Newsletter

November 2013

Bailieborough

Community

School

Principal’s Welcome

The 2013-2014 school year got off to a smooth start with

the safe arrival of our first year students on Monday 26th

August 2013. Their presence reminds us of our shared

responsibility in extending a warm welcome to each of

them and in making them feel valued in our school

community over the next five to six years.

It was a privilege for Mr Kenny and myself to deliver excellent

sets of Junior and Leaving Certificate results to our examination

candidates. The majority of results reflected the hard work,

perseverance and competence of our third and sixth year

students as well as the dedication of their teachers and the

support from parents. Congratulations to all involved.

As the colours of autumn transform our surroundings, we look

forward to “celebrating and remembering” as a community in our

upcoming liturgy, building upon the insights from our recent

friendship and anti-bullying week, refocusing on study skills and

revising in the lead up to Christmas but most importantly getting

on with the ordinary day-to-day business of teaching and

learning which is and remains the core purpose of Bailieborough

Community School.

More than ever we need to value our own and one another’s

physical and mental health and not to underestimate the unique

contribution each member of our school community makes in

helping us achieve our core purpose.

Go raibh míle maith agat.

____________________

Martha Lievens

Guidance News

This term has been a busy one as always with a

number of speakers in to talk to our students

from DCD, Athlone IT, Dundalk IT and University

of South Wales.

Over 50 students from the Leaving Certificate

group travelled to the RDS in Dublin with Ms.

McNamee and Mr. Carragher for the Higher Options conference on

Thursday September the 19th 2013. We intend to bring a group of

approximately 50 Leaving Certificate students to Dundalk for the Institute of

Technology Open Day on the 8th of November.

We also hope to bring the Leaving Certificate Classes and the LCA 2 group to

Cavan Institute’s Open Day and it is intended to bring 5th years and LCA1 to

the College Fair in the Old Army Barracks on the 21st November. More

speakers from colleges and Higher Education Institutions will be presenting

information throughout the next term.

Students Remember:

Students who do “good” research usually make “good” decisions

so get online, go to Open Days and talk to as many people as

possible for lots of information.

Dates:

CAO deadline is the 1st February, but the Early Birds will get

a discount up till the 20th of Jan 2014.

UCAS deadline is Jan 15th 2014 for most colleges/courses

(Oct 15th date for Oxford, Cambridge, Medicne, Dentestry

and Vetenary is passed)

FETAC colleges can be applied for online by Spring Dates which vary from

college to college – Check them out!!!

LCA Adventure Trip to Donegal!

Going to Donegal was quite an experience. We took part

in lots of activities including:

Surfing at Tullan Strand, Bundoran.

A nature walk through the amazing mountainous

and lakeside landscape of north Donegal.

Team building activities at Donegal Adventure

Centre

A cycle through Glenveagh National Park

An evening walk along a deserted beach near

Bunbeg

The excitement we all felt was truly crazy. We got to

stay in the beautiful Errigal Youth Hostel, each

group of four in our own individual rooms. Behind

the Hostel was the outrageous Mount Errigal. It was

so high up but unfortunately due to weather

conditions we didn't get to climb the monster. For

most of us the highlight was probably the surfing.

Surfing was a whole new experience for the group

who hadn't done it before. Being in the water with

the crashing waves from the Atlantic Ocean

pounding and trying to balance on a board with our

friends was as amazing as it sounds. We all would

definitely go again. Going on this trip brought us all

closer together as a class. We met a lot of nice

people along the way too. We loved learning the new

skills and lots about ourselves too!!

Shannon Dunne LCA 1

TY Activities

Transition years have taken part in a variety of different sporting activities

this year. We have had the opportunity to enjoy a three week kayaking

programme and a three week basketball programme. These activities were

widely enjoyed by everyone who took part and we learned the basics in

kayaking and basketball coaching, which we hope to use on a kayaking

expedition and in running a basketball competition, in the near future.

Recently the TY’s, accompanied by Ms McMullen, Mr Brady and Ms Corrie,

went on an overnight trip to Donegal which was packed full of activities. We

began with surfing in Bundoran which was amazing, the Atlantic Ocean in

October, catching waves, paddling our boards out into the swell, crashing

and getting back up to try it all again. Surfing rules!! We then took part in a

team building exercise which involved being blindfolded and relying on those

in front to lead us through what we thought was jungle territory, negotiating

obstacles crawling, climbing and feeling very exposed without our vision to

guide us. During this obstacle course the teachers took great pleasure in

splashing us with water and we ended up soaking wet, something we

students won’t forget in a hurry! Teachers be warned. We stayed in Errigal

Hostel, prepared and cooked our own food that night and the next day

despite the terrible rain we headed out for a two and a half hour walk

through Glenveagh Park before cycling to Glenveagh Castle for a guided tour

around it.

