Nessan's Newsletter November Edition

Nessan’s Newsletter November Edition

22nd October Colours Day for Focus Ireland National Board Game Playing Day LC Coffee Morning 5th & 6th Art Students visit High Cross Exhibition & Francis Bacon Studio 2nd Nov 1st Year Soccer Blitz in Cresent College U19’s To Play SMI 5th Nov U16 Rugby Match 8th Nov Colours Day Cheque to Focus Ireland 10thNov TY Retreat with Ms. Luddy 11th Nov Fr. Seavers and 2DA mass for Holy Souls 11th Nov Limerick Youth Service Talk To TY 15th Nov TY Community Placement Begins 19th Nov Central College PLC 6th Year Talk 22nd Nov Shakespearean Workshops Begin 23rd Nov TY Life Saver Project U14 North Munster Football vs Croom 3rd Year Skills Talk 24th Nov 3rd and 6th Year Parent Teacher Meeting 25th Nov U18 vs Caimans in Shannon Preliminary Round of Public Speaking Competition 26th Nov Maghnus Collins Smyth Visits St. Nessan’s Community College 26th Nov 1st Year Soccer Match Against Croom 30th Nov 2nd Year Study Skills Talk 1st Dec 1st and 2nd Year Retreat

Sta ff Zone

Christmas Staff Night 17th December 2010 Christmas Concert 22nd December 2010

2010

St. Nessan’s Students Speak Out! Thursday evening the 25th of November saw this years preliminary round of the Mental Health Ireland Public Speaking Project kick off.

There were four teams participating, St. Enda’s Community School, An Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh, Ard Scoil Ris and St. Nessan’s . The venue was the lecture theatre upstairs. Our fabulous speakers were Emma Roche, Thomas Meehan and Lisa Roche. Our substitute Christina Counihan played a huge part in putting these speakers through their paces. Our speech was “educate that you may be free.”

The adjudicator complimented the students on their performances but St. Nessan’s emerged as winners. We now look forward to the county final, due to take place sometime before Christmas. Well done to Emma Thomas Lisa and Christina.

Thanks to all the teachers for their support. A special thanks to some fifth year and transition year students for your help and support on the evening!

Anne Kennedy, Thomas, Lisa & Emma with their certificates.

Just Google It!!

The Art Department would like to wish the participating Doodle 4 Google students the very best of luck in the competition. Six entries were only allowed from the school—namely Emma Roche, Sally Minihan, 5th Year Jamie Power, L.C.A. Shane Franklin 2nd Year, Albeau Kaya and Jamie O Connell - 1st Year.

Thank you to all other students for getting Google Doodle Winner 2009 involved, we received approximately eighty entries from which six were chosen. The winning student will have their doodle appear on the Google Ireland homepage for 24 hours. They will also receive a laptop for themselves and one for their teacher and their school Google Doodle Winner 2010 will receive a €10,000 technology grant! This year’s theme is ‘To me, happiness is....’

We can’t wait to see the things which make young people feel happy represented in their doodles; whether it’s listening to their favourite song, playing a fun game, chatting with someone who makes them laugh, or anything else which puts a smile on their faces.

Well done to all.

WRITE STUFF

On Thursday 11th November, Bec Fahy from Limerick Youth Service addressed our TY students about a new quarterly youth focused magazine called ‘Adolessons’. This magazine will be written by young people for young people and is a great opportunity for students to learn about writing technique, editing and composition. It is also a means for those young people to have their work appear in print, with their own by-line in a significant publication. Students are currently working on the school newsletter which they compose monthly in conjunction with Ms. Toomey and Mr. O Connor so any further assistance will greatly enhance this publication. Workshops are available to the students every Wednesday 5-7pm at the North side Youth Café, Watch House Cross, where students get to have a very hands on approach as journalists from The Post put them through their paces and offer expert advice on writing articles, press releases, interviews and story lines. All this work is backed up in school during English class where students can work on articles for publication.

