Scoil Eoin Phóil

Green Lane, Leixlip, Co Kildare. W23FY81
Charity No: 20124922
Principal: Mr Seán O'Boyle
Deputy Principal: Claire O'Gorman
School Roll No: 19684O
Phone: 01 - 6243130 Fax: 01 - 6242670
Email: [email protected]

To mark the end of a half term studying aspects of Leixlip - we invited guest speaker Suzanne Pegley to our school to look at our project work and listen to her give a brilliant presentation on the tourism of Leixlip through the ages. Following this Suzanne took us on a guided walk of Leixlip and her friend Patricia showed us around the 800 year old St Mary’s church! A wonderful day of learning both inside and outside the classroom!

STEM Week

Building structures out of newspaper strong enough to hold the weight of a book
Bee Bots
Exploring butterflies and symmetry

Voting for Student Council 2025 - 2026

Polling station is open in S.E.P today and our children from 3rd-6th Class voted for who they would like to elect to represent their class on the student council 2025/26 ~ Good luck to everyone and well done to all who went for election this week! Results to follow soon!

Active Schools' week & Sports Day June 2025

'May is the Month of Mary'
Assembly to celebrate Our Lady

Thank you to all our students and staff who participated in this month's school assembly. May assembly was organised and hosted by Mrs O'Gorman to celebrate the memory of Pope Francis, the appointment of our new Pope Leo XIV, remembering our Lord’s Mother Mary and also acknowledge so many achievements and successes that have taken place across the school. Over the past few weeks our students have participated in a community soccer blitz, attended swimming lessons, visited INTEL, received coaching from Leixlip GAA and Marvel Soccer. We of course, gave a special mention to our 2nd Class students who received their First Holy Communion this month also. We are very proud of how well behaved our classes have been as they represent us all as a school community. Well done to you all boys and girls!!!!

School Tours 2025

As you all know, it's the season for our school tours!! We hope everyone enjoys their tour! Thank you to all our staff for supporting our students and for all the preparations that take place behind the scenes!

On the 13th June 2025, 5th class from Scoil Eoin Phóil received the opportunity to visit Leinster House for the very first time. The lucky class was 5th class. We received a wonderful tour of the whole building by our guide Mark, getting to sit in the gallary of the Dàil, sitting in the seats of the Senators in Seanad Éireann and visited the committee rooms too. Our local TD Joe Neville took questions about Leinster House and then he facilitated a workshop on how Leixlip could be improved. Some great ideas were given by the children. We finished our tour with a photo on the plynth of Leinster House. History has been made. In the future, one or two or even three of us could be back repressing North Kildare as a TD in the not too distant future. We enjoyed our tour immensely and thank TD Neville for giving us so much time on the day.

GAA Training

Thank you to Sandra from Leixlip GAA for all the coaching SEP has recieved over the 2024/25 academic year! Our students have learned lots of new skills and had some fun along the way. Good luck to the boys and girls in 5th and 6th Class who are participating in our local hurling blitz on Tuesday June 10th!

Chess group

A big thank you to Ms Kielty for setting up and running our new chess club which takes place every Thursday. It's a great opportunity for students to learn a new skill, build friendships and take a break from the hustle and bustle of yard time. We hope our students are enjoying developing their knowledge and skills within the game :)

Easter Assembly, egg hunts, gardening and Tidy Towns winners!
Have a lovely Easter Break from us all in SEP :)

A big thank you Ms Gaffney's 2nd Class who participated in our Easter Assembly. Students highlighted the religious importance of Easter and learnings about the Easter tradition. Mr Mulcahy's 5th Class were also contributing to our school, but in a different way. The class came together to help Mr O'Boyle and Mr Reilly dig and plant 70 portuguese floral hedge plants in our new school garden. It was a great morning for it! And finally congratulation to our three winners of the local Tidy Towns Art Competition that was held recently in our community. Their artwork showed showed great effort and talent and we hope they enjoy their prizes!

Robbih Soki Competition winners 2025

Rabbih Soki Competition Winners 2025

Visit from Niall DeBurca - Storyteller

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2025

Celebrations of SnaG 2025 were a great success this year with students receiving traditional Irish dancing lessons in the weeks leading up to SnaG. We then came together as a school to participate in a whole school Céilí out on the school yard. Students also took part in our annual Ceoilchoirm hosted by Donal Fallon and friends where our school listened to some well known Irish songs and also some jigs and reels. This was followed up for a performance from singer, songwriter and past pupil Tadgh Nolan who performed original and modern day songs for our classes. Our school assembly was also held in which students contributed and celebrated learning of St Patrick. Lastly our students were given the opportunity to listen to some stories and legends told by Nial Da Burca, a well known Irish storyteller. My thanks to our teachers who planned and placed additional focus on their teachings through Irish, Mrs Gafffney for organising such wonderful events, ourBoard of Management for funding these events, and to Mrs O'Gorman who prepared and hosted our school assembly. Please check out photos below of all that's happening lately!

Deireadh Seachtaine Naomh Pádraig
Lá Glas

Seachtain na Gaeilge
Céilí 2025

Congratulations to Children of 2nd class receiving their Sacrament of Reconciliation today - 12th of March

Creating scenes from our Irish stories with Lego!
Room 15 2nd Class

Walking through History

Our 5th Class students visited Dublin Castle where they were given the opportunity to learn about the history of Dublin through the centuries. Our tour began with a visit to the original castle wall where students learned about the origins of how Dublin came to be. Students then continued through history as they were taken through a deconsecrated chapel, states rooms, banquet halls, and presidential hallways. Thank you to Mr Mulcahy for organising a very enjoyable and informative school trip.

Flying the SEP Flag with Pride! Well done boys and girls!!!

