2017 'Full' first half term

Principal's News Update
March, 2017

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It is with great pleasure that we present our latest newsletter. We have had such a busy time since January. Regarding our 75th Anniversary Celebration of Loreto College, Foxrock, I wish to thank all those who helped make the occasion of the Mass & reception afterwards a very special evening. Past pupils, parents & staff of all generations attended. It was fantastic to meet with students who had been at school here as far back as 1941. We hope to continue this continuum of community and celebration into the future.

Our next event for past pupils and parents is our Anniversary Dinner on 24^th March 2017, (details below). We would love if as many as possible would join us on this special night.

Particular congratulations this month to our debaters who have had success in reaching the Leinster Finals, our basketball teams who have been winners of the Loreto Leagues, our young scientists who were prize winners this year, and our participants in the Linguistic Olympiad, especially Cathy Culligan who has been chosen to go to the next level.

We also have a growing number of students who are competing at regional and international levels in hockey, netball, skiing, sailing, Gaelic football, camogie, soccer…. to name but a few. Congratulations to all of those students whose dedication and talent has brought them such success.

This week, the 5^th Year Drama made its debut. It was my pleasure to attend it earlier this week. The girls have worked so hard to produce an original play, ‘Southside Story’. Their wit, dedication and talent both on and off-stage has made me proud of them.

The Well Read programme is continuing to flourish in the school. There will be an opportunity for 6^th year students to leave a legacy of a book, which will be presented to the Library with a dedication for future readers and students.

Our Anti-Bullying group, (comprised of students & staff), has been working very hard in the school to raise awareness. Apart from the ongoing work of this group, we have had recent visits from ‘Bully4U’, An Garda Siochana and Soar. This week, members of our Student Council underwent training with the Diana Trust to become Anti-bullying Ambassadors. All of us, in this community, strive for a school where all are made to feel welcome, where it is OK to be different and where each of us can be confident in who we are. We ask that parents support us in all of our endeavours.

Is mise le meas

Bernadette Prendiville
Principal

2016 - 2017 marks the school's 75th birthday year, having originally opened our doors of ‘living and learning’ in 1941.

On Wednesday, January 25th, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of Loreto Foxrock, with a special Mass, attended by alumni, together with current students and staff.

A special thanks to all musicians and choir members, who performed beautifully and their teachers, for all of the preparatory work involved.

Refreshments were enjoyed at the school afterwards, where many stories and happy memories were shared. Thank you to Fr. Frank, Tom Fortune, the Past Pupils Association and the Ember and Leadership teams who helped organise this wonderful occasion.

Why not join your daughter's Year Group table for what promises to be a great parents' night?

TICKETS ON SALE at Reception or at www.loretofoxrock.ie

WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS to two art students short-listed as finalists in the Doodle for Google competition.

The two finalists are Emer Cullen, second year and Alanna Drury, fifth year. Alanna was a finalist last year too! Two other students, Eimear Sullivan, (5th year) and Ciara Duffy (TY) made the original short-list of four contestants from Loreto Foxrock, which is no mean feat.

We ask all teachers, students, parents, family and friends to visit the doodle4google.ie website and vote for our two students.

Online voting was busily undertaken by the school community between February 7th and 21st. The overall winner will receive a €5,000 college scholarship and their school will receive a €10,000 technology grant!

To view all of the shortlisted images, please click here.

SCIENCE UPDATE

Loreto College Foxrock Successful Entries for 2017

Warmest Congratulations to the 11 students who competed in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS this January.

Thrillingly, a First Year team comprised of Jennifer Leavy, Jessica Oakley O'Kelly and Margot Moore captured second prize in the Junior Group (Biological and Ecological Category), for their study of Binocular Vision and its impact on Performance.

A nationwide total number of 2091 project submissions were received so it was an amazing achievement to be amongst the 550 projects to qualify!

The students and their entries are listed below.

Does Simulating a Lack of Binocular Vision Have an impact on Performance? Jessica Oakley O’Kelly, Margot Moore & Jennifer Leavy. (1^st Year)

The Great Gluten Bake Off: An Analysis of the Effects of Raising Agents and Stabilisers in Gluten Free Baking
Aimee O’Neill & Dervla McKenna (1^st Year)

The Study of the Effects of the Beats per Minute in Music on the Canine Heart Rate and Response Time
Solen O'Neill, Lucy Mahon & Megan Dempsey (1^st Year)

Underage Female Athletes and Ankle Injuries – What is the Relationship between Jump Strength, Balance and Proprioception
Siobhan Murray, Laura McCarthy & Anna Geraghty (Transition Year)

We were fortunate enough to receive lots of front page coverage for our students this year. Please follow these links to read more:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/young-scientists-take-on-brexit-and-glutenfree-baking-35358969.html

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/recordbreaking-year-for-bt-young-scientist-exhibition-as-hundreds-of-students-show-off-their-projects-35356482.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/students-set-for-eureka-moment-ahead-of-young-scientist-event-1.2932146

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/images-of-the-day-1.2932182

Thanks also to their dedicated Science mentors, teachers, Ms. Hennessy and Dr. Young who hosted a special Science Celebration party on a Thursday, lunch-time for all competitors and Science enthusiasts.

