Newsletter #5 November 2024

Newsletter #5 November 2024

Winter Exams

The Winter exams for 1^st, 2^nd, 5^th year and LCA 1 students will run this year in November as follows:

Revision sheets and timetables have been issued to all students. The winter exams are a great opportunity for students to focus on study, improve their exam technique and to identify areas in which they need to improve. Links to timetables and revision plans can be found below.

Enrolment 2025/2026

Further details on admissions for 2025/2026 can be found here

Student Council 2024/2025

Congratulations to the students who were recently elected to Scoil Mhuire's Student Council. The Student Council allows our students to use their voices collectively, work together as a group and to shed light on different areas of student life that can be improved. Most importantly however, they speak as students for students. Our thanks to Ms. O'Sullivan who is coordinator of the Student Council.

Past Pupil Success

Keri Loughrey

Scoil Mhuire is incredibly proud of our past pupil Keri Loughrey who completed her Leaving Certificate in 2024. She was recently named Sligo Rovers Women Player's Player of the Year. Keri has had a fantastic season with Sligo Rovers having picked up the Young Player of the Year award 12 months ago. Maith thú Keri!

Mark Coyle

Scoil Mhuire is also incredibly proud of our past pupil Mark Coyle who completed his Leaving Certificate in 2019. Mark is captain of the Shelbourne FC team that recently won the League of Ireland title. Mark was our guest speaker at our Prizegiving Ceremony last May. He spoke passionately to our students about the importance of hard work, not blaming others when things don't go your way and of being accountable for your actions. Mark is a great role model for our students and our community. We look forward to following Mark's continued success into the future.

Student Spotlight

Congratulations to Darel Badza who has been selected for the Inishowen Academy U15 Squad for the 2024/25 season. Well done Darel!

Scoil Mhuire in the USA

A huge words of thanks to the students and host families of St. Charles Missouri. Our students and staff had a wonderful experience during their 10 days in America. Our Scoil Mhuire team had a great opportunity to learn more about the Missouri education system and to build connections and friendships that will last a lifetime. We look forward to hosting the students and teachers of St. Charles Missouri when they come to Ireland in March 2025. Our sincere thanks to Ms. Corbett and Ms. McDermott for accompanying the students to the USA.

Tidy Towns Success

Everyone in Scoil Mhuire sends their warm congratulations to the Buncrana Tidy Towns committee and to all of the volunteers who have worked so hard to make Buncrana a great place to live. Buncrana Tidy Towns cleaned up in the SuperValu Tidy Towns awards recently and won a Gold award and the county prize for the third year in a row. Buncrana scored 383 points from the Tidy Towns judges and also picked up a highly commended certificate for the Local Authority Pollinator Award. Scoil Mhuire has partnered with Buncrana Tidy Towns on lots of projects over the years with teachers such as Ms. Dowds and Ms. McDermott. We look forward to continuing our work with this incredible bunch of volunteers.

Cli-Mates

Cli-Mates are continuing with their collection of used batteries. We have 5,000 batteries to date and we will recycle them safely through the company Weee Ireland. You are most welcome to send your batteries into us for the attention of Ms. Dowds or Ms. Doherty. This ensures they do not go to landfill where they can cause huge contamination to our soil and river systems.

Recycling and Fundraising for the Annual Senior Citizens Christmas Party

Ms. Carlin's Oasis class, in conjunction with Ms. Dowds and Ms. A. Doherty's Cli-Mates are asking you to look for the re-turn label on your bottle or can before you throw it in the bin. We are asking you to donate your empty bottles and cans to help us raise funds for our Annual Senior Citizens Party. Every bottle and can helps to make a difference.

Inishowen Credit Union Art Competition

Congratulations to Jane Lynch 3G who has won 1^st place in the 14yr-17yr category of the Inishowen Credit Union Art Competition. Jane's artwork will now go onto the next round of the competition and her art work will appear in the Inisowen Credit Union calendar for 2025. Well done to Jane and her art teacher Ms. R. Deeney!

Irish Science Teachers' Association Quiz

Congratulations and well done to our senior students on coming first in the ISTA Donegal Senior Science Quiz. Our thanks to Ms. Boyle and Ms. Corbett for accompanying the students.

Allingham Arts Festival Competition

Congratulations to Cassie McKinney 3D who has won the poetry section of the annual Allingham Arts Festival. This is an enormous achievement and we are very proud of Cassie and her English teacher, Ms. A. Deeney.

6th Year Cinema Trip

Our 6th Year higher level English students attended the Buncrana Cinema recently to watch the Film 'Small Things like These' as part of their English Course.

Our School Ethos

Moment of Reflection

In November we remember and offer prayers for all our deceased family members and friends. “As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us as we remember them.”

World Kindness Day

The RE department explored the importance of kindness, mercy and empathy through classroom activities. Students were encouraged to surprise someone with a random act of kindness such as distributing hand written cards to staff members, parents and fellow students.

Bake Club

TY News

STEM Passport for Inclusion

A huge congratulations to our girls from Transition Year 2023/2024 who recently graduated from the STEM Passport for Inclusion programme. This programme provides young women with the chance to see where they belong in STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers. On completion of the programme, our students received a level 6 qualification from Maynooth University and Atlantic Technological University. They will also receive an additional 50 points in their Leaving Certificate for STEM courses. This is a massive achievement for all the girls and their teachers and as a school community we could not be prouder of you all.

