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Staff decided to come as dalmations! Cruella DeVille, or Ms. Ní Neill kept them all on their toes though!

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CMM Galway became a sea of ghosts and spooks, zombies and vampires, angels and devils, Fr. Teds and Dalmations as our students and staff let their creativity run amok and seriously put their best foot forward in an outstanding colourful display of costumes and make-up.

Huge thanks to Colette and the canteen staff for sponsoring prizes for the outstanding winners, to Ms. Margaret Lee for pulling it all together and to everyone who participated in the fun and the craic. Just look at those photos!

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Our 5th year LCA group went to Astrobay Galway Sports and Leisure Complex in Renmore recently where they competed in the Cube games are as a team bonding exercise. Great fun was had by all!!

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Nothing too tough for our TYs

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CMM Galway Transition Years had an action packed three days in the beautiful Delphi Adventure Centre, canoeing, abseiling, bushcraft, archery, highropes and forest walks, the weather was fabulous, the students were amazing, thank you to all involved

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Gaisce provides a positive youth development programme that encourages and rewards young people to discover their passions and challenge themselves, positively impacting themselves and the world around them. The Award programme empowers participants to cultivate essential life skills and foster a sense of responsibility and resilience through a nationally and internationally recognised non-formal education framework. The programme also fosters a sense of community involvement, with all participants giving back to their community via their chosen volunteer activity.

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A huge congratulations to our CMM Galway TY class of 2025 who were awarded their prestigious Gaisce awards

Gaisce - The President's Award is Ireland’s national youth award and is a personal development programme for young people aged 14-25. It is a direct challenge from the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, to all young people to dream big and fulfil their potential.

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Thank you so much to Emmet Major and Garda Joe Quinn from the Stay Sober Stay Safe campaign for their very important and informative session delivered to all 5th year and TY students.

It is so valuable to be aware of how to take care of ourselves and each other on those nights out. #staysoberstaysafe

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We were delighted to have HOPE CEO International Operations, Maura Lennon, present the work of HOPE to the LCVP students. The Hope Foundation is a registered charity working with street-connected and slum-dwelling children in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India. working to free children and poor families from lives of pain, abuse, poverty and darkness.
Our staff and students provided a very warm welcome and were engaged in learning about the work of HOPE, and how they could help to support our awareness and fundraising efforts.HOPE itself posted that "it is very grateful to the wider school community of Coláiste Muire Máthair and in particular to LCVP teacher Sharon Loughnane , for their sustained interest in, and support to HOPE"

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Our students had a great time celebrating European Languages Day with games and quizzes.Well done to their teachers for organising the events and leading the fun! #europeanlanguagesday.

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We are delighted to announce our Head Prefects for 2025-26 and wish them great success in their roles as ambassadors for Coláiste Muire Máthair this school year. Huge congratulations to Head Boy Ali Amirouche and his deputy Evan Smith, and to Head Girl Julia Matysik and her deputy Ada Axenti. These four students have demonstrated exemplary dedication to our school, and are outstanding role models for all our students.

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In September we celebrated SNA Appreciation Day. We have an amazing group of SNA's who work tirelessly with our students. Without them, there are many children who would never be able to attend secondary school, would be at risk of early school leaving or simply be unable to manage the day. Some days they spread themselves so thin they are almost see through!

A Massive thank you to each and every one of our SNAs for the magnificent work they do

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Wet and windy in reality...but memories will paint a better picture!

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Our LC group took a well earned break from the classroom to join together on a hike up Mameen, and then on to Kylemore Abbey. Always a great idea to put down the pens for a while!

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Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal 2025

We are delighted to once again take part in the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal! This worthwhile project brings joy to thousands of children affected by poverty this Christmas

Students, families, and staff are invited to get involved by filling a shoebox with small gifts such as:

Toys (dolls, balls, games, teddies)

School supplies (copybooks, colouring books, pencils, colours)

Clothing & accessories (hat, scarf, gloves, socks)

Hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, hairbrush)

As always, we are so happy to accept any donation, large or small, of any of these individual items.

Please do not include food, liquids, sharp objects, or anything breakable.

Deadline for donations: Friday, 24th October 2025

All shoeboxes/items must be dropped into the school by this date to ensure they can be delivered in time for Christmas.

Every year we are blown away by the increased support for this special cause.

Together, we can help make Christmas extra special for children who need it most.

Find out more about the appeal here: teamhope.ie/christmas-shoebox-appeal

#TeamHope #ChristmasShoeboxAppeal #GivingBack

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"Your school needs you!" Miss Sammon 's 3rd Year CSPE class has created some inspirational posters for our upcoming Student Council elections this October. Well done everyone, should get the ball rolling as election fever creeps in!

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Thank you to the Youth Work Ireland Westside for hosting the launch of Comhairle na nOg's safety survey report onFriday 12th of September.