Well done to all our 5th and 6th Class boys and girls who participated in the Kildare Fai 5-aside blitz in Newbridge on March 4th. It was a lovely day out with the sun shining and 4 teams getting to participate in the competition. All student behaviour was excellent on the day and their efforts on the pitch made us all very proud. Congratulations to the girls team who made the final which had to be decided by penalties. The girls had not conceded one goal through the whole tournament and were very unlucky not to qualify for the next round. Our thanks to Mr Matthews and Ms Malone for all their preparations and organisation ahead of the tournament.

Engineers Week 2025

For Engineers Week
5th class were allowed to create, make and design using KNEX. Working in pairs, they created a collection of different objects and animals such as planes, cars, swings, helicopters, animals and many many more. The class loved creating and making, which is the essence of engineering and they look forward to using KNEX more as the year goes on. Please see our creations below!

Thank you also to INTEL, who hosted workshops for our 3rd Class students. Students worked in groups as they looked to use various materials to design and construct cars and bridges. They enjoyed not only learning through trial and error but also learning how to share ideas, offer solutions and how to work as a team.

SEP Says No to Bullying!!

Congratulations to all our students and staff who have worked very hard over the past few weeks and months to help promote and launch KiVa within our school. Our new KiVa programme will help students build a strength of togetherness to become a telling school as we look to help support anti- bullying within our school and local community. My thanks to all our local community members who supported our launch and helped raise our KiVa Flag and also to Paul Johnston who provided a very insightful presentation to parents about how KiVa works within the school, how we manage reports of bullying and how we support everyone involved.

Please click on the link below to access the PPT that was presented on the night.

docs.google.com/presentation/d/1pyO5gI9gxCesMzjurGI0bYBGnanRDL6M/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115593185122457087127&rtpof=true&sd=true

KiVa parent booklets are still available from the school office.

Lalita Darlington Art Competition 2025

Congratulations to all those who participated in this year's art competition. This year's theme " My Happy Place" allowed students to get creative sparked conversations surrounding wellbeing also. My thanks to Ms Hallissey and Ms Sheehan for organising the event and hosting our assembly to remember Lalita and celebrate the winners of the competition.

Annnnnnnnd breath....

To start the new year our Infants & 2nd Class participated in a mindfulness webinar! See the well-being board for more!

Christmas Assembly - 20th Dec 2024

5th class children helping Senior Infants
plant crocus' and snowdrops

Our School garden has begun!! Thank you to our 5th and Senior Infant classes who planted over 200 bulbs that were donated to the school by our Board of Management member Martin Jennings. We can't wait to see them in the new year!

Having a wonderful Christmas in SEP!!

It's been a great few weeks here in SEP. We had our Christmas Jumper Day on Dec 6th, Santa came to visit also. Our 4th Class took part in a community carol service in the village on Dec 13th, our Advent and Christmas assemblies took place at the beginning and end of December also. We also had our PTA Christmas Fair and our Christmas Open Days for families to enjoy!

It's been a wonderful few weeks. Well done boys and girls!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Student Council receiving their badges

Chess Jamboree 2024/25

Congratulations to all our students who took part in this year's Chess Jamboree. My thanks to Scoil Mhuire for hosting the event which saw students for all our local schools participate. While it wasn't to be our year this year, we are very happy that our students enjoyed the experience and learned a few new skills along the way. My thanks to Mr Devine and Ms Keilty for organising the chess club and supporting our students on the day!

Visit by Archaeologist Dave Swift

Mr Mulcahy's 5th Class got the opportunity to dive a bit deeper into 16th and 17th Century Ireland as they got their hands-on experience of exploring 500 year old artefacts from the period such as guns, swords, helmets and chain mail that were used during this era in Irish History. Students learned about how the weapons were made, their intricate details and designs, and how they were used. Dave was fountain of knowledge and the children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. We hope he visits again soon!

Science Week 2024/25

We couldn't be more proud boys!!

Congratulations to our Boys Soccer Town who were crowned runners up in this year's Kildare Fai 11 A-side Championship. The boys dominated the first half and were first to score in what turned out to be a game of very fine margins. In the end, the teams couldn't be separated and had to be decided by penalty shoot out. While it wasn't to be our day, seeing how much the boys supported each other is a credit to them. Their behaviour on and off the pitch was fantastic from start to finish and the team spirit within the group made myself and Mr Matthews feel very proud of them all. Well done boys on representing your school to such a high degree!

County Champions for SEP!!!

We are very proud of our Girls Soccer Team who took home the trophy and crowned county championships for the Kildare Fai 11 A-side Championship. My thanks to Mr Mulcahy for coaching the girls and also to Ms Singelton for all the help in organising games, venues, busses etc.. The girls put on a great show as they gave a tremendous effort to win 4 - 1 on the day against a Kilcock team whom they had drawn against in their opening group stage game. My thanks also to all the 5th Class students and parents/guardians who came to support the team on the day! Well done to girls! We're very proud of you :)

More photos from Maths Week!

Scavenger Hunt

FAI 11-Aside Soccer is underway! Lets Go SEP!!

Congratultions to our Boys and Girls Soccer Teams who are making us all very proud. The girls team has now made it to the final for our second year in a row! A fantastic achievement. We cannot wait to see them give it their all in next week's final!! And let's not forgot our boys team who have their semi-final to play this coming Monday! We are very proud of both teams for not only showing such great behaviour on and off the pitch, but also wearing the jersey with pride and giving 100% for their school! Good luck to both teams next week!!

4th Class Trip to the National History Museum

Mrs Reynold's 4th Class went back through history as they supplemented their learning of the Bronze Age in class by visiting Dublin's National History Museum. The students were given a tour of the museum, allowing the opportunity to learn about artifacts and technologies from the Stone Age and learned about how they developed and advanced over time.

