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Seachtain na Gaeilge

Táimid ag ceiliúradh Seachtain na Gaeilge ar aon leis an tír go léir. Ar ndóigh, caithfear na gníomhaíochtaí go léir a bheith déanta go fíorúil. Tá súil againn go nglacfaidh gach duine páirt – ní gá Gaeilge a bheith agat!

We are celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge (“Irish week”, it actually lasts for two weeks!) along with the rest of the country. Obviously, all activities will have to be carried out virtually. We hope that everyone will take part –  you don’t need to know Irish!

  • Comórtas póstaeir: tarraing póstaer a leiríonn seanfhocal /
  • Toraíocht Taisce: faigh na rudaí ar an liosta agus déan colláis astu / Treasure Hunt: find the things on the list and make a collage from them.
  • Dialann Sheachtain na Gaeilge: tabhair faoi deara na focail agus nathanna nua a fheiceann tú, a fhoghlaimíonn tú, a chloiseann tú, a deir tú, a deir daoine eile, a sheolann tú / Seachtain na Gaeilge Diary: note down the new words you see, you learn, you hear, you say, others say, you send.
  • Focal an lae (15 Márta ar aghaidh): focail Gaeilge a choistear sa Bhéarla in Éirinn / Word of the Day (15 March onwards): Irish words that are heard in English in Ireland
  • Tráth na gCeist (sna ranganna Gaeilge idir an 1 agus an 17 Márta) / Table Quizzes (in Irish classes between the 1st and 17th March)
  • SCC Gaeilge ar Instagram: leathanach nua atá bunaithe againn chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn mar theanga bheo, spraíúil, thaitneamhach, nua-aimseartha. Lean muid! Beimid ag lorg ealaíontóirí a bheadh sásta pictiúr próifíle a dhearadh dúinn le linn Sheachtain na Gaeilge. / SCC Gaeilge on Instagram: a new page we have set up to promote Irish as a language that is alive, fun, enjoyable and modern. Give us a follow! We will be looking for artists to design our profile picture during Seachtain na Gaeilge.
  • Among Us as Gaeilge: Beidh daltaí na tríú bliana ag cur liosta foclóra le chéile ionas go mbeidh sibh ábalta ‘Among Us’ a imirt trí mheán na Gaeilge / Among Us in Irish: Third Year pupils will be putting a list of vocabulary together so that you will be able to play ‘Among Us’ through Irish.

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Transition Year Update

The current COVID-19 restrictions have meant the Transition Year Co-ordinator and her team have had to be more imaginative in their organisation of the year’s various activities. The Transition Year at St. Columba still places a strong focus on academic work but, like many other schools, there is a greater focus on community outreach, physical exertion, building a service culture, team building and extra-curricular activities. Catering for these activities is a challenge in the current climate, but not impossible.

We were delighted that our annual TY team building event at Causey Farm was still able to go ahead, with the Causey Farm team putting strong procedures in place to protect our pupils and staff. Elys Walker wrote a detail report on this last week which can be read here. Another great team building activity was the drone video where the Transition Year pupil paid tribute to the work of health workers across Ireland and Europe. It’s been viewed over 18,000 times on our Facebook page – click here to see it.

Another whole year event was a recent hike to Fairy Castle, the peak of the nearby mountain complex. Kate Higgins writes this report:

We left at 8:30 that morning and the mist was so heavy that it was difficult to see. We were lead by Mr. O’Shaughnessy, Miss.Lynch and Mme. DeFréin and left the College through the front gate. We turned left up Kilmashogue lane and walked up the surprisingly steep hill towards Ticknock. We were then on a forest trail and the trees looked eerie in the morning light with the heavy mist. It wasn’t too cold or windy when we were walking in the forest but once we got out into  the open to walk towards Fairy Castle it was freezing. The wind was  strong and the mist was still too thick to see very far. We came back down on a slightly different route over a path of rocks. Once we got back into the forestry we were sheltered from the wind again. We then made our way back to the college after a very fun and enjoyable walk on the mountain right at our doorstep. Many thanks to those who organised it and joined us. 

We were delighted to once again welcome John Lonergan, the former Governor of Mountjoy Prison, to speak with the Transition Year pupils recently about drugs, crime and his time in the prison. The pupils enjoyed John’s gentle tone in what was a wide-ranging talk. We thank him for his time.

Nikolai Foster reports on the recent series of litter clean-ups undertaken by the Transition Year pupils, who are taking part in the Gaisce challenge series.
“As part of the community involvement for Gaisce, we went litter picking. We went down the back entrance and into Marlay Park. We litter-picked along the paths as well as in the bushes, where a lot of stuff is dumped. We continued out of Marlay and went along the road, finding crisp packets and beer cans along the way.”
We are grateful to the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council for donating litter picking equipment to the TY.

