Coláiste Chraobh Abhann
SCHOOL MUSICAL
This year’s Coláiste Chraobh Abhann’s musical ‘High School Musical’ took place in the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray from the seventh to March 9. The annual school musical is one of the biggest events in the CCA school calendar and this is the eleventh CCA production.
Students, family, friends and staff were all there to enjoy a wonderfully staged production of ‘High School Musical’ with the leads being played by Ciarán Crimes (Troy) from TY, and Rebecca Gillan (Gabriella) who is a student in second year.
All the famous songs were sung with great gusto, including ‘We’re all in this Together’ and ‘Get’ cha Head in the Game.’.
Students from first, second, TY and fifth year all participated in this year’s musical and it was clear that everyone had lots of fun, both on stage and in the audience.
This event is a whole school collaboration with so many people involved and thanks to everyone who supported by helping backstage or going to see the show.
A special thanks to the director of the show Siobhán Gallagher and the choreographer Yvonne Prendergast for all their hard work and commitment. To Ms Egan for organising the rehearsal schedules, selling tickets, and liaising with our advertising and sponsorships.
To the parents’ council for all their support and fundraising they did to make the show possible. To Mr Kennedy (TY Co-ordinator), who also ensured that all the tickets were sold and who worked tirelessly backstage to ensure the performers remained calm and well organised. To all the local companies who supported us and finally to the Mermaid Arts Centre for the use of their wonderful venue.
Well done to everyone involved. As Mr Farrell said, ‘This was a show to remember.’.
SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE
Coláiste Chraobh Abhann are celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge from Monday, March 12, to Friday, March 16, with an extensive week of activities, competitions, musical performances and theatre.
The musician Enda Reilly will be visiting the school on Monday to perform a number of songs from his acclaimed album Nua Amhrán i nGaeilge. He will discuss the art of song writing with the first and second year students who are studying some of his songs as part of the new Irish Junior Cert cycle.
There will be treasure hunts, quizzes, and competitions for all year groups, along with a seomra caidreamh at lunchtime, where teachers and students can practise their Irish in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. There will also be a ceilí and a musical performance organised by senior students, as well as an all Irish Gaeilc football match being played at lunchtime.
Make sure to practise your own cúpla focal during Seachtain na Gaeilge.
ALL-IRISH PLAY
For the past number of months, TY (Transition Year) students from Coláiste Chraobh Abhann have been working with Ms McGillycuddy’s fourth class from Newtownmountkennedy Primary School on their annual school production of the all-Irish play Labhraidh Loingseach.
The play will take place in the Newtownmountkennedy Senior Primary School on March 15 as part of our celebration of Seachtain na Gaeilge.
For the past six years, Coláiste Chraobh Abhann and Newtown Primary School have worked on this exciting cross-schools Irish drama project, where TY students work on props, music and costumes, while the primary students act in an original Irish play based on an Irish myth or legend.
This year’s play is about the fearful king Labhraidh Loingseach, who treats the people of his kingdom very badly. But Labhraidh has a very big secret that he wants no one to find out about, and on the day of his yearly haircut, the king’s secret is finally revealed.
Ms McGillycuddy, Mr Rice, Ms Doran and Mr Ó Súilleabháin were very pleased with all the work that the primary and secondary students put in to make this year’s show a great success, with the audience enjoying all the great performances. Many thanks to Ms Buckley and Ms Dempsey for their continued support with this very rewarding cross-school initiative.
GLOBAL ISSUES FORTNIGHT
CCA ran its annual Global Issues Fortnight from February 26 to March 9. The aim of the fortnight is to raise awareness in the school community about a variety of global issues.
TY students organised debates with all first and second year classes, covering topics such as climate change, plastic waste, homelessness, and gender equality. TY students have also designed posters and stickers which were placed around the school to raise awareness.
