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This is not an ending, as we are on a continuous journey of learning. We have lots to do! Thank you to all the staff, both SNAs and teachers, who have given their time to this project in a very busy school.

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Scoli Uí Cheadiagh, St. Patrick’s and St. Cronan's came together through the Cluster project and created this song/ Rap about living in Bray. Well done to all the teachers involved in the Cluster Project, especially Ms. Slater!

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Letter to Parents

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As part of a reading project, One Book, One School Communit y, we are going to celebrate the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty in other languages.

Children will record themselves saying the poem in their own language. 6th Class Buddies worked with 1st Class to help them learn it in Irish and some helped others to learn it in their home languages too. We are going to display Humpty Dumpty in other languages around this canvas painted by one of our teachers inspired by the book After the Fall by Dan Santat

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The students in St. Cronan's just LOVE sports. We have thought about what games we play that are popular in other parts of the world. Lots of classes have had fun in PE learning games like badminton, volleyball, cricket and Olympic Handball, to name a few. We cannot wait to try even more new ideas : )

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Thank you to Ms. Donnelly, Ms. Ryan, First Class and our Buddies!

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Listen to Humpty Dumpty in Chinese!

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Listen to Humpty Dumpty in Malayalam

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Ms. Ryan’s first class are learning all about Mexico. They preformed a lovely Mexican dance in assembly last week.

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A joint school artistic experience which was fun, exciting, accessible for all and engaging for every level of need between St. Cronan's N.S. and Marino Special School. Students from St Cronan's N.S. joined us in Marino School on the 5th June for stone painting and other joint activities. The creative installation in the school's sensory garden will be interactive and a souvenir of the collaborative engagement with St. Cronan's School. Thank you to Karl Ó Broin and his class for joining us and for contributing to the creativity of our art project.

A special thank you to Miona Kikanovic for co-ordinating the Creative School art project over the past two years. A particularly enjoyable outcome of this project is to see how students benefit from their engagement in artistic programmes and the whole-school initiatives really promoted great participation from all classes. Well done Miona and all staff on your enthusiasm and great work!

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We updated our mural by repainting it and adding flags from around the world.

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We added to our African mural by showing a map of the world representing all the nationalities represented in our school over the years.

We also added any Art work and projects from different classes who are learning about countries all over the world.

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Through the Creative Schools Cluster Project, these two amazing dancers taught some Hip-Hop dance moves to children from St. Patrick's. Scoil Uí Chéadaigh and St. Cronan's in our hall in June. Everyone had great fun!

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Ms. Heneghan's 4th Class boys had a Seachtain na Gaeilge céilí with children and staff in Marino Community Special School. They all did some Irish dancing together and had really great fun!

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Ms Nolan's class listened to the story "Grandma's Bird". The story is in English and in Arabic. Khaled understood the Arabic, everyone else listened to the Arabic to see if they could recognise some of the words.

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We contacted Rebecca from the group Bray for Love. Rebecca was delighted to hear about our plans to become a School of Sanctuary and she will be coming in to talk to us soon.

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Thank you to our chefs

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We put olive oil and Za’atar on flatbread and baked it. Andrii, Davide and Khaled helped Ms. O’Donnell to make it.

It tasted really good! Almost all of us loved it. Ms. Nolan’s class and Ms. Brehon’s class got to taste it.

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We also tasted hummus with crackers and carrot sticks. Some boys had never tasted hummus before. Most of the boys loved the taste!

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What is Za’atar from Palestine?

Za'atar is traditionally eaten for breakfast with flatbread coated in olive oil and then dipped into dry Za’atar. It is a famous spice mix.

It is a mixture of thyme, sumac, and roasted sesame seeds and it can be used on lots of different types of food. We put some into a cup and everyone got to smell it.

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The theme of World Refugee Day on Friday June 20th 2025 is: Community is a Super Power. Let's share this message with all the representatives of the other local schools in Bray on our Monitoring Day.

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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives and protecting the rights of refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

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The original mural was painted in our sports hall c. 2005. There were 16 birds in the tree with flags on their wings and bellies. These flags represented the countries that the students and staff came from, or had a strong affiliation with, at the time. After our survey and data collection, Ms. Brehon made additional birds for each of the additional countries that our current students and staff come from. There are SO many birds in our tree now that they are competing for space on the branches! Ms. Brehon is from Australia and she always knew the Australian bird represented her country of origin...now she is happy that all the boys in the school will see how important their culture and heritage is when they spot 'their' bird in the tree! : )

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During Autism Week Ms. Bridgeman in 5th class made some new displays celebrating all our differences and talents.

