Easter Newsletter 2024

COLÁISTE BRÍDE

Easter Newsletter - march 2024

A word from Ms O’Brien

As we approach the end of this term, we want to take a moment to celebrate the remarkable efforts of our students We commend each student for their hard work, positive attitude, and contributions to our school community in what has been an eventful term From academic achievements to extracurricular involvement, our students have excelled in so many aspects of school life this term

Our recent Wellbeing Week was a resounding success Students participated in mindfulness sessions, Active Flag events, and delved into discussions on how we may support and prioritise mental health and wellbeing We appreciate your support in emphasizing the importance of self-care and emotional well-being throughout this celebratory week and indeed throughout the school year

As we head into our last term, we encourage our students to use this time wisely Oral examinations which are taking place over the Easter Break, will be an important milestone for our exam students For those in exam years, diligent preparation is crucial and as always we encourage your child to use every opportunity to practice speaking confidently and articulately in order to meet their potential during the oral examinations

For our 3rd and 6th year students, the state exams are now a number of weeks away, and while we encourage all students to use this break to recharge, it should also be a time where our exam students set aside some time for revision purposes

Finally, we wish our entire school community, a restful and rejuvenating Easter break Take this time to recharge, spend quality moments with family & friends, and return refreshed for the final stretch of the academic year

Thank you for your continued support

Annachtaí na féile na Casca daoibh go léir

Niamh O’Brien

Deputy Principal

WELLBEING WEEK

ACTIVE SCHOOL FLAG

BASKETBALL & CAMOGIE TEAMS

TROCAIRE BAKESALE

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY & ALL THINGS END OF YEAR!!

WELLBEING WEEK 2024

Wellbeing Week really has become the jewel in the CB crown! Both staff and students look forward to this week every year, it gives us all a chance to learn some new skills around destressing and resetting, but also to have some fun! Unsuprisingly, this year did not disappoint!!

As they say if it aint broke don’t fix it!! So with that in mind we had some old favourites such as the Silent Disco and Bring your Dog to School Day. We kicked off every day with the Morning Mile and our Wake Up Shake Up Dance and were met at the door with our always enthusiastic CB drummers, just what’s needed to wake you up in the morning!! The music continued with Karaoke sessions in the canteen and a Battles of the Bands competition between our CB girls and some brave Moyle Park boys!! We introduced lots of new activities such as Music Bingo, Meditation Monday, an intro to Journaling and Gratitude practice, Obstacle courses, a trip to Jumpzone and even a Roller Disco!! After it’s massive success on it’s debut last year, The CB Masked Singer returned for another hilarious turn. Our talented staff pulled out all the stops as usual. The screams for that one were deafening! Staff were treated to yoga sessions, meditation and even reflexology! Huge thanks to Ms Moynihan, Ms Kelly and Ms Purcell for looking after everyone. Our Active Schools Flag teamed put lots of activities together to get everyone moving, Olympics for each year group, Capture the Flag, tug of wars, staff v student dodgeball, we had it all!! We finished off the week with the most fun activity of all - The CB Colour Run!

Huge thanks to Ms Lawlor and the Student Council for all the hard work that went into putting this amazing week together. Can't wait to see what's in store for next year!!

WELLBEING WEEK 2024

1st Yr NEWS - Ms. Bracken

First Years have had a very busy few weeks again enjoying their very first experience of Wellbeing week!! They got to take part in so many activities We had the Silent Disco where they got to bust some moves with myself and their deputy principal Ms O’Brien and the principal Ms Ronan They took part in karaoke, a 1st Year Olympics, got to meet my dog Koby and share their own pet photos, they even got to see me and their tutor Mr McGrenra dressed as Olaf and Mario during the Masked Singer!!

We had an amazing workshop with Stephen James Smith, a very talented spoken word poet Our assemblies continued with Birthdays of the Month and a new prize for locker of the week went to Katie Gallagher The week finished off with the amazing Colour Run, such a fun positive note to end the week on Everyone really enjoyed their first Wellbeing Week and will no doubt be looking forward to what next years brings!

Our 1st Year Parent/Guardian Teacher meeting was a huge success and parental/guardian engagement was fantastic with a 92% turnout. Thank you to all the parents/guardians for making a great effort to engage with CB and teachers.

Wishing you all a restful Easter break and we look forward to welcoming you back on Monday April 8th for the final term!