Academic work continues but there is greater freedom to explore aspects of tradition subjects. Verlaine Bolger reports on an interesting activity in her Spanish lessons recently.

“Today in TY Spanish class we made “chocolate con churros”. We decided to research Spanish recipes and make this popular Spanish dessert. We split up into three groups, as we had to socially distance. One group started by melting the chocolate in the simmering cream, the second group weighed the flour, butter and mixed this with water and an egg, while the third group were taking care of heating the pans and adding the oil etc…. We ended up with the dough and then piped it into the hot oil. It quickly took shape and the final result, deliciously freshly made sugary churros!! We dipped the churros into melted chocolate and everyone really liked them. The churros were a great success, everyone participated and had a great time! This was my first time making churros and I was very proud of my efforts“.

There have also been opportunities to try new subjects this year, including our new formal lessons in Mandarin.

In summary, it’s already been a busy time for the Transition Year pupils and we have been delighted with their efforts to engage with the various activities, despite the challenging environment. Well done!

Below is a photo album of all Transition Year events which will be updated as the year progresses.

Transition Year 2020
Transition Year 2020
66 photos
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Form Prizes 2020

The following pupils have been awarded Form Prizes based on the quality of their work throughout the academic year (including the ‘remote’ learning this term).

Congratulations to:

Form I

Keelin Bradley-Brady
Carlotta Castagna
Alexander Fought
Lucas Weber

Form II

Ekaterina Dementyeva
Elizabeth Hart
Noah Kutner
Rachel Shaw
Calvin She

Form III

Kate Higgins
Emily McCarthy
Cian Slyne
Isabel Warnock

Form IV

T.J. Hopkins
Avi Johnston
Edna Johnston
Marcus O’Connor
Nelly Ploner

Form V

Sinead Cleary
Gioia von Doenhoff
Éile Ní Chianáin
Oscar Yan

Form VI

Megan Bulbulia
Sophia Cole
Camila Garcia Herrera
Dmytro Kasianenko
Eliza Somerville
Tania Stokes

 

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Sixth Form Awards

Last Friday the Warden held an online ‘Assembly’ for Sixth Formers and their teachers, since all academic work has now finished for them.

During Assembly he announced the winners of the 2019-2020 Form Prizes, based on work done since September: Megan Bulbulia, Sophia Cole, Camila Garcia Herrera, Dmytro Kasianenko, Eliza Somerville, Tania Stokes.

Prizes for other Forms will be announced in June.

Every year, during the annual Sports’ Dinner, ‘Colours’ are awarded to those who are deemed exceptional in every way in their sport: ability, attitude, commitment on and off the playing field, consistency, reliability, character and courage. Last Friday, during a virtual assembly with Form VI pupils, Director of Sport Liam Canning awarded ‘Colours’ to the following leavers:

  • Boys’ hockey: Andrew Pollock, Alexis Haarmann, Till Schultheis
  • Girls’ hockey: Sophia Cole, Cato Oldenburg
  • Rugby: Alexis Haarmann, Peter Keogh, Thady McKeever, Philip Shekleton, Sakhile Khumalo.

Congratulations to all the Form Prize winners and those who have been awarded Colours.

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Trinity Term Subject Prizes

Though the campus is closed, subject teachers will continue to make 2020 Prize Awards (a lot of prizes have already been awarded in the Michaelmas and Hilary Terms). This post will list those who receive prizes this term (some will wait until June, when pupils will have a chance to spend more time on some remaining subjects).

Many congratulations go to:

  • Tania Stokes: Peter Dix Memorial Prize for Poetry
  • Raphaela Ihuoma: Geology Prize
  • Eliza Somerville: Willis Memorial Prize for Shakespeare
  • Hannah Swanepoel: Junior Poetry Prize
  • Keelin Bradley-Brady: John Bevan Classical Studies Prize
  • Eliza Somerville: Physics Prize
  • Poppy O’Malley: Agricultural Science Prize
  • Elys Walker: Junior Science Prize
  • Sophia Cole: Economics Prize
  • Arizona Forde: Senior Earl of Meath Art Prize
  • Nikolaus Wachs: Senior Craft Prize
  • Sveva Ciofani: Photography Prize
  • Georgia Goodbody: Junior Earl of Meath Art Prize
  • Alison Coogan: Junior Craft Prize
  • Songyon Oh: Business Prize
  • Sam Lawrence: Biology Prize
  • Sakhile Khumalo: Senior Drama Prize
  • Ellen Homan: Fry Prize for Stagecraft
  • Zofia Cannon-Brookes: Junior Geography Prize
  • Zofia Cannon-Brookes: Technical Graphics Prize
  • Eliza Somerville: Senior Geography Prize
  • Emily McCarthy: Junior Drama Prize
  • Coco Xu: John Jenkins Music Prize
  • Emily McCarthy: Junior Music Prize
  • Songyon Oh: Senior Music Prize
  • Sakhile Khumalo: Senior Music Prize
  • Marcus O’Connor: Aroti Sisodia Music Prize
  • Cosima Schilling: Sandham Willis Prize for Music
  • Tania Stokes: Senior Music Prize (instrumental).