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This is a two-year project, sponsored by the Department of Education, that brings together three local schools, St. Cronan's, St. Patrick's and Gaelscoil Uí Cheadaigh. The aim is to work together to develop links through creative projects. Ms. Slater, in 3rd Class, is leading the project in our school. Our project is called Building Bridges. Schools come together to develop creative projects by inviting local artists, story tellers and crafts people to work with our children to create collaborative art.

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Ms. Carron, our English as an Additional Language teacher, is working with the boys Denis, Denis, Rochely, Artem and Ismail. They are discussing memories from the variety of countries they came from before they lived in Ireland.

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Mural to celebrate inclusion, diversity and human rights. "Big decisions take big people".

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Mural to celebrate inclusion, diversity and human rights. "Big decisions take big people".

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Throughout April and May 2024, thirty-six members of the Student Council collaborated with muralist Holly Periera to produce a vibrant and engaging mural celebrating inclusion and diversity. This mural prompted engaging and meaningful discussions about equality and the importance of diversity. It included themes from the school environment such as peace, music and friendship. We think it is pretty awesome!

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We used excellent videos and clips given to us by Schools of Sanctuary and other online material for all classes to help explain what it means to be a refugee. The committee found the above one to be the best as it appeals to all ages.

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To mark the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Academy Award-winning animation studio Aardman and international children's charity Save the Children have released a short film to highlight the experience of refugee children around the world.

Inspired by real-life experiences of children that Save the Children works with, 'Home' tells a story about how child refugees feel and what it's like to be separated from friends, family, and school in a new and unfamiliar setting. It also celebrates the possibilities for children to welcome new refugee friends and learn about different cultures. Although prompted by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, this moving four-minute animation aims to support the many millions of children who have been forced to leave their homes because of violence in countries including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria.

A poignant tale of displacement, loss, friendship and tolerance, the film reflects the stories of many refugee children, such as Siraj, 11, who left Syria for Italy and remarked: "When we arrived, I was sad, I was leaving all my friends, my family and my cousins. The language here is different."

Another Syrian refugee Noura, 12, explained: "We are refugees, but we are proud. We haven't ended up here because we wanted to, but because we had to. If you have a refugee near you, I think you should try to welcome them."

Created by Director Peter Peake, 'Home' will be screened in primary schools across the UK alongside its general release. The short film follows a small orange circle as they arrive at a new school in an entirely purple world, inhabited solely by triangular purple characters. The orange circle immediately feels out of place, struggling with the language barrier and strange new food. But, through a blossoming friendship with a fellow pupil, they begin to feel welcome and accepted. As that happens, little bursts of orange start to appear in the purple surroundings, elevating the landscape to a richer, warmer, and more diverse environment. The film then shows different characters of all shapes and hues that bring their own unique colours to the previously monochrome surroundings, transforming it into a thriving and vibrant world full of energy and colour.

Peter Lord CBE, co-founder and creative director at Aardman, said: "Animation is an amazing medium for expressing ideas that would otherwise be difficult to communicate. At Aardman we believed that we had the expertise to help tell these stories in a way that would be sensitive, accessible, and relatable for children all around the world. It was also vital that the film we created would share the right messages, address a genuine need, and help as many children as possible. We approached Save the Children to help us with these aspects, and to keep us on the right track and we were absolutely delighted with the collaboration."

As is the case in several of Aardman's most beloved productions - from Shaun the Sheep to Morph - the story is told without using dialogue, which means its message is accessible to children and adults of all ages, everywhere. It transcends language barriers to show how we can extend a hand of friendship to people who find themselves in a strange new place and how much richer our world becomes when everyone feels welcome.

The film's director Peter Peake, commented: "Our film was created as a specific response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, but it aims to help all children displaced from their homes due to war, famine and persecution. Working with Save the Children, we learnt what difficulties children face when trying to settle in a new country. Ultimately, we hope the film encourages children everywhere to empathize with some of their peers who might be going through that experience and to know the impact they can have by making someone feel welcome"

Alison Griffin, head of conflict and humanitarian campaigns from Save the Children, added: "We were absolutely thrilled to partner with Aardman in making this film. Many refugee children who've found a new, safer home, still carry the physical and emotional scars of war, or face daily setbacks simply because of who they are or where they've come from. That's why it's so important for refugee children to get the welcome - and the childhood - they deserve. We hope this beautiful short film will inspire people to reach out to child refugees, welcome them, and help them feel somewhere like 'home' again."