These workshops are available to any budding writers in the school; just remember to send your article to our own newsletter first!

TY have definitely got writers elbow as they are also involved in a creative writing workshop at the North side Learning Hub on stereotyping, focusing on issues concerning young people and challenging negative stereotyping of young people.

The TY students are putting together a one page newsletter outlining their thoughts and ideas on this subject. They attend once a week and this initiative ties in nicely with the transition year’s ambition for more Bec Fahy pictured with the Transition Years and Ms. Toomey community engagement.

J.C.S.P News

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears 2DE and TY students will sample some of the above and more over the next 4 weeks. In conjunction with the Belltable and Paul Partnership 2DE and Transition Year students will be involved in a series of Shakespearean workshops, beginning this Monday 22nd November and continuing over the next 3 weeks.

This is a fantastic opportunity for students to gain an insight into the workings of theatre and acting-these workshops will showcase the quirkier side of theatre entertainment and make Shakespeare more accessable to the students while tying in neatly with the Belltable’s ambitions for more community engagement. In a way, these workshops develop new audiences and make drama more real to the average student. Some of the students involved have wanted to become involved in drama and go to see plays so it is audience development. It’s also creating opportunities for people to access the arts and that’s fundamentally a role that we play here in the school, getting the students involved and engaging them.

Hopefully, we’ll see some positive spin off re: the Christmas Concert!

Read all about it 3DN Looking out for Well done to 2DE who have just successfully completed their MS Readathon reading programme.

Each student in the class read 3 books in a 6 week period and raised over €100 for MS Ireland.

This is a motivational reading programme conducted nationwide

by MS Ireland designed to encourage students to discover the joys of reading.

Take a bow 2DE.

Game On!!

Also just a follow up to National Board Game Playing Day. In recognition of the school’s participation in this initiative we have just received a voucher for 6 free board games from Hasbro worth over €200. Game on!

Thanks to all the students and teachers who got involved on the day.

Animal Welfare

3DN invited Limerick Animal Welfare to the school to give a talk on animal rights and animal welfare. This is the subject of their CSPE Action Project. We learnt a lot during the talk and now we have lots to write about for our CSPE Action Project Report. Here we are pictured with our teacher Ms. Brennan and Chris from L.A.W. Chris brought her dog a basset hound who was rescued

by L.A.W

St. Nessan's Community College students raise €370 for Focus Ireland 3DA have been very busy working on their CSPE Action Project with Ms. Brennan. They chose to base their Action Project on Focus Ireland who helps those without a home. Along with the Transition Years they attended a talk by Focus Ireland.

They then organised a Colours Day on the 22nd October 2010 where they raised €370. 3DA would like to thank all the Students who brought in €2 to participate in the Colours Day. They hope that their efforts will help Focus Ireland in the great work they do for the homeless.

IC3 Certificates in Computing

Congratulations to Jennifer Loughman, James Edmonds and Joseph Chan who have all been awarded certificates for scoring over 80% in their first round IC3 exams.

IC3, or the Internet and Computing Core Certification programme, is a global training programme providing proof to the world that a student is equipped with the needed computer skills to excel in the digital world and ready for what work employers and colleges look for in a student. Best of Luck to all students involved in their upcoming final 2 exams.

Library Donation

Many thanks to Sinead Hourigan (Watch House Cross Community Library) for her generous contribution of used books to D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Here she is checking out our library, with librarian, Mr. Gale.

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Transition Year News

On Friday 22nd October 2010 the TY class visited the Hunt Museum. The purpose of the visit was to make the students aware of the social history of the Limerick area during the early years of the new state.

The exhibition was based on the life work of renowned Limerick photographer Frank Hasel Beck (1885-1973). Hasel Beck’s photographic legacy shows almost seven decades and his work provides a view through which we can view the major political, commercial and social developments which happened over the greater part of the last century. The display consisted of three parts: Photographs: A carefully selected array of pictures were on display.

