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Transition Year News – Trinity Term 2022

It’s been another frenetic term in the life of our Transition Year pupils (and their teachers) as they continued to work extremely hard both inside and outside of the classroom. The final term provides further opportunities to experience new opportunities, explore their strengths and weaknesses but gives the pupils a chance to take stock of their academic and extracurricular achievements over the year.

Some of the highlights of this term include our Environmental Awareness Week, with guest speakers OC Raoul Empey and Arctic explorer Alex Hibbert. Pupils constructed a leaf composter on-site, under the watchful eye of Mr. Ryan, and aided local primary school, Whitechurch National School, lay the foundations for their outdoor classroom. There was fundraising for Irish Oesophageal Cancer Fund, the Hope Foundation and the Peter McVerry Trust, and a day of sailing and kayaking in Dun Laoghaire.

A few weeks ago, six TY pupils took part in the Transition Year Academic Prize – an event which allows pupils share their research into an area of their choice. The winner, adjudged by former teacher and current Fellow of the College Alan Cpx, was Hannah von Bergmann with a brilliant presentation on ‘cultured meat’.

There have been other opportunities recently too, to share and reward the academic achievements of our TY pupils. Last week, the Transition Year Modern Languages evening took place with the Sarah Alyn Stacey Cup presented to Jimena Reques Tovar for her achievements in languages this year. Similarly, the Transition Year English Evening saw nine pupils present their creative work in English to their peers and the TY Art pupils exhibited their work in Whispering House to a large crowd. Last night, the final Transition Year Presentation Evening took place with prizes awarded to the top pupil in all subjects and, significantly, the awarding of the annual Spirit of Transition Year. For details of this event click here for a separate post.

Next week, many of our Transition Year pupils will travel to Achill Island next week, signing off the year with a week of outdoor adventures. Many thanks, once again, to Ms Ann Kilfeather and her team for all their work in organising such an amazing, jam-packed programme throughout the year.

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Transition Year Final Presentation Evening

This year’s Transition Year came (almost) to an end on Thursday evening, with the annual Final Presentation and Awards Evening, led by the TY Co-ordinator Ms Kilfeather, who described what a formidably busy year the pupils have had, term by term. She picked out events such as, in the Michaelmas Term, the Causey Farm and Dublin Zoo visits, the talk by John Lonergan, the sleepout on College grounds and the Architects in Schools programme. Elizabeth Hart and Amber Cotton described the many activities that formed the Gaisce programme, co-ordinated by Ms Lynch, and Alannah McKee presented on the F1 in Schools, co-ordinated by Ms Hennessey. 

In the Hilary Term, there were powerful talks by Patricia Carey and Jackie Fox, the Activities Day, Work Experience (which Oisin Germaine talked about) and Careers in Screen. This term, there have been presentations by Raoul Empey on climate change and Alex Hibbert on his adventure career. The TY Academic Prize evening took place, as well as the English and Modern Languages ones. There was sailing in Dun Laoghaire. Recently we heard that Cameron McKinley was runner-up in the Music Section of the Mary Elmes Prize in Holocaust Studies for Transition Year students from Holocaust Education Ireland, and Cameron accompanied himself on piano while singing his piece.

Ms Kilfeather paid tribute to the nine other full-time teachers who also take on responsibilities as part of the Transition Year team: without them nothing would happen. Before the evening ended with a photo collage of the year, she announced the winners of the academic subject prizes, and of the Spirit of Transition Award:

Music – Lauren Ng

Economics – Michael Onyeka-Patrick

Art – Georgia Goodbody

Irish – Kate Dementyeva

History and French – Elizabeth Hart

PE and Spanish – Hannah Bergmann

Biology and Classics – Rachel Shaw

Chemistry -Daniela Gasull Algas

Design, Physics, Mathematics & joint English – Calvin She

Geography, Business, RE & joint English – Cayden Wong

Spirit of Transition Year: Hughie Casey and Lara Hunter.

