News Archive
Debating News
International Competition for Young Debaters
May was a very busy month for our Debaters. The finals day of the International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD) was held on 15 May in Oxford. In total 68 teams took part including two teams from Loreto College, St Stephen's Green. The standard of the competition was very high and all four girls (Marcella Maher, Meadhbh Larkin-Woulfe, Hilary Hogan and Niamh Ní Leathlobhaír) spoke excellently on a range of topics such as drug legalisation and banning religious schools. Marcella and Meadhbh won one of their debates and finished 24th overall. Hilary and Niamh won two of their debates and finished 3rd on the tab to qualify for the Grand Final. Once again the girls put in a very strong performance (and were loudly supported by all the other Irish teams) but were just marginally defeated by St Pauls School. A great performance by all four girls. Well done!
Mace Competition
Well done also to Catherine Donnelly, Rebecca Moloney, Niamh Murray and Martha Fitzgerald who all spoke excellently in the Blackrock Blizzard’s Mace Competition held on 8th May.
Taekwan-Do
Congratulations to Chloe Aboud 2M who has returned from the European Under 18 Championships in Sweden with an excellent result. She won the Individual Bronze medal and Gold in the Beam Event. Well done Chloe!
4th Year Fashion Show
The 4th Years held a very successful Fashion Show on Wednesday, 21 April. The design of hats and outfits was very
creative and all the models did them proud! Thanks to Ms Wright for all the work and encouragement.
Fourth Year Retreats at Emmaus Centre
The beautiful setting and relaxed atmosphere of the Emmaus Centre in Swords left the Transition Years feeling refreshed and invigorated after their annual retreat. 4B and 4G visited Emmaus on Tuesday, 27th April and 4M and 4T on Thursday, 29th April.
Special Olympics Fundraiser
The Folk Group sang beautifully in Grafton Street on Friday 23rd April, in the annual fundraiser for Special Olympics Ireland. This is the biggest annual fundraising event in aid of Special Olympics and the aim was to raise € 1 million in one day.The 2nd Years from 2B helped with the fundraising.
SciFest 2010
Congratulations to the seven groups who displayed their science projects at SciFest on 12th April. All projects were of a very high standard and a huge amount of work was put into conducting some great scientific research.
A special congratulations to Rebecca Moloney, Catherine Donnelly and Anne-Marie Stacey, from 4th year, who received the Highly Commended Award in their category for their project “Can you trust an Eyewitness?”
Also to Sarah Lucey, Ellen Kirk and Sara El Nimr, from 4th year, who won their category and also the Intel Best Project Award for their research into Noise Induced Hearing Loss.
There were 104 projects from schools all around Dublin so winning the overall award was a huge achievement.
Sarah, Ellen and Sara have also been invited to the ‘Celebration of Excellence in Science and Launch of SciFest 2011, next October.
Ms
Sheila Porter, (SciFest National Coordinator) pictured with Ms Campbell,
presenting the Intel Best Project Award Trophy to Sarah Lucey, Ellen Kirk and
Sara El Nimr.
Mission Possible
The Mission Possible team had a question & answer session with our two Kenyan friends, Phyllis and Linda, on Friday 16th April. Their visit to Ireland is part of the reciprocal exchange programme between Loreto Schools in Kenya and Ireland.
The Mission Possible team also co-ordinated a Nail Varnish Day on 12th March and many students availed of this luxury! The Team raised €255 for the Irish Heart Foundation.
School Orchestra
Congratulations to the School Orchestra who took Second place in the Schools Orchestra Competition at the Feis Ceoil held on 16th March. Well Done !
French Exchange
Third year students undertook an exchange visit to France organised by Ms. O’Leary. In October 2009 our students stayed with families in Tarbes in south-west France where they attended some classes, visited the town and surrounding area and went on a day trip to Lourdes. Students were accompanied by their Year Head, Ms Kelly and Ms. O’Leary.
The French
students and their leaders came to Dublin
in March 2010 and really enjoyed the Irish hospitality.
Irish and French students are pictured above outside the school in Tarbes.
Swimming
Congratulations to Catrina English in 3rd year who was Second in the U.16 Breaststroke event in the Inter Schools International Competition (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) last weekend. This was an outstanding achievement. Well done Catrina !!
SVDP
Five Transition Year students represented our school at the SVP Dublin schools day in Seán McDermott street on Friday, 19 March. The president of SVP in Ireland, Mairéad Bushnell, spoke about the importance of helping the disadvantaged in society. Each school had the opportunity to speak about their own work in school and in the local community. Some of the activities that we have completed this year include – Weekly Soup Runs, Blankets & Gloves for Christmas, Nursing Home Visit, SVP Giving Tree and Cookery Class.
Mini Company
Congratulations to the 4th year Mini Company Group Vintage Candy who were represented by Lorna Colgan, Claire McDonald, Stacey Memery, Emma Fogarty, Laura Moffatt and Grace Crawford at the regional trade fair in Lucan on 16 March. They won two of the five categories – Best Presentation and Best Accounts – and will go on to represent the School in the All Ireland Finals to be held in Naas on 4 May.
