Dominican College Wicklow

OPEN EVENING

The annual DCW Open Evening will be held on Thursday, October 13, from six to 8 p.m. All prospective students and their families are very welcome.

ATHLETICS

The County Wicklow cross country relays took place in Avondale on Tuesday, September 27. DCW athletes had great success. The first year team with Georgia O’Connell, Direann Drennan and Layla Hitchen won bronze medals.

The second year team with Emma Kristiansen, Orla Fitzgerald and Naoise O’Reilly took gold medals. The third year team with Leah Kavanagh, Emily Clarke, Abbie O’Loughlin and Isobel Navarro Guirado also took home gold medals. Well done, girls.

IPAD TRAINING FOR PARENTS

There will be an ipad train- ing session held for parents at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11.

SCHOOL MASS

The annual school mass was held on September 23. It was a very special day in the school year. Our Leadership Team for the school was formally announced following the mass.

They are as follows: Head Girl: Caoimhe Cronin, Deputy Head Girl: Carrie Corkish; Class Prefects: Annie Loftus, Kate Lally and Aoibheann Dowd (sixth year), Tara Farrell, Fiona Natoff and Nadine Gormley (fifth year), Rebecca Heeran, Rhianna Owen and Aoife Brennan (fourth year), Jessica Hobbs, Chloe Brennan and Georgina Mooney (third year), Erin O’Dwyer, Ruth Traynor and Maya McDevitt (second year) and Browyn Hogan, Caitlin Griffey and Rachel Phillips (first year). We wish them all well in the year ahead.

EMBER LEADERSHIP TEAM

The Ember Leadership Programme is a faith leadership training programme for students at senior level in secondary level schools. The students are trained to become faith leaders in their schools and in some cases they act as mentors for incoming students at Junior Level. This programme is coordinated by the Archdiocese of Dublin Education Secretariat.

Students at DCW have been interviewed for this new role and the girls selected are: Suzie Leonard, Lucy Phelan, Sophie Cadwell, Emma Hanlon, Jessica Mernagh, Lisa Lennon, Blaithin Rawson, Amy Corcoran Ryan, Leah McDonagh, Jessica Maguire, Sorcha Ffrench, Chloe Brennan and Caoimhe Cronin.

TY NEWS

Well done and good luck to all TY students who started their work experience this week. A huge thank you to all the employers and businesses in Wicklow town and beyond who help us to run this programme.

MENTORS

All first and second year students have been assigned their mentors as follows: First year mentors: Sophie Cadwell, Rebecca O’Neil, Saoirse O’Reilly, Susie Leonard, Aine Cahill, Rhian Drennan, Aoibhe Drennan, Sorcha Ffrench, Sally Crowley Clare, Jessica Mooney, Rachael Millea, Rachel Cronin and Larah Gorman; second year mentors: Aoibheann O’Dowd, Rachel Phillips, Katie Hackett, Catherine O’Connor, Chloe Kinsella, Caitlin Griffey, Annie Loftus, Carrie Corkish and Lauren McKeon. We wish them well in the year ahead.

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

The Diversity Committee had their inaugural meeting this week as they began working towards the Yellow Flag. There was an open and interesting discussion about how DCW welcomes and includes Traveller students and students from various cultures.

The committee are excited about conducting a whole school survey on inclusion and diversity and putting in place an action plan to promote same. The students are preparing to inform the school community at assembly and prepare a Diversity Code to help promote respectful relationships and a real commitment to showing racism the red card. Thanks to all concerned and well done to all for this magnificent start.

Members of the Diversity Committee working towards the Yellow Flag for Inclusion and Diversity. Committee members: Ms Gillespie Ms Mason Margaret and Kathleen Connors Mary o Brien Bridie O’Brien Catherine Moyseyeva Kate Costello Carrie Corkish Laura Whitty Emma Hanlon Tatyana Moyseyeva Dermot Costello Eamon (CEART) Paula Madden-Yellow Flag Ireland Dr Catherine Merrigan-UCD

BASKETBALL

Congratulations to the DCW basketball team who had a fantastic victory (25 to 6) against Grennan College, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. The super team were Ellie Merriam, Aoife Dunne, Katherine France, Caoimhe McGrath, Emma Coffey, Kelly Borne, Sara Tamani, Sarah Stakelum and Róisín Ring well done girls.

SCHOOL TOUR

Flights have been booked for the annual school tour. This year Mr O’Brien is taking the students to Italy skiing during February midterm. Keep a look out for bargains in the ski wear in Lidl and Aldi girls.

HOCKEY

The senior hockey team played host to Rathdown School on Monday, September 26. It was a tightly contested game with lots of scoring opportunities. Unfortunately DCW failed to capitalise on their chances and Rathdown secured a 1-0 victory.

PRAYER ROOM

The new prayer room is in the final stages of preparation now and will soon be ready for opening. We are delighted and very grateful to Fr Donal for his support in creating this prayerful and reflective space in DCW.

Caroline McDevitt has created a beautiful representation of the Gospel scene of Jesus calming the storm while Amy Johnston created a magnificent lighthouse image, representing the light in the darkness that can speak to people from all religious traditions, including the Christian tradition, and none. Depending on the time of day, different aspects of the magnificent artwork is highlighted thanks to the natural daylight behind the painted glass. This is definitely a DCW Harry Clarke masterpiece.