Christmas
2007
Principal's message Patricia Dwyer
POLAND
- A student's perspective
FROM NEWGRANGE TO THE BOTANICS - an artist's delight!
Principal's message Patricia Dwyer
Another
year is drawing to a close and as usual, we have had an action packed and
eventful term here in Mercy College.
Our
examinations students scored very highly at both Leaving and Junior Certificate
levels. There was a huge success for those students sitting Leaving Certificate
this year. Five girls have gone on from the class of 2007 to study nursing,
several to teaching, others to study architecture, accounting, business, media
and communications and art - and a range of courses in between. Amy Widdis not only managed to gain a place in Architecture in
UCD, she was also awarded the Royal Society of Architecture Prize. We
congratulate all of the girls and wish them well in their future careers.
Four
members of our teaching staff have also enjoyed academic success in recent
times. Ms. O'Hanlon, Ms. Dunwoody, Ms. Daltún and Ms.
Harrison have been awarded their Masters in Education with Honours this year.
Ms. O'Rourke, one of our Music teachers, was awarded a Gold medal for the high
quality of her teaching during the Post Graduate Diploma in Education. Many
congratulations to each of them.
Congratulations
to Ms. Daltun on the birth of her beautiful daughter,
Emily.
This
autumn we said goodbye to two members of the teaching staff - Ms. Yvonne Kelly
and Mr David Swann. We wish them well as they start their new phase in life.
We had
visitors from far and wide to Mercy College during the term. 21 Spanish
students and two of their teachers spent a week with us during September. Each
visiting student shadowed an Irish student, going to class with our girls. Over
30 girls from Brisbane visited the school on September 25th. Our own 4th year
students worked with the Australian teachers in a netball workshop. Secondary
school Principal Liesl Prendergast visited Mercy
College on the recommendation of the CEIST office. In November a contingent of
Chinese Principals and Deputy Principals visited the school to learn about the
Irish Education System.
Our students
have also done their fair share of travelling, some within Ireland, others
further afield. 32 students visited Poland on a
History trip. The students visited Auschwitz and Krakow during the four day
long event. 5th year students visited Carlingford in
September, while the Transition year students spent three days in the adventure
centre in October. All 3rd year History students visited Kilmainham
Gaol and Collins Barracks in October, while all 3rd year Geography students
completed their field studies. 6th year Art students went to Newgrange and the Botanical Gardens. The Music students
flew the Irish flag in Finland in December.
In the
Sporting arena, our soccer and basketball teams have enjoyed much success to
date this term. The Cadette basketball team has
already made it to the semi-final of the Leinster
League and will hopefully progress to the all-Ireland championship in due
course. Our soccer teams have had very good wins against Loreto Mullingar, Mercy Beaumont, Grange Community College and Dominican
College, Griffith Avenue and Trinity Comprehensive. This autumn has also seen
the introduction of a wider range of lunchtime and after-school sports,
including athletics, badminton and volleyball. Over €8000 has been invested in
equipment and new goalposts and we look forward to successful times ahead.
Our new
Science labs are fully complete. The building work on the two labs cost
€300,000, while new equipment to the tune of €75,000 was provided under the
Department of Education's summer works scheme. The first thee of our
interactive whiteboards have been installed and all our staff received initial
training in October. The boards are an exciting addition to the teaching tools
on offer here. We hope over the course of this year to add to the number of
boards.
One of
the most significant events to date on our school calendar was the CEIST prayer
service on October 1st. The gathering of all the school community gave us an
opportunity to celebrate what had gone before under the trusteeship of the Mercy
sisters and look forward to a new phase of trusteeship under CEIST. CEIST is a
trust board consisting of five religious orders - ourselves in Mercy,
Presentation Sisters, Daughters of Charity, the Sisters of the Christian
Retreat and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. While the trusteeship may
have changed in name, the underlying values of all the work we do here in Mercy
College remain the same and are in the CEIST charter: Promoting Spiritual and
Human Development; Achieving Quality in Teaching and Learning; Showing Respect
for Every Person; creating Community; Being Just and Responsible. These are
high ideals but we aim for such heights every day in our work as students and
staff of Mercy College.
May I
take this opportunity to thank the staff for their wonderful contribution to
all the events outlined on the pages which follow and wish all members of the
Mercy College school community a happy and healthy Christmas and every good
wish for the coming year.
The SCP
started in March this year. The aim of this programme is to tackle early school
leavers and to provide support to students to enable them to complete the
Senior Cycle.
The SCP
has run a number of activities in Mercy College, which are as follows:
SUMMER
PROJECT: took place in June - activities included arts and crafts, cinema,
bowling and q-zar, hip hop, cookery and also a trip
to Clara Lara.
