Yearbook 2015 by St Gerard's School

CONTENTS Senior School Headmaster’s Welcome Community Academic The Arts Sport Faith & Social Outreach Transition Year Graduates

Junior School Headmistress’s Welcome School Life Literary Moments Science Sport Exploring the Arts Our Catholic Ethos Our Students Achievement

FROM THE HEADMASTER Sometimes schools are seen as places where students learn, teachers teach and “points” are produced at the end of the six year process. And yet, of course, there is so much more to education. We want our students to achieve their full potential academically but we also want to truly educate, so that a graduate of St. Gerard’s School is a fully rounded human being, capable of making the most of what those ‘points’ open up for him/her. Not too long ago society became conscious of the need to be able to deal with change. We were told that our children could expect to have several different jobs over a lifetime. Alas, the economic landscape is very different now. The importance of being able to deal with change has a whole new meaning and presents us with new challenges. The students you will read about in our Yearbook are equipped to rise to that challenge. The extra and co-curricular activities provided by St. Gerard’s School give our children the skills needed to embrace these changing times. The ‘Smart Economy’, a buzz term now, has been a reality of everyday life in St. Gerard’s for several years. The creation of a whole school IT infrastructure and our development of a virtual learning environment, encompassing our iPad technology and eBooks, coupled with our innovative and forward-thinking teaching staff, allows our students become the innovators of tomorrow. We are a school that stands by those who are less fortunate and are confident that our Social Awareness and Charitable Giving programme will give us leaders of tomorrow who will foster and continue a reputation which Ireland has earned through the centuries for helping the people in developing countries and for those less fortunate on our island. Enjoy the wonders of the Yearbook, savour each event. We are, as always, humbled by the skill of our teachers, coaches and staff, aligned with the enthusiasm and energy of youth.

Our Yearbook also bears witness to the participation and success of our students in the numerous sporting events throughout the year. I offer my sincere congratulations to both students and staff on their contribution to the sporting success of the school. Congratulations to the Leaving Cert Class of 2015 on achieving excellent results in their Leaving Cert examinations. They have contributed a wealth of talent in every aspect of school life during their journey with us and I wish them health, happiness and success in their futures.

COMMUNITY

So much of today’s education debate tends to focus on preparing students to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. Business leaders search for people whose skills and character match the demands of today’s global economy, including strong communication, teamwork, analytical, technological and organisational skills. They need young people who are self-motivated, creative and possess a strong work ethic. Of course other kinds of leaders are needed also – leaders with a vision and higher aspirations for a more peaceful and just world. I thank the Board of Governors for their immense commitment to the school and for sharing a vision for a school of the future through excellence. I thank the St. Gerard’s School community for your continued support, encouragement, partnership and faith and I trust that the Yearbook will continue to showcase the passion, joy, courage, concern for others and inspiration that we witness from our students on a daily basis. Finally, sincere congratulations to the editors of our Yearbook, Ms. Alex Kavanagh and Ms. Catrina Rodgers on the excellence of the production of this most valuable publication and to ensuring that the Yearbook reflects the ethos, spirit and vibrancy of life that is St. Gerard’s School. Tom Geraghty, Headmaster

BOARD OF GOVERNORS Mr. Marcus Magnier - Chairman Mr. John Behan Mrs. Diana Fahy Mr. John Hegarty Mr. Michael Kelly Mr. Cormac McAlinden Mrs. Eleanor Noonan 4

Mrs. Helen O’Brien Mr. Ross O’Crowley Mr. Michael O’Loughlin Mr. David O’Reilly Mr Padraig Smith

Senior School Staff Mr. T. Geraghty (Headmaster), B.A., H.Dip.Ed. Mr. V.J. Drummy (Deputy Principal), B. Sc., B.A. Phys. Ed. Mr. A. Dungan (Deputy Principal), B.A., B.B.S., M.Sc. (Agr.), H. Dip. Ed.

Ms. N. Aylmer, B.Sc. Phys. Ed.

Ms. C. Molloy, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. C. Broe, B.A., I.T.T., Phys. Ed.

Ms. C. McKean, B.A., H.Dip.Ed., M.A.

Ms. C. Buckley, B.A., H.Dip.Ed., M.Ed.

Mr. D. Mulholland, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Mr. E. Carr, B.A., H.Dip.Ed., H.Dip. Rel. Ed.

Ms. M. Nic Cana, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. E. Carrigy, B.A. Int., P.G.D.E.

Ms. E. Ni Fheinneadha, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. F. Fair, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. C. Ni Mhairtin, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. O. Fanning, B.A. Int., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. C. O’Connell, B.Ed., M.A.

Ms. C. Finane, B.A. Int., H.Dip.Ed.

Mr. R. O’Connor, A.T.C.

Ms. J, Flanagan, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. C. O’Dwyer, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. R. Fox, B.A., Dip.Bus.St., H.Dip. Theol., P.D.E.

Ms. J. Olohan, B.Mus.Dip.

Ms. A. Herriott, B.A., M. Sc., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. E. O’Regan, B.Sc., Phys. Ed.

Ms. P Hillman, B.A., P.G.C.E.

Ms. D. Owens, B.A., LCCI., P.G.C.E. in Music

Mr. O. Hughes, B.Comm., H.Dip.Ed.

Mr. J. Reidy, B.Sc., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. M. Jenkins, B. Sc., H.Dip.Ed.

Mr. K. Roche, B.A.Th., M.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Mr. S. Jennings, B.Rel.Sc.

Mr. M. Shelly, B.Tech.Ed.

Mr. K. Jolly, B.A., P.G.D.E.

Ms. P. Roddy, B.A., M.A., M.Sc., C.C.E.T. BPS.

Ms. A. Kavanagh, B.A., P.G.D.E, M.Ed.

Mr. K. Stanley, B.Sc., P.G.C.E.

Mr. D. Kelly, B.Comm., M.S.B., P.G.D.E.

Ms. C. Stapleton, B.Sc., H.Dip.Ed.

Mr. D. Kelly, B.Comm., P.G.D.E.

Ms. L. Waters, B.A., M.Sc., H.Dip.Ed.

Ms. K. Magee, Adv.Dip.Vis.Com., A.D.T.

Ms. O. Young, B.Sc., P.G.D.E.

Ms. S. Maguire, B.Sc., Dip.P.R., M.Ed., H.Dip.Ed.

Senior School Staff

Back (l-r): J. Reidy, D. Kelly, K. Stanley, R. O’Connor, S. Jennings, J. Craig, D. Kelly, D. Mulholland, M. Shelly, B. Armstrong. Fourth Row (l-r): C. Finane, F. Fair, C. Ni Mhairtin, E. O’Regan, D. Owens, L. Waters, N. Aylmer, O. Young, J. Flanagan, A. Kavanagh. Third Row (l-r): K. Jolly, C. McKean, C. Broe. C. Buckley, P. Roddy, M. Nic Cana, G. Ni Scanaill. Second Row (l-r): E. Carrigy, E. Carr, J. Olohan, C. Stapleton, E. Ni Fheinneadha, R. Fox, K. Roche, D. Wagner, O. Fanning. Front (l-r): O. Hughes, P. Hillman, V. Drummy, T. Geraghty, A. Dungan, C. O’Connell, K. Magee

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS Mr. E Carr Mr. O. Hughes Mr. K. Roche Ms. C. Stapleton HEADS OF YEAR 1st Year Ms. C. O’Connell 2nd Year Ms. L. Waters 3rd Year Ms. M. Nic Cana Transition Year Ms. C. Ni Mhairtin 5th Year Mr. E. Carr 6th Year Ms. C. Stapleton

LEARNING SUPPORT COORDINATOR Ms. P. Roddy CAREERS & GUIDANCE Ms. S. Maguire VISITING CHAPLAIN Father John O’Connell

Ancillary Staff

CLASS OF 2015

Head Boy & Head Girl

Shane O’Shaughnessy & Aoibhinn Gilmore School Matron

Administrative & Accounts Staff

Ms. Roisin Byrne

(l-r): Ms. Patricia Wyse, Ms. Joy Hunter, Ms. Mary O’Reilly, Ms. Lisa Walker

Head of Boys’ Games

Catering Staff

Mr. Ken Jolly

(l-r): Mr. Dave Murphy, Ms. Sarah McNamara, Ms. Teresa Finnerty, Ms. Alison Stack, Mr. Brien Hayes

School Prefects

Head of Girls’ Games

Grounds & Maintenance Staff

Ms. Sarah Scott

(l-r): Mr. Brendan Whelan, Mr. Sean Nolan, Mr. Gerry Murphy, Mr. Ger Darcy

Back (l-r): Ronan Delaney, James Noonan, Ferdinand Emmet, Cameron Dorlas, David Couinhan, Luke Caulfield. Fourth Row (l-r): Thomas Rafferty, Shane O’Shaughnessy, Jack Gallagher, Sean O’Reilly, Donal Smith. Third Row (l-r): Deanna Kissane, Luke Doyle, Sean Murray, Michael McNieve, Dominick Morrisroe, Aaron O’Neill, Matthew Plomp. Second Row (l-r): Eavan Noonan, Michelle Murphy, Lucy Ashmore, Johanna Glynn, Danielle McMahon, Aoibhinn Gilmore, Roisin Bullock, Clara O’Shea Collins. Front (l-r): Erin Keating, Susie Cannon, Laura Finnerty, Moirin O’Neill, Madeline Dunne-Kirby, Olivia Flanagan

6TH YEAR CLASS GROUPS

Form 6C - Ms. Jennifer Flanagan

Form 6A - Ms. Alex Kavanagh

Back (L-R): Eoin Naughton, Robert Boland, Cameron Dorlas, Michael O’Toole, Kyle McCarthy, Donal Smith, Sean Murray. Middle (L-R): Aaron O’Neill, Ferdinand Emmet, Robert Toal-Lennon, Adam Simmonds, Ronan Cullen, Christopher Lumsden, Conor Gill, John Cregan. Front (L-R): Jenny LaHart, Niamh Glass, Matthew Plomp, Alison Ward, Caoimhe Keogh, Madeline Dunne-Kirby, Maria Fitzgerald

Back (L-R): Jack Dicker, Jim Dunleavy, David Counihan, Aaron O’Neill, Eanna Harman, Liam Benville, Tom Robinson. Middle (L-R): Luke O’Higgins, Darragh Shiel, Jack Gallagher, Ronan Delaney, Toby Finch, Luke Doyle. Front (L-R): Erin Keating, Emily-Ann Byrne, Laura Finnerty, Clara O’Shea-Collins, Orla Brankin, Aoibhinn Gilmore

Form 6B - Ms. Cathy McKean

Back (L-R): Luke Caulfield, Mark Gallagher, James Noonan, Guy Martin, Steven Martin, Shane O’Shaughnessy, Christopher McHenry. Middle (L-R): Lewis Fox, Kane Dunne, Jake Maguire, Zachary Collis-Lee, Sophie O’Brien, Moirin O’Neill, Aaron O’Neill, Andrew Magee. Front (L-R): Emily Kavanagh, Eucharia Crean, Roisin Bullock, Lorna Fox, Caroline Hewitt, Danielle McMahon

Form 6D - Mr. Ben Armstrong

Back (L-R): Adam Hallinan, Max Stevens, Aaron O’Neill, Sean O’Reilly, Andrew Gilsenan- Kavanagh, Dominick Morrisroe, Daniel Murray, Michael McNieve. Middle (L-R): Andrew Lynch, Joshua O’Caoimh, Emma Nolan, Michelle Murphy, Matilda McCauley, Thomas Rafferty, Jonathan McGovern. Front (L-R): Eavan Noonan, Lucy Ashmore, Susie Cannon, Mariya Samoylo, Johanna Glynn, Deanna Kissane, Olivia Flanagan.

5TH YEAR CLASS GROUPS

Form 5A - Ms. Maeve Jenkins

Form 5C - Ms. Orlaith Young

Back (L-R): Conor Burke, Ryan Buckley, Patrick Coleman, Kyle Jordan, David Byrne, Oisin Cronin. Middle (L-R): Evan Orsmond, Aislinn Byrne, Riona Connaughton, Aoife Clay, Ella Collins, Emma Connolly, Aghogho Atiyota, Kevin Allen. Front (L-R): Nadine Buckley, Emily Loughman, Jennifer Courtney, Mark Cantwell, Katie Sreenan, Dominick Brodeur.

Back (L-R): Lorcan Lalor, Mark Kissane, Daniel Hodgins, Ben Kealy, Jack Miller, Shane Kenneally. Middle (L-R): Sam Kenny, Aidan Longstaff, Matthew Morgan, Sean Keogh, Keith Molloy, Liam Keaney. Front (L-R): Jillian McGrath, Avice Maughan, Lauren Kelly, Sadbh McCarthy, Robyn Muphy, Fiona Newsome.

Form 5B - Mr. John Reidy

Back (L-R): Luke Donoghue, Conor Haydock, Robert Donnelly, Luke Flynn, Jack Dunne, Matthew Dalton, Jack Freeney. Middle (L-R): Brendan Ho, Shane Gallagher, Harry Happonen, Emmet Gallagher, Jessica Fanning, Celina Stephenson, Alexandra Dalton, Desmond Fitzpatrick, Kirstie Delaney. Front (L-R): Annelies Cullen, Iain Gallagher, Jessica O’Connor, Sam Doherty, Lucy Gelletlie, Thomas Foley, Ciara Cullen.

Form 5D - Mr. David Kelly

Back (L-R): Hugh O’Reilly, Christopher Simmonds, Ben Taylor, Samuel Ryan, Billy O’Reilly, Andrew Moore, Conor Wilson. Middle (L-R): Patrick Stanley, Simon Stapleton, Liam Roberts, Matthew O’Brien, Oisin O’Crowley, Conor O’ Farrell, Yolanda Prendeville-Ryan. Front (L-R): Elena Tice, Daisy O’Caoimh, Pippa O’Reilly, Klara O’Leary, Sophie Reboul-Geraghty, Mia Cullen, Sarah O’Loughlin

TRANSITION YEAR CLASS GROUPS

Form 4A

Form 4C

Back (L-R): Michael Costello, Dominic Corrigan, Harry Cameron, Killian Beashel, Scott Carroll, Stephen Bourke, Cameron Brady. Middle (L-R): Anna Bowtell, Claudia Bond, Eoin Blunnie, Marc Naker, Gavin Dowd, Conn Benville, Mark Cullen. Front (L-R): Alannah Crowley, Shona Callan, Kirsti Connole, Maria Regina Gonzalez Zentella, Emily Byrne, Meabh Breathnach, Joshua Cameron.

Back (L-R): Ruby Neville, Liam Noonan, William Moore, Alexander Mooney, Callum McGloughlin, Tadhg Morrisroe, Cillian Murray, Eva Moroney. Middle (L-R): Sean Kirwan, Saoirse Lawlor, Eric Looby, Cameron Moylan, Daniel Lordan, Rory Lucey. Front (L-R): Luis Oliva Fontecha, Susan Mooney, Ellie Kennedy, Susie McParland, Jennifer Magee, Claudia McCabe, Andrew Kingston.

Form 4B

Form 4D

Back (L-R): Flavia Gomez Ripollez, Cian Gilmore, Tom Dempsey, Hilary Gallagher, Liam Fenelon, Christopher Finnegan, Robert Keating. Middle (L-R): Jack Dunne, Robyn Jones, Keelan Glennane, Leonie Delaney, Eva Kelly, Muireann Farrell, Eleanor Dunne, Rory Dooley. Front (L-R): Ethan Forbes-Roe, Colm CJ Cummins, Evin Kerins, Ben Flanagan, Ben Geoghegan, Max Geoghegan, Robbie Dunne.

