St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

Our school celebrated St. Brendan’s Day by participating in a lovely ceremony in St. Brendan’s Church. The boys sang , played and read prayers. Ms.Ward’s class performed a wonderful St. Brendan’s play dressed in full costume. It was bright, colourful and inspiring. It was great to see former teachers from our school attend the ceremony. The boys were accompanied by Majella and Fr. Cahir presided over the ceremony. All the pupil involvement really added to the ceremony.

We held our Rememberance Service in the gym to remember and pray for family, relatives and friends who have passed away.Fifth class and senior infants made Rememberance Trees and hung crosses on them with names of family ,relations and friends on them. Other classes made rememberance charts which were displayed in the gym. Sixth class played Inisheer on the tin whistles and the boys read prayers of the faithful. Mr. Kennedy’s class played the theme song from the Titanic and all classes sang the Rememberance Song. Mrs. Ryder read a beautiful poem about angels and Rosary beads were presented to staff members (blessed in Rome and given by Fr. Cahir). The ceremony ended with the boys playing Amazing Grace as each class returned to their classrooms.

Mr. Kennedy’s class participated in a wonderful Shoe Box Project. The boys were asked to bring in certain non perishable  items that would fit into a shoe box. They wrapped the box in decorative paper and labelled it. The finished gifts were then sent away and they would make a wonderful gift for poor children in the lead up to Christmas. Well done to Mr. Kennedy, parents/guardians and the boys, a truly wonderful and worthwhile project to be involved in.

Mr. Carroll’s class participated in a Rugby Blitz at Birr rugby grounds. The boys have had rugby tuition in the school under the guidance of Peter Swanipol. They were delighted to demonstrate their skills in a compeditive match setting. The emphasis in the blitzes has always been on the fun aspects of the game with no scores being recorded. Pupils were praised for effort, fairness, determination, abiding by the rules, encouragement and respect for their opponents. The boys had a great day and represented the school with distinction and honour. Well done to all involved.

Finn is back again this year to share his skills with our boys. The pupils get hands on experience in doing pottery under the expert tuition of Finn. They are instructed on the basic techniques of preparing the clay, moulding the clay and then making something out of the clay. They are instructed on the drying process before painting and varnishing the finished product. Some of the finished pieces from last year are on display around the school and we look forward to displaying this years finished items later on in the year.

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.

Local business man Martin McCarthy visited our senior classes and spoke to the pupils about his life experiences. He spoke about the history of the town and how the geographical features had changes since he was a young boy. He spoke about education and the role it had played in his life. He spoke about his business ventures and the qualities and characteristics that had served him well through trials and tribulations. Our pupils were delighted and amazed at all the interesting facts he had to share and the visit was an outstanding success.

During Science week our pupils got the opportunity to develop their scientific skills in the school. The display areas were awash with scientific  facts.Every classroom put extra emphasis on their science lessons with some wonderful experiments and investigations going on. Some of the projects going on included a link up with a real telecope in Hawaii enabling the boys from third class to look at the universe from their classroom followed up with some wonderful art work on the constilations. Lava lamps were made in other classes.Lessons on electricity and magnetism were very popular with our pupils. We had a Science Fair in the gym involving experiments on Filters, rainbow milk, volcanoes, floating/sinking, fire and oxygen, floating/bouncing eggs, and piercing a balloon. Congratulations to the sixth class boys who researched, set up and carried out all the experiments. Many classes were able to visit the Science Fair and see the experiments being carried out. It was a wonderful opportunity for the pupils and we hope that it will inspire them to further develop their scientific skills and inquisitive nature.