Re-launching Tidy Locker/ Social area Competition

The tidy locker room competition is back

in action. This competition is for all three

student categories: Junior, Senior and

Transition Year students. The difference

this time is your social areas will also be

examined and judged by the Green School

Committee members [Photo below].

Remember if you want to compete and win

a prize and be awarded a certificate of

merit/excellence-the Committee suggests a collective approach is the best

strategy.

Suggestion Box Interesting suggestions were submitted and placed in the

suggestion box. If you have anymore-no matter how ‘random’ please jot them

down and pop them in the box in the school canteen, near the exit door. Re-

member your voice is as important as the next-so don’t be shy!

Say it in Art, Poetry or Photography Competition This is open to all students

in the college. Please read the G.S.C. noticeboard for more information.

Green School News

Race Night in Aid of Kenyan Trip

Date: 23rd April @ 8.30 P.M.

Venue : Ballyboden G.A.A. Club Please support this event in aid of the Sancta Maria Col-

lege Kenya Project. You can purchase a horse, jockey or

trainer beforehand for ten euro each. Do come along on

the night and enjoy a wonderful opportunity to help a

worthwhile cause. Thank You for your support.

New Bicycle Sheds for Sancta

Maria College

Our new bicycle sheds have ar-

rived! Two state of the art struc-

tures have been constructed and

are now ready for use by all stu-

dents and staff. Now that we are

coming into the Spring this is a

great time to start to cycle to

school safe in the knowledge

that your bicycles are secure in

our new sheds. Happy cycling!

S A N C T A M A R I A C O L L E G E , B A L L Y R O A N , D U B L I N 1 6 .

H t t p : / / w w w . s a n c t a m a r i a c o l l e g e . c o m

E m a i l i n f o @ s a n c t a m a r i a c o l l e g e . c o m

Sancta Maria College News

Volume 13, Issue 3 Spring 2015

Eason Creates: Creative Writing Competition for

Schools 2015 announces Hannah Kennedy (Sancta

Maria College) as shortlisted finalist

Sancta Maria College would like to offer huge congratulations to second year student Hannah Kennedy (2A2) whose entry has been shortlist-ed for the Eason Creates Creative Writing Competition 2015. Hannah is a shortlisted finalist in the Junior cat-egory of the competition. Her story along with eight others will shortly go live on the Eason Blog (www.easonedition.com) and the overall

winner will be selected by a combined public and judge based vote. As a shortlist-ed finalist Hannah will have her story published as an eBook. She will also receive an Eason gift card to the value of €100 and a Kobo eReader. If Hannah is an-nounced as the overall winner of the competition she will win €1,500 worth of books for Sancta Maria College, an Eason gift card to the value of €500 and a Ko-bo Aura HD eReader.

Please show Hannah your support by logging on to

www.easonedition.com and voting for her story. Hannah has shown great

creative flair in the school’s Creative Writing Club and the Sancta Maria College

community are extremely proud of her achievement.

VOTE HANNAH KENNEDY

www.easonedition.

com

¡Spanish Day out! In early February, First Fear students of Spanish hurried excitedly to take their

seats on the Spanish-themed double-decker bus, everyone enthusiastic for the day ahead.

Upon boarding the bus, each student was greeted by our tour guide, Margarita, a Flamenco dancer who gave each student a Spanish name by which they would be known for the day.

Our first stop was the Spanish Embassy where the students learned about the day-to-day

functioning of the staff there, as well as the purpose and services provided by the Embassy. Before

long we were back on the bus playing „I spy‟ ¡en Español! Next we were off to the „Instituto Cer-

vantes‟ to learn about the literary works of Don Quixote in the library, as well as other aspects of

Spanish culture such as music, traditions, places of interest, history and food. Students enjoyed

singing (and dancing!) to Shakira and Enrique Iglesias before tapas were served in the canteen for

lunch. Lastly students visited Trinity College to learn about the opportunities and the many bene-

fits of studying Spanish and learning languages in general. As the third most widely spoken lan-

guage in the world, the benefits of learning Spanish are numerous. Students can expand their career

opportunities by working or doing business in Spain and South America, travel and experience

new cultures and improve their knowledge of their first language.

A wonderful atmosphere was created throughout the day by

the eagerness, strong interest and excitement among students

while celebrating Spanish culture. The day gave the students

the opportunity to understand to a greater extent what it

means to speak and be a part of another culture. On our way

back to school, prizes were distributed on the bus to those

who were able to recognise the flags of the Spanish speaking

countries all over the world. Prizes were also given for those

who were able to sing „La Macarena‟! Above all, each stu-

dent won more confidence in being able to speak and under-

stand a new language, a very worthwhile prize indeed.

