News & Events 2023/2024

June 2024

Past pupil Sam Curits made his Premier League debut for Sheffield United towards the end of the season. Everyone at St. Stephen's N.S. is very proud of Sam and what he has achieved so far. He worked diligently to get where he is and we're looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 

A hugely successful careers day for our 6th classes this year

May 2024

Diversity Fair

St. Stephens celebrated our school’s different nationalities and cultures in our annual “Diversity Fair”. This was an opportunity for children to represent a culture or nationality that was important to them. The children displayed beautiful clothes, languages, food, art, songs, poetry as well as teaching us interesting facts. Those watching and participating thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Cineáltas

Over the last few months, our school has placed an even greater emphasis on ensuring our school is a bully free zone. Our Student Council kept the momentum going towards ensuring that everyone embraces kindness & friendship and in particular 'not being a bystander' where there is bullying or even the potential for bullying, with weekly activities and information.

To celebrate this proactive work on anti-bullying, we raised our Cineáltas Flag this morning. Recipients of the kindness & friendship awards in Infants - 2nd classes and the 'Not Being a Bystander' award from 3rd - 6th classes (awarded during the school Assembly) joined in raising our flag. 

We are proud to be a Cineáltas (Kindness) School!

We had a brilliant day at our School Marathon Relay on 8 May 2024.  Ms Madden definitely must have been in training.

We so appreciate the support from you our parents for this fundraising event and sincere thanks to our Parent's Council who organise and co-host the event each year.

The children are so good - the fundraising cards are piling up and the race for the Pizza Party and Fun Day is definitely on!  All monies raised will go towards resources for the children.

A huge thank you to all involved.

Maidin Gaelach

Bhain na páistí an-taitneamh as an 'Maidin Gaelach' ar scoil inniú, an 2ú Bealtaine. Bhí siad ag labhairt Gaeilge i rith na maidine, ag imirt cluichí trí Ghaeilge, ag damhsa, agus an rud is tábhachtaí - bhí spórt agus spraoi acu. Maith sibh go léir!

The children really enjoyed the 'Maidin Gaelach' at school today, the 2nd May. They spoke Irish during the morning, played games through Irish, danced, and most importantly - they had fun. Well done everybody!

 

Calendar of Events for May and June in St Stephen's NS:

May and June and very busy months here in St Stephen's and hopefully we will have some nice weather for the children to get outdoors and enjoy all the different activities.

Friday 3rd May School Closed.

Monday 6th May Bank Holiday.

Marathon Relay Fundraiser 8th May: This was a very sucessful and fun day organised by the Parents Council last year. The children are looking forward to it again this year and sponsorship cards will be given out to all children.

Infant Open Day - 14th May from 12.30 - 1.30 pm. Jnr and Snr Infants finish early @ 12 o clock to allow the new infants to come in to visit their classroom and meet their teachers.

Glenveigh Builders will visit 3rd and 4th classes on 9th/10th May to talk about Safety on Building Sites.

Standardised Testing (1st to 6th classes) will take place on May 14th (Literacy), 16th (Maths) and 21st/22nd (Irish).

First Holy Communions for the children in 2nd class - 18th May Johnstown Church.

Inclusion/Diversity Day - 20th May celebrating our multicultural school community.

The school focus in May will be in relation to anti bullying and on 24th May we will be raising our Cinealtas Flag recognising that St Stephen's promotes an ethos and culture of antibulling. Assembly will also take place on the 24th.

Careers Day for 6th classes will take place on 10th June.

School Tours - all classes have been informed of the dates and venues for their tour.

Sports Days for all classes will take place in June.

St Stephen's NS founded on 1st September 2003 - we will celebrate 20 years of teaching and learning in St Stephen's on 11th June.

School Reports will be available on Aladdin on 12th June and you will also be informed that day of your class teacher for the next academic year.

6th Class Graduation and Awards - Parents will be invited in on June 19th as we say farewell to our 6th class pupils.

Wednesday 26th June - school closes for summer holidays.

 

March 2024

Dear Parents,

As we come to the Easter Break, we would like to wish everyone a really enjoyable break. 

Term 2 has been another busy one; very positive with lots of good work achieved  by the children and their teachers, along with the fun activities of World Book Day & Charachters, Seachtain na Gaeilge & Green Day, Down Syndrome Blue Day with crazy socks, cake sales and lots more. 

A special word of congratulations also to the children from 6th class who received the sacrament of Confirmation, they were amazing and we're so proud of them as we are of all our 6th class young people. We have no doubt; they will do great things as they grow in life.

In Term 3 we look forward to continuing the positive learning experiences with plenty of fun events and activities sprinkled in; school tours, sport's days, Science days, Art Exhibition & lots more.

