Robert Hedderman of Sixth Class has been selected to play for Cork against Kerry in Gaelic Football. The Junior Cert boys were on hand to give him a big cheer at this great achievement.
Junior Infants give a big cheer for Robert
Today was the last day in school for the Leavng Cert boys. At lunchtime, many of those who had gone through the Prep School came down to have a look at where it all started for them. They paid a nostalgic visit to all the classrooms, pausing in Junior Infants for a photograph (below)
Sixth Year boys visit Senior Infants Class on their last day in school.
All the boys of the Preparatory School spent last Tuesday at the Glen Resource Centre. Last year, Junior Infants to Second Class went there for their school tour and enjoyed it so much that it was decided that the destination of this year’s school tour for all the boys would be the Glen Centre. Despite a little bit of rain, all the boys gave the Centre top marks for fun activities. The younger boys finished at 1.00pm, thoroughly exhausted; the older boys stayed going until 3pm.
The mighty ball
Team sports
Enjoying rock climbing
The Centre has a wide variety of climbing activities
The excitement of zip wire
The School Sports were held last Thursday (17 May) at the CIT Sports Centre. The Preparatory boys had all the facilities to themselves from 9.30am to 12.30pm when their big brothers arrived from the Secondary School. It was a great day of fun and experimenting with various races on the running track, attempting the high jump and the long jump and finishing off with a game of soccer: each class had one of the astro turf pitches to themselves from 12.00 to 1.00. A great day out!
Getting ready for the three-legged race
Going for the high jump
Clearing the bar in the high jump
Hopping along in the sack race
The sack race is keenly contested
About to hit the dust in the long jump
The "puck fada" competition
The wheelbarrow race is about to start
...and they're off...
Sixth Class three-legged race competitors at the starting line.
Sixth Class get ready for the final race of the day: the Novelty Race
A race to put on the dresses!
At the end of the race, the boys are transformed into girls!
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, 30 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 (4th 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
Fourth Class now have their own website. It was started off to give information about their “I to I” Project. The rather unusual name stands for India to Ireland Project. The project was launched in 2011 between Christian Brothers College, Cork and the Regina Mundi School in Goa, India.
Since then the website has expanded and now includes accounts of a lot of other interesting activities of Fourth Class.
Have a look at the Fourth Class website by clicking: 4th Class CBC Cork. The link to the site may also be found on the right margin of our main page under links.
On the second Thursday of each month, Fr Tom Walsh comes to the Preparatory School to say Mass in the Hall. The whole Prep School attends. This Thursday, it was the turn of First Class to do the readings and all the other tasks associated with the celebration of Mass.
The 26 boys of Sixth Class made their confirmation on Saturday last. Scoil Mhuire, St Lukes NS, Scoil Eanna and St Paul’s pupils also made their confirmation at the same ceremony. The choir which was trained by our music teacher Ms Ruth O’Shea, was under the direction of Ms Sonya Keogh that morning and they gave a tremendous performance.
Some of the Third Class boys who formed part of the Choir
Prep School and First Year boys who sang with the Choir
Confirmation boys prepare to have a group photo taken with Bishop Buckley
The Preparatory School boys had a visit from the Blackrock Observatory on Tuesday 6 February. Ms Frances McCarthy brought the inflatable dome which was set up in the Secondary School Hall. Each class, from Junior Infants to Sixth, had a forty minutes session in the dome where they saw shows on the sun, moon and stars geared to their age group. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the presentations.
Ms Frances McCarthy of Blackrock Observatory talks to the boys before they enter the dome.
The Blackrock Dome set up in the Secondary School Hall
The boys get ready to enter the dome
The boys of the Preparatory School returned after the Christmas break on Tuesday 10 January. By Wednesday, Christmas and 2011 were dim memories with everyone looking forward to the New Year and the new term. As a little reminder of last year, have a look at the following photos.
Christmas Concert 2011 in the Prep School Hall
Christmas Concert in the Prep School Hall
Beauty and the Beast at the Everyman Theatre
The boys enjoy a performance of Beauty and the Beast
The postponed Christmas lights ceremony will take place on tomorrow, Friday. A rehearsal has been organised for 4.00pm at City Hall (the new glass section on Anglesea Street between old City Hall and Fire Station. Pupils should be dropped there at about 3.55pm. After the rehearsal, at about 5.00pm, the CBC group will be taken to Emmet Place (accompanied by teachers and volunteer parents) for the turning on of the lights and to participate in carol singing. Parents should collect their sons from there. If at all possible, pupils should wear school uniform as that make it easier to pick them out in a crowd.
The Cork City Council has informed the school that the Christmas Lights Ceremony planned for tomorrow, Friday 18 November, has been cancelled due to a severe weather warning. It may take place on Friday 25 November. More details will be given when they are received.
CBC Preparatory School has been invited by Cork City Council to participate in the Christmas Lights Ceremony on Friday next. If a sufficient number of pupils and parents are interested we will make arrangements for a group to take part in this seasonal event. A text was sent out today to parents about this event and further information will follow. The City Council invitation is as follows:
Turning on of the City Christmas lights will take place at 6pm on 18th November in Emmet place. There will be a stage area, music and carols and a high profile personality to turn on the lights. We are contacting all the local primary and secondary schools to see if they have a school choir that would be interested in the following:
Third to Sixth Class will be playing against Cobh Pirates on Saturday next. Third, Fourth and Fifth should be dropped off at 10.00am for a 10.30am kickoff and should be collected at 11.30am. The Sixth Class game takes place immediately afterwards: arrive at 11.00am; kickoff at 11.30am and collection at 12.30pm. Directions to Cobh Pirates rugby grounds can be found by clicking the following link: http://www.cobhpirates.com/directions.html
Cork’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Terry Shannon and his wife Ursula visited CBC on Friday last. As usual, every boy in the school had the opportunity to see and hear the city’s First Citizen. The Prep and Secondary schools made up an audience of 1,000 as they waited in the Hall for Councillor Shannon’s arrival. William Whyte of Senior Infants Class presented Mrs Shannon with a bouquet of flowers on arrival at the door of the school. During his presentation to the assembled pupils and teachers, the Lord Mayor commented on how his predecessors over the years had been highly impressed by the exceptional welcome afforded annually by CBC. Dr Larry Jordan and the School Captain formally welcomed Mr & Mrs Shannon to CBC, and after making an interesting presentation, Councillor Shannon went among the pupils shaking hands.
Prep School boys await the arrival of the Lord Mayor
Part of the large student body awaiting the arrival of Cork's First Citizen
William Whyte greets the Lady Moyoress with a bouquet of flowers
Lord Mayor Shannon addresses the pupils of CBC
Before his departure, the Lord Mayor shakes hands with Prep School boys
The Lord Mayor shakes hands with senior boys before departing CBC
A meeting of Preparatory School parents was held last night in the school Hall. The first item on the agenda was the election of a Prep School parent to the new Board of Management which will take office next month. Mrs Myriam O’Connor was proposed, seconded and elected unapposed.
The next item on the agenda was the election of a new Parents Council. The results were as follows:
A short presentation on school developments over the past year was given by Mr Tony McCarthy, and this was followed by questions and comments from some of the many parents present.
The new Parents Council met for a short time after the main meeting. Mr Shane FitzPatrick was elected Chairperson and Mrs Johanna Radley was elected as Secretary. The Parents Council will meet again on Monday 3 October at 7.00pm in the Preparatory School Library.