The report was launched by the Mayor of Galway City, Cllr. Mike Cubbard,and attended by our student representatives Lucy, Rachel , Conor and Divine

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More learning, action and sharing from our monitoring morning

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Some photographs from our monitoring morning...plenty of learning, action and sharing from our wonderful students and staff

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We were absolutely delighted to achieve the status of Champion School of Sanctuary. The monitoring committee, headed by Sive O'Connor from Schools of Sanctuary Ireland, and including Aidan Harte and Roisín Birch from University of Galway, Paul Fallon from Galway City Council, Tara Broderick from Galway Educate Together Secondary School and Cathy Joyce from Galway City Partnership, were very impressed with our presentation, highlighting all the hard work our Schools of Sanctuary committee, under the excellent guidance of Ms. Maura Geoghegan, have put in over the last couple of years in order to demonstrate that our school is indeed a welcoming sanctuary for the diverse range of students we have.

The monitoring featured presentations from our students, including some lovely cultural music and dancing from Africa, Ukraine and a wonderful rendition of Grace from first year student Amy O'Donovan. Our Home Economics Department, under the watchful eye of Ms. Caoimhe Dowling, really pushed the boat out with some delicious home baked treats featuring the cultural cuisine of many of the countries represented by our student bakers.

Our principal Ms. Betty Hernon, spoke about the way we unite as a school, enveloping the many different cultural backgrounds we encompass, Ms. Claire McLaughlin gave a very informative talk about our Neurodiverse students and our Sonas ASD units, while Ms. Fionnula MacAonghusa spoke enthusiastically about the work the Behaviour for Learning initiative does for students with difficulties. We were also delighted to have Ms. Marta Wilczynsko as a representative of our Parents' and Guardians' association.

Our school caters to a very diverse cohort of students, with a very caring and involved staff, and we in CMMG are delighted to accept the award on their behalf.

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Welcome to the April Edition of Coláiste Muire Matháir’s Neurodiversity Newsletter. This month we are focusing a little closer on Neurodiversity in girls in some sections.

The feedback from our March Newsletter was so positive and very welcomed. We had so many excellent suggestions from families and we have tried to reflect the here. Keep the ideas coming!

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We have come a long way since we started our School of Sanctuary journey but we intend to keep going. These are some of our ideas for the future......

Continue with initiatives that are already successful, e.g. The Inside Story, 1st Yr. Disco, Black History....

Traditional Food Day

Traditional Dress day

In-house poetry competition "Under Our Skies"

2nd Year CBA: Focus on various aspects of individual cultures

Involve our Parent/Guardian Association more in events

New Student Info tab on our website in various languages

Have big Culture Day every 2 years over 2 days

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Our beloved former teacher Charlotte Bennet came in to school today to offer a workshop for many of our student who wanted to mark their respect and love for their mother by making a unique card to mark Mother's Day. There was plenty of creativity on display, and plenty of fun had by all!

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The school was like a big moving rainbow today!

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Each year every student is assigned to one of seven houses, named after some of the Tribes of Galway. Throughout the year they engage in healthy competition, earning merits for their house by being helpful, organised, responsible or cooperative; for instance, they could help another student find their way, help organise an event, play on a school team...or through many other ways. At the end of the year the house with the most merits wins the inter-house cup.

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Our Parents / Guardians Association play an active role in the school. The association endeavours to support the whole CMMG community.

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We formed our committee in September and they, along with teacher members of the committee, have been instrumental in driving and organizing our many and varied activities all year

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Since our amalgamation our choir has gone from strength to strength. We are proud that under the tutelage of Ms. H. Rhattigan and Mr. R. Bell we have a very active, enthusiastic and diverse group of talented singers.

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Our wonderful, active , hard-working committee!!

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We combined to say a definite no to racism, and also to acknowledge the ongoing battle against cancer by wearing yellow. We collected funds for The Immigrant Council of Ireland, and combining our collection with another for The Irish Cancer Society

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Our very active ASD unit releaseed this newsletter for parents, helping them to understand a bit better the challenges faced by some of our students and how we can help them. A very interesting read indeed.

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Competition was intense on our Easter Egg hunt

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Our BBBS programme matches up first years with our Transition Year students to help them settle in to the school initially, and then to help them find their way as the year goes on. They engage in short group meetings, usually involving Hot Chocolate, and just engage in chatting with the students. As Easter approaches we had a great Easter egg hunt around the school grounds. Groups had to remain attached to each other by holding on to a rope at all times, and gathering as many tokens as possible to claim their eggs...good craic (no pun intended!) had by all!

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Our parents, students and staff are continuously informed of events in the school through the Compass app. Along with our social media and school website it greatly helps us to let our community know what's happening in the school

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A big thanks to Galway City museum and STEAM Studio Galway for inviting our budding coders to their new coding workshop. Our students all enjoyed working to make their Galway Hooker video games and seeing the museum exhibits. Thank you to our St Mary's past pupil Damien Donnellan for inviting our students to the event and bringing them on a tour of the Galway Hooker exhibit.

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Board of Management members are kept informed of various activities throughout the year. This is one of the slides shown to BOM showing where we all come from.

