Coláiste Bríde Presentation Secondary School

Newsletter, September/October 2015

Guidance & Counselling Update CAO Parents Information Talk Tuesday, 20 October at 7:30 The Guidance Counsellors would like to invite parents of 5th and 6th Year students to an information talk in the school about applying to Colleges of Further Education (PLC Colleges) and the application process for Third Level through the CAO system. This talk is of utmost importance to parents of 6th Year students as they begin the application process in November 2015. The talk is designed to familiarise parents with the process and to enable them to support their daughters in their final year in second level. We look forward to seeing you. Higher Options Thursday 17th Sept 2015 Approximately 100 6th Year students from Coláiste Bríde travelled to the Higher Options Conference in the RDS. Talks included topics such as the options on offer in Irish and UK third level education, the CAO and UCAS admissions systems, alternative routes to third level through Further Education (Post Leaving Certificate Colleges –‘PLCs’), how to choose a career and how to cope with college life. Second Year Parents’ Talk John Lonergan met with 2nd Year Parents on 22nd September in Coláiste Bríde and spoke with them about parenting as their daughters go through the teenage years. He shared some anecdotes and insights into what to expect and how to cope and support them through second level.

Dear Parents / Guardians

The 2015/16 academic year has truly settled into rhythm and routine, filled with learning activities,

social bonding and information evenings for parents. All 1st year and new parents to the school are

particularly welcome and we trust that your daughter will enjoy and benefit from her journey in our

school community. Over the summer Mr Ryan was appointed Acting Principal in Presentation Wexford

and I know that parents, students and staff believe that our loss is their gain and his

promotion is testament to the great team of teachers here in our school and we wish

him every success.

I wish to acknowledge the excellent Leaving Certificate results, with 585 points being

awarded to our highest achiever. A large proportion of our girls were very successful

in achieving places through the CAO for higher level education and many others are pursuing courses at

further education. Congratulations to the girls and their families. Added to this was great success at

Junior Cycle, where one of our girls was identified as among the top students in Ireland for Maths and

Science—a great achievement. We continue to inspire and encourage our girls to work

at their best ability, to strive for success and make a difference in society. I wish to

commend everyone involved in College for Every Student (CFES) where over the

summer we were awarded School of Distinction status for our work in the

Programme. “Tús maith, leath na hOibre”, now lean ar Aghaidh

Students leaving school premises early

…..

All parents are reminded to familiarise

themselves with all of the school rules in

your daughter’s journal or on the website.

Please pay particular attention to the rules

for students leaving school early for any

reason.

1. Write a note in your daughters jour-

nal for her to show her tutor / class

teacher

2. Call the office / reception to confirm

that you have given your daughter a

note to leave early

The Rainbows Programme will begin again at the beginning of October . Rainbows is a peer support programme to assist children and adolescents who are grieving a death, separation or other painful transition

in the family. If you would like your daughter to take part in the Rainbows Programme please con-tact Sr Anne Nevin or Ms Bríd Patten through the school reception at (01) 459 1158.

As First Year Year Head I would like to welcome all of our new students to Coláiste Bríde. The new group of First years are settling in and coping well with the big transition to Secondary School. It is a daunting time but there are many people including tutors, teachers, the guidance team, mentors and office staff to help them settle in to their new school. We had a great day on Thursday 1st October at our First Year Bonding Day. Students got to know other girls from across all groups and took part in fun activities such as boxercise, crochet, meditation, a forensic science experiment, magnet making and a drama workshop

with our talented tutors. The students are to be commended on their behaviour, appearance and attendance and we would like this to continue. Good attendance and a positive attitude to school are vital to their success. We look forward to another celebration on Thursday 8th October when we will enjoy the Cheerios Childline Breakfast together in the canteen. The one euro donation will go directly to Childline. I hope that your daughter is enjoying their experience with us in Coláiste Bríde. I wish them a happy and successful year.

Sallyann White (Year Head).

Welcome to all of our new First Year Students!

South Dublin Sports Partnership Coláiste Bríde are delighted to be working with South Dublin Sports Partnership to promote participation in sport at a local level. Transition year groups are involved in coaching Tag Rugby, Cricket, Volleyball and Gaelic Football as part of their PE programme. Volunteers Including Amy Kenealy (Irish Cricket player) come in to coach the girls how to play and then the students complete a coaching course in that sport. It is a great oppor-tunity for the students to get involved in sport.