School Trip to Paris Thirty one Éléves et three Professeurs are taking off for Paris le 29

Mars until le 1 Avril. We are really looking forward to our boat trip

on the Seine, finally seeing La Tour Eiffel and eating French crêpes!

Our trip will undoubtedly enhance our knowledge and ability to

communicate in French. Don‟t tell our teachers but the highlight of

the trip will be our visit to Euro Disney!! Nous attendons le voyage

avec beaucoup d‟impatience. We can‟t wait!

Ms. Hughes‟ 5th Year French Class.

Wesley College Model United Nations Students participating: Olamide Alimat Alao, Aicha Bench-

abir, Gillian Doyle, Caoimhe Flanagan, Eleanor Hallahan,

Evie McCann, Rebecca McGrory, Lauren Walsh and Réailtín

Walsh and Helen Vysotska

Members of The Sancta Maria College Debating Club partici-

pated in this year‟s Wesley College Model United Nations

from Friday 27th February to Saturday 28th. Our delegates represented Iraq and Argenti-

na at the event. Over the course of the two days

the girls participated in robust and lively debate

over issues ranging from human rights, econom-

ic policies, environment and national security, to

name but a few. This was the students first time

participating in this event and as they took to the

floor to address the pressing issues of the day it

became clear that all their hard work and re-

search was worthwhile in the end!

Sancta Maria College sweep the boards in Swimming championships Congratulations to the swim teams of Sancta Maria College. Both Senior and Junior teams

did the double in the relay races, winning bronze in Medley and Freestyle events. Hannah

McEaneaney won silver in the Junior Individual 200 Meters Medley. Pride of place goes to

Niamh Coyne who won two gold medals in 200 Metres Individual Medley and 100 Metres

Breaststroke. Niamh has also qualified for the National Finals in May. Well done to you all!

Golf news Karen Jones 5th Year has entered the Inter Schools Golf

Championship. It takes place on March 20th in Clontarf Golf Club and

this will be Karen‟s fifth year to compete for the school. We wish Karen

the best of luck!

Senior Team: Aoife Coyne, Aislinn Hearne,

Aoife Keogh, Niamh Coyne. Junior Team: Hannah McEaneaney, Robyn

Lynch, Jenny Zhai, Ami Chen.

Congratulations to Erin Butler and Nicola Mc Carthy 5th Year and Sa-

rah Lambert, Emily Byrne and Rebecca Mc Crory from 4th Year who

completed a course on refereeing in Camogie. All the students were

successful and received their certificates this week. Well done to you

all.

A.I.B Build a Bank Challenge

The “Build a Bank” team have worked very diligently over the past few months in con-

junction with A.I.B. Bank. Their objective in school is to encourage students to open an

account and to save regularly. The team have qualified for the Dublin Regional Finals

next Friday in the Pavilion Centre in Leopardstown. We wish them good luck in this ven-

ture. An outstanding aspect of the team‟s work is their advertising campaign, with posters

displayed throughout the school. Team members: Chloe Brophy, Harlie Duffy, Maija

Hannifin, Holly Manuel, Olamidie Alao and Réailtín Walsh.

World Book Day

5th March 2015

To celebrate World Book Day

2015, Sancta Maria College will

be running a number of exciting

events, including a Guess the

Teacher and a Design a Book To-

ken competition. Thanks to Na-

tional Book Tokens, Sancta Maria

College will be distributing a

€1.50 book token to each student,

which is redeemable at participating book shops. Students

can swap their tokens for one of ten exclusively written

books from authors such as Michael Morpurgo and Holly

Smale.

Ten teachers are engrossed in their favourite books. Can

you uncover the identity of each of the teachers? There are some great prizes to encour-

age your sleuthing.

L.C.V.P. News On February 6th Mr. John Wilkes visited our class in Sancta Maria

College. He outlined the work done by “Barnardos Charity” in Ire-

land. Barnardos works directly with children and families who need

help most, providing services and support in forty centres around the

country. They also campaign for the rights of all children in Ireland

and provide training and knowledge resources to childcare profession-

als. We found the speaker to be very informative.

Poetry Aloud is the annual poery speaking competition organised by the National Library

and Poetry Ireland. It is open to all post-primary school students on the island of Ireland.

In nominating Poetry Aloud for the Clarissa Luard Award , Seamus Heaney cited the

extraordinary way in which the competition seeks to celebrate the joy of speaking and

listening to poetry as well as the fact that there is a strong North/South dimension to the

competition.