So far so brilliant, we all say and we are looking forward to the rest of the

surprises and activities to come!

Written by Michelle Lambe & Hanna Mc Cabe

More Transition Year News

T.Y. students have been to a number of exhibits/shows since term began.

Firstly they enjoyed a very educational trip to the Jeannie Johnston Famine

Ship followed in the afternoon by Cats the musical. The show wasn’t to

everyone’s liking but is a fine spectacle nonetheless.

In late September students attended Blue Rose Theatre’s one man drama show

entitled “Alone” on the thought provoking issue of AIDS and how to prevent it.

Following up on his sad story, came the raucous Observations from a Hedge,

hosted by the hilarious Ger Carey in the Ramor Theatre. Students, as always, really

enjoyed the show! We look forward to his second serving of madness in March.

Looking ahead we are booked into Wicked in the Grand Canal Theatre on

December 18th.We would like to compliment all T.Y. students on their exemplary

behaviour at all events.

TEAM AVIVA

In September football fans from 3rd year visited the Aviva Stadium to support the

Irish team in their crucial World Cup Qualifier against Sweden. Unfortunately luck

wasn’t with the team on the night (or the whole campaign for that matter )but that

didn’t stop Team Aviva ‘s enjoyment of the spectacle. Many thanks go to Mr Rooney

and Mr Kenny, who accompanied Ms Mugan and her fellow fans to the game. Next

time we hope to break the Bailieborough jinx! Roll on the new management team!!

Comhairle na nOg

25 students from the school attended the recent gathering of Comhairle ne nOg in

Breiffne Park. Comhairle na nOg is an inspiring youth gathering gaining

momentum across the country. Young people identify local issues which directly

affect them and work on methods to improve them in conjunction with County

Councils and other organisations. Our two new Reps from B.C.S. are Rebecca

Cosgrove and Philip O’Reilly, we wish them well in their endeavours.

Leaving Certificate English News: National Windows Poetry Awards

On September 29th 10 LC students from Ms Mugan's class were recognised

in the National Windows Poetry Awards. Students attended a ceremony in

the Cavan Crystal with their parents to collect their awards. Well done to

the students involved! We hope they continue these winning ways in LC

2014!

Student Council – 2013/14 Elections for this year’s student council took place at the

end of September and the following were elected.

First Year: Elections in December

Second Year: Adrian Barry

Cormac Foran

Leanne Kiernan

Tara Rogers

Third Year: Ryan Carroll

Conor McDermott

Rebecca Kellett

Dervla Mulligan

Fourth Year/TY: Eoghan O’Reilly

Conor Smith

Hannah McCabe

Aoife Reilly

Fifth Year: Róisin Rahill

Aoife McGreevy

Sixth Year: Méabh O’Reilly

Sarah McCabe

Mark O’Reilly Murphy

Thomas Rogers

LCVP Trips

5th Year LCVP students have visited 2 local enterprises in order to complete

a Summary Report for their Portfolio.

One Group visited Cartons in Shercock on the 16th of October 2013. The

company is now in the 8th generation of the Carton family. Manor Farm is

the chicken brand of Carton Bros. The company employs 650 people

directly, contracts a further 150 farmers and gives indirect employment to

many more throughout the 26 counties.

38 of our LCVP students visited the plant in Shercock and witnessed the

processing involved in this local enterprise first hand.

A second group of 36 LCVP students visited Clonarn Clover eggs in

Mullagh, Co. Cavan on the 21st of October. Clonarn Clover is a family run

enterprise that is currently Ireland’s largest dedicated Free Range egg

supplier. The Farrelly family started their enterprise with just 150 laying

hens and currently have 160,000 hens in their system. Students from our

school had the opportunity to see the entire process at play from the hens

laying eggs in the hen houses, to playing in the scratch yard, the egg

collection, packaging and the lorries arriving to bring the eggs to the stores.

Leaving Certificate Geography Field Trip

This year’s Leaving Certificate Geography Students were presented with the

challenge of studying Transportation and Deposition on a River Channel as

part of their coursework. Our 53 Leaving Certificate students travelled to

Derrygonnelly Fieldstudy Centre in Co. Fermanagh on the 17th of October

2013 to complete this challenge. Students examined a meander in detail,

looking specifically at its width, depth, velocity and bedload. Students

engaged fully in each element of the study and a great day was had by all.

FOND FAREWELL

We say a fond farewell to our former principal Ms Patricia Atkins, Ms. Helen

Roche and Ms. Francis Courtney.