National Wellread Award In an effort to promote literacy and a reading culture in the school Coláiste Bríde is competing for the National Wellread Award this year. As part of the scheme all the school community staff/parents/students who have an interest in read-ing are invited to review any book they read at any point and found interesting. Review forms can be found at reception or for students in the school library which opens every Monday and Wednesday at 1:25 in G10

The Transition Year students have been

extremely busy these last few weeks,

between getting soaking wet at Baltinglass

and showcasing their creativity for the

Bridge 21 Programme at Trinity College.

The activities at Baltinglass included canoe-

ing rock-climbing, zip-lining, and archery.

From this, it is clear that our TYs have had

a blast-off start to the year, and are excited

to see what next awaits!

Megan Plummer

Hi my name is Aoife Dunne and I’m a TY student

here at Coláiste Bríde. On the day of our Junior Cert

results the whole of TY, along with out tutors were

brought on a trip to Baltinglass in Co. Wicklow. We

left bright and early at 7a.m and luckily for us the

weather was great! When we got there we were put

into our class groups and my class, TYC, got to do

Kayaking first. Some girls didn’t take part but the

ones who did got stuck in and had a great time, and

only a few girls ruined their fake tan!! We also got

to do archery, rock climbing, zip lining and

orienteering. It was honestly the most fun I’d had in

ages. I felt that going on the trip was a great

experience and really helped to calm my nerves about

getting my results, as I’d say most girls would agree. t

gave me a chance to get to know my new class and to

make some new friends. It was definitely a day to

remember and will probably be one of my highlights

of TY!

NEWS

Coláiste Bríde, Presentation Secondary

School in Clondalkin has been awarded the British Council’s International School

Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. The Inter-national School Award is recognition for

schools that do outstanding work in interna-tional education, such as through links with

partner schools overseas. Schools are award-ed the Intermediate Certificate for developing their international work. The British Council

believes that fostering an international dimen-sion in the

curriculum is essential so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need to live and work as global citizens.

European Day of Languages

Friday September 25th marked European Day of

Languages and the occasion was celebrated all over

Europe ... and on social media! This day is a great

way to celebrate young people learning European

languages and it aims to highlight the importance of

language learning to promote cultural and linguistic

diversity and understanding in Europe. At least half

of the world's population is bilingual and this day

aims to remind us that learning a second language

improves all language skills as well as cerebral re-

flexes and thinking processes!

Here in Coláiste Bríde French, Italian, Spanish and

Polish are the European languages taught in the

school and we want our girls to be proud of their

learning!

Students submitted beautiful posters for the Poster

Competition and on Friday most students & teachers

dressed up in different ways to represent the country

of the language they learn! Berets, Breton stripes,

curly moustaches, mime artists, pizza outfits and

pasta shell jewellery are some of the paraphernalia

that made the cut! Croissants of course were the or-

der of the day and TY student Hollie Dunne ap-

pealed to local bakers for donations for our event.

Well done & merci beaucoup Hollie. The day was a

great success and we look forward to next year al-

ready! Ho la la!

Inspiring Science at Summer Camp

In July students from five local primary schools

(Scoil Mhuire, Scoil Ide, Our Lady Queen of Apostles

Clonburris, Scoil Aine, and Sacred Heart

National School Sruleen) attended the summer

camp in Coláiste Bride. 14 students from 4th, 5th

and 6th class attended the workshops. On the first

day students made sun-dials and used them to tell

the time. They also learned how to locate the car-

dinal points (North, South, East and West),

locate the constellations and search for planets us-

ing the iphone app SkyView. The makers of the

SkyView app tweeted us to say that they were

‘ecstatic’ we were using their app for education

purposes. On the second day the students ex-

plored the Solar System using the free astronomy

software Stellarium. They explored the sky at night

on their birth dates, looked for shooting stars, the

moon, the milky way, they explored time travel,

watched the recent solar eclipse in March 2015,

saw the night sky for their birth dates, examined

the surface of the moon and searched for other

planets in the solar system. What a busy time these

young local astronomers had! The Inspiring Science

team hope that we see these bud-

ding astronomers in our Science

classes in Coláiste Bríde soon.

