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It has been another busy year in the life and times of St. Brigid’s. I trust you will enjoy our summer newsletter. It allows our students the opportunities to display their many and varied talents not alone in the curriculum but in extracurricular activities, be it in Music, Art, Sport,
Drama, Debates, Public Speaking plus a wide variety of other activities.

We would like to welcome Ms. Marian Moran as Deputy Principal to our school community. We  are happy to have Marian as a part of our team and we look forward to working with her in the  coming years. She has been very committed to maintaining the standards and expectations of St. Brigid’s.

Our major building redevelopment process continues to move forward, we now have planning permission. It is hoped to commence uilding in 2015. The project will allow for the improvement and upgrading of the existing educational, social and administrative space of the school to meet the educational needs of the school as set out in the Department of Education and Skills project brief. It will radically modernise our learning and teaching environment in line with the best  practice in any school in the country.

We have an excellent design team and the building sub committee composed of John Bambrick (BOM) and Kay Morrissey chairperson (BOM) and myself have worked very closely with them to meet our schools needs and have as good a learning and teaching environment as possible for our students and teachers.

Transition year continues to provide some outstanding highlights with their musical ‘Grease’, their Fashion Show, trip to Spain, winning the mini company craft award at the County Enterprise Board final amongst many other events. Many good causes such as the St. Vincent De Paul,
local cancer groups benefited from fundraising. It was great to see our debating team consisting of Katie Coughlan, Nichola Carroll, Aisling Kenny, Caoimhe Murphy and Holly Buckley do so well during the year. Our public speakers – Holly Buckley, Maeve Moran and Laura Foley excelled and reached the semi-final of the National Poetry Aloud Competition in The National Library, Dublin.

Congratulations is also due to our four 5th year students – Megan Lacey, Lena Butler, Ciara McGrath and Grace Quigley on winning gold medal awards for parish and community involvement in the Pope John Paul awards night held in St. Mary’s Cathedral. Comhghairdeas to
Aoife Doyle in her great all-Ireland senior win in the inter schools show jumping on Shangan Eric. This year saw the sad passing of our school secretary of 30 years, Caroline Murphy R.I.P. Caroline was a wonderful person, someone who personified the Mercy ideal. 

Welcome from Principal Pat Power May 2014 gave herself endlessly for others. She was a wonderful friend and colleague and those who worked with her were privileged to have been on the receiving end of her experience and expertise in so many areas. We will miss her.

This year also saw the retirement of Deputy Principal Carmel Broderick. Carmel was and is a great teacher and a great Deputy Principal and most important of all a great person. She was a role model for all our school community and was always conscious of the virtues of respect, tolerance and forgiveness. She held the highest professional standards and is a woman of great integrity. We wish Carmel every health and happiness on her retirement.

Eleanor Ryan retires at the end of this school year after 36 years service. She has served St. Brigid’s well during her years here as a teacher of Music and Geography. Eleanor has worked tirelessly for the good of her students as well as being the finest of colleagues to both teaching staff and management. We thank her for her invaluable contribution to the musical and the book rental scheme and the many other things she did. We thank her and wish her good health and happiness on her retirement.

Teresa Byrne also retires this year after 35 years in St. Brigid’s. Employees like Teresa are hard to come by. St. Brigid’s was lucky to have benefited from her dedication for all these years. She gave 100% and much more. We value your contribution to the school. Farewell and good health and happiness for the future.

We introduced a new anti-bullying policy this year in line with Minister Quinn’s proposal. All stakeholders of the school were involved including the students, parents, teachers and the Board of Management.

We value our parents, we work with our parents, and we welcome their contribution and insight. But also, we unfortunately must seek their financial help, thanks to the gross underfunding of education in voluntary sector schools in Ireland. The financial burden on our schools is at crisis point. The combination of decreasing DES support and the increasing inability of our parents to financially support us is proving crippling. Quite simply without our parents, who themselves are under enormous financial pressure, most voluntary sector schools in Ireland would not survive. Primary and secondary schools across Ireland now have to rely on voluntary contributions and
fundraising. It is not right that the Government does not fund all schools equally. Community schools get €90 per student and VEC’s €200 per student more than the religious order schools so we are reliant on bag packs, dog nights, cake sales etc. to try and survive financially.
Catholic schools which provide the same educational service as other schools should receive the same support also with regard to the cost of maintaining services.

As a school we keep in close touch with our parents through our strong Parent’s Council. Our Parent’s Council, under the excellent direction of Maeve Moran have worked tirelessly to help our school and excellently in contributing on school policy and organising very successful cake sales, sponsored walks, dog nights and table quiz nights. I would like to sincerely thank our parents who continue to rally around the characteristic spirit and tradition of our school. It was good to see the overwhelming support of our uniform policy as we survey parents in line with Minister Quinn’s direction.

our school and excellently in contributing on school policy and organising very successful cake sales, sponsored walks, dog nights and table quiz nights. I would like to sincerely thank our parents who continue to rally around the characteristic spirit and tradition of our school. It was good to see the overwhelming support of our uniform policy as we survey parents in line with Minister Quinn’s direction.

I would like to thank the voluntary members of our Boards of Management and Parent Associations, parents, teachers, and patron nominees who give so generously of their time and energy to promote the well being and development of our school and the pupils in our schools. I would like to sincerely thank the teachers, ancillary staff, parents and students for their commitment and cooperation on an ongoing basis throughout the year. It is due to this commitment that St. Brigid’s can achieve its aim to provide the best possible environment for the students to grow and learn and ensure that our students become well-rounded talented, independent and confident young ladies.

Finally, we wish our sixth years every success in their exams this June and their lives in the future. We say to you make your future one of growth. Life is something you experience and you have the tools to experience it with all of the glories and challenges it will bring before you. Look at each challenge you face as a mountain to be climbed..... ‘Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.’

Ba maith líom mo bhuiochas agus mo chairgairdeas a chur in uíl do phobaíl na scoíle gcointinne ach go mór do na múinterirí a soibrígh chomh díograiseach sin. Go néirí go geal le daltaí, muinteoirí agus túismitheoirí Scoil Bhríde amach anseo.

Parents Council presenting a cheque to Mr. Pat Power as a result of fundraising for the school  

“A great teacher is a great person who teaches”
-Brian McMahon

Carmel Broderick retired as Deputy Principal in January of this year after 24 years of excellent service to the school. Carmel was and is a great teacher and a great Deputy Principal and most important of all a great person. She was a role model for all our school community. In her daily interactions with all, she was always conscious of the virtues of respect, tolerance and forgiveness. She holds the highest
professional standards and is a woman of great integrity. Carmel started working in St. Brigid’s in 1990 having previously worked in St. Mary’s in Edenderry. Carmel taught French, Irish, Geography and S.P.H.E. in her time here. Prior to becoming Deputy Principal in 2007,
Carmel’s Posts of Responsibility included being a year head, pastoral care coordinator (which included the introduction of the Claddagh group) and the coordinator of S.P.H.E. We have all learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel. Carmel has that ability to leave people feeling well about themselves. We thank Car