Greetings from the Edmund Rice Schools Trust - March 2023 |
|
|
|
Welcome
As usual, the second term is very busy and it was nice to check in with our secondary school principals and deputies at our recent network meetings and our primary school principals at the seminar in Portlaoise. We are grateful to school leaders who make time for these events, despite the busyness. Thank you.
It is heartening to read the stories from around the network of the celebrations of Catholic Schools Week 2023, nurturing faith, Christian Spirituality and Gospel-based values. Your celebrations of St Brigid's Day in your schools were innovative and interesting, especially the inclusion of grandparents.
We are delighted to include a contribution from St Columba's in New Delhi. You will see that, although we are over 7000 km apart, our schools have a similar ethos; all following in the footsteps of Blessed Edmund.
Care for our planet is a fundamental part of our Charter and it's great to see articles that raise awareness of the actions needed to address climate change and promote a more sustainable way of living our lives.
We look forward to meeting students, teachers and other members of the Edmund Rice community at our international Edmund Rice Education Beyond Borders (EREBB) Congress in DCU, from 16th to 19th May, when many of these topics will be considered and discussed by delegates. We are grateful to our schools that are hosting delegates from 10th to 13th May and we hope this immersion will be enjoyable for hosts and delegates.
We look forward to meeting you there.
Gerry Bennett.
|
|
|
|
John Ryan, former principal at Enniscorthy CBS
We experienced a huge sense of shock, grief and loss when the passing of John Ryan was announced in February.
John was a native of Donoughmore in Cork but moved to Wexford in the 80s. He was appointed principal of Enniscorthy CBS in 1999.
A passionate educator, John oversaw the development of the school from 450 pupils in 1999 to over 750 pupils today, as well as steering developments of curriculum, extra-curricular activities and buildings.
Caring and compassion were just some of John's attributes and he was perceived by all who knew him as a 'pure gentleman'. He was positive and optimistic by nature and his contribution to Enniscorthy CBS will never be forgotten. Equally, his contribution to the Edmund Rice network was huge through his attendance and participation in our annual Principals' Conference and our network meetings of principals and deputies.
Brendan Ó'Sullivan, acting principal, summed up John's contribution and style when he said, 'John led a transformation of the school ethos to one wholly befitting an Edmund Rice school. He ensured that the school was inclusive, welcoming and served the community needs of Enniscorthy'.
John will be missed by all who knew him, especially by his wife Eilish, children Seán and Aisling, his colleagues in Enniscorthy CBS, his friends and the Edmund Rice network.
Beannacht Dé ar a anam dilís. |
|
|
|
St Brigid's Crosses |
|
Students celebrated St. Brigid's Day on Tuesday February 7th by creating their own Brigid's crosses.
St Brigid's Day, on February 6th, was a Bank Holiday, which was newly created post-Covid to thank citizens for their community spirit during the pandemic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catholic Schools Week 2023
There was a great turn out from Grandparents who attended our mass as part of Catholic Schools Week. It was a wonderful celebration and it meant so much to your grandchildren to have you there today.
Thank you to all the students who participated. |
|
|
|
BT Young Scientists 2023
Two of Coláiste Rís' brightest minds competed in the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in the RDS. Conall Mullins Short and TJ McDonnell presented their project "Investigating the Immuno-surveillant Properties of Erythrocyte-Bound Toll-Like-Receptors".
|
|
|
|
Massive congratulations to Conall & TJ with their fantastic achievement at the BT Young Scientist, being awarded 2nd place in the Senior Group Category for Biological & Ecological Sciences.
The two 6th students have represented the Coláiste fantastically well at the competition, and this comes after many weeks and months of preparation with and hard work on their project. Well done to both of them, and to Mr. Kalyon for all his help.
|
|
|
|
Food Parcel Donations
6th year and LCA students were on hand to help bring down all the boxes from each class to St. Patrick’s Soup Kitchen to help people in need at Christmas. |
|
|
|
Siún Ní Dhuinn Visit
A big thank you for our past pupil Siún Ní Dhuinn who visited the school last week. Siún is the co-founder of the very popular podcast Beo ar Éigean and she spoke to our TY's and some 6th years about her days in Coláiste Rís, her love for the Irish language and gave valuable career advice to the students. |
|
|
|
Coláiste Rís student plays at the Royal Albert Hall
Congratulations to Dearbhla Coggans (6th Year), who played as part of the youth proms in the Royal Albert Hall in London at the end of November. Dearbhla is a member of City of Belfast Youth Orchestra. This is a wonderful achievement and all in Colaiste Ris are extremely proud of Dearbhla.
|
|
|
|
Boxing Success in Spain
A massive well done to Deárbhla Tinnelly, who comes home from the Boxing World Youth Championships in Spain with a bronze medal. She represented Team Ireland as co-captain, and reached the semi final in her campaign. She is now a 2022 World & European medalist. Congrats Deárbhla.
Amazing work!
|
|
|
|
Ladies Football |
|
Congrats to Our Captain
After Ladies football training, the Coláiste Rís girls took time out to surprise their captain and champion Dearbhla Tinnelly on her great achievements at the World Boxing championships.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Enterprise Week 2023-2024
Coláiste Rís marked the beginning of Enterprise week by welcoming local Entrepreneur Daniel Mc Loughlin from Rock Salt. Daniel met with a group of TY and 5th year students and provided them with a most insightful account of his Entrepreneurial journey, setting up two of the most successful Businesses in town. The students thoroughly enjoyed his visit and his kind voucher for each of them. Thank you Daniel for your kindness and continued support of our school.
|
|
|
|
Rainbow Colours Day for My Canine Companion!
CBS Primary Tralee held a Rainbow Colours Day on Friday the 3rd of March to raise funds for my Canine Companion Autism and Therapy Services.
|
|
|
|
My Canine Companion (MCC) is an Irish national charity that provides accredited service dogs to people with disabilities, predominantly autism.
CBS Primary Tralee is lucky to have two MCC School Therapy Dogs, Zorro and Daithí. In August 2021, Zorro joined the staff and Daithí joined later.
On Zorro’s first day, he founded the ‘Under the Table Club’ – a safe haven to have a chat,, be busy or to just feel safe, release anxiety or pent-up emotion.
Daithí and Zorro stay with a teacher in CBS Primary, Ms Katie Fox. The difference they make to the children is amazing. In CBS Primary, they make sure both Daithí and Zorro are at the school gate in the mornings to greet the boys and girls.
|
|
|
|
Zorro and Daithí are celebrities, superheroes, counsellors, teachers, a canine companion and a friend.
|
|
|
|
BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition
We were bursting with pride in Oatlands College for our TY students Oisín and Darragh who represented us at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2023. Oisín’s project was a solar powered device used for desalination of sea water.
|
|
|
|
The project caught the interest of many visitors to the exhibition including both the President Michael D. Higgins and the Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The project won two awards, a special award from Regeneron and a third place award in Intermediate Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences. A mention must also go to science teacher Ms Avril Gaynor for her support and guidance throughout the project. To add to their success, we were delighted when the project team were invited to represent Oatlands College and Ireland at the 2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Dallas, Texas later this year.
|
|
|
|
Young Environmentalist Award
More wins for Oatlands College, this one was for a Third Year group who, under the guidance of their teacher Ms Cosgrave, made a huge impact on a local beach and have also inspired young people to take positive action regarding the environment.
Their project ‘Bad Beach Clean’ won an award in the Young Environmentalist Award in the Water Category.
They then made a television appearance and were interviewed by RTE News2Day.
All of the students spoke with such knowledge and passion about their project, they certainly did our school proud.
|
|
|
|
Back to the 80s
The jewel in the TY crown every year is undoubtedly the musical and this year was no different. Our TYs welcomed local girls school Rockford Manor to our school every week for the past few months in order to get the show up and running.
There was plenty of dancing, singing acting and a bit of socialising. After a huge amount of practice and hard work, the group performed their musical, ‘Back to the 80’s’ over four nights this March.
Despite none of the cast having lived through the 1980s, it was widely agreed that they gave a performance that brought memories flooding back to the teachers, parents and local community members in the sell-out audience.
The music, jokes, and references to things like Star Wars, Ferris Bueller, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Rubik’s Cubes had us all laughing, smiling and nodding along in delight. Most importantly, it was very evident that the students had an amazing experience throughout the production and made memories of their own that will surely last them a lifetime.
Huge credit is due to teachers David Enright and Allanah Scully who directed and produced the show. |
|
|
|
Award-winning Teacher
Oatlands College is enormously proud of our colleague and teacher Keane McCall.
He is a dedicated, motivated and highly passionate teacher who conducts innovative classes and builds deep relationships with his students and staff. His love and enthusiasm for his subjects and his career are infectious.
He has brought joy to everyone in the Oatlands community. This month, Mr. McCall's efforts were rewarded when he received the ASTI Prize for 2021/22 for receiving the highest grade in his placement module for the Trinity College PME.
None of us in Oatlands was surprised that he won but we are all immensely happy and proud of him.
|
|
|
|
Synge Street Secondary School |
|
|
|
Synge Street’s Got Talent
Students of all ages recently took to the stage and saw their names in lights for the first ever Synge Streets Got Talent show.
Throughout the day, the school was a buzz of activity. Music could be heard in all corners of the school as some students practiced their singing while others rehearsed their musical instruments.
Stress levels were high but spirits were even higher! After lunch all students made their way eagerly to the school hall which was decorated with brightly coloured balloons, fantastic bright lights and an impressive backdrop mural.
Once everyone was seated, the competition could begin! The hosts, a 5th year and a 1st year student, were the best hosts we could ask for. and they really added to the occassion.
|
|
|
|
They introduced acts from 1st year right up to 6th year with various electric performances of singing, rapping, playing musical instruments and even some hilarious impressions. The judges, a mixture of students and teachers, held nothing back, ranking each act based on their talent, audience reaction and stage presence. When the time came to announce the winners, it came down to a nail-biting tie for first place. The two acts battled it out for 1st place based on the biggest cheer from the crowd. It’s safe to say the roar of students could be heard all over Dublin 8! A drum roll went out for the winners: in 3rd place we had a 6th year entry with famous impressions, a 2nd year student came close in 2nd place with his incredible violin playing, but it was a transition year student who took 1st place with his amazing original song and rap! A fantastic afternoon was had with huge thanks to Ms. Mc Dermot, Ms. Gorman and Ms. Hennessy who looked after the acts, Mr. Martin who was our resident sound tech, two 1st years for being our professional cue-men, and Ms. Wright for the beautiful backdrop. The countdown is on for next year’s Synge Street’s Got Talent! |
|
|
|
Green Schools Committee
The Synge Street CBS Green Schools Committee have been working hard, especially on the Travel Theme as we are hoping to get our third flag for Travel this month! We already have our Litter & Waste flag and our Water Flag. We have a great group of students on the committee mostly made up of 1st/ 2nd
& 3rd years who are always involved in and organising a number of events to improve awareness in our school on sustainable travel and monitoring how the students and staff are getting on!
