Jesus and Mary Secondary School,

Enniscrone, Sligo.

Summer Newsletter 2020.

Principals Address:

Students, staff and parents of school year 2019/2020,

We surely have been tested this school year—it has been an unprec-

edented experience with the compulsory closure of school on March

12th, the cancelation of Junior and Leaving Certificate exams and the

need for on-line learning from March 13th—May 15th. Never before

have we experienced a time like it and I want to thank everyone for

the way in which you coped with these experiences. Emotionally, we have had to contend

with a global pandemic, which can cause fear and anxiety. Psychologically, we have been

separated from friends and colleagues. The ‘normal’ has been disrupted and we hope and

pray that we will soon be back to our school routines—the situation is very uncertain and we

can only propose possible dates for a return to school at the last week of August.

A special farewell to our Leaving Certs—who have had such a disrupted last term. We have

missed not having your prize giving and graduation. I want to thank the staff sub-committee

who organised a special ‘virtual’ prize giving and graduation. We thank you the Leaving Cert

class of 2020 for your presence with us for the past six years and for your contribution to

school life in so many ways. We hope and pray that you will be happy with your Leaving Cert

results and choose whatever path you want in the future.

Best of luck to you all.

Sr. Mary Kelly, rjm

Principal.

School re-opening dates for the school year 2020/2021

First Years …………………………………………………….. Monday, August 24th 2020.

Third and Sixth Years ……………………………………. Thursday, August 27th 2020.

First, Second and Fifth Years …………………………. Friday, August 28th 2020.

Transition Years and all students ………………….. Monday, August 31st 2020.

Adult Education Classes (PLC Courses) will commence on Monday, September 7th 2020.

PLC graduation will be held on Thursday, September 3rd.

Staff days - staff meeting Tuesday, August 25th; Staff Day Wednesday, August 26th

(there will be no school for students on these days)

THE JESUS AND MARY SECONDARY SCHOOL

ENNISCRONE, CO. SLIGO.

SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2020

Canada Exchange As part of a school exchange twelve Enniscrone students travelled to Quebec, Canada from March 9th-24th accompa-nied by teachers Ms. Byrne and Ms. Walsh. Pictured left the group arriving in Canada and also the Canadian wel-come party greeting them. Students experienced Canadi-an life and had an opportunity to practice their French skills. As part of the exchange we here in Enniscrone welcomed three students from Canada to the school from January 7th to February 8th. The three girls pictured top left along-side Sr. Marie Halloran, Pro-vincial Leader JM Congrega-tion and Deputy Principal Ms. Irwin. A great experi-ence was enjoyed by all.

Well done to our U14 girls team pictured above with their coach Ms. Timmons who were victorious over St. Attracta’s in their match on March 6th.

The Le Cheile Conference took place in February 2020 in attendance representing the school were (pictured L-R) Ms Teresa Irwin, Deputy Principal, students Niam Egan and Martin McHale, Sr. Marie Halloran, Provincial Leader JM Congrega-tion, Mr Pat Sweeney, Chairperson BOM and also pictured Dr. Eilis Humphreys from Le Cheile.

Girls Active- The Girls Active programme has enjoyed another

successful year in our school. Second year girls (pictured above)

attended the girls active day festival with Ms Byrne in Sligo IT.

They sampled a range of activities such as rugby, dance class,

boxing and spinning classes. A great day was had by all.

