On Saturday, Feb. 12th, the assessment morning for all incoming 1st years - Sept. 2011- takes place. The boys will gather in the church initially prior to 10am and will proceed to the Sports hall where the assessment will take place. A snack will be provided for all the boys during the course of the morning.

The Junior Cert. mock exams started on Thursday and continue until next Friday. The Leaving Cert. equivalent starts on Monday and also continues for the full week. Good luck to all the students sitting those.
The Transition Year students have been busy with their YSI projects, a particular highlight being the CD recording featuring Michael O'Gorman on vocals, while they have also been engaged in film making during the week.

A mass was held in the college church on sunday last for the families and friends of those bereaved by suicide. Thanks in particular to Fr. Collander for organising this event which was much appreciated by those in attendance.



Seamus Sutton receiving his certificate from the curator of the National Library following his success in the Poetry Aloud competition.


Another busy week on the sports fields and courts with the U-16 footballers enjoying a comfortable win against Colaiste Iosogain, Portarlington to qualify for the South Leinster final where they will meet Carlow CBS.  Meanwhile the senior hurlers continued their preparations ahead of their championship quarter final against Birr CS this Saturday. Best of luck to them.

In Badminton there was further success as the U- 14  A and C teams both won their divisions of the Wexford championships in St Peters to qualify for the Leinster Finals in Dublin.

In athletics, the minor boys team finished 2nd in the South Leinster Cross Country championships recently and have qualified for the Leinster finals as has Stephen Gorman who finished 13th in the Intermediate boys event. Well done to them and thanks to Mr. Bates for his work with them.

Well done to 3rd year student, Roy Daniels who represented Leinster recently in the All Ireland on shore Fishing championships held in Antrim and best of luck to Jack Farragher and Breen Howlin who represent  Wexford  in the U-19 darts championships in Ennis at the weekend. Continue Reading...

The Leaving Cert. Applied classes had task assessments during the week, the 6th year group being particularly busy with 3 tasks for examination. The Junior Cert. mocks begin on Thursday next running through the following week while the 6th year mocks run from Monday 14 to Friday 18th when the Mid Term starts.

Mr. O'Brien and Mr Chappell , Art Teacher with LCA students who ran an art competition with 1st years to raise awareness around bullying.
 
In a busy week of sporting activity., the U-16 Badminton team travelled to Dublin for the Leinster Finals and only lost out by 1 game in the final to St Finians of Swords who have a number of internationals on their side. Only the previous week the team had won the Wexford final defeating another Good Counsel team in the final. It was a great effort from the team and their coach Ms Byrne.

The U-16 Badminton squads with coach Ms. Byrne after their victory in the Wexford finals.

In handball 1st years Patrick Carthy, singles, and Danny McWilliams /Pj Chapman, doubles, advanced to the Leinster semi finals in the 40 x 20 competition earlier in the week. John Walsh and Sean Stafford also progressed in the u-15 doubles. Well done to all of them.

In football the U-14 team moved within one step of retaining their Leinster Title with a hard fought win over St. Peters in the South Leinster Final. The game played in St Patricks Park, Enniscorthy was finely balanced right to the end but the Counsel boys would not be denied.
The Seniors were less fortunate suffering a heartbreaking defeat to St Marys Edenderry who scored a winning point 5 minutes into injury time after the Counsel had clawed their way back from a 4 point deficit. It was a cruel blow for a team who had shown tremendous courage in the second half after a subdued performance in the opening period. Despite exiting the championship, this group have been fine ambassadors for the school. Hopefully they will have better fortune in the hurling championship against Birr C.S. next Saturday.

Swimmers from the Good Counsel College travelled to The National Schools Swimming Finals at the Leisure Land Centre in Salthill Last weekend 29th to 30th Jan 2011. Only two swimmers from the school qualified for the championships nationals this year, Luke FitzGibbon,3rd Year and Ben Curran,1st Year.
Ben had qualified in the 100m Back Stroke and the 200m Individual Medley where he finished a very respectable 6th and 10th respectively. He finished the highest in his age group as he was swimming out of age this year.
Luke Fitzgibbon
Luke FitzGibbon was competing in the nationals for the 3rd succesive year and retaianed his title in the 200m Back Stroke Invitational Time Trial. In his other event he was beaten into 3rd by one hundredth of a second. Luke also swam out of age and is currently the fastest in his own age category in Ireland.
Following the championships and based on the national Schools Selection Committee Luke has been selected for the National
Schools Swim team which will be hosting the WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England) Swim Meet later this year and he will also be representing the school for another year at International Level.
Well done to both boys and best of luck in the coming years swimming events. Both swimmers are members of the New Ross Swimming Club and train at the Kennedy Memorial Swimming Pool and the National Aquatic Centre.

