School is magical at Christmas!

Have you seen the school lately!  So much work has been done to make the halls into a winter wonderland and so very seasonal, and inspiring.

We bumped into this guy in the halls the other day - He is a very busy man at this time of the year and he took time out of his planning to come into the school and spread some seasonal cheer!

School Pub Quiz

On Friday 25th November the Parents Association held a Pub Quiz in aid of the School.  Our plan is to fund raise for new equipment for the Resource rooms, as well as fundraising to update the library in the school.

So firstly, many thanks to Stuart who was the quiz master and MC for the evening, he did a fab job of keeping the suspense going and making sure the evening went well. We had great support from local companies and shops for the evening with donations and tables that were sponsored for the night. We want to say a huge thank you to the sponsors who donated to the night.  We really appreciate their support in these hard times, and it reminds us all to shop local and support local if possible.  So let's thank our sponsors (in no particular order)

Fabios Pizza,
Northwood Technology,
Let's Face It Salon,
Happy Events,
Grange Building Supplies,
Brookwood Pharmacy,
Kel's Farm Fresh,
Marks Barbers,
The Beauty Box,
Wink,
Orchard Playgroup,
McHughs Off-Licence,
Centra (Rosemount Avenue),
Cinnamon Cafe,
Gorgeous Hairdressing,
Health Plex,
The Nail Bar,
Michael Edwards Photographer,
Racquel Balloons
(my apologies if I missed anyone!)

Sponsors tables, quiz master, prizes, balloons, and scores on the board....

The evening raised approx €1700 for the school after the expenses for the night.

Supporters, teams, checking scores, thinking!

The winning team for the night were Clodagh, Terry, Cecily and Mr thinking cap!  Which obviously made all the difference (2 photos middle second row above).

Thank you one and all for the support for the night - every little helps!

Our next fundraising event is the Christmas Raffle and Carols & Cake Day, not got a firm date for it but we will circulate a note.

Operation - Shoe Box

Thank you all for supporting the Team Hope, Christmas Shoebox Appeal.  The boxes have now been collected and will soon be on the way to needy children in 17 countries.  In the last few years Team Hope has sent 2 million boxes to needy children.

YOUR SHOEBOX CAN TURN JUST ANOTHER DAY IN A CHILD’S LIFE INTO SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL, A DAY THAT THEY WILL REMEMBER FOR YEARS TO COME

The boxes made a lovely display in the hall and we were proud to send over 200 boxes this year to Team Hope.  Thank you for supporting the efforts.

Lifesaving new Equipment for the school

The school received a fabulous, potentially lifesaving donation from the Coolock Artane Credit Union of a Defibrillator that is now mounted on the wall outside the Principals office.  The unveiling of the new machine on the 14th September 2011, was attended by the School Liaison team from Coolock Artane Credit Union Adrienne O'Shea and the chairperson Catherine Bannon.  Also in attendance was Abbie Byrne's mum and sister, along with her classmates.  Very kindly, the two firemen who attended to Abbie on the day she fell ill at school also attended.

Abbie's Mum and sister

Abbie's Class mates and class representatives for each year

Artane Credit Union Reps.

Many thanks to Alanna Brougham for the photos of the day, and our thanks to Artane Credit Union for this lifesaving piece of equipment.

Update on AGM

Tuesday 13th September was a provisional date for the AGM of the Parent Association.  As of this moment we are trying to agree a new date, and this will be published on the blog as soon as confirmed.

We took a decision to cancel the Sports Evening as the evenings are now darker and the good weather we thought we might get has not appeared.  We will try and run it towards the end of the school year.

First day back!

Welcome back to all the girls who arrived back to school looking so fresh and happy on the 1st of September.  It was lovely to hear the school spring back to life and to see the girls smiling, giggling and happy to return.

The Parents Association was there on the first day to welcome the new girls and their parents and make a cup of tea for the crying mums and dads!  We took a few photos for the blog and these lovely girls were happy to have their photos taken for the blog.....

Our lolly pop lady Kay was there to welcome the girls on the first day,  and true to her title of lolly pop lady, she had a pocket full of lolly pops to give to the girls.

The school also had another new girl - our new Principal Jane McMullen!  We welcome her to her new job and congratulate her on her promotion.  Miss Mc Mullen was a teacher in the school and now holds the position of Principal.  Her first day was very busy, so I didn't bother her with my camera, but we will add a photo to the blog and maybe a few questions for her so we can get to know her.

Retirement and end of year Newsletter

As you all might know, Ms Caroll is leaving us at the end of the summer to retire.  We all wish her a very long and happy retirement. 

