July 20, 2017
End of year awards hold a special place in our hearts as they celebrate our young peoples achievements at school while remembering those from our school community who have sadly passed away. Special trophies and awards have been created over the years and June is a special time where we invite members of the various families back to St Brendans to present these awards to the next generations.
The Brother Finian Cup for the 6th class long race was won by Ben Miller
The McManus Cup ( Special Achievement Award) was won by Nanghal Khan
The Derek Maher Trophy (Student of the year) was won by Damien Delaney
The Aidan Rosney Cup (Snr Hurler of the year) was won by Darragh McNamara
The Kenneth Fox cup (Winning Capt of Senior Hurling league) was won by Ailbe Watkins.
The St.Brendans Cup (Winning Capt.Of Junior Hurling League) was won by Ruairi Mooney.
The Junior Hurler of the year went to James Carroll.
The Johnny Cleary Cup( Most Improved Hurler) was won by Canice Stevenson (6th).
Annual spelling bee champion Damien Delaney.
June 18, 2017
Wednesday 14th June – 5th and 6th class boys with Offaly sports partnership
June 18, 2017
Jersey day—June 2017
Thanks to all for your donations to Jersey day last Friday. The total raised was €177.05 A cheque for €100 was sent to Faithful Fields GAA through Cumann na mbunscoil with €77.05 being donated to the Birr U14 Feile team fund.
May 19, 2017
Delighted and proud that our hurling team has again managed to make it back to the allianz offaly cumann na mbunscoil finals.
All support welcome to cheer on the boys !!
Venue – St Brendan’s Park Birr
All teams must be strictly on the pitch 20 minutes
before their match is due to start for Team photograph and parade
Tuesday 23rd May 2017
3.15pm Camogie Group B – Killoughey Schools vs Mercy Primary School , Birr
4.30 Boys Hurling Group A- Killoughey Schools vs St. Brendan’s N.S. Birr
5.45 Boys Hurling Group B – Seir Kieran N.S. Clareen VS Coolderry
Please inform parents/supporters that there will be a €3 charge per adult to attend the finals. This will be used to cover the cost of referees, medals, pipers, programmes etc. There will be no charge for children. Any money left over from final expenses goes back into Cumann na mBunscol accounts and is used to subsidize hurls , helmets and equipment.
• Please ensure that only team officials are on the side line during games. Both venues used for the finals have excellent covered seating and there is no need for parents or supporters to be on the sideline during games.
• Each school is responsible for providing their own first aid for their players.
• Each school is responsible for the conduct of their own supporters.
January 31, 2017
Warrior Run 2017
Our warrior run for term 2 started this week. It is an OPTIONAL walk / run of laps around the school each Mon / Fri morning from 9.10-9.20. Mr Crofton will start from basketball court. This year we are going to run to Dublin—Phoenix park– Operation Transformation– by mid term break
Boys count their laps and teachers record each day. Laps are added on our display and progress can be seen.
All boys are encouraged to take part and will be supervised. Prizes will be given out by class teachers at the end for boys who embrace the warrior run in the spirit that it is designed through a draw system.
The school is taking part in Operation Transformation 10@10 programme on 10th February this year also– Should be fun !
January 31, 2017
The school received some fantastic hurling gear to support the game at school level last week. Mr Johnny Pilkington presented the school with helmets , hurls and balls from Birr GAA club which came from the fantastic fundraiser last year. Mr Kennedy and some keen hurlers from 4th class accepted the gear on behalf of the school and thanked Johnny and the Birr GAA club for their continued support. Our indoor hurling league continues for senior boys with plenty of goals and some broken hurls !
January 13, 2017
Offaly schools Football Cumann na mbunscoil champions 2016
Congratulations to all the football panel under the management of Mr. Kennedy on the recent success of winning the schools football title. The team trained hard with a great team spirit and played with fairness and honesty of effort in each game. They were unbeaten all year with wins against Dromakeenan , Gaelscoil Tullamore and Banagher. They met Banagher in the final again in St. Brendans and it was a much tougher match. Banagher made a great start but all credit to our boys , they didn’t panic and slowly started to get back into the game. They were down at half time by 2 points but rallied to produce a great 2nd half performance to tear into the lead. It was a position that they held and won well by the final whistle with lots of our subs getting a chance to shine. Joint captains Darragh Guilfoyle and Ailbe Watkins lifted the cup to huge cheers. The boys had chips and sausages the next day at school as a token of the schools appreciation for their teamwork this year and for representing the school so well. Thanks to Mr Kennedy for the coaching and the other school staff who supported by attending training sessions and the final. Please forward any photos to principal@stbrendansps.ie for our website etc
June 13, 2016
PA Sponsored walk/ Cycle– This was a great activity for the boys and great fundraiser for the school. We last did this 2 years ago so now all boys in 5th/6th have had the opportunity of taking part in a biking activity with school. We took a crowd of 50 eager boys and they split into bikers and walkers and took off for 2 hours of exploring and activity in the park. The bikers each covered an impressive 12 km. Thanks to Keith Harte for transport of bikes, bike hire at Lough Boora for very reasonable rate and for Andrew Walsh support with provision of bus. Our classes JI-4th went to Birr Castle for their sponsored walk and each walked good distances with their teachers. Thanks to the staff for ensuring all went well and to Birr Castle for allowing us great access. Special thanks to PA for organising the events
May 8, 2016
Hurling
Hurling coaching with Eoin Pilkington is going very well and it is also great to see Junior Infants and Senior Infants playing on wednesdays . Lunchtime hurling for all boys continues each Tuesday.
Mr Kennedy has also set up a lunchtime hurling league for junior boys ( 1st—3rd) and is a great success on the top field.
The order for hurls and helmets under the Cumann na mBunscoil has been submitted. We will contact families who have placed orders in the coming weeks.
Congratulations to Mr.Kennedy and his hurlers on good championship displays so far this year. Team are playing with great skill and spirit with new players really coming to the fore. They have played challenge matches with Clareen and Ballaclla and championship wins over Carraig/Killeen and Dromakeenan with a narrow loss to Shinrone/ Clonlisk. Another victory followed last week away to Banagher. Well done Boys
May 8, 2016
We were delighted to welcome former world champion boxer and Irish legend– Bernard Dunne to the school in February. The visit was arranged through Carembola ( Lunch provider) for Bernard to visit the school and speak with the boys as a motivational life talk. He spoke about his career, life choices and the benefits of living a healthy life through healthy diet and sport. He held the packed hall of over 200 captive for over an hour and the boys found him really cool and entertaining. As a spokesperson for promoting “ labhairt gaeilge” he was delighted to be interviewed by three 6th class pupils– Kyle / Seosamh and Sean. The boys earned the “ chance of a lifetime” to interview Bernard by doing extra gaeilge work at home in creating questions: Ar feabhas buachailli !!
