Newpark Newsletter January 2023

Newpark Newsletter

The Principal Word

Our Newpark Newsletter gives readers a taste of all our school activities so far this academic year. It is great to be able to reflect on, acknowledge and celebrate all our achievements and successes. It’s been a busy and rewarding first half of the year for me as I have had the pleasure to attend and enjoy so many of these activities and see first-hand the dedication of staff, students and the wider school community in making it happen.

I attended the Short Plays Festival recently in the Hunter Theatre. It was a really excellent evening. Written, directed, acted and produced in a short space of time, the short plays are always good fun as a consequence. Somehow it seems the pressure is off the students, and it is really apparent how much fun the participants are having, all the while engaging and developing their creativity. The real success for me is the number of students involved and the breath of involvement across year groups and the wider school community. Inclusion is important to us in Newpark, in our ethos and in our mission statement, and as I observed the students in the GPA arriving and preparing from early afternoon and as I sat and watched the plays, I was struck by how this production was a wonderful ‘living-out’ of this inclusion. Well done to all involved.

I also wish to sincerely congratulate all students and teachers involved in the recent BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in the RDS. First-years Oscar and Casper knew their brief and were impressive in talking about their hypotheses and findings. Education for sustainable development is important both nationally and in Newpark, and third-years Allegra, Tom and Natan had a really interesting project in this regard which received a ‘Highly Commended’ award from the judges in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences (Intermediate) category. Fifthyear Nakai Mudiwa had phenomenal success in winning second place individual prize in the Behavioural & Social Sciences (Senior) category. In the process, she also caused quite a stir amongst local politicians vying for social media space with her! All our students are encouraged to strive for academic

excellence within their own potential. The BT Young Scientist competition supports this excellence and is a great example of learning beyond the classroom.

I welcome the introduction of Cineáltas, the Department of Education’s new action plan on bullying. We’ve been advocating cineáltas (kindness) in Newpark for a long time. Bullying is wrong and we have a collective responsibility in Newpark to prevent and address bullying behaviour in all its forms. During term one, I addressed the issue of bullying with each of the three junior year groups. I outlined different forms of bullying, what is and isn’t acceptable in Newpark and how there is a responsibility on all of us to call it out. One of the ways we can do this is by including others. Exclusion within peer groups is sometimes subtle, but always hurtful. Our ethos and mission are strong in relation to our welcoming and kind community, so it is important that we live this out in our day-to-day interactions with each other.

It was interesting to read Rachel Blackmore’s thoughts on being the first female jockey to win the Grand National. She said that while it was an honour to be the first woman to win the Grand National, she felt elated that she had won, not elated because she was a woman who had won. Blackmore and a host of other female sportspeople – Kellie Harrington, Leona Maguire, Ellen Keane, the national soccer team - hope their success can have a positive knock-on effect on the perennial problem of girls dropping out of sport. It is no surprise that a recent KPMG report found that taking part in sport, at any level, has numerous knockon benefits. Lots of transferable skills - confidence, selfbelief, team building – but also, interestingly, 50% of employers look to see if applicants have played sport, believing it adds to their suitability, and 90% of female

CEOs have participated in sport. Hopefully, we all agree that it is important to continue encouraging our young people, irrespective of gender, to keep up their sports and physical activities. We’ve had a lot of sporting success over term one, and while this is good in itself, it is also good because success breeds wider participation.

It was fabulous to have the Christmas Market return in December. Thank you to the PTA for all their hard work and support to the School. Consultation, discussion and feedback from PTA meetings on school issues are always interesting and helpful. Fundraising activities by the PTA directly benefit the students and the School. Fundraising this year has included, amongst others, a significant contribution from the PTA towards cameras for the Art Department and towards the new outdoor stools designed and made in conjunction with Alan Meredith Studio.

Responding to and managing student anxiety within the School community is an important initiative under the School Improvement Plan this year, prompted by national evidence that young people’s social and emotional skills and wellbeing have been adversely affected by the pandemic. The School has engaged Dr Claire Hayes, consultant clinical psychologist and author of Finding Hope in the Age of Anxiety to work with students, staff and parents/guardians. The PTA are funding and organising the parent/guardian presentation from Dr Claire Hayes on Tuesday 28th February 2023 and I really encourage all parents and guardians to register for and attend this interesting and worthwhile event.

At this time of year, we are conscious in the School of our third- and sixth-year students as their mock examinations approach. I wish all students sitting mock examinations the very best and I hope all students involved gain valuable experience and insight that will help them in their state examinations in June.

Thank you, as always, to the production team of this Newpark Newsletter. Your work is greatly appreciated. Enjoy the pages ahead!

By Mr Eoin Norton Lig

do Scíth

The current sixth year art classes worked with Alan Meredith to design and make the new concrete and timber stools for the back courtyard of Newpark. Students and teachers from throughout the school community made their suggestions for images that could go on the stools.

Alan Meredith has been working with us in Newpark since 2016 when he made Quadrangle, the public art piece for the front courtyard of the new school. Since then he has worked with the school on continuing projects for our outdoor space including a series of benches in different parts of the campus using different materials such as oak, concrete, steel and painted wood. The colours on the new stools and the benches tie in with the distinctive Newpark locker colour scheme the inside connects to the outside.

We hope that as the weather improves, some classes will use the stools to facilitate outdoor learning, and that the stools continue to be used at break and lunch times.

By Mr Ciaran Byrne

The Basketball Diaries

1st Year Boys

Alexandra college (51-8) and Sion Hill (28-6).

All the matches were great to play and travel to, and the team had an amazing time. Sadly our league ended recently but we placed third!

We continue to train every Wednesday, which is very enjoyable and our team is developing every week, with a big thanks to Ms Browne. We are hoping to play some friendly matches in the New Year, and improve as a team even further.

By Fia Scally, 3rd Year

Senior Girls

There was a great turnout to our first training session back in September when 25 plus boys showed up on that first Tuesday. Unfortunately sessions were postponed until after mid-term due to other sports but now we are back in action with a smaller group. We have been practicing our throws, dribbling skills and

U16 Girls

The under 16 girls’ basketball team had a great season this year, we played five matches, starting off strong against Teresians with a 22-12 win. We continued to

If I had to sum up the Senior girls’ basketball season so far it would be: short and sweet! We've had a quite a few matches so far that haven't exactly gone our way. Our first away game was against Teresians. As we hadn’t had much training, we lost, but we did get some baskets and got to know each other’s names.

Over the last number of months, we have been working on shooting and defense tactics such as zonal. If there’s one thing Ms Browne has cemented in our brains, it’s to keep our arms up and get right in their faces. And it really works. Our second game was against Sion Hill and their infamous American coach. They were much better than we’d expected them to be! Another game was against Firhouse. This was a much tighter game, with Newpark coming back and closing up the gap. We ended this game only one basket behind.

Though we didn’t advance in our league and were quite unlucky with our matches, it has been a positive in term and our post-match debriefs are unmatched. Hopefully we can win some friendlies in the months to come!

By Sophie Shepherd, TY

U16 Boys

The U16 boys’ basketball have had a good season. At the start of the year, we were drawn in a group with Nord Anglia, Terenure College, St Mary’s Rathmines and Gonzaga. In our first game, we were away to Nord Anglia. After a closely fought contest, unfortunately we lost 25-20. In our second game, we were away to Terenure College. After another close game, we ended up winning by 4 points 39-35. Luckily, we got a walkover against Mary’s after a bus mix up on their end. In our last group game, we played Gonzaga, who

the win with a score of 47-26. It was a great way to end the competitive season and now we look forward to training hard for the rest of the year, before moving up to the new challenge of senior basketball next season!

By Noah Dodson, 3rd Year

Senior Boys

The senior team secured promotion after winning the league last year. We came into this season with the goal of winning the Dublin East League again. We quickly learned this wouldn’t be easy after a narrow loss to Gonzaga. This forced us to enter a play-in to reach the quarter final. We managed to win the game by two points against East Glendalough.

In the quarter finals of the shield, we played St. Marys and ended up winning by a comfortable margin of 57–38. In the semi-final we faced Ardgillan, and after being behind for most of the game, we managed to pull back and clinch a 31-26 win to set up a final against King’s Hospital in Oblates Hall in Inchicore.

It was a tight first half in the final with Newpark leading going into the break by 5 points. In the second half, we pulled together as a team and managed to seal

The next game against Maynooth was no easier as we had to make a big come-back to win by two points. After beating Wesley in the semi-final we were left with Coláiste Raithín in the final in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. Our first challenge was off the court as Mr Doyle had to fight hard to get us a second supporters’ bus. An animated crowd of over 140 people spurred us on to a twenty point victory in the final.

The team has improved a lot under our new coach and former student Dillon Hennessy and we are now looking ahead to our quarter final in the All Irelands. In January we headed to Ennistymon, Co. Clare and secured a 36-28 victory – worth the six hours of travel in the end!

By Gavin MacAonghusa, 6th Year

1st Year Boys Hockey

This year there are a lot of first year boys doing

The year started off rocky with our first blitz against St. Andrew’s. We did not win any games but since then we have won all of our league matches so far.

We train Tuesdays and Fridays and we normally do drills and then a match. We are really enjoying training and are getting a lot better as a team. We are looking forward to the rest of the season and we hope to keep our winning streak.

By Daniel Clabby, 1st Year

1st Year Girls Hockey

Hockey started in August and our training sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4-5pm. The first excitement of the year was a blitz against Loreto.

In October we were entered into the 1st year league and began to play proper half pitch matches. Some of the schools we played against were Muckross, Mount Anville and Newbridge Collage.

The A team have made it through to the finals and we are very excited!

By Clarissa Maybury, 1st Year

2nd Year Girls Hockey

We have really been enjoying the hockey so far, especially because at first it looked like we wouldn’t have the pitch for a few months. We are very lucky to have been able to play a lot of matches.

The A team were doing quite well in the Cup, but unfortunately lost their recent match. Luckily there is still a very good chance they can win their league as can the B team. Both teams have won many matches but also lost a few, but hopefully we can improve lots more before the season ends. All of us have really been enjoying training this year, not so much when it's cold

out, but even then, we still have lots of fun with our coaches and the rest of the team.

We can’t wait to see how the rest of the year goes for us and we are really looking forward to it.

By Emily Ferguson, 2nd Year

2nd Year Boys Hockey

The second-year boys hockey team has had a great start of the year making into the division 1 league along with schools like Andrew’s and Wesley. At the start of this season, we played Andrews where we went one nil up until the last five minutes where they got a lucky goal to make the end result a draw. We then went on to play Sandford where we won 3-1 and then Wesley Bs who we had to beat to make it into the A league we beat them 7-0!

We now aim to try and battle are way through the A division and hopefully snag the league by the end of the year. Everyone is improving their skills at every training thanks to the amazing coaching staff. While we all love winning, hockey is also a time to have a laugh with mates or make new friends. So if you are thinking of joining, pop on down for a training or two

The hockey season began in September starting with great training sessions helping us all get back into hockey mode. We have been working on different drills preparing for our matches. We have been practicing short corners, press, passing and positioning etc.

We are very lucky to have a squad big enough that we can field two teams. The A team has had a very successful first half of the season having won all matches to date. This means we are top of our Division 1 League and are still in the running for the Junior Cup. The team has worked hard together resulting in a great rapport on and off pitch. The B team has also worked hard on their play seeing a few wins so far.

We have seen amazing improvement from everyone playing hockey since September. Huge thanks to our coaches Tyron and Ben for their time and effort given to junior hockey. Well done to both teams so far and here’s to a fun and successful second half of the 2022/2023 hockey season!

By Mia Chadwick, TY

Junior Boys Hockey

For this season of hockey, we have taken in the new 3rd years, and they’ve boosted our team as they are very skilful. Because we have so many 3rd years, we now have an A team and a B team. The B team started the season off great by beating Mount Temple 4-0! And a couple games into the season our A team beat High School 7-1, with the man of the match Will Lloyd getting a hat-trick.

Recently, it has been very cold and sadly a lot of our matches have been cancelled due to pitches being frozen. We hope that after winter passes and we go into spring, we will have lots of successful matches to finish out our season of hockey.

By Aidan Gosling, TY

Senior Girls Hockey

This hockey season has been nothing short of exciting as we entered this season with a brand new team and new coach we didn’t know what to expect. From the very beginning, a noticeable chemistry formed which has contributed to our great successes in the league. We are currently in the semi-finals for our league and eager to make it to the finals. Unfortunately we lost our first cup game and are currently working hard through the plate, having won a few matches already. We are excited to see the outcomes of our 2023 season as it has been an amazing experience with an amazing team.

For some, it is our last year playing hockey in Newpark and it has probably been the best so far! We wish all the other hockey girls the best of luck next year.

Of course we have a few very important people to thank, who have put a lot of effort into girls’ hockey this year. A big thank you to Linda, Denver, Simon, Ms Carr, Ben, Mr Adams and Tyron.

By Sophie Hamilton and Laragh Tierney, 6th Year

Senior Boys Hockey

Coming into this school year, excitement levels were high as the students of Newpark were waiting to hear the news on the long awaited, and long overdue, resurfacing of the hockey pitch which never actually went ahead unfortunately. As we weren’t meant to have a pitch for the first half of the season the senior

Swimming

As we all know, the atmosphere around Newpark is encouraging and supportive and it’s always great for supporters to go watch matches and give the teams a boost; this is something that we as the players always look forward to on matchdays. Playing only away games meant that we had no supporting crowd to give us that extra boost in confidence and performance but even without the home advantage, the boys still managed to win two out of three league games in round 1, which saw us finish second behind The King’s Hospital and placed us in round 2 with Temple Carraig, St. Andrew’s Bs and Sutton Park who all also placed second in their groups.

