ColáisteChill Mhantáin
ENTERPRISE AWARDS
Congratulations to Transition Year students, Thomas Boylan and Owen Carroll, on winning the Special Commendation Award in the Wicklow Enterprise Awards last Tuesday. Well done to all Transition Year students who participated in the Student Enterprise Awards and made it to the County Finals. The day of the Awards was a test of each student’s hard work since September. Students had an early start by setting up their stands at 8.30 a.m. Following this students had to present to the judges and students. Finally their stands, business plans and presentations were assessed by the judges. Students enjoyed the day out, with many networking opportunities for each group.
PERSONAL SAFETY
On Monday and Tuesday, March 12, and 13, Alex Walsh from Personal Safety Ireland presented a three-hour workshop for all TY students. It was a good mixture of self-defence, personal awareness, attitude and behavior, all designed to develop the students’ life skills. The programme provided students with both the legal knowledge and self confidence to handle any difficult situation they may encounter. All TY students particularly enjoyed the hands on nature of this workshop.
SCHOOL TRIPS
Last week saw a large number of students and teachers embark on European travels. Our students of German travelled to Germany with the aim of boosting their knowledge of German language and culture while a group of TY and Fifth year Home Economics students was bound for Italy for a cultural and culinary experience of a lifetime. Please check our Facebook page for a comprehensive account of our European tours.
‘WAYS TO BE HAPPY’
On Friday, March 9, Paul Murphy from Crosscare came in to CCM to talk briefly to TY students about ‘Ways to be Happy’. As part of the programme, Paul brought a resource called ‘An Easy Guide to an Easy Mind’ that Crosscare have produced along with members of the Vault Youth Centre in Arklow. He had a copy for every student to take away with them. The booklet is not intended to pinpoint ways to be happy but rather shares ideas and suggestions of people’s favourite activities that put them in good form. There is also blank space for each student to add in their own ideas. Paul was interested in hearing TY students’ ideas with a view to creating an inspirational poster or another resource in the future.
MOUNTAIN BIKING
A few brave TY students went mountain biking in Ballinastoe last Friday week. It was the first time most of them have ever been mountain biking before. The instructors from biking.ie gave them a few tips on how to use their brakes, gears and attack stance. They then headed out on the trails to test out their mountain biking skills.
The students were praised for their fitness levels and enthusiasm. They had moved onto the intermediate trails by the end of the day and some even tried a few jumps. The TY students really enjoyed the day. Well done to all who took part.
KILLOWEN FARM VISIT
The Link Modules students from five Barrow visited Killowen Farm to gather information to include in their Summary Report as part of their Portfolio of work for this subject. Killowen produces a high end yogurt that uses only milk produced on the family farm and any fruit added is sourced as locally as possible. The students learned the importance of quality being built into every single process they complete in the production process.
Students also got a full explanation of how the business markets its product both nationally and internationally and the importance of social media and how difficult it is to compete against large multinational brands. The visit made work life feel very real and gave students a flavour of what it is like to work in a food plant. To top off the visit the students very sent off with samples of the yogurt to enjoy.
TY WORK EXPERIENCE
Congratulations to Transition Year student, Grace Cleary, who has applied for and been accepted by the Dublin Fire Brigade on a week’s work experience placement over the Easter holidays. This is an excellent opportunity for Grace in an area of interest to her and well done to her for applying for the position.
MAKE A BOOK
First year JCSP students took part in the annual Make a book exhibition in the Maldron Hotel in Tallaght last Tuesday. The students presented their project on ‘The World Cup 2018’ to students and teachers from 12 other schools.
As well as producing a guide to all the teams taking part in this summer’s tournament, the students also produced a replica World Cup trophy and also produced a map of the world with handmade flags of each of the countries involved. Matyas Benda from 1 Barrow agreed to give a brief speech about the project to the audience and he did it exceptionally well, telling the crowd that the students worked on the project through English classes in the library, through art classes and also with the help of the metalwork department.
At the end of the exhibition, each student received a certificate of achievement. Other certificates were given to the school to award those students who were not able to attend the event.
YSI SPEAK OUT
On March 20, 55 Transition Year students travelled to the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire to take part in this year’s Young Social Innovators’ Speak Out project.
The idea of the project is to empower and support young people to realise their potential as social innovators, giving them the skills and confidence to tackle the social issues facing them, their communities and wider society. Social innovation can help to address local, national and global challenges in our world. Inequality, poverty, climate change, racism, unemployment, suicide, Mass migration, integration, loneliness, malnutrition are challenges to us all.
Our school put forward projects on the areas of Homelessness, Literacy, Domestic Abuse and Drug and Alcohol Abuse in Young People. The students presented their projects with great enthusiasm on stage and did the school proud.
A great day was had by all and congratulations to all students and teachers involved in this worthwhile project.
RUGBY INTERNATIONAL
Well done to Mark Nicholson, who was called up to the Irish under-18 Schools and Clubs Training Camp which took place from last Thursday for four days and included a match against Canada last Saturday in St Mary’s RFC Congratulations to Mark on this great achievement and we wish him continued success in his rugby career.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
Last Friday week our First and Second year girls delivered some spirited performances against St Mary’s from Arklow. The Second year match was a victory and with amazing work rate and perseverance from the whole team, we came back to win the match by two baskets in the last quarter.
The First year girls played out of their skin and only narrowly missed a victory by six points, only three baskets. It was so close. All students involved were amazing sportswomen throughout and did the school proud.
BOYS’ BASKETBALL
FIRST YEAR BASKETBALL CUP – Last Tuesday saw the end of CCMs run in a very exciting First year Boys’ Wicklow Basketball Cup. After finishing third in the preliminary rounds, CCM faced Woodbrook Bray in the semi-final. CCM had played Woodbrook in their first match of the season and suffered a comprehensive defeat, so the lads knew getting through to the final was not going to be an easy task.
The first quarter saw CCM control the court with Peter Dunne, Michael Cash and Conor Mitchell making some excellent shots on target. Woodbrook settled into their game in the second quarter and, despite huge efforts by Charlie Balonsay, Ruairi Jenkinson and Brioc Doyle, CCMs lead was lost leaving everything to play for in the final two quarters.
Both teams were clear in their intent but it was Woodbrook that made the extra two baskets, giving them the lead at the final buzzer and their place in the final. CCMs commitment and plays on the court were admirable, with very notable improvements both individually and as a team. Well done to all.
SECOND YEAR WICKLOW CUP SEMI-FINAL – CCM Second year boys played their semi-final against East Glendalough yesterday in a match that saw the end of the lads’ journey to the Finals. Each quarter saw EGS finished just that little bit ahead despite our lads’ committed efforts. While CCM played really well defensively, the critical requirement of shooting on target let us down. Huge efforts by Conor Lewins, Noah Sheridan, Ethan Power and David Carraher to name but a few, were consistent right up to the final buzzer.
The match finished 32-24 in favour of EGS Well done to all the lads who have shown great team spirit and commitment throughout their term.