Newsletter – Term 2 (March 2025)

Mad Hatters Fundraising Walk

Our annual Mad Hatters Walk will take place on Friday 11th April next. Each year the boys outdo themselves with the wonderful creations that they make. This year, we have invited two guest judges, Ger Fitzsimons (local artist) and Alan Hayes (Deputy Mayor), to undertake the incredibly difficult task of choosing the best overall winner.

The Infants, 1st and 2nd Classes will go on their walk at approximately 9:40am. 3rd to 6th Classes will go on their walk at 11:15am approx. All funds raised will go to support and maintain ICT/IT within the school. The money raised from last year’s walk was used to purchase the information monitor at Ms. Scully’s office gate and our new website.

I.T /ICT

We have been making great strides in improving all things I.T in St Lorcan’s. We have launched a new website which is being updated regularly. Please visit the website for information about the activities and things going on in the school. You can also visit your son’s class to see the wonderful activities they take part in.

Our two 5th Classes took part in a Coding Workshop facilitated by Microsoft on Friday 28th March. The boys really enjoyed this experienced and learned lots of new I.T skills.

We have introduced a new learning platform called Olus Education for all children from 1st to 6th class. This program is designed to empower teachers to teach essential IT skills using step-by-step lessons for students. Students received individual accounts with learning content that syncs with lesson plans available to teachers on their teacher portal.  Olus Education ensures that teachers and pupils have access to the skills needed to navigate the Chrome Books and Google Workspace. Lessons will also include coding, internet safety and other programs over the next year. This is a big investment which will help to improve the children’s I.T literacy.

Active Flag Committee - Yard Games

Our Active Flag Committee continue to lead the yard games during break times. These games are played by the infant classes and 1st to 3rd every week at big lunch. From Monday to Thursday each week boys from 5th and 6th class set up and monitor games on the yard for the boys from Junior Infants to 2nd class to play. These include skittles, hula hoops, penalty shoot outs, target throwing and much more! Huge credit must be given to the boys from 5th and 6th class who give up one lunch every week to ensure the yard games can continue for the younger classes.

Swimming

Swimming continues every Wednesday morning in Stewarts swimming pool. 5th class boys are currently completing their 6-week block and 6th class will begin after the Easter holidays. By the end of June swimming lessons will have been offered to all boys in the school from 3rd class up to 6th class. The lessons have proved to have been a great success, and we are delighted that so many boys have had the opportunity to avail of lessons for such an important life skill.

Gymnastics Equipment

The school recently purchased a new spring board and gymnastics vault for use in PE lessons in the school using the money that was won through the WEE Ireland battery colleting competition last year. It is hoped this new equipment will be a great benefit to teachers and pupils when engaging in gymnastics lessons in the school.

FAI Soccer Coaching

We are delighted to have two past pupils John Donohue and Sean Connell back with us since the end of February. Past pupils, John and Sean are on placement with the school through the FAI. They are currently taking four classes for a session each week where they teach basic soccer skills.

St. Pat’s Athletic FC

We have partnered with St. Pat’s Athletic who have generously offered us the opportunity to take part in their Saints and Scholars Numeracy Programme. They work in class teaching numeracy for 30 minutes and then take the class outside for 30 minutes of football skills and games. Both 2nd Classes have completed five-week blocks each and 3rd Class have started this week. Thank you to Anthony Delaney for arranging this for the school.

GAA

GAA coaching continues every Friday morning with Peter Elliott. This is great opportunity for boys to continue to develop their skills in both hurling and Gaelic football. By the end of June all classes in the school will have had at least four weeks of coaching with Peter.

Chess

A huge congratulations to the 32 pupils from our school who took part in the Féile Fichille Chess Tournament at St. Patrick's NS in Diswellstown, Dublin 15, on February 14th, 2025. These talented chess players faced off in six challenging 20-minute rounds throughout the day, competing alongside 72 students from schools across the Dublin West region. In preparation for the tournament, our boys dedicated several weeks to practicing, honing their strategies, and perfecting their skills. We are looking forward to Féile Fichille 2026! Please check out our webpage for more information and pictures.

New Maths Curriculum Training Day

On Friday, 7th March, teachers attended a training day on the New Primary Maths Curriculum. The new curriculum is based on children learning mathematical concepts through fun and playful methods. It also encourages teachers to make mathematical concepts more meaningful in the lives of children and show how Maths is all around us. This day was very informative and beneficial for us!

