TY Newsletter Issue No. 3

TY NEWSLETTER. Boxing The first group finished their extracurricular 6 week Boxing course last week and they all found it extremely enjoyable and interesting. The trainers taught them the correct postures and techniques for the many different types of boxing punches; Jabs, Uppercuts, Hooks etc. Half way through the course the students got the chance to participate in sparring with one another (the aim is to hit the opposition’s elbows).

The two trainers showed the pupils how to detect when and where your opponent is planning to hit you and how to deflect it. All student enthusiastically listened and absorbed what the coaches had to say. All the TY students were sad to see the course come to an end, everyone enjoyed themselves and learnt some very valuable self defence techniques. The next course of students have started their Boxing and we hope enjoy the training as much as the first group!

YSI Bake Sale On Friday, the 11​th​ of November the YSI team organised a bake sale.

The sale was in aid of Home Link.

Everyone throughout the school baked cookies, brownies, buns and cakes for the sale. The canteen also donated some cookies and croissants which was a huge help.

The day ran very smoothly and was a complete success and we raised over €900. On behalf of the YSI team, We would love to thank Brien and the catering staff for allowing us to use the Dining Hall and for donating many treats. We would also like to thank Ms. Buckley and Ms. Ni Fheinneadha for helping us organise the entire event.

History - 1​st​ in Ireland Junior Certificate 2016 Congratulations to Emma Beashel who achieved joint first in Ireland, in History, in the Junior Certificate, 2016. As part of the 1916 Commemoration Awards, Emma will be presented with the History Prize by the Department of Education & Skills in November.

Congratulations to Emma and to her teacher, Mr. Kieran Roche, on this prestigious and well-merited award.

CARA Programme As part of the Transition Year curriculum, the fourth year students were assigned to the ‘CARA Programme’ within the school. This is where a first year is paired with a fourth and/ or fifth year student so they can have an older friend in the school that can show them around or help them in anyway that they need. The boys are paired with boys and the girls are paired with girls. On the 17​th​ of October the first CARA Meeting commenced in the Dining Hall with cookies and hot chocolate. Everyone had a great laugh and got to know each other a lot better. The system works really went and ran very smoothly on Monday morning.

Photography Course One of the extra curricular options available to Transition Year students is a photography course with professional portrait photographer Úna Armstrong. Consisting of four small student groups, it is safe to say that this course was a resounding success.

Taking place in a room above the sports hall, students were first briefed on how to correctly handle a camera. The fundamentals of portraiture were explained to us novices, and we soon got to experimenting on our own. The

importance of light in photography was stressed, as we played around with natural light from Windows, reflecting it back and forth so as to capture that “twinkle” in the eye. Úna was a wonderful instructor, engaging us all and not spending too much time demonstrating, but rather allowing us to have a try ourselves and discover things on our own. As a result, we all got plenty of camera time. As we posed in pairs and groups, much laughter went around, and it was a highly enjoyable experience for us all.

At the end, a group shot was taken as a final memento for an incredible day learning a new skill, courtesy of the kind contribution of Úna Armstrong and the TY Co-ordinator for arranging this course yet again.

All photos from this course will be available on the TY Website.

Self Defence TY students had the wonderful opportunity to partake in a FETAC Level 1 Self Defense Course. On the first day of the two day programme the pupils were introduced to Darragh and Cathy who would be taking the class, both highly trained instructors in Martial Arts and Self Defense.

They began with a slide show presentation and gave us different scenarios where people had to use various skills to defend themselves against attackers.

Later that day in the sports hall, all students were engaged in the physical training activities and learnt the different kicks and punches used in Self Defence. The second

day was spent doing assimilated scenarios and how you would react or defend yourself against attackers. The course was extremely enjoyable, all students learnt very valuable life skills and were made aware of the possible dangers in society.

Careers Evening On Thursday 17​th​ November, the 4​th​, 5​th​ and 6​th year students attended a careers evening organised by Ms. Maguire in the Junior School Hall. The event gave students the opportunity to sit down and talk with college students taking part in a course they were considering of taking and talk with professionals who were experts in their career field. There were loads of different options ranging from engineering and computer science to art, film and television.

Each student had four rotations of fifteen minutes so we all got to talk to different people in small groups which most people felt was much better than getting a group talk since most people only had an interest in three or four careers. At the end of the evening everyone said they had learned a lot and felt that we had a clear vision of what course they wanted to take as well as what career they might consider going into. Overall, the careers evening was very beneficial and we would like to thank Ms. Maguire for organising such a interesting and informative event.

