Newsletter

Note from the principal
As I write these few words, under pressure from our editor, the sun beams down as we approach the end of another academic year.

Even though we did not reach the same heights on the sporting scene as in previous years we continued to participate in all competitions – Boys and Girls, and look
forward to renewed success in the years ahead.
Thanks to all the students who participated and to our coaches Katrina Connolly, Noelle Gormley, Anthony Brennan, Pat Kilcoyne, Ronan McGovern and everyone who helped in any way.

Choral success continues to come our way and again thanks to Ms. McDonnell for her work, dedication and encouragement. Our thanks to our quiz teams and their mentors Ms. Tighe and Ms. Roddy for all their time and work. Congratulations to our Gaisce participants who have received bronze and silver medals – well done.
To Mrs. Howley well done for her help and guidance to these students.

St. Attracta’s new website has just been launched. Many thanks to Ms. Rabbette and to her helper, 3rd year student Josh Jameson, for all their work. The site can be
accessed at www.stattractas.ie.
Our range of subjects continues to expand with the introduction of Technology at Senior Cycle from September. We will then be offering a complete range of subjects.

In September last our Career Guidance Counsellor was seconded to the Marist Order. On behalf of everyone associated with St. Attracta’s – staff, students, parents, B.O.M. and Trustees – a special ‘Thank You’ to Sr. Brigid Mary for her hard work and
dedication over the past 4 years. This was always delivered with good humour and aplomb.

Again thanks to all who helped to make St. Attracta’s what I hope is a pleasant and happy school (despite the odd hitch) - Caretakers, Cleaners, Canteen and Secretarial staff.
Finally, the best of luck to our Junior and Leaving Certificate students in their forthcoming examinations. Thanks especially to the Leaving Certificate students for your help and co-operation over the years. May the wind be always on your backs. You will always be welcome to revisit St. Attracta’s.

Willie Ruane

T.Y News
Well another year over and so much has been achieved through this Transition Year 2006-’07. We take up from the last news- letter, which highlighted events from Sept. to Christmas. From January on we engaged in both energetic and creative modules in the form of Kick boxing and Golf and
G.A.A Coaching.
Japanese continued. We became more and more immersed in the culture and customs of the country thanks to Ms. Brenda
Howley.
T.Y is about becoming aware of others and their work in society. With that in mind we met with many guest speakers including a talk on alcoholism and safety on the roads.
We had already been trained by Gills
Driving School, so it seemed apt that John should visit us for the day and ensure that we were well versed in the running of a car on a daily basis. We’ll never be caught on the side of the road unable to change a tyre or without water for the windscreen
washers!!
During two weeks of March we embarked on our second work placement, where many of us found the calling for a
particular career, whilst others realised that particular work environments didn’t suit them!! Either way it was an excellent learning experience.
Those of us who were technologically minded were heavily involved in projects such as “Blue Flames” and “Robocop”
under the auspices of Mr.McGovern and Ms.O’Shea respectively. Both projects were a roaring success. An additional
success was the school bank where prizes were won both for the students and for the school.
As T.Ys we knew an integral part of the course was to set out to help others in the guise of Fundraising. In this term we raised money for the I.S.P.C.C for Debra Ireland, a charity, which was the focus in our religion class thanks to Ms. Fahy and Ms. Tonra.

Geography Field Trip
Playing with water seems a very childish thing to do but it did have a learning dimension in
T.Y as the geography class headed for the River Brusna for a geography investigation. Here we ascertained how to measure and record the speed, depth and quality of the river.

Gaisce
Gaisce, a very prestigious award has been attained by a significant number of transition year students, thanks to the dedication of the students and their teacher Ms. Howley. This year’s T.Ys were lucky enough to appreciate the rhymic sounds of African Drumming through the Samba workshop and to continue in this artistic vein, Vivienne from Artscope worked with us over a period of five days helping us to produce a dance show to be incorporated into our Presentation Night.
Overall, with so much going on its been a busy and active year which we’ll be leaving on a high note as we are busy preparing for our Presentation Night which we imagine to be a night of song and dance and an effort to regale you with all the exploits of our T.Y year.

L.C.A News
After Christmas the L.C.A students were launched into an intensive month of academic work as each of them had to submit three tasks for examination purposes by the end of
January. The candidates are currently completing the assignments and are preparing for a practical cookery exam and their Irish orals. They will be submitting wooden toys for their end of year graphics and construction project, due to be assessed before the end of May. The L.C.A candidates who will be leaving school this year were very positive about the L.C.A experience and were particularly enthusiastic about the gradual process of gathering credits.

