As Principal of St. Fiach’s N.S., I am thrilled to welcome you to our vibrant and close-knit school community. Nestled in Ballinacree, our school is a place where children flourish academically, socially, and spiritually. At St. Fiach’s, we celebrate the individuality of each student, helping them develop into confident and compassionate individuals, fully aware of their unique talents and role in the world.
We are especially proud of our rich tradition of academic excellence, participation in sports and the arts, and our commitment to environmental sustainability through initiatives like the Green Flag program. Our dedicated staff fosters a spirit of curiosity and creativity, guiding students through a range of enriching activities, from Seachtain na Gaeilge Week to Active Week celebrations, where fun and learning go hand in hand.
Our Catholic ethos inspires us to create a nurturing environment where children can deepen their faith, develop lasting friendships, and cultivate a positive attitude towards life. Tá sé mar aidhm againn cabhrú le gach páiste a bheith sásta agus muiníneach, agus muid ag forbairt ár gcreideamh mar phobal láidir agus tacúil.
Go raibh míle maith agat as do spéis, agus tá súil againn go mbainfidh tú taitneamh as d’eolas a fháil faoi Scoil Naomh Fiach.
Ciara Uí Chonduibh
Príomhoide
Engineers week took place between 8th and 14th February. We invited Brian Cullen and Vincent Flanagan, 2 engineers from BD Floods, to come in and talk about their work to the children of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes.
The children really enjoyed the presentations from Brian and Vincent. They got a great insight of how a company like BD Floods works from day to day. They are a very big company that are involved in many big projects in Ireland and the UK, most notably St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin and Lincoln University in England.
We really appreciate Brian and Vincent for taking time out of their busy schedules to come in and talk to us. I’m sure you inspired some of our children to take a blast into the world of engineering in the future!
Brian and Vincent showing us some of their workThe children were very interested in what Brian and Vincent had to sayThey showed us a quarry that they draw sand and gravel fromThe machinery used in the quarries cost over €2 million!BD Floods provided the precast concrete for Watford F.C’s new stadium in England.
On Friday February 6th, Grandparents and special friends of children in 2nd and 6th classes were invited to a prayer service and afterwards to tea in the school. Some children presented a short summary of the project which had been compiled on one or more grandparent or special person in their lives, detailing their appreciation of and love for their special person. Many very beautiful wedding photographs were included in their projects and were much admired by all in the school afterwards. We will continue to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the role which grandparents play in our lives.
We really appreciated all who came for this wonderful day. Thanks also to our wonderful Parents’ Association who provided tea and buns, which was really appreciated.
We had a wonderful day on Sunday 1st February at the Peace Proms in the RDS. It was an early start but it was well worth it! We had the opportunity to perform, along with many other schools, in front of a large audience. The orchestra was incredible and we really enjoyed the guest performances also. Once again the children’s behaviour was impeccable and represented the school wonderfully. A special thanks to Mary McCabe for her assistance to Dr. Bennett, Mr. Farrell and Mrs. Smith.
Congratulations to Cormac, Emma, Rory and Mark on their wonderful achievement in winning the U13 Oldcastle Credit Union Quiz 2015. All children from 3rd to 6th class took part in the quiz and they all gave a great account of themselves. We are so proud of you all for once again representing the school with such distinction.
This programme is an entrepreneurial awareness and skills enhancement programme for primary school children. This programme aims to help children recognise enterprise and entrepreneurship and to foster an awareness and understanding of the entrepreneur’s role in the community therefore empowering the child to start to think and act with the initiative, creativity independence and ideas that are invaluable in the modern world.
But what am I good at? What are my strengths? What talents can I see in my classmates?
I have a solution to a problem…… What skills am I lacking to move this idea forward…
Pause and pitch…
Meet the Dragons 15th January 2015 Week 3
The ‘Meet the Dragons’ process is a vital part of the Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) and our groups prepared their presentations with some nervousness to meet the Dragons on a snowy, windy and extremely wet Thursday afternoon, 15th January last. Our chosen Dragons were Mr Barney Reilly, Entrepreneur and International businessman, Mr Patrick Twomey, Entrepreneur and International Human rights lawyer, Mrs Lorraine Smith, Deputy Principal with special interest in Child Psychology and Dr AnnNoelle Bennett, School Principal and Education Lecturer.
Led by their group leader(s), each group ( please click on photographs to see each group) presented their Project Idea to the Dragons and a variety of probing questions helped to generate discussion and to challenge each group’s thinking and ideas. Each Dragon provided feedback to each group and then had the difficult task of choosing a ‘Big’ idea. The External Dragons complimented the class on their presentations – videos, power-points, prototypes, solutions to perceived problems, financial issues etc. and were very impressed with their confidence and speaking skills. (Their teacher is really proud of them all too!!)
An enormous amount of work and thought was acknowledged and praised.
Perhaps some ideas just need more refinement and may certainly be millionaire-makers in the future!
Taking into account the recommendations from the Dragons and in consultation with a number of others, including the JEP co-ordinator in Head Office, it was decided that although there was much merit in many of the ideas, two ideas in particular were addressing a particular situation which has relevance in our community.
And so………….
We now have two ‘Big’ ideas and the class has chosen their roles in various teams – marketing and sales, production and design, storytelling and presenting, record keeping and finance etc. having discussed and identified their strengths through a number of games and honest conversations…
We look forward to building on and utilising our talents, growing and developing new ways of thinking and to solving problems which we are certain to encounter.
Very many thanks to Mr O’Reilly and Mr Twomey for giving us their time, attention and expertise. We will try to do you proud!
Business visitors to the classroom 22nd January 2015 Week 4
Many thanks to our business visitors and entrepreneurs, Mr Nally and Mr Mulcahy, both business and social entrepreneurs. They helped explain the roles of both types of entrepreneurship in communities and how we all benefit from both types of activities. We really appreciate their openness and honesty in explaining their business stories – it’s not always fabulous or 9-5 or instantly rewarding. They really helped us by giving us ideas as to how we can improve our business models. What we really learned was how important it is to be nice. The customer may not always be right, but the right thing to do is to treat every customer nicely. Thank you so much to Mr. Nally and Mr. Mulcahy for giving us your time and attention; we really will try to take all your advice on board.
