Our wonderful parents association held their annual Christmas draw in the hall on Tuesday – Santa picked out the first ticket which was €150 cash prize ( won by a lovely Ukrainian family in our school 💙💛) – Congratulations to all our prize winners and a massive thank you to all the local businesses for their continued support and generosity towards our school Parents Association St. Brendan’s Boys School, Birr
Wellbeing committee 2024 2025
Our new Wellbeing Committee members were elected in November with 15 representatives from classes 1st – 6th. We held our first meeting on Wednesday 21st where we met and talked about the importance of wellbeing and promoting ways to support wellbeing in our school. We made member profiles to add to our Wellbeing notice board as a way to introduce ourselves to our school community. We look forward to a busy time ahead with planning Wellbeing Week 2025 in our school and applying for our Amber Flag renewal. Watch this space.. Thanks to Ms Pilkington for the report.
End of year awards 2023/2024
End of year awards are always a special occasion at our school – hurling leagues / sports days / tech week and individual awards were presented – we have a number of awards cups and trophies for sporting and academic achievements
: Kenneth fox / Aidan Rosney / Derek Maher / Brian Mcmanus / Brother Finian /Johnny Cleary / Tommy K. These hold a special place in our hearts and we are always delighted to welcome members of these families to school to present these awards. We are delighted to have awarded the following—
Congrats to all this years winners
The Brother Finian Cup -6th class long race was won by John Plunkett.
The McManus Cup( Special Achievement Award) won by Dylan Kelly.
The Derek Maher Trophy (Student of the year) was won by Cillian McAteer.
The Aidan Rosney Cup (Snr Hurler of the year) was won by Ryan Kelly.
The Kenneth Fox cup (Winning Capt of Senior Hurling league) was won by Cathal Mooney.
The St.Brendans Cup (Winning Capt.Of Junior Hurling League) was won by Conor Mullins.
The Junior Hurler of the year went to Conor Mullins.
Johnny Cleary Cup – Most improved hurler award Justin Touhey
Tommy K Infant Achiever award— Jack O’Connor
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Just a few notes to let you know all the details of tomorrow.
There are 2 concerts to allow parents and family to attend. The concerts are free and all we ask is a donation to our Parents Association / Christmas draw tickets on sale.
Boys are asked to wear their school uniform please and bring a drink to school for evening concert.
The hall we appreciate is small with a limited capacity so we ask extended families to attend one concert only please to ensure room for all.
Morning concert- Tuesday 12th December 2023
• Doors open 9.10am ( Infant bell)
• 4th Class will be singing in entrance FOYER from 9.20am
• 9.30am – First Class ( 3 songs)
• 9.40am – Snowman at sunset ( Junior and Senior Infants)
• 10.15am – Second class ( 3 songs)
• 10.30am – Third Class ( 3 songs)
• 10.45am – Fifth and sixth Classes ( Tin whistle tunes)
• 11.00am – End concert and sos for boys.
Evening concert- Tuesday 12th December 2023
• 6.30pm – Boys can enter the school via school entrance to left side of school. This is for boys and staff only. Parents can wait in school shed if they wish as we set up.
• 6.45pm – Doors open for parents and families ( Main school door)
• 4th Class will be singing in entrance FOYER from 6.45pm
• 7.00pm – First Class ( 3 songs)
• 7.10pm – Snowman at sunset ( Junior and Senior Infants)
• 7.45pm – Second class ( 3 songs)
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• 7.55pm – Mini break/ interval
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• This will allow parents of the younger boys JI/ SI/ 1st / 2nd to collect them and take them home.
• If they have anyone involved in the Gaelic Football medal ceremony they can be collected from class and brought back to the hall as we should have more room.
• 4th class boys involved in football will come back to the hall and the other boys can be collected to go home also.
• We will be joined by our sporting friends from Gaelscoil na Laochra at this stage.
• 8.00pm – Third Class ( 3 songs)
• 8.10pm – Fifth and sixth Classes ( Tin whistle tunes)
• 8.20pm – Medal Presentation for Winning Offaly Cumann na mbunscoil Gaelic Football 2023- Special Guest Mr Cormac Egan
• Finale – Snow is falling
• Boys can get some photos with Cormac afterwards
• 8.40pm ( approx ) Home
The purpose of our concerts are very simple and the same as always with our school
– To provide each boy the opportunity to perform on stage.
