Best Staff Member's Christmas Door, Dec 2022

Many thanks and well done to all the Staff who decorated their door for Christmas. The Elves will be making their decision shortly!!

4th Years at Cara House

Well done to the Fourth Years who were helping out today at the Cara House Christmas Party.

They helped with the shopping and serving of the food.

Skibbereen Community School are delighted to be back assisting everyone again as it was not possible during covid.

Every week five Fourth Years will be on a rota to help out. The smiles say it all.

Thanks so much to everyone in Cara House and in particular, Aine Minihane for her coordination. Thanks to our Fourth Years today: Niamh O Sullivan, Hannah Sheehy, Emma Mc Carthy, Carla Martin and Laura Deasy and to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for sorting the rota.

TY Trip to West Cork Campus

Many thanks to all the staff at the West Cork Campus, Skibbereen where our TY students had the opportunity of sampling a taster of all of the great courses they have on offer at the college as well as learning about both the employment and progression opportunities that QQI qualifications provide to students.

An informative and fun day was had by all. 


TY Christmas Carol Singers

Well done to our Transition Year Carol Singers who sang wonderful songs in the Bank of Ireland today.

They delighted all the customers with their festive cheer and raised much needed funds for our memorial garden which is well under way. This is part of our ongoing links to the community.

They are very much looking forward to their next trip out performing for the Residential Centre Baltimore Road. Word is out now about them being such a hit and we have no doubt that their diaries will be busy over the next few days.

Many thanks to the Bank of Ireland for hosting them, Ms. Orla O Sullivan, Ms. Deirdre Hennigan, Ms. Grace Callaghan and Mr. Sean Ronan for organising. 

Senior Boys Football Team narrowly edge out Dingle in cracking Corn Uí Mhuirí last round qualifier, Dec 7th.

Well done to our Senior Boys Football Panel and their coaches/support staff, Mr. Tony Harrington, Mr. Colman O Driscoll, Mr. James McCarthy, Mr. Elliot Connolly and Mr. Chris O Brien on narrowly defeating Coláiste Chorca Dhuibhne, An Daingean by two points in the last round robin game of the Corn Uí Mhuirí.

MATCH REPORT WED, 07 DEC, 2022 - 17:48 ECHO LIVE BY PAT RYAN

Corn Uí Mhuirí: Skibbereen see off Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne to reach quarter-final

Luke Shorten and Brian O'Driscoll hit the net for the West Cork school against the Kerry powerhouse

Skibbereen Community School's Brian O'Driscoll celebrates scoring a goal. Picture Denis Minihane.

PAT RYAN

Skibbereen Community School 2-12 Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne 1-13.

SKIBBEREEN had a close win over Kerry powerhouse Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne to seal a place in the Corn Uí Mhuirí quarter-final at Banteer.

Goals from Liam Shorten, who hit 1-5 from play, and Brian O'Driscoll were crucial, while Joe Bohane, Shane Carey, Tomás Ó Donobháin and Niall Daly also shone for the West Cork school.

Exchanges were close all through with very little separating two evenly matched sides but Skibbereen hit the front when Shane O'Connell placed Niall Daly for a point. Further pressure saw O'Driscoll place impressive Shorten who scored. 

Cian MacGearailt nailed a free and they were level at 0-4 apiece when Conor Corduff pounced on a kick-out. 

The Dingle side hit the front with a MacGearailt free before fine work by Frank Hurley led to a goal by O'Driscoll. Dingle replied with a goal of their own and were ahead at the break, 1-7 to 1-6.

On the changeover, both sides exchanged two points apiece. 

In the 39th minute, Cian Ó Cinneide edged Dingle 1-10 to 1-8 clear. 

A Daly free and an O'Neill tied up the game and it was deadlocked at 1-11 each entering the final quarter. 

The defining score came in the 49th minute when O'Driscoll and O'Neill combined for Shorten's goal. Dingle missed a few frees before Shorten split the posts after Daly and Carey sent him clear. 

Dingle pressed very hard in the last five minutes. A draw would see them progress. Skibbereen's defence held firm while Dingle had just two late points by Cian Ó Cinneide and Cian MacGearailt. 

Time ran out and Skibb advanced.


Skibbereen Community School's Shane Carey hand-passing the ball clear of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne's Cian Ó Cinnéide in the Corn Uí Mhuirí at Banteer. Picture: Denis Minihane.