HOMEWORK
CLUB: runs every Wednesday and Thursday for an hour after school for all first
year students.
HIP HOP:
runs every Friday after school for an hour and a performance will take place at
Christmas.
BOARD
GAMES CLUB: runs every Wednesday and Thursday during lunchtime. All are
welcome.
DRAMA
CLUB: takes place on Friday after school. The club is currently working on a
play which they hope to perform for the school at the end of the school year.
BREAKFAST
CLUB: runs every morning from 8.00am to 8.50am in the Parent's room. All are
welcome.
The SCP
has also sponsored a number of initiatives in the school and contributed
towards the purchase of equipment. If you would like to find out more about the
SCP you can contact Linda Devitt, the Coordinator, at
086 730 4334.
Ms. E. Conneely
On
Monday 8th October, 3rd year Geography students went on their field trip to Powerscourt Waterfall, Co. Wicklow. We left the school at 9
and arrived about an hour later. We had lunch and were each given worksheets to
fill in about the Waterfall. We had to walk across rocks to get to the Waterfall
(needless to say some of us fell in!!). We must admit that the views were
spectacular. Later we went to Enniskerry Village to
get more to eat and we arrived back in Mercy College at about 3.30. We all had
a great day and it was a great way of learning. Many thanks to Ms. Keogh, Ms. Conneely, Ms. O' Regan and Ms.Fitzgerald
who brought us.
Rebecca
Prendergast & Jade O'Reilly 3rd year
The
girls of Mercy College have been very busy on the sports front in Term 1.
The P.E.
department was very fortunate this year to get a sports equipment grant and now
has a huge range of equipment for all ages.
Girls of
all years have been taking part in lunchtime and after school training sessions
in Cross Country, Football, Badminton, Volleyball, Hockey, Camogie
and Basketball.
This
year is the first time that Mercy College has entered the Dublin Schools
Football League. With a lot of the girls playing club football outside school
the panel on each squad is very strong. The school has teams of all age groups
from First to Sixth Year competing in cup and league competitions and has a
100% record to date. The U-18 girls beat Mercy Beaumont 3-0 in their first game
with goals from Kerrie Ryan (6th Year) and Lisa Murphy (1st Year). The U-16
girls had a super victory over Grange Community College winning 10-1, while the
First Year Cup team beat Loreto Mullingar 6-3 in
round one, with goals from Lisa Murphy (4), Holly Hatton (1) and Aoife McEvoy (1).
Term 1
also saw the Mercy College girls take to the camogie
field. They have done brilliantly after only taking up the game in September
and many are now joining local clubs. After Christmas the girls will take part
in the Dublin Junior Colleges Championship and a Minor league for 1st and 2nd
Years.
Volleyball
is a new sport to the school and large numbers of girls are training for the Leinster Schools Cadette (U16)
and Minor (U14) competitions which will be commencing shortly.
Large
numbers of girls have been coming to Cross Country training every Monday, as
have some of the teachers. The students will take part in the Dublin Schools
Cross Country competition in January.
On the
basketball front many girls are training every Tuesday and Thursday with coach
Mark Ingle. The Cadette girls have played four games
so far, beating Loreto Beaufort, Alexandra College, Castleknock
and Our Lady of Mercy, Mourne Road. Two wins in their
remaining two games will see them through to the Dublin final.
Ms.
Harrison has been coaching the minor hockey team, which will be participating
in the Northside Dublin School League after
Christmas.
I would
like to thank all those girls who are actively involved in lunch and
after-school sports and encourage them to keep up the good work in the New
Year. New girls are always welcome to any sport, so why not get involved in
Mercy College sports in the New Year.
Holly
Hatton 1st year Gold Medal Dublin Basketball Squad
Congratulations
to Louise Perry 3rd year for receiving her black belt in Karate.
• WHAT N
E X T , I N T E R A C T I V E TEACHERS?
The new
science labs are finally completed along with high tech. whiteboards. Combined
with this, Science Week took place during November and to encourage the spirit
of investigation, the science department held a science treasure trail. Posters
were put all over the school with interesting scientific facts. Students taking
part picked up a list of 25 questions and had to scour the school for the
posters that contained the answers to their questions. Rebecca Amet 1st year was the winner.
Six of
our students are involved in the Thomas Crosbie
Holdings National Quiz competition, run by the Examiner newspaper - Aoife Brennan, Amy Delaney, Gemma
Smyth of 4th Year; Rebecca Amet, Nicole Fields and
Lee- Ann Gilsenan of 1st Year. They finished third in
their first round but will have a chance to move up the leaderboard
after Christmas.