Ms Carroll has spent the last 37 years teaching (as well as being a former pupil herself!) in our school and 3 being the Principal.  Her leaving will be a huge loss to our school community as Yvonne’s determination to get the job done will be hard to follow.   Over the years there have been many achievements both musically and educationally.  One of the highlights certainly was the visit to the school of the President, Ms Mary McAleese.  Thankfully the refurbishment of the hall and corridors had been done by then.  Ms Carroll undertook a comprehensive refurbishment of the school premises with the water tanks, door and windows all being replaced.  Recently we received the good news that our grant application for the roof replacement was successful and work will be carried out over the Summer break.  The school yard and the Infant’s corridor have all had murals painted on them which create a more welcoming space.  Over the past 3 years, Yvonne has been very supportive of the parents’ fund-raising efforts and we’ve raised over €25,000 providing new class libraries, new stock for the school library, an interactive whiteboard in each classroom and music lessons and instruments for each class.  The Parents’ Association made a presentation to Ms Carroll on Thursday morning on behalf of the parents and the pupils of St Brigid’s, of a Tipperary Crystal Vase with an inscription on it.  Our thanks to  the Tipperary Crystal shop in Arnotts for all of their help in arranging this.  We wish Yvonne every success in her future endeavours.  Le gach dea-mhaith agus beannacht don todhchaí

Easter Fair

Thankfully the weather obliged and we had a great day at the Easter Fair.  We raised just over €2,000 and together with €1,000 raised on the Easter Egg raffle, we were delighted to have raised so much particularly at this time.  Money raised this year was used to fund music lessons and provide some new instruments.  Classes ranged from drumming/percussion, to rhythm and singing and the girls’ increased musicality was evident from their concerts!

Sports Evening -

 

Unfortunately with the uncertainty of the recent weather the decision was taken to postpone the Sports Evening until September.  The provisional date has been set for Thursday 15th September and we need roughly 50 volunteers for various jobs so if you can lend a hand in whatever capacity please email us at parents440@live.ie

Update - as of 13th September we have cancelled the sports evening due to the evenings being dark and colder.  More on new date soon.

AGM - Parent Association

The AGM for the Parents’ Association will be held in September, probably Tuesday 13th at 8.00pm in the school hall.  Confirmation will be issued nearer the date.  The election of the new committee and officers will take place and details of fund-raising activities and plans for the school year ahead will be discussed.  Every parent is invited and encoured to come along!

Update - The above date was not confirmed but a new date will be provided soon for the AGM when a decision has been confirmed.

Parental Involvement

We would like to have as many parents involved in whatever capacity they can, with the school.  In particular for some of the special weeks such as Science week or Engineering week it would be great for parents involved in those areas to arrange a presentation or a site-visit for some of the pupils.  Our parents have been involved in many ways over the past couple of years not just in fund-raising.  Keith Loscher has been instrumental in getting the water-tanks and the roof projects off the ground, Paul Hennessy of Northwood Technologies has provided CCTV and access systems on each doorway,  Sean Lally of Applied Signs has provided us with banners for our fund-raising events while parents such as Tony Lawless of HealthPlex ran the Dublin City Marathon to raise funds.  A group of mums carry out the Credit Union every Thursday and 2 of them recently passed their first level QFA exams.  Alanna Brougham is involved in the garden project and Miriam McGuirk co-ordinates the Greens Schools Committee with Ms Devilly.  Niall Brougham and Superquinn have provided us with cakes and breads for all our events as has Tanya O’Dowd of Cinnamon Café.  Brendan Cassidy of Artane Autos,  Xavier Timmons of PrintoChoc and Catherine Atkinson of Sewing by Kits have always made generous donations.  We can’t forget our resident MC, Stuart Davidson for providing the ‘sound’ whether for a table quiz or a fair or sports night! Racquel Reynolds of Funky Balloons always makes sure our events are well decorated.  Our school website http://www.stbrigidsgns.ie/ is designed and administered by Dan…. Other parents bring the girls from teams such as the chess team to their matches.  Recently one of the parents of our new Junior infants for Sept 11 who works for IBM, Deirdre Carroll secured 2 workstations for the 4-7 year olds for the school.  As part of IBM’s centenary year celebrations, they are providing these free to applicant schools.  If any parent works for a company who would like to donate ‘old’ computer equipment or equipment of any kind or who runs special programmes for schools like IBM, we’d love to hear from you! Email: parents 440@live.ie 

A special word of thanks too for our local representatives, Aodhan O’Riordain, Sean Haughey, Richard Bruton and Finian McGrath for all their help in getting the refurbishment grants for the school and for their continued support.

School Teams

The Basketball teams from 5th & 6th class were narrowly beaten in the Finals of the Schools League held in the Irish Wheelchair Association.  The girls were so disappointed but were back in training for next season!

The Gaelic team had better luck a couple of days later in their Final beating… to win the Cup.

Well done Girls and a special thanks to their coaches, Phil & Robbie Clarke, Noel Corr, Muireann Reilly and Linda Flynn

School Choir—Feis Ceoil

The school choir under Ms Laura Wickham have gone from strength to strength.  They took part in this year’s Feis Ceoil and won the Sacred Music competition, on their first entry in this prestigious event!  It was a fantastic experience for the girls and they got their picture in the Irish Times—check out our blog on http://stbrigidsgnsparentsassoc.blogspot.com/ for more details. 

A Music Evening was held at the school over 2 nights.  The standard was so high and the evening was the culmination of a few years of hard work to bring the standard of music in the school to a very high level.  The feedback from parents is that they were really impressed with the evening and a good time was had by all.  It is hoped that the evening will become an annual tradition.  Many thanks to Miss Wickham and teachers involved.

Confirmation Classes

The 6th Class Girls made their Confirmation in May.  They looked really smart in their uniforms and a great reflection on the school.

New Principal

We would like to congratulate Ms Jane McMullen on her recent appointment of our new Principal.  Ms McMullen has worked as a teacher in the school for over 13 years, most recently in Learning Support.