News

This year's website is finally of the ground (very slightly). There have been a lot of technical difficulties but we are finally up and running. Lots more to come so don't give up hope just yet.

MAD Week starts next week and promises to be an exciting and certainly interesting week. For the timetable click here.

Congratulations to the School Rowing team which gained a famous victory on the Garavogue River as they made their competitive debut. The team of Robert Humphries (5th Year), Michael Lindsay, Andrew Larrigan and Conn Bradley-Walsh (all Transition Year) beat Sligo R.C. by 41 seconds! Congratulations to them all. Read more on the Blackrock College Website

YSI 4th Year Project – Breathing The Spirit
The YSI class have been working with Transition Year students from Loreto Foxrock over the last few weeks on preparing a prayerful, innovative evening of reflection which they are calling ‘Prayer Around the Cross – A Great Transition’. It will be held in Foxrock Church on the evening of Good Friday, 21st March at 9pm sharp. This is an ideal preparation for us all to prepare for what is the greatest time in the liturgical year. We wish them all the best.

Colts: 10 St. Michaels: 12
Captain Tim Geraghty and his fellow Transition Years were pipped in an exciting final of the South Side League. The St. Michael’s team of 6th years provided a physical and committed challenge to which the colts responded magnificently - fortune did not favour them. However they played great rugby and we are very proud of their effort. Mr. MacGinty thanked Mr. Costello, Mr. Herlihy and Mr. Sullivan for their organisation and preparation of the team.

Wear the Badge Weekend – Please support the project by wearing the badge. Click for more on the Blackrock College Website

The largest school fundraiser in the country has just got underway, The Goal / Aidlink St Patrick's Day Badge Project. Last year the project raised over €130,000 for the Developing World. This year, over 150 students are involved. They will visit national schools and secondary schools, approach businesses for support and distribute over 200,000 badges nationwide.

Today the Blackrock College Orchestra competed in the prestigious Inter Schools Music Festival held at Wesley College. The Orchestra came second in the Secondary Schools Competition after competing against six other orchestras. The judges awarded First Class Honours to the orchestra. Andrew Brady, Tomas Foley, Sam Dunne and Jonathan Shanahan from transition year took part in this competition. Read more on the Blackrock College Website

TRINITY DEBATING COMPETITION
Two Transition Year Teams: (i) Andrew Thornbury and Jonathan Burke, and (ii) Peadar Keegan and Cillian McNamara – entered the “Phil Speaks” Trinity Debating Competition on Tuesday last, 26th February 2008.
The competition was held over four rounds – 2 Impromptu Rounds and 2 Mace Debate Rounds.
In an impromptu round, a speaker is given three topics and three minutes to write a speech on one of these topics. In a Mace Debate, the motion is given to speakers 15 minutes before the debate begins with the order and side of the teams drawn.
Both teams represented the College extremely well. Andrew Thornbury won the Best Individual Speaker Award.
We congratulate the boys and thank Ms Canning for her organisation of the opportunity and preparation.

Congratulations to all on achieving our first green flag. Click to read more on the Green Schools Website

Commiserations to the Junior Squad. We were beaten by a strong Clongowes side and we are proud of them all. 4th Year was represented on the team by Andrew Kelly. Click to read the article on the Blackrock College Website

The Family mass was well attended by many transition year families with Fr. Tom Nash as celebrant and Mr. Herlihy speaking. Thanks and congratulations to the readers, singers, musicians and servers who greatly contributed to the service. Click to read more on the Blackrock College Website

