ColáisteChill Mhantáin
YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
As part of the ‘gr8 2 b yng’ initiative, and in conjunction with the HSE’s ‘Little Steps’ campaign to promote positive mental health for all, Transition Year students undertook a walk on Friday, October 14, to the Murrough where they met with students from all the other secondary schools in the town.
A total of 96 TY students feasted on breakfast rolls and enjoyed some music and interaction with each other. They received T-shirts and goodie bags containing helpline numbers and stressballs etc before walking back to the school. It was a very fitting end to the initiative which had already taken place in the school during the week and which included workshops on Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships, Mindfulness and What Wrecks Your Head? Thank you to Marion Reardon, School Completion Officer, and the TY tutors who coordinated the event.
THIRD YEAR DÁIL TRIP
On Wednesday, three Erne visited the DÁil at the invitation of Stephen Donnelly, TD They were addressed by Stephen and engaged in a questions and answers session with him before being given a tour of Leinster House. Leaders’ Questions began in the Dáil Chamber at midday and, from the gallery, students watched members enter the chamber and proceedings begin.
There was an almost full house so students had the opportunity to see and hear most of our T.D.s speak on several topics, including the main party leaders. After lunch the group visited Croke Park and were given a guided tour before going pitch-side via the players’ tunnel. This was followed by a tour of the GAA. Museum and use of the Interactive Games Zone. The students’ behaviour was excellent and they had a really enjoyable day.
GUIDANCE INITIATIVE
On Saturday, October 15, 25 parents attended a sixth Year Careers’ Information Day for parents in the school. Ms Doyle, Guidance Counsellor, presented and guided the parents through the session using various career websites and showed them how to apply online to CAO, how to use Qualifax and Careers’ Portal, where to find free online career interest assessment tools and how to complete them, how to apply online for the SUSI grant and how to fill in the online application for HEAR and DARE. Many thanks to Ms Doyle, Ms Bambrick and Ms Gillespie who hosted the event.
STUDENTS COUNCIL
The Students’ Council provides students with a platform to discuss and air their views about all aspects of school life and, in the past, the Students’ Council has effected change on Uniform, Canteen, Toilets and many School Policies. We wish the following students well following their recent election to the Students’ Council 2016-17.
First Year: Aaron Douglas, Ben Larsson, Ffia Driver; Second Year: Emma Arnold, Hannah Mur- ray; Third Year: Cian Kelly, Katie McAulay, Tommy Quinn; TY: Ian McKenna, Patrick Keogh, Nasreen Koraim; Fifth Year: Jack Christie, Scott Armstrong, Matthew Nolan; Sixth Year: Ronan Earls, Matthew McNulty, Erika Walker.
YSI JERSEY DAY
YSI, in conjunction with GOAL, ran ‘Jersey Day’ as their first event as part of the Wicklow Syria Appeal. The aim of the event was to raise money and awareness of the situation in Syria at present. €327 was raised by staff and students and it was great to see such participation by all in their club and county jerseys. It was a wonderful achievement and a fantastic start to this YSI initiative. We look forward to more great events throughout the year.
SENIOR GOLF SUCCESS
Well done to the Senior Golf Team who beat St Gerard’s on Friday, October 14, by a total of 13 holes overall which gave them a nice cushion going into their second league match on Wednesday, October 19, against Arklow CBS. The team comfortably won this match by a total of 27 holes. Well done to the team involved consisting of Luke Murphy, Daniel O’Boyle, Niall Dowd and Rory Dowling. They now face favourites Presentation College, Bray on Friday the 28th in their final group match.
SENIOR RUGBY
CCM Seniors-32: Presentation Bray Senior 2nds-5
CCM travelled to Bray for a friendly to get the season started and came away with a hard-fought win. Tries came from Paddy Nixon, Luke Boyce, Cillian Ballesty and Diarmuid Jameson Whoriskey with Cal Connolly getting a penalty and two conversions. This was a good team performance from a very young senior side who are hoping for a successful cup run improving on last year’s quarter final. Thanks to Mr Duffy for working with the team.
JUNIOR GIRLS GAA
The girls GAA Junior team played their first match against St Killian’s in Bray. They had a tough first half against the wind and up the hill and were well behind at half time. They made a great comeback in the second half but couldn’t do enough to beat St Killian’s. Grace Cleary had a great game in Midfield. She never gave up and worked hard to get the ball up to the forwards. The girls are now in the B Shield and, with a few more training sessions, should do well in this league.
FUTSAL SUCCESS
On Wednesday, October 19, we entered two teams in the First Year Futsal Competition hosted by Dublin Oak Academy; CCM ‘A’ and CCM ‘B’ in title only. The CCM boys on view showed unbelievable skill and character to brush aside the talent of Dublin Oak Academy, East Glendalough, Gael Coláiste na Mara and Glenart College. In fact, one semi-final saw ‘B’ beat Gael Coláiste na Mara 7-6 on penalties in an extremely tense affair.
