Christmas Greetings from Edmund Rice Schools Trust |
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Christmas 2022
We look forward to celebrating Christmas with our families and friends. It is a special time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and share His message of love, hope and peace with the world.
We have many children and young people from Ukraine in our schools and we applaud the great work being undertaken by students and teachers to make these young people and their families feel welcome and safe. We pray for peace in Ukraine and other troubled areas of the world.
There are also many families for whom the Christmas season is challenging and it's great to see how our school communities are responding to this through various initiatives and fundraisers that are documented in this edition of Síol. Well done to all of you.
Being connected to each other in this way is a true expression of the Christmas spirit.
Congratulations to Blarney Street on being accredited a School of Sanctuary. Well done to everyone there. They join Bunscoil McAuley Rice in Callan and Mt Sion Secondary in Waterford as Schools of Sanctuary and we look forward to seeing many more of our schools joining them in the coming year.
Thanks to all schools that have contributed to this, and previous, editions of Síol. Thanks also for your welcome contributions to our Edmund Rice network.
I look forward to your support and participation in our international Edmund Rice Education Beyond Borders Congress in May. It was heartening to hear the very positive responses of our principals and deputies to the Congress at our recent network meetings.
Nollaig Shona agus Bliain Nua faoi mhaise daoibh uilig!
Gerry Bennett
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Mount Sion Secondary School |
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Fill a Bus Campaign
The School of Sanctuary Committee along with our many School of Sanctuary Student Ambassadors decided to run the 'Fill-a-Bus Campaign' in aid of Waterford Food Bank for a second year running. We ran this campaign over a week in our school and encouraged as many students as possible to bring in even one item of non-perishable food to support the campaign.
We were overwhelmed with the response, and we ended up being able to donate 30 bags of non-perishable food items to the campaign. Students were incredibly generous and charitable and the campaign as a whole drummed up a lot of conversation about how many families were struggling to have enough food to survive in this current climate.
We were helped by Lisduggan Dealz who generously donated 8 crates of non-perishable food items to support this worthy cause. The campaign as a whole was a great success which really shows that the ethos which Edmund Rice encouraged is still alive and well to this day in Mount Sion CBS Secondary School. |
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Awards Night
The dust has barely settled on what was our first in-person Awards Night since 2019.
Our new deputy principal - Ms. Kearney - was a fantastic M.C. on the night, and we were delighted to welcome back past student Emmet Tobin who spoke so passionately about his time in the school. Congratulations to all the boys and their families and a huge thank you to all the staff who spoke and presented awards. A special thanks also must go to Aimee and Melissa in the office as well as Carla and Susan who did incredible work in preparation for the night. Pictured here are Principal Edward Kennedy along with Sár Buachaill recipient David Power and nominating teacher Ms. Leen. |
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College Awareness Week
This month saw College Awareness Week 2022 take place and we were fortunate to be able to host a Careers Expo in the primary school hall. With the help of all the brilliant volunteers, we were able to promote further education to both our current and primary school students. Huge thanks to all who gave their time, provided invaluable information and answered all the questions the boys (and some staff!) asked.
On the day we had various representatives from S.E.T.U., An Garda Síochána, The Irish Defence Forces, E.S.B., Dawn Meats, Waterford College of Further Education, Carlow College, Generation Apprenticeship, Red Hat, W.W.E.T.B. and P.W.C. A special word of thanks to the organising committee of Mr. Galvin, Mr. J McGrath and Mr. Maher as without them the day could not have gone ahead (and to Mr. Foley for making the all-important tea!) |
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Science Week
We had an array of events on during Science Week 2022 in Mount Sion C.B.S. Sports Scientist Bruce Wardrope from S.E.T.U. gave a very informative talk to our 5th year students. Our T.Y. students were treated to a robotics workshop and our 3rd year students participated in an online quiz hosted by S.E.T.U. which they thoroughly enjoyed.
There were daily events also where 1st Years were posed with the problem of creating a product that will help fight the current energy crisis. T.Y. students acted as very able mentors for them!
The week was closed then by a final guest speaker in Dr. Ultan Power (Alumni member) who is a virologist with Queens University Belfast. These weeks don’t organise themselves so a huge thank you to all the staff involved in making it happen.
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TY Trip to Irish National Stud
Transition Year students had an amazing day out at the beginning of the month at The Irish National Stud. They got the chance to purchase, train and race their own horses in a virtual reality experience.
The tour then brought them to visit some of the retired legends of the racing industry including; Faugheen, Beef or Salmon, Kicking King and Hurricane Fly.
Many thanks to Ms. Moloney for organising the trip for the boys and to Mr. Nolan for accompanying them also. |
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Vegan Bake Sale
Ms Burke's T.Y. Geography class had a very successful vegan bake sale at the beginning of the month. Ms. Burke has been delivering a Climate Literacy module to the boys which teaches them all about the climate and biodiversity crisis we are all facing at present.
The money made from the sale went straight to the Irish Bee Conservation Project. Well done to all the boys involved for their fantastic baking and to Ms. Burke for facilitating them.
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Green School Update
We were delighted to welcome Edwin Coman back to the school to help us in our bid to get yet another Green School Flag!
This year we are working hard on the theme of “Travel”. 6th Years Rokas Skunsmanas, Kingsley Ekedozie and Aaron Barry conducted a speed survey with the help of Edwina on Barrack Street and have also in recent weeks conducted a travel to school survey with the help of Ms. Burke and Karen Harte.
We are very excited to continue working on this project for the rest of the year.
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Blarney Street Primary School Cork |
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School of Sanctuary
Blarney Street is delighted to announce that we have been accredited as a 'School of Sanctuary Champion' and are the very first Primary school in Cork City and County to gain this award.
As a 'School of Sanctuary', we are committed to creating a safe, welcoming and inclusive school that seeks to benefit everybody in our community, especially those who are seeking sanctuary such as refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants".
Merry Christmas from all here in Blarney Street and have 'Happy New Year'.
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Bunscoil McAuley Rice Callan |
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Football
Congratulations to the girls of Bunscoil McAuley Rice on their recent county final success. The girls gave a fantastic account of themselves all year and all their dedication and commitment paid off in sublime fashion.
Despite giving everything, our boys' team narrowly lost their own Roinn A football county final recently, which would have been their first Roinn A championship. However, we hope for better fortune in our upcoming County Cup final.
We are delighted to have such talented teams in our school. Well done to all our teachers who put much effort into preparing the teams at Bunscoil McAuley Rice.
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Healthy Eating
We recently participated in the Bord Bia Food Dudes healthy eating programme. Our children thoroughly enjoyed tasting different kinds of fruit and vegetables and are aware of the benefits that a healthy eating intake provides.
Fruit and vegetable consumption has been consistently and significantly increased when children participate in this programme. Monitoring and encouraging the continuation of healthy eating is something we do every day at Bunscoil McAuley Rice. |
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Shoebox Appeal
This year's shoebox appeal was again another huge success and it was wonderful to see the spirit of generosity within our school community.
Many thanks and well done to all our students who took part in this excellent initiative. As an Edmund Rice school, we are very proud of this appeal each year.
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Christmas Show
Throughout the past few weeks, all of our classes have been preparing for their Christmas Show. Performing in front of their families and a sold-out crowd, they displayed terrific talent. As a result of performing on stage in front of a crowd, our children develop their public speaking and acting skills. In Bunscoil McAuley Rice, these skills help our children build self-esteem and prepare them well for secondary school, and this is one of our highlight programmes annually.
Next week will mark the beginning of our annual donation to Temple St Children's Hospital. Our children are looking forward to dressing up in their Christmas jumpers, singing Christmas carols with their class, and getting into the Christmas spirit. This Christmas season, Bunscoil McAuley Rice wishes all of its friends a safe and happy holiday season as well as best wishes for the new year. |
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Gaeilge 24
Ghlac na daltaí, na mùinteoirí agus an fhoireann páirt san fheachtas Gaeilge 24. Labhair siad a lán Gaeilge agus rinne siad go léir sár-iarracht!
Students, teachers and staff took part in the Gaeilge 24 campaign and spoke lots of Irish! They made a great effort! Students were treated to ‘lá na pictúirlainne’ (cinema day) and staff took part in ióga as Gaeilge!
Maith sibh go léir! Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam
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Congratulations to our Harty Cup team who beat St Joseph's, Tulla in Ballyagran, Co Limerick.
Scoreline - Midleton CBS 1-25 St Joseph's, Tulla 1-13. CBS progress to the quarter-finals which are scheduled for the new year. Excellent performance lads, well done.
Thanks to our supporters for creating a great atmosphere. For the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Midleton CBS were able to run supporter buses for the match. Six buses of highly vocal students roared the team to victory against the defending champions.
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Congratulations to all our students who received their Junior Cycle exam results.
Many congratulations also to your parents/guardians and your teachers. The school treated the lads to ice - cream as a small gesture to acknowledge all their efforts studying, including during some really though Covid times. Everyone at Midleton CBS is immensely proud of you all.
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Congratulation to the Midleton CBS U14 hurling team who won the Jim Langton cup in Dixboro GAA, Kilkenny.
The team beat Nenagh, Clonmel & CBC en route to the final. The final against Thurles CBS finished 3-10 to 3-03. Well done to all the squad for the massive effort and a great day of hurling.
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Congratulations to our U14 soccer players who won the Edmund Rice Challenge Cup Soccer Blitz.
Midleton CBS, Coláiste Éamann Rís, CBC and Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG all competed on the Midleton CBS school pitch for the Edmund Rice Challenge Cup. Congratulations also to CBC who came second after a very tight final with some excellent football played by both sides. Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG also won the plate, beating Coláiste Éamann Rís in their final.
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Midleton CBS - U15B Munster Football Champions 2022
Congratulations to the Midleton CBS U15 footballers on a brilliant win against Boherbue Comprehensive School in the U15B Munster football final played in Bishopstown GAA. CBS won a scoreline of 5-13 to 0-8 points.
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U-15 Soccer
In Sporting News, the under 15 team has been on a winning streak and is into the last 16 of the League competition. Mr O Connor and Mr Doyle are making sure the lads are in fine fitness with extra lunch time practices over the winter.
The Senior Team won its Inter Secondary and Training Centres Football Tournament beating the local rivals of Pleasant Street Youthreach in an exciting finale.
The Junior Girls GAA team have began training and it will be the first time that Jamebo will have a girls-only team to play competitions and friendlies.
We look forward to cheering them all! |
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School Trips have resumed with Mr Carey taking a Second Year CSPE class on a trip to the Dáil where they got to see government in sitting and meet some of the local councillors. They also had a tour of the building.
Mr Smith's Frst Year CSPE class managed to complete their fundraising activities by buying and delivering presents and messages to the children of Crumlin Hospital. The staff were very kind and generous with their time with the students explaining who would benefit from their fundraising.
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Kindness Week
Kindness Week is always fun, spreading the message of 'Kindness' throughout the school and community.
This year Jamebo chose December as the month that we'd highlight all the wonderful kindness that can be shown, freely offered and received throughout our school.
The Student Council assisted in the school door decorating, along with their teachers. Ms Cullinane arranged a 'Walk and Talk Mile' for every year group followed by a welcoming hot chocolate and gift which included positive affirmations and a Christmas tree ornament for every student and staff member.
One of the highlights included 'Happy Bookmas' day organised by Lorna our librarian whereby everyone could share the gift of reading with family of all ages at home or to give the gift of reading.
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Scoil Íosagáin Sexton Street Limerick |
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Congratulations
Bro. James Dormer, chairperson, Board of Management Scoil Iosagain C.B.S. Sexton St. Limerick makes a presentation to Doireann Garrard on behalf of the school B.o.M. Doireann who was deputy principal at Sexton St. CBS has recently been appointed principal of Christ the King Boys Primary School, Caherdavin, Limerick.
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New Deputy Principal
Leah Walsh was appointed Deputy Principal of Scoil Iosagain C.B.S. Primary School, Sexton St., Limerick in December 2022.
Leah is a native of Limerick and is a graduate of Mary Immaculate College of Education, Limerick. She holds a Masters degree in Special and Additional Learning Needs. After graduating, her first teaching appointment was at Gaelscoil Sheoirse Clancy in Limerick. Following a decision to gain some experience working abroad, Leah spent nine years teaching in the United Arab Emirates. During this time, she taught in both the public and private school system. Leah returned to Ireland in 2021 and joined the teaching staff at Scoil Iosagain, Sexton St., as a teacher in the ASD unit.
We wish Leah well in her appointment as Deputy Principal.
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CBC Preparatory School Cork |
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It has been a busy first term at CBC Preparatory School with staff and students throwing themselves into school life with great enthusiasm.
Ms. Sharon McAdoo commenced her role as new Principal of the Preparatory School following the retirement of Dr. Larry Jordan. Mr. Steven Lynch also commenced a new role, stepping into the position of Deputy Principal of the Preparatory School. We wish Ms. McAdoo, Mr. Lynch and Dr. Jordan our best for the future.
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Monthly Mass
We have greatly enjoyed gathering once more in the lunchroom for monthly mass, celebrated by Fr. Tomás Walsh, following a number of years of “virtual mass”. It is always a joyful occasion and a wonderful way to mark a return to normality after the past years of disruption to regular school life.
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Lord Mayor's Visit |
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The boys and teachers from the Prep School were delighted to attend the annual Lord Mayor Visit in the secondary school gym this term. It is one of the very few occasions that the entire school, from Junior Infants to Sixth Year, gathers together in the hall and is always a very special occasion.
