On the afternoon of Saturday 17th June a memorial service was held in the College Chapel for former Warden David Gibbs. Mr Gibbs was Warden from 1974 to 1988, and died in June 2020 (he was born in 1926) when pandemic restrictions meant that such a service was not possible.

A considerable gathering came to the Chapel, consisting of family, friends, former colleagues, and current and former Fellows, to remember a man who had an enormous impact on the life of the College. That was made clear in an address given by Mr Ninian Falkiner which described Mr Gibbs’s early life, and then the deep influence he had on St Columba’s. Another angle was given by Mr Shazad Contractor, who had been a pupil at St Paul’s School, Darjeeling from 1962 to 1968 (Mr Gibbs was Rector of that School from 1964 to 1972). He made it clear how affectionately those Indian pupils regarded Mr Gibbs by reading out tributes from some of them.

Thomas Gibbs, grandson, read the first lesson, and the Warden the second. The choir (Soloist: Emily McCarthy) sang ‘The Cloud’s Veil’, and the prayers were led by former Whitechurch Rector Canon Horace McKinley and former Chaplain, Reverend Michael Heaney. The Chaplain, Reverend Daniel Owen conducted the service and said the final prayers, as all present went down to Whispering House for tea and continued reminiscences of a most remarkable man.

It has been a very busy term in the Art Department. First up the Senior Art prizes were awarded with Antonia Ladanyi winning the Earl of Meath Art Prize, Senior. Ellen Beven won the Craft Prize, Senior and Calvin She won the Photography Prize, Senior. We also want to congratulate Jamie Green for taking up an offer for September from the Manchester School of Art.

Junior Cycle pupils, having completed their projects embarked on a sculpture project highlighting some of the environmental issues that we face and this work has been exhibited around the College.

Form VI carried out their practical art exam- a five hour window in which to demonstrate their skill and talent. It was a challenging and stressful day for them. TY pupils exhibited their Architectural Drawings at a Nationwide Architects in Schools exhibition at the Lexicon Library In Dun Laoghaire. Form I and II continued to work on craft projects such as clay modelling and lino printing.

In the week leading up to St. Columba’s Day senior pupils had the opportunity to meet with the designer and artist Serena Kitt to talk about creating a portfolio and applying to Art College. This was supported by a trip to the BIFE for their end-of-year portfolio show for those pupils interested in compiling a portfolio in the next year or two. 

TY pupils exhibited their portraits in the Whispering House and an exhibition showcasing a selection of pupil work from Form I-VI was on display in the Sports Hall for St. Columba’s Day.

There was a trip to the Lavina Fontana exhibition at the NGI and a guided tour of the Casino Marino for Form V. Below, Lily Boyle and Jesse Reynolds write reports on those expeditions.

National Gallery of Ireland by Lily Boyle, Form V

On Tuesday, May 30th, the Form V art pupils went on a trip to see the Mannerist paintings of Lavinia Fontana in the National Gallery. Lavinia Fontana was born in Bologna in the middle 1500s and she was best known for her attention to detail, especially in the fabrics she painted. We had a tour of all of her works on display in the gallery and we developed a deeper insight into her compositing and the story behind her work. We learnt that Fontana was managed by her husband Gian Paolo Zappi, all the while having eleven children. One thing I found particularly interesting was how Fontana combined the interest and/or professions of her clients into their paintings eg, a horoscope globe into an astrologer’s portrait or into her self-portrait she included a piano. Lastly, something I found truly interesting, was the classical and biblical allusions in some of her work, including the love affair of Aphrodite and Mars and Judith slaying Holofernes. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and found learning about Lavinia Fontana enlightening and it has inspired me to dig deeper into other Renaissance and Mannerist artists.

Casino at Marino by Jesse Reynolds, Form V

After visiting the gallery, we went to see the architectural gem – The Casino at Marino. The Casino was designed by Sir William Chambers as a summer house for James Cauldield, the first earl of Charlemont. It is a great example of an eighteenth-century neo-classical building. Our tour guide told us that the egg and spear design throughout the casino represents life and death and that the lions surrounding the building were originally supposed to be water fountains; however, they ran out of money. The Casino was designed to look small on the outside when in reality it is much larger than it seems on the inside. The classic Greek columns elongate the building and deceive the mind into thinking the building is small. The Casino has been recently restored by the Office of Public Works and it now stands as a perfect example of Chambers’ work and the cultural aspirations of the Irish ruling classes.

