Happy Geography week! 🌍
Last week (November 25-29) we celebrated Geography week and our Fifth and Sixth year students created a Geography Wall showcasing all of the wonderful ways Geography can inspire us and bring people together. Well done to Miss Rossa's Third years, Miss Doorley's Second years and Mr. McCarthy's Third years who created displays on different aspects of Geography.
We had daily riddles and Geography questions, with winners announced every day. Our Geography classes undertook different investigations and studies throughout the week as well as creating a variety of display models. All students engaged in sustainability lessons in CSPE and SPHE. Other activities included a traffic investigation, a soil study in the polytunnel and a lunchtime Geography documentary on Thursday.
On Thursday at lunchtime we hosted a Geography quiz. A big well done to our quiz winners: Holly Doyle, Bobbi Bush, Erin Cox, Ali O'Reilly, Efrain Tharian and Rory Plummer who were joint winners of the Geography table quiz!
Our poster competition on 'Sustainability' ran all week with the winners announced on Friday and displayed on the Geography wall.
Geography Urban Investigation
Mr. Earls' Fifth year Geography class took part in an urban investigation focusing on the changing landscape and land use in the surrounding area of the school. They were introduced to the ArcGIS interactive mapping system where they could study past maps of the area dating back to the First Edition six-inch maps. Their focus was on more recent times and how much the area has developed and changed in the past fifteen to twenty years. Overall, this was a very interesting and informative study which the whole class embraced and they learned a lot of new information about the local area as well as providing their thoughts on what is needed to develop the area further in the future.
First Year Christmas Trip
On Monday, 2 December, all First year students, along with their mentors, tutors, year heads, Ms Gill and Mr Guinan went to Leisure Max in Wexford. They took part in all of the activities such as foot pool, goggle soccer, escape rooms, zorbing, laser tag, archery, wipe out, obstacle course, bungee run, sumo wrestling, gladiator, table tennis, go karts, soft play centre, bowling and online darts. There was great camaraderie in all of the activities and they all had lots of fun together. Many new friendships were formed and the students were courteous to everyone they encountered. The staff of Leisure Max complimented them on their wonderful behaviour and sense of fun throughout the day. It was a fantastic day overall.
Second Year Christmas Trip
Second Year students, together with their Year Heads, Tutors and SNAs, travelled to Movies@Gorey to enjoy the action-packed, festive film 'Red One', starring Dwayne Johnson whose mission it was to "Save Christmas". The students enjoyed the film, and their munch box treats, before travelling to McDonald's and Subway for lunch on their way home. A great day was enjoyed by all!
Sixth Year Christmas Trip
Sixth Year students, together with their Year Heads and Tutors travelled to Dundrum on Thursday, 5 December, to enjoy the action-packed, epic film Gladiator II. The students enjoyed the film, and the chance to have lunch out with their friends after. Thank you to the tutor team for all their help in organising a great day out.
TY Mini Companies
Our Fifth year parents were able to keep on top of their Christmas shopping on Monday evening, 2 December, as our TY mini companies had a great variety of products for them to purchase at the parent teacher meetings. Wooden gifts, candles, wreaths and sweets were just some of the options on sale. Many thanks to all our parents who supported our students.
Paired Reading
On Tuesday, 3 December, the TY Paired Reading with First year students started in the library. This literacy initiative pairs TY students with the younger year groups, where they sit together in the library reading a book, to foster a love of reading. The students all made quick friendships, and the TY pupils did a fantastic job in this mentoring role. This library initiative will continue to run every week up to the Christmas break and beyond.
Thanks to all the students for their involvement!
‘InstaTours' Dublin Sightseeing Tour
On Thursday, 5 December , TY students went on the 'InstaTours' Dublin Sightseeing Tour. Led by Dylan, a professional photographer, the students visited some of the city’s most Instagram-worthy locations, including Temple Bar and St. Stephen's Green. Along the way, they learned valuable photography techniques, experimenting with different angles, lighting, and poses. The group then continued to the National Gallery of Ireland, where they enjoyed a guided tour of the collection, exploring works by Caravaggio, Jellet, and Yeats. Both tours were a great way to wrap up the photography module, combining creativity with hands-on experience.
Junior Boys’ Football Round 3
CCM finished off the group stages of the Wicklow Junior A championship with a super win over CCA in Rathnew on Monday afternoon, 2 December. After drawing with Arklow in Round 1 and beating Avondale the last day out, CCM knew a win would qualify them for a semi-final spot.
Playing against a strong wind in the first half CCM settled well with super points from Alex Mernagh (3) and Harry Butler (2). Rhys Behan, Alex Healy, Daniel Connolly, Sean O’Brien and David McCormack carried the ball excellently into the wind to provide plenty of opportunities. Goals from Sam Conyard, Mernagh and Alex Healy saw CCM lead 3-7 to no score at half-time.