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World Diabetes Day
A very successful fundraiser for World Diabetes Day was held in the Preparatory School in November. A coffee morning for parents was held in the lunch room in the morning. Classes then gathered for the grand raffle draw and to watch a brief video about Type 1 Diabetes. Following this, 3rd-6th Classes remained in the lunch room to do a Maths challenge related to calculating carbs, etc… This was a fantastic event arranged by our Parents’ Council which raised awareness and funds for a very worthy cause.
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After-School Clubs
This year a variety of After School Clubs was launched at the Prep School. Prepared and led by teachers in the school, there is something to cater for everyone. Clubs that have run to date include, Drama, Harry Potter, 3D Printing, Coding, Art, Creative Writing, Chess, Lego and Club Gaeilge. In addition, after school training for GAA and Rugby are also popular activities.
Our wonderful Parents Council added some festive cheer to the halls of CBC Preparatory School this December. The boys were amazed to see the school decorated, as if by magic and quickly decided that Santa’s elves must be responsible! We have also enjoyed lots of festive activities over the last few weeks of term. Our annual cinema trip is always a highlight on the Prep School Calendar and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We were also delighted to welcome back our friends from CBS Sexton Street for a day of fun, education and building connections with another ERST school.
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Open Night
There was a fantastic turnout for Coláiste Phádraig’s first full Open Night since 2019 on Thursday 6th
October. Most of classrooms were open throughout the evening so that the students and parents could see the different subjects in action. The young primary school students got to actively engage with our own students and teachers in the science labs, art room, wood and metal technology rooms, the classroom-of-the-future, the numerous computer rooms as well as all of the other subject classrooms throughout the school.
A large number of our current students were also in attendance and they proved to be excellent ambassadors for the school as they spent time engaging the primary school students in the different subject areas and made sure they felt welcomed and valued. They answered a lot of questions about the school from parents and their children in a mature, positive and informed manner and helped them navigate the corridors and different classrooms on view.
The Prefects were also in attendance and they were a tremendous help throughout as they took parents and students around and helped clear up afterwards.
We look forward to welcoming the next cohort of 1st yr students into the school in September 2023.
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Basketball
Our u16 basketball team enjoyed a great campaign culminating in a well-deserved victory in the Eastern League u16 B Plate Final after defeating Castleknock CC 45-37 in a high-quality match held at the Oblate Basketball Hall in Inchicore in early December. The team had qualified for the final having defeated Marian College 51-30 in their semi-final encounter with Alseny Bah scoring an impressive 22 points.
The 1st quarter of the Final was extremely hard-fought with Lucan just edging it 12-11 mainly thanks to two excellent baskets from both Paisley Amadasun and Alseney Bah. Castleknock fought back well to lead at half time 22-19 but a hugely impressive third quarter saw our team open up a 7-point lead with Gabriel Sales and Lewis Adjinakou extremely influential in this period with some crucial scores and outstanding defence. Gabriel continued his excellent form into the final quarter with another four baskets as the team held on for the win and claimed the beautiful trophy in fine style.
The team finished their campaign unbeaten, having won all of their games but missed out on a place in the Cup semi-finals due to unfortunately missing a strict match deadline early on in the group stages. However, they ended the season in great style and thoroughly deserved a reward for their excellent form throughout their campaign.
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Hurling
Our u16 hurling team have also enjoyed an unbeaten campaign so far as they claimed the Dublin Post Primary Junior Development Shield held on 2nd December after defeating Portmarmack CS 0-14 to 1-10 in the Final. The team had qualified for the Final in incredible style, recovering from a 4-12 to 0-13 deficit against St. Paul’s Colle Raheny (with just 5 mins remaining) to snatch an unlikely two-point victory thanks primarily to 3 late goals from Reece Kelly. In the Final, Underage Dublin star Conor Dillon was the stand-out performer as he scored 13 points for the team as Lucan won by the narrowest of margins in a dramatic and competitive game. Adam Salmon scored the team’s other point and Lucan now advance directly to the Leinster Final, to be played in January.
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Friendship Week
A large number of activities were organised to celebrate Friendship Week in Coláiste Phádraig which ran from Tuesday 18th until Friday 21st
Oct this year. 1st yrs attended a workshop on the theme of anti-bullying, 2nd yrs had an anti-racism workshop while 3rd
yrs did one on anti-substance abuse. The workshops were run by Mike O’ Sullivan from Humourfit, a Theatre in Schools project based in county Limerick and the students thoroughly enjoyed the engaging, thought-provoking and powerful workshops.
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yrs attended a workshop run by Talha Alali from Amnesty International entitled “Write for Rights”, the biggest human rights campaign in the world. The students learned of the importance of showing friendship to people whose human dignity is not respected.
6th yrs attended a workshop run by Jen Trzeciak from Way Ahead Therapy on the theme of managing health and well-being during exams. Jen also spoke to TY students about the importance of friendship/connection for mental health and well-being.
A lot of classes also did Friendship related activities with their subject teachers such as poster competitions, friendship quotes and poems, role playing and friendship themed songs throughout the week.
Well-being is everyone’s responsibility and we take the issue very seriously at Coláiste Phádraig Lucan.
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Art
Over the last few years a number of Art projects have been led by Art teacher Ms. Ryan and a small group of Transition year students- Friendship bracelets, paintings and friendships trees to name just a few. This year Ms. Ryan decided that she wanted to make a permanent Artwork that would be hung on the walls of the 1st year area. Ms Ryan and Mr Flynn recently had in-service training on a high tech Laser cutting machine (that we now have in the school) and this training day hugely influenced the Artwork.
The Artwork itself: The piece is based around 17 qualities (such as family, friends, health, exercise, kindness, teamwork, creativity, empathy etc,) of which each student would pick ten that are the most personal to them. The work is inspired by the work of Contemporary artist Andy Goldsworthy - an English sculptor who produced site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural and urban settings.
The students were taken into the old metalwork room in groups of five and given time to decide the most important qualities to them. The Transition year students Jack Morris, Ryan Sundaram and Sean McDonagh led the project alongside Ms. Ryan and were instrumental to the success of the project. Each student wrote the ten qualities into their school journal and would then pick a colour embroidery thread, the thread would be tied to the first quality and would wrap around the other nine and finally a student would write their name on a wooden name tag and attach it to the end of the thread. This process was done by all 143 first year students.
On Friday the 21st of October the Artwork was unveiled to the entire group at the first year breakfast. Principal Mr Brady, Deputy Principal Mr Geraghty and 1st yr Head Ms. O Neill were each given a large wooden leaf name tag and they also picked their ten qualities and went through the process with the help of the Transition year students, which was a great way to put the final touches to the Artwork. It was also an appropriate way to conclude a hugely successful Friendship Week in the school this year.
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Junior Cycle Results
The Junior Cycle results were finally released on Wednesday 23rd November and there were many happy faces on the big day. Overall, the results were excellent this year with lots of high grades in all subjects. The impressive results reflect very well on the hard work put in by the students over the course of three years that were severely disrupted by Covid regulations. Distinctions (90-100%) were achieved across all subjects, in many cases exceeding the national average.
Jevin Joy achieved 4 Distinctions and 5 Higher Merits while Ahmed Hassan attained 4 Distinctions and 4 Higher Merits, both excellent results. All students that worked with the Learning Support team all passed their Junior Cycle exams so well done to them.
Congratulations to all of our students on reaching a significant milestone in their education journey.
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Inclusion Week
Our Inclusion Week, which was held in the school from Monday 21st to Friday 25th November, was a great success with a whole host of interesting and enjoyable activities for our extremely diverse student population. Ms. Ryan’s art students decorated the school with beautiful, colourful posters and bunting flags representing the huge number of countries that our students originate from.
The key messages being promoted for the week were respect, tolerance and acceptance of diversity and cultural, religious and personal differences. A collection of Pride balloons was put up in on display in the main Foyer of the school. The vibrant colours certainly brightened the main entrance and sent out a powerful message of support for LGBTQ+ rights. An anti-racism flag, as well as a Pride Flag, were raised on the flag poles outside the main school entrance in a ceremony attended by all 1st yrs.
All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to be themselves and achieve their potential without fear of prejudice, judgement or disapproval. Coláiste Phádraig is a safe, supportive and inclusive place for all and Inclusion Week reinforced this to great effect.
The students took part in interactive workshops where the facilitators explored LGBTQ+ terminology and acted out scenarios where students could act as good allies for friends who may be struggling with their identity. They learned how some language can be very hurtful when used indiscriminately and without consideration for the feelings of others. The workshop was extremely well received by the students and we thank them for being so attentive, mature, respectful and co-operative throughout.
Iraqi-born hurler Abood Al Jumaili, a justice, diversity, inclusion, equality and integration advocate and ambassador for Dublin GAA, gave an inspirational talk to the students on his own personal story of inclusion and integration. He spoke with raw honesty and passion and his story certainly resonated at many different levels with those in attendance.
Ms. Ryan held a poster competition for students on the theme of diversity and there were some fantastic pieces of work produced. The winners will be announced later this week. Ms. Seery’s 1st yr science class did an interesting practical on colours which went very well.
Quizzes were held in most classes with many of the questions based around the different world religions, cultures, languages and flags.
Some members of the Music Club performed a few songs during lunch time in the canteen. Cameron Brennan, Jayron Sarmiento, David Farrelly, Cian Carr and Jasper Nolan played an eclectic number of songs by David Bowie, Queen, Kanye West, Pirates of the Caribbean as well as some catchy jazz piano tunes. Our musicians did a great job entertaining those in attendance. Lunch time in the canteen began with some gentle background piano music as students ate their lunch before Cian and Jasper plugged in their amps and brought some rock n roll to Coláiste Phádraig!
The students were also treated to a special live performance from some teachers later in the week! Ms. O’ Brien sung a beautiful version of “Grace” by The Dubliners accompanied by Mr. Phelan on the banjo and David Farrelly on guitar. Mr. Sweetman, flamboyantly decked out in a full, colourful Pride Suit in a powerful show of acceptance, equality and support, then sung an Inclusion Week version of “Raglan Road” which included some humorous references to some of the staff in attendance!
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A number of 1st yr students brought in various international foods for a food-tasting session in the study hall. Ali Asif brought in traditional sweets from Pakistan and the tamarind-filled spicy candy went down a treat! Alex Morley brought in delicious and savoury Chokladbollar (chocolate balls), a traditional Swedish desert. Taha Habeep brought in a Chicken Fry, containing a traditional lemon pickle curd rice. Ace Formentera brought in International fried chicken fillets that were all quickly snapped up! Jamie Forbes brought in a plate of boxty, which are traditional tasty, fluffy Irish potato cakes as well as homemade brown bread and Champ, a Northern Irish dish containing scallions, infused onion and creamy mashed potatoes. Many thanks to these 1st yrs for bringing in such delicious food samples as part of Inclusion Week.
As part of Inclusion Week, a poster competition was run by Ms. Ryan. There was a large volume of entries and the quality of a lot of the posters was very good. Ms. Ryan was hugely impressed with the artistic talent on display and she had the unenviable task of selecting the winner. After much consideration, she was unable to separate two posters designed by Aaron Wall and Aaron Jobin so management decided that it was only fair to declare joint winners.
Ms. Ryan has framed and mounted both posters and they have been hung up on the walls near the art room so that everyone can view and appreciate their incredible artistic talents.
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Sport
The Board of Management kindly provided funds for new sets of jerseys for the main sports teams in the school. The jerseys were delivered last month and some of our talented young sport stars were delighted to model the jerseys. There were six sets of jerseys in total, two for the GAA, two for basketball and two for the soccer teams, with junior and senior sets in each sport.
The players were involved in designing the jerseys with the mentors having the final say but everyone was very happy with how they turned out. Anyone involved in any team this year also got socks and shorts in the main school colours so our team will be well kitted out throughout the season!
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Wellbeing
As a part of our extensive wellbeing programme in the school, our 1st yrs took part in a poetry competition in early December. They were asked to compose an acrostic poem using wellbeing as an inspiration. An acrostic poem involves writing a word or phrase vertically (in this case “wellbeing”) and beginning each sentence of the poem with the letters of this word. Ms. Farrell has taken on the enormous responsibility of making our school’s culture and ethos and commitment to wellbeing much more visible and meaningful in a real and practical way to our students.
It has been shown through many studies that wellbeing and successful learning are inextricably linked. There is overwhelming evidence that students learn more effectively, including their academic subjects, if they are happy in their school work, believe in themselves, and feel that their school is supporting them at all times. Ms. Farrell is doing amazing work equipping our 1st yrs with important life skills that aims to enhance the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of our young students in particular.
The standard of poems was extremely high so well done to all of our 1st
yrs for taking to the task with such relish, passion and enthusiasm. They were keen to demonstrate just how much they had learned in the 1st term about wellbeing so a lot of the poems were deeply personal and incredibly touching. It was difficult to select just four winners but Ms. Deane, who has a deep love of poetry, eventually picked out four poems that truly captured the meaning and aims of the wellbeing programme in our school.
The four students, Aaron Jobin, Anish Iyer, Muhammad Imran and Cian Dola, each won a selection box for their outstanding work. They also had their poems framed (one of the winners actually composed his poem on a beautiful art canvass!), which will be put up near the wellbeing noticeboard so that everyone in the school can read, enjoy and be inspired by their beautifully crafted acrostic poems in the months and years ahead.
