Important Dates

Thurs 5th Jan - School re-opens

Mon 23rd Jan - Staff Inset

Tue 24th Jan - Open Night

Tue 31st Jan - Year 13 Parent/Teacher Afternoon 4.00 - 6.00 pm

Welcome to the St. Columb‘s College Monthly Newsletter

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Should you have any queries or contributions, please email:

bodonnell202@stcolumbs.com

Jelly Baby Wave Machine

A class of Year 13 Physics pupils worked together to build a visual representation of their recent class work using some duct tape, jelly babies and wooden skewers. The pupils were able to show the basic principle of a wave: a vibrating source sends a disturbance through a medium. Their model clearly demonstrated that the wave travels, transferring energy, but the medium (i.e. the jelly babies) doesn‘t move. They were able to observe that the wave reflects when it meets a fixed end and they could correctly attribute the meanings of amplitude, wavelength, frequency and wave speed to aspects of their model. Of course the pupils also enjoyed eating their wave machine afterwards.

First Lego League

On Tuesday 29th November, ten pupils from St. Columb‘s took part in the First Lego League finals in W5 at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. This was the culmination of many Monday after-school sessions spent building structures which created obstacles to be overcome in the race to achieve as many points as possible in 2.5 minutes using a Lego Robot (which had to be programmed to complete the tasks). A presentation, using Lego figures and models was produced using animation techniques, based on the project theme for 2011 - Food Hygiene. The animation was used to explain the approach to the problem set for this year‘s First Lego League Challenge.

Issue 4 - December 2011

The team who travelled to Belfast consisted of:

Pupils who also prepared the travelling team consisted of:

Mr. A McCourt Christian Boyle 8G

Aodhan Foster 10B Manus Kenny 8F

Joseph Guthrie 8B Jude Leonard 8K

Conor Houston 8A Piaras Loughlin 8F

Mark Kelly 9G Eoin McCrossan 8H

Eoghan Kivlehan 11B Caleb Young 8B

Conor Lyons 8G

Mark McCallion 10D

Niall McCallion 10C

James McLaughlin 9D

Callum O'Kane 8B

Give us a wave!

St Columb’s College First Lego League Team

Under-18 Rugby St Columb‘s College 33, Loreto Milford 5 The St. Columb‘s Under-18 rugby team continued their fine form in their North West Schools‘ League competition with a pleasing victory over Loreto Milford.

St. Columb‘s quickly settled into an effective pattern of play with powerful back row carries from Conor O‘Hare and Darren Quinn providing a steady stream of clean ball in loose play. The first try was not long in coming as an accurate pass from centre Rory Kehoe put Colm McGurk away in the corner for a well-taken winger‘s try. Nick Taggart soon added to the College‘s tally as the number eight spotted a gap from the base of the scrum and raced half of the length of the pitch to score under the posts. The College side started the second half brightly and maintained pressure on their opponents as centre Reuben Hollywood and full back Ethan Meehan probed the opposition defence with elusive running, along with Niall Kelly in close support. With James Lynch and Gareth McLain ably directing play at half back, the College side eventually found themselves poised in a strong attacking position on the opposition 22 with the put-in at the scrum. Colm McGurk then stepped forward to score an excellent try straight from the training ground as he came in off his wing and emerged on the outside half‘s shoulder to crash through the defence and beat no fewer than four players to score. A pleasing performance from the whole squad, who continue to make great progress. Well done boys!

Bioscience In Action Early in the first term, Queen‘s University School of Biological Sciences - in conjunction with the Biochemical Society - launched the competition Bioscience Olympiad, with the aim of developing bioscience-oriented ―academic thinking‖ and a creative approach to problem solving. In order to make the selection for the second round, teams were chosen on the quality of the six essays they submitted. The topics chosen were designed to test their intuitive and creative thinking outside the A-Level specification. Jack Duffy (Y14) said that he found the experience not only rewarding but also quite informative allowing him to enhance his knowledge of biology. The full St Columb‘s team, consisting of Jack Duffy and Conor McGill (Y14), Eoin McKane (Y13) and John Smith (Y12), were one of the ten best teams invited to compete at the second round at the Medical Biology Centre during the first week of November. This event consisted of a practical section requiring hands on experimentation and problem solving, as well as a theoretical question requiring creative thinking based on prior knowledge.

Jack said, ―The project required some innovative thinking of university standard from myself and the other team members. ―The next stage of the contest required us to use chromatography to differentiate between three species of plants based on the different pigments they contained. Despite our efforts and much commendment from members of the Queen's staff, the First Prize did go to another school but the experience was truly worthwhile and exemplified the level of understanding and commitment which is required to study Biology at University level‖. Mr. A Lagan, Head of Science, said he was delighted and pleased at the ingenuity shown in the content of the essays submitted as well as the high level of team work shown when tackling the problems in the practical session. The team should be pleased with their performance, he added.

St Columb’s College Under 18 Rugby Team

Bioscience in action

Great Push For Mental Health

On Wednesday 10th October, members of the St Columb‘s College Sixth Form gathered with pupils from other schools across the town to join in the fun and get behind the ―big push‖ as the local branch of Action Mental Health hosted a local event for World Mental Health Day in Foyleside Shopping Centre.