Scorers for Skibbereen Community School: L Shorten 1-5, N Daly 0-5 (0-3 f), B O’Driscoll 1-0, J O’Neill, K O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne: C Ó Cinnéide 0-5 (0-1 f), C MacGearailt 0-4 (0-3 f), P MacGearailt 0-3 (0-1 m), C Ó Gealbháin 1-0, C Cordubh 0-1.

SKIBBEREEN: S O’Shea (Ilen Rovers); H O’Donovan (Clann nan Gael), J Bohane (Castlehaven), M Keating (O’Donovan Rossa); S O’Connell (Castlehaven), S Carey (Ilen Rovers), D Hourihane (O’Donovan Rossa); T Ó Donnabháin (Clonakilty), F Hurley (O’Donovan Rossa); K O’Driscoll (Ilen Rovers), N Daly (O’Donovan Rossa), B O’Driscoll (O’Donovan Rossa); L Shorten (Tadhg MacCárthaigh), J O’Neill (Castlehaven), D Cleary (Castlehaven).

Subs: D O’Donovan (Castlehaven) for Keating (h-t), L Murray (Tadhg MacCárthaigh) for Cleary (54).

POBALSCOIL CHORCA DHUIBHNE: J de hÓra (Dingle); C Ó Fearghail (An Ghaeltacht), J Ó Néill (Castlegregory), JJ Mac Liam (An Ghaeltacht); T Ó Cathail (Dingle), S Ó Cuinn (An Ghaeltacht), P Ó Riain (Dingle); C Ó Gealbháin (Lispole), S Ó Conchúir (Lispole); C Ó Dufaigh (An Ghaeltacht), C Ó Cinnéide (Lispole), C MacGearailt (An Ghaeltacht); P MacGearailt (Castlegregory), A Ó Beaglaoích (An Ghaeltacht), C Cordubh (An Ghaeltacht).

Sub: P Ó Mainnín (Lispole) for Ó Cathail (h-t).

Referee: D Hickey.



Our Musical Group of Beauty and the Beast 2022 see the Show in Dublin, Dec 7th 2022.

Last year's TY cast, crew, musicians and directors Ms Brennan, Ms Leiber, Ms Hoskins and Ms Bernie Hegarty of Beauty and the Beast on their trip to Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin to see the fabulous production of the Musical, "Beauty and the Beast (almost as good as their own production!" ) Thanks for organising guys! Great trip away!

Christmas Trees

Skibbereen Community School has been busy preparing for Christmas.

Plans are well under way for our annual Christmas Jumper/Festive Day on Friday 16th of December with all proceeds going to our Memorial Garden.

Many thanks to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan and Religion Department for co-ordinating. Thanks to our Bam staff, Enda O’Donovan, Blaise O’Sullivan, Patrick O’ Sullivan, our fifth years: Seamus Griffiths, Stephen Kearney, Titas Sautdinovas, Harry Bushe, Tomas Lechtanski and Naoise Quinn for decorating our two lovely trees.

Skibbereen Town Crib

Skibbereen Community School is delighted to announce a joint venture between Skibbereen Community School and Skibbereen and District Chamber of Commerce.

Huge work went into the design and decoration of the crib on Bridge Street in Skibbereen.

Ms. Breen’s Fifth Year Chemistry Class collected the greenery locally, Ms. Olivia Hoskins, Ailbhe Quinn and Kayla Holmes decorated the crib with products supplied by local businesses in Skibbereen.

The crib was officially opened on 25 November 2022 as part of festivities and admired by all.

The school is already looking forward to many more initiatives with Skibbereen and District Chamber of Commerce.

Senior Ladies Football Team reach Munster Quarter Finals, Dec 5th

Well done to our Senior Ladies Football Team and their coaches, Ms. Ella Ryan, Ms. Anna Ward, Ms. Kate O Donovan and Mr. Ger Carey on beating Pobailscoil Chorca Dhuibhne in the Munster Championship today. They have now qualified for the Quarter Final.

TY Food and Hospitality Class do Cork on Ice, Dec 2nd

The TY Food and Hospitality Class and their Teachers/Sna’s had a great day ice skating last Friday in Cork. They also found time for shopping. Many thanks to Ms. Norma Roberts, Ms. Sarah McCarthy and Ms. Shirley Wycherely for organising the event and accompanying the students.

TY Farming & Sustainability Trip

On Thursday 1 December, TY Students visited Carbery Farm Zero C in Shinagh and Agri Gen anaerobic digester in Timoleague with a view to understanding how both of these initiatives link to TY courses in Farming, Sustainability and Agricultural Science.

