Engineering Week & STEM Talk

During Engineering Week, guest speaker Paul Deane entertained 4th and 5th year students.

As part of STEM and an Engineering initiative, Paul spoke of his experiences coming from secondary school, through university to become director of Bechtel Infrastructure Ireland Limited. 

He spoke of the numerous mega-projects across the world (mind boggling scales of projects) that he was involved in. He highlighted the importance of engineering at all levels and emphasised to the students the importance of hard work, fun and trying every avenue available. 

A special word of thanks to Paul for giving up his time and to Mr. Harrington for organising. 

Minor A Ladies Football

Congratulations to our Minor A Ladies Football Team and their coaches, Ms. Kate O’Donovan and Ms. Anna Ward on beating Killorglin Community School today.

They are now through to the Munster Quarter Final.

Boys Basketball - County A League

Congratulations to our boys basketball team who are through to their first county final since their promotion to the A league, after a superb team performance against Ballincollig Community School yesterday.

The final score was:

Skibbereen Community School 34, Ballincollig Community School 14.

Well done to all involved & best of luck in the final against Coláiste Choilm next Thursday in Neptune. 

International Women's Day 2025

The School Staff Wellbeing Committee wishes to acknowledge International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day is annually held on March 8th to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations. It is a global day that marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

In 2025, the theme is to #AccelerateAction for gender parity.

International Women's Day (IWD) has been around for over a hundred years, as have many of the issues that still impact women's advancement. Since 1911, IWD belongs to all who care about women's equality.

Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month.

To celebrate this, our first year students have done projects on female artists and leaders during the Renaissance time period, which they are currently studying.

The achievements of Michelangelo and Da Vinci are well known from this time period but their female counter parts less so.

These include the artists Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi and Sofinisba Anguissola.

Other female figures of this time included Loredana Marcello, a noted botanist, Queen Isabella 1 of Castile and Catherine of Aragon.

Students enjoyed the experience of being able to research these lesser know figures and the contribution of these women to the Renaissance.

Student Enterprise Competition

The West Cork Regional Final of the Student Enterprise competition was held in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery yesterday.

Skibbereen Community School was represented by Cosmoz Designs, Clear-Cut Glassware and BuzzGum. This involved completing a business report over the past number of weeks and preparing a stand for the competition today.

These 3 mini enterprises should be very proud of their performance as they have shown what hard work, enthusiasm and commitment can do.

A big congratulation to BuzzGum as they took second prize overall and also won the Innovation award.

The future is bright for these budding entrepreneurs!

The Field of Stones

Skibbereen Community School is delighted to present the first edition of the school's literary magazine: The Field of Stones. 

The magazine carries selected Poetry and Short Stories from students across all year groups, for your enjoyment. 

Congratulations to all contributors on your publication in The Field of Stones. 

Click on the link below to view the magazine.

Senior 'A' Ladies Football All - Ireland Semi Final

The Senior ‘A’ Ladies Football All - Ireland Semi Final v Mercy College Roscommon will take place in Fethard, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday March 12th at 3pm. 

Best of luck to all involved!

Green Schools Project - Biodiversity in our Gardens

U15 Boys Football

Hard luck to our U15 boys Football Team and their coach, Mr. Patrick Hayes on losing to Midleton CBS in the County Quarter Final yesterday.

They did their best, so well done to all involved.

Munster Schools Cross Country Championship Final

The Munster Schools Cross Country Championship Final took place in Tramore Park, Cork featuring the top athletes from all over Munster.

Following 48 hours of rain, the course was very challenging for all.

Caoimhe Flannery, SCS negotiated the heavy conditions superbly, finishing 2nd out of the forty four finalists in the Senior Girls race over 3k.

Caoimhe, as one of the top 15 individuals along with the top 3 teams, qualify for the All Ireland Schools Cross Country Finals in Galway.

Well done Caoimhe & best of luck in the All Ireland Finals.

Taste of Home Young Cook Challenge

Congratulations to our Home Economics Students who recently entered the ‘Taste of Home Young Cook Challenge’, organised by the Tourism & Hospitality Department at Munster Technology University, Cork. Poppy Kilpatrick,  Laoise Hamilton, Mia Illsley, Rachel Nzunu, Neasa Daly, Claudia Sweetnam. 

Our creative students were very enthusiastic and cooked a variety of delicious main course dishes, using as much local produce as possible.

Two of our Home Economics students have been selected to cook in the final, which is a fantastic achievement.