Ms. Daltún and Ms. Doherty
"On
arriving in
Stephanie
Trimble, 5th year
Ms Niland
Auschwitz
will always be remembered as the scene of the ultimate crime against humanity.
Nazis ritually tortured and murdered an estimated 1.5 million people (a quarter
were children) in this concentration camp simply because of their ethnicity.
In
September, a group of dedicated teachers and students travelled to Krakow in
Poland to pay their respects and learn more about this dark period in History.
The focus was a sombre one with a day long tour of the Auschwitz Birkenau camps. Students were shocked and humbled by
stories of profound courage and dignity displayed by the victims in their final
hours. Some students decided to use these stories as a basis for their Leaving
Certificate Research topics.
To
relieve the tension of such a visit the girls were given the opportunity to
discover the beautiful city of Krakow. Shopping, a folklore evening and a trip
to the Salt Mines ensured a well balanced Polish experience.
Many
thanks to the girls, it was a pleasure to travel with you.
As part
of their biology course 4th year students have been working on projects to be
entered in the ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards. The girls came up with
some innovative and exciting ways for the school to become a more
environmentally friendly place. In the end we decided to run with three
projects. One group ran a bottle recycling competition for 1st years. The girls
collected and counted the plastic bottles each 1st year form group had gathered
for recycling and gave a party to the winning class. The project increased the
amount of bottles the school recycled and got the newest members of the school
community into the habit of recycling. Another group, concerned with climate
change, decided to try to limit the use of electricity in the school by placing
colourful reminders to turn off the lights on each light switch in the school.
Our last group created a designer outfit for a forgotten mannequin donated by
the art department. Paige Green, as she was christened, was decked out in an
ensemble created entirely from rubbish.
In
October we all went to Carlingford for three days.
During our first night, we went for a walk in the dark and ended up in a
castle. As it was so close to Halloween ghost stories were told and this
totally freaked us out!! On the way back, we had to go through a tunnel,
without our flashlights. The first person to go through was Sara Kenny (our
hero)!! We all followed and held on for dear life. The following day we started
off with water sports. We got into the canoes and a few got stuck behind a big
ship and had to be rescued. After that we went pier diving. Later we were split
into teams and we had to build bridges. Archery followed and some found the
trees, others the bull's eye. Over the course of the three days, we did lots
more such as climbing, walking and running. We all had a fabulous time and we
all got to know each other very well. Thanks to all the teachers.
Lyndsey Reilly, Sara Kenny, Aoife
Brennan, Christina Behan, Aimee Coughlan
The 4.th
year geography programme this year involves a module on the rainforests of the
world. Part of this module involved the students going to Dublin Zoo to carry
out research on the animals and their habitats. The students had been studying
the rain forests in class time and then drew up a questionnaire for all 4th
year students to compete when at the Zoo.
Luckily
November 15th bought great weather and the students really enjoyed the trip.
The
girls must be commended on all the information they collected from observations
and talking to the Zoo keepers. The girls plan to now present their information
to all the girls of Mercy College and increase awareness on the rainforests of
the world.
Mercy
College Calendar
As part
of our Mini Company we had to raise capital and seeing as the bank would be
very reluctant to give us the money, we had to do a series of fund raisers.
These included selling delicious chocolate apples, fudge brownies and donuts.
This
raised enough finance to fund our mini company project. So what are we doing?
We decided to do a school calendar. All the students in
5th and
6th year students have begun to trawl through the maze of career options. They
had an enjoyable day in September at the Higher Options Conference held in the
R.D.S. Students have begun to identify their personality traits and so make
links between jobs, work and careers. Students now understand that there are
multiple intelligences and that people look for different things from work.
Many students do not realise the range of their skills i.e. communications,
flexibility, and problem solving ability. A knowledge of your skills is vital
in making job and career choices.
Since
September, senior classes have enjoyed many career talks, these include Bank of
Ireland, Institutes of Technology (Dundalk and Blanchardstown),
Dublin City University, Failte Ireland and numerous
Post Leaving Certificate Colleges. Our links with DCU continue. 4th and 5th
years will receive their Achievement Awards in December. As always
parents/guardians are welcome to contact the Guidance Department at any time.
Finally good luck to 6th years with their C.A.O applications.
"If
you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track, which has been
there all the while waiting for you, and life that you ought to be living is
the one you are living" (Joseph Campbell)
E. Conneely (Guidance Counsellor)
Maths
Week took place from the 15th to the 19th October and to celebrate the occasion
Mercy College organised a maths quiz. Each day a question was posted on the
maths display board, the answers to which were always numerical. The students
submitted their answers on an answer sheet and it was encouraging to see so
many students throng the foyer. It was also interesting to see so many teachers
"trying" to answer the questions as well!!
