Hollypark Bids Farewell

We are sad to be saying goodbye to two stalwart Hollypark teachers who are retiring this summer. 

Mrs Smyth has worked in Hollypark over the past 23 years in numerous classes, but especially in Junior and Senior Infants and in 5th and 6th classes where she gave her pupils a fantastic start and end to primary school. In recent years Mrs. Smyth has been a key member of the SET team. Many of our past pupils drop in especially to see and thank Mrs Smyth for all she did for them. 

Ms. Quealy is retiring after spending the second part of her career in Hollypark. 19 incredible years where she brought her expertise and empathy to all the pupils in her care in the SET area. We as teachers learned so much from the wealth of experience Ms. Quealy brought to Hollypark. The school gardens are testament to you Ms. Quealy and the pupils on the Gardening Committee. What a legacy to leave in Hollypark. 

SPORTS DAY

What an incredible day we had. The sun shone, boys laughed and fair play was the winner. Many events and talents were on show. A huge thank you to Mrs. Regan for organising and coordinating again this year. It was a serious undertaking (in the middle of hurling season, standardised testing and report writing) Multi-tasking at its finest-thank you, Mrs. Regan. 

A huge thank you to DJ and MC, Tom Moorcroft who was a great hit on the day- Tom, you have just bagged yourself a job for life! Thank you to St. John's Ambulance who were on hand for all our First Aid needs. A special THANK YOU to our wonderful past pupils who did an incredible job setting up, managing and cleaning up after the event. They were fabulous. 

Mr. Ryan is a fantastic photographer and captured all of the drama at the penalty shoot out competition. Click the link to access the photographs.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/ryanronan/zdE4je34N7
Well done to our winner Tom Murphy, 2nd place Patrick Tijs and 3rd place Ruairí Brennan and all of our finalists. It was a very special event! 

NEW INFANTS, '24-25

On May 29th, we had the pleasure of meeting our incoming Junior Infant classes of '24-25. The boys were introduced to their new teachers, Ms. Hynes, Ms. Murphy and Ms. Ryan. The boys played with toys and listened to stories. They were very at ease in their new surroundings.

The event was managed by our magnificent 6th-class pupils and members of our Student Council. They made our new Infants and their parents feel very welcome. 

We also had three 6th class boys, Charlie Pattison, James Slevin and Rian Murphy speak to the parents about their cherished memories from Hollypark BNS. To top the event off, we had trad performances from the Carron brothers, who played musical instruments and danced a jig.  6 current 1st class students, Arthur Cullen, Cormac Bentley, Aidan Mc Donagh, Hugo Bowen, Evin Heany Doherty and Gordon Goodwin, treated us to a welcome song also. It was a great event. Thank you to the members of the Parents' Association who served tea and coffee in the school hall. 

SCHOOL TOURS

Most of our classes have now completed their school tours. What fun they had! From petting farms to adventure centres, the boys enjoyed their time immensely. Junior and Senior Infants will go on their tours this week. The excitement is brewing since last month! 

STAR OF THE FUTURE

Congratulations to Luke, 4th class, who represented Dublin and Hollypark in the 'Friendship Games' last week. The Friendship Games is a longstanding tradition between Dublin and Antrim which involves 90 children from each county playing football, hurling, camogie, girls football and handball in a competitive but friendly environment. Well done Luke, you did us proud.

CAROLINE, OUR SAFETY HERO

Day in day out, week in week out, rain or sun, Caroline our safety hero is with us in Hollypark. Everybody in Hollypark would like to thank Caroline and the team of School Wardens, Rionagh, Prue and Pauline who keep us safe each day. Please continue to use the wardens when crossing the roads and training boys into this practice at a young age is very important. We will welcome the 4 wardens into Hollypark BNS on Friday for some well deserved refreshments.