The Leman Festival Concert proved to be a great success! Guests included Mary Hanafin, Mr. Brendan O’Connor and Fr. Peter Conaty. The evening provided a wonderful showcase of musical talent in the College. There was a strong Transition Year presence in the Leman Choir, Orchestra and the 4th Year Band, Santa Cruz.
In the Leman Choir were: Simon Barry, John Coughlan, James Corby, Karl Daly, Conor Griffin, David Lavelle, Richard Lim, David Loughnane, Mark McShane, Paul Quinn, Andrew Redmond, Donal Roche, Nicholas Sainsbury, Jonathan Shanahan, Conn Bradley Walsh, Sean Burke, Karl Kavanagh, Conor Marmion, Conor Mulvin, Mark O’Brien, Corry O’Sullivan, Martin Reilly, Con Sheehan, Andrew Thornbury and Gary Wall. They performed Libera Me and In Paradisum (From The Requiem), California Dreamin’, O Sifuni Mungu, The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Go Ye Afar.
In the Orchestra were: Andrew Brady, James Corby, Sam Dunne, Tomas Foley, Jonathan Shanahan, Shane Gueret, Luca D’Ettore, Bryan Conroy and Andrew Redmond. They performed Trepak (From the Nutcracker), Once Upon a Time in the West, Nothing Else Matters and The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Santa Cruz comprised of: Gerard Haughey, Greg Kennedy, Tom Kevany, Marcus Mahony and Damien Molony. They performed their own song “No Right Turn”. David Loughnane also played a piano solo (Theme from “The Piano”). Congratulations to all who were involved. Click for more on the Blackrock College Website

This morning at assembly Lisa O’Shea was presented with the cheque for €130,000 from 4 of the current fifth year students. The money was raised last year by the Transition Year Class of ‘06-’07 through the selling of the St. Patrick’s Day Badges. Congratulations to the year for their excellent achievement. This year’s project will be beginning next month. Click for the Blackrock College Website article

This morning Transition Year Students visited the BT Young Scientist Exhibition and enjoyed a wide range of projects produced by students from all over the country. There were also many stalls set up by universities, business, etc. which were also thoroughly enjoyed. Many thanks to Ms. Nulty, Mr. O’Farrell, Mr. Sullivan and the Science Teachers for organising this worthwhile outing.

With the money raise from the Soccer Marathon, vast quantities of food products were bought. On Wednesday 19th December the products were delivered to the school and where unloaded by about 50 guys. Then on Thursday 20th the packing of the hampers began. Each hamper was packed with cans of beans, peas, rice, fruit cocktail, jars of ketchup, brown sauce, jam, coffee, packets of soup, stock, stuffing, jelly, custard, Cornflakes, Weetabix, sweets, sugar, butter spread, tea, Oxford Lunch pack, tea cakes, biscuit assortment, mince pies, pudding and a bag of crisps. Also with the hampers were 2 bottles of Coke, a bag of potatoes and a voucher for a turkey and a ham. A grand total of 84 hampers were made. Then on Friday 21st from 8:30 on parents and students came to collect the hampers and drove out to deliver them to the families in Killinarden. Many thanks to all those that helped, it was a fantastic success.

This morning was the Mince Pie Morning. The Transition Year Home Economics Class hosted coffee and mince pies to raise money for the St. Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal. Rory MacIntire and Jonathan Shanahan also sold copies of the BCR Shows, also in aid of the SVP. A grand total of just over €1,100 was raised – a record amount! Congratulations to all the boys who made and served the mince pies and a special thanks to Ms. Marren for her organisation of this fabulous event. Click for the Blackrock College Website article

The whole school came together today in the Jubilee Hall for preparation for Christmas during which Fr. O’Brolchain spoke. The celebrations were aided by among others, two transition years, James Corby and Jonathan Shanahan. Read more on the Blackrock College Website

BCR (Blackrock College Radio) is a radio station run by the Transition Year students of Blackrock College every year in aid of St Vincent de Paul. Transition Year is granted a special licence by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) to broadcast from 8 to 5 every day for one week in November. BCR is a major undertaking involving the production of over 45 hours of radio in one week. more

Click to read the article on the Blackrock College Website.

The School Musical, FEVER, based on Saturday Night Fever, in association
with Mount Anville has just finished, with only one representative from Transition Year! Rian Mahood-Gallagher participated in the crew of a spectacular show. Click for more info on the Blackrock College Website.

The House Representatives were commissioned today. Click for more info.

As part of European Mobility week a Car-Free Day is being organised in Blackrock College this Friday, 21st September 2007, by the Blackrock College Green-Schools Committee. Click here for more info on the Car Free Day.

Today a number of Transition Year Students who contributed to the raising of €4,947.52, Many thanks to all that helped. Click for the article on the Blackrock College Website.

The long awaited results of the Junior Cert finally arrived today. The results were extremely good all round. Click here for more on the Blackrock College Website