After the Carol Service, the following digital display of artwork from the Junior Cycle & Leaving Certificate art pupils (2024) was presented. Many thanks to Ms Cullen and Ms Murphy for collated the pupils’ work.
This year’s College Musical is Beauty & the Beast and it will be performed on Friday November 15th and Saturday November 16th in the BSR. All are welcome. Alice McCarthy and Jack Francis McKeon play the title characters but they are supported by a large enthusiastic and talented cast. The musical is directed by Ms Caroline Duggan and Mr Ronan Swift and is sure to be a spectacle. All are welcome to attend.
An arrogant young prince and his castle’s servants fall under the spell of a wicked enchantress, who turns him into the hideous beast until he learns to love and be loved in return. The spirited, headstrong village girl Belle enters the Beast’s castle after he imprisons her father Maurice. With the help of his enchanted servants, including the matronly Mrs. Potts, Belle begins to draw the cold-hearted Beast out of his isolation.
CAST
Lexi Hunter: Narrator
Sarah Bruder: Lumiere
Bibi Oke-Osanyintolu : Babette
Philomena Schneider: Mrs Potts
Dairbhre Murray : Enchantress
Alice McCarthy:Belle
Rebecca Flanagan: Cogsworth
Tony Hopkins: Maurice
Jack-Francis McKeon: Beast
Ferdia Murray: Gaston
Daniel O’Dwyer: Monsieur D’Arque
Matilde Matera: Wardrobe
Jason Otolorin: Le Fou
Max Heidenfeld: Chip
Rachel Jiang: Talking Piano
Divyaansh Bhardwaj: Baker/ Villager
Daniel Brady: Librarian/Villager
Grace Koch : Silly Girl
Delia Brady: Silly Girl
Nia Jessup: Silly Girl
Daniella Casasus Benitez: Silly Girl
Villagers
Hannah Fitzgerald
Kayra Mbanefo
Vega Aznar Puertas
Sidonie Wied
Giuila Soddu
Rut Leonora Reygadas Lopez
Constanze Spiering
Isobel McKinley
Violeta Mykhalova
Ludovica Bacchetta
Zlata Lazarieva
Maureen Deng
Maria Mut Gonzalez-Arnao
Charlie Dijkstra
Juno Pelly
Honor Bills-Everett
Johann Diemert
Felix Ballestrem
Eric Wang
Kae Ren Ng Loh
The Band:
Drums: David Hardy
Bass: Neville Lloyd
Keyboard 1: Audrey Myatt
Keyboard 2: David O Connor
Technical:
Sound: Keith Starrs
Projections Operation: Martin Branagan
Lighting: Julian Girdham
Stage Assistant: Claire Higgins
Backstage Manager: Eloise Drouillard
Choreography Assistant: Lilei Spies v Bullesheim
Hair and Makeup: Alannah Starbuck, Melisa Friesenbrudere, Laragh Cunningham Ash, Carolyn Curry
Hair and Makeup Consultant: Liberty Jacquier-Kende
Costumes Tzar: Karen Hennessey
Costume Alterations and Stage Dressing: Elaine Healy
Props Manufacture: Emma Patterson, Finn Woolsey, Cerys Mordaunt, Constance Chambré
Rehearsals Assistants: Megan Carey, Cormac Brady, Julie Robinson
Musical Director: Caroline Duggan
Director: Ronan Swift
Produced by: Caroline Duggan and Ronan Swift
A couple of weeks ago there was the publication of the first-ever biography of the architect of our Chapel, William Butterfield (1814-1900), and has just been published in a splendid production by Lund Humphries of London. Its author, Dr Nicholas Olsberg, visited the Chapel some years ago, and writes in the book that it is
marvellously sited in a manner as firmly evocative of a new sobriety of ornament and warming space: ancient and modern, structure within and structure without.
The book’s photographer, James Morris, also came to the College in 2019. The featured photograph is looking East; all the furniture currently in the chancel was removed for this to get as close as possible to the look in 1880. See more here; several feature in the book, and read a review here.
In a typically busy first half term, our Transition Year pupils have quickly adapted to the demands of the year. While busy in their classes, there have been lots of opportunities for learning outside of the classroom including this week, where all pupils have participated in structured work experience.
