Dominican College Wicklow

HAMLET

On November 18 all the sixth year students in the higher-level English class set off to see a production of Hamlet in the Smock Alley Theatre in Temple Bar. The play was performed by the Gaiety School of Acting and lasted 90 minutes. The production was followed by a workshop from the actors, which facilitated a question and answer session. The students study Hamlet as their single text for their Leaving Certificate course. The day proved to be very useful in revising the text they studied last year. Many thanks to Mr O’Neill and Ms Doyle for organising the trip.

COMHAIRLE NA NÓG

Comhairle na nÓg are responsible for the youth councils in the 31 local authorities of the country. They are designed to give young people a voice on the services, policies and issues that affect them in their local area. Each year they hold a Youth Summit and invite representatives from the local schools to find out about their mission and extend an invitation to join.

Eight student council members from DCW attended the event this year. Fifth-year student Ciara Johnston tells of her experience. On November 15 the student council travelled to the Parkview Hotel in Newtown for the Comhairle na nÓg conference. Throughout the day, we engaged in activities relating to youths in action.

The day began with an informative question and answer session. Online Kahoot quizzes added a fun element to the day. We completed many surveys aimed at making changes for young people in Wicklow.

We debated many issues on climate change and discussed general difficulties that young people face today.

We ended a brilliant day by mixing with new people and coming up with titles for a newspaper in 2020, showcasing improvements we would like to see taking place in Wicklow.

The message that young people do have a voice was a very welcome one.

TY ENTERPRISE

The Student Enterprise Programme is an initiative that encourages students in local schools to research, set up and run an enterprise gaining insight into self-employment. The Wicklow Enterprise Office organises and hosts the County Competition in March, providing support and workshops in the early stages of the programme.

On November 18 Serena Bryans, the coordinator of the school’s programme, visited the school to meet with our budding entrepreneurs. She shared ideas with the girls, outlined best practices and highlighted the potential pitfalls common in self-employment. She helped the girls finetune their projects and advised on how to succeed in the competition in March.

The girls found the workshop very beneficial and now have a few weeks to complete their products for the Christmas fair which takes place on December 11 the fair will be open to the public from midday to 2 p.m.

TY RECYCLING SEMINAR

Transition year students in the four Gold class have completed a very topical module on recycling. As part of their assessment of the module, they developed a seminar on recycling to be presented to the fifth class students from Holy Rosary School. The seminar took place on November 18 They compiled a PowerPoint presentation on the correct methods of recycling, focusing on how to recycle aluminium packaging.

Climate change was an important theme throughout the presentation and the three R’s; REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE were highlighted repeatedly. There was also a fun, interactive session with lots of games which the primary students particularly enjoyed. The seminar aimed to raise awareness among the junior students and the Transition Year students achieved their goal. Many thanks to Mr Doyle for facilitating the event.

ISPCC TALK

On November 22, Louise Farrington, a representative from ISPCC, came into the school to talk to all the Second year students. This talk was to link in with their CSPE classes which were focusing on the rights of the child.

Louise discussed the many services provided by the ISPCC such as Childline, the Bouncing forward resilience group, Outreaches to schools and the Bullying Shield. She showed the girls how to access the website and pointed out how to locate areas that might be helpful for the students and their parents. Louise also provided information on courses that ran for teenagers. It was a very informative but also interactive session which received very positive feedback from the students. Many thanks to Ms Martin for organising the workshop.

THE MILE CHALLENGE

Congratulations to all our first and second-year athletes who completed the Mile Challenge in Greystones on November 19, the third event in the County Wicklow schools Cross Country competitions.

All students ran well in very wet and cold conditions and received a different coloured wrist band depending on their time. A special word of congratulations to first-year student Ciara Mas, who posted the fastest time in her year group and to Isabelle Connolly, who placed seventh on the timing list.

Second-year student Lily Sheehy ran a personal best, receiving a blue band for a sub-six-minute mile and placed second in her category. Ms Wadden was very proud of all her athletes. Training continues every Tuesday as preparation begins for the East Leinster Championships.

MARY POPPINS

It is now possible to purchase your tickets for the school Musical ‘Mary Poppins’. Tickets for the evening shows on December 5 and six are available in the school administration office and Earls Newsagents.

Tickets are also available online at gr8events.ie. The cost of a ticket for a student or an OAP is €6, and an adult ticket is €12. A family ticket which covers two adults and two children costs €32. Get your tickets early.

SIXTH YEAR WELLNESS DAY

With winter assessments and mock exams fast approaching, it was agreed that the sixth-year students would benefit by a much needed Wellness Day. The workshop took place on November 20 Áine M Kavanagh gives an insight into the day.

As part of the sixth year Well-being day, we took part in several different activities. In the morning, we were split into four different groups and spent half an hour in each workshop. In my group we started in ‘Brain Food’ where Ms Hennessy spoke about what foods we should be eating to maintain good physical and mental health throughout sixth year.

We then went onto Kinesiology where we learned about the workings of our chemical balance. We were educated on the different aspects of kinesiology and were given a little goody bag to take home which contained a note on what we had learned, a little pink feather, an inspirational quote and an emerald. After this, we did half an hour of meditation with Ms Flood and forgot about the stresses of the upcoming exams. Some groups had a mindfulness session with Ms Gaffney. Our last morning session was in the Aroma Therapy workshop, where we all created our own personal calming scents to take home as well.

After the break, we took part in a study skills workshop which provided us with new and more creative ideas to incorporate into our study plan. It was extremely informative and something we will all include in our study in the future.

After lunch, we did an intense yet relaxing yoga session in the Sacred Space studio. This gave us an insight into one of Theresa’s exciting and unique yoga classes. It was a lovely way to finish off the day. Overall, it was a very relaxing day that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.