We were very excited with the return of a very special day in our school, as our annual Christmas Carol Service in the Cathedral of The Most Holy Trinity took place on Tuesday morning, December 20th, 2022. It was wonderful to see so many friends of our school who to join us in a celebration of the birth of Our Lord.

Science for Fun returned to St. Stephen's after an absence and it was 3 weeks of wonderful science fun and learning in Mr. Russell's 3rd Class! Helped by a number of brilliant volunteer parents each week, the boys worked with dancing raisins, discovered what happens to food when you eat it, it gets broken down... and what happens to the waste left over from the food that your body needs to get rid of; the class worked to create volcanoic eruptions using baking soda and vinegar, and tested to see if they could make a bag waterproof - even with holes being poked in the bag! The final week involved experimenting with floating eggs and adding Mentos mints to Coke to create a geyser! Thanks to the super volunteer parents for coming in to help out and to our awesome Home School Liaison Teacher Miss Robinson for organising the programme and running all the activities over the 3 weeks!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The school is a hive of activity at the moment and we have a number of items to bring to your attention:

Code of Behaviour and Anti Bullying Policy

The above policies have been ratified by the Board of Management following approval by staff and parents and are now in use by all staff. Please familiarise yourself with the code of behaviour and remind your son of the types of behaviour that we expect in St. Stephen's and what happens when misbehaviour occurs. 

Parents' Association Christmas Cards

Order forms for the ever-popular Parents' Association Christmas Card fundraiser went home this week.  Please return the forms with the correct amount by Wednesday, 7th December. 

Christmas Raffle 

The Parent’s Association annual Christmas raffle will take place before the Christmas holidays. Cards will be distributed next week. 

Cinema Trip 

All classes will be going to the cinema on either Friday 9th December or Friday 16th December. The cost for this cinema trip is €7. There is great excitement as we haven’t had our annual cinema trip since 2019!

Little Red Kettle Theatre Company 

Little Red Kettle are also making a comeback on Thursday 15th for all classes. Cost for this is €3. 

Carol Service

Our traditional Carol Service returns after its 2 year absence.  It is scheduled for Tuesday 20th December at 11:00am in The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity.  Children from 2nd to 6th class will attend. Everyone is welcome to join us. 

Class Christmas Concerts 

Some classes will showcase their talents to parents at various performances scheduled for the days leading up to the Christmas break. Specific dates and times will be communicated to you. 

Extra-Curricular Activities  

We are delighted to have so many extra-curricular activities available to our pupils. 

Monday - Hurling for 1st class 

Tuesday - Basketball for 5th/6th classes 

Wednesday - Book Club, Chess and Gardening club

Thursday - Hurling for 2nd class 

We look forward to starting an Art and Craft club, a Radio/Film Club and a Lego club next term.

Teachers give their time to these clubs on a voluntary basis. The whole school community is extremely grateful to the teachers involved for their dedication to our pupils. 

Swimming Lessons 2023

Swimming classes will take place for all classes from 1st-6th in term 2. The cost of these lessons will be approximately €40. Full payment must be paid before lessons commence. You can still pay by instalments but full payment is required before lessons begin. Swimming is a part of the SPHE curriculum and all boys must take part. If for some reason your son cannot take part in the lessons you will be asked to collect him from school while lessons are taking place.  

Christmas Holidays

School will finish at 12 noon on Wednesday 21st December for the Christmas holidays and we will return on Thursday 5th January.

Enjoy the special time in the build up to Christmas!

Regards,

Sinéad Lowe, Principal

Technology is an amazing tool that we use in St. Stephen's to give the boys opportunities that they might not have without it. Recently, Mr. Russell's 3rd Class enjoyed a chat online with author Tom Rogers. Tom wrote the book "Eleven", a novel for children about the September 11 attacks in America in 2001. The boys heard about the writing process behind the book, how Tom came up with the idea, and had lots of time for a Q&A as he heard ideas for stories from the boys and answered many questions about the book and his job as a scriptwriter for Disney. Well done to all the boys!

Our Parent Teacher meetings took place last week and it was great to meet everyone in person this year for the first time since 2019. Thanks to all parents and guardians who came along to meet all the teachers last week!

Marise, our HSCL Teacher, ran 3 make up Classes over a few weeks in October 2022 with Lyndsey Waring, Makeup Artist. We had great attendance over the 3 weeks and parents really enjoyed the cuppa and chats! Lyndsey was amazing and everyone picked up so much from her. Marise also ran 3 workshops with Bricks4 Kidz over a few weeks for Junior and Senior Infants boys and their parents. We had a huge response to this too! Sixteen different families participated in the workshops, with younger siblings welcome too. A wonderful month for everyone involved in these different projects all organised by our fabulous HSCL teacher, Miss Robinson!

All of us in St. Stephen's were absolutely delighted to witness the official opening of Lasallian House on Friday, October 14th, 2022.

After over a 2 year break because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chess Club returned to St. Stephen's on Wednesday, October 5th, 2022 with over 30 members joining! Chess Club will be running for eight weeks and we have already had some great matches played on the first day. League tables will start in a few weeks. Thanks to Mr. Morris, Miss Kenny and Mr. Coghlan for helping out - and well done to all the boys!

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to all. I hope everyone is settling in well to the back to school routine! A big welcome to our new Junior Infants and all the new boys that have joined our school. We hope you will be very happy with us. 

Just a few matters to bring to your attention:

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all safe and well and enjoying the beautiful weather. As the summer holidays are quickly coming to an end, all thoughts are on back to school! School will reopen Thursday, September 1st, 2022 for the new school year. Please see below for the entry/exit gates for each class.

We are very excited to be finally moving some classes into our amazing new extension. It has been a long time coming and it’s a very exciting time for our school community. I want to thank you all for your patience and cooperation over the building period. 6th Class and 3rd Class are the lucky classes that are moving in but we will make sure all classes get a grand tour over the next few weeks.

Please make sure we have all up to date contact details, phone numbers, addresses etc. Boys from 1st Class to 6th Class must wear their full uniform to school. They may only wear their tracksuit on PE days. Junior and Senior Infants can wear tracksuit or uniform. Please make sure your son’s name is clearly written on all his belongings.

The boys may bring a school bag to school. Please do not purchase bags with wheels as they are dangerous. The boys do not need lunch boxes as there will be no waste going home. Reminder: Hot Lunch options to be chosen online by 5:00pm each Thursday.

Our Online Payment system is up and running via Aladdin Connect. I would appreciate it if you could pay the school contribution fee next week. I appreciate that back to school is a costly time so remember you can pay in instalments if that is easier. Please see your booklist for fee details.

Looking forward to welcoming everyone back on Thursday.
Sinead Lowe, Principal