Top national awards for Presentation College Headford

THE talented students at Presentation College, Headford are no strangers to winning national awards and last week a major schools national maths award as well as a regional science award came to the school, while next month a group of students are in the final six in Ireland for the Waltons Music for Schools competition. The teenagers get every encouragement from the enthusiastic staff at the Headford school, which has students from a wide area of North Galway and South Mayo. â€Å“While the academic side of the school is strong we are a broad church with diverse extra curricular activities as well,â€Â says principal Dr James Whyte. He says that while there is a strong emphasis on maths and science subjects there is strong support across the board for all subjects and the talents of students in diverse activities, academic, artistic, sporting or otherwise are carefully nurtured and brought to fruition by the staff. The facilities are top class in this school which had a major extension costing €1.5 million carried out on the campus over two years ago. The constant upgrading of the schoolâ€â„¢s infrastructure continues. While the principal is justifiably pleased with how well the new extension has worked out with its spacious rooms, halls and stairways, which are all bright, airy and very modern in layout, the next project is a new library. â€Å“As you can see work is in progress on our new library and when this is completed very soon it will be a big benefit for all the students,â€Â he added. The science and maths classes were in celebratory mood last week after three of them won the top three places the Mathâ€â„¢s Eye national awards in the under-18 category. The three, Claire Dooley who was the national winner, and the two runners-up, Sinead Bohan and Ryan Harte, along with their teacher Helen Gibbons were presented with the awards by Minister of State Sean Sherlock at the Department of Education in Dublin. To win the awards the students produced a very professional photo-maths project, interpreting in a photographic manner the maths that we all should see in everyday items such as bread bins, pies and St Brigidâ€â„¢s crosses. Meanwhile a group of music students, collectively known as Presentation College Headford Goes Beyond the Sea, have been chosen as one of six finalists in the national final of the Waltons Music for Schools competition. They will perform in the final in the National Concert Hall, Dublin on Monday April 18. The ensemble consists of senior and junior music students and they are no strangers to the stage as they perform regularly at the Clifden Arts Festival and they have been winners and finalists in recent years in the Our Schoolsâ€â„¢ Got Talent competition. They are still reeling from the highs of their very successful annual school musical, â€Å“Thank You for the Musicâ€Â which featured a 40-piece orchestra. Their entry for the Waltons Music for Schools competition involved recording a video of an ensemble piece. Under the direction of music teachers Ita Cunningham and Siobhan Shaughnessy, this recording featured a variety of styles of music including Jazz, Folk, Pop, Rock fused with Traditional, which in essence reflects the diversity of fine music that Presentation College, Headford is famous for. In the area of Formula One model car design, a miniature of a very cool looking sports car, designed and made by students won first place in a competition organised by the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) at the Castlebar campus last week. They were the overall winners in â€Å“The Fastest Carâ€Â category and the TY group involved achieved this success under the guidance of teachers Sarah Martyn, Sinead Conlon and Eric Healy. The students involved in the project are among many who conduct experiments in the schoolâ€â„¢s two new well equipped science labs and with such a big emphasis on science and maths as a pathway towards jobs nowadays, these modern facilities are vital for this large school which has almost 800 students. Apart from the academic success the students are involved in many extra-curricular activities and there is a strong emphasis on sport. The schoolâ€â„¢s Senior A soccer team reached the Connacht finals where they were narrowly beaten by Summerhill Collage Sligo and boys from Headford, who are the reigning Connacht first year football champions, were also due to compete in the final at second year level as we were going to press this week. There is an air of enthusiasm among both staff and students at the Headford school that is palpable. Having a strong and active Board of Management, and Parentsâ€â„¢ Committee, is also a big bonus for this busy centre of secondary education, which successfully straddles two counties but still manages to keep sporting rivalry to a minimum during schooldays. So all in all academic life sits easily beside sport and other extra curricular activities at Presentation College, Headford where the motto is to put the needs of the students first every time.