Gaisce Hike

A deserved well done to all students for completing their Gasice hike this weekend. 8 students completed the hike for their Bronze award in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow on Friday while 7 students endured 2 days of hiking for the Silver award on Friday and Saturday. The terrain was challenging and the weather varied but all students persisted with smiles on their faces. 

1st Year local history treasure hunt

Students from 1A2 made the short trip down to St. Mary's church this morning for a treasure hunt. The students have been learning all about medieval churches recently and what better way to enhance their learning than to visit the real deal! Dating for the 12th century, the church really is a fascinating building with mysteries and stories hiding in every nook and cranny which tell the tale of Leixlip and its residents over the centuries.

The pupils had to gather information from ancient gravestones, make rubbings and sketches as well as gather other information. Niki Haveron even got a chance to play the church organ!  Students studied primary sources like the 18th century gravestone of Lancelot Harrison and his infant children and the poignant plaque erected by the heart-broken parents of Frederick Wookey who was killed in action in WWI. 

A fascinating trip in which we really appreciated how lucky we are to live in a town so rich in history. Thank you to Rector Scott Peoples who was an extremely kind and gracious host.  

TY Trip to the Dail

Last week we were fortunate to get a real backstage pass to the offices of An Taoiseach and the Dail. Our TY students were able to visit the Cabinet room as well as the Taoiseach's office. Special advisors and civil servants took time out of their busy day to talk to us in the press room and explain their roles. It was a fabulous experience.

in the Cabinet room

Success for Coláiste Chiaráin at West Leinster Athletics

A large group of Colaiste Chiarain students represented themselves and the school with distinction over two days this week at the West Leinster Schools Athletics Championships in Santry. With over 2700 students from around Leinster taking part, the odds were stacked against them but they surpassed all expectations and brought home 7 medals.

In the very first event, Colaiste Chiarain got off the mark, with both Aoileann Hayes and Daniel Jupe winning bronze medals in the Junior Girls and Senior Boys Walk, qualifying for the Leinster Championships in the process. The star of day one was Ciarán Connolly, who lived up to his favourite tag by taking gold in the Senior Boys High Jump, winning by a whopping 14cm! Ciarán will have high expectations as the Championships progress. We also picked up to more medals on Day 1, with Jamal Akbani in the Junior Boys 80m Hurdles, and Robert Jackson in the Minor Boys Javelin securing bronze medals. Special mention also goes to Keely Hogan who finished 4th in the event with the most competitors of any race, the Junior Boys 100m.

Day 2 saw all of our relay teams take to the track in what are always extremely competitive events. Our Senior Boys 4x400m team were the most successful on the day, narrowly missing out on a medal when finishing 4th after a very good performance. We did, however, manage to win two more individual medals. Ciarán Connolly again showed his class, taking a second gold medal in the Senior Boys 400m Hurdles, while Saoirse Hyland ran a superb race to take bronze in the Senior Girls 200m against a very strong field. Ciarán, Aoileann, Daniel and Robert now progress on to the Leinster Championships early next month, where they have a great chance of more success. Well done to all of our athletes over the two days!

Many thanks to Oisin Scanlon for the superb photos.. 

6th Year Future Sparks

6th Year Business and Economics students spent the day at the AIB Future Sparks Festival in the RDS hearing from industry experts and entrepreneurs about their success stories. We got great insight into branding, the fitness and wellbeing industry, the power of social networking, the business of beauty and fashion and the music industry.

Young Social Innovators

Our Transition Years did the school proud today at this year's Young Social Innovators Speak out event in the Royal Marine hotel, Dun Laoghaire. Here they joined over 40 other schools from the Leinster region advocating issues of social importance and speaking about the innovative projects they have been involved in this year- They were: Homelessness, Minding our Mental Health,Animal rights and Let's get fit. Well done all.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

‘Sí Seachtain na Gaeilge í! Ag tnúth go mór le himeachtaí na seachtaine seo agus le Gaeilge a labhairt...ag tosnú le tráth na gceist amárach don 2ú bhliain agus puc fada ag am lóin! “Beatha teanga í a labhairt”

It’s Seachtain na Gaeilge! Looking forward to this week’s events and to speaking as Gaeilge...starting with a quiz tomorrow for second years and a puc fada at lunchtime! “The life of a language is in speaking it”

Art Exhitition

On Wednesday the 14th of March, the 5th Yr LCA students welcomed the school community to the opening of an exhibition of works by students across all years within the school. The LCA students decided that for their task they wanted to showcase the talent of the art students at Colaiste Chiarain. The students handpicked the artworks and curated the exhibition in the library. They used their experience gained from their recent visit to the Hugh Lane Gallery for inspiration. It was difficult for the judges to select prizewinners from such a high standard of work.

The prizes were awarded as follows:

1st Prize: Tara Neville Moynihan
2nd Prize: Karolina Sobocinska
3rd Prize: Mackenzie Pascual
Highly Commended: Eva Sheridan
Highly Commended: Katerina Healy
Highly Commended: Anna Evans

The exhibition will run in the library until next Tuesday 20th March. See below for an online slideshow of the wonderful works by Colaiste Chiarain students.

5th LCA class who organised the Art Exhitition

The prize winners from the Art Exhibition

Mental Health for 6th Years

The 6th Years attended an interactive talk today on the topic of mental health. Robert Carley, a motivational speaker and trainer shared his experience about the value of reaching out to someone who is feeling despondent with the simple phrase ‘You’re lovely, you’re lovable, your loved’. It was a timely talk for the 6th years as they face their final term to be reminded that looking after themselves and each other is paramount. The students were highly complimentary of Robert who encouraged them that if they can ‘dream it, they can do it!’ A survey conducted after the event revealed the hugely positive impact of the experience with 98% of those questioned saying that they would recommend the speaker to other students.

Col-exit!

2nd year students travelled to Holywood, Co. Down (just outside Belfast) to the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum today. Firstly, the students got to explore a recreation of a 19th century town complete with actors demonstrating skills such as baking on an open fire, printing and weaving. 

We then went to the transport museum where we saw vehicles including: old buses, trams, motorbikes and even aeroplanes. The exhibit housing artefacts related to The Titanic were of particular interest. For this scribe, the Belfast-built DeLorean was the star of the show however! 

Senior debating team through to last eight in the country.

St. Mary's Arklow proved tough opposition to our wonderful senior debating team of Saoirse Hyland (captain), Oisin Scanlon, Ellen Coburn and Saoirse Flattery but Colaiste Chiarain were thrilled to come away with the win. The team successfully opposed the motion 'To help achieve the SDGs, the ‘Robin Hood’ tax must be adopted globally'. Although a challenging motion for most of us to get our heads around, the team took to it with a flair and understanding that impressed the adjudicators and audience alike. Incredibly strong performances from each member of the team sees them now through to the top eight teams in the country. We wish them all the very best in the next debate and we would encourage as many students as possible to come and support the team. Details of the fixture will be available in the coming days and we will let you all know.