Badminton
A number of boys and girls competed in the Connacht Schools Badminton in Sligo, playing a number of schools from the province.

Athletics
Well done to the following students who go through to the Connacht finals in Galway on 17th May. Aisling O’Hara, Eithne O’Flaherty, Lisa Walsh, Catriona Walsh, Karen Maye, Aaron Murthagh, Alan Walsh and Tommy Brett.

Basketball
This year again St. Attracta’s had four teams competing in the Basketball Ireland Schools Competition at senior, cadette, second and first year level. This involved playing teams from Manorhamilton, Drumshambo, Ballisodare, and Bundoran in the first round. The Senior and Cadettes then qualified to play teams from Derry and Carndonagh. These were thrilling matches and both teams were very unlucky to miss out on a place in the all Ireland play-offs after being beaten in the final by Carrick on Shannon in the Caddettes.

Juvenile Boy’s Football
In the Juvenile Competition the St.
Attracta’s Boy’s Team competed against teams from Summerhill, Roscommon CBS and Carrick on Shannon in the league. They now face Kiltimagh in the Connacht Semi-Final, and if they win they will play either
Headford or Garbally.
In the Championship, they beat Oughterard and Mountbellew, but lost to Headford in the semi final. Overall it was a successful year and with a bit of luck they will take the league title. The juveniles wish to express their thanks to their manager Mr. McGovern for his time, effort and commitment throughout the year.

Junior Boys Football
The Junior Boy’s football team managed by Anthony Brennan started off their league cam league campaign with a convincing victory over Summerhill College. They continued their winning streak with a comprehensive victory over Carrick-On-Shannon to qualify for the semi-finals where they beat St. Nathy’s,
Ballaghderreen 3-14 to 1-5. A Connacht league final against Headford now awaits them. In the championship the Junior boys came though the quarter finals by easily defeating Garbally.
Unfortunately they were knocked out in the semi-finals by a strong Headford team.

Senior Football
The Senior Football team ended the year on a reasonable note. They bowed out of the Azzuri Connacht Colleges Senior A Championship quarter final at the hands of St. Mureadech’s, Ballina. Although they lost this match, encouraging performances provided hope for the future team. This year may be seen as building for the future as the vast
majority of the team were from 3rd and 5th year. The team participated in the A league but this was not a successful campaign. They suffered defeats at the hands of St. Coleman’s, St. Gerald’s and St. Mureadech’s. However the team never gave up and restored pride in the jersey by defeating Summerhill College and Ballymote in challenge matches. The results during the season were not a fair reflection of the effort put in by the players and the Trojan work of Anthony Brennan and of the senior panel four players, Daniel Maye, Alan Dunne, Tommy Stenson and Noel
Gaughan..

First Year Girls
The First Year Girls began their championship campaign in February and took the county title with relative ease. On May 1st they played in the Connacht quarter final against St. Josephs of Castlebar. Despite leading for much of the game, the girls were unlucky to concede 2 late goals, which saw the visitors, emerge winners by a margin of 4 points. Overall the girls had a great year with a team that is full of promising players.

Girls Football
The Senior girls suffered their first defeat of the season when they encountered Dunmore C.S. in the Pat the Baker Connacht Championship final in February. Crowned all Ireland ‘C’ champions the previous year the Dunmore team played with a pride and passion that proved too strong for our girls on the day. However, the girls were not easily beaten and in the second half fought back to come within a point of the visitors. Even so, it wasn’t to be our day as Dunmore turned on the style in the dying minutes to amass a lead that didn’t do justice to this closely contested encounter. Final score was 6-11 to 3-08.

Junior Girls
The Junior girls also had another good rum in the Championship this season and advanced to the Connacht final for the third year in a row. On this occasion there was to be no
silverware as they were comprehensively
defeated by old rivals; Presentation College, Tuam. Our girls played their hearts out but there was no stopping Tuam’s no.14 player of the match, Lisa Leonard who notched up 2-6. However the girls can look back on a great season and some memorable games especially the semi-final against Mountbellew. Both teams would like to acknowledge all the time, effort and dedication devoted to them by county players Katrina Connoly and Noelle Gormley since September when they had to step into the shoes of Ms. Johnston – no mean feat. A big thank you to all involved with the girls.

