Keep up-to-date with school life at CBC…

All the boys of Second Class made their First Communion this morning at St Patrick’s Church, Lower Glanmire Road.  Many other pupils attended as members of the school choir.  Later, the pupils and their families went back to the Prep School Hall for a reception.

The Choir boys take their positions before the commencement of Mass.

First Communion boys assemble before Mass

Meanwhile, back at the School, parents prepare the reception

Some of the mothers (and sister) who provided the reception

First Communion boys enjoy the reception in the School Hall

CBC have reached the final of the Hurling level Roinn H6 competition.  The game will be played next Wednesday, 23 May, at Páirc Ui Rinn at 11.30am.  The opposing team is Dungourney.  Arrangements are being made to get as many pupils as possible to attend the match and support our team on the day.  Entrance costs €2 for children and €5 for adults; more information later.

CBC Hurling Team

Second and Third Class enjoyed an interesting tour of UCC last week in the company of their teachers and some Transition Year boys.  As they made their way round the quad, stone corridor, etc, they encountered many past pupils of CBC, who were surprised and pleased to see them.

The boys were given gowns and ‘parchments’ in a mock graduation ceremony and various mementos including a biro and a bookmark with the ogham alphabet.

Second and Third Class on the Quad with their 'parchments'.

Second and Third Class on the Stone Corridor in their 'graduation' gowns

An interesting account of one of the matches played by the Prep School Bath touring group appears on the Avonvale RFC website, under the heading: ‘Vale fail to light any candles as the Christian Brothers take the  trophy home to Cork’.  The article reads as follows:

Vale 0 – Christian Brothers 2

“Having seen the Christian Brothers take apart several teams it was a fairly nervous start to our encounter with the Irish team. However whilst the tackling and scrummaging were holding up very well, the problem was at the breakdown.
“Christian Brothers were very adept at counter rucking and were able to constantly recycle the ball, keeping Vale under pressure, which finally resulted in a try.

“In the second half Vale came close to scoring on a few occasions but could not find any way through. One of the Christian Brothers big centres finally powered across Vales tryline late in the game for their second try. A loss but a brave display by Avonvale.”

For a full report on the tournament go to:  http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/avonvale/m/match-report-10776.html?official=0&fixture_id=667224

The following letter has been sent to all Preparatory School Parents:

As you may be aware, Fourth Class in CBC have been developing a friendly relationship with Regina Mundi School in Goa, India, which is run by the Christian Brothers.  A cultural ‘pen pal’ exchange programme has taken place over the school year whereby our boys in CBC have been writing and exchanging stories, tales and cultural information with the boys of Regina Mundi.  The Prep School boys are now interested in further developing the ‘I to I’ (Ireland to India) project, by fund raising for Regina Mundi School.

The original idea was to raise funds to enable Regina Mundi to set up an internet connection so that they could not only connect on paper but also online going forward.  However, Brother Anish, School Principal, has requested a different kind of assistance:  ‘I request you to do the fund raising for a far more urgent project.  We need to repair the roof over some of the primary classes.  Monkeys jumping onto the tiled roof have broken them very badly.  Once the monsoons start, water pours into the classrooms and the kids have to be taken elsewhere.  This is a fairly big expense for us and we are looking for funds.  So any kind of help will be most welcome.’  Naturally, the fundraising objective is now to pay towards the cost of roof repairs.

We are planning on getting photos taken of our boys during their school day in various different situations: sitting at their desk, concentrating at their work, playing during break time, taking part in their  sports activities and just being themselves.  These photos will be natural ones and not formal photos but the plan is to place them into a cube.  You will then get the opportunity to purchase a cube/s should you wish to.  The finished product will cost €10 per pupil.

If you are interested in getting involved in this initiative, please sign the consent form below giving permission to take photos of your son, and get him to give it to his teacher.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Buckley (4^th Class Teacher) & Amanda Cornhouse (Parent Organiser)

At Tuesday’s assembly, the  Sixth Class touring group were proud to show off the trophy they won for beating all comers at the Avonvale tournament over last weekend.  Pictured below: Mr Dennis Linehan, Ronan Barry (Touring Captain) with tournament shield, Daithi Heffernan (Team Captain) vice captains Tom O’Connor and Paddy Kelleher and Dr Larry Jordan.

The Sixth Class touring group returned to school at midday today after a very successful tour of Bath.  They recorded a famous win when they beat all comers at the Avonvale Bathford tournament and brought the trophy home to the Prep School trophy cabinet.

Touring Team Captain Ronan Barry in action during the Bath Tour

Mr Michael Cronin (of John Cronin, Oliver Plunkett St, CBC uniform supplier) made a last minute dash to Cork Airport this morning to deliver a set of touring jerseys to the CBC Prep School team, arriving just before the flight took off for London.  The Sixth Class boys designed the special jersey for the Bath Tour, something of a tradition for the last ten years.  The artwork went in very late and Mr Cronin performed above and beyond the call of duty by collecting the jerseys from the delivery depot in Little Island at 6am and arriving at the airport just in time.  He also took the photo (below) of the class just before take off.

The Bath Tour Jersey 2012

The team pause for photograph just before take off.

The annual Bath Tour has come round again, with this year’s Sixth Class boys  flying out to Heathrow Airport, with three Preparatory School teachers and many parents as well, early tomorrow morning.

Dr Larry Jordan presented each of  the 25 members of the touring group with rugby gear this afternoon in a specially made McWilliams touring bag.  A photograph of the group was also taken, which is reproduced below.  We wish the team all the best in their forthcoming games with English teams.

The whole school gathered in the Hall for the presentation of rugby gear.

Dr Jordan makes a presentation

Dr Jordan makes a presentation

Dr Jordan with Captains, Vice-Captains and other members of the travelling group

The Touring Group, including the teachers who will travel: Mr S. Lynch (left) and Ms McAdoo and Mr Linehan (right).

Thursday 29 March was a day of great excitement in the Preparatory School.  Many of the pupils witnessed CBC’s victory in the Munster Junior Cup the day before.  Winning in Musgrave Park in glorious sunshine was a memorable occasion, but what made it even better was the fact that the team captain, Gregory Roche, was a past pupil of the Preparatory School.

As on all such occasions, the winning team was welcomed back to the College with the cup the day after the victory.  The avenue was lined with pupils and teachers and the boys were clapped and cheered as they make their way to the main school building.

First to greet them were the boys of the Preparatory School.  As can be seen from the pictures below, they gave Captain Gregory Roche and his gallant team mates an extra special reception.

The boys wait for the parade to begin

One of the Junior Infants Class gets to hold the Junior Cup.

Greg Roche, Captain, is cheered by the Prep School boys

The parade moves on up the avenue to the main school building