Christopher Cregan (Y14) stated that he found the whole experience overall to be profitable as it assisted in the highlighting of serious issues which can affect young people. ―The game, in my opinion, was fun and I believe that it would make an excellent activity for the pupils in the school so that they will be able to recognise these issues‖. AMH New Horizons Foyle continues to push the vision of a world where mental health is a priority for all people. AMH aims to assist people who have experience of mental ill health to lead independent and productive lives. T: 028 71373502 E: mharkin@amh.org.uk

International Business Talk On Friday 25th November, Dr. Maura McAdam spoke to a group of Year 12, 13 and 14 students of French and Spanish about International Business with a Language (IBML) which is currently offered at Queen‘s University, Belfast. Dr. McAdam informed pupils of the modular content of the course, the placements offered and the views of some of her current students regarding this plan of study. Dr. McAdam highlighted the fact that languages are an added bonus to a CV and are viewed by employers as an excellent skill to enhance work performance.

Our pupils were interested to know that having a linguistic talent cannot only boost confidence and enhance employability but it has given some previous students the ability to work in some very well-known companies in France and Spain such as ‗Amadeus IT Group‘ in Madrid and ‗Citi‘ in Paris. We thank Dr. McAdam for a very insightful talk and hope to welcome her back into the school again.

Comenius Project, Berlin

In Summer 2011, St. Columb‘s College was awarded EU "Comenius" funding to support a project on the theme "Towards Sustainability‖. Our project partners are students from Emmy-Noether Oberschule in Berlin and Hyvinkää Sveitsi Upper School in Finland. The first lap of the project took place from the 8th to the 15th of November, with 10 Year 13 students visiting Berlin, accompanied by Ms M Lübbeke and Ms H Sisk. They flew from Dublin, directly to Berlin and stayed in host families for the duration of the week. Activities included seeing historic and famous landmarks and monuments, such as the Brandenburg Gate, an ancient, underground nuclear bunker, Madame Toussaud‘s wax-work museum and many old historic German districts, whose history is fascinating.

The team also carried out some work on the topic ―Towards Sustainability‖ and visited some sights in and around the city, including a sustainable office building and many sustainable living quarters. As well as working on the topic, the pupils got a real taste of what it‘s like to live as a Berlin teenager. Independence was very much encouraged, with pupils travelling to school with their partners each day by various means of transport, including trains, trams and underground metro. All in all, the experience was enjoyed by all, in both an educational and social manner, as new ways of life were experienced and new connections and friendships were created. The team are eagerly awaiting the return of their German partners to Derry in May 2012!

Christopher Cregan, Sean McLaughlin and Tony O’Kane

St Columb’s College students in Berlin

Student Representative Council

The Student Council recently continued their significant work on reviewing teaching and learning in the school when again meeting with Curriculum, Vice-Principal, Mr. T Bradley to discuss this most important area of school life. Indeed, the Student Council worked closely with Senior Management over the past few years in evaluating different aspects of the previous School Development Plan, helping to develop a new one. Pupils gave their input on what they felt the school‘s areas of strength were as well as what the school needed to develop before a new plan was put in place, completing a questionnaire, which focused on three main areas of school: - What activities engage/stimulate pupils most in the classroom with a particular focus on individual, pair and group work, whole class discussions, written and ICT tasks. - The Curriculum we provide, including whether or not pupils think it is relevant and useful, Connected Learning Projects, Drama, Careers education including STEM areas and Home Economics. - Pastoral Care, including the timetabled Form Period, the Pastoral Programme, Year Group Assembly, relationships between staff and pupils, counselling provision, learning support, pupil behaviour, extra curricular activities and the prizegiving system.

Student Council members answered 43 questions in total and the results were analysed in great detail by Senior Management. Overall, the feedback from the vast majority of pupils was most positive, indicating that most of our boys are very happy in the school.

Building on this tremendous work, in late November, the Student Council met to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Linear and Unitised assessment. They expressed their thoughts on whether or not they felt certain groups such as boys compared with girls, people with a disability compared with those without a disability and those from a different racial group, might be affected if all pupils have to take their exams at the end of two years. The pupils also voiced their opinions on which examination route they believed worked best and why, which proved most lively and productive indeed. It was impossible not to be impressed by the sharp, young minds on show with most pupils raising many thought-provoking points on why they favour Unitised assessment. Opinion was more divided amongst pupils on whether or not it is a good idea to give extra marks for accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar in particular subjects such as English Literature, Geography, History and Religious Studies. Students debated on whether or not this may affect people with a disability compared with those without a disability or people whose first language isn‘t English. Following this fruitful discussion, pupils completed an on-line questionnaire on proposed changes to GCSEs before submitting it to the Department of Education.

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And finally...

Last Christmas I emailed ten jokes to all my friends, hoping that at least one would make them laugh. No pun in ten did. - - Knock knock Who‘s there? Carol singers Carol singers who? Carol singers who want money. - - Got invited to a Christmas fancy dress party. I was going to go as an island just off the Italian coast but then I thought – don‘t be Sicily! - - See you next month, Merry Christmas!

The SRC discuss Teaching and Learning with Mr. Bradley