Category: ‘Numeracy’

VEX Robotics

February 19, 2020

Offaly VEX Robotics 2020

This year boys from 5th and 6th took part in VEX Robotics with Mr Cunningham and Ms Doyle. Ten boys from each class were split into 4 groups
Group 1 and 3 built one robot and group 2 and 4 built the other. Building the robot was easy but if one part of the robot was wrong you would have to make it again. We built the Robot arena in the hall.
It was annoying to build the cubes but it was fun. The coding for the Robot was the most difficult. We had to code it to pick up cubes and you had to get the perfect angle to turn it.
We went to Tullamore Secondary School to compete against 28 different schools, we didn’t win but we all had a good day.
Written by Dylan Clear 6th Class.

Chess 2017

February 24, 2017

Boys from 4th / 5th and 6th classes finished their 5 week programme of chess lessons with Mr John Alfred. All the boys enjoyed the tuition greatly with some life-long skills being picked up.

The beauty of chess as a teaching tool is that it stimulates children’s minds and helps them to build these skills while enjoying themselves. As a result, children become more critical thinkers, better problem solvers, and more independent decision makers. We also see the social benefits of the chess programme which has been running for the past 5 years. In the classes, chess often serves as a bridge, bringing together children of different ages and cultural background in an activity they can all enjoy. Chess helps build individual friendships and also school spirit when children compete together as teams against other schools. Chess also teaches children about sportsmanship – how to win graciously and not give up when encountering defeat. For children with adjustment issues, there are many examples where chess has led to increased motivation, improved behaviour, better self-image, and even improved attendance ( Fridays!).

Chess also provides a positive social outlet, a wholesome recreational activity that can be easily learned and enjoyed at any age. We hope to keep this going with our lunchtime chess club also.
The finale of the programme is the in-school chess championships. 4th had their own with Antonio Anspoks as champion and 5th/ 6th came together with 46 players taking part. The school champion is Sam McAuley from 5th class. Well done to Sam and all that took part.
senior chess league winners

January 2016- New computer room

January 13, 2017

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 !100_8492

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Science and math award 2015

October 25, 2015

• The school received its newest “Science and math excellence award” in the post this week. Thanks to Ms.Ward for organising and co-ordinating the classes to work towards this award which was our 3rd in a row. Congrats to all involved and good luck with this years campaign. Pictured are Ms.Ward with a rep. from all classes who took part.100_7199

Oct 15: Maths Week 2015

October 25, 2015

Maths Week 2015
We had a great week taking part with the national maths week 2015 campaign. Classes took a little more time to look at maths in a fun way. Mr. Cunningham also set the senior classes up for registration with the math online game programme MANGAHIGH. I hope your students enjoyed taking part in the Mangahigh Maths Week Challenge. The engagement generated has been exceptional, with over 22,000 students from 472 schools across Ireland answering over 7,500,000 maths questions!
The school came in 82nd place overall in Ireland. This was despite a lot of the computers in the computer room being slow / not working due to their age. The BOM / PA hope to target this area for support during this school year.Many thanks to Mr. Cunningham and the boys for the great effort and we hope you enjoyed the week. Prizes will be given out to the top 5 performers on Friday.
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RDS Young scientist-Jan 15