Equipment: This part depicts the cameras/technology used in making the pictures. One can only wonder at the astonishing quality of photographs, skill, proficiency and versatility of this remarkable photographer.

Paintings: Three paintings by Limerick born artist Sean Keating (1889-1977); a self portrait and two commissioned works from the 1920’s when the Shannon Scheme at Ardnacrusha was under construction. The Art work shows the scale of the project in the making. While they do not have the quality of his later works, they are a valuable Primary source. The students felt the visit was worth while.

Feet first into St. Nessan’s Community College On Friday 26th November, Maghnus Collins Smyth visited St. Nessan’s Community College to talk to our transition year students and second year students about achievement, motivation, diet and exercise. The Limerick mans achievement?

Running 6 marathons in 5 days through the sands of the Sahara, culminating in a 95 kilometre double marathon on the last day, a run that took almost 15 hours to complete.

Ms. Toomey, cultural coordinator at St. Nessan’s commented that “days like today are organised to encourage students to see down the line and realise that the choices they make now will potentially have an impact on them later but they don’t yet have the same insight.”

The talk got off to a great start with Maghnus explaining his training schedule, both physically and mentally. Of the 153 that started, only 117 finished the Sahara Race and those that did, put themselves through hell and back again to get across that finishing line in Giza. Maghnus freely acknowledges that the cycling he did last year helped him this time around, his mind focused and less distracted by things like food and lodging, his brain telling his body to keep going despite the pain.

“You can never tell, but as everyone else seemed to get weaker as the week wore on, myself and Burnsy (David Burns who ran with him) seemed to get into more of a rhythm and if anything, get a bit stronger.”

St. Nessan’s students were eager to ask about the motivation to do something like this and also his cycle across Africa- “It is about putting yourself there as many times as you can and finding out as much about yourself as you possibly can. The idea is that you find out more about yourself doing something like this than you would in a year of your normal life, because it brings everything to such an extreme, and forces your mind and body to question each other” Ms. Toomey added that Maghnus’ story encourages students to look at their strengths and build on them. He can help them to see the practical, personal relevance of studying and always trying your best, and reap the rewards for the small efforts they make to study or focus more on their schoolwork. By this stage, she added ,laughingly they are probably sick of listening to us, so the teachers words, common sense and wisdom are probably discounted and it takes somebody like Maghnus to motivate them again, Mr. Johnston, 2nd Yr. Year Head, added that “I am a big fan of finding mentors for teenagers, who can connect with young people.

Usually, mentors are inspirational in their own right, or have some achievements under their belt that are valued or admired like Maghnus Collins Smyth here in St. Nessan’s today”. The day proved to be a huge success and the clear conclusion from the talk was that the students were motivated to take on their own challenges and adventures. Edward O Keeffe, a Transition Year student was really taken with the talk and asked Maghnus about surviving such harsh conditions and just making up your mind to do something, and then doing it. Maghnus managed to tie in information about culture, diet, survival, staying on task and always doing your best and making it happen for you. “Talk about it, verbalise it, make it a reality, and then you are more inclined to achieve your goals” Ms. Marie Toomey, Cultural Coordinator.

Creative Film Module After all that high drama ( Shakespearean Workshop) TY head to the Northside Learning Hub to work on a creative film module. There, the students get to watch some films and old movies. The idea is that the students will take inspiration from these movies and work on their own script and character development. Both good and bad aspects of film making were discussed and the workshop are very interactive and ‘hands on’. This is a great opportunity for students to examine the work of film making and the ultimate goal is to produce a short film.

Faster than the speed of light On the 2nd of December the TY girls qualified for the regional finals of F1 in school competition. This is a national competition where students deign and make a replica Formula 1 car that they race against other schools. Their team name is CHEETAHS. Below is a picture of the car the have designed. The team is Angelique Coughlan, Gráinne Hackett, Ellen Tobin-Hogan, Shannon O’Neill, Danielle Quinn, Remember YOU’LL NEVER BEAT A CHEETAH.