We are back to school on Monday,  April 8th but in  the meantime enjoy the break away from the routine and hopefully we will get some sunny days.

 

Yours sincerely,

Fidelma Nolan (Principal)

Seachtain na Gaeilge

Ceolchoirm Fifth and Sixth Classes

Ceolchoirm Junior Infants to First Class

 

February 2024

Chess Tournament

24 boys and girls from 5th and 6th classes in St Stephen's NS participated in the Ficheall Féile Primary School Chess Tournament in Duleek Boys NS on 23 February.  It was a great occasion and the boys and girls were excellent and a credit to our school.  Well done to all involved and we are so proud of them.

Teachers:  Ms Wilson/Ms Collier

 

Maidin Gaelach

Maidin Gaelach

Bhi ár gcéad “Maidin Gaelach” again sa scoil inniu, An Aoine 2ú Feabhra. Bhí spórt is spraoi sna ranganna ar fad agus bhí neart Gaeilge le cloisteáil timpeall na scoile! Bhain na daltaí an-taitneamh

as na himeachtaí éagsúla a bhi ar siúl. Maith sibh!

We had our first “Maidin Gaelach” in the school today, Friday February 2^nd. There were lots of activities in the classes and it was a delight to hear the pupils speaking Irish around the school. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the many and varied activities which the teachers had organised. The activities included games, conversations, singing, Bingo, card games and dancing. While participating in these activities the children had the opportunity to use the Irish they have learned in class in a purposeful and fun way. Well done to everyone. A great success with more to follow!

January 2024

Term 2 is well and truly underway and the following are just some of the events taking place over the next months:

EVENTS FOR TERM 2 AND 3:

The following events will take place:

• Junior Infant P/T Meetings - February 20 - 22 - option of phone or face to face meetings for parents.

• Food Dudes takes place from Jan 11th for two weeks.

• STEAM Robotics Jan 17th with 2 classes from Snr Infants, lst class, 3rd class and 5th classes.

• Cycle Safe lessons for 5th classes starting 24 and 25 Jan for 8 weeks in Mr O'Brien's and Mr Marmion's classes.

• Catholic School's will be celebrated in the week of Jan 21 - 27/St Bridget's Day February 1st (Thursday).

• Internet Safety for 5th and 6th classes with the company Don't Be Mean Behind your Screens) will take place on Jan 29th - Feb 1st.

• The final of the U11 Olympic Handball Team takes place on Feb 6th - we wish our team the very best of luck.

• Senior children will take part in a Soccer Tournament on March 1st - boys and March 15th - girls.

• Seachtain na Gaeilge will place on March 11th - 15th.

• NRIT Tests: 2nd Class - Feb 21st : 4th Class - Feb 22nd.

• Standardised Tests Dates: Drumcondra Literacy - May 14th

• Drumcondra Maths - May 16th

• Drumcondra Irish - May 23rd

• RSE Lessons will be taught in this term.

• RSE Accord booked for Term 3 for 6th class - May 21st and 22nd.

• GAA - Damien Sheridan GAA Coach has resumed GAA sessions with classes.

• Volleyball - we hope to introduce to classes.

 

December 2023

Dear Parents, Staff and  School Community,

We would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas. We have had a great Term 1 and we thank you as always for your support. The start to the year has been a busy one. We celebrated the children's participation in a variety of activities; the Intel Mini-Scientist, Maths & Coding week, Wellbeing & Friendship week, Anti-Bullying week and lots more. Our whole school Assemblies brought us together as a school community and enabled us to highlight the children's achievements and awards. We had fun with the Book Fair. We cheered on our senior students in their Gaelic Football games and our Olympic Handballers! We even had a visit from Santa and Mrs Claus thanks to our Parent's Council.

Changes to our staff are inevitable and this means that we wish Mr. Brennan (6th class teacher) every success and happiness as he takes up his new role as Principal in Moynalvy N.S. in Jan. 2024.

You were so very thoughtful of other families with the Hope Show Boxes. Our Christmas Carol Singers along with Ms. Mitchell & Ms. McCabe raised €331 for the Irish Cancer Society in Memory of a dear colleague and we held each other close and will continue to do so as families walk the difficult path of bereavement this Christmas. We especially remember our dear colleague Fiona (SNA) and Aideen (Herdman) and their families.

After the madness of the shopping and preparing, Christmas is a time to slow down and take time with those we love, enjoy the special moments this year.

We wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas and lots of good cheer for 2024!

Nollaig shona dhaoibh go léir.

Fidelma Nolan (Principal)

 

Wishing you all a very merry and safe Christmas, and a lovely new year!

We would love to share with you some of the memories from 2023 in our Christmas video

We hope all our pupils enjoyed the year here in St Stephen's, as much as we did!