Several different events that the committee have organised and have gotten the school community involved in are: Traffic Speed Testing on the roads near the school, and a Walkabilty Audit to check if the roads students are using are safe or if there are any problems that need to be fixed. We were successfully awarded a “Going Green” Grant from our local Credit Union, so we bought recycle bins for our classrooms with the money. We have regular community litter pick events in the streets around our school and we also have set up and are running our school’s “Green Counter Shop” where the proceeds are fundraising for the Green Schools Programme in our school. Two students Benny & Shayaan in 3rd
year, have been invited by Dublin Bus to go on a tour of the operations next month as they have shown great knowledge and interest in the Dublin Bus system and had recently written a letter to the company! These are only a short list of all of the activities that the committee are putting a lot of work into on a continuous basis!
The involvement of the students in the Green School’s Committee and the wider school community in the events that they organise, allow the students to foster their leadership and communication skills. It also encourages the school community to come together and work on the values that are important to us as an Edmund Rice School.
|
|
|
|
Shannon’s Hopeline
At Synge Street CBS, as part of their CSPE action project class 3 Goz, organised a fantastic Christmas fundraiser for a local mental health support charity – Shannon’s Hopeline. Lots of amazing activities were organised such as guess the number of sweets, a bake sale, hot chocolate and plenty of games.
|
|
|
|
3 Goz also took part in the ‘Be Kind to your Mind’ workshop provided by the charity, which helps to provide young people with the tools to work through tough situations and build confidence. Well done 3 Goz!
|
|
|
|
Seachtain na Gaeilge
Beidh an- spraoi agus spórt ag cách a ghlacann páirt I rith Seachtain na Gaeilge. Tá daltaí na hidirbhiaine ag ullmhú an Céilí Mór agus ag múíneadh na damhsanna. Beidh Tráth na gCeist ar siúl chomh maith. Má tá na cúpla focail agat , abair linn. Beidh milseáin ar fáil do na daoine a dhéanann an- iarracht. Mol an Óige agus tiocfainn sé leat!
|
|
|
|
Senior History Students Visit Derry and Belfast
On Ash Wednesday morning a group of 24 students and teachers met in the wee hours of the morning to set off for a most emotionally moving trip for all.
The tour kicked off in Derry’s Apprentice Memorial Hall and the remainder of that memorable day was spent visiting the Free Derry Museum and taking in a walking tour of the Walls with Adrian Callan, one of the many wonderful tour guides the group had the privilege of meeting.
The rawness of the events of Bloody Sunday and the Troubles was apparent to all of us and it was a story that the students could see from both sides.
After an overnight in the Everglades Hotel in Derry, the group travelled onto Belfast and we were given the right royal tour from Corkman, Jim McNichols who regaled us with so many stories that we’ll still be talking about them well into the years ahead.
This was an opportunity for students to see the Shankill Road, Divis Flats , to visit the Peace Wall and see the Titanic history that is Belfast. We finished with a visit to Stormont and some of us caught a quick glimpse of Jefferey Donaldson being interviewed as the Northern Ireland Protocol is in the spotlight.
It truly was history in the making! Thanks to all staff for making this possible.
Waterpark will be back to visit Derry and Belfast again and we hope both cities will continue to thrive and benefit from peace and economic growth.
|
|
|
|
|
Ash Wednesday Mass
TY Edmund Rice Student Leaders along with our First Years have to be highly commended for their part in the Ash Wednesday Mass in our Parish church , St. John’s. Thanks to Fr. Rogers for giving the students the room to participate in the celebration of the Mass. On the day we had readers and musicians and a lovely morning was had by all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Past Pupil, Katie Rojowska, received the Entrance Award to Trinity College, where she is now studying English. |
|
|
|
Writers Workshops
Thanks to our Blast Writer in Residence, Derbhile Dromey, for her 10-week project with students in First and second year. Derbhile is a local artist who is known for her one woman shows and interesting takes on life . She has inspired students and the fruits of the labours will hopefully manifest themselves in the shape of a book of stories that the students have researched, written and compiled about a person close to them who inspires them. We look forward to the next phase which will be student art work to illustrate their stories. The remaining two classes of First Years had the benefit of author, Aisling McLoughlin, who visited them on Zoom to work with them on story writing. A creatively stimulating time was had by all!
|
|
|
|
|
Visit from Fr. Kevin and Br. Paulo to Waterpark’s Spanish Students
The Spanish community in the school had a lovely opportunity to meet with Fr. Kevin and Br. Paulo In January to hear firsthand the personal stories of both men regarding the new religious order , The Home of the Mother. The order was founded in Santander, Northern Spain. Their work has brought them to disaster areas like Ecuador before and after the last devastating earthquake. Currently their Irish home is in the Waterford and Lismore Diocese.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abbey
Duo’s Historic BT Young Scientist Victory
The Abbey
School community could not be more proud of Shane O’Connor and Liam Carew’s
amazing and historical success at the 2023 BT Young Scientist &
Technologists Competition where they were the Overall First Prize winners. This
prestigious award recognises the exceptional achievements of young scientists
and celebrates the innovative and ground-breaking research that Shane and Liam
have conducted over the last three years. Their project was titled “Assessing
the Impact of Second level education on Key Aspects of Adolescents’ Life and
Development”. Students, staff, past and present all over the world, and the
wider Tipperary community were overjoyed to see Liam and Shane presented with
their winners trophy in the RDS by Minister for Education Norma Foley TD and managing
director of BT Ireland, Shay Walsh.
Monday 16th
of January will forever be remembered for the incredible homecoming that was
given to Liam and Shane as the school community and wider Tipperary community
welcomed home their history making champions. Shane and Liam rode through the
streets of Tipperary into the school grounds surrounded by their classmates and
friends who were thrilled at the boys’ success. Representatives from the boys’
primary schools St. Michael’s Boys School, The Monastery N.S. and Mount Bruis
N.S. along with extended family, neighbours and friends joined in the
celebrations in the PE Hall in the Abbey School. Students of The Abbey have
achieved many successes throughout the years but this must surely go down as
one of their greatest.
Shane and
Liam’s project, conducted over a period of three years, aimed to evaluate the
impact of secondary education on the mental, physical, and social well-being of
students. The study was based on the premise that secondary education plays a
critical role in shaping the lives of young people and helps to lay the
foundation for their future. It aimed to shed light on the various aspects of
secondary education that have the most profound impact on students and help to
identify areas where improvements can be made. The study was
carried out by conducting a survey of students from The Abbey School Tipperary,
an all-boys school and numerous other schools of single sex, co-ed, DEIS and
the voluntary sector in Ireland. The survey collected data on a range of
factors, including students' academic performance, mental health, physical
health, and social relationships. The results were then analysed to determine
the impact of secondary education on these various aspects of students' lives. The findings
of the study were both insightful and concerning. It was found that secondary
school education had a significant impact on students' mental and physical
health, as well as their social well-being. One of the key findings coming out
of the research was that, whilst inequality is prevalent in DEIS schools,
exponential improvements in areas of pastoral care and physical health are
quickly closing this gap. To quote directly from the students’ research
‘Secondary school is a vital social outlet for students, and this can be seen
across our interviews, focus groups and in particular our survey.’ In addition to
the findings, the study also recommended several ways to improve the secondary
education system to better support the well-being of students. These included
improving the quality of teacher-student relationships, providing more
opportunities for student engagement, and creating a supportive and inclusive
learning environment.
Shane and
Liam’s success at the 2023 BT Young Scientist Technologists Competition is a
testament to their dedication and hard work over the last three years. It is
also a reflection of the support provided by the school to the boys by their
teachers Ms. Niamh McCarthy and Ms. Eavan Ryan and the many other staff and
students who supported them along the way. The impact of the study conducted by
Shane and Liam extends far beyond our school and our local community. Their
work will serve as a valuable resource for educators, parents, and policy
makers, as it provides valuable insights into the impact of secondary education
on the lives of young people. By bringing attention to the importance of
supporting students' mental, physical, and social well-being, their research
has the potential to make a lasting impact on the Irish second level education
system. The next
chapter for Shane and Liam is to represent Ireland at the European Union
Contest for Young Scientists, which takes place in Brussels in September, and
they will also attend the 64th Annual London International Youth
Science Forum this summer. We wish the boys the very best as they
represent their school, county, and country with their amazing research.
|
|
|
|
Abbey Wellbeing Week 2023
The Abbey Wellbeing Week focused on the themes of "Minding My Mind Through Creativity" and "Building Resilience Post Pandemic". To kickstart on Monday, all students and staff participated in a 5km run/walk which included the new River Arra Walkway which runs adjacent to the school. Almost €700 was raised for our two chosen charities, UNICEF to support victims of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria and Cycle Against Suicide for our school’s involvement in their Headstrong Programme.
Other activities during the week included, the visit of John Lonergan who worked with both students and parents in two separate workshops. We were delighted to welcome students and teachers from St. Anne's to the afternoon workshop also.
A plethora of activities took place for various groups throughout the week, including, a quiz which coincided with world book day, a French and German breakfast organised by the Modern Languages Department, a Yoga retreat with Ms. O’ Connell and Ms. Ruby. 3rd Years tested their baking skills and made chocolate biscuit cake with Ms. Ryan. Our Music department put on a trad music session at lunch time and Eoin Doocey (6th Year Vice Captain) used his barbering skills to give some of the teachers haircuts. Mr. John Kiely (Principal) organised a principal puck around at lunch time. All of these activities contributed to the positive wellbeing of the whole school community.
In keeping with the theme of the week, emphasis was placed on Creative Careers and Apprenticeships. There is a national drive to recruit more apprentices and address the skills shortage in every career sector which Mr. Conor Hayes (Guidance Counsellor) is delighted to see. Site visits to Atlantic Aviation Centre in Shannon, Kildalton Agricultural College, Templetuohy Farm Machinery , Buttimer Enginnering and the Explore Engineering Careers Fair took place throughout the week with various groups of senior students attending, depending on their preferences.
|
|
|
|
The week culminated in the unveiling of the Resin Art Sculpture by Shane O Connor and Liam Carew (BT Young Scientist Winners 2023), with a few words from TY Pupils Jamie Byrnes and Daniel O Dwyer and Wellbeing Coordinator Mr Conor Hayes. Our Artist In Residence for the week was Siobhan Levingstone of Galtee Resin Art. She worked with Transition Year Pupils , sharing her knowledge and skills throughout well-being week in the form of a series of practical workshops. The project is kindly funded by the NAPD - Creative Engagement Program, with special thanks to Dermot Carney. The team created a large-scale Resin Tree Sculpture, with each piece representing a student in our school community. It coincides with our School “Wellbeing Week Theme - Minding My Wellbeing Through The Creative Arts”.
