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Calendar 2017/2018
Term 1 Begins: Wednesday 30th August 2017
Ends: Friday 22nd December 2017
Closures: Monday 30th October - Friday 3rd November (mid-term)
Term 2 Begins: Monday 8th January 2018
Ends: Friday 23rd March 2018
Closures: Thursday 15th & Friday 16th February (mid-term)
Monday 19th March (Public Holiday)
Term 3 Begins: Monday 9th April 2018
Ends: Tuesday 26th June 2018
Closures: Monday7th May (public holiday) & Tuesday 8th May
Monday 4th June (public holiday) & Tuesday 5th June
Parents,
Here are links to some useful websites;
Click here to view http://www.helpmykidlearn.ie
We would like to thank all who donated items to our recent recycling fundraising event for the school. The amount raised was:
€248.40
Cavan Monaghan Healthy Families
Starting in Castleblayney, September 2017
Cavan Monaghan Healthy Families is a free, fun, family focused healthy lifestyle programme with interactive sessions on healthy eating, physical activity and children's wellbeing. The Healthy Families management programme will be taking place in Castleblayney from September - November 2017. This programme is specifically for families of children aged 8-11 who may be above their ideal weight. For further details or to register, please contact: Ellen McMeel, Healthy Families Programme Coordinator. Tel. 0861599581 or Email: ellen.mcmeel@hse.ie.
Annalitten Car Park's Amazing Secret
If you were to walk past Annalitten's fine National School, chances are you would hardly give a second glance -or even notice - the adjoining car park. But this car park has a secret. It was the site of a building with a remarkable claim to fame. That building, the' Old School', was no ordinary school around the corner, as it was born with a roar that would be heard as far as the Westminster Parliament.
1888 was a year of beginnings, including the founding of the National Geographic Society, Celtic FC playing its first official match, and the birth of John Painter, who would live to the 21st century and become the world's oldest man. The Castleblayney townland of Annalitten celebrated its own 'first' with the opening of a National School. You might think that this local affair would hardly cause a stir - even in 'Blayney. But events would prove otherwise.
Soon after Annalitten NS opened, the police called on three local families. Leading Irish MP, Tim Healy, heard about the police visits. On May 14th, 1888, in the House of Commons, he questioned Chief Secretary, Arthur Balfour about the incident. Balfour replied that some children had been moved to Annalitten from the nearby mixed religion schoool. Three Catholic families kept their children at the mixed school. It is believed that the local church was putting pressure on these families to send their children to Annalitten. The famililes were visited by the local police in order to establish the full facts.
The full text of the discussion can be read in 'Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 1888'.(period from 11th May - 12th June,1888) Incidentally, in the document, the politicians are referred to as 'Mr. T. M. Healy' and 'A. J. Balfour'. Annalitten is referred to as 'Annalitton'
Annalitten being mentioned at Westminster is a great feat, but the central characters in the discussions makes it even more special. They were both political giants: Arthur Balfour would serve as UK Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905. Tim Heay would go on to become the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State in 1922.
The 'Old School' at Annalitten was replaced by a new building, a short distance away, in the mid- 1960s. The old building went on to serve as a community centre until it was demolished in the early 21st century, its longevity surpassing John Painter's by just a few years. Today, a car park stands on the site, surely making it one of the most historic parking lots in Monaghan and Ireland.
© John E. McBride (2015)
