In TY, myself, Hannah Corble, Emma Lynam and Niamh Digan set up a mini company as part of our enterprise class. We decided to write a small children’s book educating children about the importance of bees. We ran ideas off each other, drew illustrations and wrote the story. Our story is about a bee called Betty who narrates the story and teaches about a bee’s life and what they do. Through the book there are pictures and facts. We got it printed with Brosna Press and have sold over 500 copies. The book comes with a pack of wildflower seeds to plant in your garden and attract bees.
We entered into the Young Enterprise Awards held in the Tullamore Court Hotel.
To prepare for this we set up a business page on instagram highlighting our areas of work; we sold books in the Bridge centre, Robbins, Cards n Things and to primary schools in Tullamore. We also had to write our business plan of everything we had done in our mini company.
On the day of the competition, we went to the Court Hotel with other students and set up. It was a very busy and satisfying day and in the end we came third place, which we are very proud of.
After the competition, we continued selling the book.
In the Tullamore Show, I had a stand set up in the Horticulture tent and lots of people from all over the country got to see our creation, thanks to the Bank of Ireland.
Later on in August we had a recorded interview for the Mooney Goes Wild show on RTE Radio 1. This was a huge achievement for us and it was played in December.
We are very proud of our book and we learned so much in the process of creating it.
Teni Shittu and Ashley Gerasch took part in the European Youth Parliament Leinster Regional Session on the 25th of January 2020.
It spanned over the full weekend taking place in Coláiste Éanna CBS a secondary school in Rathfarnam, Dublin. The girls spent the weekend getting to know the other delegates and preparing for Sunday, the day in which they participated in a mock parliament where each committee had to argue for the motion they were trying to pass.
Both Teni and Ashley were in SEDE, the committee for security and defense. All in all it was a great experience really opened the girls’ minds to the world of politics and allowed them to make friends with so many people their own age from around the province.
The girls thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, and would recommend it to everyone in TY, 5th and 6th year, and will encourage classmates to participate next year.
Well done to both of the girls. Teni was to represent Leinster in the National finals of the European Youth Parliament Ireland, however due to our lockdown circumstances the event was cancelled.
It was a cold frosty morning and the Killina junior hurlers were on their way to Shinrone in attempt to put an end to their drought of silverware.
They landed in Shinrone GAA pitch at 12 and got togged out soon after with their games heads on. They knew it wouldn’t be easy but they knew they had to bring it home. Just before the warm-up the pitch was inspected and was deemed unplayable. Due to the clubhouse blocking the pitch from the sun the pitch was still frozen over from the night before.
The referee came to a conclusion and the lads loaded up and headed over to Roscrea to a more playable pitch.
The throw-in was postponed but the game went ahead half an hour later. Once the game started Killina seemed to take the upper hand on the game. Full time came with Killina beating Cistercian 5-15 to 4-9. Cistercian College Roscrea played extremely well and congratulations to all who played.
The panel was Cian Doyle, Ronan Fulton, Jack Kelly, Ben Brady, Cameron Evans, Neil Minnock, Aaron O’Kelly, Niall Kelly, Sean Mooney, Ryan Lambe, James Scully (capt), Curtis Dunne Hughes, Eoghan Neville, Charlie Mitchell, Kyle Spain, Daniel Corcoran, Finn O’Donoghue, Morgan Bennett, Luke Guinan, Alex Gleeson, Ben Spollen, Jamie Leonard, Niall Heffernan.
1. Make sure you know the rules of the road even after your Theory Test.
You can download it for free on RSA.ie or buy the book from any book shop. This will make it easier for you during your driving lessons
2. Complete all of your Driving Lessons.
You are only legally required to complete 12 Essential Driver Training lessons with an EDT approved driving instructor. You may need more lessons to become a more confident driver. Complete as many lessons as you need to, everybody is different.
3. Pay extra attention to your observations.
A driver’s eyes should be moving nearly every two seconds. It can’t be emphasized enough that good driving observation is seeing and noticing everything going on around you while driving. It is one of the most important ways to avoid collisions.
4. Remain calm and confident
Reassure yourself during the test and remember that you are a good driver and fully capable of passing. Try not to let nerves get the better of you.
5. Take it handy
Progress slowly at junctions, roundabouts and on straight roads. Match your driving to suit the conditions, such as weather, road and traffic conditions. Don’t speed.
6. Don’t coast on your clutch.
Excessive coasting can potentially cause you to fail your driving test.
What is coasting?
Coasting while driving means that you keep the clutch depressed to free-wheel and not use the engine to move.
7. Pay attention to traffic signs.
Not stopping at stop signs earns you an immediate fail. Be extra aware during your test and always look at each sign. This brings me back to the point of always keeping on top of your knowledge of the rules of the road. Traffic signs and observations become part and parcel in passing your driving test.
7. The day of your test.
On the day of your driving test, you should have all your documents ready and your car should be checked in advance. This is to avoid any more stress on the day when you can’t find your application form etc.
This has been yet another fantastic year for our girl’s soccer teams. Thanks to the brilliant minds of Philip Austin and Graham O’Connor, the girl’s soccer teams progression has continued and will look to reach even further heights over the next couple of years.
The school this year won the Treble in Leinster at all grades (u15, u17 and u19). As well as two All-Ireland’s at u17 and u19. The school now has 4 All-Ireland’s and 5 Leinster championships won in the space of 3 years, which for any school and any sport is an outstanding achievement and everyone at the school is immensely proud of everyone single girl involved.