School News January 7th Three Canadian students arrived on school exchange. Two teachers attended CPD for Technical Graphics. 13th Parents Council meeting took place. 15th Swimming programme took place for students in Waterpoint. 16th Rugby match played against Clifden. PLC seminar in Athlone. 20th Concern talk give to TY and Fifth year students. Senior girls gaelic match played against Easkey. 21st Junior boys hurling match against Easkey. 22nd Rugby match played against St. Jarlath’s. 23rd Enrolment night 43 students enrolled. 27th Catholic Schools Week – Reflection read out each day. Sligo IT gave talk to TY and Fifth years. 28th AMCSS meeting in Sligo. Sr. Maire O’Halloran visited the school. 29th Girls rugby match played against St. Mary’s, Ballina. 30th Non-uniform day held to support a student doing a sky dive for Youth Suicide Prevention. Leaving Cert Art Practical. February 3rd Staff and students celebrated St. Claudine’s feast day.. 6th Mocks commence for Junior and Leaving Certs. TY went to safety roadshow in Castlebar. Junior boys football blitz in Sligo First and Second years attend. 6th-7th Le Cheile conference in Athlone. Mr. Pat Sweeney, BOM Chairperson, Ms. Irwin, Deputy Principal and two students Aisling Egan and Martin McHale attended. 11th Seminar on Wellbeing attended by Ms. Murphy and Ms. Timmons. TY parent/ teacher/student meeting. 13th First year retreat to Knock. Second year workshop on cyber bullying 14th End of Mocks. Half day for St. Claudine. Mid term took place from the 17th to the 21.st 24th Leaving Certs attend production of Hamlet in Sligo. Art teacher attends seminar on Art. TY attend talk on local enterprise by B. Dolan. Parents Council meeting. 25th Second year retreat. Third year English to Romeo and Juliet in Sligo. 26th whole school attends Mass for Ash Wednes-day. Second year parent/teacher/student meeting. 27th Rugby match against Ballingar. 28th LCVP recorded interviews. Fifth year Physics project on wave energy in Environmental Award. March 2nd Student attend workshop on science and engineering in Sligo. 3rd meeting with parents regarding Canadian tour. 4th Leaving Cert Agricultural science trip to farm. Leaving Certificate Geography Field trip. TY Drama production – four plays. 5th Seminar on Agricultural Science in Castlebar. Girls Active group attend festival in Sligo. JMB workshop for Principal’s on teacher allocation and review of Middle management. Mr. Rooney attends computer science workshop. 6th TY DATS in Gym. 9-13th Wellbeing week. Junior boys football game against Kiltimagh. 12th School closure by order of Taoiseach due to Covid-19 until March 29th. 13th- May 15th Students commence on-line learning using google classroom. Survey by JMB of on-line remote teaching. 25th Louisburg and Enniscrone joint winners of Rugby Final. Third years and parent given an on-line presentation on Transition year and application forms. 26th Surveyed parents on on-line learning. April 21st Zoom conference with JMB/ACSS FE groups. Conversation with DES inspector Neamh Barry on distance learning 22nd Zoom meeting with PLC students. 23rd Consulted with staff on student engagement. 24th Zoom meeting with JMB PLC/ACSS. Presentation to TY and Third years (not doing TY), on sub-ject options for Fifth year. Gave out applications to provide four preferences on option subjects. Subject bands created and students chose their four subjects. 25th Letter to Class Tutors to check in on Tutor class regarding wellbeing. Guidance Counsellor and Principal discussed wellbeing of Leaving Certs and the former organised Zoom meeting with the tow groups of Leaving Certs. 28th Zoom meeting JMB/AMCSS. 29th Discussed end of year assessments with Sharon Callaghan Coor-dinator of in-house assessments. 30th Sent revised admission Policy to Le Chéile. May 1st Zoom meeting with sub-committee of staff to discuss final assessments. 6th Zoom staff meeting. 7th Zoom Le Chéíle meeting. 8th Cancellation of Leaving Cert Exam – calculated grades instead.

Past pupil Sean Done-gan, Leaving Certificate ‘18/’19, pictured above welcoming us to NUIG.

Sr. Síle Crowley finish-ing her work as Direc-tress of formation in Cameroon, pictured passing the candle to Sr. Judith Dossa. Sr. Síle was a loved and respected member of the staff here in Ennis-crone. She taught Re-ligion, French and Irish. Sr. Síle has dedi-cated herself to help-ing the less fortunate in Africa since 2001. We wish her every happiness.

Valentines day Fundraiser.To raise funds for the school garden students organised a fundraiser to send a rose. Ms. Moore and Ms. Hegarty helped students to organise the event. Pictured above.

Well done to Ruthann Ferguson pictured right with Art teacher Ms. He-garty, on winning her catego-ry in the Credit Un-ion Art Competi-tion.

Well done to Thomas Lynott pic-tured above on his success in the Dol-phin Swimming meet held in Ballina. Thomas won a medal in the 14 &

over.

