This week Skibbereen Community School took part in the promotion of 'Organ Donor Awareness Week'. Ms. Avril Cooke spoke to a very captive audience about the importance of donating organs in what are always very difficult circumstances. Organ donor cards are now available in the school. Well done to all and especially to Avril who did an amazing job.
Well done to all who helped out with our beautiful Easter display in Skibbereen Community School. Pictured below are some of the students who kindly helped to decorate the school. Back due to popular demand is our now legendary Easter tree in the school. If you have a minute to spare, come and have a look!
Pictured below are TY students hard at work on their social placement at Castlehaven GAA club.
Pictured below are the members of the SCS Sailing Team who competed in the Munster Finals recently. The team performed very well, with one crew narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Nationals.
The success of the Transition Year cook off motivated 4th year Home Economics students to participate in a bake off. It was a great success, so good in fact, that the desserts were devoured by the judges and students before any pictures were taken of their dishes, so our apologies for the lack of pictures of these delicious desserts!
Fergal Youelle came 1st and he also received a certificate for 'Best Culinary Skills' - well done Fergal.
Second place went to Stephanie Deasy & Olivia Cotter for their delicious rich chocolate & raspberry brownie dessert.
Sarah Gough an & Rachel Deasy came 3rd for their baked chocolate cheesecake.
Best teamwork went to two diligent participants Fiona Kingston & Emma Sweetnam.
Lisa Harte & Katie Cronin won an award for 'Best Presentation'.
The award for 'Most Improved Chefs' went to Jack Collins, Brendan Keohane and Paul Keane.
Well done to all involved!
Congratulations to Class 4B whose film "Drink" has been selected for screening at the 2017 First Cut! Youth Film Festival. Their film will screen on the afternoon of April 27th as part of a Schools Open Submission programme. All screenings take place at the Mall Arts Centre in Youghal. They have been invited to attend the screening of their film on the big screen at the 2017 festival.
Well done to First Year Class 1D who recently made a film on alcohol awareness. Jack Marks and Ellie McCarthy were the directors of the film.The very talented Dylan Murphy, Joe Collins, Gearóid McCarthy, Daniel Cotter and Sean Twomey were wonderful actors. They made it look effortless.
The film was shot on location in the school grounds. This film is very powerful and clearly shows the effects of alcohol on relationships as the boys continue to drink and cannot walk properly. They also have a fight in the corridors.
Shane Kingston plays the role of a strict principal who has his hands full with these difficult students. The film ends with the students suspended from school and all the class saying “Don’t Drink!”.
The film has been entered into a competition with drugs.ie and youth media. Well done to all and to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising this film as part of Religion, where the issue of alcohol is addressed. Best of luck in the competition! The film can be accessed on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVfkNbJPKuE
Congratulations to our junior ladies football team who had a tremendous win over Christ the King secondary school in Clonakilty yesterday. They will now progress to the A county semi-final. They are pictured below with coaches Mr. Harrington and Mr. Hayes.
Best of luck to the School Sailing Team that compete in their first school's regatta in Schull today.
Fourth Year students Brigid O’Sullivan, Katie Harte, Christina McCarthy, Siadbh Redmond and Dermot Hegarty gave three informative presentations on internet safety in Ms Orla O'Sullivan’s SPHE and Religion classes. Anti-Bullying is already an integral part of the curriculum for these classes.
These presentations are part of a leadership programme with Foróige where participants will become McAfee Internet Safety Ambassadors and will be qualified as Foróige leaders. These students are a credit to our school as they trained extensively in this area by attending a workshop with a representative from McAfee. It is based on the three principles of cyber safety, cyber security and cyber ethics.
First and Second Year students learned a great deal about the topic of internet safety including cyber security hot spots, how to safely block pop ups, and turn off geotagging. They also learned about how to act ethically online and how to create more secure passwords.
All the students participated well and were very vocal in conveying their experiences. The feedback was very positive, so much so that the students are now going to be giving their presentation to other classes in the school. Well done to everyone on continuing the promotion of a bullying free and cyber bullying free school.
Well done to 2nd Year class 2D who recently made a film on alcohol awareness. Orla Casey was the director and Claire O’Donovan and Katelin Brennan were the assistant directors. Mark Hegarty was the musical director. Emily Wiseman played the main character.
