On March 12th 2020, the Taoiseach announced from Washington DC that all Irish schools would close that day due to the impending pandemic threat. The Sixth Form then thus never got the chance to end their school careers as normal, and go through all the rituals associated with leaving school. Yesterday, at last under a […]
The Warden writes (10th March 2022): I haven’t blogged much this year, perhaps because there is a limit to how often people need to read my thoughts about coping with the pandemic and life has been dominated by that for so long. Now, of course, just as life is returning to normal, we are facing […]
The last weekend of term featured another welcome artistic moment (following Matchbox Theatre on Friday evening). Mrs Malone-Brady put together a 40-minute concert which was shown twice, to keep audience sizes down, and it was a delight. The evening opened with an instrumental group (Monty Walsh, Liam Campbell, and Joshua Chan), who performed ‘Legends of […]
The latest edition of the pupil magazine, The Submarine, has now been published, and can be read online via Issuu here. The new editors are Isabella Treacy, Elizabeth Hart and Phoebe Landseer. Elena O’Dowd reviews this year’s book club choice, All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue, there is poetry by Marianne Lee and Delia […]
Last night in the Big Schoolroom there was a welcome return to the stage of Senior Drama, with a production of five of Michael Frayn’s (very) short plays in his book Matchbox Theatre. The production ran three times (for 30 minutes), to allow smallish audiences to see it, and they flanked the central performance space […]
This is the text of the Warden’s sermon at the first Evensong of term, last Sunday. Who is Your Neighbour? Who is your neighbour? The two greatest commandments in the Bible, we are told, are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength and to love […]
Many congratulations to last year’s Sixth Form, who today received their Leaving Certificate results. They had a very difficult year, and their studies were repeatedly disrupted, so it is greatly to their credit that they completed the year so strongly, and that their results were excellent. Due to the unique mixture of the accredited grade […]
The College community sends its best wishes and congratulations to the former Sub-Warden, Housemaster of Stackallan and Geography teacher Mr Norman Lush, on his 100th birthday today. He celebrates this event at home in Somerset together with his wife Joyce, and the rest of his family, including his Old Columban children Nicola, Colin and Tessa. […]
From the Warden: 16th June 2021 This is what I would have said at the St Columba’s Day celebrations in the Sports Hall: How do I begin to summarise the year that is just finishing? Perhaps some future archivist will be trawling through the speeches of Wardens of yesteryear and will come across these words […]
Congratulations to the winners of the 2020-21 subject prizes, normally presented at the St Columba’s Day celebrations, but this time by the Warden at Whispering House during recent days. They are: SURNAME, FIRST NAME PRIZE FORM Mann Oran Old Columban Society Scholarship Form I Pollock Sophie John Bevan Classics Prize Form I Finn Ciara Junior […]
As a small sign that things may slowly be returning to ‘normal’, the first BSR drama production for over a year took place on Thursday. It was to small, masked, socially-distanced audiences, with just two performers: Emily McCarthy as Vladimir and Isabel Warnock as Estragon in an excerpt from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. They put it […]
FORM PRIZES 2020-21: congratulations to the winners– • First Form: Stella Borrowdale, Naoise Bradley-Brady, Grant Fabian, Felix Jellett, Grace McCarthy. • Second Form: Carlotta Castagna, Oleana Cowan, Edith O’Brien, Alison Wang, Lucas Weber. • Third Form: Kate Dementyeva, Elizabeth Hart, Rachel Shaw, Calvin She. • Fourth Form: Nikolai Foster, Kate Higgins, Emily McCarthy, Kamilla Murphy, […]
The latest edition of the pupil magazine, The Submarine, is now online and can be read here in flippable form. Editors Avi Johnston and Edna Johnston have gathered pupil writing and artwork by, among others, Zofia Cannon-Brookes, Isabel Warnock, Isabella Treacy, Lorne Walsh, Vivian Tuite, Vanessa McEvoy, Lou Sacolax, Ryan Ovenden and Elys Walker. Thanks […]
The 2021 Art , Craft and Photography Prizes attracted as much interest as ever and pupils from every year group entered their work for consideration. This year the theme for the competition was ‘Connections’. Pupils’ interpretations of this theme varied greatly . The result was a fantastic collection of visual responses. The Junior Photography Prize […]
While we can do little this year to mark World Book Day, with only Sixth Form having lessons on the campus at the moment, here are some staff ‘shelfies’ to look at. Pupils: which member of staff do you think owns each shelf? Also, Dr Pyz is running a Library ‘BookFace’ competition: Find a book […]
Recently the pupils and staff of the College have adopted 5 principles that best sum up the ethos and values for which Columbans should strive: Kindness, Compassion, Inclusion, Responsibility, Determination (see the Warden’s explanation here). This was a fantastic opportunity for Transition Year to explore Value as a theme, especially in these times of isolation and distant learning. […]
In Chapel this morning, the Chaplain gave this message: This has been a very long term; for some of you it started way back in August when it was still summer – and now we are just thirteen days away from Christmas day. We didn’t really know what to expect. Certainly, in the midst of […]
As we get close to the end of the term, it is appropriate to express our gratitude to everyone who has helped made this term as easy as possible. We are grateful to have had virtually no disruption, and particularly thank our medical staff, administrative staff, grounds and maintenance staff and catering staff. Today school […]
