StMary’s CollegeArklow
MERCY DAY
On Monday, September 24, Mercy Day, we celebrated the founding of the Sisters of Mercy by Catherine MacCauley. As is our tradition in St Mary’s we marked the day with a whole school assembly, Mass in the parish church and then Sports day in the afternoon.
Principal Aidan Ward addressed the Assembly and reminded students of the values of the Mercy tradition and reflected on what it means to be a Mercy School in 2018. He acknowledged the difficulties of growing up today with the pressures of social media and focussed on the importance of Wellbeing.
He challenged the students to take responsibility for their own wellbeing by taking positive steps to improve their lifestyles including healthy eating and exercise and engaging more with their friends and families by reducing screen time. He urged them to participate in life by living in the moment and creating memories for their subconscious rather than for their social media timelines.
Student Leaders and prefects were presented with their badges and Head and deputy head girls Kate Moran and Claire McGarry addressed the Assembly. The theme of their speech was Friendship.
The Joan Dowling Award for the best Junior Cert results was awarded jointly to Deirdre Whitmore and Liadain O’Sullivan. The Sr. M Regis Award winner Sarah Shortall was unable to attend due to starting her studies at Oxford on the same day but her words of thanks were conveyed by Mr Ward.
After the Mercy Day Mass with beautiful music provided by the Special Choir, under the guidance of Frieda Mooney, it was time for an afternoon of sport and fun activities. Cross campus racing, sprints, relays, potato and spoon races, duvet races and tug of war gave the students a chance to test their fitness levels and speed. Also on offer were Archery, Chuck a welly, javelin, long jump and hula hooping. The teachers against Form six relay race saw the crown returned to the teachers to great excitement. Well done to all involved in the action packed day.
GEOGRAPHY TRIP
On Tuesday, September 25, our Form six Geography students carried out their Geographical Investigation. They chose to investigate the impact of the geomorphic processes of transportation and deposition on the formation of the beach at Ennereilly, Arklow. The students now have to write up their Geographical Investigation, worth 20% of their Leaving Cert Grade and submit it before March 2019.A wonderful day was shared by both the students and their teachers Ms Power and Ms Horgan.
GAELIC
On Tuesday, October 2, our Junior Gaelic team travelled to Wexford to play their first match of the Leinster Schools League against Loreto Wexford and secured a fantastic win.
The game was definitely a game of two halves with our girls struggling to play into a very strong wind in the first half. However, we managed to keep the game within our grasp at the half time whistle. Our goalkeeper Megan Parkinson did a great job and showed great strength in her kick outs despite the strong wind.
From the early stages in the second half St Mary’s began to notch up some scores and eventually strode ahead to secure a great win with a final score of 4-3 to two – seven. Aoife Kavanagh, Isobel Carr, Róisín Stone and Abbie Healy all contributed to the score line. Well done girls..