2020 - 2021 News

For new from previous years, go here...

23rd Nov 2020

'Hearts for Heroes'

Well done to our first year students and their teacher Ms McManemy, who designed 'Hearts for our Heroes' in their religion class. Their work is displayed proudly in the school to say thank you to our frontline medical staff

Lunchtime Soccer:

After another round of lunch time football, the league tables are starting to take shape.

In the girls league, Man City (Team 2 ) and Barcelona (Team 6) are top with 9 points. For Man City, Grace Carty has been top scorer while Ada Conheady is top scorer for Barcelona.

In the boys league, there is also a battle at the top with AC Milan (Team 1) and Celtic (Team 2) together on 4 points. Brion Dowd, is the league's top scorer with 6 goals so far.

Le petit déjeuner à la française

You don't need to travel to Paris to experience French culture, French food and language.

Thursday 22th of October, Second year students , studying French at Abbey Community College were waiters, waitresses, and French customers at the French breakfast morning. All in French was the "mot d'ordre" . All got a pain au chocolat and some orange juice too.

A huge thank you to Ms. Perrigue for organising this very enjoyable morning!

Gaeilge24 i gColáiste na Mainistreach

On Tuesday our 1st year Gaeilge students participated in Gaeilge 24 this. The aim of the challenge was simply to encourage young people to try speak Irish non stop for one whole day. Our students did a fantastic job using their Gaeilge for the duration of the day. The challenge is fun, educational & pro-active as it allowed our students to experience the Irish language in a positive way. Gaeilge24 also provided an opportunity to take the Irish language out of the classroom, which is also important as it adds more relevance to the language. The Irish department also arranged a number of fun language activities such as Kahoot as Gaeilge, Seanfhocail poster competition & 1st year Gaelic football as Gaeilge to name a few. The Irish department also wish to thank all staff who made an effort to use the language throughout the day too. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.

Fifth Year Cookery:

Fifth Year Home Economics students were busy preparing, cooking and serving tasty dishes suitable for individuals who are concerned with bone health.

News 23rd Nov 220

Leaving Cert PE:

Abbey Community College was this week formally recognised by the Dept of Education and the PE Association of Ireland for its role in the introduction of the new Senior Cycle Physical Education course combined with the Leaving Certificate Physical Education courses.

Abbey CC is presently the only school in the North-West offering PE as a full Leaving Cert Subject.

Well done Mr O’Connor & Mr Greaney for their great efforts in raising the profile of physical education and making PE such a strong and valid Leaving Cert option for the many students interested in careers in this area.

Team Hope Shoebox Appeal:

This week our junior cycle C.S.P.E students and members of our World Wise Global Schools Programme researched the Team Hope Organisation and its efforts to spread joy in developing countries affected by poverty.

This year, due to the effects of Covid-19 restrictions, the Christmas Shoebox Appeal has gone online. We are encouraging our whole school community to celebrate the Christmas Shoebox Appeal by building and donating their shoeboxes online at www.teamhope.ie, sharing pictures on social media using #TeamUpForTeamHope, and learning about the Appeal and the importance of giving this Christmas. You can form your shoebox online any time up until 23rd December.

Although this year may be different, the need for shoebox gifts is more important than ever. Help us spread the word and continue to bring joy to children affected by poverty.

Attached is a photo of three first year students (Seonaid Cregg, Kamile Matukynaite and Nicole Scally) in front of our World Wise Global School - Development Education wall promoting our #TeamUpForTeamHope Christmas Shoebox Campaign.

Art Students:

Art students working on 'Futures Project' as part of their transition year art programme with teacher Mr. Martin. More images on this project to follow in next weeks edition.

Young SVP:

On the 17th November, our school elected 2 conference groups of Young St. Vincent De Paul with their teachers Ms. Moynihan and Ms. Kenny. Upcoming projects include fundraising for local SVP branch & making cards for local nursing homes.

President-Gavin O'Connor

V.President-Amanda Wynne

PRO-Kate Noone

Secretary-Katelin Healy

Treasurers-Oliver Regan & Colin McGrath

Photographers-Liam Killoran & David Byrne

President-Brona Mulrennan

V.President-Clodagh Sheerin

PRO-Eden Kerins & Matthew Healy

Secretary-Cliodhna O'Dowd

Treasurers-Tara Sheridan & Arianna Lannon

Photographers-Leah Lynch Dolan

October 23rd News

Run, Walk n Roll:

Damien Regan and his family have held this event for the Irish Cancer Society for 25 years raising thousands for a great cause.