This year’s Senior Boys team is possibly one of the school’s youngest senior squads ever with the team being made up of students from 6th–3rd years and even saw the introduction of second years David Rankin and Joshua Carroll to the squad. Luckily, the younger lads were able to fill in as the overlap in 4th year activity weeks and matches resulted in depleted squad numbers when we came up against Wesley College Bs. The lads dug deep and fought hard to take home a crucial win to finish second in round 1 with the 3rd and 2nd years standing their ground against the senior students of Wesley.

With two home games scheduled against St. Andrew’s and Sutton after the Christmas break, the Senior boys would love to get as many supporters as possible out to the matches to cheer on the team to see the season off in true Newpark style.

By Daragh Grogan, 6th Year

In October of this year, a swim team in Newpark was put together. The team is made up of 1st- 4th year students, open to swimmers of all levels. Since then, training has taken place with Ms Ormond every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 8-8.30 in the Newpark pool.

Starting off our events for this year, we were delighted to be invited for a friendly swim gala with The King’s Hospital School on the 7th of December. To prepare for this we selected two swimmers in each year, one boy and one girl to swim each event, followed by mixed relay teams from each year. We spent our time in training preparing for our relays and respective events.

On the day of the gala, there was plenty of nerves but far more excitement, we were feeling confident. It was only a friendly gala after all. We left class early and all piled onto the bus to King’s Hospital. As both schools were missing a few students, we subbed in people from each school to fill lanes for races.

There was a relaxed atmosphere, with everyone glad to be there. Ms Ormond and Ms Farrell took down everyone’s times and every swimmer was pleased with how they did. The gala finished with the relays, which proved to be plenty of fun and a great way to end the day.

Overall, it was a great experience for us all to improve our swimming. The gala showed the hard work and effort that Newpark students have put in at the free swims and for their clubs. We’re very grateful for King’s Hospital’s invitation and to Ms Ormond for making it possible. The team are looking forward to future galas and continued success.

By Lisa Maxwell and Hannah Reed, TY and Kuba Kadlubowski, 2nd Year

1st Year Boys Rugby

Cullen! This all proved to be very motivating for the day. Everything was looking good for a great day of 7’s rugby. We got to play games against teams from St. Benildus, St. David’s, Templeogue and Old Bawn community school. We had two teams entered, so the big game of the day was Newpark v Newpark, with rugby being the winner!

Finally the day arrived that the 1st Year boys of the Newpark rugby squad will never forget. The first 15-aside game representing Newpark at the Rockies! Our opposition for this big event was St Columba’s. The boys played really well and we eventually won the game 33-19.

The rugby season started on the 31st August with 1st Years having taster sessions and try outs. The numbers of students attending the first training sessions were very good with over twenty students at training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Six students in the squad are club players so the standard of ability was high and with a number of students involved in other sports as well, the potential for the year looks very good.

After three weeks of training we hosted our first blitz at the pitch in the Rockies, against two local schools. This was the first experience of competitive rugby for the majority of the squad. We played ten-a-side on half the rugby pitch. We were able to field two teams. With games against St. Benildus and St. Conleth’s the students were able to put the three weeks of training into practice.

A week later we hosted our second blitz with DLSP and St. Columba’s travelling to the Rockies for an afternoon of free flowing rugby. Having played together the previous week, the two teams played very well with a number of students getting the opportunity to play in a variety of positions.

Three weeks after our second home blitz, the squad attended the South Dublin Schools 7’s tournament. The venue for this was the Energia Park in Donnybrook for an all-day event. Before the tournament started, the boys got to watch the senior Leinster rugby squad train and also received words of encouragement from Leo

Our second fixture was another home game against St. Benildus, a team we were getting to know very well having played them in our first blitz and the 7’s tournament. We knew this was going to be a tough fixture as St. Benildus had come out on top in all our previous encounters. In a very competitive game, Newpark came out on top this time with a score of 2012.

On Friday 25th November the squad again assembled in Donnybrook for our second outing at the South Dublin Schools 7’s. Another great day of free flowing rugby was enjoyed by the boys. All of our training and game practice certainly was paying off as we had a higher success rate than our first rugby 7’s competition.

Thank you to the following members of staff and past student for assisting with coaching and managing teams at fixtures and competitions: Mr Adams, Mr Doyle, Mr Smyth, Mr O’Shea and Louis Perrem. Well done to all the students involved. Any students interested in playing in the future, please speak to Mr Davey.

By Mr Shane Davey

Junior Rugby

The Junior Rugby team have had a good start to the season. The team has had to adapt to most of the squad being in second year with most of the teams they face being in third year. This means the focus on rugby skills and knowledge has been essential in allowing them to improve and compete against other schools with more experienced and developed players. They have been guided excellently by several players in third year who, having tasted success with the Junior Team last year, are eager to show their ability and be as competitive as possible this year.

The first two games against De La Salle Churchtown and New Ross saw the team turn out as winners in both. This equalled the number of wins that the 2nd year students had in all of 1st year and is helping them believe they can compete and be a good team this year.

Following the opening wins came back-to-back losses away to Templeogue and St Columba’s. The defeat to Columba’s was particularly harsh as several injuries on the day affected the team. The rest of the team, however, responded excellently, pushing all the way and showing the strength and depth available to the team (and making the jobs of Mr Forsythe and Mr Smyth even harder when trying to pick players!)

The team then embarked on a trip to Soustons in France for four days. It was a great trip and allowed everyone to mix across year-groups and form a tighter bond amongst the players. This positive impact has been easy to see in training and school since returning. At the time of writing, Newpark had won its first game in the cup. A win over De La Salle Churchtown again saw a massive improvement when compared to the earlier match between the two sides. The team is currently waiting on the result of a match between Tullow CS and Bagenalstown to decide who they will play in the next round.

Anyone in 2nd or 3rd year interested in playing rugby is more than welcome to come and give it a try. Contact Mr Forsythe or Mr Smyth for more details.

By Mr Gary Smyth

Á Biarritz

The Newpark Junior Rugby team went on a trip to the south of France to Soustons with Mr Smyth, Mr Forsythe and Mr Adams from the 26th-29th of October.

We stayed in a campsite in mobile homes so there were four or five of us in each mobile. We played our rugby a ten-minute walk away from the campsite in this rugby centre where other visiting schools were also staying. This is where we had our breakfast lunch and dinner. It was grand food (but my mum makes better).

On the first day we flew into Bilbao then got a bus up to Soustons to the campsite. We went straight to dinner and after that we did a little training on the pitch and about twenty burpies. We all had a number from 1-32 and we weren’t able to count up to 32, so I

The second day started early with us having to be at breakfast by 7:45 am. Then we went surfing at nine for a few hours (although I don’t think I saw anyone actually standing up on their board). We were back at the campsite at 1 pm for lunch. After training, the second year team had a match against a French school the players all looked about nine years old. We won that match but we still played pretty badly... if the French kids had been the same size as us they would have hammered us.

Later on, as we were all having our dinner, Bandon

Grammar from Cork showed up and from the look of them we thought they had brought a senior team but apparently it was their A and B Junior teams. When we were leaving and going back to the campsite we thought we were going to get hammered by them.

On the third day it was the same thing in the morning then we had this zip wire course which was good fun and then lunch. After training we played Bandon Grammar with a mainly third year team and were lucky to be playing their B team. The first half of the match was the best we have ever played and we were winning well. The second half wasn’t our best and we almost lost the game but won it in the end. I don’t remember the final score but it was close enough. After that we had dinner then headed back to the campsite.

On the last day after breakfast in the morning, we went back to the campsite to get all our stuff ready to go, had lunch in the centre and then went back home.

And that was our trip. It was so much fun. Couldn’t have been any better. I think everybody enjoyed it. You were basically just on a holiday with your mates and playing rugby all day. You’d have the best chats as well back at the campsite in your mobile sitting up till two am chatting away until one of the teachers came around to get you to go to bed. Then after they leave you are still chatting away. I think what topped the trip off was Zain Bouktila he’d just make you laugh all day long, he’s a funny man. So that was our trip.

eager to get playing. The first league game was away to De la Salle, Churchtown. The game went very well with a comfortable 35- 7 win.

The lads knew there were tougher games in store, no more than Templeogue College away which definitely didn’t disappoint! Templeogue brought ferocious physicality and enjoyed both the contact and mental element of the game. Newpark took the lead, but Templeogue came back going into the last period of the game. However, the resilient Newpark side never gave up! This mentality proved to be crucial. In the final moments of the game, an excellent wide attack resulted in a try into the corner and a huge win to set them up for the season.

Newpark Senior Rugby team have had a productive first term. After a pre-season in August consisting of conditioning, boxing and pitch skills the boys were

The final league game was against a strong St Columba’s side. With quarter finals guaranteed, the team had nothing to lose. Columba’s came out winners with a particularly clinical performance by one of their Irish internationals. While a loss was disappointing, we knew we were still developing our attacking style with bigger games to come.

Unfortunately, the month of October was not so favourable with three games cancelled but the boys kept their focus and trained hard with the inclusion of a morning gym session.

The first round of the Leinster cup started in November with a win against a very strong and robust Tullow Community School. The game ended 20-10 in favour of Newpark with some excellent defending and attacking flair to match. After an incredible fightback against Good Counsel, the team drew 10-10 and progressed to the first round of the Vinnie Murray Cup. The team travelled to Donnybrook to take on King’s Hospital and were unlucky to come away with a loss, 26-19 the final score.

With the Vinnie Murray journey over, the team are focusing all of their energies on the McMullan Cup.

By Mr Micheál Doyle and Mr Simon O’Shea

Cross Country

On a cloudy Wednesday morning in January, a group of eager crosscountry runners left Newpark and headed to the Phoenix Park for the East Leinster cross country competition.

After walking the course and examining the terrain; Alan Marnell, Samuel Balfe and Oscar Bruce completed the first race. They all ran with great confidence, finishing their 2500m race in under 11 minutes. Impressively they all finished in the top 50 in a field of over 100 participants.

Annabel Warshager and Victorica Kychan took part in the inter girls race. Both kept a steady pace and finished the race with bright smiles.

Ben Carey Smith finished the inter boys race showing great determination and team spirit. Tea Devonport, Bria Hedden, Aoibheann Hannigan, Juno Milligan and Bella Kenneally took part in the minor girls race. This team have an impressive future!

For the last race of the day Jack Walsh, Sam West, Leo Money, Tommaso Pelizzeni, Adam Younge and Arma Arshakyan took part in the minor boys race. This group all demonstrated good pacing with some speedy sprinting at the finish line. Well done

side game on a 70x40 meter pitch. The game revolves around speed, good passing and strategy. When you get touched by an opposition player, you roll the ball through your legs. A try is

Sami Phelan and I started playing about two years ago for DSC Wanderers. It was just a bit of fun at the start, but we ended up playing a few tournaments last summer and got stuck into it. From there we got selected for the Ireland u18 boys team alongside a few other lads from

I was captain and Sami was one of the flag bearers. We went to compete in the European championships in Vichy, France recently. We played England and Wales in the tournament multiple times and ended up coming second. England won but they had all been playing touch much longer than us and we really pushed them in a few games. Overall it was a great few days and an amazing experience.

By Cathal MacGearailt, 5th Year

series

Spikeball is a beach game that you can play with your friends involving a ball and a sort of trampoline on the ground. However, some Newpark students are taking this so called “sport” to the next level.

accommodationin the collegeand headed to the pool in the college afterwards. We had dinner in the cafeteria before heading to bed.

For the next three days, we had two matches per day. Our first two matches were against Yorkshire As. Wenarrowly lost the first game but recovered well to win our second game.On the third day we played two matches against Yorkshire Bs. We won both matches. Wewere incredibly happy as we all workedwell together. On the fourth daythe temperature hit 26 degrees.It was tough playing in the heat.We played two matches against Kent. Kent won both matches, winning the second by just six runs.

The trip was an amazingexperience. The college and its grounds were beautiful. Thesunsets were outstanding. We were staying in the same dorms astheKentsquadso we got to know them quite well.Weall played board games and chatted in the common room in our dorm houseevery evening. It was great fun to play with all my old and new friends. We went down to the local village a few times to get icecream and souvenirs. Weflew home on August 8th and were welcomed by family and friends at the airport.

Last yearI decided toimprovemy batting strength and change my bowling technique with the goal of being selected for the u15s Cricket Ireland squad. I realised that goal. I worked extremely hard over the winter and was so happy to be selected. I hope I will beselected again next year and maybe for the IrelandWomen's squad in the future.The hard work continues.

By Zoe Bell, 3rd Year

Just this past September, Emmet Hodkinson and myself (both in 6th year), Ben Marnell and Cameron Ramsey (both Newpark alumni) all journeyed to Belgium to play as part of the ten best Spikeball players in Ireland, competing at the highest level in the Spikeball World Championships. Facing off against powerhouses of the ten best players from countries such as the USA and Canada, we were thoroughly battered. A good battle was fought and Ireland finished 20th out of 36 in the world in the squad tournament.

I myself placed 69th out of 150 in the world in the individual tournament and me and my partner took our crown as the best ranked Ireland team. All the while, the Ireland squad made sure to have as much fun as physically possible. Relaxing in our bungalows, eating the free food at the restaurant, playing hours of pool, table tennis and bowling, seeing how many people we could fit in the fastest slide as a human bobsled (13!), exploring Brussels, making friends and incredible afterparties hosted by Roundnet Belgium and our Mexican friends Ché and Santiago.

It was an outrageously amazing trip, all thanks to the Spikeball community and Roundnet Ireland and I know we’ll be back in 2024 to take our crown at the next World Championships.