A successful and highly entertaining night of dra-

ma took place in the school as part of the TY

Drama Festival which was held on March 4th.

TY students wrote and produced four short hu-

morous plays to keep the crowd entertained for

the evening. Pictured left and below some of

the entertainers from the night. There were fan-

tastic performances on the night with Take me out scooping best overall drama and Tristan Cawley and Luke McMahon taking best over-

all actor awards. Well done to our students and

staff who put on a night of great entertainment for the school and local community. Many thanks to all who

worked so hard back stage. Thanks to those local businesses who sponsored prizes for our raffle to help raise

money for the school.

School Pool Competition - The school held a Pool competition in the school canteen. Well done to all

the students who entered and took part in the event. Above are the winners from the competition pictured

with Principal Sr. Mary (L-R) Michael Sheridan, Thomas Sheridan and David Hallinan. Well done!

The Garda Youth Awards celebrates outstanding young people aged between 13 and 21 years and recognises the good work they are doing throughout their communities. This year we would like to congratulate 5th year students Mark McDermott and Mia McGow-an who were nominated for a Group Award for their positive work with students in St. Nicholas Special School in Ballina. Conor Dempsey 5th year, nominated for being a young carer for his older sister who has spinabifida and hydroceauphus, he has carried out excellent fundraising initiatives to raise awareness of these condi-tions. Dylan Boland 5th year, nominated for an Individual Award has fundraised for charity. He has signed up for a parachute jump to raise funds for Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland. Beth Johnston 2nd year, nominated for an Individual Award for her volunteer role at her local parkrun and her wonderful achievement of having com-pleted over 100 Park runs. Well done to all of you making a positive contribution to your community, making it a better place to live.

Amy Reape (TY)(pictured above) was a member of the Irish team that won Gold in the team event in Lichtenvoorde, The Netherlands.

Pictured above our girls football team preparing for a match being supported by the three Canadian girls on a school exchange. The girls attended many extra curricular school events and made themselves a real part of our school community. Our students made them very welcome.

Congratulations to Mi-

chael Naughton, past pupil

Michael who was voted

the new President-elect of

the Ladies Gaelic Football

Association. The Carns

native was voted in by del-

egates of the LGFA Con-

gress in Galway. Michael

pictured left.

Third Year students pictured above attending

their Retreat in Knock in February.

Enniscrone boys made it through to the Connacht Junior C Schools Cup final. The team pictured above with coach Mr. Rooney. There were scenes of great delight in Creggs when the mighty young men of Jesus and Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone secured a ticket to the Connacht Junior C Schools Cup final. Their comprehensive 36-7 victory over Ballygar was richly-deserved. The team went on to be joint winners of the competition. Huge congratulations to the squad who worked so hard to make this victory possible and to their coach, Mr. Rooney, who was the guiding hand be-hind the scenes. Congratulations to all involved.

Pictured above First years attend engineering workshop in Sligo IT

on Monday, March 2nd.

Exam students attending the Hawks Well Theatre to see their exam plays for English Exams. ( Top) Leaving Certs saw Ham-let and (bottom) Third years saw Romeo and Juliet. Trips were arranged for students by their English teachers—Ms. McLoughlin, Ms. Hamilton, Ms. Tuffy and Ms. O’Dowd.

Ms. Byrne’s Fifth year Religion class, pictured left arranged a denim day in aid of the Alzhei-mer's society of Ireland, who support people living with de-mentia. They raised €326 in total. Well done to the group and to the school community for their support.

Well done to Leav-ing Cert student the very talented Roisin Alexander who designed this beautiful book-mark. Sr Mary O’Halloran, JMS Provincial Leader gave one to each of the Jesus and Mary sisters as a gift from Ireland at the 37th General Chapter in Rome, Italy, Sept/Oct 2019. Great work Roisin.

TY and 5th years student's attended University of Limerick Open day where they got the opportunity to explore the Third level courses on offer, the campus, its sporting facili-ties and accommodation. An enjoyable day was had by all.

