News & Important Dates for 2023/24

We are so happy to welcome our students back to an exciting year at SB!

Firstly, the LSMD exams will take place on Sunday 3rd December at SNP. Closing date for entries 11th/12th October.

We are also delighted to announce that we will be doing a school production in Spring 2024. More info to follow on this, but preliminary casting auditions will be held on November 19th.

And finally the Speech and Drama Teachers of Ireland Hybrid Feis is returning, with the live finals taking place at the slightly later time of April 21st.

Some dates for the diary! A busy and exciting year ahead!

SB Agency

We are extremely happy to announce, at long last, the launch of our Agency!

The Agency is something we had been planning for a long while, but like so many things, was majorly delayed due to Covid.

We are often contacted by casting agents for various film and TV productions so we have many contacts already in the industry. It was really important, though, to get professional head shots for our students, in order to launch the agency properly.

We have the most fabulous head shots now, thanks to Ian F T Young, who really captured the students so beautifully. (See below-just a small selection through the age-groups)

The agency is open to students who have trained with us for some time and who would like the opportunity to pursue professional work.

Exciting times ahead!

Return to SNP! Exam Results! Agency & Feis!

We are so incredibly happy to announce that our classes return to our original venue this week!

From Tuesday the 1st of March we will be back in Scoil Naomh Padraig, Ballyroan.

This means we now have the ability to offer classes to Junior and Senior Infants- who we have really missed!

The class times have changed slightly in line with the venue change but I think everyone will be very pleased to be back in the fabulous hall (with a stage) once more!

With all the excitement, we forgot to mention the incredible exam results from LSMD! All participants achieved First Class Honours, with medals across the classes for outstanding marks of 95 and higher. And a special mention-Miriam Alloui was chosen for the High Achievers this year!

Everyone has been working hard on their Feis entries which all went in over the weekend-a marvellous standard from everyone-we were really proud.

And finally, our SB Theatreworks Agency is about to launch! We had the wonderful Ian F T Young come to us to photograph those who wanted to be part of the agency, and the results were amazing! We will be sharing some of the head shots and more information on the Agency very soon!

Busy times-but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

New Term September 2021

We are looking forward to starting our new term in Knocklyon on Wednesday SO much!

More details will be sent out in the Whatsapp groups before we commence.

Please remember to fill out the Covid Return to Class form before the first class and familiarise yourself with the terms and conditions.

We will be operating a one way system in Knocklyon-in through the front door and out through the back door beside the Clubhouse shop (pictured below)

We will be working in pods, with plenty of space for social distance.

And for those who can’t make it to Knocklyon, or are happier on Zoom for the moment, or who may need to attend online due to health advice, we have our online class starting at 3.30 on Tuesday the 28th.

Can’t wait to get going and see everyone very soon!!

Back to Class!

We are so delighted to announce that the Government has given the green light for us to return to face-to-face teaching!

To say we are excited is an understatement! Seeing our students in person and sharing a creative space with them has been so greatly missed.

We will be running our classes from Knocklyon United F.C, as we had planned to do last year. (Please note-there are two Knocklyon football clubs. We are based in the Ballycullen Clubhouse, not to be confused with Delaford.)

Our first term will be a little shorter than normal-12 weeks up to Christmas, commencing on September 22nd. Because of this our prices for this term have altered slightly.

For those who cannot attend in Knocklyon, there will be an online class on offer also. (Time and day TBC)

There will be exact class days and times posted up shortly.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!

End of Term

We finished out our term on Zoom, and although we have been incredibly glad of it, I think we can safely say, we will be pretty happy for Zoom classes to come to an end.

I think we are all ready for a return to the classroom and we are very hopeful that this will come to pass.

As soon as we have further details on location we will let everyone know!

We are incredibly proud of all the students who have stuck with us throughout the Zoom odyssey. It hasn’t always been easy but you have blown us away with your creativity and resilience.

Our end of term presentation, edited by the fabulous Kate, showcased just a taste of the talent and inventiveness of our wonderful students. We will have that video as a reminder of the crazy times we’ve lived through, for many moons to come!

Just to mention that we received the RIAM exam results and were so pleased with those who took them all achieving high Honours and a Distinction for Laura Pendlebury.

Best of luck with the Leaving Cert Laura and Feena-our last two LC students standing!

