Waterford student news: Book Day, school trips, fantastic stage performances and a big birthday!
Pictured are the pupils of Gaelscoil Philib Barún, as it marks its 40th anniversary this year. Photo: Kevin Doyle
The students from 1st, 2nd and Transition Year Girls had a recent trip to SETU Arena and attended the Women in Tech 2026 Exhibition. The girls were inspired by the different speakers and displays showing the possible careers available. They were lucky enough to win some great prizes on the day also.
A fantastic evening was had by all at the Harmony Concert in Wexford Opera House. After months of preparation, the choir, orchestra and trad group delivered an incredible performance. It was a brilliant showcase of all the hard work and dedication that went into the project. Well done to everyone involved. A special note of thanks to all the staff, students, parents/guardians, volunteers and helpers for making this a superb event — without your ongoing efforts and support such events and opportunities do not happen.
The Transition Year Subject Fair took place on Tuesday evening with subject information and advice on offer for students as they prepare to submit their subject preferences this week to Vsware.
Recently our Women in Sport ambassadors braved the weather to try something new. These girls compete in a wide range of sports at a high level, both in school and outside of it. Research shows that most girls drop out of sport around age 14, with a peak dropâout age between 13 and 15, and by 14 girls are leaving sport at twice the rate of boys. That’s why it is so important to celebrate girls like these who continue to show up, compete and stay involved in sport. A big thank you to Waterford Sports Partnership for sponsoring the trip, and a huge thank you to Tramore Surf Shop for facilitating such a brilliant lesson and looking after the girls so well. Great day all around.
Last week we celebrated “Seachtain na Gaeilge” in the Pres. The students enjoyed a host of activities including Tráth na gCeist, Ciorcal Cainte and a céilí for each year group. We also presented our nine DEIS Gaeltacht scholarships. Comhghairdeas cailíní. Tá súil againn go mbeidh turas iontach agaibhse.
A fantastic night of celebration was held for our secondâyear students and their parents as they received their Cavanagh Awards for academic achievements.
We are very proud of our students Leah Barden, Leah Power, Lily Drohan, Megan Cronin O’Shea and Molly Walsh on their amazing performance in their TY musical The Lion King Jr. with Presentation Secondary School. Well done girls. You were all superb and it was lovely to see you up there doing what you love and enjoying it. Congratulations to Mark Scanlon, Pat Grant and all involved. It was visually stunning — take a bow.
Our Green Schools Committee welcomed Ella Ryan, Environmental Awareness Officer with Waterford City Council, who visited to discuss the wonderful environmental work the school is engaged in.
On Wednesday, March 25, we will be hosting a schoolwide talent show in Aid of Barretstown Ireland. Barretstown is an organisation that provides residential camps and programmes for children and their families affected by cancer and other serious illnesses, as well as school and hospital outreach programmes.
All ticket money raised on the night will go straight to Barretstown Ireland. Tickets are on sale on Eventbrite.
Ardscoil Na Mara ran its Week of English Language and Literacy 2026 from March 2 to 6. There were a number of initiatives across the week from daily conundrums and book-related quizzes to the 1st year Spelling Bee and poetry workshops. The highlight of the week coincided with World Book Day 2026 on March 5 when staff and students dressed up as their favorite book-related characters.
As in previous years, there was a competition among students. The junior runner-up was Willow Nugent in 2D who dressed as a Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The junior winner was Luke O'Byrne from 2C as the eponymous character from Mark Twain's masterpiece 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'. Our senior winner was Mary O'Sullivan from 4F. A fantastic day and week was enjoyed by staff and students with the importance of the written word a central theme.
Gaelscoil Philib Barún is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, marking four decades of dedication to Irish-medium education and community spirit in Tramore. Founded in 1985 with just 29 pupils and one teacher, the school has grown steadily and now serves more than 200 pupils from Junior Infants to Sixth Class, supported by a staff of eight teachers, a resource teacher and an administrative principal.
The milestone year will be celebrated with an evening of nostalgia titled “The Gaelscoil Gathering” on Saturday, April 18, at 7.30pm at ‘One The Waterfront’, Tramore. Parents, past pupils, present and former staff, and friends of the school are warmly invited to attend what promises to be a memorable night of celebration and reconnection. Tickets cost €22 and are available on Eventbrite.
Liam Meharg from Newtown School Waterford competed at the National Final of the 18th All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO), hosted by the ADAPT Centre at Dublin City University (DCU) on Wednesday, March 4. The 100 finalists represented 56 secondary schools from 20 counties across the whole island and are competing for the chance to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Bucharest, Romania this July. AILO is run by ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-driven Digital Content Technology.
The competition challenges students to apply logic and reasoning to decode unfamiliar languages by analysing the language data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of the new language. These transferable skills are critical in preparing young people for a wide range of careers in computing, linguistics and language.
