St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

Hurling
Hurling coaching with Eoin Pilkington is going very well and it is also great to see Junior Infants and Senior Infants playing on wednesdays . Lunchtime hurling for all boys continues each Tuesday.

Mr Kennedy has also set up a lunchtime hurling league for junior boys ( 1st—3rd) and is a great success on the top field.

The order for hurls and helmets under the Cumann na mBunscoil has been submitted. We will contact families who have placed orders in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to Mr.Kennedy and his hurlers on good championship displays so far this year. Team are playing with great skill and spirit with new players really coming to the fore. They have played challenge matches with Clareen and Ballaclla and championship wins over Carraig/Killeen and Dromakeenan with a narrow loss to Shinrone/ Clonlisk. Another victory followed last week away to Banagher. Well done Boys

Each term as part of our efforts to get boys to attend school as much as possible we award certificates. For Term 2 of this school year (Xmas– Easter) a fantastic 34 boys had 100% attendance (16% of the school) and were presented their certificates at our assembly so well done to the boys and their families– They also got a homework pass ! Also 13 boys got attendance improvement certs for improvement shown this term.
Attendance teams are a school initiative written in our school attendance plan developed by our hardworking staff to encourage boys to attend school more regularly. The winning team for this term (Team 2) had average attendance of 53.1 days PRESENT out of 56 days. The boys earned the reward of a trip to TEARAWAYS and some nice lunch / snacks . Keep up the great work everyone

Well done to all the boys who took part this year. We had a great entry and thanks to all the teachers and Mrs. Kelly for promoting this great event. Special mention must go to the artistic boys in 5th class who had some fantastic entries. We hope to hear from Catherine Barry after the Easter Break about any medal winners we had.
WINNER ANNOUNCED !
Community Games Modelling
Denis Konev – Silver
Luke Sheils – Gold———- OFFALY CHAMPION
Brad McEvoy – Silver
Kealan Franks – Silver
Darragh Tierney – Gold
Darragh McNamara – Gold——-OFFALY CHAMPION
Alex Byrne – Gold————-OFFALY CHAMPION
Darragh Mooney – Silver
Joe Hutchinson – Silver
Ronan McArthur – Silver
Sam McAulay – Bronze
James Carroll – Bronze
Dinny Kelly – Bronze
Reece Swanepoel – Bronze
Ben O’ Brien – Bronze
Damien Delaney – Bronze
Kristian Bodik – Bronze

All roads led to Marian hall Birr last Wednesday night 9th March as St. Brendan’s Boys Primary school staged their historical production and tribute to 1916. Heritage has a major influence on the school and so they were delighted to have Michael Donegan ( Former Principal) back to write and direct the first half of the show. Current principal welcomed the huge crowd to the free show and thanked the people of the parish for their continued support of the school. He also thanked the parish for use of their fine hall and to hall caretaker Martin Walsh for his support with the show. The stage looked fantastic with set designed by local artist George Dempsey and painted by pupils from the school with lights and sound by Phil Walsh kindly organised by parent Pierre Greijmans. Then the boys took over !

Boys from 6th , 4th and 3rd classes took the audience of over 600 on a journey from the glaciers of Ireland up to the famine. Classes came on for scenes in magical costumes to a rocking soundtrack as they retold Irish History through the first farmers , celts , , Christians , Vikings ,Normans, Plantations, Penal laws and suffering of the famine times. All through this they had a commanding performance from the director ( Jack) and the story kept great flow through the narrators (Paul and Jack).The audience were on an emotional roller-coaster from laughter at the ABBA dancing Vikings to sorrow with the famine dead. Then came the interval with tea/ coffee provided by parents association and shop.

The second half began with 120 boys on stage playing a tin-whistle medley of Irish traditional and republican songs and a booming version of Fields of Athenry. The 5th class under Ms.Ward and placement student Eoin Pilkington then held the audience spell-bound with their version of “Triumph of Sorts” written by local principal Damien White. Drums and rifles were to the fore as Padraig Pearce ( Darragh) led the rebels to the GPO where the proclamation was dramatically read aloud to the audience with drum beats bellowing. It was special to see the proclamation being read aloud by pupils born in other countries but who now see themselves as Irish. This is really Ireland in 2016. Music and song interspersed this part with Banna strand and foggy dew being sung with a highlight of grace being sung by 5th class accompanied by the talented Ms.Pilkington and Ms.Ryan.
Thanks were expressed to all through the booklet on the night for all the elements that go into a show of this scale with funding support from Offaly Arts Council and Birr Lions club. Mr Crofton thanked the audience and community for allowing the boys the opportunity to perform on stage and to celebrate 1916 in this manner. Michael Donegan was thanked for his time, energy , passion and inspiration to the show and he then spoke of the pride he has in the school , the boys and the school community which is such an integral part of Birr. The audience then sang the finale of Amhran na bhFiann to conclude the night and send the audience home with a spring in their step and happiness in their hearts.
We hope it was both educational and entertaining and respectful to the memory of the heroes of 1916.

A highlight of the year was 5th class boys travelling to Kilkenny one Saturday in February to be part of the PEACE PROMS CHOIR 2016. The boys had practiced their songs and dance moves for months under Ms.Ward and they had a great day. Lots of parents who travelled were also blown away by the concert and the live orchestra. It is a marvellous opportunity for boys to experience this and one where you definitely get more out of than you put in. Dance moves of the staff who attended were not as good as can be seen on some videos 1 Sincere thanks to Ms.Ward for her hard work and to Ms.Kirwan, Ms.Pilkington and Mr.Crofton for giving up their precious Saturday to take the boys. Special mention to the group of boys who attended as they were a credit to their school and families.

We were delighted to welcome former world champion boxer and Irish legend– Bernard Dunne to the school in February. The visit was arranged through Carembola ( Lunch provider) for Bernard to visit the school and speak with the boys as a motivational life talk. He spoke about his career, life choices and the benefits of living a healthy life through healthy diet and sport. He held the packed hall of over 200 captive for over an hour and the boys found him really cool and entertaining. As a spokesperson for promoting “ labhairt gaeilge” he was delighted to be interviewed by three 6th class pupils– Kyle / Seosamh and Sean. The boys earned the “ chance of a lifetime” to interview Bernard by doing extra gaeilge work at home in creating questions: Ar feabhas buachailli !!