Congratulations to James O Regan and Oscar Naughton of 3rd Year and to Nico English of 1st year on their wonderful winning stories in this year’s P.B.C. Halloween Creative Writing competition. Ms McKenzie was kept busy throughout the month with over 50 submissions from across the Junior classes with some very worthy and impressive efforts across the board.

The remit was to scare and a lot of the students certainly did that with their chilling and spine tingling tales. James O Regan took first prize however with judge Ms Mckenzie commenting that the story had :

an imaginative central concept, executed well, with some lovely descriptive passages, particularly at the start when describing the forest. The story shows a student with good instincts for writing horror; letting the tension build slowly and steadily rather than rushing to get to the bloody bits, not over-explaining the mechanics of the horror, an attempt to put some sort of thematic spine in there. What placed this definitively in the top spot for me was the ending.

On Oscar Naughton’s story, the judge commented:

This story won me over with its imaginative imagery and the writer’s emphasis on the physical nature of his encounter with the giant evil snowman. The plot itself is a standard monster encounter, but the writing manages to bring out the creepy elements, making it seem like the monster and the narrator’s injuries have a real weight and impact. The ending is a cliché, but the writer makes it work well enough.

Finally, and most impressively for a 1st Year, Nico English was lauded for his entry:

What makes this story stand out is the unique ambition on display; whatever this story is, it’s certainly not lazy. This piece is very impressive in its scope for a first-year, and there’s also plenty of genuinely good descriptive writing and strong imagery on display. There’s a prologue to grab the reader’s attention, there are several perspective changes throughout the story, and an attempt to build to a climax where both strands of the plot collide and explode.

It’s wonderful to see such creativity in the school so well done to the winners, not forgetting of course all the students who spent time crafting stories and thinking imaginatively in the process. Much thanks as always to all the teachers in the English Department for nurturing and supporting creativity in the boys, to the wonderful librarian Sophie McKenzie for her judging and forensic analysis and to school management for supporting the competitions.

Pictured below are Principal, David Barry, Nico English, Oscar Naughton, James O Regan and PBC Librarian, Sophie McKenzie.

James O Regan's winning entry on PDF below

All our T.Y. students were on the streets collecting for the Mercy Hospital, Mercy Heroes Street Collection on Friday 20th November despite the inclement weather. 

Photo shows L to R : Jack Daly, Rory Power, Mr. Michael Mc Grath (Minister for Finance) and Sam Geary.

Congratulations to all of our Junior Cycle Class of 2023 on their great Junior Cycle Results.

All their hard work and determination has paid off. 

A huge thanks to all their teachers and School Staff who guided them through their first three years in Pres.

We wish the boys well as they now move into senior cycle. 

On Wednesday 18th October, seven boys and two staff members from St. John Vianney High School, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, visited Pres. as part of their Ireland Immersion Programme.

Despite the atrocious weather that Storm Babet brought, it failed to dampen the high spirits of our guests!

The boys from St. John Vianney joined in module classes and then P.E. class with our T.Y. students where they shared stories and experiences with one another.

Another positive experience for our T.Y. students!

The entire school community got behind Past Pupil and Rugby Legend Peter O'Mahony and the Ireland rugby team by wearing green to school on Friday, before Ireland take on the All BLacks in the Rugby World Cup quarter final.

COME ON IRELAND!

Thank you to all the 1st. Years who entered their photos into the competition over the last couple of weeks. All the great pics of your family pets were a joyful addition to our school corridors. Our judges had a very difficult decision to choose winners, but finally selected four favourites. Congratulations to Tom Collins and his pony 'Gin' to Billy Honohan and his dog 'Lucy' to Andrew Burns and his dog 'Cooper' and to Patrick Barry and his cat 'Tom Dooley'. well done boys.

Thew best of luck to 6th Yr. student James Murphy, as he competes in the European Sub-Junior and Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships in Budapest on Wednesday 11th Oct. 

James is due to compete between 6.00 pm and 9.00 pm on Wednesday. 

Cick on the link below to tune in. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/XSFYW0JyBgQ?feature=shared 

We launched our 'Family Pets' Photography Competition for 1st. year students, 2 weeks ago. Thank you to all the first years who shared their photos and entered the competition. Some staff members couldn't resist sharing their best pics also. There are some great photos and they have brought smiles to our faces over the weeks around the school. We will be announcing the winners early next week, but we wanted to post some of our 'family pets' here for everyone to enjoy. 

Congratulations to past pupil and Rugby Legend, Peter O’Mahony, on winning his 100th Cap for Ireland playing against Scotland in the Rugby World Cup pool match.

We wish Peter and all the Ireland Team the very best of luck in the remainder of the tournament. 

#TTiD 

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy, visited Pres. and addressed all our 1st Yr. students. After sharing some stories and history of Cork and of the Lord Mayor’s Chain, he then took questions from some very enthusiastic 1st Yr. students!

After his address, the Lord Mayor was presented with a cheque for the charity of his choice, Marymount Hospice, and with a book detailing the history of Pres.

Picture shows L – R

Mr. David Barry, Principal, Peter Keigher (1A), Casper Scully (1D) and Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Kieran McCarthy