St. Pius X Boys National School

December 2006 Newsletter

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES: The school is a hive of activity at the moment with preparations for Nativity plays and concerts. These will take place in our new General Purpose Room from Monday 18th December. Please find attached time table of events.
CHRISTMAS 2006 - PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
DATE TIME VENUE PLAY < CLASS
Thurs. 14th Dec. @ 1.00p.m. G.P. Room The Nativity S.I. A. Dunne
Mon. 18th Dec. @ 11.05 a.m. G.P. Room The Nativity S.I. M. Kneafsey
Mon. 18th Dec. @ 11.45 a.m. G.P. Room Scrooge 3rd L. Mooney
Mon. 18th Dec. @ 1.15 p.m. G.P. Room Scrooge 3rd E. Réamonn
Tues. 19th Dec. @ 10.00 a.m. G.P. Room The Nativity 1st B. Dempsey
Tues. 19th Dec. @ 11.15 a.m. G.P. Room Jesus@Bethlehem.com 2nd – A.M. Elliott
Tues. 19th Dec. @ 1.15 p.m. G.P. Room Jesus@Bethlehem.com 2nd – E. Grennan
Wed. 20th Dec. @ 10.00 a.m. Hall Junior Carol Service J.I. – 1st Class
Wed. 20th Dec. @ 11.15 a.m. Hall Senior Carol Service 2nd – 6th Class
Wed. 20th Dec. @ 1.15 p.m. G.P. Room The Nativity 1st – G. Ó Fátharta
Our School Carol Service will take place on Wednesday 20th December in the School Hall with Ms Anne Purcell as Choir Conductor. The Junior Carol Service (Junior Infants – 1st Class) is at 10 am, with the Senior Carol Service (2nd -6th Class) commencing at 11.15 am.

SCHOOL CHOIR: Following their win in the Wesley Interschools Music festival last March, our school choir, directed by Ms Anne Purcell, was invited to participate in the Chernobyl Children’s Appeal Concert. This concert will take place in the Helix in D.C.U. on March 26th. Tickets for the concert will be on sale in the school - details at a later date. This concert will be held at the end of April. The school Choir will be participating in the Wesley Interschool Festival again and is also travelling to the New Ross Choral Festival in May. The boys from Ms. Purcell’s and Mr. Matthews' classes are being busy preparing for the National Children’s Choir concert. The boys travelled to Presentation Primary School in Terenure recently for a group practice which went extremely well.

SCIENCE - KNEX CHALLENGE: On November 28th 4th Class boys took part in the “Knex Steps to Engineering” Challenge organised by Ms. Sinead Lally. Using Knex construction, the boys were given the challenge of designing and making an S.O.S. rescue boat. There were some fantastic and creative designs. After much deliberation, Anne Crowley, an engineer, chose Joe McCabe and Michael Haddock’s model. These boys will now go to the Regional Final which will be held in The Helix in the Spring Term. Some of the fantastic models can be seen on our school website www.piusxbns.ie
S.E.I. Ms Eleanor Grennan organised for Sustainable Energy Ireland to pay a visit to 1st & 2nd Classes in November. Their friend 'Guzzler' taught the children lots of ways to save energy at home and in school!

ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME: This is the second year of our enrichment programme. The scheme caters for boys from third to sixth who excel at English or Maths & Technology. They visit the resource teacher, Mr. Liam Gaynor, in groups of three or four where they enjoy activities that supplement the standard curriculum. Check out the creative writing section of our web site (www.piusxbns.ie) for samples of our young writers' work.

LEARNING SUPPORT MATHS: We have a dedicated Maths Support Teacher, Mr. Vincent Ryan, who is providing full time support for those requiring extra tuition. The service is proving to be both beneficial and very successful.

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL Ms. Valerie O’Nuallain would like to express her gratitude to everybody who contributed so generously to the St. Vincent de Paul Collection. The society’s van was filled to capacity and it will go a long way towards making Christmas happier for many families. With so many calls on your generosity you still manage to support this very worthy cause and the Society is extremely appreciative of the St. Pius X donation.

NEW ENTRANTS If you wish to enrol a child in the school next year please complete an application form as soon as possible if you have not already done so as there is a huge demand for places.

SPORTS We would like to thank most sincerely the 6th class boys who donated a new set of jerseys in appreciation of their time in St. Pius BNS. This shows how responsible, mature and sensible our students are.
Gaelic Football: The football season closed with our senior team losing out on a place in the semi finals. Overall we were very pleased and proud of the efforts of our team in a very competitive group. This campaign also highlighted a very talented group of players, our junior team. They were pitched against the top teams in South Dublin, and finished a credible third in their league. We are already looking forward to next year and the inclusion of these players on our senior team. In addition our Games Promotion Officer, Aisling Farrelly, from Templeogue Synge Street, has continued to train various classes both during and after school. We are extremely fortunate to have the services of such a dedicated and enthusiastic coach such as Aisling who along with Junior and Senior Football Coaches Mr. Kenneth Kerins, Mr. Lorcan Coyle and Mr. Ian Matthews who do such Trojan work for our school.
Hurling: Our Hurling season is now well under way. The boys of both the Junior and Senior teams coached by Ms Dempsey, Mr Pat Robinson and Mr Gearoid Ó’Fátharta, began training after the Halloween break. With big numbers attending we are looking forward to a great campaign after Christmas with full hopes of building on last year’s achievements where both semi finals were reached. We would also like to acknowledge the huge work that our local club Faughs have been doing, both during and after school. A huge 'Thank You' to our superb coaches David Needham and Noeleen Firth.
Olympic Handball: The 6th class boys played in a School League, the final of which took place on Wednesday 6th December between Tiernan’s Team and Alex’s Team. Fiona and Fergal O’Brien were there to present the Cormac O’Brien Cup to Alex’s team. It was a very exciting match ending in a 13-12 win for Alex. Well done to all the boys. The trials for the U11 teams have taken place and the Senior and U 11 teams have now been selected. The Inter School League starts in January, so best of luck to all the teams. The teams are coached by Mary Kneafsey, Aileen Dune and Linda Pléamonn.
Swimming: We would like to congratulate the boys who represented the school in the Leinster Swimming Finals in the National Aquatic Centre. Congratulations to Rory Fleming who came 5th overall in the All Ireland Finals.

GET WELL SOON: On a personal note and on behalf of the entire school community, I would like to extend our very best wishes to Fr. Colleran who has been unwell recently. Fr. Colleran has always shown great interest in the workings of our school and has been a tremendous support and a fount of wisdom and knowledge on which we have relied heavily over the years. Sláinte an bhradáin chuige.

Nollaig Shona agus Ath-bhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise daoibh go léir.
Dermot Lynch
PRINCIPAL, B.N.S.

SCHOOL CALENDAR 2006/2007
Christmas Holidays – Friday December 22nd - Close at 12 noon School re-opens Monday 8th January 2007 at 9.00 a.m.
Mid Term Break – School Closed Wednesday 21st February – Friday 23rd February (inclusive)
Monday 19th March – School Closed – St. Patrick’s Day Holiday
Easter Holidays - Friday 30th March – Close at 12 noon
School re-opens Monday 16th April at 9.00 a.m.
Friday 4th May – School Closed – May Bank Holiday Weekend
Monday 7th May – School Closed – May Bank Holiday
Friday 1st June – School Closed – June Bank Holiday Weekend
Monday 4th June – School Closed – June Bank Holiday
Summer Holidays - Friday 29th June - Close at 12 noon