St Ciaran’s College

Easter 2018

On Monday, 12th March 2018 hundreds of people gathered in St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh for the annual Diocesan Faith Award Ceremony. This event, celebrated by Archbishop Eamon Martin, took place to rejoice in the gifts and talents of over 250 young people who were there to receive awards for volunteering in their respective parishes, communities and schools. Young people from all over the Archdiocese received awards, namely the Muiredach Cross Award and the Pope John Paul II Award. Pictured above are students who received their Pope John Paul Gold Award- Kevin Mc Cann, Michaela McCartan, Orlaith McGarvey, Ellen McCrory, Bronagh McAleer, Caoimhe Harte, Meabh Corrigan, Courtney McGuigan, Bethany Kane, Cara McElvogue, Grace Neill, Sean Muldoon, Sinead McKenna, Kristen Quinn, Nathan Gormley, Michele McCann and Niamh Begley. Missing from the photo are Jiri Klouda, Shauna Rafferty and Chloe Corr

Muiredach Cross Award recipients Dearbhla Hegarty, Louise McKenna, Aoife Kelly, Artur Szymanek, Dylan Wiggam, Niall Donnelly, Tiarnan Faulkner, Ryan Mahoney, Daryl

Liggett and Kevin Rafferty, pictured with their form teacher Miss Nugent.

Missing from the photo are Shane McDermott and Cuan McGuigan.

The students in St Ciaran’s College recently participated in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI), where each Year 10 class liaises closely with a local charity. The YPI school final presentation

event took place on Friday 9th March. The students delivered inspiring presentations on the charities Alone, the Brittle Bone Society, the Niamh Louise Foundation, the Termonmaguirc Cancer Patient’s

Comfort Fund and Tiny Life. The hard work that pupils have put into the programme was evident in the high standard of each presentation. The Niamh Louise Foundation, represented by Shania

Donnelly, Sarah Gallagher, Emma Carberry and Chloe Gillespie (pictured below with Mr Canavan, Head of Religion and their form teacher Mr Campbell) were the recipients of the cheque for £2000,

which will go towards supporting young people in the area of mental health.

YPI

Ciaran McAleer and Cathair Quinn who spoke about the Brittle Bone Society.

Top of this page: YPI finalists pictured with St Ciaran’s staff and senior students, and representatives from their various charities.

Above: Kate Hughes and Mary Traynor representing Alone.

Above right: Head Girl and Boy Meabh Corrigan and Sean Muldoon who formed part of the judging panel.

Right: Darragh McCarron with his brother Shea and Mum Marion and fellow classmates Roise McGinn, Oliver Sherry and Clodagh McMeel. Marion and Shea came in to chat with the group about the Omagh Down’s Syndrome Support Group.

The St Ciaran’s community had the honour of listening to the social rights activist and Jesuit priest Fr Peter McVerry. Fr Peter shared his experiences on a range of social issues that contribute to the increasing numbers of

homeless people on our streets. He outlined some of the principal causes, problems and suggested possible solutions.

Furthermore, he emphasised how affordable and social housing must be urgently provided in order to avoid a housing “catastrophe” in the near future. Currently there are 8,374 people homeless and living in state-funded

emergency accommodation in Ireland and alarmingly, 3,124 of these are children.

Fr Peter also spoke of how the homeless had helped to challenge his own views on society and how he viewed God. He warned against the dangers of judging other people and that those living on the edges of society wanted to be

treated with dignity more than anything else. If you want to help a homeless person on the street – (don’t buy them that sandwich, they may not like sandwiches !!) speak to them as you would anyone else and you might be

surprised by what you find. A most inspirational speaker who epitomises the famous quote from St Francis "Preach the Gospel at all times.

When necessary, use words."

FR PETER MCVERRY

STAFF AND STUDENTS PAST AND PRESENT PICTURED WITH FR PETER.

St Ciaran’s College were declared All Ireland runners up of the fourth annual Knights of St Columbanus Public Speaking Competition, held in Maynooth University on March 10th 2018.