Carbery have a world first project for agriculture where they are working to create an economically viable, climate neutral dairy farm by targeting several areas:

· Using clover and multi-species swards to capture carbon within the soil, produce more resilient grass, improve productivity and reduce fertiliser use.

· Trialling different types of diet that change animal digestion, reducing the amount of methane emitted by cows.

· Maintaining and improving biodiversity on the farm and harnessing the natural ecosystem to reduce the reliance on pesticides and fertiliser.

· Sourcing renewable energy where possible to reduce the farm’s reliance on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.

The aim is that this model could be adapted and used in farms across the country.

Students noted the following:

We learned that Carbery sources its milk from Drinagh, Lisavaird, Bandon and Barryroe Co-ops and as a result, all suppliers are effectively shareholders at Farm Zero C.

We learned that codes on dairy products such as “1867” and “1431” indicate that the milk has been supplied by West Cork farms. This helps consumers to support local farmers when choosing own-brand products.

We also learned that policy and financial incentives are essential to help farmers reduce emissions. In terms of biodiversity, from January onwards famers will be able to claim payments for scrubland whereas up to now they were penalised.

Cows can wear collars that act as “fit bits” which monitor their health and wellbeing, when they are coming into heat etc.

When organic waste breaks down it produces methane. Timoleague Agri Gen take waste food from food processing and manure from across Co. Cork and convert it into biogas and electricity through a process called anaerobic digestion. The site produces 500KW of renewable electricity.

Organic waste material & manure feedstock is transported to the site in lorries. This is mixed and heated to increase bacterial activity which break down the waste and create the biogas. This is fed into the National Grid to generate electricity. We learned that there are plans for over 300 anaerobic digesters to be up and running in Ireland over the next five years. The Timoleague model can run on a smaller scale on farms. It is possible for tractors and trucks to run off methane.

The residual by-product after the anaerobic digestion process is known as digestate. Digestate is rich in Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P) and Potassium (K) and this biofertilizer can be land spread using existing machinery as an excellent substitute for chemical fertilizer.

Ava Scarlett, one of our TY students on the trip, has just qualified for the BT Young Scientists Competition with her project on the production of electricity through anaerobic digestion in microbial fuel cells. Well done to Ava and her teacher Ms. O’Brien!

We would like to thank Aoife, Gavin and Mary-Kate at Carbery, and Derry from Agri-Gen, for their very warm welcome and for sharing their expertise and experience with us. Thanks also to all the students, Mr Fitzgerald, Mary and Ms. Burke. We had a great day out!

Munster Schools Cross Country Challenge 02/12/2022

Report from South Munster schools cross country challenge held Friday 2nd December at Riverstick course.

1st year girls

Lorraine Coakley, Doireann Flannery and Clodagh Hickey ran 1000m. It was a very quick dry course with a slight pull towards the end. 119 runners finished. SCS girls were the 12th team.

2nd year girls 1000m

Ciara Delaney had very good run. She took the lead with 500m and went on to finish in 1st place. Emer Dennis McAleavy finished 2nd chasing her teammate to the finish but she had to fend off a couple of challengers. With 300m left she pulled clear.

Ciara and Emer ran well, looked strong as their training has been going well.

Emer is on the cork U17 cross country county team running national championships next Sunday 4th December at Conna near Fermoy.

Well done to all!

Enrolment and Open Night, Dec 1st 2022.

The School Community would like to thank all our students and staff who put in trojan work in making the school look so well for the Open Night and creating a welcoming atmosphere. Thankyou to our tour guides, our TY Mini Company sellers, our musiciens, our tea/coffee team, our office staff, our teachers at the subject display rooms, the BAM and cleaning team and Ms. Sarah McCarthy, the event coordinator. Many thanks also to all our visiting prospective students and their parents. We hope you like what you saw and will consider sending your son/daughter to our school.

TY Cheque Presentation to the Mery Hospital, Dec 1st 2022

Pictured with our TY students who collected 1515euro for the Mercy Hospital Hereos Campaign are Ms. Deirdre Finn, Mercy Hospital and Ms. Gretta Burchill, TY Coordinator. Ms. Finn wanted to sincerely thank all the TY students who braved the the wind and rain in late November to street collect.

Cell Model Prize Winners

Pictured below are the prize winners in Classes 1B and 1C for their models of an animal or a plant cell in science.