THE NCP
Contents A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS FUTURE ARTISTIC STAR STAND-UP WEEK POETRY TY CHRISTMAS FAIR LEARNER'S VOICE STORYTELLER NIALL DE BURCA STUDENT COUNCIL CAPTAIN INTERVIEWS SPECIAL THANKS TO MS. MCCLUSKEY AND MS. KELLY
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A note from the editors Hello everyone and a very Merry Christmas to all! I hope everyone is looking forward to the well-deserved break and holiday festivities. You are all very welcome to our latest edition of the college press and the final edition of 2021. We are delighted to be bringing you the latest version of the NCP. As always, we want to thank all our students who have submitted an article or contributed to this edition. The best part of our job is reading through everyone's wonderful pieces and seeing the amazing talent of the students at Newbridge College. We love to encourage young and talented students to showcase their potential and ability in writing. The determination and brilliance of our students this year has been truly outstanding. It is our privilege to show this talent to the student body and staff of the college. We would also like to thank all the teachers for their continuous support and guidance throughout the hectic and challenging year that was 2021. The school has overcome many challenges and achieved a lot throughout the year, and it has been an honour to watch the school grow academically and in the sporting community this year. None of this would be possible without the support of the school and its staff.
We would also like to thank all the teachers for their continuous support and guidance throughout the hectic and challenging year that was 2021. The school has overcome many challenges and achieved a lot throughout the year, and it has been an honour to watch the school grow academically and in the sporting community this year. None of this would be possible without the support of the school and its staff. It has been a pleasure to bring the NCP to the college this year and we can’t wait to see what comes next. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all and we look forward to seeing the achievements 2022 brings. Don’t forget to stay safe and enjoy the celebrations! -NCP Editorial Team - Aoibhín Dunleavy, Sophia Deasy & Sophie Byrne.
Future artistic star… Newbridge College is blessed with talent, be it on the hockey or rugby fields, the halls of academia, music, stage, or screen, we are formidable. This issue of the NCP would like to give some due recognition to a great talent in the artistic field, third year Joanna Lipska. Joanna is a student in Ms. Holmes third year Art class and her talent is blatantly obvious. She recently has had her work exhibited in the Zurich Young Portrait Prize at the National Gallery. Zurich’s annual inclusive art competition aims to foster and support creativity, originality and self-expression in children and young people. The Zurich Young Portrait Prize accepts entries from young people, up to the age of 18, of all abilities, from across the island of Ireland.
This exhibition showcases twenty finalists in four categories (ages 6 and under, ages 7–11, ages 12–15 and ages 16–18) chosen by our panel of judges. Joanna was one of those entrants chosen from a whole pool of talented entries. Joanna’s entry entitled Chip-Chop was colouring pencil on paper and it is crazy to believe it isn’t a photo taken by a professional lens. Joanna says: ‘This is a drawing of me created by me myself. No intentional deeper meaning behind this self-portrait, it came to being out of fun. I do hope it appeals to others as much as it appeals to me.’ However, this isn’t the first time Joanna’s artistic talents have been recognised. She has already been highly commended by the THIS IS ART! competition - an exciting, new, young people’s art competition held sponsored by RTÉ and the Creative Ireland Programme.
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Joanna’s entry to “This is Art!” competition… self portrait … and no this is a drawing not a photo! Joanna said of the above entry “The drawing reminded me of how distorted 2020 really was” wise words. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so it goes without saying Joanna’s talent speaks for itself. For Joanna, the future is bright, watch this space as it may soon be filled with art.
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This Term Newbridge College celebrated Stand Up Week celebrating Diversity. Stand Up Awareness Week is a time for second-level schools, youth services, and Youthreach in Ireland to join and take a stand against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. The week was an opportunity to take steps to make spaces safe and supportive for LGBTI+ young people, an initiative Newbridge College is determined to continue every week of the year. First year student Jia Yan Lin asked some of her fellow students for their opinions on Stand-Up Week, turn to the next page to see what they had to say...
Newbridge College – where everyone is seen and valued.
