School Profile: Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh is a mixed primary school in Rushbrooke, Cobh.
School Building: The current state-of-the-art building dates from 2012 but the school has roots on the same campus dating back to 1889. We have children from infants to 6th class and also 4 special classes, Coiscéim, for children with autism.
Pupils: The school has 750 pupils
Staff: The school has 65 staff members making it one of the biggest primary schools around. Our principal is Ms Sinéad Flannery and Mr Alan Carney is the deputy principal.
Mission; In Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh, we lay the foundations for future learning, happiness, moral, social and spiritual growth to prepare children to make a positive contribution to society. We have a strong academic focus and as well as class teachers, we have special teams of teachers dedicated to developing literacy and numeracy skills.
Achievements: We place a strong emphasis on personal growth and have clubs ranging from GAA, tennis, badminton, basketball and triathlon teams to debating, art and European languages to allow for our students’ fullest development. We also learn Zumba in the school and the students complete swimming lessons in local Coral leisure club. We are an active school and our school has been awarded our 9th Green flag.
Our Library in Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh is very unique and special. This is because it has a model of a ship built into the side. In this ship there is lots of seating where you can sit and read your book.
Last year we achieved Healthy School Promoting Flag and promotion of mental health plays an important focus in our school.
Last year we were involved in a Spanish Exchange programme where a number of 6th class students got opportunity to visit a school in Madrid and the Spanish Students in turn came back to us.
Every year our school enters Cor Fhéile and we are very fortunate to have our own school choir. Drama plays a big part in our school where we have a Drama teacher who comes in to teach drama. Annually we enter Feis Maitiú and we look forward to it again this March. This year we are participating in Creative Art Schools Project.
Our 5th classes participate in The Blue Star Project which celebrates being part of the EU. We also take part in Robotics Engineering Project every year. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) has a strong emphasis in our school. Last year our school won the Engineering award.
Our biggest asset is our staff: Without whom none of these initiatives, programmes, clubs and teams could exist. Our Parents’ Council are so active, not just for fundraising but also by providing support to teachers. In school we run CAPER where groups of parents come into the class in the morning to listen to reading. It has been such a success in nurturing a love of reading and of books. We have a dedicated school App which allows all parents to keep up-to-date with school events and get messages about different things.
Our school motto is ‘Mo Chumas Abú’. For staff and students this means being all you can be. We have the most wonderful students in this school who are bright, kind and enthusiastic individuals. This is a celebration of each child’s uniqueness and an acknowledgement of their hard work! We hope you enjoy reading about life in Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh and browsing our photos!
Our Plans for the Future: We are working on developing Student Voice and in everything we do giving the students the opportunity to use their voice to improve and take ownership of their learning. We have a very active Student Committee. We have recently invested in 72 iPads for student learning and digital learning has become a very important part of our school life and we hope to develop on this for the future.
