St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

Many classes visited the church to commemorate St. Brendan’s Day. The boys sang, played and read prayers in honour of this great saint’s feast day.

A group of pupils went as a school group to see this year’s show in the Community School entitled Joseph. The boys enjoyed the show with their classmates and were able to see many past pupils performing on the stage. We hope it will inspire them to be on the same stage in years to come. Congratulations to Daryl Lally who was a prizewinner in the Art Competition.

Mr. Carroll’s and Mr. Kennedy’s classes  visited Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, The trip was a great success with the boys getting a hands on opportunity to learn about the history of that period. They visited the museum and the jail and later visited the nearby attractions of  Dublin Zoo and the 7 up Winter Wonderland Ice Rink.

Congratulations to Campbell Boyd on being a prize winner in the Excellent Factor talent competition. Campbell played the guitar and sang and got through successive rounds to reach the final where he finished in fourth place. A great performance Campbell. We hope he will inspire other talented singers and musicians to follow along the same path.

Mr. Kennedy brought our u/13 Hurlers to a Hurling Blitz in Shinrone. They performed very well on the day and represented our school with pride and distinction.

After many training sessions and a league campaign our U/13 Footballers reached the final of their competition. Having won and drawn some games along the way they faced Banagher in the final. This game proved a tough test with our boys being down by seven points by half time. However they showed a great fighting spirit and determination and began to pull back the Banagher lead. Time was not on their side and Banagher ran out eventual winners. Well done to Mr. Kennedy, Mr. McIntyre and all the boys for representing our school so well both in the league stages and in the final itself.

Rugby Coaching started up again this term. The pupils really enjoy the sessions with the World Cup giving extra impetus this year. All the boys enjoy developing the skills they have already learned and also learning some new omes. The sessions are carried out in a fun manner and later in the year the senior classes will participate in a rugby blitz in Birr Rugby Club.

Our sixth class pupils participated in the Rosary Rally held in St. Brendan’s Church. The pupils led the congregation in saying a decade of the Rosary. They spoke wih clarity and confidence and did a really good job on the night. The ceremony was followed by a procession around the church with all schools participating. Well done to Mr. Carroll , Mr. Crofton and the priests of the parish for all the preparatory work.

After qualifying from the school trials a group of athletes travelled to Tullamore to represent St. Brendan’s at a schools cross country event. With over thirty schools participating the boys all ran very well. St. Brendan’s managed to bring home three medals from the competition. Nathan Hynes ran a magnificant race to finish second in his individual event. Cambell Boyd also got a medal in his individual finishing in the top ten and in the sixth class race the boys managed to finish third in the team event. Well done to all runners you didi your school proud.

Our pupils were very lucky to have the opportunity to avail of some expert tuition on all the various aspects of cycling. Many of the skills involved were taught through a games format. Some of the skills included safety equipment, braking, visibility, manoeuvering the bikes and all the safety issues associated with the Rules of the Road. The high point of the project involved a cycle around Birr town led by Mr. Crofton. The pupils really enjoyed the project and it is wonderful to see the increase in the amount of pupils cycling to school and everyone being aware of all the safety issues involved in doing this activity.