2nd YEAR NEWS - Ms McConkey

Trinity College campus tour (Tap)

As a part of Wellbeing Week in Coláiste Bríde, us Second Years got to take part in a trip to Trinity College When we first went in, we got to sit in a lecture hall while one of the professors gave us a presentation on Trinity’s activities and access programmes We were separated into groups, each group having one of the students attending the college show us around and tell us about all the different buildings We got to see the “Sfera con sfera” (or sphere within a sphere), which is one of only thirteen in the entire world Personally, the Trinity trip was one of my favourite parts of Wellbeing Week and I know that a lot of other students enjoyed it just as much as I did We’re all super grateful that we got to have this experience with each other, all thanks to Wellbeing Week

By Sophie Cullen

JCSP Cinema Trip

The Second Year JCSP classes enjoyed a trip to the cinema in The Square, Tallaght on Wednesday 13th March Madame Web was the film we chose to see and it was a wonderful way to spend a day We are very thankful for opportunities like these

1st Year Literacy Quiz

As part of World Book Day, a number of 2nd Years ran a Literacy Quiz for the 1st Years during Wellbeing Week. The JCSP class thought of questions over a period of 3 weeks and bought prizes for the winners. We set up the GPA, formed groups of 8 and handed out answer sheets. The 2nd Years led the way in reading out the questions and answers, as well as collecting and correcting the answer sheets. The 1st Year winning team ‘Pink’ were delighted with their prize of a large chocolate bar.

By Amelia Gorszcsyk

Slime Making Workshop

As part of Wellbeing Week, a group of six students in the JCSP class decided to host a slime-making workshop in one of our Home Ec rooms at lunch time. We bought the necessary ingredients and announced it over the intercom to promote the event. This was a hugely popular activity. It went great and everyone had fun making slime!

By Holly Keane and Faye Doherty

2nd YEAR NEWS - Ms McConkey

wellbeing week

Wellbeing Week began on the 4th March and, on that day, everyone coming into school was welcomed by Ms. Wall’s 2nd Year music students, doing the samba drumming. For the first class a wake-up shake-up dance video was uploaded. The wake-up shake-up was a video of two TY students doing dances to different songs and we had to follow their dance moves. Everyone had lots of fun and it was a great way to start our first class.

On Tuesday there was a whole school event for the last two classes. All the students went to the PE hall and a lot of activities happened there. A singer came to our school named Luke Clerkim. We also had masked singers who were teachers.

On Wednesday, the JCSP class had an amazing time roller skating in the PE hall for their first class. Also, on Wednesday for the last class all the 2nd year students had an obstacle course. Thursday brought a Silent Disco for the year group, a fun way to get moving and enjoy music. On our last day of Wellbeing Week, which was on Friday, our school organised a color run, which is when you run around on the field and there are people who throw powdered chalk at you, so you get covered in different colors. It's a very fun activity and a nice way to end the week.

We feel very lucky to experience all of these activities. We are grateful to the people who make it happen because it does make a difference. Thank you from the 2nd Years for Wellbeing Week.

By Anastasia Chiosa

Story Competition

Two JCSP students, named Frankie Beggs and Janna Hasan, conducted a whole-school competition in the form of story writing The prize was a 50 euro voucher for Easons We designed the posters to advertise the competition around the school, promoted it through announcements over the intercom, and read the entries before announcing the deserving winner We love promoting literacy in our school and giving students opportunities to shine

By Run Y Jannatul Hasan & Frankie Beggs

TY Mini Company

Mr Cuttle & Ms Madden's TY Mini-Company classes hosted a very successful Trade Fair in G5/G6 selling their products at lunchtime on the 20th February There was a great turnout and lots of money made!

The following week all groups presented their Business plans Dragons Den style in the Boardroom Well done to all groups involved they put in so much time and effort

The judges had a tough job but ultimately 4 winning groups were picked to go on and represent the school at the Foroige NFTE Regional Finals Well done to all who took part and our 4 finalist companies - Charmified, Diamond Angelz, Grá Milís, & Music Memories

Ag Science Road Trip!!

On March 13th the 5th Ag Science class attended UCD Lyons estate research farm. It was an amazing opportunity to get up close and personal with the animals, a first for many of our students! It also gave them a chance to see the workings of the farm and how their Ag Science knowledge could turn into a very rewarding career!

Active School Flag

During Active Schools Week our ASF class organised a series of events for each year.

TYs and first years had an Olympics where all rangs competed against each other in different events such as long-distance running, sack race, egg and spoon race etc. The winning rangs, which were TYB and Rang Ronan, then got ice-cream on Thursday for their amazing Olympic skills – well done!!!