The story line is as follows:
Emily was drinking alcohol at home and at school all day. This culminated in her falling in school and being given out to by two teachers Conor O’Neill and Robbie McCarthy. Emily shows the dangers of alcohol in the body as she cannot cope with school. The rest of the class all played their parts as onlookers. The song “The Climb” was carefully chosen. The whole class benefited from this experience and it led to a class discussion on the topic.
This film has been entered into a competition with drugs.ie and youth media. Well done to all and to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising this film as part of SPHE, where the issue of alcohol is addressed.
Well done to 2nd Year class 2B who recently made a film on alcohol awareness. Darragh Coakley and Marie Regan were the directors of the film. Marie Regan also filmed and edited it. The very talented Ritchie Burchill and Micheál Collins played the main characters. Well done boys. They have a very bright future ahead of them in acting, if they decide to pursue it.
The film was shot at a location, just outside the school grounds in a disused area. Ritchie Burchill, Micheál Collins, Jerry O’Driscoll, Daniel O’Sullivan, Ethan Ball, Joshua Brosnan, Robbie McQueen, Luke O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll were "drinking alcohol" and “having the craic”. A fight breaks out between Ritchie and Micheál where Ritchie strikes Micheál. Micheál falls to the ground and dies with the impact of the fall. Ritchie and all of the onlookers, run off. This film is very powerful and clearly shows the effects of alcohol on relationships. The film has been entered into a competition with drugs.ie and youth media. Well done to all and to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising this film as part of SPHE, where the issue of alcohol is addressed. Best of luck in the competition.
Pictured here is Candido Taboada from Spain being welcomed into Skibbereen Community School by staff and students. The school community is really looking forward to working with Candido who will be here for a year as part of the European Voluntary Service funded by the Erasmus Plus Programme.
Congrats to the U16 1/2 Footballers and their coaches, Mr. Colman O Driscoll and Mr. Maurice Moore on defeating Coachford today on a score line of 1-13 to 1-05.
Pictured below are our second years after observing the Stations of the Cross during lent in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Skibbereen. A wonderful class was had by all with more requests to do it again. It is important to take time out during lent for what is really important. Well done to everyone and a special thanks to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan and Ms. Michelle Murray, our Religion teachers, who organised the class.
Ms. Marie O Mahony and her victorious First Year Basketball Team are enjoying pizza for lunch today to mark their County Success.
Congrats to our U16 footballers and their coaches, Mr. Maurice Moore and Mr. Colman O Driscoll on beating De La Salle Macroom today to reach the County Final. The final score was 14points to 5.
Skibbereen Community School wishes all mothers a very happy Mother’s Day! The school appreciates all their wonderful work. Pictured here is just a selection of the beautiful cards made in Skibbereen Community School to acknowledge this important day. Also pictured are Owen Minihane, Kevin O’Donoghue and Wayne Williamson after making their amazing cards and flowers. Well done to Owen, Kevin and Wayne.
20th March 2017
Skibbereen Community School 3 - 2 Rockwell College
Report by Sean Spenser
The 5th round of the Munster Cup. The First years are soon becoming the pride of the school with a county final in basketball, getting to the furthest rounds in soccer - and still going - along with I'm sure more achievements in other sports. Their newest challenge was Rockwell College, from Tipperary. A sunny day had left the pitch as hard as a rock, meaning you really had to watch the bounce of the ball. However a bit of wind against Skibbereen in the first half could be a telling factor in the game. Five minutes into the game Liam McCarthy turned his man inside the box. He had left his marker for dead and picked his head up for the pass as he was taken out from his heels. The referee waved play on and it looked like it could be another game where Skibbereen were on the end of some bad refereeing decisions.
In the 7th minute Isaac Harte won a soft free-kick thirty or so yards out. Captain Robbie Minihane decided he wanted to try his luck. He took a shot on goal, but as soon as he connected it was seen to be fairly tame. It was about waist high with no real venom, an easy catch for the keeper, however he decided to volley it. His pass was sub-par to say the least and it fell to the onrushing Isaac Harte who had followed the ball in allowing him to finish into the nearly open net. 1-0 up due to a very dominant first few minutes from Skibbereen. Four minutes later a long ball from the Rockwell keeper landed half way in Skibbereen's half, exposing the high line, which allowed Rockwell's number 9 to run through and lob Cormac McCarthy, who had been left in an awkward position with nothing to do. Soon after Skibbereen had a corner. The ball was easily caught by the keeper. He again launched a long ball over the Skibbereen defence, exposing the high line again. This pass was just as dangerous and the number 9 ran through and unluckily hit the post. The ball fell to Cormac McCarthy who made sure there would be no rebound.