The week was hugely uplifting and positive for the whole school community. Mr Conor Hayes (Wellbeing Coordinator) mentioned how this year they looked at the expertise and skills of whole school community and tapped into these instead of outsourcing external resources for all activities. It's amazing when you take stock of what you have internally and look at the individual skills sets of both staff, students and parents, what can begin to emerge". He paid tribute to Mr. John Kiely, Mr. Pat Donovan for their encouragement and support, the Wellbeing Team in the school in addition to all other students, staff and parents who gave such commitment and time to make the week the success that it was.
|
|
|
|
Sean Treacy Bronze Sculpture
We were delighted to welcome past pupil and Bronze Sculptor Jarlath Daly to our school. He gave a talk about his work to Art students from The Abbey School and St. Anne's School. Pupils were treated to a talk and a slideshow of his work as Jarlath explained the source of inspiration for much of his pieces. His sculptures he says, ‘reflect public attitudes, local themes and legends, sport and of course history at both the local and the epic.’ He is also greatly inspired by nature & his childhood memories growing up in Tipperary.
He made a generous presentation of a bespoke Bronze Sculpture entitled 'Sean Treacy' to the school. Sean Treacy was one of the leaders of the Third Tipperary Brigade of The Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence.
|
|
|
|
Abbey
Senior Football Success
The Abbey CBS Tipperary progressed to the Paddy Drummond Cup, the All-Ireland Senior Schools B
Football Championship final, where they faced St. Josephs Grammar School,
Donaghmore of Tyrone.
We were hoping to go one better than the class of 2022 and bring the
All-Ireland title back to West Tipperary for the first time since 1998 but it was not to be.
Congratulations to our team and mentors on your achievements this year.
|
|
|
|
Sanofi’s Green Team Visit
We were delighted to have members of @sanofi 's Green Team visit recently. We have an exciting partnership with Sanofi as part of their Planet Care Journey to deliver a TY Environmental Leadership Programme which will involve our new outdoor classroom.
Spring has definitely sprung there too with our wellbeing groups experiencing at first hand the results of their sowing and planting labours.
We look forward to more growth as we move through Spring. Well done to Mr. Kirwan, Damien and the TY Sustainability Committee for all their hard work with this exciting project.
|
|
|
|
WELL Week 2023
Ardscoil na Mara WELL (Week of English language and literacy) kicked off this with the annual First Year Spelling Bee. Well done to all our First Year students for taking part.
Congratulations to all the class winners. Other events this week included Countdown Conundrums, poetry competition and guest speaker Moncrieff who spoke about the importance of language in song writing. Thanks to all the literacy team for a great week.
The overall winner was Mollie O'Neill she is pictured here with Mrs. Denton, Deputy Principal and Mr. Michael Hickey, English teacher.
|
|
|
|
Glór Na Mara Languages & Cultural Day
Members of the Peace and Justice Group attended the Languages and Culture Day at Glor na Mara Primary School. There they learned about different cultures, languages, diversity and inclusion! A lovely morning was had. Thanks to Glor na Mara for their warm welcome. We hope to return the visit as plans are afoot for our Multicultural Week in April.
|
|
|
|
Belfast Immersion Programme 2023.
Students from our Peace and Justice group took part in a fantastic Advocacy immersion Programme in Belfast in February. They were joined by students from St Ambrose College and St Anslem’s College both Edmund Rice schools in the United Kingdom and their Chaplain, Tom Murray.
Below is an account of the weekend written by School of Sanctuary Ambassador & Peace and Justice Group Member, Robyn O’Grady. Robyn is a TY student. Her account encapsulates the whole experience very well.
Day One
On the first day, we had breakfast at the hotel and then set off to the Westcourt Centre. It was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel. The walk was lovely because we got our first taste of Belfast as a group trying to navigate our way to the centre. We arrived and we were introduced to six boys from two other schools in Manchester and Liverpooll and we met their school Chaplain, Tom Murray and most importantly, Cormac McArt.
This meeting was our first reflection together as a group. Cormac explained to us what the Westcourt Centre was used for, its history, and its future. We learned that it used to be a school building for the CBS and we were also told about the photography exhibition we would be visiting which is composed of photos taken by members of the Westcourt Centre.
After our reflection, we walked to the People's Kitchen where they very kindly made us lunch and explained to us what they do and why. We also met a homeless man named Billy. I think talking to him was the very first realisation that we had been living in our own little reality. Talking to him and hearing his first hand experience really moved us.
After we finished lunch, we talked about what the People's Kitchen provides for people in need. Then we were taken into the city where we saw first hand the leftovers of drug use. We were shown a car park where three young women had died due to overdoses. I think seeing that definitely pulled on our heart strings.
Afterwards we visited the gallery where the photo exhibition was being shown. We all took a couple of minutes to walk around and take in the work that was on display. We were told to pick a photo that stood out to us the most and explain why to the rest of the group. Having heard everyone’s reasons for why they picked the photo that they picked we all realised the different aspects of each photo. Later on we headed to a Presbyterian church where we saw Dana Masters as part of the Four Corners Festival. After a long, heavy day we really appreciated that time to reflect with each other. Having met each other for the first time that morning we warmed up to each other and I think this experience brought us closer together.
Day Two
On Saturday, we had breakfast at the hotel and walked to the Westcourt Center again. We had another reflection and had a talk about well-being, having a sense of purpose and the effects of the Troubles. We then left Westcourt and walked into the city centre where we joined a walking tour of Belfast and learned about the historical past of the buildings and what they are used for now.
I think the monument that stuck out the most to us was the Homeless Jesus statue by Timothy Schmalz. It was on display in front of a hostel for people in need. We were told about its story and had a moment of reflection in front of it.
Later on in the evening, we visited Rosemount, a house for men struggling with addiction, drinking and homelessness. We had pizza and chips for dinner and did a table quiz with the men who reside there. After a long day of walking we enjoyed it so much and getting to talk to the men there was so interesting. Hearing it again from people who have gone through it first hand was extremely moving and realising they are no different than us was important. We headed back to the hotel with full bellies and went straight to bed after a long evening of fun!
Day Three
On Sunday morning we had breakfast once again and went to mass in St Malachy's Church. It is such a breath taking church and the ceremony was beautiful. Afterwards, we were shown the Peace Walls and heard from Cormac himself and his own experience with them. Our generation is definitely sheltered from what happened in the North during the troubles.
Seeing and hearing it all, while standing next to these massive walls that completely separated communities, was eye opening. Then we headed to St George’s Market where we had a quick look around. We said our goodbyes to the boys, Tom and Cormac and headed to the train station to catch our train.
Reflection
I keep repeating this, but I think this experience was truly eye opening for all of us. No one had any idea how hidden drug use and homelessness can be. It was absolutely devastating to see what people go through. The fact that some people don’t even know during the day where they are going to stay that night is heart breaking
Thank you so much to Cormac and everyone at the Westcourt Centre for making this possible and opening our eyes to this new world. We really enjoyed meeting the boys and Tom, we’ve made some lifelong friends and learning about everything that is hidden from us has opened a door for us.
We hope to further our work on these difficult issues, along with the other members of the Peace and Justice group. Thank you to Mr. Cawley, Mrs. Denton, Ms. Hally and Mr. McLaughlin for choosing us to go on this trip and accompanying us. As well as being introduced to these topics, we also had so much fun. |
|
|
|
Ardscoil Ris U16 badminton team win the Leinster Schools Final
Captain Paul Foley started the day off strong beating his opponent from Kilkenny College. However the score sheet came down to points at the end of it all with both schools sharing three games each but a dominate display from Noble and Paul decided the outcome through points.
Next up were Castleknock College. The lads showed professionalism as they beat their opponents 5-1. The Gavin Dooley and Carl Pamplona won their games.
Shout out to Michael Bannon, sub for the day, but very much a vital part of the team. The lads have won three consecutive Leinster titles and now progress to the All Ireland Final, we wish them continued success for their next match.
|
|
|
|
Bunscoil McAuley Rice Callan |
|
|
|
Bunscoil McAuley Rice – A Champion School of Sanctuary
In a special ceremony held at Technological University Dublin, Grangegorman on Friday February 3rd, Bunscoil McAuley Rice in Callan was 1 of 13 Champion Schools to officially receive the "Champion School of Sanctuary" award.
The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Caroline Conroy, presented certificates and award plaques to the schools.
Over the past two years, Bunscoil McAuley Rice has worked tirelessly to be nationally recognised for their exceptional practices involving welcoming and understanding minority groups, especially refugees and their families.
A total of 7 primary schools and 6 post-primary schools around Ireland received the prestigious award on the day, with Bunscoil McAuley Rice being Kilkenny's first winner.
There was video footage and, in many cases, personal testimony from all schools about their journey to becoming Champion Schools of Sanctuary, and each presentation was greeted by applause and cheers from a large audience. There were also prestigious visitors from the Department of Education, the Education Authority of Northern Ireland, TUSLA, UNHCR, ETB, the Ombudsman for Children, as well as City Councillors, Education Centres, funding bodies, and non-governmental organisations. Each school presented its own unique culture as well as its passion for equality and fairness; some schools showed videos, others brought slides, while others presented stories about the difference a warm welcome made to their lives. The session ended with a stirring song of welcome that was deeply encouraging and emotional.
All at Bunscoil McAuley Rice are very proud to have achieved the national School of Sanctuary award. This prestigious award is an honour for us as an Edmund Rice School and we are privileged to be associated with Schools of Sanctuary Ireland.
|
|
|
|
Wellbeing Week – Zest for Life: CBC Cork:
The CBC Wellbeing Committee recently launched the inaugural Wellbeing Week 2023: Zest for Life, from Monday 27th February to Friday 3rd March.
The intention of this week was to promote awareness of the concept of Wellbeing by inviting students from all year groups to engage with a series of events and presentations.
The week was planned with the aim of being engaging, enjoyable and thought-provoking for all of the student body.
We were excited by the variety of speakers visiting the college and hoped that every student would gain valuable insights into cultivating and supporting his own wellbeing.
Each day commenced with a brief ‘thought for the day’ reflection, delivered by College Principal, Mr. David Lordon, members of the Wellbeing Committee, Catherine Costello, Catherine Whelan, Dennis Lyons, and School Captain, Jonathan O’Shaughnessy.
|
|
|
|
CBC Gardening Club
The Garden Club’s purpose is to teach students how to live and work in a sustainable environment while knowing they are doing their part to keep the Earth healthy and happy.
The Garden Club consists of one group of ten First Year students and two Transition Year Coordinators. We had wonderful opportunities to take part in a number of projects from September to May: from deadheading flowers, planting daffodils, tulips, daisies, cyclamen, pollinators and many more. We were fortunate to have the good weather to go with it. It was truly an enjoyable experience to be in the outdoors, helping the environment, while also making the school grounds look colourful in the process.