SOUTHSIDE STORY is a brand new play written by 5th years, together with their Drama teacher, Emer Halpenny.

PERFORMANCE DATES

Tuesday 28th of February - Thursday 2nd of March

There's a new kid at Darkrock College and 'Doniel' doesn't know what to do....
Should he follow his heart or take the advice of his rugby coach?
OMG. it's such a die lemmah!!

Full houses and standing ovations were seen every night. Warmest congratulations to all involved.

L-R: Elisa de Patoul, Niamh O’Dowd, Annika Whelan, Ingrid Huistra Puig, Siofra O’Brien, Megan O’Neill, Caoimhe Cullen, Ruth Crowe, Aisling Fitzpatrick, Beth Fuller, Niamh Walsh, Sarah Jane Sampson, Phoebe Halwax, Anna McNulty, Eva Montayne, Kate Deane, Rachel Tweedy.

The 6th Year Music class attended a special performance of Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture' in the National Concert Hall on January 30th.

A very special thank you to all of the performers and choir members who performed so beautifully at the 75th anniversary mass on 25th, January 2017.

SPANISH WEEK

This year's Spanish week was a huge success!

The week kicked off with a full Spanish breakfast, including hot chocolate, pancakes with Nutella, magdalenas (muffins) and choco-pan.

Señor Suárez, Ms McDonnell, and Ms Burke-Kennedy also cooked up some authentic Spanish tortilla and empanada on Tuesday.

The week was packed full of activities to teach us about Spanish culture.

We danced the traditional Sevillana dance, (Flamenco), and watched a professional dancer, Sandra Raksa Yamila, on Thursday. After a treasure hunt, we ended the week the Zumba way with an intensity dance class that put everyone in a great mood.

A huge thanks from all students to the Spanish department for organising a truly enjoyable and educational week.

¡Hasta el próximo año por la semana de español!

- 5^th Year Spanish Prefects,

Sarah Jane Sampson
Elisa de Patoul

I really enjoy Spanish Week because it’s something different to normal Spanish classes. You learn new things about Spanish culture and get to practice Spanish arts and traditions.

Niamh Murphy, (4E)

C.S.P.E Action Projects

Students from 3 Poyntz were up bright and early, on a frosty Saturday morning, (January 21^st) to complete their class-initiated Sponsored 5km Run in Cabinteely Park, in aid of the Peter McVerry Trust.

These students have worked hard to raise awareness of and funds to help the homeless. Well done, girls! (That’s Jodie’s dog, Bella Carter, who joined the run).

DEBATING UPDATE

Firstly, in senior news: to Emma Dunne and Aoife Colleran who competed in the Quarter Finals of the Leinster Schools’ Debates. Both acquitted themselves superbly, with Aoife Colleran making it into the Leinster Finals.

Congratulations to Lara Donohue, Laura Egan, Beth Fuller and Helen Fisher, (a maiden speaker!) for making it through to the Semi-finals of the Inter-Loreto Debates. Well done too to Christing Feng and Anna Clarke, who only narrowly missed out on qualifying.

TY and 5^th Year debaters participated in the PhilSpeaks Competitive rounds on the 20^th and 21^st of January. All our competitors were maiden speakers who thoroughly enjoyed the experience. PhilSpeaks is run by the Philosophical Society in Trinity College and the competition provides new speakers, in particular, with workshops and guidance as to how to improve their skills.

We wish good luck to Anna Clarke and Christing Feng who will compete in the PhilSpeaks Pro Am competition in Trinity on February 6^th. Anna and Christing will each be paired with an experienced university debater and compete with that partner, to win the coveted trophy.

It is an amazing opportunity for the girls to partner with speakers who are competing, not just on the domestic university circuit, but also internationally.

And in Junior Debating News, we much to celebrate, with three quarter finalists for the U.C.D. Junior Debates. Team Laura Fenn and Isabel O'Keefe have triumphed, speaking on challenging motions against stiff competition, alongside Maria O'Connor, competing as an Individual and garnering Best Individual Speaker!

All LCF debaters are excited to host the Loreto Mace Finals in March.

New recruits welcome, any time.