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Building update
The construction work on our new building has commenced in the school. The work will take 24 weeks to complete so it should be completed by the end of the current school year and be ready for use from the start of the 2023/24 school year. It will be of great benefit to the school community. We have been able to increase our intake of 1st years in September 2022 and September 2023 on the basis of getting the new building. The project also improves the facilities available for students in the school. We will have 8 extra classrooms, a Special Needs/Resource Room, a Library, an Oratory and a Home Economics room available for use upon completion of the project.
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Literacy Week
The winter term in CBS Kilkenny was one that was marked by a riot of activity and no little success!
Literacy Week 2022 was an unqualified triumph thanks to the tireless work of Mr Hanley and the Literacy Week Committee. In addition to the traditional schedule of competitions, trips, workshops and initiatives, we were delighted to receive some illustrious visitors. Our near neighbours and multi-Oscar nominated animation studio Cartoon Saloon dropped in to present a highly informative talk and workshop on visual literacy and the animation process, while celebrated Leaving Certificate poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin made a return visit to CBS Kilkenny to read her poems and lead our senior students in a discussion of the work. Huge thanks to all our contributors and congratulations to all our winners from the week.
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Science Week
This term also saw us celebrate Science Week 2022 – where an amazing workshop with the Circus Science Show team and the success of our senior team in The Regional Senior Science Quiz 2022 were among the highlights – as well as continue our successful run in both academic and sporting fields. Alex Cullen took 2nd place in the All-Ireland Combined Events in athletics and secured selection for the Irish team for the international meet in Glasgow. Well done to Alex and to Mr Dore & Mr Kennedy, we are very proud of you all.
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Scholars Award
We were also delighted this term to see Class of 2022 student, Paddy Collins, receive a Scholars Award from DCU in recognition of his outstanding Leaving Certificate results. Not to be outdone, and hot on the heels of his Microsoft World Championship win, Rohan Vargas was victorious in the Rotary Youth Leadership Regional Competition. He will now proceed to represent the Kilkenny Rotary Club and CBS Kilkenny
at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in February! Congratulations to Rohan and to Ms Ryan on what is another magnificent achievement.
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Christmas 2022
The winter term would not be the winter term however, without the preparations for Christmas. Mr Mc Cormack, Mr Ruth and the Student Council launched the season in fine style with our annual Christmas Jumper Day, raising €3,000 for local charities amid all the festive fun. Nothing, however, says Christmas in CBS Kilkenny quite like our traditional Carol Service. This year, Ms Dowling, Ms Evison and all our wonderful choirs, bands and musicians outdid themselves, heralding the Christmas season for the school community and the people of Kilkenny with two wonderful performances in St Mary’s Cathedral.
Everyone in CBS Kilkenny would like to take this opportunity to wish the entire ERST family of schools a very happy Christmas and every good fortune for 2023!
Merry Christmas
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Christmas 2022
The Christmas spirit is well and truly alive in Ardscoil Rís this year! The students, parents and teachers were involved in many initiatives during this Christmas period and there was a real sense of community around the school.
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Dean Ryan Winners
Congratulations to our Dean Ryan Panel who won the Munster Final in early December. Well done to all students, staff and coaches involved.
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First Year Christmas Quiz
Our First Year students had a very enjoyable afternoon doing a Christmas quiz with our TY students.
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Christmas Collection and Christmas Cards to Local Nursing Homes
Our annual Christmas collection is currently underway in Ardscoil. This began at the beginning of advent and will be collected until Christmas week. As usual, we are blown away with the collection from our staff and students. This collection will be donated to the local services of Novas. Novas also came into chat to our first years about the various services they provide for the people of limerick
Our 2nd Year students are in the middle of completing their Christmas cards and letters which will be sent to residents local nursing homes. This has been done for the last three years.
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Stand Up Awareness Week
Our Stand Up Awareness week was a huge success, with many displays around the school. Our first year students engaged in peer-led workshop which was a huge success. Students and staff wore bracelets and badges showing their supports to the week.
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Transition Year
Our TY students have been busy the last number of weeks. One of the highlights for the students was the barista workshop they completed. Students were taught how to make the perfect Latte and Cappuccino with the Dublin Barista School.
Students have been busy cooking with Mr. Corrigan in the Home Economics room!
Congratulations to our TY students on their Junior Cycle results. Congrats to TY students David Larkin, Stepan Strok & Donal McSweeney on their outstanding Junior Cycle 2022 results last week where they each got 6 Distinctions each amongst their JC results. Under the new JC Grades a Distinction is awarded for 90-100%. A fantastic achievement.
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3rd Year Bowling
Our third year students enjoying a nice wellbeing break this week at Funworld. Our 2nd and 1st
Years are also having their bowling afternoons this week.
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Squash World Championships
We are very proud of our student Elliot who is representing Ireland next year in the Squash world championships in Australia. The cost of taking part is huge so Oatlands College were delighted to be able to support him by holding a non uniform day,
We raised €1,500 to help Elliot participate in the championships. We wish him the very best of luck and will be supporting him at every step.
Photographed are Elliot, school Principal Ms Garrett and Head Boy Jack.
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Junior Cycle History
Third Years took a break from the classroom in order to visit the Irish Military Museum.
Their visit was very interactive and involved them getting fully immersed in Irish military history.
Uniforms were tried on, artefacts were held and the pinnacle of the visit was a ride in a real operating tank.
This complemented what the students are learning as part of their Junior Cycle history course and is an example of the active learning methodologies that are used in History classes..
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Our Alumni Support Current Students.
Oatlands College was proud to welcome back a past pupil, Hugh Mulligan. Hugh might be better known to the public as music sensation Malaki.
He was delighted to talk to our Fifth Year students about positive mental health, it was a fantastic opportunity for the school to have a past student who can relate to the current students on such a deep level,
He offered a voice that resonated with all of the students he talked to during his visit to us.
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The Sixth Years also had visits from some past students who went on to study Enginneering, Science and Biomedical Science.
Zac, Dan and Roshan sat with the current students in one of our Science labs and talked about their current studies, what they did to get there, how they are finding it now and how it will be useful to them in the future.
The Sixth Years all agreed how beneficial it was to hear directly from students themselves, it was particularly useful to be able to ask questions about their journey and how they were getting on.
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Science
This year's Science Week was a very busy one with very full calendar of events for the whole Oatlands community,
Activities included an evolution workshop in the zoo for Third Years, a Second Year Rocket launch competition, a Biology trip to the UCD Conway Institiute and a daily Science riddle competition.
There was a fantastic buzz in the school for the week and the passion for Science was brought to a new level.
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Inclusion Week
Oatlands College held Inclusion Week on the 28th of November to 2nd of December to celebrate diversity and individuality throughout the school.
The classroom-based activities ran from Monday to Friday. All students received lessons on Inclusion, LGBTQ+, Wellbeing, Racism and Anti-bullying during their SPHE, CSPE, RE and Pastoral Care classes.
The other activities throughout the week included a festive-themed Wellbeing walk around the school grounds. On the Thursday, the students wore something red to symbolise giving racism the red card. On the Friday students wore bright colours to support inclusion and individuality. The students also signed the Anti-bullying Charter during class time.
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Overall, it was a tremendous success – and the TY class has suggested that the inclusion posters be left up throughout the year – so that inclusion continues to permeate throughout the school culture. Another permanent feature is a world map showing the countries that are represented in our school.
A huge thanks to the Inclusion Team members for their trojan work, and to the staff and students for embracing inclusion week.
We look forward to the celebrations next year. |
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Transition Year
Transition Years have been squeezing in a huge amount of activities this half term.
These activities have been occurring while, simultaneously, rehearsing for their musical “Back to the 80s” which will run in March.
Activites have included Barista training which is always a much loved activity across the school. The lads love gaining a new skill and everyone else loves to benefit from the delicious caffeine treats that come from the Home Economics room during the day.
The classes were truly inspired by a talk from Tony O’Reilly who discussed Gambling as an addicition.
We recognise the seriousness of this topic and want to make every effort to ensure our students understand how a small hobby can easily turn into a large problem.
Tony illustrated this to our students in a very honest and open way which truly opened the students' eyes to the issues gambling can bring to family life.
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The annual reptile workshop was held again for the students. There were snakes and tarantulas for the fearless to hold and a less scary turtle for those who were a little less brave.
Regardless of whether students (and staff!) took part in holding the creatures, everyone learned a lot about them and enjoyed the experience of getting a bit closer to these magnificent animals.
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One of the most highly anticipated events in the TY calendar is the trip to Delphi. This year did not disappoint with the Transition Years returning tired and a bit muddy but with big smiles on their faces and some fantastic memories in their minds.
They enjoyed every moment of their time in the West. They took part in activities that were outside of their comfort zones, tackled tasks with enthusiasm and made stronger bonds with each other.
All were delighted to have gotten the opportunity and are still talking about the trip to this day.
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Baking Club 2022
Thanks to Mrs. Breen for setting up the annual baking club. It has been a great success with plenty of pupils willing to volunteer. Not surprising with all the delicious treats produced.
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Sarsfield Cup 2022
Well done to Cian Murphy, Eoin Murphy, Junior Owolabi & Aaron Morris who were members to the East Limerick Sarsfield cup panel. Unfortunately, they came up against a very strong West Limerick team in the semi final but like always, they represented the school with great pride and dignity. Maith sibh buachaillí.
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Day out At Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa
A huge thank you to Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa Secondary school in Doon for inviting our 5th & 6th class boys down for a Science and Biodiversity Day. Much fun was had, and the pupils were very well looked after throughout the day. Great to have a good link with our local secondary school!
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Split the Christmas Cracker |
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Our annual Split the Christmas cracker was once again a great success.
Many thanks to Cian and Paddy who bore the cold weather to sell some lines to the local community.
Half the proceeds go back into funding various events and activities within our school.
Many thanks to all who supported.
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Brothers of Charity Visit |
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Well done to our Student Council members who recently delivered letters, Christmas cards and some scratch cards to the residents of the Brothers of Charity here in Doon.
They were delighted as can be seen with the smiles on their faces.
We always try and help our local community and we learn a lot from the residents about life. |
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St. Vincent de Paul |
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Well done to all the pupils in Doon CBS who have donated non-perishable items to the St. Vincent de Paul.
All of these food items will go to people in the local community. #communitypride.
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Christmas Carols
Pupils from Doon C.B.S. Primary School with their teachers, Ms. Joanne O’Connell, School Principal, and Ms. Doherty, pictured at St. Anthony’s Nursing Home, Pallasgreen, where they gave a performance of Christmas Carols and music to the residents of the nursing home
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Beginning of Year Mass
CBS students kick started the year with a beautiful uplifting opening of school year mass. Students prepared readings prayers of the faithful, communion reflection and sang beautiful hymns and songs.
CBS students Cormac & Diarmuid Fleming, Evan Collins & Brian O Connor have recently represented their school at two youth masses in Roscommon. The theme of the first mass was "Gratitude" while the theme for the second mass was "Everyone is welcome in God's house." Brothers Cormac & Diarmuid sang the Responsorial Psalm while Evan read the introduction and Brian said the readings. Bishop Kevin Doran celebrated the most recent youth mass.
Student Council Outing
Members of the Student Council enjoyed a very uplifting day at the Comhairle na nOg AGM with Student Council Co-ordinator Ms. Reale. It was held in Castlerea Hub. They engaged in workshops on mental health with JIGSAW, discussed issues affecting young people in Roscommon while they also experienced a very enjoyable film making work shop & let loose with some drumming.
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Science Week
Our Science Department were busy performing science shows for our 1st and 2nd year students during Science Week. 5th year Chemistry students provided amazing demonstrations. They released a genie from a bottle, who impressed them with his birthday predicting abilities and by turning water into snow. The school’s ‘dragon’ gave a demonstration of his fire breathing and had his mouth cleaned afterwards with some ‘elephants toothpaste’. The force of friction was also tested by some strong volunteers from the audience. Well done to the 5th
year students and their teachers on showing how Science can be fun for all.
Also, as part of Science Week, Transition Year students have been learning about Computer Science through experimentation with BBC Microbits. The students have been learning how to use block coding to programme the Microbits to act as pedometers, noise sensors, light sensors and to play music. We would like to extend our thanks to Technological University of the Shannon Athlone for sponsoring a set of Microbits which has given us the wonderful opportunity to learn about Computer Science and identify its’ impacts in our everyday life.
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Stand Up Awareness Week
From November 14th-18th, CBS joined with schools nationwide in celebrating "Stand Up Awareness Week." The focus this year was to tackle "Phobic Language" and to support the anti-bullying of the LGBTQ+ community. Ms Reale, Ms. Quinn & Ms. Coyle facilitated workshops with all year groups to emphasise the importance of treating everyone with tolerance and respect and to raise awareness of how bullying can impact on mental health. Students engaging in the "FUSE" Anti-Bullying Programme accredited by DCU and delivered by Mr. Sweeney also created anti-bullying posters for each classroom while in SPHE classes students created posters for a solidarity board. There was also much discussion around social inclusion and how to develop empathy to ensure that all young people feel valued. All year groups wore a colour of the rainbow on Friday to show our solidarity.
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Transition Year
First Aid Workshop
Our Transition Year students engaged in a Frist Aid workshop. They actively participated in the course to learn how to recognise when CPR is required and how to appropriately administer CPR. They also learned other first aid procedures such as what to do if someone is choking, the FAST symptoms to look out for when someone is experiencing a stroke and what to do if someone is having a heart attack. A massive thank you to John Bruton from Multi-Skill Health and Safety Training Ltd. for facilitating this workshop with our TY students.