This year we continued with our hugely important environmental project of planting native trees in Landsdowne, planting an additional 20 native trees, including Oak, Hawthorn, Alder, Birch, Pine and Hazel trees. These additions were kindly donated once again by “Trees on land” a cross-border initiative working to establish young native trees across our country. On May 5th we marked Edmund Rice’s day by planting a Birch tree within the school grounds. The students are looking forward to seeing these trees dominate the grounds in another 10 years’ time.
|
|
|
|
One third of our bee species is threatened by extinction due to the reduced level of food (flowers). We lend them a hand by planting more pollinator-friendly flowers; adding more wildflowers beds and pledging to mow the lawn less. Our members desire to work in harmony with nature, which involves looking after our little friends the bees, butterflies and other pollinators; playing our part in reversing the declining population of pollinators in Ireland.
Some members of our garden club took part in a clean-up at the Lee Fields organised by An Taisce’s Green Schools team and supported by Irish Water. The boys were highly commended for their ‘Outstanding Work’ helping to improve our natural environment by removing unwanted litter and protecting ecosystems. Concurrently, other members partook in the ‘National Spring Clean-Up’, involving picking up litter on our school grounds, and promoting personal responsibility for litter and waste issues. A super job was done by all.
Finally, in March we had a great opportunity to sow some potatoes, carrots, onions and even had the chance to plant gooseberry and blackberry bushes for the birds. The boys are looking forward to reaping the rewards of their harvest very soon.
The Gardening club is not only about having fun digging and planting in the outdoors, but it is also about learning how to protect our environment and how to create a sustainable Earth for humans and wildlife to live in. We can feel happier knowing that the small changes we’ve made can make a big difference. This year, we certainly reached our desired goals of having fun gardening and making the world a better place.
|
|
|
|
CBC Team Maths
Congratulations to CBC Team Maths, who recently won the Cork Final of the Team Maths Competition. The team comprises (left to right) Mr. Dean Ryan, Fionn Kimber O Shea, Ben Warren Flynn, Andrew O Sullivan, and Ben Lynch.
|
|
|
|
Third Year Geography: ‘My Local Geography’ and Wellbeing Cruise
Cork Harbour and its surrounding area is one of the most beautiful destinations in the country with its natural harbour, scattering of islands and colourful houses. It is also within close proximity to CBC Cork.
Our Geography Teacher, Mr. Edmond Hussey, organised for all the Third Year students to take a cruise along the harbour. We were really looking forward to this outdoor activity and a chance to learn some geography outside the confines of the classroom.
Mr. Hussey informed us that Cork Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in the world. It is steeped in history with its man-made fortifications, maritime tradition and the key role it has played in significant points of Irish history and geography.
One of the first sights we witnessed was the excellent view of Blackrock Castle, which Trish Harris of Cork Harbour Cruises informed us was originally developed as a coastal defence fortification in the 16th century to protect the harbour from rebel pirates and other invaders. Destroyed by fire in 1722, it was re-built by the people of Cork only to be destroyed by fire again in 1827, and re-built again. It now houses an observatory, visitor centre and restaurant.
As we cruised past Haulbowline Island on our vessel called ‘The Spirit of Doolin’, we learned about the island’s long history as a military base since it was fortified in 1602. Initially, it was an important base for the British Army but is now Ireland’s main naval base and headquarters for the Irish Naval Service. The island also has deep connections with recreational activity and with the world’s first yacht club – The Royal Cork Yacht Club – established on the island. It is now home to the Haulbowline Island Amenity Park.
The cruise followed around Rocky Island, Spike Island and the Spit Bank Lighthouse and we also took in the beautiful colours, twinkling lights and iconic view of the historic village of Cobh, before we made our way back to the Customs House Quay.
The harbour’s natural beauty is undeniable with its breath-taking coastal views, island retreats and picturesque villages.
(Conor Kelly, Third Year).
|
|
|
|
Catholic Schools Week
Monday: TY Faith Leader Retreat St. Finbarr’s Qratory, Gougane Barra, Cork.
42 students from TY were brought to St. Finbarr’s Oratory to participate in a retreat to kick off Catholic Schools Week.
The beautiful nature and surroundings were a sight to behold. There was an audible “wow” when the bus arrived. Thanks to Collette and Fr. Anthony for allowing us access this stunning space for a Christian meditation and some simple retreat-based activities. Our students then got out to walk around the grounds in keeping with the theme of the week.
|
|
|
|
Tuesday: Mass with Fr. Mike in St. Finbarr’s South Parish Cork City.
All First Year students attended 10 am mass in our Parish Church on Tuesday of Catholic Schools week. The Music Dept and choir sang beautifully for the school community and parishioners alike.
|
|
|
|
Wednesday: Grandparents Day & Coffee Morning
On Wednesday the 25th of January the RE, Music and Home Economics Dept. celebrated Grandparents Day by holding a coffee morning from 10 am -11 am.
Grandparents travelled from the four corners of Cork and one Grandmother travelled all the way from Roscommon to spend the day with their grandchild. A very special day indeed. Poems, prayers, reflections, art and music around grandparents were offered.
Grandparent’s Day was inspired by Pope Francis's call for respect of elderly in the community, making sure they are not left behind by today’s fast-moving society and thus encouraging the renewal of their presence in society.
Indeed, the event put a smile on many faces by its end and showed what every older person wants, and that is the escape from solitude and a proof that they are taken into consideration: that they matter.
|
|
|
|
Thursday: Thursday 5km Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice Charity Walk.
A group of TY students and the John Paul II Team went to the Lough in Ballyphehane to complete a 5km walk in aid of Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice.
Two students ran 5km and in fact all students completed an almost 7km walk/run.
Thanks to all those that sponsored this amazing cause.
|
|
|
|
St Brigid's Day Workshop |
|
Our TY and Year 1 students took part in a St. Brigid’s Cross Making Workshop.
We spent just over an hour doing demonstrations and making the crosses.
Here is an example of some of our students' work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Visit by An Taoiseach
In November 2022, former Taoiseach, Micheál Martin visited Coláiste Éamann Rís. With great interest and enthusiasm, the students greeted the leader and listened to a motivating speech on the importance of education, following one's passion and friendship.
Mr Martin was accompanied by Mick Finn; the past student of the school, former Lord Mayor of Cork City and the chairperson of the school's Board of Management. The historic visit has had an immense impact on students, where they talk about finding a career and a job which binds neatly with their closest interests.
|
|
|
|
Mr Martin outlined how dedication and hard work are needed to be successful. He revealed some personal habits that led him to a state of well-being, such as taking walks and engaging in extracurricular activities, arts and sport.
He described the impact of memories one creates during the time of attending a secondary school which lay as a solid foundation for the rest of his life. Taoiseach emphasised the importance of growing Cork and indeed Ireland into a more greener, sustainable society which is ready to embark on the journey of resilience and dedication, and how at the centre of this change is the act of education. |
|
|
|
Mr Martin reflected on the school's fast uptake of Ukrainian students. He commended Coláiste Éamann Rís efforts in cultivating inclusivity through multiculturalism of the school, especially in terms of offering a place for Ukrainians who have unjustly had to leave their homes due to war.
An Taoiseach also mentioned the economic impact of strong education and how it can change entire nations for the better.
Mr Martin saw potential that has been cultivated over the last fifty years across the nation in terms of sciences, finance, high quality exports in terms of agriculture and the residing tech giants such as Google and Apple which are contributing enormously to the Irish economy in every way.
His conclusion was clear: education is not only important, it is essential and our schools, such as Coláiste Éamann Rís are key strongholds of the emerging talents of Ireland.
|
|
|
|
Our School Community - Ukrainian Students
Friday February 24th
was the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine. In Coláiste Eamann Rís there are 26 students from Ukraine who are currently studying with us. We held a little get together with some of our international students to mark this important date. All of these students are learning English and we shared experiences about getting used to life in Cork. Students exchanged cards and expressed their solidarity.
Ní neart go cur le chéile. Is a saying in Irish which translates as there is no strength without unity. All our students in Coláiste Eamann Rís stand together and there were many offers of help and support to our new arrivals.
|
|
|
|
Sustainable Development Goals Champion Programme
This programme is a 6 week long initiative that will be facilitated by SERVE, delivered to our TY students at the school in an interactive and engaging manner.
SERVE is an Irish development and volunteering organisation committed to providing equal opportunities for poor communities living in Southern Africa, South-East Asia and South America.
The lead teacher for this project, Mr.Kenny has previously volunteered with SERVE in the North Eastern region of Brazil. Having maintained connections with the organisation, Mr. Kenny secured this project for his TY students at CÉR Cork through his links with SERVE in the past. It is through his geography lessons primarily that this workshop will be facilitated.
|
|
|
|
Horticulture at CÉR
This year our Transition Year students have been completing modules in horticulture at our freshly invigorated polytunnel.
Back in September 2022, TY students set to work on the perspiration inducing labour of clearing the wild overgrowth that had taken hold in the polytunnel. This heavy groundwork was no match for our enthusiastic students that had returned from a restful summer.
After much clearing and digging, the polytunnel was ready for a new year of planting, growth and development.
Our students decided that a balance between flowers, plants, fruit and vegetables would be diverse enough to allow for planting, flowering and harvesting year round.
We set about sourcing native Irish seeds as well as seeds that were suitable to the Irish Climate and were produced locally in an effort to support Irish businesses.
Among the items planted were daffodils, tulips, bluebells, crocuses, acorns, strawberries, mint, garlic, cabbage, radish, beans and much more.
The art department teacher Ms. Naughton had read an article online which encouraged schools to participate in 'The Crocus Project' run by Holocaust Education Ireland.
|
|
|
|
The Crocus Project commemorates the Holocaust through sending schools Crocus bulbs to be planted in mid November in order that they bloom in late January. January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and so the crocus was chosen as the appropriate flower to mark this day.
Mr. Kenny, the horticulture teacher, joined with the R.E. department's Ms. Leahy to establish cross curricular links for this project. Second year students were taught about the Holocaust in their R.E. class and we visited The Gate Cinema to watch an animated adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank during the Cork Film Festival.
|
|
|
|
The horticulture class have also partnered with Maria Young from Green Spaces Cork in an effort to build biodiversity and connections to outdoor spaces in the students' locale.
As part of this partnership, students will submit an entry to the Young Environmentalist Award on the theme of biodiversity whereby they will plant native Irish trees along the school boundary in an effort to increase native Irish flora and fauna in their community.
Mr. Kenny has also set up the school's first ever Horticulture Club where students that are interested in horticulture can take part although they may not be timetabled for the subject. The club meets on Friday lunch time each week, and one of the club members, a second year, has a keen interest in poisonous plants… all staff hope that it is just an innocent interest and nothing too conspiratorial.