Back (L-R): Cian O’Flaherty, Megan O’Toole, Mark Smith, Jamie O’Sullivan, Ciaran Walsh, Art Punch, Isabelle O’Brien. Middle (L-R): Martha O’Connell, Rebecca Rock, Lucy Warde, Sam Shephard, Daniel Power, Joseph Rafecas Domedal, Jaime Perez Palomera. Front (L-R): Grace Tynan, Brid O’Donnell, Garreth Reilly, Caleb Powell, Cathal Walker, James Peters, Dominique Rooney

3RD YEAR CLASS GROUPS

Form 3A - Ms. Fiona Fair

Back (L-R): Jeremy Trane, Eoin Riordan, Donal Ahern, Pierce Redmond, Morgan Freeley, Ethan Robinson, Max Baxter, Conor Mulcachy. Middle (L-R): Jack Maughan, Jeffrey Ryan, Joshua Dargan-Hayes, Max Oliver O’Reilly, Louis Brodeur, Sabine O’Connell, Mia McCarthy. Front (L-R): Esme Honan, Jane Loughman, Georgia Ferguson, Anna Byrne, Mia Finucane-O’Brien, Isabelle Kelly.

Form 3C - Ms. Ciara Broe

Back (L-R): Jack O’Caoimh, Paddy Opperman, Zenia Corson, Laoise Geraghty, Sam Hennessy, Rory Thomas, Edward Cahill, Jack Wells, Tommy Dineen. Middle (L-R): Amy Carroll, Iona Roberts, Cormac Foley, Sani MacNally, Jacqueline Magee, Caitlin Keogh, Aimee O’Caoimh, Tom Cullen. Front (L-R): Nicolaas Walle, Paul Walsh, Isaac Philips, Brian Doyle, John Gleeson, Gabriel Berg.

Form 3B - Ms. Edel Carrigy

Form 3D - Mr. Jonathan Craig

Back (L-R): David Furey, Daniel Harbourne, Cian Kelly-Lyth, Mark Bourke, Harry Curley, Ben Morris, Mark Fagan, Daniel McGovern. Middle (L-R): Rian O’Mahoney, Shane Malone-Murphy, Colin Walsh, Mark Kissane, Ethan Baxter, Daniel Harbourne, Alan Forester. Front (L-R): Jane Stokes, Rachel Whitten, Sarah Kenny, Claire O’Leary, Danielle Coleman, Amber O’Sullivan.

Back (L-R): Mark Finnerty, Ryan Lucas, Sacha McGrath, Adam O’Reilly, Zachariah Glynn, Antony George, Conor Bevan. Middle (L-R): Ciaran Caulfield, Katherine Boland, Natasha Bernon, Chloe Martin, Jonathan Berkeley, Nicholas Pochinkov, Conor Newsome. Front (L-R): Faye Dempsey, Lara Burke, Ana Ryan, Robyn Murray, Evelyn Clinton, Caroline Blennerhassett.

2ND YEAR CLASS GROUPS

Form 2C - Ms. Niamh Aylmer Form 2A - Mr. Damien Kelly

Back (L-R): Benjamin Hutchinson, Ben Watson, Oliver Soper, Niall Dooley, Odran Farrell, Sinead O’Flatherty, Eilis Breathnach. Middle (L-R): Eleanor Freeney, Eoin O’Cleirigh, Jeremy O’Donovan, Oliver Haydock, Harry Begley, Johnny Kennedy, Danielle Crowley. Front (L-R): Emma Beashel, William Culliton, Rachael Cullen, Rachael Miller, Emily O’Loughlin, Stuart Jackson, Sophie Harman.

Form 2B - Mr. Dermot Mulholland

Back (L-R): Luke Concannon, Neil Durkan, Tommi Happonen, Brendan Farell, Ryan MacNeaney, Peter Flynn. Middle (L-R): Lauren Fahy, Neil Denvir, Jack Joyce, Hugo Creighten, Meja O’Connor, Louis Lalor, Claire Ahern. Front (L-R): Annabel Sweeney, Blathnaid Boyd, Luke O’Reilly, Carla Connolly, David Byrne, Saoirse Mason, Lauren Harkin.

Back (L-R): Piers O’Connor, Ben Kelly, Jack Kennedy, Thomas Cahill-Hannigan, Andrew McCarney, Conor Diamond, Jack Finnegan, Michael Connolly. Middle (L-R): Emily Steyaert, Robyn Kierans, Darcy Mullen, Alex Flynn, Christopher MacCaughey, Danny Miller, Callum Jones, Charles Byrne. Front (L-R): Jack Whittle, Grace Clay, Jessica McHenry, Harriet Stevens, Amy Hodgins, Abbie Taylor, Lauren McCarthy.

Form 2D - Ms. Katie Magee

Back (L-R): Sebastjan Wong-Cotter, Marc Finn, Alanna Stanley, Donna Looby, Dillon Ashmore, Wenceslao Sanchez Ramos, Rory Wilson, Paris Collins. Middle (L-R): Robert Byrne, Isabelle Reboul-Geraghty, Lily Rafferty, Brian Jones, Jay Cullen, Richard Bisgood, Bobby-Rose O’Neill. Front (L-R): Kate Havenga, Aaron Baxter, Anna Balmaine, Niamh Longstaff, Sophie O’Riordan, Jude Quilty, Aisling O’Mara.

1ST YEAR CLASS GROUPS

Form 1A - Ms. Eibhlin Ni Fheinneadha

Form 1C - Ms. Clodagh Finane

Back (L-R): Wolfgang Von Teichman, Adele O’Reilly, Sean Geoghegan, Abbie McCarthy, Joshua Watson, Dan Redmond, Tadhg O’Connell, Eli Pigot. Middle (L-R): Hubie Opperman, Michael Moore, Luke Ryan, Matthew Bardon, Alexander Glynn, Hugo McCabe, Sally-Ann Noonan, Lewis Kelly. Front (L-R): Daniel McGonnell, Jennifer Corson, Hugo Uhlar Vicente, Carmen Monzonis, Benjamin More O’Ferrall, Jessica McDonnell , Ralph Ledwidge.

Back (L-R): Michael Flynn, Ryan Glynn, Bernard McCauley, Daniel Kelly, Jonathan Kelly, Oscar Punch, Jonathan Murphy. Middle (L-R): Harry Fitzpatrick, Catherine Fulvio, Ella Malone, Maisie-Jay Kehoe, Aidan Long, Matthew Hackett-Delaney, Osereme Atiyota, William Drane, Freeman Martin. Front (L-R): Harry Smith, Isabel Ramsey, Lucia Andres Cantalapiedra, Pearse Crowley, Molly Stening, Stephen Morris, Luke Shanahan.

Form 1B - Ms. Ruth Fox

Form 1D - Mr. Martin Shelly

Back (L-R): Rachel Morris, Jack Kennedy, Daniel Wall, Max Merren, Ben Moroney, Jack Coughlan, Aran Carlile. Middle (L-R): Colin Molloy, Zach O’Sullivan, John Fogarty, Patrick Burke, Jacob Brodeur, Sarah Murphy. Front (L-R): Antoinette Furlong, Oskar Rachwal, Kim McGrath, Rory Brady, David George, Lois Honan, Lily-Kate Hearns.

Back (L-R): Brian Glass, Joseph Finnegan O’Brien, Julieanne Kissane, Joshua Kidd, Michael Robinson, Ryan Turner, Elijah Fleming. Middle (L-R): Oscar Hayes-Restan, Luke Kenny, Jean-Philippe McErlane, Suki-Beth Farrer, Rebecca Power, Amy Hoffman, Charlie Jones, Callum O’Higgins. Front (L-R): Claire Fisher, James Hastings-Rafferty, Colm Keogh, Sam McCarthy, Robert Moore, Jack Cummins, Kate Costello.

SENIOR SCHOOL LIFE

CAREERS EVENING Christmas Bazaar

Girls versus Boys Hockey

FAMILY TENNIS

Senior Cup Rugby

Family Tennis

Careers Evening

Christmas Bazaar

Careers Evening

Girls versus Boys Hockey

Christmas Bazaar Cheer-leading Practice

Second Year Outdoor Pursuits at Avon Ri

Hospice Coffee Morning 6th Years

CAREERS EVENING

Christmas Bazaar- Ice-Bucket Challenge

First Year Drama

FAMILY TENNIS

Ice-cream Day for DS Ireland

GAISCE President’s Award

SCT Hockey Leinster Cup Winners

24 HOCKEY - GIRLS VS. BOYS

St. Gerard’s Day Activities

SCHOLARSHIPS ACADEMIC

Laura Finnerty and Sean Murray Trinity Scholars 2015

Emily Ann Byrne UCD Choral Scholar

Lucy Ashmore Soccer Scholarship, Purdue Calumet University, Indiana

SPORTS & PRIZE DAY Medal of Merit Winners

Highest Result in Junior Certificate Spanish

Aoibhinn Gilmore & Thomas Rafferty

Alannah Crowley

Best Overall Result in Junior Certificate Mock Exams

Transition Year Students of the Year

John Glesson

Gavin Dowd & Emily Byrne

Sixth Year Prize Winners

Best Overall Leaving Certificate Mock Exams

Best All Round Sportsman and Sportswoman

James Noonan

Elena Tice & Shane O’Shaughnessy Spirit of the School Award Winners

(L-R): Anna Byrne, Paddy Opperman, Johanna Gylnn & Michael McNieve

PRIZE WINNERS SPORTS & PRIZE DAY Best Overall Result in the Leaving Certificate Mock Examinations

James Noonan

Best Overall Result in the Junior Certificate Mock Examinations

John Gleeson

The Corn Micheal Mac Maolain for Best Result in Irish Junior Certificate Mocks

Mia Finucane O’Brien

The Best Junior Certificate Results 2012-2013 (11 As)

Killian Beashel, Hillary Gallagher, Gavin Dowd, Michael Noonan, Susie McParland, Alannah Crowley

The John McKean Cup for Transition Year Student of the Year

Gavin Dowd, Emily Byrne

Contribution to Drama Cup

Mark Cantwell

Spanish Award for Highest Result Nationally in Junior Certificate

Alannah Crowley

The Cafferky Cup for Contribution to Choir

Ciara Cullen

Contribution to Music, Drama and Choir in the School

Emily-Ann Byrne, Maria Fitzgerald, Roisin Bullock

Contribution to Young Social Innovators

Ruby Neville, Tom Dempsey

Contribution to St. Vincent de Paul

Garreth Byrne, Shane Kenneally, Jillian McGrath, Pippa O’Reilly

Drama Award

Junior: Mia McCarthy, Eleanor Freeney

Contribution to Music in the School

Lucy Ashmore

Pope John Paul II Award

Laura Finnerty

Junior Debating Awards

Joshua Dargan Hayes, Anna Byrne, Sabine O’Connell, Georgia Ferguson

Bray Lions Debating Award

Kevin Allen, William Behan, Iain Gallagher, Shane Kenneally

McKinsey Leadership Programme

Thomas Rafferty, James Noonan, Emily-Ann Byrne

GAISCE The President’s Award- Silver

Cameron Dorlas, Thomas Rafferty

All-Ireland Feis Ceoil Rosebowl Winner

Sanni McNally

Royal Russell International Model United Nations Award Winners

Cameron Dorlas, Ferdinand Emmet, Laura Finnerty, Eavan Noonan, Thomas Rafferty

Toyota Art Competition Winner

Nicholas Pochinkov

Hockey Team Award- Leinster Senior League

Susie Cannon

WINNERS AND ALL-IRELAND FINALISTS Pangea Maths Olympics Finalist- 1st Place

Jack Freeney

Best Overseas Student

Junior: Natalia Gil Planchadell Senior: Maria Regina Gonzalez Zentella

Ministers of the Eucharist

Moirin O’Neill, Andrew Culliton, Susie Cannon, Garreth Byrne, Sean O’Reilly, Aoibhinn Gilmore

Senior: Jillian McGrath, Pippa O’Reilly

St. Andrew’s Model United Nations Award

Shane Kenneally

Parents’ Association “Spirit of the School” Awards

3rd: Anna Byrne, Paddy Opperman

Parent’s Association “Contribution to the Spirit of the School” Award

1st: Abbie McCarthy, Oscar Punch

6th: Johanna Glynn, Michael McNieve

2nd: Ben Watson, Carla Connolly 3rd: Eoin Riordan, Amber O’Sullivan TY: Art Punch, Rebecca Rock 5th: Sadhbh McCarthy, Mark Cantwell 6th: Roisin Bullock, Moirin O’Neill, Garreth Byrne,

Shane O’Shaughnessy

SIXTH YEAR ACADEMIC PRIZES

SPORTS AWARDS Best All Round Sportsman

Shane O’Shaughnessy

Best All Round Sportswoman

Elena Tice

Pierce Gill medal for Rugby

Adam Simmonds

The Conor Lynch Plate for English

Thomas Rafferty

Daphne Dolan award for Hockey

Susie Cannon

The John Markham Cup for Chemistry

James Noonan

Junior Rugby Player of the Year

Ethan Baxter

The Noirin Connolly Cup for Irish

James Noonan

Junior Hockey Player of the Year

Eleanor Dunne & Hillary Gallagher

Minor Boys Tennis Champion

Hubie Opperman

The Catherine O’Dwyer Eureka Cup for Excellence in Science James Noonan The Art, Craft, Design and Artist of the Year Cup

Erin Keating

Minor Girls Tennis Champion

Sophie O’Riordan

The Hayden Cup for Art

Erin Keating, Emily Kavanagh

Senior Boys Tennis Champion

Chris Finnegan

The Michael O’Horan Cup for Creative English

Eavan Noonan

Senior Girls Tennis Champion

Susie Cannon

The Anne-Marie Connolly Cup for Spanish

Aoibhinn Gilmore

Boy Athlete of the year

Louis Lalor

The Paddy McGloin Trophy for Geography

Andrew Culliton

Girl Athlete of the year

Abbie Taylor

The Ennis Debating Cup

Emily-Ann Byrne, Cameron Dorlas, Ferdinand Emmet, Thomas Rafferty

Sailor of the year

Daniel Lordan

Golfer of the year

Emily Loughman, Andrew Magee

The Prize for Biology

Olivia Flanagan, James Noonan, Alison Ward

Equestrian Individual of the year

Shona Callan

The Prize for Religious Education

Susie Cannon

Soccer Player of the year

David Counihan

The Prize for Music

Thomas Rafferty

The Prize for Business

Alison Ward

The Socrates Cup for History

Eavan Noonan

The Prize for English

Laura Finnerty

Innovation Design Award DCG

SPECIAL AWARDS Susie Cannon

Andrew Culliton

Senior Girls Hockey – Leinster Cup Winners 2015 All Ireland Schools runners-up

The Prize for Spanish

Laura Finnerty

Senior 2 Rugby – Seconds Leinster League winners

Michael McNieve

The Prize for Irish

Sean Murray

Rugby Captain 2015

Donal Smith

The Prize for Economics

Andrew Culliton, Andrew Magee

Hockey Captain 2015

Susie Cannon

The Prize for Applied Maths

James Noonan, Sean Murray

Connacht Rugby U19 Representative Honours

Andrew Lynch

The Prize for Physics

James Noonan, Sean Murray

Leinster Rugby U18 Representative Honours

Kyle McCarthy

The Prize for Home Economics

Thomas Rafferty

Leinster & Irish Hockey U18 Representative Honours

Elena Tice

The Prize for Geography

Michael McNieve

Irish & Leinster Senior Ladies Cricket Representative

Elena Tice (50th Cap)