Student Enterprise Awards
On 11th February, the Irish Rugby team were practising in Croke Park but for Loreto College Stephen's Green something more important happened there!
'Scribbles' mini-company from Second Year won the Intermediate section
of the Student Enterprise Awards and go on to represent Dublin in the All- Irelands.
But the First Years decided not to let them away with it and they too won in their category!
'Team Reflect' go on to represent Dublin
also in the Junior section.
Congratulations and well done to everyone who participated.
Bring a Book, Buy a Book
In conjunction with World Book Day on 4 March, the Library organised a book sale during that week. Students and staff were asked to contribute second hand books from their homes and purchase books donated by others at a cost of €2 per book. All proceeds of the Bring a Book, Buy a Book campaign are going to St. Michael’s House which provides services to children and adults with intellectual disability. A total of €237 was raised in the school. Thank you to all who participated and in particular to the Transition Year girls who manned the book stall during lunch times.
SVDP
The St. Vincent de Paul group hosted a cookery evening in the School on Wednesday, 10 March. They were joined by volunteers from Trinity College who brought along adults with intellectual disability for their weekly activity. The event turned out to be a great success and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
German Junior Certificate Exam 2009
Congratulations to Hazel Bergin and Aifric Gallagher whose exam results placed them in the top 100 in the country out of a total of 9,330 students who sat German in 2009. They have been invited by the German Embassy to attend an interview for a trip to Germany.
Aifric Gallagher and Hazel Bergin
World Book Day
To mark World Book Day on Thursday 4th March, the Library organised four competitions. There was a short story, a book review, a word search and a sudoku competition. All were very well supported and congratulations to all who took part. There were some very good entries in the short story and book review competitions and if you would like to read them, please click on the link below.
Students from 1st and 2nd Years enjoying the Library on World Book Day.
To read some of the entries click here
Business Quiz
29 Business Table Quiz Teams representing Dublin schools assembled in DIT Aungier Street on Tuesday evening last March 2nd. The Quiz was sponsored by Woodgrange Technologies who develop a resource for Business students. Our two teams came overall in 1st and 3rd places and go on to represent Dublin in the Tipperary Institute in November. Well done to the teams.
First place: Katie Bolger, Tillie Keogh, Alice
Ryan, Anna Rose Fullen 
Third place: Amy
O’Sullivan, Rachel Murray Watson, Caoimhe O’Farrell and Rebecca Murray Watson
Camogie at the Green
Click on the link below to read the article which appeared in the Evening Herald on 26th January celebrating the achievement of the Camogie team in reaching the Dublin Colleges Senior final last week. Read the article.
Young Scientist
Congratulations to all the girls who represented the school at the RDS last week in the Young Scientist Competition. It is a huge achievement to complete a project of that standard.
A special congratulations to Hannah Glass who come First in her category and to the two groups who received ‘Highly Commended’ for their projects: Martha Fitzgerald, Sinead McDonagh, Jill Watson and Maud Gilligan, Aine Dempsey and Hannah Donnelly.
Fr. Frank Maher Music Scholarship
Maire, Inion Ni Ainle & Diane
A huge congratulations to Diana Kissane and Máire Ní Chearbhaill who were chosen as two of the five finalists in the Fr. Frank Maher music scholarship. This competition is open to all sixth year students in Dublin city and county. It is a great honour to have had two students representing this school.
The final took place on Tuesday, 20th October and Maire won the first prize and received a bursary of €2,000.
Kenya Trip
Sixteen girls and four teachers from the school visited Kenya for two weeks from 16 October to 1 November. On arrival, they split into two groups. Group 1, accompanied by Ms. Barton and Inion Ní Chonchubhair went to Nyumbani Village and Group 2 accompanied by Mr. Mangan and Ms. Purcell travelled to St. Teresa’s school in Eastleigh. For the second week, the groups reversed location.
Nyumbani village is a pilot project, a village built specifically to accommodate orphans who are being raised by their grandparents – their parents’ generation have been wiped out. The students from our school worked on harvesting and planting seeds and trees. They also worked tending the livestock. The head of the village project told them that they had ended pre-conceived ideas about foreign visitors – they did not expect them to work in the fields and do manual labour.
St. Teresa’s school is a nursery school, built in a slum area. Here the girls worked with the children, playing games, teaching them dancing and telling them about Ireland. They also spent a day in the Senior school, experiencing life as a student.
The girls were very impressed with Nyumbani village. This is a great model for other similar areas. Academic education is provided but there is also training in trades and crafts and the students there feel that the outlook for them is very hopeful and the future is bright.
In Eastleigh, despite incredible poverty and lack of resources in their school, the children are very happy.
At the end of the trip, the girls had the opportunity to visit a giraffe sanctuary, an elephant orphanage and a demonstration of traditional dancing and culture. They also were taken to visit the Nyumbani Orphanage in a slum area of Nairobi and were shown around by people who worked with the Loreto sisters there.
