Happy New Year

Athy College wish all students and their families a very Happy and Peaceful New Year

Christmas ‘Goal Mile’ Athy.

Athy College hosted their first ‘Goal Mile’ on Wednesday 21^st Dec 2011 on their all weather pitch. The event was attended by staff and students. A large turnout attended with all classes represented. Students and staff had the option of walking the mile on the tarmac path around the perimeter of the pitch or running the mile around the pitch edges, with 5 laps representing a mile. The event this year was organised on a trial basis to explore the feasibility of an all school campus event next Christmas 2012. Many thanks to all who attended and to the helpers on the day.

Campus Together

Staff from all of the schools on campus got together in Athy College on Dec 8th to take part in a collaborative exercise in Teams Games Tournament.  With a cummulative staff of over 80 between an Gaelscoil, Model School, St Patrick's and Athy College the gathering gave everybody the opportunity to get to know one another and is hopefully the first of many such events.

Getting there by Degrees

Past pupil, Rachel Whelan, who recently graduated from Institute of Technology Carlow with a Bachelors Degree (Honours) in Business Management. Rachel is currently studying for a Masters in Business Management in Waterford Institute of Technology

Science Week at College

Science Week began with a visit to Athy College Science department by the Fourth Class students from Scoil Phadraig Naofa. They were treated to "exciting" experiments which had universal appeal.

Christmas Comes to Athy College

Great excitement as past pupil Seamus Malone, famous for his work on Chicken Run, Wallace and Grommit, Shaun the Sheep, gave a lecture and workshop on animation to a capacity crowd in the college on Thursday night. Seamus received an Emmy for his direction of Shaun the Sheep last year and gave the audience a great insight into how animation really works.

Aardman Studios where Seamus works are just about to release their latest movie "Arthur Christmas" and Seamus gave a background tour of its creation.

Third Yr Trip To Baltinglass Outdoor Education Centre

A rainy start didn't dampen spirits of the third year students on their recent trip to Baltinglass Outdoor Education Centre. A fantastic day was had by all, students took part in wall climbing, abseiling, canoeing, archery and orienteering. Thanks to the SCP for its support.

GOAL Jersey Day

Athy College Fifth year LCVP students with Karen O’Shea of the ‘Goal’ Charity Organization. Karen visited the students on Tuesday 25^th Oct. to give them a talk on the work that Goal do around the World. The students raised a total of €317 as part of Goal Jersey day recently held in the school. The LCVP class presented Karen with a cheque on behalf of the students of Athy College.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Athy College u15 soccer team for their great win over the Curragh Post primary School.

Parent Teacher Meeting

Parent teacher meeting for exam classes Tuesday next Oct 18th form 4.15pm to 6.15pm

After School Study

Supervised after school study has now begun and takes place from Mon to Thur (4.15pm - 5.45pm). There is no charge and it is open to all students. Names to Ms O'Connor

Join Us Next Year

Athy College will be holding our annual Open Day for primary school students on Fri 16th September when primary schools will be invited in to take a tour of the school.

On SAT 17th the school will be open until 3.30pm for parents who wish to visit and enrolments will be taken on the day.

Enrolment is open until Feb 1st 2012 and in line with best practice there is no deposit required. Enrolment forms can be collected from the college office or downloaded here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Dates of Opening

Students return to school on the following days and must be in full uniform:

Wed Aug 24th -First Years and Sixth Years

Thur Aug 25th - Second and Third Years

Fri Aug 26th - Fifth Years and both LCA years

Timetables and books will be organised and students should be finished by 1pm and will not have to return for classes until Mon 29th. Students will be given a book rental bill which must be paid before books are released. Bills are normally in the range of €100 to €150. This includes book rental, 24 hour insurance, locker rental, ID card, journal, etc

Food

At Athy College we operate a Breakfast Club where students are welcome to a simple breakfast each morning before school (Tea/Coffee/juice/toast/cereal) free of charge.

At the morning break sandwiches and fruit are available for all students also free of charge.

A subsidised lunch is available Mon to Thur at the cost of €2.50 per day. We ask students to pay in advance. Lunch consists of filled rolls and soup or a hot dish on some days

Leaving School

First and Second year students are not permitted to leave the school during lunchtime and we appreciate the overwhelming support of parents in operating this policy

Information

The most current information on the college is always available on www.athycollege.ie our policies, timetables, application forms, etc are available on www.athycollege.net Queries, comments are welcome at mail@athycollege.ie

Mobile Phones

Mobile Phones are not permitted in the college. If they ring or become visible to staff members they will be confiscated. See full policy here.

Leaving Cert Results

Leaving Cert results will issue from the school on Wed 17th at 10.30 am

Nora O'Connor

It is with deep sadness that we learned today of the death of our friend and colleague Nora O'Connor. Nora retired last September and is fondly remembered by staff and hundreds of students both past and present. We offer our sympathy to her daughters Joan, Olivia and Aileen and her sisters and brother.
Funeral Details: Nora O'Connor,

Removal from her daughter, Joan's house, Ballyadams, Athy, on Sunday morning at 11.15, arriving at St Michael's Parish Church, Athy, for Requiem Mass at Midday.

