Nessan's Newsletter May Edition
The Year Ahead Third Term Monday 28th April 2014 to Friday 30th May 2014 State Examinations Commence on Wednesday 4th June 2014
2014
Ireland puts €80m in space as NASA students blast off
Staff Zone
Graduation for 6th year students is on Friday 23rd of May 2014 JCSP Graduation for 3rd years on Monday 26th of May 2014
Donal Walsh Livelife Foundation Colours Day Donal Walsh Livelife Foundation Colours Day Congratulations and well done to all the students who participated and contributed to the colours day fund-raiser for the LiveLife Foundation. The students and staff raised €410 for the foundation.
Chris Hadfield’s tweeting is not the only connection we have to space as Irish technology is now a major player in the space race, supplying €80m worth of work and sending astronauts and satellites into orbit. And news of the spend comes as four secondary school students – who won a national competition with a space experiment they devised – have jetted off to a NASA base. The budding scientists from Limerick will see their experiment to test the impact outer-space has on concrete, being conducted on board the International Space Station. The experiment was the winning entry in a national competition organised by the Irish Centre for Composites Research (iCOMP), and it will be activated by a NASA astronaut on board the station. The St Nessan’s Community College students – Jason Hannan, Kevin Hanley, Jamie O’Connell, Jonathan Roche and their teachers Gavin Doyle and Eugene O’Brien, flew out from Shannon airport to NASA’s Wallops Island base in Virginia. By Joyce Fegan and Fiona Dillon
Well done to all the staff and students that took part in the Great Limerick run on Sunday the 4th of May raising over €500 for the Limerick Youth Cafe
Huge praise must go to those who took part in the Darkness into Light walk on Saturday at 3am raising over €1000 for Pieta House.
(Top) A selection of photos from the trip to NASA’s Wallops Island Base in Virginia, where the students were briefed on the final preparations for the mission. (Left) Media Coverage. Log onto the St Nessan’s Community College facebook page to view more.
First Year Numeracy Cross Curricular Orienteering A Numeracy Orienteering Event was held on the 9th May, to promote approaches to teaching and learning that engages and motivates students in all aspects of numeracy. The orienteering event was introduced in a cross curricular manner through physical education to exercise the mind and body Students traversed an outdoor course using a map, measuring distances, working of numeracy questions at each junction and navigated their way to the correct answers. Students gained knowledge regarding numeracy in a manner that was fun, they worked as teams and supported each other to answer as many numeracy related questions as possible. First year students put a huge effort into the activity and big congratulations to all the 1st yrs. The winning team (Team I) Sophai Krasniai, Calvin McNamara, Roy Hussey & Luke Kennedy Joint second place teams (Team K) Tyreak Chaddad Louise Kelly Bethany Ranson Scott Colbert (Team A) Jayme Brown, Courtney Barrett and Kai Ashley The Numeracy team would like the thank the following for their help and support. Ms. Patton, Ms. Ingerton, Mr. Johnston, Mr. Corry , Ms. O’Brien, Ms. Nicholas, Mr. O’Connell and Ms. B. O’Connor. Ms. Johnston
The Winning Team
Luke Kennedy, Sophai Krasniai, Roy Hussey & Calvin Mc Namara
French dept Announcement French department announcement to all students, parents, colleagues and the wider community: The exhibit on the French school tour to Paris is located in the entrance of the school for everyone to see. Thank You so much Ms Jean Nally for building St Nessans’ very own Arc de Triomphe!!! Also I would like to announce that we will try to organise another school tour to Paris following the same format as this year. Find application forms on top of the Arc de Triomphe. Bonne Chance to all our students during the exams. May them bring you lots of success and achievement. The French Department
LIT Mentoring Programme 2012 - 2014
A small group of students in our school was offered the opportunity to participate in the Business in the Community (BITC) Mentoring Programme 2012 - 2014 based on a written application they submitted to the Guidance Counsellor. The Mentoring programme involved employees of Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) volunteering to become mentors for nine of our Fifth year students 2012/2013 up to their graduation from ST. NESSAN’S in May 2014. This has proved to be an excellent opportunity for the students involved to work closely with their own individual support person outside the school in order to achieve personal goals as outlined below. The mentors and students usually met once every three weeks in LIT.
ROISIN WOODROW mentored by Brid Crotty, EVAN KELLY mentored by Barry Coleman, CHRIS KAYA mentored by Michael Mooring, JESSICA CARROLL mentored by Sinead O’Leary, SEAN PRICE mentored by Mike Winterburn, STEPHEN RYAN mentored by Niall Enright, IAN TUITE mentored by Brian Wallace, HAYLEY VAUGHAN mentored by Anna Murphy, SARAH WILLIAMS mentored by Joanne Holland. We all had a lovely day out in Dublin on Monday 12th of May where we met the new Minister for Children, Mr. Charles Flanagan whose first official event was to present the Mentoring Programmes Certificates!