The eventual outcome of each group saw two classy teams from CCM going head-to-head in the final. Ross Quinn put CCM ‘B’ into the lead after five minutes. Michael Cassidy then made it 1-1 a few minutes later. Sam Brown put the seal on a 2-1 victory for CCM ‘A’ with a late strike. Well done to all involved. Thanks to Mr Cassidy and Ms Miley who were ably assisted by Joe Haskins and Owen Gregory.
All first year students took a trip to Dublin Institute of Technology for a maths day. It started with a fascinating talk on maths by James Tanton and following this the students got to try out lots of fun hands-on maths activities. It was a really enjoyable day and thanks to Ms. Cremin for organising.
MATHS WEEK
It was a busy week for the maths department with ‘Maths Week’. The sixth class girls from Holy Rosary were invited over by our TY students. The TY girls had a range of maths activities on display in Fatima Hall for the girls to try out. Both groups of girls really enjoyed the experience. Thanks to the TY students and to Ms. Carthy for organising.
JERSEY DAY
TY’s organised ‘Jersey Day’ on Friday, October 21. Students were asked to contribute €2 and all proceeds were collected for Goal’s Syrian Fund. Many thanks to all for your contribution.
CROSS COUNTRY
Best of luck to the DCW cross country team who are representing the school in the Co. Wicklow cross country championships in St Gerard’s, Bray on Tuesday the 25th. The team have been training hard and we wish them well in the event.
HOME ECONOMICS TRIP
Ms Woods second Year Home Economics class visited the ‘Fishman’ on Wicklow Quay on Thursday, October 20. This was to tie in with the fish module the students are covering in class.
Alan Hegarty was so generous with his time and spared no expense. He had a plethora of white, oily and shell fish on display. He spoke about the benefits of eating mussels and how they can prevent skin cancer. Alan cooked mussels for the students and offered them some of his beautiful organic smoked salmon and seaweed bread. He spoke passionately about the importance of buying good quality fish and other produce, as the saying goes ‘you are what you eat’.
This was the first time many of the students had tasted mussels but they all gave it a go. Georgia Brennan-Kelly thanked Alan on behalf of the students who all agreed it was a great opportunity and deepened their knowledge. Sammy the seal topped the afternoon off with an appearance.
SENIOR HOCKEY
Well done to the DCW Senior Hockey team who played host to the King’s Hospital School on Tuesday, October 18. It was a tough tight game that ended in a 0-0 draw.
MIDTERM
Midterm holidays begin Friday, October 28. Happy Halloween to all.
SCHOOL WEBSITE
Check out our school website for all the latest news on dominicanwicklow.net, follow us on twitter@DCWschool or check out our Facebook page.
Well done to our First year boys and girls who represented the school in the recent Futsal tournament held in Woodlands Academy, Bray. Our boys’ team won one match, drew one and lost 2. Our girls’ team fared better and were very unlucky to be beaten in a sudden death penalty shoot out in the semi-final.
Among the players to shine were Niki Moelders, David Lally, Tom Flood, Louis Harris and James Cardiff for the boys and Rhiannon Wynne O’Sullivan, Rachel Collier, Rachel Waldron, Elva Findlay Byrne and Aimee Smit for the girls. Many thanks to Rioghna McGettigan, Laoise Marron, Oisin Daunt Smyth, Dylan Anderson, Dylan Wynne O’Sullivan and Thomas Yennusick, all members of our Form six Sports Committee, who managed/coached both teams on the day.
EGS HEALTH WEEK
Reminder that our Health Week takes place from Monday the 24th to Friday, October 28. Various health related information and timetables of events will be on the school notice boards. Health Week concludes with our annual sponsored walk/run on Friday, October 28. Any outstanding cards/ money should be returned to the school office asap.
TRAMPOLINE CLASSES
Trampoline classes will take place on Wednesdays from 3.15 to 4.30, commencing Wednesday, October 19. Numbers are limited. Please see Mr McGettigan or the sports notice board for further details.
CAREERS
Senior students are looking forward to a careers talk this week from NUI Galway, which recently entered the top 250 universities in world rankings.
SING FOR SYRIA
Last week saw our TY’s out on their Adventure trip in Killary Co.Mayo. By all accounts it was a fantastic week filled with amazing activities and good times. Highlights included the Ringo rides, where students were pulled along behind a speed boat holding on for dear life. The Killary challenge, where bog diving, mud bathing, sluice sliding and problem solving were combined with an endurance component to really test the students metal. Finally, the infamous Miss Killary, of which there will be more details next week.
Looking forward we will be out at the theater this Thursday to watch the Beauty Queen of Linane, it promises to be a great evening and a wonderful excuse to get dressed up.Finally as our first set of units near there end the students will be busy putting finishing touches to an array of projects before they get stuck into their work experience.