All teams who participated should be congratulated for their involvement in this prestigious competition; delivering thought provoking speeches with passion and power, fully engaging their

audience.

The benefits for the students in building skills as well as self-esteem and self-confidence cannot be underestimated nor the capacity of the competition to project our values, ethos and reputation. We fully

appreciate all the preparatory work undertaken by staff with all the teams in all of the stages of the competition.

The RE/English departments have worked collaboratively over the last 4 years, and to date St Ciaran’s has had at least one team who have reached every All-Ireland final – in itself a remarkable feat and not

many secondary schools can make claim to this!

Of course, the most deserved congratulations is for our All-Ireland runners up – Dane Duffy [who stepped in for Caoimhe Harte], Rebecca Hughes and Grainne McKenna. They did us proud in Maynooth

and we are so very proud of all 4 pupils for this remarkable accomplishment.

Rebecca Hughes, Dane Duffy and Grainne McKenna pictured with the Supreme Knight and Mr McKenna, Head of English.

KNIGHTS OF ST COLUMBANUS

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2018 in St Ciaran’s College Ballygawley The staff and pupils of St. Ciarán’s College Ballygawley have been busy during Seachtain na Gaeilge encouraging all to use their “cúpla focal”.

The festivities began with the annual Irish language mass celebrated this year by Canon Dawson. Lynette Fay from the BBC presented “fáinní” to GCSE & A2 pupils in years 12 &14. This badge signifies their fluency in Irish.

Pupils in years 9 &10 enjoyed a céilí where they practiced the traditional céilí dances, accompanied by Irish traditional music. Pupils were also treated to a display from several local fantastic Irish dancers from Scoil Rince Ní Bhrogáin as part of the céilí.

These events were organised by the Irish language department as part of “Seachtain na Gaeilge”, Irish language week, which runs from 1st-17th March each year in an effort to promote the Irish language, “bain trial aisti”, surprise yourself today and give Irish a go!

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Ronan McLaughlin, a Product Development Chef with Linwoods spoke to year 10 Home Economics students about his work and career to date. Ronan shared his experiences of designing and creating new

dishes for Marks and Spencer along with his travels around the world eating in Michelin Star Restaurants and researching trendy foods. Ronan’s latest trip was to London where he visited various

restaurants sampling cauliflower steaks!

Chef and past student Stephen Holland from the Lough Erne Resort held a workshop with year 10 Home Economics students. Stephen brought along the ingredients for the two dishes he created and

demonstrated a variety of skills with the students. He also brought along some Ballycotton Smoked Salmon and Cooley Sea Salt, along with his home fermented vegetables and various sea

vegetables. Stephen emphasised the importance of buying local produce and supporting the local food industry.

HOME ECONOMICS

Junior students pictured with Henrietta receiving awards for their healthy eating choices in the canteen. Well done!

Congratulations to Wiktoria Kinder who gained a place on the 2018 Cambridge University Students’ Union Shadowing Scheme. Over 3000 students applied, with only 300 being accepted.

Wiktoria met a range of current Cambridge undergraduates and other sixth form students from across the country and got a real sense of what life at Cambridge was all about.

What a fantastic opportunity, well done again Wiktoria.

Year 14 raised £200 from their enterprise event on Shrove Tuesday and this was presented to Veronica Morris - director of fund raising for Charis Cancer Care.

Olivia Gormley St Patrick’s Aughadarragh who won the Open Night competition is pictured receiving her prize. Also in the photo

are her mum Julie, brothers Daniel and Vincent and Mrs McGirr and Mr Lavery.

CAREERS

Year 13 students took part in an Interview Assessment Day. Thanks to secured funding through Shared Education students participated throughout the day with Fivemiletown College students. Pupils completed an application form, sat an aptitude test, performed in group tasks and had an individual interview.

