Scoil Chiaráin CBS

Scoil Chiaráin CBS, Collins Avenue East, Donnycarney, Dublin 5

Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S is located in the heart of Donnycarney, in Dublin 5, nestled under the bright lights of Parnell Park, the home of Dublin GAA.

Scoil Chiaráin is an all-boys, DEIS Band 1, senior school. Check out their website here

Scoil Chiaráin encourages all children to develop their interests and talents, while also offering the opportunities to explore new ones. It is Scoil Chiaráin’s aim to nurture and support each boy in their overall development.

Offering the boys of Scoil Chiaráin these opportunities is driven by their voice and their interests, as is the continued development, of the culture and ethos of Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S.

The 6^th class of the school, when in 4^th, developed the school values. These are community, respect, fairness, and hard work. These values are lived daily and celebrated at the school’s weekly assembly. Feel Good Fridays are celebrated on the last Friday of every month. The boys wear their school value colour, highlighting the value that has resonated most with them, that month. Red is respect, pink is fairness, purple is community and yellow is hard work. The classes of Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S are currently reviewing the values of our school! Exciting discussions are currently taking place!

The personal, social, holistic, and academic development of the child is central to the culture and ethos of Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S. Offering a wide range of activities and varied approaches, ensures this is successful.

Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S produces a school musical bi-annually. It engages in both the BLAST and TAP programmes, and is also a Creative School, having celebrated its first Creative Week this year.

“Boys in the Making” is a programme unique to Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S. This programme has run over the past three years in Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S. This programme challenges the stereotypes that society places on boys today – don’t cry, be tough, fight back! This programme is offered to 2^nd class on an annual basis. Ashton was a short film produced in 2021. James and Luis were a graphic novel, created and published in 2022. An operatic creation is this year’s project.

Coding has become extremely popular in Scoil Chiaráin, with a number of boys entering the National Coding Competition. Three children reached the All-Ireland Final and were presented with a judge’s award, in Limerick recently.

Seven boys, across all classes competed in Fleadh Áth Cliath in the bodhrán category  recently, having learnt the bodhrán on a weekly basis with their bodhrán teacher, Niall Preston.

These are but a snapshot of the creative pursuits that are celebrated in the school.

Empathy is a cornerstone of the school culture and ethos and follows in the legacy of Edmund Rice. It is emphasised never to assume anything, that every behaviour is a communication and that the children are not giving someone a hard time but rather they may be having one. This approach has led to the increased growth in empathy amongst all the stakeholders of the school community. Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S, is a Berry Street school, which is an Australian designed trauma based behavioural approach. This approach reminds the school team that behaviours are communications, and the child must be emotionally ready to learn. Mood trackers is an app, which allows children to check in daily, identifying how they are feeling. Teachers are notified of the negative emotions, thus, informing them on how best to support that child on that day.

St Vincent de Paul Fair is organised on an annual basis by 6^th class and all proceeds raised are donated to St Vincent de Paul, to support the good work they do. 

The nurture room, the Hive, has played an especially important role in the development of empathy amongst the children, both in how they understand it and respond accordingly.

Teamwork is a pillar of Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S, stemming from the strong sporting culture of the school, and transcending now across all aspects of school life. The school team role models, good teamwork and supports the children in the development of this skill set. The multiple committees comprised of children and adults strengthens the culture of teamwork and focusses on the importance of it, especially when implementing new projects and initiatives in Scoil Chiaráin.

Leadership and teamwork are often intertwined in Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S. The ownership of the school is in the hands of all the stakeholders, and all have a role to play in the future development of Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S. Leadership is evident in the children’s voice being so strong in the school, leading and guiding in the development of activities they enjoy.

Running the weekly zoom school assemblies shows leadership and teamwork amongst classes.

Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S is an incredibly special school, with a strong and vibrant school community. It is enjoying strong links with all groups throughout Donnycarney. All know the important and valued role they play in the school; all feel safe and welcomed within the school, and all want Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S to continue to grow from strength to strength and are eager to work collaboratively to achieve this.