Our Community
Spain 2023
On the 9th of March the students of the Spanish classes went to Teruel, Spain on a school exchange. They spent the first night in Madrid, where they tasted Spanish culture and food. Next morning they travelled to Teruel, excited to meet their Spanish friends again. While students stayed in the Spanish pupils’ homes for four nights and got to know the families.
They had a very busy time full of fun activities and interesting trips such as a trip to Valencia and Albarracín, a local festival and hikes in the hills. The pupils of the school found it a great opportunity to develop and improve their Spanish. While students were sad to leave their Spanish friends, but they all recommend taking the opportunity to go on a Spanish exchange as it was a great experience for all of them and they returned home with lots of new words, phrases and experiences.
¡Regresaremos pronto!
Romania
A Community in Bucharest.
Each year as part of the TY programme we invite fourth year students to raise money to
visit a Daycare Centre for the Street Children of Bucharest, Romania.
France
We organize work experience in France in Nantes every year. Essentially, Transition year students have the opportunity to stay with a family for a week (or two weeks if possible). While in France the students work with children in children’s resorts. They act as leaders and help the operators organize activities for the children: sport, art, music. Also, in the evening, the students spend time with the host family learning about the customs of the French. Providing a great opportunity to use the language in a real context and create a connection with it forever.
Young Scientist
Every year in Meanscoil Gharman, a few groups manage to get through to the Young Scientist, in Dublin. Naturally we are very lucky at school to have wonderful and supportive science teachers who help their students.
This year (2023), two teams managed to get through, ‘The Farm Urban Anytime, Anywhere’ and ‘An Investigation into the Effect of Binaural Beats on Sleep’.
Clarisse Ní Chonchubhair, Pádraig Cox and Sadbh Bonnington won the prize for the project best achieved through the medium of Irish. While, their project was looking at how it can people use Binaural Beats to improve their sleep. We believe the Young Scientist is a great opportunity and yes we are lucky to have the opportunity to participate.
Lawson House
This year the gap year volunteering class went to Lawson House, a local nursing home, every Thursday. While, they were playing board games with the residents, gardening, and creating a mural outside. Indeed this was a great experience for the residents and students, because they are making a difference in their own town, and helping people around them.
Meitheal
Each year, four or five people are chosen from fifth year to be the group leader. The group leaders help first year students in the new school year. In the camp, they share lots of fun activities such as games or team sports so that the first year is able to mix with each other and make new friends. When the new school year starts, the heads of the class meet with them every week, to find out how they are doing in the middle school. while games and fun events are organized for those classes. Also, the group leaders go on a trip with the first years, this year we went to Jumpzone and Croke Park and had a first class day. Naturally, the group leaders have a vital job and it is an honor to be selected as a member of the committee.
GaelLinn
The GaelLinn debates are a national competition where Meanscoil Gharman students have the opportunity to debate as a team through the medium of Irish. This year, the debating team managed to get through to the championship for the first time ever in the history of the school. While, the team consisted of Clarisse Ní Conchubhair (Year 4), Éire Ní Faoláin (Year 5) and Gráinne Ní Ailín (Year 6), and were supported by teacher Elaine Nic Réamoinn. The debate is an opportunity to develop communication skills, critical and creative thinking.
YSI
The YSI class offered for the gap year is a great opportunity. It is a class led by the students, in which they choose a topic that bothers them. The students put together a plan as a class to solve the problem. The classes in the past have had a lot of success every year, with the class winning the ‘Best Social Media Award’ for the hard work put into social media, spreading the word about righteousness. It is a class full of opportunities, which promotes responsibility, teamwork and communication skills and self-confidence.
SVP
In the gap year, students do a ‘module’ with the charity Saint Vincent de Paul, and afterwards, they have the opportunity to create a ‘Young SVP’ Committee. There was a small group this year (2023), of six people in the gap year. Their mission was to improve The School and the area around them. They created cards for the teachers, sales for the charity, and litter collections in year one to improve the places around the school. They had a lot of fun, and highly recommend anyone else to get involved. They had the opportunity to make a big difference at school and around them.
Box Collections
Every year at school, the middle year organizes the shoebox appeal at school, to support the ShoeBox National Appeal. This year we succeeded. Collecting boxes for conveniences around the World In countries third world. The ShoeBox Appeal is a chance to help children around the World and come together as a community to help them.
Creative Schools
Creative Schools is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme to enable the creative potential of every child. Creative Schools is led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Our first ever musical!
Annie
We recently staged the Broadway musical ‘Annie’ at the Athenaeum. The heartwarming story was performed by our performing arts students supported by our head of music, Clare Kavanagh as musical director, with an excellent production team and enthusiastic audience. We are currently looking forward to our next production and will share details soon!
Junk Kouture
Our students are actively involved in climate change initiatives such as the international Junk Kouture programme. Working with a range of subjects thinking about sustainability and the circular economy at the same time.