Ms. R Kelly’s TYB English class As a part of our transition year curriculum, Ms Kelly’s TYB English class wrote their own poetry. We were given a worksheet on different types of poetry framework and examples of each. We were advised by Ms. Kelly to write an Auto-Bio poem, a Character poem and a Haiku. The Auto-Bio poem was to be written about a real person or an inanimate object. The Character poem depicted somebody fictional. And the Haiku was based on a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of three unrhymed lines. We also then got to each choose another poem to write, ranging from Limericks to Kennings poems. Afterwards, we displayed our poems on A3 paper along with some artwork, which you can view below. We hope you enjoy our poetry! Here is a selection of the TYB’s wonderful work…
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Our annual TY Christmas Fair was held on Tuesday the 15th of December. It was a very busy and successful day. The TY put in a massive amount of effort and turned out some very interesting and innovative mini companies. Well done to all the TY’s involved and their business teachers. Here is a selection of photos from the day.
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Learners Voice We would like to congratulate Julia Moore who has been selected to work with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) on their Student Voice Team, for the 2030 OECD Future of Education and Skills - Student Voices on Curriculum Design campaign. Julia is one of 30 students who has been selected and will represent Newbridge College on a global platform with the OECD. The OECD is an international organisation consisting of 38 countries, ranging from countries in Europe to North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. The OECD plays a critical role in shaping the global economic agenda and influencing decision making in relation to education. Julia submitted a video to the OECD where she discussed her views on curriculum co-design, whilst considering the work carried out to date in Newbridge College. This video will appear on the OECD website. Julia will now go on to work with the 29 other OECD student voice team members, where she will help co-create and contribute to all parts of the 2030 project. Julia will help shape the future of education and improve the learning experiences of students around the world. We are very proud of Julia and what she has achieved. It is an incredible accomplishment. We wish Julia the very best in her future work with the OECD.
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Storyteller Niall de Burca Visits Newbridge College On Wednesday, 3rd November, storyteller, Niall de Burca visited Newbridge
College. All first years got the opportunity to see him perform. Niall was an
extremely talented man. His way of storytelling was extraordinary. He could manipulate words in such a way, it created the most vivid images.
As we watched and listened to his stories, we were so engaged as he became the characters. The way he used voice effects, at first was unbelievable. He was a phenomenal performer! He performed three stories - The World Beginning, The Abduction and Come Here My Love. “The World Beginning” Niall explained the starting of the world in a comical way through his story. He was very interactive with the audience, he involved them at every opportunity and always put a smile on their faces. “The Abduction” Niall explained Irish folklore and history in a different way to textbooks - he turned them into stories. He used the tones in his voice to create jump scares and when he did - the whole audience jumped! If you ever get the opportunity to watch Niall perform, take it. Niall is absolutely amazing. You can see more of what he performs on his Instagram @nialldeburca
Written by Isobel Connolly
The student council is a group of students from each year group that comes together to try and figure out what’s best for the entire student body. The student council would like to get feedback from all year groups to try figure out what our objectives and goals should be. Our current objective is to set up a system for anonymous input and get a notice board in each locker area so that students can be kept in the loop of what is going on. Current members of the student council include: 1st Years: JP Brophy, Charlie Byrne, Katie Hand, Cerys Liuzzi 2nd Years: Simon Connolly, Ebeth Preece, Reuben Thomas, Emma Wilson. 3rd Years: Lily Crawford, Tilly Purcell, Dylan Hand, Ronan Sweeney. 5th Years: Chris Jennings, Grace Farrell, Shane Treacy and Meitong Lui. 6th Years: Finnian King, Ciara Shanahan, Julia Moore, Oisin O’Connor by Reuben Thomas
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A big thank you to everyone who joined us for the online Carol Service and congratulations to Mrs. O'Brien and all of the talented musicians.