The Prize for Maths

James Noonan, Cameron Dorlas

Leinster & Irish Hockey U18 Representative Honours

Sarah O’Loughlin

The Prize for Chemistry

Sean Murray

East Leinster Cross-Country Champion

Abbie Taylor

The Prize for French

James Noonan, Cameron Dorlas

Irish Representative Honours in Skiing

Garreth Reilly

The Prize for Accountancy

Andrew Culliton

Irish U18 Indoor Tennis Champion

Anna Bowtell

The Prize for Design & Communication Graphics

Dominic Morrisroe

All Ireland U16 Orienteering Champion

Eoin Riordan

The Prizes for Proficiency in Spoken Languages

French: Cameron Dorlas

Irish Equestrian Representative

Cormac Foley

Spanish: Lucy Ashmore

Leinster U15 Cricket Representative

Stuart Jackson

Leinster U15 Cricket Representative

Richard Bisgood

Duais don Ghaeilge Labhartha: Clara O’Shea Collins

PRIZE WINNERS FOR ACADEMIC EFFORT & ACHIEVEMENT

Transition Year Prize Winners

Back (L-R): Ruby Neville, Gavin Dowd, Michael Costello, Michael Noonan, Sam Shephard, Ben Flanagan, Daniel Power Front (L-R): Muireann Farrell, Regina Gonzalez, Eva Moroney, Hilary Gallagher, Eva Kelly, Emily Byrne In Absentia: Brid O’Donnell, Megan O’Toole, Susie McParland

Fifth Year Prize Winners

Back (L-R): William Behan, Jack Freeney, Conor Wilson, Kevin Allen, Katie Shreenan, Emily Loughman, Ciara Cullen Front (L-R): Sadhbh McCarthy, Elena Tice, Shane Kenneally, Jillian McGrath, Mia Cullen, Lucy Geletlie, Fiona Newsome In Absentia: Matthew O’Brien

Third Year Prize Winners

Back (L-R):Nicholas Pochinkov, Adam O’Reilly, Eoin Rioirdan, Harry Curley, John Gleeson, Laoise Geraghty, Zenia Corson, Georgia Ferguson. Front (L-R): Rachel Whitten, Robyn Murray, Sarah Kenny, Clare O’Leary, Jane Loughman, Jacqueline Magee, Mia MaCarthy. In Absentia: Katherine Boland

The Student Council Our Student Council in St. Gerard’s makes a significant contribution to school life, by offering every student a way to connect with decisions that affect the whole community. In our monthly meetings, we deliberated over issues raised by Mr. Geraghty, and dozens of subjects brought up by each year-group through their Council representatives. Topics we discussed over the course of the year included leadership in the school, the role of prefects, the buddy system, and the organisation of new fundraising initiatives to name a few.

Second Year Prize Winners

A huge amount of the Council’s time is dedicated to charity events. In St. Gerard’s we have a long history of charitable

donation and this year was no exception. In October we ran the ever-popular ‘Walk in my Shoes’ campaign as part of World Mental Health Day. In March we organised a nonuniform day in aid of the Laura-Lynn Foundation, and in May the Down Syndrome Ireland ice-cream day proved to be a student favourite yet again. These events not only raised phenomenal funds for worthy causes, but also generated a great sense of social awareness in the school. Thomas Rafferty

Back (L-R): Thomas Cahill-Hannigan, Niall Dooley, Luke O’Reilly, Ben Kelly, Donna Looby, Robyn Kierans, Eilis Breathnach, Emma Beashel. Front (L-R): Neil Denvir, Jeremy O’Donovan, Amy Hodgins, Kate Havenga, Carla Connolly, Robyn Kierans In Absentia: Aisling O’Mara

First Year Prize Winners

The Student Council (Coordinated by Ms. O. Fanning)

Back (L-R): Joseph Finnegan O’Brien, Lily-Kate Hearns, Isabelle Ramsey, Molly Stening, Tadgh O’Connell, Oskar Rachwal, Michael Flynn, Hugo Uhlar Vincente. Front (L-R): Antoinette Furlong, Sally Ann Noonan, Sarah Murphy, Amy Hoffman, Jennifer Corson, Rebecca Power. In Absentia: Jean-Philippe McErlane, Luke Shanahan

Back (L-R): Ken O’Grady, Michael McNieve, James Noonan, Thomas Rafferty, Shane O’Shaughnessy, Patrick Stanley, Kevin Allen Middle (L-R): Emily Loughman, Tadhg Morrisroe, Eva Moroney, Emma Beasel, Donna Looby, Odran Farrell, Mia McCarthy Front (L-R): Gavin Dowd, Laura Finnerty, Susie Canon, Aoibhinn Gilmore, Sam Hennessy, Jake Brodeur, Abbie McCarthy

McKinsey Leadership Programme At the end of Fifth Year, a few of my classmates and I applied for the McKinsey Leadership Academy on the advice of our Year Head at school. We had to complete a series of short essays. Mark Cantwell and I were lucky enough to be offered a place to attend the academy. We were flown to the Wellington College near London, and partook in a two-day leadership programme that was interesting and highly motivational. It was aimed at unlocking our leadership potential, examining the different styles of effective leadership and equipping us for our final year in school. The first day was focused on leadership, the different styles of leadership and how we could apply them in our lives. We were divided into teams of ten, where we began the day with some team-building and introductory exercises before lunch time. After lunch, we were given a talk about problem solving and how McKinsey apply this to real-life situations. We were also given a talk from the ‘Graduate’ from the previous year who won the McKinsey Leadership award. The evening consisted of a mock Olympic bid where we were able to put into practice what we had learned throughout the day through the various leadership presentations.

MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY The second day was focused on our own goals and on topics such as entrepreneurship, interview techniques and body language. The day began with an inspirational talk from an army veteran who now works with McKinsey; he spoke to us about how leadership was prevalent in his line of work and how things such as delegation and communication were vital to the proper functioning of a team. We were given the opportunity to complete educational and helpful workshops with McKinsey and Future Foundation staff on these topics. We also had the opportunity to have ‘Coffee Chats’ with McKinsey and Future Foundation staff; this was our chance to talk about our plans or ask any general questions about what they had done as part of their own work. The day ended with us going back into our teams and discussing any ideas we had for our own projects which we are due to complete this coming year. Overall, the two day course was incredibly motivational, educational and I feel I came away from the process having learned many important skills that I can take into the rest of my school and working life. Harry Happonen

Pangea Mathematics Competition

Leinster All-Ireland Science Quiz

Back (L-R): B. Hutchinson, L. Lalor, T. Foley Front (L-R): J. Freeney, D. Byrne , E. Beashel

(L-R): J. Noonan, J. Maguire, S. Murray

B.T. Young Scientist Exhibition This year I entered the B.T Young Scientist Competition 2015. I entered with Max Freeney and Eleanor Dunne. Our idea was to compare the levels of bacteria in pre-packaged meat in supermarkets compared to non-packaged products. We planned to test this on a wide range of products from a range of sources to get a less biased and more realistic answer. We wrote up a hypothesis and filled out the questions necessary to enter with some help from our teacher, Ms. Young. We then waited for a response before we ordered the necessary apparatus. Unfortunately, we did not succeed in gaining an entrance spot into the competition. However, we did receive a detailed letter responding to our entry and also certificates and family passes to the Young Scientist Exhibition. We were also given the opportunity to visit the Young Scientist Exhibition with the rest of the Transition Year group. It was a great, if short-lived experience which I learnt a lot from. Rebecca Rock

(L-R): Mark Cantwell, Emily-Ann Byrne, Aine McCabe, Thomas Rafferty & Harry Happonen

Above: Science Week

Green Schools Committee The past year has seen the Green Schools Committee concentrate on the theme of travel ; the promotion of walking and cycling and the reduction of carbon footprint in relation to travel. The committee surveyed the majority of school students and found that 22% of students were carpooling in relation to their journeys to and from school at least once a week and a significant majority were carpooling on a daily basis. This figure has been confirmed as actually at the upper end of results for schools in the Leinster region and is no doubt as a result of the very wide catchment area that a lot of St. Gerard’s students travel from. The Green Schools Committee would like to believe that our students and parents are very environmentally aware but we also acknowledge that our high level of carpooling benefits the practical realities of saving money on fuel and maybe even more importantly saving that most precious commodity of all i.e. time! In our survey of student travel habits we found that a huge majority (70%) of our students live more than 10 km from the school. This would make us very different to a lot of schools in our geographical area so our school should be very much at the forefront of promoting the environmental and lifestyle benefits of carpooling. Another interesting statistic to emerge was that 68% of the student body said that they would be interested in availing of carpooling but when parents were surveyed 37% expressed an interest – mum and dad realised the practical challenges/realities involved in organising same while the kids just thought it could happen! Mum and Dad’s taxi – always on call 24 -7! We have set ourselves a very modest target of 30% of the school community carpooling at least once a week- i.e. an 8% increase on present rates- and we think this is a very realistic target to reach in the next year so please give serious consideration to the possibility of building this into your travel schedules to and from St. Gerard’s even if only on an occasional basis or maybe one or two drops a week. We also found a very high level of genuine interest in electric or hybrid model cars with several students and parents reporting that they had given serious consideration to purchasing such vehicles. These types of cars are either going to become really popular in the next few years or are going to be totally unsuccessful. If the car manufacturers get to grips with the problems of lengthy charging times and limited mileage range then our surveys show there is certainly the interest there.

As a travel project some T.Y. students calculated the average running costs per mile for such cars and they are incredibly low compared to fossil fuels. At the present time fossil fuels are at an abnormally low price point due to the huge expansion of the shale cracking industry, in particular in the U.S.A., and also due to global geopolitics, but to borrow from that well known expression “There are only two certainties in life - death and taxes “ let’s add “ and there will never ever again be cheap fossil fuels” so dismiss the opportunity to purchase such vehicles at your financial peril! We had a very successful carpooling day during April with a lot of student participation and awareness- no doubt helped by the opportunity of winning several very nice chocolate prizes! As usual the Green Schools Committee continue to monitor our litter/waste, energy and water management and try to ensure that the savings made in these areas in recent years are maintained. Our school is truly a beautiful environmentally- friendly campus and the onus is on all of us to contribute to and enhance that if possible. St. Gerard’s students also participated in National Tree Planting week in March by planting some small native species sapling trees in the wild garden area of the school grounds. You may also have noticed the recent extensive mature tree planting programme initiated by the Headmaster. This is an investment in the environment not just for present students but for several generations of students to come. This planting supplements some of the incredible mature trees already in the school grounds. Some inspired previous owner of the original Thornhill House had the foresight to plant these trees as saplings in the full knowledge that he/ she would not live to see them mature. The next time you use the back entrance to the school take a look at the two truly majestic specimens of Sequoidendron Gigantum (Giant Redwood). These trees should long outlive any readers of this article. This is quite a humbling thought and our recent tree-planting acts as a genuinely fitting legacy for future generations of Gerardians - worth thinking about as the school approaches its centenary and reflects on the past and the future.

Back (L-R): Mr. J. Reidy, A. Atiyota, K. Jordan, J. Dargan- Hayes, J. Loughman, E. Orsmond. Front (L-R): A. Byrne, M. McCarthy, F. Emmet, C. Dorlas, E.A. Byrne

J. Reidy

MODERN LANGUAGES Business & Enterprise

European Languages Week Memor Trading was founded by Gavin Dowd and Mr. Hughes. The aim of our mini company was to sell IPhone stands and quirky fridge magnets to the pupils in our school, shops and the general public. Gavin then recruited me, Liam Noonan and Saoirse Lawlor.

Bond Trader Challenge

Back (l-r): J. Freeney, M. Dalton, B. Kealy, P. Stanley, O. Cronin Front (l-r): H. Happonen, J. Dunne, T. Foley, C. Haydock

To start off we sent an email to various shops around the town in the hope that they would reply and show an interest in our business. Our next objective was to sell the stands and magnets around the school. Our IPhone stands proved to be a big success with the younger years as we were sold out by the end of the year. This earned us a place in the Mini Company Enterprise Competition at which we competed against various schools in Wicklow. Together we made a brilliant presentation to the judges and the other schools. Unfortunately, we did not win but, all in all, it was a unique experience and one which was a great learning curve for us all.

Modern Language Week took place from 2nd- 6th November. The idea behind it is to promote French and Spanish throughout the school in a more informal setting. Banners and flags were placed around the school to raise awareness. The 1st Year students made signs and proverbs in French and Spanish and hung them up around the school. The canteen was decorated in the national colours. We had a French menu on Tuesday consisting of Bouillabaisse, Croque Monsieur and French Onion Soup. Delicious! Then we had a Spanish menu on Thursday where tacos, patatas bravas and Mexican estofado was served. Delicioso! There was a French and Spanish breakfast for the 2nd Years in the Dining Hall. The 4th Year French students made PowerPoint Presentations related to France. They were about 3 minutes

in length. The standard was nothing short of excellent! We had Presentations varying from Celine Dion, to famous French brands to the house of Chanel. It was nerve wrecking presenting them in front of the whole class but all the students managed it effortlessly and everyone learned something new. The highlight for the Spanish students was the salsa dancing classes with Ms. Molloy. She dazzled them with her impressive footwork! All in all it was a week to remember. The students threw themselves into all the activities with gusto. It was thoroughly enjoyable and a learning experience with a difference! Ms. C. Finane

Daniel Power

French Exchange Enterprise Finalists

(l-r): G. Dowd, S. Lawlor, M. Noonan, D. Power

Back (l-r): C. Murray, M. Smith, G. Dowd, L. Fenelon, D., Corrigan, D. Power. Middle (l-r): K. Beashel, C. Powell, R. Kerins, A. Clay, E. Kennedy, L. O’Connor. Front (l-r): C. Benville, A. Kingston, C. McGloughlin, S. Shepard, M. Cullen, E. Kierans, S. Callan

GAEILGE French Exchange After a long and busy Transition Year we were all looking forward to a well-earned break. This came in the form of an exchange to the town of Libourne in the south-west of France. A group of French students had previously come to Ireland in March and now it was our turn to visit their school (St. Joseph’s). With sandals and sun cream in our bags we embarked on what would be one of the best experiences of Transition Year.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

Our journey began at 4:00am in Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. After a short plane journey we were met with beautiful weather and scenic views. At the school there was a reception for us where their principal Monsieur Ducorneau welcomed us with open arms. We then had a small tour of the town and the Mairie (town hall) which also had a small art museum. We were let loose in the town to explore our surroundings.

Is deis í “Seachtain na Gaeilge” chun ás n-oidhreacht agus ás gcultúr a chomóradh sa scoil. Eagraíodh a lán imeachtaí éagsúla cosúil le Tráth na gCeist, tóraíocht taisce agus comórtaisí aistí. Fuair daltaí an seans cúpla damsha nua a fhoghlaim ag an gCéilí. Cé go bhfuil dhá chois chlé ag a lán daltaí bhain said taitneamh as an ócáid. Tá béim mhór as an Ghaeilge labhartha sa Teastas Sóisearach agus san Ardteist. Dú bhrí sin, ba deas an rud é an Ghaeilge a choisint timpeall na scoile. Téann a lán de na daltaí do dtí cúrsaí éagsúla sa Ghaeltacht i rith an tsamhraidh. Bíonn a lán imeachtaí éagsúla as siúl ag Roinn na Gaeilge i rith na bliana chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn sa scoil. Mar a deir an seanfhocal “Beatha teanga í a labhairt.”