Design and Communication Graphics
Study in the above subject will commence in September 2007. This subject was formerly known as Technical Drawing. All elements required for the commencement of this
subject are now in place. Design and Communication Graphics will be examined for the first time in June 2009.

Career Guidance
Leaving Cert students spent early January refining their choices for the CAO until they submitted their application for the 1st
February deadline. There was a problem
nationally this year with online applications as the system became over loaded with a lot of applications in a short space of time.
Incoming Leaving Certs should apply in mid January to avoid a repeat of this problem.
Fáilte Ireland deadline was 1st February also. Course areas include bar, restaurant, accommodation, front office, tourism and travel, hospitality management and culinary arts.
We had a guest speaker from Fáilte Ireland on 17th January.
As soon as the CAO applications were over ,subject choice for senior cycle was the next important deadline to tackle. Third Years and Transition Years had regular career classes from mid January to 29th March which was the deadline. Students were given the opportunity to meet the guidance counsellor on an individual basis
Third and Transition Year students did the Eirquest test in February. Transition and fifth Year students sat the DATS Tests in March.This is a series of tests which examines the students aptitude in different areas.
On 2nd March Transition and Leaving Cert Applied students attended the
Opportunities2007 Careers Exhibition in Croke Park. The one-way system was a little complicated at first. Students could get information on Apprenticeships and training courses from the skills village ,the third level colleges were represented in the education village and different careers and companies made up the careers village. One of the main attractions was the Defence Forces display.
Some Leaving Certs may be pursuing the post leaving cert route. Speakers from Ballinode College of Further Education, North Connaught college, and Castlebar College of Further Education visited the school .

Irish Drama
Thug an cuigui bliain cuairt ar Amharclann an Linen Hall I gCaisleán an Bharraigh le '’ Gáire agus Caoineadh ó Luain go hAoine’’, a bhí a leiriú ag Fibín a fheicéail. Bhí seo bunaithe ar cúig dhán atá ar churaclam na hArdteistiméireachta. Bhain a raibh I láthair sult agus tairbhe as an seó.
Chuaigh an cúiguí bliain go dtí Amharclann an Black Box i nGaillimh le léiriú den Dráma ‘’An Triail’’ le Mairéad Ní Ghráda a fheicéail. Tá an drama seo ar chúrsa na hArdteiste fosta. Bhí an léiriú ar fheabhas.
Seachtain na Gaeilge in St. Attracta’s was marked by a number of event. First Year students participated in Trath na gCeist and lunchtime concerts. Fograi and posters were displayed throughout the school

French
In the Fench department September brought us great tales from the south of France as Aisling Henry regaled us with stories of her wonderful experience. Aisling was last year’s winner of the scholarship allowing one student from St. Attractas to spend
almost two weeks on a residential course at a school called Crea-Langues in
Greoux-les-Bains in the beautiful South of France.
She had a ball, and found everyone there to be friendly and helpful. Each day was
exciting and she was never bored. The morning was the serious part with lessons and then it was fun, fun, fun. She had a go at everything from rock climbing to canoeing and from salsa to surfing! She was very
impressed by the scenery and said that the weather and food were amazing. We say bravo Aisling for taking on the challenge and making it a great success.
The process for choosing this years lucky scholarship recipient is ongoing.

Science News
Science teachers at St. Attractas participated in a pilot phase of a ‘Discover Science’
programme. This programme is part of discover science and engineering in partnership with the national centre for Technological Education and the junior science support service. The teachers involved in this programme found it very beneficial. Data Loggers and censors were used in Transition year classes during the year. The project is to be extended to an additional 150 schools in September 2007

Adult Education
This was our first year providing courses in the school. There were two sessions, the first commencing in September and the second in January, and both having ten weeks in duration. The courses were very successful and participants were pleased with what was on offer. Thanks to everyone who attended the various courses and for their co-operation throughout. Looking forward to seeing you for the new programme, which begins in September. The courses that will be on offer are:
• First Aid
• Guitar, Banjo and Flute Lessons
• Yoga
• Cookery (Health Store Ingredients)
• Aerobics
• Dancing
• Sculpturing with Clay
• Flower Arranging

Mini Marathon
During the June Bank Holiday Weekend a number of teachers from St. Attracta’s will take part in the Women’s Mini-Marathon in Dublin. They are hoping to raise money for the Romanian Orphanage and also for the charity S.A.M.E. Best of luck to all involved. We’re sure they’ll make us proud!