TY students took part in the Student Enterprise competition organised by Sligo Local Enterprise Office(LEO). A repre-sentative of LEO Mr. Brian Dolan worked with the students under the guidance of their mini company teachers, Ms. Ryan and Ms. Walsh. Students had to establish groups, research, generate a product or service idea, produce and sell it, then write up a detailed Business Report. Students took part in a successful Trade Fair held in the school in December. In Feb-ruary, Mr. Dolan interviewed all groups, viewed their display stands and reviewed their Business Reports. He selected five groups to go forward to the Sligo Student Enterprise County Final which was to have been held in mid March. The groups selected were: Rings and Things: Elisha Gallagher, Holly Browne and Avril Boland. Rings and scrunchies female accessories.

Glow Formula: Megan Hughes, Amy Reape and Elaine Naughton. Skincare products charcoal facemasks and lip balms

JDA Snowmen: Adam Taylor, James O'Connell, Joseph Martin, Daniel Gil and Darragh Tuffy. Wooden Christmas Snow-men using recycled materials.

Let's Get Baked: Martin McHale, Luke McMahon, Jimmy Quinn, and Aaron McLoughlin. Home Baked products includ-ing gingerbread men and shortbread cookies.

Scent Sensation: Mia Hamilton, Emma Kavanagh, Rebecca Harte, Amy Walshe. Home Produced Scented Candles.

The competition day in Sligo could not go ahead due to Covid-19 so Sligo LEO decided to base the judging on the Business Reports submitted by the students. All groups submitted reports. GLOW FORMULA received a Special Merit Award for their efforts. Well done to Megan Hughes, Amy Reape and Elaine Naughton on their success and to all the students involved in the competition and thanks to their Mini Company teachers Ms. Ryan and Ms. Walsh for their guidance..

A workshop was held by Concern for Fifth year students in their religion clas-ses on the topic of gender equality. Some of the students who attended the workshop with the guest from Concern pictured below.

Well done to Transition Year student Brandon Brown, pictured above left. Brandon

has been keeping himself busy by making face mask holders for staff working on the

frontline in hospitals and care facilities etc. during this Covid-19 pandemic. Brandon

made the unique mask holders using his 3D printer and he has been distributing the

holders free of charge. The idea of the device is to allow those who have to wear face

masks to pin the elastic of the mask to the holder instead of putting the it behind their

ears, which can be very uncomfortable when worn for long periods of time. Well done

Brandon we are all so proud of you for your creative design, hardwork and your gener-

osity to others in these challenging and difficult times. Picture of Brandons mask

holder pictured right. Great job and initiative, Brandon.

WELLBEING WEEK - Education about mental health and wellbeing is an integral part of the school’s curriculum throughout the year. For this reason a Wellbeing week was held for students from March 9th to 12th. Our weeks activ-ities were related to the junior Cycle Indicators of Wellbeing: Connected, Active, Respected, Responsible, Resilient and Aware. The week proved to be very successful with students. Various activities were organised —guest speakers spoke to classes with information talks on mental health, addiction, and internet safety, students participated in beach walks, art projects e.g poster competition, dance classes with Danceworld, a cookery demo and other events which were held throughout the week. Below are some pictures of students enjoying the events organised for them to participate in. Many thanks to the Wellbeing team and all teachers who organised the events. A special thanks to the Parents Council for supporting the week. A rewarding and fulfilling time was had by all. The Wellbeing week was fun and entertaining for students as well as teaching them how to relax and cope with day to day stresses.

Sixth year students enjoy yoga classes with instructor Angela Kavanagh, above.

Students pictured above enjoying wellbeing week through art.

Pictured above students enjoying dance classes in the school gym.

Third year Art students pictured above enjoying an Art trip to the Ballina Arts Centre in Ballina. The trip was organised by Art teacher Ms. Hegarty who accompanied students to the gallery . The group found the day to be educational as they gathered new creative ideas for their own future works. A great day was had by all.

Students pictured above making preparations for the Seach-tain na Gaeilge week which we run in our school every year. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 it was unable to go ahead this year. But many thanks to the Irish teachers and their students who had begun preparations for the week. Pictured above First years singing “Amhrán na bhFiann”.

Leaving Certs 2019/2020

We wish you all every success and happiness with your futures. We know your futures

will be bright and filled with new and exciting experiences. It has been a joy working

with you all over the past 5/6 years. Guiding you and helping you and walking with

you on this part of your journey. Keep in touch with the staff here in the school, we

love to hear from you and to know how you are getting on.