Sancta Maria College was represented by 2nd Year students Emer Keogh, Hannah Kenne-

dy and Rachel Copley. The students were provided with one unseen piece of poetry by

the committee. A second piece was chosen by each student to read. The competition in-

structions dictated that the students “read” the poems in order to present the meaning of

the poem on one hand and to also show their own understanding of each work. Competi-

tion was very stiff – only one student was to progress to the national finals from almost

two hundred entrants. Sadly nobody from Sancta Maria College was chosen but it was

nevertheless, a very worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

Thanks to Ms. Rigney for all her work in preparing the students.

Art Department Appeal Do you have any spare buttons? We always need

them in the art room and it is great to be able to

use recycled materials in our art! Other things

we always need are clean jars, wire coat-

hangers beads and old necklaces. Also dona-

tions of fabrics are always gratefully accepted!

Back To The 80`s Of all the activities Transition Year students participate in, the school musical is possibly

the most challenging and the most rewarding. It requires team work, dedication and hard

work (something that Transition Years often have a problem with)! Yet somehow it al-

ways manages to run smoothly. This would be impossible without the help of people like

Eva Bartley and Bernie O‟ Rourke, our dance teachers, but it would be a pretty difficult

thing to do without the students as well.

All of our hard work lead up to the week before Christmas and we were nowhere

near finished. There was still a lot of singing work to do and we hadn`t even run the first

Act of rehersals yet. But the “block week” changed everything. Twenty-eight hours of

musical preparations, only breaking for lunch, was gruelling, tiring and sometimes pain-

ful. But it gave us the opportunity to really whip our show into shape. By the end of the

week we had run the entire show from beginning to end without stopping and partly in

costume. We had a show!

Our first show for First Year students and a visiting primary school was terrifying.

We hadn`t had an audience before. Would they like us? Would they laugh at the jokes?

Would they clap? Although they might have been too young for most of the 80`s themed

references, there was still a great storyline for them to enjoy and numerous characters to

root for. After our first show we had rehearsals until the end of the day, smoothing out

any hiccups that had occurred that morning. Tuesday went much the same way.

Then Friday. Our last show. Although many were threatening tears backstage, we held it

together. Laura Hartin even lead a group of us in the “Wildcats” cheer from “High School

Musical” to raise our spirits. And it certainly worked. The cheering was the loudest it

had been and the audience was packed. More chairs had to be brought into the hall to

accommodate the crowd. News had spread that

Sancta Maria College`s production of “Back To

The 80`s” was not to be missed. We certainly

agreed. Thanks to our teachers, Ms. Cassidy, Ms.

Fogarty, Ms. Bartley Ms. Binley, Ms. O‟ Rourke

and Ms. Mc Carthy.

And now it`s truly over. We really became a lot

closer as a year group, having to work and spend

time with people we might never have talked to

before. We`re much closer as a group now than we

were when we started and as Corey Senior says,

“the memories from that time will live on in our

hearts forever.”

Gillian Doyle.

Congratulations to Theresa Addo,

5th Year, who was awarded “Very

Highly Commended” in a poetry

translation competition organised

by the National University of

Ireland Galway. She translated a

poem by Jacopo Vittorelli from

Italian into English.

Ski Trip 2015 Italy

On the morning of Friday the 13th of February, thirty eight 5th Year Students and five teachers

(Mr. Flynn, Ms. Fogarty, Ms. Hughes, Mr. Noonan and Mr. Murphy) left Sancta Maria College to

make the two hour flight and three hour bus ride to the beautiful skiing town of Andalo, Italy, at the

foot of the Dolomites. We would call Hotel Zodiaco home for the coming week.

The next day we were up at crack of dawn making our way uphill in all of our skiing gear to get

our skis, poles and boots. The rest of the day mainly consisted of people falling and sliding down

the baby slopes uncontrollably, with a brief pizza break in between. Our evenings were usually

filled by other activities such as swimming, ice skating, ice go-karting and going to a festival to see

a fire work display followed by gelato.

The final day of skiing was by far the best. Each of the four groups had progressed without injury

and were all now skiing from the top of the mountain to the base with very few falls. That day we

had lunch at a restaurant half way up the mountain with a breath taking view of the Italian country

side. That night we had a little awards ceremony in the hotel reception with our ski instructors,

whom we had all grown very close to, followed by a sing along led by Mr. Murphy. On the last

day of our trip we checked out of the hotel early and made the hour and a half bus journey to Vero-

na. There we got to see Juliette's balcony from “Romeo and Juliet” and afterwards we walked

around the old cobblestone streets and shopped in the markets. We then, sadly, made our way to the

airport to catch our flight home to Dublin.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it was the most amazing week and such an unfor-

gettable experience. I think we will all be talking about it for years to come. Thank you to all our

teachers: Mr. Flynn, Ms. Fogarty, Ms. Hughes, Mr. Noonan and Mr. Murphy, who gave up their

free time to take us on the ski trip.