St. Aidan's past pupil's engineering award
Frank Caulfield, John Fay-Kelly, Tomas Sweeney and Maryann Smith, school principal.
St. Aidan's past pupil wins Engineers Ireland Student Innovation Award 2010: John Fay-Kelly is a past pupil of St. Aidan's Comprehensive School and is currently a final year student in Sligo IT.
With fellow student Declan McGovern, John won the Level 7 Engineers Ireland Student Innovation Awards 2010 for an innovative design for a multi-purpose farm machine. The awards, sponsored by Seimens, are now in their 12th year and celebrate the importance of innovation and its relevance to the smart economy.
John and Declan have designed and built a new and innovative farm machine called Quick Cut. It is a multifunctional machine fitted to the back of a tractor which uses its three-point linkage with the purpose of accomplishing a number of tasks in one smart design.
According to Michael O'Connor, marketing manager, Siemens Limited, qualified, skilled and innovative science and technology graduates are integral to Ireland fulfilling its potential as a knowledge economy.
John studied engineering and design communication and graphics in St. Aidan's with Tomas Sweeney and Frank Caulfield, who both praised John's commitment and hard work while a student in the school and are confident this is the beginning of a long future in engineering for him. The students and staff of St. Aidan's are delighted with John's success and wish him every success in the future.
Higher Options: All Leaving Certificate students from St. Aidan's comprehensive attended the higher options exhibition in the RDS on Wednesday, September 15. The exhibitions hosted all Irish colleges, universities, institutes of technology and colleges of further education from Ireland England and Wales. Many of our students attended lectures on their chosen career areas. A great day was had by all and all students are focused for study for the year ahead.
Success for Leaving Certificate students 2010: congratulations to the class of 2010 on their success in the Leaving Certificate; the majority secured their first choice in CAO, UCAS and other areas of studies. Where will you find these students? In Maynooth, Trinity UCD, NUI Galway, DCU, Sligo IT, and GMIT. Tralee IT, DIT, DKIT, Ballyhaise, St; Pat's College, Drumcondra, Rathmines Teacher Training, Hertfordshire England, Cavan Institute, Senior College Dún Laoghaire. All are studying various courses from, business, sport, medicine, physiotherapy, nursing, teaching, arts, computers biotechnology, science, engineering and lots more. We wish them every success in the future.
Opening School Service at St. Aidan's Comprehensive School 2010: an opening school service was held on Friday, September 24 in the school to mark the beginning of the school year. Students were actively involved in the service by participating in prayers, readings and reflections. Students also sang a number of pieces in the choir under the direction of Ms Vogan. The theme of the service was new beginnings as students were challenged to think about the new academic year and the value of including God in our lives at home and at school. A number of visiting ministers were present including, Rev. Billy Stafford, Rev. John Rushton and Pastor Ivan Watson. Pastor Watson delivered an inspirational talk to the students during the service.
Mass for the opening of the academic year: students, staff and clergy marked the beginning of the opening of the school year with a Mass in the school assembly hall, on the theme Dedication and Commitment. Two members of the staff read the readings while students representing each year group carried symbols to the altar representing school life and offered prayers for God's blessing for the coming year. Music on the theme of the Mass was provided by the school choir conducted by music teacher Siobhan Maguire. The Mass readings and reflections were researched and organised by the Religion Department headed by school chaplain Fr. Kevin Donohoe.
Board Games: the chess, draughts and scrabble club started on September 14. A good interest was shown by the pupils and there were several close contests. It is hoped that the initial interest will continue and grow and that numbers will be sufficient to run competitions.
The school is in the process of affiliation with the Ulster Schools Table Tennis Association, which will mean teams can take part in the league and cup competitions. Team selection and coaching is under way and with some talented players in the school, we are looking forward to many successful matches.
Sport 2010/11
This is a new season for the St. Aidan's students on the sporting fields. Throughout the year our pupils will be offered a wide range of sporting activities once again along with a few new. Our boys and girls will be taking part in a range of competitions in sports such as; Gaelic football, soccer, hurling, camogie, basketball, badminton, cross country, taekwondo, dance, athletics and table tennis for the first time. This year we would like to welcome Michael Hannon to our team of volunteer coaches. Michael's experience and expertise in basketball and Gaelic football is welcome.
Gaelic football: St. Aidan's Cootehill 3-11; Breifne College 3-08
Our U16 boys Gaelic team kicked off their season with an away win against Breifne College in a high scoring affair last week. Goals by Caolain Reilly, Oisin Carolan and Gary Watters gave the lads a good lead with 20 minutes left on the clock. However, in a late surge Breifne College scored 2-3 in the second half. Thankfully our lads just about held on to get the first win of the year. This week our senior and U14 teams are taking on Breifne College at home in the start of their league so best of luck to them. Our senior girls start their season with a home fixture against St. Louis Convent, Carrickmacross and we wish them the best of luck.
First year Tanagh Trip: our first year students are going to Tanagh Outdoor Education centre for a team building day on October 19 and 20. The students will be split into two groups and will take part in land and water activities such as kayaking, banana boating, aerial slide, canoeing, abseiling, assault course and archery. Usually on return from the trip the students are positive reports about their experiences.
GAA coaching: in the school is taking part each week for girls and boys, provided by Mr. Lennon, Mr. Ross, Mr. Lynch, Mr. McCaul and Mr. Hannon, during and after school. St. Aidan's are also availing of the coaching structures provided by Cavan County Board and the Tyrone native Peter Donnelly comes to the school once a week.
Extra-curricular dance: St. Aidan's is again availing of the Girls in Action Program funded by the HSE. The idea is to get girls more active during school time. Niamh Smith is now taking the girls for a dance class once a week during lunchtime. The girls will be performing dance such as ballet, hip hop, and contemporary.
Football Blitz: on September 10 the first year boys represented the school in the county-wide football blitz at Kingspan Breifne Park, accompanied by their coach Mr. McCaul. Two teams were entered, and while they did not win the competition they showed great skill and determination. The boys will now join the U14 panel in the Cavan inter-schools competition.
Transition year news
National Ploughing Championships: last Wednesday (September 22) 48 TY students, along with their co-ordinator and tutor Jackie Sweeney and Jean Vogan, attended the National and European Ploughing Championships in Athy, Co. Kildare. As part of their geography field trip, the students embarked on various tasks in an effort to retrieve and collate information relevant to their geography projects. The Leaving Cert Applied students also attended the event accompanied by their teachers Joanne Corbett and Trevor Hewitt.
Peer education and up for diversity: six TY students are taking part in peer-education training in the areas of diversity and equality: Lorna McMenamin, Elaine Brady, Maria Donnery, Mark Foster, Joseph Freeman, and Ryan Craddock. As part of their training these students attend a three-day workshop in Belturbet and are equipped with the knowledge and skills to deliver a two-hour lesson to their peers on the topic of diversity in education. Further peer-education training will take place over the course of the year on the topics of drugs and alcohol abuse and on the topic of dental hygiene.
Taekwondo: all TY students are undertaking a 10-week course in the ancient Korean art of Taekwondo, delivered by Eric Pepper of Willowbrook Taekwondo. They will learn to equip themselves with defence skills and acquire mastery of the many skills essential to this art. The culminating event is in March when students will compete against each other in some inter-group competitions in the school.
