​It was Christmas Eve. Tommy, Macdara, Lee, Colm H and Tiernan were playing together at Lee’s house. They were playing tag. “You can’t catch me,” said Macdara. Lee was on so he chased him all through the house. “Come here,” yelled   Lee.  The rest followed them. “Where are ye going?” said Tommy.
They saw a blue glow from the coming from the basement.” Let’s go,” said   Tiernan. “ I  don’t know,” worried Lee, “My mammy told me not to go down there”. “We’ll just see what the glow is ok,” said Tommy. They snuck down to the basement and opened the door. There was a big machine with an old looking elf beside it. “Who are you? “ asked  Tiernan. Then he disappeared. “He was rude,”  said Tiernan. There was a note on the ground. Tommy read it. “It says we have to save Christmas because Mary and Joseph are heading in the opposite direction of Bethlehem.”  Tommy took a breath and carried on. “We need to get them going back to Bethlehem.” Then the room started to shake. Tommy dropped the letter. Then they got sent back in time.
Suddenly they were falling out of the sky. They landed in a heap of sand. “OW,” said Macdara. “I can see two people on a donkey,” said Tommy. “One on the donkey the other pulling the donkey. They ran up to them. “ You’re going the wrong way, “said  Macdara. “Are you Mary and Joseph? “ asked Lee. “Yes , “said Joseph.” Follow us to Bethlehem,” said Tommy. Mary and Joseph followed them. They arrived at Bethlehem. They knocked on all of the doors of hotels but they were full. “Thank God they’re full,” whispered Macdara. “I can see the stable,” yelled  Lee. They went over to the stable. Joseph tied up the donkey. Then they all lay down on the straw. They saw a blue glow from behind the stable. They said good bye to Mary and Joseph. Mary thanked them for leading them to Bethlehem. They went over to the machine. They got sucked back to the present just in time for dinner. “Wait, “said Tiernan. “We forgot Colm!”
THE END
By Paddy Hogan 4th Class

​One Christmas eve my brother Aaron and I were vibing play Call of Duty Cold War, when suddenly the Grinch teddy zoomed past us. “What was that?” shouted Aaron “I don’t know” I shouted trying to keep calm, without hesitation we ran for the door. We ran for our cousin’s house but all the way there I got the feeling we were being watched.
 When we got there we were greeted by our cousin Arthur, “where are your parents?” we asked in a panic, “they are in the kitchen”. “Can we come in?” we asked. “yes,” said Arthur. When we got there they were gone. “Where are they?” we asked. “I don’t know”, said Arthur, “maybe they are gone to the shops” he said. “Come and play with us” said Darragh and Cormac now dragging out of us, we then joined Sadhbh and Colm in the playroom.
 “what will we play?” asked Aaron and I. “FORTNITE!!!” they all shouted together. “aw hell no!” laughed Aaron and I “no Fortnite.” Suddenly I spotted the Grinch teddy staring at us creepily from the hall. “yo Aaron look over there.” “b b but how?” Aaron shouted “stay here for a second” we said to our cousins. “What is with this teddy” I whispered to Aaron, “throw it out the window” I suggested. “YEeT,” Aaron had thrown it out the window. But at that moment we heard our cousins scream “what happened?” we asked them “Sadhbh is gone” said Darragh trying not to cry. we turned our heads for a second and she was gone. “I’m going to call the police” I screamed, I was about to dial the number when the Grinch ran at me, but just then I saw my aunt and uncle and then they all said laughing “it’s just a prank bro” I was so relieved to hear that. By this time it was 1.30 am so we ended up spending Christmas at our cousins house. 
                                                                                                              By Darragh Joyce 6th Class

​On a cold Christmas Day, Alex was walking on the road. He noticed something strange at the tree, he went over to look and then he saw a red button. He pressed it and saw lots of smoke coming from the tree.
There was a noise, suddenly a small door opened. He went to look inside. Alex fell down, he didn’t know what was happening. Alex thought it was a vent. He crawled, after a few minutes he saw a flash of light at the end of the vent. Then finally he arrived. He saw an enormous room then he was shocked. Alex saw lots of presents and gold blocks. He went to explore but then he saw a door that said DO NOT OPEN he still went inside then he saw his friend Kate crying.
 Alex said “What are you doing here Kate?” Kate said “The Grinch tied me up here.” Alex said, “Do not worry I will get you out of the rope.” Alex went to find a sharp object, he looked in the cupboard then he found a small little knife, he cut the rope then Kate and Alex went to the other big room Alex tried to ring his friend Jamie but there was no signal. So they crawled back into the vent then they escaped then Alex rung Jamie and they made a fast escape.
 
