St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

St Brendans PS Birr- 6th Class Graduation– Hero Project-

Dreams can come true !

St Brendans PS held their customary 6th class graduation event on Tuesday 25th June where the boys in their final month of primary school research a hero that they choose themselves and then present a project along with a speech to their peers, staff, family and friends.
This event has been running for the past 20 years since being introduced by Mr Crofton to the school. This year to a packed hall the boys hero speeches started out and varied from Pele to TJ Reid to David Walliams and then number 4 on the list Dylan Kelly went up to speak about his hero ..Adam Screeney-Guess what happened next!
Memories for a lifetime made as who appeared at the door of the hall but the Kilcormac Killoughey magician himself !
This was a massive surprise for parents , boys , staff and of course Dylan himself.
Thanks to Ms Roisin Donovan and Mr Damien Cunningham for rubbing whatever magic lamp they had and producing the genie ! Adam Screeney – #legend #gentleman
A delighted Dylan and also Billy Carroll met their hero and took a few photos. Adam then spoke to the boys and crowd about the importance of having a hero to look up too and he remembered his own days growing up dreaming of his heros on the hurling field.
The event then continued in the school hall as each boy spoke for 1-2 minutes about his hero ( famous ) and how he was inspired by them – the large crowd heard a variety of inspirational speeches about heroes ranging from Messi to Smokey to Ronaldo.
The parents had a cup of tea at interval and the boys enjoyed their customary slide show movie of their 6th class highlights created by Mr Crofton.
Ms Doyle then spoke and outlined how the boys had been an such a great class who had such an amazing year with sports / robotics / trips and projects. She also mentioned the loss that this group had endured over the past 8 years with family members and of course fellow pupil Tommy K (RIP) back in Junior Infants and of how special it was that his little Mario teddy had followed the class each and every year. The resilience that this group has shown will be an asset to them going into the future.
The boys all wore their special 6th class graduation hoodies that were kindly sponsored by our Parents Association.
Mr Crofton thanked all present for their support in the journey over the past 8 years and encouraged each boy to always do his best and try to reach your dream. Mr Crofton also thanked the parents sincerely for placing their trust in the school and staff to provide the best holistic education for their boys. Well done boys, we are all so proud of you. Follow your dreams and your special hero. Thank you Adam Screeney for taking the time to come to our school hall to hear Dylan’s speech and displaying the genuine characteristics that allow so many young people look up to you.

5th class had their first writing workshop today with author Shane Hegarty. Huge thanks to Shane for travelling all the way down from Dublin to share his skills with us. The boys had some great ideas for their stories and we are looking forward to the next 2 workshops! ✏️📝📚
Offaly Libraries

Our school debating team were presented with their certificates received from Laois Education centre today – well done to all involved and we look forward to future leaders and politicians from this group ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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)

School debating team
We have a talented and hardworking group of boys who are representing the school this year in the Midlands school debating competition. The competition is via zoom and Round 1 is against Shinrone with the title—Billionaires should not travel to space. We wish the team well in the debate.
Team—Shane Dillon / Charlie Hoctor / Robert Landy / Leeland Delaney / Michael Kelly and Peter Spain. Thanks to Ms Grace and Mr Crofton for their preparation with the team. ( Pictured)

The boys in third class designed art for the Luminaries Project. Their art work coincided with a short tale from years ago and the final product was displayed on the wall of St. Brendan’s school. The boys really enjoyed their animations coming to life.  I want to wish all the boys and their families a very happy, peaceful and safe Christmas this year. See you all in the New Year. 

Well done to our 6th class storytellers who created some lovely ” scary stories this halloween ” – They can be viewed on the schools YOU TUBE CHANNEL-
Enjoy !

Details of camp and COVID-19 safety arrangements are enclosed in this mail.
Kind regards,
Niall C

Summer camp information for parents

The purpose of this new scheme announced by the Minister of Education in June is to assist pupils who are experiencing social or academic difficulties in language and numeracy and who would benefit from a week-long Summer Camp with a very small teacher-pupil ratio ( 12:1) The aims of the Summer Camp Programme are to:
o Support pupils in literacy and numeracy development
( Through re-establishing some learning routines each day)
o Support pupils’ social, physical and emotional wellbeing ( Through fun and games each day)
o Enable pupils to build relationships with peers, teachers and to support their reconnection
with school
• Provide a variety of rich educational experiences for pupils in a range of environments, fostering a
sense of their wellbeing, belonging and creativity, and which promotes their confidence in learning.
That each pupil would enjoy fun activities such as PE / ART / MUSIC during the day.
Support pupils who have difficulties with READING / MATH by use of technology at the programme.

• Dates- Monday 17th – Friday 21st August 2020
• Venue- St Brendan’s PS Birr
• Teachers- Ms Pilkington / Mr Cunningham / Ms Grace
• Times- 22.5 hours over 5 days: 10am-2.30pm
• COVID19- Schools are required to operate camps in accordance with the relevant public health guidelines so therefore all safety precautions will be in place to protect pupils and staff.
• Cost- Free – Funded by the DES
• No Uniforms- Casual clothes
• Great pupil teacher ratio – 1:12
• Pupils must provide their own transport to and from the camp
• Healthy and filling Lunch provided every day- Rolls / Supermacs on Friday !
• Same school rules- Code of Behaviour applies
• Excursions and activities – castle / park / library – (within health guidelines)
NOTE – We only have 36 valuable places to fill in a school of nearly 200 boys so we ask you to either accept fully or decline a place so that we may pass the offer on to another pupil- 24 hour decisions please

Well done Darragh Hand from 3rd class on an amazing project – Distance learning and home-schooling at its best !

Click to see and learn

Peru by Darragh Hand