LCA News

Well done to our LCA 1 and LCA 2 classes who have completed their key assignments in for Basic Horticulture. We are very grateful to Coyle's Home Value for their assistance in helping our students to complete this project.

Spórt ar Scoil

Basketball

Our U16 and U19 Girls teams have been in action recently with both age groups competing in regional group games. The U16s had a tough group with Crana College, PCC Falcarragh and Rosses Community School. Erin O' Sullivan-Doherty 2B and Hannah Duffy 3E led the Scoil Mhuire Girls on the day as top scorers. The U19s enjoyed close encounters with Crana College and PCC Falcarragh and there's not doubt that this group of girls are improving with every game. There were standout performances on the day from Hannah McLoughlin 5A and Lauren McLaughlin 4A, with Lucia Clifford 5C as top scorer. We're looking forward to the next round of games for these teams. Our thanks to Ms. McKinney for accompanying the teams.

The season for the U16 and U19 Boys opened last week and both teams played their first three games. The teams came away with 5 wins from 6 games with the only loss coming for the U19 Boys against a very strong Glenties team. There were standout performances from James McLaughlin 3F from the U16 team and Evan McColgan 5D from the U19 team. We wish the boys luck as they hope to qualify for the knockout stages. Thanks to Ms. Thompson and Mr. McCready for accompanying the boys.

Donegal Youth Council Election 2024

On Tuesday we held our Donegal Youth Council Election. Eight students put themselves forward for this election to win a seat on the Donegal Youth Council. It was a very close election, which ran to the 7th count in order to successfully elect one candidate. The winner of the election was Aisha O'Hara Boyle 5B.

It was a great day for our school community, as every student had the opportunity to cast their vote. Our Student Council members were involved in the counting process, which was overseen by representatives from the Donegal Youth Service, Foróige and the HSC.

Scoil Mhuire would like to congratulate Aisha on winning the election. This is a fantastic opportunity for Aisha to represent her peers from Scoil Mhuire on the Donegal Youth Council over the next 2 years. Comhghairdeas ó chroí leat Aisha and our thanks to Ms. O'Sullivan for coordinating this election in our school.

Guidance

College Awareness Week 2024

Next week is College Awareness Week at Scoil Mhuire. There are a lots of activities happening throughout the week. There will be numerous talks and events taking place and our staff will also be sharing their own career stories with our students. We invite all students to ask their teachers about their careers and to explore their own potential career paths for the future. Our sincere thanks to our Guidance Counsellors Ms. McCafferty and Ms. Dillon for organising this week and for all the work they do in supporting our students.

The CAW website is also full of useful resources and ideas. https://www.collegeaware.ie/

Home School Community Liaison

Helping your child with Junior Cycle English

• English for parents of 1st years continues every Tuesday from 7pm-9pm
• English for Parents of 2nd years continues every Wednesday from 7pm-9pm

You are welcome to come along even if you missed the first session. Contact Ms. McBride for further details.

Attendance Matters!

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve school attendance, we will be entering students will full attendance into a draw for a voucher and we will have a separate draw for students with the most improved attendance.

Student Competitions

Your Europe, Your Say!

Do you study at a secondary school? Would you like to take part in an annual youth event that fosters youth empowerment and active participation hosted by an EU institution in Brussels? The European Economic and Social Committee invites you to apply for Your Europe, Your Say! The Your Europe, Your Say! event will take place in Brussels on 13 and 14 March 2025. The event is an opportunity for students to take part in discussions with other young people from across Europe and prepare recommendations that will be sent to high-level EU policy and decision-makers.

Deadline for applications: 25 November 2024

A link to the application can be found here

ActionTalks

Calling all young people between the ages of 14 and 18 for the ActionTalks competition

ActionTalks, a speechwriting competition on important global themes open to young people from across the country aged between 14 and 18 years old. The competition which is now in its 11^th year is aimed at encouraging students to explore the underlying causes of both local and global injustices, giving them a platform to share their perspectives. There are three themes this year: The climate crisis, women’s leadership in emergencies, and the role of overseas aid and women’s rights organisations. Since the competition was launched in 2003 more than 1,100 students from over 200 schools are Ireland have taken part. There were over 100 entries in last year’s competition alone.

How to get involved:

• Students write a 600-800 word speech on one of three themes:
• The leadership role of women during emergencies, conflict, and climate disaster
• The impact of climate change on women’s rights
• The role of overseas aid in supporting women’s rights organizations
• Teachers submit their students' speeches via email.
• 15 students will be selected for the regional finals, 15 students will be selected for the regional finals, where the winners get a €50 voucher each.
• Six finalists will go on to present their speeches in March to a panel of expert judges. The overall winner will receive a €500 voucher, with €100 awarded to their teacher.

For more information on how to apply go to: https://actionaid.ie/speech-writing-competition/

Policy

We are currently reviewing our uniform, mobile phone and anti-bullying policies. We are engaging currently with students to access their voice on these important matters which impact them on a daily basis. We will also engage with parents/guardians to ensure you are fully part of the consultation process.

Social Media

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Upcoming Events

If you have something that you would like featured in our school newsletter, please email micheal.clancy@scoilmhuirebuncrana.ie and we'll do our best to have it included in our next issue.