare is one of the fastest-growing Irish-speaking counties outside the Gaeltacht to take up the cupla focal and in Naas there has been a huge surge in Irish-speaking community activities and education in recent years.

For example, in the local education system there is now for the first time ever waiting lists for Gaelscoil Nas na Riogh in Piper’s Hill and the Gael Colaiste Chill Dara on the Newbridge Road.

In addition, there is also a host of family activities with Glor na Riogh, the weekly Bricfeasta as Gaeilge met-ups in Alice’s Restaurant, trad sessions and Irish language lessons with Sult na Sollan, to name but a few local organisations that are promoting and using the Irish language and its culture. The Leader caught up with various groups in Naas and Sallins during the recent Seachtain na Gaeilge.

Sallins lady Eithne Ni Fhlathartaith and Alice’s restaurant owner Eileen Meagher were the founding members of Bricfeasta as Gaeilge every Saturday morning for the simple grá of Irish language.

“I starting coming here to Alice’s three years ago now. I heard Eileen the owner speaking Irish to somebody and joined in the conversation and then I met the people from Sult na Sollan and we suggested setting up the Bricfeasta as Gaeilge,” explains Eithne.

“I was born in Dublin in an Irish speaking household and I went to an English-speaking school. My father was from Galway and that is where my love of Irish began. I don’t think a country is whole without its language and I think every person in this country have some bit of Irish and we all should be using it. There is an Irish revolution happening in Naas and Sallins and it is definitely growing. We have up to 20 people here every Saturday morning and we do Irish classes and cater for all abilities. A lot of people are rusty with the language and finding it difficult to find a place in Kildare to use their language and that’s where we come in.”

As the song says it’s true that you can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant! “I’m from Two Mile House and we originally spoke only Irish in my house,“ explained owner and mother of three Eileen.

“I’m opened 21 years and a lady came into the restaurant a few years ago and said ‘I know who you are’. She use to cycle out to Two Mile House to speak Irish with my father because they had the same Spiddal Irish and so when she told me that we started in whispers. Then I met Eithne and Sult na Sollan got involved. My father played the box and piano accordion and we all spoke Irish and danced. We speak Irish during the week too and schoolchildren come into the restaurant to practice their as Gaeilge which is lovely. It’s all age groups and it’s amazing. We have the Gaeltacht here in Naas!”

The Leader also spoke to Dáithí de Faoite of Sult na Sollan. “County Kildare has been recognised as the fastest-growing Irish speaking area in the country,” he explains.

“If you look at the figures from the Central Statistics Office. There is about 42 per cent of people in the area who say they speak Irish. About 20,000 people just in Sallins, Naas, Kill, Johnstown, Prosperous area that speak Irish regularly. So it’s pretty enormous. What we are really trying to do is reach out and build on the network and grow the community. If there is anyone out there who would like to join in our activities just check out our website www.SultnaSollán.ie. We are involved not just in the Irish language but also Irish traditional music and dancing.”

Father of three Dáithí embraced the love of the Irish language after attending the Gaeltacht for several years with his brother and continuing that interest throughout college.

“Although I didn’t study Irish in college I have a great network of friends who speak Irish and are very passionate about. My wife is a Galway native Irish speaker and we are raising our kids through Irish. She works as a teacher in the Gael Colaiste so she actually speaks very little English in her life. It’s amazing really and it’s how all marriages should work!” he jokes.

Dáithí explains that Sult na Sollan runs weekly Irish classes in Sallins, regular trad sessions in Flanagans Mill and they also attend the Saturday morning bricfeasta in Alice’s.

“What is fantastic is that we have every generation here, from grandparents to newborns. It’s a real vibrant community. Once you can order your coffee, say hello to people and make the effort in Irish you are most welcome. And of course some people do speak better Irish with a bit of drink on them too but that would be at our trad sessions!”

A very confident seven-year-old Daragh de Faoite also spoke of his love of Irish to the Leader. “We speak Irish at home and at school. I love coming to Alice’s to get scones and bars. I go to Gael Scoil Nas na Riogh and I love muniteoir Niamh. I going to be an Irish teacher when I grow up and am going to teach in the same school I am in now.”

Naas mother of three and secondary-school teacher Siobhain Grogan is very involved in Gael Scoil Nas na Riogh and Glor na Riogh. She spoke to the Leader before a Seachtain na Gaeilge family trip to K-Bowl.

“I was brought up in Naas. I went to school through English and my husband was brought up in Mayo through English. We are both secondary school teachers in an English-speaking school in Dublin. In recent years we have observed a lot of students switching between different languages and we had huge admiration and envy. So we had a chat and we decided to school our children through Irish and Irish culture. We had our first child eight years ago and we now have two other children, and we always speak Irish at home. Our children have been Irish speakers since birth and can flip between English and Irish. We can see the benefits of our children being bilingual and the cultural associations and it doesn’t matter if we had it growing up or not. We are learning too. There’s a great Irish-speaking community here in Naas and we’re looking to expand on that.”