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Plenty of resources for CSPE, SPHE, Religion classes as well as resources for parents and students at home.

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We contacted parents to inform them of our Culture Day - we would like all to be involved!

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Interesting statistics about our school cohort. If you would like to see the individual responses, contact Ms. Geoghegan

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Survey on Cultural Integration within CMMG

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One of our big initiatives was to find out more about our students' backgrounds and to find out from them what the school could do to help them feel more connected and integrated here in CMMG.

Having a Cultural Day was the most popular suggestion!!

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Survey on Cultural Integration within CMMG

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In line with our Code of Behaviour we feel it is important to emphasize how important it is to repudiate Racist behaviour. Based on research we devised a document outlining the principles of anti-racist behaviour giving examples of racist behaviour as well as the consequences of such behaviour.

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Congratulations to our first years who received certificates and prizes for their participation in the IMTA 1st year Maths competition. Michael Corcoran scored highest in CMMG with strong competition from Karina Stonyte, Victor Coslet, Gega Kolbaia, Niyal Sijo, Ivan Kardo and Alana Browne Solla. Well done to all who participated.

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"Difference is a Resource" Our Diversity.

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"Difference is a Resource" Our Diversity.

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WOW! We are a diverse bunch. We never knew we had 78 different nationalities in our school.

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Our SOSI team carried out a survey in 1st Yr. classes to find out people's backgrounds and listen to their views on how they could become more integrated into our school.

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After listening to the Sanctuary Ambassadors - The Inside Story, the CSPE department shared the link and made out worksheets so that students could connect with the speakers and engage in meaningful discussions about inclusion and integration. Once a month students listen to the story of each ambassador.

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English as Additional Language (EAL) classes

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English as Additional Language (EAL) classes

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Many of our students face difficulty with English when they first arrive at CMMG. To counter this we offer extensive EAL classes to students of all nationalities, with a designated Ukrainian teacher, Olha, to specifically help our large cohort of Ukrainian students

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What help did you get to help you settle in to CMMG quicker?

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What were the most difficult things you found about settling in to CMMG?

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Advice to new students...from our students

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Advice to new students...from our students

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We were all new to CMMG once too! Settling in to a new school can be very hard, whether it is straight out of primary school, or from a school in a different county or country altogether. Leaving the security or your friends, and familiar surroundings can be traumatic at times. Our students compiled this advice to help new students settle in, based on their own experiences. They answer questions in English, and in their own language.

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Studying the information to get ready for the quiz

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Well done to everyone who brilliantly made up posters about their country for our Culture Week projects. The Front hall was full of information presented in such a colourful way. Each year group were then given a chance to study the projects before competing for great prizes at the Big Big Culture Quiz in the gym. Well done everyone.

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Smiley Happy faces showing off their Cultural stands

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Our Culture Day got some great coverage from the Connacht Tribune! Well done everyone

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Some of our colourful African students at the Nigeria stall on Culture Day

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Mayor of Galway Cllr. Eddie Hoare finding out a bit more about our Ukrainian students

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Mayor of Galway Cllr. Eddie Hoare meeting some of our Brazilian students

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Order of Malta CPR Training October 2024

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Order of Malta CPR Training October 2024

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We extend our sincere thanks to Lynsey Folan & Niall O’Domhnaill Order of Malta Ireland - Ambulance Corps - Mervue for their invaluable contribution to the CPR awareness training held at Coláiste Muire Máthair over the past two days. Their expertise and guidance have undoubtedly enhanced our understanding of this vital life-saving skill.

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Doing great work for Jigsaw and youth mental health...well done girls!

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Well done to Ms.Ryan's fifth year Irish group who raised over €400 for Jigsaw adolescent mental health services under the banner of our Schools of Sanctuary Ireland initiative

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Our Big Brother Big Sister programme has established itself well this month, with our TY volunteers regularly meeting with their first year charges for a chat, or a walk around the school. Thank you for helping our young students feel important and at home BBBSs!

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First Year Outing to Diamond Hill May 2024

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First Year Outing to Diamond Hill May 2024

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Head Boy and Girl, Mikey and Emma, with their able deputies Rob and Maya

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First Year Christmas Disco December 2024

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First Year Christmas Disco December 2024

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Well done to the hard-working Student Council who organised a brilliant 'get together' disco for our first years...even Santa turned up!

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Europe Direct All-Ireland Debating November 2024

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Europe Direct All-Ireland Debating November 2024

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Well done to First-year student Muhammad Ashir Anwar who competed in the Europe Direct Soapbox under 16s public speaking national final! Ashir did both himself and CMMG proud in what proved to be a highly competitive category. Unfortunately, a win didn’t come his way, but we have no doubt that this is just the start of his spectacular journey as a master orator! The event was held in the beautiful Royal College of Physicians building on Kildare St and we also had time to sneak a snap outside Dáil Éireann on the way! Thanks to Ballinasloe Library and Europe Direct for organising a wonderful competition