Join us in St. Stephen’s!
Would you like your son to join our amazing school community? Well, now’s your chance! We have some spaces for enrolment in our Pre-
- Start and finish times will be staggered (see separate timetable for details). Please note different entrances.
- No children will be allowed in the yard before school to avoid crossover of classes.
- All classes will be brought to their exit gate by their teacher at finishing time.
- Uniforms – both old and new tracksuits and / or school uniforms are acceptable. These MUST be labelled as nothing can be stored in the school.
- All contact number and address MUST be updated immediately.
- Parents need to make an appointment by phone or email to visit the school. The contact email address for the school is ststephensdlsoffice@gmail.com. Following health and safety guidelines face coverings must be worn and proper hand hygiene observed. Several hand sanitisers are available adjacent to all school entrances.
- No homework will be given for the month of September. All boys must have their own plastic pencil case clearly labelled with their name containing a pencil, pen, topper, rubber and colouring pencils as no sharing is allowed. These will remain in school.
- Sanitisers are available in every classroom and resource room for pupil and staff use. All classrooms will be cleaned and sanitised daily.
- If anyone in your household shows symptoms – high temperature, persistent cough, change in taste and smell etc, please keep your child and siblings at home. In the event of a child displaying symptoms in school, they will be isolated as per COVID-19 guidelines and you will be contacted immediately. Please ensure you are contactable at all times.
- The parking area on Patrick Street is for set down only . Please do not delay when dropping your son to school.
Welcome back to school! What a fantastic first week for everyone. It was great to see all the boys again and to see how much they have all grown since we last saw them. A big and warm welcome to the new boys in our Pre-School and in our two Junior Infants classes. We hope that these boys will have many happy years in St. Stephen's!
Dear Parents / Guardians,
We are all looking forward to a positive start to the new school year. School will open for all students on Tuesday September 1st. We are complying with “The roadmap for the full return to school” in as much as is possible. Consequently the following changes will be implemented for the foreseeable future:
Our staff are looking forward to returning to school and we will strive to keep our school experience as normal as possible in these extraordinary times. *This information letter can be downloaded here.
Keep safe and well.
Mr Morris.
We're hope you are enjoying our new website here in St. Stephen's! Our new website is fully responsive on all devices, so whether you are browsing on a computer/laptop, tablet, smartphone or any other device, you will be able to view all pages hassle free! We've added shortcuts to our social media channels on the main header of the website. Click on the icon for the social network you would like to visit and it will open in a new window. We are still working on rebuilding our digital archive, so you may still come across some pages that are not fully functional yet. Please bear with us as we restore the thousands of photos to the photo archive. In the coming weeks and months, we hope to also be adding old photos from the history of St. Stephens's that date back as far as 1910! Keep an eye out here and on our social media channels for those. Thanks for visiting!
The booklists and assigned teachers* for all classes for 2020/2021 are now available to view or download from our website! Click here to see the booklist, and to download, open the file and click on the save icon.
Dear parents and boys,
Today was or is the official end of this school year. It has been strange and unprecedented. I want to thank you all for your positive cooperation in recent months. I want to thank you for the great effort you have put into your boys learning with 'home schooling'. I thank all our staff for the work and activities they have planned, shared and managed with your sons.We look forward to a new start on the first of September. I believe the Department of Education is going to supply Freshtoday boxes over the summer, Please be on the lookout every 3 weeks. We hope to have our book exchange/collection next Monday, 29th June, at the same times you were given before. We have to limit numbers and follow guidelines of social distancing, so only one adult per family in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Classes and one parent of 6th Class boys with your son. Please hope that Monday will be a fine day. I am delighted to see the lovely videos of both our 6th class boys. They represent family, school, happiness and being together. Thanks to our teachers especially Mr Russell. Take care.
