.Cheerleading fun at Presentation. Photo by Dermot Crean
THERE’S been plenty of activity at Presentation Secondary School Tralee lately, as the junior cycle pupils get into the new subject of ‘Wellbeing’.
In the first term of school, the PE Department has always organised outdoor trips for new groupings where well established community links are utilised. Pupils in 2nd, 4th and 5th year have an opportunity to master life-skills through physical activity in outdoor settings.
In the past couple of weeks the students have been in Cappanalea Outdoor Centre, Banna beach and Ballyseedy to experience orienteering, kayaking, surfing and team building challenges.
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In the orienteering, Presentation Secondary School Tralee came 1st of many schools. The names of the groups that qualified them as winners were Saoirse Glavin and Ciara Sharp class 2K, Aine Hannafin and Shauna Moriarty class 2K, Sadbh Lowth and Alive O’Connell class 2L, group of three Cara Grealish 2L, Adra Kongjoni 2L and Alazne Sertuxta 2K and finally Maja Duzinkiewicz and Wiktoria Depta class 2L.
Last Friday before the mid-term break, there was a cheerleading exercise under the instruction of Cassie Leen where the girls showed off their co-ordinated moves. This was followed by a basketball tournament in the gym. So the new subject of ‘Wellbeing’ is clearly proving popular with students and teachers.
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Pres girls in Ballyseedy.Taking lessons at Banna Beach..Cheerleading fun at Presentation. Photo by Dermot CreanCheerleading fun at Presentation. Photo by Dermot Crean.Cheerleading fun at Presentation. Photo by Dermot CreanCheerleading fun at Presentation. Photo by Dermot Crean
.Grainne Clifford, Roksanax Szczygielek, Olivia Dillion, Eve Hennessy, Emily O’Brien, Katarina Roberts and Karina Sultan will represent Presentation National School at the . Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
A GROUP representing Presentation National School is one of only seven schools in Ireland to be selected to take part in an All-Ireland songwriting competition.
The seven girls will take part in ‘Song for 16’ and perform in front of hundreds of people at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on May 15.
The winning song will be published and released by Disney Music Group along with winning €1,000 in prize money for their school.
‘Song for 16’ is an all-island schools song competition presented by the National Concert Hall, Disney Music Group and the Department of Education and Skills.
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“We feel it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to play at the National Concert Hall so they’re over the moon,” said teacher Helena Hennessy.
The song ‘This Is My Island’ was written by fourth class pupil, Eve Hennessy, who combined her talents of writing and music to pen their song. Eve’s inspiration came from what she was learning in class about the Rising with her teacher.
“They’re only ten and they really felt empathy with the people people who fought for our country and made the sacrifice,” said Helena.
Joining Eva from Presentation are Grainne Clifford, Roksanax Szczygielek, Olivia Dillion and Karina Sultan.
The competition rules have allowed outside musicians to take part, so Presentation have brought in the services of Katarina Roberts from Castlegregory National School on piano and Emily O’Brien from Scoil Nuachabháil in Ballymacelligott on flute.
They won’t be alone on their journey to the capital as between 20 and 30 supporters made up of Presentation teachers and pupils will go up to Dublin to get behind the girls. Along with recording a song that reflected a new modern, multicultural Ireland, the girls were asked to submit a video recording of them performing in the school.
The competition forms part of the National Concert Hall’s 2016 Centenary Programme.
.At the marking of Year of Consecrated Life in Presentation School were, from left: Elizabeth Meehan,, Sr. Maureen Guerin, Aoife Dillane and Sr. Mary McMahon.
PRESENTATION Secondary School Tralee held its annual school mass on Friday last, attended by Presentation sisters to mark Presentation Day.
Following on from the mass, a special celebration was held in the secondary school for the Presentation sisters to mark the Year of Consecrated Life and to thank the Presentation sisters for their dedication to the Presentation Secondary school down through the years.
Special candles had been commissioned to mark the occasion and were presented to Sr. Maureen Guerin and Sr. Mary McMahon for the Convent Chapel by Transition year students Aoife Dillane and Elizabeth Meehan.
Flowers for the Altar were presented to Sr. Grace Foley. Each sister received an individual candle to mark the day.
Sr. Bríd Clifford, former School Principal thanked the students for organising the event. Refreshments followed, served by transition year students who organised the event with Principal Ms. Mary O’Keeffe and Religious Education teachers Sheila O’Connell and Norma Foley.
Presentation transition year group with Sr. Elizabeth McMahon, Sr. Grace Foley and Sr. Maureen Guerin with Principal Mary O’Keeffe and R.E. teachers Norma Foley and Sheila O’Connell.