Here at ACC we have had a strong link with the Run walk n Roll event with many students taking part every year and the current winners, Kirsty McHenry and Conor Kelly coming from the school. Our annual staff vs students volleyball match proceeds are also donated to Damien's fund each year.

Due to Covid the event will have to go virtual for 2020 , not the way they had planned to celebrate 25 years of the event . The organisers have come up with a virtual 5km your way over 25 days from October 6th to October 31st . So you can Run, Walk or Cycle 5km in your own time , daily or whatever suits. You can take a photo and post your 5k to the Run walk n Roll facebook page.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/run-walk-n-roll-2020?fbclid=IwAR1kseQOgmBQgmAW-JDeOos_uiQpT9uB8KfjrJw_M4tdr-70YcTLoYuYmR0

You can look up their Facebook page Runwalknroll.

Self Defense

On Thursday, the 15th of October our Transition Year class of Abbey Community College took part in a self-defense class course run by Alex Walsh. As a student who took part in the course, I found it fantastic and not only was it a fun day, it could end up saving a life someday. The course was very educational, and I think I can speak for all my class when I say we all learned something we didn’t know about, here are a few of things we learned about in the class -Boundaries/personal space

-Consent

-Attitude and behaviour

-Anti-social behaviour

-How to avoid confrontation

-Tips on how to handle confrontation if unavoidable

-How to challenge inappropriate behaviour

-How to avoid becoming a victim

-Easy to learn self-defence moves

-Assault/sexual assault

-Internet/mobile telephone awareness

I would like to say a special thanks to Alex Walsh as he could not have done a better job on making everyone feel reassured and safe. All the moves he showed were very easy to understand as he showed them so clearly and made sure everyone understood.

I would recommend this self-defense course to everyone, it's definitely worth it and could save your life one day.

Geography Field Trip:

On Wednesday the 14th of October, our 6th year Geography students carried out their field study investigation worth 20% of their Leaving Certificate Examination. The students investigated the impact of two processes of erosion on the shaping of the landscape in a fluvial environment at Glencar Co. Leitrim. A great day was had by all!

October 14th News

'Say no to Racism'

Students have been watching the 'Say No To Racism' video in their lifeskills class with teacher Mr. Doyle. As a follow up activity, there will be a poster competition. These Posters will be displayed in the G.P area and in Rm 36 for the student body to see.

Trip to Zipit Lough key forest park

By Tara Sheridan

On Thursday morning the 8th of October, Abbey community college Transition year students along with Ty head coordinators Mr Greaney and Mr O’Connor, arranged to go out for the day to Lough key Forest park to attempt Zipit!

Zipit is well known for being a brilliant out-door activity to boost your confidence, combat fear of heights and develop communication skills. First off we had to bring in our bikes to the school and cycle out, using the new Greenway cycle path. It didn’t too long to get out there. When we arrived they sectioned us off into 3 groups, secured our harnesses and explained the safety briefing. The instructors demonstrated how each circuit operated and how the equipment worked. We began with Orange which was the easiest course out of the 3 but it was a little tough as some pieces of the wood was slippy as it was lightly drizzling through the afternoon. We moved onto the white course. This was certainly trickier then orange as the height increased more into the trees, but it was getting you more prepared for Blue . When we carried on to the final course for the next level, it was more intense as it was at the highest peak. We got more into the final course as there were several zipwires , they were very long and high up. We then came to the floating tree. This tree was dangling in the air! We had to climb up to the highest platform to complete and there was no backing out! We came to the very end of the Blue obstacle course where we jumped into clean air from the platform above, as the chord gradually lowed you down to the ground. At the end of the day Mr Greaney and Mr O’Connor allowed us to jump into the lake it was great fun and we all thoroughly enjoyed our day out to lough key forest park.We would truly like to thank Mr Greaney and Mr O’Connor for making this trip happen.

Football Champions League:

Thursday saw the kick off of the 1st and 2nd year girls football Champions League. With 3 games taking place, Borussia Dortmund, lead by Shauna McGrath seem to be the pace setters having beaten her sister Anna's Peamount Utd 4-2. Ada Conheady scored a hat trick in Barcelona's 3-1 win over Juventus with Claire O'Gara getting the Juve goal. In the gym, it was Manchester City who just pipped Lyon by 4-3 with Ciara Byrne and Grace Carty scoring for City.