Maths Week 2024
All classes were diving further into the world of Mathematics this week as we celebrated Maths Week 2024 in SEP. Teachers provided extra focus and insight to learning through Maths trails, online resources and games, workshops and other various activities.
On the 15th October, 5th class experienced a CSI Maths Workshop which involves solving "crimes" by Gavin from the Rediscovery Centre. Working in groups, the children tried to solve 6 puzzles all of which focused on different aspects of Maths. They solved many "crimes" and thoroughly enjoyed the workshop.

Halloween Week

As we prepare for the mid-term Break, our students ( and staff ) have been busy preparing for getting into the Hallowe'en spirit. All our teachers and staff stayed back after school last Thursday to decorate the school grounds and prepare for our annual scavanager hunts and pumpkin pageants. See pictures below of Ms Murray's Senior Infants making witches' den potions with the help of some of our senior classes. It's always a nice week for the school and we look forward to seeing all the great costumes on Friday Oct 25th!

Learning about all things Nature!

It's that time of year again where many of our classes are learning about the changes in the seasons. Ms Hallissey's Junior Infants are getting learn all about their new school surroundings, and enjoyed a fun nature walk exploring the campus.

Mrs Gaffney's 2nd Class are studying the science of Autumn and Nature this month. We took a walk and a map of the biodiversity on The Green Lane and found lots of interesting samples that nature is here and winter is coming! We learned about different mini beasts, Native Irish trees, spotted different flora and fauna - all on our doorstep! It was so interesting- we then made autumn art creations and learnt an Irish poem! Ta a fomhar linn!

European Sports Day 27th September 2024

All our students were very busy and active for this year's European Sports Day. All classes enjoyed active lessons inside the classroom and out to ensure that we are staying fit and healthy in Scoil Eoin Phóil. Thankfully the weather gave perfect conditions for our students to enjoy our bouncing castles and get some lovely fresh air to end another great week!

Mr Mulcahy's class trip
5th class visited Maynooth Castle on a wet and blustery day. They learnt all about the Fitzgerald dynasty from Gearóid Mór, to Gearóid Óg and Silken Thomas. We saw the ruins of the castle after the attack and plunder of it by the British force led by William Skeffintonn nearly 400 years ago. We had a great time touring the castle and thank our great your guide Alan for informing us about the history of it. We can't wait to learn even more Irish history.

Our Wellbeing Walk to kick off the new year!
To start the year with our wellbeing in mind all classes took advantage of the great weather to get some steps, fresh air and visit the local community. Today we visited Alensgrove mini gardens and farm. Students had great fun feeding and seeing animals such pigs, donkeys, shetland ponies, alpacas, emus, sheep and peacocks. While the walk was a little too far for our infant classes, they opted for a local nature walk around the school GAA grounds.

Supporting our local GAA

End of Year Certificates 2024

Congratulations to all our students who were presented with various awards for their achievements throughout the year. Our End of Year Assembly took place on our final day of the school year and gave opportunity to celebrate a fantastic year, and also give our best wishes to our graduating 6th Class students. Well done everyone on another wonderful year in Scoil Eoin Póil!!

Lalita Darlington Art Competition 2024

Thank you to all our students who entered in this year's art competition in remembrance of Lolita Darlington. The entries were so creative and colourful that it was very difficult to choose a winner. Well done to all and congratulations to this year's winners who were presented with their awards at a special whole school assembly.

Junior Infants- Ms. O’Connor
Grace Ivory
Eddie Lytton Roberts

Senior Infants- Ms. Reynolds
Seren Tierney
Riley Farrell Munnelly

1st Class- Ms. O’Gorman
Donagh Cassells
Jack Creelman

2nd Class- Mrs. Macken/ Mrs. Malin
Nuha Khan
Aidan McCabe

2nd Class- Mrs. Gaffney/ Ms. Spencer
Seán Maher
Lily Cribben

3rd Class- Ms. Malone
Emma Yaverbaum
Jamie Jamison Effie

4th Class- Ms. O’Dea
Alex Cieslik
Sam Chandler

5th Class- Ms. Fadian
Connor Molloy
Rhys Brennan

5th Class- Ms. Murray
Theresa Chris Phillips
Ruairi Cummins Blakeway

6th Class- Mr. Matthews
Viktoria Boltrukiewicz
Larien Kawiorska

6th Class- Mr. Mulcahy
Ayra Khan
Meddinah Gabrijela Rahaman

Walk a Mile with a Smile

Active Schools Week / Sports Day 2024

We hope all our students enjoyed this year's Sports Day which was full of activities from start to finish. Our students had the opportunities to experience bouncing castles, yoga, dance, soccer, athletics, GAA, games but to name a few activities. Our thanks to all the local clubs who joined us for the day also and to our local volunteer Valerie for helping with teas and coffees for our parents and guardians on the day. Congratulations to the winners of this year's races also and to those who received special awards also.

Sports Day was only one aspect of our Active Schools week 2024. Students had a full week of activities to keep the bodies fresh and energised. Some of these activities included Ninja Fitness, tennis lessons in the local amenities center and skipping each morning. My thanks to Mr. Mulcahy and all the staff involved in organsing such a successful week of events

Intercultural Day - 14th June 2024

A big thank you to all our Scoil Eoin Phóil families for making Intercultural Day 2024 such a huge success. Everyone did a fantastic job in steeping our school in the values and traditions of so many cultures around the world. Today was a wonderful learning experience for students to learn about how differences in others should be welcomed and supported. It was also another opportunity for students to come together as a school and work together. Class groups worked on projects and research while some of our senior classes paired up with our younger students to help learn about all the different countries that are so important to us as a school community! Inclusion and working together is what it's all about! Students also wore in traditional clothes and food for everyone to experience. Thank you to all our parents/guardians who supported us today as there was a great atmosphere around the school.

Lá Glás

Rabbih Soki Competion winners 2024

Winners 2024

Engineer's Week a visitor to 3rd class

Shooting for the Stars!

