Portumna Community School

First Podcasts from Portumna Community School

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Open Day for Leaving Cert Students in Limerick

Each year the various 3^rd level colleges organise Open Days for Leaving Certs. which can be of benefit in preparing for the transition to 3^rd level. The three colleges in Limerick (Mary Immaculate, University of Limerick and Limerick Institute of Technology) have organised an Open Day for Monday, 16^th October. These colleges have traditionally attracted students from this school so we have organised a bus which will leave at 8.15 a.m. and return at around 4.30 p.m. and this will enable students to attend several talks – we believe it will be of benefit to this year’s Leaving Certs if they could attend. They will be accompanied by Ms. Hanley (substituting for Ms. Lyons) and myself. School rules apply and Uniform must be worn (all of the colleges have requested this). An outline of the day’s program has been given to all Leaving Certs. Students should bring their Open Day information pack, their University of Limerick prospectus, a notebook and a pen. The cost of the bus for students is €10 and this will be collected on the bus.

D. Long.

1^st Yr. Welcome Liturgy

Today we had our First year welcome liturgy in Suaimhneas after a lot of preparation. The theme was ‘A Beautiful World’. Thanks to all the students who played a great variety of instruments, all those who had their creative art work on display, the readers, those who did the prayers of the faithful and, of course, everyone took part in the singing. Thanks also to Ms. Ryan and Ms. Burke for all their help in the preparations. I hope we all left Suaimhneas with a new way of seeing our world.

Senior Girls Soccer

What a great bunch of girls to take out for a day to play soccer! Yes we were beaten on the day by a better team, but we still celebrated our day out with a trip to Supermacs. Of course its nice to win, but there can be only one winner and Wednesday was not our day. However, we were still able to return home with our heads held high because we know that every player on the pitch gave everything they had and that’s what the game is all about. This was the first time these girls played together as a team so our next outing will be approached with the same determination but a little more experience! Well done girls.

Fr. Abe

Parents’ Association

  The A.G.M. of the Parents’ Association will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, 26^th October in the school.

Please note election of officers will not take place. Parents are expected to attend and light refreshments will be served afterwards.



Computer Memory

If any families are disposing of an old or broken computer, could you please contact the school before doing so as the memory modules (the RAM – not the hard drive) would be of use to the school.

You will be shown how to locate the module and take it from the computer before its disposal.

Computer Software

Any student wishing to get a copy of the ‘Star Office 8’ software (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) should place €3 in an envelope with your name and class on the outside and leave it into Anne’s office before Wednesday, 18^th Oct.!

Congrats & Good Luck

Congratulations to our present students, Emer Haverty, Julie Brien & Tara Ruttledge, and past students, Richael O’Brien & Martina Conroy (members of the Galway Minor Camogie Team) as they played their part in a good All-Ireland Semi-Final win over Cork last weekend. They will now contest the All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny in Nenagh on Sunday and hopefully they will bring home the silverware. Good luck Girls.

Schools Golf

Congratulations to Margarette and Amanda Lynch who represented the school in the I.L.G.U. Connacht Schools Golf in Westport yesterday (12^th). Although their endeavours were not fruitful on the day their best individual scores were something to be proud of. So watch this space for next year! It is worth noting that this was their first Golf Competition and they were on a difficult away course. Thanks to Ms. Cunningham for accompanying them on the trip.

Debating

The Concern Debating team has been decided for this year’s competition. The Transition Year supplied the four speakers – Ciara Bergin, Sarah Hoban, Kate O’Meara, Aine O’Meara and Veronica Burke (Sub). The competition for places was very high and with nine very good speakers in contention, we intend to use all of them during the competition. Our 1^st round is against St. Brendans C.S. (Birr) in Tullamore. The motion this year is “Global Commitments on the Environment are a load of hot air”.   We welcome also the addition of Ms. Skelly in helping to prepare the students.

B. O’Connor, C. Burke & L. Skelly.

Junior Rugby: Training Monday evening at 4.05 p.m. Full panel to attend.

Youth Club

The Youth Club commences in the Town Hall on Thursday, 26^th Oct., at 7.30 p.m. All second level students are welcome. In order to continue with the smooth running

of the club, adult supervision is needed – any parent interested in volunteering 2 to 4 hours a month please contact Marie (087 7995688) or Susan (087 6779267). Please note the change of night and time.

