Coláiste Chill Mhantáin

RETIREMENT FUNCTION

The staff of Coláiste Chill Mhantáin recently celebrated with their former colleagues, Mr Willie Dunne, Ms Irene Langrell, Ms Joan Aylmer and Ms Mary Kilgallen, upon the occasion of their retirement from the school. Each of our retirees has made an enormous contribution to the life of the school and their long service has provided a wealth of experience for the entire school community. We would like to thank our retirees, who will be greatly missed by friends and colleagues in the school, and wish each of them happiness in their retirement.

ROTARY YOUTH LEADERSHIP

Round 1 of the Rotary Youth Leadership Competition took place on Monday, October 22. Taking part were Lhamo Fitzsimons, Dylan Geoghegan (sixth year students), Niamh O’Toole and Jessica Finnegan (fifth year students). Local Rotarians Margaret Kennedy and Eamonn Sheridan interviewed all four, asking them questions about their achievements, who they admire as a leader, as well as what they know about the EU and the Rotary Club.

All four students were well-prepared and articulate in their answers but, unfortunately, only one student could be chosen to advance to the second round which will take place in the Grand Hotel on Tuesday, November 6. Congratulations and good luck to Jessica Finnigan, who will represent CCM in Round Two.

CONCERN DEBATING

Last Tuesday, October 23, our Concern Debating team had their second debate of the league against Coláiste Chraobh Abhann. Our team were opposing the motion ‘30 years on we are no closer to ending the global HIV and AIDS epidemic‘. It was a challenging motion but Lhamo Fitzsimons (sixth year), Michael Wright (fifth year), Jessica Finnigan (fifth year) and Emma Carter (TY) impressed their judges with their persuasive argument and walked away victorious on the night. They’re looking forward to the next motion in CCM on November 14 where they are proposing ‘NIKE should be applauded for standing with Colin Kaepernick’.

SPELLING BEE

On Monday all First year students, who were willing to participate in a Spelling Bee gathered in the library. Over 90 students attended. Even though some words were quite difficult, many students made fantastic progress in all five rounds. In the end, Seán Ryan, one Slaney, and Mike Connolly, one Barrow, battled it out for the prize. Mike Connolly was the overall winner of the Spelling Bee and was presented with a prize from Mr Doherty. It was a very enjoyable competition for students and teachers with great participation and a wonderful atmosphere.

YOUNG SCIENTISTS’ SUCCESS

Congratulations to all five groups who worked extremely hard throughout the month of September during their lunch breaks putting together projects for the Young Scientist Competition. Every group showed great enthusiasm as they articulated their ideas while putting the fun back into Science.

Group 1 – Darragh Cahill, Zach Callery and Shane Carlin. This group worked on a project testing the marine water at Wicklow Harbour for micro plastics.

Group 2 – Nicola Farrell and Adrianna Majchrzak. This group developed their idea from a video clip found on YouTube. Their chosen idea was to investigate the power of the positive mind vs perishable foods.

Group 3 – Emma Arnold worked on a very informative project based on the effects of plastic on our environment.

Group 4 – Conor Thornber and Seán Maguire worked on a project where they tested the contents of many different water types and how these contents can have an effect on human health.

Group 5 – Rian Byrne. As we are all aware, Rian is extremely passionate about his honey and beekeeping business. This is where his idea originated from. He plans on testing his honey samples to investigate if hydroxymethylfurfuraldehyde (HMF) levels in honey affect a) the quality of honey and b) human health.

Well done to Rian Byrne, whose project was selected as one of the 550 projects and he will now represent CCM in the finals in January. We wish him the very best of luck over the next two months as he continues with his research and experimentation.

The other four groups will also continue to work on their projects ahead of the Scifest Competition which runs later in the year.

HEALTHY EATING

On Wednesday, October 24, CCM took part in a Wicklow Community Initiative to make healthy food easy. Home economic students from first, second and third year created interactive food stalls in areas such as salt content, cereal sugar content, mental health and food, cholesterol, burning calories and portion sizes. We also had many outside agencies to do with food waste, money management, dental care, effects of smoking and a HSE dietician on site to answer anyone’s questions.

Students from First and Second year had the opportunity to learn from their fellow students by visiting all the stalls and by questioning and completing a questionnaire. Students also got to eat lots of fruit and some lovely banana muffins. The event finished with a cook-off with Fionnuala McCormark teaming up with Head Girl, Eve Gregory, and Leighton Glynn teaming up with Head Boy, James Byrne, along with their assistant, Michael Cash. Both teams produced some fabulous healthy dishes including fish cakes, stir fry, crumble and muffins. A big thank you to the Home Economics teachers for their work prior to the day and on the day.