E-Business

I really enjoyed the Business Level 6 course. I have put so much of what I learned into practice. e.g. Business, e-Business and Spreadsheet Methods. The modules gave me a real insight into the world of business and technology. I have met many interesting people and made lifelong friends. I found the teachers to be very helpful, approachable and always willing to help. M. Early Returning to education as a mature student was a life changing decision. It was a challenging but an enjoyable experience. The Business Level 6 course has given me renewed self-confidence, boosted my self-esteem and provided a great stepping stone for my future studies. Brian Langan

Hi, I have just completed level 6 in Art at Jesus and Mary Secondary School in Enniscrone. I was fortunate to receive a Distinction. This gives me a wonderful opportunity to advance my knowledge and skill of art. This was not done easily. It took a lot of time and effort not just from me but also from my talented patient teacher Irene Hegarty. The results were amazing. I now have a good working knowledge of art and the experience of working with different media to my expanding portfolio. I would highly recommend this course to any artist to take them to the next level on their artistic journey. Vincent Callaghan. (Vincent pictured right)

I really enjoyed E business level 5 and 6. I found the modules insightful and they opened my eyes to many career opportunities. The continuous assessments helped me to focus instead of stressing about end of year exams. The teachers were very helpful and efficient. I have learnt many new skills and gained a new confidence in my abilities. Carmel Butler

My journey to study healthcare started almost by accident. Having worked for thirty years as a mechanical technician, I found myself at a loose end and looking for work. I observed that there was work locally for Care Assistants. The Autumn was setting in and I needed to focus on something, so I decided to give the Healthcare Course a go. I had nothing to lose, I enjoyed the course and it gave me the confidence and skills I needed to apply for work. I am currently enjoying my work as a Care Assistant, a career that I never would have considered prior to completing the Health Care Support QQI Level 5 Course at the Jesus and Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone,. Sean Walsh

Having worked full time for 25 years I had the opportunity to take some time out so decided to look locally for some courses to fill my new free time. I wanted something completely different to my Business background and something that I had never tried before. I wouldn’t consider myself to be in any way artistic or creative but decided to challenge myself with the Ceramics course. From day 1 I loved it. I found I could get lost in the imagination of the class and the joy of creating something with just your hands and potters clay. It was very relaxing and ther-apeutic while at the same time challenging. I looked forward to our weekly class with my new classmates, who soon became friends, always willing to share ideas, encouragement, inspira-tion and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Covid-19 brought our class time to an abrupt end. All our homes became mini workshops for a few weeks!! Through the dedication and patience of Ms Hegarty, we all managed to get our pieces completed and submitted to the inspector. I thor-oughly enjoyed the year and would love to undertake further courses in the future. It was a

wonderful way to fill my time, learn a new skill, challenge myself and meet new people. Thank you to Ms Hegarty and the Jesus and Mary Secondary School for providing such wonderful opportunities for further education in the local community. Helen Tuffy. (Helen pictured left)

Testimonials from Post Leaving Certificate Students 2019/2020

Keith’s Story

After completing a degree in Marketing with Public Relations and unfortunately not being successful enough to secure a full-time job with the degree, I decided to return to college to up skill. I chose to study E-Business QQI level 5 in Jesus and Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone. I went to the open evening and was given a vast amount of information about the course by the teachers, including modules that would be covered throughout the year, timetables and even shown the success of past students who had completed the course. I chose E-Business as some of the modules I had a keen interest in, but there were some I knew would be a challenge. From the first day to my last I have to say was a pleasure. The teachers were available to answer any questions I had, even out of hours via email. Their attention to detail and the professionalism in delivering course content could not be faulted. The most thing I enjoyed about my year studying E-Business was the variety within each module, the experience gained from the Communications module from presentations, to interviews and group discussion, which I found was of benefit to me when going for a job interview. The Web Design module was both enjoyable yet challenging, it was a new software pack-age to learn but I never felt left behind. I was pointed in the right direction when looking for Work Placement, where I got to get a feel for a busy office environment. On completing this E-Business course I now have the skills and courage to pursue a career in what I enjoy doing.