St Olaf’s National School

Founded in 19= 68, St. Olaf’s National School celebrates i= ts 40^th anniversary this year. St. Olaf’s is a Catholic school under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin.&nbs= p; Currently our school has 15 mainstream classes, 7 Resource / Learning Support teachers and an enrolment of 380 pupils. We cater for both boys and girls from Junior Infants to 6^th Class. Situated on Balally Driv= e, and backing onto St. Benildus College, the school is ideally located to cat= er for children from a wide area including the districts of Dundrum, Sandyford and parts of Kilmacud.

Our school is called St. Olaf’= ;s because of its location in Balally (Baile Mhic Amhlaoibh) – the town = of the son of Olaf. Olaf has been identified as Sitric Mac Amhlaoibh – N= orse King of Dublin who founded Christchurch in the 11^th Cen= tury hence the Viking ship on our crest which was designed by a local heraldic artist – Mr Séamas Cahill of Balally Avenue.=

Many changes have taken place since September 1968 when the school first opened = its doors to 33 Junior Infant girls and boys in a small prefab on what was then= a peaceful wooded site in the country. Our first Principal, Mrs Brigid Cannon= was in charge then until her retirement in January 1996 when the current Princi= pal, Mr Gerard Murphy, was appointed.

Balally was indeed a different plac= e then and, as the area grew, so too did the local schools. The present school cam= pus was finally constructed in 1972 and was split between what was then known as Balally Girls NS and Balally Boys NS – each school having 8 classrooms and shared access to the Hall. This amount of accommodation proved hopeless= ly inadequate for the growing population of school children and it wasn’t long before the playgrounds were filling up with prefabs and the Hall itself had to be divided in two and used as classrooms by both schools. Both schoo= ls were now catering for boys and girls and demand for places was extremely hi= gh. We even had classes in the corridors in those days and had to move our 6th Class over to a newly constructed St. Tiernan’s in the early eighties. The school Hall in St Olaf’s became the Mass centre for Balally and the focus for Baptisms and even the occasi= onal wedding!

Things settled down somewhat with the construction of Queen of Angels Primary School The ‘Boys school’ moved to Wedgewood and the accommodation crisis was eased somewhat. Our current enrolme= nt figure of 385 pupils and 35 staff has necessitated the re-introduction of 3= new prefabs and we are again awaiting the construction of an eight room permane= nt extension to cater for our growing intake of pupils.

We offer a wide and varied range of sports to = our pupils including Soccer, Gaelic Football, Hurling, Camogie, Basketball, Chess, Handball, Unihock and Athletics. Our large Hall provid= es the perfect setting for P.E. which is probably the children’s favourite activity. St. Olaf’s has a long and proud tradition in Cumann na mBunscol, Áth Cliath, which is the organising body for Gaelic Games & Athletics in Dublin, winning 9 of 17 final appearances in the last tw= enty five years. Both girls and boys partake equally in all sports and we hope t= hat they leave our school equipped for the world of leisure as well as work.

Our extra-curricular activities are intended to promote the creative and rewarding use of pupils’ leisure time by get= ting involved in cultural and sporting activities. Irish Dancing , Little Singers and Ballet classes are available to a= ll classes, while Music / Recorder / Keyboard Classes are available from Rang 1 onward. Speech & Drama workshops are provided for all classes up to Rang 5. Word processing / touch ty= ping classes, French and Spanish tu= ition are also offered to Senior Classes. Bot= h team and individual sports are available to the children, mostly without charge, thanks to the interest and dedication of our Staff.

Parents’ Association.

We have a very active and hard-working Parents’ Association and are very grateful for the invaluable contribution and input made by our parents over the years. Parents are acti= vely encouraged to become involved with the P.A. and thus play a leading role in their children’s education.

Enrolment.

Application Forms for enrolment can be obtaine= d by contacting our school Secretary, Paula Christian and may also be downloaded from our website. Our Enrolment Policy may also be viewed on our web= site at homepage.eircom.net/~olaf /Enrolment.htm

Introductory meetings for parents o= f new pupils are usually held in February each year, after which there will be an opportunity to take a&= nbsp; guided tour of the premises. Parents are welcome to view the facilities available in the school at any time, preferably by prior appointment.

Further information may be had by c= alling in to the Principal, Mr. Murphy, or by telephoning the school.

St Olaf’s N.S.,Balally Drive,Dundrum,D.16. Principal: Mr. Gerard Mur= phy

Tel: 295 6513; Fax: 294 18= 63 ; E mail: stolafsns.ias@eircom.net;

Website: homepage.eircom.net/~olaf