The Transition year groups are currently working on their projects for Young Social Innovators. TY1 are working on a road safety campaign with 'Don't Learn about Safety by Accident' as their slogan. They have produced the above poster to raise awareness and are currently carrying out surveys and other activities.
TY2 meanwhile are busy working to collect scarves, hats and gloves for Focus Ireland and the Simon Community who work with the homeless and any such items can be dropped into the school office. Any unwanted Christmas presents will also be gratefully accepted.
The third TY group are engaged in raising awareness of an initiative called TIME -  Telephone in Medical Emergency. This encourages people to put emergency contact details into their phones under the contact name, TIME another very worthwhile initiative. 

Best of luck to the 8 sixth year students competing in the Wexford schoools Maths Quiz on Friday night in Enniscorthy. Forming two teams, (4 x 2=8!!), the boys will be hoping to defend the title won by the school last year. Many thanks to their teachers, Ms Dempsey and Mr. Fanning who organise the event and look after the school teams respectively. 

The U-14 Footballers qualified for the South leinster Final by beating a fancied Newbridge side on Tuesday last. The boys gave a sound performance as they bid to put back to back Leinster U-14 titles together, a feat previously achieved in 95-96 by a group many of whom went on to bring the Hogan Cup to Wexford for the only time in 1999. The boys now play St. Peters on Friday next in St. Patrick's Park, Enniscorthy. Good luck to them and their mentors, Mr Bates and Mr Kehoe.
The Senior football team take on 2008 leinster champions, St. Mary's , Edenderry in the Leinster quarter final on Saturday next. The venue is yet to be confirmed but is likely to be in the Carlow area.
While the Senior and Junior rugby teams bowed out of Leinster competition, losing to Kilkenny CBS and St Columbas respectively, they put up very respectable performances in both grades. Thanks to them and to Mr McGinley for all his work with the teams.

Entry forms for the 2011 All Ireland Inter Schools Hunter Trials can now be downloaded from this site. Just click on the homepage image to navigate to the relevant page.

Badminton Success ( by Colm Doherty - TY)
This years Wexford schools u16 badminton competition was held at Ramsgrange Community School. Good Counsel had 3 teams represented, an A, B and a C team. Good Counsel competed in both division 2 and 3, the winners of each going into the Leinster finals. In the qualifiers for division 2 Leinster finals were GCC A team (Declan Carrol, Darren Carty, MJ Dunne and Eanna Burke) and GCC B team (James Carrol, Daniel Walsh, Colm Doherty and Conor O' Callaghan). Also in the division 2 qualifiers , were St. Peters A and B team. Every team was scheduled to play each other, and GCC A team dominated the competition, gaining a place in the final later that day. It then came down to a battle between GCC B team and St.Peters A team for the remaining place in the final, and a battle it was, only score difference separating the teams. The GCC B    team were victorious, knocking the defending champions out of the competition, and making it an all Good Counsel final, but only one to win top prize. The GCC A team won the final, winning gold and qualification for the Leinster finals, and left the B team with silver medal. The GCC C team (Alex McKenzie, Patrick Murphy, Eoghan Foran, Michael Doyle and sub Patrick Roche) competed with teams from Ramsgrange, Enniscorthy and St. Peters in division 3 qualifiers. The strong GCC C team won their division with ease and with gold medals in their pockets, looking forward to Leinster finals, hoping for the 1st prize. Overall, it was a successful day for Good Counsel teams, all players leaving with medals, and 2 teams looking forward to representing the school in the Leinster finals in Baldoyle, Dublin on the 3rd of February. Congratulations to the boys and to all who participated. A special thanks to both Mrs. Byrne for coaching the boys, and also to Ramsgrange for providing a great venue. Continue Reading...