Na Cala� Notes:

Portumna & District Health Forum & Na Cala� CDP invites you to attend the last of their four workshops focussing on Suicide Awareness, on Tuesday the 17th of October in the Shannon Oaks Hotel, Portumna, from 8p.m. to 9.30p.m. The speaker is Mary Mc Ternan from STOP (Suicide, Teach, Organise & Prevent). STOP was organised two years ago, to highlight     the issue of suicide, to create public awareness and to put in place a support group for the bereaved.

Admission is free, and tea & coffee will be served after the workshop. For further information, please contact Na Cala� CDP on (090) 97 41887. Kindly Supported by the ESB Electric Aid.

The Summer Arts Project will continue in Na Calai this Friday, 13^th, at 4.15 p.m. for all those registered. Light snacks and refreshments available beforehand.

Youth Caf�: Are you interested in joining the Youth Caf� Committee? An information meeting for new and existing members will be held after the mid-term break.

Careers – Open Days – Oct.

16^th – Limerick IT, Mary Immaculate College, Shannon College of Hotel Management & University of Limerick.

18^th – College of Amenity Horticulture – Nat. Botanic Gdns.

19^th – Warrenstown Horticultural College.

20^th – Dundalk IT; Institute of Technology (Carlow)

and St. Patrick’s Carlow.

For further information contact Ms. Hanley.

Transition Year Notes

Leargas : Congratulations to Rachel Geoghegan, Linsey Molloy,

Kym Hoary and Aine Blaney, who have completed a project competition to celebrate European Day of Languages (26th Sept.).

The T.Y. students analysed the multicultural streetscapes of local towns including the use of different languages on signs, posters and notices. They gave an account of how the streetscape has changed over the past fifty years to celebrate diversity.

European Studies Project:

Several students are designing a Christmas Card for a project

backed by European Studies. The theme is ‘Christmas in Europe’.

School Credit Union

The students were busy setting up the School Branch of the Credit Union. This opportunity was open to all of the T.Y. class. Fourteen students filled the application forms and included their C.V.s. These students were then called for interview on Tuesday (10^th) at the local Credit Union in Portumna. Many thanks to Mrs. Ann Menhenneot and Mr. Sean O’Dwyer who are Directors of the local branch, for providing such an invaluable educational platform for the students – for many of them it was their first interview. The entire process gives to our students an insight into the running of a financial institution.

Congratulations to the following who got positions in the school Credit Union: Chairperson: Ceara Bergin; Vice Chairperson: Paul Abberton; Secretary: Jane Burns & Sarah Conboy; Treasurer: Sinead Reddan; Assistant Treasurer: Shayne Carty; PRO: Shane Madden; Promotion & Marketing: Sarah Hoban, Julie Larkin & Ailish O’Toole; Tellers: Blaithin Conroy, Ciaran Treacy, Veronica Burke & Darren Grady.

A meeting will take place next week with a member of the local

Credit Union and this project will be started immediately.

J. Coughlan

Last Friday (6th) the T.Y. group were given a very interesting and informative talk from Fr. Bobby Gilmore. He is an Irish priest who has studied, in detail, Migration and the Movement of People. He began by giving us some amazing facts about the different types of migration there is and how many people actually have migrated over the past years. To explain things better, he used means of role-play. Overall, Fr. Gilmore’s talk was very interesting and was enjoyed by all. Many thanks to Fr. Bobby and Fr. Abe for making this talk possible.

Niamh Molamphy



A New Band

Michael D’Alton, Daniel Devine and Mark Finnerty (2^nd Yrs.) recently entered the ‘Jam’ / RTE Competition for bands. They qualified for the next round which had the top 30 bands in the competition. Unfortunately they didn’t make it to the final three but we wish them all the best for next year.

This Day In History – 13^th

1988 - Shroud of Turin, revered by many as Christ's burial cloth, is shown by carbon-dating tests to be a fake

from the Middle Ages.

Dates for your Diary:   (14^th – 20^th Oct.)

�       Tues. 17^th – Ms. Cahalan’s LCVP class trip to Chanelle Vetinary.

�       Tues. 17^th – Junior Rugby Vs Garbally in Portumna @ 2.00 p.m.

�       Tues. 17^th – Junior Girls Soccer Vs Borrisokane in Portumna @ 12 noon.