In the homily for the Feast of the Transitus of St Benedict, Fr Abbot recounted St Benedict’s final hours.
“As Benedict was dying, his brother monks held him up, they carried him to the Eucharist. This is telling us
that we as brothers and sisters we are supposed to carry each other through life.”
I am struck by how frequently and often I see our students carrying one another, day to day. They do this in
lessons and by supporting one another’s study; in friendship, conversation and fun; in team work, in sport, in
choir. By their actions the boys are reflecting the Benedictine values of community, hospitality and
discipline.
The rule of St Benedict also encourages good stewardship of our environment. During Lent, in addition to
planting many trees, students have backed Trócaire’s campaign to alleviate ‘water stress’ in Malawi where
over a third of the population does not have access to clean water. We associated the Malawi campaign
with fundraising for Toilet Twinning which funds global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes. We have
reached our target of twinning ten Glenstal bathrooms. I would like to thank each of our students for their
commitment to promoting water and hygiene justice and to carrying our brothers and sisters in Malawi this
Lent. At present, donations total €3,673 - exceeding our target. Thank you to all who have contributed so far:
there is still time to donate.
May I wish you every blessing of Easter.
Please Click Here to Donate to our Lenten Fundraiser
March 2024
Newsletter
A word from the Headmaster
Glenstal Abbey School
Marius Carney
Headmaster
SPRING FLOWERS AT GLENSTAL
IMAGE CREDIT: MARIUS CARNEY
‘Parishes are asked to expand
their circles of solidarity, to
protect and care for
biodiversity and creation on 30
per cent of their grounds, and
to care for this as a haven for
pollinators and biodiversity,
that can be enjoyed by the
whole community.’
IRISH BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE,
SPRING STATEMENT 2023
University Entrance
Scholars
Student Council
Our student council consists of two elected representatives per year group, with the School Captain and
Vice-Captains leading our fortnightly meetings. These gatherings serve as platforms for discussing student
issues, planning school-wide events, and amplifying student voices. This year we were delighted to run for
the first time an inter-year Advent soccer tournament with over 100 players, raising nearly €600 for ‘United
Through Sport’. The council also played an important role in the organisation of the recent 5K Lenten Fun
Run, which raised over €3,500 for Tróciare and Toilet Twinning
The goal of our student council is to give a voice to the student body; being a place where student ideas can
be discussed, planned and then put into action. As we approach the final stretch of the year, we look
forward to organising further events and continuing our charity work which has been so successful to date.
Leo Cuddigan (Sixth Year)
School Captain
Congratulations to the Glenstal 2023
alumni, who were recognised for
academic
excellence
at
Leaving
Certificate at the recent Trinity
College and UCD Entrance Exhibition
awards.
Glenstal Abbey School
Tom Ryan, Headmaster Marius Carney, Zaac Dooley
and Ciaran Woodcock at Trinity College Dublin.
School
News
Alexander Waller, John Twomey and Séamus Hanly at
UCD (Luke Johnson, Charlie Hyde not pictured).
IMTA and IAMTA Quizzes
Well done to all students who partipcated in the recent
schools’ mathermatics competitions.
Congratulations to Peter Purcell, Jack O'Riordan and
Patrick Hartmann (pictured) placed second in the
International
Mathematics
Teachers
Association
competition.
Our Senior team of Zach O’Connor, William Mugan and
Peter Purcell won their Limerick region Senior Applied
Maths Quiz with a fantastic score of 46 points.
School
News
Glenstal Abbey School
Key Upcoming Dates
Sun 7 April - Boarders return after Easter break
Mon 8 April - Classes resume
Fri 3 May - School closes for exeat weekend (Sixth Years may remain in House)
Fri 3 May - Sixth Year Leavers’ Dinner
Tue 7 May - Teacher Professional Development Day. Boarders return 5pm.
