Latest News

Wednesday June 29th

Today saw our school assemble for a very special mass in the parish church

Due to Covid restrictions, it has been a long time since the school has been able to do this and it gave the school community an opportunity to give thanks for the year we have had and to say farewell to the teachers and other staff members who are retiring this summer and going on to new things in their lives.

Fr. Joe Mothersill, a recent departee himself, returned to officiate. In his own inimitable style he explained the gospel of the Parable of the Seed and urged the children to heed its message and allow kind thoughts to take root in their minds and to flourish into kind actions in their lives.

The school said a fond goodbye and gave its heartfelt thanks to those who will not be with us when we return after the summer. These include, Mr John Murphy, Ms Anne-Marie O Gara, Ms Ann Fahy, Ms Audrey Murphy and Ms Joanne Mc Cormack. Go n-éiri leo ar a mbealaí éagsúla.

Friday June 24th

This week it was the turn of our third and fourth classes to go on tour

They visited Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park in Rathangan County Meath

The story of their trip was beautifully illustrated and written (as Ghaeilge) by Ms Woods class.

Have a look at the slideshow below to see their work

Friday June 17th

It's the summer tour season and this week our fifth and sixth classes visited Tayto Park

The sun shone and everyone had a ball

Below is a slideshow of pictures from Wednesday's trip which involved 4 of the fifth classes

Friday June 3rd

The Feast Day of St Colmcille falls in early June and it is celebrated with great pride and enthusiasm each year in our school

This year was no different and a host of activities was arranged stretching across the entire week. Pictured (right) is the Kells relay team who won the Teachers vs the 7 Houses race on the green yesterday. And yes, there were 7 houses this year with newcomers 'Downpatrick' being added to the fold. In an earlier event, Moville were crowned Inter-House Relay Champions - and you can view pictures of this and all events mentioned here in the slideshow below.

Another tradition of St Colmcille's week is to visit St Colmcille's Well and this year it was organised to include all of our sixth class pupils who will soon be leaving us. Another recent departee from the parish returned for the pilgrimage in the form of Fr Joe Mothersill, who received a very warm welcome from everyone. Fr Joe spoke at the well and drew the children's attention to St Colmcille's love of learning, his love of nature and his compassion for others, the latter being something at the heart of everything we do in St Colmcille's School as we strive to 'Treat everyone as you would like to be treated'

The 'Design and Make' event this year had a theme of Marine Life and a huge array of thoughtful, ingenious and skilfully rendered 3-D models in a variety of media filled the two halls with a fascinating exhibition that showed the creativity and enthusiasm of scores of children in the school. For this, and many other events in St Colmcille's Week, see the slideshow below.

Friday May 27th

Sport dominated the headlines this week with our athletics team competing at Santry and our senior boys hurling team contesting the Herald Cup semi-final in Páirc Uí Mhurchú, Ballyboden

The senior hurlers, under coaches Mr Sweetnam and Mr Durkin, had put in some excellent performances during the campaign including a fine quarter-final victory against Mary's Rathfarnham. This week they faced a strong side from St Mary's Lucan. After a tight encounter up to half-time, the Lucan boys scored some crucial goals in the second half, beating our boys emphatically in the end.

Picture below are our athletics team who competed at Morton Stadium Santry at the Community Games this week

Friday May 20th

Active Schools Week 2022
Following on nicely from ‘Active For Amber’ last Friday, St Colmcille’s embraced Active Schools Week over the last five days

Students wore their tracksuits to school for the entire week and every class undertook an activity each day in addition to their normal PE lessons. These activities included Orienteering, Rounders, an Obstacle Course, the Cic Fada and the ever-popular Wellie Throwing.
Best of all, regular homework was shelved for the week and children were encouraged to do ‘active’ homework such as dog-walking, active housework, cycling.

On Friday the entire school descended on the yard
(see picture above) to perform a community dance, the choreography for which had been practised by every class over the week.

Click on the link below to see what happened:

https://vimeo.com/712664135/fd18736446

Friday May 13th

It was all action on Friday afternoon as teachers and students descended on the green and the school playgrounds for ‘Active For Amber’

In the years before Covid St Colmcilles organised an annual multi-activity afternoon to promote exercise and sport while raising money for charity and for the first time since 2019, the event could go ahead this year.

300 students signed up to the event which dovetailed neatly with the school’s initiative to achieve an Amber Flag while raising over €1,500 for Pieta House.
Well done to everyone who supported this and to those who made it happen.

Wednesday May 11th

St Colmcille's student Luuk Van Meijels has taken third place in a national competition sponsored by An Taisce

The competition was entitled ‘The Marine Spatial Planning Poster Competition’ and was part of An Taisce’s Green Schools initiative.

Luuk is seen here with Minister Peter Burke and An Taisce director Michael-John O Mahony, receiving his prize in Ferrycarraig on Wednesday 11th May.

Friday April 29th

"Receive the Holy Spirit” - John 20.22

The Sacrament of Confirmation was conferred on 53 St Colmcille’s pupils today. The classes of Ms Ní Reachtabhra and Ms. Synnott are the first of eight classes who will receive the sacrament over the next two weeks.

Reverend Martin Cosgrove officiated at the service in St Colmcille’s Parish Church where he urged the candidates for Confirmation to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to make a difference in the world.

The receiving of the Sacrament of Confirmation by our sixth classes is one of the flagship events on the St Colmcille’s school calendar and we look forward to the services for the classes of Mr Ryan, Ms. Mc Cormack, Ms. Madden, Ms. Sheridan, Mr. Dundon and Mr. Durkin over the next fortnight.

Thursday April 7th

We did it!

News just in from Parnell Park is that our boys have beaten Belmont, Clontarf in the final.

Well done to everyone of them. We’re very proud of you all.

Friday April 1st

‘An excellent performance with determination and resilience shown by everyone’ was how the coaches described
the semi-final victory of our Setanta team in Cherryfield this week

A scoreline of 3 -10 to 0 - 10 in favour of St Colmcilles against a very strong St Pius X team was deemed ‘ not reflective of the extreme pressure we were put under by the Pius X team’. According to coaches Messrs Cian and Conor Dolan, it required a great team performance as well as stand-out contributions from Luke Kavanagh, Charlie Morrissey and Darragh Roache to get the upper hand and win out in the end.

So, we have a final on our hands. Our boys will line out in Parnell Park next Thursday against Belmont, Clontarf. With over 200 supporters from the school poised to go, it promises to be a great day out for everyone.

We wish our boys well and hope they can bring home some silverware

Go n - éirí leo

Zeeko is an organisation which seeks to equip parents and teachers with the knowledge and tools to protect children online and to empower children to make smart decisions to protect themselves online. To date, they have made presentations to 100,000 Irish students, 9,000 parents and 6,000 teachers. Zeeko aims, by 2023, to help over 1.5M young people become confident digital citizens, build online trust and create positive social change

The Zeeko presenters who visited our school over the last couple of weeks, sought to make the students of St Colmcille’s aware of the online ‘story’ of that they are building every time they access the Internet: how they are creating an indelible footprint on the Internet which is virtually impossible to erase. In the course of each presentation they addressed the areas of Digital Identity (your online story), Cyberbullying and how to respond to it, Online Deception, Inappropriate Content and Digital Health.

There was lots to learn and take note of but they stressed a number of items which they asked teachers to follow up on. These included:
   - putting all social media on ‘Private’
   - never posting anything online which you wouldn’t wear on a t-shirt
   - following the ‘Stop, Block, Tell’ rule if you’re being bullied online
   - never to meet an online acquaintance in real life
   - to have a healthy offline/outdoor life

For more information visit http://zeeko.ie

Friday March 25th

It has been a busy week for our Gaelic footballers with all boys and
girls teams in action during the week

Mr Ryan and Mr Dundon’s boys team (pictured) faced Bishop Galvin NS at Sancta Maria in the Corn Kitterick competition. After getting off to a blistering start, they fell off the pace a bit before regaining momentum. A late goal gave Bishop Galvin hope but a cracking score by Max Byrne finished the game off with St Comcilles emerging the victors 2- 9 to 2-5. Some stand-out performers on the day were Donncha Mahon, Mark Mc Hale, Darragh Gannon and Ross Larkin. This wraps up the season for the team with 3 wins and 1 defeat. Unfortunately a single defeat in their first outing cost them a semi-final place - however, the coaches have nothing but praise for their team’s attitude and their performances on the field.

The charges of Mr Gallagher and Mr Mc Gowan faced a huge challenge at the DCU Sportsground against an unbeaten Scoil Eoin Baiste from Clontarf. In beautiful conditions and in a very sporting atmosphere our boys lost out to a strong and skilful opposition: 4 - 8 to 3 - 4. There were strong performances from James Flynn, (who scored 2 - 1) Daniel Moore, Finn Mc Niffe, Caden Fahy-Mc Carthy, Oran Cullen and Jim Connors. It was a high-scoring end-to-end match which proved to the coaches just how much this team has improved over the season.

The two Mr Dolans took their boys team to Cherryfield to face Pius X BNS. Despite trailing by 4 points at half-time, our boys took the honours in the end by launching an outstanding comeback in the second half. Prominent in this were the likes of Logan Cummins, Rian Duggan, Charlie Morrissey, Carlos Clarke and Jack Delaney. According to the Messrs Dolan, it was a fantastic game in perfect conditions and this hard-fought but well-deserved victory brings their tally for the season to a perfect 4 from 4.

In the Corn Austin Finn competition, our girls were away to Scoil Mhuire GNS Lucan. They turned in an outstanding team performance showing great determination and team spirit. In goal, Cayla Gallagher put in a great shift behind a hard-working defence in the shape of Ava Kirwan, Meela Rogers, Alanna Murphy and Sophie Gerathy. Caoimhe Fitzgerald and Ava Murray covered every blade of grass in midfield and between them, added 6 points to the scoreboard. Wingers Emilia and Hannah Luz worked tirelessly on the wings to support other scorers on the day including Oral Heffernan, Holly Cork and Sophie Gerathy. Ms Leonard and Ms Hyland have been impressed throughout the season with the commitment and effort of the girls on this team and were delighted to get this well-deserved victory in their final game of the season.

Friday March 11th

It’s been a hectic week in St Colmcilles with a huge variety of events and
activities taking place

One major theme of the week was STEM learning as Engineers Week took centre stage. Classes were involved in Zoom workshops with working engineers as they explained the work they do and drew the students’ attention to how much a part of everyday life engineering is. Activities in classes ranged from levers, pulleys and simple machines to building towers of pasta and preventing falling eggs from cracking.

It was also the beginning of ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ wherein the whole school community is being encouraged to use their ‘cupla focail’ and to have fun with our national language. So far there have been treasure hunts, poster competitions, board games and a céilí and the seachtain continues into next week culminating in a Lá Glas where we all dress in green to celebrate St Patrick’s day.

Our debating team performed superbly at the Dublin final of the Concern Primary School Debating competition which took place yesterday in Dublin West Education Centre against St. Francis Xavier N.S. Blanchardstown.
The motion was “Sports Stars do not make good role models”. We were proposing the motion but, unfortunately, we were not victorious on this occasion. Well done to all of the team members who have worked so hard and performed so well in the series of debates which commenced last Autumn. Team members were: Abby Kelly, Nora Kelly, Ríona Connon, David Houlihan and Orla Heffernan.

Friday March 4th

After a stuttering start to the season caused by recent adverse weather conditions, a slew of matches was played this week involving all boys and girls football teams. Here are the match reports that reached the St Colmcille’s Sports Desk

First up on Wednesday was our girls team in a league clash with Bishop Galvin NS Templeogue on the Sancta Maria pitch. In what was a first ever outing for 13 of the girls, their coaches Ms Kirwan and Ms Cooney were particularly impressed with the team’s performance. Their win, 3-7 to 1-1 , was testament to a lot of hard work at training over the last few weeks and it augurs well for their upcoming fixture against St Pius GNS Terenure next Wednesday.

In the Corn Austin Finn competition, the charges of Ms Hyland, Ms Madden and Ms Leonard weren’t so lucky when they came up against a strong and determined team from St Pius GNS. In tough wet and windy conditions the girls put up a great fight with Leah Dunne, Sophie Geraghty, Aoife Dunne and Layla Scoulding (in her first GAA match) coming in for special mention. We wish them well in their clash with Bishop Galvin NS next Monday.

The boys Corn Kitterick team played a particularly exciting game against Scoil Mhuire Lucan on Thursday. In ‘a battling performance with everyone playing their part’ according to Messrs Dundon and Ryan, the team, who were 8 points down at half-time, went ahead for the first time with two minutes left on the clock. The final score: 4-6 to 4-7 saw Colmcilles pull off an amazing comeback with Daniel Kirwan, Ross Larkin, Ryan Thompson and Bobby Doyle leading the charge.
Maith sibh go léir

Friday February 11th

An Assault on Batteries

As polluters, batteries are big offenders as they are capable of leeching noxious chemicals into the environment if they reach landfill or are dumped illegally. As part of its Green Flag mission, St Colmcilles set out to apprehend as many of these little environmental criminals as they could - and the response has been overwhelming.

The campaign ran for three weeks and funds raised from the initiative will be donated to the Laura Lynn Foundation. The man from WEEE Ireland who took 1,500KG of batteries into custody last week declared that he had never seen so many batteries coming from one source - and he still has two more collections to go!

Each year group had a winning class with Ms Ní Reachtaibhre, Ms Timmons, Ms Hyland and Ms Cooney’s classes taking the honours. The overall winner however was Ms O Sullivan’s class who collected a staggering 110 blue boxes of batteries over the three weeks. They will soon take delivery of some very special eggs which will hatch in their very own classroom as their prize for taking so many environmental offenders off the streets.

Yesterday our school debating team competed in the semi-final of the Concern Inter-School Primary Debates
Competition as the whole school watched on

The motion for the debate was "Billionaires should not be allowed to go to space” and our team of three girls were opposing this motion. Ríona Connon (pictured), Abbey Kelly and Nora Kelly showed a variety of skills as they made their arguments. Their careful research and preparation was evident as they articulately delivered compelling reasons why it was important to allow billionaires to travel to space. Their skill at rebutting arguments by their opponents - Solas Chríost NS, Greenhills - showed a striking ability to think on their feet and to unpick the arguments of those proposing the motion.

The whole event was brodcast on Zoom and more than 40 classes from both schools tuned in to watch and cheer on. Many of these participated in an open forum at the end with individual children speaking to the camera and giving thir own ideas on the subject.

After a long time deliberating, the adjudicator decided in favour of St Colmcilles. The classes around the school were delighted and it means that our three debating heroes will contest the final of this very prestigious competition in the near future.
Go n-éirí leo

Although quite a few Gaelic football games were scheduled this week, because of the weather
only two were actually played

One match that went ahead was a Corn Kitterick encounter between our boys team and St Bridgid’s Castleknock. Our boys were really up against it in the first half and although they rallied in the second half with good performances by Danny Kirwan, Ross Larkin Conor Quinn and Ciarán Ryan in particular, there was really only going to be one outcome.
A rueful Mr Dundon noted ‘Things can only get better’ as he and Mr Ryan look ahead to their next match. We’re sure the boys will have learnt a great deal from this defeat and will indeed be better next time when they face St Mary’s of Lucan in a home fixture.