Science Week 

Science Week will take place in St. Lorcan’s from the 31st March-4th April. Each day will have a different theme; teaching the different aspects of science. Monday will be based on Biology where the children will be exploring the habitats around the school and researching climate activists. Each class will have a scientist to research as the week progresses, and 3rd- 6th will work on an egg drop challenge also! Thursday will be a day of experiments for each class, and on Friday, the children have a chance to dress up as a scientist, while Junior Infants-2nd class watch the egg drop! It will be a great week!

Science Blast in the RDS

Well done to Mr. Lee’s 6th Class who entered a project on ‘Sleep’ at the Science Blast Event in the RDS on the 3rd March last. The boys represented our school very well. They had an opportunity to view all the other projects on display. The judge gave them wonderful feedback on their project and they received an award for their entry.

Sensory Garden

We will be planting our sensory garden in the coming week. The local Pink Ladies group have kindly offered their knowledge and expertise and will help us with planting the garden. I would like to thank them for taking the time to help us with this project.

Green Schools

On the 11th of March, Waterstown Park hosted a special oak tree planting event as part of Biodiversity Week 2025. The event was attended by the Green School Committee, who played an active role in the planting process. Deputy Mayor Alan Hayes gave an inspiring speech, highlighting the importance of preserving local biodiversity and the vital role trees play in protecting the environment.

Football/Soccer Team

The school's football team has had an impressive start to the season, with two strong wins under their belt. Their first game was a victory against St. Ultan's NS, Cherry Orchard (9-1), followed by another win in their second league match against St. Michael's, Ballyfermot (6-2). Two more exciting league games ahead—one against Mary Queen of Angels, Ballyfermot and another against St. Bernadette’s, Clondalkin. The only loss so far was a cup game against St. Joseph’s, Clondalkin. The team is looking forward to continuing their success and showing off their skills and sportsmanship on the field.

Cumann na mBunscol – Hurling

The school's hurling team has completed its trials, and the squad is now made up of talented pupils from 5th and 6th class. Their first game is scheduled for the 10th of April against Scoil Mhuire NS, Woodview, Lucan. After the Easter holidays, they will face two more group games against Scoil Áine Naofa, Esker and Gaelscoil Naomh Pádraig, Lucan. We wish the team the best of luck as they prepare for their upcoming matches and aim for success on the field!

Palmerstown Library

We have created a partnership with Palmerstown Library where a different class visits the library each week. The staff in the library have said how brilliant it is to have the boys in the library and would love if any parent would like to bring their son in after school. They would be delighted to welcome you. A huge thanks to Kym Smyth for taking time each week to supervise the classes as they walk to and from the library.

Pocket Forest

Pocket Forests is a social enterprise, accelerating social change through the power of people and plants. Pocket Forests was set up in Dublin in 2020 by Ashe Conrad-Jones and Catherine Cleary. A pocket forest is a method of planting native trees, shrubs and groundcover plants in small urban areas. They follow some of the Miyawaki technique. Akira Miyawaki was a Japanese botanist who pioneered a technique for growing a forest of native trees, with dense, mixed native planting which mimics the layers of a natural forest. St. Lorcan’s has teamed up with Pocket Forests and have planted a small area on our raised grass. We look forward to watching it grow and thrive in the coming months and years.

We also have our Grow it Yourself (www.giy.ie) planter boxes planted with onions and carrots on the same raised area.

Parents’ Association

A huge thank you to our Parents’ Association for the colourful benches and wall mounted games they purchased for our school yard. A special thank you to Tim McCann for taking time over the Bank Holiday weekend to mount the games on the different walls around the school. The children are delighted with them and love playing the different games during their breaktime. The games include Chess, Snakes and Ladders, 4-in-a Row, Xs and Os, Ludo and a Race Around Palmerstown game.

The PA will be organising and running the upcoming Communion Breakfasts, as well as the 6th Class Graduation Prayer Service. If you would like to help out with the PA, please see the dedicated PA page on our school website for further information.

Community Choir

As part of the new Wellbeing Curriculum, we have a Community Choir in St Lorcan’s BNS. The boys come together once a fortnight to sing songs of their own choosing. The aim of our choir is to promote a sense of wellbeing and joy, and to sing for enjoyment. Singing helps to regulate the nervous system and helps bring about peace and calm.

Members of our choir have visited Maryfield Nursing Home previously and sung for the elderly residents of Palmerstown also in our own school hall. It is important to promote citizenship and giving back to the community and the choir has been a wonderful way of doing that. We hope that the choir can continue to do this for the remainder of the academic year.