By Dash Tomkin Clarke, 6th Year

The Student Council

Over the past few months, the Student Council has been working on tackling a few issues throughout the school. We have been gathering feedback from the student body regarding the new phone policy. A survey was put out asking people’s opinions on how they interact with technology for school, how phone usage affects their class time and what they would like to see in the phone policy going forward. We have also organised for all senior cycle students to get Student Cards, if they want them. The process has been a bit messy, but hey we got there in the end. While this is all well and good I have in fact left out the most important thing.. Microwaves are back! Woohoo! No more cold food! Not in this school! LET’S GO MICROWAVES!!! I LOVE MICROWAVES!!

If there is anything you would like the council to address, please do not hesitate to contact your local Student Council representative. Peace and Love.

By Flora Lyons, 6th Year

A Prefect Life

Throughout our last year of school we are thrilled to have been elected by our peers to be prefects. Being a prefect is a very rewarding job, we get to talk to the first years and welcome them to our school. We plan exciting activities for them to ensure they are settling in ok. We really enjoy talking to the first years and getting to know how they find our school. We let students know that we are here if they have any questions or are struggling to adjust to the new environment.

As prefects we are all allocated a duty to do every day for one week, we are on a rota and all share the duties. Although the duties can get tedious they really allow you to get to know your prefect partner and help keep the school organised. We also have our own room that we decorated before school started. We have couches and blankets so we spend most of our lunch breaks in that room. It is a huge privilege that we don’t take for granted and we love being able to represent our year. We definitely recommend becoming a prefect as it is a lot of fun!

By Sophie Rennicks and Alex Drum, 6th Year

Culture Council

The Culture Council is such a unique and wonderful organisation in the Newpark community, promoting non-sport extra-curricular activities and allowing students to create spaces where they can meet and interact with like-minded people who share their interests, passions, hobbies and talents.

Things have been very rocky since the pandemic, but in the last few years the Culture Council has really helped to breathe the life back into Newpark and reunite our amazing students and teachers. Seeing the behind-thescenes of everything happening as chair this year has been fascinating and there is a huge amount of work contributed to all of the clubs, events and fundraisers that we organise as a council.

The events and fundraisers are huge highlights, from the Halloween dress up competition to the (small but festive) Christmas bake sale and to the countless plans to come in future months, these things really help to remind us of what kind of place Newpark truly is and how vibrant we are as a school.

The Culture Council wouldn’t be able to do anything it does without other organisations and departments in the school, especially the music department. The return of regular Lounge At Lunchtimes was much anticipated and incredibly well-received.

We wouldn’t be able to make all of this happen without the support of Ms Devis, Bobby, Ms Anderson, Mr. Norton and all of the incredible people who make this happen! Extracurriculars give Newpark such a sparkle and we are always open to ideas, should you have them.

Student initiative is what fuels this organisation! Look forward to many fun events in the upcoming months!

River Walton, Culture Council Chair

Clubs and Societies

Choir

Newpark’s Choir is run every Tuesday at lunchtime with Ms Scott and Ms Fox. Our numbers started small, with some very dedicated first and third years, but towards Christmas the choir steadily grew and they put on a fantastic performance at the annual carol service. The choir performed a variety of traditional carols and modern Christmas songs, such as Oíche Chiuin (or Silent Night) and Winter Song.

Heading into the new term, we will be focusing again on finishing some pop songs we started before the carol service took over, and we are always looking for new members! No experience of being in a choir is needed –we have members who are both complete beginners and experienced singers. All you need is enthusiasm and a love of singing! There is always a spot for anyone who wants to join.

Any questions about joining choir can be brought to Ms Scott or Ms Fox, or you can just come along to the music room during a Tuesday lunchtime.

Ms Jill Scott

Newpark Jazz Society

From Mingus to Coltrane, from Davis to Baker, we’ve been swinging from great to great here at the Newpark Jazz Society. From hard-bop to cool, from fusion to bebop, we’re just scratching the surface on our long jazz-journey.

In truth, although when my good friend Rui Faria and I began to envision the Jazz Society we pictured ourselves drinking fine scotch, smoking old-fashioned pipes in grand armchairs by a roaring fire with a piano tinkling gently in the background, only one of these things is present in the Jazz Society meetings we see today.

Anybody’s welcome to drop into M3, every second Thursday lunchtime, to hear what the cats are cooking. And greater than all the greats I listed, we would like to thank Mr Daly for supervising us and letting us use his room.

By Oscar Schmidt, TY

This year Newpark met a new club Ukulele club. This club takes place every Thursday at lunchtime in the music room.

No musical talent? That’s not a problem at all, you’re not the only one. Mr Costigan is very nice and has a loo-o-ot of patience trust me, we know.

The first three lessons were a good introduction into the world of music. We were taught a few basic chords, string patterns, how to hold and place your fingers without them falling off.

The ukulele club has brought together students from every year even some teachers all trying to learn how to play on this mini guitar.

We are learning how to play with Youtube play-alongs, we learnt a few Taylor Swift songs too. This is a very fun approach. It’s hard to play all the chords but even if you’re playing only one chord it’s very enjoyable.

We hope to see new members join this club. Come along one Thursday: if you don’t feel like playing ukulele you can sit there, chat and eat, listening to people playing. We hope to see you there.

Viktoriia Kychan and Annabel Warsahger, 3rd Year

The Lego Club Returns!

The Lego Club has returned! We meet every Tuesday at lunchtime in T15.

Anyone from first to sixth year who likes to build with Lego can come, and all skilllevels are welcome.

It’s a great chance to meet up and chat with people who are just as interested in Lego as you are! And you don’t have to come every week, come whenever you want! Bring your lunch, and the Lego will be supplied for you.

As co-founder Takitora Bouaynaya (a fellow first year) says, “It’s a fun relaxing break in the middle of school”. See you there!

By Jacob Vaughan, 1st Year

Do you have unwanted lego languishing at home in the attic or in a cupboard? Donations to the club of unwanted or once loved lego are very welcome – contact anna.johnston@newparkschool.ie

Badminton and Beatles

Badminton Club or B&B (badminton and Beatles, because we play badminton and listen to The Beatles) is one of my favorite clubs. I think it’s a great place to practice your badminton skills, listen to The Beatles and become friends with students from all year groups (because the badminton club is for everyone). For those reasons I recommend you stop by.

German Club

German Club is back! Come on up to T5 every second Thursday lunchtime to enjoy German music, games, quizzes, culture, food and comedy. We’ve been very lucky here at German Club to have the new German assistant, Michelle, helping us and a big thank you to Ms Dempsey for supervising also.

It should also be noted that you don’t have to do German to come to German Club, everybody’s welcome.

By Oscar Schmidt, TY

Chess Club

After more than two years on hold, the chess club is back! It is a great opportunity for people to socialize, make new friends from Newpark, and learn a new skill.

We have quite talented players this year, and we hope to compete in competitions in 2023. All abilities are welcome, and we’ll gladly teach new players (mostly me, you wouldn’t want to be taught by Mr Holmes anyway!)

We now have a second day, so come to M6 at lunchtime on Thursdays and Fridays and try it out. The club has always brought a great sense of community to the school and I’d recommend anybody to come give it a go.

By Luke Thornton, 6th Year

We have gone on a long and winding road to get B&B where it is today. I want to thank Jack Bradshaw for founding the badminton club last year and I will keep it going after he’s gone for a long, long, long time.

B&B would not be possible without supervision from Ms. Cameron, so I would like to give her a big thanks! The badminton club is on every Monday at lunchtime in the PE hall, so come together at the badminton club.

PS - There are four Beatles song titles in this passage, ten points if you can find them all.

By Rui Faria, TY

“If you want to play some badminton, or even if you just want to hit something, you should go to Badminton Club. It’s great fun.”

Isobel Smiley (I only went once)

Book Club

The Newpark Book Club have been meeting every Tuesday at lunchtime in the library.

This term we have read The Secret History by Donna Tart. Although this was not Ms Colin's favourite murder mystery novel, many of the students enjoyed it.

The next novel we will be reading is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Come along, meet new people and talk about books!

By Ms Lydia Colin

Debate Club

One of the best club in Newpark came back!!! Yes! The debate club is here again! What better club is there than this one in which people are screaming at each other, with sandwiches in their mouths, showing their emotions and opinions? Debate club!

What better place to develop your communication skills and overcome your fear of public speaking? Debate club!

Conclusion: the debate club is THE BEST!

Now I hope we’ve convinced you that the debate club is reeeeally worth it and it’s one of the most fun club during lunch time. If you’re disagree… well let’s debate on that, bro!

So, let me get into the details a little bit. Our first meeting had a huge attendance with people from every year, which was great, but half of those people have never come back, we hope this will change! But there are still a couple of survivors who are actively fighting for the truth.

We discussed pretty interesting topics, which ranged from the death penalty to talking about squirrels… . The last one was really absurd, but we are still making fun of it. Every week when we are choosing a debate topic someone always wants to debate on squirrels.

Sooooo, if you’re not interested in the debate club yet, you definitely should be! “Fighting to death”, quite fun, isn’t it? To be serious, this place really improves you as a person, it shows you from different angles and perspectives. Debate club teaches you how to think outside the box and listen to other people’s opinions, make your own arguments and decisions.

Christian Union

For the last two years, Christian Union have continued to meet despite covid. The first year, we met outside on Wednesday mornings before school. Ms Harris, Ms Rowan and Mr Lamprecht supplied us with hot chocolate and pastries to help brave the cold and wet!

Last year, we were allowed inside, but due to staggered lunchtimes, we still had to meet early morning. So it is with great joy that this year, we returned to T11 on

Friday lunchtimes. Each week, students from all years meet, chat, eat lunch and treats, play a game and one of our student leaders, Keziah or Naomi, shares a thought. We have guest speakers and have been on a trip to Greystones to deliver the Christmas shoeboxes. Shortly before Christmas we went to Stillorgan to carol sing in aid of Christian Aid.

Here are some of our highlights so far:

"It’s great, I love the trips" - Holly

"It has such a nice relaxing, atmosphere, it feels like community" - Keziah

"I find it open, welcoming and accepting" - Lucas

"It’s nice to have so many people back and see new faces"Allessia

"It’s been so nice to meet new people" – Lisa

Dance Club

Newpark Dance Club is led by senior students who love dance. It takes place in the theatre at Thursday lunchtime. This is the first year of dance club in Newpark so we have enjoyed the challenge of getting things started. We have had people consistently showing up which has been amazing as we were able to teach them dances and get to know their style. Everyone has been really enthusiastic and creative.

It has been great watching everyone choreograph their own dances, and we are learning just as much as them! We hope to organise an opportunity for our dancers to perform and challenge themselves even more. We are really grateful for the opportunity and facilities to contribute something new to the school.

Students from all years are welcome to join: come along and try it out!

By Clara Stanley, 6th Year

Dungeons and Dragons

D&D club is a brand-new club that started just this year. We run campaigns for people of all skills and ages so everyone is welcome even if you’ve never played in your life. We provide all the equipment necessary so all you need to do is show up.

We meet every Tuesday in the T15 art room to play D&D. We are currently running a campaign, so if you are to come now you might be thrown in the deep end a bit but you’ll soon get the hang of it. I hope to see you there and bring your friends too.

By Oscar McGowan, 1st Year

Two survivors from the debate club, Annabel Warshager and Viktoriia Kychan, 3rd Year

Lounge at Lunchtime

Lounge at Lunchtime has returned after its Covid hiatus. Students from the Cultural Council approached music teachers at the beginning of the year to bring it back as it was greatly missed by senior students and never experienced by most juniors.

The births of your children, falling in love, getting married, the return of the Lounge at Lunchtime after two years. There’s a certain magic to these moments in life that is near impossible to replicate elsewhere. They remind you that there is light at the end of the tunnel when you are feeling down.

Lounge at Lunchtime made a return to the GPA after two long, cold years. Two years that many students had been heard describing as “lifeless” or “bleak”… This all changed in the autumn of 2022. The school practically vibrated as students upon students poured into the GPA to witness the resurrection of Lounge at Lunchtime. A lot of younger students had actually been heard questioning its existence, they claimed it was merely a story passed down from year to year to invoke a sense of purpose in our day to day lives. But no, in spite of the younger students’ disbelief, it was real.

The atmosphere was electric before, during and after the Lounge at Lunchtime. I was lucky enough to interview a student in second year (who would like to remain anonymous for political reasons) and his exact words were: “That was crazy, I've never actually experienced that sort of atmosphere in my life before, it was… it was… absolutely electric".

The performers were nervous, and they had good reason. They faced two possible consequences following their performances. A successful performance would usually result in eternal eminence, but a poor performance on the other hand would almost all of the time result in exile and lifelong struggle. Luckily for the performers nobody will have to lead a life of shame and humility as many members of the crowd were heard discussing whether or not the Lounge at Lunchtime was “the best thing since sliced bread”. Yes, it was.

By Thomas Wride, 6th Year

Lounge at Lunchtime takes place on Friday lunchtimes where the doors from the music room to the GPA are pushed back and students perform as soloists or in groups for their school mates.

There have been some performances of note including 3rd years’ rendition of “Freebird” by Lynard Skinnard and a TY performance of Bruno Mars

“Runaway Baby”. The Halloween themed week included a 3rd year performance of the classic “Monster Mash” and a 6th year performance of “Ghostbusters”. We look forward to what the rest of the year will bring, the next planned Lounge at Lunchtime will take place on the 24th of February and

By Ms Aoife Fox

I love Lounge at Lunchtime because it really pushes students out of their comfort zones in the best way possible. It makes students feel more comfortable when performing for people.