 

 

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English Meet, April 23rd

Our English Department is organising the first ‘English Meet’ on the evening of Thursday 23rd April (Shakespeare’s birthday). This is an evening for teachers of the English Leaving Certificate course to share ideas. It will be held from 7pm to 9pm, and will feature practising classroom teachers presenting for 10 to 20 minutes each on different aspects of the course. There will also be plenty of time for discussion. It will be a convivial and, we hope, helpful event.

Several teachers from schools in and around Dublin have already signed up, and more are welcome: just email sccenglish@stcolumbas.ie with your suggestion.

Tickets are available here.

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Debating News

This weekend was an important one, in the St. Columba’s Debating Calendar. Two houses, Glen and Iona came together in the House Debates Final. Tensions were high as boys’ house Glen -previously on 189 points- competed against girls’ house Iona who were twice winners of the previous rounds and on 181 points. The motion before the house was that “this house believes that, in the current era of climate change, non-violent direct action is vital”. While it was a wordy motion, adjudicators Mr Brett and Mr Canning felt that all speakers engaged in a high standard of debate. In the end, Iona were deemed House Debates Champions, “on the basis of their passion for what they argued”. Amy Cosgrove, Head of House for Iona, was awarded best speaker on the night.

Speakers on both sides included Ben Upton, Thady McKeever and Phillip Sheckleton for Glen and Amy Cosgrove, Sinead Cleary and Megan Bulbulia for Iona. A special thanks to Dmytro Kasienenko for his excellent chairing of the debate and Shannon Dent who acted as time-keeper. Third formers Amelia McKeever and Nina O’Flynn kindly set up the BSR and helped Ms Morley to coordinate the rooms.

In other debating news, Saturday was also the evening of the last round of Junior Debates. In a most engaging manner, pupils debated the motion that “this house this house believes that, in order to be allowed to vote, citizens must pass a mandatory test on politics, general knowledge and current affairs”. Points of clash included the question of inclusion, good decision making and the extent to which such a move would promote the kind of equality upon which democracies are built. Mr Swift, adjudicator for the evening, commended all speakers for their efforts, but particularly those who spoke with clarity and conviction.Winner on the night was first former Shannon Walker-Kinsella who first made her debut as winner of the second round of Junior Debates. The motion was successfully opposed. Christopher Atkins was awarded ‘best point of information from the floor’.

Speakers on both sides included Tadhg Rane O’Chianain, Lorne Walsh, Florian Zitzmann and Alex Hinde (all proposition) and Carl Krenski, Calvin She, Naoise Murray, Tyrone Shi and Shannon Walker-Kinsella (all opposition).

Best luck to Gioia Von Doenhoff, Elise Williams, Sinead Cleary and Aiyuni O’Grady who will represent the college in the second round of the UCD Leinster Senior Debates on Tuesday 21 January.

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The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook

The College is delighted to be one of 30 schools featured in Tom Sherrington’s new book, The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook, just published by John Catt, with illustrations by Oliver Caviglioli. This is a follow-up to Tom’s hugely successful The Learning Rainforest: Great Teaching in Real Classrooms, and focusses on how schools around the world (mostly in the UK but also in the USA, Lebanon, South Africa, Thailand and of course Ireland) are building on the principles in that book. The stories of these very different schools are fascinating, with in each case articles by teachers and pupils giving vivid accounts of teaching and learning, and of the wider particular ethos.

The section on St Columba’s has articles by the Sub-Warden Mr Girdham, Mr Jameson (on reading), Dr Singleton and Mr Jones (on the re-design of our Science Block in 2016, and the subject of their recent researchED Dublin talk), as well as featuring pupils Shannon Dent and Sam Lawrence.

We are honoured to be included in this book, and appreciate Tom Sherrington’s words in his introduction: “It never occurred to me that the Learning Rainforest might find resonance in anything physical but, for sure, the labs at St Columba’s are probably the best classrooms for teaching science I’ve ever seen; another aspect of ultra-modernity nicely juxtaposing the school’s deep traditions. From reading the school mottto to hearing that one of the alumni is U2’s Adam Clayton (how fabulous is that?!) – there’s no end to the charm and quirkiness of this fabulous school.”

15% of the revenue from all sales will be donated to the Thandulwazi Science and Maths Academy in Johannesburg. This is run by St Stithian’s, one of the Fieldbook schools. The money raised will support the training of specialist teachers working in the public schools in Johannesburg, clearly a very worthy cause in an education system under great pressure.

