Principal’s Report BOM January 2025 

Student Individual/Collective Practice 

• First Year –  

• The First Years have settled in well. Christmas tests have now been completed by all 1st Years and we will analyse the results using Athena tracker. 

• The Links students and Student Council hosted a lovely day for 1st years before the exams and all 1st Years were taken to Santa’s Grotto. It was a great success. Thanks to Helen for the smooth running of the 1st Year exams. A quiz was held for 1st years on the 20th December and it was enjoyed by all. 

• A talk from ‘That’s life educational programmes’ will be given to all 1st Years on the 30th  January. 

• Second Year – 

• Teams post sent to student hub to re iterate points addressed in assembly in the lead up to Christmas. 

• Third Year –  

• Feedback from teachers was quite positive regarding the engagement by 3rd years during the snow week. 

• An assembly was held on Thursday 16th January. Issues addressed included preparation for pre-exams, engagement with homework and revision work, procedures re storing of school bags, and safety when crossing roads on way to/from school. 

• Students were given their Exam Numbers.  

• Transition Year 

• The end of the calendar year and the beginning of 2025 was a busy one for TYs. There were workshops in the following areas: 

• Menstrual Education, 

• Groovy Hands Drumming workshop, 

• Drugs Awareness. 

• Aerial Creation – Circus skills including juggling, hula hooping, balance and gymnastics. 

• Disability Awareness speaker 

• · TY students took part in a basketball blitz with Mr McCarthy playing a number of roles including referees, players, score keepers. 

• · Many TYs worked hard on the Food Appeal and helped decorate doors for the Christmas door competition. 

• · Bug Hotels were erected by students around the school to help increase diversity. 

• · Posters have been erected for the musical and the media class spread the word through social media. 

• · An assembly was held before the end of term to restress key rules around uniform, jewellery, absenteeism and information around the school tour. 

• Aberdeen Angus Competition – Well done and the best of luck to the two teams of TYs who took part in interviews for the Aberdeen Angus competition with their mentor Brid.   

 

 

• Fifth Year & Sixth Year  

•  5th & 6th year students have settled well after the Christmas break. SOD & EOD hope to analyse student progress with the Athena Tracker in the coming days and meet with students to discuss their achievements and put plans in place to promote improvement with students for the next term. 

• A huge thank you to the Guidance & SEN department who have been extremely busy assisting students to complete RACE, HEAR, DARE, CAO & UCAS application over the past number of weeks. The guidance and support is greatly appreciated by students and parents alike. 

• The 6th year students began their Pres last Thursday with English and Maths Paper 1. These would not be possible without the enormous work by Helen Clifford & Sean Ryan, so thank you. The very best of luck to our students as they continue their Exams. 

   

• LCA   

LCA 1& 2  

• LCA 1 and 2 tasks underway this week – Tuesday to Friday 

• Lovely class trip to the Marino market and karting before Christmas 18/12 for Leisure and recreation. Man 

 

Major events 

The school was closed from the 6th to the 10th of January due to snow. The inclement weather was historic in nature with many feet of snow falling in local area. This area was one of the worst affected in the country, as noted  

Issues regarding access, unsafe conditions made the reopening of the school impossible. Bus Eireann also confirmed that they would not travel.  

 

The school closed further as per order of the DE for storm Eowyn on Friday the 24th of  

January.  

Many thanks to all for their efforts to continue the learning and keep the school in good condition through it all.  

 

Teacher Individual/Collective Practice 

Oratory/Christian Ethos 

• Oratory: Thank you to Sr. Brenda for her wonderful services in the oratory on Christmas. These are hugely popular with staff and students, ending in a lovely sing along. 

 

Wellbeing 

Teachers were given the opportunity to read and select key areas from the wellbeing framework that may need to be improved on in the school.  

The 3 key areas that came up included: 

• Display of students work 

• Staff wellbeing 

• Safe spaces for students. 

All three of these areas will be the wellbeing focus for the coming year. A meeting is taking place next week with key members of the wellbeing team looking at these areas. 

 

Christmas events: 

A fabulous range of events took place: 

• Santa’s grotto 

• Decoration of the doors – very competitive 

• Fr Daly Food appeal, raising over 3000 in money and collecting a trailer full of food 

• Bake sale/staff raffle 

 

 

Leading Learning and Teaching 

Leaving Certificate  

Pre examinations have started with 6th Year students, from Thursday the 23rd of January. These will run until Friday the 6th of February. This is a huge undertaking. Thank you to Helen and Sean. Delays to delivery of the papers was not ideal 

 

Senior Cycle Redevelopment – Information and Updates 

The team is preparing for the whole staff day on the 5th of February and have been in regular contact with the SCR team. Weekly information regarding SCR is  

 

Parent Teacher Meeting 

A parent teacher meeting for TY, 5th and LCA1 took place on the 16th of January. It was well attended.  