From January, we continued our series of career talks for the Sixth Years, including options available at DBS and IADT. IADT’s website provides a lot of information on the wide variety of courses available. IADT also runs Taster Days during the February break and Summer courses to assist students with portfolio preparation, etc.

On Jan 19th and 26th, we welcomed back past pupils from the Class of 2016 to speak about their experience of college, to date. This is a great source of information as 6^th years hear, first- hand, what courses are really like.

A wide range of courses were covered, including Engineering and Architecture, Agri-Business, Science, Law and Social Justice, Social Science, Arts, Business and Law and Biomedical Science at UCD. We also heard from students studying BESS at TCD, Computing at NCI, Post-primary Teacher Education, Religious Education and English at DCU (Mater Dei), Nursing at DKIT, Nutraceuticals in Health and Nutrition at DIT, Sport Science and Health at DCU, Education-Primary at DCU, (St Pats) and Animal Health at DIFE.

The Guidance Department has also initiated a series of talks for Fifth Years and hosted our annual TY Careers Evening. For more information on these events, please click here

"Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world."

Malala Yousafzai said these words. She was 16 years old at the time.

On Wednesday 25th January, the school organised a showing of the movie "He Named Me Malala”. The aim of watching this movie was to explore the similarities between Mary Ward and Malala Yousafzai and their struggle for education against religious and sexist oppressors.

The SVP Conference group, (a volunteer committee of TY and 5th year students), was asked to help set up the sports hall for the afternoon. We carried in chairs and stools and placed them in arches before the large projectors. Then we collected cinema goodies from Ms. Kenny to sell before the movie. When the whole school was called to the hall, we assigned four volunteers to each snack station. All the money we made from selling snacks will go to Loreto Foxrock's sister school, Loreto Rumbek, South Sudan. The money will fund new improvements to the school and education programme.

The SVP Conference and the rest of the audience were profoundly moved by Malala's determination. She taught us not to take our own education for granted. We hope that our involvement on this day in Mary Ward week will help our peers, from a completely different background, reach their potential through education.

MARY WARD WEEK

Mary Ward, (1585-1645), was the foundress of Loreto. Each year, we commemorate our foundress in fun and meaningful ways. There were special morning prayers during Mary Ward Week to remind the school community of this very important celebration in our school. Activities included a Random Act of Kindness day; a division of the student body in to ‘boys’ and girls, where girls were presented with barriers to education; and a Mary Ward treasure hunt.

But the highlight of the week was on Wednesday the 24^th January as we celebrated Mary Ward and Loreto Foxrock’s 75^thanniversary. During morning classes, all 6^th year students were invited to attend a Wellness morning. Alva O’Sullivan kicked off the morning by addressing the importance healthy food plays in our lives. Each student attended two workshops. The workshops included dance, art mindfulness, zen yoga, healthy eating and drumming. Afterwards, Alva delivered a wrap-up session on positivity.

While students were ‘at the cinema’, staff were free to attend a version of the Wellness morning the 6^th years had enjoyed. It was a wonderful experience for all. A special thanks to Ms. Emma Campbell and the R.E. Department for organising this inventive and nourishing programme.

The Well Read noticeboard for January featured opening lines from famous novels. It was positioned in our lobby as inspiration to readers, writers and dreamers, young and old.

Just before mid-term, some lucky first years attended the Great Reads Awards Ceremony for Young Adult authors, as voted for by students nationwide, at Kings Hospital. A very stimulating excursion, feeding our appetite for books.

This week, we are participating in World Book Day, with book tokens for all and prizes to be won

For more information on the Loreto College Well Read initiative, please click HERE.

And, as it is a whole school community initiative, please follow us on Twitter at: @WellReadFoxrock

3^rd Year Trip to The Merchant of Venice

On the 20th of January 2017, all 3^rd Year students had the opportunity to see The Merchant of Venice performed by the Gaiety School of Acting at Smock Alley Theatre. Though the storyline was interesting to read in class, it was amazing to see it performed live on stage! I truly believe that Shakespeare's work wasn't meant to be merely read but for the audience to be fully immersed in the plot and to experience it as if it is actually happening.

The actors were fantastic and instantly grabbed the audience’s attention, and afterwards, they joined us for an interactive workshop where we talked through how the show was performed and some of the director’s decisions. It was definitely a worthwhile experience that will help us in the months to come.

- Naoise Finnie (3 Poyntz)

L-R Ciaran Byrne from Portmarnock Community School, Eve Reidy, Sam Barlow and Julie Gilthorpe.

On January 20^th, Ciaran and Sam from Portmarnock Community School showcased their use of innovation and technology to tackle global issues. The boys are part of a team of intrepid TY students who have worked to digitally create an online map of Lesotho in Africa.

