The NCP The NCP

Editorial

Senior Cup Champions

Find that Créme Egg - Photos by Aobh O'Flaherty

Easter Traditions - Niamh Holland.

The Oscars - By Rachel O’Rourke

World Book Day - Isabel Connolly

Library Picks

Compost it - Isabel Connolly

What Chocolate Bar are you? - Heidi Beary

Seachtain na Gaeilge Young Scientist - Hannah Cash

School News

thank you to Ms. Mcluskey

Can you believe Easter is here already? The evenings are getting longer, warmer weather is teasing us into believing it actually exists and teachers are constantly talking about some sort of "mythic" beast know as the exams. It can only mean one thing, one more term to go. Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let's take a moment to celebrate all the amazing achievements and events from around the school this term.

Whether you are a member of the Senior Girls Winning Rugby Team, a future entrepreneur, a budding environmentalist, musical prodigy or future world leader, we at Newbridge College are proud of you all and your achievements. which are copious and diligently recorded in the coming pages.

So whether today you are frantically preparing for your Mock orals, dripping with ice cold water in Uisce or simply can't wait for two weeks of chocolate binging and relaxation, everyone here at the NCP wishes you a very happy Easter.

NEBRIDGECOLLEGE NEBRIDGECOLLEGE NEBRIDGECOLLEGE

GIRLSTRIUMPH GIRLSTRIUMPH GIRLSTRIUMPH

Well done to the Senior Girl's rugby team and their coaches Ms. Courtney and Paidi Mahon on their magnificant success in winning the Leinster Senior Girls competition beating Ardgillan Community College in the Final with a 39-0 score line.

Amy Rushton, Niamh

Murphy , Heidi Lyons, Emmajane Wilson, Skye Harkin, Rachel

Davitt, Anna Taylor, Leah

Tyrell, Amy Tyrell, Alex Connors, Kate

McCarthy, Holly Bale

Holly Hanway, Faye Quinn, Anna Leavy, Millie Kelleher

Maeve Lavelle, Kate Ryan

Roisin Kinch, Dianiamh

O’Shea, Kaylagh O’Brien

Sarah Power, Eleanor Scully

Alice O’Sullivan, Maddie

Langen

Amy Rushton captaining the winning side

HappyEaster fromtheNCP, CanyoufindtheCrèmeeggs we’vestrategicallyhiddenaroundthe school?

Easter Traditions

There are lots of Easter traditions all around the world. Here is a list of Easter traditions you may not have heard of from around the world:

In Bermuda, kids make their own kites and fly them on Good Friday. Legend has it, the tradition started when a local teacher had trouble explaining Jesus’s resurrection to his Sunday school class. So, he made a kite to explain the concept.

In areas of North-western Europe, local people used to light bonfires as a way to chase the cold Winter away on Easter Sunday or Monday. Now, they light them to bring the community together. These are called ‘Easter Fires’. In Finland, kids will put on old clothes and dress up as ‘Easter witches’. Similar to Halloween, they go around the neighbourhood. However, they trade their artwork for sweets.

In Haux, France, residents serve a giant omelette on Easter Monday. They use more than 4,500 eggs and feed up to 1,000 people!

In Australia, United Kingdom and United States of America, kids can decorate their own bonnets with bunny ears, chickens, eggs, chocolate, or flowers. They would then participate in ‘Easter bonnet parades’.

In Greece, people that celebrate Easter in the Orthodox church, dye eggs red. The crimson hued eggs are particularly symbolic since they use the eggs to represent rebirth and the colour red for Jesus' blood, marking the triumphant return of the son of God. People can get very creative with their red eggs, creating different shades, intricate designs, and more.

In Ethiopia, Christians tend to fast in Easter and turn vegan, similar to Lent in the Western church. ‘Fasika’, which is the Amharic word for Easter, and refers to the 55-day period leading up to Easter Sunday.

