Newsletter #8 January 2025

Happy New Year and welcome back to another exciting chapter in our school community! We hope you will continue to read our newsletter in 2025 and keep up to date with the many activities and successes that we celebrate in Scoil Mhuire on a daily basis .

The start of a new year is a perfect time to reflect on our achievements, set new goals, and embrace the challenges ahead with courage and resilience. Together, we will continue to build a school environment that inspires creativity, nurtures curiosity, and fosters a deep sense of belonging for everyone.

To our students, I encourage you to dream big, work hard, and support one another as you strive for success. We wish our exam students every success in their upcoming mock exams in February.

To our parents and guardians, THANK YOU for your partnership and trust in our shared mission to educate and empower our young learners.

To our dedicated staff, your commitment and passion remain the foundation of our school’s success.

Let us make this year one of excellence, growth, and joy. Together, we can achieve great things!

Wishing you all a year filled with happiness, health, and success.

Ms McLoughlin

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Information Evening for Parents/Guardians of Incoming 1st Years

There will be an information evening for the parents and guardians of incoming 1st years next Wednesday, 22 January in the Sports Hall at 19.30. This information evening will focus on the subjects that parents and students need to choose for September 2025. These subject choices will be made online and it is essential for parents and guardians to attend so that they understand this process.

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Mock Exams 2025

Please ask your son/daughter to read their timetable carefully and to organise books/notes to take with them for study periods before and after their exams. Remember, it's a marathon and not a sprint. Students will be sitting full papers as opposed to the shorter assessments during house exams. For example, Irish Paper 1 is 1hr 30mins long and Irish Paper 2 is 3 hours long! So make sure to stay hydrated, eat well, get enough sleep and exercise to keep your head straight. As always, if you have any concerns or feel that you need support, please let us know and we'll do everything that we can.

The Mock Exams for 3rd, 6^th year and LCA 2 students will run this year as follows:

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A link to the 6th Year and LCA 2 exam timetable can be found here.

A link to the 3rd Year exam timetable can be found here.

Signing Out During Exams

Students wishing to sign-out between their exam sessions must have a permission slip signed by a parent/guardian. These permission slips will be issued to students closer to the exams. In the event that a student wishes to sign-out but has not returned their permission slip, then the normal attendance and appointments procedures will apply and a student will need to be collected in person by a parent or guardian. These procedures are in place out of a duty of care for the safety and wellbeing of our students.

After-School Supervised Study

After-school supervised study runs every day in the Study Room from 16:00-18:00. The cost is €2 per session and this is paid to the supervising teacher. Supervised study offers students a fantastic opportunity to complete homework and study without distractions. Students who regularly attend supervised study report that they are less stressed at school, and say that they are able to stay on top of their work and have more free time at home. There is no need to register, simply turn up at the Study Room.

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Deadlines for Projects, Practicals and Coursework

In the table below you will find links to information on the deadlines for Junior and Leaving Certificate students in relation to projects, coursework and practicals. Should you require any additional information, please contact the subject teacher.

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Leaving Certificate Oral Exams

The oral examinations for all language subjects will take place during the Easter holidays from Saturday 12th April to Thursday 17th April. It is essential that students are available on these dates and no exceptions will be made. If you are unable to attend for medical reasons, an application must be made to the State Examinations Commission who will seek documentation. Every student will be allocated a day and time and this is not flexible.

If any student intends to complete a Leaving Certificate exam in the subjects listed below, they must inform Ms. O' Brien.

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Our School Ethos

Catholic Schools Week 2025 - Alive in Christ!

Our Papal Cross students attended mass in Derry Cathedral on Thursday to mark the beginning of Catholic Schools Week 2025. The theme for this year is Alive in Christ! Reflecting on this theme, Scoil Mhuire will explore what it means to be fully alive as a human being – living life to the full in Christ. Our thanks to Ms. Killen and Mr. Clancy for accompanying the students.

“Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!” – Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, Section 1.

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Online Talk for Families Affected by Defective Concrete Blocks/Mica

School Choir and Trad Band

Scoil Mhuire's Trad Band and School Choir were busy before the Christmas holidays spreading some Christmas cheer to local nursing homes. A special thanks to our Religious Education department who also supplied blessed prayers and a Christmas treat for each of the residents. Maith sibh uilig!

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Guidance and Careers

Upcoming Deadlines for 6th Year Students

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Maynooth University Talk

Our 6th year students attended a fantastic talk that was given by Kay Mitchell from Maynooth University. Kay is the School Liaison Officer for Maynooth University. She gave an informative talk about the transition from post-primary to third level and all the courses Maynooth University has to offer.

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An Garda Síochána Road Safety Talk

Our sincere thanks to Garda Seán Tully who visited our school recently to give a talk to all of our 6th years on road safety. Information and awareness sessions like this are essential if we are to reduce the tragic number of deaths on our roads in Donegal.

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Spórt ar Scoil

1st Year Donegal Soccer Final

Commiserations to our 1st Year Boys Soccer team who lost to St. Eunan's College, Letterkenny in the Donegal 1st Year Boys Soccer Final on Wednesday. There is a huge amount of promising talent in this group of students and we have no doubt that they will enjoy success in the years to come. The team will next be in action in an Ulster Quarter-Final game and the draw will be taking place soon. Our thanks to Mr. McCauley for coaching the team.