At the end of the day we left for home with our new families. We were reluctant to leave as we would be totally immersed in the language with no help from our teachers. Luckily, we all survived! We were entertained by our hosts with trips to the beach and restaurants. We really got a feel for the French way of life and certainly did not complain about it! We attended a week of school with our exchanges learning valuable language skills and grammar. We attended several of the town’s weekly markets during our lunch breaks and were given a lot of freedom to try out some of the town’s many delicacies. Throughout the week we went on several tours. The first was a trip to the picturesque ‘Dune du Pilat’ which is the largest sand dune in Europe. It was an unforgettable sight and an even more unforgettable climb to the top! We also had a tour of a vineyard in the famous town of St.Émilion where wine flows like water but unfortunately we weren’t allowed to try any! On our final day we visited the city of Bordeaux. We explored the city and spent the last of our money on presents for our families.

We came back laden down with gifts of fine wine and cheese and a new love for the French language and culture. I would like to thank the French department of Ms.Carrigy, Ms. Finane and Ms. Fanning for organising such a wonderful trip. We all returned with a much better grasp of the language and better prepared for Leaving Cert French. It was my best experience of the year and I would definitely encourage the current Transition Year to go. Caleb Powell 45

ENGLISH

Literary Magazine Tuesday the 24th of November saw the annual launch of the St. Gerard’s Literary Magazine in the wonderful surroundings of the school library. Contributors to our magazine read their pieces to a captivated audience of parents,teachers and fellow students. Mr. Geraghty presented all those involved in this year’s production with a token and offered his congratulations on the standard of both the magazine and the readings on the evening.Mr.Carr interviewed Eavan Noonan from the Leaving Certificate class of 2015 on the value of reading from a young age. Eavan achieved an A1 in English and is now studying pure English in Trinity College. We encourage students to become involved in the seventh annual magazine so get writing!

Library With boxes of new titles arriving, thanks to the generosity of the Parents’ Association, it was an exciting start to the year. The library prefects and many in the student body contributed to compiling a list of new books that would challenge and entertain our students. English classes in the library are becoming increasingly popular due either to the stimulating atmosphere or the very comfortable armchairs. As well as timetabled English classes, the library plays host to enthusiastic readers before and after school and at lunch times. This wouldn’t be possible without the help of a dedicated team of library prefects to whom I am most grateful. R. Fox

E. Carr

Library Prefects

Back (l-r): C. Kelly-Lyth, A. Clay, J. Dargan-Hayes. Middle (l-r): J. Miller, A. Dalton, J. Courtney, R. O’Mahoney, C. Newsome. Front (l-r): S. Kenneally, G. McGrath, A. Cullen, J. Fanning, L. Kelly

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY English Trip to London & Stratford-Upon-Avon Our trip to London was an amazing experience from the very first moment we met at the airport. It was obvious right away that a huge amount of thought had gone into the schedule and the coordination of the trip. London has a wealth of history and culture and we laughed and loved every moment of it from the Science and Natural History Museum to all sitting around together having our meals, to our West End workshop and Jack the Ripper Tour. Imagine the fun of fifty of us visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace and attending a performance in the Swan Theatre which belongs to the Royal Shakespeare Company. For me, obviously, the highlight was going to see ‘Billy Elliott’ which was truly remarkable; so much so we chose to sing excerpts from it at our St. Gerard’s Summer Concert. Fifth Year was a wonderful year for me with the London Trip being one of the main highlights. I cannot thank

History Trip to Berlin

Ms Kavanagh enough for organising such an educational, entertaining and enjoyable trip and to Mr Carr, Mr Reidy, Ms Flanagan and Ms McKean for making it that much more special.

Garden, we bonded with our teachers and as a group. This trip gave me memories that will last a lifetime and I recommend anyone who is offered the opportunity to grab it.

Whether it was the “King Lear” workshop or taking photos in Covent

Oisin O’Crowley

In December a group of 52 Fifth and Sixth Year history students were given the unique chance to go on a three-day trip to Berlin. We flew out on the Wednesday morning and immediately began a guided bus tour led by the hilarious and informative Claude who took us from East to West Berlin. This gave us an excellent opportunity to see the Berlin Wall, The Brandenberg Gate, The Holocaust Memorial, The Government building and XO. We also got a chance to do some shopping at the huge Potsdamer Platz centre and at the beautiful Christmas markets. We definitely went at the perfect time of the year! One of the highlights of the day was when as Claude was pointing out Angela Merkel’s residence as she was, coincidentally, getting out of her car! We stayed in the modern Generator hostel which was located just outside the centre of the city. On the first night we were all exhausted and spent the evening playing pool and fuzzball before going to sleep for an early start the next day. The following morning we headed off to visit a former concentration camp, Sauchenhausen. The camp was an intense and difficult but extremely interesting experience, a real eye opener to World War II history. In the afternoon we had a guided tour of the last royal family in Germany’s house in Potsdam which was used by Stalin, Truman and Churchill during the war for the Potsdam Conference. We

also explored the gardens of Schloss Sanssouchi which also belonged to the monarchy. That evening we took the train from our hostel to a shopping centre where we were allowed to wander by ourselves, giving the teachers a deserved break from us! We woke on our last day in shock at how fast the trip had gone and felt determined to make the most of our remaining time in the city. We first went to the Plötzensee Prison site of many executions of prisoners in the past during Hitler’s time. In the afternoon we got the chance to experience what the bomb-shelters were like during the war and their conditions. Afterwards, our last activity was the “Story of Berlin”, an expedition which featured the timeline of German culture including cars, fashion, music, television/film and modern innovations. I think I can say on behalf of all the students that it was a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience. Despite the 4 hour flight delay on the way home, there were no dull moments. I would like to say thank you to all the teachers who came on the trip; Ms. Roy, Ms. Fair, Mr. O’Connor, Ms. Kavanagh and, most importantly, Mr. Roche for organising the entire thing! Susie Cannon

History & Geography Trip to London The History and Geography Trip to London was certainly a highlight of the year for me. Our first stop was the Natural History Museum. It was one of the best museums I’ve ever been to and all of the exhibits were excellent. There was loads of information on many different topics.

sights along the river such as London’s famous skyscrapers and the London Eye. The drivers also went incredibly fast, which left us all with interesting hairstyles once we were finished. It was good to get a real look at London before we left.

After that we visited the Science Museum, which was even better. It was very high tech and had lots of interactive exhibits, which was a real change seeing as you are normally forbidden from touching anything in museums! We had a very nice lunch there and then went out to Kew Gardens which was a nice breath of fresh air.

Overall, I loved the trip to London. The museums were great, the food was tasty and we all had great fun. It was the first time I’d ever been to London and after the great experience I’ll definitely go again!

THE ARTS

Killian Beashel

Over the next few days we traveled all over London. We visited the Tower of London (and succeeded in getting a Beefeater to laugh!), crossed Tower Bridge and explored the nooks and crannies of the HMS Belfast which is permanently on the Thames. We saw the new Avengers movie on the gigantic IMAX screen, we had an hour to browse around in Covent Garden which had a very vibrant market, and we did the scary tour of the London Dungeons. The last activity was my favourite. We got a tour of London while on speed boats called ribs. We got to see all of the major

MUSIC The Music Festival

The School Choir As always, the school choir remained a vital part of school life this year. At masses, ceremonies and celebrations, the choir provided a rich musical backdrop to every important milestone on the St. Gerard’s school calendar. The year began with the opening of the school year mass, at which we sang some of our staple hymns as well as some new additions. The annual Christmas Carol Service was attended by the whole school community in its hundreds. The chamber choir and soloists stunned the congregation, showcasing the evident musical talent from first to sixth year, and the selection of popular carols left parents little excuse not to join in the singing.

This year the choir was called upon on many occasions to accompany services of remembrance for members of the school community. This aspect of the choir’s work is a testament to their level of commitment and reliability. The Summer Concert drew the year to a close with a wide variety of styles, featuring past pupil Hozier’s ‘Take Me to Church’, and the jazz standard ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing’. As ever, the hard work and dedication of Ms. Olohan, Ms. Owens, and the full school choir helped to enhance every school event in perfect pitch!

The Summer Concert

Thomas Rafferty

Senior School Choir

Back (L-R): C. Wilson, W. Behan, K. Molloy, S. Doherty, S. O’Shaughnessy, J. Dargan-Hayes, O. O’ Crowley, T. Rafferty, M. Cantwell, S. Kenneally, G. Dowd. Fourth Row (L-R): A, Cullen, F. Newsome, G. Byrne, E. Byrne, A. Byrne, R. Jones, M. McCarthy, E. Kerins. Third Row (L-R): S. McCarthy, L. Finnerty, D. Kissane, S. Cannon, M. O’Neill, O. Flanagan, P. O’Reilly. Second Row (L-R): Ms. J. Olohan, D. Mullen, Robyn Kierans, Kate Havenga, Oscar Rackwell, Lily Rafferty, K. Boland, Ms. D. Owens. Front Row (L-R): L. Fox, R. Bullock, Sophie O’Riordan, Lily-Kate Hearns, E.A. Byrne, A. Furlong, Carla Connolly, E. Freeney, Lois Honan

DRAMA

My experience with Senior Drama was a very enjoyable time for me. Every Thursday evening we would do little improvised sketches to improve both our acting and ability to make up lines on the spot. During every class Ms.Carney would set us a little, challenging exercise and we would complete it in turn.

Drama this year was truly something special as, for the majority of the cast, it was their last year in drama. With this in mind, we decided to make the year a good one. There was always high energy and lots of ideas flowing from both Ms. Carney and the cast for the set design and also the movements of the play.

As the year progressed we collectively decided it was time to pick out a play. We ran through a few different plays looking for one that would suit us. Towards the end we decided on ‘Death by Design’ by Rob Urbinati. Soon after we picked out our play we got to work on learning our lines. I liked playing my character (Walter) because I found him a challenge. At first, I found it quite difficult to play his arrogant and pompous personality, but with a few rehearsals like it was like my own.

Senior Drama

As it was such a small cast we worked so well together and I can honestly say this year was one of laughter, fun and hard work. “Death by Design” was one of my favourite plays to act in as it was such a comical play and all of the cast involved definitely suited their parts very well. We are grateful for all the support from the school and our brilliant director Ms. Carney. We will never forget the wonderful experiences we have had with Senior Drama at St. Gerard’s. Lauren Kelly

As the matinée drew closer our rehearsals became longer with the Saturdays and Sundays soon making their way into our four to five hour-long practices. However, because the cast was such a pleasure to work with the time passed very fast. All things considered, Senior Drama was a fantastic experience. Art Punch

Senior Drama

Back (l-r): A. Punch, P. O’Reilly, L. Kelly, F. Emmet, M. Cantwell. Front (l-r): J. McGrath, B. O’Donnell, E. Byrne

Senior Drama students performing “Death by Design” by Rob Urbinati

Clockwise from left: Lauren Kelly, Jillian McGrath & Mark Cantwell, Emily Byrne & Shane Kenneally

Junior Drama

Back (l-r): G. Berg, C. Blennerhassett, S. Murphy, S-B. Farrar, A. McCarthy, D. Coleman, M. McCarthy, O. Punch. Third row (l-r): N. Bernon, A. O’Sullivan, K. McGrath, L. Honan, I. Reboul- Geraghty, M-J. Kehoe, M. Flynn, R. Murray. Second row (l-r): E. Freeney, D. Byrne, L. Rafferty, J. Corson, H. Cross, A. Sweeney, R. Thomas. Front (l-r): C. Connolly, A. Balmaine, E. Malone, P. O’Flynn, M. Stenning, I. Ramsay, A. Carlile

Junior Drama Every Tuesday, Second and Third Years have drama after sports. Drama in St. Gerard’s is an after-school extra-curricular activity for young actors who want to act and to have fun. The first few weeks of drama are about getting to know one another and to settle. After a few fun classes, it is time to start thinking of ideas for a play. This year, we researched online and brought the information we had found into class. Everyone gave a short description of the play they had found. One of the Third Years, Natasha, told us about a play called “Murder Mystery at the Murder Mystery”. We were intrigued by the title and after reading over a sample of the play, we all thought it would be difficult to perform but we were up for the challenge. After auditioning for the parts we wanted, our drama teacher Ms. Carney made the hard decision of picking which role each of us got in the play. The plot of the play was quite difficult to understand but once we all started to work together it all fell into place. 58

As well as practising our parts we had to do research on the clothes people wore at the time, house furnishings and accents. After many weeks of putting the play together we really needed more time to practise so every Tuesday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday we would come into the school and practise. Ms. Carney spent countless hours perfecting and changing our lines while also coming in at weekends to give us that extra rehearsal time. Ms. Carney really made us feel cared for and motivated us to work harder. As a group we all bonded together during every pizza break and with every laugh we shared. We all truly enjoyed ourselves. We were a little nervous when it came to putting our performance on but we were confident that it would go well. The play was a huge success! We would like to thank Ms. Carney for her wonderful direction and incredible support. Lilly Rafferty & Eleanor Freeney

Senior Drama students performing:

“Murder Mystery at the Murder Mystery” by Brian D. Taylor. Clockwise from left: A. Sweeney, R. Byrne, E. Freeney

DEBATING & PUBLIC SPEAKING Junior Debating The Law Society’s Junior Debating Competition was amongst the toughest we’ve faced. More than one hundred and thirty schools competed with each school selecting teams of two to argue prepared motions. St Gerard’s was proud to have bright, talented and articulate students from First to Third Year represent us this year. From First Year our brave debaters were: Sarah Murphy, James Hastings Rafferty and Jack Cummins. From Second Year, Niamh Longstaff, David Byrne and Peter O’ Flynn and from Third Year, Georgia Ferguson, Sabine O’Connell and Anna Byrne. We were delighted to see the students progress through three gruelling rounds on motions such as This

House Would Abolish Juries, Alcohol Advertising in Sport Should Be Banned and Home Schooling is Bad for Children. Emma Beashel from second year also represented the school in the Women’s Graduates Public Speaking Competition in UCD in February. Emma chose to speak on education and used Malala Yousafzai as inspiration for her views on the need to promote education of women in the developing world. We look forward to future competitions with confidence in the abilities of our able young people. R. Fox

Back (l-r): E. Byrne, A. Byrne, R. Rock, R. Connaughton Front (l-r): C. Cullen, B. O’Donnell, E. Loughman, S. McParland

Soroptimist Public Speaking Competition In November, I hopped on the chance to take part in the Soroptimist Women’s Public Speaking Competition. Along with Ms. Kavanagh, and a few other TY and Fifth year girls, I travelled into Bray where we competed against five other schools in the district. All of us were extremely nervous, especially the other T.Y.s as it was their first time in a public speaking competition. Luckily, I have quite a bit of experience in debating and drama so the jitters I got were from excitement, not nerves. The Soroptimist competition is all about women: it is open to all Senior Cycle girls and the topics we speak on deal with issues which concern women. We spoke on topics ranging from human rights as inspired by Nelson Mandela: “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”, to democracy where we questioned if gender quotas in politics or business have a detrimental effect or if they promote equality for the benefit of all. By far the most popular topic chosen by the speakers was empowering women-“Always be 60

a first rate version of yourself - not a second rate version of someone else”, Judy Garland. Myspeech was very off the cuff as I had changed the majority of the speech only a few nights before the contest. Despite this I managed to win, which is one of my biggest achievements from this year. Later in February, I competed in the Regional Finals of the competition in Wexford with seven other girls. At this event, not only did we have to say our speech but we also had to speak for two minutes on a topic that we only know of two minutes in advance. I was lucky to get the topic “the future”. I spoke about space travel, a fascination of mine. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it any further in the competition. I’d like to thank Ms. Kavanagh for all her help and the school for giving me this opportunity. Hopefully next year, I will be able to compete again and represent the school in the national finals. Bríd O’Donnell

Back (l-r): R. MacNeaney, D. Looby, E. Beashel, S. Murphy, S. O’Connell, M. McCarthy, B. Hutchinson Front (l-r): J. Dargan-Hayes, P. O’Flynn, D. Byrne, A. Byrne, J. Hastings-Rafferty, N. Longstaff

DEBATING & PUBLIC SPEAKING St. Gerard’s School MACE Debating Competition

SENIOR DEBATING Concern Debates

This November St. Gerard’s hosted our second annual Mace Debating competition. The event saw eighty junior cycle students arriving to the school for a full day of quickfire public speaking. The enthusiastic students were given motions to debate with just fifteen minutes of time to prepare. Topics discussed included the environment, the fight for gender equality, and international aid programmes.