- Mr. Morris
Friday June 26th, 2020 saw the departure of two long serving and hugely popular members of St. Stephen’s Pre-School as Mrs. Wendy Murphy and Mrs. Joan Grant announced their retirements. Wendy and Joan have always excelled in their roles in the Pre-School, and they were both very popular with the boys in their class. Many past pupils have great memories of their time with Joan and Wendy, and it is with a sense of sadness that we see them retire. But of course, all of us in St. Stephen’s wish them both the very best in retirement and thank them for their time, efforts and dedication to the boys of St. Stephen’s over the years they have been here. Click here to see a short video tribute to the two ladies. Congratulations Wendy and Joan!
Congratulations to the boys in Mr. C. Hayden's and Mr. R. Hayden's 6th Classes on their completion of their primary school education here in St. Stephen's in June 2020. Due to the school building closures as a result of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, we were unable to hold our annual Graduation Mass. In its' place, we have prepared a short video for each class looking back at their years in St. Stephen's. Click here for Mr. C. Hayden's Class video and HERE for Mr. R. Hayden's Class video. The boys have been a wonderful part of our school for 8 years and we will miss them. Everyone in St. Stephen's thanks you for your contributions to the school over the years you have been here, and we wish you the very best for the future!
Dear boys, parents, grandparents and minders
I would like to say on behalf of myself and the Pre-School teachers and that we are very sorry we didn't have the full year with you. We had so much more fun plans. We missed our tour, sports day and concert. We had so much more learning through play to do. We had more painting and arts and crafts to make. We missed our hugs and seeing you grow over the year. We wish you all a lovely summer and you'll all be ready for big boys school in September. We wish that everyone of you reach your full potential. We loved having you in our classes.
Thank you to our parents, grandparents and minders for all your support. It was a pleasure meeting you every day and we will miss you too.
You are a very special child
And I want you to know
Although our year was cut short
I'm so proud of how you did grow
I loved being your teacher
And I have missed your smiling face
But the memories we have of this year
Will never be replaced.
What I have tried to teach you
To last your whole life through
Is to know that you are special
Just because you are YOU!
- Wendy Murphy, Joan Grant, Caroline Elliott and Mary O'Hanlon
Mr. Russell's 5th Class were learning all about the weather. With the generous help of TG4 and the use of a weather video background, the boys made a weather forecast. Watch the forecasts HERE!
We have updated our school's Acceptable Use Policy, which includes details of the different technologies we use for teaching and learning here in St. Stephen's. The new version of the AUP replaces all previous versions. It can be viewed and downloaded here.
Cosúil le gach bliain, bhí ár Lá Gaelach againn arís! Bhí sé ar siúl ar an Chéadaoin agus an Déardaoin, an 11ú agus an 12ú lá de mí Márta. Bhí nuacht an lae againn freisin gach lá ar an idirchum le haghaidh Seachtain na Gaeilge. CLICEÁIL ANSEO chun griangrafanna agus físeáin a fheiceáil! Like every year, we had our Lá Gaelach again! It took place on Wednesday and Thursday, 11th and 12th of March. We also had the daily news on the intercom every day for Seachtain na Gaeilge. CLICK HERE to see photos and videos!
For the fifth year in a row, Mr. Russell's 5th Class entered the Lasallian Competition. This year's theme was "In the Words of John Baptist de La Salle". Since 2015, the entries from St. Stephen's have won a category every year, with St. Stephen's being the only primary school taking part in 4 out of the 5 years. The boys had a very innovative idea for this year -
We all love celebrating our national day! Junior Infants had a lot of fun learning about St. Patrick and all the Irish traditions that are celebrated all over the world. The boys made some brilliant leprechaun hats and beards -
Following a directive issued by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD, Minister of Education Joe McHugh TD and the Department of Education and Skills, St. Stephen's is CLOSED to help contain the spread of COVID-
World Book Day took place on Thursday, March 5th. As always in St. Stephen's, we had LOTS of fun activities and games all centered around books and reading. See LOTS of photos on our special World Book Day page HERE!
