Storytelling, Tea Fundraiser, Poetry Entry Wins Croke Park Tickets, World Taekwando Championships, Ploughing Championships, Cake Fund Raiser

1st October 2012

"Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" taken at the story telling in St. Mary's School

Storytelling Southeast.

What a busy week this has been with speakers coming to the school and our T.Y. students telling stories to Primary school pupils.

On Wednesday, both T.Y. classes accompanied teacher Mrs. E. Power to St, Mary’s Church of Ireland to prepare for our storytelling adventure with the Primary school children. Fun was had finding and donning costumes from Ard Scoil’s drama department and those kindly lent by Ria Drohan of St. Mary’s who keeps a fantastic box of outfits, books and toys in the children’s corner of the church.

Costumes donned, we awaited the arrival of our first audience. Once the children were seated in the front pews, some girls read while others acted the stories. After a while, Ms. Power took over the telling of the tales which allowed the girls to concentrate on their performance.

Back in school that afternoon, the T.Ys welcomed Blaithin , a documentary producer with Nemeton who gave the girls tips on film making while showing one of her own films. As the T.Y.s learn to film and edit with Ms. Neylin during the year, this was a very useful and informative presentation. Blaithin encouraged them to continue with their story telling in whatever guise it might take.

On Thursday morning only the TYA class went to St. Mary’s next door to tell stories as the other class were involved in various modules of their course. Once again costumes were donned, face paint added and there was time for a quick run through before the first group of young pupils arrived. Practice makes perfect, well nearly perfect, and the girls really threw themselves into the storytelling, with Edel as a ferocious wolf  (or troll) and Carmella as an angelic Snow White. All the actors gave it their all while those not on stage sat with the children and encouraged their involvement with boos and aaahs at the appropriate moments!  Others painted banners in preparation for Saturday’s event . I must congratulate the T.Y.s in their wholehearted contribution and a big thank you to Ria for her help.

Pupils from Carriglea who enjoyed the story telling.

On Friday morning, another treat was in store for the T.Y.s who, along with 5th year students, enjoyed a talk by author Annabel Pitcher whose book “My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece” is an international best seller. Annabel asked if people could remember what they had wanted to be when they were children ; the best answer definitely was a bulldozer!! Apart from a period of wanting to be a spy, Annabel said she had always wanted to write and spoke of the time when she and her husband took a year off work to travel the world, hoping to use this time to write a book. She told of what had inspired her to write this book and how she later realised she had to rewrite the entire story. Her amusing description of when she received the news that the book had been accepted by an agent  and first seeing it on a bookshop shelf alongside favourite authors thoroughly entertained her audience and they were very reluctant to part with her. She advised girls to keep writing and took time to advise some individuals and give them her email address.

Pupils from St. Mary's who enjoyed the story telling.

We are a nation well renowned for story telling, in book, in song, in music and painting and we a re always delighted to encourage our very many talented students in the different spheres of this.  

Saturday Afternoon Tea Fundraiser.

On Saturday afternoon, St. Mary’s Church of Ireland welcomed The Ard Scoil for a fundraising event. Ria Drohan and her committee have been holding these fundraising events all summer with different groups in the community benefiting. Thank you to all the staff, students and parents who baked the delicacies for the day.

With Ria in command, we began making delicious cucumber sandwiches, producing endless pots of tea and stacking sandwiches and cakes on beautiful china stands. Indeed, everything is served on china cups, saucers and plates which adds to the delight, accompanied by 30s music in the wonderful vintage tearoom.

In the church, students Amy Lonergan, Amber Earley, Lauren Mulvihill, Eimear Hurley, Megan Walsh Taylor Murray and Chloe O’Donnell were joined by past pupil Una Power  to set up face painting and story telling corners. As the busy afternoon wore on, some families had their tea in the church as the children enjoyed the face painting and stories. Judging from the laughter and applause great fun was had by all! One lady told me, as she enjoyed her pot of tea, that it had been well worth coming all the way from Cork!

Again, many thanks to all who baked, to Ms. Fox and her students who made copious amounts of cakes and jam and to washers up and general factotems, Mrs.O’Driscoll, Ms.Neylin and Mr. E. Power. Of course thank you to all who came to take tea and contributed generously to the fund.

