Dear Parents / Guardians,
Please note that there will be NO SCHOOL for pupils on Monday 27th February 2023.
The latest newsletter had incorrect month so apologies for that.
Both Mercy primary and St Brendans PS will have staff in service day on implementation of the Primary Language Curriculum.
Kind regards,
Niall Crofton ( Principal)
VEX Robotics—Offaly winners 2023
Wow! What a day was had by 6th class in the VEX robotics @offalycoco .
St Brendan’s PS winning the coding award and the overall award with 27 schools taking part ;so we are going to the Nationals!! The younger boys in the school gathered at 3pm to give them a great welcome back to the school as they now go to the national finals representing Offaly !!!!Finals will be in cork @MTU_ie.
Congrats to the boys and teacher Mr Cunningham @DamienCunning17 with Ms Makim and MsGrace @laoisoffalyetb @VEXRoboticsIE and huge thanks to Offaly County Council for their support.
Fantastic day Saturday as our school choir took part in the peace proms concert at UL ! Boys loved the experience with orchestra and special guests and sang their hearts out under the guidance of the amazing Greg Beardsell – Massive thanks to Ms Pilkington / Ms Makim and Ms Guilfoyle for preparing the group and for travelling all day Saturday with the boys.
Dear Parents,
We are delighted to start our enrolment programme for 2023.
I will go around the classes wednesday and give our enrolment forms for any brothers in pre-school who may be looking to start in 2023.
Parents who wish to enrol their child for September 2023 please see below:
The Enrolment Application Form for the 2023 – 2024 school year is available as follows:
• Download at www.stbrendansps.ie under Forms and Policies • Email : principal@stbrendansps.ie.
• Contact the school principal Niall Crofton via message on the school facebook page. Leave a phone number and we will call you back.
• Forms can be collected from office each day 9am- 1pm.
• The school has published and displayed an admission notice as required by DES outlining the number of places available in Mainstream / Special classes.
Completed applications can be emailed back or dropped to the school post box at the front gate / posted to:
St. Brendan’s PS, Moorpark st, Birr, Co.Offaly
We would hope to be in contact with families confirming places for Junior Infants in the coming weeks and we can run the full induction programme with school visit in June.
Kind regards,
Niall Crofton ( School Principal)
Midland tribune new infants ad
The new school admission policy is now on our school website for our school community with the mandated additions as per ministers guidelines.
12370C_St Brendan’s PS Birr_Admission Policy 2022
Junior Infants loved trying out the Beebots during Maths time today. Big thanks to Mr. Cunningham for organising a loan of this resource from Laois Education Centre. We look forward to using them over the next 3 weeks.
Well done to all the boys and families who supported the Christmas shoebox appeal at St Brendan’s PS – it’s heartening that so many boys took the time and effort to try help other children less fortunate than themselves – Thanks as always to Mr Kennedy for organising the appeal 👍
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Just a few bits of information I wish to communicate to our school community on behalf of our Board of Management.
ASD / SEN school accommodation
As you will know from previous emails and newsletters the school has been engaging with the DES to provide new rooms and supports for our pupils and staff.
The application for ASD accommodation has been ongoing since 2019 and the Department of Education have been very supportive of this project.
The Design team involved have finalized their plans at this stage.
Our architect Kenny Lyons and Associates hope to apply for planning permission for these much needed rooms in coming weeks.
We will keep parents and community updated at any developments in this area.
We also have been granted Modular school accommodation to help alleviate the pressure our SEN teachers find themselves facing in terms of rooms. Some teachers are sharing rooms and using school hall for groups which is far from ideal. This modular accommodation will hopefully be in place for January 2023 with site works to commence in coming weeks. There will be no disruption to school classes or yard space during this time thanks to the location chosen. The extra two rooms will greatly enhance our ability to support our students.
DES school evaluation
Our school will welcome DES inspectorate for a 3 day evaluation ( 21st to 23rd November) in the area of SEN provision.
School evaluation is an advisory process where schools benefit from inspector input into best practice in the areas of teaching and learning.
As part of these evaluations there is a pupil focus group / parent focus group and parent questionnaire.
The inspectorate will decide who is involved in these information gathering activities and we will ask parents / pupils on their behalf when selected.
If selected we ask for parent / pupil support in engaging with the inspectorate. The same goes for the online survey which will be open for a week- please take a few minutes to complete if selected.
Parent – teacher meetings
In last newsletter for october we had highlighted the 2 days for PT meetings as Wed 23rd and Thursday 24th November.
Seeing as these are the week of DES evaluation we have moved the dates one week back.
Face to face parent teacher meetings will take place on WEDNESDAY 30th NOVEMBER and THURSDAY 1st DECEMBER.
Teachers will be in contact in coming week to fix an appointment slot that suits parents.
We are delighted to have our face-to-face parent teacher meetings back after covid restrictions for the past few years.
As before we will have tea / coffee and biscuits waiting in the school hall for all parents.
Christmas 2022
We hope to have a busy and fun Christmas Programme again for 2022.
Our fantastic parents association will be running their Christmas draw – details to follow in coming weeks.
Please support this vital fundraiser as these support our I-pads and interactive boards in the school which all greatly support pupil learning.
Kind regards,
Niall Crofton
Principal Teacher
