Summer Newsletter 2021

ISSUE 3 SUMMER 2021
SUMMER NEWSLETTER
Ballinteer Community School
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Community
School
@Ballinteer
Community
School
@BallinteerCS
NEWS &
FEATURES
Principal's
Message
PAGE 1
Gaisce - The
President's Award
PAGE 2
Return to School:
A 6th Year's View
PAGE 2
Subject Profile:
Art
PAGE 3
Green Schools
PAGE 4
International
Students: Our
Year in BCS
PAGE 4
EU Parliament
Ambassador
Schools
Programme
PAGE 4
Principal's Message
MS AMY DOHERTY
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As our academic year draws to a close, we reflect on our successes and what we have
accomplished even in the midst of a global crisis. A resounding positive in our school
this year has been the atmosphere. The spirit of our school community has remained
undaunted and undimmed.
The positive enthusiasm of our teachers and SNAs has
ensured that our students were supported in working to the best of their ability both in
the live and virtual classroom space. . A number of teachers embraced our new Student
Development Officer (SDO) initiative this year and were so giving of their time. Our
SDOs, in every year group, mentor and encourage students to excel both academically
and pastorally.
Student wellbeing is paramount and this enhanced student support
could not have come at a better time.
We continued to grow and develop our Tiered Leadership Programme with students
taking leadership roles as Prefects, Mentors, Peer Leaders and Class Reps. There is no
doubt that this has risen the profile of the student body and strengthened the student
voice in their school.
I am so proud of all of our students and staff in Ballinteer Community School. Together
we continue to grow from strength to strength, securing full accreditation as an
Ambassador School for the European Parliament, working hard in our community to
win a Localise Volunteering for All Award, winning Educational Achievement Awards
with Trinity College and exceeding in a number of our School Improvement and
Teaching and Learning targets for 2020/21 to name just a few.
I would like to thank our parents/guardians for their continued support as without this
there is a limit to what can be achieved. Together we have overcome all obstacles and it
is this unity of purpose that will support our students in their pursuit of academic
excellence and allow us to surpass our accomplishments to date. A huge thank you to
our excellent staff for their incredible work and tenacity and our students for their good
humour, resilience, cooperation and hard work. I wish our 6th Year Students the best of
luck in the State Exams and every success in their future academic and professional
careers.
BALLINTEER COMMUNITY SCHOOL Summer 2021

"My personal
experience
with Gaisce in
Ballinteer
Community
School this
year was
enjoyable and
helped me to
grow as a
person, both
inside and
outside of
school,
preparing me
for tasks to
come as I
leave school"
Emma Harding
TRANSITION YEAR
STUDENT
Gaisce - The President's Award
BY EMMA HARDING
Gaisce is a national self-development programme for young people, based on core
principles and challenges.
For community involvement, we helped regrow and clean up the garden in our school
and plant potatoes and other vegetables which could be used for our school lunches. We
engaged in community litter picking to help clean up our local area. For physical
recreation and personal skills we all got to pick an area we wanted to work on. Some
examples people chose were cooking, craft, running, football, dancing etc. This had a
good impact on our health, both physical and mental, and our self-esteem.
The Adventure Journey was our main focus of Gaisce this year. We did our hike to
Knockcree Youth Hostel in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, and completed our Journey in six
hours and thirty minutes. It was a good team bonding exercise for us all and definitely
tested our physical health and brought us closer together as we encouraged and
supported each other the whole way.
Return to school: A 6th Year's View
BY JOYMARITA RAJINIKANTH, WRITTEN IN MARCH 2021
Despite all the groaning and moaning and complaining that I subjected to anyone in a
15-metre radius over the last couple of days, I found my first day back in school to be
quite refreshing. The numerous weeks of remote education had taken a toll on my
mental state and being greeted with a smile at the door really made a huge difference
in comparison to the dreary start to my day I would have otherwise had to endure. The
warm welcome, alongside the chatter of my fellow returning students, made me feel
energised and ready to take on the day. In fact, I don’t think I had ever been this excited
to be in school before and I’m certain that most of my classmates would agree with me.
The school day flew by in the blink of an eye which was unusual, as one day of online
learning had often felt like so much longer. The stress associated with our final grades
also slowly dissipated throughout the course of the day as teachers were kind enough to
dedicate portions of their class to checking in on us as well as giving us reassuring pep
talks with regard to the future of our education.
The Principal, Ms Doherty, also organised assemblies to inform us of the current status
of the Leaving Certificate and this provided the clarity that has since motivated us to
really apply ourselves during these next few months. For those of us worrying about
COVID, it was a relief to see that COVID procedures such as the one-way system and
sanitisation of desks were still being enforced.
Overall, being back at school was quite a nice way to start the month of March and has
acted as a beacon of hope in the darkness. Seeing my friends and teachers in person has
had largely positive impacts on my mental health already. I also feel better equipped to
take on the Leaving Cert as I now know what exactly I need to be working towards
instead of having everything up in the air. I also found it quite difficult to concentrate
during remote classes which is now a worry of the past - fingers crossed!
The next couple months are sure to be a challenge, but it is comforting to know that I
am not alone in my struggle and that we have a lovely set of teachers and staff members
who always do their best to support us. I am looking forward to the return of the rest of
the school community, as it will be nice to have even the faintest bit of normality during
these turbulent times. Until then, I hope everyone is staying safe and sane!
BALLINTEER COMMUNITY SCHOOL Summer 2021

