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Junior School News September 2026

J4, J5, and J6 - Beginning of Year Service

J4, J5 and J6-Sandford Church Beginning of Year Service
Junior School

We came together as a school community in Sandford Church on Wednesday 9th September to mark the beginning of the new school year. Three of our J6 students, Aurelia, Mary Kate and Eileanóra read their prayers beautifully. It is always a special College event and our thanks to Reverend Gyles who led this service.

September Highlights from Preschool Lower

September Highlights from Our Preschool Lower Class
Ms Potts, Ms Jordan and Ms Lanzillotta

This term, our children explored two key themes: "All About Me" and "Emotions and Feelings." Through hands-on, play-based activities, they built self-awareness, empathy and early social skills. This has been a great topic to get to know each other in our new academic school year group. 

  • Expressing Feelings and Self-Portraits: During group discussions, the children talked about different emotions and how we express them. Using mirrors, they carefully observed their unique features and created detailed self-portraits.
  • Collaborative Art and Body Awareness: Working in groups, the children drew giant full-body outlines of each other on large paper and labelled the body parts, practicing new vocabulary while learning about human anatomy.
  • Family and Belonging: The children proudly shared stories about their families, sparking meaningful conversations about diversity, home life and our classroom community.

We have been so happy with how resilient and happy our new preschoolers are and how they have settled in. They are such a great class.

A young girl in a red tracksuit reaches for a colorful plate held by an adult in a classroom setting.
Children in red sweatshirts stand around a table with educational worksheets in a brightly lit classroom.
Two young girls draw on pieces of paper at a wooden table in a cluttered playroom.
Children in red and pink clothing draw on a large paper outline of a person on the floor, with a toy shelf in the background.
A teacher sits on the floor showing colorful cards to a group of young children in a classroom with a large screen and storage shelves in the background.

Preschool Upper

Preschool Upper
Ms. Brandon, Ms. Hidalgo and Ms. Appleby

Preschool Upper celebrated Dot Day. We started by reading the book by Peter H Reynolds. The story encourages the children to believe in themselves, embrace creativity and discover that everyone can be an artist. Following the story, the girls used paints and their imagination to create their own dot artwork. Experimenting with different colours, patterns and designs showed them that even a simple dot can become something beautiful. Well done, girls for being such wonderful artists.

Children in blue smocks paint on a blue-covered table in a classroom with coats hanging on the wall in the background.
A young girl in a blue smock paints on a white sheet of paper at a blue table, with other children and a classroom setting in the background.
A young girl in a blue smock paints a flower on a white canvas at a blue table, with a wooden floor and white kitchen cabinets in the background.
Two young children in blue smocks paint on a turquoise table, with wooden storage bins and clothing in the background.
A young girl in a blue art smock sits at a table with a colorful painting and paint set in a bright classroom.
A group of schoolgirls in brown uniforms stand in a line in front of a brick building, with a colorful picnic table in the foreground.
A line of young girls in school uniforms stands on a paved area in front of a brick building with large windows.
A group of young girls in matching school uniforms stand in a line in the foreground against a brick building background.

J2 Wearing their Brown Uniform

J2 Wearing their Brown Uniform
Ms Gorry and Ms Richardson

All of the girls in J2R and J2W wore their brown uniform for the first time this school year. They will wear this uniform every Friday and their red tracksuit on the other days of the week.

J3R Update

J3R Update
Ms Bergin and Ms Lyons

J3R have spent September settling into their new building and welcoming their new classmates. This month we worked on Math about Me hexagon tessellations which tied in with our class bumblebee theme! The girls have been enjoying their weaving wellbeing programme and pictured you can see them having a blast doing the Weaving Well-Being physical worksheet called Blast Off with Fresh Start Fitness. We have also been working on parts of speech and the girls worked together to create their Flower Nouns. The girls have had a wonderful start to J3 and we look forward to sharing what else we get up to this year. 

Children in red and white uniforms dance with their arms raised in a bright classroom.
Two young girls in red sweaters sit at a wooden desk working on a flower-shaped diagram in a bright classroom.
Two hand-drawn flower diagrams with written text sit on a light-colored wooden table.
Colorful paper handprints with names are displayed on a bright yellow bulletin board under a sign that reads %22Our Work.%22
A group of children in white and red uniforms pose for a photo on a green lawn in front of a building and a tree.
A group of school children in uniforms pose for a photo in front of a %22Voting Station%22 poster in a classroom.
Colorful, hand-decorated hexagonal tiles are arranged in a honeycomb pattern against a dark blue background with a yellow scalloped border.

