Kishoge Community College
Principal’s Report to Parents
7th April 2016
1916 COMMEMORATION & CELEBRATION
27th April: 1916 Tour of sites in Dublin
INTERNATIONAL WEEK
Students celebrated International week, on the 14th to 16th March. The aim of this event was,
to celebrate the things that make us different and the things that make us the same.
Various activities took place throughout the week: students participated in a table quiz and
students tasted various traditional foods at our international food day event. The week was a
great success and was enjoyed by all. The Student's Council would like to thank, everyone who
helped with the event, special thanks to parents who helped to prepare so many tasty dishes.
SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE
From the 8th to the 11th March the school ran several activities to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge.
On the Tuesday lunch time over 20 students participated in a Toraíocht Taisce (treasure hunt)
throughout the school all through Irish. On Thursday members of the Irish club, who meet every
Monday, ran a very successful table quiz. Friday saw the last lunch time event in the form of a
céilí where several students came to see some traditional Irish dancing and to try it for
themselves. Alongside all of these events there was an Irish games station set up every lunch
time with scrabble, twister, connect four, an monopoly – all in Irish, there was Irish language pop
music playing providing students an opportunity to enjoy Irish in a less formal setting and have
some fun with the language.
Staff outside of the Irish department played a key role in the success of the week. All teachers
used common Irish phrases in their classes, some even conducting entire lessons through Irish
during the week. Students were asked to use Irish for the entire week outside of Irish class,
teachers encouraged this by giving raffle tickets to students making an effort to use Irish in their
classes- this activity was hugely successful with the winning student receiving over 35 tickets, and
the winning class receiving over 170 tickets.
Overall Seachtain na Gaeilge was hugely successful with all staff and students fully involved and
working together to promote the Irish language.
Go raibh maith agaibh do Ciara agus Bláithín.
DEBATING CLUB
We had five pupils enter the National Junior MACE's The Speech competition. Sorcha Farrell 1A1
was announced as the National Champion in First Year. She performed a speech from the Hunger
Games. The runners up were also from Kishoge - Joshua Ellul 1A2, who performed a speech from
Doctor Who and Eiman Elsir, who performed Atticus's speech from To Kill a Mockingbird'.
At the moment, all pupils are preparing for the Loreto MACE competition, which will be held at
the end of April.
Thanks to Louise and Ruth
MINDRISING
Several first year boys have entered the Mindrising competition, where they are given a challenge
of telling the story of the Easter Rising in 1916 through Minecraft or create a world which shows
what they imagine Dublin to be like in 2116, around the time of the 200th anniversary. We have
three entries, two telling the story of the rising, and one showing Dublin at the Rising's 200th
anniversary. The competition closes on April 18th and pupils are finishing off their projects in
preparation for meeting that deadline.
Thanks to Ruth
SCIENCE CLUB
A Science Club is being started at lunchtime to promote science to the students. This will take
the form of discovery-based learning and/or work on different science projects with students.
Second year students can help out with the club. It begins this coming Monday with a workshop
on electricity. This also provides a space for students to work on projects that they might like to
enter into competitions.
Thanks to Kristina, Micheal and John
PE DEPT
Basketball Success:
Basketball club runs every Thursday 16:00-17:00. The club is extremely popular with over 50
students attending each week.
1st Year Girls:
The first year girls’ basketball team made it to the league final in Oblate Hall which was played
on Wednesday 6th April. The girls played fantastically but unfortunately lost to Larkin College with
a score of 23 – 15. Despite a superb come-back in the second half. The girls received great support
from their peers in First Year, who came along to cheer them on.
1st and 2nd Year Boys:
Both the 1st and 2nd year boys played their semi-final basketball matches against Fingal
Community College, on Tuesday 5th of April. The First Year match was an extremely close game,
both teams equally matched. The game finished 8 - 8, which led to 3 minutes extra time. A quick
response from Fingal ended the game, with the boys unfortunately losing out on a place in the
final.
The Second Year game followed. The boys got off to a strong start and got an excellent lead on
Fingal, who fought back hard. However, it was too little too late, Kishoge continued to push on
increasing the lead further. Wining the match and earning themselves a place in the final. A great
success for the team. The final will be played on Wednesday 13th April in Oblate Hall, Inchicore.
Football Success:
1ST Year Boys:
The First Year boys are continuing to train hard with both Gavin and Rosie ahead of their final
against O’Connell’s Boys. The final is to be played in the coming weeks.
Running Club:
Running club continues to be very popular, with over 15 students attending each week. Students
are making great progress and can really notice the improvement in their fitness levels. They
have enjoyed a combination of long distance runs and fitness circuits, alternating each week.
Fitness Club:
Fitness club runs every Monday morning before school. Students come and use the fitness suite
taking part in a number of different fitness programmes.
Handball Club:
Handball Club continues to run every Wednesday after school. The club is open to boys and girls
with over 20 students attending at times. The students will compete against local schools in the
coming weeks.
Games Club:
Games club takes place every Friday morning. The students have the opportunity to come to the
sports hall and engage in a number of different games, with their peers in a non-competitive
environment. The students decide themselves what they want to play etc.