By Cian Rushe. 6th Class

It was a snowy Christmas Eve morning when Caoimhe, Oisín, Páidí and Conall, all in their own houses, waited. They were waiting for the cloudy, winter sky to turn black so they could jump into bed and sleep until everyone’s favourite day, Christmas Day !
Caoimhe was watching her favourite Christmas cartoon when the screen glitched. She called Páidí to try help her fix it when the screen went black, a second later an old, plump man was on their tv, they knew it was Santa Claus. “Sit down I need to ask you something!” he whispered. They both sat down and listened. At this exact time the same phenomenon was happening in Oisín and Conall’s house.
“I have to ask you if you will help me deliver the gifts to all the boys and girls in the world, is that ok with you?” he asked. “Of course, Yess, I’d love to help you Santa but why do you need our help?” “Some of my elves are sick,” he replied. “Is that a deal?” he asked. “YESSSSSS.” “I knew I could count on you. At seven o’clock I’m going to teleport you to my workshop and we’ll go after seven.”
 The children were so excited and decided to get ready. At seven o’clock they were standing waiting to get teleported to Santa’s workshop, when they felt a whizz of light go through their bones and the second they opened their eyes they realized they weren’t in Santa’s workshop but an old, dusty, cave and it didn’t belong to Santa but the Grinch! A tall, green, fuzzy creature lurked above them. “Ahh I see you fell into my trap; you didn’t really think Santa was going to give you a whizz around the world did you?” the Grinch chuckled to himself. “But now I have some great helpers to make my next task a lot easier.” The children were confused when Conall looked over to the corner. There, Santa was all tied up and in a cage. “How could you do that to Santa!” Conall gasped. “Trust me, what I’m about to do is a lot worse” the Grinch replied. “Hey, what’s in that bag?” Caoimhe asked. “His elves of course.” They were astonished, how could he do that to Santa? “Well I want to get rid of Santa and his elves so soon he’ll be no more than a distant memory. So let’s get this over and done with, in the fire he goes.” “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” “YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!” “It’s ok I have a plan,” Oisín whispered. “Are you sure?” Páidí asked. “I’m sure.” “Ok, let’s do it.”
 “We shall lift the bag of elves in first as it will be easier than doing this big lump,” The Grinch said pointing at Santa. While he was saying this Páidí had snuck behind the giant bag of elves and ripped a hole in the bag, the elves poured out and scurried into an opening in the cave. The Grinch picked up the bag. He didn’t even notice that there was nothing in it, and threw it in the raging fire. It burned to ashes in a matter of seconds. “Now we will need a lot of strength to lift this lad.” “You go at the front, it will be easier to lift,” Caoimhe suggested. “Good idea,” The Grinch replied. So the Green creature went at the front of the cage and they lifted, but instead of pushing Santa in, they banged the cage off the Grinch and he went flying into the fire. “It looks a bit hot in there don’t ye think!” Conall joked.
They let Santa free and the elves came out from their hiding place and Santa thanked them. They got to help Santa give out presents in the end and got extra for saving Santa and his elves.
 
By Moya Duffy
6th Class

Darragh and I strolled down the old country lane to our cousin’s old country mansion. We were staying at the house for Christmas. The house was massive! You could get lost easily if you didn’t have a guide, and it looked a bit haunted. We were sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms.
As we entered the magnificent house I thought I saw a small green figure with small red beady eyes and an evil grin waving out the window at me but when I blinked it was gone. “There is something down there!” I exclaimed. “What where?” Darragh asked “In the basement” I replied. “Well let’s go have a look “he said. We headed for the basement. When we got there Darragh opened the old wooden door. “Ladies first” he said. “Ha ha very funny” I said sarcastically. I switched the light on and we headed down the old creaky stair. At the place where I thought I saw the figure sat a harmless elf on the shelf. “Ha you got scared of this little thing” Darragh cried and threw the elf at me. “Quit it “I shouted and lunged at him. We began to wrestle on the old stony floor till our younger cousin Oisín came down the stair. “What ye doing?” he asked as he picked up the elf. “Nothing,” we both said. But as he headed up the stair I thought  I saw in the corner of my eye the elf grin.
 