As part of the South County Dublin Enterprise initiative, Ms Connolly's Class organised a
Market Day to test out their entrepreneurial skills.

Using their many talents they produced and sourced products which they sold to the other 5th Classes. Their wares ranged from baked goods to plants and from sweets to art works. In the end they managed to turn a profit and donated more than €100 to the DSPCA.

Check out the slideshow alongside to see what it was all about

Friday February 18th

In a further sign that things are returning to normal in St Colmcille’s, our Fifth and Sixth
Class boys and girls recently began training again after a long hiatus

Once again we’re hearing mention of things like the Corn Kitterick and the Corn Austin Finn as St Colmcille’s takes its part in Cumann na mBunscoil competitions.

The girls teams are being trained each week by Ms Leonard, Ms Hyland, Ms Cooney, Ms Madden and Ms Kirwan. And - they have competitive games lined up in the weeks ahead against Scoil Mhuire GNS Lucan and Loreto, Rathfarnham.

Not to be outdone, the boys also have a full fixture list beginning next week. Next Thursday, Mr Ryan and Mr Dundon will be travelling to play St Brigid’s Castleknock while the charges of the two Mr Dolans will face St Lawrences Glenalbyn. Mr Gallagher’s team journey to Ballymun where they will play Ballygall NS.

We wish them well - and, we will have an update next week on how all these teams fare. Go n-éirí leo.

Friday January 28th

..............................................Catholic Schools Week Departure.........................................
This week, St Colmcille’s celebrated as it always does, Catholic Schools Week - a week in which we focus on our school’s Catholic ethos. It was perhaps fitting that such an important week in the religious life of the school was the week in which we also marked another very important moment in
the life of the school - the departure of the Carmelites from Knocklyon Parish

The theme of this year’s Catholic Schools week was ‘Living Life to the Full’ and each day we focused on a different aspect of how to do this. On Wednesday for example, we looked on the school as a community of love and it was clear from events in the school that the three Carmelite priests - Fr Joe, Fr Martin and Fr Fintan - are held in high esteem and affection by the entire school community.

On Thursday, after a prayer service involving the whole school, there was an informal gathering in the senior atrium where the Chairperson of our school’s Board of Management Catrherine Collins paid tribute to the three priests as well as to all of the Carmelites who have given great service to the parish and the school for many decades. Our Principal Mr Mac Gabhann also warmly thanked the Carmelites for their contribution to the life of the school and in particular, he voiced the gratitude of the whole school community to our school chaplain, Fr Joe Mothersill, who has spent a total of 16 years in service to St Colmcilles.

Friday’s Catholic Schools Week theme was ‘Looking to the Future with Hope’. and as Fr Fintan, Fr Joe and Fr Martin look ahead with expectation to their new postings, we wish them well as their separate ministeries take them in new and different directions. They will always be fondly remembered in our school and we will warmly welcome them any time they return to see us.

Friday December 10th

The annual Blessing of the Crib ceremony took place today in the senior atrium. This event is marked every year in our school and it is always an inspiring and memorable occasion

There were a number of twists to this year's ceremony; Storm Barra forced a late date-change but in other ways the event was even more special this year. Live music was provided by Mark Gallagher, a recent addition to St Colmcille's teaching staff and Daniel O Sullivan who is currently providing substitute cover in Fourth Class. The entire event was streamed live to all classrooms so, despite social distancing restrictions, it felt like everyone in the school community was involved. Fr. Joe Mothersill officiated at the proceedings and thoughts and prayers were offered by teachers, SNA's and pupils during the ceremony.

The crib itself is beautifully presented and the 'straw' on its floor is made of strips of paper on which all the children of the school have written thoughts, requests and examples of acts of kindness they have shown.

This event will no doubt have focused the creative minds of our Sixth Classes who are currently making their own cribs at home for display in the school next week - another great Christmas tradition at St Colmcilles.

See below for a slideshow of pictures

Friday November 26th

'Bí Cineálta’The week just finished was Kindness Week in St Colmcille’s - a week
in which everyone was encouraged to be the ‘I’ in KIND.

Every class was asked to focus on being kind to those around them. This included their classmates, parents, siblings, extended family and neighbours. The initiative is part of the school’s quest to achieve an Amber Flag which. like the Green Flag we have been awarded, encourages the school community to reflect and to make improvements in the way it operates on a daily basis. The improvements needed for an Amber Flag are focused on promoting wellness and positive mental health and this was central to the idea of Kindness Week.

In addition to discussing kindness and how to be kind in class, children were given a Kindness Homework Diary to update at night and prompted to take kindness beyond the discussion into real-world situations. The children were also inspired by readings and quotations in the ‘Fógraí’ each day, read aloud by their schoolmates.

It was agreed by all that, not only do acts of kindness promote a more positive atmosphere, but they also make the doer feel good about themselves for being kind. Acts of kindness are simple to do and if your ‘kindness radar’ is on, opportunities present themselves all the time in everyday situations.

As the Dalai Lama says: ‘Be kind wherever possible...... and it’s always possible’

Friday November 12th

This week, the entire school turned its
attention to all things Science

Science is a regular part of the S.E.S.E. curriculum but, once a year, along with many other schools around the country, we shine a spotlight on this subject. We did this in many different ways throughout the school.

Each day was dedicated to a different famous scientist and after hearing some basic facts about these pioneers of science from Mr Mac Gabhann each day, the children were encouraged to research and learn more about scientists such as Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein both at home and in their classes.

Of course it wasn’t all about research; there was a lot of messy science involved with many practical experiments being undertaken in class and even more experiments done at home, many of which were posted on Seesaw and reviewed and explained in class.

A particular hit was The Big Science Quiz which involved all classes in each year group meeting up live on Teams and competing in a 55-item quiz. It involved a lot of learning and a great deal of fun too.

There were many more activities including online and TV workshops, i-pad science activities, DreamSpace video lessons, week-long observational experiments and much more.

A wonderful week of science and who knows how it might inspire future scientists

Friday November 5th

The week leading up to the Halloween break and the week since saw the welcome return of field trips out of the school as all of our Fifth Classes got an opportunity to delve into the heritage of our local area as they investigated listed buildings and local monuments. Among the landmarks they visited were Knocklyon Castle, Prospect House Gatelodge and a cross sculpture by renowned local artist Oisin Kelly. The children were guided in their discoveries by an old friend of ours – Tomás Meagher who is a well-known historian and guide. Tomás made a presentation in the hall to each class group before taking them ‘into the field’ where the children asked questions and took notes at each of the locations. They were a little surprised to see how much history there is to the Knocklyon area and to discover that it is right under our noses in places we pass frequently. We are very lucky to have Tomás to point it all out to us and explain its importance.

Monday November 1st

News has just reached us of a superb achievement by one of our 6th class pupils. Dhanya Boopathy in Room 28 was awarded a Certificate of Commendation from the thousands of entries in the 2021 Texaco Children's Art Competition. Dhanya's entry and her certificate are shown here.

Friday October 22nd

“In Holy Communion Jesus gives us the greatest and most precious gift of all - he gives us his very self"

These were the words this week of Fr Joe Mothersill on the occasion of First Holy Communion ceremonies in St Colmcille’s School.

Today - as Ms O Sullivan’s Third Class received their First Holy Communion - saw the last of 14 Coommunion ceremonies held in the parish church over the last two weeks. This large number and the fact that the children were from senior school classes is due to the restrictions on religious activities necessitated by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 when, as members of second classes, these children would normally have received this sacrament.

Beginning last week, the children from Ms Hyland’s, Ms Nixon’s, Mr Mc Govern’s, Mr Sweetnam’s, Ms Toner’s, Ms Kennelly’s and Ms Keyes classes received their First Holy Communion. This week it was the turn of children in the classes of Ms O Connor, Ms Woods, Ms Cooney, Ms Kenny Ms O Sullivan and Messrs Cian and Conor Dolan.

The First Holy Communion ceremony is usually associated with second class and an important and unique aspect to this year’s ceremonies was the collaboration between the teachers in the Junior and Senior schools in making these ceremonies happen. The preparations saw the involvement of current and previous class teachers of the first communicants as well as a great deal of liason between Ms Una Johnson and Ms Audrey Murphy, the religious co-ordinators in both schools.

Friday October 15th

Little did we know back in March 2020 how lucky we were to have completed all the Confirmation ceremonies by early March. We could not have known either that they would be the last Confirmation ceremonies held anywhere in the country for almost two years.

This week and last, our current Sixth Classes received their Confirmation, albeit a little different to other years. Each class was assigned a different evening in the parish church and by last Friday, the classes of Ms. Ní Reachtabhra, Mr Dundon, Ms Synnott, Mr Durkin, Ms Smith and Ms Byrne had received the Rite of Confirmation

The final two classes - of Mr Ryan and Ms Mc Cormack - received their Confirmation last Monday and Wednesday respectively.

We extend our thanks to Fr Joe and Fr Martin for officiating at all of these ceremonies.
_______________________________

Many of our Third and Fourth Classes have already recieved their First Holy Communion this month and these cermonies will continue each day next week until all classes are finished. A report on this will be published when all First Holy Communions have been completed.

Monday October 11th

Garda Pat Tarrant began today visiting all classes in the school to talk about the dangers of Hallowe’en and how to avoid them and stay safe.
Here are the main points of what he has to say :

Bonfires – Garda Pat advises all students to stay away from bonfires during Hallowe’en
Fireworks – Apart from being dangerous, fireworks are actually illegal in this country. as a result, many people who acquire them are
not competent to use them safely. Stay away from them and don’t risk a serious injury.
Pets – exercise your pet during the day and keep it indoors at night over the entire Hallowe’en period
Trick or Treating – When visiting houses, make sure you stay near home, tell your parents where you’ll be and how long you’ll be out,
take your phone with you and make sure it’s charged – and – never go inside thed house of someone you don’t know

Hallowe’en can be great fun but we have to be careful. We want everyone to return safely to school after the holiday.

Many thanks to Garda Pat for his ongoing contribution to our school and the welfare of our students

Wednesday September 1st

We’re back!

After the many challenges of the last school year, we’re ready for everything this new school year will bring

A very warm welcome to all of our Third Class students who joined the Senior School this year

Best of luck to everyone

Wednesday June 9th

St Colmcille 521 AD to 2021 AD

This year, as always, the school celebrated the feast day of St. Colmcille. And this year was particularly special as it marked 1,500 years since Colmcille was born in Gartan Co. Donegal.

Like many things over the last 15 months, celebrations were different to normal due to covid restrictions, however all of the main events which have become part of the St Colmcille’s Week over the years, were revisited again this year. A pilgrimage to St Colmcille’s Well was organised, a ‘design and make’ exhibition was put on in the hall with wonderful models depicting scenes from the saint’s life provided by the students, and no St Colmcille’s celebration would be complete without the inter-house relay races and the sixth class versus teachers race.

It was often remarked when the school decamped to the Sancta Maria campus during the school rebuilding that, even though we were in a completely different location, the spirit of our school was retained and was still driving the efforts of our students and staff. This year too, despite the onset of a worldwide pandemic it was clear to see
- and the success of St Colmcille’s Week showed us once again - that the spirit of St Colmcille’s SNS is alive and thriving in 2021.

Watch the slideshow below to see what ‘the houses’ in fifth and sixth classes were getting up to this week

Monday, February 1st, 2021

Mr. McGowan has prepared a short video message for all of the school community to herald the arrival of Spring and in particular to celebrate St. Brigid's Day.

Monday, December 14th

Our 6th class pupils have been busy over the last number of weeks on our 6th class Cribs project. Usually at this time of year, our pupils would bring in cribs that they have constructed at home with the help of their families and there would be a great display here in the school of their fantastic work. Sadly, given the restrictions this year, the cribs had to stay at home but we have close to a hundred photographs of the wonderful creations of our 6th class pupils. Click on the video below to have a look.

Room 22 have also been busy this week. With no Christmas plays this year, the class decided to put together a short podcast all about Christmas. Click on the link opposite to have a listen.

All about Christmas - Room 22

Friday November 13th

 Bubbling mixtures, messy eruptions and minor explosions were all par for the course this week as the school immersed itself in the wonders of science

Leonardo Da Vinci - as great a scientist as he was an artist and sculptor - believed that “Science is the observation of things possible’ and, in keeping with this, the week was all about observation and investigating the possible.
Classes set up ongoing experiments to observe changes over a 5-day period and learned the principles of evaporation, dissolving, germination, chromatography and many other scientific concepts.
Many students chose experiments to try out at home and uploaded videos of their investigations and observations for their classmates to see and discuss. Some classes shared their experiments through video with other classes in their year groups. Each day, a scientist of note was presented on the PA by Mr Mac Gabhann to prompt classes towards further investigation of science trailblazers. The famous names included the aforementioned Da Vinci as well as Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Marie Curie.
Perhaps this week’s focus on all things scientific might prompt some of our students to follow in the footsteps of these greats one day.

Friday October 30th

Spooktacular Art Competition

A school-wide art competition attracted a lot of entries last week and as you can see from the slideshow, the entries were as varied as they were creative.

Well done to everyone who entered and a big thank you to Ms Noramai O Sullivan who organised the event.

Friday October 16th

This week was Maths Week and, as usual there was
a raft of different maths-related activities
on the go in the school

Some of the popular activities included Maths TV which brooadcast each morning around 10am as well as Target Boards which involved coming up with maths sentences based on 9 numbers to hit a target number with competing classes around the country vying to be on the top ten leaderboard.
On Tuesday each year group competed in a maths quiz which was both challenging and enjoyable. As per usual MangaHigh - the online maths site - was being used by all classes with many students really getting into it each evening and achieving bronze, silver and gold awards.
Many classes integrated maths with art this week producing geometric designs, pictures based on 2-d shapes as well as pictures inspired by artists such as Piet Mondrian.
One aspect of Maths Week which was promoted in the school this year was 'Maths Eyes'. If you visit the website - haveyougotmathseyes.com - you will see that when you have Maths Eyes it changes your view of mathematics as being something everyone just does in school. With maths eyes people see the mathematics they do every day so mathematics becomes real and meaningful. The Maths Eyes people are running a competition which is very simple to enter and simply involves uploading a photograph of maths in action in the real world. Have a look at the website to see what entries have won prizes in the past and - why not have a go yourself.

Friday October 9th

Grandparents Day is always celebrated in St Colmcilles and this year was no different.

In our school we have always recognised the bond between children and their grandparents and the unique role that grandparents play in the lives of young people. National Grandparents Day fell on Wednesday this week and on that day each class thought about and reflected on the importance of the older generation. We recognised them ...
"For all that they teach us, for the love we share with them and for the faith we share together."
Each class read a poem entitled 'A Special Kind of Love" which acknowledged the wisdom of older people and recognised that the love between children and their Grannies and Grandads is based on a lifetime of caring and giving.
we didn't forget our grandparents this year and we look forward to welcoming them to our school once again on Grandparents Day next year.

Friday October 2nd

"Teach us to be generous in our outlook, courageous in face of difficulty, and wise in our decisions."

