St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

VEX ROBOTIC programme 2025

@VEXRoboticsIE our boys had an amazing time at the @offalycoco VEX robotics event in February – Well done to Jack / Harry / Ewan and Sam and massive thanks to Ms Makim and Mr Cunningham for all their hard work supporting the team. The boys did great in what was a difficult robot to design and programme this year. This programme offers so many skills and experiences to the boys and we look forward to many more VEX battles in Offaly. There will be another local round in coming weeks which the boys will look forward to.

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!

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 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Artistic talents
Congratulations to our school winners of art competition- Fionn / Cody / Harry / Yegor / paddy and Cayden ( pictured below)
These boys go on to represent the school in the Birr credit union art competition- great talent as you can see from their pictures in the background- thanks to Ms Makim and Mrs Kelly for their support of visual arts in our school. There are also some fantastic modern art projects ongoing at the moment around our school involving 5th class ! Some school areas have been transformed by modern graffiti art and a lovely child friendly mural drawn linking the junior and senior school. Thanks to Ms Jessica Fitzgerald and Ms Makim for the inspiration #loveart

We are delighted to run the summer provision programme at the school for 6th consecutive summer. This was formerly called July provision and summer provision. This 3 week programme is an amazing opportunity for our 17 pupils with SEN who are eligible to get an intensive in-school fun experience that will set them up well for a return to school in September. Thanks to the 8 staff who will work on the programme over the 3 weeks. We are also running the DEIS literacy and numeracy camps for 36 boys in the final week of august as part on the new SP.

Great work by 4th class with Mr Carroll and Ms Makim in their ” Medieval castles Project” – The boys put in a super effort and the castles are now proudly on display – well done boys !

3rd- 6th class groups

had a great time earlier today at Birr OEC helping Yanni and the team with their instructor training – thanks for the amazing opportunity guys and for doing so in such a safe way 👍

End of year awards ( 2018) ceremony is 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 . These hold a special place in our hearts and we are delighted to welcome members of these families to school to present these awards. This year we created a new award – the Tommy K infant achiever award and were so happy to have Lisa Kelly and little Darragh there to present the trophy for the 1st time.
Congratulations to all this years winners.
· The Brother Finian Cup for the 6th class long race was won by Ricky Hanlon
· The McManus Cup ( Special Achievement Award) was won by Aaron Kirwan
· The Derek Maher Trophy (Student of the year) was won by Conor lally Greijmans ( Pictured)
· The Aidan Rosney Cup (Snr Hurler of the year) was won Adam Duffy
· The Kenneth Fox cup (Winning Capt of Senior Hurling league) was won by Ricky Hanlon ( Pictured)
· The St.Brendans Cup (Winning Capt.Of Junior Hurling League) was won by James Carroll
· The Junior Hurler of the year went to Robert Landy
· The Johnny Cleary Cup( Most Improved Hurler) was won by Oisin Digan Sullivan ( pictured)
· Tommy K Infant Achievement Award was won by Jack Gleeson ( Pictured)

Sports day 2018 which was a day of sunshine , fun and activity. Stations and teams organised and set up by Mr Cunningham and his team from our wonderful staff- each pupil on a team ( county based) and all took part in a spirit of enjoyment / encouragement and participation. Some wonderful photos and memories !

Winner in Laois / Offaly Heritage Project 2018
Four boys from 6th Class, Sam McAulay, Steven Dillon, Kealan Franks and Conor Lally represented our school by competing in the Living Heritage in Schools Project run by Laois Ed. Centre.  The boys submitted a group essay.  “Ireland 1918, A Snapshot in Time.”  They researched life in Birr and nationally in 1918 & this research earned them 3rd place out of 22 competitors.  Also, the boys presented and talked about their project at a judging ceremony held in Portlaoise.  For this they created a snapshot of their essay using plasticine.  These models are on display in the hall for all to admire.  In this category they won Best Cultural Heritage Project.  Thanks to Ms Hogan for organising the project and assisting the boys in both essay and project where they displayed great literacy , research and presentation skills- Well done boys