Junior School
It is hard to believe that once again we are celebrating the passing of another successful school year. The long and carefree days of Summer beckon us forth and now it is time for us pause and to take pride in our wonderful children and to give thanks for all of the good times we have shared as a school community. What a wonderful year it has been! In the Summer term alone – •
Our Green Schools’ Committee brought home our fourth green flag from An Taisce for action on travel and the environment. And in the process we were nominated “Carpooling School of the Year”;
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We won the DunLaoghaire Rathdown Tidy Schools’ Competition (having been runners-up for two years in a row!);
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Our amazing Senior Infant pupil Harry Kane won the national Doodle for Google competition winning the Junior School €10,000 of ICT equipment;
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We shared sacramental moments of First Communion and Confirmation;
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We had a Spelling Bee and a Science Fair,
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Our pupils in Standards 4 and 5 enjoyed an overnight at the Dunmore East Outdoor Education Centre;
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We celebrated Sports and Prize Day;
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Our Junior School Athletics Team were nominated Overall Winner at the AIJS Athletics meet;
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Our Student Council organised a Staff vs Std. 6 Rounders Match – what fun!
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Standards 4 and 5 showed off their amazing gifts in the annual Talent Show, while Standard 6 rounded off the year with a truly wonderful performance of a show called “Honk” which was full of colour, song and wonderful acting.
We were conscious of others and raised funds for Moldova, Nepal and Crumlin Children’s Hospital;
And all of this against the backdrop of classes, teaching, learning and growing. There is never a dull moment in the Junior School – that’s for sure!
As I said on Sports and Prize Day, in my role as Principal, and thanks to our enlightened Board of Governors, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to visit schools worldwide from the paperless ICT-savvy schools of Boston to the front runners of the OECD global academic league tables in Finland, and from the independent “School of the Year” in England to mud classrooms in Africa. And yes - we can learn from all of them. But I can also honestly say that in St. Gerard’s our school’s wonderful tradition of caring Catholic education combined with academic excellence which is futures-oriented, makes us truly a school of the 21st century – a school which aims to influence not only what our students know and can do but also the kind of people they will become. I am very proud to be Principal in this amazing school community and I would like to take this opportunity to offer a heart-felt thank you to all those who make St. Gerard’s the special place that it is: Firstly, I thank you the parents for your constant support of all of our endeavours. From sewing costume hems to brewing coffee on Winter sidelines and from running our Library to weekly gardening with the children. Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm and, in particular, for your kindness and care which I personally experienced this year. Above all thank you for entrusting your child to our care and your faith in us as educators. I also thank the amazing Junior School staff team who set a learning environment and an emotional environment which makes our school a vibrant, caring and creative learning community. Finally, I say farewell and thank you to our wonderful Std. 6 pupils. At their Graduation Ceremony last week we celebrated the talents and uniqueness of this amazing group of young people – many of whom have been here since Montessori! I can honestly say that they are a most diligent, courteous, co-operative, and fun-loving class. I wish them every blessing and happiness on their journey through Senior School where I know they will make us proud! To all of the pupils of the Junior School I say – congratulations on a wonderful year. You have worked hard and played hard and now it’s time to relax – but don’t forget to read (and to do a few spellings and work on IXL) every single day! And, of course, always keep in mind our school motto “memor” – and be your very best self every single day. And so – as we go our separate ways and until we meet again in September DV, I wish you all a very happy and safe Summer holiday - enjoy each and every day!