We will miss you both so much and thanks for all your wonderful work over the years.

New Term/Exam results

Our new term is starting this week on February 3rd!

Classes will remain on Zoom until there is a significant change in public health guidelines.

We have had great engagement with our students online. We’re so delighted with how they have adapted to this new format and we are coming up with lots of new ideas and material to keep us all busy in the coming weeks!

We must congratulate all our students who took LSMD drama exams, on Zoom, at the end of November. Again, there were huge changes to how we approached the work and to how the exams were run, but everyone managed so well and embraced the online exam experience like complete professionals.

The day of the exams went incredibly smoothly, thanks to all the preparation our students had put it, and the examiners really appreciated that too.

This was shown in the results, as all our students achieved First Class Honours, which really is no mean feat, considering how different things were this year.

A special mention for our medal winners who received marks of 95 or above, from Grade 3 upwards, they are: Niamh Ryan, Sally Munro, Kate Donegan, Tara Meaney, Evan Binley, Edie Bromwell, Lily Bromwell, Eabha Farrell and Kieran Farrell.

We also have three students selected for the High Achiever Awards, who are: Mia Ramsden, Chloe Carr and Lauren Meade.

We are so very proud of you all!

(We await the results of the RIAM exams, which were recorded at the start of December)

Latest Guidelines

The latest guidelines provided by The Arts Unit, relating to the teaching of drama, speech and drama, and music under the Government's Living With COVID-19 Plan were published in October.

Under this new guidance, no indoor classes (including individual tuition) may take place at all at levels 3,4, and 5. 

At Levels 1 and 2, classes may operate with specific adherence to Public Health Guidance. 

This news is extremely disappointing for our sector. Many groups are now in the process of lobbying to get theses guidelines changed…again.

Until that time, our classes will remain on Zoom. The term has been going well so far and the exam preparation is still proceeding, albeit a little differently this year.

We will post up further information as we get it and hope for some good news soon.

Back on Zoom

As the Government guidelines have changed once more, moving from Level 2 to Level 3 for Dublin, we will now be starting our new term on Zoom.

We had been working really hard to make sure everything was in place for re-opening in our new venues, so we are disappointed with the news.

However, we know that we ran the classes very successfully on Zoom during lockdown and are looking forward to seeing everyone so much-even if it is on screen at first!

For any new students and parents who are worried about the prospect of drama online, please look at our highlights on Instagram. We had such fun over the 13 weeks we ran Zoom classes. The majority of our students engaged with the classes and found them to be really enjoyable and beneficial.

A Zoom link will be sent to the newly created WhatsApp groups. Just click the link and you’ll be brought into our virtual classroom. You can use a computer, laptop, iPad, tablet, or phone-whatever device is accessible.

We use Zoom Pro and have found it works very reliably. We will have all students on mute at first, to minimise background noise and feedback, but as the class progresses we will un-mute and make sure everyone is engaged.

While it is not totally ideal to run drama online, Zoom is a valuable tool to enable us to continue to teach and prepare for our exams this winter.

Hopefully this will only be for a few weeks and we will be back in the classroom soon. We are very excited about our new venues. The spaces are big and airy, with great ventilation and opportunities for distancing and one way systems. We feel very lucky to have them and, as always, the continued support of our students and parents.

Onwards and upwards! See you on Zoom next week!

Returning to Class

We are delighted to announce our new class schedule for 2020/21. (See Classes Section.)

Our new classes will now run on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in Knocklyon Football Club and Saturday mornings in Firhouse Community Centre.

In line with the current Government public health guidelines in relation to youth organisations, we are limited to 12 students per class. These guidelines will be reviewed on 13th September 2020. As numbers are limited we will allocate places on a first come, first served basis.

On Friday 4th September at 10am, we will send out our ‘SB Theatreworks Class Preference Form’ into each of our current student WhatsApp groups. We will allocate places as the forms are returned. In the interest of fairness we would ask you to register using this form only. (No texts, WhatsApp or email registration)

Please return forms by Wednesday 9th September. We hope to have classes allocated as soon as the gov.ie document is reviewed on September 13th.

There will be more information on how the classes will run and on all our health and safety protocols in the coming days.

Zoom Term

On April 1st, due to Covid 19, we moved our classes online, through Zoom.