In Guatemala, the Southern town Antigua covers the streets in colourful carpets in preparation for its Good Friday procession. The long carpets are made from flowers, coloured sawdust, fruits, vegetables, and sand. Each carpet is often covered in scenes that are important to the artists who make them, ranging from religion to Mayan traditions to Guatemalan history. Some of these pieces can stretch as long as half a mile, and artists use stencils to assemble them quickly since they have just 24 hours to create their works of art the day before the Good Friday procession.

In Florence, Italy, locals celebrate a firework display. This is a 350-year-old Easter tradition known as ‘Scoppio del Carro’, or "explosion of the cart" that dates all the way back to the First Crusade.

In Norway, people tend to spend the holiday in a cabin and ski. They enjoy reading an enjoyable book and the tradition is that they read crime books or watch crime films or shows on TV.

By Niamh Holland

By Rachel O’Rourke

This year was a huge year for Ireland in the Oscar’s, with success from Ross White and Tom Berkeley’s “An Irish Goodbye” winning best live action short, along with Richard Baneham, from Tallaght, getting his second Oscar for visual effects for his work on Avatar: The Way of Water.

With a record breaking amount of 14 nominations for Irish people and films ,sadly did not all deliver with only Richard and “An Irish Goodbye” being the only winners.

The victory for “An Irish Goodbye” did deliver one of the greatest Oscar moments that has gone viral all over the world. With Ross White saying “ There’s something very important I’d like to speak about . This award is actually the second most important thing about today, because it is this man’s birthday!” He then gestured towards one of the films stars James Martin, who has Down syndrome, and the whole auditorium began to sing a rendition of Happy Birthday to James. Which has warmed a lot of viewers hearts.

There was another great moment for Ireland with “An Cailín Ciúin” (The Quiet Girl) being the first time an Irish language feature film has ever been nominated for the Oscar’s. This is a great moment for not just Irish film but Ireland as a whole as it shows that Irish is still a thriving language with the whole cast of this film all being fluent Irish speakers and bringing a lot of attention to the Irish language across the world. Another great moment for Ireland was “The Banshees of Inisherin” racking up 9 nominations, somehow walking away with no wins.

It had a great chance at winning best original screenplay but was crushed by the film that was on a roll, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” that won seven Oscar’s. Kerry Condon had huge chances at winning best supporting actress but lost to Jamie Lee Curtis also from “Everything Everywhere All At Once”.

Jimmy Kimmell was hosting this years Oscar’s and during one of the times he was on stage, he led Jenny the donkey on stage ( a donkey from “The Banshees Of Inisherin”) Colin Farrell looked very surprised to see his four legged co-star take the stage. At the beginning of one of Jimmy’s monologues he acknowledged the amount of Irish nominees this year and he made the remark “It was some year for diversity.. We have nominees from all corners of Dublin..” (not entirely accurate ) “Five Irish actors are nominated here tonight, which means the odds of another fight on stage just went way up”. This slightly uncomfortable joke was one of many references to the Will Smith thumping to Chris Rock at last year’s ceremony… This year was a lot more of a relaxed affair.

Kildare’s very own Paul Mescal ,for Aftersun,was up against Colin Farrell and Brendan Fraser. Sadly Paul didn’t end up winning and lost to Brendan Fraser, who starred in “The Whale” where he portrayed a man that was 42 stone.

At the BAFTAS Paul Mescal was caught for an interview with TG4, the interviewer started the interview as Gaeilge, so Paul followed suit anxiously this moment has gone viral with comments like “I found it very emotional, The whole country is bursting with pride for Paul Mescal” arising .

Paul Mescal to many peoples disbelief was “A County Baller” (played GAA for his Country) He played Under- 21 Gaelic football for Kildare and was a member of Maynooth GAA club. Paul had a promising GAA career ahead of him but followed his dream of becoming an actor.

By Rachel O’Rourke

By Isabel Connolly

On Thursday, March 2nd, Newbridge College celebrated World Book Day 2023.

