Parents’ Association
The Parents’ Association AGM took place on Thursday evening, 26 October, in CCM. We are asking all parents to “roll the dice” and buy lines in the Parents’ Association fundraiser to support their work here in the school. The money raised will effectively go straight back to teacher and student initiatives. Thank you all for your support to date and we wish you a safe and happy midterm break.
Barretstown Fundraiser
It was with great excitement that we counted a Grand Total of €2000 from our No-Uniform Day last Friday, 20 October. Thank you to the students and parents who contributed towards this worthy cause and gave us a great start in our fundraiser for Barretstown. In total we need to raise €10000 to ensure our TY students get to take part in the leadership programme ran by Barretstown in March 2024. Stay tuned for more events in the coming weeks and months.
Black History Month
TY students and members of the Multicultural Society attended a talk on Friday, 20 October, as part of CCM’s programme to celebrate Black History Month. The talk was given by Pierre Yimbog from the organisation Black and Irish. This is an organisation that brings awareness to and celebrates the lives of Black and Mixed-Race Irish people. The students engaged in discussions about bias, racism, anti-racism and how to be a good ally. Many thanks to Pierre for an interesting and informative session.
Friday, 27 October, marked the close of Black History Month 2023 for CCM. Students have taken part in activities across the curriculum with special events being held by the History department. A speaker came in for our multi-cultural society and TY students talking about Black Irish identity and inclusion. Students took part in film club and read books recommended by Mr Doherty by Black authors and wrote reviews. Two students, Kathleen Berry and Aoife Lane, were chosen to have submitted the best reviews and were awarded book vouchers. In Art Club, students designed brilliant pieces and, while it was nearly impossible to choose, Freya Renwick's amazing piece won the award for best design. Finally, in History, students completed projects in class about significant Black people throughout history from Mansa Musa to Michelle Obama and Nzinga Mbande to Harriet Tubman. Stand-out work was shown from all classes but particularly notable were projects by Mya Crean Dunne, Max Hennessey, Noah Lorenz and Gauri Ramadas.
Theatre Trip
A group of 11 students went to see the play ‘Bullied’ in the Sean O’Casey Theatre in East Wall, Dublin. The play tackled important themes such as bullying, family difficulties, ageing and loneliness whilst still managing to be sprinkled with humour throughout. The students were very engaged with the play, the Q&A with the playwright, and were a credit to the school. Many thanks to Stephen and the Library Literacy Initiative for the funding of this trip.
‘Rayse the Game’ Study Skills Seminar
On Tuesday, 24 October, Ray Langan, a school motivational speaker, qualified psychotherapist and counsellor, met with all of the Sixth year students and delivered to them a 'Motivational Study Skills Seminar'. Ray spoke to the students in a motivational manner about raising their game in terms of what types of grades they want to achieve in the Leaving Certificate in June 2024, emphasising the need to review all options in terms of courses, colleges and training opportunities.
Using sports psychology & games psychology techniques, Ray advised the students about the importance of attitudinal mantras, how to develop mental energy, how and why they should focus on their future self, the importance of starting a homework habit, and how and why it is important to set golden goals.
Ray gave examples and techniques of how best to study through the use of the 30-minute study sprints technique and through the use of the Whizgridz charting system, while getting the students to focus on time management.
Reflecting on the area of anxiety, he advised the students of practical methods and mindful messages to tell themselves, enabling them to switch from being anxious to being awesome and therefore highlighting to them, how to take control of their life, by reviewing their morning, daily and weekly tasks, habits and routines.
Once again, Ray has delivered a fantastic workshop to our Sixth year students, enabling them to become more focused on their study and career goals as they embark on their last year in secondary school.
Sixth Year Trip to the National Museum and National Gallery
Sixth year Art students visited the National Museum of Ireland on Thursday, 26 October, where they saw Stone age, Bronze age and Iron age artefacts first hand. They were also taken on a guided tour of the National Gallery and experienced artworks from a range of artists including Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh to name but a few. This was a very pleasant out of class experience which will benefit the students’ visual studies in the upcoming Leaving Cert.
‘Oiche Shamhna’ Artwork
First and Second year students busied themselves in Irish class this week creating a spooktacular display of artwork on the theme of ‘Oiche Shamhna’. The display brightened the corridors and featured `’an cat dubh’, ‘an puimcín’, ‘an cailleach’, ‘an púca’ agus ‘an damhán alla’, to name a few. Well done to the students who learned some new vocabulary in a fun and creative way.
Third Year Orienteering
All Third year students completed their six-week Junior Certificate CBA in Orienteering on Wednesday, 25 October, in Bushy Park, Terenure. Having spent the last few weeks developing their orienteering skills around the grounds of CCM, it was time to put their skills to the test! This was a chipped event organised by Orienteering Ireland, where our students’ times and scores were logged and posted on schoolsorienteering.ie. Once the students finished the course, they could then download their results and were given a printout of individual results. They will complete their CBA by writing up a reflection on the event along with their preparation in the lead up
We had a fantastic day of adventure with all the students really enjoying the experience on a glorious day. Credit must go to all students for their efforts and conduct on the day and congratulations to the team of Liam Cawley and Danny McCoy, who completed the course in the fastest time. Well done to all participants and to our PE teachers for organising.
TY Work Experience
Well done to the students who were involved in Work Experience this week, 23-27 October. This is a really important interaction and helps build links with employers while providing an important opportunity for students to gain a variety of valuable skills to prepare them for the world of work. Each participant kept a detailed diary of their daily experiences which will be submitted on their return to their Career Guidance teacher.
U16 Girls' Basketball
The U16 squad played against CCA on Friday, 20 October. The girls worked hard to drive the ball towards the hoop but struggled to capitalise on these opportunities. CCA had really strong defence and CCM just couldn't break through. Stand out performances from Evana Jestin and Kayla Anne Hill and there were steady performances, as we have seen all season, from Holly Doyle and Millie Phelan.
CCM Athletes
CCM athletes travelled to Avondale Forest Park for the Wicklow Invitational Athletics on Tuesday, 24 October. The soft ground and rain made race conditions very tough but everyone put in great performances! The First year boys took home a team silver medal, Ben O’ Leary came third in the First year race, Daniel Mitchell came third in the Third year race while Aoibhe Mitchell came fifth in the senior race. Well done to all the students involved!
Equestrian Update
Well done to both Emma Bank and Ailbhe Kelly who represented CCM last weekend in the Marlton Equestrian Interschools Competition. Both came first in their class. Congratulations on an excellent performance!