Work Experience
We have come to the end of another very successful year of work experience programmes in the school. For the school year 2006/2007, over 115 employers in Tubbercurry, South Sligo, Charlestown and Ballina areas accommodated our Transition Years, LCVP and L.C.A students for various work placements. With such great support from our employers, our students were able to experience the world of work in many areas. Our Principal Mr Ruane, work experience co-ordinator Mrs. Collins, and co-ordinators of TY, L.C.A and LCVP Ms. McGowan, Ms Fahy and Mr. McConway are deeply indebted to all our employers for all their support and as a token of our gratitude, all of the employers who accommodated us this year will be treated to a buffet in the school on Thursday 17th May, the Transition Year Presentation Night. A sincere thank you to all the employers for their co-operation and help.

Fair Trade
At the end of the school year, our transition year group received a talk from 2 members of the Tubbercurry fair trade committee to ask if they would be interested in helping Tubbercurry achieve Fairtrade status. A school
Fairtrade committee was established and two members joined the Tubbercurry committee. Since the formation of the school committee we have undertaken a number of projects.
We have monitored the use of Fairtrade products in businesses products throughout Tubbercurry We have acquired the use of Fairtrade products in the staff room.
We circulated a petition, asking that the
canteen serve some Fairtrade products. This was successful.
We held a coffee morning in Tubbercurry giving free samples of Fairtrade tea and coffee
We finally received Fairtrade status. Tubbercurry is the smallest town in Ireland to receive this status. An official ceremony will be held in May.

Choir News
The school choir had a very successful term, winning prizes at both regional and national level. Our senior choir came second in the sacred music competition at the Sligo Feis and won the Cup in the Senior 3 and 4-part Singing Competition. The junior choir came 2nd in the 2-part competition. On the 3rd March the senior choir travelled to Cork to compete in the Briary Gap National Secondary School’s Choral Festival. They were awarded for the best performance for their rendition of ‘May We Never Have To Say Goodbye’. We wish all our
Leaving Cert members the best of luck in their forthcoming exams and hope they continue with their singing.

The editor wishes to thank the Principal, Deputy Principal, the teaching staff and office staff for all their assistance. A special word of thanks to Eileen Scollan, Saraid McCarrick and Matthew McGowan for their hard work, enthusiasm and attention to detail in preparing this newsletter.

Congratulations
Congratulations to Ms. O’Brien and her husband Padraic on the birth of their baby son Sean.

Thank You
Thanks to Mr. Egan who has been
substituting for Ms. O'Connor who is on maternity leave. We wish him well in the future.

Maths Weekend
The higher Leaving Cert Maths students along with their teacher Mrs. Marren attended a very successful maths weekend in N.U.I.G on the 24th and 25th March. These students hope to reap the benefits of this in their June examinations.

Fundraisers
A charity event in aid of Debra Ireland took place on Friday May 4th. This event was in the form of a charity football match played by the staff of St Attracta’s. There were two teams consisting of seven teachers a side. Mr. Christy, Ms. McGowan, Ms. McDonnell, Ms. McConnell, Mrs. Roddy, Ms. Moore and Mr. Duffy were on one team and Mr. McGovern Ms. Halloran, Ms. Johnston, Ms. O’Shea, Ms Kenneally, Ms. Barry and Ms. Brehony were on the other. The game was organised by transition year students with help from their coordinator Ms McGowan. The match was played at 1pm and an admission of 2 euro was charged to all students. A number of
yellow cards were issued turning the game into a humorous affair for the large number of spectators, and one teacher even merited a red card. There were many top class
performances but Ms. Halloran excelled and received “Player of the Match”.

Jump for Joy
First and Second Year students raised 3,490 euro for Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick
Children, Crumlin. This event was organised by TYB. Well done to all concerned.

History trip
Some Transition Year and Leaving Cert students travelled along with Ms.Gillespie on Friday 2nd March for their annual history trip. Their trip began with a visit to Kilmainham gaol. They then met with local historian Lorcan Collins who took them on a walking tour of 1916 Dublin. After lunch they visited
Glasnevin cemetery for a guided tour lead by the cemetery’s historian Sean Mac Tomais.