St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

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

Offaly Cumann na mbunscoil hurling final
Date 21st May 2024
Venue – St Brendans Park

St Brendans PS / Gaelscoil na Laochra faced off against Dromakeenan in the Hurling final.
Both teams came into this match unbeaten and the pressure was on the boys as they went for a famous 4-in-a-row. The atmosphere was fantastic as both sides followed the piper around the field to the cheers of their supporters. The ball was thrown in and both sides tackled and blocked with great energy. St B / Gna L took the lead with a great point from inside forward Joey after 3 minutes. Then on 5 minutes a great ball into the forward line was collected by Conall who dispatched the ball to the net. Dromakeenan then found their groove and got a goal on 8 minutes followed by a free. After 10 minutes it was all square 1-1 to 1-1. Then a free from Ryan Kelly who followed up with a lovely 65 and a point from play pushed Birr ahead. Dromakeenan showed great resilience in scoring next. Birr were starting to win the middle third with lovely scores from forwards Cathal and John with Michael and Harry supplying some great ball. Backs were steady with Billy , Ryan Molloy and Nathaniel very solid and keeper Sam hitting some great puckouts.
Halftime and chance to breath- Birr led 1-5 to 1-2
Second half and Birr came out flying with Tadhg winning great possession. Cathal scored a point to be quickly followed by a goal from Tadgh and goal machine Conall. Birr were now rampant and Justin found himself in a free role and kept giving great ball inside. Scores followed from John , Cathal , Ryan and sub Shane. Dromakeenan kept fighting but the senior Birr players were now dominant and the subs who came on brought new energy to the team also. Final whistle sounded and supporters from St Brendans and Gaelscoil na Laochra ran on to congratulate their players on a fantastic second half display and a great win!
The captains received the Fr Vaughan cup from Mr Joe Cleary. Proud captains Cathal Mooney and Michael Conneely thanked their coaches especially Mr Kennedy and also the referee, Cumann na mbunscoil / Dromakeenan and Birr GAA. Then the boys returned to the school via Pilkingtons shop to celebrate.

VEX Robotics 2024
An amazing performance at the Offaly championships in February saw the St Brendans team win the Offaly title for the 2nd year in a row! The 6th class boys then travelled to Cork in March for the All Ireland finals where they came 3rd overall out of 24 teams who were champions in their county. Massive credit to Mr Cunningham and Ms Makim who gave so much of their time to support the boys in teaching them programming and design of the robot and to the boys for a great performance on the day!

Teacher artist programme success
Fantastic finale to our TAP ( teacher – artist – programme ) this week as artist Monica O Meara came to school to organise the display of the children’s work – Here’s a photo of the ‘Sculpting Smiles – Clay-laborative Wellbeing’ artwork collaboration under the TAP programme with support from Laois Education Centre – The boys in 3rd and 4th classes had an amazing time over the past number of weeks and great credit to class teachers Ms Wyer and Mr Kennedy for their work supporting this –
It’s a fantastic piece of art which all the boys can view each day and see their work and little initials in engraved in the hands – We are proud that this pupil art creation is displayed proudly at our school and will hopefully inspire generations to follow—
Thank you so much Monica O’Meara ( Artist) and Laois Education centre.

Congratulations to our 2nd class boys who made their first holy communion last Saturday. We hope you all enjoyed your special day.
Many thanks to all school staff for preparing the boys so well and to Fr. Tom, Fr Anthony and Joan for their help throughout the year.

Congratulations to our 6th class boys who made their Confirmation yesterday. We hope you all enjoyed your special day. Thanks to Bishop Fintan, Fr. Tom and Fr. Anthony.
Thanks to all school staff who helped prepare the boys throughout the year.

Fantastic to have “ French “ being taught to all our boys in 3rd -6th classes this term with Ms Abidi- great opportunity to dev an appreciation and interest in a European language thanks to the say yes to languages programme 🙌 @langsconnect_ie

Transition to 2nd level
Lovely transition session for our 6th class in March with Ms Cusack from @stbrendansbirr with some fantastic past pupils ( Keelan / Dylan / Vincent and Zmarak) chatting with the boys about second level school- Thanks to Dani from SCP for supporting and the boys in 6th also enjoyed a town treasure hunt and a ceili ( seachtain na Gaeilge) with the other 6th classes from Mercy Primary and Oxmantown NS as part of this programme.
Thanks to HSCL Ms Hennelly and SCP for their work in this area.

A huge thanks to Kieran Hoctor Smyth who visited us for Engineers Week and worked with Junior Infants, Seniors, First and Second Classes. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the visit especially his son Fionn and nephews Darragh and Shane Ryan who were so proud to welcome him into their classrooms. A fabulous way to mark Engineers Week!!

Our school debating team were presented with their certificates received from Laois Education centre today – well done to all involved and we look forward to future leaders and politicians from this group ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

VEX Robotics—Offaly winners 2023
Wow! What a day was had by 6th class in the VEX robotics @offalycoco .
St Brendan’s PS winning the coding award and the overall award with 27 schools taking part ;so we are going to the Nationals!! The younger boys in the school gathered at 3pm to give them a great welcome back to the school as they now go to the national finals representing Offaly !!!!Finals will be in cork @MTU_ie.
Congrats to the boys and teacher Mr Cunningham @DamienCunning17 with Ms Makim and MsGrace @laoisoffalyetb @VEXRoboticsIE and huge thanks to Offaly County Council for their support.