Miss Nevin's Junior Infants were learning all about the Gruffalo! All the boys enjoyed the theme and the activities - and making the Gruffalo crumble! See the super photos from this exciting Aistear theme by clicking here</a>!
Our school's Chess Club took part in the Ficheall.ie regional tournament on Thursday, February 27th, 2020 at Waterford ETNS. Our boys played well on the day and everyone enjoyed the experience. Photos are here and thanks to Mrs. Kealy for the photographs too!
Daragh in Ms. Keevers' 5th Class was nominated by the school for Today FM's 'Class Hero' award.... and won!! Find out more about this amazing achievement by clicking here!
Mr. Russell's 5th Class are enjoying the Junior Achievement programme! Deirdre from Bausch and Lomb is visiting 5th Class and the boys are enjoying learning about business, resources and much more! More news and photos soon!
Miss Byrne's 4th Class had a lot of fun for Pancake Tuesday! Visit here to find out what the boys in 4th were up to! And Miss Kenny's boys devoured lots of delicious pancakes with chocolate filling on Pancake Tuesday -see their brilliant photos here!
5th Class were working on the theme "Siopadóireacht" (Shopping) for Gaeilge, and to help them use all the vocabulary that they built up, they went downtown, took some photos, and came back to school to write a story about a day shopping in town! The boys put it all together in a "leabhar grinn" - a comic! Read this impressive piece of work here!
A fantastic Valentine's Day in St. Stephen's for 2020 - Miss Kenny's class made lovely bees to bring home, while Miss Byrne's class made some excellent cards inspired by Star Wars. Well done to all the boys for their great work!
As hard as it is to believe, the 2019/2020 Roots of Empathy programme has passed the halfway mark already! The boys in 5th Class welcomed baby Bailey back to their room on Wednesday, February 12th for another lovely Family Visit. Photos here!
Junior Infants enjoyed some fun in the snow in mid-February! We don't get to see the snow too often, so the boys really enjoyed getting out to see it! See photos from Miss Nevin's class here and Miss Kenny's class
Junior Infants took a stroll through the deep, dark wood, and the boys all thought this Aistear theme was good!! They were learning all about the Gruffalo! It was one of the most popular themes of the year, and we have a ton of marvellous photos from the class while the boys were at work - check them out here!
Super cool work from Miss Nevin's Junior Infants, as the boys were busy learning all about the Arctic in their latest Aistear adventure! Check out the photos HERE!
Cooking for Fun took place in Mr. Coghlan's and Miss Finnegan's 3rd Classes during February 2020. The boys enjoyed a few weeks of cooking and baking and there were some lovely smells all around the school! Thanks to the volunteer parents and grandparents who came in to help out with the Cooking for Fun lessons. And thanks as always to Mr. Fahy, our Home School Liaison Teacher, and cooking co-ordinator Teresa for organising the activities. See the photos from Mr. Coghlan's class here and Miss Finnegan's 3rd Class here
The 2020 Waterford Credit Union Primary Schools' Quiz took place on Monday, February 3rd, 2020 in the Woodlands Hotel. Mr. Keevers accompanied our two teams on the night and the boys did well. Click here to read more.
Maths for Fun took place in Mr. O'Sullivan's 1st Class during February 2020. The boys got to enjoy some Maths games with the help of some super volunteer parents! Thanks as always to Mr. Fahy, our Home School Liaison Teacher, for organising the activities. See the photos HERE!
Sustainable Living Initiative Waterford, along with some TY students from a number of local secondary schools, visited 4th, 5th, and 6th Classes in St. Stephen's during January and February with a workshop about "Fast Fashion". The boys learned about how the fashion industry contributes to climate change through pollution and usage of water. Find out more and see some photos from one of the workshops HERE. Thanks to Global Schools Waterford, supported by the Sustainable Living Initiative, for visiting St. Stephen's with this very worthwhile activity!
