St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

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 !

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 !

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

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

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

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 !!

Hurling Coaching : Coaching will continue in November with Colm for classes 1st—6th. Boys asked to bring gear on Wednesdays and we would LOVE to see the boys using the ball wall every day.