Presentation Secondary School students who were nominated ICTU’s Youth Connect Programme film competition were, from left: Lauren Kelly, Jade Diggins, Amy Doyle, Olivia Carmody and Bronwyn Hanafin. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
TWO short films created by Presentation Secondary School students have been shortlisted for an All-Ireland film competition.
The All-Ireland second level student video competition run by ICTU’s Youth Connect Programme, is now in its second year and Presentation have two entries out of the 25 shortlisted nationally.
The students involved are Shelley Howarth, Caitriona Horgan, Bronwyn Hanafin and Olivia Carmody who created the film ‘A Class On Income Inequality’.
Amy Doyle, Lauren Kelly, Jade Diggins are the other group with their film called ‘A Youth’s Perspective’.
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The aim of the awards is to celebrate student creativity and engagement with aspects of the Decent Work Agenda and Trade Union Movement’s ethos.
This year students were asked to research Income Inequality, its impact on society, and possible solutions. The interpretation of the theme will hope to highlight the concerns of young people on important issues such as income inequality and inspire others to take an interest.
The award ceremony will take place on Thursday February 26th, from 2-4pm at the Savoy Cinema, Dublin which the girls will be attending along with the other nominees nationwide.
You can watch the videos and vote for your favourite. Voting will remain open until 1pm on Monday February 23. Only one vote per email address will be accepted.
Watch the Presentation videos below and vote by clickingHERE
Science teacher at Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, Elaine Ní Dheargáin with students Janine Ní Chonchúir, Lorraine de Nais and Ursula Ní Mhochóir and their project. Photo by Dermot Crean
STUDENTS from around the county are in Dublin this week to take part in the BT Young Scientists Exhibition at the RDS and Tralee schools are represented in three projects: two from Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí and one from Presentation Secondary School.
The Gaelcholaiste’s entries focus on ‘Using water energy buoys to reduce coastal erosion whilst generating electricity’ and ‘Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and road deaths’.
Three Transition Year students Ursula Ní Mhochóir, Lorraine De Nais and Janine Ní Chonchúir have been working on their project on wave energy and coastal erosion since September.
“It’s a project on harnessing wave power while preventing coastal erosion,” said Ursula. “We know coastal erosion is a big problem, especially in Ballybunion where we saw the effects over a year, so we decided to have a look at it. We researched it a lot and found out about wave energy and decided to incorporate that into the project,” she said.
The girls made a model which will demonstrate their findings to judges at the exhibition.
Laura Ní Eidhin, of Gaelcholaiste Chiarrai with her ‘Safety On Our Roads’ project at the Scifest Fair at the ITT last May. Photo by Dermot Crean
Their fellow schoolmate, Laura Ni Eidhin, a second year student, will be bringing her project on ‘Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and road deaths’ to the exhibition.
She has already finished Runner-Up in the Best Project category for her ‘Sábhálacht ar ár mbothaire – Safety on our roads (A statistical analysis of driver knowledge)’ project at the Scifest at the ITT in May 2014.
She has now developed her project further for the Young Scientists exhibition.
“Since we started going to the Young Scientists exhibition we’d normally have about two projects each year,” said science teacher, Elaine Ní Dheargáin. “We’ve been highly commended one year and won a display award a few years ago, so there’s a good science tradition in the school,” she said.
Ciara Begley of Presentation Secondary School is up in Dublin at the BT Young Scientists Exhibition. Photo by Dermot Crean
Over in Presentation Secondary, Transtition Year student, Ciara Begley, was a late entry into the exhibition.
“Ciara spent a lot of time over Christmas on the project as she got a late call-up on December 18,”said her science teacher, Kay O’Mahony.
“We’re thrilled she was called up, but it was short notice. We’ve had numerous entries in the exhibition over the years with one of our students, Emer Jones, winning the overall prize in 2008,” she said.
Ciara’s project ‘Does Physical Training Cause Injury’ explores how injuries occur by overtraining and not warming up correctly while coming to recommendations on how to help avoid these injuries.
“It’s mainly about how not warming up correctly, or overtraining, results in injuries,” Ciara said. “I interviewed physical trainers about it and did research into the subject over Christmas. I found 53% of women received ligament injuries by not warming up properly,” she said.
Among her recommendations are that trainers should record players injuries and how they happened and that all GAA trainers should be sent on courses in the latest developments in physical training and on how to do proper warm-ups and warm-downs to prevent injuries.
The BT Young Scientist Exhibition starts today and continues until Saturday. Best of luck to all Kerry students.
Teaching staff from Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, Tomás Mac Muiris, Fiona Uí Mhuiris, Deirdre Ní Chochláin and Principal Austin Ó Seachnasaigh taking part in the official strike on Tuesday. Photo by Dermot Crean
SECONDARY school teachers in Tralee joined their comrades all over the country in the one day strike yesterday over changes to the Junior Certificate.
