 Third year student, Donncha Murphy, was the runner-up at the recent national final of the Junior Mace Debating Championships.
The finals day was held on Saturday in St. Conleth's College in Ballsbridge. CBC was represented by Donncha (3EOA) and Charlie Garland O'Connor (2ROD). In order to qualify for the national finals day, the two boys had to participate in a number of qualification competitions and finish in the top speakers in all of them. The competition was entered by over 300 students all over the island. On the finals, the best eight speakers after three debates qualified for the grand final. Donncha finished runner-up in the debate where he was proposing the motion that "the Irish education system fails students". CBC has been really well represented by students in the competition all year and we're very proud of all their success.  Charity Karaoke dinner on this Saturday night in Victoria restaurant Monkstown, in aid of the Zambia Immersion Project.
Contact Ms O'Connor in the school to book your table! Transition Year have a very busy end to their year coming up. Details can be seen below.    Get a team together and play in the CBC Monkstown Connected Corporate Golf Outing. Friday May 11th in Foxrock Golf Club in support of the CBC Monkstown Rugby Development. Contact Michael Shalloe mshalloe@asset.ie or Eoin Greene eoin@crottygroup.ie for more details. 
 5We have recently started adding some pictures and articles to the archive page of the website, 1985, 86 & 87 are the 1st years to be added. More coming soon.
 Dr. Berry will retire from his post at the end of this academic year. The Board of Management would like to thank Dr. Berry for his commitment to CBC over the last 33 years of which 9 were as Principal. The BOM will commence the process for the selection of a new principal in the coming weeks. Parents will be updated in due course.  Dr. Berry as a class Tutor in 1987   With improvements to the CBC buildings over the last number of years and with the development of the building project in 2012 resulting in extra Science labs and classrooms, the need for further development is now upon us. Presently, there is a need for a Sports Hall and extra classrooms within the campus.
The need for a Sports hall is paramount as the development will facilitate the holding of PE classes in the hall as opposed to classes solely taking place on the pitches and in the CBC gym. Furthermore, a requirement for the introduction of PE as a Leaving Cert exam subject requires the facility of a Sports hall. With this resource the possibility of introducing PE as an exam subject is more attainable. The development will have changing rooms for students and staff along with a viewing area onto the pitches. A meeting area will also be available within the new build allowing for groups of students to meet for talks and meetings. The development will also include 7 new classrooms, a Resource/Learning Support suite and offices. The increase in pupil numbers will put extra pressure on the present facilities and the proposed new building will alleviate pressure points within the campus on a daily basis. The introduction of these rooms will add to the quality of student and staff life within the College. The Edmund Rice Schools Trust has approved the College’s plan to proceed with the development. Presently, the school’s team of architects is preparing to submit the plans to Dun Laoghaire County Council. Secondly, the school has approached our bank who look favourably on the proposals. If all goes to plan, the development will begin in the early part of next year and complete in approximately 18 months. The development will enhance the facilities on the campus and as already mentioned, will add to the quality of student and staff life within the College. I will keep all within the CBC community up to date with the latest developments on the project in our newsletters and website. It is an exciting time for all in the CBC community and with God’s blessings we may see this new development complete on time.  There will be a Clothes Collection next week in CBC in aid of the Zambian Immersion Project. Please drop off unwanted clothes or bed linen to reception before March 23rd.
 The following is an account of what the current second to sixth years did on the fantastic trip to Italy from October 31st to November 3rd 2017. Day 1. At 04 am on Tuesday 31st October 2017, tired students ranging from second to sixth year arrived at Dublin Airport along with six teachers. After a quick rollcall, we made our way through to departures making sure we had our passports in hand. We were given time in duty free and waited eagerly for our flight. Finally, at half six we took off, Rome bound! After what seemed like a quick flight we arrived tired but exited in Rome. We then took a bus ride into the city, it was amazing to just look out a window and behold thousands of year old buildings and sculptures, which the locals didn’t even seem to notice! Free time was then given to us to get some lunch, before meeting with our tour guide who would show us around the historic city. The first thing which we did was go to the colosseum. It was massive as we walked around the ancient amphitheatre, we were told about its history and given lots of opportunities for photographs. I personally I found the colosseum amazing and it was one of my favourite things on the trip. Our walking tour then continued as we were shown the old forum, lots of statues and many historic buildings were pointed out to us such as the Altare della Patria and The Pantheon. Everyone’s feet were wrecked as we made our back to the bus, which took us to our hotel. Dinner was eaten and after a while we all went to bed. Day 2 On Wednesday 1st November we had to be up early. We had breakfast at around 07 am and then left on a bus to go to Pompeii. It was a very long drive to get there, but was worth it. We were met by our tour guide and headed to Pompeii’s amphitheatre and then around the whole city. It was very interesting but also quite eerie to be standing beneath Mt. Vesuvius which had covered the city in ash thousands of years ago. I was so surprised to see that so many buildings were still intact with all their details. We saw many dwellings, the baths and their forum where Vesuvius looms behind. After the interesting tour we were given some free time to get some lunch and buy some souvenirs. We went back on the bus and then visited the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, which had lots of paintings, statues and artefacts. Another long bus ride back to the hotel was taken, where we had our dinner and retired for the night. Day 3
On Thursday 2nd November we had a later start to our day compared to the previous two. We had our breakfast and then took a bus to visit Hadrian’s Villa. It was huge, with big lakes, buildings, baths and it used to be even bigger. We then had lunch before travelling back into Rome where we saw the Circus Maximus, we continued walking through the city until we reached the Capitoline Museum. The museum was amazing containing giant statues, beautiful paintings and impressive architecture. After leaving the museum we took a bus ride to the catacombs. The journey underground was very dark and eerie, we were told all about the history of the Catacombs and also how many people got lost in the underground trying to find their way out! The bus then took us to a shopping centre where we had some free time to look around and shop. I got a very tasty ice-cream while there. A long bus ride back to our hotel happened where we ate dinner and relaxed for the evening. Day 4 On Friday 3rd November we had an early start as we had to check out fi the hotel. We loaded our luggage on to the bus and headed to The Vatican City. We queued for a while outside the smallest country in the world before finally entering. We first went through the Vatican museums, paying close attention to every painting, mural and statue as we went by them, they all had such detail and were all amazing. We then entered the astonishing Sistine chapel, it was incredible to look at. Even though we weren’t allowed to take photos I think I’ll always remember how fantastic it is. After a quick visit to the gift shop, we made our way to Saint Peters square, where hundreds of people stood taking it all in. As a nice surprise before we headed to the airport we were brought to a very nice restaurant where we made our own pizzas! It was fun to do and they tasted great too! We were then taken to the airport, where we were got checked in and had some free time to look around before taking our flight back to Dublin. It was such a great trip away, with some really fun moments, and good memories, I enjoyed it so much and hopefully I’ll be able to go back again someday. By: Charlie Garland O’Connor 2ROD 2018 |