Thank you to Shooting Stars for coaching our junior, senior, first and second classes! The boys and girls are having great fun learning new soccer skills!

World Book Day 1st March 2024

Today we celebrated all things reading in Scoil Eoin Phóil as students and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters. Senior classes worked with our juniors in some shared reading, our Student Council officially opened our new school library and students got to show off their costumes as they visited classes throughout the school. Thank you to everyone involved who put in a real team effort in setting up our new school library! It is a wonderful addition to our school!

1st Class trip to Dubin Zoo

Our 1st Class students were treated to their very own tour of the African Planes in Dublin Zoo! The students ( and staff ) learned lots of interesting facts about the animals, were given the opportunity to feed the giraffe's and even got to hold a hippo's tooth!! Thank you to the staff of Dublin Zoo for ensuring the children had a fantastic school trip.

Kildare boxing legend Eric Donavan visits Scoil Eoin Phóil

We were delighted to welcome European Boxing Champion Eric Donavan to work with our 5th and 6th Class students last week. Eric put the students through their paces with a training session followed by an inspirational talk and Q&A. Eric discussed his coping skills to manage anxiety before a fight, the pitfalls and mistakes he made when he was a young teenager, how he struggled with peer pressure and the challenges he had to overcome, the help he received from his coach, and his successes he hard to work very hard for. Eric's talk provided the students the opportunity to see how failure is a part of life but there is always something that we can learn from it, how hard work is needed to achieve your dream and to never give up!

Mr Mulcahy's 6th class visit to
Áras an Uachtaráin

" On the 31st of January, 6th Class were invited to Áras an Uachtaráin. When 6th Class got to the house there were people waiting at the door to welcome us in. Once we got in there was a table of food waiting for us. There were cakes, teas, and juices. They were so hospitable. After that we went downstairs to watch a short film. Also, when we were down there we we went to see Dev's Rolls Royce. Finally, we went to the gardens where we got to see lots, such as JFK's tree that he planted. We also got to ring the Peace Bell. We sat on Marie Antoinette's couch and we learned that the Eternal Flame is never turned off. I am very thankful that we got to go. It will never be a day to forget. "

Dylan Yaverbaum, 6th Class
Feb 2nd 2024

Grandparents Day
26th January 2024

Thank you to all involved for making Grandparent's Day 2024 a special day for our school. We hope our grandparents and students enjoyed our whole school assembly and also enjoyed the fun performances and activities that took place in the classrooms afterwards! Thank you also to our PTA and parent volunteers who had some lovely tea, coffee and treats prepared to enjoy afterwards.

Incoming Mental Health Award!!

"Hello,
My name is Wiktoria and I am the chairperson of the Student Council. I would like to let you all know that our school has been given a school achievement award for all our work on promoting positive mental health and wellbeing in our school community. We have been awarded the certificate from St Patrick's Mental Health Services as we took part in the "Walk in My Shoes" campaign. Thanks to all the classes that participated in all the different wellbeing activities this year so far. Remember to take a break on Thursdays and continue to eat healthy lunches over the festive month.
Thank you everyone! "

2nd Class Weather Projects

Well done to all our students from Mrs Gaffney's and Ms Spencer's 2nd Class. This was their first time working in groups and they did an amazing job. Mrs Gaffney informed me that it was in fact the students who wanted to do a project all about weather storms and we are very proud of all their hard work and effort. The students focused their learning around Storm Ophelia in particular and came together to share with each other all they had discovered. Their projects are on display at the top of Corridor 2 for all to see. Well done 2nd Class!!!

Getting into the festive Spirit!

Our second classes enjoyed a festive trip to the Draíocht theatre in Blanchardstown to see the Polar Bear and the Penguin! They got lots of tips on acting and performing which they are putting to use in their Christmas show rehearsals!

HO HO HO!!!!
Santa arrived on the Green Lane is welcomed by all the excited boys and girls who sang festive songs as they cheered Rudolph around the school yard! Thank you so much to all our 6th Class students who were helping to organise and work with our infant classes as they got excited for our special Christmas celebration! Thank you also to Community Garda Christopher Fallon for helping to ensure Santa made it to the Green Lane safely from the North Pole!

World War 1
Ms Murray's 5th Class History Projects

Well done to all our 5th Class students who worked very hard putting together and learning all about WW1. Each group presented their work to the class and they all did an amazing job. I myself learned so much about trench foot, job opportunities for women, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and so much more. Congratulations to Ms Murray and all the students on such great work!

We Couldn't be More Proud!!

We are so so proud of our senior girls soccer team who came runners up in this year's Kildare FAI 11-aside championship! The girls gave absolutely everything as they played in tough weather conditions against defending champions Castledermot National School. The sides couldn't be separated after 90 minutes which led to extra time where the girls still kept fighting for every ball. The game was decided on penalties in the end which is never easy for any team. We are also very proud of our 6th Classes who travelled with the team to cheer them on. It wasn't easy standing on the cold side lines but the children were in great spirts from start to finish. Seeing our students care so much for their school and classmates, show great support and compassion, and demonstrate great team spirit made today a very special day for our school. Finally, a special thank you to Ms Fadian for coaching the girls and putting a lot of work in behind the scenes to help the girls have such a successful tournament. Well done again girls! We couldn't be more proud!!

Happy Hallowe'en Everyone!

From all our staff in Scoil Eoin Phóil we would like to wish all our families a very happy and spooky Hallowe'en. Have a lovely mid-term! 🎃🎃🎃

Intel Mini-Scientist Competition 2023

Congratulations to both our Fifth Classes who worked very hard on their science projects for this year's Mini Scientists competition. Students from Ms Fadian and Ms Murray's 5th Class worked very hard together in groups to come up with a project of their choosing that would lead to discovery and learning. Students presented their journey and findings to judicators from Intel in the school hall on Monday 23rd. Not only were the judges very complimentary of their hard work but they also noticed a "unique atmosphere of team work, respect and collaboration" between the groups. A special congratulations to Sadhbh Roche, Caoimhe Roche, Maebh Egan and Sophie Hendrick for taking First Place and will be representing Scoil Eoin Phóil at the regional finals in a few weeks time. The girls investigated and experimented to discover what mix of agents would work best to clean coins. I am very grateful for all our 5th Class students for representing the school in such a manner! Well done everyone!!

