St Joseph’s History Quiz Joy

This year's Old Drogheda Sciety/ Drogheda Museum Millmount's Transition Year Local History quiz proved to be a very closely fought affair with St Joseph's CBS and Sacred Heart both scoring full marks, with the boys from the Termonfeckin Road winning on a tie break. In third place was Our Ladys, Greenhills who missed out on just one question out of forty, with St Oliver’s just one point behind them. St Marys Diocesan School and Colaiste na hInse of Laytown also took part. This was the 11th year of the quiz which is sponsored by Coca Cola International. This was the fifth time in six years that a team from St Joseph's Secondary School emerged as overall winners in the quiz, which this year hada Margaret Clinton as quizmaster assisted by Joanne Walsh, Dan Mullan and Grainne McKeown. Six secondary schools competed in the Moira and Terry Corcoran History Cup. They were St. Joseph's, Our Lady's College Greenhills, Sacred Heart, St Mary's, St Oliver’s and Coláiste na hInse. The standard this year was higher than usual with two stand-out teams: St Joseph’s and Sacred Heart. There were four rounds of ten questions each, with both St Joseph’s and Sacred Heart achieving a perfect score of 40 points. Greenhills and St Oliver’s were unlucky to miss out on the tie-break round, scoring 39 and 38 points respectively. The fiercely contested battle concluded with five tie-break questions. However, St Joseph’s came out on top, achieving a perfect round once again, with Sacred Heart missing out by just one question. There was a great atmosphere on the day with many Transition Year students cheering on their respective schools.

St Joseph’s captain John Holdcroft was presented with the trophy shortly after the scores were announced. Special thanks are due to St Joseph’s teacher Mr Sharkey for his support and guidance in the lead up to the quiz. After missing out on last year’s title, St Joseph’s will be glad to see the trophy come home once again.

Dr. T.K. Whitaker Turns Sod on New Extension

St. Joseph’s CBS most distinguished past pupil, the man credited with rescuing the Irish economy in the 1950s, TK Whitaker, returned to his former school on Jan 28th 2014 to officially turn the sod on a new extension. Now aged 97, Dr. Whitaker was once voted the greatest living Irish man and despite a stellar career as an illustrious economist respected throughout the world, he never forgot his roots. he was educated by the Christian Brothers and took first place in the country in the Civil Service entrance exams. With these and many other achievements Dr. Whitaker has certainly set the bar high for all the CBS students following in his wake. As John McEnaney, the Chair of the board of management said, he is a true example for all students, something for them to aspire to. Mr. Whitaker was very relaxed and chatted and joked with staff and pupils at the school and when the time came to turn the sod he proved to be a dab hand with the spade. Principal David Madden said that everyone at the school was honoured that Mr. Whitaker had agreed to perform the official ceremony.Work on the new school extension will start at the end of the month and is scheduled to finish in March 2015. The new building will comprise two technology workshops, two construction studies workshops, three science labs, music room, maths room, multimedia learning lab, guidance suite, resource suite, library, religion room with meditation room and two lecture rooms. The school currently accommodates over 650 students and when the extension is completed by March 2015 it will be in a position to accommodate up to 900 students Dr. T. Whitaker was educated by the Christian Brothers in Drogheda in the late 1920s and praised many of the Brothers and lay teachers there, especially Peadar McCann, for their contribution to his education. He later obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, Latin and Celtic Studies and was awarded an M.Sc. Economics degree by private study from the University of London. An Irish economist and former public servant,he is credited with a pivotal role in the economic development of Ireland. At 97 years of age, he is still regularly consulted for his views on Irish economic issues. As Secretary of the Department of Finance, he and his team of officials published the First Programme for Economic Expansion (1958) which brought the stimulus of foreign investment into the Irish economy. In 1969 he became Governor of the Central Bank. A policy adviser to Jack Lynch on Northern Ireland, he also served as Chancellor of the National University of Ireland for twenty years.

Peader McCann Student Awards

Our photo shows : Professor Peter Gillen (left) and School Principal David Madden (right) with some of the Leaving Cert Students who achieved over 500 points in the Leaving Cert 2013. They include (back row) Emmet Murphy, Seán Mc Connell, James Carolan, Daniel Nelis (overall winner), and (front row) Ross Murphy , Mark Hoey, Sean Doherty and David Coffey. Students who have achieved success in the academic, sporting, extra curricular and community arenas were all honoured at the Peadar Mc Cann Awards Evening which was held in the school on Monday 19 May last. The awards date back to 1958, when they were first established by the school’s Past Pupils’ Union in honour of their beloved Irish, History and French teacher Peadar Mc Cann. Past Pupil Professor Peter Gillen of the RCSI and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (who received the Peadar Mc Cann Award himself in 1973) along with well-known sports player and past pupil David Bracken were guests of honour on the evening. Eighty awards in all were presented in various categories. Among the award winners were: Daniel Nelis, best Leaving Cert Student 2013 and Jordie Myers, best Junior Cert Student 2013. Gold Medals for academic excellence in the State Examinations were also presented to: James Carolan, David Coffey, Sean Doherty, Mark Hoey, Sean Mc Connell, PJ McGrane, Emmet Murphy, Ross Murphy, Michael Ryan and Tommy Dennis. The Jim Mooney Memorial Medal for English was presented to Cathal Thornton by Jim’s wife Bernie. Stephen Paclibar from 6th Year was the proud winner of the Peadar Mc Cann Award for Creative Arts, while Niall Connor received the PPU President’s Award. The Jim Hanlon Civic Award for Service to the Community was presented by Jim Hanlon’s sister Vera to Luke Callaghan from Fifth Year. The Paddy Hallinan trophy for the most promising young Gaelic player was awarded to First Year student, Daire Nally, while Fifth Year student Robert Sullivan, who plays for the Ireland under 18 basketball team, won the coveted Br Hunt Sports Star of the Year award. Other awards were presented to students for academic excellence and determination to succeed, while awards were also given to the best junior and senior player in each sport. The last year has been a great year for St Joseph’s in sport with the Under 14s winning the O’ Moore Cup in Gaelic, the Under 16s winning the Louth, Leinster and North Leinster Gaelic Championships and the Under 16 Basketball team winning the All-Ireland title.

Appointment of Acting Deputy Principal

The Board of Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Savage, who is a member of the teaching staff, to the position of Acting Deputy Principal.

Successful Results in Junior and Leaving Examinations 2015

Congratulations to all our students on their achievements in both the Junior Cert and Leaving Cert last summer, and we wish last years Leaving Cert students the very best for the future.Among the best performers at Leaving Cert were Sean Mc Loughlin (570 points) and Jack Reilly (565 points), while Ben Breen will be awarded the Jim Mooney Gold Medal for English, for achieving an A1 in English, which included an A1 for his essay. This was the first year for Leaving Cert Applied students to graduate – with the majority of them achieving merits, with strong performances in particular from Niall Connor and Craig Mc Donnell. Many of the LCA students have now progressed to Post Leaving Cert courses and are continuing their education. Equal praise is also due to our Junior Cert students who produced some excellent results also. Shane Mc Quillan, Padraic O’ Donohue, Scott Murphy, John Holdcroft and Louis Flanagan who between them achieved 35 “A”s in their Junior Certificate at St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Newfoundwell, Drogheda. They are pictured above.