The second year JCSP class had a great time roller-skating and even a couple of teachers joined in! The rest of second years then had a challenging obstacle course to complete, the competitiveness between the rangs made the atmosphere in the hall amazing.

3rd years had a very intense bench-basketball tournament, there was never a dull moment between these rangs. Between the shouting, roaring and cheering their teammates the 3rd years seemed to have a great time being active for the 2 hours.

Our 5th years had a great game of “Capture the Flag” in their World Book Day Costumes! This tournament brought classes together to work as a team as they all knew that ice cream was the prize!

For our final event, the ASF class held a Whole School Colour Run. The fun that was had throughout this event was exactly what we hoped for. A big event to mark the last day of Wellbeing Week and ASW was a hit! Olympic break dancer Leon Dwyer started off our races by setting off the colour canons. Safe to say no one was going home clean last Friday!

Sporting News

The Return of Camogie to CB!!

On Monday March 11th Coláiste Bríde fielded our first U14 Camogie team after what I was told was a long absence from the pitch! Commercials and Round Towers girls represented the school were we unfortunately bumped into an extremely strong Scoil Mhuire of Clane

We trained for 6 weeks before this game and will continue to do so until the summer break, Hopefully a local match could take place on Monastery Road before the year is out There is a great buzz around the revival of Camogie and we am hoping it will now be an ever-present fixture in the school

MrO'Brien, Ms Keogh and TY Camogie Captains

Basketball News

Well done to all the students in the U-19 and U-16 Basketball teams in their 2023 season. Congratulations to both the 1st and 2nd year Basketball teams who were in top spots during their season, until they unfortunately lost out in the semi finals. We are so proud of them all for how hard they work, they never gave up and kept pushing until the last second!! We will keep training and no doubt come back stronger!!

CB Abú!!

Our very own Caoimhe Gilligan is heading off to Dundee next month as part of Ireland’s U18's squad to take part in the 4 Nations Basketball Tournament Caoimhe is a huge talent and we are so proud of her Best of luck Caoimhe, we know you’ll smash it!!

Bake Sale in aid of Trócaire

As part of Well-Being Week our TYD Religion class decided to organise a bake sale to raise funds for Trócaire. We discussed the Lenten message of Loving your Neighbour in class and decided that one of the ways we could do this was by giving back to those less fortunate.

Trócaire is a charity organisation that has helped over 1.5 million people in 23 different countries just last year! Trócaire helps to provide food, shelter and basic household items to those in need. Here in Coláiste Bríde, we believe it is vital that organisations like this gain awareness and are promoted by our students!

We spent time during our RE class discussing the meaning of Lent. We talked about things we could give up during Lent, and also ways that we would give back to those less fortunate. When the idea of a Bake Sale came up, we knew it would be a success. We thought there would be no better time to do it than during WellBeing week. After all, giving back to those less fortunate is a huge part of everyone’s wellbeing!

We held the Bake Sale in the GPA during lunch time on Tuesday the 5th of March We had RE class before lunch and used that time to put together the display of cakes, buns, brownies, and more! We also priced all the items and made it clear that the bake sale was for charity

Our Bake Sale was hugely successful, and we raised €240 for Trócaire. Running this Bake Sale was really rewarding and fun. We always talk about CEIST values in our school, and sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where they can be seen. We think that by running this Bake Sale and raising awareness for Trócaire, we could really see the CEIST values shining through in our class.

By Lily Jo Cooke & Isabelle O’Loughlin

Dates to Note!

April 8: School Reopens

May 6,7,8: School closed (3 Days)

May 22: TY Grad & Awards 7.00 - 9.30pm

May 24: School Awards & House exams begin

May 24: Leaving Cert Graduation 7.00 - 9.30pm

May 31: School closes @ 1pm for summer holidays

New JC Book Scheme

Move to TYRO

As notified via email the week of March 18th, we are replacing our current school administration system, VSware, with a new system called TYRO. You will receive all instructions in the coming week via email so please check your spam folders! There will be 3 x €100 vouchers up for grabs for all those who successfully download the app! Check your email over the Easter break for more info!!

As you may be aware the Department of Education have announced a free book scheme for all Junior Cycle students. The logistics of this scheme are still being finalised. We hope to have more details shortly and will notify you via email as soon as we know more.

State Exams

Junior Cert exams being on Wednesday 5th June and run until Monday 17th June.

Leaving Cert exams begin on Wednesday 5th June and run until Tuesday 25th June.

Leaving Cert Applied exams begin on Wednesday 5th June and run until Thursday 13th June.

See www.examinations.ie for full timetables.

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