We were pretty nervous about how we would be able to deliver the rest of our term online, but we surprised ourselves. The classes were hugely successful-thanks to the participation of our students. They adapted to the new format with ease and blew us away with their creativity and ingenuity.

The classes were really the highlight of our week and got us through such a difficult stretch of time. It has reinforced what a bonded school community we have.

We felt very proud of what we had all achieved after 13 weeks online.

Nothing will beat the experience of drama in the class, of course, but at least we know we have managed to run our term online if needs be.

We are hoping to make a full return to the classroom in September and will be putting everything in place to make sure it is the safest environment possible for our students and staff.

Obviously, there may be some changes to how things will work but we will keep everyone updated as soon as we know more ourselves.

We just cannot wait to see all our students again, in person! But we did have a very unique experience with them all on Zoom!

(Scroll across for some Zoom highlights!)

SB ONLINE STARTING APRIL 1ST

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, we will be continuing our term online through Zoom Pro.

Permission slips have been sent out-please return them by 12pm tomorrow!

The Zoom link will be shared into each class WhatsApp group.

Timetable is as follows:

Wednesday

1.30: Junior and Senior Infants

2.30: 1st-3rd Class

3.30: 4th-6th Class

4.30: 1st-6th Year

Thursday

1.30: Junior and Senior Infants

2.30: 1st-3rd Class

3.30: 4th-6th Class

REVOLTING CHILDREN FEB 2020

Our school production-Revolting Children-took place in dlr Mill Theatre, Dundrum, on February 1st.

The wonderful cast, aged from 5 to 18, lit up the stage and dazzled both sets of audiences.

We could not have been more proud of their incredible work ethic, their sense of camaraderie and support of one and other. We are so lucky to have worked with such a fabulous group-they thoroughly deserved their standing ovation for all their fantastic work!

RIAM High Achiever Awards

Last year, two of our senior students were chosen for High Achiever Awards by the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Their work, at Grade 8, the highest RIAM grade, was of an extremely high standard and their marks reflected this.

Huge congratulations to Caoimhe Healy and Emer Keogh, who both collected medals at this year’s ceremony. We are immensely proud of you both!

EXAM RESULTS 2019

We were so busy with our school production this year, that we got a little behind on our news!

The exam results were truly exceptional again this year.

Every LSMD entrant achieved First Class Honours across the board. And similarly, the RIAM entrants all obtained Honours or Distinction.

This really is an incredible achievement and testament to all the hard work and commitment displayed by every single student.

We also had our highest number of LSMD medals, and must mention that three students were again selected for LSMD High Achiever Awards-Sally Munro, Aoife McAdam and Ciara Higgins.

Well done to all our students who participated! We are incredibly proud of you all!

REVOLTING CHILDREN

Tickets for our school production-Revolting Children- went on sale today at 11am and they are selling fast!

Tickets are restricted to cast member’s families until Friday 24th January. After that, they are open to the rest of the school and to the general public, so you will need to get online quickly if you want to book!

Our cast has been working really hard and we are so excited to get on the stage and show everyone what we can do! We are just under three weeks away from the big day! Lets hope there’s no snow forecast any time soon!

Feis Results 2019

Speech and Drama Teachers of Ireland Feis 2019 Results

 Musical Theatre (Int): 1st Feena Lane, HC Laura Pendlebury

Musical Theatre (Jnr): 3rd Elizabeth Lane

Musical Theatre (Sen): 3rd Jack Byrne

 Solo Drama 15/16: 2nd Laura Pendlebury, 3rd Caoimhe Healy

Solo Drama 12: 2nd Alice Munro

Solo Drama 10: 2nd Sally Munro

Solo Drama 11: 3rd Katie Fox

Solo Drama 10: 2nd Molly Kileen

Solo 8/9: 1st Edie Bromwell, 3rd Alaa El Matoni

 Introduction to Shakespeare: 2nd Tara Meaney

Duologues 12: 1st Elizabeth Lane and Tara Meaney

Duologues 11: 3rd Mia Ramsden and Katya Zubrycki, HC Roisin Duggan and Chloe Smith, HC Ciara Higgins and Frances Higgins

Duologues 9/10: 1st Eabha Farrell and Lauren Meade, 2nd Sadie Sower and Ailbhe Atkinson, HC Ruby Kerwick and Niamh Ryan