There has been art trips, cookery classes, pizza nights, driver theory lessons, e-scooter classes, House Speeches (congratulations to the winner, Violeta Mykhalova), theatre trips, visiting speaker, charity fundraising and outdoor adventures in Causey Farm.
Over 50 of our TY pupils have signed up to participate in the Gaisce programme and others are hoping to participate in the Hope Foundations Kolkata immersion trip. Several pupils are taking ‘Early University Entrance’ courses at DCU on a range of topics including biology, physics, psychology, engineering and law. Others are participating in the DLR STEM course in Dun Laoghaire.
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Last weekend, the first drama productions of the year took place. Form I were the first to thread the boards, with their production of Karleen Hayden’s The True Tale of the Big Bad Wolf , a quirky retelling of the famous tale of the three little pigs. The seventeen strong ensemble cast brought energy and enthusiasm to the stage, bring the play’s witty script to life. For many, but not all, this was the first time to perform in SCC, with former Whitechurch NS pupils Daniel Brady, Jamie Crombie, Ella Girdham, Alex O’Herlihy and Archie Moffett having acted here during their Primary School Pantomime. Stellar performances were delivered by all the pupils but especially from Big Brad himself, played by Harry Dunleavy, who gave an excellent portrayal of a misunderstood lupine hero. The talent shown by all the players bodes well for the future of theatre here in the College. Many thanks to Mr T Clarke for his direction.
Form II gave engaging performance of Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher. The 1943 noir murder-mystery was originally a radio play, requiring the young actors to bring plenty of character to the stage to carry it off – which they accomplished commendably on the night. Georgia Dobb’s apathetic phone operator, Charlie Dunleavy’s lugubrious and donut-enthused police sergeant and Zora O’Rourke’s menacing hitman all drew in the audience’s attention, among many others. At the heart of the performance was the unwitting victim: the “entitled” Mrs. Stevenson, played to excellent effect by Marianna O’Shaughnessy. She capably delivered the lion’s share of the play’s dialogue while imbuing it with entertaining snobbery and rising hysteria. It was a technical endeavour in terms of timing and delivery and all the cast impressed on the night, as well as Xin (Emily) Su who managed the sound effects – no small part for a play that was originally written for radio. Many thanks to directors Mr Stewart and Mr O’Shaughnessy.
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Constance Chambré and Jasper Wilkinson report on the recent Form VI Art trip to Newgrange.
After leaving the College at 8:30am and driving for just over an hour we arrived at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre in Co. Meath. The centre focused on creating a sense of what it was like to live during the Neolithic Period. It was an immersive experience in which beautiful light was reflected on the floor representing the flowing water of the River Boyne; forests were projected on the walls as well as videos playing re-creations of Neolithic people gathering food or cooking.
After leaving the Visitor Centre, we got a shuttle bus up to Knowth, the biggest of all the passage tombs in Ireland. When we arrived we were greeted by the friendliest of staff who gave us a tour and explained the meaning and significance of the tomb. After the tour we explored the site where there an additional 17 smaller satellite tombs. Despite the wind, we were able to stand on the top of the tomb and look down on the hills of Meath and across to Newgrange and Dowth.
Next, we took the shuttle bus to Newgrange where we were divided into two groups. Whilst the first group went inside the tomb, our group got to admire the sheer craftsmanship that went into constructing Newgrange from the outside. As well as the incredible entrance stone that stands at the front of the passage into the tomb, we were also able to view kerbstone 52 which is covered in beautiful linear Neolithic art which is at the rear of the tomb. Once it was our turn to go into the tomb, I was surprised by the sheer size of the entrance passage and the megaliths that had to be transported a huge distance from the Wicklow mountains.
Inside the tomb, the guide demonstrated what it would be like to be in there during the Winter Solstice, when natural sunlight travels deep inside the chamber. One of my favourite parts of my visit to Newgrange was reading the graffiti that people had carved into the walls centuries ago. I think the earliest one I spotted was 1822!!!
After our enlightening visit to the pre-Christian sites, Newgrange and Knowth, we took the bus to the National Museum Dublin. The museum was full of fascinating artefacts ranging over thousands of years. Our focus was of course on the tools and artwork dating to the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. My favourite object was the three-headed Corleck from the Iron Age, dating to around the 1st or 2nd century AD. There were also a number of ‘bog bodies’ which are the remains of people who were killed as part of a sacrificial ritual during the Iron Age. We also managed to have a quick look at The Miosach, a book shrine which has very close associations with our College. After a good hour in the museum we went back to the bus and returned to the College. It was a very enjoyable tour and it was great to see first hand all of the artefacts we have been studying as part of our Visual Studies course.
