Summer 2002

HOME-SCHOOL-COMMUNITY LIAISON NEWS - BANK OF IRELAND SENIOR BUSINESS ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION - GREASE – THE FINAL WORD - CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE- BLEST ARE THEY WHO SING - NOVENA MASS - RTE RADIO MASS - EVENSONG AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL - THIRD AND SIXTH YEAR MUSIC PRACTICAL - FIFTH AND SIXTH YEAR TRIP TO THE NATIONAL CONCERT HALL - FIFTH YEAR TRIP TO LOURDES WITH THE I.H.C.P.T. - ART AWARD - SIXTH YEAR AND TRANSITION YEAR TRIP TO DCU

HOME-SCHOOL-COMMUNITY LIAISON NEWS

Induction meetings for the incoming sixth class pupils have started this term and will continue after Easter. These meetings have been facilitated by Fifth Year students and a group of experienced parents. They have proved to be a great experience for everyone. Special thanks to the parents and Fifth Years for all their hard work.

Art Classes for Adults are running at present in Mercy College Parents’ Room every Thursday morning at 10.00 a.m. Computer classes and a class on Womens Health Issues will also be provided. Please contact Maria Somers at 8480888 for details.

A Drugs Education Programme for parents in Mercy College and Chanel College took place in Mercy College, Coolock. It was conducted on the content of the Social, Personal and Health Education Programme in Second Year.

Vincent Byrne, an Adlerian Counsellor continues to provide support for parents and children helping them to understand family life. He is available for parents in Mercy College Parents’ Room on Tuesday nights between 7.30 and 9.30 p.m. and on Wednesday afternoons between 2.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. All are welcome. There is no charge for this service.

Please remember that Maria Somers, the Home-School-Community Liaison Co-ordinator, will be delighted to meet with any parent on request, either in school or in their own home. If a parent has any concerns about a child’s education or behaviour please don’t hesitate to phone the school to make arrangements to meet me.

BANK OF IRELAND SENIOR BUSINESS ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION

Well done to the following prize winners:- Louise Costello (1st), Tara Walton (2nd), Lema Lo, Tara Nolan (joint 3rd), Niamh Cunningham and Tara Ryan (highly recommended).

Many thanks to Mr. Mick Murphy, Manager Bank of Ireland for his continued sponsorship of this event and to Damien the Bank’s Schools Liaison Officer.

GREASE – THE FINAL WORD

In February of this year the Transition Year students of Mercy College and Chanel College came together to stage a wonderful production of GREASE that happy hit-packed musical of the 70s. Six months of hard work and rehearsals finally paid off in a sell-out show.

A very fine cast was headed by Jennifer Bonney and Caroline McCall (Sandy), Shane Flanagan (Danny) and Jennifer Kelly and Elaine Burke (Rizzo). Of course none of it would have been possible without the guidance and direction of Maureen Gilligan (Director), Peter Beckett (Musical Director) and Emma Powderly (Choreographer). At the end of the day the success of the show was down to the cast and they pulled it off in fine style!!

CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE

As part of the Junior Certificate Schools Programme Room 32 and Room 35 took part in a Cross Curricular Project. This was a project about Christmas and involved all the subject teacher working together. The students of Room 32 and Room 35 set up a display of the work done in the Sports Hall. Parents, Teachers and the Board of management were invited to attend. Students from other classes were also invited to view the work done to see the video produced by the students and Mr. Young. The exhibition was a huge success and the work presented by the students of Room 32 and Room 35 was fantastic. Congratulations to them for such a professional display of their excellent work.

BLEST ARE THEY WHO SING

The choir and music teachers have had a very busy year. In March the girls were joined by some past pupils to record a CD. The recording took place in St. John’s Church of Ireland, Clontarf. The recordings were split into two days. On the 19th March the secular pieces were recorded. These pieces were accompanied by Judith Gannon (Past Pupil) on piano and a number of pieces were accompanied by St. Mary’s Brass and Reed Bank from Maynooth.

