S A N C T A M A R I A C O L L E G E , B A L L Y R O A N , D U B L I N 1 6 .

H t t p : / / w w w . s a n c t a m a r i a c o l l e g e . c o m

E m a i l i n f o @ s a n c t a m a r i a c o l l e g e . c o m

Sancta Maria News

Volume 10, Issue 4 Summer 2012

Lunchtime Concerts. A series of concerts were held in the college music room at lunchtime during the week running up to the

Easter holidays. The sixth and third year music students performed some of their practiced exam pieces.

Among the Leaving Cert. students who performed were, Tammy Mulligan, Abi Samuel, Lisa Khorev,

Karla Lane, Laura Keane, Lisa Cuddy, Rebecca Dunne, Louise Wong, Claire Mc Govern and Sheila O’

Connor. Third year students who performed were Jannet Tsang, Rebecca Fitzgerald, Gráinne Murphy, Sa-

rah-Jane Mulligan Shannah Kane, Emma Manning Rebecca Healy and Eimear Leddy.

Trip to Italy! On Thursday March 29th, the 4th Year Italian class visited the

Italian Cultural Institute in Fitzwilliam Square with Ms

McKenna, where we were treated to a tour of the Institute in

Italian, and a video about the cultural and historical aspects of

Italy. We were surprised to learn that we were actually stand-

ing on Italian soil, as the Institute is owned by the Italian gov-

ernment, so technically it was a trip to Italy! We had a look around the beautiful

library, and were shown the balcony upstairs where the Italian flag is flown. We

stopped off first at ‘Ciao Bella Roma’ on Parliament street where we had lunch,

and had to order everything in Italian as the waitress didn’t (or pretended not to!)

speak any English. In true Italian style the weather was beautiful and so a ‘bella

giornata’ was had by all.

Golf News. There is a great opportunity once again to 1st and 2nd year students to avail of golf

lessons. Tuition is provided by the professional in Dublin City Golf Club and takes place at the club

and in Spawell. Lessons cost ten euro for twenty sessions. Interested? Contact Ms. Dunleavy.

Sports Day and Sponsored Walk. Summer weather is on the way! And we can all look for-

ward to Sports Day!! This year all year groups will take part on the all weather pitch on Friday 11th

May from 8.45 to 12.30. The Parents’ Association have organised a sponsored walk for the same

afternoon and would urge everyone to do their utmost to seek sponsorship from friends and family.

Congratulations to the Transition Year P.E.

classes who conquered the local version of the 3

Peaks Challenge—Hellfire Club, Three Rock

and Katy Gallagher. This week 19 students set

off on the Wicklow Way for a 27 K. M. hike as

part of the Gaisce awards programme.

Seachtain na Gaeilge 12ú—15ú Márta. Tharla ceiliúreadh Seachtain na Gaeilge sa scoil ar an 12ú Márta. Bhí díospóireacht Idirranga sa chéad

bhliain –“ Ba chóir deireadh a chur le heide scoile” an rún a bhí acu. Bhí an-díospóireacht ann agus

bhí post iontach deacair ag an moltóir, Ms. Mc Cann teacht ar bhuathóir. Sa deireadh bhí an bua ag

1A3 Ellen Regan (capt) Ekram Ahusamiah, Evie Mc Cann, Caitlín Rossiter agus Lauren Walsh.

The second Year students transferred a corridor and social area into a shopping street scene with

all sign frontage as Gaeilge. We had a pet shop called “madraí agus iasc órga” with a sign reading “Cé

mhéad ar an madra atá san fhuinneog?” and a high fashion outlet called “Tomás de Brún”!! Bhí tráth

na gceist ag an 4ú agus 5ú bliain – ceisteanna bunaithe ar eolas ginearálta. Bhí ceist réitigh again mar

chríóchnaigh dhá fhoireann ar chomhscór! Bhuaigh foireann Julis Sherin, Grace Cleary, Rebecca

Tannam, Ami Kane, Ciara Whelan agus Aoife Dunne. Maith Sibh, gach éinne a ghlac páirt.

Green School Committee. The green school committee would like to draw your attention to the following:

Our school has two noticeboards. The “Green Gossip” is in Sancta Bia Café

and “The Green Broadcast” is beside Ms. McDonagh’s home economics room

along the corridor. These noticeboards will be updated for any green news so

please spare some time to take a look at them. The Green School Committee

has placed bins outside the school grounds. Green bins are for recycling: paper,

empty bottles and plastic. Black bins are for any other types of rubbish. Try to

recycle and please DON’T litter on school grounds or outside school.

Our school is now applying for the second green flag: Energy. Energy involves

saving electricity and gas in our school. There will be “light” posters placed in

every classroom to remind everyone to turn off the lights whenever they are not needed. We invite eve-

ryone to participate and be active in saving energy in Sancta Maria because it will make a big differ-

ence.

The last item on the G.S.C. agenda is competition for the best Tutor Classroom of the year 2011-2012.