(His favourite is the Foxglove, which he is eager to get planting!)
Our school community is looking forward to further harvests of radishes, spring onions, cabbage, chard, salads and fruit as well as picking the many daffodils planted to be sold in March to raise much needed funds for the Irish Cancer Society on Daffodil Day.
|
|
|
|
LIFE IN CHARLEVILLE CBS
WRITTEN BY TOMAS KUCERA - 5TH YEAR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT
I was very impressed by the quality of CBS; in education, community and the overall atmosphere around the school.
All of the teachers were brilliant throughout my whole stay. I always felt I had their support in the classroom and around the school. I was impressed by all the extra work the staff did, organising all the events they did even though they did not have to. You can actually sense the teachers’ goodwill and willingness to give as much as they could to the students, in the best way possible.
It was an amazing opportunity for me to get to learn some Irish, again, something that did not have to be done but still was.
Even though it might have been hard for me to get used to the school’s rules and uniforms in the beginning, I got to the stage where I appreciate and understand the thinking behind them.
I would genuinely like to thank anyone I met during my time in CBS- whether it was the teachers, the principal, other students, the rest of the staff or the lovely ladies in the school canteen. All of them welcomed all of the exchange students open-armed. I could not have wished for a better school for my stay.
Well done everyone, though it might not be said to you every day; We greatly appreciate your work and the school wouldn’t be the same without every single one of you.
I will always look up to Charleville Christian Brother’s Secondary school as one of the best opportunities in my life. The thank-you goes to everyone met and you should know that never in my life could I forget about you all.
|
|
|
|
POPE JOHN PAUL II AWARDS
During TY, four students – Eoin O’Mahony, Liam Fitzgibbon, Kevin Shiju and Niall Tobin set out to complete the criteria set out for the silver Pope John Paul II Awards. Throughout the year, the students did various charitable work such as teaching music, working with Tidy Towns and St. Vincent de Paul. They also played an integral part in the Charleville Parish, reading at mass each week. This was a great learning opportunity for the students allowing them to develop a wide range of skills including interpersonal skills and their confidence, along with contributing to the community and parish.
|
|
|
|
National Concert Hall
Two 1st year students, Joshua O’Gorman and Sebastian Wells played in the 27th Festival of Youth Orchestras in the National Concert Hall on Saturday 11th February 2023.
Joshua played the piano and Sebastian played the drums. They joined a wide range of performers including Musica Fusion Community Orchestra.
|
|
|
|
Linguistics Olympiad
In January, 12 students took part in the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad preliminary round. The All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad challenges students’ problem-solving skills and allows them to develop skills which will be very useful in many future careers such as computer science, linguistics, engineering and maths.
This year’s competition had a very high standard with 1044 students taking part from all over the country. Two of CBS Charleville’s students – Sebastian Blaskovics and Fernando O’Connell have qualified for the National Final which will take place in DCU . |
|
|
|
Comóradh Choláiste Íosagáin
Mar chuid de chomóradh 50 bliain Choláiste Íosagáin, eagraíodh an-chuid ócáidí le pobal uile na scoile a thabhairt le chéile.
Ócáid amháin a eagraíodh i rith an tsamhraidh ná nuair a cuireadh fáilte roimh aíonna speisialta, iardhaltaí (ó rang ‘77) a thosaigh i gColáiste Íosagáin 50 bliain ó shin.
Chomh maith leis sin, bhí lá oscailte d’iarscoláirí ar siúl Dé Sathairn 12 Samhain idir 12-2pm mar chuid de chomóradh 50 bliain na scoile chomh maith. Ba dheis álainn í seo bualadh le seanchairde agus aithne a chur ar chairde nua. Bhain gach duine an-taitneamh as Lá Oscailte na nIarscóláirí.
|
|
|
|
Ní fhéadfaimis comóradh 50 bliain na scoile a lua gan aitheantas speisialta a thabhairt d’éacht cheolchoirm na scoile a bhí ar siúl ar an 13 Nollaig. Bhí idir iarscoláirí agus scoláirí reatha ar an stáitse ag cur taispeántas den scoth ar siúl. |
|
|
|
Molaimid an obair dhian ar fad a rinneadh leis an oíche seo a chur ar an stáitse. Gabhaimid buíochas le Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, a bhí mar láithreoir greannmhar gealgáireach na hoíche. Is gá aitheantas speisialta a thabhairt do dhaoine áirithe - Marie Ní Dhiarmada, Niamh Ní Arrachtáin, Eveyln Ní Earúin, Kayla Ní Dhonnacha, Sophie Ní Bheacháin, bainistíocht na scoile, daltaí an tséú bliain agus gach duine a chabhraigh ina mbealach féin. Ní dhéanfaimis dearmad ar an oíche seo go deo! |
|
|
|
Céadaoin an Luaithrigh
Rinne daltaí agus múinteoirí na scoile céiliúradh ar Chéadaoin an Luaithrigh sa séipéal áitiúil i bparóiste Bhaile an Bhóthair i mBaile Átha Cliath. Is cuid tábhachtach í seo d’fhéilire na scoilbhliana, ina dtosaímid ar an gCarghas, ag smaoineamh ar íobairt Íosa agus ag déanamh ár n-íobairtí féin don chéad 40 lá eile. Táimid an-bhuíoch as pobal Bhaile an Bhóthair a chur fáilte romhainn ag an séipéal ar an lá agus bhí sé go hiontach pobal na scoile a fheiceáil ag léiriú na luaithreach.
|
|
|
|
Lá Fhéile Bríde
Léirigh idir dhaltaí agus mhúinteoirí a gcuid scileanna cruthaitheachta agus na Crosa Bríde á gcur le chéile acu. Feicimid In. Uí Fathartha agus daltaí bhliain a 1 sa phictiúr thíos, ag obair go dian agus ag baint taitneamh as an gceardaíocht. Is deas an rud é na Crosa Bríde a fheiceáil maisithe timpeall na scoile.
|
|
|
|
Cuireadh tús le tionól na maidine ar an 1 Feabhra le píosa ceoil álainn ó ghrúpa traidisúnta bhliain 1 do Lá Fhéile Bríde.
Is deis iontach é tionól na scoile, a mbíonn ar siúl gach lá, do scoláirí teacht le chéile, a bheith ag guí agus ag céiliúradh nuacht na scoile mar phobal. Tá sé tábhachtach aitheantas a thabhairt d’éachtaí na ndaltaí agus a mbuanna a léiriú – mar atá le feiceáil sa phictiúr seo thíos. Cuireann sé gliondar croí ar mhuintir na scoile ceol binn an
earraigh a chloisteáil!
|
|
|
|
Coláiste Éanna - All-Ireland Basketball Champions 2023
Congratulations to both our U19A and U16A Basketball teams on winning their respective All-Ireland Basketball Finals on 21 February – a great honour for Coláiste Éanna.
For the second year in succession, Coláiste Éanna were crowned U19A All-Ireland Schools League Champions, following an 50-39 win over St. Aidan’s CBS in the National Basketball Arena on 21 February. Throughout the fast-paced game Coláiste Éanna players displayed their impressive skills, maintaining the lead. Nathan Comerford’s impressive contribution and shooting performance of 17 points earned him the award of MVP (Most Valuable Player).
|
|
|
|
Coláiste Éanna’s U19A team: Seán Brady, Sean Wall, Adam Charles, Nathan Comerford, Luke Fitzpatrick, Chidera Chime, Odhran Comerford, Mark Keogh, Adam Walsh, Victor Lovic, Chukwuemeka Chime.
Also, team captain Seán Brady’s leadership reflected the commitment and hard work of all the team. Notable contributions were from Mark Keogh in defence, and both Adam Walsh and Seán Brady in offence, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively |
|
|
|
On the afternoon of 21 February, our U16A team followed in the footsteps of their senior peers in attaining victory in their All-Ireland Schools League final against St. Patrick’s, Castleisland. From the outset, this was a very close contested game, during which both teams were tied on five occasions.
Under the leadership of their captains, Adam Charles and Conor Chambers, our team responded to the challenges of St. Patrick’s. For his notable defence and scoring 22 points, Adam was awarded MVP (Most Valuable Player).
Conor added 11 points to the scoresheet, along with Harry Lynch’s 13 points. Other notable contributions were from Augustine Farrell and Adam McCarthy. At the end of the fourth quarter, our team emerged victorious with a 60-51 win. |
|
|
|
Coláiste Éanna’s U16A team: Patrick Walsh, Chisom Chime, Emmet Callan, Augustine Farrell, Josh Carroll, Adam Charles, Dylan Brennan, Samson McCarthy, Danny Hamill, Adam McCarthy, Conor Chambers, Charlie Grogan, Harry Lynch.
These successes would not have been possible without the commitment and dedication of the players on both teams over this and previous years.
– Well done to All.
Thanks is due to their coach, Hillary Netsiyanwa, and assistanct coach, Niall Berry, from HoopsLife Ireland. Also, thanks to our support staff, Ms. Jean Fuller, Ms. Karen Hogan, Mr. Dave Grant and Ms. Caitríona Nic Éinrí. |
|
|
|
Debating Success
Coláíste Éanna's junior debaters had another excellent night of success at the octo-finals round in UCD on Thursday 23rd February.
This is the school's first time competing in the L&H/LawSoc Junior Schools competition since the pandemic and it has proved a really promising year for a superb group of novice debaters who've lost no time in mastering the key skills of parliamentary debating.
Just 32 teams and 32 individuals came through the league phase of the competition to make the knockout octo-finals and all were debating the motion "That this House would have all sixteen-year-olds get part time jobs". Representing Coláiste Éanna on the night were our first-year team of David Kearney and Josh Hally and third year individual speakers Ruairí Dennis and Joseph O'Reilly.
Ruairí and Joseph both made it through to the quarter finals with high commendation from the adjudicators, as did David from the first-year team. His team-mate Josh was most unlucky to lose out on a very tight call and although David will now compete as an individual speaker in his quarter final, he and Josh will continue to prepare for this round as a team and will be back debating together in future competitions.
There was no time for the victorious three to rest on their laurels though as the quarter final draw came through on Friday morning and all three speakers are now preparing to propose the motion "That this House supports the voluntourism industry".
Thanks to their coach and mentor, Mr. Barry Hennessy, for his commitment and work in supporting our team. |
|
|
|
Maths Competition Finalists
Congratulations to Coláiste Éanna’s Leaving Certificate Higher Level Math's team who competed in the south Dublin regional final of the Team Maths Competition (organised by the Irish Maths Teachers Association) on Friday the 27 January.