Mathletics - National, European and the World!

Congratulations to all our 6th Class students who have represented Scoil Eoin Phóil in fantastic fashion during Maths Week 2023. Mr Mulcahy's 6th Class rose to the challenge and logged scores that they should be extremely proud of! There were both whole class and individual successes to be celebrated. Out of the top 8 students in Ireland, 7 of them were from Scoil Eoin Phóil with Abdul-Fawaz Ojewale securing No. 1 in Ireland! And Despite a technical set back on Monday, students managed to work together to achieve a whole class score of 1st Place in Ireland, 1st Place in Europe and 7th in the World!!!! An incredible achievement by all! Well done boys and girls!

Semi- Finals Here We Come!!

Well done to our Senior Girls Soccer Team who have reached the semi-finals of the Kildare 11 aside championship. The team remains unbeaten this year so far! Best of luck in the next round ladies!!

We have weapon historians in our 6th Classes!

Mr Matthew's and Mr Mulcahy's 6th Classes got the opportunity to dive a bit deeper into 15th and 16th Century Ireland as they got their hands-on experience of learning about weapons what were used during this era in Irish History. Students learned about how the weapons were made, their intricate details and designs, and how they were used. Thankfully no teachers were harmed during these lessons ;)

Maths Week 16th - 20th October 2023

Well done to all our students in Scoil Eoin Phóil this week as we took part in our annual Maths week. Maths trails, challenges and tasks were presented to the classes in many different forms to help emphasise how mathematics can take many forms and learned in so many different ways!

European Sports Day

A Special Visitor!

Mia Doherty who is a member of the Leixlip and Kildare LGFA came to visit the school on Wednesday 13th Sept with one of her trophies. She has won - All Ireland, Leinster and League games with the Kildare team.

Our trip to Leixlip Fire Station

Thank you very much to everyone at Leixlip fire station for an amazing and fun experience for our infant classes! The boys and girls were delighted to learn about the life of a fireman and were even more happier to get their turns trying on uniforms, using the fire hose and checking out their fire truck!

Soccer Tournament

Congratulations to our senior boys and girls soccer teams on a fantastic day out at the Leixlip Amenities Centre. The girls team were runners up on the day and the boys won the cup! A great day out for everyone. I hope the sun cream was on!? Well done everyone :)

Intercultural Day

Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine
12/5/2023

Earth Day 2023

Diving into History with a BIG DIG!

All classes became archaeologists for the day today as students got their hands dirty using their excavation tools to discover skeletal remains, weapons ( safe ones of course!) , jewellery, cooking utensils and much more.

Engineers in the making!

Students from Ms Sheehan’s 5th Class have been busy working with Mrs Gaffney’s and Mrs Spencer’s 3rd Class building their engineering skills. Students were put into groups to work together as they constructed motorised vehicles, windmills, lights etc.. Well done to both classes on such great work!

Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine
24/3/2023
Maith sibh gach duine agus comhghairdeas lena dáltaí i rang a hAon, a Ceathair agus a Cúig cé a bhuaigh pás obair bhaile .

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2023

Thank you to all our Scoil Eoin Phóil families and staff members for making this year's Seachtaine na nGaeilge one to remember. This year's Lá Glas took place on Thursday March 16th. It was a busy day, starting with a performance of traditional music to the whole school by Donal Falon and his friends Paul, Seamus and Terry. The students enjoyed the music so much that we even saw some take to the floor to perform some Irish dancing for us all to witness. It was also a lovely moment for all our students as we stood together to close off the ceolchoirm with a sounding rendition of "Ireland's Call" ahead of the weekend's 6 Nations.

Students returned to the hall after break to take part in our Trá na gCeist. Classes from 3rd to 6th were mixed into teams to take part in our Irish quiz. Winners recieved easter eggs as prizes.

To end the day of celebrations, the whole school took part in our céilí outside on the yard. Senior students had been paired with our younger classes as they performed traditional dances. As part of our PE strand for dance, classes had been rehearsing in the weeks leading up to Seachtaine na nGaeilge. Thankfully the weather remained dry!

Rabbih Soki Story/Poetry Competition 2023:

Congratulations to all our winners of this year's Rabbi Soki writing competition. Judges have said that the standard was extremely high this year and that every student who entered should be extremely proud of their effort. Every year our writing competition is integrated with World Book Day and our literacy lessons to promote the enjoyment and creativity of writing. Students were presented with their medals at a special assembly where we also take a moment to remember Rabbi, a student of Scoil Eoin Phóil who will always be remembered. Mrs Farrell, who organises the competition spoke to our students at assembly about Rabbi, his love for reading and writing and why the competition is held in his memory.