Seeing the building in person really helped to understand the architectural innovations and how effective the deception was. We had a great day out. 

Below is an album of photos and pieces of work from this term in Art.

‘Trips Week’ takes place every year as the Junior & Leaving Certificate examinations take place; those not sitting examinations leave the campus on various trips to bookend their year and give those sitting examinations free run of the campus in that first week. There are a range of trips organised, including long-running trips to the Burren and Achill, as well as a fantastic junior tour to Spain (Madrid & Segovia) and several day trips to nearby attractions.

The traditional Form V trip to the Burren hasn’t taken place in full in recent years. The trip is designed to provide time for Geography and Biology fieldwork but there is also plenty of time to explore the wonderous outdoor scenery of the Burren National Park including Mullughmore, Lahinch Beach and the Cliffs of Moher. Meanwhile, our Transition Year pupils travelled to Achill for their traditional end-of-year outdoor adventure. There was time for hiking, coasteering, surfing, kayaking and plenty of fun.

Our younger pupils, those in Forms I & II, either travelled on the junior cultural trip to Madrid & Segovia or participated in a number of day trips in Dublin and neighbouring counties.

Below, find an album of photos from across the trips.

 

This year’s St. Columba’s College ‘Lionel Munn’ Golf Trophy for Primary Schools was played in gorgeous sunshine and with the course in tip-top condition. It was great to see young people playing competitively, sharing a day of fun, camaraderie and competition.

Last year Whitechurch National School lost out to Our Lady’s Grove on a countback after both teams had a 39 Gross Score. Whitechurch entered two teams this year and bounced back securing both first and second-place team positions. Tyler Neill and Olly Conn had a creditable five over par better ball gross score of 42. This year’s winning Whitechurch National School team of Alex O’Herlihy and Joshua Cron had a level-par better ball score of 37. This excellent performance is one that the great Lionel Munn would have enjoyed watching. There were also some notable individual performances including Alex O’Herlihy’s 38 and Tyler Neill’s 48 gross scores.

Very well done to all participating schools and players; their parents, accompanying teachers and the well-maintained and conditioned St.Columba’s golf course.

The day could not have happened without the help of my colleague Ian O’Herlihy who laid out the T-boxes and designed the scorecards. Very many thanks to Brendan Blake of Kilmashogue Golf Club for generously giving his time to walk and guide players around the nine holes. The College Academy’s PGA professional Josh Adams also supported and helped run the day. It was great to see so many smiling and positive young faces enjoying the day, meeting new like-minded people and playing our wonderful game of golf.

You might imagine things slow down for Transition Year pupils at this time of the year but it is the opposite in fact. As the year draws to a close, the pupils continue to develop their knowledge and skills and we reflect on and celebrate their achievements in a range of academic and extracurricular endeavours.

Away from the classroom this term there was a 50km hike along the Wicklow Way (pictured), a visit to the School Summit careers fair, a trip to Nowlan Park in Kilkenny for a hurling match, a visiting speaker from DePaul, volunteering with The Hope Foundation, sailing in Dun Laoghaire, the Viking Splash tour, a forensics workshop and a TV production workshop in Maynooth; all over six short weeks.

Recently, four major events focused on the Transition Year pupils’ academic achievements. Shannon Walker Kinsellawon the TY Academic Prize with her project on ‘fear’, judged by former SCC teacher Alan Cox. Clodagh Walsh won the Alyn Stacey Cup at the TY Modern Language Evening while, at the TY English Evening, ‘Premier Awards’ for English were presented to Aeladh Bradley-Brady, Cajetan Cardona, Carlotta Castagna, Amber Cotton, Ava Fagan, Emilia Hager, Manuela Nassief, Melina Paulsen, Shannon Walker Kinsella, Clodagh Walsh, Alison Wang and Johanna zu Solms. (Click here for a full report on the TY English Evening on the College website). The remaining academic prizes were awarded last night at the final Transition Year Awards & Prizes event with full details here.

Two other prizes were awarded last night also. Elliot Warnock was presented with the Spirit of Transition Year award, for embodying the philosophy of TY, and Ciara Finn was presented with the Transition Year Award for Outstanding Resilience.