Burial afterwards in Milltown Cemetery. Guard of honour from new school premises 11.30

Book Bill Payments

In view of the hard financila times which we are going through, some parents requested if we could accept instalments on the book rental bill during the summer.

It will be possible for parents to pay instalments on students' book billsduring school hours on the following dates:

August 9th, August 12th and August 16th to August 19th

Academic Scholarship

The 2011 Academic Scholarship for Athy College was recently won by Dylan Kelly, a current student of Churchtown NS. Dylan was presented with the trophy by John Calvey of Bank of Ireland and school principal Richard Daly. The scholarship includes vouchers for School books, school uniform and a continental school tour.

GUIDANCE POLICY - DRAFT

The draft of Athy College's up-dated Guidance Policy is available to be read by BOM members, teachers,parents/guardians and students on www.athycollege.net. Thank you to Mrs. M. Cambie McEvoy for her work on formulating this policy. All input and comments are welcome and should be emailed to bsunderland@athycollege.ie

A Pitch for All Seasons

Construction of the new all weather astroturf pitch has begun and the pitch will be available for playing on at the end of the summer. This new campus facility will mean that we have a playable pitch regardles of the weather.

Best of Luck

Best of luck to all of our exam students who start their Leaving and Junior Certificate examinations today. We wish you evey success.

WELL DONE TO OUR TRIATHLETES

Hearty congratulations to 3 Athy College teachers who completed the Athy Triathlon to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. Pictured above are Billy Higgins, who cycled, Frank Whelan, who swam, and Deirdre Murphy, who ran. In total, with the help of Athy College's students, they raised over €3,500!

Make a Book

Members of Athy College JCSP group who attended the Make a Book exhibition in March.

Retirement Function

Best wishes to retiring teachers Shirley Butler, John Clooney and John O Dwyer who attended their retirement function last week. Also present at the event was CEO for Kildare VEC Mr Sean Ashe, former principal Mr John Doyle, Dr Breda Sunderland and Mr Richard Daly

Guest Lecture on "Hamlet"

Fifth and
sixth year students were thoroughly engaged in arguing their interpretations of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" following a guest lecture by Mr. Daly, where he presented his view of the play.

School Tour

Plans are afoot for a School Tour to Barcelona next October. Details from Mrs Murphy. Deposits are due before Friday 27th May!

Picking Daisy

Congrats to recent past pupil Daisy Delaney who was "snapped" by the newspapers at Punchestown recently. Always an eye for fashion!

Ag dul go dtí an Gaeltacht

Congratulations to Siobhán O'Rourke and Olivia Daly who are the winners of this years VEC Scholarships to the Gaeltacht. They will both spend three weeks in Carraroe, Co Galway in July

NUI Maynooth Awards

Congratulations to Nicole Whiteford, Sarah Johnson, Alanna Moran, Gary Kelly, Sam Owens-Mailes who received awards from NUI Maynooth this week

American Art

Congratulations to Sinead Moloney, Evelina Connolly, Olivia Daly, ArleneKelly and Siobhan O'Rourke the winner and runners up respectively in the Kentucky/Kildare Twinning Art Competition recently. Also in the picture are Mrs McKenna, Art Teacher and Sean Cleary and Marjorie Moore from the Kildare Twinning Association

Construction Advances

Building on the new campus is going ahead well with extensions to two of the existing primary school buildings and advanced construction of the new St. Patrick's Primary School under way. Construction of the new schools should be complete before the September target and also the construction of the all weather pitch

Athy College Art Exhibition

Guest Speaker at Athy College Art Exhibition was Mairead McGuinness.In her speech congratulating Art teacher Linda Dempsey and all of the participants Mairead surprised the audience by declaring her intention to contest the selection to become President of Ireland!!
A capacity crowd both welcomed her announcement and unanimously declared this years exhibition the best yet.
View the speech: here

Leaving

As Leaving Certificate students are coming near the end of their time in Athy College preparations are under way for their graduation evening and getting down to the final preparations for their examinations their class photo gets taken.
With only a few weeks of school left revision, practicals, etc become the order of the day. Best of luck to all.

World Maths Day 2011

Athy College celebrated World Maths Day 2011 by holding a Table Quiz which received a great response from the students. Questions and prizes and lots of fun shows that maths doesn't have to be boring.

Recording Classes to Enhance Teaching and Learning

As part of our exciting initiatives to improve teaching and learning in Athy College, on some occasions classes may be recorded for analysis and peer teaching. Please let the Principal know, in writing, if you do not wish your son/daughter to participate in this excellent initiative. Students will not be identifiable by name.

Presentation of Certificates in Instructional Intelligence

Mrs. D. Murphy and Mrs. N. O'Neill pictured recently at the IVEA presentation ceremony where they received their certificates in Instructional Intelligence from Dr. Barrie Bennett, University of Toronto.

Campus Expands

Construction of the new St. Paatrick's Primary school has begun this week and it should be completed in time for next Sept when the 26 classroom building will be open. Construction will also be completed on additional facilities for both the Gaelscoil and Model School buildings and the installation of our All weather pitch.

PRE-LEAVING AND PRE-JUNIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMS

The Pre-Leaving and Pre-Junior Certificate exams commence on Friday, January 28th and continue in the Sports Hall until Friday, February 4th. Students can access their timetables via their school google accounts. Any problems - please contact the Deputy Pricipal.