Promoting literacy and encouraging students to read for pleasure has always been a priority in our school.

Newbridge College received the PDST WELLREAD Award in 2019, which was a massive achievement!

To celebrate the day and promote reading throughout our school, we launched a number of competitions, including the ‘Decorate your Classroom Door’ competition, ‘‘Design your own Book Cover’ competition and ran a special World Book Day Treasure Hunt. Teachers also took their classes to the library that day to encourage them to pick a book that they might enjoy reading.

Staff enjoyed some lovely World Book Day cake on their coffee break too (lucky!), in exchange for writing down their book recommendations, so we could promote reading within our staff room.

The NCP

The Library Prefects judged all competitions and as the standard was quite high, they had a difficult job deciding on the best entries however, they settled on the following...

1st place Ms. Hearne - inspired by the book 'Peter Pan' by J.M Barrie.

2nd place Ms. Murphy - inspired by the book 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll.

3rd place Ms. Carey - inspired by 'Gangsta Granny' by David Walliams.

Congratulations to the winners of the ‘Design your own Book Cover’ competition.

1st place Siun Casey (1W)

2nd place Brandon Ryan (1W)

3rd place Grace Mc Conaghy (1V)

Not forgetting our ‘World Book Day

Treasure Hunt’ winning team…

World Book Day was celebrated in Newbridge College on Thursday the second of March. Ms. McCluskey as always expertly organised a myriad of activities all around the school. There was a 'Decorate your Classroom Door' competition, 1st year treasure hunt, free WBD books available in the library and distributed in the social area by the very reliable library prefects.

(L-R) Martin Phelan, Sean Kelly, Ollie Mc

Cartan and Ross Whitehead

Our school community really enjoyed taking part in the activities and the footfall in the library has dramatically increased in recent weeks.

Library

Recommendations

Most popular books in our school library right now…

Pssst... did Pssst... did Pssst... did you find the you find the you find the

llibrary library ibrary

Creme Creme Creme Eggs? Eggs? Eggs?

LIBRARY PREFECT PICKS

BY ISABEL CONNOLLY

1. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: The Love Hypothesis is a surprising, hilarious and love-filled book with joy on every page.

Olive Smith, a third year Ph.D candidate doesn’t believe in a long lasting romantic relationship. Her best friend, Ahn, is the complete opposite. To get Ahn off her back, Olive kisses the first man she finds. That just happens to by the young, hotshot professor, Adam Carlsen, who is a well-known ass. The two plan to keep up the “relationship” charade however, Olive’s feeling have other plans.

2. A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Quiet Kind of Thunder is a sweet and heart-touching book. It stars a young girl, Steffi, has selective mutism and only speaks to her friends. She felt so completely alone for so long that she feels invisible. That is until a deaf boy, Rhys, joins her school. Having had selective mutism, she had to learn sign languages to communicate. She is the only person who can communicate to Rhys. Around Rhys, Steffi feels that she has a voice and feeling soon emerge.

3. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover:

When Tate Collins meets the airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it is not love at first sight. The only this they have in common is the mutual attraction towards one another. Once they are both aware of each other’s feeling, they realise it is the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she has no time for love so that only leaves one thing. They think they can handle it, but they soon realise they can’t. Hearts get infiltrated. Promises get broken. Rules get shattered. Love gets ugly.

4. The Wedding Crasher by Mia

Sosa:

Weeks before ditching DC for greener pastures, Solange Pereira agrees to help her wedding planner cousin on a random couple’s big day. It’s an easy gig, until she finds out that the couple aren’t meant to be. So what’s the only thing one would do in that situation? Crash the wedding!

5. Fake it Till you Bake it by Jamie

Wesley:

Fake it Till you Bake it is a sweet confection story about Jada TownsendMatthews, the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. After returning home, she lands a job in a cupcake bakery, owned by an uptight professional football player, Donovan Dell. After a reporter mistakenly take the two as a couple, they both agree to keep the charade up to gain more business for the bakery. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.

