Category Archives: News

Irish Air Corps Visit to Holy Family

Category : Blog News

A brief report on the visit and history of Colonel James Fitzmaurice. Written by Arjeta Kovaci from Mr. Dunne’s 6th Class.

An Irish Air Corps member came in to talk about his life as part of the air corps. He told us that as part of training he got to shoot a pistol, assault rifle, rocket launcher, throw grenades and use a few other weapons. He also told us that as part as the air corps he got to fly a various amounts of airplanes.

After that a man named Teddy Fennelly spoke to us about Ireland’s history about planes. He mainly spoke about a man called Colonel James Fitzmaurice. This man was the first man to fly to America from east to west. This man was born in Laois, here in Ireland and is a huge part of Ireland’s history. This man landed in New York in America. After he landed he was in Times Square for eighteen days. He told New York and all of America that he is Irish and that Ireland was a great country. He then became very famous. This was an amazing event in the history of Ireland.


2018/19 School Year Update

Category : Education News

It’s that time of the year again and as we plan for the coming year there are a couple of updates on the website.

Firstly the calendar has been updated with the main dates of note for the coming school year. Keep an eye on those for any new events or changes that might occur.

Secondly, each classes book-list has been added to the class news section. Hopefully this information is helpful as we prepare for the 2018/19 school year.


Sports Day 2018

Category : Blog News Sport

Last week was a very busy one at Holy Family Senior School. The entire school took part in our sports days and they were a great success. All children competed in a variety of events and everyone had a great time in the glorious sunshine. 

On Thursday both the male and female teachers were crushed in relays against our impressively quick students. Well done to all who took part and thanks to Mr. Sutton and Mr. Malone who did such a good job organising our sports day.

Following the sports day on Friday an award ceremony was held for our victorious camogie team who won their camogie final in O’ Moore park last Wednesday. Well done to the team and thanks to their trainers, Ms. Duff, Ms. Fitzpatrick, Ms. O’ O’Keeffe and Ms. Wallace.

 Below is a clip of highlights from our school sports day and camogie awards from last week.


Checkmate for Holy Family in Chess Tournament Success

Category : Blog News

The annual chess tournament organised by The Rock National School took place last Wednesday the 11th of April. Thirty-two children from eight primary schools throughout Laois took part in the tournament. Holy Family Senior School was represented by Bartosz Kupisiak, John Kosmecki, Giovanni Bernardo and Anto John.

The tournament proved to be a great success for Holy Family as two of our boys came out on top with Anto being the overall winner and Bartosz the overall runner-up. Congratulations to our ‘Master’ from Holy Family on their great achievement.

A huge amount of thanks must go to the school’s resident chess master Mr. Barry who mentored the team to this great success. Well done to all involved.


FAI Spar 5-a-Side Soccer

Category : Blog News Sport

On Wednesday the 11th of April, Holy Family sent teams to compete at the annual FAI and Spar 5 a side soccer blitz at Portlaoise Leisure Centre. The teams performed very well  on the day and did a great job representing the school.

The girls ‘A’ team were incredibly unlucky not to progress having won  three and drawn one of their five matches.

The boys were narrowly defeated by a single goal in their games against Scoil Bhríde and Scoil Naomh Eoin. The games could have gone either way and the boys represented the school brilliantly.

A note of thanks to Mr. Malone and Ms. Duff for being selectors and to Mr. Gavin, Mr. Downey, Mr. O’ Shea and Mr. Mulligan who manned the sidelines on the day.