It has been a bumper year for our Transition Year pupils and huge credit and thanks must go to Ms Lynch and her predecessor Ms Kilfeather for their extraordinary work in building and maintaining such a vibrant, rich and varied programme.

There was more sporting success this term, with our cricketers reaching three league finals and plenty of individual success for our young athletes too.

The Senior Boys’ Cricket XI took on CUS in the Leinster League final a few weeks ago; it was the first time since 2012 that they reached this point in the competition and SCC last won in 1976. Sadly, they lost out to a strong CUS team who scored 191-7 off 40 overs, with Isaac Dijkstra taking three wickets during SCC’s innings. Isaac, along with his brother Sebastian and Harry St. Leger were selected for the Leinster Schoolboys’ Cricket Development XI who took on the MCC last week. The Form I girls and the Senior Girls’ 2nds both reached their respective finals but sadly missed out on the trophy. The Form I girls were defeated by just 9 runs against a strong Kings Hospital team while the Senior 2nds(pictured above) lost out to a strong Rathdown side in their final.

In athletics, there was success for our young athletes at the East Leinster and Leinster championships in recent weeks. David Cron (triple jump) and Gabriel Murphy (3km walk) took gold at the East Leinsters, came in the top three in Leinster and will now compete in the national finals, which begin today in Tullamore.

Well done to Georgia Goodbody who became Waszp Irish Female National Champion having fought off stiff competition in the Waszp National Championships (the Waszp is a single-handed hydrofoiling yacht that rises out of the water reaching speeds of 28 knots).

In equestrian news, congratulations to Amber Cotton who came second in the Poneys de Grand Prix Fontainebleau in France recently. Also, the best of luck to Oleana Cowen and Daniel Moran, representing Ireland in an international eventing tournament in Millstreet Cork; the event kicked off yesterday.

The album below contains a selection of sports photos from right throughout the year – it’s been a bumper year for Columban sport.

Congratulations to the following pupils who were presented with Leadership Awards this morning. These awards aim to recognise pupil leaders across all Forms. Their leadership may have been on the sports field, in formal positions in their houses or simply through the acts of kindness they’ve shown throughout the year. Well done to everyone – all were extremely well deserved.

Form I – Jan-Christian Dijkstra, Harry Casey, Eloise Droulliard, Cora Wheatley, Amy-Anne Newell and Alannah Starbuck

Form II – Pia Mulholland, Alice McCarthy and Jack-Francis McKeon

Form III – Ryan Ovenden, Safia Walker, Oscar Ryan and Naoise Bradley-Brady.

Form IV – Hedley Butler

Form V – Cheuk Yin Wong, Raicheal Murray and Hughie Casey

Form VI – Solomon Babajide, Marco Trolese, Monty Walsh, Isabel Warnock and Georgiana Clare.

The annual Transition Year Prize evening tonight featured an overview from Ms Lynch, the TY Co-ordinator, of the huge number of activities the pupils have taken part in this year. Pupil speakers on their experiences included Tomas Echevarria, Catejan Cardona, Mario Ramirez Miranda, Hedley Butler, Ayodeji Ediale and Harry Smith Huskinson, while Alison Wang sang and accompanied herself on piano. Plenty of pictures and videos gave a fine overview of the year. Ms Lynch thanked her team of teacher-colleagues, and paid tribute to her predecessor, Ms Kilfeather.

Academic awards were made in these subjects:

English: Manuela Nassief
Maths: Fee Pirata Schmack
French:  Nooria Nakschbandi
Irish: Molly Mann
Spanish: Carlotta Kirschner
History: Cajetan Cardona
Geography: Ben Sykes
Biology: Melina Paulsen
Chemistry: Tomas Rosa Echevarria
Physics: Alison Wang
Design: Amecie Rose
Art: Keelin Bradley-Brady
PE: Frida Campe
Music: Harry Powell
Classics: Aeladh Bradley-Brady
Economics: Clodagh Walsh
Business: Cajetan Cardona
Religion: Alba Perich-Godo
In addition, the TY Academic Prize went to Shannon Walker Kinsella (presented at the St Columba’s Day celebrations on Saturday, and the Alyn-Stacey Award for Modern Languages went to Clodagh Walsh,

Finally, two non-academic awards were made:

Spirit of Transition Year – Elliot Warnock
Transition Year Award for Outstanding Resilience – Ciara Finn