First Reconciliation

Congratulations to our two 2nd Classes who made their First Confession on Monday 10th March in St. Philomena’s Church.

REMINDERS

Healthy Eating

A reminder that St Lorcan’s BNS is a Healthy Eating School with a small treat allowed on Friday’s. Please note we are also a Nut-Free School. We have a number of pupils who have severe allergies.

Homework

I encourage every parent to monitor and support their child with their homework each day. If your child is having trouble with homework, please contact your son’s teacher as soon as possible to discuss.

Punctuality

We remind parents of the importance of your son coming to school on time. A good start to the day supports your child settling into class and being ready for learning. Classes start at 08:50. The school gates are open between 08:40 and 09:00.

Dates for your Diary

School Closures:

·       Half Day Closure Friday 4th April @12 noon – Bí Cinealta Staff Consultation

·       Easter Holidays:

School closes on Friday 11th at normal times.

School re-opens on Monday 28thApril

·       May Bank Holiday

School closed Monday 5th May

·       June Bank Holiday

School closed Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd June

Sacraments 2025

Sacrament of First Holy Communion

Ms. Somers’s 2nd Class - 10th May 2025

Mr. Walsh's 2nd Class - 17th May 2025

Sacrament of Confirmation 

Ms. Hodgin's 6th Class - 9th May 2025

Mr. Lee's 6th Class - 16th May 2025

              Newsletter – Term 1 (november 2024)

 New School Website

We have launched our new website. It can be reached at www.stlorcans.com. It is still in the early stages of development. Certain pages still need to be updated and staff training on how to do this will take place over the coming weeks. Watch this space!

Admissions

Admissions for 2025/26 are now open. Application forms can be found on our new website

New Classroom – Room 17

Our new Autism Class opened in September. The class are doing wonderful work with their teacher Ms. Herbert and SNAs, Ms. O’ Kearney and Ms. Greene. This class is a wonderful addition to the St. Lorcan’s community.

Parent Teacher Meetings

PTM will take place next week, 25th November. Aladdin Connect is now closed for making appointments, so your son’s teacher will contact you to assign a time. Please arrive at your son’s classroom at your allocated time, bearing in mind that meetings will only last approximately 10 minutes. This is a great opportunity to ask questions about your son’s progress or any school related issues.

  Assembly

Our monthly assemblies take place on the last Thursday of each month. Classes are recognised for their great work and individual awards are presented.

As principal, I take morning assemblies with the classes each week and use this time to chat with the boys about school and everything that is happening in St. Lorcan’s. We always use this time to go over the school rules and expectations for behaviour

 Maths Week

Maths Week took place on the 14-18th October in our school. 

The boys took part in lots of fun activities, and used their Maths Eyes to see that Maths is all around! Each class paired up with another to complete a Maths Trail. 

We set up a Maths Room with lots of fun activities that each class got to participate in, like Sudoku, Time and Problem-Solving activities. Each class looked at riddles and dingbats and tried to solve them. 

Boys participated in a competition to estimate “How Much Pasta is in the Jar?” We had great fun counting 772 pieces!

The IT Committee also taught each class some basic coding skills on Scratch app!

It’s fair to say, we all enjoyed Maths Week in our school!

  Book Fair

There was great excitement in the school when the Book Fair arrived. The children from all classes had a wonderful time choosing from the lovely selection of books on offer. Thank you to the Parents Association who helped to ensure the fair ran smoothly.

  Green Schools

The Green School Committee in our school is making impressive progress in promoting

sustainability and environmental awareness. Recently, we welcomed four raised

gardening beds from 'Grow at School,' which will enhance our outdoor learning

opportunities. Ben Molloy, 6th Class, also made a remarkable contribution over the mid-term break by creating a detailed habit map of our school that will be instrumental in our efforts to achieve the next green flag focused on biodiversity. Additionally, our dedicated committee members have been actively involved in litter picking every Monday and Friday, working tirelessly to keep our school grounds clean and green. Together, these initiatives reflect our collective commitment to a greener future!

 New Primary Curriculum

The Department of Education have developed a new curriculum for primary schools. This curriculum will be implemented over the coming years. Wellbeing makes up a large section of the curriculum. In our efforts to ensure wellbeing among our pupils, we have commenced a community choir. This choir is led by Ms. Cummins. Classes from 3rd to 6th gather in the school hall to sing songs which they have chosen. The

community choir is all about singing for enjoyment. We hope to build on this initiative     in the future and look forward to seeing how it develops.