The questionnaire winners of the two vouchers for the Bridgewater Shopping Centre were Sahar O’Sullivan and Ben Stafford, who can collect their vouchers from Ms Fitzgerald. Ms Noone won the staff voucher.

SHARPESHILL VISIT

On Tuesday, October 23, the LCA1 class and the senior mentors visited Sharpeshill Animal Santuary in Glenealy. The students were also part of the making of a three-minute video on Sharpsehill which will appear on Winning Streak on November 10 the students took part in a very informative presentation on the sanctuary and then visited the animals in their care. We also met up with three TY students, Luke Kenny, Jack Higgins and Dylan Moriarty, who are on their Work Experience at the sanctuary. Thanks to Mr Duffy for organising this trip which was very enjoyable for all involved.

SENIOR GIRLS’ GAA

The CCM Senior Girls’ GAA team had their first match on Friday, October 19, at home to a strong Avondale side. It took the CCM girls a while to get started and, as a result, they conceded three goals early on in the game. The girls didn’t give up and battled hard and scored some very skilful points in the first half. Lucy Hobbs scored a goal just before half-time.

CCM started much stronger in the second half with Amy O’Doherty, Holly O’Toole, Millie Tierney and Kerry O’Toole working well together in the backs. They defended well and stopped Avondale from scoring on many occasions. Sophie Porter, Weronika Kuizio, and Laura Murphy did well in the centre of the field carrying the ball forward. In the forwards Orla Kenny, Laura Newsome and Siobhán Gorman worked together to get several good scoring chances.

Avondale did enough in the first half to stay ahead but the CCM girls improved throughout the game. They play St David’s from Greystones after the midterm and are looking forward to another tough game.

UNDER-15 SOCCER

The under-15 Soccer team drew their first game of the season on Tuesday 2-2. Tom Hodkinson and Joe Nielan scored two well taken goals, however Woodbrook leveled the game twice. The team played well but were tested in an even game with Sam Healy making some vital saves throughout the match.

WICKLOW SCHOOLS’ BLITZ

The First year girls had an enjoyable day out in Ballinakill for the Wicklow Schools’ Blitz last Wednesday, October 24.

Their day got off to a promising start with victories over Avondale and Glenart College. Unfortunately the girls came up against two very strong sides in St Kevin’s and Coláiste Bríde and were unlucky in both games. Great performances on the day from their captain, Ria Gregory, Brooke Griffin and Jade O’Brien.

Well done to the girls who represented the school extremely well and supported their First year Hurling counterparts in their victorious final.

HURLING SUCCESS

Well done to the First year hurlers, who won the Super Sevens competition in Ballinakill on Wednesday, October 24, for the first time ever, making it a historic double with the previous week’s football champions. CCM were drawn against Blessington, Coláiste Craobh Abhann, and St Kevin’s B and won all three group games to progress to the final after some excellent performances. The final was a tough match with St Kevin’s A but CCM prevailed on a score of 3-1 to 0-3. Johnno Mooorehouse made some fantastic saves and all members of the team performed heroically throughout the field. Team was Johnno Moorehouse, Dennis O’Brien, Fionn Greene, Sam Culleton, Michael Óg O’Neill, Bill O’Brien, Bill Moorehouse, Jim Stafford, Ian Grant, Matt Gleeson. The trophy was presented to team captain Michael Óg O’Neill.

GIRLS’ FUTSAL

Well done to the First year girls who participated in the FAI Futsal Tournament on Wednesday, October 24.The girls showed enormous potential and while they didn’t advance to the final, their commitment and sporting efforts can be highly commended.

BOYS’ GAELIC FOOTBALL

1ST YEAR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – CCM played Coláiste Craobh Abhainn Kilcoole in Kilcoole in perfect weather conditions on Thursday, October 25. The boys from CCM set off for this match in confident mood following their recent success in the seven a side competition in. It took the first quarter for CCM to settle into the game and get a pattern of play going and at half-time they were trailing by four points after efforts from Will Farrell and Mikey Nolan.

In the second half CCM never gave up and continued to keep the scoreboard ticking with points from Michael Óg O’Neill, Ben Bohen and Sam Culleton and a well-taken goal by Harri Armsrong. However, they were unable to bridge the gap on the scoreboard. We look forward to the next round of this competition and the boys will have learned a lot from this experience.