Monday night saw the highly anticipated launch of the ‘Les Miserables’ DVD. The red carpet was rolled out for all the talented cast and crew and their parents to celebrate the culmination of St . Anne’s Les Mis journey, and a great evening was had by all.

The DVD was filmed and edited by Vanessa O’Brien with cover art and images from Charlie McGeever, and truly captures the atmosphere of this amazing production.

DVDs are priced at €10 and are available to purchase from the school as well as the following shops; Supervalu, The Forge, Heaney’s and Whelan’s in Killaloe and TJ’s and McKeogh’s in Ballina.

For more pictures check out the gallery.

St. Anne’s was wrapped up critical thinking as the Christmas term came to a close this morning. The race was on with scenes of students frantically working on Christmas anagrams and dingbats.

Students had to organise themselves into groups to solve sets of problems with speed and efficiency and then race to the final destination for their prize.

Competition was high as St. Anne’s top critical thinkers vied for pole position with the 3^rd years winning top prize for their speed, co-ordinated efforts and strategic approach.

Well done to all the students and teachers involved for being part of the spirit of Critical Thinking.

A special thank you to Ms. Hartigan and all her TY elves.

Friday 18th of December, Christmas came early fro the transition year students involved with the Bank of Ireland school bank. The ten members of the school bank along with ten other members of transition year travelled to the Bank of Ireland branch in Castletroy where they entertained the customers with a wide selection of Christmas carols. The music filled the bank and created a heart warming Christmas spirit to all who came into the branch and for all the people working. A big thank you to the Bank of Ireland for affording us the chance to fundraise for the transition year charities and in particular for the Missionvale project.

Thank you to Ms. Hartigan and to Ms. Ryan for preparing the students so well and accompanying them.

The St. Anne’s AIB build a bank team together with the St. Anne’s Trad group performed for the customers today in the Killaloe Branch of AIB for the annual AIB Customer Day. The day was a great success with the music flowing out into the street encouraging all to come into the bank. The trad group played a mixture of both Christmas carols and traditional Irish music which went down a treat while the transition year students worked as customer support.

Thank you to Ms. Shortt for preparing the Trad group and Mr. O’Brien for helping the Build a Bank team.

Pupils and Teachers at St. Anne’s donned their finest Christmas jumpers in aid of the Missionvale project. The school was a wash with colour with plenty of different jumpers and Christmas hats. The Missionvale Ireland Trust was established in late 2008 as the Irish support arm to the Missionvale Trust in South Africa. Students are currently raising money for this very worthy project in which 4 students along with Mr. O’Brien will travel to South Africa to work with Missionvale. Click for more information about the school’s involvement with Missionvale.

See gallery for more pictures.

It takes a very brave person to step into a boxing ring for 3 rounds.

Tanya O’Flynn (Leaving Cert) and Seamus Boyle (3rd Year) were boxing Thursday night at St. Francis Boxing Club home to world champion boxer Andy Lee.

2 thrilling fights ended with the boxers according each other the respect they each deserve for their enthusiasm and tenacity.

Tanya fought a skilled performance using a very stylish technique. Despite having dominated the final round it was not enough to sway the judges opinion away from an opponent to whom she was conceding an 11Kg weight advantage.

Seamus’ bout was top of the card. He fought with an excellent tight technique putting together many combinations and defending well. He dominated in the 3rd round during which a stunning left hook almost unseated his opponent. He narrowly lost out to the 2 times Irish title holder, 2 years his superior, although many who attended on the night believed a draw would be a fairer result.

Thank you to Ms. E Corbett for her ringside report.

This morning the Transition Year students held a festive Christmas party for the staff and clients at the Waterman’s lodge. Decked out in Christmas jumpers and smiles they supplied baking , music and gave  wonderful performances. From harp , flute and piano playing to tea and coffee, everyone had a great morning . Everyone was in the Christmas spirit as people took to the dance floor and sang along to Christmas carols.

Thank you to all the staff at Waterman’s Lodge for allowing us be part of their community.

For more pictures of this wonderful morning please the gallery.

Enterprising Students Invest in Their School’s Future at Annual Christmas Trade Fair

St. Anne’s Community College Killaloe hosted its Annual Christmas Trade Fair on Friday December 11th last. The school’s enterprise day goes from strength to strength with the students displaying an array of products created by the 1st Year and 2^nd Year Business Classes and Transition Year students. With over 41 stalls, there was a wide range of products with something to suit everyone’s taste and budget.

Among the stalls were many food products from fudge to home baking and smoothies and milkshakes. The students had also created their own wooden products for the Christmas market which were very popular. Targeting the sporting market, there were companies selling flavoured gum shields, super hero inspired under armour as well as a very clever product “Happy Legs” which combines sports socks with inbuilt shin-guards.

Another impressive and imaginative product was up-cycled furniture. It was clear from the array of products that there was a lot of hard work put into the creation of each product.

In keeping with the spirit of giving which is central to the celebration of Christmas there was also a fundraising stall for the local Cancer charity at Milford Hospice.

Entertainment on the day was led by Ms. Fiona Ryan, Music Teacher and provided by some of the school’s many accomplished musician’s.

The students led by their teachers Ms. Egan, Ms. Ryan and Ms. McNamara take part in the Clare County Local Enterprise Awards. They are visited by Ms. Teresa Mulvihill from the LEO and after much preparation and planning, source their products, develop their business plans and then test the market at the Trade Fair each Christmas.

A great festive spirit was evident in the school hall on the day with students, teachers and parents alike supporting the many mini-companies on show. Indeed, a great entrepreneurial spirit was also much evident on the day.

See Gallery for more pictures of the day.

As part of our Community Outreach Programme in Transition Year we decided to take it upon ourselves with our teachers encouragement to donate and create shoe boxes for the Team Hope Shoe Box appeal 2015. We spread awareness throughout the school, hanging posters and making announcements to the classes. Everyone in Transition Year decided to donate some money to be put towards a group fund which would be used to buy contents for shoe boxes. We collected €60 and used this to buy as much of the essential needs making sure we included the 4 W’s: Wear, Wash, Write and Wow. Everyone enjoyed wrapping the boxes and making each box as special as possible for the children in need who would receive them as Christmas presents. We really hope that our boxes will make a difference to the children who get them and make their Christmas a little brighter.

Thank you to the AIB Build a Bank committee who donated €20 towards the delivery of the boxes to Romania and the Ukraine.