St. Peter's Primary Bray Blog

Hi everyone, we hope you’re enjoying the summer break! It’s so hard to believe that we have reached the halfway mark in our holidays, time is flying.

Since today is a rainy day it’s a perfect one to stay in and watch some interesting videos online.  One of our favourite websites in school is TED.com. It’s a really great site where you can watch very interesting talks. The basis for each talk is that it has to be ‘an idea worth spreading’ and TED stands for Technology, Education and Design.

One of Ms. Brennan’s favourite talks is from child prodigy Adora Svitak. Adora says the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups’ willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.

What do you think? We think she’s onto something! One of the reasons we love to blog here is that we (as teachers) feel we can learn from all of you. Adora makes some great points about the views and power of children as you are all the voice of the future. Watch her video, maybe she’ll convince you to run for Student Council next year! Talk to you soon!

Heading into the Summer holidays, we’re all looking for something new to read and we’d love to see all our boys (and girls!) get stuck into a good book over the Summer! There are some fantastic bookshops in Bray, like Dubray or Bookstation, and online shops like amazon.co.uk and bookdepository.co.uk also have some great deals on books. Also, the local library has many of the books listed below on their shelves and the library staff would be happy to help you to choose something that would suit you!

Kim Harte from http://www.kimharte.org/ recommended some fantastic books, if anyone is looking for some tips! Kim loves children’s literature and often appears on Ireland AM to make suggestions for books for children and young adults. Also, from checking out her list below, we can confirm that she has EXCELLENT taste in books! (more…)

On behalf of everyone in St. Peter’s, we would like to say a huge thank you for all the kindness and support you have shown the school over the past year. It was a great year with many highlights and I’m already looking forward to the coming year. In August, we will make history in St. Peter’s when we enrol the first group of girls in over 170 years. This, amongst other exciting plans, will make it a year to remember.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff for their commitment and dedication to the school this year, and a special word of thanks and good wishes to Mr. Curran and Lily who will retire this summer. Wishing you the best of happiness for the future.

Finally, where would we be without our fabulous boys? They have worked really hard and we are so proud of them.

I hope you all have a safe and happy summer and see you at the end of August!

All the best,

Emer Whyte (Principal)

End of year cake for the boys, as made by Susan in Hollyoaks!

… not forgetting some cakes for the staff! Thanks Ms. Hyland!

The boys in 2nd Class were delighted to celebrate Ellie’s 1st birthday on the 27th June. Ellie was the most wonderful teacher for the Roots of Empathy programme and it was a lovely way to finish off the year.

Paddy, Ms. Brennan and Mr. Kinsella would like to thank Ellie’s Mam Catherine for bringing in party bags and a cake for the boys. Happy birthday Ellie!

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We have many treasured memories from this school year, and today’s school tour will stand out as one of the best. We went to Fort Lucan in Dublin and we had a fantastic time, with all the students behaving brilliantly. Many thanks to Karen for all of her time spent in planning the tour. Many of the boys are already thinking of their next trip out to Lucan!

Here is a short slideshow of images from our day out! If you can’t see it, please click here.

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

It’s hard to believe that we are already well underway with our plans for the next school year, just as we are saying farewell to the great memories of 2012-2013. Below are the booklists for the year ahead, if you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Find the 2nd Class booklist for 2013-2014 here

Find the 3rd Class booklist for 2013-2014 here

Find the 4th Class booklist for 2013-2014 here

Find Ms Hyland’s Class booklist for 2013-2014 here

Find the 5th Class booklist for 2013-2014 here

Find the 6th Class booklist for 2013-2014 here

On Tuesday, we had our annual student-teacher soccer match between 6th class and the staff.

After weeks of anticipation and plenty of ‘friendly banter’ between both sides, we were all really looking forward to tipoff. Karl Brauner kindly agreed to referee the game (brave man!) and we were delighted that so many of our families and members of the community came to support the players (although it has to be said that the students were the more popular team!) (more…)

I would like to say a huge thank you for the tremendous show of support that we had at our end of year celebration. It was great to see so many of you there. The atmosphere in the school was fantastic and the main stars of the show sang their hearts out. It was lovely to see the boys take such pride in their work in the classrooms. Thanks also to the Parents’ Committee for providing refreshments. A great night was had by all and I know the teachers all felt so proud of their boys.

Have a look at some of the many photos and short animoto video of the night (if you can’t see the slideshow you can find it here) and see who you can spot. We hope you liked our Jungle Book theme and had a great night singing the classics!

Warm regards,

Emer (Principal)

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

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If you can’t see the slideshow, you can find it here – Graduation 2013

Last night, the school hosted a very special event – sixth class graduation.

This year, the theme was the film ‘Up’. There was a Wilderness Explorer troop display with the badges we could give the boys for their efforts during the year. There was an adventure book in the library with photos from their time in the school. Adam, Jake and Chris made a model of the school and there were plenty of balloons. Thanks to Susan from Hollyoaks Montessori who provided cake pop balloons as part of the refreshments! Thanks also to the wonderful Parents Association, who provided refreshments for the whole group. (more…)

Today saw the last Singing Club of 2012-13. The children celebrated with a party and they shared great memories of the past few months. Next year, they are looking forward to once again taking part in the Hallelujah Choir in Citywest in December. Thanks to all of the boys for taking part and huge thanks to Paddy and Ms. Sexton for all their hard work in leading the club. The boys say that Ms. Sexton is the next Simon Cowell in the making!