The boys in Mr. Russell's 5th Class have been super busy over the past few weeks. As well as entering the 2020 Lasallian Competition, they are entering the Safer Internet Day competition too. Junior Achievement will be starting in their class after the mid-term break. They were learning about the Space Shuttle programme and made some brilliant art using recycled materials. They were also learning about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and the civil rights movement of the 20th century, as well as the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh. Check out some extra information on the links!
Catholic Schools Week took place between January 27th and 31st, 2020. Part of the annual week is "Grandparents Day", a special day when we all give thanks for the wonderful gift that our grandparents are. Miss Kenny's and Miss Nevin's Junior Infants celebrated a really lovely Grandparents Day on Friday, January 31st - find out more and see photos HERE.
The St. Stephen's 6th Class Basketball team competed in the annual Waterford Primary Schools Basketball Blitz on Thursday, January 30th. How did the boys fare? Find out here!
January's "Stay and Play" in Miss Kenny's class was another great success. Thanks to the parents who joined the boys for games and fun. See some photos here! More dates will be coming up soon, so watch out for those!
A fantastic few weeks for our indoor hurlers in 3rd and 4th Class - read more and see a photo of the team HERE!
We always look forward to welcoming Little Red Kettle to our school each January! The 2020 show took place on Friday, January 24th. Everyone enjoyed the show and lots of boys got to take part! We have a huge selection of photos - see those here or watch a slideshow video here.
Brrrrr-illiant work from Miss Kenny's Junior Infants, as the boys learned all about the Arctic in the latest Aistear adventure! Check out the "cool" photos HERE!
The St. Stephen's 5th Class Basketball team competed in the annual Waterford Primary Schools Basketball Blitz on Thursday, January 23rd. Find out here how the boys got on!
The boys in Mr. Russell's 5th Class had a great time over the 4 weeks of their Zumba classes! We have some photos and video highlights are HERE and video highlights are HERE!
The latest news and updates from Mr. Morris can be found HERE in the newsletter from the office!
January's "Stay and Play" in Miss Nevin's class was another fantastic success. The boys had a great time time again, and thanks to the Mams who joined the class for games and fun. See some photos here! Get in touch if you'd like to get involved in your son's class!
School have been learning LOTS about our historic city of Waterford! They learned all about one of the most famous buildings in our city, Reginald's Tower. The boys also learned about the Vikings and how they came here in their longboats. Check out some photos in the gallery!
Miss Nevin's class were learning about the airport in Aistear! Click here to find out what the boys got up to whilst working on the theme - or watch a slideshow
The Roots of Empathy programme continued in 5th Class recently with the fourth Family Visit. Another lovely atmosphere and chance for the boys to ask questions in the latest theme. Check out the photos here!
The atmosphere in St. Stephen's was absolutely buzzing for Christmas 2019! SO many amazing activities taking place all around the school, from visits to the Giving Tree to awesome artwork, from concerts to Christmas Card exchanges. And we have captured it all in a highlights slideshow! We hope you enjoy this look at Christmas in our school!
"Stay and Play" has arrived in Miss Kenny's class! Thanks to the Mams and Dads who joined the boys for games and fun. See some photos here!
Fasten your seat belts - Miss Kenny's class were learning about the airport in Aistear! Read more and see photos of the boys working on the theme!
As you may already know, Mr. Russell's 5th Class 2018/2019 entered the annual FÍS Film Making competition for primary schools last June. The boys made a film about Thomas Francis Meagher. Unfortunately, the boys weren't shortlisted for an award, but were still highly commended and entered into the FÍS Hall of Fame. We were all delighted to be recognised for a great effort from the boys. Imagine our surprise and delight recently, when a trophy arrived in St. Stephen's commemorating the boys' film. They, and we, were understandably delighted! It now proudly hangs alongside the 2018 award for Best Documentary in reception in St. Stephen's. Mr. Russell's 5th Class 2019/2020 are already planning their film for this year - here's hoping it will be another success for our school!