Group photo taken in the Dept of Ed building on Monday 12th May when St. Nessan’s & LIT mentors and mentees met for the presentation of certificates on completion of the programme. Ms Eleanor Walsh of Business in the Community co-ordinated the programme in Munster and Minister Charles Flanagan presented the certificates.
FRIENDS for Life
Photo of Sarah Williams receiving the certificates for St Nessan’s for completing the 2-year Mentoring programme with LIT, by the new Minister for Children, Mr Charles Flanagan and Mr Brian Wallace, an LIT mentor.
Summer Camps 2014
Susan O’Neill at 061 328 690, Michael O’Connor at 061 458 750 or Sarah Butler on 061 459 262
In November Ms Nally asked a small group of us would we be interested if we would like to join a group called FRIENDS. We did and we met each Wednesday for the support program led by Ms Nally. Each session we talked about different topics/issues. Each letter in FRIENDS stands for a topic that we discussed. F = feelings R = relax I = I can do it E = explore new ideas, coping step plans N = now reward yourself D = don’t forget to practice S = Smile We ended with each session with a guided meditation. It really helped me calm myself and deal with a lot of problems. We drew, acted, coloured and talked about feelings, emotions, relationships and more. It is a fun positive way to deal with such problems. As a reward for doing the program we went to the cinema to watch Rio 2. It was really funny. I’d personally like to thank Ms. Nally for all her hard work and dedication. Cian O’Donnell 2DE
Applications available from Mike, JP or Natalia at the SMILE School Completion Programme.
Cúinne na Gaeilge
Slán is Beannacht ! Anois ar theacht an tSamhraidh agus tá sé in am dúinn slán a fhágáil ar lucht an seú bliain.Class of 2014 -> farewell .Tá tús le ré nua i bhur saol anois. Tiocfaidh athruithe (Changes lie ahead) Cuid acu , taitneoidh linn , cuid eile , ní thaithneoidh \ some good, some bad). Beidh cuimhne agaibh go deo ar bhur laethanta scoile i bPobal Choláiste Neasáin Naofa. Tá súil agam go n-éireodh go maith libh sna scrúduithe agus sa todhchaí. Remember : “Is Fearr Gaeilge Bhriste ná Béarla cliste “ - > Déan iarracht i gconaí an teanga a labairt. Is linne go léir an Ghaeilge ! Ms Ware -Roinn na Gaeilge
LCA students recieve their certificates
On the 14th May 2014 the LCA 1 class received the first of four certificates from the State Examination Commission with the results of the work they have completed to date. LCA 2 received their third certificate earlier in the week. It was great to see the support of so many parents and guardians who had been invited to the ceremony. Each student stood up and spoke. They each took a subject and explained what they had been studying and doing all year. They thanked their teachers individually. Ms Brennan congratulated the LCA students and acknowledged the hard and constant work involved in LCA. She thanked all of their teachers, Mr. O’Brien, Eileen and Noreen in the office for all their work with the LCA classes. Ms. Brennan especially thanked the parents and guardians for encouraging their children and getting them to school organised. She asked for their continued support. Ms. Brennan
Transfer Programme Interschools Soccer Blitz
Ayyan Mohammed, Tavern Meehan, Leon Fitzgerald, Daniel Fitzgerald, Mikey O’Callaghan, Martin Pratt, John Costello, Recce Curry, Jonathon Travers, Dion Carey, Saim Mohammed, Tyreak Chaddad, Jake Murphy, Jamie Molloy, Tony O’Halloran, Jamie Ryan, Edward Power, Jason Keane, Ryan Hartnett, Dylan Ranson & Kai Ashley
Ms. Toomey, Mike O Callaghan, Jake Murphy, Daniel Fitzgerald, Tavern Meehan, Katie Reddan, Tony O’Halloran, Ayyan Mohammad, Ryan Hartnett & Jamie Molloy
As part of the School Completion’s Programme Transfer Programme, St Munchin’s CBS made the trip up to st. Nessan’s to take part in a 5 a side soccer blitz on the 7th of May 2014. Several matches were played in what was a fun event and all participating students recieved medals at the end. Special thanks goes to Ms. Toomey (6th class teacher SMCBS) and Katie Reddan (LIT student) for their help on the day.
Thank you
As another academic year comes to an end - I’d just like to thank alll the staff and students who contributed articles and photos to the newsletter over this past year. I would also like to acknowledge the staff that help promote the newsletter each month. It is a whole school initiative and only exists to reflect the great work and achievements attained within the school each month, so thanks again to all who help make it what it is - a true reflection of the school. M. O’Connor Contact Details : St. Nessan’s Community College, Moylish Park, Limerick. Phone: 061 - 452422 Email: info@stnessans.com www.stnessans.com Printed by Limerick Printing 061 422 300
Don’t forget to check out the St Nessan’s Community College and the SMILE SCP Facebook pages for all recent updates
BE COOL _ STAY IN SCHOOL SMILE School Completion Programme