Dominican College Wicklow
CROSS COUNTRY SUCCESS
Huge congratulations to all our First and Second year cross country athletes who competed in the Co Wicklow Cross Country Relays on Tuesday, October 1, Despite the very wet and windy conditions the girls put in fantastic performances bringing six gold and three silver medals back to DCW.
The First year team with Kirsty Lauder, Hannah Lawless and Ciara Mas set the standard winning their race. The Second years had two teams in their age-group, and they dominated the race taking gold and silver medals. The gold medallists were Lily Sheehy, Alex Carey and Kayleigh Keogh. The silver medallists Saoirse Dolan, Rebecca Brennan and Catherine Mitchell.
Well done to all our competitors and thanks to Ms Wadden for all her hard work with the girls. The next event will take place in Avondale Forest on Tuesday, October 22
JUNIOR RETREATS.
Both the Second and Third year students took time out from their normal academic timetables this week for a day of reflection with the retreat team from An Tobar Nua. An Tobar Nua is a multi-denominational Christian group that have been leading school retreats for the last decade. The focus of the group is to interact with students on topics that are highly relevant and be responsive to the challenges and pressures that they deal with daily.
Suzi Elliott from Second year reported on a fun, interactive day based on the theme of resilience. The team talked about their personal life experiences and how their faith helped them through difficult times. There were question and answer sessions which the girls found particularly helpful. The active games sessions were enjoyed by all.
Third year students Rachel, Aisling, Eva, Kiva, Eliska and Caoimhe thoroughly enjoyed the day and made the comment that because the team were young that they were better able to relate to the students and the dilemmas they may face. They would recommend the retreat to other students as it was a very thought-provoking day.
MINOR HOCKEY
Congratulations to the minor hockey team on a great performance in their first competitive game of the season. They had a long journey to Mullingar to play Wilson’s Hospital School, but it was worth it to come away with a 1-0 victory. From the onset, the Dominican girls pressed into their opponents’ half and had several scoring opportunities. However, the score-line remained 0-0 at half time.
Wilson’s came back hard in the second half but were unable to break through the Dominican defence. Once again, the opposition goalkeeper was put under pressure and did well only to allow a single goal. The goal, a strong sweep into the bottom left corner, was scored by the centre-mid, Saoirse Dolan. Well done to Saoirse and all the girls on a great team performance.
ROTARY CLUB TALK
Rotary International is a long-standing organisation where men and women come together to use their professional skills for volunteer work. At local level the Rotary Club in Wicklow are involved in a multitude of activities and fundraisers, but the project of interest to the students in the town is the Youth Leadership Competition. This initiative is an intensive leadership experience which ultimately joins young people from different nationalities for discussion and debate.
This week, members of the local branch came into the school to speak to the fifth year students. They outlined the process involved and advised how best to complete the application forms. Four candidates from each of the local schools will be chosen for interview, with one selected for the second phase.
We look forward to announcing the successful candidates. Many thanks to the members of the Rotary club for taking the time to visit our fifth-year students and promoting the Youth Leadership initiative.
TRANSITION YEAR TENNIS
Transition Year tennis coaching is now under way with twenty-eight students attending the tennis club every Wednesday for six weeks. All students who selected tennis as their chosen module were facilitated. They are being coached by John Brady and are very much enjoying the hour-long sessions.
AUTISM SOCIETY VISIT
On Thursday, October 3, Dennis Sexton met with all the Transition Year students to talk with them about his personal experience of Autism. His son Johnny is profoundly autistic. A retired schoolteacher he now mans a phone helpline fielding and advising on all the educational queries associated with the condition.
It was a very informative talk detailing statistics and highlighting the difficulties encountered by individuals with the disorder. The prevalence of people with Autism is approximately one in 100. Many have difficulties with social interaction, social communication and imagination.
The personal stories shared, gave the girls a greater understanding of the disorder and hopefully now can show more empathy to individuals with Autism. Raising awareness is key.
FRIENDSHIP WEEK
Friendship week was celebrated this year in DCW from September 30 till October 4 There were various activities organised throughout the week at Tutor registration and in different classes. For example, compliment cards and friendship bracelets were made and gifted. Friendship posters were designed and displayed around the school.
The Ember Leaders organised a photographic scavenger hunt on Friday at lunchtime, in which students had to recreate iconic photos with their friends to win a prize. Finally, all students came together on Friday to create a display on what friendship means to them.