Parent/Teacher meetings for all years took place on Thursday and Friday running to 6.45 each evening. Many thanks to everyone, staff and parents, who contributed to the smooth running of the event. A particular thanks to Mr Younger who took care of all the Sports Hall arrangements and co-ordinated the whole schedule. Thanks also to Sr Mary and the kitchen staff for the ever availabe cup of tea, scone and slice of apple tart.

A reminder to 3rd and Transition Year students, and their parents,  that 5th year subject choice forms must be completed and returned by Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. To help inform the decision making process, students will have a presentation from Career Guidance teacher, Ms Byrne, on Friday next.

Both Junior and Senior football teams had championship victories during the week, The Juniors won their final group game against Carlow CBS and advance to the South Leinster semi finals. The Seniors travelled to Athy on Wednesday to take on local school, Ard Scoil ns Trionoide, and despite being considered underdogs, gave a spirited performance to ensure a place in the Leinster quarter finals where they will meet St Marys Edenderry, themselves 17 point winners during the week, on Feb. 5th.

Eoin Power, TY, an Irish schools international last summer, won bronze last Sunday in the junior men's 60 metre hurdles held in Nenagh where he returns this weekend to compete in the combined events. An exceptional athlete, we wish him well.

In swimming, Ben Curran, 1st year, recently finished 3rd and 5th in his events in the Leinster Schools championships held in Portmarnock pool. He and Luke Fitzgibbon, 3rd, will now take part in the Irish Schools championships which take place in Galway on Friday next. Best of luck to both of them.

The school hosts the annual All Ireland Inter schools Hunter Trials on March 19tth in Old Ross, near Ballinaboola. Forms are available from the 'Hunter Trials Secretary' at the school address or online. Continue Reading...

It was business as usual this week as school re commenced after the Christmas break. Hopefully this term will be less disrupted than the first one and the weather will be a little kinder.
On Thursday and Friday next, Jan 20th and 21st, Parent/Teacher meetings will take place for all year groups. Because 3rd and 5th year meetings had to be postponed due to weather back in December, we are trying to accommodate all parents over the course of the 2 days. Needless to say it will be an extremely busy couple of days for staff, and parents' co-operation in 'keeping things moving' will be much appreciated. A cup of tea and a scone will be available to all in the school dining room during the course of the meetings.

Members of the ski group on Loon Mountain with Mr. Coffey. (More pictures on Flickr page)
.The annual ski trip took place over the Christmas holidays and by all accounts was a huge success. The group travelled to Loon and Cannon Mountains in Lincoln, New Hampshire where groups from Good Counsel have visited for the past number of years and reports received here suggest the boys enjoyed a great week, proved highly proficient at skiing and were excellent ambassadors for the school. Well done to them and to the teachers who travelled with them, especially Mr Teague, chief organiser.

6th year student, Seamus Sutton, travelled to the National Library of Ireland on Friday to compete in the All Ireland final of the Poetry Aloud, poetry reading competition. Reading from the works of Siegfried Sassoon, Paula Meehan, Wilfred Owen and W.B. Yeats, Seamus made it to the final eight, a considerable achievement given the huge entry nationally. Well done to him and thanks to his English teacher, Ms Cushen, for her work and support.

Congratulations to the Junior Football team who overcame St Peters College in a tight game played in Ballycullane on Wednesday last to win the Keevans Cup. There was only a 2 point margin in it at the end. The Senior Keevans Cup final was played simultaneously in Gusserane, again with St Peters as the opposition. The game ended in a draw and will hopefully have served to sharpen up the boys for their championship opener against Athy CBS, a side who enjoyed a big win against the Counsel in the League earlier in the school year,  on Wednesday next. That game is scheduled for Athy at 2.00pm. Best of luck to the team.

A mention of Ben Curran, 1st year, who won 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze in an international swimming meet held in Cardiff just before Christmas.  A fine achievement for a very dedicated young man. Continue Reading...

School finished up for the Christmas break on Thursday after another trying few days as snowfall and frost threatened to force early closure. We managed to keep going, however, and ran with the scheduled exams for 1st, 2nd and 3rd years. We are grateful to everyone for their co-operation and help over the past number of weeks when weather conditions have been so poor.

It was very nice to see some past pupils, home from afar for the holiday period, call in to say hello over the last days of term. Thanks also to those who have been in touch by e mail through this site  - always good to hear from our alumni and to know that you are keeping in touch with life in the Counsel.