The programme is a self-help project that delivers data, which allows a developing country plan its villages, towns and cities in a more effective and efficient way. When villages, cities and towns are planned properly, they attract inward investment, create jobs and provide opportunities for people.

Having forged a working relationship through Action Ireland Trust and Fingal County Council, these Portmarnock students now have local Lesotho planners and students from their twinned school in Hlalele in Lesotho, mapping their country using mobile phones. Lesotho is now the best-mapped country in Africa.

Linking with our school in Rumbek, our Student Council would like to start a mapping club in our school and launch our #mapRumbek project.

For more information, drop into a Student Council meeting, held every Thursday at 1.10pm in F5.

SPORTS UPDATE

BASKETBALL

Congratulations to the Cadette A basketball team on winning the Loreto League final v Dalkey on Wednesday, 17th Jan.

Congratulations also to Jodie Egan who was named MVP of the game

Congratulations to the Senior A team winners v Crumlin in the final by 1 point (in a very exciting game). Well done also to Fiona O' Grady, MVP of the game

Congratulations to our Cadette B team on winning the Loreto Basketball final v Dalkey on Wed 17th Jan in Oblate hall.

Congratulations also to Fiona O Grady who won the National U-18 title with her club team, DCU Mercy, on Sunday 29th of January in the National Basketball Arena.

Best of luck to Elena McCrory in the U-17 European championships in Belfast on 3-5th March. Elena is on the Irish U-17 netball team.

SENIOR HOCKEY NEWS

Congratulations to the Senior Hockey Team on reaching the Semi-final of the Leinster Schools' Cup for the second time in two years.

The team beat High School in a fiercely contested 1/4 final played on Tuesday, 31st January in Foxrock. The support from the school was magnificent and really lifted the team who came back from 1-0 down in the 1st half to win the game 2-1. 2 goals from Christina Hamill, (both penalty strokes awarded after shots from Hannah McLoughlin and Lauren Tracey), proved to be decisive.

The Semi-final took place on Thursday, 2nd March in Three Rock Rovers Hockey Club, Grange Road, Rathfarnham. Unfortunately, LCF did not prevail - not for want of goalie, Jane Conway-Kenny's best efforts! Congrats to St. Gerard's for their 1/0 victory and to all players for a highly-skilled game. Thanks also to those who turned out to support.

Hard luck also to the Minor B team in the Semi-final of the Leinster league Foxrock lost 1-0 to a strong St Andrews team.

Best of luck to the Minor A, Junior B and Junior D teams in their Leinster Semi-finals which will take place next week.

Results of the Irish Hockey Trials this month are as follows:

U-16 panel Emma Dawson 4th Year
U-17 development panel Aoife Taffe 3rd Year
U-18 panel Siofra O' Brien, Christina Hamill 5th year & Caitlin Sherin 4th Year
U-21 panel Hannah McLoughlin 5th Year who has also just been called up to train with the Irish Senior Panel.

Strong Loreto College Foxrock representation indeed!

Senior A's set-up short-corner in St Gerard's D.
L-R Caitlin Sherin, Hannah McLoughlin, Christina Hamill, Lauren Tracey, Doireann Shaffrey (Captain), Emma Dawson and Siofra O'Brien pushing-out.

Dates for your Diary
February - March, 2017

Feb 27: Ms Madden & Mr Davies of PSA speaking to 6th years about Book Purchase Plan
Feb 28: Bully 4 U seminar for 3rd year students. Topic: Responsible use of Technology
Feb 28: Bullying Ambassadors Workshop, Mount Sackville. Members of the Student Council will represent the school along with Ms Browne & Ms Regan
Feb 28 - March 01: 5th Year Drama, 'Southside Story' in Concert Hall, nightly 8pm
March 01: Ash Wednesday. On occasions during Lent, various class groups will have the opportunity to attend Mass in Foxrock Parish Church. Details/further information will be posted in the school.
March 02: Leinster Schools Cup Semi Final, Loreto Foxrock Vs St Gerards.
March 6 - 10: HealthWise week
March 09: Emmanuel Concert, DCU
March 09: Leaving Cert Subject Choice seminar for TY students & parents Details to follow
March 11: Entrance Assessment Day - First Years 2017 - 2018
March 13 - 17: Seachtain na Gaeilge
March 20 - 24: French Week
March 20: Loreto Mace Debates, hosted by Loreto College Foxrock
March 24: 75th Anniversary Dinner, Friday 24th Elm Park Golf Club. Tickets Receptionor www.loretofoxrock.ie
April 03 - 07: TY Loreto College Foxrock & CBC Monkstown Musical

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www.loretofoxrock.ie

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Loreto College Foxrock · Foxrock · Dublin 18 · Dublin, Leinster 18 · Ireland