On Tuesday 9th of May the First year group visited Waterford on their school tour. We set off from the school at 9:15am and arrived at the Edmund Rice Centre at 11:30am. The feast day of Blessed Edmund Rice was on Friday 5th of May so the centre was extremely busy. Br. John and Br. Peadar greeted us on our arrival and brought us into the Edmund Rice Chapel. Br. John explained the history of Edmund Rice and that he opened his first school at Mount Sion, just beside the centre. Edmund Rice’s coffin is encased in the chapel and each student got the opportunity to see where his remains are.
After this we had a reflection on our experience of First year in St. Aidan’s CBS. Four representatives each took turns to read out a reflection on their experience of secondary school. The representatives were; Liam Ross (1N), Conn Lynch (1S), James Fanning (1E) and Pranav Krishna (1M). Each of the boys explained what they found difficult and what they enjoyed in First Year, but each of them reached the same conclusion that the year had gone by quickly, and that secondary school is not as bad as they first thought it would be.
A presentation was made by the year head Mr. Sheridan to Br. John. This was a painting by a Fifth year student Misha Dosh of the cherry blossoms from the front of the school. Misha is a Ukrainian student who joined our school last year. A poignant symbol representing the inclusiveness of St. Aidan’s. After the reflection we broke up into groups and went on a tour of the centre. We visited a bakery that was used to help feed the poor of Waterford, we visited the room that Edmund Rice lived and died in, we also learned about the work of Edmund Rice schools throughout the world, from Australia, Africa, Asia and America. This visit helped to develop an understanding in our First years as to what attending an Edmund Rice school is all about.
After the tour concluded we got back on the bus and headed to Tramore. A short but beautiful drive along the Greenway saw us reach this famous seaside resort. We got free time to walk the beach, look at the beautiful coastline, eat fish and chips and have that all-important ice-cream. This was a wonderful opportunity to breathe in the clean air of the sunny South-East. It was not long until we made a journey back towards Dublin. On arriving back in the capital and hitting some heavy traffic the spirits could not be dampened on what was a magical day. Friendships were made, memories created and most importantly it was a nice end to finishing our First year together in St. Aidan’s CBS.