This is a quotation from a prayer service held in all classes this week. In every other year, St Colmcille's holds its beginning of year mass in the parish church. This year however was a little different. The service was broadcast to all classrooms and each class was invited to participate in the prayers and intercessions. We asked the Lord Jesus to help us as always in the year ahead.
"Give us a generous spirit to be enthusiastic with our studies and courage to accept new opportunities."

Friday September 18th

Everyone in the school has been trying very hard to to meet their responsibilities with regard to preventing the spread of the Corona virus. The word of the week this week was 'adaptable' and indeed the students of St Colmcille's have shown great adaptability since their return to the changed environment of their primary school.
One step closer to mormality was reached this week when a new arrangement allowed us to line up and enter the school much like we did in previous years, albeit with social distancing very much in mind. All children lined up on spots painted on the yard and each class bubble was more than metres distant from the classes on either side of them. Once again, our students showed their willingness to adapt and the new system has been working seamlessly since Tuesday.
Well done everybody.

Friday September 4th

Who would ever have imagined a start to the new school
year like this!
But we're back - and that is something we are all
grateful for

  In some ways it's a bit like the time we had to move the entire senior school to Sancta Maria campus in 2012. What people remarked at the time was that, even though a lot of things were different and challenging, the school remained the same in all of the most important ways. People were enthusiastic and helpful and kind, the whole school community worked to overcome the challenges we faced and the spirit of St Comcille's School prevailed.

And the same thing could be seen in action this week. Although people were masked and confined in 'bubbles' and there seemed to be a new way to do just about everything, everybody just pulled together and got on with it - the familiar hum started to emanate from classrooms as everyone got on with the business of tackling the new school year.

'Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine' is an Irish saying which means we all live in each other's shelter - we depend on each other to get by. We've always acknowledged this wisdom in our school but never has it seemed so apt. Everyone is pulling together - children, parents, teachers, SNA's, support staff.

      It's going to be a year like no other - but everything that's most important remains the same.

Tuesday 30th June

Mr. McGowan has been busy! The potatoes that were planted last March are now all ready to be harvested. Which year group will have the best spuds? Have you entered to win yourself a small bag of limited edition St. Colmcille's SNS spuds??? Click on the videos below to see the harvesting of each bag.

Thursday 25th June

Today at 11am we celebrate the year gone by with our End of Year Prayer Service. Click on the video below to stream the prayer service.

Friday 19th June

In March, Mr. McGowan spoke to the boys and girls at Tionóil about the potatoes that he was planting in the school garden. Well, today the harvesting began! Check out the video below to see just how successful Mr. McGowan was!

Tuesday 9th June - St. Colmcille's Day

Today is the feast day of the patron saint of our school, St. Colmcille. All this week, the boys and girls will be learning about St. Colmcille and his connection with our parish. Usually we celebrate St. Colmcille's Day with lots of fun and exciting activities - from Design and Make challenges to relay races and of course our pilgrimage to St. Colmcille's Well on the Ballycullen Road. This year, we celebrate St. Colmcille's Day in a different way and we ask St. Colmcille to bless us and keep our community safe, just as he did all of those years ago.

Click on the video below to see a very special blessing to mark St. Colmcille's Day, 2020.

Wednesday 11th March
3rd Class Camogie - Hurling is cancelled today due to the inclement weather.

Tuesday 10th March

Today's Senior Hurling training and 4th Class hurling training that were due to take place in Cherryfield after school have been cancelled due to the inclement weather.

Friday March 6th

This week was Córfhéile week and as usual, St Colmcille’s
SNS featured prominently on a couple of nights at the
National Basketball Arena.

The Córfhéile is a non-profit making, voluntary organization that aims to provide an opportunity for children in primary school right around Dublin to perform in a non-competitive music festival. The children that perform in the Córfhéile do so for the enjoyment of singing, for the love of playing music or the desire to participate in a play or drama. This invaluable opportunity to play in front of a large audience, in a large venue with full technical support was grasped by a wide array of musical groups in the school this week. These included our Grúpa Traidisiúnta, our Senior Choir, a drama group directed by Ms O Gara and our rock group 'Scoil Rock'.

First out of the blocks on Monday evening was Ms O Gara’s drama group whose short production focusing on environmental issues, met with great approval. The actors were ably supported on the night by our
Grúpa Traidisiúnta who added to the proceedings with ‘Fáinne Gheal an Lae’ and ‘Going to California’. Both ensembles won warm appreciation from both the judges and audience for their performances.

On the same evening our Senior Choir won plaudits for their renditions of 'Why We Sing', 'Bí Thusa mo Shúile' and their beautiful arrangement of three Cranberries songs in a memorable medley. Their 'tuarisc' from the adjudicators on the night was 'glowing'.

If the audience in the National Basketball arena on Wednesday night were expecting a soft and serene opening set, they were rudely awakened by Scoil Rock who stormed into ‘Rocking All Over the World’ by Status Quo (re-imagined as ‘ Ag Luascadh Mórthimpeall an Domhain’ for the event that was in it) and a cover of Thin Lizzy’s version of the Irish ballad ‘Whiskey in the Jar’.

Córfhéile has for many years provided the students of St. Colmcille’s SNS with an impetus to strive for excellence in drama, singing and musicianship and this year, once again, it gave a priceless opportunity to 3 very different groups to express themselves and to grow in the Arts.
Long may it continue

Friday February 14th

On Thursday this week our school participated in the South County
Dublin Schools Cross Country Race Series
After some serious training in recent weeks, our cross country athletes were ready and eager for the challenge which took place in Tymon Park.

In a very large field of runners from many different schools across South County Dublin, our runners turned in some impressive results with 32 of our 49 runners placed in the top ten finishers in their respective races.

After the event, our coaches wanted to give special mention to the following athletes:

Leila Halpin Sixth Class 1st Place Caoimhe Nic Mhatúna Fifth Class 2nd Place
Conor Vahey Fifth Class 1st Place Rachel Gilles    Fourth Class 2nd Place
Farah Halpin Fourth Class 1st Place Alex Mulligan Fourth Class 2nd Place
Doireann Fitzgerald Sixth Class 1st Place Caoimhe Fitzgerald. Third Class 2nd Place
___________________________________

Tuesday February 11th

The Senior hurling training, scheduled for today in Cherryfield, has been cancelled due to the inclement weather conditions.

Friday February 7th

The 'big story' this week in St Colmcille's was the Green School Song Contest in which our students are challenged to deliver an environmental or socially conscious message through the
medium of a musical performance
Over 40 acts from all classes took part in the 2020 iteration of this popular event which was based on the theme of Global Citizenship and the Environment. Such was the level of interest, that heats had to be scheduled on two separate days to accommodate all of the acts.

Featuring extravagant costumes, intricate choreography and of course thought-provoking lyrics, the contestants strutted their stuff in front of a panel of judges who took several hours to whittle the large number of entries down to a manageable shortlist. A general hush descended over the entire school today at 2:15pm as Mr Murphy read out this shortlist of acts who will go forward to the Grand Final of this event scheduled for next week.

The entire event was held in a very good spirit with an enthusiastic and supportive audience who were always willing to urge the acts on and join in wherever necessary. Well done to all of those who put such huge effort into writing lyrics, arranging choreography and making costumes for their performance and to the judges and organisers who did a wonderful job of bringing this entirew project together.

We look forward with great anticipation to next week's Grand Final. Watch this space tfor updates.

And in other Music News..........

A recent visitor to our school was Emilie Conway a past pupil of
St Colmcille's (6th class 1988)

Emilie spoke to 4th and 5th class children about her memories of her time in St. Colmcilles and her life since, living with a serious visual impairment as a result of albinism – a condition caused as a result of her missing a skin pigmentation.

She has had a successful career as a jazz singer including releasing two CDs. She is also an accomplished artist and shared some of her art work with the children. Emilie works as an art therapist.
She is also doing some voluntary work with Sightsavers – who are running an art competition entitled “Put us in the picture” to raise awareness of their work with children in the developing world and in campaigning for people with disabilites. Many pupils in the school were inspired to create a picture for this competition since Emilie's visit.

Emilie composed a song specially for her visit ” It All Works Out”   and the lyrics below are used by kind permission of the artist.

  It All Works Out
It all works out you see, It all works out, It all works out you see, The unexpected so surprisingly
When I was in school like all of you, I didn’t quite fit in,   I couldn’t play sports or see the board. But how I loved to sing.

I loved to write stories, read and paint. Though people often said to me. You go so close, how can you see? It was a mystery to them and me
Now I sing my songs all ‘round the world. Make kind friends along the way, I still love to read and paint and write
I can’t play sports at all but I can dance ballet

Because you have to do what you can do, Try to listen to your heart, Not care too much what people think that’s
Not always the easy part. (but if you do )

It all works out you see. It all works out. It all works out you see. The unexpected so surprisingly. Even if you have a disability
A disability is not your identity

Friday January 31st

Catholic Schools Week has been celebrated in Ireland for the last 8 years. This annual event calls on Catholic schools to give expression in a special way to a particular aspect of Catholic education

This year the theme was ‘Living in Harmony With God’s Creation’ and this theme was echoed in a number of ways in our school this week through reflections spoken over the intercom, activities in individual classes and masses for all year groups in the parish church.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was the mass for Third Class children who involved their grandparents in their celebration. In this very special event, grandparents were acknowledged as great teachers and supporters of young children and as people who have nurtured and passed on the gift of faith to new generations. In his homily, Fr. Joe Mothersill, referencing the parable of the seeds which was read earlier, reminded the children how their faith has been passed on to them by their grandparents.

After mass, the children led their very special guests back to their classrooms where they served them refreshments and chatted to them.
A very special day in which the school community paid tribute to grandparents and to their invaluable place in the lives of our children.
See below for a slideshow of photos of Grandparents Day

St Brigid's Day

Tomorrow is the first day of February.

It is also the first day of Spring.

And on top of that, it's St Brigid's Day.

With this in mind, today at lunchtime, Mr Mc Gabhann demonstrated the age-old craft of making St Brigid crosses.

Friday January 24th

On Thursday the school as a whole decided to put vegetarianism centre-stage

Everyone was encouraged to bring a lunch to school that excluded meat and gave pride of place to fruit and vegetables. Although there was no compulsion on anyone to join in, the interest and participation in the day was widespread.

In addition to actually eating vegetarian food, there were many events and activities to raise awareness of environmental issues. Third Classes had a Teddy Bears Picnic while Fourth Classes focused on Animal Art. All of our Fifth Classes got into groups of 4's and 5's and moved around classrooms to participate in a quiz with questions focusing on global citizenship and environmental issues. Our Sixth Classes made delicious smoothies using fruit and vegetables. The staff too got into the spirit of the day with several people bringing along vegetarian dishes for everyone at lunchtime and teachers also competed in a quiz in the staff room.

Vegetarian Day fitted nicely into the school's 'Green' ethos in raising awareness of global environmental issues.
Who knows - it could become an annual event

This week, Karl from Zeeko visited the school to
  talk to our students
Zeeko is an organisation which seeks to equip parents and teachers with the knowledge and tools to protect children online and to empower children to make smart decisions to protect themselves online.

     To date, they have made presentations to well over 20,000 Irish students in over 400 schools so the presentations Karl made, were very much based on Irish children’s use and experience of the Internet. Karl sought to make the students of St Colmcille’s aware of the online ‘story’ of themselves they are building every time they access the Internet: how they are creating an indelible footprint on the Internet which is virtually impossible to erase. In the course of each presentation he addressed the areas of Digital Identity (your online story), Cyberbullying and how to respond to it, Online Deception, Inappropriate Content and Digital Health.

There was lots to learn and take note of but Karl stressed a number of items which he asked teachers to follow up on. These included:
- putting all social media on ‘Private’
- never posting anything online which you wouldn’t wear on a t-shirt
- following the ‘Stop, Block, Tell’ rule if you’re being bullied online
- never to meet an online acquaintance in real life
- to have a healthy offline/outdoor life

   For more information visit http://zeeko.ie

Friday January 17th

In recent years, St Colmcille's has increased its level of participation in the sport of Cross Country Running and this year is promising to be bigger and better than previous years

Four teachers - Ms Toner, Ms Synnott, Ms Whelan and Ms Mc Cormack - put out a call two weeks ago looking for students to sign up to a programme of funning. The response was phenomenal with numbers showing an interest in the sport at an all-time high.

Applicants had to commit to a serious regimen of training over the coming weeks, the first of these was on Wednesday. The coaches brought their expertise to the situation as they ran their charges over short distances repeatedly, timing them and urging them to improve on their personal bests. Race tactics and strategic running were also discussed as the coaches look to upcoming competitive races in the months ahead.

For updates on their progress, watch this space

Friday January 10th

It was all systems go in St Colmcille's this week after the Christmas holidays

Apart from classroom activities and the usual sporting and musical extra-curricular activities, several other agencies brought their expertise across a variety of other activities, to the school.

Continuing her recent excellent work with our 3rd Classes, Áine Gell is currently delivering her Music Generation programme to our 4th Classes. This involves a very comprehensive 15-session module covering a wide variety of music topics from harmony singing through body percussion to music appreciation.
Fourth Classes are also benefitting from the expertise of Rachel from 'Olympian' who is currently teaching Gymnastics to 4 classes having previously covered the programme with the other fourths during the first term.
Meanwhlie, Marie Caren is teaching Irish Dancing to our Third Classes. These lessons are scheduled to run for 8 weeks.
Term two also sees the return of two highly accomplished Badminton coaches to St Colmcilles. Mark Topping and Sian Williams began coaching sessions on Tuesday and will deliver badminton coaching to all of our Fifth Classes over the coming term.
Not to be left out, our Sixth Classes are receiving Aerobics instruction from Tracey - a gym instructor as well as help with preparation for Confirmation courtesy of NET Ministries - a group of young adults who give of their time to encourage young people to love Jesus and embrace the life of the Church.

So,as you can see, all of our year groups have hit the ground running as we start off a new term and a New Year

Friday December 20th

Christmas Drama at St Colmcilles

This week saw no fewer than nine productions hit the stages in our two halls. These included...

Ms Roisín Walsh's class reprising her now famous production of 'The North Pole Goes Rock 'n' Roll'

The Christmas classic 'Scrooge' was presented by Ms Woods' class.

Mr Sweetnam's class showed their thespian credentials with a very original 'Scarecrow's Christmas'

Ms Nixon's pupils staged the play 'Puss in Boots'

Ms Keyes class strutted their stuff in 'It's a Party'

Ms O Keeffe's class dramatised the story behind the classic Christmas carol 'Silent Night'

While both Ms Toner's and Ms Maher's class staged separate versions of 'The Bossy Fairy'

 Check out the slideshow below for a flavour of all nine shows

Friday December 13th

This week saw the culmination of weeks of musical endeavour in our Third
Classes as their Music Generation project came to an end

For many weeks, Third Classes have been working every week with Áine -an outside music tutor provided by Music Generation - to work on their music skills specifically around singing and harmony.

Music Generation is a project co-funded by the Dept of Education and Skills and Irish rock group U2. The aim of the Music Generation model is to provide long-term access to high-quality, subsidised and sustainable performance music education for children and young people in Ireland, regardless of their socio-economic background or culture.