Duologues 8/9: 1st Orla O’Brien and Sarah Horan

Girls Poetry 7: 2nd Rebecca Horan, HC Shona Heaney, C Ella Boyle

Girls Poetry 6: 3rd Naoise Hogan

Girls Poetry 5: 2nd Katie Dennis

Boys Poetry 7: 1st Milo McKeogh

Boys Poetry 6: 2nd Nicholas Atkinson

Boys Poetry 5: HC Andrew McKnight

Mime 8/9: 3rd Lucie Brady

Mime 10: 1st Molly Kileen, 3rd Chloe Carr

Mime 11: 1st Katya Zubrycki, 2nd Amy Kearney, 3rd Mia Ramsden

Storytelling 11/13: 3rd Brannagh Cullen

Junior TV Presenter: 3rd Ordhan Cullen

Prepared Prose 9/11: 1st Sally Munro

Feis Maitiu 2019 Results

Duologues U/14: 1st Tara Meaney and Elizabeth Lane

Duologues U/16: 3rd Laura Pendlebury and Feena Lane

Solo U/12: 2nd Henry Browne

Congratulations to all our competitors! We were so proud of everyone who took part!

Exam Results 2018

Massive congratulations to all our students who took part in both RIAM and LSMD examinations.

All RIAM candidates achieved Honours or Distinction, with special mention to our two Grade 8 candidates, Emer Keogh and Caoimhe Healy, who were awarded Distinction with marks of 92 and 94 respectively.

All LSMD candidates achieved First Class Honours and were awarded medals from Grade 4 upwards.

A special mention, again, for our three students who have been selected for the High Achievers Awards: Aoife McAdam, Sally Munro and Katya Zubricky.

We are immensely proud of all our students hard work and progress, which is reflected in our best results to date. Well done everyone!

Speech and Drama Teachers of Ireland Festival Results 2018

Musical Theatre: 1st Grace Manning, HC Niamh Hackett

Solo Drama 17/21: 3rd Emer Keogh

Solo Drama 11C: HC Aoife Ryan

Solo Drama 8/9B: HC Grace O’Donnell

Solo Drama 8/9C: 2nd Molly Kileen

Duologue 8/9: 3rd Alaa El Matoni & Riona Gormley

Duologue 9/10A: 1st Sally Munro & Millie Kearney

Duologue 9/10B: 2nd Lily Bromwell & Eabha Walker, HC Sadie Sower & Ailbhe Atkinson

Duologue 9/10C: HC Ruby Kerwick & Niamh Ryan, HC Sophie Banks & Hannah Duff

Duologue 11A: 1st Tara Meaney & Elizabeth Lane

Duologue 11B: 2nd Ciara Meaney & Aoife Briody, 3rd Maria Williams & Maeve O’Brien

Duologue 15/18: HC Grace Manning & Hannah Kennedy

Mime 8/9: 1st Katya Zubricky, 3rd Aoibhe Heaney

Mime 10: 1st Katie Fox, 2nd Erin Browne, 3rdAibha Brady

Junior TV Presenter: 1st Isobel Kearney

Girls Poetry 6A: 3rd Shona Heaney

Girls Poetry 7A: HC Edie Bromwell

Girls Poetry 7B: HC Orla O’Brien

Girls Poetry 7C: 3rd Aoibhinn Kileen

Boys Poetry 5: HC Nicholas Atkinson

Boys Poetry 6A: 1st Luke Rhattigan, 2nd Milo McKeogh

Boys Poetry 6B: HC Ordhan Cullen

Boys Poetry 7: 3rd Kieran Farrell

A Year to Remember...

What an amazing and eventful year we have had...

Firstly, outstanding results from both exam boards. All RIAM entrants achieved Honours and Distinction. All LSMD candidates achieved First Class Honours.

We then had our first full production in dlrMill Theatre of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.' Despite the elements conspiring against us, we weathered the storm (literally) and put on a rescheduled production that we were incredibly proud of.

This was followed by the Speech and Drama Teachers of Ireland Festival, and again, we were so proud of all who participated. The hard work really paid off! 

We could not have done it all without the help of an incredible group of teachers. Massive thanks to Sophie, Eva, Laura and Mickeala for all the work and dedication.

And thank you to our wonderful students and parents, whose support we value so much!

We look forward to another exciting year ahead...