SCHOOLS ROUND-UP

BALLINODE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CONGRATULATIONS: We would like to congratulate all our Leaving Certificate students who recently received their fabulous results, with some students achieving over 500 points! Well done to you all and we wish you every success in the future.

The senior cycle history group were part of the commemoration of the Civil War in Sligo recently when they attended a series of lectures organised by Pat Gannon of Sligo Library. The event, ‘Exploring the Civil War in Sligo’, took place in the Hawk’s Well Theatre where we were joined by students from the length and breadth of the county. The four lectures examined various areas of the county and the period. Dr Michael Farry began with an overview of the war in Sligo and its effects. This was followed by a deep dive into the events in Riverstown and surrounding locality, by a native of the area, Lt Cian Harte. After an intermission Dr Padraig Deignan spoke about the local Protestant community and their experiences at the time. The final lecture was by Dr Marion Dowd, of ATU Sligo, who gave a captivated audience an outline of her team’s excavation of Tormore cave, used by the Anti-Treaty IRA during the civil war. The entire event was informative and entertaining, students felt the war come to life and felt the connection to the area and its people all the more for being out of the classroom. Our sincere thanks to Mr Pat Gannon for his hard work organising such a thoughtful and rewarding event.

Our LCA students organised a terrific coffee morning in aid of our local North West Hospice. The aroma of freshly baked goods drew all our students

Sligo Grammar School student Anushka Pathak who was selected for the International Youth Parliament.

Pupils from Corran College who attended the Ploughing Championships last month.

to the front hall, where they all contributed generously to the cause. The staff room was also a haven of delectable treats. Many thanks to all those who baked and supported this worthy event. To date €700 has been raised for this vital service.

Our first year students had the opportunity to attend a bonding trip to Strandhill surfing, on completion of their first week in Ballinode Community College. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day spent on the waves in the scenic Stranhill. Some students got to experience surfing for the first time. Many thanks to David and his crew at Strandhill Surf School for a memorable day. RETIREMENTS: We would like to wish our newly retired staff Caroline Collery, Theresa Egan, Catalina Howley and Paula Fogarty a very happy retirement and thank them for their years of dedicated service to our school. It has been an honour to work with you all.

Our sixth year LCVP class were afforded the opportunity to visit the Irish Coast Guard in Strandhill. The class were given a very insightful tour of the rescue helicopter. Students and teachers put the harness and winch operators to the test by being raised into the helicopter. Two crew members shared some of their heroic experiences with us. Students also learned about the career opportunities within the Irish Coast Guard. We are delighted to be able to develop links in our

community with such a valuable organisation. We would like to thank all the Coast Guard Crew in Strandhill for their time and warm reception.

SUPERMACS: Our Leaving Certificate LCVP class visited our local Supermacs franchise. We were privileged to speak with past student and franchisee Mr Ken Foley. Ken shared his experience of setting up a franchise. He offered great insight into the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a business, inspiring some of our Leaving Cert class to pursue their passions of one day operating their own business. Students had a great time sampling the ice-cream menu for Ken and all agreed they will be back for more. Thank you to Ken and all the staff in Supermacs Sligo.

COOLA POSTPRIMARY SCHOOL

We were delighted to see Marta Sorokhan receive an award in recognition of her selfless contributions in helping others in our school community. Marta received her award at a ceremony in the Glasshouse hotel in Sligo where she was accompanied by her proud parents, Svitlana and Mykhailo.

The festival provided even more entertainment this year as we all cheered on past pupil and Sligo Rose, Eimear Mulvey. Eimear has provided seannós workshops for classes and is due in to us again in November. She was brilliant on stage and a great representative for Sligo.

The results attained by our 2022 Leaving Cert group were truly remarkable. It was fantastic to have so many students come in to school to share their delight with staff. Wherever ye go and wherever life takes ye, Coola will always be a part of who you are!

Our transition year group had a fantastic day in Roosky Shannon Adventure centre. The students enjoyed wall climbing, archery, tug of war, kayaking, a mud slide, and pier jumping. It was a great way for students to work together and enjoy the craic. A huge thanks to Tom and his instructors; they made sure we had a busy day!

WORKSHOP: Stephen Kiernan delivered an inspiring workshop to our transition year group on goal setting and achievement.

Using examples of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things, Stephen provided a scaffold for students to help them achieve their goals.

Our various sports teams are back in training for the year ahead and making great use of our astro-turf facilities. Our First Year footballers enjoyed a recent blitz in Scarden, suggesting the future is bright on the GAA front. On a day when all acquitted themselves well, David Malone’s hat-trick exploits and Keelan Henry’s left-footed scores were prominent in the Coola highlights reel. Our Girls Under-17 side made a storming start to their season with a 6-0 friendly victory over St Attracta’s in Riverstown Park recently. Orlaith Scanlon helped herself to five goals, with Aoibhinn Conlon providing the other goal.

CPR4SCHOOLS:15 members of our staff have signed up for CPR training with the Irish Heart Foundation. After this training, these staff members will be able to act as tutors and train up our students on these vital skills. WORLDSKILLS: Our transition year students and sixth years enjoyed a trip to the RDS last month. Worldskills Ireland is a partnership between enterprise, industry, education, training and government that raises the profile and recognition of skills and apprenticeships and prepares the talent of today for the careers of the future. A huge thanks to the accompanying teachers, Mr. Bruen, Ms. Langan & Mr. O’Slatarra, who gave up their evening to facilitate the trip.