Student Council The student council have recently put into action the new school lunch menu. Dean Anslow and Christina Counihan had a meeting wih the lunch staff about changing the lunches and decided on a new lunch menu, which we hope the students like. Soon, the student council will be handing out a survey to decide on which lunch the students favour. These lunches will be put into a fixed menu for each day.

Soon, we will also be trying to find a solution to fix the lunch line and make it easier to buy your lunches.

‘Tis the season Well the Christmas concert/celebration is almost upon us so we need to raise the tempo this week and we are inviting all singers, dancers, musicians, comedians and actors to get involved .Please give your name/class to any member of the Student Council or TY student. The Student Council plus TY students are organising this year’s concert, so if you want that X-Factor, sign up now.

This is achievable but we need everybody to join in with us and a sprinkle of magic seasonal fairy dust on the mics wouldn’t go astray either!

Fa la la la la.

Green Flag Initiative

The Green Flag Initiative is going to be a main target for St. Nessan’s Community College this year. In order to fly our flag we the school community must set up a Green Flag Committee (Dear reader that includes YOU!!)

Ideally the committee includes students, teachers, staff, parents and management. All welcome!!!

If you are interested please contact me on the school email address stnesscc.ias@eircom.net before December 20th 2010.

Interested students may chat to me on the corridor to sign up.

Looking forward to working together to improve your school.

Ms. Maedhbh Dennison.

Students experiment with Science Week During science week ( 7th- 14th October), TY students took part in many chemistry demonstrations and visited many science exhibitions hosted by Limerick’s third level Institutes. On Monday they visited the LIT who put on a Science Magic show. Ms. Power, Ms. O’ Driscoll and Ms. O’ Brien accompanied the students. We saw demonstrations including making slime, fun with Astronaut’s urine, paper torpedoes and floating paper. They even saw Ms. O’ Brien come close to losing a fiver during the Money to Burn trick. On Tuesday & Wednesday, TY students took part in many chemistry demonstrations in Ms. Power’s class. They investigated the effect of temperature on the density of air by launching Chinese lanterns into the sky (after making a wish of course!) they saw the Whoosh Bottle, breathing fire, the Iodine Snake, Mentos and Diet Coke and made lollipops. They also got the pleasure of setting Ms. Power on fire and who could forget the Screaming Jelly Baby! On Thursday, Ms. Power and Mrs. Kierce-Ayers accompanied the TYs and 3DA to the University of Limerick for Sarah Hayes’ fantastic chemistry magic show. Here they saw many more chemistry demonstrations that are infeasible in school, especially things involving liquid nitrogen!

On Friday Ms. Noonan and Ms. Power brought the TY class and 1DI to the University of Limerick again for Professor John Breen’s spectacular show; Mini Beasts in our Backyards. Here we saw the typical creepy crawlees we can all expect to find in our gardens. We found out what makes an insect an insect and why a spider is not an insect. Overall, science week started and ended with a bang and hopefully showed all the students how much fun science can be!

Rugby Update U19’s The U19 Senior Cup team beat Newcastlewest in the 1st round of the cup. Edward O Keeffe was man of the match on that occasion. In the next round, we drew SMI. Edward O Keeffe was again outstanding scoring 3 superb individual tries. The replay was a different matter and we travelled with a depleted squad due to injuries. The following week, we lost in the first round of the Plate Competition to St. Clements.

U16’s - Junior Cup St. Nessan’s beat Newcastlewest in the first round of the cup only to lose out to Abbey CBS in the second round. U14/15 training is on every Wednesday for first and second year boys. The city cup u15’s will be commencing after Christmas

Soccer Update u14’s St. Nessan’s 2-3 Croom.

A disappointing defeat for Nessan’s, as they contrived to lose a game they absolutely dominated. Jonathan Woodland opened the scoring, getting on the end of a corner with a fine finish at the far post. However, Croom fluked an equaliser soon after with a mishit cross that sailed into the net. 1-1 at half-time. Nessan’s again started the brighter and had all the possession, but it was Croom who were to go ahead early in the second half, taking advantage of miscommunication in the Nessan’s defence. Another goal from a corner levelled things up for Nessan’s – Michael Guerin with a fine strike ten minutes from time. Nessan’s then looked certain to go on and win, missing a number of clear cut chances, before Croom took advantage of an injury to Guerin and scored the winner on the counter.

