St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

Mr Crofton ( with his highway hat ! ) read the story of the Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson to 1st and 2nd class to share the love of books on this special day – thanks to the boys for coming down to listen 

Thanks to Birr Lions club for presenting us with this lovely set of books for our school library – Thanks to George Manser for calling up yesterday to present to some boys from 4th class – We will make great use of them 🙏❤️⭐️🎄

Parents Association—BOOKATHON 2024

We had our prize giving for the Parents Association St. Brendan’s Boys School, Birr BOOKATHON 2024 ! Fantastic effort from the boys in reading lots of books over the last 3 weeks and their families for supporting with sponsorship – prizes were given out for the top reader in each class – the draw was won by Yegor – Sean McIntyre won the overall best reader award and the sponsor prize was won by Lisa Kelly – well done to all
Mr Crofton spoke to the group about the value and importance of reading and read them a lovely story “ dogs don’t do ballet “ about the importance of being yourself.
Local Councillor ( Now newly elected TD) John Clendennen also called at that time and boys were delighted to nap a picture with him!
Principal outlined to John that parents were fundraising for school materials that should be provided by the government #schoolfunding
Parents Association Bookathan Prizes 2024

Junior Infants: Nathan Szczepkowski
Senior Infants: Iarla Walsh (3)
1st Class: Cody Cleare (3)
2nd Class: Sam McIntyre (4)
3rd Class: Sam Hanniffy (2)
4th Class: Charlie McAuley (3)
5th Class: Sean McIntyre (3)
6th Class: Yegor Anspoks (3)
Cairdeas: Jason O’Callaghan (2)
Overall best reader:
Sam Mc Intyre 40 books over 4 weeks !!
Class Teacher winner:
Ms Guilfoyle 4th Class (12 boys)

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.