Last Friday 1st, 2nd and 3rd years went on a trip to Tayto Park as a positive behaviour reward for their exceptional behaviour and attendance throughout a four week period before and after the Easter holidays. It was a reward well worth working for.

The students left the school at 9am by bus and stayed for the afternoon. Tayto Park is an enjoyable theme park located in County Meath for people of all ages – so this was the perfect destination for the Junior Cycle students.

The event was organised by the three year heads, Ms Matthews, Ms Mohan and Ms O’Sullivan and supervised by all the class tutors who attended also. The students had a great time on the Cú Chulainn Coaster, Viking Voyage and the Rotator as they are monstrous rides at the park.

Ciaran Monaghan, Sean Savage and Ammar Syed Shah – TY Press

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On Tuesday 17th May eleven sixth year students from Collinstown attended their final mentoring session in the offices of KN Circet in Cloverhill. The program, run by Business in the Community (BITC), matched eleven students with eleven staff members of Circet. Over two years, despite all the difficulties with the pandemic, students and mentors continued to meet. At the last session all participants agreed that it had been of great benefit.

Ms Connolly, the Year Head and Dr John O’Malley, the program coordinator, expressed thanks to all the mentors and in particular the CFO Eamonn O’Kennedy and Laura Mitchell who have organised and given huge support to the program in Circet. Also there to receive praise and thanks from everyone involved was Andrea Lazenby Simpson who is the BITC coordinator.

Collinstown Park looks forward to continuing this excellent program.

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The Library Committee and the Student Book Club have been reading and voting on the Children’s Books Ireland shortlist of books of the year. This is called Junior Juries and the winning books are announced at the end of May. 

On the 9th of May book club students met up in the school library during lunchtime to discuss the books they had read. These books were:

Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

Frindleswylde by Natalia and Lauren O’ Hara

Maybe… by Chris Haughton

Cluasa Capaill Ar An Rí by Bridget Bhreathnach and Shona Shirley MacDonald

The Summer I Robbed A Bank by David O’Doherty

Gut Feelings by C.G. Moore

Rescuing Titanic by Flora Delargy 

There’s A Ghost In This House by Oliver Jeffers

The Shadows Of Rookhaven by Pádraic Kenny

Then they shared their votes, making a final score. In 3rd place was The Shadows Of Rookhaven by Pádraic Kenny. In 2nd place was The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar. And in 1st place was Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth.

The votes have been sent in to the Junior Juries team and we wait to see the National Winners announced during the month! 

All the books on the shortlist are available to borrow from the School Library. 

Tracey Ijezie, Millie Byrne & Alex O’ Reilly – TY Press 

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In Ms Strumble’s Storyboard class and as part of Film Festival week there was a film making competition where the winners would get free cinema tickets to a movie of their choice. The competition was well received by the students and most likely didn’t even require enticement. The competition lasted a number of weeks as nobody wanted these films rushed, the results of the projects prove that to be a wise decision.

The winning film was ‘Pepi’s Adventure’ by Kirsty Ryan, Leah Kerr Kavanagh, Ava Flynn Hutton and Eoin Keating. A highly praised piece by many as it was said to be well directed, edited and thought-out. These four students earned their prize of cinema vouchers and will hopefully be granted more opportunities to showcase their talent in the future.

Ciaran Monaghan – TY Press

On Thursday the 5th of May, Transition Year student Grace Shelley and librarian Ms Ford went to the Museum of Literature Ireland in town where the James Joyce writing centre is. They left the school at 10.30 and took a taxi which brought them to St Stephen’s Green. They both arrived there at 11.15 which was perfect because the event started at 11.30.

After they were welcomed in they were shown their seats and the presentation began. Various people from UCD and other schools made speeches and spoke about their contribution to Eirsat-1, Ireland’s very first satellite which will hopefully be launched into space in the coming months. Then Grace and Ms Ford read the poem, which is etched onto the bottom of the satellite. This was a very proud moment for everyone who contributed to the poem, including Grace. These people were then awarded with a framed photo of the bottom of Eirsat-1, where you could see the poem.

Afterwards everyone had lunch, which was provided, in the beautiful gardens of the museum. It was a great opportunity to unwind and admire the sprawling lawns. After lunch there was a workshop for the students, where they got to ask questions about Eirsat-1 and write their own poems, snacks and drinks were also provided. Finally, they were recorded reading their lines of the poem.

This was a very proud day for Grace, Ms Ford and this school. Congratulations to Grace Shelley as this is an amazing achievement!

Tracey Ijezie – TY Press

There are morning and evening sessions. Come along and meet the tutors and discover all the possibilities.