2014/15was another very successful year for St. Gerard’s Debating, with the debating team making it to the quarter finals of yet another Concern Debates. The team consisted of Thomas Rafferty, Emily Ann Byrne, our captain Ferdy Emmet and me, Cameron Dorlas. The preliminary rounds of the competition, or, the group stages, lasted from October to mid-January, constantly challenging our debating knowledge, and, being in sixth year, our study skills too. The first round was on the motion “Critics who threw ‘cold water’ on the Ice Bucket Challenge were unfair”. This first round went without any hiccups as we won unanimously, opposing a strong Pres Bray team. The next motion we were also opposing, a rather tricky one stating “Ireland must deliver on its 0.7% overseas aid promise”.

After four toughly-fought rounds of rhetoric, the event concluded with a grand final where just eight competitors remained, battling it out for the winner’s title. Guest adjudicators for the final included Barrister Mary Bunyan and local TD Andrew Doyle. The day went off without a hitch, thanks to the committed students and teachers of the thriving debating community here in the school. We look forward to hosting the competition for years to come. Thomas Rafferty

Jennifer Courtney

Having narrowly edged the win yet again, we were beginning to feel that we had the group stage all wrapped up. That was until the next motion came in, our trickiest to date that simply stated, “Scotland should have voted for Independence”. With our mocks only a few weeks away, this extra research on current affairs only added an extra burden, but we knew it was something that had to be done. For the first time in this year’s competition, we were the ones proposing the motion, welcoming Loreto through our doors. After a well animated and lively debate, we were thrilled when the adjudicators ruled the motion 2-1 in our favour. The last round of the group stages was on the motion “Ireland’s commitment to tackling climate change is a load of hot air”. We were again proposing the motion, hosting St. Joseph’s of Cluny, against whom we had a decent track record. Fortunately, this was the most straight forward win of them all. Roll on the quarter finals.

We received the date and venue for the debate; we were again opposing the motion against Bandon Grammar School Cork, recent winners of the trophy. We were fairly confident on opposing the motion “Pledges by World Leaders to achieve gender equality by 2030 are a Utopian pipe dream”. Having learnt and perfected our speeches, we got on the bus for what was this time, a longer journey, all the way down to Thurles. The debate went as planned and we were fairly confident of having won but the adjudicators ruled that the motion had been carried, giving Bandon the win. However, we took it on the chin and looked back at what was another year of successful debating. On behalf of the entire team I’d like to thank Ms. Kavanagh for her constant support and fountain of knowledge that helped us through each debate, to understand each topic and pick apart motions. We certainly couldn’t have achieved what we did in debating without her encouragement and guidance, so on behalf of the four of us, thank you. Cameron Dorlas

Concern Debates Quarter-Finalists

C. Dorlas, T. Rafferty, E-A. Byrne & F. Emmet

DEBATING & PUBLIC SPEAKING Senior Debating - Bray Lions Debates The Bray Lions Debating competition is one of the last debating events of the school year and this year it proved once again to be a resounding high note for St. Gerard’s on which to end its academic calendar on. Having won the previous year with a team of 5th years widely renowned for their orating talents the baton was passed onto us; Iain Gallagher, Billy Behan, Kevin Allen and me. I was given the prestigious yet, I must say, at times stressful task of being the team captain for each of our debates, of which there were thankfully only two as last year’s win secured us an automatic entry into the semi-final. From the onset we were in the thick of it. Our first debate against Coláiste Raithín saw us opposing the motion that “Irish youth are doing their fair share to help the developing world”, a rather pessimistic stance to have to take I will admit. But we used our skills, as best we knew how and arguing against the merits of our generation securing a tight victory.

NUIM Model European Parliament Transition Year gave me the opportunity to participate in many exciting events and competitions. One of my personal favourites was the European Youth Parliament. Just as the Model United Nations attempts to recreate the UN, EYP is a mock European Parliament.

It seemed that this theme of ageism which we were forced to endorse continued, as in the final round, against St. Brendan’s, we were tasked with arguing that the age of the presidency should not be lowered to 21. Doing our best to obscure our own future political ambitions we each as a foursome put together a strong and comprehensive argument. Truth be told we were more than well matched and it seemed the trophy could wind up in the hands of either team. But as fate and the adjudicators would have it, the title was once again awarded to St. Gerard’s; in fact we are the first school ever to retain the title in the history of the competition, so all I can say on behalf of my team is good luck to next year’s team, and here’s hoping for the hat- trick! Shane Kenneally

At the first regional session, which was held in Athlone, I was on the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. As a group we had to work together to come up with a solution to the lack of women in leadership roles and we had to decide whether to implement gender quotas. It was a very intense debate and everyone had very strong opinions but in the end we managed to draft a resolution which we were all pretty happy with. However, we got quite a shock during General Assembly (this is when all the committees come together to debate each of the resolutions) when our resolution went down in flames and nearly nobody voted in favour of it! Despite this, I loved my first experience of EYP. Unlike at the Model United Nations, where there’s a feeling everyone is out for themselves, there was a definite focus on teamwork and as a result everyone on my committee got along very well and the

atmosphere was very friendly. Luckily I was chosen to attend the National Session of the EYP which was held over four days in UCD. I was on the same Committee as before but this time we were debating the issue of the gender pay gap. This was an incredibly complex problem and the debate was very lengthy and exhausting, but once again we drafted a great resolution that we were all happy with. Luckily, General Assembly was a lot easier this time. Even though the debate was fierce, we were able to pass our resolution which was a great reward for all of our hard work. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at both sessions of the European Youth Parliament. The atmosphere was very friendly and welcoming and I definitely improved my critical thinking, teamwork and public speaking skills. EYP was a definite highlight of Transition Year and I would strongly urge anyone with an interest in debating or public speaking to take part if they have the chance. Killian Beashal

Rotary International Rotary International is a charitable organisation which aims to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programmes. A number of Fifth Year students were interviewed by a panel of Rotary members and Shane Kenneally was chosen from this group to represent the school. Shane also achieved success in the second round of interviews achieving a place on the Youth Programme at regional level.

Winners Bray Lion’s Debates

Clockwise from top: Ms. A. Kavanagh, S. Kenneally, W. Behan, K. Allen & I. Gallagher

Winner of the Regional Round of the Rotary International Competition

Shane Kenneally

Model United Nations

Wesley College Model United Nations (WCDMUN) Although it was my second MUN, it was still very daunting. Callum McGloughlin, Eoin Blunnie, Killian Beashel, Bríd O Donnell, Eric Looby and I acted as the delegation of the Netherlands.

Terenure Model United Nations (TERMUN) Terenure College Model United Nations is always the first conference of the Model United Nations calendar. It gives new delegates a chance to experience MUN at their one day conference while the rest of the MUN conferences are two-day events.

I was on the Economic and Social committee, or ECOSOC for short. After 20 minutes in, it was much to my surprise when I received a note from the Chairperson informing me that my resolution was going to be discussed. After about two hours of defending and amending it, we reached the voting procedure. By a handful of votes, my resolution passed!

We had a team consisting of Jennifer Courtney, Emily Loughman, Shane Kenneally, Katie Sreenan and me. We were the delegation of Italy and I was representing our delegation in the Security Council. We came out with a great result with Shane, Katie and I being awarded Distinguished Delegates in our councils. Mark Cantwell Back (l-r): E. Loughman, K. Sreenan, J. Courtney. Front (l-r): M. Cantwell, S. Kenneally

Back (l-r): G. Dowd, K. Beashel, E. Blunnie, L. Noonan. Front (l-r): C. McLoughlin, B. O’Donnell, M. Cullen

For my contribution to the ECOSOC committee, I was awarded ‘Commended Delegate’. It was an honour ro represent my school in the competition and I am looking forward to partaking in it next year. Gavin Dowd

Rathdown Model United Nations (RADMUN)

St. Andrew’s Model United Nations (SAIMUN)

A talented group of Fifth Year and Transition Year students travelled to Rathdown School for the annual RADMUN conference. The standard of debate was exceptionally high and the St. Gerard’s representatives did the school proud once again walking away with both Distinguished Delegation (China) and Distinguished Delegate (Shane Kenneally) awards.

A group of five 5th year students participated in St Andrew’s Model United Nations over Easter Break this year. This was an outstanding opportunity for the practice and participation of public speaking alongside many other students from all around the world. All the students who participated thoroughly enjoyed this four-day experience. Shane Kenneally was awarded “Distinguished Delegate”. This is a huge achievement. All of the students look forward to entering again next year and facing the challenges that will arise as they once again debate their way through topical discussions.

Back (l-r): W. Behan, K. Allen, A. Atiyota, G. Dowd, C. McGloughlin, K. Beashel. Front (l-r): C. Cullen, B. O’Donnell, S. Kenneally, M. Cullen

Back (l-r): A. Atiyota, W. Behan, S. Kenneally Front (l-r): A. Clay, K. Allen

French Debating During October, a team of four sixth year students took part in an interschools’ French debating competition. The four competitors were Jennifer Courtney, Mark Cantwell, Shane Kenneally and Katie Sreenan. Winners of Outstanding Delegation at the Royal Russell International Model United Nations

Back (l-r): C. Dorlas, F. Emmet, T. Rafferty. Front (l-r): L. Rafferty, E. Noonan

Royal Russell International Model United Nations Should the UN Peacekeepers be given full diplomatic immunity? What should the UN’s stance on euthanasia be? How can the global community deal with deforestation? And why is the UN sitting idly by as a military junta enforce a harsh dictatorship onto Thailand? These were only some of the current, thought-provoking and important issues we had to deal with at the Royal Russell International Model United Nations. To a seasoned team of myself, Cameron Dorlas, Laura Finnerty, Eavan Noonan and Thomas Rafferty, the prospect of a trip to London to take part in a global MUN was one we could not turn down. With over 600 secondary school students from Sweden, Canada, and Japan to name a few, all with years of debating experience, we had our work cut out for us. With our extraordinary coach Ms. Kavanagh, we flew over to London, and were immediately thrown into the firing line with lobbying. For the last few weeks, the five of us had been balancing Sixth Year with our preparation for the event, writing resolutions on important topics, and now was our opportunity to show them off. We split up into our respective committees, and lobbied our resolutions to people we’d never met, merged our work together, and got the all68

The motion of the evening was: “PE should be an exam subject for the Leaving Cert”. Our team was against this motion, and as a mixed team both academically and athletically, we had a variety of opinions about this idea. We anticipated it to be a difficult argument. However we all had a great deal of interest in the matter. The debate itself took place in the Alliance Francaise building on Kildare Street in Dublin. Unfortunately, we were unlucky in our draw and faced the overall winners from the year previous, Loreto on the Green from Dublin. They proved to be, once again, very strong opponents with engaging arguments. However, our team gave an excellent

performance, skillfully using rebuttal and impressing the judges. After a lengthy debate, the adjudicators gathered to make their decision. We waited impatiently for the result. Both teams were highly commended for their efforts, arguments and use of language. The judges stated that it was a difficult decision to make, as both teams were so strong, however Loreto on the Green were announced as winners once again. Despite our loss, we as a team were congratulated by the adjudicators for our outstanding participation and they reminded us that there was very little in the difference between the two teams at the end. Also, both Shane and I were nominated for best speaker and were commended by the judges. Katie Sreenan

important signatures. We were all honoured to have each of our resolutions chosen, the only delegation to do so. Across the next two days a series of resolutions were debated and ultimately decided if they would pass or fail. We were all amazed when all of ours were passed, with Thomas, Laura and Eavan’s being debated at the General Assembly. It was here, in front of all six hundred competitors, that we made our final contributions to the conference. After this, came the closing ceremonies, where we said goodbye to all our new friends, and waited for the awards. We were honoured to be the only delegation where all delegates received Distinguished Delegate awards, each of us receiving one in our respective committees. But this achievement was made even better when we were awarded the top prize of Distinguished Delegation. It was a wonderful experience, and the perfect way to end all our MUN careers. We’d like to thank Mr. Geraghty for giving us the opportunity, all our teachers for putting up with the school we missed, and finally to Ms. Kavanagh for being so supportive. We hope MUN continues to be a key part of the St Gerard’s extra-curricular programme. Ferdinand Emmet

Back (l-r): E. Loughman, K. Sreenan, J. Courtney Front (l-r): M. Cantwell, S. Kenneally

ART

ART School Art Competition Winners

Grace O’Brien

Sam Shepard

Matthew Morgan Picture by Nicholas Pochinkov, winner of the Toyota “My Dream Car” competition

Lauren Kelly

Molly Stening

SPORT

SPORT AT ST. GERARD’S SCHOOL

REVIEW OF THE SPORTING YEAR It has truly been another fantastic sporting year for St. Gerard’s School. The school has continued to strive for excellence in a wide variety of sports and disciplines, which has resulted in many trophies, sporting accolades and positive experiences being achieved. Rugby has experienced many highs and lows through the year. It saw the SCT narrowly missing out in reaching the Vinny Murray final, and the JCT putting up an amazing fight against Belvedere in the Cup. The Senior II’s brought the Order of Merit League Cup back to the school for the first time. Both U13 and U14 squads again competed well in the leagues, narrowly missing out on final spots. This was the first year where the school was able to fully field three squads at senior level, and saw all other age groups comfortably fielding two teams in all competitions. The school had one representative in the Leinster U18 Schools’ squad, and two in the Leinster U17 development squad.

