Principal’s Address A chairde, At the time of writing this address our school has been physically closed to all for two weeks and to our students for four weeks. It has been the strangest of times. We have had the highs of our Christmas Carol Service, Jingle Bells Race and ski trip for large numbers of our school community and some great individual successes which are presented in this magazine. We have also lost parents of our students and staff and siblings of staff members who have departed this life all too soon. Yet for most of us not directly impacted by personal loss, the highs and lows of school life are contextualized in relation to how we have dealt with the advent of the Coronavirus or Covid 19. The levels of anxiety and fear were palpable for the weeks after midterm until the government shut all schools. It is a great credit to the staff and students of Moville Community College that their conduct and engagement with learning and teaching continued more or less as normal. It is to their greater credit that the level of engagement by students, primarily through Google Classroom, has maintained their learning and connection with their teachers. Despite the many difficulties of connectivity, learning new ICT skills, limiting socialization with peers and managing families, students and teachers for the most part have continued their learning and teaching. Some classes are recorded and some take place live on line by those more familiar with the technology. We are all struggling, but we are showing a level of resilience that will get us through this challenge and will stand to all of us in whatever the future throws at us. On Good Friday we were informed that the Leaving Certificate will take place in late July and/or early August. This is new territory for all of us. Let us support each other to maximize our potential and bring success to our students. The publication of the school magazine each year gives the latest events in the story of our school. My sincere thanks to all who contributed articles and photographs and, in particular, I thank the Transition Year students and their teachers Ms. Browne and Mr Monagle for their effort in putting together a wonderful piece of work. The breadth of activities that staff provide and the number of students who participate in extracurricular activities such as sport, music, art and activist groups in the school is a source of immense pride to me. Involvement in these activities are the times in a student’s life when special memories are made and new friendships are formed. I thank the members of staff who are generous with their time in supporting these activities. In some activities we achieved amazing mass participation. In others some individuals or groups achieved national recognition for their efforts. Nathan Connolly wrote a prizewinning features article and Peter Grant wrote a prizewinning sports article in an All-Ireland young journalist competition – Newsbrands Ireland Press Pass Awards. 2
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