Music is such a big part of Newpark. Bringing back the Lounge at Lunchtime concerts makes people excited to listen to live music; the smiles on all the students’ faces when watching their fellow students perform are always so nice to see (especially when it’s you who is performing). Lounge at Lunchtime shows how creative Newpark is and how we as a school have created such a supportive school environment.

By Kiama Willard, TY

Pride Club

Newpark’s Pride Club is definitely one of the coolest and most unique things we have on offer.

Pride Club is actually the new name for the club, it was changed since the start of this school year in order to modernise the club and to make it clear what we do there. The new name shows that we are a safe, fun and inclusive space for everyone in the Newpark community, no matter how you identify! It was a really important change to make and it’s breathed some new life into the club.

We’ve been meeting again in M5 during lunchtime every Thursday, as was done in times pre-Covid, which has been amazing as it no longer requires anyone to attend after school or choose between the club and other important things going on in the school, such as plays and sports. We’ve been able to do so much more this year, including more fun events like the Gayke Sale, we’ve brought in new elements such as PowerPoint presentations on historical topics like the Stonewall Riots, and we’ve continued playing fun games during our meetings.

We are hoping to do even more in the coming months, so look out for guest speakers, events, games, activities and more from all of us at the Newpark Pride Club in 2023!

By River Walton, 6th Year

Stand Up Week

Stand Up awareness week is an annual campaign that focuses on educating young people about homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. The campaign was created by BeLonG To, an organisation supporting LGBTQI+ young people in Ireland. Newpark prides itself in its inclusivity and diversity and uses this as a week to celebrate and support the LGBTQI+ community in our school.

Stand Up Week took place from November 14th to 18th. This week was filled with fun events celebrating and bringing awareness to the LGBTQI+ community. These included a Gayke sale, rainbow jumper day, hanging up pride flags, and face painting. All the proceeds from the week went to BeLonG To. The members of the LGBTQI+ club came together and made a stand up week banner that was hung on the balcony on the M floor. One of the main events of stand up week is rainbow jumper day. On Friday morning, heart-shaped pride stickers were handed out to staff and students. Each year was assigned a colour, with first years being red, and the rainbow continuing up to 6th year. This year the staff were assigned green, as the TY students were on activity weeks. On the same day,

we had a face painting stall where many people got bright colours and pride flags painted on them. It was fabulous to see such an enthusiastic response from the students and staff. The Newpark community puts a massive effort into making this week as effective as possible and this year

By Alice Wolsey, 5th Year

BeLonG To

This year I did more work for BeLonG To, the national LGBTQI+ Youth services charity. This is a charity that is very close to my heart. The work it does throughout Ireland is amazing and the help it gives to young people from this community both in and out of the school system is really important.

community experience in the school system today.

It was terrible to hear that 58% of students had heard homophobic remarks from the actual teaching staff as well as 76% of students feeling unsafe in school. But the good news was, that at least 99% of students know at least one member of staff supportive of LGBTQI+ identities. I am very pleased to say that here in Newpark I know a lot more than just one supportive member of staff! Unfortunately the outcome of this survey shows that while schools are getting better we still have a long way to go to eliminate all types of homophobic, transphobic and biphobic bullying.

I was involved in the annual student climate survey which reported the results of the LGBTQI+ students in secondary schools throughout Ireland. I was asked to go into the Museum of Literature Ireland and help read anonymous letters written from these school students. The letters were written to the Minister, Norma Foley explaining the huge difficulties students from this

The Department of Education launched a new action plan on bullying and Stand Up awareness week will now be encouraged in all schools as an important anti bullying action.

Every year on October 11th there is a national “Coming Out Day” that celebrates people being finally able to be open about who they are. I was asked to do an interview with my mother for this day to give my experience of when I knew I was gay and when I expressed this to my family. A film crew from BeLonG To came to our house and I talked about when I first came out and the advice I would give others. My mother talked about how she felt and her advice to other parents. The biggest message from her was how important acceptance and support from parents are.

National Coming Out Day is so beneficial as it celebrates and encourages people to be proud of who they are. Homophobia can exist in an atmosphere of silence so not hiding will make people from the LGBTQ+ community much more confident and happier in themselves as they live openly with the support of their friends and family.

By Seth Vella Murphy, 5th Year

Virtual Poetry Aloud 2022-23

Congratulations to Adam Merabet, 6CBE (Senior) and Sadhbh Ryan-Griffin, 1TF, (Junior) who have made it through to the next round of the Poetry Aloud competition, run by Poetry Ireland and the National Library. This is a great achievement; only sixteen Senior students were chosen to go through to the next round from all entries across Ireland and only 27 Junior participants.

Well done to all ten students who recorded their poems and sent them off for the first online regional heat; it’s nerve-wracking enough to get up in front of a room full of people and recite a poem, but it can be even more intense to be videoed in front of a few!

The next round will hopefully be in person and Adam and Sadhbh will have to learn one prescribed poem by heart and choose another from a specific poetry anthology. The Poetry Aloud Poetry Speaking Competition started in 2007 and was set up to celebrate the joy of speaking and listening to poetry.

The competition is open to all students attending a second-level school on the island of Ireland. If anyone is interested in participating in next year’s competition, come and speak to Ms Keating, Ms Fullam or Eva O’ Donnell (5CORE).

Ms Amy Keating

Poetry Aloud is a national competition that is held every year in which students read poems out loud. Students are then judged based on the quality of their out loud poem readings. There's a big show in which students from schools across the country gather and read their poems.

In order to qualify for this show there is a round of online auditions. There were three levels of difficulty assigned to each person based on their year group. Juniors had to read “The Gift of Time” by Tony Curtis. Intermediates were tasked with “That Hat” by Nikki Griffin. Seniors performed “The Road at my Door” by WB Yeats. As the camera man for all of the auditions I can say with that confidence that all of the participants did a fantastic job. We all wish them the best of luck.

Luke Conaghan, TY

I was asked to write a chapter for a book project that actor Cillian Murphy is involved in. My mum works in a research centre at the University of Galway that studies children and families’ lives. Cillian Murphy has worked with the Centre on projects where young people are trained to do research looking into issues like homelessness, mental health and bullying and to make short videos about what they found out. He is really interested in work the Centre is doing about empathy and especially a project called Activating Social Empathy for teachers in secondary schools - all schools in Ireland will hear about this in the autumn.

The empathy book is being launched by Cillian on October 8, 2022 at a reception in Croke Park which I was invited to. The title is Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland and it will be sold in bookshops and all secondary schools will get a free copy. There are more than seventy chapters including some famous people like Michael D. Higgins, Hozier, The Edge and Rachael Blackmore.

Everyone has written about what empathy is and why it is important in life. I chose to write a poem for my contribution.

By Matthew Shaw-Torkzadeh, 2nd Year

My power called Empathy

I think to myself wow, I must have powers to feel your pain although it is just a skill I’ve learned and trained

Your eyes wide open you must be in disbelief

You’re angry I can see when you clench your teeth

I look at my surroundings and see a boy about to take the final shot to win the match

and I use my power to visualise his pressure, the ref then proclaims that they have lost the game

I open my eyes and see his sorrow as he has missed the shot

I look at a tear in his eye as he breaks down and starts to cry My superpower couldn’t have done anything to help But that feeling, I really felt.

The next day I was walking along

I saw another boy standing alone

His hands shaking a tear on his cheek

He was holding a sheet of paper

He was about to freak

I saw that it was a test

One he hadn’t done well on

But tried his very best

He was so upset he that he could only focus on that paper as if everything around him has gone

I could tell it was an important one

I used my power to feel his stress

That pain like a press in the middle of your chest

As he walked away my power helped me realise he wanted to be left alone

He tried to not draw attention by texting on his phone

But I know sooner or later he will need to talk.

I realise now whenever you feel like the only one in pain

Know there is someone who feels the same.

Or maybe might understand and give you a helping hand.

Matthew Shaw-Torkzadeh

Transition Year Artwork

Drama

Newpark Drama is having a very exciting and busy time this year. With new first years and lots of students wanting to get involved, we’ve had many different experiences on the stage, as audience members, attending backstage tours and lots of writing and directing.

To start off the year, a group of dynamic and committed 5th and 6th years led by the incredible Flora Lyons, have been running Extra Drama on Friday afternoons with a very large group of 1st to 3rd years. This was a huge success. 5th year writer/director teams have now stepped in with auditions for the annual Junior Plays attracting over fifty junior students. Rehearsals are now in progress for six plays. We look forward to presenting their masterpieces in late March. Running concurrently with Extra Drama, we had the Senior Play in December 2022. We were torn between The Crucible and Romeo and Juliet. The bittersweet tale of young love won our hearts and audiences alike. It was an absolute joy to produce and direct this Shakespearean classic with Anna Johnston.

Lighting at The Lir

The most recent event in the Hunter Theatre was the Short Plays Festival 2023 This year we had eight plays written by past and current pupils, a parent, and a grandparent! The Short Plays are the invention of Mark Ball (Class of 2014) who is now a very successful theatre practitioner and collaborator.

Once these eight freshly written plays were cast after Christmas, each group had ten days to learn lines, rehearse and organise costume, set, sound and lighting. With a magnificent stage crew to keep things running smoothly and manage the lighting and sound, the festival was a wonderfully mad and eclectic night out on Tuesday January 16th. The plays were thoroughly enjoyed by a packed and highly enthusiastic audience.

By Ms Cathy Devis

drama kids kicked 2023 off to a great start by attending a lighting workshop at The Lir. We arrived early morning, and were greeted by our presenters and lighting technicians.

Seeing how much technology has advanced was truly fascinating. With as simple as a click of a button, you can control a 200 pound lighting machine and change the light’s colour, the harshness of the light, and even move it around and illuminate different points of the stage by using a set of handles connected to a screen.

After a brief run through of explanations of the various machines and their uses, along with any questions asked, we were allowed to try the machines out for ourselves!

It was really cool to experience the backstage aspect of a show or a play, and to know how much effort and work is put into lighting a performance.

As simple as it was, it was all very interesting and beautiful. Learning how light works and how different machines function in what environment, not to mention the great people that helped us learn and try using the machines. The whole experience was lovely and I’m grateful for Ms Devis and Ms Johnston for organising it for us.

Personally, I think that lighting is the most important part of a play, because without it you wouldn’t be able to see the play. So, give them some credit.

By Mea Gigon, 5th Year

It’s always lovely visiting The Lir as we hear great news of our past students in the theatre production and acting degrees there. They are making a great impression in the college (onstage, backstage, in design and technical fields of theatre) and in the working world beyond.

By Ms Anna Johnston

Stratford

Ms Devis so kindly organised a dinner for us all at the Wildwood Kitchen in Stratford and after we’d all eaten we quite literally ran to the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre to see a production of Richard III which is second best to Macbeth in my opinion but definitely amazing with a hilarious cast and super cool stage design.

year students got the chance to go and visit Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon in England. We met at the airport at an ungodly time to be seeing our teachers and headed off by plane and coach.

At the youth hostel outside Stratford, we dropped our stuff off and walked into the town. Unfortunately, it decided to rain hard on and off that day, so all fifty of us were wet and cold by the end of the day.

We were given plenty of free time over the trip to explore on our own, and so my friends and I headed into the butterfly garden, which was absolutely beautiful and well worth a visit. That same evening we got a walking tour of the town and the tour guide Owen was fabulous and knew all the secrets, including the one that the local vicar hated him for telling regarding the missing skull from Shakespeare’s grave. He was super knowledgeable and really good fun, 10/10 experience for sure. The rain on the way back from the town however was absolutely not. We got to check out the games room at the youth hostel and you’d never guess how much entertainment a group of teenagers could get from a broken ping pong table and giant Jenga.

The next day we stopped for a tour of Shakespeare’s birthplace which was designed for people under the average height of the present day but was a fascinating piece of history that stood the middle of the town. Stratford is hilariously full of old buildings with modern shops like Costa Coffee in them. We moved on to Holy Trinity Church one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever been in visiting Shakespeare’s grave and looking at the stunning architecture. My friends and I visited the local Cat Café where the cats were all named after Romeo and Juliet characters.

On the third day we got to visit Shakespeare’s New Place which was super interesting, and then we wandered back to the RSC for a backstage tour, which was really one of my favourite parts. The guide had a huge wealth of knowledge and answered any and all questions thrown at him, and we got to see every part you could think of backstage including real costumes!

That evening we headed home and the whirlwind of a trip that it was, it was one of the best three day weekends imaginable. Thank you to Ms Devis for coordinating, and Ms Johnston, Ms Ring, Ms Keating and Ms Colin for joining!

By River Walton, 6th Year

One of my highlights of the trip was doing the backstage tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. On the previous day we had been to see King Richard II in the theatre. Being able to understand the mechanisms and see the stage from close up and being able to stand on the stage was insane.

Our tour guild brought us around the entire theatre, giving us an insight to its history and to how the technical side of a production works. I thought he most interesting thing he told us was how in 2017 an actor ran off stage, did an outfit change and ran back on stage, all in nine and a half seconds.

We then were brought into the Swan theatre, which is currently closed but opening up again in March, which was beautiful. There was a gorgeous art pierce of Romeo made from small hanging stars against a wall.

Then we went into what was a small museum that had old books and costumes and art pieces also. The whole experience of the backstage tour was incredible to see the mechanics of a production, especially since we had just seen a play there the night before

By Naomi Breen, 6th Year

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is our first large scale production in three years. It has been a mammoth undertaking as Romeo and Juliet is probably Shakespeare’s most well known and best loved play: it should make us laugh, think, question and cry. Our young starcrossed lovers have a huge amount to contend with and sadly their demise is what finally ends their families’ ancient feud. What struck me is how relevant this play still is after 400 years. It even has an infectious pestilence which thwarts Friar Laurence’s plans and ultimately leads to their untimely deaths.