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researchED Dublin reaction

We were delighted to host researchED Dublin on October 5th: a wonderful day with 350 people on the campus thinking about evidence-based practice, and networking.  Since then we’ve sent out a feedback survey, and below are some of the comments that were made.  They were overwhelming positive, with only a few minor criticisms, and some helpful feedback should we put on researchED again. We’ve removed references to individual presenters, but there were huge numbers of these too, and very appreciative they were. For more reaction online, click here. For a long follow-up  article in the Irish Times, click here.

  • 94% of all present had never been to a researchED event before.
  • 89% indicated they were ‘extremely satisfied’ overall with the day (ie, 5 out of 5).

Some reactions:

  • Delighted to be at your inaugural ResearchEdDub which was organised exceptionally well. The communications leading up to the event, the staff on board to direct, the presentations and speakers coupled with the hospitality was superb. I very much look forward to the next one. Congratulations to you all!
  • All of the speakers I attended were outstanding and it was an absolute pleasure to spend the day in their company. There was such a good buzz around the entire day and I can not think of a single negative. I am so glad I attended.
  • Well timed sessions and despite the weather for the second half of day it was good to be able to move around, get fresh air en route to another presentation and meet new and interesting people. All of that on a beautiful campus. I feel like I am writing an ad for a travel brochure! Well worth the travel and a day out of my weekend. Well done to all concerned.
  • Best education event I have attended.
  • A fabulous event and really hope that there will be another opportunity for a researchED in Ireland again.
  • Organisation was impeccable/ hospitality was second-to-none.
  • The change-over time was ideal. The speakers making a start on time was appreciated.
  • Excellent, loved it! Totally refreshing in an era where we are all being told to teach the same way with stickers and group work, in an age where the entire standard of education is being lowered, this was the one inspiring hopeful event I have been to. I will definitely consider going to more. It was very funny too, with enormous content. Thank you. Very well organised, beautiful and convenient venue.
  • All of the sessions were interesting and inspirational. It was good to have current practitioners delivering as well as the ‘big names’!
  • I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would and have told many colleagues about it and shared my reflections from the day too. Thank you.
  • It was great to have so many high-profile UK-based speakers. I’m looking forward to next year where I hope that there will be more Irish speakers who are engaging with cog-sci + education debates, but who are speaking to an Irish context … I’d be really interested in being part of a researchEd Dublin (Ireland?) community – to share ideas etc during the year. Such a great day – thank you again.
  • It was an amazing day, I left feeling energized and have used some of this in my classes already this week. I will definitely be attending again and would consider attending abroad.
  • The event was inspiring, invigorating and packed with relevant, research-based strategies and techniques…no one could fail to learn something from the many excellent speakers present.
  • Good variety of sessions, well timed and spaced to allow transitions. I really enjoyed the opportunities to make connections and plans for supporting others as we move forward. I’ve already planned a couple of meet-ups that wouldn’t be happening without researchED with potentially significant impact across  Thank you.
  • It was thrilling to have education CPD of this quality in Dublin. The appetite for it was tangible and I hope it’s the first of many researchED events in Ireland. Well done to all involved for an important and thoroughly enjoyable day.
  • It was an amazing day of learning. So many stand out moments and take away. Well worth the journey from Belfast. I came away fizzing with ideas and things to think about. Can’t wait until next year!
  • Would have loved to have attended them all.
  • Amazing day! Very inspiring!
  • Very well organised, great venue, extremely helpful and friendly organisers.
  • What a wonderful Conference, set in the most magical of places. I hope to see a researchED event return to Ireland again. In light of new and ongoing changes on the Irish educational landscape, I expect there will be an ever-increasing demand from teachers for evidence-based practice and, quite frankly, a bit of common sense. I suspect it would be difficult to overstate its importance at our current junction.
  • Spectacular day, and very inspiring! Thank you very much! It would be excellent if speakers did a couple of sessions each, as often there were numerous places I wanted to be at once! Although I know logistically this may not be possible as more rooms need to be available, and it might be pushing the good will of the presenters.
  • This was the best CPD ever!! I learnt something from every session. The whole experience was so positive and motivating – I just wish I could have gone to every session. Many thanks to everyone involved for organising such a professional and inspiring day.
  • Thank you for all the time you put in to organising this. Having organised conferences myself, I know all too well the logistics. Well done.
  • Thank you to  the organisers , the academic and ancillary staff at St.Columba’s for the excellent organisation and facilitation of the day. It was a quality, ambitious, positive day of genuine CPD (continuous professional development) – as far from exhausting, counter productive ‘Croke Park’ hours as one could get!
  • The day at researchED Dublin was inspirational. I left with a ‘yes, I can teach in ways that get better learning from and for students’. A most positive experience.
  • It was really great to have such a mix of speakers. There wasn’t a single time slot where I was stuck to find something to listen to.
  • I was really impressed with the professionalism of all the presenters and the level and kind of supporting research given not just by the main speakers but also by ‘working teachers’.
  • Beware of education myths and of shiny expensive packages- the teacher is the greatest resource in the classroom. Very well organised and very inspiring. All sessions ran on time and were focused and relevant.
  • It’s honestly impossible to single any one presenter out as each presentation I attended was excellent.  It seems like there’s often a polarising debate between ‘knowledge’ and ‘skills’, and while some presenters stated their views in forceful sound bites I really appreciated the nuanced approach to all the issues discussed, from behaviour to curriculum.
  • Very practical CPD – one of the best that I have ever been to!!  Excellent range of speakers – lots to take back to the classroom.
  • Excellent presentations on how to improve teaching and learning in the classroom, classroom behaviour etc.
  •  Very encouraged to see researchers motivated to embed findings in practice. Also encouraged to hear their willingness to share existing research with teachers including negative findings which are as informative as the positive ones.
  • Excellent presentations. Very well organised. Great fun. Great to meet other teachers at coffee break/lunch.
  • The school community were top class hosts. It was a privilege to hear so many leading lights in one place on one day. Please come back soon!
  • I thought the organisation by the school was v impressive.
  • Excellent day with very engaging speakers. Very well organised and a lovely atmosphere. I’d definitely attend again.
  • A thoroughly useful and positive day. It has made me realise I’m not ready to retire yet as ‘the fire still burns’!
  • This was an amazing, inspirational, rejuvenating Saturday after a long and very challenging week for me in the world of my classroom and school. I enjoyed every minute and thanks so much to St. Columba’s College, an educational world so far away from where I teach.
  • I would highly recommend a ResearchEd conference to any educator but it would be extremely beneficial for new teachers to understand the science of learning, before being inundated with educational “fads”.
  • I am teaching 13 years now and beginning to feel burnt out trying to keep on top of all these “new bright ideas” for the classroom. I love to teach, I know what works best for my students and having listened to these inspirational speakers I am now much more confident in my own teaching and what I am doing. The whole day was inspiring for all of us who have taken up this profession aiming to teach our students and bring the best out in each of them. Thank you to all involved.
  • Excellent day with very engaging speakers. Very well organised and a lovely atmosphere. I’d definitely attend again.
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researchED Dublin Report