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ASD Centre Horse Riding
Students in our Edmund Rice Autism Centre are enjoying attending horse riding in the Equestrian Centre in Athlone. We would like to thank Roscommon Sports Partnership for their help in creating the opportunity for the students to avail of this facility. The boys will be attending the centre every Thursday morning for the next few weeks. Equine therapy is highly beneficial to autistic people and aids in developing natural core skills and social communication.
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Sister Act The Musical
Congratulations to our neighbours in the Convent of Mercy on a fantastic production of Sister Act. We would also like to commend our 5 CBS students who took on lead roles in the musical. Luca Cormican gave a cool, convincing performance as mobster Curtis Jackson, Jack Feeley was exceptional as police officer Eddie Souther, Luke Staunton gave a truly energetic performance as TJ, Aaron Bracken showed off his fluency in Spanish as Pablo and Cormac Fleming delivered a perfect performance as Joey. They all took to stage like naturals and we are very proud of them all.
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John Paul II Awards
Congratulations to 5th year student David Brennan who received a John Paul II Award at a special ceremony held on Thursday 17th November in Summerhill College, Sligo. As part of his award, he actively participated in both Church and Social activities in his parish and local community. It aims to enable young people to become active members of their communities. Well done David.
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Ireland Handball Success
Congratulations to Rory Carthy, 5th year, who is the 17&U Irish Handball representative after he came out on top of a gripping tiebreaker. He has secured his spot on the Ireland Team that will travel to San Francisco during the Christmas Holidays. Rory is a member of St. Comans Handball Club. Well done to Rory and his coaches on a fantastic achievement
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Scholarship Success
Congratulations to past student Luke Stephens on receiving the Bunnie and Pauline Jones Scholarship for 2022 from the University of Galway. Luke completed his Leaving Certificate in June and received a phenomenal 625 points and is currently studying Arts in Galway. This is a prestigious achievement that reflects the hard work and determination that Luke applies to everything.
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Junior Cycle Results
Having waiting patiently for the last five months, students who sat their Junior Certificate exams in June received their results on the 23rd
November last. The feelings of nervousness transformed into joy as they opened the envelopes and viewed their results. Both staff and management are delighted for all of our students and very proud of their wonderful achievements. Congratulations to all!
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Junior A Connacht Finalists
Congratulations to our Junior Footballers and their management team of Sean Anderson, Noel Moran and Eoghan Coll on reaching the Junior A Connacht Final.
CBS Roscommon and St Colman's College Claremorris served up a thrilling contest in the semi-final in the Connacht Centre of Excellence Bekan on Monday 28th November, with CBS eventually winning in a dramatic sudden death penalty shootout. In a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out Leo Anic in the CBS goal made the vital stops to allow John McGuinness to calmly slot the CBS' eight penalty to the Colman's net to leave the Roscommon town school in the final.
A magnificent contest that spanned over an hour and a half of drama had seen the CBS book their place in a Connacht A Junior final for the first time since the 1980's. Unfortunately, they narrowly missed out on the Connacht Title against a strong St. Gerald’s side.
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6th Year Student of the Month for October
Congratulations to our October student of the month Conor Golden. A huge thank you to Mark Kearney for presenting him with a sponsored prize on behalf of Lidan Designs. They are a local company set up by two past pupils. It is wonderful to see the successes of our past pupils and we are very grateful for their support with this student of the month initiative.
In the picture are 6th Year Yearhead Ms. Murphy, Luke Golden, Mark Kearney of Lidan Designs & Principal Mr. Kevin Scollan.
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Class of 2001 Reunion
On Saturday 26th November, past pupils and both past and present members of staff gathered in the Ciaran Byrne Hall for the Class of 2001 Reunion in the CBS Roscommon. It was a day filled with old friends reminiscing and telling tales about the good days in the CBS. Thank you to Cathal Kilcline for organising the reunion.
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November Remembrance Mass
As November is the month of Remembrance, we held a Special Mass in memory of the family members and friends of our staff and students that have sadly passed away.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Fr. Joe Fitzgerald and Deacon Willie Gacquin who celebrated the mass today. Thank you also to our Religion Department & our Music Department for all the organisation that went into the mass and thanks to all our students who participated.
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3rd Year Retreat
Our 3rd year students enjoyed a retreat today, facilitated by An Tobar Nua Retreats team in the Quad Youth Centre. Accompanied by their teachers Ms. Doyle and Ms. Quinn, the boys enjoyed a break from their academic lessons and participated in an active day with their peers which included a combination of games and challenges, meditation, music and prayer. A huge thank you to An Tobar Nua Retreat Team members, Andrew and Demi, for facilitating this fun filled day. We would also like to thank the Quad Youth Centre for providing us with the location.
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Enterprise meets Christmas
An enterprise project in TY has taken off at CBS Roscommon with the design and production of Christmas decorations. These lovely decorations, made in the Autism Centre by staff and students, were sold at the Farmers market in Roscommon Town with the local community generously supporting them. They are also on sale in the school for students, parents and staff. Well done to all involved!
Christmas Jumper Day
The Student Council is organising a Christmas Fundraiser for Mayo Roscommon Hospice on December 16th. Students and staff are encouraged to wear their favourite Christmas Jumpers and donate towards this fantastic cause.
One Good School
CBS Roscommon is engaged in the second year of the ONE GOOD SCHOOL initiative with JIGSAW to raise greater awareness of mental health. The students and staff have completed online workshops highlighting the importance of self-care and developing strategies to cope with stress. |
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Rotary Ireland
Well done to Jamie Moore , Ruairí McTague , Barney Hennessy , Sam O’Reilly , Conor Murphy , Colum Doyle and Piotr Filipek who took part in the first round of the Rotary Ireland Youth leadership Development Competition last night .
They were a credit to themselves, their families and the school .
Congratulations to Colum Doyle who was chosen to progress to the next round of the competition.
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Earth Prize Challenge
Thanks to Ms. Cowper and Mr. Stephens for hosting past-pupil Peter McGarry as he promoted The Earth Prize Challenge to a selection of 2nd Year C.S.P.E. Students and the Greens Schools Committee.
“Peter McGarry returned to his former school, Naas CBS, to promote the Earth Prize challenge, an initiative of The Earth Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, which he founded.
The competition, which is open to 13-19 year-olds, rewards teams whose projects have potential to address the environmental problems facing societies across the globe. The winning team receives a €100,000 prize to be split between the pupils and their school, while the three runner-up teams receive €25,000.
Participants also have access to 40 mentors from top universities, and to video-based learning content covering key environmental topics and featuring nine young international environmental entrepreneurs.”
Source: Irish Independent (link to full article below) https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/swiss-based-irish-father-returns-to-former-school-to-encourage-students-to-compete-for-200000-earth-prize-42144058.html
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All-Ireland Champions Honoured
Mr. Cribbin and past-pupil Colm Dalton accepted an award on behalf of the Naas CBS All-Ireland Hogan Cup Champions at the Kildare G.A.A. Awards ceremony.
Pictured are Padraic Cribben (manager) and Colm Dalton (player) presented by Larry Curtin at the awards night.
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TY Trip to Mountjoy |
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34 T.Y. students, along with Ms. Ward, Ms. Murphy and Mr. Noone visited Mountjoy Prison during the week leading up to Christmas.
They were well looked after by Governor Eddie Mullins and his staff.
While this was an educational and very insightful tour, we remember in our prayers everyone whose life has been affected by crime.
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Sixth Year Careers Evening
Last night in the school, our 6th Year students took part in a Careers evening.
Each student attended three interactive talks in career areas of their choice
It was a wonderful evening and the feedback from students and presenters alike has been very positive.
Many thanks to our Guidance Department and The Parents Council for facilitating and organising the evening as well as to everyone who helped out on the night.
Well done to our 6th Year students who participated so positively and we hope you have gained from the experience. |
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U-16 Basketball
Hard luck to our U-16 Basketball Team who were narrowly defeated by St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Rochfortbridge in the Midlands League Final.
The lads performed really well and were leading in the fourth quarter. They were unlucky to lose on a scoreline of 53-50 in the end.
Thanks to Ms. Purcell and Ms. Meaney for all their work with the team.
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Junior Rugby
The Junior Rugby Team had a very busy few weeks in the last leg of the league.
On the 23rd November, Naas CBS Junior Rugby Team travelled to Rathgar to face The High School. The boys claimed victory over the opposition with a score of 46 – 0. A brilliant performance from the team in blue and yellow with a try from Alan Malone, Pádraic Dignam, Charlie Croke, Conor Marron and Tadhg Kruger. All their efforts landed the team at the top of the league table, making them undefeated in all their matches so far. The Naas side progressed to the semi-final of the league.
On the 30th November, Naas CBS were back in action against King’s Hospital. The opposition were hot favourites throughout the league. Both sides opened well with some great displays of technique and endurance. A try from Darragh Culligan and Tadhg Kruger kept the home side in the game. However, King’s Hospital began to pull away throughout the second half, resulting in a win.
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Awards for Sixth Year Class 2022
It was wonderful to welcome back the Leaving Cert. Class of 2022 for our Awards Night. The contribution these gentlemen made to Naas CBS, along with their work and commitment to study and extra-curricular was recognised through the presentation of various awards. |
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German Exchange
On Wednesday morning November 30th, some of our TY German students and their German teacher, Ms. Lonergan, travelled to our partner school, Gymnasium Aulendorf, in the south of Germany where they met up with their host families to begin their week-long student exchange.
The students went to school with their exchange partners, spent time with their host families and went on many outings to explore the area. On Thursday morning, the whole group took the train to Ulm for some sightseeing to visit the Christmas markets and to sample some traditional German food.
The weekend was spent on the Christmas market in Aulendorf, swimming in the thermal pool and tasting even more typical German dishes.
On Monday our students had the opportunity to indulge in the lovely German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen in a local bakery.
The last day of the exchange was spent in Bregenz in Austria.
We took the cable car up onto the Pfänder where we went for a walk, a meal and best of all a snowball fight. The boys had the experience of a lifetime, immersing themselves in German culture and traditions and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
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Lost Doggy Reunited For Christmas
The Principal of Naas CBS Mr Ben Travers has had numerous guests in his office over the years. That illustrious list was added to recently when a beautiful mini Jack Russell Terrier, lost and distressed, hopped up the front steps of the school and plotted a direct course for refuge from whatever troubles she was intent on fleeing from.
She hung a left after the foyer and, displaying an admirable self-awareness, she took advantage of Mr Travers’ always-generous open-door policy. Despite the ever-changing demands of school leadership, this was still probably a first for Naas CBS.
No sooner had the little dog gotten her paws under the desk, but she was straight out again, pursuing the ever-industrious Principal back up the corridor, as a literal mini state -of- emergency-stray-dog alert was launched. And as is typical of a modern school, about 400 people miraculously knew within seconds that there was a dog on the loose. An excited hum began to ripple through the various corridors and floors. Mr Travers probably had plenty of other things on the agenda for the day - a lost dog hadn’t been scheduled.
The dog continued to seek a safe place, which in the end was served by a handily placed clutter of forgotten school bags in a corner of the First Floor. At this point, the Year Head for 3rd Year, Mr Joe Kelly, had stumbled on the scene, along with the school SNA Ms Marie Mullen. Thankfully, the little frightened terrier seemed used to human company and accepted their presence. Initially she was terrified but otherwise fairly healthy. Somebody clearly loved the dog and was most likely missing a family pet.
Highfield Veterinary Clinic in Naas very generously took her in and a significant and widespread attempt was made to contact an owner via many media and online outlets. However, 5 days later and the spectre of the Dog Pound loomed for the lovely but lonely little pet. Surely somebody knew who owned her? Thankfully, a message from another of the SNA team, Ms Linda Adamson, confirmed that there was indeed an owner, a considerable distance from Naas in fact. To the great relief of all who had been following the fate of the canine refugee, the genuine owners collected their lost pet and thankfully there was a happy ending for all ahead of Christmas. It is an oft-mentioned comment these days that schools are ‘expected to do everything’ and solve all the problems of the world each day. An impossible task. But each day we do our best. We all try to make things a bit better than they were the day before. One dog at a time, one might say. And it’s amazing what a simple good news story can do for everyone’s peace of mind.
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Gaeilge 24
Our T.Y. students participated in Gaeilge 24 in December. The aim of the day is to promote speaking Irish for 24 hours. The students participated in many activities all as Gaeilge. These included a yoga class, HIIT class, film, board games, puzzles, a walk and tae agus plé.
Each student received a t-shirt, phrase book, wrist band and certificate. A great day was had by all! Maith sibh!
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Senior Irish Debating – Comórtas Díospóireachta an Phiarsaigh
Our Senior Irish Debating Team won the first round of Comórtas Uí Phiarsaigh. Fionn McCarthy, Austin Brennan, Sam Fahey, Matthew Davis put on an excellent display of Irish & impressed the judges with their high standards. The lads argued for the motion ‘Britain should get rid of the Royal Family’ (Ba cheart don Bhreatain fáil réidh leis an teaghlach ríoga). Maith sibh agus go n-éirí libh sa chéad bhabhta eile!
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Annual Carol Service
The CBS annual Carol Service took place on the 6th
December. It was a wonderful morning of prayer, music and reflection for our students and teachers. This was the first time since before Covid that the whole school could celebrate together. A special thanks to our readers, singers and musicians who helped make this special event possible.