By Isabel Connolly

Did you know that the number one source of waste in school is food?

Well here at NBCompost, we are trying to limit that!

NBCompost is a Young Environmentalist Award entered by myself and three other second year girls.

NBCompost is an initiative to introduce compost bins into our school. We have placed our compost bins in the refectory, social area, and the staffroom within our school grounds so that they are available for everyone.

We noticed that there were no compost bins available for use in our school, imagine that! All the food waste in our school was ending up in general waste and recycling bins. Now, food ending up in the general waste bins is not ideal, but it is not the end of the world. However, the second anything that is not recyclable goes into a recycling bin, the whole bin becomes contaminated and can no longer be recycled.

We completed a survey of the bins in Junior House, which is where most students spend most of their time. We looked to see how much food waste was in the bins. We found that there were 24 general waste bins and 20 recycling bins. 20 of the general waste bins contained food waste and 6 of the recycling bins did as well. The NCP

After the compost bins were introduced, we retook the survey and were incredibly pleased with the results. The new survey showed that only 7 general waste bins and 3 recycling bins were now contaminated.

To help us understand what we should do to get our school to partake in using the bins correctly, we spoke to the head of Green Schools in our school. He showed us how he does his assemblies and gave us tips about where the best place would be to put our compost bins. He also helped us get the bins and contact the bin company. Next, we got some bins, which were provided by the staff, and we painted them brown. Once they were dry, we placed them in the refectory, social area, and staffroom.

Once the bins were in the school, our plan was in action! We spoke to the different year groups at assemblies about our bins and why they are so important. We informed them about what can and cannot be put into the compost bins. During these assemblies, we realised that few students would listen to a group of second year girls, so we added a small game at the end with a prize of sweets. We then placed an informative piece about the bins into the morning notices which are read out to every class every morning. This ensured that, even if somebody had missed the assemblies, they still got to hear about the bins!

We ensured that teachers and students continued to hear about the bins to remind them to use them correctly.

We feel that this project has had an incredibly positive impact on our school community! It has helped the food waste in our school be controlled better and therefore it will be better for the school and bin company as it will mean that they will not need to worry as much about the bins getting contaminated. This project has also made the students and staff of our school, as well as ourselves, more aware of the importance of composting food waste and doing it correctly.

We have been in discussion with our Vice Principals about ordering bins that have General Waste, Recycling and Compost bins all connected in the hopes that, perhaps someday, none of the bins will be contaminated.

Which chocolate bar are you?

BY HEIDI BEARY

Q1. How would your friends describe you?

A A tough cookie, with a sweetheart

B there are so many layers to your personality

C you are

D So random it’s like you’re from another planet

Q2.

What is your dream holiday destination?

A A big city

B somewhere with an interesting culture

C I’m not fussy just somewhere sunny where I can have a break

D I’ve always wanted to go to space

Q3.

What is your favourite animal?

A Honey badger

B Armadillo

C Cat

D I love dogs, especially german shepherds

Q4. What is your favourite movie?

A The bee movie all the way

B I love a good comedy, something that makes me snicker

C I don’t like anything too complicated, something with a happy ending

D I love science fiction, stars wars is a personal fave of mine.

Q5. What do you love to do in your spare time?

A I love to play sport

BI love goofing around with my friends

C I love gardening and going on walks

D I’m a sucker for wild science experiments

Q6. What’s your dream job?

A a professional basketball player

B a stand up comedian

C a therapist

D an astronaut

Answers:

Mostly A’s: Crunchie. You have a bit of a tough crunch but you're sweet on the inside. You have great resilience and really know how to tackle a problem when it comes your way.

Mostly B’s: Snickers. You’re a friendly, easy going person who loves a good laugh. When it comes to friends you have many and you really are the life at the party.

Mostly C’s: Kitkat. You’re a simple person who loves nothing more than cosying down and relaxing. You never pretend to be someone you’re not and are happy in your own skin.