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It’s that time of the year again – the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal aims to collect and deliver wrapped and packed shoeboxes, full of toys and essentials, for some of the poorest children in the world. To date, over 2 million such boxes have been handed directly to children all around the world and the College are delighted to have a long-standing relationship with this wonderful charity.
Last year, our Transition Year pupils (ably assisted by Mr Paul Cron) filled over 200 boxes while also volunteering at the Team Hope warehouse, packing additional boxes and loading lorries destined for Eastern Europe and beyond. We hope to top that figure this year but need your help.
Over the half term, we would greatly appreciate if you could make up a box/boxes or collect some fillers for the boxes or even empty shoeboxes and bring them back to school after the break. All completed boxes or fillers can be brought to the collection point in Gwynn or left in the staff common room.
Alternatively, you can build you can donate online (€25) and Team Hope will build a shoebox for you, full of essential school supplies, toys, clothes and hygiene products.
Five simple steps to follow:
Get a shoebox, wrap the box and lid separately with Christmas paper (we have already wrapped 150 boxes, so if if this is too much hassle fill one of our boxes)
Decide to whom you want to give your gift (boy or girl) and what age: 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14.
Fill the box = use our 4 W’s as a guide (Wash, Write, Wear, Wow – more details below)
Close the box with an elastic band – please don’t seal with tape as the contents of each box have to be checked to comply with regulations.
Congratulations to the following pupils who were elected to the Pupils’ Council for this academic year.
Form I – Benji Browne, Fiona Zhong
Form II – Herbert Durdin Robertson, Willow Cunningham-Ash
Form III – Carolyn Curry, Jason Otolorin
Form IV – Lewis Curtin, Rebecca Flanagan
Form V – Finn Woolsey, Cerys Mordaunt
Form VI – Euan Flanagan, Melina Paulsen
Mr Stewart has taken over from Mr Jones as the staff liaison.
Notice concerning the admission process to St. Columba’s College, for entry in 2025. Please be advised that, according to the admissions policy of the College, drawn up according to Department of Education guidelines, the timeline is as follows:
- The school will accept applications for day places on October 1st 2024.
- The school will allow three weeks for applications to be received, the last date being October 22th 2024 .
- Parents will be notified of the result of their application, in writing, by November 8th 2024.
- Parents of children who have received offers will have three weeks to accept the place. Full details on the admissions process & current admission status can be found here. Please find the College’s Admissions Policy here.
Admissions Notice: Please find the application form here:
Annual Admissions Statement 2025
Prospective pupils and their parents are warmly invited to attend our Open Morning on Saturday, September 28th 2024 with an opportunity to explore the College’s wonderful campus and facilities. Visitors will receive a pupil-led tour through the College and will have the opportunity to speak with teaching staff along the way. The tours will visit the Chapel, the College Library and Science Block, and see activities taking place like choir practice, House speech practice, artwork, science experiments and sports sessions.
The Open Morning begins at 10.00am and ends at 1.00pm, and visitors are welcome at any time, though we advise not arriving after 12pm, since there is not then enough time for a tour.
Just drive into the school, and you will be met at the car parks by Transition Year pupils, who will greet you and then guide you to the reception point, Whispering House.
No booking is required, but any advance queries about admissions to the College should go to our Admissions Officer, Mrs Amanda Morris.
Please note: If you can’t make this event, a second open event – our Open Evening – takes place in May so look out for details of this event on our website and social media accounts.
This year the College is again taking part in national Culture Night, enabling visitors to the campus to learn about the history of the school, as well as its architectural heritage. Come and visit us on Friday 20th September (from 6.3opm – pupils will guide you from the car parks, and the talk starts in Chapel at 7.00pm, followed by a walk-around).
St Columba’s College has been on its current site since 1849. This tour offers a rare opportunity to see the campus and visit significant buildings. These include the 1880 Chapel (the only building in the Republic of Ireland designed by the great church architect William Butterfield), the 1971 modernist Science Block (architect: Robin Walker of Scott Tallon Walker), the Georgian Hollypark House, and Whispering House (2019), as well as lovely gardens.
