Christmas is a very special time here at Longfield Academy. All of our children have been as busy as Santa's Elves making decorations, baking christmas treats, practising Christmas songs and even forming a Christmas band. 

Our Junior Toddlers did a great job decorating our christmas tree and even made some of their own using playdough. 

Our Senior Toddlers created beautiful christmas art to decorate their classroom. They made jingle bells, baubles, melted snowmen, and christmas trees. 

Our Junior and Afternoon Red Pre-Schoolers invited their parents to come into school for a Christmas party. They made delicious Christmas rice krispies buns and hot chocolate with marshmallows as treats for the party. The children and their parents had a list of jobs to do before a special visitor arrived. This included having a treat, making a tree decoration, pinning the nose on Rudolph and singing a Christmas song. Santa read all the children a Christmas story and gave them all a special present. ​

Our Senior Pre-schoolers had their Christmas concert for all their Mammies and Daddies. They sang lots of christmas songs and also sang a beautiful rendition of 'Its a long way to Tipperary'. The children were very excited to get a visit from Santa, who heard their singing all the way from the North Pole. ​

On Monday 16th Dec, the Senior Preschooler's headed off on the bus for their second trip of the year to 'Le Cairde' Dementia Day Care Centre. 

The children were all very excited, heading off on their Adventure. The children had been preparing for weeks for this visit because they were planning on performing some Christmas songs for the people who attend Le Cairde. Noelle and Ciara did a fantastic job at preparing the children for this visit and for teaching the children all of their songs. Noelle and Ciara even taught the children two new songs 'She wears red feathers' and 'It's a long way to Tipperary', these are two of Le Cairde's favourite songs.

On the bus journey to the centre, we warmed up our voices by singing a very energetic version of 'The wheels on the bus' which was led by one of our preschoolers, Ellie. As we arrived to the centre, Catherine and Geraldine were there to greet the children. 





















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The children were led into the centre by Catherine and Geraldine, where they met all of the people who they were going to perform for. The children headed striaght for the 'big chairs'. We played some ball games with Geraldine while Le Cairde had their morning tea.

​We noticed a beautiful display on the wall, it was a collage of pictures from our last visit to Le Cairde, which was made by one of the men who attends the service. The children thought this was fantastic.

The children introduced themselves to everyone and did not hesitate to have a chat or two. Before we left, Catherine presented each child with a present, this was very exciting. 

When it was time to leave, the children lined up at the door and headed back out to the bus for our return to Longfield Academy, to tell everyone about our adventure!

Longfield Academy would like to thank Le Cairde for having us, we really enjoyed the morning and we look forward to visiting again!

This year we said goodbye to 23 of our special butterflies as they prepared to spread their wings for Primary School in Septemeber. 
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Alot of hard work was needed to prepare for such a special occasion. These preparations began back in April, when the staff and children began selecting and learning songs, which they enjoyed and reminded them of moments in their Longfield Journeys. 'The Greatest Showman' movie was a big hit this year with the children, and so the theme 'Hollywood/Oscars' Graduation was born. 

On the 26th June, with all the prepations complete, the big night arrived. The red carpet was rolled out for our special VIP guests (our parents/guardians).

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With the Audience in their seats and cameras ready, the children took to the stage. They performed all their songs beautifully and gave an award winning performace. 

The highlight of the evening was our Longfield exclusive performance of "This is Me". The lyrics were re-written by Ciara and the dance routine choreographed by Donna, Sinead and Siobhan. ​There wasn't a dry eye in the house and the children all received a standing ovation 

After the show, we went outdoors to our new sensory garden for some well earned refreshments and treats. The children and parents all chatted about the amazing year we had in pre-school. Cameras were busy taking the final photos of the amazing friends we have made in Longfield before it was time to say an emotional goodbye. 

We will miss all the children dearly and they will forever remain a special part of the Longfield family. We wish them all the best in their new schools and we hope they come back to visit us soon. ​

On Wednesday 29th of May, the Senior Preschool Class headed off with their school bags on the 'Big Bus', for their school trip to Ardmore Open Farm. 

The excitement in the Senior Preschool Class was immense! The children spent all week trying to predict what animals they would see at the farm. When the day finally came, the children arrived to preschool all ready to head off on their adventure to Ardmore.

At 9 am, the children and Rufus put on their high-visibility jackets and made their way out on to the bus. 
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The children all sat into their booster seats and we all put on our seat belts ready for the journey that was ahead of us.Plenty of songs were sung on the bus and the bus driver even joined in when we were singing 'Wheels On The Bus'. One of the children was ecstatic that she was able to show us where her house was and we all waved just incase someone was home that could see us passing. 

When we arrived in Ardmore, we made our way into the centre. Firstly, we were brought into the petting zoo where the children were given the opportunity to hold the rabbits. Some of the children were dubious about this and preferred to just look at the rabbits. One of the children in particular did not want to put the bunny back when it was time to move on. The adults were also very fond of the rabbits and would have liked to take them home!  The childre also got to pet a Bearded Dragon, however they weren't as keen on him as they were the rabbits.

Following on from the petting zoo, we then went for a guided tour around the farm. We saw many different animals such as Prairie Dogs, Meerkats, Otters, Alpacas, porcupines, ponies, goats, donkeys and many more. The Meerkats and Otters were among the children's favourites.

After the tour of the farm, the children played football and took turns on the zipline before going inside to play in the soft play area. By 12.30pm the children had worked up an appetite and we sat down to have our lunch. 

When our tummies were full, we headed up to the big outdoor slide and risky play area. The children loved the slide and climbed to the very top of the climbing frame. Just before 2pm, all the happy but very tired children headed back to the bus. It wasn't long before we had some sleepyheads on the bus. We had a fantastic day on our school trip. The Junior Preschooler's will be heading on there outing to Le Cairde Day Care Centre this week. We can't wait to head off on the bus again!

On the 30th of May 2019, Tara came to visit us here at Longfield Academy. Tara is a Dental Nurse in ConfiDental, dental practice in Cahir, Co. Tipperary. 

Tara began by inroducing herself and telling the children all about what she works as, and what her job entails on a daily basis.

Tara discussed with the children what they should expect from a trip to the dentist and reassured them that they don't need to be afraid when they are at the dentist. Tara invited the children to talk about their experiences of the dentist, if they had been before. Tara taught the children about what drinks are good for your teeth and what drinks are bad for your teeth. The children learned that milk is good for your teeth because it contains lots of calcium. They also learned that juice is not so good for your teeth because it is full of sugar. Some of the children were worried about this because they "had juice yesterday", but Tara reassured them that it is okay to have juice now and again, maybe just not everyday!

Tara then introduced Mr Dinosaur and Mr. Lion to the children. Tara showed the children how they should brush their teeth, nice and softly and in circles. The children also learned that it is important to brush their teeth in the morning after their breakfast and before they go to bed at night. 

The children all took turns brushing Mr Dinosaur's and Mr Lion's teeth. The children really enjoyed this.

A big thank you to Tara from ConfiDental. The children are already asking when Tara will be back !