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Sports Day & Sports Dinner 2022

For many, the annual Sports Day is the highlight of the year. The College bristles with colour, energy, fun and (usually) sunshine! This year was no exception as our pupils embraced their competitive team spirit and competed in a range of sporting activities. These ranged from the traditional track and field events to cricket throwing, penalty kicks, tug of war and more. The day’s events culminated, in traditional fashion, with the ‘cloister dash’ – won this year by Thea Clare and Mika Sacolax. Many thanks to Mr Havenga, who coordinated the day, but to all the staff who helped make it such a wonderful occasion. While it isn’t necessarily about winning, the White Team (pictured above) took home the traditional ice cream trophies!

The fun and festivities of Sports Day were followed by the more formal and serene setting of Sports Dinner, our annual celebration of sporting success in the College. Senior pupils who marked themselves out as fully committed to our “Traditional Team” sports are invited to this dinner and award ceremony because they participate fully and contribute above the norm. We were delighted to welcome Old Columban Thomas Chamney as our special guest. ‘Tom’ represented the Irish Athletics Team from 1999 to 2001 at every schoolboy age group. He set new College records at Hill Running, the 800 metres where he won the gold medal in the Leinster Championships in concurrent years and an All Ireland Silver medal in 2002. He was awarded his Athletics Colours in  2000, 2001 and 2002. The year he left school he was awarded a full Athletics scholarship to the University of Notre Dame Indiana 2002-2007 where he studied English and film. During his time there he was honoured with three All American titles for Athletics and All American award for Academics as his grades were in the top percentile and he held Notre Dame’s All-time 800 metre record until very recently. He represented Ireland at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, competing in the 800m event (the last Columban to attend an Olympic Games). Tom spoke of his time at the College and gifted the College a framed singlet that he wore at the games. He then presented the pupils with ‘colours’ to pupils for their outstanding contribution to sport in the College.

Nathan Kutner – Rugby

Matteo Tafi – Rugby

Jack Hayes – Rugby

Akin Babajide – Rugby

Andrew Maguire – Hockey

Rory Flanagan – Basketball

Evie Pringle – Hockey

Thea Clare – Hockey

Mia Deutsch – Hockey

We are also very proud of various individual successes beyond our school teams. 

  • Tom Larke, who represented the Ireland U18 Clubs during the year
  • Ryan Ovenden, who has been selected for the Leinster U16 Metro squad.
  • Abbie Murray represents the Ireland U17 Netball team and her sister Holly Murray is on the Development Squad.
  • Johannes Pabsch won Leinster and Irish indoor hockey men’s titles with Three Rock Rovers, meaning he has a chance of playing against the top German, Dutch, Belgium, English and French teams in Europe next season.
  • Harry St. Leger Captained the Leinster U16s and the Irish U16 hockey team in a five-nation tournament.
  • Isaac and Sebastian Dijkstra on Leinster U15 cricket team.
  • David Chukwueke and David Cron were selected for the Leinster u14 teams that played in an Interprovincial blitz against Ulster and Munster.

The evening was rounded off with the appointment of captains for the 2022 / 2023 season … well done to everyone on their excellent contribution to sport in the College and to Mr Canning (Director of Sport), Mrs Johnson (Head of Girls’ Sport), Mr Havenga (Head of Boys’ Sport) and all the individual Heads of Sport for the amazing sports programme at St. Columba’s.

Sports Day & Sports Dinner 2022
Sports Day & Sports Dinner 2022
235 photos
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Transition Year English Evening 2022

The 28th Transition Year English Evening took place last night in the Big Schoolroom, compèred by Mr Jameson, after its two-year hiatus. The guest of honour was the author Richie Conroy, whose comments on the individual pieces are in italics below

Nine members of the Fourth Form read out pieces of writing: Phoebe Landseer opened up with a piece on her first home, in which we were transported by the power of words, followed by Zara Chohan (‘The Watcher’, a piece of fiction, which was gripping with lots of tension), Isabella Treacy on the joys of books (read by Raicheal Murray, a superb piece that made us feel we were in a second-hand bookshop), Daniel Murray (on censorship, an effective piece), Lara Hunter with a fictional piece which was superb, Georgia Goodbody (on her grandmother and her home, now sold, an amazing picture), Belen Olea (on the oldest person she knows, a fine piece which showed how important it is to pay attention to the older generation), Lily Boyle on learning poetry in primary school (a lovely window into the past) and finally Alannah McKee on her last day at primary school (a real journey in her piece, and a really powerful ending).