On 26th March the sacred pieces were recorded. The choir was accompanied by Rodney Baldwin on organ. Each of the songs were recorded several times and both the students and teachers were exhausted. Everybody had a great time and it was a brilliant experience. Many thanks to the sound engineer Fionán de Barra who did all recording work and to teachers Ms. Hogan and Ms. Daltún for all their time and work, and to everyone else who took part. Thanks to the Coolock-Artane Credit Union for the generous contribution towards the project.

NOVENA MASS

The annual Novena Masses were held in St. Brendan’s Parish Church in early March. Some of the choirs taking part included Scoil Chaitríona, St. Brendan’s Parish Choir and Mercy College School Choir. The choir of Mercy College concluded the festival and sang some of the hymns that they have recorded on their CD, ‘Blest are They Who Sing’.

RTE RADIO MASS

On Sunday 14th April the choir sang at Mass with St. Brendan’s Parish Choir which was broadcast live on RTE radio one. The Mass was a great success and the girls enjoyed the experience.

EVENSONG AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

The girls also sand at evensong in Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday 4th May. The choir were accompanied by Rodney Baldwin on the organ. The girls sang beautifully and it was a very enjoyable service. The service was concelebrated by the Dean of Christ Church and the Rev. Mark Gardiner.

The choir has been invited to return next year.

THIRD AND SIXTH YEAR MUSIC PRACTICAL

Well done to all third and sixth year music students who completed their practical exams in April. Each student put a lot of work into their pieces and a big thank you to Ms. Hogan and Ms. Daltún for all their time and work put into getting us all through our practicals.

The Choir Examinations were also held in April. Seven choirs from Mercy took part.

FIFTH AND SIXTH YEAR TRIP TO THE NATIONAL CONCERT HALL

On Friday 10th May, fifth year music students attended an open rehearsal by the National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall. They were later joined by Sixth Years for a talk given by Mr. Raymond Deane, one of the composers featured on the Leaving Certificate music course.

FIFTH YEAR TRIP TO LOURDES WITH THE I.H.C.P.T.

On Easter Sunday, five girls from fifth year and five boys from Chanel College went to Lourdes. We spend the week working as carers with sick children. It was an amazing experience. We stayed in a separate hotel from the children and we split into twos and joined the groups of children each morning. We spent the day with the groups visiting many places like the Zoo, The Aquarium, Gavarnie (a village in the Pyrennes mountains) and many more. During this time we were made feel very welcome and needed. This made the trip worthwhile. Our week was hectic but full of laughter, fun, excitement and some tears! Yet we were still able to stop and enjoy the goodness of Lourdes.

I look forward to going back with the I.H.C.P.T. in the future and if this trip is available to fifth year students in the future, I would highly recommend you apply. Thanks to everyone in school for supporting us to travel to Lourdes. We hope that other students will have the same opportunity in the future. Special thanks to Ms. Harrison and Miriam for spending Easter with us.

ART AWARD

Congratulations to Siobhan Timmins, Room 21, who won a prize in the Sutton Park School ‘Young Artist of the Year Competition’.

SIXTH YEAR AND TRANSITION YEAR TRIP TO DCU

On Wednesday 15th May Ms. Sullivan’s Sixth Year Chemistry class and four girls from her Transition Year Biology class who will be doing Chemistry for the Leaving Certificate went to DCU to take part in some experiments to prepare them for either their exams or in the case of the Fourth Years, for Leaving Certificate Chemistry.

The group arrived in the DCU Chemistry labs and were soon geared up in white coats and eye goggles and ready for action. We were split into small groups and each group did their own experiments under the instruction of the Chemistry students in the College.

Our group made aspirin first and we even got to bring it home! After this we were shown what apparatus and substances are used to make soap. Then finally, we used a distillation process to extract clove oil from cloves.

There were also funny moments like when we became worried after being told that the ‘anti-bumping crystals’ we were using in our experiments were used so that nothing exploded. Another was when one of our instructors said, while holding a test tube, "sometimes the test tubes break while you’re doing this" and the whole group took a step back from where he was standing. Also, there was a disaster within my own group when extracting the clove oil as the tubes connected to the condenser popped off twice and sprayed water everywhere!

When the experiments were over (and our group had cleaned up our watery mess) we thanked the instructors and left. It was an interesting and enjoyable trip to all involved.

Return to Table of Contents