June 2026
Summer Sunshine Newsletter
What a year! A huge congratulations to all our students and staff as well as parents/guardians for completing another school year. Definitely it was once again a busy year for everyone and in particular a great year for all our sporting teams. We are delighted to see our students and their coaches see their hard work, training and dedication pay off. You will notice that we added an entire new section to our awards to mark the achievements of our students in sports, dance, physical activities both in school and in the Clondalkin community. We finished the year as always with our academic awards where we also introduced some new school spirit categories (one step beyond) recognising students who make a difference by living our shared CEIST values. Coláiste Bríde were honoured to welcome Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton T.D., along with Minister Emer Higgins T.D., along with Lord Mayor Pamela Kearns and other public representatives to our school to launch the first post-primary Active School Flag. The Active School Flag is a whole-school endeavour featuring student leadership, participation, organisation and student voice. The commitment is to promote physical activity in young people in a variety of ways beyond traditional sporting activity. This new promotion of physical activity is now embedded in the expectations of students and staff; it is part of what we do in Coláiste Bríde. Through the work of Transition Year students and their ASF teachers over the last seven years, the Active School Flag process has evolved from concept to reality, always striving to make continuous improvement, build upon student ideas, feedback and research. Activities are designed to be fun, inclusive, interactive, sometimes competitive (Teacher v Students) and engaging for the entire school community. Minister Naughton praised the students on making history, enjoyed the dance showcase, heard the student presentations and learned about the active walkway lessons from the students before raising the Active Schools Flag for the assembled audience. A huge buíochas bos to everyone who helped us achieve the first Active Schools Flag at post-primary level. As we reach the end of the school year, I extend our best wishes to our 3rd and 6th year students for their exams, we bid farewell to our 6th years and any staff who are not returning. May I take this opportunity to wish all students, parents/guardians and staff an enjoyable summer break, time to rest, renew, recharge.
Marie-Thérese Kilmartin Principal