Mr Jameson presented the annual trophy to the editors of The Submarine magazine, this year Elizabeth Hart and Isabella Treacy. He then handed over to Richie Conroy, who used his experience of running the Dublin City Marathon for the first time to give the pupils important advice about writing. We all have a voice in our heads (for Richie, ‘Kermit’), which discourages us, but we need to say yes to new experiences. No experience is wasted. Reading is so important. Richie handed out writers’ notebooks to the presenters and advised them to jot down ideas, characters, good lines, dialogues. He spoke funnily, accessibly and with great encouragement to all the young writers in the audience.

Finally, the following were congratulated as winners of Premier Awards this year: Hannah Bergmann, Lily Boyle, Alison Coogan, Elizabeth Hart, Alannah McKee, Cameron McKinley, Belen Olea, Rachel Shaw, Calvin She, Isabella Treacy, Cayden Wong.

 

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Voices of Poetry 2022

Sunday evening saw the special event that is Voices of Poetry return to the Big Schoolroom in its long-lasting and infallible format: a pupil or teacher reading a short poem after a brief explanation in a darkened room, picked out by a single spotlight. Some of these were in languages other than English: it is amazing how powerful such readings can be, even if you don’t understand the lines. The evening was organised by Mr Swift, and the presenter was Mr Girdham.

Marianne Lee from First Form opened proceedings, with her own evocative poem ‘The Witching Hour’, followed by Mr Jameson from the English Department with a translation of a poem by the Swedish Nobel Laureate Tomas Tranströmer, ‘The Tree and the Sky‘.

The other languages kicked in: poems in Italian (Alexia Fantacci), German (Toni Ladanyi), Cecilia Corti (Arabic), Irish (Dairbhre Murray) and Chinese (Harry Wang). The aural contrasts were fascinating.

Mr Girdham then read out ‘Resistance’, recently written by the British Poet Laureate Simon Armitage in solidarity with all those under fire and bombardment in Ukraine, which led on naturally to Pavlo Shvalov reading a piece in Ukrainian celebrating his country’s independence.

Another step change was to Leonid Mylvaganam, who read out his own flowing work, close to performance poetry. Three European languages came next: Dutch (Josefien Hutchinson), French (Eole Mignot) and Spanish (Mateo Aliaga). Again, it was remarkable to hear the differences even though you can drive from one country to the next.

This year’s Junior Poetry Prize was won by Delia Brady, and her poem ‘The Moon‘ was read by Anna Rose McManus.  She was followed by the Warden, who said that from a young age at prep school he had to learn poems off by heart, and he recited G.K. Chesterton’s ‘The Donkey’.

Then, Slavic languages were represented by Polish (Dr Pyz) and Czech (Phoebe Landseer).

The next two poems brought us close to the end, with two people who are soon to leave the College: Ms Heidi Kavanagh (Yeats’s ‘When You are Old and Grey’) and the Senior Prefect, Evie Pringle, with Stevie Smith’s ‘In My Dreams‘.

And finally, Mr Canning announced the winner of this year’s Peter Dix Memorial Prize for Poetry (pictured), Isabella Treacy, and read out a poem from her winning portfolio, ‘Knots‘.

To conclude, Mr Girdham recommended Pádraig Ó Tuama’s podcast Poetry Unbound: a short podcast twice a week on a single poem, with Ó Tuama’s reflections. It does what poetry should do for readers: provide a space for attention away from the busy noise of the world. And that is just what Voices of Poetry does too.

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researchED Dublin 2022

In October 2019 the College held the enormously successful first-ever researchED event in Ireland, with 350 visitors on the campus throughout the day listening to a series of stimulating presentations on best practice in education. Read a report on that day here.  Check out the short video below.

The 2020 event had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, but now plans are advanced for the second event in Ireland, on Saturday 24th September.  Again we have a truly excellent line-up of speakers: see the conference page.  Tickets are just €40, including lunch, and can be purchased there, or directly from the Eventbrite page. In 2019 tickets went very quickly, so get in early…

researchED Dublin from St Columba’s College on Vimeo.