The
winners for this year were:
1st year
Huda Saeed Khiliji
2nd year
Sinead Mc Evoy
3rd year
Nakita Lennon
5th year
Shabnam Azad
6th year
Lorna Kelly
Each
person who entered the competition received a Certificate and each winner
received a €25 voucher.
Why
don't you see if you can answer the questions?!!!!
What two
whole numbers multiplied together equal 13?
A snail
is climbing out of a well 10m deep. Every day it climbs three metres and every
night it slips down two metres. How many days will it take to climb out of the
well?
A hen
and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs will a
dozen hens lay in a dozen days?
In a
stable there are a number of lads and lasses looking after the horses. In all
there are 22 heads and 72 feet, including all the lads and lasses plus the
horses. If all the lads and lasses and all the horses are sound in body and
limb, how many horses are there?
A man
can make a cigarette from 11 butts. If he collects 121 butts how many
cigarettes can he smoke?
Maths
week is over for another year but once again it proved to be very successful.
Keep up the enthusiasm and well done to everybody.
On
Monday the 15th November 4th year students attended a lecture in DCU. They
found it both interesting and entertaining. At the end of the lecture, they
received a worksheet based on that lecture. During the week, they worked on the
problems of deciphering and enciphering messages. All entries were sent back to
DCU and it emerged that Rachel Cantwell, Stephanie Carr, Yvonne Mc Loughlin and Jessica O'Reilly each won a prize of a €20
book voucher. Well done girls!!
Ms.
Casey
FROM NEWGRANGE TO THE BOTANICS - an artist's delight!
To start
off the new school year with some creative inspiration 5th and 6th year
students went to the 'Sculpture in Context' exhibition in the Botanic Gardens.
The students were given a map with the sculptures numbered on it, then had to
find them throughout the grounds, green houses and visitors centre. On their
way around the grounds they had to complete a work sheet by describing and
drawing the sculptures that they liked and disliked or were inspired by. The
classes also visited Newgrange and many were amazed
by the structures that were built many thousands of years ago. The trip will
help the girls with their History of Art and we also hope that everything they
se will be shown in their work.
On the
7th November our 6th year Geography class made our way to Portmarnock
Beach. So what exactly were we doing on a beach in November? Not for a swim I
can tell you. We were here to measure the cliff with our clinometers. Luckily
enough it was a really nice day and we didn't get wet, the only problem was the
sand in our shoes. Thanks Ms. O'Regan and Ms. Conneely for a lovely day.
Amy
Deane 6th year
On
Tuesday the 13th of November the 4th years took part in the BPW public speaking
competition. It was held in the Grand Hotel, Malahide.
The team consisted of: Christina Behan, Johanna
Furlong, Aoife Brennan, Claire O'Reilly and Ciara Mc Loughlin. Many Schools
participated, Loreto Crumlin, St. Mary's Holy Faith, Killester, Portmarnock Community
School, St. Gerard's Bray and St. Kilian's German
School, Clonskeagh. The topic that we chose to
discuss was "The problems faced by the youth of today". Despite our
best, the team did not win on the night, but we really enjoyed the night and we
are already looking forward to next year with the help of our teacher Ms.
Clancy.
On the
Friday before mid term, the 3rd year Music Class organised a Fancy Dress to
raise money for a new Digital Piano. Over €1000 was raised and our Piano is now
sitting in pride of place in the Music room. We would like to thank all the
students, pirates, witches and scary monsters who contributed to the fund and
many thanks to the number of staff that dressed up - there were some sights
coming out of the staff room!!! Thanks, to Jade, Deirdre, Carly,
Laura, Nicola, Emma, Lisa, Amy, Marie and Charlene.
Ms. Niland and Ms. Griffin
Well
here we are in
The
temperature is -15 and needless to say it is freezing. In fact everything
around is white and bright. Some say that if you look hard enough, you will be
able to see Santa and his reindeers preparing for the big day. So, what are we
doing here? Before the end of the last school year, Nurmo
High School from Finland visited us, so now it is our turn. The 30 strong
school choir performed at the Independence Day Celebrations in Nurmo High School and County. After all the singing, it was
off to the shops and to have some fun and fun we had.
During
the last few weeks of term, students heard some strange sounds coming from the
Music Room. Five trumpets were purchased and given to five 2nd year Music
students. The trumpets were funded by the SCP. I hope that over the course of
the year, we will make great strides in playing and hopefully this will be the
start of a new Brass Group. So once again sorry for the noise, but even Miles
Davis, one of the greatest jazz players of our time, had to start out by
annoying his neighbours.
Edited
by: Paula Downes
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