Moira Retires

Staff, past staff and friendsof Moira Finnegan and Athy Community College assembled in Kilkea Castle recently to mark the occassion of the retirement of Moira Finnegan after a long career teaching in the school. Several tributes were paid to Moira on the night particularly by CEO Sean Ashe and school princilpal Richard Daly. We wish Moira a great retirement and hope she keeps in close cantact with her friends in Athy Community College.

Maynooth University Awards our students

Congratulations to the many students who received achievement awards at National University (Maynooth) last week. The awards were the result of project work submitted by students in the arts, engineering and science categories.

Abbey comes to school

Great to see some of our students taking to the "stage" as Abbey theatre programme comes to the school to show a few pointers

Rowing Champs

Congratulations to our Rowing Champions who won their race in the Athy Head of River regetta . Well done to Melissa and Olivia

Our Boxers

Best wishes go to Ireland's Amateur Boxing team who compete in the World Championships in the coming days. Eleven Irish boxers compete in Chicago of which four are from the Athy St. Michael's Club and TWO are past pupils - Eric Donovan and Roy Sheahan. This is their bid for the Olympic Games and we wish them every success.

Notably another past pupil - Dom O'Rourke is national President of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association

First Year Parents

First Year parents attended their first meeting in the college last week to discuss the progress being made by their sons and daughters. First year head Ger McDonagh explored with parents the opportunities and challenges facing the new students and how best to work together. Home School Community Liaison Co-ordinator Shirley Butler examined the strong link between school and the home.

Design a Cover

Congratulations once again to Birute Liepinyte who last year won the Mental Health Association “Design a Cover” competition. Great to see the entry form for MH Public Speaking Competition arrive in all schools with Birute’s design on the cover.

NCCA

Athy Community College has been selected as one of the second level schools nationally to work on investigating change in the Leaving Certificate programme. Future changes to the Leaving Certificate programme can only come about by some schools taking the lead in this investigation and the college is delighted to be chosen for this “cutting edge” initiative.

Laptops

In a very far sighted move Co. Kildare VEC has implemented an initiative which sees all permanent staff members of the college being supplied with laptop computers. Using today’s technology in the classroom requires the right equipment and college teachers have access to internet technology throughout the building.

HSE training

It’s back to school for members of the HSE staff as they undertake FETAC courses at Athy Community College. Athy College is providing a wide range of courses which are specially commissioned for the HSE staff. Fiona Murtagh is co-ordinating the range of courses. Courses will continue to run throughout the year.

Melissa Dowling B.Sc

Congratulations to Melissa Dowling who graduated from Maynooth with a B.Sc this summer. Always keen on Science Melissa has now secured a career in the area.

She is pictured here with Ann O'Brien of NUI Maynooth

School Tour to France announced

This years School Tour will take place to France and is offering three options to the students involved. A student exchange return visit to the town of Grandvilliers may or may not be added to the regular tour meaning that twinning visit, tour or twinning and tour are the three options. The tour will take in a visit to Eurodisney as well as the sights of Paris. The tour takes place next March and is being organised by Mrs Murphy

Athy Community College launch Career book

Last week Athy Community College launched a career booklet which was compiled, edited and produced by students, parents and the wider Home School Community group. Launching the book, Niamh Mernagh, Senior Inspector at the Department of Education and Science paid compliment to all of those involved in the production.

Cllr Sean Cunnane, Chairperson of the VEC, opened the proceedings with his tribute to the school and its staff for the success and excellent results which the school annually achieves. He also indicated the imminent commencement of construction of the new premises which will put the school to the fore in terms of provision for students of the future.

The booklet contains details of many of the careers which are popular among students today. It is written to address the needs of todays students in the language of today’s students. Entry requirements, skills required and expected salary are among the details for each of the chosen careers.

Richard Daly, principal of the college, thanked all involved and particularly Niamh Mernagh from the Department of Education and Science for making this publication a reality. “As we move to our new premises in the near future I am anxious that the very things that have made us so successful must not be lost. We are committed to a maximum of 400 pupils in our new premises in order to maintain our familiarity with the families, parents and students. Tonight is an example of well we all can work together and I look forward to several more combined ventures” he said