Interview with our four amazing captains on the next page…
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Captain’s Interview questions for NCP – Oisín O’Connor 1. How has sixth year been so far? Sixth year has not been too bad so far. At times it has been challenging, there is a big workload and school work takes up a lot of time. It has also been rewarding and I am enjoying it too. 1. What is your favourite subject? My favourite subject has to be either French or Biology. I enjoy speaking French and hope to spend time living in France in the future. I love human biology, I find it very interesting to learn about how the human body works but I don’t really like learning about plants. 1. What would you like to study in college? As of right now I have not made up my mind completely. My CAO is definitely open for change but I think I would really love to study Medicine or Law and French. That could change though but that is along the lines of what I am thinking of now. 1. What is your favourite thing about the school? I feel that the teachers are very supportive and that the teachers genuinely want the best for us. That aspect of our school is great and it is reassuring to know that you have support. 1. How did you feel when you found out when you were one of the School Captains? To be honest, I was shocked. I never had imagined in a million years that I would now be wearing a red tie. I was absolutely delighted and so proud. Every day when I put on my tie I still get that feeling. 1. What is the hardest aspect of your job? It would have to be finding the balance. In a way that is one of the most challenging aspects of life in general, finding the balance between work and leisure. Overall though, I love my job. 1. If you could pick one place in the world to live where would it be? I absolutely adore travelling so I have many different places on my bucket list that I want to spend time in. I adore Canada, I have a lot of family there so I would really love to live there some day. I would also love to live in Paris at some point. 1. If you had three wishes what would you wish for? A chalet in the French alps that I could use to go skiing in the winter. An unlimited plane ticket so that I can visit any country I want in the world. To be happy and successful in my career. 1. What is your favourite memory of being in Newbridge College? Looking back I have lots of really happy memories of being in Newbridge College. My favourite memories of Newbridge College would have to be going to Lyon in second year, going on the ski trip to Italy in TY and of course getting announced as one of the captains. 1. What will you miss the most next year? Not seeing my friends every day will definitely be hard but I am excited about the future.
Ciara Shanahan 1. I would say that so far it’s been my favourite year of school! It’s definitely stressful but a lot of fun being the oldest in the school. I also found that everyone in the year has gotten a lot closer, which often happens in sixth year and makes it even more enjoyable! 2. My favourite subject would have to be chemistry as I find it very interesting, both the theory and the experiments, and because of this there is never a boring class! 3. I am hoping to study medicine in college as it’s always been my dream to work in a hospital. 4. My favourite thing about this school is how well all the staff and the students get along. I have always found there to be a very friendly atmosphere in the school which I believe is a result of the good relationships between the students and staff. Whether it’s just a friendly conversation or a student going to them with an issue, the staff are always up for a chat! 5. I was in absolute shock! I had always really wanted to be one of the captains but doubted myself and didn’t think I would actually get it. So, when the names were announced I couldn’t believe it and it took a couple days to actually sink in! I have been very proud of myself and the other three fabulous students who got it too since and hope I can live up to what the role of being one of the School Captains represents! 6. I think that so far the hardest aspect of the job is making sure that everyone gets their say. As a school captain your job is to represent all the students which means you must ensure nobody gets left out when trying to solve an issue or come to a decision. This doesn’t just include sixth years, it’s all of the years so it’s important to listen to everyone and not only the ones willing to talk! 7. I would pick France because I love the language and the food! 8. I’m never good at answering this question! I think my first wish would good health for all my loved ones (including my dog). My second wish would be for Covid19 to finally come to an end and lastly, my third wish would be to stop climate change! 9. My favourite memory of Newbridge College is the TY ski trip. That was the most enjoyable and fun week of my life by far! 10. I am going to miss many things when I leave next year but I think, like most people, the thing I will miss the most is the people. I’m going to miss the simple things like walking into school in the morning and saying hi to everyone, the casual conversations and joking around with the teachers and, in particular, getting to see not just my friends but everyone in my year every single day.