I was absolutely bowled over by our talented cast who threw themselves completely into this play. They lived and breathed Shakespeare for eleven weeks and the result of their commitment and determination was astonishing. I feel very honoured to have worked with them on this.

The musicians blessed us with style and finesse taking on 1980s music so expertly, you’d expect Robert Smith to be dancing away with them onstage. Many thanks to Ms Fox and our amazing Music department for bringing a new life and energy to this play.

Not only have the actors and musicians been toiling away but the stage crew, the costume makers, make-up artists, lighting and set designers brought their creativity and talent to the stage as well. Newpark students are leaders in these fields and this is evident as many of them go onto to be established theatre practitioners around the world. Many thanks to all the rest of the students who worked on the programme, the tuckshop etc and helped out in lots of different ways. Thank you then to all the Newpark staff and the Sports Centre for their support and patience over the last few months. Especially to Aoife Fox, John O’Neill, David King and Bobby Ryan. Last but not least to my codirector, Anna Johnston. We couldn’t have done this without her.

By Ms Cathy Devis

Music

Putting together the band and musical arrangements for Romeo and Juliet was more stressful than I expected. There were quite a few line-up inconsistencies and inconvenient events throughout the month-long practice window, whether it be radio silence, sickness, what have you.

Despite this, I think the entire band did a wonderful job putting everything together and making it work. I believe we really got to taste the fruits of our labour playing music every night (despite me breaking my high E string, only minutes before we were meant to start playing on the opening night). While there were uncertainties (like when to finish playing and such), there was a wonderful synergy that I felt passing through the entire band.

And not to mention everyone else who worked on the production! The actors, lighting crew, costume designers, stage crew... and anyone else I forgot to mention. All of them really pulled off such a wonderful show. It was a privilege seeing them do their thing three nights in a row. Seriously, it was awesome!

I’d like to especially thank Ms Fox for keeping things afloat the whole time, it means a lot to everyone.

By Finley Gleich, 3rd Year

Stage Crew

Being stage manager for Romeo and Juliet meant that I got an insight into many different areas of production. The stage crew and I had to work with the stage designers, musicians, lighting crew and most importantly the actors, to ensure that everything would run smoothly.

Backstage, we had to make sure that the props were where they were supposed to be, the actors knew their cues and the musicians knew when to stop playing. As with any production, there were some mishaps, but overall production was a huge success.

Stage managing was extremely enjoyable and is something I could see myself doing in the future.

By Nakai Mudiwa (stage manager), 5th Year

Costume

sleeves and adding ribbons to various costumes!

We had some amazing assistance from some of the broader Newpark community, with handmaking some incredible waistcoats last minute and some donations of original 80s clothing. We were tight on time from start to finish, but with a lot of last-minute glue-gunning backstage and some emergency charity shopping by Ms Devis, the costumes came together brilliantly! Everyone fitted the theme and I have to say as an actor in the play as well, costumes really do tie it all together and make the characters come alive.

For this year’s Newpark theatre production of Romeo and Juliet, I got to work with the costume team in order to design a full original set of costumes for the play.

It was a fascinating process, starting with a lot of brainstorming. The theme for the play was 80s goth, with the soundtrack featuring the likes of The Cure and Adam & The Ants, so the costumes were planned accordingly. We created mood boards and looked at magazines and trends from the time. We decided to go with a goth theme for the Montaques, and a New Romantics look for the Capulets.

Then came the many, many Penneys shopping trips on Ms Devis’s part, and the hours sorting through endless boxes of clothes in the green room, searching for anything 80s. We put together the costumes with a mix of old and new clothes, adjusting and embellishing where needed. I spent many a lunchtime adjusting

It was a really great experience overall and it was a pleasure to work with such a motivated and passionate production and acting crew .

By Eva O’Donnell (Costume), 5th Year Actors

There was something special about this year’s play. A certain atmosphere, an almost electric energy about it. There was this feeling that everyone at every level of production really was invested and giving their all. From the musicians, whose melodies made us actors seem far more talented, to the costume designers, whose imagination and creativity lit up the stage far better than any soliloquy, to us actors who get far more praise than we deserve, and everyone in between.

This play was certainly special for me; some of my fondest Newpark memories have been formed over these past few months, memories that will no doubt last a lifetime. I’ve deepened existing friendships, and formed new ones, developed a new appreciation for the bard and his craft, and learnt lines that have been permanently etched upon the canvas of my mind. It fills me with sorrow to think that this may well be my last Newpark production, but even if it is, I’m so thankful that I got to go out on such an incredible one, surrounded by even more incredible people.

By Felix Sensbach (Romeo), 6th Year

This year I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to be a part of the drama production of Romeo and Juliet. I strongly urge anybody interested in drama to take part, whether it be on the stage or off the stage, as there are so many great ways to participate either way.

Our production of Romeo and Juliet has given me so many lovely memories and without a doubt it is something that I will look back fondly on for the rest of my life.

By Seamus Ó Ciosain (Lord Capulet), 6th Year

The Short Plays

Ah the short plays.

Another year has gone by. Silently the Earth has grown older. Tectonic plates have shifted, glaciers have inched closer to the ocean, and the short plays have returned to the Hunter Theatre.

This year Adam Boland did what Adam Boland does best, and delivered a wacky small town crime farce.

Saoirse Sine brought us a retrospective tale of friendship and loss.

The Kowalskys gave us a play about an egotistical juggler performed entirely through phone calls.

Nóinin Cooling wrote a crime drama (Yes! Two crime plays! Two!), while Tuathla Cooling wrote a family drama (Two Coolings and counting!)

In a first for the short plays, a grandparent, Brian Grehan gave us a cricketing blast from Newpark’s past.

Emmet Brennan imagined what it would be like if our thoughts were dictated by two chaotic Italians living inside our head, while Sunny Cooling (There’s three of them!) proved that you can make any joke funny by repeating it five times.

Eight plays! Eight of them!

Did I laugh? Yes.

Should I have cried? Probably.

Am I planning on writing something unspeakably weird for next year’s edition? Most likely.

Should you go next time? Definitely.

By Colm Higgins, Past Pupil

It allowed me to strengthen any existing friendships I had with my peers but also allowed me to make new friends through the great experience of working with a tight-knit group to put on a play. I’ll never forget being unable to contain my laughter during the sad scenes, or all of the inside jokes that were created throughout the weeks of rehearsals.

Many thanks to photographer (and Newpark parent) Nicolas Reuland for his photographs of RomeoandJuliet and the short plays (seen here and on the front cover)

RomeoandJulietartwork on previous page is by Ruby MacDermott Folley, 5th year

The Short Plays 2023

National Youth Orchestra

I would like to share some good news with you! I have been offered a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. I auditioned in September in Belfast. At first when I got the news I was a bit wary because I was going to be one of the youngest players in the orchestra but I've talked to many people since then including Ms Odongo, who knew a lot about it.

Last month, by chance, I met the daughter of the founder of the orchestra at a Christmas fair and now I know many people have had great experiences and make life long friends there.

We had a weeklong residential camp in early January. This gave us time to practice for the concert in the National Concert Hall on the 4th of January. We rehearsed for about eight hours every day!

We played Mahler’s 1st Symphony, Stanford’s Irish Rhapsody No. 1 and the Tubin Double Base Concerto. It was very exciting and an incredible concert! I’m looking forward to summer, when we will travel around Ireland, performing in different cities.

By Ruby Creighton Kowalsky, 2nd Year

In early September, the Irish Youth Training Choir was invited to sing in the National Concert Hall as the opening act for the Business to Arts Awards ceremony. I was lucky enough to be able to participate in this event alongside my friend Holly Trainor. I became a part of this choir after I got through the auditions and was accepted to participate in a week-long course in the University of Limerick, where we got to sing a variety of unique songs and perform them in Limerick and Dublin.

The event was spectacular - we sang two beautiful songs: It Matters by Rhona Clarke and The Way We Tell a Story by Sean Doherty. With the help of our conductor, Patrick Barrett, we gave the audience a sensational and exciting performance. Everyone had so much fun while singing and we even got a standing ovation from the audience!

There’s no doubt that me and the choir are incredibly grateful to have been able to perform at this special event. I hope we’ll be able to have the opportunity to sing and perform at more events like this in the future.

By Shiloh Barrio, 3rd Year

A Day at the Opera

On the 9th of November 5th and 6th year Music classes attended the Irish Film Institute for a morning of singing and an opera screening. Along with many other schools, students took part in a singing workshop with singers from the Irish National Opera. They learned some warm-up exercises and took on board opera singing techniques while learning Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, in German.

After the workshop students got an insight into the composer Gerald Barry with a live interview. 5th and 6th year students study Gerald Barry’s work, Piano Quartet no. 1, as part of their Leaving Certificate Music

course. Students had the opportunity to ask him questions and hear about his journey as a composer. 6th year students mentioned that by seeing the interview with him that his work made more sense to them.

Visual has finally been able to get on properly this year now that the covid restrictions have been lifted. We’ve already gone on a couple of trips this year, most recently to Heirloom, the current exhibition by Rachel Doolin in The Lexicon, Dun Laoghaire.. The

The final element of the trip was a screening of Gerald Barry’s opera Alice’s Adventures Underground, a contemporary opera, which was recorded during Covid lockdowns as it could not be toured. The opera is a modern take on the story of Alice in Wonderland using contemporary music and singing styles, with the role of Alice played by Irish soprano, Claudia Boyle.

Ms Aoife Fox

Visualat The Lexicon

Visual Art Club meets after school on Wednesdays in the upstairs art-room. On the last Wednesday of every month we go on a trip.

Within the school we are planning to paint a mural in the art-room and possibly another elsewhere. Last week Ms Feighery brought some sheep hearts from the science rooms and we sketched them; strangely they didn’t smell.

Visual is open to all year-groups come along on a Wednesday to try it out or ask the Art teachers to find out more.

By Coco Evans, TY

class.

Students looked at the work of Constructivist artists like Naum Gabo, and developed these sculptures based on the form of the human head. They are made from cardboard, hot glue and acrylic paint.

Newpark’s SciFest

Scifest itself was great. It was so much fun getting to explain our project to other people and be judged. Some people came round to ask us questions about our project. It was lovely to get to see everybody else’s amazing projects. There was a lot of anticipation throughout about the result and it was a great way for people to show what they had learnt. Making our poster was fun and it was a great opportunity to research and experiment. We really enjoyed doing this project as all our ideas gave us inspiration to complete the task.

Scifest is a competition where “innovation meets creativity”. 1st Year students were given the chance to come up with an idea, experiment on it and make a poster to show what we had learnt. Each group had approximately three weeks to complete their projects for Scifest and we spent the first two classes trying to think of an idea! We only came up with our winning idea in the last ten or so minutes of planning time! Someone suggested trying to make cleaning products for removing stains.

After that it was just: Plan. Execute. Present.

First, we decided on what we would use to make the cleaning products. We chose vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, toothpaste, lemon juice and used fabric and ketchup stains to test it. Over the next few classes, we experimented and tested. We mixed different ingredients to make stain removers, e.g. vinegar and toothpaste. We smeared a ketchup stain onto the white fabric and rubbed in our product. We rinsed the pieces of fabric under cold water for about two minutes and hung them on a drying rack to air dry. Each piece of cloth was labelled so they wouldn’t get mixed up. We tested each mixture three times and filled out the results in a result table.

By Sadhbh Ryan Griffin, Romy Burke, Juliet Brady and Louisa Grier, 1st Year

The Science Magic Show

Then we moved onto designing our poster. We included all the key information, such as the experimental procedure, the ingredients used, the results etc. We spent two classes on our poster and finished it the day before Scifest.

During Science Week in Newpark the first years went to two science shows during class time. The first one was called ‘Science Magic Show’. There were lots of interesting experiments such as elephant toothpaste, this was a colourful foam that erupted from large beakers when hydrogen peroxide was mixed with a catalyst. There were lots more amazing experiments finishing off with a teddy exploding out of a cannon.

The second show was a liquid nitrogen show. This was very interesting. We got to freeze many different things including flowers and fruit. The flowers crumbled in our hands, and we got to hit a banana with a hammer. Science week was lots of fun.

By Céile Grant, 1st Year

Belfast Trip

touching the piece of foil. Using a computer app, you could choose the sound the instrument made.

Later we went on a climbing frame up through some of the building! Finally, we had one last look around the museum. After a busy trip we went back to school. We learnt a lot and had great fun.

By Sadhbh Ryan Griffin, 1st Year

The 1st Years in Newpark on the 2nd of December went to W5 in Belfast. W5 is an interactive science museum where you get involved with the exhibits. We started with a very long bus journey up north. When we eventually arrived in Belfast the first thing we did was have a look around one floor of W5. There was so much to see. There was a musical instrument that made noises with different pitches depending on the length of the tube. There was also a device called the Marvellous Machine where you had to get a cloth to go a certain route through tubes by diverting the air flow using flaps in the tubes. You were aiming to get it out of the pipe that lit up green.

After lunch we had a workshop where we learned about electronic music. The first activity we did was making circuits by placing down connections and switches in different ways. When we put it together correctly a lamp would light up or a fan would spin, or music would play. We even got to play a theremin by moving your hand.

Next, we made our own electronic instruments by gluing tinfoil to pictures of musical instruments (e.g. a piano) and connecting each piece of tinfoil to a circuit board. Ultimately, connecting the circuit board to a computer would let us play our musical instruments by

Well done to the Junior cycle science quiz winners:

Ben Carey Smith, Jamie Magill and Isaac Nolan 3MT

5th Year students at the Botanic Gardens during Science Week.