There were events to celebrate International Women’s Day, and on Friday the sixth Fairtrade bananas and chocolate were given out to students and staff to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight, which coincided with Global Issues fortnight this year. There was also music performed in the GP Area related to world affairs, including a rewrite of Bob Geldof’s Great Song of Indifference.
This event was subsidised by Worldwise Global Schools, a subsidiary of Irish Aid. Many thanks to Mr Healy for organising this event.
EMMANUEL CONCERT
Students from Coláiste Chraobh Abhann were some of the two and a half thousand teenagers from all over Leinster, who took part in the annual Emmanuel concert which was performed in the Helix between February 26 and March 1.
The Emmanuel project is run by the Archdiocese of Dublin and is a concert series that is unique in the Irish Church – with students between the ages of 12 and 17 singing in front of a large audience. Each evening performance is almost entirely student led, with soloists chosen from participating schools to sing live, musicians performing from the student body and student presenters acting as MC’s each night.
The soloist students from Coláiste Chraobh Abhann were Colm Roche, April Keaveney, Stefan Glavanescu and Brianna Morris, and their music teacher Ms Armstrong said she was delighted with each music student, with every performance reaching very high standard.
JUNIOR CERT ORALS
Congratulations to all the Junior Cert students who sat their French and Irish Oral exams. We hope all the hard work paid off and we are sure that everyone did their best.
Thanks to all the Irish and French teachers who prepared their students to such a high standard in both languages.
EQUESTRIAN NEWS
Rachel Grant from 5KRE represented Coláiste Chraobh Abhann last week in the Equestrian Interschools Show Jumping competition in Boswell Equestrian Centre.
Rachel was riding her horse Sparrow and she managed to jump 80cm, which was enough to see her claim third overall in the Individual’s category.
Well done Rachel on your great achievement and doing your school so proud. Ní Chuilleanáin’s poetry is on the Leaving certificate syllabus for 2018,2019 and 2020. In it she explores personal memories and makes use of folklore, myth and fairy tale. The challenging subject matter is always beguiling and captivating. She spoke to both fifth and sixth years at length about the history and meaning of her poems, her writing process and her advice for budding poets. The girls asked insightful and probing questions which she answered in detail.
Eiléan Ni Chuilleanáin is widely acclaimed as one of the leading Irish poets of her generation. It was a wonderful and enriching opportunity for our senior students to meet and listen to such a distinguished academic.
BADMINTON
Congratulations to Leah Doyle, Clara Weldon, Juliane San Diego and Jennifer Wang, who are winners of the Leinster under-16 Division 3 Girls.
MATHS OLYMPIAD
Julia Temple in TY is through to the next round of the Maths Olympiad this year. She is through to the last 40 of the competition, of whom six will eventually be chosen to represent Ireland at the Maths Olympiad in Romania.
At the start of the school year all senior students were invited to take part in the first round of the competition. As a result three students – Julia, Hannah Bedford and Sinéad Kelly – were recommended for the Enrichment Courses in UCD They have been attended lectures on a variety of topics in UCD over the last couple of months.
It has been arduous, but all three students displayed diligence, perseverance and, most importantly, a huge enthusiasm for the task. They are all to be congratulated on this and for reaching this stage.On Saturday, February 24, the students took part in the second round of testing as result of which the original group of about 240 was reduced to the top 40 candidates.
Julia is one of those candidates. It is a massive achievement for her, and one which must be highlighted. This is the first time in recent years a Loreto Bray student had been selected for the next round.
GAMES CLUB
At Loreto Secondary School, Bray we have a new and exciting lunch time activity: Games Club. The fun happens on Mondays at lunchtime and is open to all students. We have a large number of games available including some old favourites such as: chess, draughts, snakes and ladders, card games, sudoku and many more. We decided to introduce this club to allow students to exercise their mathematical skills of reasoning, prediction, sequencing and logic while having lots of fun.
Our school is very focused upon developing student numeracy skills and Games Club provides a wonderful opportunity for students to relax and embrace maths outside of the classroom. We are very excited about the introduction of this club and can’t wait for the games to begin.