Carrigaline Community School Newsletter

Ni neart go cur le chéile

Message from the Principal

As we draw to the end of a long and busy first term, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all members of the school community, from our staff to the students, from our parents / guardians to the Board of Management, for helping to ensure that CCS continues to be to the fore of second level education in Carrigaline.

As we head into the holiday period I wish you all a happy and restful time and hope that 2025 is a positive year for all. To those who have lost loved ones in the past year be assured that our thoughts are with you.

With every good wish,

Paul Burke

Principal

Carol Service - Dec 12th

On Thursday Dec 12 we celebrated Christmas as a community with a lovely carol service. Ms. Cooke and her choir helped us all to get into the Christmas spirit and we were reminded of the importance of helping and minding everyone in our community at this time of year. A presentation was made to Joseph Fahy of St Vincent de Paul from our combined fundraising over the month of December. A special thank you to our chaplain Mr. O' Brien for organising this special event. Our First Years filled the cafeteria and the event was then streamed live into all the classrooms so that everyone in the building could be included.

A happy and a peaceful Christmas to all our friends, from CCS. ❄️ 🎅🏻

Annual Christmas Outing December 10th

On a crisp Tuesday in December our annual trip to the Cork ice rink and cinema took place. Students from across the year groups took part. We left school early in the morning and went to the Blackpool Cinema for a private screening of "Red One," (Santa was kidnapped and those on the naughty list saved the day.) We were all worried for a little while, but it worked out for Santa!

Then it was on to the Marina Market where we sampled delicious food at the various stalls and once fortified, braved the ice. Thankfully no one was injured although there were several very unsteady performances.

A huge thank you to Ms. Faherty and her team for organising such a fabulous trip.

Nollaig shona duit. ❄️ 🧑‍🎄 🦌

Carol singing in the community - Enable Ireland

Our fifth year music class along with teachers Ms Cooke and Mr McGrath perfomed some Christmas Carols for Enable Ireland service users last week. This was a fun start to the Christmas season and a great way to spread the Christmas cheer! Thanks to all involved.

Penny Dinners

Our annual collection for Penny Dinners took place over the last couple of weeks here in CCS. We then made our delivery on Tuesday 10th of December. Transition Year class 4.2 were absolutely thrilled by the response from all year groups. Caitriona Twomey from Penny Dinners was overwhelmed by the response from our school community. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed so generously. All your donations will be used to brighten Christmas by someone who is in need. Also a special thanks to Ms. Regan O' Broin for her continuous and tireless work around this worthy event in our school calendar. Well done.

Thermo Fisher Community Partnership Grant

For the past five years Thermo Fisher have run a Community Partnership Grant scheme whereby local groups can apply for funding for special projects. This year Carrigaline Community School submitted an application for funding for our Coffee Dock project. This initiative is particularly special to us as it will be run by some of our students from our autism classes alongside their peers in Transition Year. This collaborative effort fosters inclusivity within our school while providing an invaluable opportunity for real-world skill development for students. This inclusive environment will provide students with the skills to navigate diversity, both in school and later in life, contributing to a more compassionate and understanding community overall.

We were thrilled when we were contacted in November by Thermo Fisher to say that our application had been successful and we were awarded €10,000 towards the project. This will make a phenomenal difference and will enable us to complete the kitchen installation along with wiring, plumbing and enable us to source equipment etc. We are extremely grateful to Thermo Fisher for supporting us with this project and we were delighted to bring some representatives from Thermo Fisher to the school to see the coffee dock. Mr Burke, Ms Faherty, Ms Collins along with students Adam, Troy, Tom and Aisling also attended the Grant Event Night in the Hotel in December. Huge thank you to Thermo Fisher for their support.

The Cube (1st Year Bonding) Tuesday Dec 3rd

Christmas begins offically in CCS with "The Cube." It is a day when 1st Years come together to compete in a series of fun challenges that push the mind and the body through more and more difficult activities. These range from balance challenges, to throwing and catching challenges, to speed tests and spacial reasoning. This writer can attest to just how challenging these activities are. (You try balancing on a one inch beam for 25 seconds!)

There is a real sense of fun around the school today. Well done to Mr. Herlihy and his team of Transition Year students for organising this extraordinary event!