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Christmas Jumper RAG Day |
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Well done to Ms Phibbs and the Senior Prefects who collected €2,115 for our local St Vincent de Paul Branch .
Many thanks for the huge staff and parental support.
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Student Council Food Drive
Sincere thanks to all our staff, students and parents for their support with this year's Christmas food drive.
The generosity and kindness shown was greatly appreciated by Fergal, Catherine and all the staff at the Main Street Food Bank.
Our donation will go a long way to helping vulnerable people this Christmas. Well done everyone!!!
Kind regards, Ms Fennell and Mr Keating, Student Council.
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Remembering Trevor, our Past Pupil |
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As a school community, we remember Past Pupil Trevor Deely today on the 22nd anniversary of his disappearance.
Trevor’s teachers remember him as a lovely and kind young man.
We think especially of Trevor’s family and friends today.
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Advent
ERSS has been preparing for Advent celebrations throughout the month of December. In Religion classes, students have learned about the significance of Advent and learning about the symbolism of the Advent Wreath. Our Green and Gardening Club created our school Advent Wreath also. 1st and 2nd year Religion students turned our November we remember tree into a Jesse Tree. A Jesse Tree is a way of preparing for Advent by journeying through the stories of Jesus’s family. Each day of Advent, you read a Bible story about someone on Jesus’s family tree and hang an ornament symbolizing the story on the tree. We can see how God prepared for Jesus to be born through many generations.2nd Year well-being class were preparing for Advent by creating posters. TY students attended a special Advent Mass in St. Nicholas’ Church on Tuesday the 6th of December. Advent is a very important time within our school as we lead up to Christmas.
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Student Enterprise
On Friday 2nd
of December, our TY students and one first year team got the opportunity to showcase their amazing work done in mini company class. All students set up their own stall in the GP and were able to sell their products. They were also judged by Michelle Alyward the CEO of County Tipperary Chamber and Majella Gleeson principal of ERSS. The judges were blow away by the amazing work that was showcased. With a lot of deliberation, the judges picked a Junior team and Senior team to go forward to the regional final in Tipperary in March. Junior and Senior groups representing ERSS in the Tipperary regional final:
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Young SVP
Many thanks to Ms. Jorien Szkudlarski, Young SVP for facilitating a workshop with Transition Year & 5th Year members of Young SVP in Edmund Rice Secondary School Carrick-on-Suir.
The boys will organise the annual Christmas Food Appeal Raffle in aid of St. Nicholas & St. Mollerans Conference of St. Vincent de Paul in the coming weeks & run the 1st Year Homework Club each Tuesday & Thursday.
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Athletics
Well done to our Cross Country athletes who competed in the Tipperary County Post Primary Schools Cross Country Championships in November 🏃🏻 Excellent results from our boys. Our Junior Boys Team won 3rd place and our Intermediate Boys Team won 2nd place.
Fantastic efforts made by all athletes!
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Sport
The U15 soccer team had a fantastic win over St Ailbe's Tipperary Town. 7-2 was the final score with goals from Luke Raggett (3), Manuel de las Cuevas Conde, Conor Norris, Dylan Walsh and Archie Farrell. Well done to all involved with the squad and Man of the Match today Manuel, with a super goal from outside the box and 2 assists. Munster Junior Trophy Result; ERSS Carrick on Suir 4-3 Col. Mhuire Thurles, our Under 17 team were in action and kept our soccer teams good run going so far this season with a win over Thurles in very cold condition to secure our place in the quarter finals. Munster Senior A Cup Result: ERSS Carrick on Suir 3-1 Abbey CC. Another great comeback performance from our under 19 team saw us progress to the last 16 of the Munster Senior Cup today. Congratulations to the Under 16 Basketball team on their success in the regional plate competition. Their wins against Coláiste Aindriú (Carlow) and Selskar College (Wexford) means they now advance to the plate final. A sincere thank you to Coláiste Aindriú for hosting both games. Senior Football Tipperary B U19, Our senior footballers had their first game of the year against Presentation Ballingarry at St Mollerans GAA Club as our school aims to retain the title for another year. Our Senior hurlers lost out to Charleville CBS today in a tough match. The lads can still look forward to a Munster PPS B Quarter Final in January. Final Result: ERSS Carrick-on-Suir: 1 : 14 Charleville CBS : 2 :19 |
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Transition Year
Thanks very much to Padraig Ryan of the Europlan Group for coming to ERSS Carrick-on-Suir and running a manual handling course for our Transition Year students This is a welcome addition to any CV and helps students prepare for the world of work.
TY students take part in various work experiences of their choice for the duration of the year and now, more than ever, employers look for this prior to offering a placement.
Our Transition Year students participated in a soccer tournament. The students were divided into eight groups. Each team played each other once and teams were then seeded for quarter finals. Portugal were winners in the end. Congratulations to Killian Power, Darragh Dunne, Joao Vitor Otim Oliveira, Jake Dowley and Cameron Littlewood for winning the tournament. Thanks to all students for their participation in an enjoyable event. Thanks also to Evan Doyle, David Comerford, Eoin Reid and Aaron O'Halloran for assisting as referees for the day.
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Life Lessons with Edmund Rice
RE Teacher, Kealan McLoughlin, along with Peace & Justice ambassadors, Charlotte and Ciara, made their radio debuts last week when they hosted a programme on a UK station, Radio Maria. |
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Basketball
Our U19 boys basketball team only went and won the South East final today against Bagnelstown. It was a close contest with the boys winning by 30 - 27 after extra time. Huge thanks to Mr. Nesklada and Mr. Pepper for their work with the team. |
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Football
Our boys Gaelic team played Blackwater CC, Lismore in the Munster Schools final. They came out winners after a fantastic, nail biting game. Well done to players and coaches Mr. Connolly and Mr. Hickey on such a brilliant achievement. |
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Rugby
The Rugby Team received their team jumpers. Thanks to everyone for the support in raising money both inside and outside of school! The boys are thrilled and will wear them with pride! |
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Creating Caring Communities
During the year our TY students were cleaning up the local area as part of a litter picking Competition. Today they attended a prize giving in the Majors Parlour where they were presented with a participation certificate. Well done! Pictured here are Hayden English, Leon Murphy and Rory Casey who have been doing great work showing leadership to our Junior Wellbeing Classes.
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Maths Olympiad
Last week, saw over 150 of our Junior students receiving a certificate from the Maths Olympiad, which was held during maths week 2022.
Further more, we are delighted to have 14 Junior students and 6 Senior students invited to participate in the UCC maths enrichment programme
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Art Trip to Paris
What a busy few days in Paris🇨🇵
Rodin museum, Champs Elysees, Musee Dorsay, Bateaux Mouche, Eiffel Tower, Musee de l'orangerie, Christmas markets and fair., Tulleries, Temporary exhibition by Sam Szafran. Concorde Square. Students and teachers enjoyed the trip despite the inclement weather.
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Prayer Room
Our Prayer Room had a fantastic make over this term. Students out did themselves. It will be a wonderful inclusive space for students and staff. Our World Religion Mural provides the backdrop to this space. Special thanks to the students, Ms. Nugent and Ms. Shanahan for overseeing this project.
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Christmas Lunch
Our Ukrainian students enjoyed a very Festive Christmas Lunch as we came close to Christmas. They enjoyed a taste of home with Chicken Kiev and Potato Cakes. Party games gave a real sense of festivity!
Special thanks to our Peace and Justice Group who helped organise this with Ms. O’Toole, Ms. Hally and Mr. Mc Laughlin. The lunch was enjoyed by all.
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Christmas Wreaths Workshop with the students from The Holy Family school.
Our TY students were busy with the students from the Holy Family school making Christmas Wreaths using the willow they harvested from the school’s Horticulture tree and shrub land area.
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TY Visit to Limerick Prison
On Monday 28th November, the TYs visited Limerick Prison and courthouse for a very informative tour. The students got a tour of the prison, including visiting a typical cell as well as the cell of an actual inmate.
They met two inmates who have been sentenced to life in prison for committing murder. The students had the opportunity to interview the inmates and learn about their daily lives and what it was like when they first went to prison. They also learned about the many dangers of life in prison including the various weapons inmates make.
Following this, they visited Limerick courthouse where the court was in session. They learned a lot about the judicial system and found the whole experience to be informative and educational.
We are aware of the impact of crime on families and we hope everyone can be helped to recover from its impact.
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CBS Charleville Tractor Run
On Sunday 11th December, trucks, tractors and vintage cars gathered at CBS Charleville for the inaugural tractor run and Christmas Festival. There was a hive of activity with craft stalls, hurling challenge, raffle and refreshments while the tractors gathered outside. Santa’s Grotto was very busy with lots of visitors and there was a Children’s Pedal Parade taking place outside. At 5pm, the tractors and trucks left the school, escorted by Charleville Gardaí, and headed off on the run to Doneraile, Buttervant and then back to the Charleville Park Hotel.
All funds raised will go to CBS Charleville and Holy Family School.
Best Decorated Tractor:
John and Shane O’Donoghue
Hurling Challenge:
Secondary school winner – Cormac Bresnan – CBS Charleville
Senior Primary School winner – Ciara Bresnan – St. Anne’s
Junior Primary School winner – Seán Healy – St. Joseph’s
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CBS Charleville Christmas Door Competition
For the past two weeks, students have been working hard with their teachers to design and create a Christmas themed door decoration. This is the first year we have run this competition in CBS and it was an astounding success.
The standard of competition was incredibly high and Santa had a very difficult job choosing the winners on Sunday during the Christmas Festival.
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Pic 1: Nurturing Faith and Spirituality – Ms. Costello’s Nativity Scene
Pic 2: Promoting Partnership – Mr. Corcoran’s His-tree |
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Pic 3: Excelling in Teaching and Learning – Ms. Corkery’s 12 days of Mathsmas
Pic 4: Creating a caring school community – Ms. Merrick’s Grinch |
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Pic 5: Inspiring Transformational Leadership – Ms. Hanley’s Snow globes |
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CBS Charleville and SVP Food Drive
CBS Charleville has been busy over the last couple of weeks collecting food for St. Vincent de Paul’s Christmas food drive. We received HUGE support from teachers, students and their families and have made one of the biggest food donations from CBS Charleville to SVP to date. We would like to thank you all so much for your very generous donations and continued support of this appeal.
The work that SVP do in Ireland is crucial and as this year has been a tough one for many people their services are under a lot of pressure. All of the food donated to SVP is distributed to people in the local area and is very much appreciated by all those who receive the support.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Charleville SVP volunteers for all that they do; from delivering food to homes and being a support in times of need, they are a voice for those who need one. We hope our Food Drive goes some small way to help local families in the area. Thanks again to all those who made this initiative possible.
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Annual Christmas Jumper Competition
The school celebrated its annual Christmas jumper day last week.
This year, the standard of the outfits has really improved and there was a lot of tough competition to win some of the various prizes on offer. While everyone, both students and staff, thoroughly enjoyed the day, they also raised valuable money for the Creeslough Families who were this year’s chosen charity partner.
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Manchester School Tour
On the 27th of October, TY and 5th year students gathered at 4am to head to Manchester. The group took the ferry to Manchester where they watched Manchester United take on Sheriff in the Europa League. Happily, United won 3 - 0. On Friday, the group returned to Old Trafford for a stadium tour before heading for the ferry home. This was a great trip with lots of happy memories made. Huge thanks to their teachers Ms. Costello, Ms. Mulroe, Ms. Corkery, Mr. Roberts and Mr. McGill for accompanying them.
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Science Week
The annual science week took place in CBS Charleville from the 14 th – 18 th November. There were a wide range of activities organised for each year group including quizzes and the tin foil boat challenge.
Three Leaving Cert students – Ciarán Lefebvre, Oisín O’Sullivan and Shane Hedderman also represented the school at the ISTA Senior Science Quiz in the TUS Campus in Limerick. Thank you to the science department for organising all the activities.
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Senior Basketball Final
On Friday 2nd December, the U19 basketball squad played in their regional final in Neptune Stadium. This is the first year the school have had a competitive senior basketball team and they have surpassed all expectations. They have shown excellent initiative, dedication and hard work in the past few months and have done very well in all of their matches. In the final, they played a very experienced Carrigtwohill Community College team who were unfortunately too strong for CBS. While there were some excellent plays and the team worked hard together, Carrigtwohill proved too strong.
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Coláiste Mhichíl Sexton St. Limerick |
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J.P. McManus Scholarship Awards
The students of Coláiste Mhichíl are in a very fortunate position to benefit from the J.P. McManus Scholarships, a scholarship programme that assists students during their time at third level education. Since 1997, each of the top eight Leaving Certificate students in a given year receives a scholarship from the McManus family to the value of €27000 each. Twenty-four Coláiste Mhichíl students were officially honoured at the 2022 J.P. McManus scholarship awards ceremony in Adare Manor on Friday 25th of November.
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This year, Mr. Niall Collins TD, Minister of State for Skills and Further Education presented the students from 2020, 2021 and 2022 with their 2022 J.P. McManus scholarship awards. Established by former Coláiste Mhichíl student JP McManus, 209 scholarships have been awarded to date. The Guest of Honour at the ceremony was former Coláiste Mhichíl pupil, Limerick Senior Hurler and PwC All – Star Hurler of the Year for 2022 Diarmaid Byrnes. |
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We would like to congratulate the 2022 J.P. McManus scholarship award winners: Daniel Yermak, Eryk Marcinkowski, Emhmmad Abubaker, Jake O’Mahony, Patryk Polit, Alejandro Cervantes, Jamie McNamara and Igor Szyma. On behalf of everybody in Coláiste Mhichíl, we would like to express our profound gratitude to JP, Noreen and the McManus family for the huge contribution they have made to the lives of the young men of Sexton Street.
