Digital Drop-In Workshop 1

The first Digital Drop-In workshop took place on Thursday, 28th September with a total of 12 enthusiastic learners and mentors participating.

After tea, coffee and chat before the bell rang, the mentors arrived and set about supporting our learners with a variety of topics. Examples requested by the learners included setting up and sharing Spotify playlists, photos organisation and sharing, saving items to Pinterest. Tips and tricks were also shared such as securely creating a hotspot connection and how to remove apps no longer of interest. Another spot of troubleshooting regarding a learner’s use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) that resulted in mentors and facilitator agreeing that the course being accessed was not yet available. The mentors and learners then drafted and sent an email to the course provider with a screenshot to help rectify the matter. 

At the end of the hour all learners went away happy with the productive time spent with their mentors, and looking forward to the next Digital Drop-In workshop scheduled for Thursday, 12th October.

The informal workshop was facilitated by Dr Sandra Flynn, a recent graduate of the Ideas Academy programme from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland for the Digital Drop-In pilot project. Learnings by the mentors from the first workshop will be discussed in a group focus session on Thursday, 5th October with the facilitator.

Many thanks to Mr Anton O’Mahony for the school’s participation and graciously hosting the workshops. Thanks also to Mr Conor Uhl and Ms Orla O’Sullivan for organising. 


4th Years Litter Picking

Well done to our Fourth Years today who picked up rubbish around High Street, Main Street and Townsend Street this morning.

Many thanks to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising, to Jerome Dwyer from Skibbereen Tidy Towns and Cork County Council for organising the collection


World Languages and Cultural Week, Sept 22nd to 29th 2023

Events this week included; Displays, multilingual announcements, Soccer Competitions, Tomato Fighting - La Tomatina, Food Tasting, Zumba, Song and Dance and a celebration of all the different languages and cultures in our school. Maith thú!

3rd Year Tapas Fiesta

As part of Languages & Culture Week, 3rd year Spanish students brought in food for a Tapas Fiesta, mainly Spanish but also Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Mexican and Columbian dishes and desserts.

Well done to all the class! 


Lidl Plus Ladies Gaelic Football Rewards Scheme

Thank you to all those for your support to date. We are currently coming 2nd in Cork in the competition. 

Skibbereen Community School would be very grateful if the community of Skibbereen could continue to assist us to be in with a chance to win €50,000 for our school. More funding and jerseys also available. 

Step 1: Download the Lidl Plus App.

Step 2: Select Skibbereen Community School.

Step 3: Spend €40 or more in-store to earn a stamp.

Step 4: Collect 6 stamps by Sunday 22nd October and submit your completed card.

4th Years Visit The Warren

TY students enjoyed a great day at the Warren doing both surfing and Pitch & Putt. Great waves and perfect greens offered a great experience for the students. The weather also played ball.

First Year English Students Visit Skibbereen Town Library

First Year English students enjoyed a wonderful trip to Skibbereen Town Library today.

They were told that their library membership was free. With their library card, they can borrow twelve items for three weeks. There are no fines anymore, so there is no reason not to use the library.

They can use the computers and WiFi in the library for free and print if they need to. They can download a Cork County Library App to browse the catalogue, request books, and access thousands of free e-books, audiobooks, e-magazines and lots more! They can even borrow musical instruments.

Thanks to Sharon and Veronica for their presentation in the library and to Ms. Órla O’ Sullivan and Mr. Enda O’Donovan for facilitating.

Sailing

Congratulations & well done to Daisy Griffiths and Alice Bushe who competed in the 1720 National Championships in Dunmore East as part of the Baltimore Sailing Club under 25 team. The BSC team won 1st Under 25 boat at the event which is a great achievement (ex pupil Joseph Griffiths at the helm!).

Celtic Cup Boxing Competition

Congratulations & well done to Leah Geaney, winner of the silver medal in the Celtic Cup  Boxing Competition last weekend.

