News Category: Post Primary

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TY competes in F1 in Schools National Finals

Category : Post Primary

Fire Dragon and Speed Eagles team with Maggie Owens, Niall Keenan and John Canning

Well done to both Fire Dragon and Speed Eagle teams in the F1 in Schools IRL National Final competition in Galway, where they planned, designed, created and analysed a miniature F1 Car. It was brilliant watching the two teams race against each other. The students done brilliantly in the F1 in Schools this year.

Both teams performed outstanding on the day selling their Teams brand. Team Speed Eagles car ran flawlessly all day and was one of the fastest cars on the day! Unfortunately team Fire Dragon suffered an axel breakage on its third race knocking it out of competition, but, it didn’t hold them back as they done brilliant presentations explaining the whole story of how they got to the National Finals.

We are so proud of both Fire Dragon and Speed Eagles, Both teams really impressed the judges at the verbal presentation and enterprise and engineering interview. They really showed their skills and knowledge on the day, making our School very proud!

Speed Eagle was placed 19th place out of the top 42 teams and Fire Dragon was placed 30th place out of the top 42 teams.


Special thanks to all the organisations that helped us with our project, Lions Club Ireland, Lions International, Irish Deaf Society, Chime, Deaf Sports Ireland and Holy Family School for the Deaf.

#STEM#STEMeducation#transitionyear@FireDragon_F1@IrishDeafSoc@ChimeFor@DeafSportsIre@lionsclubs


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Frank O Donoghue sees students progress in F1 in Schools project

Category : Post Primary

We were delighted to welcome Frank O Donoghue from Lions Club Ireland to our school. When the Lions International visited our school they organised a whip around for our TY F1 in Schools teams – FireDragon and SpeedEagle.
Frank called at the perfect time because the frame of our CAD F1 car arrived that day! Frank got to see our students progress in their project, and to see the 3D printer in action printing wheels and axles. Thank you Frank and to all in Lions International – This support will help us go to the National Finals in Galway in 2 weeks! #STEM


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Visit to the National Gallery of Ireland and KPMG Children’s Book Awards

Category : Post Primary

Children’s Book Awards

We were delighted to be invited to the KPMG Children’s book awards in Merrion Park today. Congratulations to all the nominees and to the winners! This was a wonderful event with amazing synopsis of each books by young people and we got to meet amazing Irish authors and illustrators. Thank you to all involved in the organising for making us feel welcome and for providing an ISL Interpreter for us making this event fully inclusive. We look forward to reading some of these wonderful books @KidsBooksIrel@KPMG#ReadingHeroes

Some of our students visited the National Gallery of Ireland today to see the new Cezanne painting ‘Life in the Fields’. We were delighted to have deaf tour guide Susan Whelan. Susan brought us on a fantastic tour of Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, Paul Coleman and, we even got to see deaf artist Avercamp. Thank you Susan for giving this tour and for inspiring our students. You never know? Maybe one day one of the students will become an Art tour guide! @NGIreland@susiewoosie77


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Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

Category : Post Primary

A big yellow ball was in the sky everyday for our week and half long Ultimate Frisbee Tourrnament. The flying disc travelled high and low skillfully amongst students while applying the. principles of defense and offence. A concert of effort went into getting the Frisbee swiftly into the scoring zone, it was often met by cheers but sometimes groans of disappointment as it slithered out of hopeful hands. There was hardly a moment to rest for our students, the tempo was so fast and lively.

5th years secured gold medal and TY secured silver medal.

A fun afternoon saw the ” all star student team” play against a staff team. Tensions were high as staff were determined to show their students how to win. The students team gave them a run for their money but lost by a mere 1 point.

As if the sun knew, the tournament was over and its sun beams no longer danced on the senior yard. Instead it reappeared in the form a 99 ice cream! A delicious treat for the whole school!

Well done everyone! I am so proud of you all!


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HFSD achieves the GREEN FLAG!

Category : Post Primary

Congratulations to the Green School committee and teachers on achieving the GREEN SCHOOL FLAG for our school! This is evidence of all the hard work in making us a more sustainable school. Special thanks to Lions Club Ireland for purchasing our flagpole to display our new flag!


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Digital progress under the Grant Scheme for EU NRRP funding to Schools

Dear Parents/guardians

We would like to update you on our digital progress under the Grant Scheme for EU NRRP funding to Schools at Risk of Educational disadvantage. Circular letter 0060/2021

gov.ie – Grant Scheme for EU NRRP Funding to schools to address the digital divide, and learners at risk of educational disadvantage (www.gov.ie)

In 2021 our school received €8000 as part of this scheme. This funding was used to support Holy Family’s core project, within our overarching digital strategy. As you are aware we began this project in 2020 with the assistance of funding from the Dublin Lions so we could  support our pupils through the covid pandemic.

The goal of the project was to ensure that every pupil in the second level section of the school and senior pupils (5th/6th class) in the primary section had access to a personal digital device i.e. a Google Chromebook. This would ensure full participation in Google Classroom for all, both in school and outside school for homework tasks or for access to teaching and learning should the school be forced to close.  The wellbeing of our Deaf students is at the heart of this project.  We know that they are at risk of disengagement from learning and social isolation when at home for long periods.

In addition, all pupils would have shared access to digital learning devices such as iPads and digital cameras. Deaf students are visual learners, so each class teacher was to be provided with a visualizer. Visualizers provide Deaf students with equal access to text-based learning. EU funding was also used to purchase one additional interactive presentation device- a Clever Touch Screen. Combing these technologies allows our Deaf students to engage in whole school activities such as Kahoot quizzes, digital storytelling, and other activities.

The project was led by our in-school digital team. The Chromebooks were made available to parent/guardians for purchase or rental. Families who could not afford the rental were fully supported under the EU NRRP grant. Access to other digital technologies were made available to all class teachers through a booking scheme. Teacher training was initially provided for free by the companies who provided the technology. Additional training was provided by the in school digital team and peer learning over the course of one full school year after school hours.

We are proud to report that EVERY pupil from the youngest in early intervention to the oldest in the post primary section benefited from the project. The project has been enormously successfully. We now consider our school to well on our journey to digital excellence!


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Welcoming Olympic Champion Kellie Harrington

Category : Post Primary

9 November 2022; Kellie Harrington during a visit to Holy Family School for the Deaf in Cabra, Dublin, as part of the Dare to Believe Olympic Schools Programme. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

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History of Art School Trip

Category : Post Primary

Part of the Leaving Cert and Leaving Cert Applied Art History, the students had an opportunity to have an ISL tour by tour guide Susan Whelan at the National Gallery of Ireland. It was fantastic to have a tour guide who is deaf and presented the tour in ISL. Later we went to the Huge Lanes Art Gallery where they learnt about Francis Bacon and his studio. A great day was had by all. 


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ISL Awareness Week

Category : Post Primary

Students wearing blue for ISL Awareness day in Holy Family School for the Deaf. We had great fun posing for an aerial photo of all the students standing making the shape of the letters in ISL. Thank you to Sean Power for taking this aerial photo.