DCU Open Day On the 18​th​ of November the TY year group went on a day trip to Dublin’s City University (DCU), Open Day. The day started bright and early. We were all called into an assembly with Ms. Maguire for a briefing on the day, and we were given some very helpful maps and times of lectures.

Everyone was allowed go to whatever lectures they wished until 12:30. The main courses provided at Dublin City University are Business, Nursing, Engineering and Arts.

In the eye of the St Gerard’s students Business seemed to be quite a popular one to go to. The Majority of the students went to some shape or form of a business lecture, from; General Business, International Business, to Marketing. The General Business lecture was detailed explaining how the four year course is run and what projects and assignments you do along the way. We were told that in the third year of this particular course you have the option to study abroad or to get an INTRA which is similar to work experience but students get paid on minimum wage. The professor announced that the majority of students are offered a job in the company that they do their INTRA with.

For breaks in-between lectures, we all seemed to enjoy soaking up the college life atmosphere and getting coffee with our friends. We took a walk around the grounds to see what the sports facilities were like and the accommodation.

The Engineering faculty did not provide lectures, instead they had open displays of all the work that they do to give a flavour of their courses such as, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Electric Technology Engineering.

An all-round favourite seemed to be in the mechanical engineering when we interacted with the Van de Graaff Generator. We also thoroughly enjoyed the biomedical side of engineering where we discovered how hip replacements are made and what materials their made of.

The final hall that the TY students attended was the Nursing Building. This was a modern building with huge new study halls. The nursing lectures were packed, with the majority of girls. It was interesting to see where you can go after getting a nursing

degree and what Hospitals you can work in. There was also the option to go to the Labs and Wards and see what happens there.

It was a fantastic day trip where we got the opportunity to see what College life really consists of. It was a real ‘eye-opener’ for some people as they realised that DCU was not for them because it doesn’t provide any courses that they might be interested in. On a really positive note everyone had a fun day out and on behalf on the TY students, we would like to show our appreciation to Ms. Maguire for organizing such an amazing day trip to Dublin City University!

YSI Homelink

Congratulations to our TY YSI volunteers who helped out at the “Homelink” Winter Party on Wednesday 23​rd​ of November in Bray. Students danced and sang with the party-goers, after which they presented a cheque to “Homelink” of funds raised from their recent bake sale. ​ Many thanks to Ms Ní Fheinneadha and Ms Buckley for facilitating this. ​

LauraLynn Children's Hospice On Tuesday 22nd of November, six TY art students; Sophie Pierce, Claire Ahern, Emily Steyaert, Aisling O Mara, Anna Balmaine, and Lily Rafferty ​were chosen to go to the LauraLynn Hospice to help decorate and paint their windows for Christmas. Our students worked diligently alongside many volunteers from several companies. Our TY students we were paired with a buddies from Microsoft and were allocated the main hall, the kitchen windows and the playroom to decorate.

They painted santas, snowmen, stockings, Christmas trees, elves, candy canes, reindeer, penguins and all things festive. They also got to meet with some of sick children in the residential units and see their delight at our creative displays. It was tremendously rewarding to make their environment happier by decorating their windows for the festive season.

Musical Workshop This term, Transition Year students somewhat apprehensively entered the Halla Nua to participate in a musical workshop. Alongside Ms. Olohan and dance instructor Aisling, we were to be tested on our singing, dancing and performance abilities ahead of our upcoming TY musical in February. The idea of the workshop was for Ms. Olohan to see the talents of all students, and where our strengths as a whole year group lie. From this, she would then select the musical that we will be putting together in the upcoming year.

Though for many us preparation appeared somewhat premature, it is difficult for us to understand just how much effort goes into this stunning production. The earlier we start, the better! In our form groups, we learned dance routines to songs from “Sister Act” sang simple scales and even songs from last year’s musical, “Grease”. Overall, the

workshop was certainly a great success, and was an enjoyable way for everybody to get a small taster of what lies ahead.

High Achiever Award in Music - Anabel Sweeney Congratulations to Anabel Sweeney who has won a second consecutive Royal Irish Academy of Music High Achiever Award and was invited to perform in a “High Achiever” concert in Carlow on Sunday 20​th​ November.