St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

The school held its annual spelling Bee in the hall in February for 5th and 6th class boys. All were invited to take part with a huge participation rate of over 90% !! It was a close run competition run by Mr Cunningham and Ms Ward ( class teachers) – Winner in 5th was Eoin Hoare with winner from 6th was Conor Lally-Greijmans.
Both boys took part in a 20 spelling shoot-out the next day to find our school spelling Bee Champion.
Conor LG won out and went on to the Eason Offaly Spelling Bee in Tullamore Educate Together.
Conor came a well-placed 8th on the day and all at St Brendans PS are very proud of his spelling exploits !

The school held its annual EASON SPELLING BEE event in February. The school hall was packed as over 40 boys from 5th / 6th classes stood up to take part. Each boy was asked a spelling at the podium and all deserve great credit for having the courage and self-confidence to take part. Eventually the final few remained.

Fifth class placings:
1st – Kiefer Shalloe
2nd – Conor Lally-Greijmans
3nd – Keelan Franks

Sixth class placings
1st- Damien Delaney
2nd -Thomas Martinez
3rd – Aran Corcoran

Then after a few days we held the play off between both class champions for the school title.
10 WORDS each – Damien V Kiefer.
It was a draw at 7 / 10 each.
To a play off it went with the words VIVACIOUS / BABYLON.
Damien Delaney emerged victorious and will go on to represent the school at the EASON offaly spelling BEE in Tullamore next week. Best luck to Damien,

Good afternoon,

Congratulations on getting through to the final of our Primary Debating League 16-17. The details of the final are as follows:

Date: Thursday 9th March ’17 (please note change of date)
Venue: Laois Education Centre, Block Rd, Portlaoise
Time: Please be in the centre for 10/10.15 as the debate will commence at 10.30am sharp
Finalists: Ballyfin Ns 1 Portlaoise & St Brendan’s Primary School Birr
Adjudicator: Adjudicators will be selected by Laois Education Centre
Motion: Mixed Martial Arts should be banned Ireland
In Favour: St Brendan’s Primary School
Against: Ballyfin NS 1

Schools are encouraged to bring their classmates & family with them on the day; just please let us know the number of people that will be coming, adults and children, to ensure we have adequate seating for all.

Arguments are flying around in 6th class as Mr Cunningham prepares his team for the next round of the midland schools debating competition. The team under captain Damien Delaney have already had two great debates with Oxmantown NS and St . Cronans NS Roscrea which they narrowly won. Thanks to Mr John McArdle who officiates are independent judge. All involved in the school teams should take great pride in the high standard and no doubt we are witnessing future politicians in action ! ( Pictured St Brendans PS V Oxmantown NS)

We are delighted to have our newly upgraded and decorated computer room officially opened. Huge thanks to Ian Murray for all his work in setting up the 20 desktops and flatscreens and getting it up and running with network and WIFI. Pictured are some pupils accepting cheque from PA Chairperson Caroline Boyd and PA Treasurer Lucy Franks. To our Parents Association who raised the money and all who support them last year we say a massive thank you– To the boys we say ; use carefully respect technology, be aware of its advantages and dangers and enjoy many years of learning !

All roads led to Marian hall Birr last Wednesday night 9th March as St. Brendan’s Boys Primary school staged their historical production and tribute to 1916. Heritage has a major influence on the school and so they were delighted to have Michael Donegan ( Former Principal) back to write and direct the first half of the show. Current principal welcomed the huge crowd to the free show and thanked the people of the parish for their continued support of the school. He also thanked the parish for use of their fine hall and to hall caretaker Martin Walsh for his support with the show. The stage looked fantastic with set designed by local artist George Dempsey and painted by pupils from the school with lights and sound by Phil Walsh kindly organised by parent Pierre Greijmans. Then the boys took over !

Boys from 6th , 4th and 3rd classes took the audience of over 600 on a journey from the glaciers of Ireland up to the famine. Classes came on for scenes in magical costumes to a rocking soundtrack as they retold Irish History through the first farmers , celts , , Christians , Vikings ,Normans, Plantations, Penal laws and suffering of the famine times. All through this they had a commanding performance from the director ( Jack) and the story kept great flow through the narrators (Paul and Jack).The audience were on an emotional roller-coaster from laughter at the ABBA dancing Vikings to sorrow with the famine dead. Then came the interval with tea/ coffee provided by parents association and shop.

The second half began with 120 boys on stage playing a tin-whistle medley of Irish traditional and republican songs and a booming version of Fields of Athenry. The 5th class under Ms.Ward and placement student Eoin Pilkington then held the audience spell-bound with their version of “Triumph of Sorts” written by local principal Damien White. Drums and rifles were to the fore as Padraig Pearce ( Darragh) led the rebels to the GPO where the proclamation was dramatically read aloud to the audience with drum beats bellowing. It was special to see the proclamation being read aloud by pupils born in other countries but who now see themselves as Irish. This is really Ireland in 2016. Music and song interspersed this part with Banna strand and foggy dew being sung with a highlight of grace being sung by 5th class accompanied by the talented Ms.Pilkington and Ms.Ryan.
Thanks were expressed to all through the booklet on the night for all the elements that go into a show of this scale with funding support from Offaly Arts Council and Birr Lions club. Mr Crofton thanked the audience and community for allowing the boys the opportunity to perform on stage and to celebrate 1916 in this manner. Michael Donegan was thanked for his time, energy , passion and inspiration to the show and he then spoke of the pride he has in the school , the boys and the school community which is such an integral part of Birr. The audience then sang the finale of Amhran na bhFiann to conclude the night and send the audience home with a spring in their step and happiness in their hearts.
We hope it was both educational and entertaining and respectful to the memory of the heroes of 1916.

Ms Katie Costigan organised and ran a great poetry project in the school during her time here on TP. It was a great success with lots of classes producing great quality poems.
Pictured are the class winners and the overall winner from 4th class.

School Poetry competition
Ms.Costigan has gone around to all classes 1st-6th doing some poetry lessons. We will have a poetry comp for each class in NOV with cool prizes , display on noticeboard , poems published in books and even in local paper! Genres—1st—sense poem, 2nd—Acrostic, 3rd—Rhyming couplet, 4th—Alliteration, 5th –Kennings, 6th—Haiki / Cinquins. Enjoy !!

“ All primary school pupils to get their own mobile phones” – Well, that was the argument proposed by the 6th class debating team of St. Brendans PS last week. Needless to say the boys spoke passionately on this subject. They took part in the Primary school debating competition organised by Laois Education Centre. It was the first time the school had taken part in the competition and they were excellently prepared by class teacher Mr. Damien Cunningham. They had an excellent and enthralling debate with the team of girls and boys from St. Ciarans NS from Broughal who travelled through a snow blizzard to take part. Both teams spoke very well and outlined their arguments and sparks really flew in the crossfire round. It was an impossible decision for the panel of judges to pick a winner and it came down to small margins. In the end St. Brendans PS team got the victory led by super-captain Darragh Cleary. Team was Darragh Cleary , Nathan Williams , Padraig Kelly, Cain Long, Luke Nolan and Dean Byrne. They look forward to the next round!

You can view the student’s animations HEREhttp://vimeo.com/108093493