To showcase what they had learned, Third Class, led by Áine, gave a concert to the assembled Fourth Classes this week. See slide show below.

Friday December 7th

From its humble beginnings back in 2007 in the small hall of the old school building, the Oíche Cheoil has grown to become one of the flagship events on the school’s calendar. Awaited with great anticipation every year, the night itself is always memorable and enjoyable - and this year was certainly no exception.

In a school which is often feted for its sporting achievements, this was the night for St Colmcille’s to showcase its talents in the Arts.

The evening started with a selection of songs by our Senior Choir which included a beautifully arranged medley of Cranberries tunes. This was followed by a trio of songs from the Boys’ Choir which boasted a membership of 35 boys - quite an impressive number of young lads to have assembled into a a harmonious singing ensemble. Next on stage was the Grúpa Traidisiúnta who performed ‘Fáinne Geal an Lae’ and ‘Off to California and then finished off with a traditional twist on ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. The Folk Group followed with a selection which included a medley from the musical ‘My Fair Lady’ and then the school’s drama group presented a short play entitled ‘ The Meaning of Christmas’. The School’s rock group ‘Scoil Rock’ appeared out of the darkness on a side stage and in a blaze of light and sound, tore into 2 classic Nirvana and Status Quo songs before order was restored by the beautiful harmonies of the Senior Choir to close the evening’s performances.

Perhaps no other school event typifies the spirit of St Colmcille’s better than the annual Oíche Cheoil with its sharing of talents and its generosity of spirit. The performances came as a result of countless after-school rehearsals as well as frequent lunchtime get-togethers. The level of participation was tremendous with 180 of our students - almost a quarter of all students - taking part. There was also great support from the community with well over 400 people attending the evening. And, all members of staff contributed, giving their time and expertise to the six groups who performed as well as collaborating to organise the event over several weeks and working after school on Wednesday evening to decorate the hall.

Congratulations to all involved - another memorable and enjoyable Oíche Cheoil to add to this
growing Christmas tradition

Friday November 29th

A Golden Era of Silverware
This week, St Colmcille's SNS was honoured with a visit by some very high-achieving Dublin sportsmen and women - among them some illustrious
past pupils of our school

In the middle of what had, up to then seemed like a normal school day, we suddenly found ourselves in the presence of some very famous trophies including the Brendan Martin Cup, the Clery's Trophy and, perhaps most famous of all, the Sam Maguire Cup.

To rapturous applause and wild whooping, the famous group was lead to the stage by Michael Darragh McAuley holding aloft the All-Ireland Senior Championship Cup, followed closely by Rachel Ruddy(a past pupil) with another All-Ireland Senior Cup - the Brendan Martin Cup. Also in attendance were Darragh Gogan and Colm Basquel (both past pupils) with the trophy for the Dublin Senior Championship won by Ballyboden St Endas and Cathal Regan with the Dublin Junior football championship trophy - also won by Ballyboden.

Mr Murphy introduced the visitors and reminded the audience - who might be forgiven for thinking that this is just something which happens every year - how unique this level of consistent achievement is and that before Dublin's All-Ireland win in 2011, there was a long stretch back to 1995 to Dublin's previous success.

Each of the visitors addressed the audience and answered questions from our students. Rachel Ruddy, a past pupil, name-checked teacher Mr Kearney as an influence on her football career and recalled how important his advice was to her as a young 12-year-old player playing Croke Park for the first time. All of the guests emphasised commitment and the ability to enjoy your sport as important things to remember. Michael Darragh Mc Auley stressed that having more than one sport was a good thing as each sport helped the other.

But it wasn't all talking - and pretty soon Mr Mc Gabhann took to the stage with his guitar to lead the crowd in 'jimmy's Winning Matches' with the lyrics changed to reflect Jim Gavin and Dublin's recent years of success. Then, backed by a group of teachers on various instruments (including two forlorn Kerry people who made a good show of looking happy) the crowd gave a rousing rendition of "Molly Malone' as the illustrious visitors trooped out of the hall with their much coveted and hard-won silverware.

A golden era indeed for Dublin football which everyone is enjoying as long as it lasts

Friday November 15th

Next week will be 'Seachtain na Leabhar' or
'Book Week'
As is traditional in St Colmcille's, Seachtain na Leabhar is twinned with the week of Parent -Teacher Meetings so that the whole school community gets to benefit from this great event.

Book week is when the school focuses on reading and one of the main events of the week is our monster Book Fair. The Book Fair is one of those 'Win, Win, Win' situations that seems to tick lots of boxes. Homes get clear of clutter in the form of books which may never again be opened, customers at the Book Sale get an excellent choice of books at an extremely low price and our school raises money which it uses to supplement the stock in the school library. Even the unsold books end up helping the parish at its Christmas Fair.

All this week, children have been lugging large bags of books to school every morning and many classes have already donated several hundred books to the Book Fair. We're all looking forward to bagging a few book bargains next week. Why not come into the school hall and browse when you have a few minutes between parent-teacher meetings. You won't be disappointed.

Friday October 18th

This was Maths Week – a week in which we focus on that subject in the school and try to emphasise the unusual and entertaining aspects
of Mathematics

There were maths trails, maths games and puzzles aplenty. In addition, inter-house maths quizzes were staged to find the maths champions in each year group and which 'House' (see last week's report below) could score the highest.

A very interesting Internet Maths resource became available to all children this week in the form of 'Mangahigh' which appealed to the children's love of video gaming and their natural competitive instincts. Many students went well beyond assigned homework to explore Maths and extend their abilities on this (slightly addictive) website.

Here are some other useful maths websites for you to look up with your child:
Topmarks, Mathszone, kidsmathsgamesonline and woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk

Maths is part of the real world. It is much more than a dry academic pursuit and there are opportunities to promote maths everywhere in the environment. Why not look for them in activities such as shopping, cooking, D.I.Y., driving etc. and increase your child’s interest in this subject.

Friday October 11th

This week saw the convening of Tithe Tionóil or House Assemblies so instead of classes meeting in their usual year groups, the children met up with the other
members of their ‘House’

In our school we have 6 Houses, each named after a significant place in the life of Saint Colmcille – Moville, Doire, Gartan, Iona, Kells and Tír Chonaill.  Each House comprises one class from each year group so each House would contain a 3rd, a 4th, a 5th and a 6th class.

This can be great in competitive situations such as sports events or on St Colmcille’s Day with special inter-House events. However, perhaps more importantly, it is used in the school to foster communication and links among classes of different ages. And this week, that was what it was all about. The new third classes got an opportunity to introduce themselves to their older schoolmates and the higher classes had a chance to speak to and interact with their younger colleagues. Before splitting into smaller mixed groups, each House Assembly spoke about the life of St Colmcille and the significance of the six House names. After that the assemblies split into small groups containing one student from each year group where they shared information about themselves with one another and discussed the significance of an item brought along by each member of the group.

There will be other occasions throughout the year when house members get to meet up including sporting events, inter-class activities and invites to plays - but this week's assemblies were all about getting the ball rolling
   - and  they seem to have done that very well.

Friday October 4th

St Colmcille's is currently promoting a 'Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle' message and is actively trying to reduce our waste and
raise awareness of environmental issues in general

It was with this in mind that David Duff of Thornton's Recycling was
invited to address our 3rd and 6th Class assemblies this week

David showed the children videos of what happens at their recycling facilities and delivered some key messages to them.

1. Put the right material in the right bin.

2. In the Green Bin all materials must be Clean, Loose and Dry
   Suitable materials include card, paper, tins, plastic bottles and all rigid plastics.
   It is packaged and sold on to countries such as the USA, Indias, England and Indonesia for recycling.

3. Soft plastic cannot be recycled and should be put in the Grey Bin

David also mentioned the Compost Bin, telling the children that the contents of our compost bins are mixed with wood chips in the recycling facility. This mixture is then heated to a temperature where bacteria can break it down. The final result is compost which can be used to grow our lovely fruit and vegetables all over again.

The children were encouraged to pass the information on to other family members so that we can all
continue to learn and make a difference

Friday September 27th

Active School Flag awarded to St Colmcilles

After a full school year of endeavour to ensure that the entire school becomes 'More Active, More Often', St Colmcille's was rewarded with the presentation of the coveted 'Active Schools Flag' yesterday.

The Active Schools flag is an initiative promoted by the Department of Education and Science and it encourages schools to evaluate themselves in 3 areas: Physical Education, Physical Activity and Partnerships. Schools must also organise an Active School Week programme and have it as part of their annual school calendar.
In addition to the Active School Week, over the past year the school has organised and promoted a long list of events - too numerous to mention but which included aerobics sessions, orienteering, novelty races, the 'Run Around Europe' and 'Run Around Ireland' initiatives, 'Challenge the Teacher' and many fun events including welly throwing, obstacle races and rounders. Even the classrooms were used to promote healthy activity with 'Bizzy Breaks' and the '10 @ 10' stretching and aerobics in class. This of course was in addition to the many and varied sports teams which the school has been running for many years. (see slideshow of events below)

To mark the presentation of the flag the school arranged for three elite athletes to visit the school:

Past pupil, James Madden – Member of Corn Kitterick and Herald Cup winning teams 2007/08 and currently a member of Ballyboden St Enda’s Senior Hurling team and the Dublin Senior hurling team

Another James Madden – also a past pupil and member of the Corn Kitterick and Herald Cup winning teams 2011/12. This James Madden was a member of Dublin U20 football team 2018 but has spent the last year as a professional Aussie Rules player with the Brisbane Lions

And - Ciara McGuigan (not a past pupil) who plays for Thomas Davis GAA club in Tallaght and is a member of the Dublin Ladies Football Panel who recently won the All-Ireland title.

All three gave selflessly of their time to address two large assemblies detailing their journey in sport, answering direct questions from the students and, undoubtedly, giving huge inspiration to the hundreds of students who realised that, all three visitors were just like themselves less than 10 years ago - primary school students with the power to identify and aspire to demanding but very attainable future goals.

The whole Active Schools Programme has sown the seeds of something special. And who knows what will
blossom from it in the coming years.

Boys Football Updates:

Results in this week include:
A win for Mr Dundon and Mr Bonham's 'Setanta' team: St Colmcilles 2:8. to St Mary's 1:3

A win also for our Corn Kitterick team: St Colmcilles 5:9 to St Michaels College 0:3
_____________________________

Monday 23 September 2019
Training for Ms. Whelan's football team scheduled for Cherryfield this afternoon has been cancelled due to bad weather.

Friday September 20th

This Thursday saw the coming together of the entire school for
our first Mass of the year

The Mass began to the strains of 'All are Welcome, All Belong' - a very fitting opening to a special service in which we gather as a community and look forward to the year ahead that we will share together.

The theme of the Mass was 'Light' - Sharing the Light of Jesus and reflecting on ways in which we can be a 'Light in the lives of others'. Prior to the mass, students had coloured in flames and written down the ways in which they would strive during the year to be a light in the world. Father Joe Mothersill - who celebrated the Mass - focused on this theme in his homily, delivered in his own simple and inimitable style and involving the children in his sermon.

Before the end of Mass Fr. Joe encouraged everyone to focus on new challenges in the year ahead, to identify new talents and skills and to continue to be shining light within the school community and beyond.

Friday September 13th

Although it's only the second week back after the summer holidays, it's been a really busy week for St Colmcille's footballers with 4 competitive fixtures played this week.

First out of the blocks were the school's senior girls team who played St Patrick's GNS Hollypark in Sancta Maria on Wednesday. In their first Corn Austin Finn match of the season, the girls faced tough opposition. According to coaches Ms O Sullivan And Ms Walsh, the girls did really well to keep with the opposition but they unfortunately ran out of steam in the last few minutes and lost 3-4 to 5-6. We wish them well in their next outing versus Scoil San Treasa, Mount Merrion.

Our other girls team - coached by Ms O Keeffe, Ms Whelan and Ms Kennelly - also faced off against Hollypark on Wednesday. They held a commanding 3-goal lead at half time and looked to be certain winners at that point. However, the opposition seriously upped their game in the second half and it took a last minute goal by Carla Callan to snatch a one-point victory in the end. Quite a thriller - not good for the nerves, but the right result in the end.

The boys senior team played Sacred Heart BNS Ballygal on Thursday. They had to travel a long way to the venue - Ballymun Kickhams GAA Grounds - but with some great scores in the second half, they won by a goal and two points, making the trip worthwhile. This 'Setanta' team have no match next week but have identified plenty of work-ons for their next training session.

Last but not least, the charges of Mr Dolan and Mr Ryan took on St Lawrences Kilmacud in Cherryield on Thursday. According to Mr Ryan, it was a very good performance for the first day out. He singled out some of the boys for special mention : Darragh O Hare was outstanding at wing-back, kicking 3 points from play. Rory O Donnell at full-forward also scored 3 points while, Charlie White and James Roche both found the net. The final result? A draw : 2-12 to 2-12. They take aim at Hollypark next Thursday. We wish them well.

Friday September 6th

It was with great pleasure this week that we welcomed back everyone to the start of a new year at Colmcille's - friends coming together, stories exchanged and great excitement shared about the year ahead.
As we head into the challenges and endeavours of the new school year, we remember the Irish proverb 'Tús maith leath na hoibre' echoing the words of Plato from a very long time ago.

Thursday June 13th

Today Fifth Class – for the seventh year running – held their Lá Cheoil.
The idea of a Lá Cheoil is to focus attention on music as a curriculum subject and, with a wide variety of activities, allow the students of Fifth Class to have a complete day of fun engaging with music-related activities.

The activities through which the classes rotated this year were: Dance, Karaoke, a Music Quiz, Understanding Rhythm and Responding to Music through Art. In addition, children got a chance to work on their bodhrán skills with visiting Galway musician Michael Vignoles. Michael is a maker of both bodhráns and uileann pipes. He showed the children how these instruments are made and how they are played.

The highpoint of the day was – as always – when the entire year group assembled in the hall for a special musical gathering where Michael joined the Fifth Class teachers to accompany the singing of the Fifth class students. After many singing sessions this year, our Fifth Classes boast an extensive shared repertoire of songs and they sang a wide variety of numbers The assembly was also entertained by two talented musicians from Ms Ní Reachtaibhre’s class - Hugh who played ‘Brian Boru’s March’ on a beautiful traditional harp and Josh who played guitar and sang the song that won him first prize in last night’s Community talent Show.

This event seems to go from strength to strength each year and we wonder what it will bring in 2020.

Camogie Champions!!!

St.Colmcille's Day 2019

Last week we celebrated the feast day of St. Colmcille. Click on the link video below to see some of the events that took place.

What do you think the house of the future will look like? Our theme for the design and make project this year was 'Our Planet - Our Future' Watch the video below to see two of our 4th class children discuss the question.

Tuesday June 4th

The annual
Santry Athletics Competition took place in Morton Stadium in Santry last week in which close to 60 students competed over the two day event.

Ms. McCormack, Ms. Whelan, Ms. Toner and Ms. McAllister had been preparing the athletes for the past few weeks for their respective competitions and the children were excited to finally get on the track and compete in their various heats.