To learn more about Coláiste Mhichíl's J.P. McManus Scholarship Awards click the link to the school website https://www.cbssextonstreet.ie/jp-mcmanus-scholarships/
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Stand Up Week Awareness Week As part of Stand Up Awareness Week, Edel Mitchell from GOSHH delivered an excellent workshop to our 5th year students. Stand Up Week is all about standing up against bullying in our LGBTQI+ Community. Coláiste Mhichíl’s Art and EAL department designed and created a 'Belong' artwork which includes the word ‘Belong’ translated into many different languages to make this art piece more inclusive. Our school wants to ensure that all students feel safe, welcome and included. Part of our charter is to foster a caring school and community and Stand Up Week gives us the opportunity to show our support and care for everyone in our school. |
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Student Council Christmas Jumper Fundraiser
Coláiste Mhichíl’s Student Council organised a Christmas jumper day for all staff and pupils in aid of Focus Ireland and The Irish Cancer Society. Students and teachers were decked out in all their Christmas finery, from Christmas jumpers, Santa hats, and even a few fairy lights. Thank you to Ms Hennessy and the Student Council for organising this fundraising event. Thank you to all staff and pupils for all their generous donations.
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Transition Year Digital Media Workshop with LCFE
The Transition Year students had a fantastic time sampling the different courses available in Limerick College of Further Education (LCFE). Throughout the day, the TYs had the opportunity to engage with Video Production, Music Production, Sound Engineering, Radio Programme Production and Photography. Thank you to everyone at LCFE for organising a very enjoyable and informative day.
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Sport Activities
Coláiste Mhichíl sport activities are back in full swing with a new after school badminton club starting up this month. The u15 soccer team is training every week and we would like to express our gratitude to Janesboro FC for the use of their facilities. Colásite Mhichil is delighted to have the basketball team back training every Wednesday with their coaches Ms Kavaghan and Mr Naughton. A massive congratulations to Coláiste Mhichíl Cricket Team on their win against Crescent Comprehensive team in their first cricket match of the year. Thank you to their coach Mr Woulfe.
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Positive Behaviour
To highlight our continued work to promote positive behaviour among our students, each month a student from each year group has the opportunity to win a twenty euro Game Stop or Lifestyle Sports voucher. This year Ms O’Connor and the positive behaviour team has organised a new positive behaviour initiative to award students from different subject areas. Congratulations to all our positive behaviour award winners. Thank you to Ms O’Connor and the positive behaviour team for all the work in this very important initiative.
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Coláiste Mhichíl’s Robotics Club
Colaiste Mhichil’s Technology Department was delighted to receive funding worth $5,000 from the Irish American Partnership. The Irish American Partnership connects Irish and Irish American communities directly with education and community programs in Ireland honoring their heritage by investing in Ireland's youth. The grant allowed for the purchase of materials and resources necessary to create a new and exciting Robotics Club.
The Robotics club is run on a weekly basis by Technology teacher Mr Salem. The robotics club allows students to build robots to take on real world challenges. Creating physical and digital solutions, collaborating in teams to problem solve, developing computational thinking skills and much more. Students are engaged in a truly fun and hands-on learning experience. With American Partnership funding, Coláiste Mhichíl purchased a new 3D printer, micro:bits and robotic start up kits this year. This has helped students further develop their technology skill and has introduced a new tool for coding based activities.
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Our Senior Robotics Workshops enable students to discover Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in a fun, engaging and hands-on way. Working with the robotics kits, students are introduced to the world of robotics by building and programming robots to complete various challenges. Students design, construct and modify robots, developing technical skills that are much sought after in the engineering industry. The Irish American Partnership works to empower the next generation of Irish leaders by supporting educational initiatives and community development programs in Ireland. |
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Gaelic Football & Hurling
1st Year ‘A’ Tipperary hurling champions and U14 Langton Shield winners:
Well done to our first year hurlers who were recently crowned county ‘A’ champions. They had a great win after a replay against a strong Thurles CBS side. It was a great day in Dr Morris park which was well organised by the Tipperary county board. We are proud to have all the clubs around the school represented on the panel.
Our Rice Cup team had a great day and the Langton Blitz day run by Kilkenny CBS. In what was a really competitive and well organised day of hurling, our hurlers reached the Shield final. They faced a really strong De La Salle team in the Shield final but came out on top in a very tight game.
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Our Frst Year footballers(above) were successful in winning the ‘A’ county football title this year. We had the great honour of both teams reaching the final on the day. After a very competitive game it finished in a draw and it was decided that our teams would share the cup on behalf of the High School. It was a great day for the school and we look forward to some great days ahead.
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Senior Hurling
Our Senior hurlers have qualified for the Munster knockout stages. They won all 3 of their group games and have qualified for the quarter finals of Munster after Christmas. They have been training hard since September and we hope for a successful conclusion to the season.
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Basketball
Congratulations to our U19 Basketball team who won the south east final against a really competitive Abbey community college. They played some amazing games this year including winning the semi final against Good Counsel with a buzzer beating 3 pointer. They now go forward into the All Ireland series after Christmas.
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Rugby
Our U15 team (above) were very unlucky to lose out in the McCarthy cup semi final last week. The team gave it everything but just came up short on the day. Our first year rugby players had a great day at the first year blitz hosted in Fethard. Hard luck to our Senior cup team who were narrowly beaten in the senior cup qualifying final by a very strong Bantry team in Musgrave park. The players made the school proud as always.
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Soccer
Thanks to Keith & The Crescent stores for their sponsorship of the new jerseys for our soccer team. Our senior team and u15 teams are still in action and we hope they will have continued success after Christmas. The players look forward to wearing the new Jerseys in the new year.
Well done to all players & coaches involved with all our teams.
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Momentous Occasion for Principal John Kiely
On Tuesday 15th November, our school Principal,, John Kiely, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Limerick.
This was a wonderful honour and achievement for John and a very proud day for all his family. All at The Abbey wish him the very best.
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Abbey Christmas Angels
The students who attend the lunchtime Art Club have spent the past number of weeks making ceramic Christmas tree decorations. The students learned to wedge and slab-roll the clay and apply various textures and lettering to enhance their designs. Students learned about the stages of drying of clay and the process of fettling and bisque-firing the decorations. Finally, they applied glaze to their Christmas Angels and fired them for the final time. The final products were carefully presented in a handmade pillow giftbox using recycled shredded paper. Over 200e was raised through the sale of these beautiful hand-made Ceramic Pieces in aid of the Tipperary Community Food Bank. We are so proud of the achievements of the boys and want to thank everyone who supported this worthy cause. Huge credit to Ms. Jolene Carey and Ms. Julie King for coordinating this worthy initiative. Plans are already underway to enhance the operation for next year.
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Abbey Basketball
The Abbeys U16 Basketball team has built upon their strong performance from last year. In the group stages, they played against Doon and St Ailbes and they topped their group and progressed on to the Semi- Finals, where they faced and narrowly beat Scoil Pol 22-18. This win qualified them for the Finals against Askeaton after the Christmas break.
The school and the wider community are looking forward to seeing how the team performs in the upcoming Final against Askeaton. In addition to the U16 team's success, The Abbey’s U19 team also performed well in their recent group stage matches. They beat Doon in their first match, but unfortunately lost against St Ailbes in their final group stage match. However, they were still able to qualify for the Quarter- Finals, where they faced and beat Scoil Pol. In the Semi-Finals, they went up against a well-matched team in Askeaton and ultimately lost by a small margin. Despite the loss in the Semi-Finals, the team demonstrated their skill and determination throughout the tournament.
The school will hold trials and training sessions for their 1st and 2nd Year Basketball teams after the Christmas break.
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Leaving Certificate Applied Fundraiser
Our LCA class recently raised €150 for the Irish Wheelchair Association. They organised a soccer tournament for 1st
Year students. This activity was anchored through their General Education Task with Mr. Ryan. Thanks to Mr. Ryan and all of the students for their efforts.
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Stand Up Awareness Week
We celebrated Stand Up Awareness week at the school with a number of initiatives throughout the week beginning Monday 14th November. We had our rainbow flag raising ceremony on Tuesday 15th November which was led by our captain and vice-captain, Colm Power and Eoin Doocey. All our TY students attended LGBTQ+ Awareness workshops with Tipperary Youth Service throughout the week. On Friday 18th November, we held our annual colours day, a day in which all groups wear an assigned colour. The whole school community made a great effort with this initiative. Many thanks to Ms. Áine O’ Mahoney for coordinating these activities on behalf of the school Wellbeing Team.
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College Awareness Activities
College Awareness Week ran nationally from November 20th – 27th
last. At The Abbey we coordinated a number of activities over a two-year period. It is great to have returned to an era where students can attend in person events and seek out relevant information in a meaningful way after the past two years of disruption. Firstly, on November 16th and in tandem with Science Week, we hosted the Tipperary Festival of Science STEM Careers Fair in the school PE Hall. This was coordinated with the Tipperary Chamber of Commerce and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Students from schools all over the Tipperary area attended. On Monday November 21st many of our senior students attend the recently opened Apprenticeship Centre in Tipperary Town which is managed by Tipperary Education and Training Board. At the centre students got a flavour of all craft type apprenticeships and even got to test out their skills in plastering and dry lining. A plethora of college and university talks from Kildalton Agricultural College, MTU, SETU, UL. UCC and TUS took place throughout the week for senior students. Junior students immersed themselves in college related activities within their class groups, Our final event took place on Thursday December 01st.. Our annual College and Careers Fair was held on site in the PE Hall for the first time since January 2020. It was attended by almost forty companies and colleges with all career sectors represented. Many past students returned to offer their advice to our current students on their respective college courses and career paths to date. We were delighted to welcome students from our neighbouring schools, St. Anne’s and St. Ailbe’s to the event also. Thanks to all who were involved in the activities that made this campaign the success that it was.
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Abbey Sports Stars – Tipperary Senior Hurling Panel 2023
Congratulations to Abbey past pupils Johnny Ryan and Shane Neville on being named on Liam Cahill’s Tipperary Senior Hurling Panel for 2023. Both are previous winners of The Abbey School Sports Star of the Year Award. We wish both of them the very best for the season ahead.
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YSI Awareness Campaign – “For Goodness Sake, Don’t Vape”
Our current YSI Awareness Campaign is centred around the dangers of vaping. Three of our teachers, Ms. Jolene Carey, Mr. Conor Sweeney and Ms. Niamh McCarthy are anchoring this project with TY students in conjunction with Anne Bradshaw from the HSE. The most recent feature of the project was two TUS Animation Students, Aran and Oliwia visiting the school to deliver an introduction to animation workshop. The students and teachers gained so much information to work on their own animation “For Goodness Sake, Don’t Vape” campaign.
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Abbey Farewell Function
Recently, a retirement and farewell function was held in Aherlow House Hotel to acknowledge the contributions made by a number of staff members who had recently retired or moved to pastures new.
Those who retired included Mr. John O’Dwyer, a Science and Chemistry Teacher in the Abbey since 1990 and Mrs. Bernie O’Dwyer, a school secretary in the Abbey since 1997. The Abbey also bid farewell to Ms. Marian Keating, a Science and Biology teacher since 2014 who has taken up a new position in Knockbeg College and finally Mr. Michael Martin who had given twenty years' service to the school as part of its Parents Council and Board of Management.
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Abbey School and St. Anne’s Secondary School Present Grease
This year the Abbey School and St. Anne’s Secondary School again collaborated to stage the musical “Grease” at the Excel Theatre in Tipperary Town on the 15th, 16th and 17th of December. These joint productions between the students at both schools have become one of the highlights of the entertainment year in Tipperary, and this year we are glad to be back and hope to amaze the crowds once again.
A musical about teens in love set in the late 1950’s. Its California in 1958 and Greaser Danny Zuko and Australian Sandy are in love. They spend time at the beach, and when they go back to school, what neither of them know is that they both now attend Rydell High School. Danny’s the leader of the T-Birds, a group of black leather-jacket wearing greasers, while Sandy hangs out with the Pink Ladies, a group of pink wearing girls led by Rizzo. When they clash at Rydell’s first Pep Rally, Danny isn’t the same Danny from the beach. They try to be like each other so that they can be together.
Congratulations to all the students for their wonderful performances of all the well-known songs including “Summer Loving”, “Greased Lighting” and “Shaking at The High School Hop” and “You’re the One that I Want”. Also in this show are the songs “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” normal version and reprise, “We Go Together”, “Beauty School Drop Out” and “Born To Hand Jive”.
Great credit to show is due to the amazing efforts and help of Paul Norton our producer, Nicole Kennedy our wonderful musical director and Julianne McNamara our amazing choreographer. Many thanks also go to the staff from both schools for their work behind the scenes, the light and sound operators, the backstage crew and the staff of Tipperary Excel.
Huge congratulations to the students at both schools for their outstanding success.
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Nagle Rice College Doneraile |
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Nagle Rice’s Turf Run 'Heroes’
Inspired by the ERST charter, in particular, promoting partnership and creating a caring school community, our 6th year students, with the help of their teachers, SNAs and management embarked on their Annual Turf Run on the 13th of December 2022 after a 3 year hiatus due to Covid. This proud tradition has been in existence since the 1970s. Our students visited over 90 homes, distributing cards and gifts. This turf run originally began with students bringing some turf and a Christmas card to the elderly and more mature folk of Doneraile but in more recent times, it involves bringing little Christmas trees, kindly sponsored by Spring Nurseries, boxes of chocolate and Christmas cards made by the students themselves.