Finnian King 1. How has sixth year been so far? Sixth year has been good so far. Obviously we have the biggest workload we’ve ever had to deal with on our hands but being the eldest students in the school is unique and is a different experience to any other year. I’d say it’s been one of my favourite years so far but there’s pros and cons to each year so I think that no matter what year you’re in you should make the most of it and the advantages of that particular year. 1. What is your favourite subject? I’d say my favourite subjects this year are Chemistry and PE but if Ms Osborne asks it’s Maths. Chemistry is very challenging but super interesting to me so I enjoy the subject overall and it’s very satisfying when you finally understand what’s going on in a certain topic, except for gas laws, I hate gas laws. PE is great as it provides something a bit different to my other subjects, we get to do a lot of practical work and the theory ties in well if you’ve an interest in sport and training. 1. What would you like to study in college? I’m hoping to study Medicine next year in college as it’s always been the area I’ve been interested in. It sounds cliché but I want to work with people and to make a difference. 1. What is your favourite thing about the school? My favourite thing about the school is definitely the general atmosphere. In general, students and teachers have unique and valuable relationships that result in a distinctive feel to the school. The cooperation between year groups and staff is unparalleled and definitely makes Newbridge College unlike any other school. 1. How did you feel when you found out you were one of the School Captains? I was of course delighted when I found out but didn’t properly process it for a few days. These things often feel surreal. I felt and still feel so honoured and proud to have been chosen for one of these roles and I just hope I have been and continue to fulfil my role to everyone in the school. 1. What is the hardest aspect of your job? So far I’d say the hardest aspects of my job are managing time efficiently and ensuring everyone’s input is heard and considered. A role like this leads to a bit of extra work and means you often have multiple balls in the air at once so managing your time efficiently is essential to getting everything done to a high standard and also keeping on top of school work. As captain, it’s essential that everyone in the school knows they can come and express their suggestions and concerns at any time and ensuring that these conversations are listened to and followed up on is crucial in this role to guarantee that all students get their say. 1. If you could pick one place in the world to live where would it be? Other than Ireland, if I’d to choose somewhere now I’d go with Australia. I was born in Australia and have family over there but more importantly the beaches are class and the weather is warm. 1. If you had three wishes what would you wish for? It’s always hard to avoid the basic answers on a question like this. First of all I’d wish for a bit of snow this year. Secondly I’d wish for petrol to drop in price to like 1c per litre and thirdly I’d wish that Verstappen hadn’t won the F1 because he’s rude and Hamilton is better. 1. What is your favourite memory of being in Newbridge College? Without a doubt the TY ski trip was my favourite memory. From start to finish that week was one of the best of my life so far. Thinking back on it now as I write this makes me wish I could relive it. TY in general was class craic but that week was the highlight. Shoutout to the TYC lads, also to group 2 as we were the real pro skiers on that trip. 1. What will you miss the most next year? Apart from the unique atmosphere of the school and getting to experience it every day, I’ll definitely miss the people the most. Coming in to see everyone every day is something we definitely take for granted now and I’m sure it’ll be a kick in the gut knowing that that won’t be the case next year. Being able to talk to loads of different people every day is brilliant and that diversity will definitely be missed next year.
Julie Moore 1. How has sixth year been so far? Sixth year has been really busy but also really rewarding at the same time. I feel like the year is going by way too quickly and I don’t want it to end. 1. What is your favorite subject? Chemistry 1. What would you like to study in college? Medicine 1. What is your favourite thing about the school? My favorite thing about the school is the friendly and inviting atmosphere. I feel like everyone is welcomed into the school community and we have a very supportive and positive school environment. 1. How did you feel when you found out you were one of the school captains? I was really happy and excited when I found out I was one of the captains. It’s a huge role within the school and I felt very privileged to be given the honour. 1. What is the hardest aspect of your job? The hardest aspect of the job is trying to make the right choices on decisions that affect the entire student body. Deciding what will be the most beneficial for everyone can be challenging as we need to examine the consequences for all students and take everyone’s perspective into account. 1. If you could pick one place in the world to live, where would it be? Australia 1. If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? If I had three wishes I would wish for covid to disappear, Mac Donald’s to bring back curly fries and to be able to understand and speak any language. 1. What is your favorite memory of being in Newbridge College? My favorite memory from school is probably the French trip to Lyon in second year. 1. What will you miss most next year? I’ll miss the friendly atmosphere and being able to hang out with friends every day.
Merry Christmas from The NCP.