On Saturday last, October 5th, the College hosted a researchED conference, the first time this international educational movement has been to Ireland, South or North. 350 educators, including 30 speakers, were joined by 25 of our own staff from morning to late afternoon going to presentations by world-class speakers from England, Scotland, Sweden and Belgium, as well as many presenters from all over Ireland (Derry to West Cork to Wexford to Dublin to Armagh). The programme can be seen here.

researchED Dublin (joining venues in the UK, USA, Australia, Sweden, Holland, Italy, Dubai, Chile, Switzerland and South Africa, with China coming) opened in the brand-new Whispering House at registration, with delegates arriving from 7.30am on (most of course were Irish, but we did have visitors from Switzerland, the UK and even Australia), collecting programmes and having coffee and eats provided by our superb caterers Sodexo. Then the conference proper started in the Big Schoolroom, with everyone being welcomed by the host and organiser, the Sub-Warden. Tom Bennett, founder of researchED, spoke about his delight in being in Ireland at last and gave an account of researchED’s purpose. He then handed over to the keynote speaker, Daisy Christodoulou, author of Seven Myths about Education and Making Good Progress? She showed how cognitive science has had a profound impact on teaching and learning.

After that, delegates chose from 6 strands, with sessions taking place in the BSR, the Cadogan, the Science Lab, the Physics Lab and the Biology Lab. Renowned speakers like Tom Sherrington, Mary Myatt, Alex Quigley, Pedro de Bruyckere and David Didau were interspersed with first-time presenters such as Conor Murphy, Kate Barry and Leona Forde. One of the exciting things about researchED events is how academic researchers meet and interact with classroom teachers, and the former here included University of Limerick researcher Dr Ann Marcus-Quinn and Ulster University’s Dr Victoria Simms (she speaks on the video).

A wonderful lunch (the perfect time to network and chat to strangers about common interests) was followed by three sessions in the afternoon, culminating in Carl Hendrick’s excoriating and hilarious dismantling of feeble pedagogy which sells children short. In the evening, the presenters came back together for dinner in town.

Reaction on the day was immensely positive, and online even more so: read this collection to get a flavour of what has been said since.

Many thanks to Ian O’Herlihy for the video of the day at the top of this post, and Daniel Owen for the photographs below.

researchED Dublin 2019
researchED Dublin 2019
48 photos
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researchED Dublin sessions

There are under 4 weeks to go until researchED Dublin, Ireland’s first-ever such event (on Saturday the massive London conference, with 1500 delegates and 170 speakers, was a huge success).