 

It is with deep and profound sadness that we have learned that our dear colleague, Fiona McGuirk, SNA has passed away peacefully on Tuesday 12 December  after a brief illness.

Fiona was a very special member of our school staff. Her integrity and professionalism shone through but it was her love and care for children that set her apart.

Fiona will be hugely missed by the children, teachers and staff and the wider community of our school and we extend our deepest sympathies to Fiona’s family.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis.

St Stephen's are getting all ready for Christmas.

November 2023

Assembly

Some pictures from our First Assembly on 24 November.  It was a great occasion and one we will continue with throughout the academic year.

Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal

A huge thank you to all the students,parents and staff of St. Stephen's N.S., who donated shoeboxes for the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox appeal. 

St Stephen’s will have our first Assembly next Friday 24 November. It is a great opportunity to come together and celebrate our achievements as a school community. Our theme this month is RESPECT.

Junior infants to 2nd class will sing the song, "Circle of Friends" and 3rd to 6th class will sing, "Make a Good Choice". We are working towards being respectful, exploring how we can show respect and receive respect in return.

We will also be focusing this month on improving our handwriting skills.

October 2023

We have come to our Halloween Mid-term Break and as usual we have had a very busy start to Term 1.

September's return to school saw a strong emphasis on establishing postive classroom learning routines again but with lots of fun too with the after school clubs starting up again; Chess, Crafting, Lego Club, Fun Friday Club and others.

Our Senior girls and boys Gaelic Football Teams were very busy with their coaches preparing for the Cumman na Bunscoil school's competitions over the last number of weeks and we and their coaches, Máire Hegarty, Ronan Marmion, Kevin McCormack and Michael O'Neill are exceptionally proud of how they played and represented our school - well done!

We were very excited to welcome the Walterstown Ladies Football team to the school on October 25th to celebrate their impressive win in the Meath Junior A Final. They recieved a hero's welcome from the children as they were cheered into the school Gym and where they were asked lots of questions for the secret of their success, which they put down to dedicated hard work and teamwork. We wish the girls every sucess in the upcoming Leinster Championship.

Elections were held for the Parent's Representatives on the new Board of Management and we are delighted to welcome parents Gillian Richardson and Alan Casey and we wish them well as they join in the work of the new Board of Management beginning on December 1st, 2023.

The Scholastic Book Fair was held in October in the school gym under the careful guide of Ms. Higgns and capably supported by members of the Parent's Council for book sales. All our budding readers and authors availed of the opportunity to lose themselves in a world of words and illustrations and the excitement of the various characters and their adventures!

The 6th class Cake Sale was a day of utter scrumptiousness!! We are so appreciative; our parents for sending in all the yummy treats and the young people of 6th class for hosting the event. There were chocolaty smiles and secret bags of buns and cakes all around and that was just the teachers!!

Halloween Dress Up Day as always, provides the chance to be creative and our children and their parents were exceptionally creative this year with so many scary and interesting looks for the season of Halloween. The happy faces and the sound of children laughing and having fun make this a very special event each year.

Have a safe Halloween Break and we hope that all enjoy the down time!

Fidelma Nolan, Principal

 

6th Class pupils hosted their 1st cake sale on 25th of October.   Their work and enthusiasm for hosting this event was great and all proceeds will be used to purchase Coding, Science and Irish Resources for the school. Enjoy the pics....................

A very warm welcome back to all our children and to you our parents. We are delighted to be back and have lots of great plans for the year ahead. This morning we met all our new children starting in Junior Infants and in other classes throughout the school and we hope they will have a really happy year here in St. Stephen’s.

As Principal, I am delighted to be back with you again this year and I look forward to meeting you in the mornings and throughout the year at the various events ahead.

 

Important Health & Safety Notices;

1. Health & Safety: A reminder that children are not allowed to bring E-scooters on the Campus to school as per the directive on health & safety from the school’s Board of Management.

2. Please ensure that children bringing bicycles and scooters WALK on the Campus both to school and especially when leaving for home time. We ask for your support as parents to talk to your child about this important safety concern.

3. Please note that Mobile Phones, Smart watches, and all devices with internet access are not allowed in school – this is part of our Child Protection Strategy. 

 

Curriculum Information:

 Through Aladdin, you will have received an information notice about the New Curriculum in Maths which will be introduced this year and fully implemented in September 2024. 

 

Whole School Evaluation (WSE) by the Inspectorate

 We are awaiting the official report regarding the WSE from the Inspectorate. We were delighted with the outcome of the inspection and a link to the full report will be placed on the school’s website when available. Congratulations and well done to the whole school community. 

 

Again, welcome back to all and we look forward to a very productive and busy year ahead.

 

 

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