As you are no doubt aware there is a lot of discussion whether schools will remain open in the coming months. The reopening of our school has gone very successfully and with the support of the parents and the wider community we have created a learning environment where children have thrived whilst remaining safe. It is our hope that schools will be allowed to continue operating in their present format until we come out of this situation.
There is, however, in the coming weeks and months the possibility of a closure (whole school, class or pod) and the children are being set up on the online learning platform Seesaw.

On Thursday/Friday this week we will send home 3 books. These books are only being sent home in the event that the mid-term break is extended and should be left in the bag to be returned to school on Monday November 2nd.
In the event of an unexpected school closure, each class teacher will communicate with you via Aladdin, Seesaw and Zoom. For this reason it is important to make sure you check your Aladdin regularly. SET and SNA support will be also provided through these channels.

Please take note of the following important information:
• It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to ensure that pupils are supervised while they work online.
• We ask that parents/guardians check the work pupils send to their teacher, ensuring it is appropriate.
• Under no circumstance should pictures or recordings be taken of video calls. Actions such as these will be in breach of our Behaviour Policy and there will be sanctions. Teacher-pupil calls will be recorded by the teacher and saved as a record. Under GDPR the recordings will not be made public and will be stored until the end of the year.
• Communication may only take place during normal school hours (8.50a.m. – 2.30p.m.)
• Check-in on your child`s school work on a daily basis and talk to your child about the work assigned.

The health and well being of all is paramount. Circumstances may change for any of us unexpectedly, teachers or parents, so please keep schooling in perspective and do not allow anything school related to impinge on your child negatively. You are the primary educator of your child and you make those calls. We encourage a little work every day for routine. We provide work and guidance and ask parents and pupils to do their best and that is all.

In light of the entire country moving to level 5 restrictions on October 21st, and with all efforts being made to keep the schools open, it is now mandatory to wear face masks at the school gates at drop off and collection times. Please observe social distancing guidelines and wear a face mask. This is all part of our efforts to protect the whole school community from Covid 19. Please pass on this message to other family members who may be bringing or collecting your child to/from school.

We ask for your full cooperation.

Thank you.

Ms S. Lowe

A new chapter for our school began on Monday, October 5th, 2020! Miss Lowe succeeded Mr. Morris as principal of St. Stephen's. Here is a welcome message from our new principal, Miss Lowe:

Dear Parents and Guardians,
 
It is with great pride and excitement that I write this letter of introduction to you as the newly appointed Principal of St. Stephen's BNS. I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead a school with such a high reputation and tradition of excellent teaching and learning. I am excited and eager to bring my skills as School Principal to St. Stephen's and I look forward to working with you as a partner in education to ensure your child's success.
 
This is a year like no other and we have had and will continue to have many hurdles to climb. Along with the tremendously dedicated teachers and staff of St. Stephen's, I will work hard to guide us through this difficult time. I wish to continue the legacy of success established by the De La Salle Brothers by building strong relationships with parents, students and the wider community.
 
I would like to thank Mr Morris for all the guidance, support and kindness he has shown me, especially over the last few weeks. I have big shoes to fill and I hope that I can build on the many accomplishments Mr. Morris achieved in his tenure as principal. I wish Mr. Morris and Mr. Keevers the happiest of retirements.
 
As your Principal, it is important to me that everyone who steps through our doors - teachers, students and parents - are excited to be here! This attitude enables us all to learn in a positive, fun, and nurturing environment.  My door is always open and I welcome your input.  Please feel free to call or email me to discuss any concerns you might have throughout the school year.  
 
I look forward to working with you as a team to help each student at St. Stephen's BNS to be the best that they can be and to meet their goals and have a successful school year!
 
Mise le meas,
Sinéad Lowe

It was with a heavy heart that St. Stephen's saw two of its longest serving staff members retire on Friday, October 2nd, 2020.