This was an incredible experience for our girls, who were chosen after very stiff competition.
The girls who travelled were Caroline Brogan, Jane Fallon-Griffin, Clare Kelly, Louise Kelly, Siubhan O’Malley, Deirdre Ryan, Orlagh Weafer, Zoe Watchorn,
Lucy Bradshaw, Aisling Colclough, Mairead Conway, Lucy Cunningham, Hannah Dobson, Emma Garry, Jenny Lardner, Aoife McElroy.
Educational Tour to Poland 2009
During the mid-term break 48 students, accompanied by 6 teachers, travelled to Poland to pay a visit to Auschwitz. The main purpose of the trip was to find out more about the Holocaust by visiting some of the places where these events occurred. However, we would also be learning about Polish history and culture. On Saturday morning we all arrived at the airport at 5.30am to check in. On arrival in Krakow we were met by our bus and proceeded straight to Krakow city centre. After a quick food break we began our walking tour of the city. Unfortunately it was raining but that didn't dampen our spirits as we visited Poland's most famous church, St Mary's Basilica and the Royal castle on Wawel Hill, formerly the home of Poland's Monarchs. Next we explored the Jewish area of Kazimierz and learnt what life was like for Krakow's Jewish population down through the centuries. We also got to visit many of the locations that Steven Spielberg used when filming Schindlers List. Most people were exhausted after the early start and walking tour so we checked into our hotel, had some dinner and relaxed for the evening by taking in a movie (In English luckily).
The next day we set off early for Auschwitz. Visiting the site where over 1 million people were killed can be quite an emotional experience but it’s also a very interesting and rewarding one. Our tour guides were excellent and it was very thought provoking to walk around the camp learning about the horrific events that occurred there. That evening we relaxed with a game of bowling. All skill levels were on display from expert (the teachers!) down to complete beginner, but fun was had by all.
Day three saw us take a trip to Zakopane. It was a chance to take in the stunning scenery of the Tatra Mountains in the Tatrrzanski National Park. Of course it was also a chance to do some shopping. We took the funicular to the top of Gubalowka Hill where many people enjoyed some tobogganing. Some students also found time to engage the locals in a snowball fight. That evening we went to a polish folklore evening. We ate traditional Polish food, heard traditional Polish songs and watched some traditional Polish dancing. Some lucky (or unlucky?) people even got to try out the dancing.
Our last day began with a quick visit to the site of Oscar Schindler's factory. We also went to the site of the former Jewish Ghetto in Krakow and saw the monument of 68 empty chairs, representing the 68,000 Jewish people who had lived there before the Holocaust. After that we took a trip to the salt mines. We got to explore part of its 200km of underground passages and chambers where miners carved sculptures out of the native rock salt. We then returned to Krakow for some last minute shopping before heading to the airport to return to Dublin. Overall the trip was an excellent learning experience for all as well as a lot of fun.
Students & Teachers enjoying their time in Poland
Folens Golden Anniversary Competition
Loreto College, St. Stephen’s Green, won the Dublin Regional Prize in this year’s competition. The competition involved writing a 300 word article on the contribution that your school makes to a local charity. Maeve Hennessy wrote the winning entry which focused on the St. Vincent De Paul Group in our school, with a particular focus given to the weekly soup runs. Maeve won € 10,000 for the St. Vincent De Paul charity. Many congratulations to her and all those who are members of the St. Vincent De Paul in our school.
Maeve Hennessy 5B being presented with the Folens Golden Anniversary Competiton Award. Included in the photograph are Ms Triona Barrett, Principal and second from the right, Mr John Mangan, Chaplain.
Following on from her win, on Thursday 24th September, Maeve handed over a cheque for €5000 to Mr. Tony Rock, Projects Manager of Ozanam House. This money will go directly to their Children’s Summer Project for disadvantaged children in the North Inner City. Mr Rock gave a talk on all the various projects that Ozanam House are involved in as well as a tour and brief history of the facility.
Mr Tony Rock, holding the cheque, flanked by Mr. William Bray from Folens and Mr. John Mangan Chaplin. Also included are Eva Cullinane 6M, Roisin Corcoran 6T, Maeve Hennessy 6B, Jenna McMahon 6G, and Kate Doyle 6T
To view Maeve's winning article please click here
The Dublin Airport Authority Children’s
Competition for 2009
Congratulations to Emma Costello, 2M, who was one of the two winners of this competition. There were several hundred entrants so to be among the winners is really something special.
Emma’s prize includes copies of the eight books short listed in the DAA Children’s Book of the Year Award for 2009 and she has been invited to join a panel of expert judges who will decide the winners. A donation will also be made to the school library.
Well done Emma!
To view Emma's winning entry please click here
Loreto Newsletter
To view the SUMMER 2009 Newsletter Click here
To view the LORETO Easter 2009 Newsletter Click here