Wed 8 May - Classes resume
Mon 20 May - TY Graduation
Wed 22 May - TY pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago
Sun 26 May - Parents’ Day (Third Year depart for study leave at home)
Fri 31 May - End of term (Sixth Year may remain in House)
Mon 3 Jun - Third Year boarders return 5pm
Wed 5 Jun - State Examinations begin
THE FULL CALENDER OF EVENTS IS AVAILABLE ON THE COMPASS APP
First Years visit Dáil and Seanad
The boys had a fantastic day exploring Leinster house; coincidentally,
Kieran O'Donnell TD from Limerick, was addressing the Seanad when we
visited and the legislation around the adoption of the new Limerick Mayor
was being debated. The Chair, Senator Maria Byrnes (also from Limerick),
gave us a special welcome to our group (which apparently is very unusual)
and Kieran O’Donnell came out after his speech to talk to the boys.
Our talented musicians, poets and singers gave a fantastic St. Patrick's concert for their fellow
students this week, including Irish language performances as we celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge
2024. Thanks to Fionn O'Donnell (class of 2023) for returning to share some of his own poems.
St Patrick’s Concert
Choir News
Music & Choir
Glenstal Abbey School
The choir has been working hard this term as we prepare for the Easter season. We meet three
times a week at lunchtime for practice and we are currently preparing pieces from Mendelssohn,
Mozart and our very own Fr Columba. With the exciting announcement of a trip to Rome in the
upcoming academic year, we have a lot of new music to prepare. The choir is one of the unique
groups in the school where there are members from all year groups and everyone works
together to enhance community life. Our primary role is to sing at community mass on Sunday
mornings but we also perform at midweek school masses and evening prayers. The choir is an
integral part of Glenstal life and we appreciate the support from all parents and members of the
school community.
Zach O’Connor (Sixth Year)
Choir Captain
Creativity@Glenstal
FRANCISCO LORENTE (SECOND YEAR)
'OUR BUILT SURROUNDINGS' ART PROJECT: STUDENTS USED THEIR OWN
BUILT ENVIRONMENTS AS SOURCE MATERIAL FOR THEIR PAINTINGS
Glenstal Abbey School
GAA fixtures and blitzes continue to play catch-up
from the mid-winter postponements. The first of
these took place this week with our Senior Gaelic
Footballers qualifying for final of the Limerick PPS
Gaelic Football competition yesterday. After a rocky
start, they overcame a lively Coláiste Chiaráin team
The first half of the Spring Term
was dominated by rugby and the
Munster
Schools
Senior
and
Junior Cup competitions.
The players acquitted themselves
very well and put in four good
performances in their matches,
giving the travelling supporters
plenty to shout about on the
touchline and in the stands of
Musgrave
Park
and
Thomond
Park.
SPORTS
NEWS
The SCT comprehensively defeated Villiers School in R1 before
losing a very tight game to Rockwell College, despite outscoring
them by three tries to two. The JCT had an equally convincing R1
victory against HS Clonmel before losing to a very strong Ardscoil
Ris team.
In the Munster Plate competitions the JCT secured an impressive
second victory of the season over Rockwell College before being
beaten by eventual winners St Munchin's in the semi-finals.
GAA
Glenstal Abbey School
PAX
Badminton
Our Badminton team qualified for the
Munster Championships for the first
time. Junrong Lin, Max MacCarthy,
Austin Quinn and Aaron Zhong did
very well to get through to this stage
of the competition and should be
delighted with their first outing.
Sixth Year student Sam O'Farrell who has been
appointed Vice-Captain of the Tipperary U20
Hurling squad. Congratulations Sam!
Sam O’Farrell (Sixth Year)
Glenstal Abbey School
Following his succcess in the Irish Freestyle
Kayaking Team Trials, Hugo Phelan will be
representing Ireland at the Freestyle Kayaking
European Championships in Austria this August.
Best of luck Hugo!
Hugo Phelan (Fifth Year)
Cross Country Athletics
Congratulations to our representatives
in the Munster Schools Cross Country
championships as JJ Power, Conal
Rowan and Michael Owens qualified
as individual runners and the Inter
Boys team also qualified through their
overall collective positions.
Our fledgling senior Basketball team
enjoyed success in their first challenge
match, v Doon, with a resounding victory.
More fixtures will follow next term.
Basketball
Beatha teanga í a labhairt ~ The life of the
language is in the speaking of it.
March is a particularly busy time in the Irish
Department as we celebrate Seachtain na
Gaeilge - an international festival of all things
Irish, that runs every year from March 1st to
17th.
