On Tuesday the 10th of September a large number of staff along with members of the class of 2019 gathered in the school dining area for the Annual Leaving Certificate Awards Ceremony. The purpose of the awards ceremony is to recognise outstanding achievement in the Leaving Certificate Examinations. Any student who received a H1 or H2 grade received an award on the night. 

The annual St. David's Debutante Ball took place on Monday 2nd of September. This was a fantastic opportunity for the class of 2019 to not only celebrate their magnificent achievements in the Leaving Certificate Examinations but also to reflect on how far each and every one of them have come over their past five or six years in secondary school.

The evening started with a reception at the school which was organised by the Parents' Association. This gave teachers and students the chance to catch up with each other and discuss what plans students had in place for the next academic year. There was also time for a quick photograph before boarding the bus to Drogheda where this years' Ball took place.

Have a look at the slideshow below for some photographs!

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St. David's staff would like to take this opportunity to welcome all the new first year students to our wonderful school!

Today the new students were greeted by the Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl along with some of the current Transition Year students. The incoming first year students gathered in the dining area where their first assembly as a year group with Principal Mary O' Doherty and Deputy Principal Simon Carey.

Students were assigned to one of four base classes and were then lead to their new tutor room by one of the four first year tutors, Ms. Clifford, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Davies. 

St. David's would like to take this opportunity to thank the Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl along with the Transition Year students who helped out for all their fantastic work with the incoming first year students.

For additional photos please see the slideshow below.

Please note the start dates for each year group
 
 
1. First Years – will start school on Tuesday, 27th August 2019 from 8.45 am – 12 noon 

     All First Years to present wearing their full school uniform, light snack for break and to bring in some books as they will get their locker, journal and time-table.
They do not need to bring in all their books as they will have the first two days to do so.
Please ensure they have a functioning pad-lock for their locker.
First years will finish school at 12 noon on this day.
 
2. Third and Sixth Years – start school on Wednesday, 28th August 2019 

        First, Third and Sixth Years will have school from 8.45 am – 11.45 am from this day.
Students will receive their lockers, journal and timetables. There will be classes, as well as assemblies.
 
3. Second Years, Transition Year and Fifth Years – start school on Thursday, 29th August 2019 at 8.45 am.  

        All students, from all other year groups, are in school this day too, until 12 noon.
Second Years, Transition Years and Fifth Years will receive their journals, lockers and timetables on this day.
 
4 Friday, 30th August 2019 – All students have classes from 8.45 am until 1.05 pm on this day.
 
 
Uniform
 
All school uniform details are outlined on the school website.  Students must wear black shoes and under no circumstances are student permitted to wear  runners or hybrids as substitutes. Please click here to see all uniform details.
 
Jewellery
One small stud is permitted in one ear or one small stud in each of the two ears, only.  This/these to be worn only in the lower ear lobe. Under no circumstances are students permitted to tongue, upper ear, nose earrings or studs, or more than one stud in their ear. If they do, the said item or items will be confiscated until the end of term.
 
Fake Nails
 
Fake nails are not permitted this year.  Teachers and students complained of difficulties in carrying out simple tasks in classes last year due to wearing of fake nails. Students who present to school with fake nails will be sent home and not permitted to attend school until removed.
 
Hair Colour & Length of Hair
 
Conventional, natural hair colour only permitted.
Students are not permitted to shave their hair to a grade of 1.5 or less. If students shave part of or full head of hair a grade 2 or more is only permitted. If a student breaches this, he/she will be sent home.
 
Students will be sent home for breaching the hair colour, fake nails and jewellery codes, and not permitted to return until notified.
 
Finally, I would like to remind all parents/guardians to ensure that the admission fee (€150.00 for one student/€250.00 for two students, €325.00 for three students) is paid immediately as this covers journal, locker, insurance, water, photocopying.
 
Thank you
Simon Carey
Deputy Principal 

There was great excitement outside the office of St. David's Secondary School on the morning of Tuesday 13th of August as students from the class of 2019 began to gather in order to collect the results from their Leaving Certificate Examinations. 

The nervous faces quickly turned to smiles and laughter as students began to comprehend the magnitude of their wonderful achievements. Well done to all students who received their results today. 

All students should keep in mind that the first round of CAO offers will be made available on Thursday at 2pm. Additional information can be found at https://www.cao.ie/

The Transition Year Graduation and Expo took place on the evening of Monday 20th of May. The showcase was developed to allow students the chance to share some of their work and achievements throughout the year with their families. The evening began with the awards ceremony. Each student was presented with a pack which contained various certificates of some of the achievements of students throughout the year. Students also received photographs from some of the trips they had been on. Mr. O'Dowd and Ms. Courtney then proceeded to present some of the awards from this year's tour to Barcelona. Some of the winners included Roy Byrne, Mr. Brave and Dan Hicks, Mr. Greedy!

Next it was time for the 'Spirit of Transition Year' award. Each year this award is presented to a student who has fully embraced the values of Transition Year. Anna Minton was announced as this year's winner on account of her wonderful work, positive attitude and commitment throughout the year. 

Following on from the awards and presentations, students and parents were invited to the sports hall. Students had arranged a large sample of their work from throughout the year. The different stations included the various subjects that students undertake in TY along with many of the additional projects that run alongside the curriculum. The vast array of student work on display was quite extraordinary.

Well done to all the teachers and students involved in setting up this wonderful TY showcase but a special mention must go to Ms. Brosnan, TY Co-ordinator, and her team of TY students who worked tirelessly in the lead up to the exhibition to ensure it's success!