CCM started the second half well and added further scores following excellent team play throughout the pitch. Goals from Harry Butler, Alex Mernagh(2) and Rhys Behan saw CCM well in control. Evan Lawlor produced some wonderful saves and, coupled with excellent defending from Luke Connolly, Charlie Gavin and Cathal Byrne, CCM kept their opponents out although CAA battled hard and added some great scores in the second half.
CCM ran out convincing winners on a day where all fourteen substitutes saw game time. We now await our opponents in the semi-final which will be after Christmas. Well done lads on a great win.
First Year Girls’ Soccer
On Tuesday, 3 December, our First year girls’ soccer team played their first match of the season at home in CCM, taking on St. David's of Greystones in the cup. Both teams started off strong in the first half, but CCM were unfortunate in the first half as they were unable to net any of their chances.
After keeping the scoreboard level until half time, St. David's came out as the stronger team in the second half and won the game. The final score was 0-4. Well done to Mia Devlin (C), Emily Murphy, Haleema Ahmed and Summer Fitzsimons for putting on a great display on the day.
We look forward to supporting the girls throughout the upcoming league competition.
First Year Boys’ GAA
The First year GAA Boys have been busy the over the past two weeks with three matches vs Temple Carrig, Coláiste Bhríde and CCA Kilcoole.
The B team took on Temple Carrig in Eire Óg GAA in the Wicklow B championship. It's great to see the number of players participating in this group this year and it’s the first time we have had two football teams playing at the same age level. This was a tough game for the second team against a very strong Temple Carrig team. Temple Carrig took control of the game early and had our boys working hard in defence. The game finished 10-08 to 4-08 in favour of Temple Carrig but this gave all players opportunities to show their abilities and to participate.
The A team took on Colaiste Bhríde, Carnew in the Leinster C championship in CCM on Friday last. This was a keenly-contested game with some entertaining goal mouth scrambles. Our players defended their goal like trojans and caught Carnew on the break in the second half to secure a great win on a scoreline of 6-05 to 3-05.
The A team then played CCA, Kilcoole in the Wicklow A Championship in CCM and had a great battle against a strong CCA team, however with some nous and great play, we took control of the game and won on a scoreline of 7-06 to 2-04. Hopefully the lads can keep up this momentum.
Junior Rugby
CCM: 15 - St Peters College: 12
CCM Juniors made history in Wexford RFC on Wednesday, 4 December, by booking their place in the semi-final of the Duff Cup for the first time, also earning a place in the draw for the first round of the Father Godfrey Cup on the 9th of January.
A great game between two evenly-matched teams went down to the wire with Oisin Tallon scoring the winning try deep into injury time. In difficult conditions both teams attempted to move the ball with little success as defences were on top for most of the first half. Hard carries and solid defence meant scores were hard to come by but the breakthrough came with a CCM scrum in the St Peter’s 22. The ball was moved by half backs, Alex Birrell and Alex Healy, to find Toby Salley who beat two defenders to put CCM ahead 5 - 0. Peter's hit back straight away as CCM struggled to deal with the kick off and the home side made two quick carries to beat the scramble defence to level the scores at 5 - 5 at half time.
CCM turned to play into the wind and dug in brilliantly with carry after carry building pressure and field position and the pressure eventually told with Eoin Barnaville Killick fighting his way over to make it 10-5. Again, Peter's weren't done and camped in the CCM 22, but relentless defence kept Peter’s out with Tamati Rangintaawa making three last ditch tackles when a try looked certain.
St Peter’s eventually scored beside the posts and went ahead 12-10 with eight minutes to play. CCM threw everything at the hosts with the bench of Oisin Dunne, James Gurrie, Josh Callery, Bill Guinan and Oisin Tallon making a great impact. In the final five minutes, CCM were penalised when a try looked certain and were held up over the line with the next attack. The pressure told and, after strong carries close to the line, Oisin Tallon fought his way over to put CCM ahead with a minute on the clock. Luke Connolly took the kick-off and carried the ball back strongly, and CCM kept the ball well despite huge Peter’s pressure and held out for a win where the result could have gone either way.
Overall, a brilliant team performance built on relentless defence was the key for CCM and the season moves on to the new year.
TEAM: Aidan O'Donnell, Eoin Treanor, Adam Armstrong, Frank McNamara, Callum Reid, Luke Connolly, PJ Lane, Eoin Barnaville Killick, Alex Birrell, Alex Healy, Tamati Rangitaawa, Jack Duffy, Toby Salley, Daniel Connolly, David McCormack, Josh Callery, Oisin Tallon, Oisin Dunne Evan Lawlor, Patrick Treanor, Bill Guinan, James Gurrie, Elijah John Rangitaawa, Rory Plummer, Adam Nolan, Olly Quinn, William Murphy, Alex McKenna.