BT Young Scientist

popular with all the politicians as they studied carefully her scientific investigation into rational decision making and voting fairly.

By Ms Karen Cashman

“Do 18-year-olds have the cognitive ability to vote fairly?”

I entered my project in the Senior Social & Behavioural category. I wanted to enter the discussion about lowering the voting age to sixteen from a scientific point of view.

Congratulations to our Young Scientists, Nakai Mudiwa (5th Year), Natan Gorzelańczyk, Allegra Zipser and Tom Lenehan (3rd Year) and Oscar McGowen and Casper Ryan (1st Year). It was a great achievement to have three Newpark BT Young Scientist projects qualified for the BT Young Scientist Competition 2023 which took place in the RDS between the 11th –14th January 2023. The team of judges screened almost 2000 projects nationwide and choose three of our projects to complete in the final of the competition. The students along with their teacher worked tirelessly during the weeks coming up to the competition and over the Christmas holidays to complete their projects to a very high standard.

Newpark had big successes in the RDS with Nakai Mudiwa winning second prize in the senior individual category with her project entitled “Do 18-year-olds have the cognitive ability to vote fairly” and Natan, Allegra and Tom received a highly commended award for their project entitled “Fuelling Newpark with Food Waste”.

There was a lot of interest in all the projects from the public and many high-profile politicians, and they were inundated by special guests calling to their stands over the four days. Casper and Oscar were a big attraction in the RDS, they had many visitors including Minster for Education Norma Foley, Tánaiste Michael Martin and junior Minster for Finance Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. The third-year young scientists also had many visitors. Leader of the labour party Ivana Bacik and Green party leader Eamon Ryan showed a keen interest in their project when they visited their stand. Nakai was very

My hypothesis is that younger adolescents rely more heavily on their limbic system for decision-making and do not gain the ability to use their pre-frontal cortex for rational decisions as effectively and consistently as adults until about 25. I tested this by handing out decision making styles surveys to 50 students from each year and 50 teachers as a control. I used the quantitative results of this survey together with research on the maturation of adolescent brains and the processes involved in decision making and voting in particular to prove or disprove my hypothesis and then apply it to the current discourse around the voting age.

By Nakai Mudiwa, 5th Year

“Fuelling Newpark with Food Waste”

We entered our project into the intermediate chemical, physical and mathematical section.

We worked on a project in which food waste bins were placed around the school, and all the food waste produced by the people at Newpark would then be collected and turned into methane - a gas that can power our Bunsen burners in the science labs, or possibly even more of the school.

This project is great for the environment, as not only does it take food waste out of the landfill, but it also reduces the amount of gas we are emitting into the atmosphere, by using the waste scraps of food we throw away instead! During the current energy crisis, we

want to see if we can turn waste in money.

Thanks to Mr Murray & Mr O’Neill for sharing their engineering expertise with us.

By Natan Gorzelańczyk, Allegra Zipser and Tom Lenehan, 3rd Year

“Do your perceptions affect your ability to succeed?”

For our project we tried to find out whether if you are given an easy puzzle but told that it is a hard one, would you struggle to finish it because you think it is hard.

We wanted to prove to our fellow students that their perceptions might be preventing them from reaching success. We entered our project in the junior Social & Behavioural Science category.

By Oscar McGowan and Casper Ryan, 1st Year

Do you think you have what it takes to be next year's representative for Newpark in the BT Young Scientist Competition? Why not start brainstorming ideas now, invest in a project diary and start writing in your ideas and research – we look forward to hearing from you with your ideas.

On the 17th of November, the Irish Science Teachers’ Association (ISTA) hosted science quizzes in fourteen separate locations around the country. Thanks to Newpark being a member, we got to put forward two teams into the Dublin regional quiz held in Trinity College. Newpark Team A (the letter allegedly being nothing to do with quality...) was Adam Merabet, Lily O’ Flanagan and Edith Kelly and Team B was Isobelle McSweeney, Erin Kirby, and Jack Bradshaw.

All the extra study sessions and random online science quizzes had led to this. Both teams had done some preparation beforehand but going into the quiz I don’t think we were at all confident. We knew the questions would be difficult and a conversation with the St. Andrew’s teams on the DART revealed they had an algorithm for picking their teams, so I believe this lack of faith in our abilities was somewhat justified.

We were greeted by two of our lovely science teachers, Ms Farrell and Ms Cameron, who had held those extra study sessions for us. And then we were ushered into the lecture hall filled with students from around the country. The lecture hall was filled with students (sixty teams), teachers and perhaps an over-eager parent or two.

There were eight rounds with six questions each, with a lot we knew and some we didn’t. Yes, van Leeuwenhoek is the Father of Microbiology and no, the cow is not Ireland’s largest land mammal. As you can imagine, the questions were hard but both teams fared surprisingly well throughout and by the eighth and final round we were both in the top ten with Team B one point off first place. By the end it was all tied up and first place was to be decided by a sudden death round between Newpark and Wesley. An amazing hunch from Isobel resulted in our victory with the other Newpark team also coming fifth, securing our places in the ISTA Nationals.

Progressing on to nationals our teams came 4th and

A big thank you to our science teachers, Ms. Farrell, Ms. Anderson, and Ms. Cameron who enabled our participation in this quiz, it was great fun.

By Jack Bradshaw and Edith Kelly, 6th Year

Maths Week

The annual Newpark Maths week was held during Monday 17th and Friday 21st of October 2022. It was fantastic to see so many students and teachers take part in the various activities held in Newpark.

Activities and events included a Daily Maths Problem open to all years and staff, a Junior Cycle Poster Competition – ‘Maths Eyes’, BIMDAS Bingo for First Years and Transition Year reviewed the film Moneyball.

Junior Cycle Poster Competition

Well done to all the entrants in the maths poster competition. All posters were brilliant. It was clear that a lot of time and effort went into creating and designing these posters. Well done to the winners of the Junior Cycle Poster Competition:

1stPlace: Bella Kenneally 1NCR

2ndPlace: Helena Adamsons 1NCR

3rdPlace: Kate Glanville 3EOS

Daily Maths Problem

Well done to our daily prize winners:

Monday: Mimi Reuland 4LMY

Tuesday: Isobel McSweeney 6AFX

Wednesday: Harry Bradshaw 6CH/KC

Thursday: Oisin Twohig 2WFE

Friday: Sol McCullough 1DK

Eight students got four out of the five days’ problems correct. Congratulations to:

Tora Groarke 2SCN

Martha Bray 4KD

Luke Conaghan 4KD

Indiana Gallanagh 4KD

Callum Cooney 6AC

Una Mckenna 6DM

Adam Merabet 6CBE

Harry Bradshaw 6CH/KC

Three students got all five days’ problems correct, which is an amazing achievement. They were:

Lily Crowley-Ollier 4KD

Molly Sweeney 4KD

Isobel McSweeney 6AFX

BIMDAS Bingo

The very popular BIMDAS Bingo was held on Thursday 20th of October 2022. It was great to see so many first years taking part and enjoying themselves. Lots of lines were called and treats were given to all participants. Great work to all involved.

2nd Year Mathematical Mummies

The mummies looked at the contribution the Egyptians made to the world of maths. They then used knowledge of surface area and problemsolving skills to estimate how much toilet paper it would take to mummify their team-mate.

The brave volunteers were then mummified to see how close their estimations were to the surface area of their teammates.

Ms Karen Cashman

Thank you to all the staff and students who took part in the various activities during the week. A special thank you to all the teachers in the Maths Department who helped run and facilitate the activities.

MsSiobhanCostello

World Wise Global Schools

WorldWise Global Schools (WWGS) was set up in 2013. The aim of the programme is to engage students in quality global citizenship education to increase awareness and an understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world in which we live. This is done by challenging stereotypes and encouraging independent thinking,

Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is Ireland’s national Citizenship Education and is part of Irish Aid’s WorldWise Global Schools programme for postprimary schools. GCE helps students critically explore the root causes of global justice issues and how they interlink with our everyday lives. GCE inspires global solidarity by supporting people to fully realise their rights, responsibilities and potential as global citizens in order to take meaningful action for a just and sustainable world. Over the past term, the WWGS committee has promoted a number of causes to increase Newpark students engagement and awareness around global issues.

European Languages Day & Celebrating Diversity

September 26th

“The European Day of Languages is a celebration of the rich tapestry of languages which make our continent so special. Linguistic diversity is our cultural heritage. It helps us appreciate difference and helps us understand that diversity is our strength. Let us value all languages in Europe.” Statement from Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

To celebrate Newpark’s diversity, the WWGS committee asked all years to design and colour the flag

which celebrated their origin and diversity. Newpark has a wonderful multi-cultural community, and this was reflected in all the flags which we then hung up along the T corridor which is the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) corridor. They were from all four corners of the world with many students celebrating a dual or multi heritage.

Jersey Day

October

2022

On the 13th of October, GOAL visited Newpark to promote their national Jersey Day fundraiser but also to create an awareness and educate 2nd and 3rd year students about the seventeen interlinked Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the part they play, with a focus on a number of the SDGs including Clean Water and Sanitation, Zero Poverty and Reduced Inequalities. It was an engaging and informative talk, and a very successful Jersey Day was held on the 14th of October which raised €615 for GOAL.

100kms in a month for Ndiini School Food Programme,

20th October – 20th November

On 11 October, Margaret Dempsey spoke to TYs about her charity Ndiini School Food Programme, Registered CHY No. 20136. She discussed its foundation and the role of the charity in Kenya. Again, there was a focus on the SDGs mainly Zero Hunger and Zero Poverty to encourage students to have an increased awareness around food inequality and waste.

At the end of the lecture, students were encouraged to sign up to a 100km walk/run in a month in aid of the charity or to promote a brown bin campaign within the school to highlight food waste.

The following students took part in the 100km walk/

Crocus Project

A huge thank you to:

Abbie Bolger, Hannah Oaky, Indiana Gallanagh, Jessica Roe, Martha Bray, Megan McGovern, Rebecca McSweeney and Sophie Shepard

By Ms Margaret Dempsey

Black History Month

Ms Boyle’s 1st year History class planted Crocus bulbs as part of the Holocaust Education Trust's Crocus Project. The Crocus flowers, which bloom in time for the Holocaust Memorial day in January, remind us of those who perished during the holocaust. They serve to remind us that we all play a part in eradicating hatred, prejudice and discrimination. A great initiative that raises awareness and adds to the biodiversity of our campus. We look forward to seeing them bloom in January.

By Ms Anita Boyle

In October we celebrated Black History Month. This is a month dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the achievements of prominent Black personalities who have made a contribution to society in a variety of different ways. We included artists, sportspeople, singers, actors, scientists, famous firsts and entrepreneurs to name a few.

We created a ‘Periodic Table of Black History’. This was a tangible way to teach students about the dangers of racism, discrimination, prejudice and hatred while celebrating achievement and difference. Students really enjoyed learning about the various achievements and contributions while exploring the theme of racism through a global justice lens.

By Ms Anita Boyle

Magical Moving Machine for EUROPE

impromptu trad session in The Harbour Bar with Peter McKenna (Una-Luce’s dad) on the uileann pipes, our own Mr Quigley on the fiddle and myself trying to beat time on the bodhrán. Next day we set up the projects in The Lexicon before having a guided tour of Dublin City. Then it was back to Dun Laoghaire for the exhibition which was attended by parents, relatives, guests and teachers.

This adventure started out in November 2019 in Bad Kreuznach, Germany with students who have since left Newpark. However, the decisions they made then were respected and carried on by our current students. When we were able to travel again after Covid-19 we went to Lisbon and Marinha Grande in Portugal to restart the project. Then we continued in Italy and Slovenia during the school year 2021/2022

We called it the Magical Moving Machine for Europe (3M4EU) because we didn’t know at the time that it would eventually turn out to be a giant marble run in a 500mm cube. The ideas came from the students attending the meetings in Germany, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and of course Ireland, where we had the final meeting and presentation during the week of 26

30 September 2022

Although the project was a technical one, we have always given the teachers and students cultural, sightseeing and industrial visits. So, we started the week with some project work followed by a DART trip to Bray and a welcome dinner. After dinner we had an

Wednesday was the final day of this project and was our trip day. We started in Turlough Hill Hydroelectric Power Station where we had a very informative guided tour by ESB employees. Then it was back to nearby Glendalough for a visit to the interpretative centre and a walk to the upper lake. On our way back we made a brief stop at Bray Emmets GAA car park where we had a hurling skills demo by a club member and Mr Connell. We also had an exposé of a racing car owned and driven by a past pupil, Alan Watkins of Dun Laoghaire Motor Worx. We rounded off the day with a dinner and hooley night in The Merry Ploughboy.

Next morning it time to say goodbye to our friends from Portugal and Slovenia as the second project took centre stage, coordinated by the German delegation. This is the third iteration of the Train for Europe project which started in 2007 and we got involved in it from 2011 – 2013. The latest version is an attempt to bring digitisation to the project following the principles of Industry 4.0. Norway and Lithuania joined us for the second half of the week, and this was more of a working meeting since it is mid-way through the project. Further meetings will take place in Lithuania in January next and Germany in May 2023

It wasn’t all hard work though as we bussed the entire group out to Avondale on the Saturday to experience “Beyond the Trees”. Then we had our final dinner in The Lakeside Restaurant in Hidden Valley before saying our last goodbyes.

These projects are funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union which means that all travel and accommodation is paid for, but the running of such projects is a onerous task. However, when you see the benefit to students and the experiences they have in places they might never otherwise travel to, it makes it all worthwhile.