The first day at Santry consisted of the Cumann na mBunscoil field events, hurdles and the 600m race. It was a very busy day with the athletes competing at multiple locations around the stadium. Ms McCormack and Ms. Toner said that the competitors showed great determination and sportsmanship as they competed and they represented the school very well. Five of the competitors came home with a medal;
Leila Halpin : Gold 600m race
Adam McNamee :Bronze 600m race
Emma Moran: Bronze in hurdles
Rachel Hanrahan: Bronze in long jump
James Roche: silver in 600m
On the second day, almost 40 students from St. Colmcille’s S.N.S. travelled to Santry to compete in either sprints or as part of the relay team in the final athletics event of the year, the hugely anticipated Cumann na mBunscoil track competition. The children’s hard work, teamwork and training was evident from their strong performances.

Off first were the four boys and four girls that were representing St. Comcille’s S.N.S. in their sprints race. The athletes were met with fierce competition. Three of the athletes came home with a gold medal having won both their heats and their final. They were Leila Halpin, Ella Curtain and Stanis. Next up was Ella Sherlock competing in the para- sprint race in which she received a gold medal. Well done Ella.

The relay race is a very technical event which relies on both speed and precision while passing the baton from one teammate to another. The standard of the 8 relay teams yet again did not falter as they amazed both coaches and spectators in their ability to preform and execute their passes seamlessly and efficiently. Four of the teams managed to bring home medals on the day. Our U14 boys and U14 girls teams received a bronze medal in their respective relays while the U10 girls team carried home a silver medal from their event. The U11 girls relay team came in first place and carried home the cup.

The coaches would like to say a huge thank you to the students for their unwavering commitment during trainings and on the respective competition days - regardless of whether they got to compete in Santry or not- as their great attitudes, teamwork and sportsmanship was a credit to themselves and the school.

Breaking News!

News has just reached us that the trojan work done by the teachers and pupils in the school in the area of science has been rewarded by the granting of an SFI Discover Science and Maths Award. The school has been awarded a plague of STEM. Well done to all concerned! Check out just some of the activities that have been taking place in the Science section of Curriculum Corner in Kid's Zone above.

Friday May 17th

Do aliens exist?
How will the world end?
How do you explain colour to a blind person?

These are just some of the questions our Fifth Class students were grappling with recently when they participated in UCD's Young Philosopher Awards programme. Here's what their teacher Ms Ní Reachtabhra had to say about the whole affair........

'The Young Philosophers Awards is organised by UCD. They invite children to enter a project based on a philosophical or ethical question. The projects had two parts. In the first part the children had to explore the whole concept of philosophy and chose their title for their own project. They then had to carry out a 'mind map' on their topic. In the second part, the children could study their topic more and then choose to do a PowerPoint, a painting, a Podcast or an essay based on their topic. So Room 17 entered the competition and came up with many interesting and current questions:-
What is beauty? What is friendship? Do aliens exist?
How will the world end? How do you explain colour to a blind person?
What is love?...to name but a few.
The whole project took 2 months to complete and then Room 17 were both honoured and delighted to be asked to attend the Festival on May 15th. The projects were all packed up and we spent the day in UCD. The judges were highly impressed by the standard of the projects and the children answered any questions with confidence and thought. A lovely lunch was enjoyed by the lake and who knows, in years to come, a few children may enjoy future lunches while discussing philospohy by the same lake. Well done Room 17. From a very proud teacher! Ms Ní Reachtabhra '

The Knocklyon Concert Band visited the school this week and thrilled us with their musical expertise, ensemble playing and varied repertoire. All classes assembled in the hall to hear them perform and many familiar faces of past-pupils were seen among the ranks of the performers. This visit may well inspire some of our students to follow in their footsteps and join this wonderful musical community in the future.

Friday May 10th

Cycling Safety
As a recent holder of the ‘All-Ireland Cycling School of the Year ’ title, St Colmcille’s has a name for encouraging its students and teachers to cycle or ‘scoot’ to school. Our first concern in this regard however is always to ensure that our children cycle safely.

Over the past few month, all of our Fifth Classes have undertaken a structured cycling course which aims to improve both the cycling competence and safety awareness of pupils. Under the careful guidance of cycling gurus Don and Ritchie, the children have learned how to negotiate all manner of challenges and hazards which face anyone who ventures onto a public road on a bicycle.

This week some of our Fifth Classes took to the public roads around the school and, with the knowledge and skills gained over the previous weeks, they successfully dealt with right and left-hand turns, joining traffic, parked cars and other challenges.

This comprehensive course takes place over eight weeks and, with the fun and good-humour Don and Ritchie bring to each and every class, our students have a great time while gaining invaluable skills which will last a lifetime.

Thursday 9th May
Senior Hurling Match scheduled for this afternoon has been cancelled due to the weather.
Senior Camogie training scheduled for this afternoon has been cancelled due to the weather.

Wednesday, 8th May
Please Note: 3rd/4th class Hurling/Camogie is cancelled today due to the weather. Athletics after school today is cancelled too.

Friday May 3rd

Dublin City Tour
Several of our fifth classes took to the streets of Dublin this week and last to learn about the history of our great city.

Lead by Tomás Maher – a well-known local historian –the students’ first stop was at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral where they admired flying buttresses and admired its Gothic architecture. Standing as it does on a site where a carved stone marks a well where Saint Patrick is believed to have baptised people into Christianity, this cathedral is a very important part of the history of our city. Inside the building the children were given a guided tour and encouraged to learn from the many interactive resources within the church. Finally, each group completed a set of stained glass windows which they brought back to display in their classrooms.

After this, the history tourists proceeded on foot to Dublin Castle, once the seat of power of English rule on this island. Behind the castle, they visited the park under which the River Poddle flows and heard about Viking exploits in this area which the invaders chose as the centre of their new settlement in the 8th Century prior to making Dublin their most important trading port.

Finally they visited the City Hall where they found the building’s fabulous dome-capped rotunda with its gold-leaf ceiling, marble floor and paintings depicting scenes from Irish history. Standing 18 feet high was an imposing statue of Daniel O Connell the Liberator and former Lord Mayor of Dublin as well as a sculpture of Thomas Davis the Irish patriot founder of ‘The Nation’ newspaper and composer of the nationalist anthems ‘The West’s Awake’ and ‘A Nation Once Again’. However, bullet holes in one of the statues - caused by a gun battle between Irish rebels and English soldiers during the 1916 Rising - will probably stand out for the students as one of the most memorable discoveries of this trip.

Although a trip through a busy city centre full of pedestrians and traffic can be a dangerous undertaking, as always, the behaviour of all fifth classes on these trips was exemplary and everyone stayed safe. With much to relate and discuss about the wonderful city we live in the various groups returned to class having enjoyed a wonderful day out.

Friday April 5th

This week saw several of our Sixth Classes set out on tour in
Dublin City.
On Wednesday it was the turn of Ms Sheridan and Ms Smith's classes to venture forth as they investigated the treasures of IMMA (the Irish Museum of Modern Art) and Richmond Barracks.

At the Irish Museum of Modern Art they saw a great variety of exhibits including portraits by Lucien Freud, a carved wooden head by Steven Balkenhol and a pair of spinning blue shoes created by Rebecca Horne entitled 'Bring Me to the Other Side of the Ocean'. The students also got to see the museum's collection of photographs as well as a video illuminating the history of the museum and its works.
After this they travelled to Richmond Barracks in Inchicore. Curiously, their first stop was at a graveyard outside the barracks. Here they were shown graves of several people including one commemorating Eugene, an eight year old boy who was shot dead just before the end of the 1916 Rising and also the grave of William Cosgrave late of Knocklyon and a previous Taoiseach of our country. Inside the barracks proper, the students were shown historical artefacts found in the building including a sword, guns and old keys. The heard stories and saw a video about the 1916 Rising and then they visited an old classroom where they sat in double desks and tried to write with ink from inkwells - Maybe they might now agree that our current school isn't such a bad place to go after all.

Friday March 29th

Hockey is the buzz word around the school this week with no less a visitor to the school than Graham Shaw - who coached the Irish Ladies Hockey team to a World Cup final last summer. Soon-to-be coach to the New Zealand National Hockey team (who are ranked sixth in the world), the much sought-after coach took time out to meet our boys and girls hockey teams in a week where our boys hockey team won the Leinster Schools hockey competition
(for a full report on this prestigious win see below under the slideshow )

This was 'History in the making ; the first time St.Colmcille’s has ever won a hockey final since the school hockey team was established just 3 years ago' according to hockey coach Ms O' Mahony

She went on to say that it was a thrilling contest in which all the boys played brilliantly and gave it 100%. Dara Mulready scored the winning goal in the second half, however it was very much a team effort.
The sun was beaming, supporters were out in full force and the atmosphere was electric. The captain Conor Delany presented the team with their medals and held up the trophy for the first time.

The team had had a special guest appearance from Graham Shaw on Thursday morning before the final. (Graham Shaw was the head coach of Ireland’s Women Hockey Team from 2015-2018. - see above). He gave the team some inspiring words and wished them well in their first hockey final.

Well done to our Boys Hockey team and our gratitude to their tireless coaches of the team Ms Kate Kirwan, Fiona McMahon & Sinéad O’Mahony.

Friday March 22nd

Congratulations to our boys and girls team that competed in the annual
South Dublin Cross Country race in St Enda's Park on Thursday

With 420 boys and 400 girls competing, there was tough competition. Five of our boys finished in the top 50, running an impressive 2k.

An amazing achievement for our girls team who successfully took the title of champions on the day with their top four runners finishing 2nd, 4th, 12th and 22nd.

What a proud day for all of St. Colmcille's athletes.
________________________________

The Confirmation provides one of the highlights of the school year and this year was no exception. Over two days this week, Bishop Eamonn Walshe led the ceremonies assisted by Fr Joe, Fr Fintan and Fr Martin.

In his homily, Bishop Eamonn addressed the candidates for Confirmation in his own inimitable relaxed and informal style. He told the children that they had ‘3 bones’; a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone. Their wishbone was what made them aspire and have ambition - he urged them to use their wishbone to ‘Go for it’. Their backbone was their source of courage and - reflecting the theme previously highlighted in the Ceremony of Light - he told them that in their lives, they would face adversity and challenges to their faith and he encouraged them to have the strength to face up to these. The funny bone he said was for ‘Giving yourself a break’; mistakes are okay, don’t dwell on them or take life or yourself too seriously.

Fr Joe, Fr Fintan and Fr Martin were thanked during the ceremony and the contribution of the Carmelites to our community was acknowledged. Bishop Eamonn also complimented the children on how competently and respectfully they had read prayers and readings, participated in the opening procession and dressed the altar at the beginning of the ceremony.

The School Choir and Grúpa Tradisiúnta provided beautiful music for the occasion and Ms Ruth Kelly, as always, deserves our sincere gratitude for her accompaniment on the piano.

Below you can see photos of the 6 classes who received their Confirmation this week

Monday March 11th

The SNAG Mascots - Peadar and Réaltín (pictured here) - have come to remind us that Seachtain na Gaeilge continues this week.

Seachtain na Gaeilge began last week and saw a host of different Irish language-based activities undertaken throughout the school including art competitions, daily draws, floor and board games and many more. This week promises to be just as interesting with many looking forward to the inter-class Tráth na gCeist (Quiz) which always raises excitement levels in the school.

Wednesday March 6th

Córfhéile has for many years provided the students of St. Colmcille’s SNS with an impetus to strive for excellence in singing and musicianship and this year, once again, it gave a priceless opportunity to 3 very different musical groups to to grow in music and to express themselves in performance.

First up were St Colmcille's Folk Group - a large choir under the direction of Ms Luke, Ms Mc Mahon and Ms Murphy. Accompanied beautifully on piano by Ruth Kelly they sang a lovely arrangement of the Cyndi Lauper classic 'True Colours' followed by 'Naughty' from 'Mathilda' and finished off with the well-known Irish song 'Beidh Aonach Amárach'.

Our Grúpa Traidisiúnta are particularly blessed this year to have a quintet of fine traditional musicians to guide and develop them as, this year, Ms Neville, Ms Kirwan and Ms Woods have been joined by Kerry duo Maurice and Sarah O Keefe. The Grúpa took to the stage and began their set with an unusual arrangement of the classic 'Fáinne Geal an Lae, followed by a rousing rendition of 'The Rattlin' Bog'. They ended their set with 'Trasna na dTonnta' which segued seamlessly into the opening number from the School Choir as they took up the running and continued with a choral version of the same song. Once again accompanied by Ruth Kelly on piano they moved through a faultless performance of 'Panus Angelicus'. The choir, which will feature prominently in the upcoming Confirmation ceremonies have worked tirelessly every week since the beginning of the year under the collective batons of Ms Nixon, Ms Toner and Ms Walsh.

Thursday March 7th

As if there wasn't enough going on in the school, this Thursday was World Book Day!

As always, St Colmcille's got into the spirit of the day with many different activities including DEAR ('drop everything and read') Time, Radio Colmcille and a book review competition. On the left is Ms Walsh's class getting into the spirit of the day. You can see more children 'absorbed' in books in the slideshow below.

Wednesday February 27th

Dea-scéal ó Choirm Gael Linn - bronnadh dhá Gradam ar Seomra 12 agus an Grúpa Ceoil don dráma 'An Príomhoide Nua'. Great news from the Coirm Gael Linn drama festival in Clontarf - Room 12 and the Grúpa Traidisiúnta have picked up two awards for their Irish drama 'An Príomhoide Nua'. Check out the Events link above for more details. Who needs the Oscars!!!!

Friday February 15th

  This week all classes received a presentation by Karl, a representative from a company called Zeeko

Zeeko is an organisation which seeks to equip parents and teachers with the knowledge and tools to protect children online and to empower children to make smart decisions to protect themselves online. To date, they have made presentations to 20,000 Irish students in over 400 schools so the presentations Karl made, were very much based on Irish children’s use and experience of the Internet.

Karl sought to make the students of St Colmcille’s aware of the online ‘story’ of themselves they are building every time they access the Internet: how they are creating an indelible footprint on the Internet which is virtually impossible to erase. In the course of each presentation he addressed the areas of Digital Identity (your online story), Cyberbullying and how to respond to it, Online Deception, Inappropriate Content and Digital Health.
There was lots to learn and take note of but Karl stressed a number of items which he asked teachers to follow up on. These included:
                - putting all social media on ‘Private’
                - never posting anything online which you wouldn’t wear on a t-shirt
                - following the ‘Stop, Block, Tell’ rule if you’re being bullied online
                - never to meet an online acquaintance in real life
                - to have a healthy offline/outdoor life

                                                 For more information visit   http://zeeko.ie

Friday February 8th

There was a lot of activity this week among the school’s quiz teams. Coached by Ms Smith, Ms Mc Cormack and Mr Kearney, the school’s senior and junior quiz teams have put in a lot of ‘training sessions’ in recent weeks.

All of this lead to the 'big event' - namely, The Credit Union's 'Power of 4' Quiz -which was held in our school hall last Friday evening. 10 Junior and 15 senior quiz teams competed on the night with St Colmcille's fielding 2 teams at each level. At the halfway stage of this hotly contested quiz, all 4 of our teams found themselves in second place in their respective competitions. By the end of play, just one of our junior teams retained that position, finishing in second place to Ballyroan Boys School.