Subject Profile: Art
BY MS J CORISH
This is my tenth year as an Art teacher, and over this decade I have been blessed to
work with some incredibly talented students. Some students choose to pursue this
subject in third-level, and I have nurtured and guided them through the portfolio
admissions process with unrivalled success. Every student who has ever applied for
Art College with a portfolio has been accepted under my mentorship.
I have never been more impressed with a student than I am with Oana. What she has
achieved during two years of school closures is unbelievable.
She is gifted and
determined, and I wasn't surprised when she was accepted into NCAD (National
College of Art and Design) to pursue her dream.
While Omayma plans to study Law, her raw talent for art is striking and her oraguntan
painting is mesmerising. It is my favourite piece that has ever been produced in the
art room. Having worked with these animals myself, Omayma has really captured the
essence of these beautiful creatures, as they stare into your soul. While I guided and
critiqued this piece, I didn't touch it with a paintbrush myself - it's all her work. It will
soon be displayed in the halls of BCS, inspiring students for years to come as to the
high standard of work that they can create in class.
Green Schools
BY SEAN GAFFNEY GLYNN
"Ms Corish was
an amazing
support to my
son when he
was applying to
art college, she
went way
above and
beyond what
was expected
to help them
all with their
portfolios. He
was accepted
into all of the
courses he
applied for,
and is in 2nd
year NCAD
now. If anyone
has a child
interested in
art, BCS
provides a
fantastic
education in
this area."
Ms S Coss
FORMER PARENT
We have an active Green Schools committee here in BCS and we are very passionate
about improving our sustainability efforts. This year, we have engaged in litter picking
around Ballinteer, online workshops, and school initiatives such as reducing single use
plastic bottles. We also ran a competition with Junior classes and gathered over 400kg
of batteries to divert from landfill to recycling.
BALLINTEER COMMUNITY SCHOOL Summer 2021

International Students: Our Year in
BCS
BY URSULA CAROZ ULLASTRE, CATALINA FIGUEROA ALVAREZ
AND PAULA ROIG SANJUAN
We are three exchange students from Spain who joined Fifth Year in BCS in September
2020. Despite the pandemic, we have been able to live our dream this year. We arrived
in late summer 2020, scared and apprehensive about liking Ireland, making friends, and
wearing a uniform. However our host families warmly welcomed us and made us feel a
part of their family. Teachers and students helped us adapt to school quickly and made
us feel like we'd been here since the start of First Year.
The Irish education system is very different to Spain: the subjects are much more useful
& practical, and the timetable leaves enough time in the afternoons for activities. We
have even grown to love the uniform as it saves so much time in the morning.
The most important aspect of this year have been the friendships we've made in BCS.
The students are so friendly and inclusive, and we've enjoyed our experience so much
that we're staying for Sixth Year too! We know of many Spanish students who came to
BCS for one year and ended up staying more because of the positive atmosphere and
encouraging staff.
"Doing
our
exchange
year in
BCS will
give us a
wide
range of
opportunities
for
our
future"
Ursula, Catalina,
and Paula
FIFTH YEAR
STUDENTS
EU Parliament Ambassador
Schools Programme
BY GERARD KEOGH
This year our school participated for the first time in the EU Ambassador School
Programme, where we learned many things about the EU, like how the EU affects us,
and who represents us in the EU. We participated in a mock debate against 27 other
Irish schools to represent the views of our EU member state, Slovakia. The debate
focused on the current health pandemic due to COVID-19 and the main issue that all
member states could not reach agreement on was contact tracing. We had to put
forward our points on how EU intervention on contact tracing in its member states
would benefit everyone.
It was a fantastic opportunity to be involved in this initiative and not only learn more
about politics and the EU economy, but also develop our skills in areas like research,
critical thinking, and public speaking. Only one other school in the Dublin Rathdown
constituency participates in this programme, so connecting with schools nationwide in
a competitive manner ensured that we represented BCS to the best of our ability.
BALLINTEER COMMUNITY SCHOOL Summer 2021