On behalf of St Ciaran’s College and Fivemiletown we want to thank local employers/businesses for giving up their time to help with the assessment day. Feedback from our pupils is excellent and it was an invaluable experience for all the students. Involvement from the world of work is vital if we are to prepare our students for the future, and industry links are critical for us to achieve this. Their expertise was fantastic and the feedback given to pupils was so informative and will enable their progression into the world of work.

Congratulations to Megan Tracey and Klaudia Grzywacz, pictured with Mrs McCarron, who have been successful in their application to participate in

the Queen’s University Pathway Opportunity Programme. Megan’s chosen subject area is Food, Microbiology and Environment, and Klaudia has

chosen a Civil Engineering Pathway. Both girls will be guaranteed conditional offers for QUB, reduced offer grades, and a £1000 bursary alongside other

benefits. Well done girls!

Congratulations to Katie McKeown and Austeja Norvilaite who have secured places on the Generation Innovation exciting new opportunity: Reimagining Work Experience. The world of work is changing at a rapid pace, job roles are evolving and new companies and industries are emerging.

It is time to prepare our young people to thrive as the future leaders of this new era. By participating in this programme, students will have the opportunity to gain real experience of work, contribute to solutions for innovation focused businesses and gain a greater understanding of career opportunities within the Knowledge Economy. This is an amazing opportunity for both girls and we

wish you luck in June!

GEOGRAPHY

NEWS

On Thursday 1st February, Year 13 AS Geography students travelled to Magilligan Field centre to carry out an AS sand dune investigation for AS Unit 3: Fieldwork Skills and techniques module.

Year 8 pupils can look forward to a visit in term 3 from Mantella- An interactive animal roadshow with a focus on tropical rainforests.

Year 11 GCSE Fieldwork will take place in term 3.

Year 12 GCSE Geography revision class will continue on Monday afternoons 3.45 – 5pm.

Year 13 AS Revision class will continue on Wednesday afternoons 3.45 – 5pm.

Year 8 Geography students recently designed and created 3D layer shading height models as part of their Year 8 Map Skills. The pupils created their models from a wide range of materials and resources that they had at home. All pupils participated in the activity with great effort and enthusiasm. Well

done to everyone!

Technology and Design

Pictured at the STEM Rotary Competition in SWC are year 10 students Cathal Donaghy, Kate Hughes, Padraig Muldoon, Aisling McCaughey, Sarah Boyle, Ruairí Canavan, Páidi Hamill and James Donnelly.

Year 13 students on a Health and Safety visit to Acheson and Glover accompanied by student teacher and past pupil Mr Donnelly.

Again this year the Year 8, 9 and 10 ICT students have been participating in the Hour of Code and beyond the Hour of Code activities to further their programming skills.

The students enjoyed the Minecraft world and using Scratch to create games and writing a computer program.

ICT

On Friday 19th January 2018 James Connor from Sentinus delivered a very insightful BringITon presentation to our Year 13 and 14 ICT and SSD students about the careers

on offer in the ICT/Computing sector.

Opposite page: Our contributing Primary School pupils enjoyed visits from staff and past pupils who

enthusiastically delivered presentations on life at St Ciaran’s.

Year 13 English A’Level students, Isabelle McCann and Grainne Mullin delivered a Creative Writing Programme in their old Primary School, St Brigid’s Altamuskin.

PRIMARY SCHOOL LINKS

Future Scientists in action at the Primary 6 STEM taster day.

OPEN NIGHT

Don’t forget our two fundraising events in term 3— great prizes to be won and great benefits for St Ciaran’s students!!!

Year 9 winners

Pauraic and Ryan McNelis pictured with Miss McNamara, Mr Lavery, Mr Canavan and Mr Lennon at the launch of our Golf Classic to be held on June 8th. Many local businesses have come on board with

sponsorship, and we will have on official launch event in April. This event will raise much needed funds for IT facilities in St Ciaran’s.

Mr Lavery is pictured with Miss Woods before she jetted off to Australia to participate in the Commonwealth Games as a member of the Northern Ireland Netball Team. We wish her a

safe journey and every success!