Dear Parents,
Ms. Denise Brennan – newly appointed Deputy Principal of Castleknock N.S.
I would like to wish Ms. Denise Brennan the best of luck in her new role as Deputy Principal of Castleknock N.S. Ms. Brennan has worked in our school for over 20 years and she has been a committed and valued member of our staff and the senior management of our school. We are very grateful for all her hard work as a dedicated class teacher, SET teacher and Assistant Principal. She was a supportive mentor to young teachers in the Droichead Programme. She led us all with her love of Irish, helping us to navigate the new Curriculum. I would like to thank Ms. Brennan for all the time and effort she devoted to her yearly plan for Seachtain na Gaeilge and her promotion of Gaeilge neamhfhoirmiúil through her ‘Seamróg’ initiative. She has single-handedly managed the Assistive Technology applications and helped with our Digital Policy through her work with the QR codes. Ms. Brennan was also involved with our athletics teams for Santry. She has been a huge asset to our school and we will all miss her in St. Mary’s.
Ms. Marie Corry – Early Retirement
Ms. Marie Corry had worked in our school for over 20 years too. Ms. Corry made an important contribution to teaching the infant classes and she had a real passion for that age group. She has a passion for the Irish language and traditional Irish music and taught tin whistle to some of the older classes. For health reasons, Ms. Corry has taken early retirement and I would like to wish her all the best in the future and thank her for all her work in our school.
County Photos will take family/individual photos on Monday 3rd November – Uniform (NOT TRACKSUIT)
County Photos will visit our school on Monday 3rd November to take family photos (boys with siblings) and individual photos (boys with no siblings in the school). They will also take group photos of all the classes for our Christmas Calendar. This is a fundraiser organised by our Parents’ Association. There will be no PE on Monday 3rd November and we ask all boys to wear their uniform.
School closure for Inservice on Thursday 4th December
There will be no school on Thursday 4th December for staff inservice. The Girls’ School will also be closed on this day.
Our school is not a polling station
St. Mary’s BNS is not a polling station so our school will open as normal on Friday 24th October for the Presidential Election.
Junior Infant Applications for September 2026
We are accepting Junior Infant applications for September 2026 from the 1st October to the 14th November. Applications can be downloaded from our school website.
Bob-a-Job
Thanks to everyone who donated money for our Bob-a-Job fundraiser. We are still short the funds we need to revamp our school hall so please complete the online payment if you have not done so yet.
Halloween Fancy Dress on Friday 24th October
All boys are encouraged to wear Halloween fancy dress on Friday in school. Please do not go to too much expense buying new costumes. Some of the best costumes are the ones that are homemade.
Lucan Sarsfields County Finals
Hard luck to the Lucan Sarsfields senior camogie team who were beaten in the county final last Friday night in Parnell Park.
Best of luck to the Lucan Sarsfields Senior Hurling team who play Na Fianna in the Dublin Senior County Final this Saturday in Parnell Park at 7.30pm. All the best to the Lucan Sarsfields Intermediate Hurling team who also reached the county final and they play Scoil Uí Chonaill on Sunday in Parnell Park at 2pm. Lucan’s Minor Camogie team also contest a County Final on Sunday. Tickets are available online and all support is welcome. We are very proud of the 22 past pupils involved with both squads.
Assembly
We focused on our new Bí Cineálta Policy (new Anti-Bullying Policy) at assembly today. We reminded boys to be kind to each other in class and on yard and to tell the teacher or trusted adult if they feel upset about something nasty another boy said or did. We discussed our new Bí Cinealta child friendly charter that is now displayed in every classroom. We thanked our student council who gave their input and designed their own posters.
We thanked Ms. Brennan and Ms. Corry for all their work in the school and presented flowers to acknowledge all their effort.
We showed our appreciation for our Junior and Senior footballers and to all the boys who worked so hard for our Bob-a-Job.
We wished all our 22 past pupils involved with Lucan Sarsfields the best of luck over the weekend. We are very grateful to Mr. Clandillon and Mr. Keegan for all their effort which has helped with this success.
The highlight of our assembly was the performance by Ms. Joyce’s Junior Infants and Ms. Killane’s Senior Infants who sang songs in English and Irish.
Midterm
School will close tomorrow at 2.40pm for our midterm break and will re-open again on Monday 3rd November at 9am as normal. I hope everyone enjoys the week off.
Le dea-ghuí,
Dara Burke, Principal.