CB Newsletter December 2022

Coláiste Bríde Christmas 2022

As we draw the year 2022 to a close I would like to wish parents, guardians and students a very Happy Christmas. I feel very lucky to see so many wonderful young people excel, develop new skills, move out of their comfort zones, form new friendships, make mistakes, learn from them and above all else attend school each day to learn something new. Remember success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in day out.

I am always grateful at this time of year when we begin to reflect on all that has been achieved. Our students continue to shine bright and amaze us each and every day. This is sometimes through academic excellence or sporting achievements. However, equally impressive is the student who picks themselves up, puts their uniform on and through even the most difficult times makes their way into Coláiste Bríde. As a school community we value all students and we are here to support in any way we can. I hope that students have felt the spirit of peace, joy, hope and love within our community this year. I hope that our core values of respect and kindness filter into your homes this Christmas.

May I wish you all a restful holiday where you can prioritise rest, restoration and reflection as a family. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of our own CB family. Our teachers, SNA’s, Admin Team, Cleaners and Caretakers who combined make this school such a very special place.

Ronan, Acting Principal

Nollaig Shona

Ms.

ACTIVE SCHOOL FLAG

Secret Santa Search

During December, the ASF class have been carrying out the secret Santa search. This is a fun activity where, from first year to TY, students take part in activities to get clues to find out who the secret Santa is. Our ASF team has been assigned to different classes in each year's group. Each class gets to guess who the Secret Santa is when they do all the activities and have the clues. The classes that guess correctly win a prize! We hope you have fun searching!

In Suburban Sounds, a group of us students have been composing and playing songs over the last few weeks. Some of us sing, play guitar, bass, glockenspiel, or drums. We meet each Wednesday to share ideas and practice our music, and eventually, we will record our songs in a studio. In a week or two, we will be playing one of our songs in front of the school in the Christmas Concert. It's an exciting opportunity for those of us that want a career in music, or even for those of us who simply enjoy creating something. It's not something most students would have the opportunity to do, and so far, I've really enjoyed Suburban Sounds!

5 T H Y E A R M E N T O R S

Our Fifth Year Mentors have been linking really closely with our First Year students as they began their journey into Coláiste Bríde. They have visited tutor times, took part in First Year Bonding Day, shared really helpful tips and tricks and have been on hand to lead the way through the corridors to help the students learn how to locate the many different rooms in the building. These senior students have shone their light and stepped straight into our school motto ‘To Teach To Guide To Form’ by giving it back to their school community with their solid advice, kind words and by showing what it looks like to lead by example. As a thank you to them for giving it their all in playing a vital role in our First Years’ journey, our mentors enjoyed a hot chocolate afternoon and a special token of appreciation from our School Completion Programme Liaison Officer on Wednesday November 7th.

5th Year Bonding Day

Our Fifth Year students enjoyed a day full of creativity, being physically active, laughter (& plenty of singing!) on October 27th when they took part in their official Bonding Day. The day saw the students take part in karaoke, obstacle courses and learning how to create special effects makeup before coming together to practice some self-care & wellbeing exercises using the tab in their school journal. We ended this fabulous day with a whole year group event called ‘Music Bingo’. The students (and teachers!!) went head to head to see who could name the song the quickest, before ending with a student & teacher sing song. A huge well done to all of our Fifth Year students for getting so involved and showing lots of school spirit to their amazing tutors for going above & beyond in organising such a memorable

My name is Beatrice, and I attended my first week of “Bridge to college”, from the 15th of November to the 18th of November. It was a very fun experience that I would recommend to everyone. On the first day we all got separated into two groups. The groups were called USA and Germany. We were mixed with Moyle Park, Holy Family CS and Drimnagh Castle Secondary school. Our first activity was an ice breaker. We had a plastic long stick and we all had to put the back of our middle and index finger on the stick. On the count of three we had to all lower the stick until the stick touched the ground. It was very hard because if you didn’t pay attention the stick would go up and if you took your finger off the stick, the whole group had to start again. After this activity in our main group (USA or Germany) we got put in smaller groups of 4 or 5 people. This was our set group for the rest of the week. Throughout the week we brainstormed different things everyday like what can you do with an orange. One the first day we had to make a 60 second movie with our group. It was fun because everyone had different ideas. On the second day we had to come up with a product/ service of the future. Then we had to make a radio ad, advertisement and a poster about it. We all got to present our idea to our main group. The next day we played a NASA survival game. We were given a list of survival products and we had to rate them from the most important to the least. Then we played the Brain game. In this game we got in contact with the “Brain”, and we had to organize a charity event for a chosen charity. The “Brain” could cancel at any time or not answer at all. My team and I organized the event, and we were finished. Unfortunately, the “Brain” cancelled at the last 30 seconds, and we had no event. This was very frustrating, but it was fun working as a team. I enjoyed spending the lunch break in the games room.

