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Coláiste Phádraig
Young Scientists: Well done to the students from the school who took part in the BT Young Scientists Exhibition that was held over four days last week at the RDS. Despite missing out on the main awards, the students can all be proud of their efforts and the judges gave our projects very positive feedback. The school had 7 projects at the Exhibition which was the highest number in Dublin and the 6th highest in the country.
Mr. Carey and Mr. Todd were delighted with the students who committed so much time and effort into researching, preparing and displaying the projects. It was a long four days for all concerned and our students were wonderful ambassadors for the school throughout as they engaged with the public and faced the media with confidence, charm and good humour. A special word of thanks as usual to Mr. Carey who dedicated a lot of time helping the students prepare, design and set up their projects.
Talks: Our 5th and 6th yr students attended a Road Safety talk from Lucan Garda Síochána last week. The Gardaí covered areas such as seatbelts and airbags, driver fatigue, drink driving, use of mobiles, speeding and personal safety on the roads. PowerPoint presentations were used to reinforce the key messages of the talk and a large number of high visibility vests were given to the school for distribution among the students. They will be back in the school on Wednesday 30th January at 7:30pm to give a talk to parents on issues such as cyberbullying and online safety. All parents are encouraged to attend.
Our 6th yr students also attended a talk by Dr. Helen Gately from DIT Admissions Office on 3rd Level Options.
Our 2nd yr students attended a very interesting presentation from the Irish Ambassador to Brussels Joe Hackett (a past pupil of Coláiste Phadraig) and his colleagues Anna McGillicuddy and Raymond Mullen from the Department of Foreign Affairs. They were in the school as part of the Global Schools Programme, a recent initiative designed to raise awareness of Ireland’s role in a changing world. Coláiste Phádraig were one of the 1st schools in the country to be chosen to take part in the initiative. A member of Óglaigh na hEireann, lieutenant Brian O’ Shea, (dressed immaculately in full Defence Forces Uniform) spoke with pride of Ireland’s 60 years of unbroken service in Peace Keeping with the UN and gave a PowerPoint display on the different places Ireland has sent peacekeepers. The students gained a greater understanding of how UN membership has played a significant role in Ireland’s history-especially our contributions to peacekeeping, international development, human rights and disarmament, and how we will continue to do so in the future. The school was then presented with the UN Flag and a copy of the preamble of the UN Charter, which will go in the display area beside the flag we received from the Meagher Foundation as part of the 1916 Centenary celebrations. The students are to be commended on being extremely attentive throughout this fascinating presentation and they received very positive compliments from all four guest speakers.
Incoming 1st yrs: A reminder that the assessments for incoming 1st yr students for the 2019/2020 academic year take place in the school this Saturday 19th Jan. The school office can be contacted for any queries.
Soccer: Transition Year student Adam Wells was away in Spain last weekend representing Ireland in an u16 International friendly against Germany. Adam played left back and left wing in the game and although the Germans won 2-0, Adam acquitted himself well and had a very good game.
Fundraising: Many thanks to everyone who supported the Soccer Blitz in December which raised a total of 3,700euro. A special word of thanks to students Eoin Kilduff, Tyler Cole Doherty, Aun Syed and JD Ellis who all raised at least 100euro each through sponsorship. They were presented with 50e Liffey Valley vouchers by the principal in recognition of their sterling efforts.
Well done to the students of 3Lead who held a Cyclathon in the school on Tuesday as a fundraising initiative for The Simon Community for their CSPE Action Project. Each student in the class cycled for at least 30mins whilst wearing Simon Community t-shirts and in total the class cycled for 8 hours throughout the day. The event raised a lot of awareness of a very important social issue also raised over 400e for a very good cause. Well done to the students of 3Lead for their initiative, hard work and organisational skills.
For their Action Project, the students of 3 Copper are organising a collection of hats, scarves, gloves, new blankets and unwanted Christmas gifts which will all be donated to charity. All donations are welcome and can be dropped into the school each morning between 8:45 and 9am.
Lucan Community College
Basketball final this week: Best of luck to our Under 16 Girls Basketball team as they gear up to face St. Pauls Community College, Waterford in the All-Ireland Semi-Finals later this week. The team have been training most days and are in confident mood after their season of notable wins.
If they prove successful in the semi-final they will go on to the National Basketball Arena on February 1st for the National Finals. The Under 16 girls have had an amazing year which recently culminated in them being crowned Dublin Champions after the beat Adamstown CC in the final in November.
Colman Noctor ‘technology’ talk January 30th for parents: Lucan Community College’s Parents Association have organized a brilliant talk for parents on the topic of technology and the impact it has on our children. This talk will take place in the college on Wednesday January 30th at 7.30pm in the Dining Hall.
Colman will give a talk to interested parents on ‘The impact of technology on our mental health’. This talk will explore the pressures experienced by young people who are growing up in contemporary Ireland. The talk will look at the impact of technology and social media on young people’s mental health, emotional wellbeing and family life. The talk will describe how we can support young people to become more resilient in the contemporary world and support them to develop better relationships with technology and themselves.
Dr Colman Noctor is a Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist in St Patrick's Adolescent Mental Health Services and an Assistant Professor in Trinity College Dublin. His specialist area of interest is in the impact of technology on our mental lives. Colman is the best-selling author of ‘Cop On’, a parenting book for the technological age and a regular contributor to the broadcast and print media.
The Parents Association hope to see you there on the 30th January for what we hope will prove to be a very valuable and thought-provoking talk.