The tour starts in the Chapel at 7.00pm, and will be led by the Sub-Warden of the College, Julian Girdham, who will give an overview of the school’s history. Since the boarding school will be in operation during the tour, the event will end by 8.30pm.
No booking is necessary. Please note that the terrain is challenging in terms of accessibility, due to the different levels and steps around the campus.
An unforgettable May evening in London was hosted by the College Foundation, and brought together Old Columbans and our wider community. With the generous hospitality of Old Columban Martin Priestly at the Athenaeum Club, the event saw alumni from 1958 to 2023 sharing stories and reconnecting. The night was filled with nostalgia and camaraderie. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended—we eagerly anticipate doing it again next year!
You can see an album from the London event below:
The tradition College ‘Trips Week’ takes place in the first week of June. As the Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate examinations begins, pupils from non-exam years go on a series of trips. Many pupils from Forms I & II travelled to the south of France, visiting Nîmes, Montpellier, Pont du Gard, Avignon, Carcassonne and more, while those remaining at home participated in a series of day trips, including Explorium science museum, Dublin Zoo and Emerald Park.
Form IV (Transition Year) pupils travelled to Achill Island for a week of water sports, camping and outdoor adventures while our Form V pupils made the trip to the Burren in Co. Clare for biology and geography fieldwork. There was time for some rest and relaxation too, with a boat trip to Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, taking in a view of the Cliffs of Moher on their return and some surfing on Lahinch strand.
Below is a photo album from the various trips which took place last week. Many thanks to the staff who organised and accompanied the various trips and to the pupils for their excellent attitude and behaviour.
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And so, another Transition Year ends and it has been a rollercoaster ride. Seventy determined, hard working and ambitious young people started the year as they began it – at full speed – with the aim of growing as a person and as an academic. Here is a breakdown of the final term.
In May, many members of our TY took part in a hike along the Wicklow Way, to earn their physical challenge badge for the Gaisce Award. In glorious sunshine, the determined walkers trekked over 50km across some of Ireland’s most stunning trails. There was a visit to Grease in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and the annual visit to Causey Farm, for the usual fun in the mud!
Some TY pupils were invited to present work they made for the Architect in Schools Programme at the DLR Lexicon library. Our TY Skills Day took place earlier this term also, with pupils learned some basic DIY, hospitality skills and sewing.
The Transition Year Modern Language evening was held at Trinity College in late April. The overall winner was Delia Brady with prizes also awarded to Lucas Perez Soria and Lina Triebold. The judges were Dr Sarah Alyn-Stacey and Laura Le Cleach from the French Embassy.
The 29th annual Transition Year English Evening was held on Tuesday 28th May in the BSR, with Mr Jameson presenting this celebration of pupil writing. The visiting speaker was teacher Mrs Annie Donnelly, who was most impressed by pieces from Rebekah Fitzgerald Hollywood, Delia Brady, Finn Woolsey, Sofia Walker, Sophie Gibbs, Stella Borrowdale, Grant Fabian, Olive Mud, Cerys Mordaunt and Grace Koch.
Cerys Mordaunt won the TY Academic Prize for her excellent presentation on the brain of teenage girls. Many thanks for Alan Cox, principal of Templecarrig School for judging.
There was a great day trip to the local Explorium Science museum …. and, finally, the final Transition Year Award evening took place last night in Whispering House with multiple subject awards presented to pupils for their academic achievements. The Spirit of Transition Year Award was also presented, for encapsulating all that the Transition Year is designed for, to Safia Walker with Ignacio Suarez announced at the runner up. Full details of those awards can be found here.
Transition Year Photo Album 2023-2024
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Leadership Awards were presented to ten more worthy recipients this week (Hughie Casey, Gabriel Murphy and John-Jack Beglan O’Connell received Leadership Awards for their excellent charitable endeavours earlier this year), recognising the fine example they set throughout the year to their fellow pupils. This year, the Warden highlighted our young leaders who best represented each of the College values (Kindness, Inclusion, Compassion, Determination and Responsibility). Over 100 nominations were received from both pupils and staff.