Our event is of course smaller, but certainly very high quality, and below are the titles of the 30 sessions available to delegates. The timetable will be released before long, and there will be some tough choices to make (5/6 sessions run concurrently apart from the first and last ones). More detail on sessions on the @researchEDDub Twitter account during this week. More on the speakers themselves here.

(in alphabetical order by speaker)

Neil Almond: I structure (most of) my maths lessons: putting research into practice

Kate Barry: Retrieval Practice for Long-Term Learning

Edmond Behan: Teaching students to collaborate: the impact of skills training on student engagement in collaborative learning.

Tom Bennett: Behaviour lessons from the best UK schools.

Fred Boss: Open Digital Badges in Formal Education in Ireland.

Pedro de Bruyckere: The Ingredients for Great Teaching.

Daisy Christodoulou: Seven Myths about Education (keynote address).

Daisy Christodoulou: Comparative judgement: an easier way to assess writing

David Didau: Making Kids Cleverer: A manifesto for closing the advantage gap

Stuart Farmer: Networked Learning Communities – the solution to effective professional learning of teachers?

Leona Forde: Getting research into practice: one school’s story of building a system for teacher-led professional development.

Rebecca Foster: On Bjork’s Desirable Difficulties in the classroom.

Gráinne Hallahan: The Batman Effect: what it does (and doesn’t) tell us about concentration in the classroom.

Eva Hartell: Comparative judgment – unpacking teachers’ assessment practices in STEM education.

Carl Hendrick: The Pedagogy Delusion: When Teaching Kills Learning

Humphrey Jones & Mary Singleton: A Research-Led Approach to School Science Laboratory Design.

Peter Lydon: Some Hard Truths from Gifted Education.

Ann Marcus-Quinn and Tríona Hourigan: Open Education and post-primary education.

James McCoy: Introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum at Key Stage 3: a case study.

Jennifer McMahon: ‘Learning from yesterday to prepare for tomorrow’: teacher perspectives on applying evidence to practice.

Conor Murphy: The Importance of Film: a brief history of its place at second-level, and how we can embed it in our schools.

Dianne Murphy: Seven Misconceptions About Teaching Adolescents to Read.

James Murphy: Six Kinds of Behaviour Problems and How to Deal With Them.

Mary Myatt: Curriculum: Controversies, Concepts and Conversations.

Mirjam Neelen: Teachers teach but do they learn? How to improve your own self-directed learning skills.

Sandrine Pac-Kenny: What they don’t tell you about learning a language!

Alex Quigley: Closing the Vocabulary Gap.

Tom Sherrington: Why are Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction so popular and so good?

Victoria Simms: Evidence-based primary maths: what is research really telling us?

Claire Stoneman: Senior Leadership: how can we help novice senior leaders learn?

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Leaving Certificate results, 2019

Many congratulations to our candidates, who this morning received their Leaving Certificate results, achieving an average across all candidates of 474 points out of 625, second only to last year. This is another very fine performance, and extends our run of consistently impressive results year on year.

A few statistics:

  • 61 candidates sat the examinations, sitting a total of 453 papers, 85% of which were taken at Higher Level.
  • 18% of all results were H1.
  • 40% were H1/H2.
  • 58% were H1/H2/H3.
  • One candidate received the maximum 625 points.
  • 7% received over 600 points.
  • 46% received over 500 points.
  • 93% received over 300.
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Transition Year Modern Languages Evening

On Tuesday night the seventh annual TY Modern Languages evening was held in the Big School Room. Eleven pupils presented in Spanish and French on topics such as El Flamenco, Le Tour de France, Las tribus de América and Les Jeux Olympiques. Leon Moreau also gave an outstanding recitation by heart in Bavarian of a childhood poem. During the interval we we enjoyed lusty renditions of the German and French national anthems.Many congratulations to the winner and recipient of the Alyn Stacey Cup, Sveva Ciofani, for her presentation on Pablo Escobar. In second place was Eliz Kolat (Les stéréotypes français) joint third were Oliver Townshend (Mis aventuras con Diego) and Sinead Cleary (Les fromages français). The standard overall was extremely high. Well done to all those who participated and made this such a successful event.

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Form Prizes 2018-19

FORM PRIZES: congratulations to the following, who have been awarded prizes based on their academic work this year:-

SIXTH: Helen Crampton, Georgia Keegan-Wignall, Harry Oke-Osanyintolu, JiWoo Park, Caspar Schulenburg, David White.

FIFTH: Camila Garcia Herrera, Oda Michel, Poppy O’Malley, Eliza Somerville, Tania Stokes.

FOURTH: Imogen Casey, Sinéad Cleary, Gioia Dönhoff, Oscar Yan.

