Congratulations to Emer Lenihan, first year in Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, who was selected by the online Engineers and Moderators as Winner from I’m an Engineer Get Me Out of Here!
“We asked the engineers and moderators, which student had done the best in each zone, and Emer Lenihan was nominated as student winner for their zone. She will receive a certificate and a €25 iTunes voucher; for being an engaged, thoughtful, fun and overall, great student”.
Ranganna Gaeilge—Irish Language Evening Classes
Irish Classes for Parents take place on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm for five weeks from 25th of February–25th of March. For more information email [email protected].
BT Young Scientist January 2015
On Friday the 9th of January a group of 38 second years went to the RDS in Dublin to visit the BT Young Scientist exhibition. Two groups from the year were involved in the competition and we wanted to give them some support! A great day was had by all and hopefully the trip sparked some good ideas for next year’s competition.
Pictured are Meg Regan, Marian Harkin MEP and Emily Sheeran at the BT Young Scientist exhibition last month.
Pictured are Eoghan Furey, Sharon Ní Bheoláin and Ruairí Gallagher at the BT Young Scientist exhibition last month.
For more info on Meg and Emily’s Ice Bucket Challenge project, or Eoghan and Ruairí’s ClippyBins project, check out this post.
Sean Mitchell, Conor Finnerty and Daragh Jordan also spoke about their award-winning project at The Business of Sports Science in BT Young Scientist.
Sean Mitchell, Paul McGinley, Conor Finnerty and Daragh Jordan at The Business of Sports Science, RDS at the BT Young Scientist exhibition.
The project is called KillTech—a design to reduce controversy in handball. The technology is designed to indicate whether a kill shot hits the wall or floor first. It uses laser beams to detect it.
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir Advance to Quarter-Finals
The U14 soccer team of Coláiste Bhaile Chláir returned to winning ways on January 28th as they overcame the challenge of Coláiste na Coiribe to advance to the quarter finals of their competition, at a superb Mervue venue.
With a display of excellent team work and attitude, they ran out deserving winners and their inclusion in the knock out stages of the competition was secured. For the full match report by Joe Kennedy, click here.
Second Year Boys Defeat Coláiste na Coiribe
Back row L–R: Conor McCann, Liam Burke, Dara Kenna, Conor Flaherty, Paul Culkeen, Maciej Mrowka, Jackie Chen. Front row L–R: Darragh Hegarty, Shane Lawless, Thomas McStay, Mark Slevin, Ryan O’Sullivan, Joe Mulqueen.
Pictured above are the second year boys basketball team after their match against Coláiste na Coiribe which they won 22–18 in the Connacht Schools Basketball league.
Handball
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir was well represented at the schools A County Handball competition held in Pearse Stadium and St Mary’s College on Tuesday January 27th. A special mention goes to first year Niamh Heffernan who won the girl’s first year A final.
U16 Doubles Andrea Trill and Aoibhinn Fox.
Pictured left is Daragh Jordan who competed in Boys U15, and pictured right is Niamh Heffernan winner of first year A final.
First year students Niamh Heffernan and Enda Collins who competed in the A competition.
Athletics
The South Connacht Cross Country finals were held at Bushfield Loughrea on Wednesday 28th. Over 1000 students from schools across south Connacht competed at Minor, Junior, Intermediate and Senior levels. Despite the adverse weather conditions Coláiste Bhaile Chláir was represented by 35 Athletes. First year Kristan Flaherty had a great race coming 4th from a field of 164 athletes.
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir achieved huge success with the Girls Minor, Boys Junior and Girls Junior teams coming first and collecting gold.
Girls Minor Winners L–R: Emily Duggan, Meabh Clancy, Mary Duggan, Andrea Trill, Sinéad Donovan, Jane Glynn.
Boys Junior Winners L–R: Daniel Broderick, Patrick Donovan, Darren Costello, Dara Whelan, Paul Culkeen, Brandon Carr, Aaron Brennan, Thomas McStay.
Girls Junior Winners L–R: Gemma Coll, Miriam Greene, Rachael Hughes, Ciara McCarthy, Vitska Mulroy.