By Mr John O’Neill (3M4EU coordinator)

Minister of State for Sport, Jack Chambers, visited Newpark after the school was presented with a Heroes award from the Irish Heart Foundation for its continued dedication to the CPR 4 Schools programme. So far 15 teachers and all 864 students have been taught the life-saving skill.

Teaching of CPR is delivered to students through the Science curriculum. The programme aims to create a generation of young lifesavers who can respond swiftly and effectively in a cardiac emergency. The minister was given a demonstration during his visit and said,

“It was a great pleasure to participate in the CPR 4 Schools programme at Newpark Comprehensive. As a Government, we want to see as many young people as possible participate in sport to reap the health and wellbeing benefits, and to do so in a safe environment. This programme ensures more young people will be equipped with the skills to perform CPR, should it ever be required. I want to congratulate all the students and teachers involved in this life-saving initiative. Everyone involved in this programme should be extremely proud of these achievements which contribute towards a safer and healthier sporting environment.”

Thank you to the Irish Heart Foundation for their support of this important initiative. Well done to all students and teachers involved!

Garda Bike Safety Talk

To collectively strive to decrease the effects we have on climate change, students have switched to cycling to school rather than getting lifts or using busses. But as more students start using bikes to get to school, the more bike safety information has to be spread.

Enterprise and innovation is a class in transition year in which students repair bikes and try to profit off the end result of them. So, Mr. Power and Ms. Ahern organised for some gardai to come in and give us a talk about bike safety; how to cycle safely and how to lock up our bikes safely. Here are some tips that they gave us:

• Have two lights on your bike: a white light in front and a red light on the back.

• Have a bell on your bike.

• The value of a lock for the bike should be 10% of the value of the bike.

• One should have two different types of locks on their bike.

• One should buy bikes from a reputable dealer only.

• For safety, one should take down the serial number of the bike and note it if in case the bike is stolen.

• Take a picture of your bike to make it identifiable to the garda.

These tips should all be considered as hundreds of bikes get stolen every year.

I thought the talk was very informative and helped me ensure the safety of my bike, if I had one.

By Evelyn Lysaght, TY

United Nation conference at Royal Russel school in Croydon. Newpark was representing Ecuador (with Naria as ambassador), Ethiopia (with Sibeal as ambassador), Fiji (with me as ambassador) and Thailand (with Nakai as ambassador). It was an amazing trip that has gotten us all extra excited for MUN this year. Especially as we now have a big (and growing) Newpark MUN team. And the other schools now know how amazing we are thanks to Hannah Clabby, Nakai Mudiwa, and Sibeal Keaney all winning a distinguished delegate award in their committees at Royal Russel.

It was an amazing and fun trip, probably a highlight of not just 4thyear, but my whole time in school. It was also completely exhausting. We were constantly editing or looking over a resolution, our own or other people’s, doing extra research, making deals with people from other schools, organising who was in General Assembly when, or something else. Because it was an international conference, we got to talk to a load of people we’d never

My favourite part of the conference was the first day. Although we hadn’t started the fruitful debate yet, (I say “fruitful debate” because we did a tally that counted this being said twenty times during the ambassador speeches), we were all so excited and running on adrenaline more than sleep. We all had to find people to work together with to support and build resolutions and the ambassador speeches were good fun, if a little stressful.

And of course, it wasn’t all work. There was MUN’s Got Talent, which a good few of us couldn’t get into but I heard was very good entertainment. There were extensive breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, which were mostly tasty. There were themed discos every night, which were surprisingly fun. The themes were strange though. The first was pyjamas, the second après ski and the last was the 80s. The 80s was by far the best as the first night was only about 20 minutes and then

Royal Russel MUN

there was a power trip and the second was après ski. Even if I had whatever classifies as après ski, and could fit it my 10kg of luggage, it's just not practical for a disco. There was some late-night pizza on the last night (thanks Ms Morrissey), which was definitely allowed. And on the last day, we went to London before the airport, so we saw Buckingham palace, went on the underground, and got to do some wandering.

So that was Royal Russel. There’s so much more to say about it but that would be very boring to read. I absolutely want to go again next year; I think we all do. The last thing to say is that everyone should give MUN a go! It’s great fun, you get to go on cool trips, you actually pick up skills and, fingers crossed, Newpark will be holding our very own PARKMUN (we need to get permission and funding, but we started planning on the trip), so we’d like as many people as we can have for that.

By Silvia Ciulli Cummins, TY

Terenure MUN

International Security) committees.

Terenure Model United Nations is always the first conference in the academic year and there are often plenty of new delegates, making it the optimal place to gain experience or hone your existing skills. It is entirely student-led, down to security (which mostly pose for photos and indiscriminately evict people), the press team and the Secretary General.

Terenure Model United Nations took place on the evening of Friday the 7th and Saturday the 8th of October. Newpark represented three delegations: Ukraine, Australia and the USA. Ukraine was a very topical country to represent, especially in the Human Rights, SPECPOL (Special Political and Decolonization Committee) and DISEC (Disarmament and

I experienced this conference as a committee chair for the first time in the Ecology and Environment committee and was eager to get the hang of it. It ended up being less intimidating than I thought, and the committee topics were very relevant and easy to stay interested in, including the question of plastic in the South China Sea, the question of fast fashion and the problem of inadequate coastal protection.

After two days of productive debate, we closed the conference with some joke awards and joke resolutions, including one on genetically modifying turtles to eat plastic straws in the sea (which passed by an overwhelming majority) and an award for most likely to run for Taoiseach.

There are plenty more MUN’s happening this academic year, and although the new perspective was refreshing, I look forward to returning to debate as a delegate.

By Nakai Mudiwa, 5th Year

Does this sound like something you’d be interested in? Why not come along and find out! The Model United Nations group meets every Monday at lunchtime in T13 (Ms Odongo’s lab).

Please contact Ms Odongo if you have any further questions!

1st Year Religion Trip

On Monday the 14th of November, all of 1st Year went on a school trip to three religious places of worship. We went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a Christian place of worship, The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland and Mosque, a Muslim place of worship and The Vedic Hindu Cultural Centre of Ireland, a Temple, which is where Hindus go to pray together. All three places gave us a better understanding of these religions and taught us so many new things.

St Patrick’s Cathedral has an old library beside it called Marsh’s Library, with books that are hundreds and hundreds of years old. There were tiny Lego figures hidden all over the library. After visiting there, we went to the main part of the cathedral where we learned lots about Christianity and the history of the building.

The Mosque was a big building with intricate designs on the side. When we first walked in, we took off our shoes and walked into the main prayer hall. After sitting down, the guide, Dr Ali Selim, told us about the history of Islam and its holy book, the Quran.

When we walked into the Hindu Temple, we put our shoes onto shelves and we all sat down and listened to some facts about the origins of Hinduism, Hindu gods and their beliefs and practices. After we listened, we were given the opportunity to go into the shrine and look at some of the statues of Hindu gods. In conclusion, we all learned so much. We enjoyed going to various places and seeing similarities and differences between the three places of worship.

Molly Soden-Cowap & Róisín McDonnell Scheer, 1AK

“I really enjoyed hearing about all the different traditions and rituals and the history of the different religions and locations.”

“My favourite part of the trip was the bus” (x3!)

“My favourite part of the trip was the Mosque because it had cool designs.”

“I found that I learned about culture but I also learned about people.”

“I liked the Mosque because you got to take off your shoes and the carpet was nice and fluffy.”

“I liked the Hindu Temple because it was a very calm place and it smelt like incense and was very pretty.”

Team Hope

Last year, because of Team Hope, 178,639 children living in poverty received a Christmas present. Every year, they aim to bring hope and joy to children, many of whom are orphans, in the form of a shoebox filled with gifts and basic necessities.

Speakers from the organisation came out to speak to all Junior classes in November. They also spoke to the 6th year Religion class who really took up the cause. We ended up giving a class to making up shoeboxes then decided we would visit all the Junior classes and encourage them to do the same. In the end, we collected 70 shoeboxes.

Some thoughts on the Religion trip, from

1AK & 1TF:

“My favourite part was going to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We learned about the building, the people who built it and the people buried there.”

“Looking at the books in Marsh’s Library and listening to the Ghost Tale.”

As a treat, we got to deliver these shoeboxes, along with the Christian Union, to the Greystones sorting centre one morning. It was awakening to see the shoeboxes piled high in the church, waiting to be shipped to Africa and Eastern Europe. We spent some time there, sorting the boxes and making sure each one was filled with what was needed.

When filling these shoeboxes, we realised this was all the child would receive this year. was hard not to get attached to each shoebox and fill it as full as possible. We left with a warm feeling, knowing that we could give a little help to some child this year.

By Grace Kelly, 6th Year

A Christmas Reflection

The Elf is back in our house. Help us all.

I have to say, I’m not a big fan of this relatively new tradition. Plus, “Twinkle Sunbeam” (named by Isobel, 4) is a little bit creepy. But it’s adding an extra layer of excitement to the run-up to Christmas for my two girls. They love the Elf. It’s also been easier and quicker to get them up and dressed in the morning, as they’re so excited to see what the Elf has been up to throughout the night. This is a good thing, as mornings can be stressful with two young children! Toddlers and four year olds aren’t very patient. Isobel asked me every morning in November if the Elf was coming yet. No, they’re not very patient. Then again, I suppose that can be said for all of us sometimes.

This idea of having to wait, to be patient; this feeling of expectancy and preparation got me thinking about the Christian season of Advent, the four weeks before Christmas Day. Even though we are now coming to the end of 2022, Advent is actually the first season of the Church Year, where Christians wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. It is not a passive waiting but an active waiting. This means living in such a manner as to receive hope.

However, waiting does not always seem hopeful, it can also be stressful. We think at this time of those who are waiting for test results from doctors, those waiting to find out where they will be staying over Christmas and into the New Year, those waiting for a response from an estranged friend or family member. Waiting can also be painful, worrisome and anguished. In the excitement of waiting and preparing for Christmas, we need to be sure that we reach out to those who may need us, personally, as a local community and as a society.

I wish you all a mindful, peaceful and joyful Advent and Christmas. I hope that we can all spend time with loved ones, without too many distractions; where we are patient and loving to each other and grateful for all that we have.

Also - wish me luck with the Elf!!!

By Ms Amy Keating, Chaplain

“Cling to Joy: Audacious and unbridled joy, that looks for light in everything, even in your waiting.”

Morgan Harper Nichols

So this is Christmas.....

Students from across all year groups enjoyed a morning of Carol Singing to raise funds for Christian Aid, in Stillorgan Shopping Centre on Friday 9th of December. There were some traditional carols as well as a few 80s hits and we even had a passer-by join in on a few carols with his harmonica!

Everyone had a great morning singing together and getting into the Christmas spirit, made better by the fact that we were raising money for a good cause.

By Ms Amy Keating No Grinches Allowed!

Friday 16th December saw an influx of red and green through the doors of Newpark, as staff and students alike donned their best Christmas knitwear to raise funds for a wonderful cause, Laura Lynn, Ireland's Children's Hospice. There was a fantastic festive buzz around the place, as baubles and tinsel reigned supreme.

We raised €1148.30 for Laura Lynn which is absolutely incredible. Thank you to everyone who got involved and for all of the donations, both online and in person.

By Ms Amy Keating

Sponsored Silence

Waking up in the morning is never easy and it doesn’t get much easier when you do it silently. I had to start again before five minutes were gone because I answered a question with “nothing”. Why would I do this? It had a very good reason, we raised €1014 in aid of the Student Support Fund and St George’s Home for Girls, Capetown.

It was weird not speaking in school. I had to stop myself from replying to questions when people who didn’t know or forgot that I was doing it asked me questions. Some people tried to answer questions by writing it down, but it took too long and the writing was too small for the teachers to see.

I am not sure whether it was easier or harder for it to be on a half day or not because I had less time in school but there was more time at home. When family conversations were going on I couldn’t say my opinion.

That was my hard day for a good cause.

By Clarissa Maybury, 1st Year

Barista Training

As part of Ms Mahon's catering class, we were visited by the Dublin Barista School, for our very own barista induction course. Two of their staff came in, and for an hour and a half taught us all about making coffee!

The guys brought in an espresso machine and explained all the parts of it. Then, they demonstrated step-by-step how to make a latte and a mocha, and how to do some cool latte art. We were lucky enough to be able to try making a coffee (or hot chocolate for some) for ourselves as well. It was a really fun and interesting

A Mirror for Texaco

The Texaco Children's Art competition has been Ireland's premier celebration of young people's art since it began in 1955. Schools have been supporting their students in submitting pictures to be judged and reproduced in Texaco calendars and as decoration for petrol stations. The tagline for this year's competition is 'choose the world you want us to see'. We decided that we wanted to show Texaco the world that they are helping to create, where they have contributed to pollution, global heating and human rights abuses. Their activities are limiting the futures of the students whose art they are using.

First year, second year and third year art classes have researched Texaco and Chevron, their parent company, and have discovered a long and disturbing history. The Texaco Children's Art Competition has been used to launder the image of Texaco in Ireland for generations. We want to use it to hold a mirror up to Texaco.

Mr Ciaran Byrne

Ambulance Visit

On the 14th of November 2022 the Red Brick Class visited the Garda station in Blackrock.

Garda Linda and Garda Gemma gave us a tour of the station and a talk on safety. We met the road policing unit and the Garda public order unit too. We had lots of fun testing out the riot gear.