Rabbih Soki Story/Poetry Competition Results 2023:

1st Class Rm 7:
1st – Story ‘Ella’s Magical Dream’ by Daniela Borta
2nd- Poem ‘My Family’ by Cian Madden
3rd- Story ‘The Dreamy Fairy’ by Nuha Khan

1st Class Rm 13:
1st –Poem ‘Shark Boy my Hero’ by Luke Farrell
2nd-Story ‘Frolly’s Unicorn Surprise’   by Romy McCabe
3rd-Poem ‘My Hero’   by Sam Mostyn

2nd Class Rm 14:
1st- Story ‘The Adventures of Max, Penny and Jojo’   by Isabel Jones
2nd- Poem ‘The Zoo’ by Cillian Moynihan
3rd-Poem ‘Blue’ by Sophie Keegan

3rd Class Rm 15:
1st- Story ‘Mimi and Pippin and the Kitten Disappearance’   by Holly Lonergan
2nd-Poem ‘The Zoo’ by Lucy Jordan
3rd-Story ‘The Great Scooter Heist’   by Henry Lake

4th Class Rm 1:
1st-Poem ‘The Planet’ by Thomas Lloyd
2nd-Poem ‘The Zoo’ by Rian Scott
3rd- Story ‘An Important Announcement’ by Daniel Coburn

4th Class Rm 8:
1st-Poem ‘Easter’   by Ava Kennedy
2nd-Story ‘The Hidden Gem’ by Sadhbh Roche
3rd-Story ‘Chelsea V Napoli Cup Final’ by Daniel Marrone

5th Class Rm 12:
1st-Story ‘Just Like a Brother’ by Seán Flannery
2nd-Poem ‘Our Planet’ by Ailbhe Kelly
3rd-Poem ‘Dylan’s Day’ by Ryan Guiney

5th Class Rm 16:
1st-Story ‘Olivia’s Lotto Ticket’ by Lauren Malone
2nd-Poem ‘Feelings’ by Eve Coffey
3rd-Story ‘The Worst Summer Ever’ by Daniel Smith

6th Class Rm 11:
1st-Poem ‘Dreams’ by Zoe Lloyd
2nd-Story ‘1 Shot’ ’ by Seán McLoughlin
3rd-Poem ‘My Family’ by Megan Murray

World Book Day 2023

Well done to everyone for participating in World Book Day 2023. In the lead up to the special day, there was a big focus on all things literacy in Scoil Eoin Phóil. Classes came together to share in reading activities, our Student Council started up the Scoil Eoin Phóil Book Club and students looked towards forming book reviews, entered in our annual Rabbi Soki writing competition and dressed up as their favourite book characters for the day.

Slán Go fóil Omo

Today Scoil Eoin Phóil said a fond farewell and a big go raibh maith agat to Omo. We thank her for her work and dedication to our school and wish her well in the future.

Please go to our Kildare Libraries link for events taking place during March and also Seachtain na Gaeilge 2023 - 1 - 17 Márta

Odd Sock Friday!

ODD SOCK FRIDAY was celebrated as part of Anti-bullying Week 2023 to help support the message that everyone is different, unique and special in their own way, and that individualism is always to be celebrated and encouraged.

Students also designed Anti-Bullying paper chains. Each individual strip created by the students are linked together to form chains. The idea of this is to show that we are united in spreading the message of kindness and saying NO to bullying.

Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine

Comhghairdeas le gach duine! Well done to this week's winners of Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine. Every assembly, students who have been awarded a Ticéad Ór for gaeilge, their names are put into a raffle with a chance to win a homework pass and a certificate as a reward for their hard work and effort. Congratulations to this week's winners!

Grandparents Day

Scoil Eoin Phoil were delighted to welcome so many of our grandparents into our school to celebrate Grandparents Day. It was such a special occasion. We learned so much about school life in the past through interviews with our grandparents. We sang songs, presented projects, painted and played games. We were so proud to share our learning with our grandparents who mean so much to us. A big thank you to all who shared in our celebrations.

Senior Infants on the Move!!

Mrs Macken and Mrs O'Connor's Senior Infants enjoyed a little break from the class as the went down the town to visit our local estate agent last Friday. The students have been recently learning about estate agencies as part of the Aistear role play. Many thanks to John "Bosco" and Fiona French from French Estates for the warm welcome and for speaking with the Children. It was a great day out for the students.

Santa visits Scoil Eoin Phoil

Thank you so much to Santa and his helpers who came to visit all our students and staff in Scoil Eoin Phóil. There was great excitement as staff and students dressed up in their Christmas colours to welcome Santa onto the Green Lane. Santa's visit was in aid of Temple St Children's hospital and in keeping with spirit of Christmas, a donation was made on behalf of all students and staff members by our Board of Management.

Our Student Council is Growing!

This year we have opened up our Student Council to 3rd Class students also. Each member has a role as an officer of a class representative. Currently our members are busy preparing for the re-opening of our school shop. Well done Student Council. Keep up the great work!

Giddy Up 3rd Class!!

Pictures from the recent workshop in 3rd class - The Wonder of the Racehorse brought to life the story of the Irish thoroughbred, from birth to full grown racehorse, in a fun and interactive session.

It was Delivered by Heather from the Irish National Stud and Horse Racing Ireland.

This workshop covered curriculum-based themes including animals and living things, maths, materials, environmental awareness and care. This workshops gave the children an insight into the horse and thoroughbred industry in a fun and interactive way.

Thank you to Heather from The National Stud who was so interesting to listen to! We all want to try horse racing now!!

Chess Jamboree 2022

Well done to our Chess team who took part in the year's chess tournament hosted by Scoil Mhuire. We are very proud of our students who represented the school is fantastic fashion as they played against some very tough opposition. We've already began practicing for next year :)

Scoil Eoin Phóil - Hallowe'en / Autumn Photos

Our Student Council 2022/23

Congratulations to our newly elected Student Council Members!! Our Student Council plays a large role within our school and we are very much looking forward to working with this year's members. The council will meet every fortnight to discuss new ideas, initiatives, and any other ways in which we can help to improve our school. While our class representatives are elected from our senior classes, the council has already started brainstorming ideas to ensure our younger students are also represented. Our members were presented with their badges and, as you can see, are very excited for the year ahead. Best of luck Student Council!!

Maths Week 2022
Table Quiz 3rd - 6th Class

Trip to Castletown House

Our 2nd and 3rd Class students experienced some local history as they toured Castletown House on Wednesday October 12th. Students received a guided tour of the area and also had fun dressing up in costumes as they learned about local history and nature.

