INFORMATION PRESENTATIONS (FIRST YEAR & SENIOR CYCLE 2023)
Well done to all involved in the First Year and Senior Cycle 2023 presentations. Thank you to Deputy-Principals, Ms Casey and Ms Smith, who coordinated and hosted the First year event and to Ms Crossan, Year Head, And Mr Mackey, AEN Coordinator, who also presented to the students and their parents on the night. In particular, well done to Emma Bank and Darragh Reddin, two First year students, who spoke at the First Year Information Evening and gave an excellent account of their first year in CCM. Principal, Mr Donoghue, Guidance Counsellor, Ms Irene Doyle, LCA Coordinator, Mr McCarthy and TY Coordinator, Ms C Doyle, coordinated and hosted a comprehensive Senior Cycle Options presentation which is available online to Third and TY students and their parents.
ASSESSMENT MORNING 2023
The Assessment Morning for incoming First year students (2023) will take place on Saturday morning, 28 January, in the school and the deadline for First year subject option forms is Friday, 3 February.
THE REFUGEE EXPERIENCE
TY students and members of the Multicultural Society were given a fabulous opportunity to hear from influencer and podcaster, Jaz O'Hara on Friday, 13 January. She told them the story of her brother Mez who is an Eritrean asylum seeker in the UK. She described how her family provided foster care for unaccompanied minors and how this triggered her interest in the plight of refugees around the world. She spoke to students about how they themselves can work against the injustice and inhumanity of the refugee camps and the difficulties of establishing a new life in a new place. Our TY students asked brilliant questions and Jaz was really impressed with their empathy and engagement in her message.
ONE GOOD SCHOOL
As part of CCM's One Good School journey, all Third and Sixth year students will be invited to complete a one-hour online tutorial on the topic of Managing Exam Stress. Jigsaw also hosted a webinar specifically aimed at school staff on the same topic on the evening of Thursday, 19 January. As the Mock Exams approach, this is timely support and of great benefit to teachers and students.
IAMTA REGIONAL COMPETITION
Well done to Third and TY students, Caoimhe Doherty, Ellen McCarthy, Eoghan Levins, Killian Keane, Stella Wei, Jack Lambe, Raphael Carlos Balisi Geogehgan and Junhong Wan, who travelled to St Leo’s College, Carlow, Thursday evening, 19 January, for a Maths Competition. Two teams competed in six rounds of Maths Challenges. CCM team scored an impressive 28 points and placed 5th out of over twenty teams. A great atmosphere and a real sense of teamwork led to an enjoyable evening by all.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
Friday, 27 January, marks Holocaust Memorial Day and we will take the opportunity to commemorate the day in several ways in CCM. In Tutorial class, tutors will play a video clip to give students an understanding of what Holocaust Memorial Day is and why it is such an important commemoration and during the last class of the day, a student will read a short message on the school tannoy followed by another informative video clip in class. Resources will be distributed to all Junior CSPE classes and these can be used to support this important day.
JUNIOR GIRLS' GAA
On Friday, 13 January, on a very windy day, the Junior girls played Avondale in the Preliminary round for the Junior B Shield competition. The girls found playing against the strong wind difficult in the first half, with the backs working hard to keep Avondale from scoring. Clara Earls made some fantastic saves, coming out strong with the ball. Going forward, Millie Phelan and Brooke Byrne took some lovely scores. Playing with the wind, CCM improved their scoring in the second half and the girls came back with some fantastic scores but, unfortunately, it was not their day in the end. This was the girls' last game in the Wicklow league. However, we have First and Second year blitzes to look forward to over the coming months.
JUNIOR GIRLS' BASKETBALL
On Wednesday, 18 January, our First and Second year girls' basketball teams faced off against St. David's of Greystones. The First year team, in their first outing, scored the first 2 of the game. However, after a few minutes, a very well-drilled St. David's side started to pull ahead and our First years just weren't quite able to get back into it. We saw excellent defence from Ramona Mantorova and Darin Bakr.
The Second year team, having played together last year, came out with a strong lead which they were able to maintain throughout the whole match. Two very strong lines were able to consistently stay ahead of St David's and the top scorers of the day were Reece Hughes, Sophie Ferguson and Evana Jestin. Well done to the girls who took the match 25-19.
SENIOR BOYS' FOOTBALL
We recently played two matches in the group stages of the Wicklow Senior Boys A Championship, where there were mixed fortunes for our boys. On Thursday, 12 January, we were given our marching orders in a resounding win for St. Kevin's, Dunlavin. This was compounded by brutal conditions that the boys had to endure while being resolutely beaten. Some harsh lessons are to be taken from this outing, the only mitigating factors being that some of our players didn't play due to illness and others were injured early in the game.
Our second outing of the group was against Avondale CC in Rathnew GAA on Monday, 16 January. With more of our players available and a more amenable day to play football, we took charge of this game early. Although in control we were wasteful at times in front of the posts and allowed Avondale opportunities to stay in the game. Sam Healy kept the scoreboard ticking over with his accuracy from the dead ball. At half-time, the players turned the screw and Callum Clarke was devastating from centre back and scored 2-2 from play, which burst the Avondale dam. Aaron Nolan finished off with the goal of the day after some great team play. This was a great team display which, in some way answered the questions of the previous performance. We move on to play our final group match vs Coláiste Bhríde, Carnew in March.
FIRST YEAR BOYS' FOOTBALL
On Friday, 20th January, our First year boys played Dunlavin in the First Year GAA Competition. Both sides were coming in off the back of good wins in this competition. CCM were slow to start and we were one point down when Dunlavin was awarded a penalty. Evan Lawlor, who was outstanding on the day, saved well and CCM kicked into gear scoring the next 4-4.
Goals and points from Toby Salley, Daniel Murphy and Harry Buttler put CCM in a strong half time lead. Some excellent defensive work from PJ Lane, Ollie Quinn and Jack Murphy sent CCM on their way in the second half.
All twenty-three players played a minimum of twenty minutes each in what was a great performance all round with exceptional contributions from Sean O'Brien, Evan Lawlor, Toby Salley, Thomas Kehoe and Harry Butler. These lads now have 3/3 wins in this competition.