The girls in the Orchard have been working very hard this term on integrating into the mainstream setting in a variety of ways. We now participate in Assembly every month and, for the first time ever, the girls in the Orchard performed at the whole-school St. Patrick’s Concert! We had been practising for a couple of weeks and performed an Irish reel together, alongside some of the 6th class girls, in front of the entire school. We received a huge cheer from everyone when we finished!

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All the girls in the school learned the song “Mar a Bhí” (Harry Styles’ As It Was) as the closing piece for the concert. The Orchard girls focused on the phrase “Mar a Bhí” and played percussion instruments for the remainder of the song. It was a wonderful experience and has paved the way for more opportunities for integration in the future.

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For World Book Day, the Student Council visited the Orchard and took part in Buddy Reading with our girls. It was great fun! The girls enjoyed literacy games, puzzles, and activities, as well as reading stories. It was lovely to have friends from 5th and 6th class spend time with us and support our learning.

As part of the school’s Green Flag application, we have been busy learning about recycling, reusing, and reducing our waste. We are recycling bottles, cans, paper, plastic, and cardboard. We take weekly trips to the school recycling station and sing our recycling song.

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Our theme for the month of March was Special Occasions, and with World Book Day, Mother’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Green Day, and Easter, we have had plenty to celebrate! We set up a dress-up rail in our Aistear Space and had lots of fun dressing up and engaging in imaginative play.