The 6th Year Gradation took place on Friday 17th November. This year the graduation was split into three sections. ​

The opening section of the ceremony took place in the Holy Rosary Church in Greystones. The ceremony was lead by Fr. John Daly and Fr. Gerard Keane. The opening song of 'Time of Your Life' set the tone for the graduation. There were a large number of students involved throughout. Deputy Head Boy, Jordan Nevin, and Deputy Head Girl, Aoife McTague, provided commentary for Niamh, Ethan, Hannah, Nathan, Olivia, Tim and Aidan as they brought forward symbols that represented their time in secondary school. The Prayers of the Faithful were carefully chosen with each segment focused on the influences that impacted upon students throughout their time in secondary school. The following section on the passing of the candle contained readings from a teacher, parent, Deputy Principal, and a first year student who will not graduate until 2024! There was time for a final blessing from Fr. Daly before a moving rendition of 'Three Little Birds' sung by the choir and accompanied by Mr. Ó Donnchadh on guitar. School Principal, Ms. O' Doherty then invited students, parents and teachers back to the school for the second part of the graduation. Well done to everyone who took part in the service, particularly the religion department, the choir and Mr. Ó Donnchadh who stepped in at the last minute to deputise for Gavin on guitar. 

Once the congregation were all seated in the school hall, Ms. O' Sullivan, 6th Year Year Head, welcomed students, parents and teachers to the school. Ms. O' Doherty and Mr. Carey both made poignant speeches which highlighted some of their own memories of the class of 2019 and wished them good fortune in their future. Next up it was Head Boy, Tom Cleary, and Head Girl, Rachel Purcell who presented tokens of appreciation to several members of the school community. They also discussed some of their favourite memories of their time in St. David's. Perhaps the highlight for many was the slideshow of photographs that were carefully chosen to show the progression of the class of 2019 through secondary school. The penultimate act in this segment invited tutors to call their respective roles for their class one last time. As Ms. Doughty, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Davies and Mr. Ryan progressed through their class lists each student was presented with a certificate of graduation from Ms. O' Doherty and Mr. Carey, along with a copy of this year's edition of the school magazine, Chalkdust. The last award to be handed out was Student of the Year. Ms. O' Sullivan had already covered the long list of nominations in her opening remarks. The Rotary Club then presented the joint winners of the award for 2019. Both Sinead Mahon and Rachel Purcell received the same number of nominations for the prestigious accolade and share the prize. ​

A massive congratulations to the incoming Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl! These students will take over from the departing student liaison team as they move into 6th Year.

Head Boy - Stephen Bowes
Head Girl - Carolann McDonald

Deputy Head Boy - Norbert Stochla
Deputy Head Girl - Ava McGlynn

​Well done to all who applied. 

St. David's Annual Presentation Day took place on the morning of Wednesday 15th May 2019. The sun was shining as students made their way to the outside courts for the annual awards ceremony. The awards ceremony gives teachers and management within the school a chance to mark any special achievements from students throughout the year. It is also the time of year when the winning class from each year group from Sports Day is announced along with the prize for the best class in the school and the wooden spoon for the class with the lowest points return. As always, the event was hosted by Mr. Dunne and we would like to take this opportunity to thank him for organising the event and for putting his own sense of humour on the proceedings. 

The event began with the awards for the TY Media group. Awards were presented for excellence in reporting, photography, editing and designing. This set the tone for awards in GAA (male and female), badminton, soccer, basketball, rugby, sailing, school show, music club and chess, to name just a few! Special awards were presented on the day to Eoin O'Toole Carrick from 5th Year who was recently crowned U-18 World Irish Dancing Champion. An extraordinary award was presented to Ms. Doyle to mark her amazing achievement over the May bank holiday weekend where our very own home economics teacher was part of the winning crew who rowed from Arklow to Aberystwyth (90 nautical miles!!) as part of the Celtic Challenge competition.

Next up it was time for the announcement of the Head Boy and Head Girl, along with Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl for the next academic year. Well done to Stephen Bowes and Carolann MacDonald on their respective appointments as Head Boy and Head Girl. Huge congratulations also to Norbert Stochla and Ava McGlynn on their appointments as Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl.

These announcements were closely followed by the Gerard Scully award. This award is presented to a student each year who has portrayed huge dedication, commitment and leadership to sport both within and outside of school. This year there was several nominations from a range of different activities but the list was whittled down to just one student. We were delighted to announce Tom Cleary as the recipient this year based on his dedication to rugby, both as player and coach over his last six years in St. David's. 

The penultimate segment of the awards ceremony seen the victorious 6th Year Tug of War team receive their plaque from Ms. Doughty. Following on from defeats in the last two years it is now widely anticipated that Ms. Doughty will be coming out of retirement to take part in next year's event. 

The last stage of the awards ceremony crowned the winning classes from each of the year groups. Class group 1.14, 2.10, 3.9, 5.21 and 6.28 were all presented with sweets and chocolates on account of their victories. Next up was the overall class winner in the school which was awarded to Ms. Edinborough's 1.14 group. Finally Mr. Doyle had the embarrassment of collecting the wooden spoon award on account of the performance of his class at Sports Day where they picked up just two gold, two silver and three bronze medals. 

​All in all it was a very successful event!

Please click here to download a copy of the exam timetable for 1st, 2nd and 5th Year students.

​Please click here to download a copy of the block study timetable for 3rd and 6th Year students.