Mostly D’s: Mars. Though some might call you a bit of a nerd, you have a great sense of ambition and an adventurous spirit. Your determination and ability to self-motivate yourself sets you apart from all the rest.

A Chairde, Ár mbuaiteoirí ón gcomórtas GGBO:

Matthew Magee 1st Year, Elena Marsella 3rd Year, Grace MacDermott 3rd Year, Sarah Kelly

1st Year, Caden Donovan 1st Year, Ollie

McCarten 1st Year, Cillian Barker 1st Year.

Bainigí taitneamh as an deireadh seachtaine!

THE YOUNG SCIENTIST THE YOUNG SCIENTIST

AWARD 2023 AWARD 2023

Recently, I interviewed Emily Johnson about her wind turbine efficiency experiment. Emily started off by choosing 6 different blades for her homemade wind turbine to see which type would work the best. Once she had put her models to the test, she then calculated the overall results with one blade standing out in particular. Emily found that the smoothest and most aerodynamic blade created the most power.

This experiment is on an interesting and on topic as that is what everyone is talking about (sustainability). So, an excellent job to Emily and her achievements with this experiment. Thanks, The NCP

Therese Gunning, Legal Director BT Ireland presents the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2023 Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Category 1st Place Junior Individual Award to Emily Johnson, Newbridge College Co Kildare for the project ‘Optimising wind turbine efficiency’

We would also like to say a huge congratulations to Heidi Beary (1Y) who is being put forward to the national finals by the Kildare LEO for her entry into the Junior competition “My Entrepreneurial Journey”. A fantastic achievement, well done Heidi.

Congratulations to Etienne Thompson who came second in the Feis Ceoil (Junior French Horn) classical music competition in the RDS.

Athletics triumph

Congratulations to the Newbridge College swim teams who competed in the All-Ireland finals on 26th/03/2023. Callie Walsh, Lily Crawford, Caroline Redmond and Alison Mahon won bronze medals in the 4 X 100m medley. Congratulations also to the boy’s swim team who were finalists in the relay – Tom Spollen, Matthew Spollen, Jamie Hardigan and Ryan Crawford. Well done to all!

Congratulations to the Minor Girls Team who were placed 5th in the All-Ireland Cross-Country Championships on Saturday in WaterfordRachael Keaney (6th), Isabella Walsh, Hannah Cash, Laoise McDaid and Anabelle Fadden. Well done to all involved!

Congratulations to Tara Mulhall (5th yr) who progressed to the final of the Irish national Mace debating championships on the 25th/03/2023.Tara debated four times on Saturday and ranked 9th in Ireland overall!

Four 2nd year students are working on a project for the Young Environmentalist Awards 2023. Their project has been selected for the regional semi-finals which are taking place today. As part of their project they are introducing compost bins into our school. As a start they would encourage you to use the brown compost bin provided in the ref. We wish Isabel Connolly, Freya Nolan, Clodagh Lannon & Aoife Mackay the very best of luck!

Congratulations (again) to Tara Mulhall in fifth year on winning the Best Individual award at the Business Bootcamp held in UCD this month. This bootcamp aims to help students commercialise a scientific project. 30 winners attended from this year’s Young Scientist and Tara took home the Best Individual award. Well done on this achievement.

Well done

Mrs.

very talented musicians, soloists and choir on their wonderful performances during our annual ‘Celebration of Music’ night. It was so good to have the tradition return after the Covid enforced hiatus.

Congratulations to our TY mini-companies that represented Newbridge College in the county final of the Student Enterprise Awards in Killashee on Thursday. ‘Suds 4 Buds’ (Lena Quinn, Orla Courtney, Lucy Harkin, Niamh Molloy & Ruby Hennessy) won the prize for Best Stand and Rachel Davitt came 2nd in the county with her company ‘Rachies Bakes’. Congratulations to the students and their teachers on all their great work.

Ger Doyle

to

O’Brien and the

HAPPY EASTER