In another quiz event - a Harry Potter Quiz, held in Ballyroan Library on Thurs Jan 30th - St Colmcilles fielded 2 teams. One qualified for the finals, the other missed out on qualification by a single point. The final took place in Tallaght Library yesterday and, of the 12 teams that took part, our team came second in a very demanding and competitive event.

This isn't the end of the 'quiz season, and we will continue to follow the progress of our very talented young quizzers in the weeks ahead.

Friday February 1st

'All are welcome, All belong'
Catholic Schools Week is currently being celebrated throughout the country, running from Sunday last until February 3rd. This annual event calls on Catholic schools to give expression in a special way to a particular aspect of Catholic education. This year the emphasis is on Catholic schools themselves, recognising their unique contribution to the Catholic community and focusing on their inclusive, welcoming and vibrant ethos.

This theme of 'Belonging' was celebrated and remembered in our school this week and it was echoed in a number of ways in our school through reflections spoken over the intercom, activities in individual classes and masses for all year groups in the parish church.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was the mass on Wednesday for third class children who involved their grandparents in their celebration. In this very special event, grandparents were acknowledged as great teachers and supporters of young children and as people who have nurtured and passed on the gift of faith to new generations. Led by Fr Joe Mothersill, the children blessed their grandparents and, after mass, the children led their very special guests back to their classrooms where they served them refreshments and chatted to them. All in all, a very special day in which the school community paid tribute to grandparents and to their invaluable place in the lives of our children.

In other news this week, St Colmcille's SNS welcomed a very distinguished visitor and an old friend of our school.
Bishop Eamon Walsh visited the school today, Friday, - as he has done on several occasions in past years - to meet candidates for Confirmation, to talk to them and to offer them advice.
We thank Bishop Eamon for his support and look forward to seeing him again on Confirmation Day in March.

Friday January 18th

This week our school was visited by a travelling puppet theatre who presented a
hilarious production which entertained and enthralled
both teachers and students.

The Moon and Sixpence Puppet Theatre specialises in performances for primary schools. They provide very different marionette productions for junior and senior classes, but their storylines highlight important issues such as friendship, persistence, patience, recycling etc. While they have brought their message to our Junior school via twists on traditional tales such as Cinder Eile and Jacqueline and the Beanstalk, they opted to tell an original story to our Senior School students. The storyline included numerous references to the teachers in the school, including the staff members as if they were characters in the play, much to the amusement of the children.

The Irish Times said of the Moon And Sixpence that their productions were 'Highly recommended as taste-forming theatre for children'. And who can tell what effect this theatrical, creative and inspirational production will have on those who're lucky enough to see it this week.

Friday January 11th 2019

Last Monday saw the school stir into life after the lovely, long Christmas holidays. The sports teams are already plotting their campaigns, the choirs are clearing their throats and all and sundry are preparing for the challenges and opportunities that 2019 will bring.

Happy New Year to everyone

Friday December 14th

This week saw the traditional blessing of the school crib.
Father Joe Mothersill officiated at a lovely event where the cribs made by our Sixth Class students were also blessed.

See the slideshow below for a glimpse of some of the beautiful cribs.

Friday December 7th

Oíche Cheoil 2018
From its humble beginnings in a small cramped hall in the old building in 2007, St Colmcille’s Oíche Cheoil has grown into one of the flagship events on the school’s calendar. Awaited as always with great eagerness by students, parents and teachers alike, the event took place on Wednesday night with several hundred people assembling amidst great anticipation in the school hall. On the previous afternoon the large open space of three combined halls was organised and decorated by every teacher and SNA in the school working to create the perfect ambience and atmosphere for the following evening’s performance. As a result of their efforts and tasteful design, the lobby, atrium and hall areas were transformed. With subtle lighting, beautiful Christmas trees and handmade decorations used to great effect, the enchantment of the evening began as soon as you entered the school.

But the evening was all about music and the depth and range of musical talent in our school was clear to see. Introduced by MC’s from sixth class, the evening began with the School Choir under the direction of Ms Walsh, Ms Toner, Ms O Brian and Ms Nixon singing a mixture of traditional and pop tunes. They were followed by our Grúpa Traidisiúnta and the Tin Whistle Group who moved seamlessly through ‘Fáinne Deal an Lae’,’ Maggie Pickins’ and ‘The Rattlin’ Bog’ and by Alva Brady who played a beautiful rendition of ‘Fairytale of New York’ on the violin. A short drama entitled ‘The True Meaning of Christmas’ was then staged under the direction of Ms Fahy and, following this our Boys Vocal Group entertained the audience with Adeste Fideles, Castle on a Cloud and a stirring version of Do You Hear the People Sing sung with great patriotic fervour. The School Choir then returned to the stage and finished their set with an eclectic mix of songs including Panis Angelicus, Calypso Carol and A Million Dreams.

Our new school principal Mr Mc Gowan spoke briefly at the end of the performances remarking that, in his first ever Oíche Cheoil, he recognised the depth of ‘serious talent ‘ in St Colmcille’s School. He picked out our piano accompanist Ruth Kelly for special mention; she has been at the heart of school performances for years and adds a touch of class to all our musical endeavours. He then urged the audience to clear their throats and join with the performers and staff in singing a medley of well-known Christmas songs to round off the evening.
The school’s staff – of whom over 40 were present - deserve credit for the many roles they undertook to make this unique and wonderful event possible. St Colmcille’s is a harmonious place full of talented people who combine, share and collaborate successfully for the betterment and enjoyment of everyone.

'Thanks from Jigsaw'
A few weeks ago (when the weather was a lot better than it is now!) we reported on a very successful outdoor fun event which was organised by the school.
The event raised more than €2,000 for charity. This year the chosen charity was 'Jigsaw' a Youth Mental Health organisation who provide vital supports to young people with their mental health by working closely with communities across Ireland focusing exclusively on 12 to 25 year olds. During the week, Gráinne from the Jigsaw Organisation visited our school to thank our pupils for their efforts and to tell them how the money they raised is being used. Our picture shows Gráinne addressing our sixth class pupils in the school hall this week.

Friday November 30th

A few weeks ago we featured two new sports which are gaining success and popularity in the school - Hockey and Basketball. This week, saw one of them become champions of their league for this season.

Under the watchful eye of coaches Ms Tara Walsh and Ms Alison Neville, our girls basketball team headed to the National Basketball Arena to contest the final of the Dublin Primary Schools Basketball League. With support from parents and fellow students in attendance, the team did the school proud, putting in a wonderful performance on their way to victory.

According to their coaches, the girls 'showed superb teamwork skills throughout all of their matches'. Both coaches were extremely proud of their team and wished to to thank the girls' parents and guardians and the school for all the support they received.

Friday November 23rd

Parent-Teacher Meetings
Last week saw the usual hum of activity in the school extend beyond normal hours as parents had face-to-face meetings with teachers. As always, the attendance rate was very high and we would like to thank parents for their interest in their child’s learning and their support for the work we do.

Book Fair
Running concurrently with the parent-teacher meetings was the annual book sale. All indications are that it has been another bumper year of book sales and once again, we would like to extend our thanks to all the parents who sent in or who purchased books during the week. The busy beavers in Sixth Class who organised the Book Fair tell us that they have processed 5,482 books donated by parents this year and early forecasts of the final tally is setting this year's total at over €3,000. This money will be put to good use in stocking our school library in the months ahead.

As the hectic week of sales ends and, the space once occupied by the Book Fair is currently being replaced by all manner of saleable items for the Parish Fair. It looks like our school hall will be competing with the chain stores all over Ireland in terms of its volume of sales on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend!

Friday November 16th

St Colmcille's is well-known as a school that promotes Gaelic games including hurling, football and camogie. However, in recent times, several other sports have been quietly making their mark in the shadow of the more established games.

Our senior basketball teams have been very active, and indeed, very successful recently. Our 5th and 6th Class girls team have secured a place in the final of their schools competition. Their opponents will be Scoil Áine from Raheny and the final will take place in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght on November 26th. For updates - watch this space.

Outside of our senior girls' basketball team, our boys and girls basketballers have been actively training since early October with their coaches Ms Tara Walsh and Ms Allison Neville and with assistance from Templeogue Basketball Club. We look forward with interest to following their progress in the months ahead.

Meanwhile a nascent school hockey team has been flourishing under the guidance of Ms, Kirwan, Ms Mc Mahon and Ms O Mahony. Both the boys and girls teams were in action in the Leinster Hockey League this week in Sancta Maria College. The girls were involved in a thriller against St Killian's NS and were all square at 1 - 1 when - in the final minute - St Killian's scored from a short corner.

The boys match on the same day resulted in a draw with Whitechurch NS. Summing up on both encounters, Ms Mc Mahon commented that all players on both teams had 'played brilliantly' and she was looking forward with confidence to their next matches on December 3rd and 7th respectively.

Other sports which are being pursued in the school - as part of the school day and school curriculum - include Rugby (6th Class) and Gymnastics (4th Class). Gaelic games may be deep in the DNA of St Colmcilles but its clear that there is a huge variety of sports currently being competed in and enjoyed by the students of our school.

Friday November 9th

A Hoard of Silver

A glorious list of senior Dublin and Ballyboden St Endas players visited our school on Tuesday bearing a treasure trove of silverware representing their achievements in a succession of top GAA conpetitions and.......all nine are past pupils of St Colmcilles.

T o a packed hall of students, teachers and staff, Colm Basquel - who is on the Ballyboden senior hurling team and the Dublin senior football panel - introduced the centrepiece of the collection; the Sam Maguire All-Ireland trophy to the delight of everyone present.

Then, Sorcha Farrelly - a selector for the Dublin senior ladies football team - presented the Kay Mills cup, the All-Ireland trophy for camogie which was won by the Dublin ladies senior team this year.

Following that, Emily Flanagan of the Dublin senior Ladies football team presented the senior football All-Ireland trophy - the Brendan Martin Cup which Dublin won against a great Cork team who have won that trophy many times in recent years. Interestingly, when she spoke, Emily mentioned the she had been a young St Colmcille's student sitting in the hall in 2010 when Sorcha Farrelly had visited that year with the cup and she urged the girls present to keep working on their skills and enjoyment of the game so that, one day in the near future, they too might return to their primary school an all-Ireland champion.

Finally, Shane Durkin, David Curtin (both teachers in St Colmcilles) and Niall Ryan, Stephen O Connor, Paul O Doherty and James Madden (all past pupils of our school) presented the New Ireland Cup - the Dublin Senior Hurling Championship hurling trophy - which they won this year. Again, they encouraged everyone who plays GAA in the school to continue enjoying and working on their game and to set their expectations high for their achievements in sport in the future.

After fielding a few questions from the audience, the illustrious group exited the hall to the strains of 'Molly Malone'.
Will one of those young voices return in future years to inspire others with their sporting achievements?
Who knows

Friday October 19th

From the people who brought you 'Sugradh for Syria', 'Cluichí for Crumlin' and 'Fun for Focus' this year we have
'Jump for Jigsaw'
Each year, for the last four, a team of teachers lead by Mr Mc Govern has promoted an initiative to raise funds and awareness of different charities. It all centres around a Friday afternoon event in which children are given the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of sports events immediately after school.

This year the chosen charity was 'Jigsaw' a Youth Mental Health organisation which was established to ensure that no young person feels alone, isolated and disconnected from others around them. They provide vital supports to young people with their mental health by working closely with communities across Ireland focusing exclusively on 12 to 25 year olds.

Around 40 of the school staff gave of their time to ensure the success of the event and, as the activities were coming to a close today, donations had exceeded the €2,000 mark. Another successful event where it seems that everyone has great fun and everyone's a winner.

Getting ‘High’ on MangaHigh

You could say that the school has been in the grip of strange craze over the last week. Students have become obsessed with homework assignments and have been spending oodles of time labouring over mathematical concepts and challenges on the Internet. All of this is down to a highly entertaining games-based learning website called MangaHigh which was introduced to the students as part of our annual ‘Maths Week’.

Although Maths Week has included a wide variety of events including inter-class quizzes, group problem-solving sessions, daily Internet target boards as well as all manner of puzzles, conundrums and Maths games, Manga High is the activity which has captured everyone's imagination and caused quite a stir.

By Friday afternoon, and in just a single week, our students had amassed 17,895 medals, accessed 6,910 different activities and spent a total of 871 hours doing Maths online. This put St Colmcille's in the Top 10 schools in Ireland for Maths Week 2018.

And within the school, the Top 10 students were Matthew Hui, Emma Donnelly, Maria Tabusca, Jove Jiby, Symone O Gorman, Saoirse Larkin,Yuvan Free Kandru, Janek Sarwinski, Pawel Sarwinsk and Luke Fay. Well done to all of you and to everyone who contributed to this year's total.

Thursday 18 October 2018

Rosemont Secondary School For Girls
Enniskerry Road
Dublin 18
Rosemont Academic Scholarship Award for 1st Year Entry September 2019.
Closing Date for receipt of application forms is Friday 26 October 2018.
For further information and application form please contact the Senior School office 01 494 2527.

Stratford College, 1 Zion Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6
will host an Open Day on Sunday 11 November 2018 @ 2.00 -3.30 p.m.
All Welcome.

Friday October 12th

Three wee chicks were the 'big buzz' in the school this week. In their little coop situated in the Main Atrium, they attracted great attention from teachers, passersby and adoring students alike.

The guardians of the chicks were Ms O Gara's 4th Class who, because they brought in the most batteries for recycling, took charge of the chicks from the day they hatched. Alas, the fowl fanatics only got to keep their charges until today. The little trio are to be taken away by one of our teachers, Mr O Connor, and are destined to live out their lives on a farm in County Limerick.
Cheep Cheep!

End-of-Season Blues

Both our boys and girls senior football teams took to the field this week in the semi-finals of their respective competitions - the Corn Kitterick and the Corn Austin Finn.

On Wednesday our girls senior team - coached by Ms Ní Fhearghaíl and Mr Kearney - travelled to Bushy Park to face Scoil Mhuire Sandymount in the semi-final of the Corn Austin Finn. To quote the coaches ...'The girls gave everything but it wasn't to be against a very strong Sandymount team. Still, our girls played with pride and passion until the final whistle. '
According to both coaches, Emma Moran deserves particular mention as she decorated a phenomenal performance with a string of spectacular scores.

The boys faced Marino in Griffeen Valley Park Lucan on Thursday. Despite scoring 3 goals in 8 minutes at one point, it was not to be St Colmcille's day. The team's coaches Mr Dolan and Mr Ryan singled out brilliant performances by Conor Byrne, Jamie Farrell and Adam Mc Namee and said that, in fact, all the lads had been wonderful over the last 6 weeks and have been a great credit to the school.

Friday October 5th

Local History
Fieldtrips – of the local history variety – continued as more Fourth Classes took to the road this week. In the capable hands of Tomás Meagher our students delved into the heritage of our local area as they investigated listed buildings, local monuments and curiosities aplenty.