Thousands of students attending Presentation, Mercy Mounthawk, CBS The Green, Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí and Coláiste Gleann Lí had a day off as members of teaching unions walked the picket line outside the schools.
The strike was centred around the main issue of teachers being asked to mark 40% of the course work of their students, but also about resources and years of cuts to education budgets.
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TraleeToday.ie visited the schools and yesterday and spoke to ASTI Shop Steward at Mercy Mounthawk, John Dowling, about the public’s reaction to the strike.
“The public perception of what we’re doing is positive enough I think, because we’re not striking about money at all,” said John Dowling, ASTI Shop Steward at Mercy Mounthawk, as a few cars whizzed by, beeping.
“We’re striking about the students’ conditions, their welfare and education. We feel that bringing in 40% continuous assessment for the Junior Cert – which won’t be assessed by the State and will be assessed by us to our own students – will make a mockery out of the whole thing,” he added.
“You’re then giving a State certificate for an exam which hasn’t been fully assessed by the State. We don’t want to be assessing our own students because questions of bias and unfairness would be raised by parents,” said Mr Dowling.
“We’re open to project work, but we want to make sure that work is taken away and externally assessed so that an ‘A’ grade in Mercy Mounthawk is an ‘A’ in Presentation and it’s an ‘A’ in Clare and in Galway. We see how how everything is becoming so competitive with school league tables. Every school is going to want to be up there because they want to have a good reputation. So is everybody going to be fair in that instance? I hope so, but it just leaves it open to that sort of thing,” said Mr Dowling.
There is another one day strike planned for January, unless the Government and the unions can come together and work out the issues.
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Teachers from Coláiste Gleann Lí in Clash, Ciara Walsh, Mike Quirke, Anthony Dineen, Norma Breen, Ann-Marie O’Kelly and John Joe Roche taking part in the official strike on Tuesday. Photo by Dermot CreanTeachers from Presentation Secondary School, Clem O’Keeffe, Mary Twomey, Catriona Walsh, Sandra Moore, Alan O’Sullivan and Mary Mulcahy taking part in the official strike on Tuesday. Photo by Dermot CreanTeachers from CBS The Green, Mike Tim O’Sullivan, John O’Mahony, Sheila Mulcahy, Ann Moynihan and Rachel Moynihan taking part in the official strike on Tuesday. Photo by Dermot CreanTeachers from Mercy Mounthawk, Mairead McAuliffe, Bernie O’Shea, Marie O’Connor, Aisling O’Connor, Mairead O’Mahony, Lindsey Moriarty, John Dowling, Tom Benson, Catriona O’Sullivan and Ronan Redican taking part in the official strike on Tuesday. Photo by Dermot Crean
Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Ada O’Connor who got 8 A’s, Sinead Deasy got 7 A’s and Brian Fox who also got 8 A’s. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
THERE were nerves and excitement in equal measure across all secondary schools in town on Wednesday morning as this year’s Junior Certificate exams students received their results.
Two of the top scorers were Lauren Kelly of Presentation Secondary School and Niamh Ni Chonaill of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí who both fetched a highly impressive 10 As.
Fifty students in Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí completed their Junior Cert exams including two sets of twins.
“They did exceptionally well, we don’t like to focus on just one student, but Niamh Ni Chonaill getting a clean sweep of A’s is fantastic,” said Deputy Principal of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, Ruairi O’Cinneide.
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In Mounthawk 60% of students got As in art which is well over the national average along with three students who received 8 As.
“They were a hard working bunch, you can see that in the results they got back. All the teachers are very pleased with them,” said Deputy Principal of Mercy Mounthawk, Pat Fleming.
Lauren Kelly of Presentation Secondary School got ten A’s in her Junior Cert. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
In 2012 sweeping changes were made to the educational system which will see the Junior Certificate exams become a thing of the past by 2020 and be replaced with a continued assessment form of examination. We asked students and teachers was this a positive move?
“There is definitely an appetite for change. I think we can all see there is value in continued assessment. Because of the changes in Maths there has been an uptake in the subject. This year 60% did honours maths, it was around 45% before, so with the right tweaks there can be change in the education system,” said Pat Fleming.
“The Junior Cert prepares you for doing the Leaving Cert,” said Shelly Howarth, student of Presentation Secondary. “If it goes, students won’t have the experience of doing a big exam,” she said.
“There is a lot of merit in continued assessment,” said Ruairi O’Cinneide at the Gaelcholaiste. “But the fact that students wont be independently assessed does cause a bit of concern. We have seen nationally that parents and teachers have been raising concern about the lack of independent assessment.”