Our team came joint second with Belvedere College, St. Benildus College and Wesley College, just one point off the winners Sandford Park. The team is comprised of Stephen McCrane, Saul O' Connell, Cathal O' Toole and Dylan Quinn.
Congratulations to the team on this amazing achievement, in reaching the top 25 out of the 192 teams who competed in the regional finals throughout Ireland, and thanks to their mentor, Ms. Julianne Scanlon.
|
|
|
|
Transition Year – A busy term
2023 got off to a great start for the students of Coláiste Éanna, as the first day back they were introduced to the Art of coffee making by the excellent baristas from Dublin Barista School. Starting the workshop off with some background information around coffee beans and grinding to finishing with the perfect looking Latte there was not much spilled milk amongst the group of lads. An excellent workshop to ease the lads back into school after Christmas.
Two weeks later we welcomed Kevin from the School of Improv where we saw the emergence of lots of talented stand-up comedians. The workshop allowed many of the students to speak and gain confidence through comedy sketches and improvisation. The laughter coming from the room and echoing around the school was a clear sign that the students were having fun.
|
|
|
|
Most recently all transition year students have completed their work experience module. It is an absolute credit to all students who managed to secure a variety of placements. TY Yeats student, Jarlath O’ Halloran linked up with past pupil Ciarán Aherne, who works in employment law. Luckily for Jarlath, he found himself in the Four Courts on his first day. Students will now present on their experience and we look forward to hearing these accounts on their return from Community Care.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Mr Hennessy, our Law teacher who assisted a group of our TY students to the Criminal Courts of Justice most recently. After studying Law for the last 8 weeks, it was really important to allow the students to see how the justice system works and to hear how evidence is presented in the courtroom. Thanks to Mr Hennessy for such a wonderful, engaging and educational outing.
|
|
|
|
We had our second group of transition year students complete their first aid course on Monday 6th March. On completion of the course, students will be able to recognize emergencies and understand and demonstrate essential life-saving skills. From here, students will now undergo more CPR training using the CPR4Schools initiative and become trainers for the junior students in Coláiste Éanna.
|
|
|
|
Finally, our TY book project, with 1st class from Ballyroan Boys National School, was a massive success and resulted in many happy, young men walking away with their own personalised story book.
Transition year students interviewed the boys, finding out about their most valuable possessions, favourite superhero and many more insights. With this information the TY students created a book on Canva, full of colour and adventure, and presented this to the students 6 weeks later.
Thanks to Ms. Triona O’ Brien for facilitating such a wonderful project and thanks also to all the teachers in Ballyroan Boys National School.
|
|
|
|
Catholic Schools Week 2023 - Grandparents Day |
|
|
|
Our pupils had great fun on the Wednesday of Catholic Schools Week when they celebrated with their grandparents. |
|
|
|
Congratulations to our school volleyball team on winning their section in the National Primary Schools Volleyball competition played at the U.L. complex.
The team are pictured with their teacher, Mr. Donal O’Connell.
|
|
|
|
Doon C.B.S. School hurling team that played in the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol I.N.T.O. / G.A.A. mini sevens competition.
|
|
|
|
Sexton Street Primary Limerick |
|
|
|
Pupils from Scoil Iosagain C.B.S. Primary School, Sexton St., Limerick, pictured in St. John’s Cathedral, Limerick, after receiving the sacrament of First Penance with Canon Gerard Garrett (left) and Fr. Leo Mc Donnell.
|
|
|
|
St. Mary's CBS Enniscorthy |
|
|
|
Catholic Schools Week
Jay Clifford, the student PR leadership group member.
Catholic school's week started on the 22nd of January. During the lead-up, our Religious Education teachers and their students created a large display in our school's central Assembly Area for the occasion.
|
|
|
|
On the 26th of January, led by Father Billy Swan, our School Chaplain, our whole school community participated in a prayer service to celebrate all of the central themes of Catholic Schools Week.
Religion teachers also brought their religion classes, Burton and Yates, to mass in St. Aidan’s Cathedral, and 2nd year and 3rd year classes enjoyed a walk to the Enniscorthy Peace Park and the Cathedral, commemorating the Catholic Schools Week theme “Walking with our faith”.
|
|
|
|
Transformational Leadership Group
This year, St Mary’s CBS Enniscorthy established a student Transformational Leadership group. Members consist of students who are not part of other official school leadership teams. The St Mary’s CBS student Transformational Leadership group, facilitated by Ms Morrissey, recently experienced great success when they were announced winners of the 'Expressions' Competition which the Wexford Mental Health Association ran on February 8th in the Riverside Hotel.
Group members are Dmitrijs Postojevs, Evan Millar, Cathal Murphy, Fionn Nolan, Brian Murphy, Ciaran Delaney, Mateusz Polinski, Brandan Mashamba, Bobby McKeown and John O'Neill,
The group was tasked with expressing what mental health means to them and could use any medium they wanted, e.g. Song, dance, a play, a movie etc.
They made a short movie, filmed by the talented Dmitrijs, with Cathal and Evan in the leading roles. They also made a display depicting a wall as a barrier to talking about your feelings and a garden of hope depicting where one can turn for help.
Brian, Fionn and Ciaran wrote a fantastic speech about the stigmas attached to mental health, the importance of talking and sharing your feelings, and the facts and figures associated with male mental health. They presented this speech on the night.
All had a lovely night.
An excellent achievement for St. Mary's CBS Enniscorthy.
|
|
|
|
Internet Safety Week
by Jay Clifford, member of the student PR team at St. Mary’s CBS
Internet safety at St. Mary’s C.B.S. week began on the 2nd of February. It was kicked off by Mr Lee's debating team debating the motion ‘Is restricting access to the internet the best way to keep children safe and away from cyberbullying’?
Ms Boyce facilitated a poster competition to raise awareness of Internet Safety, which was open to all students.
The whole school Tutor focus highlighted ways to stay safe on the internet, with the three main areas being how to deal with cyberbullying, manage your online reputation and spot fake news.
Our second-year students also enjoyed an internet safety quiz conducted, facilitated by some of our 5th-year digital leaders, to promote Safer Internet Day.
Above is a picture of our Quiz winners from each second-year class.
|
|
|
|
We also welcomed the local gardai into the school to share their thoughts and experiences with internet safety, pictured here with our Deputy Principal, Mr Coleman.
|
|
|
|
Edmund Rice College Carrigaline |
|
|
|
How to Learn Creatively
Since April 2021 our school has been involved in a 24 month Erasmus project on how to learn and teach creatively. In conjunction with our partners from Poland, Portugal, Turkey and Greece we produced a handbook for students on how to learn creatively. This is the first of three outputs from the project. The second output will be a handbook for teachers with suggested lesson plans, whilst the third output will give examples of enhancing the school environment to help increase student creativity.
A dissemination event was held in our school to outline what the project involved and how it could contribute to creativity in teaching and learning. The staff who participated in the project found it to be professionally enhancing and rewarding as well as giving them the opportunity to travel to our partner schools and see first-hand the education systems there. The last trip involved visiting a second-level school in Madeira where the principal and her team of 4 deputies are elected by the staff every four years; what a creative approach to school leadership!
You can access the first handbook by clicking on https://tinyurl.com/2u393dep and please feel free to distribute it to any interested teachers/students. In due course we will share our second and third handbooks. In the meantime if anyone wishes to learn more please feel free to email deputy@erccarrigaline.ie
|
|
|
|
Catholic Schools Week 2023
As part of Catholic Schools week,, a poster competition was held in the school based on the theme “Walking together in faith and love”.
There was a huge number of high quality posters submitted and after serious consideration by the judges, the winner was 1st yr Aaron Jobin, whose creative, colourful and artistic representation of the theme impressed everyone.
Aaron won a lunch voucher for his efforts and his poster was framed and put up in the main entrance to the school for all to appreciate. |
|
|
|
BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2023
This year we had six participants at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2023. There were 550 projects on display and the competition for prizes was fierce. It proved to be a hugely successful event for our students with three well-deserved prizes for Coláiste Phádraig announced at the Awards Ceremony.
5th
yrs Taha Fareed Farooqi and Jevin Joy won 1st prize in the extremely competitive Senior Group Technology Section with their project entitled “Exploring Apophenia and Pareidolia in Machine Learning and optimising for predicting Stochastic Patterns” so huge congratulations to them on this fantastic achievement. Apophenia is the human tendency to see a pattern where no pattern actually exists. They investigated two subsets of apophenia in relation to their effect/influence on Artificial Intelligence. Their research concluded that AI is an incredibly powerful mathematical and biological modelling tool.
|
|
|
|
2nd yrs Hazem Ahmed and Bilal Khan won two awards for their project entitled “Buy or Rent? A predictive analytical algorithm to predict house prices using machine learning”. They were awarded 3rd place in the Junior Group Technology Section which was a great achievement. They also won the “Housing Agency Special Award” for developing a machine learning algorithm that can predict housing and rent prices.
3rd yr students Joel Emmanuel, Rohit Tummala and Eamon Jaber won a Highly Commended Award for their project entitled “ADHD Academy: A Website that can improve the attention span of students with ADHD” which was entered in the Junior Group Technology Section. Their project involved the creation of an educational website that uses open-source eye tracking software that tracks the attention span of students with ADHD. They also created educational videos for different school subjects that they added to the website.
|
|
|
|
English Trip
Mr. Sweetman's 6th Year English class went on an interesting Patrick Kavanagh walking tour of Dublin in December. The group responded strongly to Kavanagh's poetry on their Leaving Cert course and they were delighted to visit key sites related to the poet in, and around, the Grand Canal. The group visited Kavanagh’s former house on Pembroke Road, where he lived for 15 yrs and where he wrote a lot of his most beloved poetry. The highlight of the tour was a stroll down a leafy Raglan Road, (culminating in a bag of delicious Beshoffs!) while sitting on the various benches, commemorating Kavanagh, along the banks of the canal. Kavanagh famously found tremendous solace beside the Grand Canal and he often sat there contemplating his life.
The bench with a bronze life-sized statue of Kavanagh sitting on one side, almost beckoning for someone to sit down beside him, is situated on the north bank of the Grand Canal on Mespil Road. It has become a popular tourist attraction and some of our students reported feeling an extra kinship with Kavanagh whilst sitting on this bench. This statue was inspired by Kavanagh’s well known and much loved poem “Lines written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin”.
The purpose of the trip was twofold, as each student also disseminated Care Packs to homeless people, and other people in need, as they walked around the city. The idea for the care packs was prompted by the class studying the film "Rosie" as part of their Comparative Course, and each pack was paid for and packed personally (some even included personal notes and well wishes) by each student.
|
|
|
|
The class group were very grateful to Paula and Gerry in McDonald's, Lucan Shopping Centre, for their generous donation and contribution of forty €5 vouchers, which ensured that every recipient of a care pack was able to get a hot meal on a very cold, wet, miserable day.
