Darkness into Light
A most sincere thank you to the CCM student and staff volunteers and participants who supported Wicklow Darkness into Light last weekend.
It was a wonderful community event crowned by a spectacular sunrise.
Yellow Flag
Emer O'Neill came to CCM as our guest Yellow Flag speaker presenting to our Transition Year cohort on the same day as our Festival of nations celebration, 7 May 2025. She is a TEDx speaker (Don’t Put Me in a Box), where she shares her experiences of being Black Irish and challenges unconscious bias. She is a founding member of Bray for Love, an anti-racism and inclusion group in Co. Wicklow. As an author, her children’s book, The Same But Different, encourages young readers to embrace diversity, self-acceptance, and inclusion. A mother of three, Emer is passionate about fostering open discussions on identity, representation, and mental health—whether in classrooms, communities, or on screen.
Multicultural Society
Last Wednesday, 7 May, we held our annual Festival of Nations. 25 students from across the school came together to share and celebrate their cultural heritage. We had nine countries represented from around the world including Nigeria, South Africa and Lithuania. The students designed displays that represented their heritage and culture and were excited to share this with all First year students who were given the opportunity to visit the exhibition during the day.
The students shared their language by displaying common phrases and asking their visitors to try to pronounce them – we all went away with a little more French and Polish than when we came in - ‘dziekuje’! We were treated to traditional Ukrainian songs played live and tasted traditional treats from around the world including Turkish and Italian sweets. We also learned about some important cultural traditions in Irish Traveller heritage.
The students worked tirelessly in the last few weeks to prepare their displays and there was a great buzz of excitement as they shared this with visitors. Thank you to all who supported the students and staff to make the day possible.
First Year School Reading Champs
Congratulations to 1 Liffey, the best First year CCM reading class this year who read a grand total of 53 million words in the library Accelerated Reader Programme. This included nineteen individual students reading more than a million words each – with a special mention to Summer Fitzsimons, 2025’s best individual First year reader, with almost eight million words.
Well done to all the students and thanks again to Mr Doherty, school librarian, for all his great work this year.
Second Year Trip to Jumpzone
Our Second year students enjoyed their end-of-year outing to Jumpzone, accompanied by their year heads, tutors and SNAs on Wednesday, 14 May. It was a very exciting day with the students having the opportunity to participate in a variety of different activities such as a battle beam, trampoline sweeper, air bag zone, trapeze, and a dodgeball court. Pizza and slushies followed a fun-filled morning and a great day was had by all!
Emerald Park
All First year students, together with their Fifth year mentors, tutors and year heads went to Emerald Park for their end-of-year trip. Everyone enjoyed all the theme park had to offer especially the Fianna Force rollercoaster. It was a great day for the students to socialise together and have fun. Thank you to the wonderful mentor and tutor team for all of their efforts. A fantastic day was had by all.
First Year Hurlers Larry Doyle Cup Final
CCM First Year hurlers battled bravely against strong opposition in their Larry Doyle Cup final. Against the breeze in the first half it was 4-5 to 1-1 at half time. Although the team managed more scores in the second half, unfortunately more goals were conceded while CCM were unable to find the net at the opposing end. Simon Lynch had a standout performance at midfield scoring 1-6 of CCM's tally while Leon Noctor, Samuel Connors and Diarmuid Stone also got a point each. Despite being under pressure all the lads continued to work hard up to the final whistle.
Well done to all the members of the team on a good season with previous victories over Dunlavin and Mountmellick to reach the final. Thank you to TY students for helping out on the day.
CCM Golf News
Four years ago, in 2021, CCM started organising the very first Interschool's Golf Competition with just 24 students from three schools taking part. On Tuesday, 13 May, that same competition ran for 84 students, from nine schools and developed into a 9 and-18 hole competition. In glorious sunshine, tee times started at 7.20 on the front 9 in Blainroe Golf Club and continued until 11am with the 9-hole competition starting at 8am on the back 9 holes.
In the inaugural Interschool's Golf Plate for the 9-hole competition, the individual winners were William Byrne from Templecarrig in 1st place with Dylan Byrne from Glenart in 2nd place. The team event was won by the CCM team made up of Aidan O’Donnell, Tiernan Nolan, Ed Morrisey, Sean Manning and Cillian Williams.
The 18-hole competition saw boys and girls compete both individually and for the team’s prize. The 18-hole boys’ competition had the first three prize winners from CCM with Luke McCoy in 3rd place, Sam Czwalina in 2nd place and, playing for his final time as he is in Sixth year now, Emmet Ronan in 1st place with a score of 43 points.
The coveted Interschool's Trophy was won by team 4 from CCM and was made up of Josh Callery, Sam Czwalina, Joe Murphy, Tommy Morrissey and Luke McCoy. A huge well done to all the prize winners.
CMM had three players making their debuts on the school golf team – Sean Manning, Ed Morrisey and Aidan O’Donnell. Today also marked the end of an era as Liam Delaney, Emmet Ronan and Cameron Little played their last competition for the school – thank you lads for all your hard work over the years, especially to Liam who always arranged the sunshine for us!
A massive thank you to Barry Davis who gave us the course time to ensure all players could play, Conor in the Pro Shop and to all the catering and bar staff for looking after us so well. Thank you also to Mr McDonald from Glenart and Emily and Hannah who got all the competitors tee’d off in good time. The date is booked for next year’s event, Tuesday 12th May 2026 – looking forward to it already!
Track and Field Report
It’s been a busy week for our track and field athletes. Day 2 of the East Leinster’s took place on Monday, 12 May, in Santry where Charlie Seery-Freir won gold in the Minor Boys’ hurdles. He backed this minutes later with 4th in the 100m final. Summer Fitzsimons ran a tenacious Junior Girls’ 1500m and finished 3rd, securing qualification for the Leinster schools.
The Leinster’s took place in Tullamore on Monday and Tuesday, 12 & 13 May, for Daniel Mitchell, Charlie and Summer. Always a very competitive event, Charlie clinched 2nd place and his ticket to the All-Ireland Schools finals which take place at the end of May.
Well done to all athletes who have taken part in this year’s track and field campaign. A special mention to Sixth year students, Aoibhe Mitchell and Lucy Hindle, who have not only been competitors during their time at CCM but also helped at every event and training session since First year. Good luck to Charlie in his preparations over the coming weeks.
First Year Girls GAA Shield Final Success
On Wednesday, 14 May, the First Year Girls’ GAA team met Temple Carrig School in Greystones in the Wicklow First Year Girls’ GAA B Shield Final. The girls started off the first half well with a few excellent points from Kate Barcoe. CCM drew further ahead with a few fantastic goals from Summer Fitzsimons. Temple Carrig went on the offensive with some strong scores from their forwards, but some excellent defending from our full back line of Katie Czwalina and Eva Power, and fantastic saves from Layla Judge in goal, helped keep us in the lead. The girls finished off the first half with some great scores from Haleema Ahmed and Leah Doran.
Temple Carrig started the second half strong with two goals and two points in quick succession. CCM responded by adding another goal to their tally. Temple Carrig recovered quickly with a goal and another two points but Summer Fitzsimons cemented CCM’s win with another score in the final minutes of the game.
Congratulations to all the team on finishing off their first season of GAA in CCM on a high.
