Congratulations to students Niamh Hannon, Aoife and Maeve Geary (6th year), Rachel Whyms (5th year) and Zoe Whyms (2nd year) who played with the Artane Band that lead the funeral of Shane McGowan in Dublin last week.

After 6 weeks of Rowing as part of the PE programme, we had our inter-class Rowing competition. Individuals and Teams qualified through their class competitions.

All coaching and today’s event was superbly organised by a group of TY students who participated in a Rowing Ireland coaching course.

Individual Winners

1st        Elena Kere (1A)

2nd       Charlotte Meehan (1C)

3rd        Izzy Henry (1B)

Team Winners

1st Amelie O’Sullivan, Freya Byrne, Suala Allman Castel, Anna Hyland, Abigéal O’Brien Phoebe Lynch

2nd Nicole Gladyz, Sarah Gleason, Roisin Haran, Ailbhe Mulligan, Olivia Dunne, Sophie Zhang Class 1D

3rd Charlotte Meehan, Lexi Mullarkey, Aoibh Brett, Isabella Tennant, Ella Murphy, Kate Lane Emily Durkin – Class 1C

Certificates were presented by Ms S Ryan (Year Head)

Well done to all 1st Years for their engagement and participation over the last 6 weeks, there was a super effort from all students.

Thanks to Ms Crowley for coordinating the Rowing Programme and Rowing Ireland for their support and use of rowing machines.

 Kira Allman Castel, class of 2023, was presented with a Scholars Award by Professor Dáire Keogh, President of DCU,  at a ceremony in the Helix theatre on 29th November.  Awards are made to a small group of students who have achieved outstanding results in the Leaving Certificate.   The school was  presented with a plaque to mark the occasion.  Kira is studying for a BSc in Nursing (General) in the faculty of Science and Health.  Congratulations to Kira and her family, who were also in attendance.

2A CSPE class tour of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Yesterday afternoon, 2A enjoyed a guided tour of Dáil Éireann and the Seanad Chambers. The students watched the Taoiseach and TDs in the Dáil Chamber during Leaders questions before moving on to see Portraits of previous Taoisigh and paying a visit to the Seanad Chambers. The tour also included a history of the buildings and the intriguing story of the Duchess of Leinster, Emily Fitzgerald. 2A viewed the impressive collage of all the female members of the Seanad centring on Tras Honan, the first and only woman to serve as Seanad Cathaoirleach. The tour wound up with a viewing of an original copy of the 1916 Proclamation and the portraits of the founders of the Dáil.

Before commencing their visit to the Dáil, 2A had a whistle stop tour of the adjacent National Museum of Ireland where they saw a Bronze Age Dugout canoe, cist graves and the Clonycavan bog body. The class also viewed iconic national treasures such as the Ardagh Chalice, Tara Brooch, Cross of Cong and The Bell of Saint Patrick and its shrine.

Special thanks to Ms Daly, Ms NiGhoill and Ms Burke for accompanying the class, especially after school.

Well done to the 14 students who participated in the first model UN conference to be hosted by Newpark Comprehensive School last weekend.  The students represented Ghana and Panama in various committees and among the topics debated were child labour in sub- Sahara Africa, underage substance abuse, waste management in manufacturing countries, the Taliban' s reign in Afghanistan, gang violence in central America and the role of AI in crating economic policy.  Well done to Lauren Grant of TY on being voted best delegate in the Health and Youth committee. 

Congratulations to Aoibhe Smyth was was invited to speak at the 2023 UNCRC Child Summit, representing Jigsaw.

Aoibhe spoke about what must be included for young people’s mental health in the youth strategy, which is being implemented by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth over the next 4 years. Aoibhe will speak to some of our junior students over the coming months. 

Well done, Aoibhe. 

The Soroptimist Public Speaking Competition took place on Saturday. Ariana Ceraldi and Ruth Dolan both spoke on People and Human Rights. Lauren Grant spoke on Partnership and Empowerment of Women. Well done, girls and thank you to Ms Conlon for preparing the students and for attending the event.