JCSP - News

Funding for initiatives:

New initiatives were announced by the C.D.U. in May 2003.Mr. Cassidy was awarded funds for a Metalwork project with First Years. Miss Byrne and Mr. Galvin were awarded funding for a Maths and Sports Initiative for First and second years. Mr. Cassidy made working models of cars and Miss Byrne and Mr. Galvin took their classes to do “Maths in the Gym” and on an orienteering trip. All Initiatives resulted in improved performance in and enjoyment of the subjects by the students.

Irish Cultural Studies: The Irish Cultural Studies booklet produced by the C.D.U. has been used very successfully by Miss Goff to make Irish more relevant to students. They have had fun researching their names in Irish and making their own “coat of arms”.

Christmas Celebrations

The Christmas celebrations were a great success. JC.S.P. students erected and decorated two Christmas trees and, decorated the Canteen with balloons and Christmas decorations prior to the display of their work and the arrival of their parents for our annual Junior Certificate School Programme Christmas Celebrations held on Friday 5^th Dec. There was a great atmosphere of anticipation and excitement around the school when it was being decorated and as the “goody bags “ were shopped for, assembled and labelled with each student’s name.  Congratulations to all the students who took part. Parents, relatives and little brothers and sisters, teachers and students gathered to view and admire the work done by students, with the help of their teachers on the theme “ A few of my Favourite Things”. The students displayed a varied and impressive amount of work and talent in English where they wrote about their “favourite thing2 on fashion, Music, Pets, Jewellery, Games and Hobbies etc., Irish, Christmas cards, Art, a nativity scene wall hanging, Maths the cost of presents for a family, Religion, an impressive acrostic using each of the letters in “ A few of my favourite Things” to illustrate a teaching point, Woodwork, wooden toys and shelves, Metalwork, toy cars. Mrs. Fidgeon wore her Christmas snowman sweater and sported a Santa hat with flashing lights, for the entertainment of colleagues and students alike. Miss Kennedy’s music class entertained by playing and singing Christmas carols, while the parents enjoyed tea, coffee and mince pies and the students enjoyed their “goody bags”. Mr. Tyrrell and Mr. Bolger welcomed the parents and relatives of the students and thanked everyone involved with the celebrations. Well done to all concerned.

Competition Winner:

Congratulations to Michael Dickeson whose design for a Homework Journal Sticker was a winner in a competition run by the C.D.U. for all participating schools.

Reading Challenge

The third Reading Challenge has just finished in Abbey Community College. It was a great success. The students are challenged to read a book a week for five weeks to improve their reading skills. Their reading age is tested before and after the challenge. This year the results were excellent, with one student improving his reading age by four years and seven months as a result of sustained reading for five weeks. The average improvement was one year. The success of the Reading Challenge depends on good communication with and the co-operation of parents. The Reading Challenge ran from January to March.

Celebrations of the students’ success took place in the Music room on 29^th March, with the presentation of Certificates of Achievement and the draw for a camera phone for all those who had improved their reading ages. There were class draws for Easter eggs, vouchers for phone credit, vouchers for students’ lunch, goodie bags and soft drinks for every student who took part.

Reading Challenge Booklet:

The Reading Challenge has been so successful that this year Mrs. Fidgeon was asked to give an in-service on it as part of Literacy Strategy Ideas in the Curriculum Development Unit. Ten schools took up the idea from that day and it was a success in each of these schools. Mrs. Fidgeon was commissioned to write a booklet on the nuts and bolts of how the set up and run a Reading Challenge in a school. The Curriculum Development Unit expects the have the booklet available for distribution to schools in September. 

Presentation of Profiles:

The Third years will be presented with their Profiles and class prizes at the annual Presentation Night to be held in mid May. The profiles will contain a record of all the statements in each of their subjects that the students have completed over their three years on the Junior Certificate School Programme and a reference signed by the Principal and the Co-ordinator.

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