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We are proud to witness transformational leadership by our students. They have inspired their peers and wider community to show kindness and spread joy during the holiday season. Our international students had the opportunity to experience further the sense of belonging that is so evident in our local community and it was our pleasure facilitating such a wholesome event. The joy of giving is truly something not to be underestimated. Not all ‘Heroes’ wear capes.
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Waterpark College Foróige Club SVP Toy Appeal
Well done to our Foróigers who are very busy First Years. Not only do they socialise at lunchtime in Ms. Daly’s room, drinking hot chocolates and munching on goodies in between strategic moves on board games, they are also on the charity campaign ensuring that Waterford children whose families who are supported by St. Vincent De Paul will have a proper Christmas. This year the fundraising was they raised €1460 which is a super achievement. Well done all , your hard work and perseverance has paid off!
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Filmveranstaltung November ’22, Clamouring to see Klammer !
Am 29 November haben wir , die Schüler und Schülerinnen der Oberstufe in Waterpark , einen kleinen Ausflug gemacht. Wir sind zusammen in die Stadt gegangen , um den Film “ Auf der Suche nach der Linie” zu sehen. Auf Englisch heißt der Film “ Klammer- Chasing the Line”. Der Film dreht sich um Franz Klammers legendären Spielen in Innsbruck 1976. Der Film konzentriert sich auf Klammers Ängste, Zweifel und Bedanken. Spektakuläre Skiabfahrten wechseln sich mit einem Blick hinter die Kulissen von Olympia 1976. Der Film war voller Österreichen Nostalgie und er war ein totaler Erfolg bei uns. Alle haben ihn viel genossen. Wir bedanken Frau Cronin fur die Gelegenheit ins King zu gehen.
Frohe Weihnachten und guten Rutsch ins Neujahr !
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Waterpark College Christmas Carol Concert
Each year nearing Christmas our English and music departments come together to put on a Christmas Carol service in St.Benildus church for students, staff and family. Starting late November ,our College Choir have been in preparation for the big day. The choir is joining up with our Trad Group to put together a great array of music festivities and we cannot wait to hear what they have in store for us.
Thanks to Ms. Siobhán Cahill, Ms. Clodagh Corcoran and Mr. Wheatley for all the musical work on this. There will be a variety of student readers on the day to tell the story of this year’s theme- The Christmas Robin.
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Christmas Wellbeing Art, Poetry, Short Story and Christmas Door competitions
Teachers of Wellbeing are busy getting students motivated and competition ready for our annual Christmas creative competitions. Artists are busy with their Christmas scenes, Mr. Maher’s Fifth years have been poetically engaged as usual and there is a serious competition heating up around the school as we prepare to vote for our Christmas Door 2022. Thanks to 3rd year Wellbeing students who volunteered to decorate doors for teachers. Ye are lifting our spirits and getting us through these dark days !
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Waterpark Credit Union Art Winners explain the inspiration behind their Artwork
Following their wins Henry Avery, Kristina Doherty, Lucy Colbert, Niamh Brady and Harry Roche were recently interviewed by students to explain their thinking behind their paintings.
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Henry’s Parisian inspired piece is a rather interesting TAIL! He painted his winning piece to show how there is always something to admire the world for and that applies to everyone, even rats! The city at night has always been an inspiration to him, especially Paris because he feels when he looks at the city it always makes him happy. Henry used oil pastels on the rats as they were the main focus of the piece. His watercolours are in the background and he dotted the sky with white acrylic for the stars. His message is “Admire the world for what it is, and you’ll be happy.” Although he says it took him a long time to finish the piece, he has noticed a few problems but he is very happy with the outcome and the prize, we reckon!
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Kristina’s composition represents the divide between our peaceful world and the unjust war that rages as a result of global warming. She was inspired by Van Gough ‘s “The Starry Night” and this can be seen where she incorporates his work in her piece, particularly her capturing of the sky in its chaotic swirls. This impasto technique of Van Gough’s is the direct application of paints onto the canvas , mixed together with his own fingers. Kristina chose mixed media for this piece and marble paper. She wants to raise awareness about global warming by showing the viewer how beautiful the world is.
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Lucy’s art depicts a crowd of people, all the same, blending into one another as they watch a single figure completely free and alone. She credits the art of Gustav Klimt and Edward Hopper as her inspiration. In Klimt’s work she admires his varied use of different textiles, while classic Hopper paintings like “Nighthawks” offered her an opportunity to focus on composition of the piece.Lucy employed a wealth of diverse media for her final piece using newspaper, acrylics, chalk, pens and markers. Her painting speaks to the desire to be different from the crowd, to be your own person.
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Niamh’s winning entry is a strong affirmation of all the beauty the planet gives. It captures the modern cityscape with its tower blocks and steeples and merges with the beautiful sea, that we can’t see beneath us. Niamh urges us not to take the beauty of this world for granted. Her chosen media were chalk, markers and Indian Ink. This was a beautifully executed piece, and we cannot help but feel Niamh’s romantic spirit resonating strongly through her art.
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We learned that Harry Roche is inspired by sea and wildlife and his painting is a strong voice to stop others from destroying our planet by dumping rubbish. The painting is a very striking image of a turtle at sea, a pastoral landscape and a wristwatch which divides the painting. Time is ticking and Harry’s message is he doesn’t want time to run out on us as we cope with the climate crisis.
Students were interviewed by Rebecca Kennedy and Kristina Doherty |
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DCU Scholar
Kyle O Neill, Leaving Certificate Class of 2022, who received the DCU Scholars Award for achieving over 600 points in his Leaving Certificate. Kyle is currently studying Actuarial Maths. We’re very proud of you Kyle and it was lovely for us to have Mr. Hagan at the ceremony!
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Green Teens' News
Students on Waterpark’s 22/23 Green School Committee have produced and directed two short films to highlight the problems of litter. Well done to Sinéad Carey, Aoife John, Jack Dower, Emer Feeney, Karina Glinch, Patrick White and Seán Dowd for their hard work.
These student short films offer simple solutions which remedy the litter problem- use our bin system properly! While the green and brown bins are working well throughout the school, our black bin is still often a sight for sore eyes. Plastics that could be cleaned out and recycled end up in the black bin. Taking that extra step is a small price to pay for less black bin waste.
This waste is no longer going to landfill spots in Ireland, instead it is being incinerated. If we value clean, fresh air, we need to go the extra mile with dirty plastics. As the green teens say the answer is in our hands!
Green Teens compete in Tom Murphy Litter Challenge
This October and November, Waterpark’s Green Teens were on their second attempt to win E1500 in a litter Challenge that Tom Murphy Car Sales Volkswagen ran and all eyes were fixed on the job at hand. We were up against 14 other schools across Waterford City and County and the Green Teens pulled out all the stops. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of Ms. Kenneally and Mr. Rice, the Wellbeing Teachers along with their students picked up the offensive litter on our designated route. You may have seen our Green Teens out and about on Litter Picking duty in their fresh supply of Hi Viz jackets armed with pickers, gloves and Council bags on Park Road courtesy of Tom Murphy.
The mapped route for us was the Park Road, behind the Marina Hotel and around the People’s Park. Thanks goes to our environmental Awareness Officer, Ella Ryan for organising our routes which makes coordinating the cleaning and patrolling efforts manageable as the areas are near the school.
Unfortunately, we were not successful on this occasion. The prize went to Blackwater Community College. We remain undaunted and unfazed – that’s just what Greenteens are made of !
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Greenschool Committee members Aoife John and Jack Dower proudly display their Tom Murphy litter Picking Certificate |
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Senior Art Trip to the National Gallery and The National Archaeology Museum
It isn’t everyday that you get to see the Turner Tate collection and we won’t forget it ! “The Sun is God” proved a real treat for Ms. Kenneally’s Senior Art students’ visit at the National Gallery. The story Turner tells of the industrial revolution is quite apt for today’s climate crisis conversation. While he was enthused by the new technologies that were heralding in a new age of science and engineering, Turner’s depiction of Nature’s powerful moments was a stark reminder that we are infinitesimal when compared to the towering waves of stormy seas or falling rocks in avalanches. Thanks to our guide, Resident Art Educator Sarah Edmondson for engaging us all with the timelessness and truth in Turner’s subjects.
The group visited the National Museum of Archaeology in the afternoon, and we cannot recommend this enough. The story of Ireland is housed in this magnificent building. Students were treated to displays of Celtic Gold, Mummies, Viking artefacts , gems from the Middle Ages, etc. It was a great day out and provided such an inspiration and breath of fresh air! Thanks to Ms. Kenneally for organising the day out.
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Ellis McHugh National Pentathlon athlete and Junior Girls Athletics Team Winner
Congratulations to Ellis McHugh for representing Ireland at the recent Home Nations Schools Combined Athletics Competition in Scotland, Saturday 26th November. Ellis’ sport is Pentathlon which demands high performance in 5 fields expertise, Fencing, Swimming, Riding Running or Shooting. Last year the Irish Junior Girls prevailed to take a historic team gold and this year, Ellis and her teammates equalled that Irish success. Ellis was on the Junior Girls team that finished top of the podium, beating teams from England, Scotland and Wales. A proud day for Ireland and Waterpark College!
Rugby News
The Rugby season is well underway, and Mr. Maher’s senior team saw plenty of action recently in their match against Kinsale Community College. The game was played in Youghal and proved a real test for the Waterpark side. Captain Luke Murphy kept the side steady and as always proved a strong leader on the pitch. Unfortunately, the day was not ours, but the outing was just what the squad needed after the recent pressure of Christmas house exams. |
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TY Tidings
Over the last few months our Ty students have been hard at work doing TY Enterprise where they start and run their own mini companies both inside and outside of school. Over the coming weeks Ty students will be interviewed to get an insight into their companies.
Recently , Emily McDowell, Leaving Cert ,got the chance to interview Josh Hayes, Adam Mernin and Bayern Falconer who started up their business “Waterpark sweet shop” during September of this year.
The boys took their inspiration from last year’s tuck shop and put their own spin on it wanting “to carry the tradition forward”. During the interview we got an insight into the hard work they put into making their business successful. These enterprising students hand made their sweet shop stand in two weeks to have a place to sell their goodies and are open on all four break times during the school day.
Since September they have had a tremendous number of customers both students and staff, being attracted by the fun competitions and deals they run during the week. They have put a lot of effort into their social media platforms as a great marketing strategy, they have QR codes around the school and run on Instagram and TikTok where they seem to have gained quite the amount of followers so check them out when you can @waterpark_sweet_shop2022.
Bayern, Adam and Josh would like to thank Mr.Tierney for the guidance and supervision he has given them since opening and we wish the 3 the best of look in the TY Enterprise Competitions in January. |
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Other Enterprising TYs
Our TY students recently completed their participation in the Growth Hub Cafe @ SETU. Thanks so much to Joanne Malone at SETU for the great initiative that saw our students plan and run the cafe at SETU for three days learning the skills of running your own business and how to work under pressure. It was a real highlight of our Enterprise module.
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TY Students meet Waterford Warriors
All of our TY students recently completed their 4 week block of training with the Waterford Warriors. Students practiced their weight back squat, strict pull up’s and a conditioning workout as well as a few rope climbs in between. Thanks so much to Trish and Eamon for the great coaching. We had a blast
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Waterpark College Debating Team
The College TY Concern Debating Team are delighted with their good news that they were awarded a well-deserved win against Blakestown College. The classmates argued that “All Climate Activists must stop eating meat.” The motion, needless to say, provided plenty of food for thought! Thanks to Sinéad Carey for captaining and Conor Kissane, Jack Dower and Patrick White for their stellar performances! Research was conducted by Aoife John and Emer Feeney on that occasion.
The team is now awaiting its final adjudication on their last debate where they faced St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny. The motion was “ HIV and Aids in the Global South is the “Forgotten Pandemic”. The line- up changed slightly with Myles Nugent subbing in for Emer Feeney.
As the debates are held on Zoom, it’s a very different experience to the traditional debating format and requires a strong tech support team. Thanks to Sam Hartwell, Liam O’ Farrell Lamadrid, Seán Zaharia and Ryan Coughlan for ensuring the IT made everything go smoothly.
Thanks also to the mentoring from last year’s team, Veronica O’ Farrell Lamadrid and Lilly Heffernan. Well done all!
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New Extension
The excitement is building as we watch our new extension developing above ground. |
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Recycled Christmas Decoration Competition
Many children have been working on their sustainable Christmas Decorations over the last month. In association with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the project aims to draw awareness to the positive modes of recycling, linking in with creativity. Reduce, re-use and recycle is the message here. Children have been bringing recycling to a whole new level! Bottle caps, bangles, old string and much more, were used to make beautiful decorations. They hang with pride on the Oatlands Christmas tree!
Oatlands School Council
We have been working hard at setting up our school council with two key members at the helm. Rian O'Brien and Chrissy Berna from 6th class represented the school, at a special zoom meeting. We are very much looking forward to the ERST Congress in May, and also to twinning up with another school in the future. We all really enjoyed hearing about how all the other Edmund Rice Schools are doing, and we were very inspired! It is wonderful to connect with the community. Well done Rian and Chrissy of 6th class ! |
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Exploring the Outdoors
Many classes are getting to enjoy the snowy and icy weather in the Oatlands Garden. We appreciate nature in Winter time.