Student Council Elections

Scoil Eoin Phóil held our Student Council Elections on Thursday 13th October. Our hall was set up as the polling station and each class got their chance to vote in a student council representative from their class. Well done to all students who were willing to take on the role to help our school. The posters in our lobby are amazing. Our new council will be announced shortly.

Autumn Trails

On a beautiful, bright October morning, all of our Infant Classes enjoyed a lovely walk to Squirrel Wood on an Autumn trail. They found lots of conkers, colourful leaves and pine cones but sadly no squirrels. They enjoyed their forest experience using their senses to explore what they could see, hear and smell. Well done to all the Infant Classes fro being so sensible on their outing.

European Schools Sports Day at Scoil Eoin Phóil

Despite the rain our wonderful children at Scoil Eoin Phóil enjoyed participating in lots of fun activities to celebrate European School Sport Day on Friday 30th September. Some wonderful football and basketball skills were on show at our inflatables targets. The children relaxed with Yoga, got active with Go Noodle and had lots of games in the PE hall. The parachute was a highlight. Well done to all the children for their displays of teamwork and manners throughout the day.

Skippy John

Scoil Eoin Phóil welcomed Skippy John who hosted a two day workshop on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th of September with all classes on how to skip. Did you know that if you can bounce you can skip? The students all had a wonderful time bouncing and skipping with many of them purchasing skipping ropes to continue practicing their new skills. It was great to see everyone have fun, use lots of energy and try their best. Well done to all!

GAA Champions 2022!!!

We would like to congratulate all of our students who were involved with the Leixlip GAA. Over the last week or so the boys won their promotion to Division 1 Hurling league last week and the girls who won U13 Division 1 Sheild Final. Well done to you all. A fantastic achievement!

Awards Day in Scoil Eoin Phóil

On Wednesday June 29th, we held our end of year assembly where students from each class were presented with awards for their effort, hard work and kindness throughout the year. Once the certificates were presented, Ms McAndrew’s Junior Infants performed some songs in front of the whole school. They were absolutely fantastic and should be very proud of themselves. Well done boys and girls!

Sports Day 2022

Thank you to Barney the Bull for taking time away from Barnhall Rugby pitches to visit Scoil Eoin Phóil during Sports Day. It was a big surprise for our students! We would also like to thank Liffeybank FC, Go Fresh Inflatables and Michelle Van Valey, our yoga instructor, for all their support and help throughout the day. Well done to all the boys and girls who were took part in all our different activities throughout the day! We hope you had fun! Please click on the video below to see Mr Reilly showing Mr O'Boyle how it's done in our Staff Vs Students penalty shoot out!

Student Council 2022

Well done to all our student council members for their hard work which has made a great contribution to our school community. Please have a read of what our members had to say about their experiences on the council this year.

Student Council End of Year Reviews.pdf
File Size:	350 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Senior Infants Teddy Bear's Picnic

Senior Infants enjoyed their teddy bear's picnic to the GAA club last Friday 27th May. Both teddies and children had lots of lovely treats, and enjoyed fun and games in the beautiful sunshine.

Lego Club SEP
The highly anticipated Lego Club is up and running during lunchtimes in SEP!
Thanks to everyone who donated their unwanted Lego from home.
Children are busy creating all sorts of world's, characters and creations using their imaginations!
(All Lego donations still welcome!)

Sing Space for 1st and 5th Classes:

On Wednesday May 4th , the children of 1st and 5th Class took part in a SingSpace workshop with Sing Ireland in the Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge. I was informed by the teachers that the bus ride home was full of voice and song after a day of being musically creative with other schools in the area. We hope the children enjoyed their day!

Clean Up Day with Leixlip Tidy Towns for Earth Day

On Friday 29th April our two 4th Classes went out litter picking with Berni, Martin and Dermot from Leixlip Tidy Towns. The children enjoyed volunteering to pick up litter around Green Lane and filled their bags with all kinds of litter, including plastic bags and wrappers, cigarette butts, crisp packets, chewing gum and plastic bottles.
After all their hard work, they enjoyed learning about nature and insects at the wild meadow area and completing a tree trail that Berni set them and then sat down for a break on the benches for a well earned treat.
Ms. Hallissey and Ms. Murray’s classes also designed posters and t-shirts for Earth Day. They also spent time in class researching how important sustainability is in protecting our environment for the future.
Thank you to Ms. Farrell and Berni from Leixlip Tidy Towns for organising our Clean Up Day, we really enjoyed ourselves.

6th class have planted sunflowers to celebrate Earth Day. We care for them each day by placing them in the sunniest location in our classroom and by giving them lots of water. We hope to plant them in the school garden very very soon. Please see the photos below of just 2 of our sun flowers. We will keep you posted when the flowers start to bloom!

6th class Mr Mulcahy

2nd Class learned about the importance of bees in our environment. They were amazed to find out what would happen in a world with no bees.

Solar Energy Experiment for Earth Day in Room 15
We investigated solar energy by creating a solar box and tested it by placing a glass of water inside. We then had to look at the orientation of the school building and position our solar box accordingly.
We recorded the temperature of the water before and after to see if solar energy could heat it.

We celebrated International Day 2022 on Friday, 8th April. We invited all students to wear their national costume / colours of their country / region. Our Irish students wore green or the Irish / county jersey.
6th class helped the Junior Infant children with an Easter hunt .

3rd Class – History Field Trip to The Wonderful Barn

The third classes in SEP took a historical walk to the Wonderful Barn on Monday 28th of March. It was a beautiful day to walk with our classmates to visit a local historical building. Together we learned many interesting things about this unusual ,‘wonderful’ building…..we sketched drawings in our history notebooks and discussed what life might have been like for the locals of Leixlip at this time….we would all recommend a leisurely walk around the grounds of this amazing structure over your Easter Holidays! It was brilliant to be back outdoors together, exploring nature and the history of our village.