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Open Evening, Thursday 19th May

We are delighted that our first open event on campus for prospective pupils since September 2019 will take place on the evening of Thursday 19th May, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

This will be an opportunity for pupils seeking entry in 2023, 2024 or 2025 at any age to see around the College with their parents. There will be a reception, followed by introductory talks, and then short tours given by Junior pupils.

If you would like to come to the Open Evening, please contact us via email – admissions@stcolumbas.ie – or phone 01-4906791.

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Story of Your Stuff – TY Pupil Wins National Competition

Congratulations to Transition Year pupil Cheuk Yin Wong on winning the final of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Story of Your Stuff‘ video competition. The competition is designed so that entrants consider the global consequences of local actions. It asked pupils to research the life cycle and environmental impact of an everyday item – such as their toothbrush – or activity – such as travelling and to present their findings in a creative way. At St. Columba’s, TY Geography pupils took part with Cheuk Yin’s entry – a video exploring the story of tissues – being shortlisted for the final.

Cheuk Yin attended an online event early today (Wednesday, April 6th), while on the College ski trip in Austria, and was announced the overall winner. He wins the top prize of €500 for the school and €500 for himself, as well as the honour of winning this fantastic competition. You can watch Cheuk Yin’s excellent animated video below … congratulations!

 

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Senior Art Prizes 2022

Congratulations to the following pupils on receipt of one of the Senior Art Prizes.
Senior Photography Prize.
‘Blurred Time Series’ by Alice Letort, Form V.
Senior Craft Prize.
‘Finite Infinity’ by Antonia Ladanyi, Form V.
Earl of Meath Art Prize, Senior.
Time and tide wait for no man’ by Georgia Goodbody, Form IV.
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Book Week

Ms Kent-Sutton, our Librarian, writes:

Book Week has returned to the College after a small hiatus with teachers getting into the spirit of things by decorating their classroom doors with designs based on their favourite books.  Thank you to all the staff members who took time out of their busy schedules to decorate their doors and talk to pupils about their favourite books.  Copies of the “books behind the doors” are available to borrow from the Library.

The Library extended its opening hours to play host to some book-based activities.  There were some new books trapped in a lockbox that could only be released with a special code.  Literature inspired clues were provided each day to help crack the code.  Well done to Matteo Tafi whose perseverance paid off to claim the first book; happy reading Matteo.  We also had some mystery literary guests to supper in the Library too.  They left some interesting clues behind so good work to everybody who correctly identified them!

Our Junior Book had a longer than usual meeting this week and we enjoyed a very lively discussion about our chosen title, Savage her Reply by Irish author Deirdre Sullivan.  We also voted for our next Book Club read, The Hobbit!  If you would like to join us, copies of the book will be available to borrow from the Library after the Easter break.  Pupils were also given the opportunity to redesign the College bookmark, keep an eye on the Library notice board to see what design was chosen.  Professionally printed versions of the bookmark will be available in the library next term so keep your eyes peeled: they go quickly!

While our author visit had to be postponed until next term, we are very much looking forward to welcoming author Richie Conroy, who will speak about his career path into writing and his current position as Scríobhneoir Cónaithe Gaeilge DCU.

It is good to see the spirit of reading is alive and well at SCC.  Remember the Library regularly adds new stock throughout the year and remains open at lunchtime for browsing and borrowing!

 

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Warden’s Blog, March 2022

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 even more serious challenges in Ukraine and the world seems like a rather dark place. Ironically, from a school point of view, there is much to look forward to as Spring arrives and the daffodils begin to add colour to the campus. However, it is hard to be too upbeat when so many are suffering so much elsewhere.

Let me stay off the politics and the pandemic…it is that time of the year when I remind the school that my father scored the only try of the match for England v. Ireland at Twickenham in 1952 in what must go down as the most absurd game of rugby in history. The match was supposed to have been played in February but was postponed, for the first time ever, because King George VI died. It was rearranged for the end of March and so had to be played then regardless of the conditions. In those days, there was no such thing as health and safety or concern for player welfare and matches never got called off!