By Beatrice Gherca

CB CELEBRATION OF LANGUAGE

In November, the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Department held the Celebration of Languages Day in Coláiste Bríde. Students were encouraged to dress up in the colours representing the language they study (Italian, French, Spanish, Polish). There was a great effort put in by students who wore berets and stripy tops, French and Italian flag colours and even pizza t-shirts. There was also a poster competition for 1st and 2nd Years with prizes for the winners. Mr. McEntegart and Ms. Ronan even made some announcements on the intercom in French..... oh là là! We also had croissants and a staff quiz, and some of our teachers dressed up!

Thank you to all those who took part!

Merci beaucoup / Grazie mille / Muchas gracias / Dzięki)

The MFL Team

My name is Bláthnaid Carroll and I'm in Rang Naoise in 3rd Year. I was lucky enough to take part in the Italy exchange this year. This was my first time going on holiday outside of Ireland and it was definitely the most memorable time ever! I really enjoyed this trip. I met so many new people, tried new foods and overall had the best time. My favourite part of the trip was meeting our pen pals. They were all so lovely and fun. I can't wait to see them all again when they visit us in January. I loved seeing different landmarks in Milan, especially the Duomo, which is a really big cathedral in the main square. It was so beautiful in real life. We also visited a Gelateria and had real Italian gelato. It was delicious, along with the pizza! We went shopping too in the Arese shopping centre in Milan. All the shops were so good. We also took a day trip to Lake Como and went on a boat trip. During our trip to Italy, we spent 2 days in our pen pals' school! We went to classes with them. Their school was really different to CB. I would love to go back to Italy, and I can't wait for our new friends to come to Ireland. Thanks so much to our teachers Ms. Whearty, Ms. Walsh and Mr. Flynn for bringing us on this trip and for this memorable experience.

Science Week 2022 was fun and educational for all students. Announcements were made every morning introducing scientists that have had an impact on the world and why their scientific discoveries are important to us today. Many different events took place throughout the

week including the Devastatingly Dramatic Climate Show with Scientific Sue and the Creepy Creatures with Dr. Dunbar . Different year groups participated in quizzes and events, advancing their knowledge on science and the world around us. There was also a poster competition open to all students focusing on the theme “Infinite Possibilities”, where winners received an amazing drinking bird similar to Albert who lives in G22! As part of Science Week, the Exploration Dome visited the school last week and all 2nd years got to see some shows. These covered the constellations, a journey into the human body and investigating whether life exits elsewhere in the Universe.

By Robyn Power, 6th Year Science Prefect

By Mawandy Mbhele

As the Christmas holidays are approaching, I would like to thank the school for the commitment and kindness towards me. As class captain, I enjoy the experience of being asked questions, being a ‘go-to’, but also, I enjoy witnessing the hardwork and persistence of my classmates. Personally, being class captain aside, I am finding First Year is running nice and smoothly, the teachers are understanding and I enjoy the atmosphere in the school. So far, I have really enjoyed: Science Week, the poster competitions, the Christmas card making and the may other activities carried out. I also like the availability of sports areas and study areas. At lunchtimes, I get lots of use out of clubs such as the Learning Hub, and I know others enjoy afterschool activities like Maths Club. I am a member of choir too and I feel glad when we sing in the unity of song. My advice to other First Years would be, have fun and just do your best! Happy Christmas Everyone.