They began by inspecting the bronze cross gifted to St Colmcille’s Parish by renowned local artist Oisín Kelly creator of the impressive ‘Children of Lir’ sculpture which is the centrepiece of the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square and the imposing statue of Jim Larkin in the middle of O Connell Street. The intrepid historians then proceeded to the site of Prospect House where Kelly lived but which is now gone – a victim of progress – and now replaced by the ‘A Bridge’ on the M50 . The children did get to see the walled garden of the house however as well as the gatelodge of the artist’s residence. Other places visited included Knocklyon Castle which was built in 1450, the stone cross in Cherryfield and the ancient Balrothery Weir on the Dodder which has been around for nearly 800 years.
The children were guided in their discoveries by an old friend of ours – Tomás Meagher who is a well-known historian and guide. Mr Meagher was impressed with the behaviour and level of attention of every one of the Fourth Classes whom he accompanied this week and in previous weeks. Further local history tours, led by Tomás, are planned for the year ahead and these will be reported on in due course.

As mentioned below - a record of this tour can be found in the Kids' Zone area of our website .Just go to 'Pupils' Work' area and click on 'Fourth Class'.

Friday September 28th

We're 'running round Europe'

Through its involvement in a wide variety of competitive sports and its in-school Physical Education curriculum, St Colmcille's SNS has always been an 'Active School'. This year however, the school is taking things in the area of health and activity to a new level as it goes in pursuit of an 'Active Schools Flag'.

Active School Flag (ASF) is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland. The Active School Flag is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. The process aims to get more schools, more active, more often.

As part of the programme working towards an Active Schools Flag, St Colmcille's students have been 'running round Europe' all week and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. Every school day each class runs as many times as possible around one of two courses, each measured at 500 metres per lap. Each child does as many laps per day as they can manage and the totals for every group is totalled and sent to the ASF committee each day. Lap totals are added up for each 'House' - there are six 'Houses' in the school, Doire, Tír Chonaill, Movie Kills, Iona and Gartan - and all of this information is converted to kilometres and plotted on a map of Europe showing how far each House has run across Europe. At the time of writing (and after only five days of running) the competition is very close with four of the six houses reaching a total of over 1,300km - very impressive.

We will be reporting on many more Active Flag activities throughout the year so - watch this space.

Local History Walking Tour

Our Fourth Classes recently went on a walking tour of Knocklyon .
Check out a record of this tour in the Kids' Zone area of our website.

Thursday 20 ~September 2018

Mr. Ryan's Corn Kitterick away match will go ahead - team depart school at 2.20 p.m.
All other matches and training has been cancelled.
Basketball has also been cancelled.
Sports Camp will take place as usual in the hall

Wednesday 19 September 2018
Due to current weather conditions the Corn Austin Finn Match (Ms. Ní Fhearghail and Mr. Kearney)
and training for Ms. Whelan's and Ms. Timmins' team
which were scheduled for this afternoon have been cancelled.

Friday September 7th

Last week our boys' football teams kicked off their season in the week after the Dublin Senior football team won the All-Ireland. This week our girls teams took to the field for the first time and we've just seen the Dublin Ladies football team win another All-Ireland for their county in Croke Park.

Our senior girls' team in the Corn Austin Finn opened their account in emphatic style winning with a scoreline of 6-12 to 0-1 in St. Anne's Park Raheny against local school Scoil Áine. Their coaches - Mr Kearney and Ms Ní Fhearghaíl - were delighted with this strong opening performance and attributed the win to being 'strong in defence and accurate in attack'. Let's hope they can keep up this high standard at their next outing which is next Wednesday in Sancta Maria.

Coaches Ms Timmons, Ms Whelan and Ms Mc Cormack took our girls' Corn na Laoch team to Sancta Maria this week to face Baile Eoin GNS. Unfortunately they were beaten on the day but there were many positives to be drawn from their performance. The girls played with great determination and solid teamwork and showed great sportsmanship throughout the game. The coaches picked out Alex and Alena for special mention - both goalkeepers pulled off some great saves during the match. They return to Sancta Maria next week to face Scoil Bhríde and we wish them well in that fixture.

There were two more boys' matches this week. Mr Bonham took his team to Cherryfield to play Hollypark BNS and ran out comprehensive winners with a scoreline of 4-8 to 1-3. The coach was impressed with all of his team but picked out Tom Buggy in midfield as man of the match.
Our Corn Kitterick team weren't successful this week. despite being ahead by 7 points at one stage, the lost the match against Hollypark 2-2 to 2-7. Coaches Mr Dolan and Mr Ryan praised their team's link play and running off the shoulder and pointed to impressive displays by Conor Byrne, Alan Gannon and Isaac Barry. We wish them well in their next match - away to Drimnagh Castle.

Friday September 7th

In a week when the Dublin Senior Football team recorded an historic victory in Croke Park, the St Colmcille's Gaelic stars of the future took to the field in the first
competitive fixtures of the new school year.

First off the mark were our Corn Kitterick hopefuls who played Ballyroan BNS in Cherryfield - and what stiff opposition they proved to be. At one point in the first half they lead by 0-9 to 0-1 but a spirited second half performance saw our lads come to within 3 points of their opponents. However, it wasn't to be their day and Ballyroan ran out decisive winners in the end. Coaches Mr Dolan and Mr Ryan picked out Dara Durkin, Darragh Ormsby and James Roache for special mention and say they are looking forward with confidence to their next game - on Sept 13th vs Hollypark.

Our other boys' team - under the direction of new staff members Mr O Keefe and Mr O Connor - had better luck in their fixture against St Mary's BNS Rathfarnham. To a man, our boys put in an energetic performance scoring 4 goals and four points from play. According to their coaches they are working well as a team and are showing promising signs for the season ahead. Final score was St Comcille's 4 - 5 to St Mary's 3 - 7.

We look forward to more great performances when our senior girls' teams take to the field next week. Watch this space.

Wednesday 29 August 2018

St. Colmcille's SNS and JNS reopen tomorrow morning at 8.50 a.m. Please be aware of SDCC roadworks on Scholarstown Road leading to Knocklyon Road. Please click on the link to the letter below for further information.

Letter From SDCC
File Size:	423 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Tuesday 21 August 2018

Uniform Shop
The Uniform Shop will be open on Tuesday 28 August 2018 from 12 noon to 1.30 p.m.
Please note that the shop will resume normal opening hours on Thursday 6 September 2018 1.30 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.
and will open every Thursday thereafter

  It's not a spelling mistake - It's the launch of the first ever...
                        Columncille Magazine

Our school magazine ' Columncille 2018' celebrates literacy in our school. Please download our magazine to enjoy pupils' work including stories, poems, artwork and   interesting interviews with staff members. Just click on the
                                                                                      link below.

columncille_magazine_2018.pdf
File Size:	2853 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Friday June 22nd

The annual 'Lá Cheoil' has become a major event in the Fifth Class calendar and this year's event was
better than ever.

The idea of the Lá Cheoil is to focus attention on music as a curriculum subject and to give children exposure to a wide variety of musical experiences. This year the children rotated through activities as diverse as rhythm and percussion, composing, dance, responding to music through art, a bodhran workshop and a musical quiz.

The high point of the day was - as always - when the entire year group assembled in the hall for a special musical gathering with Michael Vignoles, our visiting bodhran expert, who - after giving an insight into the art of uileann pipe making and playing - accompanied the children as they sang their way through a selection of songs from a repertoire built up over many Fifth Class singing sessions in the hall this year.

The Lá Cheoil seems to get better and better each year. We're looking forward to 2019's event already.

The 'Tourist Season' continues this week with outings by Fourth Class in midweek to Marlay Park for some fun and frolics followed by, well, more of the same at the National Aquatic Centre (see photo left) and today, Friday, by our Third Classes to Lullymore in County Kildare where they will explore peatlands, biodiversity and a pet farm.

Friday June 15th

The 'Tourist Season' is in full swing and this week it was the turn of our Fifth and Sixth Classes to take to
the roads.
First out of the blocks were Sixth Class who visited Avon Rí Adventure Centre in County Wicklow. There they engaged in all manner of fun and challenging activities including kayaking, rock climbing, abseiling, archery, zip-lining and segwaying. How did they manage to fit all that in in one day!

Fifth Class also ended up in the 'Garden of Ireland' where they visited Wicklow's Historic Gaol. This jail was used to imprison all kinds of 'wrong-doers' including thieves, rebels, priests and even the father of a future president of Ireland. There is no mistaking the eerie atmosphere which still exists in this building and it was quite a scary experience for everyone - especially when they visited the dungeon.

To lighten the mood, all Fifth classes stopped at Bray Beach on the way home for a picnic and, of course, an ice cream - followed by a game of ten-pin bowling at Bray Bowl. An exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable day where everyone behaved impeccably and came home safely (although a little late).

Tuesday 12 June 2018
Please note that the Uniform Shop will open on
Tuesday 19 June 2018 from
1.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m.
and
7.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Friday June 1st

Almost 50 athletes from St Colmcilles travelled to Santry this week for the final athletics event of the year and the hugely anticipated Cumann na mBunscoil track competition.

Ms Sinnott, Ms Minogue and Ms Devine had been preparing the athletes for the 100m sprint and the 4X100m relay for the past few months and the children were excited to finally get on the track and compete.

The 100m sprint is undoubtedly one of the toughest athletics events but this did not phase the 4 boys and 4 girls who took to the field for St Colmcilles. Four of the eight came home with a gold medal winning both their heats and their finals. They were Jason Nolan, Laura Halpin, Angel Nna and Ella Curtin.

The relay is a tricky event involving both speed and skill where passing the baton efficiently to the next runner is essential. Once again our school shone on the track: all eight relay teams amazed the spectators with their ability and five of our teams managed to bring home silverware on the day. Our U-10 girls, U-11 girls, and U-14 boys all won their events while our U-12 girls and U-14 girls came 4th and 3rd respectively in their relays. This meant that they brought home a total of 3 cups and 24 medals.

The coaches would like to say a huge thank you to every child that trained - regardless of whether they got to compete in Santry or not - as each one of them impressed with their unswerving commitment and great attitude.

What an amazingly successful year it has been for the school in both track and field.

Friday May 25th

The annual Santry Athletics competition had its 90th anniversary this year. To celebrate they held a competition to find a design for a suitable banner to commemorate the event. Our very own Emma Moran ( who was also a competitor in the athletics events ) won this completion with her stunning poster (seen here). But this was not our only success in Santry.
Read on...

A team of 21 athletes representing St Colmcilles SNS went to Morton Stadium in Santry this week to compete in the Cumann na mBunscoil field events, hurdles and 600m competitions. It was an extremely busy day with the participants competing at multiple locations around the stadium.

First off were the hurdlers. Six of our athletes were competing in this event, four of whom made it into the final. Three of these came home with medals : a gold for Conor Byrne, silver medals for Emma Moran and Heather Bolger while Matthew Kirwan, Doireann Fitzgerald and Pharrel Ankoh fought hard but were unfortunate on the day.

Next up was Ella Sherlock who competed in the para-sprint race coming in in second place. Well done Ella. While Ella's race was going on, Allie Nealon and Alejandro Corcoran were jumping for a top place in the long jump. Unfortunately both missed out narrowly on a medal coming in fourth place.

Six of our athletes competed the extremely tough long distance 600m race. Of the six athletes - Jason Nolan, Adam Mc Named, Sean Luz, Laila Halpin, Rachel Lawlor and Shannon Blake - Laila and Shannon came 2nd and 3rd respectively and were presented with medals on the podium.

In the high jump and shot putt events we had 6 competitors - Angel Naa, Ciarán Sharkey, Ava Cullen, Josh Cooney, Emma Byrne and Patrick Walsh. All six put in great performances however Angel was the only one to get a medal. This she did in great style, easily jumping the final height and taking home a gold.

The 3 teachers involved were thrilled with each child's performance as well as their commitment to training in the lead up to the event. Most impressive however was their behaviour and support of each other on the day.

Well done to everyone involved

Monday May 21st

Santry Success

21 athletes made the journey to the Morton stadium in Santry today for the field events, hurdles and 600m competition

As this photo shows, the St Colmcille's team were very successful in these events.

Further updates, details and photos will be uploaded to this page as they arrive.

Friday May 18th

                                   A Croke Park Final

This week, St Colmcille's had our two senior teams involved in hurling and camogie semi-finals.

The boys senior hurling team put up a fighting performance before going down narrowly to St Marys Rathfarnham.

Our girls camogie team also put in a fine performance during the week and were rewarded with a 3 - 2 to 2 - 0victory over Scoil Áine Raheny. They have now qualified for the Sciath Puirséil final in Croke Park which will be held on Tuesday June 6th.

                         We wish them well in that all-important game.

Friday May 11th

This week it was the turn of our 5th Classes to venture out and explore the world beyond the school gates. This field trip was a City Tour which took in Dublin Castle, the City Hall and St Patrick's Cathedral. The tour was led by well-known local historian Tomás Meagher who revealed the history behind the interesting places they visited. The staff at St Patrick's Cathedral undertook art and musical activities with our students with perhaps their mocked-up church organ - which the children got to operate and make music with - being the most memorable.

As always, our students were well-behaved as they moved around the busy city centre and they returned having learnt a great deal about our fascinating capital.

Wednesday 9 May 2018 - 1.40 p.m.
All Hurling and Camogie scheduled for this afternoon has been cancelled.

Friday May 4th

The area of Knocklyon and its way of life has changed beyond recognition in the last 80 years. Luckily we have someone on our doorstep who can recall and recreate some of the common sights in our community from the middle of the 20th century.

                             Michael Brennan - our neighbour from Knocklyon Road - paid his annual visit to our Third Classes this week. Michael, who has lived all of his eighty years in the same house, shared his memories of the area before urban development and even before electrification. He showed the children the candles and kerosene lamps used to light his house on dark winter days. He also showed the skillet and other pots which hung over the range, the large telephone used to contact the Rathfarnham post-mistress as well as farm implements - a scythe for cutting grass and a sleán used for cutting turf. Michael also demonstrated old cooking methods like making bread in a skittle pot and how butter was churned. He showed old photos of horses and carts and recalled that there were only 3 motor vehicles in Knocklyon when he was young. These were driven by the owners of the house where the Rutland Centre currently operates, the owners of Castlefield House and WT Cosgrave father of the Liam Cosgrave.

                  This year's visit was particularly special as Michael's granddaughter Emma Brennan is a pupil in Mr Maguire's 3rd Class.
     We look forward to meeting Michael with his stories and photos and remnants of bygone times in Knocklyon in 3rd Class again next year.

Friday April 27th

Two strange characters - a polar bear and a unicorn, allegedly from Tír na nÓg -
appeared in the school last week to announce the start of Seachtain na Gaeilge

Seachtain na Gaeilge is promoted every year in the school. This year, through a wide range of activities, children - and teachers - were encouraged to use what Irish they have throughout the week.