Sports Staff

This year was a truly unbelievable year for Hockey in the school with our SCT girls reaching the league final losing in a thrilling final to High School. This spurred them on to a fantastic run in the Leinster Senior Cup beating Alexandra College in another thrilling final to take the title for the first time in St. Gerard’s School’s history. This success then brought them to the All-Irelands in Galway where they met the top schools in the All-Ireland match play where they lost out to first place on goal difference. At Senior II level our girls lost to a very good Muckross side in the Leinster League semi- final. Both Junior and Minor teams competed

well in their league campaigns and our First Year girls were able to field three teams in the Leinster League. The school had two representatives on Irish U18 Squad at the European Championships in the summer. St. Gerard’s continued to compete in a whole range of sports throughout the year, and to an exceptionally high standard. Both success and enjoyment were achieved in disciplines such as East Leinster, Leinster All-Ireland, Sailing, Cricket, Equestrian, Golf, Soccer, Orienteering and Schools’ Tennis leagues. Pupil participation is essential, and proved yet again to be crucial in the development and success of all squads. The pupils continued to acquit themselves in a committed and enthusiastic manner, which as usual saw all boys and girls represent the school with great aplomb. Development of the sports infrastructure throughout the grounds has seen the introduction of a new cricket pitch and athletics area. This will further compliment the already wide range of sports played in the school, and will in no doubt aid in the development of these sports in the school for years to come. It has again proved to be a very busy and successful sporting year in which the pupils of St. Gerard’s can be very proud of their achievements, both individual and within their respective squads. Mr. Ken Jolly & Ms. Sarah Scott

Back (l-r): R. O’Connor, R. Toal-Lennon, B. Armstrong, S. Jennings, J. Charlie, S. Hunt, C. McAlinden, C. Brock Front (l-r): N. Daly, K. Jolly, C. O’Kelly, M. Shelly, E. O’Regan, D. Bollard, H. Mulcachy, N. Aylmer

SPORTS & PRIZE DAY

HOCKEY Senior I

Leinster Senior Cup Champions We began our adventurous season with a simple plan consisting of two aims, firstly to win the Leinster League and secondly to win the Leinster Cup. We met with our inspiring sports psychologist Gerry Grehan who transformed our wants and desires into achievable goals. We prepared to commit to training all year and supporting one another to achieve our goals. This year’s League pools were quite evenly matched which meant every game was going to be a challenge. We were up against The King’s Hospital first and with Brendan being away we didn’t perform to our full potential. However, luckily, we still won 3-0. One of the most crucial games in our league campaign was against our rivals from last season, Rathdown School, who knocked us out in the quarter-final of the cup in 2014. With the return of Brendan and lots of team bonding we were all full of confidence for the big game. With a great effort from the whole squad we won 4-2. In our next two games against Foxrock and Beaufort we struggled. Thankfully we scored a goal in the last few

minutes of both, by none other than our terrific striker Deanna Kissane. Our last league game was against Holy Child, which in my opinion was our weakest League game. We were losing 3-2 and, in the last minute, Olivia Flanagan scored an incredible goal ending the game at 3-3 which ensured that in our six league matches we remained unbeaten and topped our pool. Despite having a two week break for Christmas Holidays, Brendan put us on a tight fitness and training schedule, in preparation for our semi – final against Muckross. I can’t speak for the rest of the team but one of my Christmas highlights was our early morning bleep test and fitness session. With the technical and physical side covered, we all focused on acquiring a winning attitude which was aided with the help of motivational talks from Ms. Scott, Gerry Grehan and Mr. Geraghty. As this was the first time that St Gerard’s had reached a premier league semi-final, we went out determined to create

Captain Susie Cannon

history for our school and stood out as the better side with our super attacker Sarah O’Loughlin scoring two fabulous reverse stick goals and terrific saves from our fantastic keeper Lucy Ashmore giving us a 2-0 win and placing us into the final of the league.

Although, we did not achieve our second goal of winning the Leinster League, our number one goal to win the cup was still very much alive. Facing Wesley in the second round, we won 3-0 with terrific goals from Moirin O’Neill, Ella Collins and Jenny Courtney.

With a quick turnaround, we met Muckross four days later again for the first round of the Leinster Cup. Still exhausted from the semi-final neither team played to the best of their ability but thankfully our star striker Deanna Kissane scored a beautiful goal once again awarding us a 1-0 win.

The following week we played Foxrock in the quarterfinal with the score still 0-0 at half time we all lifted our performance and excelled with a superb goal from Elena Tice and two splendid deflections from Laura Finnerty which secured us a place in the semi- final against Holy Child, another first in the school’s history.

With three days left before our league final we rested up and had Roisin attend to us. The final arrived and we were full of mixed emotions. Having played High School once in the league and only narrowly beating them 4-3 we went in nervous and with not as much self-belief as in the semifinal. This greatly impacted our game and despite our 2-1 lead we didn’t back ourselves and allowed the High School team to dominate the second half. Even though they were awarded twelve short corners our outstanding defensive team of Pippa O’Reilly, Elena Tice, Sadhbh MaCarthy, Ruby Neville and Lucy Ashmore only conceded one goal bringing the score to 2-2 at the final whistle.

Senior Hockey I

Back (L-R): L. Ward, A. Byrne, J. Courtney, E. Tice, S. O’Loughlin. Middle (L-R): E. Dunne, E. Clinton, R. Murray, M. Cullen, E. Collins, E. Moroney, L. Ashmore. Front (L-R): S. McCarthy, L. Finnerty, D. Kissane, S. Cannon, M. O’Neill, O. Flanagan, P. O’Reilly

Our forwards worked stubbornly but Moirin O’Neill and Ella Collins were unable to get that final touch to put the ball in the back of the net off Elena Tice’s superb shots into the D during extra time which meant the match went on to the dreaded 1V1s. Unfortunately, the pressure got the better of us and High School masterfully dictated each of their 1V1s. Sadhbh MaCarthy did us all proud scoring a glorious 1V1 and attempting to follow her lead, I gracefully bottled mine. It may appear strange to say this, but one of the highlights of our season was the league final because it was the turning point of our season. We knew what we were capable of and refused to let anything be stolen from us again.

Feeling driven to perform better than our previous game against them, we all went in to the game with high energy and high attitude or as Gerry called it “the green platform”. With the score at 0-0 at halftime, Ms. Scott, Brendon and Gerry made great efforts to have us believe in ourselves and stick to the simple things and that’s exactly what we did in the second half. With a terrific drag from Lena Tice and an unreal touch deflection from Sarah O’Loughlin’s stick at the top of the D into the top right hand corner of the goal we won 2-0. On the 5th of March, the day of the Leinster Cup Final we arrived at Three Rock feeling four things: confident, positive, strong and fit. The support from the St Gerard’s side was incredible and something the squad was truly grateful for throughout the season. The biggest game of our school career began and, despite many chances from both teams, the scored remained 0-0 at half time. In our team huddle, we all remained calm and enthusiastic for the second half to commence. Alexandra College attempted to dominate the second half but with yet another astonishing performance from our defensive squad of Eleanor Dunne, Deanna Kissane, Lena Tice, Sadhbh MaCarthy, Pippa O’Reilly and Lucie Ashmore not one goal

HOCKEY Senior II

St. Gerard’s senior seconds had a great season overall. Returning early for preseason really paid off as we had a strong start, successfully winning our first match against Loreto Dalkey 3:1 and continuing with this same strength all the way to the semi-finals. This was assured by high levels of commitment and plenty of team-bonding sessions. Although our team was sadly not victorious losing to Muckross in the semi-final, ending our campaign for the league title. Our long season allowed our team plenty of time to develop our skills and persevere for our 2015/2016 season. Leinster Cup Champions and All-Ireland Finalists

was conceded. The attacking mid fielders and forwards, also upped their game with Sarah O’Loughlin winning a penalty corner in the last few minutes. Without any sign of nerves Lena Tice delightfully dragged the ball into the back of the goal and to quote the Irish Times “shrugged her shoulders” to celebrate. The final score was 1-0. To top off a fantastic domestic season, I was so proud to have captained the second best school team in Ireland which was only decided by a ‘one goal difference’!I will never forget the All-Ireland weekend in Galway where my team showed such a belief in themselves that we finished on equal points with the All-Ireland Champions. On behalf of the squad I would like to thank Gerry Grehan for his continued support and belief in us throughout the season. We are all so appreciative of your hard work. I would like to thank Mr. Geraghty and the entire school community for being so encouraging and supportive from the start of

the season until the end; it had such a positive impact on our season. I would like to thank Ms. McKean for her wise words and her ongoing support over the years. I would like to thank Ms. Scott for her full commitment and passion during the season. I would also like to thank our head coach Brendan Carolan, for his continuous support this year. There is no doubt that our fantastic season would not have been achievable without him.

All and all, on behalf of the team, I can truly say that we thoroughly enjoyed the experience from beginning to end. Thanks to all who worked with us throughout the year. Aislinn Byrne

Above Right: Eva Moroney. Above Left: Klara O’Leary Above: Aislinn Byrne

This year we have played 17 games, we won 14, drew two and lost one; these statistics not only reflect the squad but also the people off the pitch. Finally and most importantly, I would like to thank my team for an incredible journey filled with unforgettable memories To the rest of the girls, I wish you the very best of luck with your upcoming seasons in the school. Susie Cannon

Senior Hockey II

Back (L-R): J. O’Connor, J. Fanning, A. Gilmore, C. Stephenson, R. Murphy, K. Glennane, J. Magee Middle (L-R): L. Ward, E. Connolly, A. Dalton, A. Cullen, A. Byrne, M. Cullen, C. O’Shea-Collins, E. Moroney Front (L-R): C. Cullen, J. Glynn, K. O’Leary, R. Connaughton, L. Gelletlie, E. Loughman, K. Sreenan

HOCKEY Junior As

Teams were decided in early September to give us time to play as a squad before our league and cup campaigns commenced. Our first match was amongst our most memorable. We travelled to High School, unsure of what to expect playing together for the first time, and managed to beat them with a massive score of 6-0. This gave us the confidence we needed going into the first of our league and cup games. Our first cup match was against Our Lady’s, Terenure. We had a 3-0 win and were very excited to continue this success throughout the rest of the cup. We were scheduled to next play Wesley, a strong team who had won both the league and cup the year before. In the last minute of the second half, Wesley were awarded a short corner. Their first strike was blocked but they managed to put away the rebound, knocking us out of the Cup. Although disappointed, we knew it was more important that we focused on the league. We started strong, with a 2-0 win over Loreto, Dalkey. However we were not as prepared for our second league game against St. Andrew’s, with most of our team being sick. We managed to scrape a 1-1 draw against the Booterstown side. Our next league match against King’s Hospital was

in mid-December. We ended the match with a 0-0 result, which was very disappointing. It all came down to a final league match against Alexandra College. We played probably one of our best matches that day, and the final score of 1-0 against such a strong team was well deserved. Unfortunately we were then beaten by Wesley in the quarter-final. The last League we played in was the South Dublin League. We faced the winners of the Leinster Cup, Foxrock, and managed to beat them 1-0 and produced one of our best performances. We comfortably made it through to the final with a 5-0 win over St. Joseph of Cluny. The final, against Rathdown School, was the last time we would play together as a team. We all gave this match 100 percent. Our score of 3-0 reflects the hard work and quality of hockey we produced throughout the game. For me, this was the most enjoyable match and I owe that all to my team mates. I would like to thank Ms Aylmer and Ms McKean on behalf of the squad for their endless dedication and support throughout the season. Hilary Gallagher

Left: Junior A team against Wesley College Below left: Laoise Geraghty against Wesley College Below centre: Eleanor Dunne Below right: Lara Burke & Leonie Delaney

Junior A Hockey

Back (L-R): M. O’Toole, A. Carroll, A. Bowtell, L. Delaney. Middle (L-R): L. Geraghty, S. Callan, J. Magee, S. Kenny, E. Clinton Front (L-R): R. Murray, L. Burke, E. Dunne, N. Bernon, B. O’Donnell

HOCKEY Junior Bs

Above: Ana Ryan

The season kicked off an all-time high after two weeks intense pre-season training and trials. The squad consisted of lots of girls from 3rd year and TY. We began playing lots of friendly matches against different schools in the area. This was a great way for us to get to know each other as well as learning what we were like as players. The squad trained every day except Tuesdays. Tuesdays were our “fitness day” and each week we spent an hour running around the school doing ‘Gerard’s miles’ - regardless of the weather. We then kicked off the season with a great win in our first league match against Mount Sackville winning 4-2. As a team our determination rose and we decided we were in it to win it! Our next match was against Loreto on the Green which we won 3-1 with some lovely goals from Susie McParland and Alannah Crowley. Unfortunately, come our fourth league match against Muckross we lost 4-2 but we had some epic short corners

to prove that our work was paying off. This was not the end of the season and we held our heads up high and kept on training. As are season continued and we began to progress we trained harder for the South Dublin league. A blitz was held against another five schools one Saturday morning. We played 30 minutes each side to determine who would win. Having won all of our matches except one, we ended up reaching the semi-finals but unfortunately we lost to Loreto, Dalkey by one goal. We still came second and have lovely medals to show for it. The season was a huge success overall I would also like to mention a huge thank you to our coach Ms. Alymer who coached us all season and made us the brilliant hockey players we are today. All the running we did and the training in the snow and rain even on the early Saturday mornings, definitely paid off. Emily Byrne

HOCKEY Minor As

Left: R. Cullen Right: B. Boyd

This year the Minor A’s progressed hugely as a team; we won matches and lost matches and supported each other in our victories and in our losses.

Loreto, Dalkey and many more. As we played friendly and competitive matches it was clear that we were developing more and more.

We started the season with our new coach Niall. It was very clear that the standard of all the players was very high individually but now it was our job to pull together and work as a team. We organised a team-bonding day during the season to build a stronger relationship on and off the pitch.

By the end of the season we were all determined to keep developing skills and our team work for the Juniors next year so we trained right to the end of the school year.

Throughout the year we played many matches against rival schools such as Holy Child, Killiney, Rathdown,

On behalf of the whole team I would like to thank our coach Niall Denim for the intense training and his constant support on the training pitch and on the sidelines. Rachael Cullen

Junior B Hockey

Minor A Hockey

Back (L-R): S. Mooney, R. Jones, A. Bynre, Z. Corson, S. McParland, A. Crowley. Front (L-R): F. Dempsey, R. Rock, A. O’Caoimh, E. Byrne, C. Keogh

Back (L-R): C. Ahern, E. Steyaert, A. Hodgins, L. Fahy, A. Stanley. Middle (L-R): B. Boyd, B.R. O’Neill, E. Beashel, D. Looby, N. Longstaff. Front (L-R): A. Sweeney, S. Mason, R. Cullen, L. Honan, E. O’Loughlin

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Minor Bs & Cs This year can be recorded as one of our most nail-biting, exciting seasons yet. As a team, we were over the moon to be starting off the league campaign for 2015, following a highly successful season last year. Our season started with an epic 1-0 victory, which gave us the confidence we needed to begin the league. Our next opponents were Loreto, Dalkey; a 1-1 draw was well deserved as both teams worked incredibly hard throughout the match. Following this, we travelled out to Mount Temple on the other side of Dublin, to play what we knew would be the most important match of our season. At half time and 2-0 behind, our spirits were down but we had no intention of giving up easily. We came back into the match with a phenomenal performance to even the score. Unfortunately, a goal in the closing minutes of the match gave Mount Temple the victory which meant that we could not progress any further in the league. However, we were more than happy with our unbelievable performance and the excellent skills we demonstrated.

