St. Brigid's National School

Congratulations to our 6th class pupils who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Thursday, 27th March. Many thanks to Bishop Denis Nulty and all involved in making this day so special for the pupils. The pupils presented their acts of kindness poster on the day.

Many thanks to the Parents' Association who kindly organised goodie bags for the Confirmation class to mark this important milestone in their lives.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation has been rescheduled take place on the 28th of April at 1:00pm in the school.

The Sacrament of First Holy Communion will be celebrated on Friday, 9th May at 11:00am in Holy Trinity Church, Derrinturn.

In March we ran a campaign to promote punctuality. Parental support is needed to help all pupils to be on time for school. Pupils will continue to be encouraged to keep the good practice of ‘being on time’ and ‘being prepared’ as we return after the Easter break.

March Attendance Rate: 91.0%

We celebrated Pancake Tuesday on 4th March. Many thanks to the Parents' Association for making delicious homemade pancakes in the school for all the pupils. They were enjoyed by all!!

We celebrated World Book Day on the 6th of March. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed telling their class about their favourite book and the senior pupils took part in a buddy reading slot with the junior pupils.

All classes are enjoying taking part in the 'Skip Around Europe Challenge' as part of our Active Schools initiative, from the 7th April- May 3rd. 'Skip Around Europe' is a whole school challenge, prioritising participation, inclusion and fun with lots of learning opportunities along the way. All classes, at all levels, are encouraged to build a short daily skipping break into their school day. Working together, their combined skips will bring them to many of the capital cities across Europe, opening rich learning opportunities across many different areas. Many thanks to Ms McNally for coordinating this initiative.

D'éirigh go hiontach le Seachtain na Gaeilge an bhliain seo. We celebrated Seachtain na Gaeilge in March and all classes engaged in various activities during the week, from Tráth na gCeist, Gaelgoir an Lae and we held an enjoyable Ceolchoirm on Lá Glas. Bhí craic agus spóirt ag gach duine!!

Well done to all the pupils who sent in some fantastic examples of 'Irish in my locality' during Seachtain na Gaeilge. Maith Sibh! See a selection below.

Many thanks to all who supported our Daffodil Day fundraiser. Well done to all and everyone looked fantastic in yellow to show their support. A total of €169.70 was raised for The Irish Cancer Society.

We had some fantastic displays of St. Patrick's Day/March art to brighten up our hallways during the month of March.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig - By Junior Infants, Senior Infants and First Class.

Have a look at some of the beautiful writing the pupils have been working on over the last few weeks.

Our Cross Country team participated in the Cumann na mBunscol competition in Rathcoffey, on a very warm day yesterday. Congratulations to everyone involved and well done to the children for representing their school in such a sporting manner.

This year sees Cumann na mBunscol embrace new rule changes. We look forward to more games over the coming weeks.

The sun was shinning as the senior pupils kick started the Cumman na mBunscol competition last week. They played their first game against Broadford NS. They will play against Killina and Cadamstown after the Easter holidays. Well done to all involved!

The U10s played their first game last week against Cadamstowns NS at home in Ticknevin. It was a competitive game with plenty of skills on display. They will play against St. Patrick's, Celbridge on Thursday, 1st May at 12pm at home in Ticknevin. Well done to all!!

The pupils in 5th and 6th class attended a Cyber Safe Workshop in Edenderry Library last week. The session promoted online safety for children, cyberbullying and encourages responsible usage. The pupils also enjoyed the opportunity to use resources from the library.

The pupils have been working hard all year in the hopes of achieving the 'Curious Minds Primary Science and Maths Award'. We celebrated Maths Week, Science Week and completed many hands-on activities from each of the Science Curriculum Strands. Ms Conroy coordinated the process and an application in the Gold Certificate Category has been submitted.

The Sewing Club have been busy working on these easter creations over the last few weeks.

Our hot school meal provider, The Lunch Bag, is taking a step in supporting our school's journey towards healthier living. Every classroom will now receive a classroom fruit bowl, ensuring that all children have access to fresh, nutritious fruit to fuel their school day. This new initiative is free, and we encourage parents to get involved by reminding children to grab a piece of fruit at small break.

An Easter Fun Day/Trail will take place on Sunday, 13th April on the school grounds from 2pm-4pm. Hopefully the sun will be shinning on the day and it will be an enjoyable day for all! Please spread the word. We greatly appreciated your support.

Reminder If you're shopping in Tesco Edenderry over the next few weeks, we'd really appreciate if you'd vote for us using your blue token!

Our annual Easter Hunt took place today, with all classes getting the opportunity to take part. Children, in teams, used their orienteering skills to find and solve puzzles around the school grounds. A fun-filled hunt in the sunshine was had by all and to top if off the Easter Bunny make a surprise appearance!! Many thanks to the Parents' Association for organising the surprise visit today.

School Fitness Ireland will hold a 6-week block of dance sessions as part of the dance strand in PE. The programme is based on the dance strand of the PE curriculum and aims to boost confidence, explore creativity and encourage expression through movement. A payment link will be sent via Aladdin. The cost of 6 weeks is subsidised by the Parents' Association Fund. The dates are as follows: Monday 28th April, May 12th, 19th and 26th & June 9th and 16th.

We are delighted that this year we are able to facilitate a course in cycling safety training run by Seery Cycle Wise for our 4th, 5th & 6th class pupils, beginning Friday 2nd May 2025. The course is aligned to CYCLE RIGHT, the National Standard for Cycle Safety Training in Ireland, and is delivered by qualified trainers from the national register. The training is helpful for all pupils. For those who already cycle to school, the benefits are obvious, but training is just as important for children who cycle only at home and during the holidays or those who are only learning to cycle. They will all learn the safety skills required to assess situations on the road and how to react to them safely, whether walking, cycling or even driving in the future. The course will consist of 7 sessions with the pupils. Topics covered will include: safe equipment; rules of the road; starting and stopping; road positioning; shoulder checking; turning left and right; overtaking and traffic manoeuvres, and, where appropriate to the group, on-road training. The the cost after funding is €5 per pupil for the 7 week course, which will be funded by the Parent's Association Fund.

The pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th class will get the opportunity to take part in a four week Forest Workshop. This initiative is funded by Kildare County Council. The dates of the workshop are as follows: May 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. The pupils will learn about the local environment and the species of plants and trees on the school grounds.

Should you have any concern please note that the Designated Liaison Person (DLP) is Nóra Lynch and the Acting Deputy Designated Liaison Person (DDLP) is Eilís McCabe.

It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of another school term. We extend our thanks to you all for your continued support. Wishing you all a happy and healthy Easter break. We look forward to welcoming you back to school Monday, 28th April.

Beannachtaí na Cásca oraibh go léir!

Le gach dea-ghuí

Nóra Lynch

Principal, St. Brigid's N.S.