Ciara Heffernan captained the u17 team to an excellent 4-0 win in the Junior B Leinster Final against Ramsgrange and the All-Ireland victory over Lacken Community School Killala by 2-1. Saorah Doyle captained the u15s to the Leinster title after a goal on the stroke of halftime by Ellen Dolan proved the difference as Killina dug in to grind out the win. Our Seniors won the All-Ireland Senior B Final against a strong Middleton College side. Picking up a great 3-1 win in the process. Captained by the brilliant Ciara Glackin who has had a fantastic season in goals.
Unfortunately, a good few of our girls who have been part of the soccer success over the last number of years will be leaving the school, completing their final year in Killina. We wish them all the best of luck in their future. But fortunately, we still have a lot of the girls that have been part of the success for a number of years to come. So with our support we can push our girls to further success over the foreseeable period and hopefully see even more All-Ireland and more Leinster success in the years to come.
On December 6th 2019, our school held our own production of A Christmas Carol. With direction from Ms. Cantwell and music and choreography from Ms. Kavanagh, the play was a huge success.
The first thing involved was casting where we all read extracts from the script to Ms. Cantwell and Ms. Kavanagh and a few days later we were assigned roles.
Rehearsals began with us staying after school to rehearse our lines in scenes. The first few rehearsals felt awkward as we weren’t too sure how to act and where to move, but Ms. Cantwell helped us through that. We spent weeks rehearsing in groups before all of us finally came together to rehearse the entire play. It took us a while to work together but Ms. Cantwell and Ms. Kavanagh worked hard to have us working harmoniously.
Next came the costumes. Most of them were actually old clothes our teachers had gotten or we had found at home, with the exception of a few of the more extravagant costumes and props like top hats, beards, lanterns etc, but overall we made it work and we were able to grasp the concept of Victorian clothing quite well.
A week left to go before the show and we were panicking, everyone was stressed ; the dances had not been perfected, some lines were still being forgotten and we were really scared we wouldt be able to perfect it in time, but, thank god, by the time our dress rehearsal/ matinee came around we got it right. We performed for our local primary schools and received outstanding feedback making us more encouraged and excited to perform for the real thing.
Finally after months of hard work and dedication the night came, we arrived and everyone was getting hair and makeup done, perfecting lines and so on with pre performance jitters in the air.
The actual performance couldn’t have gone better and we received excellent praise.An outstanding performance from our main lead, Adrian Costelo. We were accompanied by an amazing choir and had some singing of our own from Caitlin Minnock, Ashley Gerasch, Savanna Delaney and Sarah Lee. Ms Catwell and Ms Kavanagh were so proud of us as we were ourselves. Each and every member of the cast and crew were the reason we were able to pull off this amazing rendition of Charles Dickens’ “ A Christmas Carol”.
Cast List:
Narrator : Alexsandra Piet
Scrooge : Adrian Costello
Bob Cratchit : Dara Rosney
Fred : Peter Reynolds
Charitable Worker : April Healy
Charitable Worker : Emma Condron
Marley : Ronan Fulton
The Spirit of Christmas Past : Teni Shittu
Child Scrooge : Patrick Noga
Schoolboy : Pijus Prankus
Schoolboy : Sean Kelly
Fran : Hannah McDonald
Young Scrooge : Seán D’Arcy
Mr. Fezziwig : Ross Kilroe
Mrs. Fezziwig : Saraid McDonald
Belle : Sarah Lee
Mrs. Cratchit : Caitlin Minnock
Martha : Ashley Gerasch
Belinda : Savanna Delaney
Peter : Jack Kelly
Rebecca: Aisling Nunan
Tiny Tim : Eoghan Meacle
The Spirit of Christmas Present : Adam Tyrell
Boy orphan : Ben Brady
Girl orphan : Coreen Clear
The Spirit of Christmas Future : Neill Minnock
Businessperson : Ryan Lambe
Businessperson : Emmet Doyle
Businessperson : Becki Watkins
Businessperson : Lauren Leonard
Businessperson : Ciara Glackin
Businessperson : John Spollen
Scavenger Woman : Rachel Walsh
Scavenger Woman : Niamh Walsh
Scavenger Woman : Eivile Jankunaite
Scavenger Woman : Oliwia Bryja
Scavenger Woman : Niamh O’Connell
Caroling Child : Leah Carroll
Party-goers /Dancers : Kaitlyn Spain, Ciara Heffernan, Ava O’Brien,Saoirse Duffy, Libby English, Amy Kelly, Kayleigh McCourt, Ella Coyne, Ugne Visockyte.
September of 2018 was when the people that wanted to get the opportunity to go to Zambia could sign up. We had to do a 500-600 word essay on why we wanted to do the immersion project and why we would be worthy of being one of the students going. We then did interviews and then Group work activities.
About a week later the 11 students were announced and preparations were started straight away for going in June of 2019. We have had meeting nearly every week preparing lessons to teach the pupils in the primary school and we have been informed of the living conditions we will have to get used to and the medications needed to take for to not catch any diseases.
We have also had a few bonding days so we could get to know everyone that is going. Our first bonding day where we went bowling in Tullamore for an hour and then we went to the Lana Restaurant for food. Then recently on the 6th of April, we went on a day trip to Lough Boora. We went on a 15km Cycle and then played different trust games, we also volunteered for 30 minutes at the Boora community centre to help preparations for the half-marathon the next day. We have another overnight camping trip coming up at the start of May and we are continuing to prepare for the big trip from the 3rd of June to the 22nd of June.
Keeping up with Killina 