Dear Parents and Students,

GCC 1st Year Enrolment – September 2025

Our online application process for September 2025 opened last Tuesday 1 October and will close on Tuesday 22 October. It is important to note that if you have a child who is currently attending GCC or has attended GCC in the past, parents must still complete an application form for your 6th class child who is looking for a place in GCC for next September. Applications can only be made via the school website.

CAO Online Information Evening for Students and Parents

An online information evening for Students and Parents, in association with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors and Admissions Officers from Higher Education Institutions, will take place on Thursday, 17 October at 6pm. Registration for this event will open on 4 October at noon by clicking on the link below.

GCC Ethos and Core Values

October is Care month
Care 
Being kind, looking out for and including others, listening to others and getting involved in wellbeing activities
Students are encouraged to focus on Care for the month of October.
First and Second Year students can be rewarded with a positive comment on page 44 of their journal.
They can also record details of how they showed care in this section and get it signed by their class teacher.
A Care Award will be presented at assembly at the end of the month.
Page 43 of the student journal explains the Core Values for students.
More details on ETB Ethos and Core Values can be found by clicking the core value wheel on the GCC webpage.

GCC First Year Team Building Sessions

Please click here to view a video of our recent first year team building sessions.

GCC 6th year Fit & Well Morning

Please click on the link below to read a review and watch a video link that captures the GCC 6th Year Fit & Well morning which took place yesterday. These activities included a talk with Barry Corkery about Mental Health and Resilience, Nutrition Advice from Mark in Balance café, a Drop Everything and Read session with Ms. Madden and Ms. Ryan and finally a Study Skills session from the My Brain and Me team. Thank you to all the teachers involved in making this a memorable morning for all 6th year students.

GCC 6th Year Fit & Well Morning

GCC Student Council Meeting September 2024

Please click here to view the minutes from our first GCC Student Council meeting of the new school year which took place on Monday 23 September 2024.  

 

Disability Access Route to Education (DARE )scheme

UCC DARE Information Slots

Dear students & parents, the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE )scheme is a third-level alternative admissions scheme for school leavers whose disabilities have had a negative impact on their second-level education. DARE offers reduced points places to school leavers who, as a result of having a disability, have experienced additional educational challenges in second-level education. Click here to find comprehensive information on the DARE scheme 

A student applying to the DARE scheme needs to provide evidence of their disability/learning difficulty/significant ongoing illness and how their condition has impacted negatively on their education. Please email any DARE queries to dare@ucc.ie
UCC’s Disability Support has organised live online advice clinics to disseminate information on the DARE application process. Parents/prospective students/guidance counsellors and other interested parties will be afforded an opportunity to get advice on applying for the DARE scheme.

For the first 30 mins approximately, there will be a presentation giving an overview of the DARE scheme with an opportunity for questions and answers afterwards.

Booking is essential for our online DARE clinics & once you have booked you will receive a reminder and link 24 hours before the clinic. (Link to book below)
UCC DARE Online DARE Clinics will be held on the following dates:

October 30th-Wednesday-5 to 7pm

November 14th-Thursday-3 to 5pm

December 4th-Wednesday-3 to 5pm

January 22nd-Wednesday-5 to 7pm

GCC French Trip 2025 

Please click on the link below to view a letter shared with 5th Year students this morning on Google Classroom regarding our planned French trip to Paris next January. Expression of interest must be returned to the school by next Friday 4 October 2024.

GCC French Language Tour – Expression of Interest

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 Activities of the Week 7 [Monday 7 October – Friday 11 October 2024]

Please click here to view our GCC Activities of the Week for next week Monday 7 October – Friday 11 October 2024.

HSE – Nasal Flu Vaccine

Glanmire Community College have arranged for the Health Service Executive (HSE) to attend the school on Wednesday 16 October 2024 to administer the free Nasal Flu Vaccine. This is a nationwide HSE immunisation project, where all children are to be offered vaccination by the HSE. The vaccination will be administered by Dr John Crowley and his clinical team.

This is completely optional and vaccination will only be given upon receipt of online parental consent. There is no requirement for parents to be present for the vaccinations. It is a nasal spray, and no injection is involved.

Registration, vaccine information and consent are available at https://yourgp.ie/hse-nasal-vaccine-programme-glanmire-community-college/

Password: stayhealthy

Registration will close on Monday 14/10/2024 at 12 noon before vaccination takes place in school on Wednesday 16/10/2024. If you have more than one child in the school, please do a separate submission for each.
We would like to thank the HSE for providing this very important community service.

Please note that:

  • The HSE will vaccinate all consented students up to 17 years old. For clarity, this includes those who are 17 years and 364 days old.
  • GCC and Cork ETB is not the Data Controller or Data Processor for this information and consent is provided directly to the HSE through the link above.

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.

GCC First Year Library Membership Drive

The Literacy Intervention team are delighted to launch the library membership drive for all first year students. All students received information at tutorial this morning on how this will be rolled out. The team will be scheduling library visits once the drive is complete and TY’s will accompany classes on their visit to help support students. A Digital Literacy Workshop will be scheduled after this for students to reinforce their understanding of using the library/digital literacy apps. Thank you for your support in enriching your child’s educational journey.

Please click on the link to view the information letter.

GCC First Year Library Membership Drive

First Year access to the GCC Google Platform

As part of first year induction to GCC students have been busy navigating the VLE (Virtual Learning environment) of Google Platform to enhance their learning. Students will be receiving google classroom codes for different subjects over the next two weeks. Please note first year students do NOT require a mobile phone to access any aspect of their learning in school. Please click on the link to view a supporting document for students when accessing Google Platform.

Navigation of GCC VLE (Google Workspace)

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.

September 19th : What is Generalised Anxiety Disorder?
October 10th :  Social Anxiety: Why the worry?
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 

Monday 7 October GCC AP1-SMT Meeting 4.00pm
Monday 7 October Briefing session for 1st Year Parents 7:30pm
Monday 7 October GCC Parents Council AGM 8.15pm
Monday 7-11 October Autumn assessments (all year groups)
Wednesday 9 October Oide Staff Training Day – GCC closed for students
Monday 21 October Board of Management Meeting 4:30pm
Monday 21 October Parents Council Meeting 7:30pm

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)]