Darragh and my cousins Caoimhe, Oisín, Páidí, Conall and I sat at one table while our parents sat at another. “I’ll go get the box of celebrations from the basement”. My uncle said and strolled on out of the dining room”. “Can you pass me the veg Aaron” Caoimhe asked. “Yeah” I said and passed the veg bowl over to her. Darragh was talking to Páidí and Oisín was talking to Conall. “Aaron would you go check on your uncle there and see what is taking him so long?” Aunt Lucy asked. “Yay sure” I said and got up from the table. When I was out in the hallway I saw the elf sitting in the middle of the hall. “That’s strange. Who put you there?” I said aloud and picked him up. When I got to the basement I was met with the shock of my life. There lying in the middle of the basement floor lay the lifeless body of my uncle. I dropped the elf but when I did I heard someone say ouch. I looked back down to the ground to see the elf stand up on its own. “What the..” I said. “Hello Aaron” it said. When I heard that I knew it was a prank. “Ha very funny Uncle Joe” I said and slapped the elf across the face sending it flying along the hall. “Why you little” it screamed and lunged at me grabbing me around the face. “Ahh” I screamed and pulled the elf off my face. It was kicking and punching the air. “You’re alive!”  I said astonished. “Damn right I am alive kid” it replied. “And I’m going to kill everyone in this house and make Santa pay for kicking me out”. “You wouldn’t kill anyone you’re too small” I said laughing. “Well look at your uncle kid” it said.
I looked down the hallway and gulped. Then out of nowhere I heard the banging of hooves on the roof. “Oh no” the elf said terrified. “He’s here”. Then with a puff of smoke Santa appeared. He gapped the elf and threw something down into the basement. Then a miracle happened. My uncle got up. I saw my cousins appear in the hallway. “Ho ho ho merry Christmas” Santa shouted and disappeared. We all ran out to the front porch and looked up into the night sky. “How did he find us” I asked. “We called him” my cousins chirped. We all headed back in and to our surprise there were presents galore. Caoimhe got a horse set, Oisín got a massive farm set, Páidí got a full set of dinosaurs and Conall got an enormous nerf gun and we all lived happily ever after except the elf -he was never seen again.
By Aaron Mc Donagh 6th class

Our story begins on a cold Christmas Eve with three children named Jamie Kate and Alex.
 
The children were staying at Kate’s house Jamie and Alex were sleeping on the couches. However, before they fell asleep they set up a camera facing the Christmas tree. When they awoke, there was no presents under the Christmas tree. ``Why is there no presents`` Kate stuttered ``we can check the camera footage`` said Alex so the three children checked the camera footage. They sped it up so they did not have to watch through hours of footage. After a bit of watching they saw a red blur so Alex slowed it down and rewinded it a bit, and to their surprize they saw quite a fat man dressed in red enter through the chimney he carried a sack. Santa reached inside the sack, grabbed out about 10 to 15 presents, and then left through the chimney. ``What happened to the presents`` Alex said, so they continued watching the footage. Eventually they saw a green figure enter and steal the presents and then leave. After that they looked out the window they could see footprints. The kids got on their bikes and followed the footprints, after about 2 hours of following the footprints on their bikes the children ended up at Redwood Castle they snuck through the window and crept in the searched around. The Grinch was nowhere to be seen so they had time to search. After a while, Jamie came across a beaten up Santa. He was tied up Santa said ``Ho Ho help me`` Jamie called out for help. Alex and Kate rushed to where Jamie called from, the children began to untie Santa when they finished they got Santa outside. When the kids got Santa outside he began to heal his cuts and bruises began to fade away then he whistled and called out ``Prancer, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Dasher, Vixen, Blitzen, and Rudolph`` all of a sudden all his reindeer came out of nowhere dragging a sleigh. ``Could you help me save Christmas? `` asked Santa ``Yes`` the children said excitingly so the children hopped in Santa’s sleigh, Delivered all the presents in like 3 hours and saved Christmas.                                                       The End                                                                                             By Sean Paterson 5th class

​On Christmas Eve, I watched a Christmas Horror film. It was scary (Like very scary). It was about an infection going around in the North Pole. If the Elves got infected with the bug, they turned into flying creatures and they would eat your presents. And if they pooped and you touched it you get the bug. As I was going to get a snack out of the press, I heard loud foot-steps and children giggling. So I opened the curtains, and I saw Jamie, Kate and Alex outside in the dark playing on the streets.
I told them about the film and we all got scared, so we went to the town hall to hide. We hid under the stage, for about ½ an hour. We were very silent, then we heard tapping on the stage. So Kate decided to go out to see what it was. IT’S THE FLYING ELLLLLLF. I heard her scream. I got out AND IT WAAAAAAAAAAS. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
 And then SANTA came out of the bathroom with a double barrel shot gun and he said “Ugh, get out, you ruined my scene. It took 20 minutes. Right, ye can do it.” It turns out, they were making part 2 of the movie I had just watched. So, we HAD to make that scene, they told us to just finish the movie while we’re at it. So we did. It was fun, but we did miss out on Christmas Eve, we still made it home in time for presents. I walked Jamie, Kate and Alex back home and told them that I was sorry. I will NEVER watch a Christmas Horror film ever again.
Make sure you go watch The Elf Bug and The Elf Bug Chapter 2                                                           
 ​By Ava Houlihan
5th Class

On the 30th of March 2045, a NASA exploration team and I left the NASA headquarters in Washington DC in Space Shuttle X descent for Saturn.
 