Christmas Jumper Day
On 16th of December we will all wear our Christmas Jumpers to school. We will collect two euro from each student, to help a charity. We know that so many people are struggling at the moment, and it is do important to help in any way we can. |
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Nativity Plays in 2022
We welcomed back parents to see their children in the Nativity play this year. It is great to be enjoying these events again together.
Happy Christmas from Oatlands Primary.
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The Annual Awards Ceremony
The College’s annual Awards Ceremony took place on Tuesday 29th November in the College Hall.
Academic awards were presented to the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Year students who achieved the best grades in their class in the Summer Examination in Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle. Awards were also given for the best Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate results, with a special mention for Leonardo Mottoreale and Fearghal Desmond who achieved 8 H1 grades in their Leaving Cert exam.
Special merit awards were presented to students in each class at Junior Cycle and to each year group in Senior Cycle who made a positive contribution to their class.
Extra-curricular awards were presented to students who excelled in areas such as rugby, hurling, debating, the arts and music. Among the trophies presented was the Gretchen Crosbie award for the Arts which was presented to Karl Riedewald, a keen musician who plays both piano and viola. The Shayan Nasser Award for Social Justice was presented to Nikita Karelov and Roman Kyryliuk. The Breifne O’Callaghan Award for Youth Leadership was presented to Louis Healy. The Michael Sheedy Award for Drama was presented to Harry Walsh. The Alan Cahill Award for Sailing was presented to Ben O’Shaughnessy. Trophies were presented for rugby; the Bob Casey Award to Cian Walsh and the Peter Wilson Award to Freddie Froggatt. The Soccer Academy Award was presented to David Cremin.
The Br. Reynolds Award for Student of the Year was presented to Freddie Froggatt.
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The Advent Crib
The Misneach Team, which comprise thirteen Fourth Years, designed and constructed a school crib for Advent. The work began at the start of November. A design was agreed upon. The city of Bethlehem was made from white mount board, with windows, doors and an intricate skyline. The front was covered in laurel leaves. A frame was constructed to overhang the crib on which ivy was suspended. The background was covered in black card and painted black. Each intricate skyline design had to be carefully and precisely cut out of the mount board, along with each window and door. Then every window and door had to be covered with tracing paper, as if it were glass.
Two days before the unveiling of the crib, the mount board was attached to tiered timber frames. Lights were placed over the windows and doors as if they were lights in a house.
On our final day of construction, the beautiful crib figures, intricately carved from wood in northern Italy, were placed into the crib. A small stable was made for the donkey. The crib was filled with straw. Vibrant red and purple plants were put in to add warmth.
Christmas Poetry Competition
A poetry competition was held amongst our First Years in December, inspiring many fine literary efforts. The winning poems were as follows:
Grandad Ned by James Hurley
The stocking hung by the chimney.
The fire burning red,
And in the fire, burning bright was the scarf of poor grandad Ned.
His memory was slipping, that was without a doubt.
But today he forgot to mind his scarf and put the fire out.
Eventually the smoke reached the air,
Sending the family to him in despair.
But there lay grandad carelessly snoozing, happily on his rocking chair.
By the time they put the fire out, no one was a winner,
Because after the absurd evening no one could stomach Christmas dinner
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CHRISTMAS POEM BY DARRAGH CANTILLON
THINK OF A HOMELESS MAN,
WITH NOTHING BUT THE COLD,
AND THINK OF HOW HE WOULD FEEL,
IF THERE WAS A STORY TO BE TOLD.
THINK OF HOW HAPPY THEY WOULD BE,
WITH SOMETHING AS LITTLE AS A BOOK,
AND THINK OF HOW THEY WOULD FEEL,
IF ALL THEY FELT WAS LUCK.
IMAGINE WHAT IT’S LIKE,
TO BE SITTING IN THE COLD,
AND IMAGINE WHAT THEY’D FEEL,
TO GET A BOOK TO BE TREATED LIKE GOLD.
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Christmas by Cian Cooney
Christmas always makes me happy,
Having fun with my family,
Running down the stairs to see,
If the presents are under the tree.
Stockings filled with tasty bites,
Trees decorated shining bright,
Making mince pies in the oven,
And Christmas is finished all of a sudden,
School has started again.
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Sixth Year Advent Mass
A Mass was celebrated in St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Fr. Benedict Hegarty O.P. with teachers and Sixth Year students on Friday, 9th December. Fr. Ben is a past pupil of CBC: he attended the school in the 1950s. His grand-nephew, Donagh O Leary is currently in Sixth Year. |
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Careers Fair
The Annual Careers Fair was recently hosted by the CBC Parents Council and the Career Guidance Department. Universities such as UCC, Trinity College, Dublin, UCD, Galway University, MTU, University of Limerick and Griffith College were represented. Further Education institutes such as Colaiste Stiofan Naofa, Cork ETB, Cork College of Commerce, Teagasc and SOLAS also had advocates present. Organisations such as Medical Poland, Med Entry, and companies such as ESB, PWC, MC 2 Accountants, Permanent TSB, Eli Lilly, Jansen, and many others also had exhibitions. Professionals from the Navy, Army, An Garda Siochana, Veterinary, Medicine, Dentistry, Physiotherapy, our own Teaching staff from CBC Prep School, Law, Accountancy and Business were also present.
The event was attended by Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth year students and parents. Feedback has been very positive from students and exhibitors and we hope to host a similar event again in 2 years time. The work will be supplemented by follow up Careers talks and visits due to the new contacts and relationships that have been forged.
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Erasmus+ Mobility - Finland October 2022
Over October mid-term break 2022, the Learning and Teaching Committee in CBC journeyed to Finland to experience first-hand the most acclaimed education system in the world. This opportunity was granted through the Erasmus+ programme which provides teachers with the opportunity to travel and experience different education systems in different countries throughout Europe.
The team composed of Deputy Principal Donal O’Mahony and nine teachers led by Edmond Hussey (Co-coordinator) flew into Oulu, one of the largest cities in the north of Finland that boasts some of the best schools in the country and temperatures of - 6 degrees in autumn. The title of the project and what we were trying to investigate and research was the following: ‘The Learner Voice - The Impact of Effective Questioning and Student Voice to the overall Academic progress and Wellbeing of the student’.
The first school we visited was OulunLyseo, an upper secondary school that offers the option to study both the Finnish national curriculum and the International Baccalaureate through English. The deputy principal PäiviPirilä and the IB Diploma Coordinator Heli-MaaritMiihkinen gave us a warm welcome and took us for a tour around the school. Students have much longer class periods of 70 to 90 minutes and much longer breaks in between. During their free periods students go to the library to study or go into town with their friends. All have the opportunity to sit down to lunch (provided free by the state) on the campus. There are no disciplinary procedures in the school but the focus has shifted to a more cohesive wellbeing programme in the school since the Covid-19 pandemic. She articulated that the post pandemic world has highlighted wellbeing and mental health concerns and the rise of anxiety issues amongst the student body has come to the surface in recent months.
The onus to learn is entirely on the student and a culture of more autonomous learning exists. Each student in upper secondary school has been provided with a free laptop in the last two years to enhance digital proficiency (all state assessments are computed using digital technology). If a student arrives unprepared for a class or becomes disruptive they may be asked to leave the class. A student who has become disengaged may be invited to engage with the school counsellors to support the students back to their educational goals. Teachers therefore take on a much more facilitative role. The emphasis is on self-learning, self-motivation and the creation of an environment conducive to happy, autonomous students.
The second school we visited, Kastelli Lukio, was emblematic of the investment Finnish society makes in education and how it integrates its schools into the local community. The facilities were truly impressive with state of the art gyms, music rooms, art rooms and a large and well serviced library. The labs were professionally kitted out, each classroom was well equipped with the latest technologies and the overall air was that of a university campus rather than a secondary school. There are strong links between Kastelli Lukio and the local community as many of the facilities are open to the public: a great use of funds (instead of a few smaller facilities, Oulu opted for one large complex that services the city’s needs). The principal JariKinisjärvi was extremely generous with his time and he spoke of the values and vision for Kastelli which were a sense of community, security, sustainable development and courage. He articulated the core purpose of the school as a move from a culture of working alone to a culture of working together.
The atmosphere of the Finnish education system is highly relaxed, encouraging and informal. This not only serves to create a pleasant atmosphere which boasts both high staff and student satisfaction, it clearly produces good learning results. Oulun Suomalaisen Yhteiskoulun Lukio, our third school, was arts and culture oriented. The boundaries between specific subjects are often blurred and one subject is often combined with another so that Russian language is combined with Russian art and history and English is combined with drama. Deputy Principal Timo Koivunen is passionate about student involvement at every level of the school. Student voice and the democratic classroom are fully embraced. During our visit this played out when we saw the English drama class rehearse a play that they were producing themselves. They had the idea of turning it into a mini Erasmus experience and had invited a school in the Netherlands to participate in the show. The school exchange, the production and the script were left in the students’ hands.
We then made the 225 km trip by bus north to Rovaniemi in the heart of Lapland. In these arctic conditions we visited Lyseonpuisto High School, the oldest and largest upper secondary school in Finnish Lapland. We were warmly greeted by the principal Osmo Huhtala (Headmaster) and Heikki Loukusa (IP coordinator).We enjoyed presentations from students who had travelled from the Lapland region to study in this school as they had achieved the requisite high grade point average. These students came from peripheral regions, had their own apartments where they lived independently of their parents/guardians in the town. The IB students are encouraged to become critical and compassionate thinkers. It was interesting to hear how the IB2 students take part in the IB examinations, which, if successfully completed, make them eligible for the award of the IB Diploma. This Diploma is recognised by institutions of higher education all over the world. In Finland, the IB Diploma is regarded as equivalent to the Finnish Matriculation Examination. One of the key skills for the IB students is to organise their working time effectively and maintain the necessary self-discipline. The students are required to participate actively and regularly in the daily work of the study groups. IB students are required to do a lot of independent work with strict deadlines.
The opportunity to look inside other educational facilities and experience how an educational system different to our own responds to the needs and challenges of its students was an enlightening and invigorating experience.
Edmond Hussey (Erasmus+ Coordinator).
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First Year Sports 2022 at Rice College
This year in Rice College the first years have been getting into a lot of sports. There are sports that include: hurling, football, running, swimming and golf. In hurling for the boys in first years we have gone to a few matches winning some and losing others. Our coaches are Mr. Foudy and Mr. Malone. In the girls hurling they have gone to many matches and have come out victorious in most of them, they are coached by Ms. Healy and Ms. Clohessy. In the boys football we have gone to few matches we have won a few games and lost a few, our coach is Mr. O’Neil. In the girl’s football team, they have gone to few matches but are out for the season till January, their coach is Mr. Molloy. In running 4 boys went to the Clare School’s Cross Country those four boys are Séamus McGuire, Kevin Noonan, Cailean Rynne and Luke Donnelly. Kevin Noonan came 2nd overall. The swimming and the golf haven’t started yet, they will hopefully start in the new year and we are looking forward to when that happens. -By Séamus McGuire and Clodagh Dooley |
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Settling into Secondary School
When I First arrived at Secondary School it was very hard to settle in because I found it hard to organize my locker and my books and to find my classes I just followed people in my base class to my classrooms and sometimes I got lost and I was late to class. After a while I got the hang of organising my locker and finding my classes one of my favourite subject when I started was woodwork and I also really liked maths because it was really easy and the teacher was really nice. One subject I found difficult was geography because there was a lot of remembering and I don’t have the greatest memory. The first year area is the canteen I really like the canteen because it has loads of room for first years and everyone isn’t just cramped together and we get food delivered from the Sherwood eatery and that is good because first years aren’t allowed up town to get food at lunch and there is also the tuck shop that sells sweets which can be a nice treat on a Friday. All the teachers and staff in Rice College Secondary School are really nice and I would recommend this school to anyone coming into secondary school thank you for reading my article. By Darrell Fitzgerald, Ross O’Connor and Max Bialach
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CHOIR at Rice College Opera in Glór On the 3rd of December the choir went to Glór to perform two songs called the Serenata and Somewhere In My Memory in the foyer. After our performance we got free tickets to go and watch Don Pasquale the Opera in Glór's auditorium. The opera started at 8:00pm and ended at 10:20pm. The opera was about a rich old man searching for a wife. It was a comedy and well produced.
Christmas Concert
The choir has been practicing for the Rice College Christmas Concert. On Monday the 12th of December we had a dress rehearsal in Glór. We had to wear all black. We practiced the songs: In My Memory and It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas. The trad group were also at the dress rehearsal. The concert is on the 19th of December at 7:30pm. Tickets to the concert are €10 per person. We are really looking forward to taking part and showcasing all the talent our school has to offer. -By Beibhinn Dorgan and Clodagh Dooley |
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Our Christmas Cards Project
We would like to acknowledge the work of the students of St. Joseph's CBS secondary school this year, raising money for local charities through the selling of Christmas cards.
They are amazingly crafted, well-designed, very unique and have received many plaudits from the school community.
These Christmas Cards are developed to raise badly needed funds for local charities such as Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and Drogheda Homeless Aid.
This is a great example of young people doing their bit to give back to the local community.
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Sports Facilities |
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We have had another jam packed term at Edmund Rice College Phoenix Park. We got to use our new state of the art sports hall which has been a fabulous addition to our PE and Sports departments in school. We hope it can be a great outlet for students and teachers. |
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