All over the world, children's lives are at risk as conflicts persist. For almost every single second of the war in Ukraine, a child has become a refugee. Save the Children's Emergency Fund allows them to respond to disasters around the world immediately. Donations to support this vital work can be made here.

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touching tale of triangles and circles highlights the experience of refugee children around the world

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Touching Tale of Triangles and Circles Highlights the Experience of Refugee Children around the World | LBBOnline

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Little Black Book, Aardman and Save the Children launch new short film 'Home' to mark the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine

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Ms. Donnelly and Ms. Ryan are learning how to say Humpty Dumpty in different languages such as Romanian and Portuguese.

Listen to Raznan Frunza in 4th class saying Humpty Dumpty in Romanian

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Recently we had our training in the new anti-bullying guidelines before we drafted our new policy. We a have completed the child-friendly version of this policy. Three sixth class boys presented this to the staff at a staff meeting in April.

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Tiffy and Kinda ( School of Sanctuary ambassador)

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All about our school as we begin our School of Sanctuary Journey

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All about our school as we begin our School of Sanctuary Journey

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In St. Cronan's School, we have a culture of inclusion and welcome. We learned about The Schools of Sanctuary programme and decided that we would like to become a School of Sanctuary. We began working on the three principles Learn, Action and Share.

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Our 5th Class boys participated in the National Children's Choir again this year. The NCC were celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. They joined other schools in learning and celebrating songs from other cultures. They sang the above the song in Swahili. It is called Kusimama.

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When I began to compile this padlet I thought about where our journey began and how we got involved in this project.

I remembered how I had been doing an online course and people were asked to describe their school. One word used was SANCTUARY. This really struck me as I thought about our school and the important work all the teachers do for children who arrive from all over the world to live in Bray and attend our school.

Our principal, teachers, secretary, caretaker and SNAs welcome these children with open arms. People who are unsure, scared are put at ease and we find ways to support them, even though there can be many obstacles such as language barriers.

When I suggested this project to the teachers and SNAs so many offered help and support and have done so much hard work to drive the project forward. We are extremely proud of our school and what we represent every day, we welcome you and we are here to support all children to become a valued member of our school community.

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 Cultural Celebrations: Chinese New Year

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 Cultural Celebrations: Chinese New Year

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Every year many of our classes celebrate Chinese New Year. Ms. Breathnach, however, celebrates by inviting all the boys with Chinese heritage for a party! Look at all the lovely Chinese food they enjoyed.

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All of our school events and activities are shared on our social media accounts by Mr. Ó Broin and Ms. O'Donnell.

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Twitter vs. Meta vs. Instagram: An Overview

Social media helps billions of people worldwide stay connected. Facebook, Twitter ( TWTR), and Instagram (which is owned by Meta, formerly Facebook) are among the most successful social media brands. The three sites appeal to different demographics. Facebook has broad appeal across ages. Instagram users tend to be younger, and Twitter is favored by affluent college graduates.

Key Takeaways

There are 7.6 billion people on the planet, and 2.5 billion of them use Facebook at least once per month. With nearly a third of the world's population connected over a single social network, it's worth asking: who isn't Meta's target market?

To say that everyone is its target market is not an understatement. Facebook had 248 million monthly active users in the United States and Canada at the end of 2019. About 68% of all U.S. adults have an account. There are some slight differences when digging into the demographics.

For example, 74% of adult women are Facebook users, compared with just 62% of all adult men. And the platform, as is all social media, is more popular with younger adults. Roughly 80% of 18- to 49-year-olds have an account. But older Americans are still represented. In the 50 to 64 age group, 65% are on Facebook, as are 41% of those 65 and older.

Demographics of Users

Facebook users are not distinguished by their ethnic background. However, high school graduates are less likely to use the platform compared to college graduates, as are those living in rural parts of America. But for the most part, almost everyone who uses social media as a means of connection uses Facebook.

This is perhaps why Facebook's (now Meta) initial public offering (IPO) was one of the most anticipated in financial history. It went public in May 2012 at a valuation of $104 billion, which was the third-largest IPO in the U.S. at the time. Meta makes money primarily through targeted digital advertising. It reported $70.7 billion in revenue in 2019, up significantly from $55.84 billion the year before. However, earnings fell to $18.48 billion compared with $22.11 billion previously, as costs and expenses rose.