A few years ago I found the footage from the match on YouTube. In fact I found two different versions of the same match. Both are magnificent. The older among you will remember that when those leather balls got wet they swelled up and become like a bar of soap, which helps to explain the chaos that you see. The commentary of the shorter is wonderful, while the longer one has more footage and ends with an Irish player trying to start a snowball fight.

You can watch the two clips below.

Sport is not real life, but it can provide a great distraction in tough times. I hope this cheers everyone up!

In case you are confused, a try was only worth three points in those days, hence the final score of 3-0. Oh, and good luck to Ireland on Saturday. It is always a great occasion, but I hope you will not be too disappointed by the result.

 

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Transition Year Update

It has been yet another busy term so far for Transition Year pupils, with a wide range of activities taking place outside of their normal (and not so normal) classes. There have been visiting speakers, days out and workshops to keep them occupied. Here are a few short pupil reports on some recent events, beginning with a report from Hannah Bergmann on a recent talk from Jackie Fox about the tragic tale of her daughter Coco.

Today we had a talk about a serious and very important topic, which is, unfortunately, becoming more and more common these days. It was very emotional and not only I was very moved by it. It was about the consequences of cyberbullying and physical abuse. To bring us closer to this, Jackie Fox told the story of her daughter Nicole, who took her own life as a young adult after she was abused both mentally and physically. She told us in great detail what happened to Nicole and what went wrong. Especially the sad video at the end of the talk made us all realise what bullying can do to someone and how important it is to do something about it. In the end, I could say that it was probably one of the most emotional talks so far. Although it was very sad, I am thankful that Ms. Fox had the strength to make us understand how important it is to prevent bullying, which I definitely learned from this talk.

We are very grateful to Jackie for taking the time to speak with our pupils about this incredibly important yet difficult topic. It was powerful, with a lingering message. Hugo Laurenceau reports from a recent visit from Patricia Clancy from the Irish Adoption Authority.

Patricia Carey, CEO of the Irish Adoption Authority, came to St Columba’s to talk about The Legalities of Irish Adoption. We were very lucky as a TY group to get this opportunity to listen to someone with so much experience in a field we don’t often talk about. At the beginning, I was expecting that Patricia Carey was going to talk about things I already knew, but the process behind any adoption is so interesting with lots of legal aspects to it. The complex work of getting a child into the right family is so hard and time consuming, but thanks to their work it is possible. I learned so many cool facts about adoption and fostering children that I did not know prior to the talk, but now I and hopefully the rest of TY saw how hard and rewarding it is to place a child with a suitable family. Patricia Carey and her team do tremendous work.

Finally, Catalina Mertes reports on the latest TY activities day which saw our pupils bounce their way around Jump Zone and think their way around GoQuest.

On Tuesday the 1st of February, the whole Transition Year went on a fun trip. We did not know where we were going, because the teachers wanted to keep it a surprise. On the bus ride we were speculating what activities were planned for the day. When we arrived at GoQuest we got split up into groups and had to try to complete as many challenges as possible. Each challenge was in a small room and you had a certain amount of time to complete it. Most of the challenges could only be solved if we worked as a team. I really enjoyed this. After GoQuest we went to JumpZone, a trampoline park. Everyone had a lot of fun there and we tried all of the different games and challenges the park had to offer. I think trampoline dodgeball and the game where you could fight each other with big rolls were the most popular. On our way back to the college everyone was tired but very happy. We had a really great time solving problems in teams and bonding with the whole year.

Aside from these activities, many pupils have also taken part in an architecture project. Next week, all will begin their planned work experience. We are grateful to the many companies and individuals who have provided our pupils with their placements at this unusual time.

Below is the TY photo album, constantly updated and cataloguing photos from throughout the year.

Transition Year 2021-2022
Transition Year 2021-2022
83 photos
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End of Term Sports Report

Despite the difficulties, the sports programme in the College continues at full pace, with additional coaching and measures in place to ensure safe participation. The school timetable is adjusted over the winter months to maximise the opportunity for afternoon sport. There have been plenty of rugby, hockey and basketball fixtures over the past few weeks while pupils were also able to play golf, tennis, cross-country running, archery and attend the gym in the afternoons.