Mr. Morris arrived in St. Stephen's in the 1980s and taught many different classes up to 2010. Since then, he has served as principal of St. Stephen's, taking over from Br. Martin. He has overseen the profile of St. Stephen's raised to a national level, leading and encouraging our teachers as our school has won numerous Green Flags for environmental awareness and work in this area, been awarded with the prestigious and highly coveted Digital Schools of Distinction status, and in recent years, winners at the FÍS national primary school film-making awards. Mr. Morris also spent many years as a player and coach with the De La Salle GAA Club.

Mr. Keevers also arrived in St. Stephen's in the 1980s. For over three decades, he has given hugely dedicated service to our school and the pupils who have been and gone, and those currently here. Mr. Keevers' love and passion for our national games was always evident and he could be found many afternoons after school in Cleaboy in all weathers, taking teams for training in both hurling and Gaelic Football which led to many successes for St. Stephen's in both sports grades. He, too, spent many years coaching with the De La Salle GAA Club. In recent years, Mr. Keevers brought his teaching talents to Language Support and this has been of great benefit to those boys.

We are all truly blessed to have had the privilege to work alongside these two men who have left a gigantic impression on both their colleagues and pupils alike. All of us in St. Stephen's are very sad to see them leave us for retirement, but we wish both Mr. Morris and Mr. Keevers the very best in this new chapter in their lives, and we thank them for their huge contribution to St. Stephen's.

Dear Parents / Guardians,
Welcome to all our boys and parents for a new school year. A special welcome to our Junior Infant boys who have settled in really well. Thanks to all our parents. Thanks to Miss Kenny and Miss Nevin. We hope 2020 - 2021 will be a happy and successful year.

Thanks to all our parents for your co-operation. There are changes to start times and finish times. We now have 3 entrance gates. These new plans are working very well. Thanks to all families for bringing boys to the right gate at the right time. We have contacted Waterford City Council to post road markings on Stephen Street and Bachelor's Walk to warn drivers to slow down.

We are all delighted to have the boys back in school. It is lovely to see the boys so happy coming in. Our playground is divided into 4 separate parts and only one class plays in each part. We have postponed some activities like dance, hurling in the yard, our choir and chess to limit the number of contacts in our school. If your son is unwell, please keep him at home. We are following H.S.E. guidelines with regard to Covid-19.

Points to note / remember:
• Please ensure you have an up to date contact list on the Aladdin App. You can edit your details on the App at home.
• Please mark / label all clothing especially jumper and tracksuit tops, books, copies etc.
• Twenty four hour Personal Accident Insurance is being offered at a cost of €8 per pupil for the whole year. The link to pay for the insurance is on Aladdin. Please do not tick the permission section unless you have paid the €8 as you will not be covered.
• Give your son a good start to the day by ensuring that he is on time for school.

We are happy to have secured funding for lunches for all our boys. Fresh Today is the name of the company who supply and deliver the food. It is working very well.

For better communication with our parents our school are now using Aladdin Connect to relay information with regard to our pupils. We will NOT be sending “paper notes” so it is very important that the phone number you gave to the office is correct and up to date. Please download the ALADDIN CONNECT APP if you have not already done so. We have also added e-payments to our system and all money can now be paid through the app. You will be sent notification when there is a money collection. We thank you as always for your co-operation. If you have any problems please ring the office at 051-871716 or email us at ststephendlsoffice@gmail.com.

In consideration to other children, we ask that children or parents do not distribute birthday invitations and Christmas cards in school. Please do not send in leftover cakes from birthday parties to be distributed in school due to allergies. Due to GDPR we are not in a position to give out class lists.

The tender for the new building will begin in the next two weeks.

Thanks to all families for having books and uniforms. Thanks also to all who have paid for arts / crafts, photocopying etc. If you haven`t already paid the €35 please follow the link sent to you on Aladdin or send it into the class teacher. We realise that equipping children for school is costly. If you are unable to pay these charges in one amount, it is quite acceptable to pay in weekly installments. Please contact the class teacher, Miss Robinson (HSCL), Deirdre or myself.

Thank you,
Mr Morris, Principal.

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 1^st.   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:

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!

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

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