2015 marks 20 years of Science Week; a national,

annual event that celebrates the fascinating

worlds of science, technology, engineering and

mathematics (STEM).

This year's theme is Science Week 2.0: Design Your

Future and is an opportunity to explore and

experience the wonder of science.

There will be a number of events happening in

Coláiste Bríde this year. We are all excited about

the arrival of Dee Kelleghan (@skysketcher). Dee

is an artist astronomer educator. She invents,

designs and enacts creative workshops to help

students understand our solar system.

Be inspired and get involved! Follow all things

Science in Coláiste Bríde on twitter at @ISE_CB.

Science Week

November 8th—15th 2015

Oct 20th CAO Information Talk for Parents of 5th & 6th year students

Oct 26th—30th Mid-term Break

Nov 3rd 4.15-6.45pm 6th Year Parent / Teacher Meeting

Nov 9th 7pm Registration Night for Incoming First Years 2016/17

Nov 16th—Fri 27th LCA Work Experience

Nov 17th 4.15-6.45pm 3rd Year Parent / Teacher Meeting

Dates for your Diary

LCVP trip to

Trinity College Dublin

Our 5th year students enjoyed a great morning in Trinity

College last Tuesday September 29th. After meeting at the

famous gates at 9 o clock the group made their way to the

College of Nursing and Midwifery for a talk by Dr Ronan

Smith. Dr Smith is heavily involved in the College For Every

Student (CFES) programme. This programme aims to increase

student participation at 3rd level from families where 3rd level

was traditionally viewed as a remote possibility. Dr. Smith

spoke of the Trinity Access Programme (TAP.), involving 20

secondary schools in Dublin including Coláiste Bríde. This is

an access course that prepares students to go on and study for

a degree in Trinity College. Students who successfully

complete the course receive a Certificate in Foundation

Studies from Trinity College. Students who get a grade of at

least 50% can compete for places on degree courses in Trinity.

The course is free. https://www.tcd.ie/Trinity_Access/

Dr. Smith also spoke of the HEAR (Higher Education Access

Route) which is a scheme for school leavers from socio-

economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Eligible students

compete for a number of reduced points places in various

courses. In 2014, 186 students accepted places in Trinity

through HEAR. https://www.tcd.ie/Trinity_Access/

prospective/higher.php

Our students then got a guided tour of the college from a

Coláiste Bríde past pupil - Jennifer O Dwyer Donohue. The

students learned that Trinity has almost 17000 students, made

up of 118 nationalities. It has a very lively social life with 120

societies and 48 sports clubs. Our students certainly enjoyed

their visit and more importantly are now seriously considering

Trinity as their future college of choice.

LCA Induction Day

As part of the Induction and

bonding day for LCA

students, 28 students set off

for Causey Farm. We started

the morning by baking

bread. Great fun was had

catching eggs and the students baked up a storm! Ac-

tivities such as milking a cow (a bucket list goal of one

of the students that was achieved!), catching chickens

(almost a new record set!) and feeding the horses kept

us busy all morning. The highlight of the trip had to be

the bog. The students were slow to jump into the bog

at first but once one student got in they all started!

Mucky and hungry we ended the

afternoon by enjoying the bread that we baked that

morning. Well done to all those who embraced the

experience and gave their all on the day! We had a

great time with you!

Ms D McArdle, Ms Costello and Caroline

Enrolment for First Year 2016/17

now taking place

Administration fees 2015-16

Many thanks to all of those who have paid their administration fees for 2015/16. Students who have yet to pay for this year may submit payment to the office. Please keep in mind that only students who have paid this administration fee will be covered by the schools 24 hour personal accident insurance for the school year.

All junior students are invited to put their

thinking hats on and write a spooky short

story (1 page) or poem based around Hal-

loween… the scarier the better!!

There will be prizes for the most nail bit-

ing entries from each year… plus the win-

ning entries will be entered into a South

Dublin Libraries competition to win Lei-

sureplex vouchers…. So start writing.

Entries can be given to your English teach-

er or put in the entry box in reception by

Fri 16th Oct.