Founder, chair, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the largest shareholder. He held 12.17 million Class A shares and 365.72 million Class B shares as of April 2019. This gave him 53% voting power over the company.

Meta made two significant acquisitions following its public debut. It bought Instagram in 2012, paying roughly $1 billion in cash and stock. Meta acquired messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, which appreciated to $22 billion in value thanks to a rise in Meta's shares.

Before being banned, followers could keep up with former President Donald Trump via Twitter. The micro-blogging service gave Trump direct access to the 31 million Americans who are on the platform. He had nearly 88 million followers as of Jan. 8, 2021, when he was banned.

About 24% of adult Americans say they have a Twitter account. Men and women represent Twitter users nearly equally. Like with Facebook, users skew younger, especially among 18- to 24-year-olds. In this age group, 45% report they use Twitter. This compares to 33% for the 25 to 29 age group, 27% for the 30 to 49 age group, and 19% for the 50 to 64 age group. High school graduates are less likely to use Twitter compared to college graduates. Its users also tend to be more affluent and live in a city.

Twitter went public in November 2013 and achieved a valuation of $25 billion on its first trading day. It reported $3.46 billion in revenue in 2019, up from $3.04 billion the previous year. The bulk of revenue came from promoted tweets, while data licensing accounted for the remainder. Jack Dorsey, who is a co-founder, CEO, and company director, holds 18 million shares, or 2.34% of the company.

Young people cannot seem to survive without Instagram. The social network for photo and video sharing is especially popular among 18- to 24-year-olds. In this age group, 71% say they have an Instagram account. Usage drops off significantly for older Americans. In the 25 to 29 age group, just 54% have an account. Only 40% of Americans in the 30-49 age group report using Instagram, and the figure is 21% for those 50 to 64 years old.﻿﻿

71%

Meta says 1 billion users are active on Facebook every month, and 500 million use Instagram every day. About 47% of users also report using Instagram. More women than men say they have an account: 39% to 30%. Users are typically college-educated, urban, and more affluent.

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The purchase was met with skepticism because the photo-sharing site was just two years old and didn't have any significant revenue at the time. But that changed. In 2018, Bloomberg analysts estimated the platform was worth $100 billion, with revenue surpassing $10 billion. Because Instagram is an app, it has helped Meta shift from web browsers to mobile devices.

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Twitter vs. Facebook vs. Instagram: What's the Difference?

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Social media helps billions of people worldwide stay connected. Facebook, Twitter ( TWTR), and Instagram (which is owned by Meta, formerly Facebook) are among the most successful social media brands. The three sites appeal to different demographics. Facebook has broad appeal across ages. Instagram users tend to be younger, and Twitter is favored by affluent college graduates.

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We use the Aladdin app in our school to communicate with parents. We have very good engagement with this app and spread all information to parents on this.

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Well done to our Hurling Teams who came home with silverware from a recent blitz. Mr. Gavin encourages all the boys to become involved in our sports, even if they have never played before. With a little encouragement, they love to join in!

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Mr. O'Broin organised 40 boys from Sixth Class to play matches against against our neighbours from Gealscoil Uí Chéadaigh in May. The matches were great fun, included players of all abilities and were played with a very supportive atmosphere during the games.

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Our SNA, Siofra, found this beautiful book, which illustrates a poem that can be read forward and backwards, giving both a negative and positive response in relation to war and seeking refuge.

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Ms. O'Donnell has been exploring a range of diverse books that focus on the themes of refuge, migration and belonging. These stories help us understand the experiences of people seeking refuge and to highlight the importance of kindness, empathy and welcome. A selection of these books have been added to each class library.

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Sixth Class worked hard to collate the data collected from our whole-school survey. They identified the countries of origin of students, parents and staff. It demonstrated just how diverse our school community currently is. They have been working on updating our sports hall mural with the additional nationalities that are currently in our school. We have LOTS more birds to add to our tree as originally there were 22 countries and now we are up to over 50! : )

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St. Cronan's School Community Nationalities Survey 2025

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This is our School of Sanctuary Pledge noticeboard on the main corridor. All the boys and teachers have signed the pledge and are agreeing to work towards becoming a Champion School of Sanctuary

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Following on from our pre-monitoring visit. This is the presentation that the Sixth Class team and Student Council members used to share the important Schools of Sanctuary terminology and explain further what it means to become a School of Sanctuary. The boys came up with some simple examples and terminology to help the younger boys understand the complicated concepts of sanctuary, refuge and asylum. Everybody especially loved the Save the Children video called Home.