To close our season, we played a match against Loreto Foxrock, where we delivered a dominant display of hockey. This was undoubtedly one of our best performances of the year, and to draw 1-1 with one of the best schools in our league was well deserved and was the perfect conclusion to our unbelievable season. On behalf of the team I would like to thank our coach, Ms Sinead Duffy who helped us by putting in endless hours of work to perfect our skills on the pitch and build team spirit. We would also like to thank Ms. Scott for organising our league entry and all of our matches. Overall, this was an exceptional season for us and we cannot wait to progress as Seniors next year. Hopefully next year we will have a season as enjoyable as this year. Rachel Whitten

Above left: Jessica McHenry Top right: Saoirse Mason Bottom right: Lauren McCarthy Left: Hannah Cross

Minor B Hockey

Back (L-R): D. Crowley, B.R. O’Neill, G. Clay, S. O’Flaherty, L. Harkin. Middle (L-R): N. Longstaff, R. Miller, H. Cross, L. McCarthy. Front (L-R): A. O’Mara, S. Mason, A. Hodgins, H. Stevens, J. McHenry

HOCKEY

This year was our first year playing together as a team in the Senior School. We were all extremely excited to have new talent on the pitch with all the new girls coming in. We trained every Saturday morning, and nearly everyday of the week and we couldn’t have been happier.All the pitches and facilities at St.Gerard’s makes hockey that much better, while knowing that, with our fantastic coaches, it would be a great season ahead.

A few weeks into the hockey season we were put into two teams. Both of these teams were entered into a league. Playing on the team was sometimes a struggle as there was at times a lack of communication and co-operation. As in this school we train hard and frequently, there was time out of matches to develop our skills and team bond. I think we all had great fun at matches especially and enjoyed the bus rides to the match.

Our team played their hardest in every game and one of our shining moments was against Our Lady’s. We were losing 3-0 in the first half but, with help from our coach we came back in the second half even stronger and the score ended up being 3-3.

There was a huge difference in experience levels as there wer some new people who had never played hockey before and some very experienced players. Although some players were more experienced and maybe a bit better we were encouraged never to put a player down. I think something we learnt this year was team work. On a team there is a huge amount of cooperation needed and I hope we will continue on building our team spirit.

First Year As

However not everything always goes to plan. One of our saddest moments was in our first cup game; the score was all tied up until it finally got to penalty shoots and sadly the other team won. There were many ups and downs but thanks to our amazing coaches we always ended every game on a happy note. An enormous “thank you” must go out to Cathy Brock, SarahRose Shelley and many more coaches for making us the team we are. Thank you to Róisíhn Byrne who helped with all our battle wounds and kept us going. Finally a huge thank you has to go Sarah Scott who has not only set up all of our games and tournaments and made sure we played to our best ability but for always being the one who could sort us out when we went astray. With the mix of our talent, desire, dedication and the amazing facilities and coaching staff at St.Gerard’s School, the future for the first year team is looking good. Abbie McCarthy

First Year Bs

Clockwise from left: A. McCarthy, E. Malone, M. Stening & J. Corson

Kate Costello

First Year Hockey

Back (l-r): C. Fulvio, S. Murphy, J. Kissane, E.O’Reilly, E. Malone, S. Farrer, L. Andres, K. McGrath. Middle (l-r): R. Power, S-A. Noonan, A. Hoffman, K. Costello, I. Ramsay, N. Monzonis. Front (l-r): L-K. Hearns, m-J. Kehoe, J. McDonald, A. McCarthy, M. Stening, L. Honan, J. Corson

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and Art Punch we continued on to finish our pre-season preparations against Campbell College. The incredible running of Adam Simmonds led us to victory against RSA as he sliced through the defence time after time.

Senior Cup Team This truly was a memorable season, and not just for the rugby! The season started with a weekend get-away to the stunning coastline of Cork. As you could guess there were no games of tip on the beach, we barely saw a rugby ball for the duration of the trip. With 6:00am runs and twice-daily fitness tests we weren’t overly heart-broken as we made our departure. After a few days of much needed rest and home cooking, we began our preparation for our pre-league fixtures. With an unfortunate early shoulder injury that ruled out one of our more experienced members Jake, we continued on with an outstanding opening game against Pres Bray. Running in several tries, we proved to have a very talented bunch of lads. This was soon followed with another positive victory against Gonzaga College. In a tough battle against Castleknock College we narrowly claimed a victory. With players eager to earn a starting place in the team, people were putting their hands up left, right and centre to get noticed. However, some were a little more eager than others to get noticed by the coaches. This became quite clear as Matt Dalton’s feet flew through the air in his epic somersault to touchdown for a nice try. With the help of our young guns Marc Baker, Daniel Power

Our league kicked off with a home game against the dangerous Newbridge College. We narrowly missed out on the win. However, we showed some good aspects to our game and showed signs of continuous improvements from our hard work and dedication at training. This was followed by a nail-biting match against Roscrea. A victory was looking hopeful as Baker placed a kick in behind for Andrew Lynch to touch down. Unfortunately it was not to be as the referee called it back for off-side. We were unlucky again to suffer injuries. Speaking for myself, I was devastated to have to leave the pitch early due to a knee injury. We continued our league campaign against St Andrew’s College in a truly physical challenge. While one Simmonds got thrown around by the big St Andrew’s number 8, the other Simmonds was able to smash him into touch in a tackle that we will all remember. With the work of Guy Martin, many back-breaking tackles and strong runs from Rob Toal-Lennon we were able to claim the victory against St Andrew’s. Next up was Wesley College. Unfortunately, a victory was not to be as Wesley just barely came out on top allowing them to qualify them for the cup. Bringing an end to our league campaign was a well-deserved win against The King’s Hospital that served as a much needed confidence boost. However, we were unfortunate to miss out on direct cup qualification.

Top left: Adam Simmonds. Bottom left: Kyle McCarthy. Centre: Jake Maguire. Bottom right: Matthew Dalton

We began our pre Vinnie Murray preparation by hosting a friendly against Clongowes. At such a crucial time in the year it was so great to see so many enthusiastic players showing their dedication on and off the field for which I am truly grateful. Our final game before our cup campaign was an away match all the way down in St Munchin’s. Some players really stepped up their game batting away numerous defenders throughout. We began our Vinnie Murray campaign playing Wilson’s Hospital in the first round. It was a bruising encounter against these larger than normal men. However, with tackles coming in left right and centre from Shane O Shaughnessy they stood no chance of breaking our line. Sean O Reilly brought his winger instincts back to play showing the incredible pace he has as he scored not one, but two, tries aiding our win. We progressed to the second round where we came up against Tempelogue. The two games I will never forget are the two semi-finals we played against Castleknock. In the first game we played our hearts out in an extremely tight match until the final minute. Marc Baker scored two magnificent tries which took us into the lead. However it was not enough as Castleknock were able to level to scoreboard in the final minutes. We had an extremely quick turn-around of just three days to play the repeat. We are so fortunate to be in the school we are in where such care is shown for the sports and the students.

Rugby Senior Cup Team

Back (L-R): A. Punch, R. Toal-Lennon, M. O’Toole, C. Gill, S. O’Shaughnessy, C. Simmonds, D. Hodgins, T. Foley, M. Dalton, M. O’Brien. Middle (L-R): M. Baker, S. Murray, D. Power, E. Naughton, Z. Collis-Lee, S. Kenny, B. O’Reilly, S. Gallagher, R. Buckley, H. Happonen. Front (L-R): A. Lynch, K. McCarthy, S. O’Reilly, R. Delaney, D. Smith, A. Simmonds, J. McGuire, B. Kealy, M. Gallagher

In an effort to try and get our bodies back on track as quick as possible, we were brought for a rehab session to a swimming pool. By that Friday we were set to make amends and finish off Castleknock and move on. Unfortunately the wet and windy conditions were more suited to Castleknock and it was not to be. Castle knock proved to be the stronger side on the day and qualified for the final. Our journey had

come to an end. On behalf of the team I would like to thank our coaches. Here in St Gerard’s we are blessed to have some of the best around. Mr Jason Emery has been a huge help to us all year. I speak for everybody when I say we are truly grateful to have had a coach of such experience and knowledge of the game. I am really grateful for everything he did for us over the year. Likewise Mr. Brian Keegan has been an excellent coach during this year and last. Mr Shelly has been an excellent coach all year playing endless games of murder ball and screaming at us, reminding us of the nightmarish weekend we spent in Cork! Mr Shelly also put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes, breaking down the statistics and analysing each and every match for us and then taking us through each match during our video analysis on Saturday mornings. I would like to thank our three coaches for the massive amount of work they have put in this year with us, always pushing us to be the best we can be and reaching our potential. Mr. O’Connor, has in my opinion, been the perfect manager. Mr. O’Connor has done so much for us over the year and I speak for everyone when I say we couldn’t have asked for a better man for the job. Mr. O’Connor always made time for every member of the squad, firsts and seconds; he was just glad to help out. Finally , on behalf of all of the 6th Years of 2015, I would like to wish both of next year’s squads hockey and rugby, the best of luck. Donal Smith

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Transition Year

Senior Cup Team II “Champions do not become champions when they win the final but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it.”

these scrums came a lightning break from scrum-half Kyle McCarthy who darted down in the corner for the opening score of the game.

This quote had never been more fitting that that fateful day of the Senior Second league final down in Newbridge. Having experienced torrential rain all day and all night, the Newbridge pitch can only be described as a bog with goal posts either end. The team we faced was Kilkenny College, our toughest opposition yet, having enjoyed an undefeated league campaign to this point. Another opponent we had to overcome was the conditions, the wet and windy day in Kildare did not suit our free-flowing, barn-storming style of play. We were the smaller, faster team sporting an entire back-row of converted backs. We would have to really dig in to get the result that day. We were told “it’s going to come down to whoever wants it more” repeated again and again. The squad was psyched up, bolstered by a few Senior First players who were eligible to play.

With Kilkenny really piling on the pressure earning a well.deserved equaliser, we knew we were in for a tight affair. However, after a brilliant try from lightening Lorcan Lawlor, we gained five points breathing room. We began to rest on our laurels slightly and invite pressure on ourselves. We settled in for a tense final ten minutes reminiscent of the hours of “Murder Ball” in the muddiest corner of the Senior pitch with Mr. Shelly. We relied on the calm and experienced Mr. O’Connor who imparted some valuable wisdom, while Mr. Shelly provided us with the mindset we so sorely needed.

Come kick-off the weather had not subsided; it continued to pelt rain and occasionally hail. A knock-on in the first dew moments really set the tone as we experienced more scrums than in any other match all year. However, from one of

After held-up tries and endless goal-line scrambles, a magnificent run from Billy O’Reilly finished superbly by Lorcan put us beyond a one score lead. The final whistle blew and we were champions. I was lucky to be entrusted with captaining all year and to have such a talented pool of players putting the hard work in when it mattered the most.

It was exciting to kick off a new season with two new coaches, Mr. Craig and Wesley Wojnar. We found the coaches very outgoing and constructive when trying to enhance our rugby skills, although some of us weren’t too fond of those extra fitness sessions that Wes lined up for us. They also gave everyone the opportunity to try out new positions which was a nice change for everyone. Despite having some of our team move on to Senior 2 Rugby and other sporting commitments, we managed to remain ambitious and had some very impressive winning performances against St. Mary’s, Newbridge, Campbell College, Wesley College and Blackrock College. It was a lot easier to enjoy all the matches without the pressures that came with Junior Cup rugby.

A number of us also joined Greystones Rugby club for the Under-18s season. This gave us the opportunity to play a lot of competitive matches and develop our skills and gain experience over the course of the year. Mr O’Connor was heavily involved with the Greystones U18s coaching team and kept a watchful eye on us to ensure we were on the right track. Overall, this year has helped our team bond as a unit and improve our rugby skills, which will stand to us for the years to come. We are all really looking forward to moving into Senior Rugby next year and starting a new competitive season. Stephen Bourke & Cian O’Flaherty

Michael McNieve

Rugby Senior Cup Team II Order of Merit League Champions

Back (L-R): C. McHenry, T. Robinson, J. Dunne, C. Simmonds, S. Ryan, L. Roberts, D. Brodeur, C. Wilson, M. Morgan, L. Keaney. Middle (L-R): A. Punch, C. O’Farrell, S. Murray, B. O’Reilly, T. Foley, R. Buckley, L. Lalor, A. Longstaff, C. Haydock, E. Orsmond. Front (L-R): E. Naughton, S. Kenny, M. O’Brien, D. Hodgins, M. McNieve, P. Stanley, S. Gallagher, I. Gallagher, B. Ho

After such an intense and successful Junior Cup year, we had a more relaxed approach to TY Rugby but still remaining competitive during game time.

Rugby Transition Year

Back (L-R): M. Baker, R. Dooley, S. Bourke, L. O’Connor, C. Finnegan, C. McLoughlin, G. Dowd, S. Shephard. Middle (L-R): H. Cameron, L. Noonan, M. Smith, L. Fenelon, D. Power, M. Geoghegan, J. Dunne, C. Walsh. Front (L-R): A. Kingston, C. Powell, T. Dempsey, S. Kirwan, B. Geoghegan, K. Beashel, J. Peters

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defeats were getting to us. Some of the lads were getting disheartened but the coaches and Mr. Drummy were great picking us up and putting us just were we needed to be.

This was the year, the big one, the JC. We were excited and nervous, every one of us. We worked hard and played with gusto hoping to make an impression on our coaches Mr. Armstrong, the two Steves and the great Jack Conan, not to mention the ever present Mr. Drummy with his watchful eye.

We had a trip to take the following week over the border to Belfast to Campbell College These guys had revenge on their minds. We beat them last year and the year before, so we knew they would be out to win, but little did they know, we needed a win . We played with ease and determination and the win we had been searching for finally came. The Royal School, Armagh were the next team to visit the hills of Wicklow and once we got a taste of victory we didn’t want to lose it so we racked up a victory against RSA in the last of our friendlies.

First up were our nearest and dearest neighbours, Pres Bray. It was a tough match as not many of us had kept our fitness up during the summer and it showed. It was a game we should have won but the result didn’t go our way. It was obvious more training was needed.

The end of September came and with that the league started in glorious sunshine in Rathgar in the grounds of High School. We were like peacocks with tails up high strutting our stuff running try after try in across the white wash- what a way to start the League!

We headed in towards the city next to Gonzaga. Our parents made the trip to support us but it was a day many of us wish was erased from our memory cells especially poor Tommy Dineen who suffered a nasty leg injury and would be out for some time and whose absence would be a big blow to our squad.

We travelled south of the N7 the following week to the famous all boys’ boarding school, Clongowes. We knew this was going to be a tough test, probably the biggest test we would face this year. These guys were big and strong. They hit hard but played fair. Our team members were dropping like flies. We lost this match with a score that looked like we were playing cricket.

Junior Cup Team

Castleknock College came to visit us next and it was nice to be playing back at home again. Although that was where the niceness ended. Again it was one of those games that got away from us. We let them in on the score board and in our heads. We would know better for next time. These

Roscrea came next, again another team with big lads but we had beaten them in first year. I knew the lads could do it again. I was on the side-line (due to concussion) giving them tactical advice. However despite the autumn sunshine, the

Top left: Jack O’Caoimh. Centre: Charlie Byrne, Right: Lineout Action against St. Andrew’s Bottom left: Ethan Baxter.

sun settled on the Roscrea team instead of the team from Bray. Two losses and one win in the League; it wasn’t looking good. Next up was a rescheduled Newbridge match. This was supposed to be a home match but due to St Gerard’s Day celebrations it had to be rescheduled and home advantage was conceded. We travelled to Newbridge and once we got there the heavens opened and the rain came down. There must be something in the food or air in boarding schools because the guys here too were quite big compared to us. The Newbridge boys played very well and deserved to win but it meant we were now three losses to one win in the League. We weren’t likely to get anywhere in it now. The King’s Hospital, the league winners in first year, came next. We knew it would be tough but we had to win. The weather held out but our defence didn’t, unfortunately. Wesley College came up next. I really wanted to play but Mr Armstrong was adamant I was not to play even though I was only a couple of days off being ‘fit’ from my concussion. The team did the school proud and brought us back on track with a win. St Andrew’s was next, a must-win game if we wanted to get into the cup. It was one of the tightest games we have ever played. Our parents came to support us as did Mr. Geraghty. Thankfully, we got to the cup.