Next week will see the boys start their league on Tuesdays and the girls will continue to battle it out on Thursdays. With schools football being stalled because of the Covid guidelines, the inter schools competitions will help everyone to improve their game and have a bit of fun.

Young St. Vincent de Paul:

On Wednesday 14th October, our TYs welcomed Helen Ralph from Young SVP. Helen has worked with the school now for four years introducing the work of SVP to our students. Helen gave the background to St Vincent de Paul and it’s established roots back to 19th century France by a young student called Frederic Ozanum.

Helen continued to explain that today SVP has three main pillars 1)Support and Befriending 2) Promotion self sufficiency and 3) Social Justice for all

The TYs will elect two Young SVP committee and do their meetings in life skills. Ms Kenny will co- ordinating along with Ms Moynihan. Helen will be back to see what area our two groups will decide to work on . We are delighted to be working together again Our students showed great interest in the work and we cannot wait to see what the students decide to do .

October 8th News

Conradh na Gaeilge:

On Tuesday 29th September Conradh na Gaeilge brought their wildly acclaimed “Seó Bóthair roadshow” to Abbey Community College. The Seó Bóthair roadshow is an interactive workshop which makes use of games, discussion and debates to promote the Irish language in a positive way. The aim of this workshop is to encourage and empower students to use their Irish more often, both inside and outside of school. The Seó Bóthair also informed students firstly of the advantages and opportunities with which the Irish language can provide them, and also of the growth of the language and the various language campaigns which are going on around the country. Bhain na daltaí taitneamh as an gceardlann & táimid fíor-bhuíoch as an gConradh cuairt a thabhairt ar ár scoil.

RTE 'A Big Week in September'

Abbey CC was delighted to be a part of the recent RTE documentary 'A Big Week in September' which aired on RTE1 on Wednesday 7th September. Great credit is due to the staff and the students for their involvement in this production. The production offered viewers an insight into the challenges faced by parents, staff and schools alike on their return to school.

Odd Socks Day!

On Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th we held an 'Odd Socks Day' in aid of North West STOP

Currently, all of STOP’s fundraising events have been cancelled and they have no annual government funding so fundraisers like this are crucial. They rely entirely on the generosity of the public for donations and fundraising events.

NW STOP founded in 2004 by families who were bereaved by suicide. They are a community, voluntary body that works to prevent suicide by informing, educating and promoting positive suicide prevention policies throughout the west and north-west of Ireland.

STOP provide a free confidential counselling service for those who are experiencing difficulties in day to day life

For further information on NW STOP you can contact their office on 0719856070 or email stopsuicide.ie@gmail.com & northweststop.ie & facebook.com/NorthWestSTOP/

October 1st News

Abbey Community College soon to launch its new dedicated school App:

This app will improve school/student/parental communication and remove many of the issues with respect to outdated phone numbers and email addresses. This is an exciting new adventure for the school, and we are confident it will be a great success. It will be constantly updated with new photos, features, information for parents and students. There will be dedicated subject areas and a link to allow parents to submit absence and other notes digitally to the school. Parents/students will be notified as to when and where they can download the app from as soon as it is ready over the next week or so and it is envisaged that once a 70% download point is reached, all communication from the school will flow through this app. David Harding (Principal)

Penpals:

TY students are writing letters to their new pen pals in Drumderrig Nursing Home, Boyle in an effort to raise spirits in the community. This is part of their Transition Year English class programme and we would like to thank Paula Cull, General Manager from Drumderrig for her support and help with this. We look forward to continuing this process throughout the year.

TY Law workshop

On the 14th of September 2019, the TY students of Abbey Community College participated in an insightful and informative law workshop which lasted the entire school day. Barrister James Fahy came to the school and taught the students about how the law system in Ireland works, the main professions in law and organized a court room reenactment. A number of TY students played a part in the mock trial. As well as having lots of fun, the TY’s also benefited from learning all about civil and criminal law and the day also made some students consider having a future career in law.

TY trip to Petersburg Adventure Centre

Our TY students set off bright and early from the school grounds on Monday September 21st for their bonding trip to Petersburg outdoor adventure centre. The students were split into 3 groups and they participated in activities such as stand up paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, orienteering and team challenges and an obstacle course which was on an island. The trip was an outstanding success and the requests are already flooding in to go back.

Coffee morning

Staff recently held a coffee morning where in excess of €150 was raised in aid of the Hospice.

A special mention to Ms. Murphy for organising.