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School of Sanctuary_Class Presentation 2025

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A PowerPoint presentation was made by Sixth Class to explain the Schools of Sanctuary journey. They visited all the classes to explain what SoS is about and to encourage the children to join us in becoming a designated champion school. All the boys and teachers in the school signed the SoS Pledge Form. These forms are on display in the main corridor.

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Mission Statement and Ethos

These are the main points of our mission statement

At St. Cronan's everyone gets opportunities to succeed.

St. Cronan's is about learning and teaching. We wish our school to be a progressive and exciting centre of education, where learning how to learn is a participative, lifelong process, built on respecting and developing each individual's talents and potential.

We all want our school community, pupils, parents, staff and management to live and work together as one team. We will be trustworthy and trusting of each other, each accountable for fulfilling our responsibilities to the highest standards of educational excellence.

We wish our school to be characterised by happy, motivated pupils, an enthusiastic, professional staff and active and supportive management and parent bodies.

Our school surroundings will reflect our aspirations. They will be bright, cheerful, stimulating and welcoming, a place worthy of the education experiences that occur here.

Finally, we wish our school to be one that we can all be proud of and committed to, sure in the knowledge that our pupils leave St. Cronan's the finer for having been here.

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Saint Cronan’s Boys’ National School - Wikipedia

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St. Cronan's School is in Bray, County Wicklow. At present we have 390 boys, but from September 2025 we will be welcoming girls into Junior Infants for the first time. It is an exciting time for us. We aim to encourage the uniqueness of each child and help him/her to develop worthwhile relationships with others around them and celebrate the diversity of our pupils' differing cultural backgrounds.

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In St. Cronan's we have been developing a culture of inclusion and celebrating diversity for many years now. Our school is a safe and welcoming environment for all members of our school community and people who visit us. We have fun and learn lots as we go on our journey. We enjoy working together, mixing with different classes, teachers and with the student council.

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Ms. Breathnach's 4th have been learning about Italy as part of our SESE curriculum. We made some impressive projects and have loved sharing this information with the rest of the school.

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Red Hearts on Wear Red Day! We say NO to racism in our school. 

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Red Hearts on Wear Red Day! We say NO to racism in our school. 

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We spoke about inclusion and equality on Red day. We all made red hearts and wore them. We all say NO to racism in St. Cronan's.

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We saw amazing participation in Show Racism the Red Card Day. We spoke about racism in the classes and assembly today, 21st March 2025. Here

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Well done Ceazar!

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Our Principal Mr. Breathnach and Mr.O’Broin with Cesar. Well done! 

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Bray Lions Club Peace Poster Competition 

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Bray Lions Club Peace Poster Competition 

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Sixth class take part in this competition each year. Huge congratulations to Cezar Fortuna who became the All Ireland Winner this year! He shared his inspiration behind the drawing with some classes.

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Autism Awareness: World Autism day,  April 2nd 2025

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Autism Awareness: World Autism day,  April 2nd 2025

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We recognize that we are all individuals and each have our own strengths and weaknesses. We work hard to ensure all children have an opportunity to learn and succeed. In recognition of World Autism Day we shared things that we find hard to deal with on a daily basis at home and in school. We spoke about this in all our classes.

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We try and recognise special occasions throughout the year right across the school. Ms. Breathnach’s Class celebrated Chinese New Year . They invited all the boys with Chinese origins and celebrated by having a party with lots of Chinese food.

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We used our imaginations and look what we painted! 

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We did a research project on different cultures with our Sixth Class buddies. This is some art work we completed after learning lots of facts about the Aboriginal people from Australia.

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Ms. Brehon’s class made a beautiful welcome sign for their classroom door representing all of the nationalities in their class.

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Ms. Molloy’s 2nd Class looked at all different ways we can say “Hello” in languages from around the world such as: Mandarin, Latvian, Polish, Italian, French, Russian and Arabic. This represents all the languages spoken by the boys in this class.

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After Ms. Geraghty’s class watched Wild Robot in the cinema. They discussed what it was like for the robot to come to a new country with no friends and not be able to speak the local language.  They saw that by the end of the movie, the robot was an integral member of the community.  They discussed all the ways they could welcome new people to our school. Thanks to Mr. Vance for organsing this event for all the school. 

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Wild Robot. How would you feel arriving in a place where no one could understand you?

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Wild Robot. How would you feel arriving in a place where no one could understand you?

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Ms. Duignan and Ms. Moraghan’s class looked at all the different nationalities in our school and made flags to represent this. 