Overall, the week aimed to enhance the sense of friendship and community in the school. Thanks to the Ember Leaders, who worked so well with the junior students. Thanks also to Ms Flood for all her input with the Ember Leaders.
OPEN EVENING
We are really looking forward to our annual ‘open evening’, which will be held on Thursday, October 10. It will commence at 6 p.m. with a short talk and guided tours around the school and will finish at 8 p.m. It is a great opportunity for families to see all the school has to offer and visit different specialist classrooms. Our senior students and staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to meeting you all there.
BAKE-OFF
The annual DCW Bake-Off will take place over two days on October 10 and 11. The junior competition will take place on October 10 to coincide with open evening so that the finished products are all on display for the primary school students and their parents. The brief is to design, bake and decorate a cake for a special occasion. The Home Economics department would like to acknowledge the very high standard of entries and the number of entries received for the competition. Twenty finalists have now been selected, and we look forward to viewing the finished creations.
WIND ENSEMBLE
The wind ensemble will be up and running this week. Girls from all year groups will have an early start every Tuesday morning for practice. We have a wide range of instruments including the flute and the saxophone. It should be an exciting year of music practising diverse pieces from Christmas carols to film music. If any more students are interested in joining please come along to the music room on Tuesday at 8.30 a.m. Ms Murphy.
The senior girls’ basketball season started this term with East Glendalough taking on Coláiste Chill Mhantáin and as always they were generous hosts. Their girls gave us a good competition but we managed a win with both our U16 and U19 girls’ teams. It’s always a team effort but Tori Ryan was vital in defence and with her rebound shots, for the U16 team.
The U19 team displayed the experience they have acquired and they were strong throughout. Our next game in the Wicklow Girls’ league saw us take on St. Kilians of Bray. They always display a great potential and some good skills but again the U19 team were strong and used the opportunities given to them to pull ahead and take the win. Rhiannon Wynne O’ Sullivan was a vital shooter for that particular game.
Training continues every Thursday and we are enjoying this new season. Next stop, St Mary’s of Arklow.
EGS RUGBY
The season has started with a bang with rugby for senior and junior boys and girls teams.The senior girls played in the X 7 tournament in Barnhall playing five matches winning all and conceding no scores against. What was more remarkable was that all girls crossed the whitewash on at least one occasion. There were notable performances from Nicola Schmidt, Beth Roberts, Victoria Elms- Kinlan, Holly Jenkinson and Grace Hurley with all playing central roles in all games. Layla Soubouki made a number of surging runs and there were debut scores from Ella Jenkinson and, Rebecca O Connor.All the girls put in great performances and I apologise for leaving anyone out.
The juniors girls won all their matches in the X7 series led admirably by Jane Neill. She was ably supported by Tara Kelly, Robyn Johnson and Isabelle Cooney a constant threat suppling scores at will for Maya Gay or and Prudence Issac. It was great to see so many girls getting their forest experience of rugby and they all thoroughly deserved their stop over in the Golden Arch’s on the way home.
The junior boys competed in the Cup qualifying blitz in Enniscorthy, winning two of their three matches with tiredness the main factor to their sole defeat against CBS Carlow. All players put in a solid shift with Finn Fitzpatrick providing an excellent service for a dangerous backline with Scott Fitzpatrick and Calvin Kirby’s showing great finishing powers. Up front Senan Sloan-Kelly, James Waldron and Ben Scott providing an excellent platform. Jack Noble created some great openings with first years Brian Johnson and Will Fitzpatrick well up to the challenge, the future looks bright.
The senior boys played in their cup qualifying blitz in carlow led by skipper Charlie Williams. They got off to a great start dispatching Bagenalstown with a blitz with Max Richards, Adam Neill and Christopher Fitzpatrick to the fore. Up next in a shortened match St David’s Greystones were dispatched with great finishing from Conor Collier and Jamie Noble. Matthew Johnson was solid all day underneath the high ball.Their final match was their toughest but a crucial break and conversion from Tom Flood being the difference. There were some surging runs from Ronan Cullen and Jake Law. Niki Moelders did a superb job in his debut at scrum half and they all go into the cup competition in high spirits. So a busy start with loads more to come with the first year boys opening their season against St David’s Greystones next up.