College Awareness Week is one of the highlights of the Coláiste Bríde year and is always action packed. College Awareness Week is a national campaign that aims to raise aspirations and awareness of limitless opportunities in the world of education

beyond secondary school. Every student is encouraged to broaden their horizons and to dream big. All students participated in an activity as part of #CAW2022. for our Junior Cycle Students These included College and Career Scavenger hunts, Careers Profiles Posters. The 5thYears were treated to a motivational talk by Dr Ebun Joseph and the 6th Years heard from Trinity Access TAP Ambassadors who spoke about their experiences of the foundation year programme and alternative routes to college. UCD delivered a talk on their courses, and we made trips to Crumlin College of Further Education with LCA students and to Maynooth University and to Trinity College with 6th years. The Guidance team would really like to thank all the staff of Coláiste Bríde for their support. We would also like to thank the Career Prefects, Alannah, Amy Quinn and Charlie Marshall for their help throughout the week. We encourage parents to continue the conversations at home as the students reflect on the week and on their future hopes and dreams.

Our Multicultural prefects, under the guidance of Ms O'Gorman, have put together the most beautiful edition of The Language Corner Newsletter. Scan the QR Code to read in full!

SCAN ME

MeetournewHomeSchoolCommunityLiaisonOfficer...

Hello, my name is Sallyann White and I have recently been appointed as Home School Community Liaison Coordinator in Coláiste Bríde. I am delighted to take on this new role and we are thrilled to have been allocated this position in our school for the first time I have been a teacher here for many years (too long to count!) and have seen so many students progress to reach their potential in their chosen careers The scheme, (HSCL), is designed to support students through creating a partnership between parents/guardians, the local community and school You play the central role in your child’s education and together we can help our students to grow and flourish in Coláiste Bríde As part of my work, I may get the opportunity to meet some of you during home visits, where I can listen, offer advice, and perhaps provide information around concerns you may have about your child in school. These visits may be unannounced, pre-arranged or by request My role is purely to support you in your dealings with Coláiste Bríde and to help create and maintain positive relationships between our school and the families of our students

I am also part of the pastoral care team whose role is to support and promote the welfare and wellbeing of all students in the school. I hope to organise courses and activities for parents/guardians on a range of topics, in our beautiful school We welcome your involvement in school and you are always most welcome Our aim is to achieve the best outcome for your child I look forward to meeting you and please feel free to contact me at the following number: 0830720483

Monday and Tuesday-8.40a.m-3.45p.m Wednesday-8.40a.m-3.55p.m Thursday-8.40a.m-2.10p.m Friday-8.40a.m-1.10p.m

1st Year Homework Club

Our 1st Year Homework Club is a really helpful afterschool space where our students can come to get help with any of their subjects, discover useful study skills tips, learn how to organise their workload, or simply engage in some group work & build relationships with their classmates. Our Senior Student ‘Learning Leaders’ also pop in regularly to share their tips and tricks with our junior students. A bite to eat, a drink and access to laptops & wifi is also provided throughout the club. We have teachers from a wide range of subjects who are on hand to help wherever they are needed. Here is what some of our members (both past and present) have to say…

‘Homework Club helps me get organised and I love that I can ask a teacher for any help I need so I am not stuck on the same thing for ages.’- Sophie Carroll, 1st Year. ‘I really like how I have my own laptop in Homework Club, I can go on Teams and get my notes really easily and my homework never takes me as long as it would at home.’- Ceadaoin Doyle Timmins, 1st Year.

‘Going to Homework Club last year made First Year so much easier and I think I settled into my classes and work better because of it. I have taken a lot of the skills I learned in Homework Club with me into Second Year (especially making lists and ticking each thing off!) - Brooke O’Sullivan, 2nd Year.

Homework Club runs every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday after your daughter is in First Year and would like to join, please encourage to me or pop me an email at aroche@colaistebride.com.

The First Years are creating such a positive year spirit by designing Christmas Cards for one another. So many beautiful displays and enthusiasm shown to ensure that everyone in their year group receives a Christmas Card.

There are over 100 Well Done Cards being sent out to First Years this term. A fabulous mixture of hard work, kindness and commitment demonstrated to earn these cards. Thank you to the teachers for continuing to reward and encourage our students.

Each year our Christmas card is designed by one of our students. The theme for this years card was Joy.

The winning design came from Tove Turner with the inside graphic designed by Tara Kelly.

Huge thank you to all of the students who entered, you