Parents Update Friday 11 November 2022

Dear Parents,

GCC Annual Mass of Remembrance

We would like to thank all our staff, students, parents and other members of our school community for joining us at our service this afternoon. Thank you to our Chaplain Marie McInerney for all her work in organising this celebration. In particular we would like to acknowledge our wonderful students who contributed to the mass with readings, music and prayers of the faithful. All in attendance were blown away by the quality of the musicians and singers who were ably supported by Ann Mannix, Yvonne McCarthy and Hilda Leader Galvin. This is such an important event in our school calendar and provides solace and hope to those in our school community whose loved ones have passed away.

My Brain & Me – Senior Cycle Workshops

Senior cycle students will engage in study skills workshops with our My Brain and Me (MBAM) team over the next two weeks (14 November to 29 November). Students will be learning to use effective, evidence-based learning techniques such as retrieval practice and spaced practice. The aim of these workshops is to equip senior cycle students with some strategies for approaching their Christmas and Pre-exams. Please click on the link below to view the schedule. We would like to thank the teachers on our MBAM team for their continued work in assisting our students, in particular, as we approach the Christmas Assessments.

Senior Cycle MBM Workshops

Agreed Report from the Board of Management meeting on Monday 7 November 2022

Please click on the following link to view the Agreed Report from our Board of Management meeting last Monday 7 November.

Click here to read the Agreed Report

Glanmire & District Credit Union Art Competition Winner

Congratulations to Abimbola Fashade 1st Year Rang Brian, winner of Category A (11-13 years old) in the Glanmire & District Credit Union Art Competition.

Anti-bullying week Monday 14 – Friday 18 November 2022

The Minister for Education Norma Foley has invited schools to participate in Anti-Bullying week starting next Monday and to take some time to think about the values of our school and how they can help to prevent and address bullying. Schools are being asked to set aside some time for all students to complete a lesson activity which the Department of Education has developed in collaboration with the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. We have asked our SPHE teachers from 1st Year through to 4th Year and our Guidance team for 5th & 6th Year to allocate their single class period next week to teaching this lesson. We recently reviewed our Anti-Bullying policy and it is important that we continue to support opportunities to highlight this issue. We are grateful to our teachers for their support in delivering this short initiative on behalf of the Minister and the Department of Education.

Stand Up Week 2022

Stand Up week takes place next week from 14 – 18 November. The theme this year is ‘You don’t have to be LGBTQIA+ to be an Ally’ and with this in mind staff and students are invited to wear an Ally badge for the week. There will also be Art displays around the school and on the screens in the B block and C block which were created by the students on the committee. Staff have also been invited to include LGBTQIA+ awareness in their lessons from the wide range of resources available. We will also raise the LGBTQIA+ flag next week outside the school to show our solidarity to the wider community.

Signing Students Out of School 

A reminder to parents to please complete the short survey (below) on your experience of the signing-out system in the school. Since the beginning of the school year, GCC has been operating designated times for students to be signed out for medical or other appointments. This is in an effort to reduce the number of partial days of absence for students over the course of the school year. We continue to ask parents to adhere to the sign-out windows. We ask parents and students to ensure that appointments such as GP visits, physio etc. are made outside of school times. In the most exceptional circumstances, where appointments cannot be changed or where a student is very sick, please consult with your child’s Class Teacher or Year Head to make alternative arrangements. Please click on the following link to complete the survey which will be considered as we plan our next steps:

https://forms.gle/JmFJeg5Sz4gkJ7Tw6

Cycle Parking: Green-Schools Travel

Through the work of the Green Schools Committee and the Safe routes to School programme with Green Schools Ireland and An Taisce, GCC has recently welcomed the installation of a fully funded bicycle shelter over the midterm break. This shelter will securely park and protect 30 bicycles. It can also cater for scooters for students who wish to scoot to school as well as cycle. There has been a big push to develop the school in becoming more environmentally sustainable in recent years. In 2020 the school was awarded the Green Schools Flag, followed by the development of an environmental/sustainability policy, and the introduction of the new subject, Education for Sustainability embedded into our school curriculum in September 2022.

With the current climate crisis becoming more of a reality every day we would encourage students to cycle, scoot and walk to school when it is possible. GCC has also qualified for the Safe Routes to School programme which is scheduled to be completed this school year.  This programme will see the front entrance of the school fully redeveloped to allow safer access for bicycles and pedestrians, with traffic calming, clear signage, and set down areas. This work will be coordinated and fully funded by An Taisce and Green Schools Ireland. There will also be a cycle lane that will service the school with Phase 2 of the Glanmire to city center pedestrian/cycleway as part of the national programme of “pathfinder” projects for sustainable transport.

“Bin It” Roadshow 

Bin It, an award-winning roadshow that tackles the anti-social issues surrounding discarded litter, came to GCC on Tuesday this week. They put on a great entertaining performance for all of our 1^st year students through education and growing awareness around litter problems in our society. Most importantly, the show is educational, fun and interactive. GCC is on a mission to educate students to become more environmentally sustainable in their choices and become agents to shape their own future.

Well-Being Walk

Well done to all who took part in Wednesday’s Well-being walk at 8.30am. The fresh air and exercise proved a great start to the day, including Alma our Community Dog.