February 10, 2015

6TH CLASS TRIP TO RDS SCIENCE FAIR 2015
On Thursday 8th of January 2015 my class, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Carroll, and I went up to the RDS in Dublin to take part in the young scientist’s exhibition. We arrived at school at 7:00 am and we all got on the bus. On the way up I sat beside my best friend Christopher Masterson. 5 minutes of him is bad enough but imagine 2 hours! It was a very long drive.
We arrived in Dublin at around 9:30 am. On the way into the RDS we met Ryan Tubridy. We put our badges on and headed down to our stall. We set up our project and then we were split up into our groups for the day.
Our project was about “why do giraffes have long necks”? I was in group number 2 so we got to go off for an hour and look at some other science stalls. First we went into a road safety authority van and looked at some really cool driving games and videos.
An hour later we headed back to our stall because it was our turn to present the project. We had loads of people coming up to our stall and asking us all kinds of questions about giraffes. A while later a RTE news reporter came up to me and asked me if I would do an interview for the 1 o’clock news. Wanting to be famous I said yes !! After making sure my hair was looking good for the camera, he explained to me how to talk in front of the camera. I answered all of the questions that he asked me and then text my mam to say watch the news. After that a judge came to our stall and asked us loads of questions about our project. We took a model giraffe with us to display on the day which was made with the help of local artist George Dempsey.
Then later it was time for us to go off and look at some more stalls. On the way out of the RDS we met the RTE news presenter Sharon Ni Bheolain. Our teachers were very happy to meet her too! We went outside into a tent to eat our lunch. After lunch we went into a really big tent to see a robot show. There were 2 robots that were fighting in a ring. It was really cool.
Then we went into a really big hall to see a famous robot called Titon. His show was very cool. After seeing Titon, we went back to our stall for another little while. I met Michael Martin the Fine Fail leader and got a photo with him. I should have taken the photo myself as some old man messed up the photo. After that a woman from the RDS presented us with a trophy. Sadly, it was time to pack up and go home. On the bus on the way home we stopped at junction 14 and got something to eat. We arrived back at school at 6:30pm. We were very tired after a very long and enjoyable day.
We would like to thank our teachers Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Carroll for bringing us up to Dublin and for all their hard work. We would also like to thank Mr. Mcardle and George Dempsey for all their help and hard work.
It was a great day out and it was much better than sitting in school doing work! Hopefully in the future I will get to have a project in the main event and if not maybe an RTE news presenter.
By: Cian long 6th Class pupil St. Brendans PS

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Mini Movies

October 15, 2014

Mini movies launch 2014 b

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

April 14:Chess Championships at St.Brendans PS

April 30, 2014

Chess Championships
for 5th and 6th classes
at
St Brendan’s BNS
Birr
2014

The first Chess Championships for 5th and 6th classes were held on Friday, 11-April-
2014 in the main hall in the school.
John Alfred supplied chess sets and clocks for the tournament, and ran the
competition based on computer software, ‘swissperfect’ on his computer.
Swiss tournaments are the main types of competition used for most chess
competitions these days. After each round players are paired with someone on a
similar score and the stronger players get to meet stronger players, and similarly for
weaker players. No-one gets knocked out and everyone plays until the end.
Each board was numbered and the computer generated Draws after each round which
were displayed on a large screen using a data projector. Players could see who they
were to play and at which table number.
Clocks or timers were used on all games with 10 minutes set on each players clock.
This guaranteed a time limit for each round, and a likely finish-time.
Results were put in directly to the computer which then generated the draw for the
next round once all games were finished for the current round.
48 players took part from 5th and 6th classes and after 5 rounds there was a clear
winner.

St Brendans BNS Chess Tournament, 2014
Individual Results
1st: Atiqjan Zarghoonsha – School Champion
2nd: Edvinas Ozelis, on tie-break
3rd: Michal Kaczmarczyk, on tie-break

Maths Week Oct 2013

October 15, 2013

During Maths Week pupils are given the opportunity to participate in a variety of extra maths activities. More emphasis is placed on doing maths games in the classrooms. Maths for Fun is starting up in second class. There will be a maths stations session for all classes in the gym. Maths problems with varying degrees of difficulty are on display in the public areas. The computer maths game Mangahigh was very popular with all pupils reaching a very high standard. The week is really enjoyed by the pupils as the maths activities are done in a fun and relaxed manner.

Maths For Fun Oct 2013

October 14, 2013

Our Maths for Fun programme is up and running again this year starting in second class. The pupils really enjoy developing their maths skills in a games setting. Thanks to Margaret Murphy and her team of parents who set up and implement the scheme so well.