Transition Year

Transition Year News

It’s been an active few weeks for our Transition Years both in school and out and about! Students have been immersed in our Life Skills & Expedition Skills modules learning skills such as woodworking and DIY, maintenance and surviving outdoors. Students also took part in a cookery class at Howth Castle Cookery School creating Italian and French cuisine. Sailing and Surfing classes have continued and our students have participated in City Culture Trips visiting the National Gallery in Dublin. We were treated to a very informative workshop on Barbering as a career by past student and Barber, Gareth Moriarty with a few students getting a cool new cut! Our Barista courses are in full swing for students and Our TY Enterprise Programme is up and running. We look forward to seeing the innovative ideas and business ventures from students in the months to come. We had a very insightful and informative talk this morning on gambling awareness and addictive behaviours from Tony O’Reilly. The students were fascinated by Tony’s own experiences and his insight into recognising addictive behaviours and triggers!

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September Events

It’s been a busy start to the year already with lots of events and trips taking place in the last few weeks! Our 6th Year Business Class spent an interesting day learning about STEM skills in Microsoft Dreamspace on the 10th of September. The 6th Year Music class made a trip to the legendary Windmill Lane Studios on the 19th. Transition Years have been active too with a Drama Workshop in late August. They had a career talk from past pupil Nathan Ward, Stuntman on the 6th of September and have been enjoying the late September sunshine afloat with sailing and surfing courses! We finished off this week with some personal challenge games for 1st Years during lunch time in the yard organised by the Guidance and Wellbeing Department! Have a Great Weekend all!

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TY Graduation

Huge congratulations to the TY Class of 2024 who graduated from the Transition Year Programme on Tuesday night. Their  hard work and active participation throughout the year paid off dividends and we are hugely proud of them all.

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The Week Ahead …..

It’s an extremely busy week ahead as we prepare for Summer Exams and to say goodbye to our 6th Year’s on Friday! We are holding a ‘Focus on Wellbeing/Focus on Nature’ event all week with various activities organised for students as they prepare for their end of year exams. Transition Years started the week with their interviews showcasing and discussing their achievements and successes this year! On Tuesday, it’s another active day for our TY group with a talk from a visiting Barrister and the Gaisce Bronze Award Trip which will take place in Glendalough. Also on Tuesday, Tennis Season continues with our Minor Team competing with Gonzaga College. Finally, our 6th Years will attend their 6th Year Mass to mark the end of this very important year. On Wednesday, TY’s will have a further talk with a representative from the Central Bank. Our students will be competing in the Athletics Leinster Finals in Santry and our 1st Year Hurling Team will play Terenure College. Also on Wednesday, our Senior Tennis Team will compete with St. Gerards. On Thursday, our Senior Hurlers meet Terenure in the Senior Hurling Final. Finally, on Friday there is much anticipation for the annual Student/Teacher Match and farewell celebrations for our 6th Year Graduating Class as they prepare for their Leaving Certificate Exams! We Will Miss You, Class of 2024!!  

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The Week Ahead ….

This week our TY French Exchange students will embark on their away trip to France. Bon Voyage to them and their teachers for what is sure to be a very successful and interesting trip! Tennis season continues with two away matches at Gonzaga College on Tuesday and Thursday (report to follow). On Wednesday, our Senior Hurling Team will play Castleknock. Best of luck to all sporting competitors this week. Best of luck also to our Junior Cycle students sitting their Music practicals on Thursday. Friday will be an action-packed sporting day with the All Star Basketball Tournament during the day and our Senior Sports Awards Dinner on Friday Evening.

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This Week …

It’s been another busy week in St. Fintan’s. A group of our TY’s have just returned from a very enjoyable sunny trip to Madrid where they got to watch Real Madrid play in El Clasico and visited the Royal Palace, Retiro Park and Parc Warner. Another group of TYs visited the very interesting and historical Kilmainham Gaol on Monday. A busy week for Sports too with North Leinster Athletic Trials on Monday, TY Soccer playing Gaelcholáiste Reachrann and 1st Year Gaelic v. Terenure College on Thursday and 1st Year Hurlers play Ard Scoil Rís on Friday. Lots of Tennis action this week also with our Minor players vs. Blackrock on Tuesday, Junior Division vs. St. Michael’s College in Sutton Lawn on Wednesday and Senior Tennis vs. St. Columbas also in Sutton Lawn on Friday.

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The Week Ahead …

Huge congratulations to our Transition Years on their fantastic production of ‘Beauty & The Beast’ which had it’s final run on Saturday night. Congratulations also to our TY Entrepreneurs and 2nd Year Entrepreneurs for their impressive results at the Fingal Final of the Student Enterprise Awards (report to follow). Lot’s happening this week as we lead in to Easter Holidays. In sport, our Senior Hurlers will play against Aidan’s Community College today and Transition Years and 5th Years will take part in a Hurling Blitz in DCU tomorrow! Also tomorrow, 2nd Years will take part in the All-Ireland Badminton Finals, best of luck to all competing! On Thursday, Aidan’s 3 will visit Dáil Eireann and 2nd Year Hurlers play Coláiste Eoin. All of our 5th Years will attend a campus tour of UCD on Friday and our 1st Year Gaelic Football team will play Donabate.    

