Amazing show yet again by PWC players “ Alice in Wonderland “ last Friday 👏👏- boys from 3rd class / Mr Cunningham and Mr Kennedy got the great opportunity to see the show .. and loved it ! Special mention to our 6th class boys from Syria whose first experience it was seeing Panto ❤️❤️ Thanks to Anne Coughlan and all at Birrtheatre Offaly for their support of our school 🙏👍😀
On 12th February 2018 , 44 lucky boys who had won attendance awards travelled to Blanchardstown in Dublin to get a tour of the Glanmore Foods Factory . Glanmore Foods are our school lunch providers this year and we were delighted to accept their kind offer of a tour. The boys ranged in classes from 1st-6th and either had 100% attendance or were on the winning teams for our attendance awards ( School attendance plan). School attendance promotion is very important at our school and previous rewards have included OEC , tearaways and local pool.
The staff in Glanmore were amazing as they suited the booted all the boys in protective gear and toured the working factory to show them how their lunches are made each day. The boys saw the bread being baked, sandwiches being individually filled to order and fruit being chopped and sorted by the ton ! Each boy was then given a goody bag at the end.
Then it was onwards to the swimming pool in Roscrea for a well-earned dip in the pool and fun—then back to Birr tired and happy. Thanks to Glanmore foods for having us and to Mr Crofton, MsTreacy, Mrs Gorman, Mr Bergin and Mr Carroll for travelling with the group. ( photos on website)
PA Sponsored walk/ Cycle– This was a great activity for the boys and great fundraiser for the school. We last did this 2 years ago so now all boys in 5th/6th have had the opportunity of taking part in a biking activity with school. We took a crowd of 50 eager boys and they split into bikers and walkers and took off for 2 hours of exploring and activity in the park. The bikers each covered an impressive 12 km. Thanks to Keith Harte for transport of bikes, bike hire at Lough Boora for very reasonable rate and for Andrew Walsh support with provision of bus. Our classes JI-4th went to Birr Castle for their sponsored walk and each walked good distances with their teachers. Thanks to the staff for ensuring all went well and to Birr Castle for allowing us great access. Special thanks to PA for organising the events
The Edmund Rice Awards took place this year in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. 5th Class students from the Presentation Monastery in Killarney, Co Kerry, and from St Brendan’s Primary School in Birr, Co Offaly, gathered to remember and celebrate Blessed Edmund Rice. The Birr students engaged in a lively and poignant retelling of Blessed Edmund’s life, and spoke about how his memory still inspires their school today. The Killarney students’ presentation gave a fascinating insight into the history of their 178 year-old school, and, once again, how Blessed Edmund Rice’s values still blossom in the community to this day. Br Andrew Hickey presented each student with a certificate, and congratulated them on the work they have done. The boys then got a lovely lunch and played games together including the popular “catch the pig” The Awards will return next year. Thanks to Ms Ward and the excellent boys who represented the best of what our school is about.
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
Ms. Ward is preparing pupils at the moment to participate in a Musical Recital entitled The Peace Proms. Pupils from all over the country will get together in Kilkenny and perform a choral recital. This event promises to be a spectacular performance with so many pupils participating. Well done to Ms. Ward, Majella and the boys and we look forward to their recital later in the year.
Our 6th class pupils attended Open Night in Birr Community School. They were shown around the school and given an insight into the various subjects that they will be studying next year. The feedback was very positive and the boys enjoyed the experience with family and friends.
A group of pupils from sixth class travelled to Dublin to visit the Young Scientist Exhibition. They were amazed at the amount of exhibits and the variety of topics covered. They were able to view the stands and question the students on their research topics and experiments. It was a great experience for our pupils and we hope it will inspire them to develop their scientific skills and in the future they may have a stand of their own at the exhibition.
A group of pupils from our school had the opportunity to attend the Community School Show ” Our House “. The boys enjoyed the music and seeing many of our past pupils on stage. We hope it will inspire them to develop their musical and dramatic talents. It was particularly enjoyable for our pupils as they got to enjoy the musical with their classmates and friends.
One of the highlights of this term in St. Brendan’s is always the Halloween Costume Project. Pupils from our infant classes are allowed to dress up in all sorts of Halloween outfits and have some fun as they tour the classes and show off their Halloween fashions. Thanks to all parents/guardians who put so much effort into the project and it really is one of the highlights of the school year.