It was going to take three years and two months of nonstop travel to get to the gas giant. We wore special gear to protect us from the bitter harshness of Saturn’s weather and gas storms we were also given semi-automatic assault rifles. No one ever landed on any of the gas planets but our team were determined to make history. It is physically impossible to land on a gas planet but our plan was to each separate into little space ships and land on the rocky surface deep into Saturn’s core. The tricky part was that there was a chance that our space ship might burn up or simply disintegrate with the pressure of the planet.
 
As we arrived at Saturn we were all exhausted from the journey. Everyone was three years older than they were when they left. We were going to orbit the planet for a couple of days before attempting to land on it. When the day finally came no one wanted to go. We slowly dragged ourselves to our space pods. As I switched on the ignition I knew that I might never see Earth again.
 
As we entered the atmosphere I could barley see three feet in front of me. I could feel the heat coming through my space suit. I could hear a radio interference coming over the coms. It said go away humans you are not wanted here in a deep squeaky voice. The suddenly I heard Connor scream in the coms. I looked out my window to see his ship on fire and spinning off into the distance. Big rain drops started to pound on my window. The glass started to crack. I looked at my altitude screen, it said I had two thousand feet until I reached the surface which meant I had to deploy my parachute. I pressed the button deploying my parachute but the minute I did my parachute caught on fire. I could see the surface through my cracked windscreen. I pulled up on the steering wheel sending my ship skidding around the rocky terrain. It finally came to a stop. I could smell petrol leaking, I had to get out before it got caught on fire, I scrambled at my seatbelt trying to unbuckle it. I finally got it and hopped out of my cockpit just as my ship exploded. I looked up into the sky to see my crewmates crash into the ground exploding like fireworks. I checked every one of the space pods trying to find any survivors. I was unsuccessful in my search. I remembered what they had told me in training that if things went sideways to sit tight and wait for extraction. My gut told me that there was no extraction. I had to find help, maybe find the something that was talking through our radio. So I set off. There was definitely a much stronger gravity pull than on Earth. The terrain was rocky and the air was thin but was breathable. I continued on my journey to find life and get off this God forsaking planet.
 
                    
 
       I was walking for what felt like forever until I came across a space pod like ours but older. It was a Mark I. I remembered that NASA sent an exploration team five years prior to ours but everyone one was reported dead. But the pod looked like there had being no damage done to it. I studied it- there was no corpse around so that meant whoever landed it had survived. So if there were humans on this planet maybe they might be able to help me get home so I went on a search mission. It started to get cold, bitterly cold. The wind started to pick up, I was in the storm I had to find shelter fast. I began running back to the pod. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, I fell to the ground everything went black.
 
 I woke up in a pod with someone I didn’t know, he said his name was Darragh Joyce and that he had landed on the planet in 2040. He also said that there was something living there, something supernatural and that it was hunting him. He had tried to kill it many a time but failed every time. He said he was planning another attempt and that he had made bombs from the remains of his ship. He asked for my help and I said I would. So we set off. We had to cut our hands because the monster smelt blood. Suddenly I could see the figure in the distance. It was like a human but much taller and stronger looking. I raised my gun but Darragh said that bullets did nothing to him only made him angry. He suddenly started to charge at us at a terrifying speed. Darragh pulled out the grenade but it was too late, the thing was upon us and hit Darragh sending him and the grenade flying off into the distance. I pulled out my knife and started stabbing him but his wounds kept healing. I ran to pick up the grenade. The Alien jumped on top of me sucking the life out of me with his hands. I could feel the life leaving me. I pulled the pin off the top of the grenade and with all my strength shoved it into his mouth. He let go of me and began making choking noises. Suddenly his whole body blew up into thousands of pieces spraying me with his remains. There where he was standing was a crystal. I picked it up. It did nothing so I threw it down to the ground, out of nowhere a portal appeared. I helped Darragh up and we jumped into the portal -it brought us to Area 51- we had finally made it home.
 
