St. Aidans Comprehensive School Cootehill

Leaving Cert Graduation

The Leaving Certificate Class of 2010 marked the end of their five or six years education on the 26th of May 2010 with a formal graduation and awards ceremony. This took place in the school. The theme for the night was “The Circle of Life”. The ceremony afforded students and their parents to reflect on their journey thus far in life. Reflections were given by the students in the class of 2010, Mrs. Pauline Brady, a parent, Mrs. Mary Argue, a tutor to the class of 2010, Ms. Louise Benton, a teacher of the graduates, Fr. Kevin Donohoe, Chaplain in the school, Ms. Maryann Smith, Principal of St. Aidan’s and by Ms. Georgina Meehan, the Year Head to the class of 2010. Music was provided by members of the Leaving Certificate year under the direction of Ms. Siobhan Maguire, the music teacher in the school. Mr. Gerard Sharpe provided an outstanding power point presentation for the students reflecting back on their years in St. Aidan’s.

The second part of the ceremony acknowledged the contributions of the class of 2010 over their time in St. Aidan’s.

Category 1 - Pastoral Awards

These are awarded in recognition of the valuable contributions made by Prefects, Sports Prefects and the Student Council this year at St Aidan’s. Project awards were presented in Construction, Engineering, Art, Graphics and LCA – ICT task. Students received these awards from their Tutors, Mrs Argue, Ms Scanlon, Mr Lennon and Ms Corbett.

Category 2 – Sports Man/Sports Woman

This award is given in recognition of their outstanding achievements, commitment and dedication to promoting all aspects of sports at St Aidan’s. Mr. Paddy Ward, former teacher in St. Aidan’s sponsored this award and presented the Senior Sports Man award to Darren Tiernan and the Senior Sports Woman award to Aishling Moore.

Category 3 LCA Student of the Year

To succeed in this course a student must show a high degree of commitment and application as well as cooperation with their teachers. A 90% attendance is also a pre-requisite for attaining of credits. The Leaving Cert Applied Student of the Year is the student who exhibits these four criteria – commitment, application, cooperation and attendance. This award was sponsored by Mr. John Foy, Manager of Supervalu in Cootehill, who presented the award to Kieran O Neill.

Category 4 – Bank of Ireland Student of the Year Award 2010

This award is given to the Student who is considered to be the person who has epitomized all that is positive in the Year Group in a holistic manner. It is a highly prestigious award as nominees are selected by the year Group who make their judgment on criteria such as co-operation, class spirit and involvement in all areas of school life. Four students are nominated from the year group and from this one winner emerges from a voting panel of students and teachers. This prestigious award is sponsored by the Cootehill branch of the Bank of Ireland. The overall winner was Donal Fay Kelly who received his award from Ms. Pauline Maguire and Mr. Shane Mc Cormick. The three runner ups were Catherina Mullen, Claire O Brien and Margaret Smith.

Category 5 Special Awards

These awards are given in recognition to students who have represented their school, county and country at various events.

Firstly, we acknowledged the wonderful achievement of four leaving certificate students who represented their school in the “Stars in Yer Eyes” final. Ms. Maguire presented these awards to Calantha Forde, Mark Murray, Charlene Finnegan and Robyn Scorr
Elisha Brady received an award for her valuable musical contribution over her five years in St. Aidan's.
Mrs Carroll presented Claire O Brien with an attendance award for full attendance during this academic year.

The final award in this category acknowledged the contribution Catherina Mullen for her outstanding success in cross country running over their time with us in St. Aidan’s. Mr. Aoghan O’ Feargail, President of the Ulster Council made this presentation on behalf of the school.

A special presentation was made on behalf of St. Aidan’s, by Ms. Maryann Smith, Principal, to Mr. Aoghan O’ Feargail in recognition of his appointment as president of the Ulster council.

Category 6 The Flanagan Music award

This highly prestigious award is given in recognition to the student who has contributed most to the area of music within St Aidan’s. Ms. Angela Flanagan presented this award in honour of her late PJ Flanagan who dedicated his life to the area of music. The joint winners were Calantha Forde and Robyn Scorr.

Category 7 – Academic Awards

These awards are designed to acknowledge the commitment to learning and excellence in all subject areas at senior cycle. The students who achieve outstanding results are nominated for award and there is one overall winner in each subject area. In some cases one student may achieve the highest grade in a number of subject areas; however in an endeavor to acknowledge the overall commitment by all students, a student will receive one subject award.

Category 8 Student of the Year Award

This award is granted to the student who has achieved the highest average in their six higher level Leaving Certificate subjects including the core subjects of English, Maths and Irish. This prestigious award acknowledges the top three academic students in the Leaving Certificate Year. This award is sponsored by the Parents Association and Mr. Paddy Donnery and Mr. Patsy Smith made the presentations to the following students. Leslie Middleton took third place, while Catherina Mullen received second place. The overall student of the year 2010 was Claire O’ Brien.

The night concluded with light refreshments in the school canteen.