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Beauty & The Beast a Roaring Success!

A brilliant opening night last night for the Annual Transition Year musical. The very talented cast of Beauty and the Beast took the audience by storm last night with great performances, amazing dance routines and fabulous entertainment. Break a leg all for the next two nights performances! Look out for further pics next week!

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The Week Ahead …

Another busy week ahead as our 6th Years prepare for their French Orals. Some of our 6th Year group will visit Alliance Francaise on Tuesday as part of their preparations. We are in full flow countdown to our annual TY Musical which has it’s opening night next Thursday the 14th of March. Best of luck to all in all the final rehearsals and last minute preparations. In Sports this week, our 1st Year Soccer team will play Malahide on Tuesday. There will be Athletics for 1st to 3rd Years on Wednesday and our Senior Rugby team will compete with High School at Donnybrook on Thursday for the Vinny Murray Final. 1st and 2nd Year Basketball will compete against Oatlands on Friday. Good luck to all competitors this week!

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Hitting the Slopes for Mid-Term!

Wishing all staff, students and their families an enjoyable and restful mid-term break. Our Transition Year students are heading off on their Ski Trip on Tuesday to Italy. Wishing all of the group a great adventure on the slopes!

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Historic Senior Rugby Triumph!

St. Fintan’s have done it! In a nail-biting clash against Castleknock College today at Donnybrook. After a closely fought game, it was in the closing minutes when Castleknock were ahead 27-24 that Michael Bolger touched down and sealed the win for the school. A massive well done to all the team and their coach Mr. Kaveh. Thanks to all the fantastic supporters who travelled en masse today to support their school! Final Score St. Fintan’s High School 29 – 27 St. Vincent’s Castleknock College See full report here on Leinster Rugby and other press coverage on the following links https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/2025/02/13/st-fintans-reach-first-schools-senior-cup-semi-final-with-dramatic-win-over-castleknock https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/2025/02/13/michael-bolgers-late-try-secures-historic-first-semi-final-spot-for-st-fintans https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/michael-bolger-rises-to-the-occasion-as-fintans-book-their-place-in-leinster-schools-senior-cup-semi-final/a511093224.html https://www.balls.ie/rugby/st-fintans-leinster-senior-cup-semi-623060

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Easter Cookery Demonstration

Come join us for an Easter Cookery Demonstration on Tuesday the 25th of March with Celebrity Chef Edward Hayden at 7pm in The Abbey Tavern in Howth. It should be a really enjoyable and social evening! Tickets available from the School Office or by using the WAY2Pay link below: https://www.way2pay.org/BuyTickets/aid/91687

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Excitement Building for Rugby Quarter Final Tomorrow!!

For the 1st time ever, Our Senior Rugby Team have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup. After securing a 48-15 win over Temple Carrig Greystones on the 5th of February, we will play Castleknock College tomorrow, the 13th of February in Donnybrook. Tension is mounting but we know our lads will give it their all tomorrow and we wish them the very best of luck.

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Celebrating The Year of The Snake

We enjoyed a great day and had lots of fun celebrating Chinese New Year 2025 last Friday, the 7th of February. The whole school was colourfully decorated in red including red fan displays made by students in a special workshop the week before. Tutor time was dedicated to Chinese New Year and all students received a fortune cookie from our Culture & Diversity Team. We enjoyed intercom announcements celebrating the event and Lunchtime was action packed with Jianzi played all through the break on the Astro and music accompanying Chinese Fortune Telling and students queueing up for our ever popular Chopstick Challenge! A very Happy Chinese New Year to all!!

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Happy Chinese New Year

Today marks the start of Chinese New Year. The school has been decorated to represent The Year of the Snake this year and we will be celebrating Chinese New Year with lots of events planned for February the 7th. Follow our padlet link below for lots of information and activities to celebrate and Happy Chinese New Year to all! https://padlet.com/connie_davenport/chinese-new-year-2025-exaquwnvvfeg7tnu

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The Week Ahead…

On Monday, our Transition Year enjoyed a special JFK Forensics Workshop uncovering all of the mysteries surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy. On Thursday, in sporting news, the school will compete in the Senior Leinster Frisbee Cup and our 2nd Year Hurling team face Terenure. On Friday the 24th, the TY football team play Skerries. This is also Catholic Schools Week with various activities planned throughout the week and time given during Tutor periods to reflecting on this year’s theme of ‘Living life to the full in areas of our lives like Friendships and our communities etc.’ More information on Catholic Schools week is available on the following link: https://catholiceducation.ie/catholic-schools-week-2025-alive-in-christ/ We are also approaching Chinese New Year on the 29th of January. This year is The Year of the Wood Snake and TYs are busy decorating the school for this next week! We hope to have some events on Monday to celebrate the advent of this year’s New Year!

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Welcome Back

It’s a cold start to the new term but we’re ready for lots of work and preparation for the term ahead. Our exam years will be kept busy preparing for their Mock Exams and our Transition Years have lots of activities planned aswell as preparing for the School Musical production of ‘Guys & Dolls’ and their upcoming Ski Trip. Wishing all students and staff a productive and enjoyable new term ahead!

