Barretstown 2026

Last week, from the 13th to the 16th of April, 38 of our TY students travelled down to County Kildare for the annual trip to Barretstown! After months of hard work fundraising, our TYs enjoyed Barretstown’s 4 day and 3 night residential programme, fully immersing themselves in every single activity and workshop that was on offer. 

Bright and early on Monday morning, the TYs met in the dining hall packed and ready to go. After a short one hour bus journey, they arrived at the stunning Kildare campus. Activity leaders brought them to their accommodation and after ditching their bags they were given an exceptional tour around the entire area. Everyone was soon starving and were given their first taste of Barretstown’s amazing cooking; it's safe to say that no one was disappointed by the 5 star meals. In the wake of eating like royalty, they had the chance to canoe on the lake and also received a highly informative talk on leadership. After grooving for dinner, came an evening of activities and quizzes, followed by their first cottage chat. The evening came to a close and everyone retired to their rooms for a well earned rest.

The party went on for day 2, with an even more packed day of fun. After a top notch breakfast of pancakes, the TYs had workshops on communication, and on the importance of asking for help. They also enjoyed archery, and for their evening activity they had arts and crafts accompanied by a never ending supply of delicious hot chocolate and donuts.

For their final full day, the activity leaders organised an unforgettable series of activities. They kicked off the day with a workshop on budgeting and finance, planning holidays to a selection of locations, as well as completing another workshop on equality. After yet another incredible lunch, the TYs taught the ALs some of their moves from Shrek! After lunch they helped ready some of the cottages for campers who were arriving on Friday. It was time for rock climbing soon after, where students had the opportunity to test their limits and even had the chance to try out the accessible harness. For their final dinner, a spectacular Sunday roast was served and for their last evening activity they had colour wars. In this extremely competitive event the TYs were split into 4 teams and dressed up accordingly, face paint was also present leading to a lot of stained faces. Team pride was high so things were certainly heated, but overall it was a great bonding experience. After a last cottage chat, in which the TYs expressed their immense gratitude to everyone present, they returned to their accommodation to play mafia and then returned to the rooms. 

On Thursday, the students packed up and readied the beds for the next day. They had another round of colour wars that needed a range of skills like communication and leadership that they had worked on in workshops over the last few days. They took a last trip to the playground and had a final gratitude circle before heading over to the theatre to receive certificates and watch a video collection of photos from the week. Students were presented with a cheque showing how much money they raised, this sum was €29,421.50, a truly amazing donation. Afterwards they gave cards to all the Activity Leaders, collected their bags and boarded the bus, completing a final dance and then returning home. 

Overall this trip was extremely successful, it was thoroughly enjoyed by every single student and such a life changing experience. Thank you so much to all the teachers who accompanied the TYs and in particular to Ms. Carey and Ms. O’Gorman who organised everything so perfectly!

Reporter: Abi Breathnach