Boyne first year history class had great fun making time capsules out of empty Pringles cans last week.

They decorated the cans and filled them with personal items (photos etc.) as well as with newspaper headlines, details of topical news, music, sport and so on.

The time capsules will be stored away until the students’ final days of secondary school.

FRY-UP: The LCA Home

Economics class treated staff to a welcome fry-up recently on a Monday breaktime. It was a welcome treat!

Our First Year enrolment night takes place on Thursday, October 27 from 4.30pm to 8.30pm. The 2023 Prospectus is gone to print and our primary school visits will start the second week in October. Enrolment night is a fantastic chance to have a look to see all that Coola has to offer, and to meet the dedicated staff we are lucky to have.

CORRAN COLLEGE

WORLDSKILLS: A group of our senior cycle students attended the Worldskills event in the RDS on Wednesday, September 14.

This was a great opportunity for students to learn more about all the different apprenticeships and skills-based careers available to them. Full of interactive events and demonstrations, they got to experience first hand the excellent route apprenticeships offer to gain an internationally recognised qualification.

A group of our first year students here at Corran College are taking part in the various activities organised by Aoife from the “Be Well” Programme. The programme highlights the importance of looking after your well-being and mental health through fun activities to get students active, communicating and learning.

Some of our students had an early start on Wednesday, September 14 to head to the Ploughing Championships. Despite the early morning students had an excellent day and got to experience the ploughing, the cultural exhibitions, the machinery stalls and of course the amusements.

SLIGO GRAMMAR SCHOOL

For some of the new fifth years the school year started with a trip away to Glendalough. This was the final part of their Gaisce programme, started in transition year. Gaisce, the President’s Award, is a challenge to young people to develop new skills and get involved in the community over the period of a year.

The final Gaisce challenge is an “adventure” trip, and for theirs, the SGS students went on a two-day hike in the beautiful Glendalough area. They were accompanied by Mr Lynch and Ms McManus.

They will be presented with their Bronze Gaisce awards later in the term. The Gaisce challenges really help the students develop in terms of their personal skills, their physical fitness and as caring and involved citizens, and is a very important part of transition year in Sligo Grammar School.

Sligo Grammar School Senior rugby team was delighted to accept this year’s Senior team jerseys from our main sponsors Callan Tansey Solicitors.

The set of jerseys was presented to the captain of the Senior team, Conor Creaven, by Niamh

First year gaelic footballers from Coola Post Primary School who played in a recent blitz in the Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence.

Ní Mhurcú and Brian Gill of

Callan Tansey Solicitors. Also accepting the jerseys on behalf of the whole team were members of the Senior squad who were selected to be part of the Under-18 Connacht Rugby team for 2022. This year an unprecedented eight players were selected from Sligo Grammar School to play for Connacht at Under-18 level. They were Ambrose Bamber, Gerard Murtagh, Earl Norris, Conor Creavan, Diarmaid O’Connell, Dylan McCloat, Max Hunter and Arann Platt. Well done to the boys and to their coaches who put a lot of hard work and dedication into their training over the last number of years.

In September two of our debaters, Alfie Barron

and Dáithí Meehan made it through to the Irish Schools Debating national finals which will take place in Dublin in October. The finals will determine who will be on the Irish Schools Debating team which will represent Ireland in Vietnam in July. They were the only students from Connacht to be chosen to go through to the national finals. Earlier in the summer Anushka Pathak was selected for the National European Youth Parliament (EYPl and on the strength of her participation and debating skills, was then selected for the International European Youth Parliament which took place in Finland in August. Out of 400 applications, only 40 were selected to go forward – one of whom was Anushka. She is now a member

The new first year students at Ballinode Community College.

of the organisation and will be on the Organising Committee for the Connacht-Ulster 2022-23 Regional Session of the EYP. Well done to all three students, and a special thank you goes to Ms Hall who runs the Debating Society.

29 members of Sligo Grammar School Kayak Club kicked off the year with a club trip to Achill Island in mid-September. As well as surfing and kayaking, the group completed a 35km hike on the Greenway from Newport to Achill and did the Deserted Village walk. The three days were hugely successful, and the fantastic weather allowed them to get a bit of beach time as well! Teacher and club Leader Mr Cradock hopes that the Achill trip will become an annual event for the Kayak club members.

HOCKEY INTERPROS 2022: Well done to our Hockey players who have been selected to represent Connacht in this year’s Interprovincial Series. The girls who will play at U18 level are Saoirse Lawley, Sophie Swann, Lara Swann, Meabh Gillmor and Maebh Mc Loughlin. At U16 level the SGS girls are Eabha

Daffy and Aoife Cradock. Special congratulations go to Maebh Mc Loughlin who was the only player chosen from Connacht to represent Ireland at U16 level.

She played against Scotland twice in a Home Nations Series and played against England, Scotland, Austria, Holland and Spain in an international tournament in Spain during the summer.