I hated this experience and don’t ever want to go back to Saturn again. I tested positive for alien blood in my body. They put me in a sealed contaminate. I wouldn’t hurt anyone would I?
By Aaron Mc Donagh                                                                                                                                                                                            
 

                  
 

​One year ago I volunteered to go to Mars to see if there was life there. I went with Moya, Ava and Thia.
I went to my family to say goodbye. It took about seven months to get to Mars. It is very dangerous to land on Mars because holes can explode at any time. I was very scared about that. I had to bring a lot of underwear because we could not do our laundry. NASA supply must of the gear like the aid kit and space suits. When I was finished packing up I said goodbye.
I arrived in Washington DC at NASA headquarters. I boarded the space shuttle. We had to put on our seat belts straight away. We were out in space in less than eight minutes. We were allowed to unfasten our seatbelts. We looked out the window, it was so beautiful.
One hour later we decided to eat, it wasn’t anything good but it did the job. The toilet was impossible to use in the space shuttle but a few weeks later we had the hang of it. It got a bit boring in the space shuttle. We mainly just played cards or something. It was five months till we get to Mars.
We arrived at Mars late at night there was two moons out. We put on the Russian Ornla spacesuit- it was heavy. We launched a space robot to make sure it was safe to stand on Mars. It was. I was so excited! We took some sand samples to see if there was life on Mars. We sent a sample down to earth for the scientists. We had to wait there until they came back.
Two days past and the scientists came back with the results -it was negative. I was so devastated. We all started to pack up again. I hopped in the space shuttle- I was glad to be out of the suit because it was hard to breath in it. We all had a shower and ate our plain food, it was tinned beans.
Seven months later we were landing at Washington DC, NASA headquarters. We all had to be checked for any injuries in the aid room in NASA. We had none. We all went home to our families.
Going to Mars was a one-time opportunity. I am glad that I was able to go to Mars. The food was not anything special and it was hard to wash our hair. But I loved it.
 
​

​A few years ago I had to go on a mission to the Milky Way. I went to NASA, it’s headquarters were located in Washington D.C in the USA. When I got there I met a few members that would help me do my mission. We had a big talk about what we had to do.
 Five minutes after we got onto the enormous space shuttle, I met the pilot. I had to wear a big space suit with an oxygen tank on the back of my shoulders.
 We were about to set off to the Milky Way. It would take so many years to travel to the Milky Way so the pilot had a big portal to get to there. The portal was purple and if you looked directly at the portal your eyes would hurt. So the pilot had special glasses for not seeing the portal. When we got there we had to wear our space suit, we put them on.
Our whole mission was to find a huge bomb; we didn’t know who put it there so I tried to lift it but it was too heavy. Luckily I found a huge metal stick, I put it under the bomb and I got it out.
 The bomb had one minute left before it would explode. I went to the helicopter and jumped off the space shuttle very fast and I threw the bomb off the edge of the Milky Way. I told the pilot to go to the very edge of the Milky Way. Then I went into the space shuttle and the pilot and I went back to the headquarters. I said to the boss that the mission succeeded so I flew back home.
By Cian Rushe

Caroline, Thia, Moya and I rented out a space shuttle for a school project. For the project we had to collect ice off Neptune.
As I was packing I realised that I had to show Michelle how to pack/send us food. It took her a while but eventually she got the hang of it.
At last we were in the shuttle, but we realised we forgot Thia. Moments later we heard loud banging on the door. It was Thia getting more food. Then we set off.
We had been gone about 11 and a half years. When we were into the final 6 months Thia was really sad because the food was all gone. She saw some food that Michelle had sent up so she drove the rocket towards the floating food. It got really hot and muggy. WE WERE GOING TOWARDS THE SUN. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. But thankfully it was only a dream.
When we were about 3 weeks away we started getting our equipment ready. We needed a helmet, suit, oxygen, parachute and an anti freeze shield.
It was very hard to land on Neptune because it’s a gas planet. So we abandoned the project to see if we could walk on it. Thia volunteered to do it so she did. We put on her harness, anti freeze shield, helmet, oxygen, suit and parachute. We let her down very, very slowly. A shard of ice came and broke the rope on the harness and we never saw her again. *cries*
From there on no one wanted to get hurt so we all went home.
I think it was THE WORST SCHOOL PROJECT EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
 
Neptune is the smallest gas giant,
Neptune has the strongest winds in the Solar System,
Neptune is the coldest planet in the Solar System,
Neptune is 4.495 Billion KM away from the sun.

By Ava Houlihan
5th Class