Form V pupil Tom Larke returned from representing the Irish under-18 Clubs Rugby squad in an international fixture against Italy, over half-term, to help the Senior boys continue their solid season to date. While unfortunately they were eliminated from the cup by a strong Gorey side, the Seniors are now building for their league campaign in the new year. It has been great to see 35 players representing the 1st XV this term, showing the depth they are building. The Juniors were very unlucky in the quarterfinal of the Duff Cup losing a very tight game against St. Conleth’s (their first loss of the season). They will now concentrate on their league quarter-final after Christmas. The Form I boys have continued to grow in confidence and have had some great performances and results including beating De La Salle and Newpark in a blitz just before the end of term. They’re pictured above after defeating their “arch-rivals” Headfort School. Many thanks to Mr. O’Herlihy, the Head of Rugby, and all the teachers and coaches who help ensure our teams are enjoying the sport while also being competitive in their respective leagues.

The hockey seasons continues at an extraordinary pace, with weekly fixtures for both boys and girls, across the age range. The girls’ squads have had great success with notable wins for Senior XI against Kilkenny College and the Minor A’s against Mount Sackville, courtesy of a goal from Clara Seeling. The boys’ squads have also been playing well. The Minor XI had some great performances of late, including a great win against Wesley Bs. The Junior boys’ had some tight matches, unfortunately finishing on the losing side in recent matches. The Senior XI secured second place in their league after two excellent play-off wins against Mount Temple (1-0, goal by Andrew Maguire) and Wesley B (2-1, goals from Antonius Kruse, Johannes Pabsch).

In basketball, the Senior boys continued their league campaign with matches against Blackrock, Temple Carrig, Woodlands College and Avondale, with mixed fortunes. They are a young team and improving all the time. The girls’ squads have been playing well in their respective leagues. The Cadettes (under-16) had good wins over Loreto Dalkey, Coláiste Ráithín and Temple Carrig in recent weeks while the Seniors fell to the same opposition in tight matches.

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‘The Submarine’, Michaelmas 2021

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 Brady, essays on Grades by Alexia Fantacc, on Victorian London by James Breatnach and on BDD by Isabella Treacy and a rugby report on First Form by Ethan Robertson, as well as a selection of the best Young Adult fiction this year.

Art work is by Felicitas Boecking,  Max Kinsky, Paul Schilling, Calvin She, Zining Wang, Antonia Ladanyi, Ellen Bevan, Helma Worringen and Alice Letort.

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Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Focus Ireland

The members of the Pupils’ Council are organising a Christmas Jumper Day in aid of the homelessness charity Focus Ireland. Pupils and staff are asked to wear Christmas attire on Saturday, December 11th. So, get that Christmas jumper, Santa hat or whatever cheerful yuletide attire you own and show your support for Focus Ireland. Pupils, parents, staff and friends of the College can donate using the widget below.

Christmas Jumper Day
Christmas Jumper Day
14 photos
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Transition Year Half Term Update

There’s a common misconception that Transition Year (TY) is a “doss-year”, that nothing happens and pupils are bored and rarely challenged. Well, judging from the exceptionally busy programme of events the TY pupils at St. Columba’s have been involved in so far, we can safely say that is not true.

We have a large, diverse, enthusiastic and hard-working Transition Year group this year. While their teachers have been challenging to develop academically, the TY Co-ordinator, Mrs Ann Kilfeather, and her team have been extremely busy providing them with opportunities to develop their interpersonal and extra personal skills.

Earlier in the term, the pupils visited the excellent Causey Farm where they participated in a range of bonding and team-building activities. There was fun and mayhem too with bog jumping, sheep herding and bread-baking. Every year, our TY pupils remark on how much they enjoy that first trip to Causey Farm each year and this year was no exception. We’ve had visiting speakers including former governor of Mountjoy Prison John Lonergan, who remains as engaging as ever, and others from Team Hope (who co-ordinate the excellent Christmas Shoebox Appeal) and the Peter McVeery Trust (more on that to come). They also took part in a motivation and leadership workshop with The Super Generation.