Despite only having 4 shots on goal Croom were the winners, and Nessan’s were left to regret some wasteful finishing.

Team (4-2-3-1): Antone McNally (Christ Kaya); Anthony Mc Inerney, Michael Guerin, Luke McMahon, Eric McNamara; Evan Kelly, Daniel McInerney ©; Jason O’Callaghan, Stephen Hannan, James Cleary; Jonathan Woodland Man of the Match: Anthony Mc Inerney.

Soccer Update u18’s

St. Nessan’s C.C 2 - 0 St. Caimins The U18’s continued their good form in the North Munster Campaign with a hard fought win over St. Caimins. The match was closely contested throughout but 2 goals in the space of 2 minutes from Alex Purcell was to prove the difference. The first goal came in the 25th minute with what can only be described as a wonder goal.

It was a screamer. He shot outside the box and everyone thought it was going wide but it went in the top corner. Then 2mins later, Alex Purcell found the net again for our second goal. They were two great goals. We played well after the two goals coming up to half time. In the second half, St. Caimins came out and tried to score to get back in the game but our defence was rock solid. Nothing could get past Sean Kelly, John Sheehan, Steven Stokes and Christopher Mc Inerney - who all played superbly for St. Nessan’s. Our keeper Edward O Keffee was in top form and he kept us in the game. Everyone played well on the day and it was very hard for Mr. O’ Connor to choose a man of the match. Our next match is Rockwell over in L.I.T. Team (4-5-1) Edward O Keeffe, Sean Kelly, John Sheehan, Stephen Stokes, Christopher McInerney, Dean O Brien, , Ger Meehan ©, Shane Wharton, Andrea Conte, Alex Purcell. Subs: James Cleary, Anthony Quinn, Ben Johnson, JP Nunan, Glen O Halloran.

Reported by Christopher Mac Layout & Design: Michael O’ Connor (Smile SCP), Photography: Mr. O’ Connor & Ms. Campbell Cuddihy. Senior Editor: Ms. Toomey & Ms. Beaumont. Sub-Editor: Arron Moloney & Luke Morrosey. Sport’s reporters: Anthony Quinn, Christopher Mc Inerney. Typists: Shannon O Neill, Danielle Quinn, Jody King. Research: Alan Kelly, Daniel Ryan, John Daly & Edward O’ Keeffe. Reporters: Angelique Coughlan, Ellen Hogan & Grainne Hackett.

Soccer Update 1st Years

St. Nessan’s C.C 6 - 1 Colaiste Chiarain The 1st year students got their Munster Cup campaign off to a flyer against Colaiste Chiarain from Croom. After a cagey opening few minutes, St. Nessan’s sprang into life and were 2 - 0 going in at the break. The second half was much the same with Ross Bowen, Michael O Donoghue and Jonathon Roche marshalling the midfield. Constant possession lead to goals and St. Nessan’s went on to score another 4 goals to lead 6 - 0. The goals came from a variety of players with Anthony McInerney, Ross Bowen, Jonathon Roche and Jason O Callaghan all on the scoresheet. All players featured in the match and represented their school really well on the day. The game finished 6 - 1 with Colaiste Cairain pulling back a late consolation goal. The Crescent Comprehensive are next up for the emerging 1st year team where St. Nessan’s will look to top their group with a win.

Team: Christian Rosenborg, Jordan Guerin, Albeau Kaya, Jack Walters ©, Eric McNamara, Ross Bowen, Cian Kileen, Michael O Donoghue, Jonathon Roche, Jason O Callaghan,Anthony McInerney, Dean Kelly, Robert Cantillon, Tadhg Carroll & Devlyn Young.