St Declans N.S.
Homepage Office News About St Declans N.S. Sports News Who was St Declan? History of St Declans N.S. Class Work Special Events School Archives	Special Events ’07 – ‘08 …just click on some of the highlighted words for a picture or two! Please wait for pictures to load…. 1. [Sept 3^rd ‘07] A childs first day in school can be very emotional as it’s full of anticipation, excitement, sleepless nights, worry and expectation …… and thats just the parents! And so once again we welcome all the new boys { Mrs Costello’s Class / Miss Mc Keon’s Class } who have started their educational journey with us today and wish them every success as they travel on that road with us here in St Declans. 2. [Sept 26^th ‘07] “European Languages Day” was marked today by affording the boys opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge of many different languages. Ms Buckley’s Senior Infants had fun noting some similarities among languages and enjoyed exchanging greetings in French, Spanish and German. All agreed that ice cream was “deliciosa” and that chips were “magnifique”! Some students were delighted to send greetings over the intercom from the inner sanctum of the principal’s office. Throughout the school classes listened to Lorenza, David, Adrian, Norbert, Edwin, Richard, and John send greetings in Italian, Spanish, Slovakian, French and Polish. They represented all the boys throughout the school who speak many languages. 3. [Oct 3^rd ‘07] On this day in 1932 St Declans opened its doors for the very first time and thus began the long tradition of education on Water St. Today we celebrated the 75^th anniversary of this historic event and to mark the beginning of this special year we gathered together for a school mass in the hall led by Fr Chestnut. In attendance was Br Finbarr, the last De La Salle brother to serve as principal here. The whole ceremony was appropriately respectful and in his homily Fr Chestnut commented on the positive and happy atmosphere that generations of pupils, parents and teachers have developed over time and which is so evident in our school today. It was a wonderful start to what we hope will be a year long birthday celebration. 4. [Oct 25^th ‘07] The Mayor of Waterford Mary O Halloran visited our school today and presented certificates to all those boys who had full attendance last year. 5. [Oct 25^th ‘07] A special thanks to all those who supported our annual Halloween Fundraising Raffle. A total of €2800 was raised and the winner of the top prize of a bike was Mark Phelan. Congratulations! 6. [Nov 31^st ‘07] The recently successful DLS Dean Ryan Team visited our school today to show off their latest piece of silverware won on the field of play. 7. [Dec 21^st ‘07] Our traditional Christmas Carol Service was held this morning in the school hall and once again it was a beautiful and respectful ceremony. 8. [Mar 13^th ‘08] There were great celebrations in school today as the winners of the “Name the Goat” competition were announced. This was all in aid of Bóthar’s appeal to send a goat to Africa to support a family in the developing world. Well done to Mr Grant for all his work with this project. 9. [Mar 13^th ‘08] Our traditional “Cake and Bottle Sale” fundraising event was held tonight in the school hall and once again it was a huge success. A very large crowd turned up to take their chance on the spinner. A great deal of preparation was done in advance of this event and the support of everyone involved is much appreciated. €4,700 was raised on the night. 10. [Mar 14^th ‘08] Kevin Moran, captain of the All Ireland winning WIT Fitzgibbon Team, dropped in to visit the school this morning and brought the winning cup for all to see. 11. [Apr 8^th ‘08] The show band legend Brendan Bowyer {famous for the Hucklebuck} visited our school today as part of an RTE documentary on this life. 12. [Apr 19^th ‘08] Congratulations to both our 6^th Classes who celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation to day in St Johns Church. It’s always a very special day and we hope a memorable one for all the families involved. Many thanks to Mr FitzGerald and to Mrs A Brennan for all the work that was done in advance of this special occasion. 13. [May 17^th ‘08] A slightly overcast day didn’t dull the smiles of all the boys of 2^nd class who celebrated their First Holy Communion in St Johns Church today. It was a wonderful solemn celebration and great credit must go to both Ms Walsh and to Miss O Mahony for all their hard work over recent months. This is always a special day on the St Declan’s calendar and we hope it was one which will be remembered by all concerned for a long time. 14. [May 19^th – 21^st‘08] As part of our 75^th Anniversary Celebrations a special exhibition of artwork from throughout the school went on display in the school hall. There was a wide variety of work on view and those parents who came in to visit were full of admiration for the presentation. Well done to Mrs Flahavan, Mrs Greene and Larry who all did such great work, for developing the idea and turning out such an impressive exhibition. 15. [May 21st ‘08] After 2 weeks hard work, the wonderful wall mural in the Junior Yard was completed. It was undertaken as a permanent reminder of our 75^th Celebrations. 16. [May 22^nd ‘08] It was a great honour for us today to have Bishop Lee lead us in prayer in St Johns Church as he concelebrated our 75^th Anniversary St La Salle’s Day mass. Undoubtedly it was one of the finest celebrations of its kind in many a year and it was great to see so many parents in attendance. Having outlined the history of the school and the influence of the De La Salle brothers, in his homily Bishop Lee explained that today was essentially a day of thanksgiving. He also posed a challenge to the boys to be the “hands of Jesus” in our community and to leave the “Light of God” behind them where ever they go. As ever the ceremony concluded with the boys raising the roof as they sang with pride our school song “St La Salle Our Dearest Father” Well done to all the Mass Committee for making today such a memorable occasion. 17. [May 24^th ‘08] Wow! What a day! It was fun, fun, fun all the way today as our special 75^th Anniversary Celebration week concluded with a fantastic school wide fun day for all the boys. The days highlight was of course “Splash the Teacher”. 18. [June 6^th ‘08] Our annual Penmanship Awards was held today in glorious sunshine as the whole school assembled in the Junior yard to await the results. Mr O Mahony said he was very impressed with the high standards and praised all the boys for their continued effort. Well done to all the winners. 19. [June 26^th ‘08] Mr O Mahony and Mrs O Shea were given a surprise today as they were presented with some presents from the boys, to mark their retirement after many years of dedicated service to St Declans.