THIRD: Tom Casey, Iona Chavasse, Emma Hinde, Avi Johnston, Marcus O’Connor.

SECOND: Kate Higgins, Emily McCarthy, Cian Slyne, Elys Walker.

FIRST: Elizabeth Hart, Rachel Shaw, Beatrice Somerville, Lorne Walsh.

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Phil Speaks

Form V pupil Megan Bulbulia reports on her recent experience of the ‘Phil Speaks’ debating competition.

When I put my name forward to go to the ‘Phil Speaks’ debating competition in Trinity, I was very nervous about what was to come. What would the motions be? Would I even understand the motions? Would I get lost in the maze that is Trinity College Dublin? And perhaps most importantly, would there really be free pizza there!?

Thankfully I only got lost once and there was pizza ordered in bulk both days! As for the motions, more random than Harry Oke-Osanyintolu had warned us. Our first motion was  “This House Believes that the media has a responsibility to show the full horrors of war.” Katherine Kelly and I had 15 minutes to prepare our five-minute speeches. To say that this was stressful would be an understatement, the 15 minutes flew by and before we knew it we were strongly opposing the motion. It was an interesting and engaging the debate in which we placed 3rd. Not bad we thought, against a strong proposition.

The next motion was “This House regrets the American Dream.” This proved difficult to propose, as the debate became centralised on the concept of whether hard work equals reward, a central idea in our society and of course the educational system.
We emerged from this debate in 4th place but with increasing knowledge of debating strategies and approaches which would prove useful.

After a filling lunch of Apache pizza, we were given our third and final motion of the day. “This House Would delete all social media.” Katherine and I were proposing this motion, we used our gained knowledge of how to coherently structure a debate, forming it almost like a mathematical equation, proving points x and y, to our advantage. This round was a closed round, which means we don’t know where we placed, but our tactics were proving effective and became procedure in our two next debates.

The next morning we registered again, with a slight change to the teams. Katherine and I stayed together while Shannon Dent paired with Dmytro Kasianenko in place of Oda Michel who unfortunately wasn’t feeling well. The motion was announced and Katherine and I had 15 minutes to scurry off to the School of Histories and Humanities Arts Building, (this was when we got lost.) We were proposing the motion that “This House Regrets art that glorifies gaining material wealth”. With Dmytro and Shannon on our tea,m we gave the opposition a united Columba’s front! It was an interesting debate, focused around the excessive wealth of popular musicians and online influencers, each team managed to work an Ariana Grande reference into their speech as part of the ‘Goofball Challenge.’

Our fifth and final debate was “This House Believes that occupying vacant buildings in protest of widespread homelessness is a legitimate political act.” For our last debat,e Katherine and I used all of our gained knowledge from the four previous debates into a strategical and tactical argument. We both spoke for the full five minutes and we felt like we had strongly and convincingly proposed our last motion. Unfortunately, we didn’t earn a place in the Quarter Finals but what we definitely earned was a sense of achievement and a wider knowledge of how to structure and deliver a clear-cut speech within a debate. We also met secondary school pupils from all over the country, and we had an opportunity to explore Trinity also! I would definitely recommend The Phil Speaks Debating Competition to anyone and it was a very enjoyable experience.

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School League Tables

The Warden has written an article on fee-paying schools for the Sunday Independent ‘School League Tables’ supplement. Here is what he wrote:

Parents love a school league table, particularly when it shows their child’s school in a good light. However, I am rather confused by the way the school league tables in Ireland are currently devised by a media eager to draw comparisons. Schools that send all their leavers to Irish universities get 100% (or even higher by an anomaly that I don’t understand), while schools such as ourselves, that think it is a good thing to encourage leavers to look around at universities in the UK, Europe and the USA, end up in 500th place, because, although every leaver goes on to third level education, only a third of them stay in Ireland, despite two thirds being from the island. Since when has having a narrow world view been a mark of excellence, particularly in a country with such a huge diaspora?

Last year here at St. Columba’s College we averaged 484 points per candidate at Leaving Cert, with a non-selective intake, a result that would probably put us at the top of the tree, or very close to it, if there were a league table based on these results. However, you may be surprised to know that I am delighted that there are no such tables here in Ireland. I have seen the disingenuousness and the shenanigans wrought by league tables in the UK. When a school’s reputation is based on its GCSE or A Level results, as is the case with the government league tables  over there, inevitably schools start to manipulate their exam entries accordingly. If an academically weaker child gets through their vigorous screening process, rather than deciding to do the best for that child, they create barriers for entry into the senior school, saying, for instance, that unless a pupil gets 8 A*’s or A’s at GCSE then he or she cannot continue in the school, or perhaps that unless the GCSE is an A* then the pupil may not continue with that subject to A Level. The child is only valued if he or she can contribute to the school’s awesome academic reputation. If not they are expendable. An exception might be made for a particularly good loose forward, of course, or a first violin.