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It’s Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas…

We’re just about nearly ready to head off on Christmas Holidays. Well done to all of our students for all of the hard work completed this term! Wishing all students, staff and their families a very Happy and Restful Christmas! 1st Year Art 1st Year Art 1st Year Art 1st Year Art 1st Year Art

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TY End of Term News Round-Up

It’s been another exciting couple of months for our TY students. A visit to Dublin Castle and a Life Skills Workshop in late November was followed by an action packed two day trip to Derry and Belfast. Our City Culture days continued also in November. In December, TYs went on an Irish Aid trip and attended the IFI for a French film screening. TY Enterprise have been very active and busy refining their company ideas culminating in a vibrant Christmas Market for all the school community on the 17th of December. A group of students attended a Children’s Rights Workshop on the 12th of December and all will finish off the term with Ice Skating on the 19th of December. A good rest is in order to prepare for next term with anticipation for the TY Annual Ski Trip and School Musical ‘Guys & Dolls’ fast approaching! Check out our gallery of recent events below: Belfast & Derry Trip Belfast & Derry Trip City Culture Trip City Culture Trip Children’s Rights Workshop Life Skills Workshop Life Skills Workshop Dublin Castle Trip Enterprise Christmas Market

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Christmas Art Gallery

A selection of some of the great work done by our Art students this term. We started the year with a surreal still life installation encouraging students to engage creatively with primary source objects and to practice their observational drawing skills. 2nd & 5th Year students took the surreal inspiration into sculpture projects following the same theme! 6th Year Theme Exploration Still Life Drawing 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture Still Life Drawing Still Life Drawing Still Life Drawing 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture Still Life Drawing 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture 2nd Year Surreal Sculpture Still Life Drawing 6th Year Theme Exploration Still Life Drawing

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Winter Sports Update

Check out our Sports newsletter using the link below to get all the latest sporting news over the last few months! https://stfintanshs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sports-Newsletter-Christmas-2024-1.pdf  

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Stand Up & Be You Week Goes off with a Bang!

Today was the start of ‘Stand Up & Be You Week’. The school has been decorated with colourful displays and posters emphasizing the message of how important it is to Stand Up & Be Yourself! We kicked off the week today with music, intercom announcement and the start of voting for our ‘Tie-Dye Your Teacher’ event is well underway! In a very exciting initiative, we re-launched our ‘Cairde sa Chúirt’ Room with a great buzz of students enjoying cupcakes and hot drinks out in the yard on a gorgeously sunny November afternoon. A massive amount of work from students and teachers has gone into making this ‘home away from home’ room a wonderful facility for our students to relax and unwind. Our ‘Cairde sa Chúirt’ room will be open at lunchtimes all this week and every Monday at lunchtime from then on.. Stay tuned for more updates on events to come this week

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Science Week

It’s Science Week this week and we have been celebrating all things scientific with a range of events across the school. We have been running a ‘Science Question’ of the day every morning with a prize for the first correct answer. The school has been decorated with scientific facts and figures posters as part of a competition for the week. The 3rd years took part in a Science Quiz in the cafeteria on Tuesday and on Friday there will be a ‘Battle of the Sciences’ for 5th year students studying a science subject in the cafeteria.  

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St. Fintan’s High School Lotto

This week sees the launch of the St. Fintan’s High School Lotto Draw! The money raised from this initiative will be used to support our student’s educational experience and the general wellbeing of our school. We have lots of ideas about how to use the funds raised but are open to any suggestions from both parents and students. Together, we can work to introduce small improvements and comforts that will have a positive impact on the day to day lives of our students, making their experience in St. Fintan’s even more enjoyable! The first draw will take place on November 21st at 8:00 pm. There will be a weekly prize of €20 and a jackpot of €500 to be won if you match all four numbers. Enter now by following the link below or by scnning the QR code. You never know, you just might win… https://www.ourfundraiser.ie/org/stfintanshs

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Happy Halloween Break

Wishing all Students, Staff and their families a FRIGHTENINGLY well deserved Mid-Term Break. Have a great relaxing time CHILLING out!!! Check out our gallery of X-Ray skeleton hands done by our 1st Year Art Group!

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Maths Week 13-17th October

Maths Week kicked off on Monday the 13th of October with some lovely posters made by students and staff. The school was decorated with notes detailing many different concepts in Maths. Cross-Curricular Links with Maths Some of the events held for students included cross-curricular links with Physical Education and Maths including a basketball game. Students were challenged to problem solve and match up scoring in a basketball hoop with the matching ball. Problem Solving Games Our Junior Cycle classes took part in a problem solving game using the topic: functions, in order to build two dimensional cities. Students showed great team work, problem solving skills while learning about functions mixed with lots of fun. Well done to all who took part. Riddle of the Day Students took part in the Riddle of the Day. Answers flooded in when the riddles were announced and displayed. Well done to all who took part and those who answered them correctly. Winners were picked out from the large number of corrected answers. Please see link below for our Maths Week Newsletter with pics of the week!   https://stfintanshs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Maths-week-2-1-1.pdf  

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