J3W News

J3W News
Ms Hemingway

It has been a wonderful start to the year! Our J3 students have settled quickly into their new classroom in the Jellicoe building and are enjoying the extra activities and responsibilities that being in J3 brings. We got creative with tessellation and created a class display showing how great we can be when we all join together. We have also spoken about the importance of student voice and we were able to listen to all the candidates who stood for election for our various clubs and committees. Well done to all for participating.

J4R - The Best Part of Me

J4R-The Best Part of Me
J4R

In J4R we spent some time looking at ourselves, focusing on what we thought was our best feature.

The Best Part of Me

My face, my lovely tanned face.  It has my beautiful ocean blue eyes and my rosy lips, my pointy nose, my gorgeous pigmented cheeks and my mouth with all of my words.  My favourite part of me is my face. - Lara J4R

My hands, to play piano, clap, shout and read. The best part of me is my hands, to run and play tag and catch people and to draw art, squish Nee Dohs and clap at concerts. - Hannah J4R

I love my eyes, without them the vibrant colours couldn’t flow in. I wouldn’t be able to see my family, friends, or horse ride and the whole world would be dark and glum. But, with my eyes I can see the different light of the day. This is how my eyes look- dark and chocolatey and in the middle a black hole that sucks up the colour and light, so this is why I love my eyes. - Alyssa J4R

I love my eyes, they are chestnut brown, mixed with grassy green. In the sun they sparkle. I use my eyes to look at the pages in the books I read and to see where I am going. I use my eyes to see the paintings that I paint and to see the flowers dancing in the wind. - Sonia J4R

The best part of me is my hair. I love my chocolate, long, luscious hair. I love to twirl, curl, swirl and braid it. In the sun, it’s like a lovely, gold, chocolatey brown colour. If I didn’t have my hair, I’d be so sad. In the winter, my hair keeps my head nice and warm. Even though my hair sometimes gets stuck in doors, lollipops and squishies, overall, I still love my hair. - Astrid J4R

The best part of me is my eyes. I love my eyes, they look like brown chocolate drops and they are very precious to me.  They make me see beautiful creatures, pretty things and even help me see the pieces I need to finish a part of my puzzle. In the sun they look even better. I love my eyes. - Mia J4R

My hair, my long, luscious brown locks. They’re not too long and not too short, just enough to plait it. My hair is usually straight, but I can curl it, for a change. My hair is a part of my personality; it’s always there. - Margaret J4R

Coding

Coding
Ms McGarry

In the Junior School, KG Upper have been having a wonderful time learning how to code with their Blubot robots! Blubots are screenless, floor based robots that the students code through pressing a sequence of buttons on the back of the device. The students really enjoyed working in pairs on large grid maps. They were challenged with solving a series of tasks and it was wonderful to see them develop their spatial awareness along with strengthening their problem-solving and teamwork skills as they tested and debugged their code together! 

A person's hand paints a brown tree on a blue-sky background, with a paint palette and brushes resting on the wooden table.
A group of children in red uniforms hold colorful crafts in the foreground of a bright classroom with white walls and a projector screen in the background.
A girl in an orange shirt draws on a piece of paper on a wooden table with a set of colored pencils in the background.
Colorful children's paintings of trees are displayed on a textured white wall.
A person paints a brown tree on a canvas in the foreground, surrounded by art supplies on a light-colored wooden table in the background.
Colorful children's paintings of autumn trees are displayed on a white brick wall.

J5W Update

J5W Update
Ms Roache and J5W

J5W Assembly

We are back with a bang in J5W this year! We kick started our year with an assembly 'as Gaeilge.' We shared our personality traits in Irish with the whole school and even included a fun quiz at the end. We enjoyed learning all the different adjectives to describe ourselves including neamhspleách, spórtiúil, ceolmhar, dilís, fuinniúll, ealaíonta, cineálta, greannmhar and a lot more.

Cén sort duine thú?

Autumn Art in J5W

This week we created fun autumnal tree landscapes. We used acrylic paint and watercolours with thin brushes. We used autumn themed colours such as brown, red, orange, yellow and green. We are ready for the new season and all the fun things that are coming up! We hope you love our artwork! 

Clíodhna and Flo J5W

Welcome Back

Welcome Back
Ms Tracey, Mairéad, and Peter

Welcome back girls to a brand new year of exciting school sports! We are so delighted to see you all back and ready for action! Whether you are returning to a new class or joining our school sports for the first time you are more than welcome.  

This new P.E.term and year ahead is all about having fun learning games and being part of teams. It will be focused on doing what you do best, enjoying playing sports, experiencing new skills and challenging yourselves both individually and in team events, and of course, making great memories and friendships along this sporting pathway! Remember that being a good athlete isn’t just simply about scoring points or goals or even winning games, it’s about helping your teammates, showing respect and always trying your best. So girls, check your sports gear, names on everything, including your water container, and get ready for a great sporting year ahead!