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Hunger games filmed as Gaeilge in Naas

February 14, 2013

HOLLYWOOD may be beckoning for the Gaelscoil Nás na Ríogh sixth class pupils whose’ Irish version of the The Hunger Games has proved an online hit.

Featured on YouTube, thejournal.ie, the 98fm website, and RTE’s News Today, the half hour mini movie was acted out by the students and filmed by their teacher, Lára Ní Dhonnchú. So far, Cluichí an Ocrais has notched up 1,386 views on YouTube.

The 23 pupils took three-and-a-half weeks to shoot the film, which was based on Suzanne Collins’s popular novel, The Hunger Games.

Split into groups, they translated the scenes, wrote the script, added the music and designed various sets. It was then shot in the school’s environs with a smart phone.
One of the stars of the production, Lillie Ni Ghallachoir appeared with her fellow students on RTE’s News Today last week. She said her classmates are delighted with the reaction their film is getting.

“We never expected that it could be so popular,” she said.

She told how it was screened at Christmas for the parents who were also very impressed. Lillie played Prim in the film and her time spent in Brian Brady’s performance classes proved valuable in playing the role. When asked if it was hard to act the whole thing out in Irish, she explained it was no problem because it came naturally to the Gaelscoil pupils. “It was really fun to do,” she added.

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Féach an físeán anseo!

Meeting on new gaelscoil held in Kildare town

January 29, 2013

More than 50 people attended a meeting last Thursday in the Kildare Education Centre to discuss the establishment of a new gaelscoil in the area.

The meeting follows an announcement by the Minister For Education that a new gaelscoil will be established in Kildare town next September.

Seán de Paor, the principal of Gaelscoil Chill Dara attended and spoke at the meeting.

He explained that with 25% of pupils at Gaelscoil Chill Dara coming from the Kildare town, Monasterevin and Rathangan area, there was no shortage of demand for the service that gaelscoils provide in the Kildare area.

Gaelscoil Chill Dara, which is on the Green Road, Newbridge, is, he explained, over subscribed, and has been for some years.

Gaelscoil Chill Dara welcomes the development of the new school and wishes it every success, Mr. de Paor added.

Caoimhín ó Heaghra, a representative for an Foras Pátrúnachta, the patron of many of Ireland’s gaelscoils also spoke at the meeting, and explained that with the new school due to open in September, it’s expected that a principal will be appointed by June of this year.

As yet, while several are being considered, no site has been picked for the new school.

The new school will be multi-denominational.

LEINSTER LEADER

Newbridge’s Irish speaking youth ‘club wins ‘club of the year’ award at the RDS

October 1, 2012

The Newbridge branch of Cumann na bhfiann, an Irish language youth club in the town celebrating after winning the ‘club of the year’ last week.

The Newbridge club Cumann na bhFiann, the Irish language youth organisation set up only two years ago, was awarded the Club of the Year last week at the RDS.

The Newbridge club, which was set up for primary school students, and is hugely popular is to provide young people with the opportunity and the outlet to speak the language in a fun a friendly environment outside of the school structure. Michelle Reddy, from the Green Road is a past pupil of Cumann na bhFiann and the leader of the Newbridge youth club.

“I am so delighted our club has won this award,” she said. “I wanted there to be a branch of Cumann na bhFiann in Newbridge because I know first hand the positive benefits of having an outlet to speak Irish on a regular basis. “Often I hear young people saying that they ‘hate’ Irish. “This is generally because they have spent so many years studying the language but cannot speak it and they fail to see the relevance of learning it. “I believe the only way you can learn a language is to practice it, and speak it often. That is what we do in Cumann na bhFiann, we give the opportunity to young people to practice Irish every week in a fun and friendly environment”.

There are two other branches of the club in Kildare, in Naas and Athy. The aim of Cumann na bhFiann is to provide young people with the opportunity and the outlet to speak the language in a fun and friendly environment outside of the school structure. The positive benefits of this, the club claims, are that the language becomes ‘a vibrant method of communication and students become more confident in speaking it’.

The Newbridge club started back last week after the summer break. It will run every Friday from 5.00pm to 6.30pm in Scoil Mhuire junior school until Easter 2013. There are currently limited spaces in the club for students from 4th class to 6th class. The Naas club is for secondary school students and is held in Naas CBS every Friday from 7.00pm to 8.30.

Meanwhile the Athy club is held in scoil Mhichil Naofa every Friday from 7.00 to 8.30pm. Cumann na bhFiann is the after care service of Coláiste na bhFiann. Coláiste na bhFiann has 45 years’ experience running Irish Summer courses. These three week residential summer courses are run countrywide in the following centres – Ros Muc, Co. Galway, Ráth Cairn and Droim Rí, Co. Meath, Sligo, Baile an Sceilg and Killarney, Co. Kerry. Anyone interested in membership or further informaton can call Cáit on 087 9160819. All are welcome to attend.

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