The emphasis is on spoken Irish and also on enjoying the language and a huge variety of games, activities and initiatives was introduced. These included Comórtas na bPóstaeir in which students had to illustrate an old Irish saying, Gardaí Gaeilge who distributed raffle tickets to Irish speakers and a range of board games such as Twister and Guess Who which classes played tri mheáin na Gaeilge. Over the intercom each day we heard 'amhrán an Lae' and the raffle for Irish speakers was held. Some year groups held an inter-class Tráth na gCeist (Quiz) and Seisiúin Cheoil were also held. Not to be left out, the teachers had a 'pop-up Gaelthacht' in the staffroom. All week, Irish was promoted from a host of different angles and everyone was encouraged to participate in any way they could. The reaction to Seachtain na Gaeilge was very positive and everyone seemed to enjoy the change of direction for the week.

And as for our two strange visitors, by Friday afternoon they had disappeared as mysteriously as they had arrived.
Maybe they're reading this in Tír na nÓg at this very moment.

Friday April 20th

This week our Sixth Classes took to the road, exploring some of what our great city has to offer
First on their itinerary was IMMA - the Irish Museum of Modern Art - in Kilmainham. Unlike other ‘museums’ this unique space is most concerned with drawing attention to what is modern and contemporary and as such, it is a very vibrant and ever-changing chronicle of art as it unfolds in modern Ireland. Among the intriguing exhibits, they saw paintings by Lucien Freud, a strange but interesting exhibition about Ireland’s coastline and a series of paintings focused on Syria called ‘War Changes its Address’.

From here they proceeded to Richmond Barracks - a longtime symbol of British military power in Ireland now a museum with a particular connection to the 1916 Rising. It was here that more than 3,000 men and women were taken as prisoners after the rebels’ surrender in 1916. 90 death sentences were handed out and 14 executions took place in nearby Kilmainham Jail in May of that year. In addition to the military exhibits, the children visited a restored 1920’s classroom where they dressed up in clothes of that era and saw the desks, slates, chalks and canes used in that time. Many of them realised how lucky they are to be students one hundred years later!

Another stop on their tour was Goldenbridge Cemetery which, until recently, had been closed to the public for 150 years. Before this cemetery was established in 1828 by Daniel O Connell’s Catholic Association, Roman Catholics living in Dublin City had no cemetery to bury the remains of their dead. By Law all burials could only take place in Protestant churchyards with fees being paid to the relevant pastor and no Catholic prayers could be recited. This graveyard has a connection to Knocklyon since its most recent interment was that of Mr Liam Cosgrave - late of this parish - who was buried beside his father WT Cosgrave in October 2017.

Friday April 13th

The South Dublin Primary Inter-Schools Cross Country Race took place yesterday and it
proved to be quite a success for St Colmcilles

This annual event is hugely popular and this year it attracted over 300 girls and just under 300 boys representing dozens of primary schools across South County Dublin. The race is run over 2 kilometres and each school is judged based on its first 4 runners home.

With such a large group of girls competing in a single race, it was very difficult to get to the front. However, four of our girls – Layla Halpin, Rachel Lawlor, Heather Bolger and Shannen Blake – managed 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th place at the finish with our other runners following close behind. This showing gave overall first place to St Colmcilles SNS in the girls’ event.

In the boys’ race, Sean Luz – according to team coach Ms Synnott – ‘stormed the field’ and came home first beating almost 300 other competitors by a long distance. His teammates Ben O connor, Conor Donnelly, and Kevin Byrne were well up the field at the finish and, as a team, they secured third place.

A great return for all the effort put in by our athletes and their coaches Ms Devine, Ms Minogue and Ms Synnott. We look forward with great anticipation to their next event – The South Dublin County Council Race Series – which continues in two weeks.

Tuesday 10 April 2018 - 1.00 p.m.
Senior Hurling training scheduled for this afternoon has been cancelled due to rain.

Friday March 16th

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Confirmation ceremonies for our Sixth Classes were lead by Bishop
Eamonn Walsh and as always it stood out as one of the focal points of the school year.

Bishop Eamonn was assisted by our own Fr Joe and Fr Martin and the ceremony took place in the parish church which had been beautifully decorated using the artwork of the candidates for Confirmation.

In his homily, Bishop Eamonn referred to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He reminded the candidates of the importance of courage and right judgement saying, ‘Only dead fish go with the flow – strong fish swim against the current’. He told the children that they had a great deal to be thankful for and that they should be mindful of others who are not so fortunate and that in their lives they should seek to ‘walk with those who have been dealt a bad hand’.

The School Choir and Grúpa Tradisiúnta provided beautiful music for the occasion and Ms Ruth Kelly, as always, deserves our sincere gratitude for her accompaniment on the piano.

After the ceremony, the students and their parents and grandparents were invited to a thoughtfully prepared reception in the school hall. The reception was organised by the Parents Association who looked after the guests in real style. Our sincere thanks goes to the many parents who provided wonderful hospitality on both days.

All after-school sport activities on Wednesday (14 March) have been cancelled due to the poor weather. This includes Cross-Country, 3rd & 4th class Hurling and Camogie and 5th/6th class Camogie.

Friday March 9th

Drama took centre stage in St Colmcille’s this week as the ‘trial of the century’ unfolded before our very eyes.
Fed up with the criminal activities of the Big Bad Wolf, the members of the magical fairytale world decide to put their meanest baddest member on the stand to answer for a raft of crimes and misdemeanours. These included huffing and puffing, grandmother impersonation, several counts of sheep abduction and – worst of all – murder by ingestion (eek!). Among the witnesses who gave evidence at the trial were Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs, the Boy who cried Wolf and his Sheperdess mother.

This was the plot of ‘The Big Bad Musical', a riotous play full of colour, music and great fun which was staged by the Fifth Classes of Ms Farrell and Ms Murphy. Great support for this venture was also provided by Ms Mac Allister and Ms Maher and the impressive set was designed and co-ordinated by Emma Higgins along with several parent helpers. The overall production was directed by Mary-Rose Stauder who – over a period of six weeks - gave her time and expertise in drama to bring this wonderful presentation to the stage. The dress rehearsal in front of the entire school yesterday was a great success, surpassed only by the performance last evening in front of 150 parents who were entertained and enthralled by this amazing production.
A memorable event indeed in the annals of St Colmcilles.

Weather Update - updated 4/3/18

St. Colmcille's Senior and Junior Schools will reopen tomorrow, Monday, 5th March. Many thanks to those parents and staff members who did Trojan work to clear access to and around the school grounds today. Also, a special word of thanks to South Dublin County Council who cleared Idrone Avenue earlier today.
Please be advised that the footpaths in Knocklyon are still in a dangerous condition. Please advise your children to take extreme care on their journey to and from school.
Please also note that vehicular access to the school is limited and we strongly advise parents and pupils to travel to school on foot where possible and avoid bringing cars to the school.

Friday February 23rd

Our Fourth Class students took part in Coirm Gael Linn in Clontarf this week.

Coirm is a drama festival in which all performances are in Irish and it is to this ‘féile’ that Mr Dundon and Ms Woods brought their class to present ‘Camcuairt na Cathrach’ on Wednesday last. With more than a nod to Francis Brennan’s famous grand tours, this ‘turas’ wound its way through the famous sites of our capital city. The ‘camchuairt’ dramatically represented the well-known landmarks of the GPO, St Stephen’s Green, Croke Park and Moore Street.

Our room 12 students were the only presentation at Coirm from an English-speaking school: all other performances were by groups from Gaelscoileanna. So impressed were the judges that they gave two awards to our representatives – one for ‘aisteoireacht’ (acting) and the other for ‘Iarracht na Ghaeilge’ (great effort at Irish). Supported by several members of our Grúpa Traidisiúnta musical ensemble, the group gave a special performance yesterday for their parents in the school hall. It looked like an extremely enjoyable and worthwhile event.

Friday February 9th

On Thursday this week, the Service of Light took place in the parish church.
This ceremony, which is part of the children’s preparation for Confirmation – is seen in St Comcille’s as a very important event in the school calendar. This year the service was lead by Fr Joe Mothersill and it involved the participation of all Sixth Class students. From the beautiful hand-painted glass candle holders to the artwork on the walls ot the church, each and every candidate for Confirmation was represented as an essential participant in the ceremony.

The ceremony focuses on the belief that we, as practising Christians, are ‘lights’ for the rest of the world. We are lights in the sense that our way of living is an outward sign of the faith we carry inside.

In this ceremony too, the importance of the role of parent s is recognised and it is always a special moment when – in a symbolic representation of the passing on of faith to a younger generation – the parents light their children’s candles with their own.

In his address to the congregation, Fr Joe spoke of spiritual as well as physical light. Referring to the glasses containing candles on the altar, which each Sixth Class student had painted, he remarked how different each one was. He suggested that this showed beautifully how each one of the candidates for Confirmation was unique and could be a light in their community in their own special way.

The Ceremony of Light touched many hearts and minds this week and it remains a very special event in the life of the school community

South Dublin Libraries Quiz Competition
This week, the quiz season started in earnest. Three teams coached by Messrs Fitzpatrick and Kearney went to Ballyroan library to contest the qualifying rounds of the South Dublin Libraries Quiz Competition. Two of these teams recorded first place in the contest.
Later in the week, these two teams went forward to represent St Colmcille’s in the South Dublin finals of the competition. In a field of 31 schools, our team were joint second at the end of the quiz and received prizes of gift vouchers as well as two sets of books for our school.
Well done to all involved who, we know, put a great deal of preparation into this endeavour.

Friday February 2nd

                     A Family of Families
In August 2018, World Meeting of Families will be celebrated in Dublin, and throughout Ireland. The World Meeting of Families, which is held every 3 years, celebrates family life and  the Church's  commitment
                             to supporting families.

           Catholic Schools Week 2018, in preparation for this unique jamboree, will celebrate the family.Pope Francis reminds us in Amoris Laetitia that the Church is ‘a family of families’ and with this in mind St Colmcille’s embarked this week on an exploration of what a family is, why they are important and what part each and every one of us plays in the families of which we are a member.

On Monday the focus was on our family at home and children were encouraged to identify the qualities of their family – qualities such as love, kindness and forgiveness – and to examine what actions show these qualities.

Over the course of the week, the idea of the family was extended to include ‘Our School Family’, ‘Our Parish Family’ and The World Family’ – all of which we belong to, we benefit from and in which we all play our own individual part

Activities of all kinds were undertaken in different classes throughout the school and on Wednesday all classes from Fourth to Sixth assembled in the parish church to celebrate Mass as well as the many families to which we belong. Children wrote prayers and requests for their families and these were offered up at the Mass. In his homily Fr Joe Mothersill spoke of the importance of families and underlined their nurturing quality. ‘Within a family we are like daisies’ he said ‘because daisies bloom where they find room’. In every family, we find our own space and we are given understanding, kindness and love which allows us to ‘bloom’ and thrive in the world.

On Thursday, the very special place of grandparents in family life was recognised and the elderly relations of many of our Third Class students travelled from near and far to be with their grandchildren in St Colmcille’s on this special day. The two generations joined Fr Joe in the celebration of Mass where, once again, the importance of families was recognised and in particular, the part grandparents play in the lives of our youngest students. Later the Third Class students became hosts to their grandparents as they brought them to their classrooms, showed them their school and their work and served them refreshments.

Grandparents day is firmly established as an important annual event in our school and has become over the last few years, a valued tradition. Indeed you could say that even before 2018’s special focus on families, we in St Colmcille’s have always recognised and valued the family as an important part of our community and especially the contribution of the older generation to family life and the life of the community in general.

Friday January 26th

       Colmcille’s Green School Committee wish to announce that
                                             WEEE Ireland
                     will visit the school on Tuesday February 6th

They will be collecting for recycling, any small appliances with a battery or electrical lead which you no longer use or which is broken. Please note that this is for small appliances only (no washing machines or fridge freezers please!) and Tuesday 6th is the only day on which you should send in your small appliances for recycling.

Our Green School Committee is a very active and dedicated group of students who – under the guidance of Ms O Gara – make sure that our school lives up to its reputation as an environmentally aware and proactive school. Comprised of 12 members drawn from our Sixth Classes, they meet up every Monday during lunchtime to discuss environmental issues and plan how St Colmcilles should respond to them. They then circulate information and suggestions to every class. Initiatives they have undertaken include battery, stamp and mobile phone collection, starting ‘click teams’ to save energy in the school and promoting issues relevant to the retention of our Green Flag School status.

In addition to the above WEEE initiative, they are currently promoting two competitions. One is the ‘Water and Your Environment’ A3 poster competition, closing on March 2nd (see greenschoolsireland.org) and South Dublin County Council’s Environment Poster Competition (closing date 16/2/2018) based on any of the 4 themes – Anti-Litter, Water Conservation, Energy Conservation or Waste Prevention.

We wish the Green School Committee well in their important endeavours and hope that there will be a great response on February 6th to their appeal for small appliances such as hairdryers and straighteners, electric tootbrushes, kettles, irons etc.

Friday January 19th

                                             What do you get when you mix
    story-telling with mimickry and stand-up comedy and wild gesticulations
        and weird facial expressions and alarming changes of tone and volume
                                         mixed through with boundless energy?

                                            Well, you get Niall de Búrca of course!

                      Our old friend Niall de Búrca returned this week to delight and enchant everyone with his unique brand of story-telling. Swinging from ancient to modern, Irish to English and from cool to downright weird, he lead adults and children alike through an array of fascinating places and characters. When he disappears, Niall always leaves the school in a slightly altered state to how he found it and this visit was no exception.

Where did he go? When will he return? Who knows. Until then we’ll make do with the magical pictures, sounds and characters he left in our heads – and that’s plenty to be getting on with!

Wednesday January 17th

Sports Cancellations - Due to the freezing cold temperatures and the promised inclement weather, today's 4th class hurling and hockey game have been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Friday January 12th

                     Do you know this guy?

                        Well, your child may well recognise him.
He is Sean William Mc Loughlin from Athlone – better known through his online pseudonym Jack Septiceye - an Irish producer, game commentator, and internet personality on YouTube.

                                      Most teachers in St Colmcilles’s heard about him for the first time on Wednesday when they attended a presentation on Internet safety for children presented by Paul – a representative of an organisation called ‘Zeeko’. Jack Septiceye has well over 17 million followers on YouTube and yet, was unrecognisable to most people in the room. It was an entirely different matter however when Paul mentioned his name at his meetings with groups of children from the school throughout the week. It illustrated well, how little we know about our children’s online lives.

Zeeko is an organisation which seeks to equip parents and teachers with the knowledge and tools to protect children online and to empower children to make smart decision online. To date, they have made presentations to 20,000 Irish students in over 400 schools so the presentations Paul made, were very much based on Irish children’s use and experience of the Internet.

While focusing as much as possible on the positive effects of the Internet, Paul sought to make the students of St Colmcille’s aware of the online ‘story’ of themselves they are building every time they access the Internet: how they are creating an indelible footprint on the Internet which is virtually impossible to erase. In the course of each presentation he addressed the areas of Digital Identity (your online story), Cyberbullying and how to respond to it, Online Deception, Inappropriate Content and Digital Health.

There was lots to learn and take note of but Paul stressed a number of items. These included:
                - putting all social media on ‘Private’
                - never posting anything online which you wouldn’t wear on a t-shirt
                - following the ‘Stop, Block, Tell’ rule if you’re being bullied online
                - never to meet an online acquaintance in real life
                - to have a healthy offline/outdoor life

                                                                                  For more information visit   http://zeeko.ie