For the duration of this festival students
celebrated their language and culture - we had
Irish
language
quizzes,
folklore
classes,
seanfhocal poster competitions, a Gaelic games
poc fada challenge and a whole school concert,
to name but a few events.
IRISH AT GLENSTAL
Some presented on their favourite movies,
sports personalities, Irish stories, whilst others
wrote their own poetry for this task.
Sixth Year students are hard at work preparing
for their State Examinations Irish Oral exam on
Saturday, March 23rd. This exam consists of four
elements:
the student introduces himself with five
pieces of information
the reading of a studied poem
a general conversation on prepared topics
a description of a picture sequence
This component of the exam equates to 40% of
the overall grade at Senior Cycle, and is the
culmination of diligent and continuous work
throughout the past six years in the Irish
classroom. We wish all our Sixth Year Irish
students the very best of luck on Saturday.
Go n-éirí go geal libh!
Glenstal Abbey School
“Tús maith is leath na hoibre”, a good start is
half the work as the seanfhocal goes, and that
can certainly be applied to our Third and Sixth
Year students. Third Years have just completed
their CBA2s. This Classroom Based Assessment
focuses
on
an
oral
presentation
which
showcases students' language skills.
PATRICE MADDEN
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
MARCH 2024
Italian Alps
Ski Trip
Second and Third Year students spent a week skiing in the beautifal, sunny Italian Alps.
Students enjoyed working on their ski skills at group lessons tailored to their level of ski
experience. The beginners soon made it to their first red run and the intermediate group
progressed to the black runs, making fantastic progress over a short period of time.
The boys had great fun both on and off the slopes, exploring the picturesque alpine village of
Folgaria and relaxing in the evenings with board and card games.
JANUARY 2024
Belfast
Cultural Tour
Ms. Ann Aungier led a group of Fifth Year students
on an educational trip to Belfast at the end of
January, exploring the city’s culture and history.
The Falls Road witnessed many significant events in
Belfast's
past.
Students
learned
about
the
communities on both sides of the wall and about its
role in Northern Ireland's Troubles. The Peace Wall
is a powerful symbol of reconciliation and hope; it
stands as a reminder of Belfast's journey towards
peace and unity.
We were invited to sign the wall and stand with the
many others in peace and reconciliation.
Crumlin Road Gaol is a haunting reminder of
Belfast's tumultuous past and the city's darker
history. Students had the opportunity to take a
guided tour of this historic prison, gaining insight
into the lives of its former inmates and the
conditions they endured.
Lenten 5k Fun Run
For Trócaire & Toilet Twinning
Glenstal Abbey School
Karaoke Evening
#BoardingLife
Glenstal Abbey School
MENU PREVIEW
Cereals, yogurt with fruit compote, porridge with mixed seeds and honey, boiled
eggs, juices, fresh breads, fruit, tea/coffee and a hot breakfast option:
French toast with raspberry compote
Sausage with hash brown
Berry breakfast muffins
Jumbo sausage roll
Rasher and beans
Soup of the day with fresh roll, mixed salads, meat or vegetarian main course
followed by dessert or fruit
BBQ glazed chicken or vegetarian quiche with baby carrots and roast potatoes
Beef meatballs, tomato ragu with penne pasta | Mac & cheese
Thyme and garlic roasted loin of pork with gravy or mushroom vol au vent with
creamy mashed potato and roast vegetables
Beef lasagna or vegetable lasagna with garlic bread
Lemon pepper chicken leg with lemon aioli, garlic potato and green beans |
Spinach and ricotta tortellini
Bruschetta pizza
Chocolate cookie
Ham and cheese wrap
Apple turnover
Mozzarella and pesto crostini
Sticky crispy chilli chicken or vegetables with noodles and prawn crackers
Spicy taco beef nacho with tortilla, grated cheese
Smoked bacon and chorizo pasta or creamy mushroom pasta with garlic bread
Chicken or vegetable curry with fried rice and poppadums
Hot and spicy chicken or cauliflower wings with home made wedges and tossed salad
BREAKFAST
LUNCH
SNACK
SUPPER
Please note that this is a preview of some of the upcoming menu options and is subject to change.
Glenstal Abbey School