Third Year Home Economics Students Christmas Baking

Christmas Markets, Bake Sale and Non Uniform Day

Huge thank you for all the support for the recent St Vincent de Paul fundraiser. This is our annual fundraiser and is always a highlight of the year, especially for Transition Year students that run the event. A wide range of products were available from the mini-company and LCA classes and there was a phenomenal amount of baking done for the bake sale. Thank you to all that participated. A total of €1400 was collected at the markets. A further €739 was raised by our carol singers last week in the village, along with €833 from the non-uniform day and €2904 from the on street collections in the village. In total to date over €5800 has been raised for this very worthy cause.

Finally a raffle is currently running amongst staff with again all proceeds going to St Vincent de Paul. Cheques will be presented to representatives of both Carrigaline and Ballygarvan St Vincent de Paul prior to the Christmas holidays.

Thanks to all students for their efforts (special mention to those students that did the on street collection in the torrential rain!) and to staff Mr O'Brien, Ms Cooke, Mr McGrath, Ms McGrath, Ms O'Driscoll and Ms O'Donovan.

Teacher Karaoke

Our Annual Christmas Teacher Karaoke was a great success again this year. Fantastic performances from all involved. Well done to Ms McGrath and her 6th Year student backing singers for their winning performance of Fairytale of New York. While all the performances were noteworthy in their own unique way, talent won out, and Ms. McGrath, no stranger to managing unruly crowds, had the entire school wrapped up in her rendition of an Irish classic.

Sports Corner

Updates of all sporting activities in CCS

Rugby and Ladies Football In CCS

A sincere thank you to teacher Mr. T O' Donovan on his generous sponsorship of our two teams (ladies Gaelic Football and boys Under 19 Rugby.) Both teams have a new set of rugby and footballs to get them started in January.

Under 16 soccer

Our U16 soccer team played Douglas Community School on the school pitch on Monday Dec 9.

A good team performance helped secure a 3-2 win for CCS. Eddie Crowley, Aryan Khan & Cian O'Neill scoring the goals for CCS. ⚽

U 16.5 Camogie Team

This is the u16.5 camogie team who played St Brogans College Bandon last week under tough conditions. Well done to all involved.

Athletics

Congratulations to all our wonderful students who competed in the 123.ie Cork Schools Cross Country Championships in Riverstick. Pictures include 2nd Year Emma Fenny and her mother Sandy, a past pupil of C.C.S., Alex Murphy, Bronze medalist in the 1st Year Boys Race Dylan Kelleher and Edgaras Butkus. Well done to all involved.

Intercom Announcements

There has been a growing number of visitors calling to the school requesting that students be called out of class over the intercom. The rate of these requests has reached a level whereby they are beginning to interfere with teaching and learning in the classroom.

As a result of the interruptions these announcements are causing to the smooth running of lessons, it has been decided that, outside of exceptional circumstances, we will no longer be calling students out of class on the intercom.

If a parent/guardian is collecting a student from school then arrangements need to be made at home in relation to the collection time and the student should go to reception in order to sign out at the appointed time. Collection times should, if at all possible, align with the daily school timetable in relation to when classes change.
If a parent/guardian is dropping class materials or other items which the student needs, these can be left at reception where the student can collect them at a break of class. When the student makes contact requesting an item(s) be dropped to reception they should be notified as to the time this will happen so that they don't call to reception before the item(s) has been dropped off.

Thank you to all parents/guardians and students for their understanding in implementing this change of practice which is necessary to limit interruptions to class time and to maintain the high standards of teaching & learning in the classroom which we are accustomed to at CCS.

School Funding

Once again, we would encourage as many families as possible to pay the student activity fee and we thank all those families who have paid the fee already.

Click on the easypay link EASYPAY or simply call into the office .

Reminder: Please note that from January there will be a minimum charge of €5 for all students travelling by bus to any school event (including sporting events / matches). This fee may be increased depending on the event destination and duration.

Year 3, Year 6 and LCA2 Pre Exams

The pre exams will start on the 31st January for the sixth years and on the 4th February for the third years. Please note that there is a cost for doing these exams as the papers have to be purchased and the sixth year papers are sent out for correction.

The cost is €50 for students in third year and €100 for students in sixth year. Payment can be made on Easy Payments Plus carrigcs.ie/payments/

The school will subsidise the cost of the exams for students with a medical card. If a student has a medical card the cost will be reduced to €20 - in this situation please bring the medical card and money to the main office.

We would appreciate payment by the end of January if possible. Thank you.

School Activities

The schedule of activities (matches/speakers/assessments/outings etc) is available on the school website for parents/guardians to view. This is updated each week.

https://carrigcs.ie/activities-and-events-2024-2025/

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