Year 11 Celebration Mass - May 2026
It was a busy week for Year 11, celebrating their time together as a year group before embarking on the next step in their careers-their written GCSE exams.
The celebrations kicked off in style on Tuesday 5th May, as the school continued its recent tradition of a ‘Guard of Honour’, clapping the Year 11 students into their Mass. All students from Y7-Y13 as well as teaching and support staff, lined the playground to clap and cheer until every single student made it into the school building. This great start really set the tone for a wonderful day.
During period 1, students, their tutors and about 40 parents, celebrated Mass with Fr. Srinu. As ever, it was a beautiful service, with many students participating in the processions, readings and choir. The stand-out moments were Fr. Srinu’s energetic and passionate sermon, the Year 7 choir singing ‘The Blessing’ to the Year 11s and a beautiful solo singing performance by Pryvina.
Mass was followed by a few short speeches by key staff, including a recorded video message by Mr. Martin, who, although unable to be with us in person, certainly was with us in spirit! The celebration was brought to a close with the ‘Class of 2026’ video, celebrating everything wonderful that has shaped this truly amazing year group. The video brought a lot of laughs, cheers and even a few tears! Thank you to the wonderful Mrs. Lavelle who has worked tirelessly in recent weeks putting it together.
A huge thank you to all the staff and students that made Tuesday possible, in particular Mrs. O’Driscoll and Miss Gannon that organised the Mass and Music, Mrs. Lavelle for the video and most importantly-our brilliant students that participated so enthusiastically and reverently.
The celebrations continued on Thursday morning, where a bonus assembly was put on for Year 11. In this assembly, we awarded the ‘Mizen Sparkle Award’ to Pavlo Dranytskyi. This award is for the student that best represents the school community, by acts of service to others and compassion to those around them. Staff were unanimous in their nominations for Pavlo to receive this award, a reflection for his huge contribution to our school community in his last 5 years.
The end of the assembly saw me deliver a final speech to my year group. I have to admit, I felt very emotional at parts as I looked to my students full of pride. Not only are these students committed learners, they are certainly exceptional people.
Friday was officially the start of GCSE written exams, so we had a final bit of fun with shirt signing. The array of customised shirts once again showcased the talents and personality of the year group. A massive shout out to Anais, who designed me my own personalised shirt when she heard that I did not have one. Thank you to all the students that signed my shirt-this is a memento I will cherish as I remember a truly fantastic year group for a long time to come.
All the best in the rest of your exams.
Mr O’Sulivan
Head of Year 11
