The Famine

Today there are about 5 million people living on the island of Ireland. Around the time of Daniel O’Connell, the population was about eight million. Most of the people were very poor. They lived in tiny cabins on small patches of land and had to pay rent to the landlords who owned the land.

The blight
In September 1845 a strange new disease attacked the potato crop in Ireland.

The Famine

In September 1845 a strannge new dieseas called the Blight stroke Irelands potato crop.

It was a disaster many people died and lost lots over its chaos. Ireland was also affected but as usual they pulled through it many people had to work in workhouses.

The reason it affected them was because potatoes were all they had to eat and it was easy to grow.

Ireland has had their own bit of horrible history and here is some;

OWEN TRAINER; STEALING ONIONS; FLOGGED.

By Luke Bewley

Caring in the Community

This year we are working with Localise, PWC and the Dublin Simon Community. Last year we worked with Localise and PWC to raise money for Temple Street Hospital. Click here to read about last year. This year we are helping the homeless. There is a place in Sean McDermot Street called the Dublin Simon Community Shelter. It is for people who are homeless and people that may have had some problems in their life. The people that live in Dublin Simon get their own room.
Last week the manager of Dublin Simon came in and start telling us about Dublin Simon. He brought a lady that lived in Dublin Simon and she told us all about her life, how it can be hard and difficult sometimes. That is why we want to help Dublin Simon so the people will know someone cares about them.
We are giving them a box with lots of presents in it. We made a load of Christmas cards too.We hope they like the presents that are in each box. We hope to give every person in the shelter their own box of presents this Christmas.
By Josh Breslin

A Dark Night

It was a dark night. I was walking by the old house on the Third Avenue of Seville Place. Suddenly Vlad the Vampire appeared in the window.
It was a dark night but I didn't care. I ran up the stairs to see if he was still there. He was lying in the middle of the floor. I tried to take a picture but he disappeared into the air. A fire started in the house! I ran down the stairs but Vlad the Vampire locked the door. I had to jump out the window and into a lode of thorns! OOW!!
I called the fire brigade. They went and put it out.The house was black from the smoke. I went back in and went up stairs to see if he was still there. He wwas there. He was dead but his picture was still on the wall, the fire did not touch it.

By Karl McCarthicus

The Big Match

It's Manchester United versus Arsenal, the cup final!
Straight to it - Manchester United are messing around - oh no! Neville loses the ball! Arshavin gets it. Vidic is desperate - he lunges. Crack!!! Vidic fouls Arshavin. Silence. The ref slowly moves his lips to his whistle - oh no! It's a penalty to Arsenal and a red for Vidic!!. Ferguson fumes! But Van der Saar comes to the rescue! and saves it.
Then Giggs runs the pitch, shoots and hits the top bar, it was so close! Next Rooney gets the ball outside the box, 20 yards out and gets lifted. It's a free kick. The final whistle is next. It is up to Scholes. He shoots. "Go on" scream the crowd together. He scores!
It's a miracle, MAN UNITED WIN THE FA CUP !!!

By Jake 'The Ledge'cake' Kelly

A Visitor

One day a tourist from Ireland went to visit a country called Romania, in the year 1722. His name was a Moses Murphy. During his holiday Moses decided to visit a gallery. He was at an art gallery looking at the work of Popescu when he felt sleepy.
Suddenly he woke up. He was in a castle! He was in shock! People were surrounding him. People with big long faces, big long nails and eyes. They were closing him into the corner.
But suddenly...... 'Stop' says a deep voice. 'I'm so sorry for my butlers troubling you'. Moses says sleepliy " What am I doing here?". But the man in the big black cloak did'nt respond.
Moses asked again. The man said "You had a bad fall in the gallery this morrning'. So the man asked Moses to eat with him. Moses thought sure why not. Moses asked the old man his name. The man said "Count Dracula''!
Moses said 'how can it be so?? Oh no!!'. Dracula pounced on Moses and drew the blood from his neck! The last thing moses said was 'how can it be!!'.
So still to this day Moses walkes around as a VAMPIRE in the castle in Romania. Be careful if you ever go there!

By Jake 'The Ledge'cake' Kelly

The Conker Champion '09

The 'Conker Championship '09' was held in school last week. It was one dry day in October.
We were having a conker competition. In my first match I played Taylor and I won.
Then I went on to beat Darell. it took ages but eventually I won so I went on to play Luke in the semi's - I won.
I was in the final with Alex.I knew it was going to be hard because Alex is good. We were only 2 minutes in the fight and it was his shot. He walloped it his hardest and his one smashed!! I won and everyone jumped on me and picked me up and gave me the 'kings chair'. I was delighted with my life. I didn't even think I was going to win but I did!!!

By Josh Breslin

The 155th Floor

The Burj tower, 155 stories high. To be the worlds tallest building. There I stood with only a parachute. I got in by disguise, as a builder. It was the easy part. Here comes the hard part. I started climbing the crane perched on the top of the tower. I was careful not to slip, if I did I would fall and most likely die. Finally I reached the top of the crane. The cold air around me. Hard to breath this high up, but I still felt confident about this. I wasn't going to back down from this. With one last gasp of breath I jumped. Falling for 7 seconds. I pulled the cord, but it was jammed. I kept calm and tried to fix it, success. Just in time. I started gliding gently towards the ground.
August 6 12:32 pm I jumped from the Burj tower.

By Alex Fay

We studied mini-beasts

Last week we studied mini-beasts.

What is an insect?

Insects can be distingiushed from other small animals by their six legs and three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen) antennae, compound eye and wings (usually, but not always).

Insect abilities?

Insects have some amazing abilities. Grasshoppers can jump 40 times the length of its body, ants can carry objects that weight 100 times the weight of thier body.

Where do insects live?

Insects live everywhere, forests, deserts, jungles, grasslands, swamps, ponds and streams-even inside the bodies of other animals.

How many species of insects are there?

By current estimates there may be as many as 10 million different species. The most common group of insects are the beetles, butterflies and moths,ants, wasps and bees, flies, grasshoppers and crickets.

By Eric Hyland!

Mini Beasts the Movie

Mini Beasts the Movie from Larriers Videos on Vimeo.