Above all a huge thank you to Ria, Jenny, Eileen and the ladies of St. Mary’s for inviting us in and without whom it would have been impossible.

Congratulations and Good Luck.

As part of the upcoming Ladies Football Championships in Croke Park this weekend, the Ladies Football association organised a competition where students could support their county team by designing a poster or writing a poem. Many of our students participated and we were delighted to learn on Thursday that 6th year student Sarah Crotty had won the poetry section. Her poem eill be published in the match programme and she also won 20 tickets for the match and five footballs for the school. Well done Sarah!

As there are so many Ard Scoil students, past and present, involved in the Intermediate team , we will be have a Blue and White day on Friday to support the team. Mrs. Ashe organised a bus to travel to the game and this was filled in no time. We wish the team the very best for next Sunday and we’re sure the Ard Scoil contingent in the crowd will give loud vocal support.

Best of Luck to Taekwando athete.

We wish the best of luck to first year student, Abigail McGuire, who travels to Brighton in England this Tuesday to participate in the World Taekwando Championships. Abigail will take part in the under fourteen competition and we wish her all the very best.
    

National Ploughing Championships - Wexford
Tuesday 25th September 2012

Transition Year’s second major outing of the year was the annual pilgrimage to the National Ploughing Championships. We all arrived in our wellies and tracksuits outside the school at seven AM, and set off to Wexford for what was for some of us our very first visit to the Ploughing Championships, and for others, one visit of many throughout the years.

The traffic near Waterford was unbelievable - whoever owns the toll bridge was undoubtedly an extremely happy camper for the three days of the Ploughing. The bus remained at a near standstill while we threw dirty looks at the other buses and cars that somehow managed to pass us out from the other lane. But we did (very, very slowly) get moving once again, and completed what was normally an hour to an hour-and-a-half long journey in around 3.5-4 hours.

We arrived at the Ploughing itself at around eleven o’clock in the morning and scattered, determined to find or beg as many free items as we possibly could-and we weren’t disappointed; people were coming back to the bus at the end of the day as the proud owners of anything from pens to trees. We slipped in and out of marquees for a while, admiring the livestock (and in particular, one huge bull) and wondering whether or not we should enter the competitions giving away various cows.

The girls I spent the day with and I wandered about, grabbing any complimentary goods we came across, until we found a ring of food stalls we were immediately drawn to. By that stage, it had been raining for two hours already and we had nowhere to sit, so we ate our curry chips and crêpes underneath the tiny canopy of the van we had bought them from. Once we had finished, we trudged across the field to find the stalls.

There were stalls to cater to most tastes, from clothes and jewellery (including wellies, just in case anyone forgot) to food and CDs. Along with the shopping stalls, there were various charities milling about with leaflets and booklets to spare. Also wandering about were more well-known personalities, such as Ryan Tubridy, Crystal Swing - who were ambassadors at the Cystic Fibrosis stal l- and also Niall and Vinnie from Beat Breakfast, amongst others. A couple of us were almost knocked down by Michael D. Higgins at one point.

Along with checking out the stalls, food and agricultural side of the Ploughing, a few of us headed over to the big marquee near the food ring to listen to a bit of live music. We stood in a corner and danced about for a while listening to a man sing Trad songs and Elvis accompanied by his acoustic guitar, until a group from some other school wandered in and stole our thunder.

After a visit to the amusements and the toilets (which I do not recommend, by the way - they were awful, as portable toilets usually are) we headed back to the bus at half past three, fairly muddy but still not as bad as some people, who looked as if they just flopped down into the muck and stayed there for the day. We all had a great day, and I’m sure the majority of our year will want to go back next September!

Cake Sale in Aid of West Waterford Hospice

Last Thursday TY’s first charity cake sale was held in the lunchroom in aid of the West Waterford Hospice. We spent the morning baking and decorating as many buns as we could, and they all went on sale for 60 cents that break-time. At the end of the day, the buns were cleared out and we had raised a good bit of money for the Hospice. Well done to everyone involved, and to all those who bought buns, thanks for contributing!

Photos of First Year Football Teams

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Ard Scoil na nDéise
Convent Road, Dungarvan
County Waterford, Ireland
Tel: (058) 41464
Fax: (058) 44801
E-mail: [email protected]