Congratulations to Andrea Trill who came first in the Minor Connacht Schools Combined Events—Long Jump, Hurdles, 800m and Shot Putt.
Boys Gaelic Football
The First year boys Gaelic football team recorded a big win in the last league game of the A division recently. The final score was Coláiste Bhaile Chláir 8–7 Rice College Westport 3–7.
There were fine performances from Darragh Berthoz in goal, Fergal Cullina and Diarmuid Kilcommons in defence, midfielders Adam Reilly and Adam Heneghan and Nathan Grainger and Briain Winter in attack. The lively Josh Buckley also made a valuable contribution. Ian Fitzmaurice made a welcome return from injury as did the industrious Colm Moran.
The team have qualified for the Semi-Final of the A championship which will be played at the end of February.
Promoting Mental Health in the Community
Health Service Executive West working in partnership with Coláiste Bhaile Chláir are hosting an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training workshop in the school on the 19th and 20th of February.
Programme Overview
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a 2-day skills-based workshop that equips caregivers for an effective suicide intervention role. The emphasis is on suicide first aid—helping a person at imminent risk stay safe and seek further help.
Participants reflect on their attitudes and beliefs about suicide and how these may affect their intervention role. They learn how to notice invitations for help and ask directly about suicide. An intervention framework is provided and modelled. This is followed by extensive opportunities to practice skills needed to implement the model. Community resources likely to promote life links and continuity of care are also identified.
Who Should Apply?
ASIST workshop places are limited therefore preference has to be given to potential participants who are likely to come into contact with someone who is at risk of suicide in their daily lives. The ASIST workshop can be very intense.
You may apply if you:
- Are 18 years of age or older
- Have not been bereaved by suicide or affected by a loss or illness in the last year
- Are personally and emotionally ready to attend a workshop of this nature
- Have not already completed an ASIST workshop.
- An ASIST workshop does not offer therapy or counselling to participants. It is an educational programme and not a support group.
Cost
There is no fee to attend an ASIST workshop. They are funded by the HSE, sometimes in partnership with other Statutory, Community or Voluntary groups.
How to Apply for Consideration for a Place
In order to assess your eligibility and to be placed on a workshop waiting list please email [email protected] and you will receive an expression of interest application form.
Microsoft Global Student Ambassador Program—Students Leading the Way
Students from Coláiste Bhaile Chláir have received recognition for their creativity and expertise in the use of a wide-range of technologies to enhance teaching and learning in school. Microsoft in collaboration with their school has appointed each of these students to the prestigious position of Microsoft Global Student Ambassador.
They will have the opportunity to engage with other students from across the globe through online link ups. They will speak at educational conferences and share with educational leaders from around the world their vision for technology in the classroom. Indeed the students will host a group of teachers and leaders from Slovenia in May of this year.
Forensic Science Workshop
On the Tuesday and Wednesday before Christmas, the first years were involved in a Forensic Science Workshop in the school. Each class group got a taste of what it’s like to be a real-life forensic scientist by examining tyre tread patterns, blood spatter, fingerprints, DNA profiles, ballistics, digital evidence and more to try and solve who had committed the crime. Thanks to Alison from Education Interactive who facilitated the workshop.
Alex Rafferty with the death stare on!
Sinead and Gillian puzzling it out!
Ciara and Rachel examining the blood spatter on the victim’s clothes.
Chief Investigator Michael Newell on the case!
Inspector Kearney examining the items left at the scene.
Vicka, Mary, Kaitlin and Nicola want to finish off Ms Bergin!
U15 Soccer
The U15s were unfortunate to lose out in a three way playoff to qualify from their group. Three teams finished on equal points, and with goal difference not being used in this particular competition, the three schools had to play off against each other in Mervue. We drew 1–1 with Headford but were beaten 2–0 by Presentation Athenry. We were still in with a chance in the final game provided Headford beat Athenry by 2 but unfortunately they only beat them 1–0. The team are to be commended for their effort in getting as far as they did and will hopefully progress further in the U16 competition next year.