– To allow each boy the chance of being in a concert with his friends.
– To display the wonderful songs and tunes that he has learnt at school.
– To welcome our wonderful families and friends to our school to be part of the concert experience.
– To make good use of our school stage and sound system- both of which were purchased with support of parents.
– To celebrate our school team winning the Football cumann na mbunscoil 2023- Well done to all 39 boys on the panel who will all get their precious gold medal on the night.
We look forward to a great day and evening of Christmas cheer and goodwill.
Kind regards,
Niall Crofton
Principal Teacher
Today was the raising of the “ Amber flag “ for wellness and wellbeing which our school community was awarded in 2023 🙌 The school community gathered outside at 1.40pm where Mr Crofton thanked the Amber flag committee pupils and Ms Pilkington / Ms Corcoran / Ms Collins and Ms Keogh for all their work – Cillian and Calum from 6th class outlined how they achieved the Amber school award and then they raised the flag to great cheers . Then the boys all got an ice – cream !! Happy days 😊
Thanks to our school chaplain Fr Anthony for joining us in our hall for our start of year prayer service. It was lovely to come together for our first school assembly of the year and to get a blessing from Fr Anthony ❤️
This week we sent off a cheque for €1,400 to Pieta House. Many thanks to our hardworking boys on the Amber Flag Committee for leading this initiative throughout our school and to all who supported us in our fundraiser 🧡
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Just a few bits of information I wish to communicate to our school community on behalf of our Board of Management.
ASD / SEN school accommodation
As you will know from previous emails and newsletters the school has been engaging with the DES to provide new rooms and supports for our pupils and staff.
The application for ASD accommodation has been ongoing since 2019 and the Department of Education have been very supportive of this project.
The Design team involved have finalized their plans at this stage.
Our architect Kenny Lyons and Associates hope to apply for planning permission for these much needed rooms in coming weeks.
We will keep parents and community updated at any developments in this area.
We also have been granted Modular school accommodation to help alleviate the pressure our SEN teachers find themselves facing in terms of rooms. Some teachers are sharing rooms and using school hall for groups which is far from ideal. This modular accommodation will hopefully be in place for January 2023 with site works to commence in coming weeks. There will be no disruption to school classes or yard space during this time thanks to the location chosen. The extra two rooms will greatly enhance our ability to support our students.
DES school evaluation
Our school will welcome DES inspectorate for a 3 day evaluation ( 21st to 23rd November) in the area of SEN provision.
School evaluation is an advisory process where schools benefit from inspector input into best practice in the areas of teaching and learning.
As part of these evaluations there is a pupil focus group / parent focus group and parent questionnaire.
The inspectorate will decide who is involved in these information gathering activities and we will ask parents / pupils on their behalf when selected.
If selected we ask for parent / pupil support in engaging with the inspectorate. The same goes for the online survey which will be open for a week- please take a few minutes to complete if selected.
Parent – teacher meetings
In last newsletter for october we had highlighted the 2 days for PT meetings as Wed 23rd and Thursday 24th November.
Seeing as these are the week of DES evaluation we have moved the dates one week back.
Face to face parent teacher meetings will take place on WEDNESDAY 30th NOVEMBER and THURSDAY 1st DECEMBER.
Teachers will be in contact in coming week to fix an appointment slot that suits parents.
We are delighted to have our face-to-face parent teacher meetings back after covid restrictions for the past few years.
As before we will have tea / coffee and biscuits waiting in the school hall for all parents.
Christmas 2022
We hope to have a busy and fun Christmas Programme again for 2022.
Our fantastic parents association will be running their Christmas draw – details to follow in coming weeks.
Please support this vital fundraiser as these support our I-pads and interactive boards in the school which all greatly support pupil learning.
Kind regards,
Niall Crofton
Principal Teacher
End of year school mass celebration
We held a lovely end of school year mass outside on the front grass last Thursday. Fr Anthony came to school to celebrate the mass with our boys and a huge crowd of parents and family members. The theme of the mass was “ Joy” and it was lovely to be able to gather as a school community together for the first time in 3 years and celebrate the joy that the boys bring to our lives. Thanks to all who were involved in the service especially Majella and her wonderful choir with music who brought joy to our hearts.