By Jonathan Manning, 2nd Year

Many thanks to paramedic Gareth O'Shea for visiting we hope he had permission to bring the ambulance. Students got oxygen levels in their blood checked and learned some

For my form, 4SFR, our first activity week of TY was Gartan. It snuck up on all of us so quickly and suddenly we were all loading onto the bus way too early in the morning. It felt like yesterday that Ms French had told us we would be the first form to go. The bus ride was exceedingly long, and my feet were never so thankful to touch the ground when we finally arrived at Gartan Adventure Centre in Donegal. One thing I loved about the fact that we got to go first was the mystery revolving around the whole trip. We had no idea what we would be doing and definitely no idea of the fun we had in store for us.

This is a warning to all of the fourth years who haven’t gone to Gartan yet, if you want to be like us and not know what you are going into, skip this and don’t read

it. But for everyone else, you can keep reading!

Our first activity was a series of team building games, which were a lot more fun than they sounded. Our fabulous instructors wasted no time in getting us muddy and wet, but they also wasted no time getting us laughing and having a great time. Then came the renowned NightLine. To put it in simple terms, we were blindfolded at night and brought outside and had to follow a rope through the forest getting covered in all sorts of things. The screams were ear piercing, and it was definitely the weirdest thing I think any of us have ever done. But I think everyone would agree with me when I say it was one of the most fun and unique activities of our time in Gartan. But the water we had to walk through was FREEZING.

The next day entailed our first water activity, kayaking. Again, the water was freezing and we all looked pretty stupid in our wetsuits and helmets, nevertheless we all had such a great time. We kayaked across a lot of the lake and even got off at a couple of the small islands, and thankfully we only had two capsizing boats, which was kind of hilarious. At the end some of us ran into the lake, which was so much fun. When we first ran in it wasn’t too bad but as the water started seeping through the wetsuit it triggered the screams. But it was still fun even though I was numb after it! Then some of us did rock climbing while the others did orienteering. Both activities were so much fun, and the

rock climbing was such an amazing facility they have in Gartan and really pushed a lot of us out of our comfort zones.

The next day we went on an 18km hike. Which, yes, I know sounds horrible, but personally it was one of my favorite memories of the whole trip. We had a fun little karaoke on the bus up to the top of stunning Glenveagh National Park which greeted us with the most gorgeous views. The hike allowed all of us to just talk to each other and I found I got to talk to pretty much everyone at some point and I think it helped us get a lot closer as a group and learn a lot about each other too. We stopped off in a tearoom in a castle and sat down and had some very expensive scones and hot chocolate and then we started off again. By the end of the hike our legs felt like they were about to fall off, but it was a really enjoyable experience and such a fun memory we all now have and definitely allowed us to bond more as a group.

though we were all so tired after all the running it involved. It allowed us to see the beautiful views all around the centre too. Then we rounded off the evening with karaoke and card games. The evening times created some of the best memories and allowed us all to bond so much and just have fun together, especially the legendary game of spoons we played with Ms French and Ms Costello, you had to be there to understand how hilarious it was!

Overall Gartan was the most amazing experience, and I am so grateful we got the opportunity to go. It has already won the top prize of my favorite moment of TY just down to the fun and unforgettable time we all had there! It was truly a once in a lifetime experience and

On our final day we braved the water one last time canoeing in Canadian Canoes and did a very odd relay race which made us all very, very dizzy and muddy, but like everything else it was still so much fun. At the end we all went into the freezing water one more time and no, it was not any warmer than the last time. Then we did orienteering and climbing again. Orienteering was actually not boring at all, and I really enjoyed it even

All the way back in September, we (the TYs) had our team building day. I can remember always seeing all the fourth years in the past years walking around in matching colours with war paint on their faces. It was finally our turn, except we resorted to using tipex as war paint which was a big mistake. Moving on… we had all been looking forward to this team building day since we first stepped foot into TY, but we all know it was the teachers that were the most excited.

My form was white, and every other form was a different colour. Competitiveness was high throughout the day, and no one was prepared to let the glory of winning slip away from them. We went head-to-head against all the forms in a series of very creative challenges run by the TY form teachers! From balloon blowing to balloon popping then to egg dropping to blindfolded walking we all worked in our form groups to earn points. It was all so much fun and very stressful at times (the blindfolded obstacle course almost as scary as the nightline in Gartan).

Then came the main event, the real test. The tug of war. Here is where we all saw our form teacher's true competitiveness. Each form went against the others, with some being better than the rest. By the end, there was a lot of uncertainty as to who had won the esteemed title and the form teachers faces, including Mr Lennon;s, were dead-pan and gave away nothing. As Mr Lennon went from last to first place it was so nerve-wracking but then…. he announced a tie. Between Ms Morrisey’s form and Ms French’s form. And that left it to a tug of war battle between us and Ms Morrisey’s group. And what can I say? Ms French and all of us, the underdogs, pulled through and won! It was an incredible victory! Overall, the team bonding day really did its job and definitely brought all of us closer with our forms and it was so much fun and such a great way to end a week! I am really glad we did it in September as it really helped all of us get on so much better for the rest of module 1 and the year ahead! Also, Mr Ludgate, we are still looking for that trophy!

By Hannah Clabby, TY

Róise Agus Frank

On the 20th of October, the TY higher-level Irish classes left school at lunch and went to the cinema. They rented a screen in IMC Dún Laoghaire, and we all watched ‘Róise agus Frank’. As fun as it was to go off to the cinema, we went because we are going to study ‘Róise agus Frank’ as our Irish film this year. It is about a widowed woman, Róise, who thinks that the dog that has started following her is her husband, Frank, reincarnated. It follows her and the dog’s journey as she treats ‘Frank’ like a human, much to her son, neighbour and the town’s bewilderment. We were all pleasantly surprised that we enjoyed the film. It was funny, the dog was cute (and seriously well trained), and there were even some emotional bits where people almost cried. I was worried that I wouldn’t understand the Irish, but thankfully there were subtitles. I found I was understanding more without the subtitles as the film went on. So, all in all, it was a really fun trip with a surprisingly entertaining film and even more surprisingly, some actual Irish was learned.

By Silvia Ciulli Cummins, TY

On Monday the 24th of October, nine TY students of Korean and two teachers went on a trip to a Korean Restaurant in Dublin City Centre. The Restaurant was called ‘The Drunken Fish,’ it is situated on Mayor Street Lower near Connolly Dart station. When we arrived, we got seated on the top floor of the Restaurant. There were already three Small Korean Barbecues on the table (four people per barbecue). We ordered a selection of different meats, vegetables, and some fruits as well. The food was delicious, everything worked well, and complimented each other. The beef and pineapple were by far the best of all the food we tried. We sat at the restaurant eating the food for about three hours. It was not busy at all so the service was great, and the staff was amazing. I would definitely recommend ‘The Drunken Fish’ to anyone who enjoys Korean food or someone who has never tried it before.

Models and winners from the annual TY Newspaper Fashion Show!

In Dublin Week

Along with work experience, Transition Year students participate in three different activity weeks spread out across the school year. Arts Week, a trip to Gartan, and of course, In Dublin Week. Students spend this week in Dublin city, doing different activities each day. It was a fantastic experience for bonding, getting to know Dublin and learning new things about Irish culture. We visited Glasnevin cemetery, the Zoo, the Natural History Museum and The Little Museum of Dublin. We walked up Bray Head, and on the last day we partook in the “Infamous Selfie Hunt” in Dublin.

By Clem Beard Joyce, TY

I did Arts Week for my first activity week. On the Monday we started a painting project with Ms Feighery with big wooden panels. We were shown some examples of artists that we could take inspiration from, for example, Yinka Ilori. After that, we got into groups and worked on our plans for the panels. We worked on these panels on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

On Wednesday, we went into town to lots of art galleries such as the Molesworth Gallery and the National Art Gallery. At the end of the week, the panels were finished and I think they really came together.

By Isobel Smiley, TY

Two groups of Transition Year students participated in Arts Week last November, during which time they produced large-scale colourful paintings that are due to be installed at St. Colmcille’s Hospital Loughlinstown.

The brief of the project was to produce work that would brighten up a courtyard at this somewhat dated HSE hospital, and the work that resulted was bright, playful, colourful and bursting with life. The students work was inspired by muralist Yinka Ilori who creates playful and inviting public spaces filled with pattern and colour.

The students embraced the project with an extremely positive enthusiasm, proving that they were capable of great teamwork and of following a real life creative brief. The students also proved that they were not daunted by the challenge of producing large scale work and within time constraints. The week included a trip into town for each group to visit a number of art galleries and public art sculptures which introduced new sources of inspiration to the project.

Overall, arts week was a very positive experience which included an overarching theme of playfulness, positivity and creativity.

By Ms Trudy Feighery

Biodiversity Week

Green Schools Seminar

On Tuesday 19th October, I attended a training seminar in preparation for our new green flag this year.

As part of green schools we try to get a green flag every two years. So far we have gotten the water, travel and energy flags. This year we are going for the biodiversity flag. As part of getting the flag we have to organise a day or week centered around our theme. This year our theme is biodiversity.

To achieve this goal we had a list of things we need to achieve including biodiversity surveys and a plan for a specific biodiversity week. We also had projects such as updating and changing the recycling signs on the bins to better match the changed rules on what you can and can't recycle. As part of biodiversity week we made a biodiversity form to see how much the school knows about biodiversity.

As well as this, we did a bake sale and a non-uniform day on the Friday as well. There was also an instagram competition run by Luke Conaghan on the Newpark Greenschools instagram account. The main focus of the week was biodiversity found in Ireland.

We called the Friday, Bee Day, because if the students decided to take part in the non-uniform day, they had to wear black and yellow (and pay €2). All money raised in the bake sale and the non-uniform day will go towards the Irish Wildlife Trust.

The winner of the instagram competition was Gavin MacAonghusa. The hugely successful bakesale managed to raise over €300 for Irish Wildlife Trust. Definitely a victory for biodiversity in Ireland.

By Isobel Smiley, Sarah Glanville

Our flag this year will be the biodiversity flag! In order to get our next green flag, we have to complete seven steps, some of which we have already done. Some of the things we must do are to send out a survey on biodiversity to the school. This was done and was sent out to all of the form teachers who were then asked to send it to the students. Another thing we have to do is compile a habitat map of the school.

Overall, the seminar was super enlightening and definitely didn’t make me fall asleep.

By Isobel Smiley, TY

Can’t Touch This!

and Hannah Phelan, TY

On Friday 21st, our class got to join in on the music video that was being made by the Plastic Outta the Park campaign. I, being me, went straight to the back of the theatre but somehow I ended up being put near the front. Everyone at the front was given Plastic Outta the Park t-shirts.

Oh yes. I forgot to mention. There was a dance routine. A DANCE ROUTINE! After the traumatic experience of having to dance in front of a camera, I thought I was done. But no. We then had to find teachers around the school to get them to dance with us. We got Mr Doyles (both of them), Ms Devis, Mr Norton, Mr Adams, Mr Daly, Mr Lennon and Molly. I also forgot one more thing. The dance was to Can't touch this by MC Hammer.

We’re hoping it will help to spread awareness of our campaign Don’t Touch This Plastic!

By Isobel Smiley, TY

Gold Week

Some of you reading this probably don’t know a bright and cheerful girl named Mia Seligman. She was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in late August last year and she died in December 2021. She was an amazing person, she was always kind and nice. Her optimism inspired everyone.

We want to thank the entire school community and the dedicated 3rd years who organised these events. This couldn’t have been possible without them.

By Viktoriia Kychan and Anabel Warshager, 3rd Year

Goal Jersey Day

This year a group of Newpark students decided to organise Gold Week in our school. This consisted of events such as a bake sale, a sea swim, a dance workshop, and a dress-up day. These events all aimed to raise money for the Childhood Cancer society. Some of Mia’s friends decided to join in and help.

“From the 26th to 29th of September, myself and a group of 3rd years ran Gold Week – a week of fundraisers and activities in aid of Childhood Cancer Ireland.

We chose this week as the last week of childhood cancer month and ran it also in memory of our friend Mia, who died to cancer back in December. On Monday we had a bake sale.

Tuesday was a dance workshop after school.

On Wednesday we had a sea swim after school for 3rd years, and we had a great turnout despite the very cold water.

Friday was a non-uniform day where we asked students to wear gold colour clothing- the colour of the childhood cancer ribbon, and bring in two euro for Childhood Cancer Ireland. The entire proceeds of the week totalled a little over twothousand euro going to Childhood Cancer Ireland.

Overall the week was a lot of fun to organise and to participate in. I know we all had a good time and really enjoyed the experience.

We couldn’t have done any of it without Ms Devis’ help, so a huge thank you to her for everything”

By Allegra Zipser 3rd Year

On Thursday the 13th October in the run-up to GOAL Jersey Day, two representatives from GOAL came in to talk to us about GOAL and how it helps people around the globe. GOAL is a non-profit organisation which works in fourteen different countries. They provide and distribute food, water and supplies to people who need them.

They were very kind and I thought their presentation was eye opening, as it showed us that many people around the world are really struggling and don’t have basic human needs. This is often because of famine and war and this is where GOAL comes into play.

On Friday, everyone wore in their favourite jerseys and we raised €615.

By David Rankin, 2nd Year

Transition Year Artwork

Newpark Newsletter Issue 62

Editors: Lesley Ring and Anna Johnston

Newsletter Team: Lesley Ring, Anna Johnston, Sadhbh Ryan Griffin, Clarissa Maybury, David Rankin, Viktoriia Kychan, Annabel Warshager, Isobel Smiley, Hannah Clabby, Silvia Ciulli Cummins, Oscar Schmidt, Mea Gigon, Nakai Mudiwa, River Walton Many thanks to Nicolas Reuland and all our contributors.