“I think the continued asassessment would be better because a person could have a bad day of the exam, not everyone peaks at exam time,” said Eamonn O’Braoin, student of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí.
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Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Carla Hannifin (who got 8 A’s), Rachel Moloney and Ciara McCarthy. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Corrie Rogers, Claire Shanahan, Chloe Lonergan and Shauna O’Sullivan. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Victoria Murphy, Emma Connolly and Kim Harris. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Eni Gaxha, Sarah Dunworth, Emma O’Connor, Sophia Samy. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Joe Quilter, Phillip Quilter, Adam Bohane, Sean Collins and Rory O’Connor. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Katelynn McCarthy, Anne Dowling, Sarah Falvey and Ciara Jeffers. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Zara Hartnett, Aisling Williams and Aoibhinn O’Brien. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk open up the envelopes that hold the results of their Junior cert exams. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Cathal Egan, Donna Broderick, Tom Moriarty and Cillian Tierney. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Mercy Mounthawk who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Patrick Carney, David McCarthy, Robbie Dinan. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Aisling Ni Fhuarain, Megan Ni Sheoin, Tara Ni Dhuinnin, Rachel Ni Cinea and Grace Claro. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Ciaran Uí Briain, Sean Prionndaibheil, Padraig O’Neill and Sean O’Headhra. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Presentation Secondary School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Katie Ahern and Jennifer Byrne. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Presentation Secondary School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Aoife Falvey, Andrea Kerins, Grainne Linnane, Kelly O’Brien, Muireann McLaughlin. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Presentation Secondary School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Aisling Thorntn, Ciara Corridon and Shelly Howarth. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Presentation Secondary School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Mairead Brosnan, Aoife Brick and Andrea Dillon. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Students of Presentation Secondary School who received their Junior Cert results were, from left: Holly Boyd, Clodagh Carey and Rachel Breen. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
THERE was red carpet glamour at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night, as teenagers glammed up for the Presentation Tralee Students Debs Ball.
About 240 teenagers attended the €55 a head affair and there was no expense spared on the dresses either judging by the style on show as they all enjoyed the occasion.
A lot of preparation went into the event as one student, Ellen O’Doherty, told TraleeToday.ie.
“We formed a committee back in October and the first thing we did was decide on a venue. There was five of us in the committee; myself, Joanne Meehan, Chantelle McDonagh, Niamh O’Connor and Tsungi Mujokoro,” said Ellen.
“We’d have regular lunchtime meetings about it. The accounts was the most difficult part – collecting and handling so much money. The money was collected during the year and the tickets went out last week. We were here in Ballyroe this morning setting up the decorations and making sure everything is ready for tonight which should be a great one,” said Ellen.
The students sat down to a vegetable soup starter, followed by chicken or salmon main course and finished off with profiteroles. Caoimhe and Fionan O’Carroll provide some music before DJ Aaron O’Shea had the place rocking til closing.
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Farrell Ó Nualláin, Marie Woulfe, James Kelly, Niamh Sheehy, Laura Daly and Dylan Sheehy at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanShannon Daly, Nicole Carey and Fiona McKeown at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanAlan Counihan, Shannon Leahy, Deirdre Glavin and Jake Foley at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanDylan Ronan, Catherine O’Halloran, Saorise Brosnan and David O’Brien at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanPhena Mulligan, Tommy Sheehy and Emma O’Halloran at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanAdam O’Rourke and Carly Holden at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanShane McCarthy and Emily O’Brien at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanDaniel Browne, Clodagh Moriarty, Davin Breen, Tara Boyle, Liam O’Herlihy and Sadie O’Sullivan at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanDejan Podbarac, Katie Horan, Niamh O’Connor, Eoghan O’Leary and Armstrong Adado at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanDarragh Collins, Doireann O’Carroll, Aileen Murphy and Peter Moriarty at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanMicheál Costello, Aisling Leahy, Joanne Meehan and Enda Jordan at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanAttending the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night were Diarmaid Moriarty, Lucas Cronin, Mark O’Connor and Joe Crosby. Photo by Dermot CreanRosie Wheeler, Alison Shaughnessy, Danielle Martin and Keelyn O’Brien at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanElla Horgan, Louise McAuliffe and Leandra Lukose at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanTomas Galvin and Ellen O’Doherty at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanJack Lacey, Jacqui Dodd, Renalyn Aganon and Febie Nicolas at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanMary Doody and Tsungi Mujokoro at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot CreanCaoimhe Crowe, Shauna Hannafin and Sinead Brosnan at the Presentation Students Debs Ball at the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Thursday night. Photo by Dermot Crean