Mia Illsley will represent SCS in the Junior Category and Poppy Kilpatrick will represent SCS in the Senior Category, on Friday, Feb 28th, at Munster Technological University, Cork.

The Home Economics Department commend all entrants for their dedication and hard work.

Skibbereen Community School would like to wish our two finalists, Mia and Poppy the very best of luck next Friday.  

TY London Tour 2025

Another successful transition year London trip comes to an end after a fantastic jam packed three days. From the London guided site seeing tour with guide Vivian, to a river Thames night time cruise to bowling on day one.

Day two brought the group to the National History Museum and the National Science Museum. We wrapped up the day with the Sherlock Holmes escape room brain testing teamwork tasks.

Day three started out with some time in Europe’s largest shopping centre, Westfield Stratford before heading to the Olympic Station for West Ham v Brentford.

Three great days with a super group of TYs and a massive thanks goes to Mr O’Shea and Ms. Leonard who made it possible.

TY Spanish Trip - Día 3

Hoy nos levantamos y desayunamos a las nueve. Fuimos en una gira a pie de "La casa de papel" y vimos Gran via, Puerta del sol, Cibeles y fuimos al Parque de el Retiro donde algunos estudiantes alquilaron barcos. 

Luego fuimos al museo de arte Reina Sofía y vimos pinturas de Pablo Picasso y Salvador Dalí. Fuimos al espectáculo de flamenco, comimos churros y visitamos el Mercado de San Miguel. 

Mi parte favorita fue espectáculo de flamenco. El baile fue muy impresionante y me encantó la música.

Por Grace, Alice, Ava, Ciara, Aoife y Emily

TY Focus Ireland Fundraiser

Many thanks to the TY students who fundraised in Skibbereen for Focus Ireland recently. 

They raised €685 for a very worthy cause highlighting the wonderful empathy and generosity of the Skibbereen Community. 

Cian Dalton, Community Fundraising Officer visited the school and thanked the students and Ms. Hannigan for their efforts.

TY Spanish Trip - Día 2

Hoy nos levantamos y desayunamos a las 7:00 - fruta, pan con tomate y queso manchego.

¡Caminamos MUCHO! Caminamos por los barrios de Lavapies y Tirso de Molina. Vimos el Palacio Real y la Catedral de la Almudena. Fuimos al Museo de las Ilusions y el Estadio Bernabéu. Más tarde fuimos de compras. 

Después de la cena caminamos a la Plaza Mayor y tomamos el metro al hotel. Nuestra parte favorita fue el tiempo libre para ir de compras.

Por Leo, Thomas, Lawrence, Curtis, Kegan, Conor, Joe y Ned

Apprenticeship Expo 2025

Calling all those interested in learning more about Generation Apprenticeship, the Cork Education and Training Board Apprenticeship Expo will be held on;

 Wednesday 12th March

2pm – 7pm

Cork College of FET – Bishopstown Campus

 Come along on the day and learn about;

  • The 75+ Apprenticeship options available

  • Meet employers who are looking to recruit apprentices

  • Meet our team of dedicated instructors and tour our state of the art workshops

  • Meet current apprentices

  • Attend a talk from one of our six Training Advisors about Generation Apprenticeship

 You can register for the event for free at Apprenticeship Expo 2025 Tickets, Wed 12 Mar 2025 at 14:00 | Eventbrite

 If you would like to acquaint yourself with https://apprenticeship.ie/career-seekers/get-started/discover we would be happy to field any questions you may have on the day.

School Tractor Run Cheque Presentation to The Bantry Hospice Project, Feb 2025

The School presented a cheque of €3052.60 to Joe and Gerry from the Bantry Hospice Project recently. This was raised from the Farming Club’s “Rick Barrett Christmas Tractor Run”, The LCA organised Students Christmas Festivities Day and the LCA Students Coffee Morning. Mr. Joe Keane, Bantry Hospice Group thanked the School for their very generous donation and explained the work that the organisation does in providing support to the staff and families associated with the Hospice Unit in Bantry through hardship funding, Night Nursing and driving support throughout the West Cork Area.

Many thanks to the Barrett family, our students in the Farming Club and their teacher Mr, Peter Swanton for all their work in organising the Tractor Run last December. Many thanks to our LCA students and their teachers, Ms. Norma Roberts and Ms. Sarah McCarthy for organising the Christmas Festivities Day and recent Coffee Morning. Also pictured is Principal, Anton O Mahony and Deputy Principal, Mr. Diarmuid O Donnabháin.