Congratulations to our five Past Pupils from the Leaving Cert. class of 2023 who recently received scholarships to UCD in recognition of their academic achievement in achieving 560 points or more in their Leaving Certificate.

These awards are part of a range of UCD initiatives put in place to recognise exceptional students when they join, as well as those who develop their talents while studying at UCD.

The scholarship recipients are: Miguel Barbosa Flemming, Eamonn Barry, Sean Keville, Patrick Moroney and Rory O'Shaughnessy.  

All in Pres. are very proud of their achievements and we wish them well in their studies at UCD.  

Team Maths is a table quiz for teams of 4 students from Leaving Cert year with questions based on the Leaving Certificate higher level course. It has been run in Cork since 1991.

The regional round of the Annual Team Maths Competition took place on Tuesday 27th February with 34 Cork Teams competing in the event.

Three Pres Teams were entered and they represented ­the school with distinction finishing in 1st, 3rd and 5th position.

Winning the competition with a perfect score of 20/20 over eight rounds were a team comprised of Noah Giltinan, Shane McCollum, Rex O Sullivan and Alec Ryan.

In 3rd place, and following closely behind the winners, was a team comprised of Louis Flynn, Giacomo Cammoronesi, Alex O Donoghue and Ben Wrixon

A special mention also to our team who finished 5th overall, which was comprised of Adam Hartley, Sam O Connell, Adam Ryan and Dylan Swyhart.

We wish the teams well as they progress to the National Final and thank them for all their efforts.

Special congratulations and thanks to their Maths teacher, Mr. Sean O'Brien, on such an amazing achievement!

P.B.C. Arts Week 2024 starts on Monday the 4th until Friday the 8th.of  March. The Art Dept. have a variety of events planned throughout the week, with visiting speakers and workshops in school and at nearby galleries. Our 'Green Schools' Photography competition with a 'biodiversity theme' will conclude with a display and prize giving.  Art Work will be Made and displayed, Poetry and stories will be written and recited, songs sung and music played, Art and society debated, movies watched and Art history explored. We look forward to a creative week enjoyed by all. 

the Art Dept.

It truly is award season for all involved in film in PBC including Cillian Murphy on his recent win at the BAFTA's. 

PBC film studies films 'P.R.E.S' & 'Killing Billy'(Max Ford - P.R.E.S) (Killing Billy-  Liam Fitzgerald, James Power & Sami Flannery) have been selected to be screened at our MUNSTER: CORK REGIONAL FINAL taking place on WEDNESDAY 6th MARCH 2024 at the OMNIPLEX, MAHON POINT. 

In addition !!!

We are delighted to announce the film ' Pres Documentary' has been selected to be screened at the VIRTUAL REGIONAL FINAL 1 2024 taking place ONLINE on the 15th - 20th MARCH. 

The Audience Award voting will go live after 2PM on the 15th here AudienceAwardVirtual12024  (You will not be able to vote until all of the films have been screened online, we ask you to vote for your favourite film that is not your own).

The online regional finals are eligible for a special Online Views Award, so as soon as the screening goes live, get watching and remember watching the first film on a showcase will give the view to that film only, you need to watch your own film to ensure that it gets the online view. 

National Finalists going through from the online regional screenings will be announced via social media on Wednesday 20th March

P . R . E . S. is a comedy film of Reenactment of popular influential movies with deep meanings being twisted into a small comedy aspect using PRES as the way to twist it, this movie doesn’t aim to make people cry emotionally rather hysterically. 

Killing Billy is murder mystery/ art house/ Comedy short film. It has an original script and is set in the unique location of Longueville House. The film is full of movie and musical references and aims to keep audiences on the edge of their seats throughout the film.   

Well done to all involved, especially director/writer, Max Ford (P.R.E.S) Liam Fitzgerald, Assistant Director James Power & cinematographer Sami Flannery. (Killing Billy) 

Special thanks to Mr. Brian Casey who has guided our students through all the steps in movie production. 

To mark the above, some of our first years gathered in the Reading Room today to celebrate the joy, the power and the wonder of reading. The aim is for everyone to ‘get lost in a good book’ on the 24th of February, 'Ireland Reads Day' – whether reading a book, a newspaper, a comic, a graphic novel – whatever works.  

'Ireland Reads' is a campaign from Irish libraries, Adult Literacy for Life, Children’s Books Ireland, Age Friendly Ireland, booksellers, publishers and others to get the whole country reading and there are lots of events taking place in libraries and schools across the country today and tomorrow. 

Current Pres librarian Sam Browne was on hand, as ever, in our Reading Room to offer guidance and assistance and to highlight  some of the recent books purchased for the Reading Room, including requests from students for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and some Haruki Murakami novels amongst others.

Our PBC Book Club continues on a weekly basis on Friday lunchtime while the Pres Writers' Club is really thriving and has now been extended to 2 days a week on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes due to popular demand. Students from across all year groups attend with a lovely culture of respect, mentoring, openness and encouragement fostered; the sessions are led by our Librarian, Sam who is available to students on Teams or Library@pbc-cork.ie.

So go on, switch off the phones tomorrow, turn off the playstation, take out the earbuds, switch off the TV and open a book, a comic, a magazine or a newspaper and just get lost for a while through the power of reading!

Congratulations to Past Pupils, Ben O'Connor and Danny Sheahan who played important roles in Ireland's hard fought victory over Italy in the U-20's Six Nations at Musgrave Park.

Ben was awarded 'Man of the Match' for his starring role. 

All in Pres. are very proud of both Ben and Danny and we wish them and all the Ireland U-20 squad the very best of luck for the remainder of the Six Nations. 

Cillian for the Oscar? SuperValu Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Athletic Grounds or just the 'The Park'? AI and the classroom? Our transition year students on the podcast have been busy this month compiling Episode 2 of this season's PBC podcast and are delighted to be streaming a brimful and eclectic magazine show for out devoted followers.

We trialled our new ZoomH6 recorder on the streets of Cork as we went downtown to gauge the Cork public's opinons on the controversial renaming of Páirc Uí Chaoimh in a very interesting series of voxpops. It has historic resonance for us here in Pres of course given Pádraig Ó Caoimh once taught in Pres as a young man. We also hear the opinions of some teachers here in the school.

Ali Khan, Pres alumnus of 2009 came into studio to discuss his eventful and enterprising path since leaving the Mardyke - from dental surgeon to investment fund operator and now a podcast creator, writer, actor and current board member of Gaisce Ireland. A very worthwhile listen.

Our computer science expert here in Pres, Martin Garvey and English Coordinator Shane Twomey sat down with Ben Coughlan and Barry O Connor to discuss the evolution of Artificial Intelligence and its implications for both teachers and students. 

We also hear from Principal David Barry about Cillian Murphy's recent accolades in Hollywood and from his former English teacher in Pres, William Wall in an interview with Mick Mulcahy courtesy of RedFM.

All this and more on Season 4, Episode 2 of PBC podast. Click below to listen on Acast, Spotify or Apple:

 shows.acast.com/the-pbc-podcast/episodes/s4-ep2-and-the-oscar-goes-to

open.spotify.com/episode/1f2VtFXOz6RqishaKoCaQZ

podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/s-4-ep-2-and-the-oscar-goes-to/id1550646073?i=1000643986019