Wicklow and Bray People weekly School Report
VEC MEETING
On Tuesday 26th January the County Wicklow VEC Schools Music Teachers’ Network meeting will be held at Coláiste Chraobh Abhann. At this meeting there will be a musical performance by various students who study music at the school or participate in the Music Outreach Programme.
PRACTICAL EXAMS
3rd and 6th year students are practicing for their practical examination for the Junior and Leaving Certificate respectively. As part of their preparation, Ms Janet Armstrong, has invited parents of these students to attend a performance at the school as a practice and confidence building session before the examination.
GERMAN EXCHANGE
Transition Year students will be hosting their German counterparts as part of the W urzburg/Wicklow Exchange Programme. Seven boys and six girls, along with their teacher will arrive from Reimschneider Gymnasium, Wurzburg are due to arrive in Ireland to visit the school on February 25th for a 6 day programme. The return leg of this exchange to Germany will take place in April. Transition Year students will be involved in fund raising in March by participating in a “Bag Pack” in Dunnes, Newtownmountkennedy to raise funds to subsidise the cost of the
Exchange for students.
BAG PACK
Ms Gemma Kinsella, secretary, Parents’ Council organised a “Bag Pack” in Tesco, Greystones from Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th January. She received assistance from a number of other parents in supervising a group of volunteers from Transition Year in raising funds for the Parents’ Association and, in particular, the School Musical.
SCHOOL MUSICAL
Transition year students continue their preparations and rehearsals for the School Musical, Back to the 80’s, which will be held in the Mermaid Arts Centre from Wednesday 10th to Friday 12th March.
YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION
Isabella Leone and Emma Kavanagh from Colaiste Chraobh Abhann in Kilcoole, took part in the Young Scientist and Technology Competition, with their project "How Your Shoe Choice Affects Your Body". They started their project in September. It consisted of 4 main parts. They had initial research, they wrote to professionals to get information on the topic, they carried out an observation to see what type of shoe students were wearing to school, and they did a survey of their peers to find out what they knew and their attitudes towards shoes. In doing their projects they learned research skills, letter writing skills, how to analyse observations and survey results. They found that even though many teenagers know they should do things like tie their shoes, they tend not to. 74% of students surveyed would rather look good then make healthy shoe choices. Their project scooped one of fourteen "display awards" for their magnificent, eye-catching display on which 15 shoes were hung. The girls are already looking forward to next year's competition!
PEER MENTORING
Peer mentoring training began this week for eighteen students, and will continue for the next four weeks. The training is facilitated by Arklow Spring Board and Wicklow Partnership. The group of students involved in the training will be 5th years who are presently mentors to students in the 1st year group along with Transition Year students who will be mentors to next years incoming 1st years. Each student who participates in the training will receive a certificate at a ceremony on completion of the training programme.
COLLEGE VISIT
Ms Emma Raughter, Guidance Counsellor, has organised a visit to UCD for 5th Year students to observe the facilities at the college and get a flavour of college life.
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
The History Department recently completed a very successful project competition for 1st and 2nd year students which will also form part of the students’ Christmas assessment. Many of the models and projects completed may be utilised as teaching aids for staff. One winner from each class will be awarded a medal at assembly for their efforts.
NON-UNIFORM DAY
Many thanks to all students who participated in our recent non-uniform day. The school raised over €1400 for victims of the Haiti disaster and a local charity.
DISCIPLINE FOR LEARNING
The Discipline for Learning Project which was undertaken with one class had their presentation ceremony Friday 22nd. Excellent work, cooperation and behaviour was recognised at this ceremony.
U16 BOYS SOCCER
Congratulations to the U16 boys’ soccer team who recently beat St. Brendan’s in the quarter final of the league competition, on a scoreline of 5-2. It was a fantastic team performance, with goals from Danny Kavanagh, David Crosbie, Shane Doyle and two goals from man of the match Karl Carthy. Good luck to the team and hopefully they’ll go all the way to the final now!
GIRLS BASKETBALL
A reminder to all first and second year girls that basketball has now started back with Miss Cummins.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Amnesty International visited our Transition Year students last Wednesday to talk about their organisation.
HUMOURFIT
As part of our Anti-Bullying policy, the ‘Humourfit’ Theatre Company visited the school on Friday last to give a performance to our first and fifth year students. This theatre company has been involved in doing performances in schools for many years and students found their performance to be both entertaining and educational.