Senior Soccer

Well done to booth of our Senior Soccer Teams who recorded victories this week. The Senior Girls had a hard fought victory over Our Lady's Secondary School, Castleblayney in the Ulster Semi-Final on Monday in Ballyshannon. They won 1-0 with Clióna O'Donnell scoring the all important goal. They now face either Loreto Letterkenny or Royal and Prior Raphoe next Friday in the final at Letterkenny Community Centre with an 11am K.O.

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On Thursday the Senior Boys were successful against Carndonagh CS winning 3-2. An overall great team performance and well deserved victory. They now move on to the Ulster Semi-Final where they will meet Largy College, Clones.

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Our thanks to Mr. Carr for coaching both of the teams. Mr. Carr has been nominated for Secondary School Sports Teacher of the year at the upcoming Donegal Sports Awards and we all wish him the best of luck on the night.

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Celtic Trip

Our students recently travelled to Parkhead where they watched Celtic beat Dundee United 2-0. Our thanks to all of the staff who accompanied our students to Scotland on this trip.

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Donegal Sports Awards

We wish the best of luck to our students and staff who have been nominated for awards at the upcoming Donegal Sports Awards. Go n-éirí libh!

• Conor Graham, Class of 2024 - Secondary School Sports Boy
• Darragh Coyle 6D - Secondary School Sports Boy
• Tiernan Bradley 2F - Secondary School Sports Boy
• Heidi Gill 6B - Secondary School Sports Girl
• Jodie Loughrey 6B - Secondary School Sports Girl
• Keri Loughrey, Class of 2024 - Secondary School Sports Girl
• Kealan Doherty 6th Year - Special Athlete (Finn Harps League of Ireland Down Syndrome Futsal Team)
• Meadbh McLaughlin 4C - Gymnastics
• Mr. Carr - Secondary School Sports Teacher

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Formal 2024

Our annual Formal took place on December 19th. It was a great occasion for our school community and one which will live in the memories of our 6th Year students for many years to come. Our sincere thanks to all of those in our school community who volunteered their time to help run this event.

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Paris School Tour 2025

Would you like to visit Paris next October? We are currently gauging interest from our students for a tour to Paris in October 2025 for four days & three nights. Climb the Eiffel Tower, take a boat on the river Seine, visit Euro Disney and much more. All students who will be in Senior Cycle next year (TY, 5th, 6th & LCA) would be eligible to sign up. For more information or to express your interest in the tour, please give your name to or email Ms. Mac Ginty.

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Key Reminders for all Parents/Guardians

Personal Belongings

Scoil Mhuire is a big and busy school and it is not unusual for personal belongings to get mislaid. We ask that all items of uniform and school bags are clearly labelled and identifiable. We do not encourage students to bring non-school coats to school and they do so at their own risk. Scoil Mhuire does not take responsibility for missing bags as all students have been given the opportunity to avail of a locker in which they can keep their personal belongings safe and secure.

School Attendance

We encourage all of our students to attend school on time every day. When a student is going to be absent or late, parents/guardians must follow our school attendance and appointment procedures (available in Newsletter #1 on our website here).

The winners of the attendance drive for November were as follows:

Junior Winners

Isabella Keating, Rodiah Oyekanmi and Angel Ferguson

Senior Winners

Leanne Hegarty, Aaron Porter, Sandra Meller and Kayla McColgan

Late in the Morning

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve school attendance, students who arrive late persistently will be required to complete a 1 hour late-comers detention on a Friday. Parents/guardians of the student will be notified of this. The academic school year is short and as the graphic above shows us, every minute counts! If however the student's lateness to school can be explained, please notify the Main Office of this.

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Disabled Person's Parking Bay

We wish to remind everyone in our school community that we have a disabled person's parking bay at the main entrance to our school. This parking space can only be used by people who have a blue badge parking card and we will not hesitate to ask drivers to move their car if they do not have one. Please think before you park.

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Parents' Council

Our Parent's Council met on Thursday 12 December. At the meeting they were consulted about our current uniform, mobile phone and anti-bullying policies as part of our on-going review into these areas which effect our students every single day.

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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 in the coming months to ensure you are fully part of the consultation process.

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Leaving Certificate Reform

Our teachers have been undertaking extensive training as part of Leaving Certificate Reform. All subjects are currently being reviewed and redeveloped by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). As well as this, two new subjects have recently been added to the Leaving Certificate curriculum: Drama, Film and Theatre Studies; and Climate Action and Sustainable Development. Scoil Mhuire was successful in it's application to become one of a small cohort of schools that will pilot the new Drama, Film and Theatre Studies subject.

The first tranche of reformed subjects that will be introduced to Scoil Mhuire in September 2025 are biology, business, chemistry, physics, drama, film and theatre studies. A comprehensive guide to this reform, as well as details for every subject can be found here.

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Social Media

Keep up-to-date with the latest news from Scoil Mhuire on our social media accounts.

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Upcoming Events and Deadlines

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.