As a follow up to this wonderful initiative, the two main actors in the film “Rosie”, Sarah Greene and Moe Dunford, recorded personalised messages for the students after they heard about the students’ kind actions.Both actors were very complimentary to the students and they thanked them profusely for their empathy and compassion. They also spoke about their understanding of one of the key symbols in the film (Peachy, the teddy bear) which helped crystallise the director’s use of this somewhat challenging symbol for the students. The actors’ words of support meant a lot to the students and they were greatly moved by what they said.
|
|
|
|
Awards
Three important awards are presented in then school every month; the Mark O’ Neill Student of the Month (named after an exceptionally talented, extremely respectful and softly-spoken young 2nd yr student who sadly passed away in 2007 aged just 14), the Sports Star of the Month and the Gaeilgeoir na Míosa award.
The winners each received a 20euro voucher as well as a framed certificate to recognise their achievements.
|
|
|
|
Building Update
The Department of Education funded project to provide additional accommodation for the school has progressed well in recent weeks.
The modular units, which will result in 10 extra classrooms for the school, were put in place before the school reopened after Christmas. The project is currently slightly ahead of schedule and will be completed well in advance of the end of the current school year.
This means that the building will be available for use at the start of the 2023/24 school year. The project is part of the DES response to ensure that there is an adequate number of school places available for all students in the Lucan area in the coming years.
|
|
|
|
Chess
Our chess club is going from strength to strength with almost 40 students attending every lunchtime session to pit their wits against fellow chess lovers. The club is on 4 times a week and the students were delighted to use the 10 new chess sets this week which were kindly purchased by the Parents Council. The club is open to all and it provides students with the opportunity to have some fun, make some friends and develop skills such as problem solving, abstract reasoning, patience, sportsmanship, pattern recognition, strategic thinking and calmness under pressure.
At the moment, the students are playing each other in friendly, yet competitive matches! Some prefer to use clock timers (which certainly adds to the drama and tension!) while others prefer to play at their own pace. Later on in the year there will be a tournament to determine who is the real Coláiste Phádraig Chess Master.
|
|
|
|
Gaeilge
There have been great turn-outs for the weekly Ciorcal Comhrá sessions with between 25 and 30 dedicated and committed students in regular attendance, all eager to practice their spoken Irish with their fellow students. The group meet every Wednesday at lunchtime in the Classroom of the Future and students from every year group are free to attend.
A number of 6th
yrs are availing of the opportunity to practice for their upcoming Leaving Cert oral exam (which will take place during the Easter holidays) and they were very impressed with the high quality of spoken Irish of our younger students, some of whom are extremely passionate about speaking as Gaeilge outside of the classroom and indeed the school gates.
A huge number of our 2nd yr students have already booked trips to the Gaeltacht this summer so this is great practice for when they have to fully immerse themselves in the language for 3 weeks!
Beatha teanga í a labhairt. (A language lives through being spoken).
The Irish Department will be linking attendance at the ciorcal comhrá with the Fáinne Úr initiative which is designed to reward those that make a great effort to practice and use Irish as to the best of their ability. The Fáinne Óir (Gold Ring) will be awarded to those students that excel at speaking Irish and who also demonstrate a passion and grá for the language. There are also other awards such as the Fáinne Airgid (Silver ring) and Cúpla Focal for those that are working towards improving their Irish but have enough to be able to converse at an appropriate level.
By the end of the current school year, we expect to see a lot of students proudly wearing their badges/rings around the school as a sign of their proficiency in the language and their willingness to use their Irish as much as possible. Cleachtadh a dhéanann máistreacht! Practice makes perfect.
|
|
|
|
Model UN Club
Coláiste Phádraig’s inaugural Model United Nations Club is going from strength to strength with 27 dedicated and committed members at present. Model United Nations basically simulates the UN General Assembly and Security Council. Students represent countries and speak on behalf of those countries in relation to a selection of important topics that confront our world today. At the most recent meeting, Freddie Molloy put forward a motion with a 11-point resolution which was put to all seven countries represented on the day. The topic was “The Prevention of Violence based on sexual orientation/gender identity”.
The school participated in the Model United Nations Conference that took place over two days in Wesley College on the 10th and 11th
March 2023 with 520 national and international students participating.
|
|
|
|
Hurling
Our senior hurlers claimed the Leinster Post Primary Schools Hurling “D” title on Monday 27th Feb after defeating Gallen CS, Ferbane, Offaly by the narrowest of margins in an unforgettable and dramatic final. The match was played in The Downs GAA pitch in Mullingar with a very healthy crowd of supporters in attendance. Extra-time was needed to separate the teams and with just seconds remaining and the teams level, Lucan’s Darragh Lyons kept his composure to strike a brilliant 65 yard free between the post to give Lucan the victory on a score-line of 2-18 to 1-20.
The team then faced an All-Ireland semi-final against Gaelcholáiste Dhoure on 6th March and overcame them on a scoreline of 3-15 to 1-17.
|
|
|
|
175th Anniversary of the First Flying of the Irish Flag.
An Irish Flag Presentation Ceremony for all post primary schools took place on Monday, 6th March last in the SETU Arena Waterford.
Mr. Cormac O'Brien and Ms. Gibson attended with our Head Boy Cuan Evers-Nolan and Deputy Head Boy Alex Usman on behalf of Clonkeen College.
It was a lovely proud occasion with An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, representatives from the Armed and Defence Forces, & many other dignitaries present. |
|
|
|
We in Clonkeen showed our commitment to promoting pride in, and respect for, the Irish flag, as well as the understanding of its symbolism and meaning for peace, by holding a short ceremony last Thursday outside the school.
The student body was represented by the Student Council. The Principal Mr.Melly, the Chair of the Parent Association Pam Porter & staff representatives also attended.
Our ceremony consisted of the history, meaning & symbolism of our National flag, ending with a rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann after we raised the flag.
|
|
|
|
Celebrating St Brigid's Day
Our students enjoyed making St Brigid's crosses. |
|
|
|
Gaelcholáiste Mhuire Corcaigh |
|
|
|
Scléip
Lá an-rathúil ag daltaí an AG ag Scléip i mBaile Átha Cliath. D’éirigh le Keely & Nóra 1AG Eibhlín Ní Mháirtín 2AG agus Alex Ó Mathúna 5AG go breá agus táimíd thar a bheith bródúil astu go léir!
GCM was well represented in the Scléip competition in Dublin this year. Keely & Nora from 1st Year, Eibhlín from 2nd Year and Alex in 5th Year all did really well, and the group brought home some well deserved prizes – the pride of the AG! |
|
|
|
Oíche na nGradam
Cad é mar oíche a bhí againn le déanaí ag Oíche na nGradam agus sinn ag céiliúradh éachtanna ár ndaltaí agus iar-dhaltaí iontacha. Táimid an-bhródúil astu ar fad. Bhí oíche den chéad scoth againn agus ba mhaith linn buíochas a ghabháil leis na daoine seo a leanas; Marcas Ó Liatháin iar-dhalta na bliana, 6AG 1984. Barry Hill (North Mon PPU), Helen Bean Uí Mhuimhneacháin (Bórd Bainistíochta), Billy Lynch (ERST), Mary Long & Noel Barry (Farranree Credit Union), agus Iníon Ní Shúilleabháin a rinne an-obair chun an oíche iontach seo a eagrú. |
|
|
|
What a wonderful night we had recently at our annual Awards Night, celebrating the wonderful achievements of our Students and amazing Past-pupils. We are extremely proud of them all. We would like to thank our special guests on the night: Mark Lyons (Class of 1984) – Past-pupil of the Year; Barry Hill (North Mon PPU); Helen Bean Uí Mhuimhneacháin (Board of Management), and Billy Lynch (ERST). Special thanks to Iníon Ní Shúilleabháin for her hard working in organising such a fantastic night
|
|
|
|
Catholic Schools Week 2023
Grandparents Day
Sinéad Coady Power’s Junior infants and Olivia Power’s Junior Infants room 3 and room 4, along with their support teacher’s David Flynn and Lindsay Grace, invited all the Grandparents into class on Grandparents Day. The children loved having their Grandparents in class. |
|
|
|
Prior to the visit the children interviewed their Grandparents. They found out Cowboys and indians was a very popular game for their Grandads and skipping, knitting were very popular for the Grannies.
They sang songs and said their rhymes for their Grandparents. We remembered the Grandparents departed and the Grandparents living abroad.
The children presented their Grandparents with cards, a bun and a picture of them. The love between the children and their Grandparents was so visible.
The children want to do another day:)
|
|
|
|
School of Sanctuary
On Friday 3rd February, our sanctuary ambassadors travelled to TU Dublin, Grangegorman campus, to attend a National celebration for Champion Schools of Sanctuary in Ireland.
Mount Sion CBS Secondary School is one of 13 schools that were awarded this title. Our sanctuary ambassadors represented the school and their peers very well and they got the chance to network with other sanctuary ambassadors from other schools and they got to hear many stories from students who have made amazing, yet treacherous journeys to reach Ireland safely.
|
|
|
|
We heard many stories about how these students were positively and warmly welcomed into their school community. Each school gave a presentation and showed footage of its journey to become schools of sanctuary.
Noah Power, along with Jamie Croke-Power, Kristoff Katai, Fawad Shirzad and Darragh Corcoran O'Rourke created a wonderful video which showcased all of the kindness, generosity and sense of welcome that our school community shows on a daily basis. Charlie Maher and Ibrahim Hussein recited a poem called 'Free' during Mount Sion's presentation and it resonated so much with people that the boys were stopped on their way out of the concert so that people could take pictures of the poem and bring it back to their school.
Well done to our sanctuary ambassadors and to the entirety of the Mount Sion CBS School Community. This award would not be possible without the overwhelming buy- in from staff and students alike.
|
|
|
|
Mount Sion Choir
The choir travelled to Dublin on February 4th to celebrate World Cancer Day. Choirs for Cancer was held at the O’Reilly Hall in University College Dublin. We were the founding members of this event and it was an honour to perform on the day. The purpose of the event was to honour all those whose lives have been touched by cancer and to remember those whom we have lost.
The event brought together cancer patients and survivors, support groups, fundraisers, family members, medical professionals, cancer researchers and patient advocates, to share stories and raise awareness of their cancer journey from different perspectives. This event had it all; creating joy, hope, memories, solidarity, and a lot of singing.
The choir sang a medley of songs from the five years of Choirs for Cancer; they dedicated their performance to Vicky Phelan and Brian Lynch, two friends of the choir who passed away from cancer in 2022.
Thanks to Ms.Sheridan, Ms.O'Rourke and Ms.Foskin for accompanying the choir; a great day was had by all.
|
|
|
|
Staff Professional Development
Ten members of staff used their midterm break to travel abroad to attend professional development courses.
