A group of Australian boys, the ‘Western Wanderers’, visited the school last week, playing a game of compromise rules against the school u -15 team and staying overnight in the residence before flying back to Australia the following day.
The group had already toured other parts of Ireland and had played 4 games prior to their visit to Good Counsel. It proved to be a very worthwhile experience and the Australian party of 26 students, 4 teachers and 12 parents were extremely complimentary about the reception they received.
6th year retreats were held in the school during the past week and the feedback from the students has been very positive indeed. The retreats were led by a group from the Mount Sion retreat team in Waterford.
A large group of 6th years attended the University of Limerick Open Day on Wednesday last and thanks go to Ms Byrne and Ms Carroll for organizing this important opportunity.
On the sports field there was mixed fortunes for the school teams. The U- 16 hurlers bowed out of the Leinster Championship, losing narrowly to Castlecomer CBS. This group put in a lot of effort under Mr Coffey and Mr Moore and while falling short of victory, made considerable progress over the campaign.
The senior footballers qualified for the South Leinster League Final with an 11 points to 8 points victory over Knockbeg College in Carlow on Friday. This was an encouraging performance and the side showed composure and character to come from 1 point down with 5 minutes remaining to score 4 unanswered points late on. They will play Athy CBS or Colaiste Iosagain, Portarlington in the final.
Having won their opening game against Wexford CBS, the school golf team of Lorcan O’Brien, Sean Mackey, Brian Larkin, David Kavanagh and Michael Ryan, caused a minor upset in defeating a strong St. Peters College team in their following game in Rosslare Golf club. Unfortunately their good form did not hold for their third game against Carnew and they lost narrowly to the Wicklow school. They must now win their remaining game against Arklow CBS to keep their hopes alive.
With only one week remaining before mid term, a brief reminder that the 6th class open day takes place in the college on Nov. 7th. All Boys in 6th class and their parents/guardians are welcome to come along and see the school facilities for themselves.
Transition Year News
TY1 Cakesale in Good Counsel
Good Counsel College Transition Years held a cake sale in the school last Friday the 16th of October to raise money for the South East Simon Community and Focus Ireland as part of their Young Social Innovators project.
Young Social Innovators’ mission is to raise social awareness among 15-18 year olds in Ireland by providing social awareness education through action and platforms for young people and those guiding them, which will result in an enhancement of their personal sense of justice, responsibility and capacity innate to all.
Students in TY1 have chosen to help the homeless community in Ireland by raising awareness and fundraising for care packs including “Bare Necessities” (the innovative name of their project group!) such as soaps, deodorants and socks that they donate to homeless shelters in the South East.
The first of these fundraisers was the “Homebake Extravaganza” held last Friday in which TY1 students baked a number of home made goods such as brownies, fairy cakes, and chocolate-biscuit cakes to sell to teachers and students throughout the school. Needless to say, the recession was not an issue for the lads in Good Counsel College when it came to the goods on display!
The whole class participated in the event, by baking the food the night before and selling them on the day itself. All students put in a great effort and the event was a great success.
TY1 are also organising a Food Drive during the year that will involve the collection of canned, non-perishable food and cleaning products within the school in order to donate to the South Eastern homeless shelters.
Peadar Cody