Internet Safety Talk for students: Our 1st and Transition Year student received an invaluable talk this week by internet safety guru Pat McKenna. He delivered a talk, called Teen Safe, through an evidence based workshop where people can understand their online visibility and what it means to be online in a wider sense. In doing so he aimed to help students appreciate and understand their vulnerability concerning their privacy.
Pat also spoke about building a profile that shows students in a positive light online while protecting their privacy and safety while online. So far, Pat has delivered this informative, fact-based talk to more than 250,000 students throughout Ireland.
Lucan CC selected to be part of the Global Schools Programme: We were delighted to welcome Michael Collins, Irelands Ambassador to Germany, to Lucan Community College last week as part of the new national global schools initiative. Lucan Community College was one of only 20 schools across the country selected to be part of this new national educational programme. The Irish Ambassador was accompanied by Maeve Killen from the Department of Foreign Affairs who opened the talk by explaining the context of “Global Ireland” programme and its ambition to double Ireland’s impact in the world by 2025.
Ambassador Collins then took to the stage to outline the work of Embassies and the plans to broaden Irelands Embassy footprint through ‘Global Ireland’. He also spoke passionately about the importance of the UN, why we are members, and how the UN touches all our lives.
This was followed by Irish peacekeeper who outlined Ireland’s work over the last 60 years as peacekeepers and spoke about the importance of peace-keeping as one of the main contributions Ireland will continue to make as part of ‘Global Ireland’.
‘Global Schools’ has allowed us a school to explore Irelands role on the world stage, bringing a deeper understanding of how UN membership and the Irish diplomatic service.
Get Fit in the New Year: Just reminding all of our eager students that we currently have two great fun fitness opportunities open to all students to get fit and embrace a healthier lifestyle for 2019. We have Zumba, an awesome workout where you get to dance to great music and burn a ton of calories without even realizing it. Zumba takes place every Tuesday at 4.10pm in the Dining Hall. We also have a school jog/run every Monday at 1.15pm. This run is great for those wanting to try something new and get a little bit fitter in return. Both of these activities are growing in popularity and are open to all students of all abilities – it really is just about taking part and enjoying the fun that comes with exercise. If you have not tried one yet, come along and enjoy being healthier and happier as we enter 2019.
St Joseph’s College Lucan
BT Young Scientist & Technology Double Winner! Huge congratulations to Niamh Doherty (4th year) who was awarded 2 awards last Friday. Niamh was awarded 1st place in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences Category and she was also awarded the Irish Science Teachers' Association Award for her Physics project which greatly impressed the judges.
Niamh’s project re-examined a long forgotten experiment, first published by American Professor Alfred Mayer in 1878. His experiment, ‘floating magnets’ was at the time used as an analogy for molecular structures. Niamh successfully re-created and extended Mayer’s results and found a modern day analogy; ‘Coulomb crystals’ which are the subject of recent scientific research.
UCD Business Awards to Top Students: On Wednesday evening at a special ceremony hosted by UCD, 12 of our students were celebrated for achieving an A Grade in the 2018 Junior Certificate Business exam. The high achievers were Rachel Beagan, Lorna Byrne, Niamh Doherty, Ali Dunne, Imogen Gibb, Maria Kelly, Maria Quaraishi, Alicia Rooney, Aoife Smullen, Caoimhe Ware, Ayesha Zafar and Lilly Worrall. Well done girls! A super achievement.
U14 Soccer Success: Very well done to our U14 soccer team who sailed through to the quarterfinals of the Leinster A Cup after a convincing win over Presentation Kilkenny. Final scoreline was 5:0 with goals coming from Sophie Callaghan (x3) and Clare Sullivan (x2). Joeys will play St. Peter's Dunboyne in the quarter-final.
Career Talk: On Tuesday, past pupil Helen Grogran returned to the school to deliver an excellent talk to interested 5th years about a career with TEAGASC. The talk drew great interest from students particularly those studying Biology and Geography.
TY Subject Talks: On Tuesday evening we had our Subject Choice Talk for parents of TY students. Thank you to everybody who came along. Our TY students will receive individual subject talk from teachers on Thursday and Friday, to help them choose the subjects that they will study for the Leaving Certificate.
1st Year Disco: A reminder that our Parents Association is hosting a 1st year Disco on Friday 1st February. 1st year students from all local schools are welcome to attend. Tickets can be purchased at the door for €10. Time to be confirmed.
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King’s Hospital
Once again The King’s Hospital School in Palmerstown had a winning group at this years’ BT Young Scientist listed below: 2nd Year students Bobbi Beattie and Kate Bagnall won two prizes – overall winner of their category Social & Behavioural Sciences and the Irish Special Research award.
The girls’ project was entitled ‘'Using statistics to investigate changing use of language in primary students' writing after 80 years'.
Their research was done in Kentstown National School in Kells comparing writings of primary school pupils from 1937-1939 that is archived in The Schools’ Folklore Collection at UCD, to today’s students.
They are following in the footsteps of their brothers – Richard Beattie and Dylan Bagnall who won their category – Biological & Ecological Science last year (2018) and also took home the Irish Special Research Award for their project ‘identifying bats from the roost using an inexpensive rasberry pi detector and PCR’. Richard and Dylan went on to become the overall winners of The Sentinus Big Bang Awards in Northern Ireland in June 2018 (NI’s equivalent to the BTYSE) which includes an all expenses trip to represent Ireland in the INTEL ISEF Competition in Arizona this May.
The boys and girls have the same science teacher – Ciaran O’Connor
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