To everyone associated with Good Counsel College, a peaceful, happy Christmas and the very best wishes for 2011.

P.S.
A reminder to all 6th Years that there will be supervised study in the school, Tues. 4th Jan to Fri 7th Jan. inclusive, starting at 10am and running until 2pm.
 
 School reopens on Monday, January 10th. Continue Reading...

After the weather enforced disruption of the previous forthnight, the week past saw things return very much to normal - even if we are currently subject to the threat of a return to the Arctic conditions. Hopefully, we will make it to Thursday next , when we close for the Christmas break, without loss of any further school days.


TY students launch their Gloves, scarves and hats appeal.

Transition Year students are currently planning their YSI projects and among the activities being undertaken is a drive to gather excess or unwanted scarves, hats and gloves for distribution by the Simon Community. They also plan to have a post Christmas appeal for unwanted presents which will also be given to charity.

Awards for academic achievement in the Junior Certificate 2010 were presented to students during the week - another event delayed by the recent weather. 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes were awarded to each class group in addition to the overall first which went to Jack Allen. Well done to all of those students who were presented with their awards.

The U-14 football team played their final group game on Wednesday winning in a home match against Knockbeg. They now qualify for the South Leinster semi final after Christmas as they attempt to win back to back Leinster 'A' titles.
On Thursday a 1st year selection travelled to Waterford to play Newtown School in a rugby friendly and despite stalward second row, Vyto, being unable to travel and outhalf, Ritchie Waters picking up a knee injury, the Counsel boys enjoyed a good win. Many thanks to Mr Doyle for his work with the group. Continue Reading...

Good Counsel College remained open throughout the week despite the continued difficult weather conditions which made it impossible for some students to travel to school. Classes went ahead as timetabled although plans to carry out some Christmas tests have had to be rescheduled while others went ahead.
Great credit is due to all those who made such valiant effors to get here and in particular to the teachers and all the school staff who got here each day despite many having to travel considerable and testing journeys. Thanks also to those who came in over the last weekend to help move snow and clear foothpaths; we are very grateful to everyone for their co-operation.

6th and 3rd year Parent/Teacher meetings originally scheduled for Wednesday last were postponed in favour of a normal school day and will now take place in the New Year. Parents will be informed of the revised dates in due course.
The meeting of 3rd and Transition year parents on the issue of 5th year subject choices was also postponed from Thursday night and will now take place on Wednesday night next, Dec. 15th at 7.30.

For parent/guardian information, we will close for the Christmas Holidays at 1.20pm on Thursday, Dec. 23rd.

The new toilet block has just reached completion and will be in use from next week. It is a welcome addition to the school facilities and was badly needed in a school with a much greater student population than when originally built.


Needless to say there have been no sporting activities to report in the past couple of weeks. There will inevitably be a backlog of fixtures post Christmas but hopefully these can be played off with minimum disruption. Continue Reading...

The Campus under a blanket of snow.

The extreme weather conditions of the past week forced the school like all others in New Ross, and many nationwide, to close for the past five days, something unprecedented in recent memory. A big effort has been made to clear the grounds of snow and ice in order to get up and running as soon as possible. It is hoped that we will be open on Monday but great care and co-operation will be required as the forecast continues to be for freezing overnight temperatures and with so many students coming from country areas, we urge people to take the greatest of care and to use sound judgement. We also ask anyone on the school grounds to take extra care during these testing times.

The clean up operation.

Parents will continue to be informed of all plans in relation to school opening and other events which are scheduled for the coming days/weeks.

Congratulations to Ahmed Yousif onr ecently being elected to the Council of County Wexford Comhairle na nOg. No doubt Ahmed will have plenty of useful ideas to contribute. Perhaps we may one day see him take a seat in our National Parliament.

Jack Wall recently received a J P McManus National Scholarship Award in recognition of his outstanding Leaving Certificate achievement of 600 points. Currently studying Engineering in UCD, the picture below shows him at the awards ceremony with J P McManus and his father.
 Continue Reading...

A bleak campus on Monday afternoon.

Good Counsel College, along with all other schools in New Ross, was forced to remain closed on Monday due to the very severe weather conditions. The college will also remain closed on Tuesday with the situation being reviewed on a daily basis with regard to the rest of the week. Parents will continue to be kept informed by text message and through local radio. Continue Reading...