This year’s recipients were: Ebah Assebian, Alannah Starbuck, Archie Monaghan, Daniel Moran, Rebecca Flanagan, Harry Powell, Henrike Tertilt, Marianna O’Shaughnessy, Ryan Murphy and Safia Walker.
The long-standing Voices of Poetry event at the end of May provides a pause-point in the year. It is the last major event in the Big Schoolroom, and on a Sunday evening at the end of a busy weekend it gives us all a moment to listen attentively and appreciate great writing.
As always, it featured a mixture of English and other languages. It is remarkable how much one can get out of another language in terms of musicality even if the words are mysterious. Readers did give brief introductions to each of their pieces, and 23 poems were covered in 45 minutes, with Mr Girdham presenting and linking them.
Anton Demenko kicked things off in Ukrainian, followed by an utterly different language from a totally different part of the world: Bibiire Oke-Osanyintolu recited a poem in Yoruba from Nigeria.
The first English poem came from Eoin Siegel – Robert Frost’s famous ‘The Road Taken’, with its resonant final lines
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
On the thin grounds that both languages start with the letter ‘I’, but on the more substantial ones that they are both beautifully euphonious, Italian and Irish followed, with four poems intertwined and recited by Anna Luisa Sanminiatelli, Euan Flanagan, Francesco Malacarne and Molly Mann.
Shannon Walker Kinsella chose to read Cassandra Wright’s ‘Clandestine Meeting’, and she was followed by three ‘Iberian’ languages – Spanish (Pedro Olea), South American/Venezuelan Spanish (Manuela Nassief) and Portuguese (Kayra Mbanefo).
Congratulations to Nia Jessup, winner of this year’s Junior Poetry Prize for her touching poem ‘My Love’, about her grandmother, which she read out movingly.
Quite a jump then to one of the most unusual European languages, Hungarian (unconnected to any other, apart from, peculiarly, Finnish), from Gaspar Kekessy and Kasimir zu Bentheim.
And another jump to Mr Swift, who marked his interest in golf by reading out John Updike’s tribute to Payne Stewart, who came to a tragic end in 1999 at the age of 42.
Neighbouring France and Germany came next, with poems read out by Olivia Borbath and Vito Wieser, followed by two major languages from further afield, Arabic (Cecilia Corti) and Mandarin Chinese (Merida Zhang).
English rounded things up: Hal Somerville recited Byron’s dramatic ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib‘ from 1815, followed by the Warden again impressively performing one of his many learnt-poems, Rudyard Kipling’s classic ‘If’. Finally, the awarding of the Peter Dix Memorial Prize for Poetry was marked by the Sub-Warden reading out one of Isabella Treacy’s winning poems from her portfolio. Congratulations to her on winning the prize for three years in a row.
As Mr Girdham said at the end, there is nothing better than catching up with some reading in whatever areas pupils like best. And why not some poetry?
Our annual Grace Cup lunch at Whispering House in the College on May 15th. Bathed in sunshine, the College welcomed us in all its splendor. Over 65 Old Columbans who left the College over 50 years ago attended, making it a truly memorable event. A special thank you to Robert Myerscough for his insightful speech on the power and importance of legacy giving. We look forward to hosting this event again next year and hope the sunshine also makes its annual appearance!
Many thanks to Michael Essame OC for taking the photos below.
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Well done and congratulations to everyone who took part in this year’s Mountain Race which took place yesterday on Kilmashogue Mountain. Introduced in 2018, to celebrate the College’s long-standing running tradition, this is a now an annual event with the winners being awarded a perpetual trophy engraved with their name. The course follows the Wicklow Way for 4 km, starting in Kilmashogue car park, before returning along the same route and back to the starting point, totalling 8 km (5 miles). We are blessed to have so many wonderful trails around us.
Eighteen runners took part this year. Hughie Casey recorded a hattrick of victories in beating his old record by 27 seconds in an outstandingly fast time of 28 minutes 50 seconds, with Archie McKeever in second place in 31:43.
Two girls beat Thea Clare’s record of 38:03. Oleana Cowan ran the course in 37:37 and Alannah McCoole took the victory in 36:20 beating the old record by 1 minute 43 seconds.
Thanks to Mr Gibbs for driving the bus, Chaplain Owen for taking some great photographs, Mr Duffy for recording the half way stage and Mrs Canning for providing the water and a bucket of recovery jellies.
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