There is much worse than this. Pupils going into their final year will be told to drop their weak subjects or advised that, if they refuse or ‘do not heed the school’s advice,’ they will be required to enter for the exams privately, so that the results will not appear in the official statistics of that school. It gets worse still. Some schools with international operations will enter their weak candidates through the international centre, thus ensuring that only those who are going to get the top grades are counted in the results that people see. I have even heard of a situation where a school created another school as a separate legal entity, so that weak candidates could be entered through that means, through a school that existed only on paper! It’s possibly not illegal but it is certainly immoral! My own belief is that once a child has entered a school, that school has the obligation to see that child through and do the best for them, regardless of their ability, rather than considering them surplus to requirements if they do not ‘add value.’

Maybe in Ireland some of these excesses would be avoided, since schools are by definition non-selective, but you can see where the introduction of Leaving Cert league tables could lead and I don’t think anyone here wants to run the risk of creating a league table monster such as exists in the UK. So up here on the hill we’ll just have to continue to grit our teeth each year when the current league table is published, until someone comes up with a moremeaningful way of judging schools in the overall context of the education they provide and the future opportunities they offer their alumni, both in Ireland and further afield.

Irish private schools are becoming an increasingly attractive option to many overseas parents, especially if they are looking for boarding. Being the only English speaking country in the EU after March 29thmay have benefits. Coming from the UK I am dismayed at the ever-increasing expense of a private education there and I cannot help feeling that the costs are out of control, as schools compete to build more and more state of the art facilities. Most private schools in the UK were founded to assist the sons (usually) of merchants or clergymen to get an education, but now that a full boarding education can cost £40,000 (45,000+ euros) a year, and even day fees are often upwards of £20,000, most hard-working professional parents can no longer afford to send their children privately, even if both are earning a decent salary.

Private education in Ireland is considerably less dear than it is in the UK and, while I do not deny that the cost is still a stretch, it is at least within range of more people. I therefore see private schools in Ireland as less exclusive and elitist than in the UK, especially since schools cannot screen pupils academically before offering places. We may be relatively expensive here at St. Columba’s, as journalists are often quick to point out, but we are still less than half the cost of the equivalent in the UK, while offering, I think, an equally good product.

Heads of private schools here may be reluctant to defend their schools because they have a perception that they are not popular in the public imagination.Indeed, when I moved here I was told to keep my head down and not court publicity, since ‘it is best to fly under the radar’. I don’t really subscribe to that approach because I believe very strongly in the service that we offer and which is offered by the excellent private sector as a whole. There will always be naysayers but there is certainly nothing to be ashamed of and plenty of which private schools can be very proud.

 

 

 

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Art, Craft & Photography Prizes 2019

The Art Department has issued the themes for this year’s Art Craft & Photography Prizes, for both Junior and Senior pupils. The themes for this year’s prizes are JOURNEY and IDENTITY and a wide range of styles and techniques are welcome. This year’s competition will be judged by artist and Old Columban Conrad Frankel who will also speak on the night of the prize giving. One of his paintings is shown above.

Click here for full details of the brief, with useful tips for entrants.

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Book Week Pupil Report

Emma Hinde, Form III, reports on a very successful Book Week 2018.

There were loads of things to do during book week this year. The week featured two chapel talks in which Kate Higgins and James Park spoke about their favourite books and Mr Swift sang a song about his bookcase. The author talk was probably my highlight: Richie Conroy told us about his career as a screenwriter (he wrote the animated movie “Two by Two” and the TV series “Fran: Assistant manager”, along with many more). He also wrote a book called “An Jailtacht” which is in the library. It’s aboout a teenage girl called Emily who goes to the Gaeltacht.
There was also lots going on in the library. The “shelfies” were photos of teacher’s bookshelves and we had to match the teacher to the shelf. I only managed to get one. We could also estimate the amount of books in the library, and design a cover for our favourite book. There was also an official book week bookmark, designed by Tania Stokes.
The first book club meeting of the year took place during lunchtime and we talked about which book we would be reading for the term. Lots were suggested and eventually Geraldine McCaughren’s Where the World Ends was chosen. The next meeting will take place in the library on Monday, 10 December at 1.20 pm.
First, second and third years had Book Speed Dating in the BSR. This is where we talked for two minutes about a book to the person sitting opposite us and then swapped. It was interesting to see what other people were reading. I kept changing the book I was talking about, but settled on one called ‘The Lost Gate’ by Orson Scott Card. It’s part of a trilogy.
The library was open at break and lunchtime, which was so successful that it was decided it would remain open at lunchtimes for the rest of the term.
I loved book week, and hope that others enjoyed it as much as I did.
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