Ms. Roche and Ms. Courtney have contributed greatly to the lives of

students at Bailieborough Community School. They have both taught in

BCS since its doors opened. We wish them every Health and Happiness in

their Retirement.

We wish Ms. Patricia Atkins all the best in her new appointment as principal

of Lusk Community College in North Dublin.

We thank her most sincerely for her leadership and unique contribution

during her time with us at Bailieborough Community School.

Friday March 1st 2013:

Ms Atkins final day a principal of Bailieborough Community School.

All students gathered in the general area to mask the occasion and a

presentation ceremony led by the student council followed. A day to

remember!

Computer News

Bailieborough Community School’s Computer Programming Club is an

extracurricular club that runs every Tuesday (weather permitting!) in B8 (Ms

Sutton’s room). This club is open to all first year students in BCS free of

charge. Over the course of a year, students will become familiar with the

following programming languages e.g. Scratch 1.4 & 2.0, Kudo and Alice

2.3. Students will also become familiar with the principles of Video Design

by completing GameStar Mechanic.

Students will also have the option of learning other programming languages

of their choice using LearnStreet and CodeAcdamey. Here’s a brief

synopsis on the main programming languages that students in BCS’s

Computer Club will look at:

With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games,

and animations — and share your creations with others in the online

community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively,

reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for

life in the 21st century.

Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and XBox via a simple visual

programming language. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem

solving, storytelling, as well as programming. Anyone can use Kodu to

make a game, young children as well as adults with no design or

programming skills.

Gamestar Mechanic uses fun, game-based quests and courses to

help students learn game design and make your own video games!

Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it

easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive

game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a freely available

teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to object-

oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental

programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and

simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and

vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to

animate the objects.1st century.

This is a really cool club and students have a lot of fun and hopefully are

learning important life skills! For more information check out our website:

http://bcsafterschoolfun.weebly.com/

Cross Country Running

Congratulations to our cross country runners who competed in

Killinkere on the 23rd of October 2013. A Large Squad of

runners represented our school and won many events, including

the 1st year’s girl’s team, U15 boys team and the U17 boys team.

Race Results

1st Year Girls

Veronica Clarke 3rd Place

Laura Clarke 4th Place Josie O Connor Finished Top 10 Janelle McCabe Finished Top 10

Kirstan Lokko Finished Top 10

U15 Girls

Andrea Reilly 2nd Place Rebecca Reilly 3rd Place

Aoife Smith Finished Top 10 Ciara Smith Finished Top 10

Shauna Fay Finished Top 10 Grace Clarke Finished Top 10

U15 Boys Callum Clarke 9th Place

Tommy Mc Cullagh 19th Place Michael Collins 20th Place Keelan Sheridan 30th Place

U17 Girls Leanne Kieran 3rd Place

Emily Daly Finished Top 20 Katie Gargan Finished Top 20 Courtney Rennihan Finished Top 20

Won Team Event

Won Team Event

U17 Boys Place Luke Smith 1st

Conor Smith 2nd Sean Cosgrove 3rd

Ben Mc Kenna 5th Andrew Clarke 6th Philip Tully 8th

Andy Smith 12th Jordan Mc Cabe 14th Ryhs Clarke 15th

Dylan Clarke 17th Aaron Cundelan 18th

Glan Hawthorne 19th

Cian Monaghan 20th

Won

Team

Event

Debating Team Senior Debating team of Katie Cundelan, Eoghan O’Reilly, Gemma O’Reilly and Daniel O’Reilly represented our school

on the 24th of October in the first round of the Concern Debates. The team proposed the motion “Aid to the Developing World is a luxury Ireland cannot afford” against

a team from Largy College. Unfortunately they were unsuccessful in this round of the competition but they are

already preparing for the next big event.

READING CORNER

Since the start of the school year students at Bailieborough Community School

have been enjoying the comforts of their new reading corner at the back of

room B8.

Thanks to the financial support of the Parents Association, the hard work of

Leslie McKeague over the summer months and the creative input by Miss Sutton

and Ms Gorman this wonderful initiative came to fruition. Any of the top thirty

most popular novels for first year students are currently available and waiting

to be devoured by eager readers!

Whether you bring your own reading material or browse through any books,

newspapers or magazines you find in B8, the most important thing to remember

is READ! READ! READ!

Opening Times of the Reading Corner are:

8.00am – 8.45am Daily

11.00am – 11.15am Daily

13.00pm – 13.40pm Daily

P.S. Check out what Mr Kenny is reading this month! You can find out from the

noticeboard in the general area!