Dominican College Wicklow
HEALTHY EATING
Sukhi from Sukhi’s India visited the Transition Year Home Economics class to conduct a workshop, the theme of which was ‘Healthy Eating’. Sukhi demonstrated how to cook a healthy chicken and pepper curry with chapati/roti. The students followed her instructions carefully and learned how to prepare their curry base, what spices were best to include and how to make and cook chapati. The girls were delighted with their healthy Indian meal which they shared at the end of the lesson. Many thanks to Sukhi for a wonderful morning.
WEIGHTLIFTING
A new weightlifting programme is currently being initiated for the transition year students. This new initiative is being provided by Wicklow Sports Partnership, Wicklow Co. Council .Wicklow Sports Partnership are funded by Sports Ireland and Healthy Ireland. Each year working from the national physical plan they select specific target groups and aim to introduce them to new activities.
Following the success of a similar programme last year in Loreto College Bray the partnership chose Dominican College Wicklow as its next target group. Interested students will now begin a six week course down at Cross Fit Gym. Following this block it is hoped that a portion of the students will continue with weightlifting as an active pastime.
THIRD YEAR WORKSHOP
As an effective way to encourage third year students to engage with the new term a workshop entitled ‘Emotional Resilience and Managing Anxiety was provided on their return to school. The workshop highlighted concepts such as the power of positive thinking and the importance of motivation. Surprisingly motivation rates higher than I.Q. when it comes to personal attainment. Motivation accounts for 70% of our attainment. How to improve motivation was examined in detail.
The science of stress was discussed and students learned that how we view stress matters hugely. If we can rethink stress responses as helpful we can become much more resilient and perform more effectively. Despite the serious topics the students had a fun interactive afternoon and hopefully the benefits will be seen as they prepare for their exams.
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. This took place on their return from the midterm break. For the early morning session the students took part in three different workshops; mindfulness, aromatherapy and diet and nutrition for the brain.
The Super Generation workshop took place after their morning break. This workshop focused on emotional resilience and managing anxiety and importantly on how to study more effectively. The final afternoon activity saw the students walk down to Sacred Space to participate in a relaxing yoga class. It was a very enjoyable day and a big thanks to all involved in the various workshops and activities.
SECOND YEAR COIN RACE
This term all second year students took part in a copper coin race which served as both a cooperative exercise and a fundraising event. Between the months of September and October each of the three class groups worked together to collect as many copper coins as possible.
Then at the end of October the classes along with their tutors and year head gathered together in Fatima Hall to ‘race’ their coins to see which class group could create the longest chain of copper coins. Ms Scahill’s 2 Sapphire class were the winners with an amazing 11 lines of copper coins stretching from one end of the hall to the other. The coins will be counted by the second years and they have chosen to donate all proceeds to Pieta House.
YOUNG SCIENTIST
Congratulations to fourth year students Rachel Foster and Aisling O’Neill who qualified to compete in the B.T. Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the R.D.S. in Dublin this coming January. Their project was one of the 550 projects nationwide to be selected for the final stage of the competition in January. The title of their project is Statistical Analysis of Changing Attitudes towards Male Workers in Early Years Childcare/Education. Being selected to the final stage is a great achievement and we wish them the best of luck at the R.D.S.
SPORT
The best of luck to the senior hockey team who travel to Sutton Park Secondary School for their next Leinster league match. The first year league is now up and running and the Dominican girls will travel to Alexandra College for their first ever competitive game. We wish them the very best of luck also. Following this game they will play The High School in Rathgar and then local school East Glendalough.
Congratulations to the senior G.A.A. team who had a great win over Baltinglass in their first match of the season. It was a home game played at St. Pats pitch. Despite wet and windy conditions the girls demonstrated high levels of skill and new managers Mr Martin and Mr Doyle were impressed with their fitness. The final score was DCW 9-12, Baltinglass 3-12. Thanks to Mr Doyle and Mr Martin for taking over the management of the girls.
On November 8th the U16 basketball played an away game against North West Educate together Secondary School. They had a great team performance as demonstrated by the impressive score line. The final score was D.C.W 39 - N.W.E.T.S.S. 26. Congratulations to all the players and especially to international student Maria Echuari on her contribution to this and all the previous matches. This was Maria’s last game as she heads home shortly. Best of luck to the senior team in their next match against St Killians and the junior team in their game against C.C.A.
SCHOOL ORCHESTRA
Lessons for the school orchestra are now up and running and take place every Monday and Tuesday. Any interested students who have not yet availed of the opportunity can still do so by contacting Ms Maxwell.
MATHS WORKSHOP
Well done to 4 Bronze and 4 Gold who ran a Maths workshop for all the 6th class students of Holy Rosary School. The T.Y. students designed their own puzzles and challenged the junior students to find the solutions. Both sets of students enjoyed the process immensely and the T.Y.students were very impressed with the logic and mathematical ability of the junior students. Many thanks to Holy Rosary school for attending the workshop.
YOUTH ROTARY
Round one of the Rotary Youth Leadership interviews took place on Wednesday 24th October. Kate Costello, Aoife Dunne, Hannah Gormley and Aine Kavanagh participated in the interviews. Denis Hipwell and Liam Leonard interviewed the girls, asking them questions about their personal achievements, experiences of leadership, knowledge about the work of the Rotary Club and the institutions Of the European Union.
Congratulations to Aoife Dunne who was chosen to represent the school at the second round. This took place in the Grand Hotel on Tuesday 6th November. Students from D.C.W., E.G.S., C.C.M. and A.C.C. were present for these interviews. Michael Connolly, Freda Murray and Andrew Bolger conducted the interviews. The interviewing panel expressed their pleasure in meeting four inspiring young leaders of the future. The students did themselves proud and the panel would have been happy to send any of the candidates through to the next round. The chosen candidate was from C.C.M. and we wish them the best of luck in the next round.
TRANSITION YEAR TALKS
This was a very busy week for the Transition Year Students as they had a variety of guest speakers come to talk to them throughout the week. On Monday two representatives from the I.S.P.C.C. and the Bray Women’s Refuge Centre met with the girls and gave a very informative talk about relationships and consent and highlighted the laws relating to this area.
On Tuesday the health nurse talked to the students about breast check. The importance of early detection was stressed and the correct method of checking was demonstrated to the girls. Enterprise was the theme of the talk on Wednesday. A representative from Wicklow Enterprise Centre talked to the girls about developing their ideas, how to manage social media accounts and how to promote their mini companies.
On Thursday representatives from DELL conducted a workshop with the transition year students. The digital world and careers in I.T. formed the basis of much of the discussions. The speakers talked about the versatility of the DELL work environment and the possibility of first class travel around the world. They advocated that it would appeal to both males and females. The transition year students processed a lot of new information this week and we would like to express our thanks to all the speakers who visited the school.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Upcoming events include the 5th year parent meeting on Thursday 22nd November, transition year work experience which runs from November 26th-30th inclusive, winter exams beginning November 27th-30th and the school musical for which tickets will be on sale for Thursday 13th and Friday 14th December. A reminder that the school will be closed for students on November 26th as the staff have a CPD training day.