 

Screening Day 

Our screening day for incoming First Years will take place on the 22nd of March 

 

Geography Field Trips 

Ms. Noonan’s 2nd year class Moy took a trip to the local River Mahore during Geography class today. Students explored how rivers shape our landscape and its importance to the community 

 

Awards 

Congratulations to Claire Ryan who was honoured at the Academic Excellence Award Ceremony at Atlantic Technological University. This special event will celebrate the outstanding achievements of our students, including one of your past pupils, Claire Ryan, who achieved over 550 CAO points in their Leaving Certificate study and who now studies at ATU Sligo. 

 

Aberdeen Angus Competition 

Well done to the two TY groups who took part in the Irish angus interviews in Moorepark.  

 

Visit of Minister P. O’Donovan 

The Minister visited on the 16th of January to speak to our senior students about options others that the CAO, including apprenticeships. Many thanks to our Career guidance department for all their work and support on the day. One of the Aberdeen Angus teams also met the Minister on the day, as their project looks at the impact of political parties on the outcomes for farmers and farming communities. The Minister was able to offer great insight and that the new government would include a Junior Minister with responsibility for this area moving forward. 

 

 

Managing the Organisation 

START Team 

Since the beginning of the year, START has focused on improving attendance in the school by tracking and addressing unexplained absences. This data is sent to year heads each month for them to engage with and intervene where necessary. This has resulted in a marked improvement so far this year in the communication from parents when their child is absent from school.  

This term we will begin to review the explained absences and the reasons that are provided by parents to see if there are common patterns and areas we can address to discourage students missing school where it is avoidable. 

 

Sustainability  

We have received €1000 from the government for the ESD funding. Thank you to Mark and his team in applying for this. We hope to get started on the bio diversity area in the coming weeks. We aim to develop a pathway around the front section, to fence off the dyke and to create safe access into the site. 

Take One week will take place after Midterm Break. This sustainability week will help to raise awareness and allow students and teachers to investigate the 17SDG’s at a whole school level with each subject department focusing on one SDG. Our aim is that students get a wide range of experience of each SDG through the lens of each subject and help them to realise how they relate to their own lives and our school community. 

 

Leading School Development 

• Restorative Practice 

RP Update January 2025 

LINKS students had their 3rd lesson of the RP mentor programme on Thursday 16th January. They will visit their mentor classes in 1st year in the next couple of weeks. The RP team aim to share the RP at Home programme with parents in the next few weeks, and also make information available on the school website. B Conheady and C Ryan will attend the January RP Café online with other post primary schools on 29th January. 

 

School Newsletter 

Another bumper edition of the school magazine is being worked on at present. 

 

Book scheme 

The book scheme has worked really well this year. All students in 1st year have been provided with their options books and other necessary materials. Additional items to be purchased are being quoted for e.g subscriptions for SEN and SPHE books for 2nd and 3rd year. 

Students are showing respect for books – any books found on the corridor that belong to the school have been labelled and returned with students receiving a demerit. We are awaiting further updates on the dynamic purchasing plan for 25/26 academic year. 

 

Musical 

Preparations for the Musical are well under way and despite the snow week we are on track for another wonderful TY Musical. Grease The Musical will in fact be a celebration of 25 years of a Musical in John the Baptist and is scheduled to take place on February 14th and 15th. The stage will be constructed over 2 days on Jan 31st with the hope that rehearsals can move on stage by February 5th. Best of luck to all students and teachers involved and a massive thank you to all teachers that put in huge time and effort every year to make it such as success. Ticket sales are going great looking like a full house on both nights. Thank you to our sponsors also who each year kindly donate to help make the show a success. 

 

 

Developing Leadership Capacity 

LCETB 

Many thanks for the many updates and invites.  

 

Sport 

• Masita sponsored a new set of GAA Jerseys in conjunction with Munster PPS, they are yellow and black hoops paying homage to the old Presentation De La Salle jerseys.  

• After their Under 17 Munster Hurling Final success, the team played Ard Scoil Rís in the county competition, they were beaten by 4 points in a hotly contested game. Despite the loss it shows that this team are highly competitive at the top table.  

• St Flannans who narrowly defeated our Harty cup team have cruised into the Final further evidencing that the school has made huge progress. 

• Basketball has always been part of games in the school and after a lull post covid it has gathered pace under the guidance of Mr McCarty. Both female and male teams have played competitively since Christmas. 

• The school pitch will host the first round of the under 15 Hurling vs Tulla this coming Wednesday. We are really seeing the benefits of the work done over the summer. It has remained playable despite the weather and the heavy traffic.  

• The nets behind the goals of the main field need some Maintenace, we will look to get a quotation for this in the coming weeks.   

• We have also recently received a very kind and substantial offer of donation for a scoreboard for the school field. The games department has acquired a quotation and hopes to get moving on this in the coming weeks.  

• Great work continues to take place with the academy and the gym programme in particular. The next phase is starting up this week.  

