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 5th 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.
|
|
|
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. (1st 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 (1st 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 (1st 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.
|
|
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!
- 5th 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.
|
|
|
|
Students from 3 Poyntz were up bright and early, on a frosty Saturday morning, (January 21st) 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).
|
|
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 5th Year debaters participated in the PhilSpeaks Competitive rounds on the 20th and 21st 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 6th. 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 6th 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
|
|
|
|
|