Science Photo Competition

The theme of the photo competition is 'Chemistry in your daily life'. 

Click on the button below for more information.

Beginning of Year School Mass

This Wednesday September 27th at 11.30am we will have our beginning of year school mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral Skibbereen.

This is a very special occasion where we come together as a school community in gratitude and take time to reflect on our hopes and aspirations for the year ahead. 

All members of the school community are invited to attend and we would like to say a special thank you to Fr Heinhold for leading the mass this year.

4th Years Litter Picking

Well done to our 4th years today who were picking up rubbish around High Street this morning.

Many thanks to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising, to Jerome Dwyer from Skibbereen Tidy Towns and Cork County Council for organising the collection.

4th Years visit the Ludgate Hub

Thank you to the Ludgate Hub who facilitated a fantastic tech talk for our TY students yesterday.

Guest speakers Jack Regan, Claire Meskill and Graham Clarke gave the students some fantastic advice on start ups, how to succeed in the business world and where you can get support and funding from.

Some great quotes from today’s talk include:

“Find a problem and develop a way to fix it. Be passionate about what you are doing”.

“If you’re not moving forward your falling behind”.

“Don’t judge a fish on it’s ability to climb a tree, find your domain and excel in that.”

Digital Drop-In

Digital Drop-In is a pilot initiative that aims to provide an informal social environment where older adults can come together to enhance their digital skills through facilitated peer and intergenerational learning.

Arising from PhD research by Sandra Flynn, Digital Drop-In is the first project from social enterprise, Learning. Digital. Together., where learning meets friendship, and technology becomes fun! 

Supported by a small team of enthusiastic Transition Year students this autumn, a series of informal workshops will guide older adults through each step of what they want to learn, ensuring they gain the skills and confidence needed to maintain and develop their digital literacy.

At an information session facilitated by Dr Sandra Flynn and Ms Susan Boland, volunteer TY mentors were provided with information about this important pilot and encouraged to share their motivation for volunteering along with hopes of what they would like to get from this intergenerational learning opportunity.

The first workshop is scheduled for Thursday, 28th September, when Skibbereen Community School looks forward to hosting our older adult 'drop-in' learners.

Thanks to Mr. Conor Uhl and Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising. 

World Languages and Culture Week 2023 - Unity in Diversity

SCS will celebrate World Languages and Culture Week from 22nd – 28th September! This coincides with Culture Night, which is celebrated nationally on 22nd September, and The European Day of Languages, which is celebrated every year on 26th September. 

 The aim is to promote and celebrate different languages and cultures within our school community, to learn about new traditions and to practise a second language in a fun and meaningful way.

 Culture can be viewed through the lens of values and belief systems; languages; sport; music; art; food; way of life; entertainment etc.

 A number of activities have been organized with lots more to follow!

·         Music - breaktime playlists

·         Art - First year poster competition

·         Dance - Zumba & Salsa class; Dance Offs!

·         Sports - “Champions League” soccer tournament

·         Quizzes

·         Food – un petit-déjeuner / desayuno español, churros y paella

·         Festival – a mini Tomatina

·         Film club – screening of short foreign language films

4th Years Keeping Skibbereen Tidy

Well done to our 4th years today who spent the morning picking up rubbish around High Street.

Many thanks to Ms. Orla O Sullivan for organising, to Jerome Dwyer from Skibbereen Tidy Towns and Cork County Council for organising the collection of the litter.

TY Hike From Kenmare to Killarney

TY outdoor pursuits day took the students on a hike from Kenmare to Killarney.

The 16km walk through the beautiful Kerry mountains started at 10am in Kenmare and all arrived back at Torc Waterfall at 2.30.

A great day enjoyed by all involved.

4th Years Litter Picking

Pictured this morning are our 4th Years picking up litter in the surrounding areas.

Well done everyone and thanks to Ms. Orla O’Sullivan for organising.