This week is designated the Transition Year Community Week and the pupils had no formal lessons, instead participating in a range of projects aimed at increasing their awareness of cultural, sustainable and equitable community involvement. They all visited Dublin’s Pheonix Park, soaking up the historical, ecological and cultural elements in Europe’s largest urban park. They then visited Dublin Zoo, touring the amazing facilities there before enjoying a presentation on community conservation and sustainability. Two large groups of TY pupils donned their high-visibility vests and travelled to nearby Marlay Park and Sandymount Strand to pick up litter. Continuing that theme, back in the College, some pupils built sustainable bird feeders in an effort to increase biodiversity in the College while others planted vegetables in the new sustainability garden.

There has been a lot of fun this week too. A hike up nearby Kilmashogue Mountain, baking brownies, scones and flapjacks (all delivered and donated to the Rathfarnham Parish Hall), wrapping shoeboxes for the Team Hope appeal and pitching tents for their sleep-out in aid of the Peter McVeery Trust, a wonderful homelessness charity. That sleep out took place last night and luckily the weather stayed dry, although it was very cold. Well done to all who took part, including the staff who supervised.

So, as you can see, it’s been a jam-packed eight weeks for our TY pupils. A “doss-year” I hear you say … I think not. See a selection of photos from the various TY activities below.

Transition Year 2021-2022
Transition Year 2021-2022
83 photos

 

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Half Term Sports Update

It has been wonderful to see the full sports programme return this term, with the necessary regulations being followed carefully to ensure a safe yet enjoyable experience for players and coaches. It’s been an extremely busy eight weeks for our young athletes. The full games programme is now up and running with daily training for the traditional College sports (rugby, hockey, basketball) being supplemented by our excellent AGC (Athletic Gymnastic Conditioning) programme, tennis, polocrosse and golf.

In hockey, the red, white and green jerseys are back on the field with over 40 competitive girls hockey fixtures completed already. It’s been similar number of fixtures in the boys game, with plenty of potential from all our young athletes. The senior boys were unlucky to lose their All Ireland qualifier recently to Newpark Comprehensive. They battled back to score at the death, forcing a shoot out, but narrowly lost. Many congratulations to Form III pupil Harry St. Leger who captained the Leinster Under 16 squad during their inter-provincial series. The basketball season took a little longer to get going, but training did take place in the September sunshine before going indoors when the restrictions allowed. There have been a number of friendly fixtures played to date with competitive league games beginning after half term. In rugby, the senior squad have had a good start to the season with convincing wins over De La Salle and St Conleth’s and a close loss to Templeogue College. The senior development side played a very competitive fixture against Clongowes earlier this week but came out second best to a well drilled side. The junior squad are off to a dream start with three wins from three and are showing amazing potential. The Form I and II boys have played some very good matches against De La Salle and Mount Temple also and will look forward to more games after half term. More individual honours: congratulations to Form V pupil Tom Larke, he has been selected to represent the Ireland Under 18 club team against their Italian counterparts (in Italy) over half term.

Experienced horse riders have been the opportunity to play polocrosse (a mixture of polo and lacrosse) and the fine autumnal weather has provided plenty of opportunity to play tennis and golf (on our excellent and challenging nine hole golf course). There are some exciting developments being announced soon about our golf programme – stay tuned!

The best place to find details on our sports fixtures, and their results, can be found on our Twitter feed.

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Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal

The College has a rich tradition of supporting the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal, a wonderful charity that collects and delivered wrapped and packed shoeboxes full of toys and essentials for some of the poorest children in the world. The College community generally wraps and fill over 200 boxes per year, a project driven by the Transition Year pupils and ably assisted by Mr Paul Cron.

Last year, due to the pandemic, there was only an online campaign and the College community donated over €800 from Transition Year fundraising projects, with boxes assembled and delivered to children in need across Africa and Eastern Europe.
This year we are back to doing a normal campaign and we are raising money through mini-companies to buy fillers and asking people to donate fillers (details below).

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 at the staff common room. You can also donate online via the Team Hope website.

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.

Please include the €4 for transport in your leaflet envelope either on top of the gifts or taped to the inside of the lid.

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