• Well done to Mr. McCarthy and all those who took part in a highly exciting chess tournament on 10th of December, missing out on a national final by just one 

• A massive thank you to all of the people volunteering their time to games. Without these people no one of it would be possible. It is a massive benefit to the school community.  

 

 

Student Voice 

• Report from Student Council 

The student council have been meeting weekly working on a number of projects. Our most recent activity included the creation of a Santas Grotto which was placed in one of the offices in the Old Library. All first year classes were invited down for a class period to meet Santa, sing songs and enjoy some festive cheer. The first years were led by the TY links who then played games with them up in the classroom. The TY links also created a little gift of a pencil and a candy can wrapped in a ribbon and a note wishing the 1st years a Merry Christmas and best of luck in their tests. 

The student council also led some student focus groups on the topic of Bullying. This has given us invaluable feedback that will help us to create a student friendly Anti Bullying Policy for the school.  

Future projects include student led focus groups related to Teaching and Learning. 

 

 

Health and Safety 

• The Emergency works application for the collection of Chemicals was approved by the DoE prior to the Christmas Holidays. A huge thank you to Rachel and Jim Twohig. 

• The Company Enva were scheduled to collect Chemicals from the school today 27th January. 

• The Emergency Life Safety Systems application for the upgrading and retrofitting of the entire Fire Alarm System within the school has also been granted by DoE. It has now moved to the tendering stage for Electrical Engineering companies in which tenders must be received by 29th of January. 

• the Quotes for the replacement of Doors in Rm 38 & 39 have been sought by W Gleeson. 

• The team hopes to continue amendments to the Health & Safety Policy for 25/26. 

 

SSE/Learning and Teaching 

• A whole staff survey was completed in term 1 as well as a deep dive into the 4 Key areas of the Wellbeing framework. This data has helped to create questions that are currently being used in teacher professional conversations that are taking place this week. 

• The SSE team have organised and facilitated two out of three teacher professional conversations, focusing on UDL and creating an inclusive classroom. Teachers were invited from a number of different departments and with varying degrees of experience to help give a broad view of what teachers are experiencing on the ground.  

• These conversations have proven to be extremely enjoyable for all with rich discussions about many aspects of teaching and learning including, getting to know our students, use of the SEN register, the roll of the tutor and much more. These discussions will help to inform the design and development of the student-led whole school student survey and student focus groups. 

• The whole school parent survey has been completed already via Microsoft Forms. 

• Based on the insights gained from parents/guardians, teachers and student feedback our 6-week implementation phase will be developed and implemented in late February. 

 

 

SEN 

• The SEN team are currently contacting primary schools to arrange transition meetings. These meetings are hoped to take place from the 3rd to 7th of March. 

• TOD & BOD – will attend Provision Mapping training on Tuesday 28th of Jan in Cork Education Centre. This will guide the team on the next phase of the project, which will involve a staff presentation at our next Croke Park Meeting. 

• Thank you to E Kenihan for all her assistance in securing various subscriptions and online programmes for our SEN students e,g. numeracy ninjas. 

• A number of Assistive Technology applications have been submitted and granted by the SENO which is vital for some of our SEN students. 

• Our newly appointed NEPS psychologist A. Olsthoorn will visit the school on Friday 31st to meet with the Team to discuss any assessment which may be needed. 

• The School has been approached by the NCCA to take part in school consultation, on the area of L2LP Senior Cycle Development. Angela Martin and her team hope to visit the school on February 27th to meet with all stakeholders. 

 

 

Digital Learning 

• The Digital Learning team continue to plan the 6 week trial of one to one devices which will take place between February Mid-term & Easter Break with Class Lee. Pre and post student surveys have been compiled. Induction modules which will be delivered to students prior to trial. 

• The team are closely monitoring the student devices within the school. All trolleys were updated prior to Christmas and previous teacher devices have been utilised to refurbish trolleys within the school. This will make a significant impact to learning and teaching within the school. The team are working to promote collective teacher and student responsibility for the upkeep of these devices. 

• EOD has recently completed the online course ‘AI literacy in the classroom’ though the ADAPT Research centre. 

• EOD and members of the DL team hope to attend the ACCS ICT Webinar “Keeping our students safe online: who are they actually talking to online ? on Tuesday 28th of January. 

 

Anti-Bullying 

Bi Cinealtas 

• DM & CF attended the one day Bi Cinealtas Anti Bullying training in the Limerick Education centre on January 17th.  

• Currently working on the adaptation of our Anti Bullying policy using the department template and guidelines. 

• We will complete an audit of anti bullying initiatives in the school – Surveys and focus groups are planned for March for all stakeholders including Teachers, students, parents as well as members of our community. We hope to gain insight from local shops and bus drivers – those that may have witnessed bullying taking place within the community.  

• Whole staff half day training required by the Department – date to be selected and approved by the Board of Management. 

• April – mapping the school year 2025/2026 to plan for initiatives/weeks that will promote inclusivity and address the area of bullying in the school.