In normal circumstances, pupils would be leaving the College this morning after Warden’s Assembly.
The Senior Prefect, Megan Bulbulia, has an end of term message to all pupils, which you can listen to on the player below.
This morning the Chaplain again led a small number of resident staff (well ‘distanced’ physically) in another Chapel service, for the worldwide Columban community, on the day we would have had our final Hilary Term classes. Again there are prayers from the Chaplain, the lesson read by the Warden, and the hymn ‘Angel Voices’ sung to Mr McCarthy’s piano accompaniment.
You can listen to the previous service here.
Listen via this player:
On Saturday the first rehearsal of the SCC Virtual Alumni Choir was held online, conducted by Mr McDonald. The choir intends to join the Stay at Home Choir will be learning and then performing singing Vivaldi’s great work Gloria. More to come…
This morning the Chaplain led an unusual service in Chapel, which we hope provides comfort for the whole College community. A small number of staff attended, keeping well apart from each other under social distancing guidelines, and Reverend Owen said prayers, Mr Crombie read the lesson, and the hymn ‘The King of Love my Shepherd Is’ was sung to Mr McCarthy’s piano accompaniment.
We plan for more in the future. Listen to the 10-minute service by using the player below. If you have a problem with that, try the ‘video’ version (sound only) below it.
SCC Chapel Service from St Columba’s College on Vimeo.
Best wishes to all the College community on the strangest St Patrick’s Day ever.
Normally we would be appreciating a weekend off, and resuming classes tomorrow for the rest of term (and enjoying the Arts Week activities). However, the focus for College staff will now be on supporting their pupils academically for as long as the national schools’ closure lasts. We are already well-placed to do this, since our Firefly Learning virtual learning environment is well-embedded in College practice for some years, and this is backed up with regular use of the tools in G-Suite for Education.
Yesterday teachers received additional online training from the IT Department on using these systems, including Google Meet. They are ready to guide all classes (with priority given to public examination Forms), starting tomorrow. Both parents and pupils have been emailed about this recently.
We wish everyone in the community the very best in the times ahead.
Well done to the Artistic Performance class on their successful first art event. They organised and hosted an exhibition of ceramic work for 1st, 2nd and 4th Forms on Monday evening. Everyone had an important role to play in organising this: marketing, printing brochures and labels, interviewing artists, making speeches, photographers, curators, refreshments, security and printing positive quotes for every visitor to take.
On Sunday 1st March the late Christiaan Vis, former Head of Art at the College, was remembered in a celebratory event at Orlagh Estate. A large number of family, former colleagues, friends and former pupils attended.
Reverend Michael Heaney, former Chaplain at the College, thanked Hudia Vis and her family for inviting everyone, and then handed over to the Sub-Warden, Julian Girdham, who read out a series of comments from Old Columbans about the impact Chris had had on them: “His classes were the highlight of the week”, “His art classes to me meant freedom. Freedom of expression, to push boundaries, from the confines of the regulated SCC life”, “His sense of humour was wicked but kind”, “A great teacher, always honest and funny”, “An inspiration and a shepherd to me in my callow teenage years”, were typical of the comments.
Michael Heaney then read out a wonderful tribute from Tim Macey, former Warden (who could not be present), including these observations:
He was very respectful, welcoming and polite, yet I got the distinct impression that he was frequently having to suppress a little chuckle at the bizarre formalities of College life. In fact this ambiguity may have been at the heart of his great success as Art teacher at the College. He certainly had a great sense of humour and there must have been many occasions when it was badly needed.
and
He was wise and thoughtful, independent and sound in judgement, in every respect the mature senior member of staff, yet at any moment that impish teenager would reassert himself, to the amusement and enrichment of us all. I remember Chris with great respect as artist and teacher, with affection as colleague and with the warmest thanks for the laughter and colour that he brought into all our lives. To Hudia and to all those very close to him, I can barely begin to imagine your loss. I hope nevertheless that the warmth that we all feel in our memories of him, even those of us who did not know him really well, will stay with you always. He was a blessing to us all.
Michael Heaney followed up with prayers, and then there was a further tribute from OC Charlie Hackett, read out by artist Anthony Lyttle, and Chris’s daughter Grainne and son Leonard also spoke, thanking all for their kindness.
To get a good sense of Chris, check out the video interview below from the year 2000 by his colleague Morgan Dockrell, filmed by Garry Bannister.
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