Dear Parents and Students,

UCC Entrance Scholarships

Congratulations to GCC 2024 graduate Meadhbh Power who has been awarded the prestigious UCC Quercus Entrance Scholarship from the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science.

Meadhbh achieved the maximum 625 points in the Leaving Certificate with H1 grades in Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Irish, French and Music.  Quietly confident yet strong in her convictions, an advocate of others, Meabhdh excelled in all aspects of school life. Critical thinking, acute reasoning, diligence and attention to detail afforded her consistently exceptional grades. Her competencies extended beyond the classroom where she was an active member of the Student Council, School Choir and Meitheal team. A recipient of Diograis awards at our annual ceremony and the epitome of our core values, Meadhbh enriched our school in many ways.  Always ready to vocalise her appreciation, we now express our gratitude for her extensive contributions to our school and wish her every success as she progresses to UCC to study Biological and Chemical Sciences.

The Awards Ceremony will be held on Wednesday 27 November 2024 in UCC, Devere Hall, Áras na Mac Léinn. We would like to acknowledge the vital role that all our teachers and staff play in our students’ achievements.

GCC Christmas Exams Timetable 2024 

Please click on the link below to view the finalised timetables for our Christmas Exams in December. The schedule includes oral exams for 6th Year students on Wednesday 18 December for Irish and Thursday 19 December for French. 

 GCC Christmas Exams Timetable 2024

MTU Open Day Friday 15 November 2024 

The MTU Open Day takes place on Friday 15 November from 10am to 2pm. It is an ideal opportunity for prospective students and their parents and guardians to sample the enormous range of courses and facilities on offer at their Bishopstown campus. MTU offers 123 CAO course options for 2025.  

To facilitate the opportunity for students to attend the Open Day formal classes for 6th year students will not take place on Friday 15 November.  

6th year students attending the open day are required to make their own way to MTU. Students are advised to plan ahead for the talks and seminars they wish to attend. Traffic in the area can be heavy on the day, so it is advised to be there early. 

There will be a supervised study centre in place at school from 8.50am to 1pm for students who do not wish to attend the open day. 

Any information needed for the day is on Google Classroom or via this MTU link https://mtu.ie/opendays/cork/  

MTU has other campus open days, dates and details via this link https://mtu.ie/opendays/ 

Coding Classes

Charity Trip to Kenya

William Maxwell (6th Year) and his sister Cliona (TY) travelled to Kenya recently with their family, representing the Le Cheile Africa charity. We are very proud of William and Cliona for their dedication and efforts in supporting those in need. To learn more about their experiences and the charity’s important work, please click on the link for further details.

Our Charity Trip to Kenya

GCC Homework Club for 1st Year Students

Homework Club for 1st year students started today, Friday 8 November 1-2pm in B13. If you would like your child to take part please place a note in their journal for the attention of the class teacher. Homework Club is supervised by a teacher with the assistance of TY Gaisce students.

Disability Access Route to Education (DARE )scheme

GCC CBA Assessment Calendar for 2024/2025

Please take note of the GCC CBA Assessment calendar for 2024/2025 displayed in the picture below:

GCC School Car Park

We would like to thank parents for their continued cooperation with our entry/exit system to the school car park. A reminder that:

• From 8.30am to 9.10am Monday to Friday the school car park is entry only. The exit lane from the car park will be closed at these times.
• From 3.30pm to 4.10pm Monday to Thursday and 12.30pm to 1.10 pm on Friday the school car park will be exit only. The entry lane to the school car park will be closed at these times.

We would be grateful if parents could remind students:

• to use the pedestrian footpaths and not walk along or between cars when entering/leaving the school
• use the pedestrian gates only and not enter or leave the school via the main gate

We kindly ask parents who are collecting their children from our school not to park their vehicles in appropriately. For example, we ask parents not to park up on footpaths. We are aware of some cars taking up the whole footpath, leaving no space for either our students or members of the public to walk freely by and limiting the access of wheel chair users.

We also ask parents and students to be respectful of the housing estates near the school around drop off & collection times. Cars queuing in school traffic on the Hazelwood Road are blocking the entrances to Old Avenue & Oakfield housing estates. Please leave a gap for residence trying to leave their estates.

We thank you for cooperation in ensuring added safety for our students when accessing the school grounds.

Cycle Against Suicide – Webinar Series

Anxiety is one of the most common challenges of childhood and adolescence. This has been reflected in the registrations to and attendee feedback on previous Cycle Against Suicide webinars delivered by Cycle Against Suicide and the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UCD.

Building on the previous series, Series 2 will take a more in-depth look at anxiety in young people exploring different types of anxiety common in this age group. Each 1 hour session will incorporate content on the causes, symptoms and evidenced-based approaches which support recovery.

November 7th:  Understanding Post-traumatic Stress in Children and Teenagers
December 5th: Exploring Perfectionism and Obsessive-Compulsive Characteristics

These sessions delivered via zoom are free and open to all parents and teachers to participate. Register your participation please do so at:

https://www.cycleagainstsuicide.com/parent-talks/

GCC Upcoming Calendar Events – September 

We hope you have a nice weekend.

GCC Senior Management [Ronan McCarthy (Principal), Patrick O’Mahony (Deputy Principal) Caroline Byrne (Deputy Principal), Seamus Kennefick (Deputy Principal)]