Bí Cinealta – New Anti-Bullying Framework

The Department of Education have released a new framework to deal with issues of bullying in schools. This framework is called “Bí Cinealta,” which means “Be Kind.” During this academic year, schools are required to engage with the framework and have a draft policy in place to be ratified by the Board of Management, ready for September 2025.

  Child Safeguarding

All school staff members are Garda vetted in line with up-to-date Child Safeguarding procedures. The school’s Principal, Ms. Greally, is the Designated Liaison Person (DLP) for Child Safeguarding and Ms. Geraghty (the Deputy Principal), is the Deputy Designated Liaison Person (DDLP).

Please be advised that all teachers are Mandated Reporters. This means that if a child makes a disclosure, we must contact Tusla for advice, which we will always follow. Often, this can lead to a report being made to Tusla. All such incidents are treated with discretion and confidentiality is upheld.

  Sport

Peter Elliott continues with coaching every Friday.

Gaelic Football: Gaelic Football has ended for this year, however our football team had an outstanding season, finishing at the top of their division with some brilliant performances and a true team effort. Their hard work and determination throughout the campaign were clear, but despite their impressive run, they were unlucky to fall short in the county quarter-final, losing to Our Lady of Good Counsel BNS from Dun Laoghaire in a tightly contested match. While the result was disappointing, the team's achievements this year are a testament to their skill and commitment, and they can take pride in the progress they've made. 

As we look ahead to the new year, our school has several exciting events to look forward to.

Chess: We’ll be sending a strong team of 32 pupils to the chess tournament in Diswellstown, where we’re confident of making a strong showing. Mr. Graydon is currently working to introduce Chess in some of our middle classes as part of our Wellbeing work.

Soccer: In addition, our senior boys’ soccer team will be competing in both the FAI league and cup competitions, with high hopes of success.

Hurling: We also have the Cuman na mBunscol hurling competition on the horizon, where our players will be aiming to showcase their skills and represent the school

with pride. It’s shaping up to be an action-packed year filled with opportunities for growth and achievement.

Rugby: Rugby coaching has finished until after Christmas. We are delighted to hear of boys joining local rugby clubs and many are enjoying watching Autumn International Series.

Swimming: Swimming lessons are taking place in Stewarts Sports Centre every Wednesday. Mr. O’Mahony’s 4th Class have completed their block of lessons. Ms. Devine’s Class are currently attending.

Cycling: Our two 5th Classes are partaking in a seven-week programme which teaches the boys about how to be safe while cycling on our roads. This programme is an initiative of the South Dublin County Council and An Taisce. Thanks to Hugh Flood for introducing and leading this initiative. The boys are thoroughly enjoying it.

 Healthy Eating

A reminder that St Lorcan’s BNS is a Healthy Eating School with a small treat allowed on Friday’s. Please note we are also a Nut-Free School due to allergies

  Parents Association

Our wonderful PA have been working hard to raise money for our school. They have purchased some lovely colourful benches for the yard, along with lots of wall games and activities which the pupils can enjoy during their break times.

The Halloween Bucke Raffle raised €1,160. The children were delighted to be gifted a Halloween bag full of treats.

  Christmas Bake Sale

We are holding a Christmas Cake Sale on Friday 13th December. All pupils are invited to bake treats to sell on the day. The Parents’ Association will be holding a raffle with exciting prizes to be announced.

REMINDERS

 School Uniform

It is a requirement for all boys to wear their school uniform as outlined in our school’s dress code policy.

  Homework

I encourage every parent to monitor and support their child with their homework each day. If your child is having trouble with homework, please contact your son’s teacher as soon as possible to discuss.

Punctuality

We remind parents of the importance of your son coming to school on time. A good start to the day supports your child settling into class and being ready for learning. Classes start at 08:50. The school gates are open between 08:40 and 09:00.

 Dates for your Diary

School Closure: Friday November 29th for elections.

Bake Sale: Friday 13th December. Please extend an invitation to friends and   family to join us as we prepare for Christmas.

Christmas Holidays: School closes on Friday 20th December @12noon and reopens Tuesday 7th January 2025.

 Sacraments 2025

 Sacrament of First Holy Communion

Ms. Somers’ 2nd Class - 10th May 2025

Mr. Walsh's 2nd Class - 17th May 2025

 Sacrament of Confirmation 

Ms. Hodgin's 6th Class - 9th May 2025

Mr. Lee's 6th Class - 16th May 2025