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Did you know?....
The Wonderful Barn

The Wonderful Barn

Picture's above:

General information

Status
Inactive, heritage building

Architectural style
Georgian

Location
Barnhall

Town or city
Leixlip

Country
Ireland

Coordinates
53.359757°N 6.510011°W

Elevation
60 m (200 ft)

Completed
1743

Landlord
John Glin

Height
22 m (72 ft)

Dimensions

Diameter
11 m (36 ft) at base

Circumference
35 m (115 ft) at base

Technical details

Material
red brick overlain with rubble stone

Floor count
7

Known for
unusual shape

The Wonderful Barn is a corkscrew-shaped building on the edge of Castletown House Estate, formerly of the Conolly family, in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. The barn itself is formally in neighbouring Leixlip.

Structure
Flanked by two smaller dovecote towers, the barn was built with the stairs ascending around the exterior of the building.

View of the Barn and the adjoining house, circa 1900.

History
The barn was built in 1743 on the Leixlip side of the Castletown Estate.
One theory is based on the custom in Georgian times of using doves as a delicacy when other game or animals were not in season, and suggest its use as a dovecote. The height of the structure would also lend itself to sport shooting, supporting another theory of its use as a shooting or gamekeepers tower. The tower is seen from the east windows of Castletown House, so it filled that vista, possibly as a folly. However, a central hole through each of the floors supports the generally accepted theory of its use as a granary. The barn was built in the years immediately following the famine of 1740-41, as there was a need for new grain stores in case of another famine. The Conollys owned Kilmacredock and rented it out, so the barn was also useful for their tenants. The construction project also likely served as a way to keep the local poor employed. In this, it is not unlike the Conolly Folly (an Obelisk), which was built on the estate in 1740-41.

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2022

Part 1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tGC1KEo-O8ROrj3cQO1JGwIQMQcv5V28/view?usp=sharing
Part 2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Byronuld-UPOuRB4kfj-13LujrtLSuIz/view?usp=sharing

" Ms McAndrew's Junior Infants are all ready for St. Patrick's Day!!"

Look at what our budding engineers in Rang 3:Room 15 have been up to. Designing 'Our Ideal Playgrounds'! Which one would suit SEP do you think!?!.

Lá Glas i Rang a hAon

Leprechaun Traps 1st Class

Engineers Week 2022
Both 6th classes celebrated Engineers Week 2022 by attending a virtual workshop hosted by Intel on Friday, 11th March.
Our engineering project was to design a “Scribble Bot” using recyclable materials, a battery pack, motor and markers.
Before setting off on our project, an engineer called Chloe spoke about her career as an engineer in Intel. After that, we completed our projects in groups of 5. Chloe was very patient and answered all the questions we had along the way. After 90 minutes, lots of trial and error and many re-designs, each group had created their very own Scribble Bot.
We absolutely loved the event, especially those of us who hope to study engineering next year in secondary school. Finally, a big thank you to Luke’s Mam for all her help in organising the event.
6th class Mr Mulcahy and Ms Tierney

Mrs Reynolds' First Class have been working hard on their writing.

Rabbih Soki Writing Competition Winners 2022

Rabbih Soki Writing Competition Results 2022
File Size:	75 kb
File Type:	pdf

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World Book Day held on Friday 4th March - Scoil Eoin Phóil

Story Teller Event: 4th March 2022
On the 4th of March the school celebrated World Book Day after a week of lots of fun reading activities. Everyone dressed up in their favourite book characters including the teachers. Alannah dressed as a character from the “Hunger Games”. Michael’s costume was from the book “A Boy in a girls dress” while Otto was dressed as Harry Potter. After little break, the class were treated to a story telling event in the hall by a man called Seosaimh. It was our first time in the hall with other classes in 2 years and even that made it very exciting!
Seosaimh was a man from Dublin. The first thing he mentioned was how much he loved books of all shapes and sizes and for all ages. He read to us from an infant book to explain even the simplest of stories can be magical. After that, he told us 2 stories. For example, one story spoke about 2 men (a rich and a poor man) going to court over a plot of land and having to answer 3 puzzling questions. The moral of the story was that nothing is more important than love, kindness and family. Seosaimh told these stories so well and we were all so intrigued as he spoke. We loved the event!
Immediately afterwards, we got the opportunity to put our story telling skills to the test by reading to the Junior Infants. It was out first time properly meeting them and we all really loved getting to read to them on the yard. We hope we were as good as Seosaimh!

6th class Mr Mulcahy

Anti-Bullying Week 2022

This year's Anti-Bullying Week has a very busy one for all of us here in Scoil Eoin Phóil. Thank you Patrick Courtney who spoke at our parent's anti-bullying workshop and also to Community Garda Christopher Fallon who spoke to some of our older classes about internet safety.

Our teachers have been very busy focusing on anti-bullying this week and promoting positive behaviours in our school. While class lessons have focused on our Stay Safe Bullying / Cyberbullying curriculum, students have also been creating anti-bullying posters and display boards. Classes have also been making whole-class paper chains and hand wreaths to show how we are all connected and play a role in making our school a happy and safe place!

Thank you to all the teachers ad students for all their hard work over the past few days :)

Dates for Diary 2021-2022
Confirmation - 16th February, 2022 @ 11am
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Celebrating St. Brigid's Day, our patron saint of Kildare

Well done to all the boys and girls in Ms Hallissey's 4th Class and Mrs Gaffney/Ms Stokes 3rd Class for their lovely St. Brigid's Day crosses.

3rd Class getting their hands dirty!

A big thank you to all our helpers in Mrs Gaffney's and Mrs Stokes' 3rd Class for helping to make our school look lovely and colourful as the spring weather begins to shine through.