St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

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

Thanks to the hard work of Damien Dillon (PA) we have been invited to take a group of boys (3rd-6th) to Dublin on Tuesday 7th October to be the audience to UNA’S DREAM TICKET. This is free and will be a once in a lifetime chance. In order to choose the lucky boys we ask all boys (3rd-6th) who are interested to write a letter (or draw a picture) of why the school should choose them—Why they want to go? Judging for places will take place on TUESDAY 30TH SEPT as we must have the list of names for the producer.. Good luck to all interested !

Despite being back at school the boys have been enjoying the lovely summer weather. Weather has been perfect for lunchtime Gaelic football with Mr. Crofton , lots of cycling and walking to school along with September visits to the park and castle. Our garden “An Ghairdin Draiochta” has also been getting a late summer revamp as Ms. Treacy and her team of volunteer dads and Grandads have been doing Trojan work in clearing it up. Mile buiochas lads !
The school also presented the boys with a LITERACY CHALLENGE over the summer holidays. Boys had to write a “Dear Brendan” letter or postcard about their holidays and post to the school. A huge number of families took part with postcards from received from Kerry to Spain, Legoland to Poland and Galway to Athlone. The boys met in September to chat about their cards over a little treat. Pictured are two of our young writers who took part looking over the cool cards :

This year wee held spelling bee’s in a lot of classes again.
Mr. Crofton acted as “spell master” and the standard was extremely high. All boys were encouraged to take part in what is a fun event and is a nice occasion to celebrate those pupils of ours who excel at spelling. Overall school champion was Padraig Kelly. Trophies to follow shortly for winners in 3rd -6th as 1st, 2nd spelling bees more informal occasions.

6th class
1. Michael Hand
2.Ronan McNamara
3.Jake Heather

5th class
1.Padraig Kelly
2. Thomas Byrne
3.Nathan Williams
3. Edvinas Ozelis

4th Class
1. Michael McCarthy
2.Paul Heather
3.Oran Digan
3.Josh O’Meara

3rd Class
1.Damien Delaney
2.Darragh McNamara
3.Charlie Gallagher

2nd class
1. Conor Lally Greijmans
2.Matthew Donoghue
3.Tymon / Kiefer / Adam

1st Class
1. Conor Gallagher
2. Evan Brady
3. Antonio Anspoks

We held our Rememberance Service in the gym to remember and pray for family, relatives and friends who have passed away.Fifth class and senior infants made Rememberance Trees and hung crosses on them with names of family ,relations and friends on them. Other classes made rememberance charts which were displayed in the gym. Sixth class played Inisheer on the tin whistles and the boys read prayers of the faithful. Mr. Kennedy’s class played the theme song from the Titanic and all classes sang the Rememberance Song. Mrs. Ryder read a beautiful poem about angels and Rosary beads were presented to staff members (blessed in Rome and given by Fr. Cahir). The ceremony ended with the boys playing Amazing Grace as each class returned to their classrooms.

Halloween has always been an exciting time in St. Brendan’s. We use the seasonal festival to inspire and encourage our pupils The display areas are always well decorated with the pupil’s Halloween art work. Creative writing always takes on a “Scary” theme with stories and poems being written in every classroom. With some home-school co-operation our Infants always dress up in Halloween costumes and tour the school. History lessons trace the origins of Halloween and the customs and traditions surrounding them.

St. Brendan’s P.S. in conjunction with Birr Library organised a storytelling project. Pupils from Jnr. and Snr. Infants visited the library and listened to stories being read to them. Staff from the library also visited the school and read many books on a variety of themes. It was thoroughly enjoyed by our pupils.

Our Literacy Lift Off programme is currently running in first, second, third and fourth classes. This programme allows our pupils to develop their literacy skills in a small group setting. The boys really enjoy the sessions and are exposed to a large variety of books covering a vast array of topics.

Well done to all the boys from 3rd/4th/5th and 6th classes who took part in spelling bees over the past few weeks. It has been a great activity for the boys and its great to see boys value the skill of spelling.

This was a new event to St.Brendans PS and no doubt will continue judging by the positive feedback!

Congratulations to school Champion speller Paul Stokes (5th) who represented the school at the Offaly spelling bee in Lumcloon NS

Library books appeal—Tesco

Thank you all so much for your support of this free offer with the Saturday Irish Independent. After the 8 weeks were over , the school has collected a fantastic 345 FREE BOOKS !!!

Going to amazon for price comparison gives a rough cost of €5 per book. This means that our boys can now have use of over € 1700 worth of books from our school library. Thanks to all the families who collected tokens, to the boys who brought in the books, to the teachers who supported the appeal and  to Mrs.Teresa Kelly for coming up with the idea of the collection and diligently went to classes each Monday to collect the books and encourage the boys. Currently these novels are being read in 2nd/ 4th and 6th class with the boys getting a great chance to enjoy the classics !