St. Pius X Boys' National School
June 2007
JUNE 2007 NEWSLETTER
Who was it who said, “Tempus Fugit”? One smart guy. We’re at the end of another year and we’re left wondering where the time went. I would like to express my gratitude to the parents for their support throughout the year. I would also like to commend the children for their superb attitude and application and their impeccable behaviour. As they say , “ Briseann an duchas trí shuile an chait “STAFF: A special word of thanks to our wonderful staff whose dedication, application, commitment and co-operation has been exemplary.
GRADUATION: We want to wish the 6th class boys well as they progress to Secondary School in the autumn. They have been a pleasure to teach and are a credit to themselves and to you their parents. We have no doubt that they will continue to do extremely well in the next phase of their school lives.
BISHOP’S VISIT: The school hosted a reception for Bishop Eamonn Walsh on Friday 22nd June at the invitation of the 6th classes. Bishop Eamonn celebrated Mass in St. Pius X Church attended by all classes from 2nd to 6th. He then blessed our new building and accepted a gift on behalf of Fr. Colleran who unfortunately was unable to be with us due to illness. This gift, a carving in walnut, was specially commissioned by the Board of Management to acknowledge Fr. Colleran’s enormous contribution to the school over a quarter of a century.
CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOM: We would like to warmly welcome Claire Rynne as the new Chairperson of the Board of Management and from the wonderful start she has made, I am confident she will continue to make an equally impressive contribution to the life of the school and I look forward to working with her and the Board ‘as seo amach’.
RETIREMENTS: We want to offer our very best wishes to Mary Kneafsey on the occasion of her retirement from St. Pius X Boys National School. Mary has given the school loyal, dedicated and committed service for thirty five years. She is the epitome of a wonderful Infant Teacher and her expertise will be sorely missed. Mary was a teacher in the true sense of the word educo - drawing out and developing every child in her care. She watched their progress through Primary and Secondary school and was very proud of their achievements in later life as witnessed by her delight in seeing a past pupil becoming Chairperson of our sister school! We also want to wish the very best to Niomh Madigan who has been with us for over six years. Niomh has left an indelible mark on the school with her organized, efficient and above all extremely friendly outgoing manner. She has been a great support to teachers, children and parents alike and will be missed. Clare’s gain is St. Pius X BNS loss. We further want to offer our warmest wishes to Mary Ryan on her retirement from St. Pius X GNS. Mary has given years of sterling service to the Girls’ school but has also been a wonderful colleague, friend and support to teachers in the Boys school. We will all miss her particular brand of Kerry wit and repartee and hope she has a long and happy retirement. Ní bheidh a leithéidí ann arís.
SACRAMENTS First Holy Communion and Confirmation were two of the highlights of the school year. The teachers of 2nd Class and 6th Class did Trojan work in preparing the boys for these sacraments and this was very evident on both occasions. I would like to thank most sincerely Ms. Grennan, Ms. Elliott,, Ms O’Neill and Mr. Coyle for making both days very special for the boys and their families. Both 6th classes have offered to donate some of their Confirmation Money to charity. Ms O’Neill’s class are donating to the Irish Cancer Research Fund and Mr. Coyle’s are donating to The Hospice in Harold’s Cross.
INDUCTION: An induction night for New Entrants was held in the school recently in the new building. There was a very large turnout of parents all of whom were very impressed with the high tech nature of the presentation. Apparently the new Interactive Whiteboard created quite a stir. We hope to start fundraising with the aim of equipping every classroom with an Interactive Whiteboard such has been the impact in the Science Room. We realise this will be a huge task, but we know that with the support shown heretofore by our parent body we will succeed.
SPORT: Hurling, Gaelic Football, Olympic Handball and Golf provided opportunities for many boys to participate and excel in the sporting area.
Olympic Handball The Senior team captained by Emmett Anderson was narrowly defeated in the All Ireland Schools Final in Maynooth on Wednesday 20th June. They beat St. Oliver’s of Navan and St. Kevin’s of Kilnamanagh and were narrowly defeated by Oranmore, Galway in a very exciting final! Top scorers on the day were Emmett Anderson, Eoghan Haddock and Tiarnan Creagh. Carl Sandford was brilliant in goal once again. We had great support from parents and the Senior Girls Handball team who also won silver on the day. Very well done also to the Juniors who were beaten by one goal in the Dublin Finals on Wednesday. They will go all the way next year!
Gaelic Football The 3rd & 4th class Tournament Semi Finals and Final will took on Wednesday in Bushy Park. This tournament has been a fantastic success and all players have enjoyed it immensely. The 5th classes have been busy preparing for next season. As the standard shown is so high it seems as if most of our Senior team will comprise of 6th class boys next year.
Hurling Our Junior Team won the Frank Cahill Cup this year for the first time . This was a magnificent victory and was well deserved by the boys after a tough year’s training. A big THANK YOU to all the parents and staff who supported both the Junior & Senior teams this year. Many thanks to Pat Robinson and Gearóid Ó’Fáthárta for all their work with the teams. We would like to thank Dave Needham from Faughs for all his support during the year and we look forward to a great campaign next year.
The hurlers of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes finished out the year on a high with a big blitz in Faughs Hurling Club. In all about 120 pupils attended and a great day was had by all.
Golf A very successful Castle Schools Cup Tournament was had by all. St. Pius X played extremely well on the day and it was a great pleasure to meet and photograph the two PGA professionals Gary Murphy and Gary Evans respectively. Many thanks and much appreciation to organisers and coordinators in the school – Valerie O’Nuallain, Vincent Ryan, Lorcan Coyle and Gearóid Ó’Fáthárta. Looking forward to a successful season in the autumn and hopefully many new recruits will join the ranks.
SCHOOL CHOIR: On Saturday 16th June twenty boys from A. Purcell’s and I. Matthews classes performed with the National Children’s Choir in the National Concert Hall. This concert marked the end of Sean Cramer’s involvement as conductor. He will continue as director of the National Children’s Choir. Were it not for Sean’s vision, energy and drive our children and many thousands like them would not have been exposed to such a varied repertoire or performed in such venues as the National Concert Hall and the National Arena. For this we owe Sean a great debt of gratitude. We would also like to express our appreciation to Anne Purcell for her sterling efforts in this endeavour.
BOOKLISTS: Booklists have been handed out to the classes and copies of our booklists will be available in Rathfarnham School Supply, Rathfarnham Shopping Centre and on our website www.piusxbns.ie for those that are mislaid! SCHOOL UNIFORM: A school uniform sale will take place on Wednesday 29th AUGUST from 12p.m. - 1 p.m. in the school Hall. School Crests and ties will also be available in the office.
VOUCHERS: We would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who made the effort to send in their Tesco Tokens. They will go a long way towards the acquiring of computers, headphones and computer software for the school. Finally I would to thank everybody who contributed so much towards making this year such a successful one, Children, Teachers, Parents, Board of Management, Parents Association and indeed everyone associated with the school.
I would like to wish you all a summer of smiles and sunshine and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 3rd September.
Guím rath Dé oraibh agus Samhradh sona taitneamhach daoibh go léir.
Dermot Lynch
PRINCIPAL, B.N.S