The G.S.C. will be reviewing classrooms from time to time. We hope to see NO chewing gum, NO lit-

ter on the floor, NO graffiti and evidence of energy saving. At the end of the year a certificate will be

awarded to the winning tutor group.

Thank you for all your help and support.

SMC PARENTS ASSOC NEWS.

Another year nearly over in Sancta Maria College. Many thanks to all who donated their old mobile

phones in the recent collection. The final amount is not clear as yet but we hope to have raised 200

euro. The Parents Association are again organising a sponsored walk to coincide with Sports day. It

will be held on the 11th of May. The inaugural walk held in 2011 raised over 2000 euro for our

school. This year has proved a very challenging one for fundraising and any and all support for this

final fundraiser of the year is much appreciated. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a

huge Thank You to the committee members of the association for all their hard work this year and

especially to Cathy Lane, Siobhan Garvey and Keri Lawlor who leave the association this year. I will

be leaving myself after 6 years with the Parents Association. I would like to wish the Association,

staff and students of Sancta Maria College all the very best in the future. The Parents Assoc of SMC

provides invaluable support in many areas through the school year and I've greatly enjoyed my time

on the committee. Triona Murphy. Chairperson.

Skiing in Austria by Orla Daly and Nicole Crossan

As we got off the plane in Memmingen Airport, we were all so

excited to be in Germany; we had no idea we’d be in three coun-

tries in the one day! Struan our rep took us to our hotel, the Hotel

Sonnenburg in Ehrwald, a small village with a handful of shops

and quaint cafes in Austria. We settled into our bedrooms over-

looking the ski slopes.

The first day must have been amusing for onlookers as we got used

to our skis. We never could have seen ourselves finally getting

used to the slopes, but with the help of our instructors we had the

“snow plough” perfected in no time. Each group got on well with

their instructors and by the end of the week we found it difficult to

decide who the best one was!

Whether we went out or not, each night was as fun as the next.

When we weren’t skiing down the blue, red and (for some!) black

slopes, we did a range of activities from air rifle shooting to watch-

ing on as the professionals performed a ski show. We had great

fun every night getting to know the other school in our hotel and

the hotel staff.

After the ski competition, showing off the skills we had learned,

we had the award ceremony. We spent our final night in Hotel

Sonnenburg dancing, the teachers even getting involved!

We think we can all agree that this holiday was one we will never

forget and a huge chunk of our enjoyment was down to our won-

derful teachers: Mr. Murphy, Mr. Noonan, Ms. Gaughan and Ms.

Dalton. PINE CONE!!!

Reb Rob : Rehabilitation Robotics. Aoife Nic Craith, a science masters student in Trinity College, visited Sancta Maria College for two

sessions of a pioneering research workshop with students of transition year. She asked the students to

design and construct a series of robots. Aoife will then add software to the Sancta Maria robots. They

will then be used in a programme to help sufferers of Cerebral Palsy learn to control the devices from

remote locations such as hospital beds or even hopefully from home.

Camogie. Dublin Championships. Minor Semi-Final V Loreto Crumlin.

In a very exciting tense game which was played in atrocious weather conditions Sancta Maria

emerged victorious on a score-line of 4-02 0-03. A superb goal scored by Anna Mc Crory drew the

teams level just before half time. Second half goals by Erin Butler and Sarah Lambert secured victory

for Sancta Maria. Best of luck in the final!

Athletics. West Leinster Championships were held on April 24th and 26th in Santry. There were almost 2,000

athletes from 50 schools competing. Sancta Maria was well represented with 50 students travelling

out each day.

Results: Gold – Kafayat Runesewe – Intermediate Discus and Gold in Inter. Shot. Silver – Rose Bu-

khatwa - Inter. Discus and fourth in Inter Shot. Gold – Teresa Addo Junior Long Jump. Silver -

Catherine Mc Donald – Senior Walk. Silver – Maeve Cluskey – Senior Triple Jump. Bronze –

Michaela Shiels – Inter Walk. Bronze – Katie Murphy – Inter 100M Hurdles. Bronze - Catríona Kir-

win –Junior 100M Hurdles. The following girls also did very well in their events, narrowly missing

out on medals – Fiona Whelan Junior Walk, Fatima Calli Senior Discus, Leanne White Senior Triple

Jump, Reshma Mahra Junior Triple Jump and Flora Saerberg in the Inter 1500 M. Well done to all

the students who were wonderful ambassadors for Sancta Maria College in both participation and

school spirit.

Australian Mercy Leadership Team. A delegation of the Mercy Leadership Team from Australia visited Sancta Maria College on Friday

20th of April to study secondary schooling in Ireland. There was a formal presentation in the school

library given by Ms. Kennedy and Ms. Rowan. There were a number of visits to classes and as a fare-

well a number of the college’s music students performed for the guests. Claire Mc Govern – “Kiss

Me” and guitar, Louise Wong – “River Flows in You” and piano, Rebecca Dunne –“Your Daddy’s

Son” voice, Colleen Murphy – soft dance reel and hornpipe, Lisa Khorev – “ Autumn Leaves” voice

and the College Choir sang “Gathered as One” and “ All the Ends of the Earth”.