ST. PIUS X BOYS NATIONAL SCHOOL

SACRAMENTS - First Confession took place on Monday 7^th March in St. Pius X Church for the 2^nd Class Boys. The children have worked very hard in preparation for this important Sacrament and we look forward to a very spiritual, special and memorable First Holy Communion. We would like to thank Ms. Grennan and Mr. Coyle for all their efforts and commend them on the lovely scrapbooks on which the boys are working on in class. The 6^th Class boys celebrated a beautiful Service of Light on Thursday 10^th March and are now looking forward to their Confirmation.

CONFIRMATION - The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on Saturday 19^th March in St. Pius X Church. His Eminence Cardinal Desmond Connell will be officiating. Very sincere thanks to Ms. de Brún and Mr. Reámonn for their incredibly hard work in preparing the boys so well and producing such wonderful artwork.

CHOIR – The school choir under the direction of Ms Purcell performed beautifully at the Cór Fhéile on the 1^st March. The choir also sang exceptionally well at the Inter Schools Music Festival in Wesley College finishing in 3^rd Place.

• Hurling – The hurling season got off to a great start with the Junior Team, coached by Ms Dempsey, beating Scoil Treasa and Holly Park in two very exciting games. We wish them the very best in their campaign. The Senior Team will begin their campaign when they meet Holly Park, Maelruans and Ballyroan in the first couple of weeks after Easter.
• Olympic Handball – The Senior Olympic Handball Team have won all their matches to date. They will play in the Semi Final of the Dublin School League on Monday 4^th April in Roadstone (Kingswood). The team is captained by Ciarán Corcoran and coached by Mary Kneafsey & Eimear de Brún. The Junior Olympic Handball Team were beaten at home by Hollypark, but won their away match against the same team. The team captain is Sean Forsythe and the team is coached by Eimear de Brún & Mary Kneafsey.

NEW ENROLMENTS - We are holding an Open Night on Tuesday 12^th April for parents of new Infants to help familiarise them with the school. The two classes for September 2005 are fully subscribed at this stage and a waiting list is in operation.

ATTENDANCE – We would ask that you would inform the class teacher in writing if your child is absent and we take this opportunity to remind you that absences of more than twenty days are automatically referred to the NEWB.

TROCAIRE – We know the boys are doing their utmost, collecting for this worthy cause. We will of course be delighted to accept them, but we would ask you not to send them until after Easter as we cannot accommodate them before then.

TESCO – We have reached that time of year again – Tesco Vouchers. It would be gratefully appreciated if you can collect these vouchers, in order for us to acquire printers, headphones and computer software for the school. Our target this year is 40,000 and with your help we will achieve our goal.

BUILDING FUND - We are delighted to announce that the Department of Education & Science has sanctioned a sizeable Grant for our school. We would like to thank Minister Conor Lenihan a parent of one of our children for all his help and support in this area. This will enable us to build some badly needed extra accommodation, which will greatly enhance the service we can offer your children. We would like to thank the Fundraising Committee for all their hard work in raising funds for the school and these can now be used in conjunction with the grant to make St. Pius a first rate educational facility.

SAFETY AT OUR SCHOOL GATES - We would ask everybody to be aware of safety in this regard. It would be very helpful if pedestrians could use the pedestrian gates at each side of the main entrance gate. Please note only staff cars are allowed into the yard at any time.

RETIREMENT - We want to wish Gabriel McCann a happy and healthy retirement. Gabriel served the school extremely well for nearly 40 years and will be sorely missed. We want to thank him for his dedicated commitment to the school and wish him the very best in the future.

• St. Patrick’s Day - Thursday 17^th March – School Closed
• Staff Meeting - Friday 18^th March – Children go home at 12 o’clock
• Easter Holidays – Wednesday 23^rd March – School Closes at 12 noon

I want to commend the boys on a very successful second term. They were very committed and diligent in their work and we are all very proud of them. I would like to wish everybody a Happy St. Patrick’s Day and an enjoyable Easter Break. See you all refreshed and rejuvenated on Monday 4^th April.