Going into half time a 1-1 scoreline was unjust. Other than the first 10 or so dominant minutes, it was a very backs to the wall performance from Skibbereen, were they had struggled to get out of their own half against the wind. The moods going in at half time were very positive from Rockwell, however it's all well and good being on top, but if you don't score, it doesn't matter. One minute after half time a cross from Rockwell wasn't dealt with and it allowed the Rockwell attacker to finish past Cormac McCarthy in goal. That's what happens when you switch off even for the smallest bit of time in soccer! Five minutes later a lay off allowed James O'Neill to shoot first time from 30 yards out. It was heading right for the top corner only for the keeper to make one of the best saves you'll ever see in a soccer match! After that moment it looked like Skibbereen had lost all hope. One of their best chances stopped by an unbelievable save.
In the 47th minute Liam McCarthy stormed through on goal. He took a shot which just hit the post. It fell to Jamie O' Driscoll who hit the post again. Donnachadh Maguire just about kept the ball alive, squaring it to Liam. Liam's shot again hit the post! Just as it looked like the chance had been squandered, the ball found it's way off the post into the other side of the goal. If that ball had not gone in, it would have put the nail in the coffin for Skibbereen, however it looked to have injected some extra life into Skibbereen. Ten minutes later, with three minutes to go the ball fell to Isaac Harte on the edge of the box. He set himself up perfectly with a fantastic chest of the ball, allowing him to volley it towards the top corner. However the goalkeeper heard what I said about his last save and decided to top it! Just as it was about to crack into the net he pulled out a ridiculous diving save plucking it out of the top corner!
Thirty seconds from the final whistle Skibbereen had a corner. They had to weigh up the pros and cons of sending up their defenders as with this little time to go they could lose it all. James O'Neill whipped in a fantastic cross right into the danger area. The only man to react was Liam McCarthy. He ran to meet the ball with a great header into the back of the net! It looked like Skibbereen had won it with no time to go! All they had to do was hold on for another minute or so! The last 30 seconds seemed to last an age as Rockwell threw everything they had at Skibbereen. The final whistle blew at 3-2 meaning Skibbereen were through to the next round! Some of the Rockwell players collapsed on the floor and rightly so. They'd player their hearts out on the pitch and given it their all. To lose it at the final whistle must have been devastating. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic game of Soccer!
Man of the Match: Liam McCarthy - On a day where both teams were playing cautiously, not allowing the attacking players too much time, the winger provided a few moments of magic in the first half, nearly winning a penalty right from the off mixed with a fantastic run down the flank taking out three players. His main feat however was grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. At 2-1 down Skibbereen looked dead and buried. However Liam's goal injected life into the whole team. Then at the end when I'm sure most the players were thinking about extra time his focus was on winning the game in normal time. A great individual performance which proved to be the telling factor especially when both teams put up such a good fight.
Starting XI: Cormac McCarthy, Feilim O'Donovan, John Leahy, Robbie Minihane, Tomás O'Mahony, James McCarthy, James O'Neill, Jamie O'Driscoll, Liam McCarthy, Isaac Harte, Donnachadh Maguire.
Substitutes: Eoin Murran (John Leahy), Jack O' Brien (Donnachadh Maguire), Stevie Redmond (Jamie O'Driscoll).
A big thank you to Rockwell College who travelled all the way down from Tipperary to put up a great fight. The game really could have gone either way and you are a great team with potential to achieve your goals in other competitions!
Pictured here are Owen Minihane, Kevin O’Donoghue, Wayne Williamson, Kai Hill and Niall Collins celebrating World Down Syndrome Day! Well done to all who took time out of their busy schedules to acknowledge this very important day. Looking out for others and including everyone are very important messages that Skibbereen Community School wishes to promote at all times.