The opportunity to attend courses abroad was made available to our school and funded by the Erasmus Plus KA1 grant. We need to say a massive thanks to everyone at Léargas Ireland for their help in applying for this funding and continued project support.
A group of 6 staff completed “Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity” in education in Sevilla, Spain. A group of 4 staff completed “Digital Literacy” in education in Tenerife, Spain.
The school now benefits from the skills and knowledge that these teachers have brought home with them.
|
|
|
|
Creative Schools
Our Creative Schools committee had its first meeting with our Creative Associate Helen Flanagan this month.
The Creative Schools initiative supports schools/centres to put the arts and creativity at the heart of children's and young people's lives.
They spoke about what art means to them and explored how the school can source items that are meaningful representations of what art means to them.
We are so excited to start this Creative Schools journey this year!
|
|
|
|
U-19 Munster Hurling Champions
Back row – Michael Stevenson, Davin Marshall, Lee Flanagan, Kian Moran, Evan Flanagan, Roy Cummins, Jared O’Keefe, Bradley Penkert, James Hurley.
Middle row - Mr. Galvin, Mr. Mulhall, Marc O’Connor, Aaron Coughlan, Darragh Corcoran O’Rourke, Bobby Costello, Tommy Kennedy, Dylan Ryan, Luke Moriarty, Jack Barrett, Aaron Mackey, Mr. Power.
Front row – Seán Reilly, Ross Byrne, Ben Hennessy, Bernie Patrick McDonagh, Seamie Cleere, Austin Gleeson, Hugh Flanagan, Tom Stokes, John Cash, Conor McCabe, Mr. Kennedy.
We had a lovely celebration this month in the Edmund Rice Chapel where our U19 Hurling Munster champions were presented with their medals. We had a very special guest in Austin Gleeson to present each of the boys with their medals. Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Galvin and Seamie Cleere from Mount Sion G.A.A. all spoke glowingly about the positive impact their success was having.
Many thanks to Austin Gleeson for giving his time up to present the medals to the boys. |
|
|
|
Ash Wednesday
The community of Meanscoil Iognaid Ris in Naas is one blessed with a diverse and multinational, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious population.
All students of faith, as well as those of no particular faith, like to look forward to the hope of brighter days ahead. It is a hope that unites us all once the Spring arrives and also a hope heralded by the Feast of St Brigid in County Kildare on February 1st.
But there are many ways in which we prepare for better days ahead and reflect upon where we are now. Some of our Muslim students took time over February midterm to partake in pilgrimage; fasting and self-discipline, which is a core part of such a commitment. This is also an aspect of the Christian season of Lent, marked this year from February 22nd (Ash Wednesday) and onward for 40 days.
School Principal Mr Ben Travers spoke with the year groups about the importance of our inclusive ethos and remembering the importance of our Christian Faith as part of that ethos.
|
|
|
|
Fr. Robert Petrisor has acted as Chaplain to our school since 2019 and now that Covid is largely gone, he was able to lead a number of fully attended Ash Wednesday liturgies, at which the traditional ashes were distributed to those embarking on their Lenten promises. The R.E. Department in the school is delighted to have a wonderful chaplain to guide and inspire our students, particularly at these moments of liturgical importance during an increasingly busy and full school year.
|
|
|
|
Cycle Against Suicide Congress 2023
A number of our 1st and 2nd year students attended the Cycle Against Suicide Students Leaders Mental Health Congress in the RDS.
This was a contact-based education day that encouraged students to practice self-care, develop self-efficacy and adopt positive coping skills.
The boys heard from speakers who examined the factors which impact on mental health and wellbeing.
Well done to all the boys for representing our school so well.
|
|
|
|
Leinster Champions
Congratulations to our U-15 Cross Country Team who won the Leinster Title in Santry. This is a huge achievement by Ronan Walsh, Niall Mc Andrew, Hugh Kelly, Jack Moloney, Sean Higgins, Liam Mescal, Aidan Gilroy and Matthew Galvin.
Congratulations to Tadhg O’ Neill (1F) who won bronze in the Leinster Minor Boys 2000m Cross Country.
Well done to the boys involved and to Ms. Kilcoyne who coaches the Cross Country Team.
|
|
|
|
Irish Kayaking Team
Congratulations to our 5th Year student Colum Doyle who has recently made reserve for The Irish Freestyle Kayaking Team for the World Championships in Columbus Georgia 2023 . |
|
|
|
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto. |
|
|
|
St Brigid's Day
Class 1D making St. Brigid’s crosses in Ms. Prendiville’s RE class
St. Brigid’s Day - Lá Fhéile Bríde - celebrates Ireland’s only female patron saint on February 1 and most people will be familiar with the popular tradition of making crosses in St Brigid’s honour. |
|
|
|
Leinster 'A' Football Champions
Huge congratulations to our Senior Football Team who are Leinster Champions for 2023 after defeating Moate Community School by 0-11 to 0-9. Congrats also to Mr. Cribben, Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Hughes who manages the team.
A massive achievement to win back to back Leinster Titles and retain the Br. Bosco Cup for 2023. We are all so proud of this team. Well done to all involved. |
|
|
|
DARE TO BE WISE - SINCERELY & CONSTANTLY
ST. COLUMBA’S SCHOOL, NEW DELHI (INDIA)
Established in 1941, St. Columba’s School, New Delhi is strategically located in the heart of India’s capital. Flanked by the beautiful Sacred Heart Cathedral, the pristine Bangla Sahib Sikh Gurudwara, and the famous Hindu Birla Temple at a walkable distance, it seems like a testimony to the rich and diverse cultural heritage of our country. Albeit a late entrant to the Christian Brothers’ family in India, the school which began with a small batch of 32 students, now has around 3200 students. Highly acclaimed as an educational institution, St. Columba’s is considered to be one of the best schools in the country for boys. It has a long list of distinguished alumni who have made their mark by achieving numerous accolades in various fields, both nationally and globally.
|
|
|
|
Vision and Mission
The vision of St. Columba’s is to be guided by the Divine and to train students to be well- grounded leaders in the country and the world. In their personal lives, relationships and endeavours, we seek to make them committed seekers of knowledge and truth, advocates for a just and humane world, persons with a positive and hopeful outlook in life. The mission is to create a school environment where all stakeholders grow in knowledge and appreciation of themselves, their potential and their identity as children of God. The all round, holistic development of each member of the school community is an important component of the school’s mission. Thus, all learners have access to learning through differentiated, in-depth and cohesive learning programmes and a variety of leadership opportunities and training.
|
|
|
|
A Whole-School Approach to Social Justice Education
Social Justice (SJ) Education is an integral part of our school academic program that aims to nurture our students into responsible citizens with a compassionate heart, a mindset of justice and the skills to become advocates of justice Our objective is to nurture a spirit of selfless love, undying peace, ceaseless gratitude, and deep compassion in our students.
The school has a Social Justice & Advocacy Animators’ Team (SJ&A Animators) comprising of nine team members. They play a key role in strengthening the school community into an
inclusive and empathetic community by engaging with all members – students, parents, teachers, staff and others. They do this by creating an Annual Justice Plan for the school that has elements of awareness events or campaigns, action-projects, advocacy and community engagement.
|
|
|
|
Our SJ Education curriculum has evolved largely from the 17 Sustainable Development Goals formulated by the United Nations. Themes like Climate Change, Gender Equality, Sustainable Living, and Ending Poverty have been our focus over the past few years. The methodology we follow is called Embedding Social Justice in the Curriculum. What it means is that along with focused social justice activities and events we systematically work in on an all-school approach by integrating the elements of social justice education in every aspect of the school academics, co-curricular, community engagement and events. The objective is that the entire school ethos is one of openness, inclusion, sensitivity, and awareness of the rights and dignity of each living being, especially of those less privileged and oppressed, along with care of our planet.
|
|
|
|
Forming Student Leaders
We also have student groups at different levels – The Eco Club for Middle School and The
Just Ed Society for Seniors. The objective is to form student-leaders who are conscious and aware citizens of the world. There are various mediums used for the formation of these groups like training sessions, creative writing, journalism, campaigns, competitions, and workshops. We also have a group of students managing The Justice News Desk that publishes a monthly e-newsletter on Human Rights, UN SDGs, International events and other informative topics for circulation in the entire school. Volunteering opportunities for our students are also provided so that they learn how to be responsible and conscientious participants/leaders in the fields of ecological activism, advocacy, and social service.
|
|
|
|
Community Outreach & Engaging with the Poor
Our Community Outreach Programme is a key feature of Social Justice Education. Our school collaborates with various Non-Profit Organizations (NGOs) and social workers as we try to reach out to as many as possible who can benefit from our care and assistance. Over the years we have collaborated with groups that work in ration collections, food distribution, protection of animals, care for the elderly and for persons with disabilities, and E-waste recycling. For the last five years, our senior school students have been also engaged in teaching English to a group of around 60 children from three slum communities that are situated near to our school campus. This programme has greatly helped these children from very underprivileged backgrounds to apply for higher education and jobs.
|
|
|
|
Ecological Education through Laudato Si
SDG 13, Climate Action is the focus for our annual
SCS Climate Meet. This year too with an objective to raise awareness on the ‘cry of the poor’ and the ‘cry of the earth’, Laudato Si (the encyclical of Pope Francis) was introduced to our Middle School boys. The programme consisted of the screening of the movie The Letter (based on the encyclical), Art for Advocacy workshop and group work. An Eco-Justice Plan for the school and recommendations were the outcome of this programme.
|
|
|
|
Learning Advocacy through Collaborative Platforms
For the last three years the annual mega-event of the SJ Team has been The Edmund Rice Justice Meet which is an inter-school event with the objective of training students in advocacy. The Meet is preceded by two-days of workshops and training. This year too we collaborated with schools of the Edmund Rice Network (both nationally and internationally), and with other schools and NGOs to create a diverse and vibrant learning experience for our students. The theme was, ‘Building Safe Spaces and Inclusive, Resilient Communities’. Student leaders from schools across India, South America, Africa and Ireland came together to work on action research projects and prepare recommendations.
In conclusion, we attempt to foster a critical mindset in our students so that they learn to question oppressive structures and work for the transformation of our society. We aim to raise their sensitivity and knowledge on the rights and dignity of all beings and the Earth, our Common Home, so that they develop a sense of brotherhood and altruism in their life choices. It is our prayer that like our Founder, Blessed Edmund Rice, we may live a life of generous self-giving and relentless courage so that we may be ever faithful in our service to the world and all of God’s creation.
|
|
|
|
Article compiled by Grace David
Coordinator – Catechetics, Values & Social Justice Education
|
|
|
|
EREBB Congress in DCU
The programme for the EREBB Congress, starting on 10th May with pre-congress visits to a number of towns around the country, is shown below. We hope to see representation from all our schools during congress. |
|
|
|
|