Rugby Junior Cup Team

Back (L-R): J. O’Caoimh, E. Riordan, R. Wilson, P. Redmond, P. Opperman, D. Ahern, C. Byrne. Middle (L-R): B. Doyle, M. Fagan, C. Foley, B. Watson, D. Furey, I. Philips, D. McGovern, H. Curley. Front (L-R): O. Haydock, E. Cahill, E. Baxter, M. Freeley, M. O’Reilly

Mr Armstrong with the two Steves and Jack trained us every day, including Saturdays. Mr. Drummy could be seen phone in hand at five mins past ten on a Saturday morning if anyone was late quizzing them of their whereabouts. No one

dared be late or miss training. The coaches had organised a few friendlies to keep us match fit until the cup started in February, including the traditional Glenstal Abbey Fixture over Christmas and this year we would play on the 4G pitch in Donnybrook-what a treat. The draw was made, the date set. We would be facing Belvedere in the first round, 3pm KO on 5th February 2015 in Donnybrook. Our dreams would be made or broken on that date. Never has a group of lads trained as hard or bonded together as much as St. Gerard’s JCT 2015. We knew we would have to give it our all. Well it’s all over now, the matches have been played, the gumshield put back in its case, the JCT jersey back in the wardrobe, the boots hanging up out of the way. At 3pm on the 5th February 2015 a group of boys from St Gerard’s School took to the pitch in Donnybrook to play a game of rugby that would surpass any game they ever played before. The stand was full of supporters and parents. But all we could think about was being as the school song puts it, “the best that we (could) be”. We stood up and gave Belvedere a game of rugby not the walkover they expected. Each and every one of us played that game of rugby like our lives depended on it, we played with passion, with heart, and with pride. Thank you Stevie, Steve, Jack Conan, Mr. Drummy and Mr. Armstrong for the wonderful year. Ethan Baxter

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Under 15 As

Junior Cup Team II Above: Edward Cahill

The Junior Seconds had a season of ups and downs. We began the year with just eight players due to the amount of injuries throughout the whole squad. As a result of this there were not many matches for the team to play. As the season wore on and players began to return from injury, the team began to take shape. The team performed well in the league; finishing after the only team that we were beaten by, Clongowes. This lead to the team progressing to the semi-finals of the league after receiving a bye through the quarter-finals. We faced St.

Michael’s in what was to be the final match of the season. After a poor first half the team were behind at half time but with the introduction of some “super subs” the team began to gradually chip away at the lead but it was all in vain as the referee blew the final whistle. The team put up a great fight but Micheal’s progressed to the final. The fightback summed up our season as a whole: slow to start but once we got started there was no stopping us. Harry Curley

The U15 A team had a relatively good season with a lot of positives to take out of it for next year. We started off the season playing some tough games to prepare ourselves for the league. One of our first games of the season was against a Blackrock College team and we managed to beat them by fifty points on their home ground. The Oratory Catholic School from England visited St. Gerard’s because we played them in England in the previous season. We played them on a Tuesday night after school. It was a tight game but we came out with the win at the end of the match. When the league came around we were unlucky with injuries and we were missing a number of key players. We lost four games and won two games in the league. One of the games we lost was against Pres Bray, it was a nil-all until the last

two minutes of the game when Pres Bray scored a try in the left corner. After the league we were desperate to win a game. We played St. Munchin’s College from Limerick in a great encounter and we beat them by two tries. Towards the end of the season in March and April, when we only had a couple of games left and we beat Clongowes 25-10 in a thrilling match. For our last outing of the season we hosted a Canadian team called St. George’s. I would like to say a big thanks to the coaching staff for making our season possible. The coaches were great throughout the year and helped us as a team to maximise our potential in all aspects of rugby. Thomas Cahill

Rugby Junior Cup Team II

Rugby Under 15’s As

Back (L-R): B. Doyle, E. Riordan, M. Baxter, M. Burke, D. McGovern, D. Harbourne. Middle (L-R): C. Mulcachy, E. Cahill, D. O’Brien, J. Kissane, D. Furey, T. Cullen. Front (L-R): C. Walsh, I. Philips, H. Curley, M. O’Reilly, J. Trane.

Back (L-R): L. Concannon, N. Dooley, J. Kennedy, D. Carroll, R. Wilson, O. Soper, C. Byrne. Middle (L-R): M. Finn, R. Byrne, S. Jackson, B. Watson, J. O’Donovan, J. Finnegan, B. Farrell, L. O’Reilly, D. Ashmore. Front (L-R): J. Kennedy, O. Haydock, T. Cahill, R. Bisgood, A. Baxter, T. Happonen

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Under 15 Bs We began the year after a good summer’s rest with a lot of challenging physical and skills-based training which helped to get the team back into the swing of things. This prepared us well for the early stages of the season.

We played very consistently over the year and won many great games against schools such as King’s Hospital and Templeogue College. Our confidence and skill base improved as the season progressed.

This tough re-introduction to the rugby year assisted us greatly in winning numerous friendly and cup matches including memorable victories against Campbell College, Belfast and Blackrock College in the early stages of the season.

Some of the highlights of the season were our great wins over Wesley College and Glenstal Abbey which acted as a great team-building experience for the squad and will be something we will look back on fondly.

We played many gruelling matches against schools such as Presentation College, Bray and Gonzaga. However, through these experiences we bonded and gelled very well as a group and this was displayed through our increasingly improved teamwork and communication which greatly increased our effectiveness on the field.

I would like to thank our amazing coaches Mr Seamus Jennings, Shane Hunt and Christian McAlinden for their patience and support throughout the year. Eoin O’ Cleirigh

Above: Louis Lalor Above right: David Carroll Bottom right: Jack Finnegan

Rugby Under 15’s Bs

Back (L-R): N. Denvir, W. lau, P. O’Connor, N. Durkan, O. Farrell, B. Hutchinson, E. O’Cleirigh Middle (L-R): W. Culliton, M. Connolly, A. Flynn, B. Byrne. Front (L-R): A. McCarney, C. Jones, C. Diamond, L. Lalor, B. Jones.

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Under 14 As

Under 14 Bs

We had a bumpy season this year. Each afternoon, we all ran down to the rugby pitch after what felt like a very long day at first but soon became routine. We were all eager to start playing, tackling people, scoring tries. We met our head coach who was very intimidating. He told us we would be playing tip rugby for the first month. Smiles were wiped off our faces. We lost our first couple of games by slim margins but we were getting better. The squad was changing every week as the coaches were trying different people in different places. When the team sheet went up each week there would be a huge crowd gathering round it to see what the new line-up would be. We were sometimes getting out of class early on a Wednesday. When the winter came it was tough training in the rain,cold and odd drop of snow. The team had mostly been finalised but there were still strong players on the B’s challenging for positions.

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There was one major shock to the starting team, a second row was played on the wing for the first time. He scored within five minutes of being put on the wing and went on to be our top try scorer. He’s my player of the year and probably most of the team’s congratulations would go to Daniel Wall. A great experience was the Sevens trip. We weren’t allowed bring some key players due to a new age limit and for some, a weight limit. We did not bring home silverware and were unfortunately known as failures to the 2nd and 3rd years for the next two weeks. The season was coming to an end and we had become a really tight-knit bunch. Nobody wanted the season to end and we gave everything we had in our last few games. Junior was “pleased”. I really enjoyed my time on the pitch and made great friends.

The experience for the Under 14 B’s rugby team this year was amazing. Everyone had such a fun time and everyone was committed to helping the team. Unfortunately we got knocked out of our league in the semi-final when Gonzaga beat Pres. I have to say and others will say the same, that the B’s rugby team had a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm. The coaches this year were brilliant and very supportive. Robbie was the backs coach, Jason was the forwards coach and Junior was the tackling coach. I don’t think we would have done as well in our league if we hadn’t had those coaches.

good condition so that we could play. Unfortunately we had to play half the year without Luke Ryan and Luke Shanahan because they both injured their necks and this was a real loss for the team because they were key players. I remember playing Pres and losing by just a few points. Everyone had put everything they had into it; it was such a close match and it was quite a disappointing loss for the team, it was the only league match we had lost. Rugby this year was great! Hubie Opperman

The matches were well organised and the pitches were in

Ken O’Grady

Rugby Under 14’s A’s

Rugby Under 14’s Bs

Back (L-R): J. Kidd, O. Hayes-Restan, J. Kennedy, M. Hackett-Delaney, D. Wall, M .Robinson Middle (L-R): A. Long, J. Coughlan, J. Broudeur, E. Pigot, S. Morris. Front (L-R): S. Geoghegan, K. O’Grady, P. Burke, S. Murphy, J. Kelly.

Back (l-r): B. Glass, A. Carlisle, E. Flemming, M. Merren, M. Moore, H. Vicente, J. Kennedy, D. Redmond, T. Fanning, Osereme Atiyota Middle (l-r): B. Hogan, L. Keogh, J.P. McErlane, W. Von Teichman, R. Moore, H. Opperman, J. Watson, C. Kenny, R. Brady, H. McCabe, R. Ledwidge. Front (l-r): F. Martin, S. McCarthy, C. Jones, A. Flynn, L. Kenny, J. Fogarty, B. Moroney, O. Punch

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SPORT REPRESENTATIVES

LEINSTER TEAM TRAINING AT ST. GERARD’S SCHOOL

Ladies League of Ireland Soccer Squad

U19 Leinster Rugby

U19 Connaught Rugby

Lucy Ashmore (6th Year)

Kyle McCarthy (6th Year)

Andrew Lynch (6th Year)

Irish Senior Cricket Team

Ireland Junior Skiing Team

Leinster & Ireland U18 Hockey

Garreth Reilly (TY)

Elena Tice (5th Year) Sarah O’Loughlin (5th Year)

Elena Tice (5th Year)

Leinster Schools’ Champion & U16 Ireland Champion

Ireland Schools’ International Cross Country Team

Eoin Riordan

Abbie Taylor

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EQUESTRIAN Inter-schools show jumping is, as the name suggests, a show jumping competition between schools that runs throughout the school year. Over 40 schools take part and there is a league in which each school counts their five best results. A win counts for ten points and the points decrease down to one point for sixth place. Each team has four jockeys. The season kicks off in Wexford the first weekend in September but for St. Gerard’s the real start is our own competition held in Boswell on the second weekend in September. We get a full turn out of all our show jumpers that weekend and usually field five teams. Rosemary Crosse gets the difficult job of putting the teams together. From then on there are competitions every second or third weekend usually on a Sunday which is great as it avoids clashes with rugby or hockey. Almost everyone who jumps for St Gerards also plays hockey or rugby so whilst the rest of

the team gets Sunday for a lie-in jumpers can be on the road before nine having washed and plaited horses and show jumping goes ahead even if it’s wet. There have been times when we have jumped in snow storms! For the last three years St. Gerard’s have finished in the top sixteams which we see as a great result but I certainly hope to finish at the top in the future. I always enjoy inter-schools every year, even though it often involves early starts and harsh weather conditions, it’s great! As with everything that is worthwhile we wouldn’t be able to compete without the support of others namely our parents and Mary Boyd who takes care of all the entries so a huge thanks to all. Shona Callan

Back (L-R): J. Kissane, M. Finnerty, L. Gelletlie, J. Magee, B. Boyd, A. Byrne, S. Reboul-Geraghty. Middle (L-R): C. Fisher, E. O’Loughlin, N. Bernon, J. Magee, I. Reboul-Geraghty. Front (L-R): W. Von Teichman, S. Callan, L. Finnerty, E. Kavanagh, T. Foley.

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ATHLETICS & CROSS COUNTRY Athletics The athletics season started brilliantly with the Wicklow Schools’ competition in Charlesland track on the 14th April. St Gerard’s won an abundance of medals. Medal winners on the track were Abbie Taylor, Lauren Fahey, Claire Ahern, Carla Connolly, Bobbie Rose O’Neil, Oliver Haydock, Jack O’ Caoimh, Louis Lalor, Ben Watson, Paddy Opperman, Robyn Murray, Amy Carroll, Lara Bourke, Anna Byrne, Ben Morris, Cormac Foley and Mark Fagan. Jumping or throwing their way to the podium were Josh Kidd, Abbie McCarthy, Sarah Murphy, Niamh Longstaff, Rachel Whitten, Rory Wilson, Cormac Foley, Robyn Murray and Amy Carroll. In the East Leinster Schools Championships St Gerard’s entered a record 130 individuals and eight relay teams. St Gerard’s Junior boys team made history in winning the overall best boys school and thirteen individuals qualified

for Leinster. St Gerard’s hosted the 30th annual Tony Ward athletics meet. Overall, St Gerard’s ladies were not victorious and did not retain the trophy for the first time in the last seven years. At the Leinster Championships Louis Lalor finished 3nd in the minor 80m hurdles and 6th in the 200m, Abbie Taylor 3rd in the U16 Mile, Rory Wilson 3rd in the Junior Discus, Paddy Opperman put in an explosive performance to finish 3rd in the U16 200m, James Kennedy placed 7th in the Minor Discus and Rachel Whitten was 7th in the Junior Javelin. At the National Finals in Tullamore, Abbie achieved a silver medal, Louis Lalor hurdled exceptionally to achieve a bronze medal and unfortunately, Rory Wilson didn’t throw near his best but placed 7th nationally.

(l-r): J. McDonald, A. McCarthy, I. Ramsay, M. Stening, A. Hoffman, L-K. Hearns & J. Corson

Cross Country The cross-country season started out very successfully for St. Gerard’s. On Wednesday 8th October St. Gerard’s 1st and 2nd year girls and boys competed in the Clonliffe Harriers Cross-Country in Santry. Outstanding performances in the minor race went to Jonathon Murphy (15th) and in the Junior races Connor Diamond raced well to finish 10th with Abbie Taylor producing the performance of the day finishing in 3rd position.

Girls’ Athletics Squad

In the Leinster Schools Open Cross-Country in Blackrock College, Jonathan Murphy had a great performance finishing 31st in the minor race. In the junior race Conor Diamond had an outstanding performance placing 6th and Ken O’Grady put in a strong performance to place 26th. Abbie Taylor displayed her athleticism in the junior race finishing 3rd with Sinead O’ Flaherty finishing in a very respectable 38th place. St Gerard’s hosted a very successful Wicklow cross-country meet. St. Gerard’s placed 2nd in the 1st year girls’ race with Jennifer Corson and Abbie McCarthy finishing in the top 11. The 1st year boys had three finishers in the top 15, Jonathon Murphy 7th, Ken O Grady 8th and Stephen Morris 14th. The 2nd year girls placed 1st with Abbie Taylor storming over the line in first place, closely followed by Rachel Cullen in 3rd position. Ben Watson led the 2nd year boys in 5th place and Conor Diamond finished a respectable 8th. The 3rd year girls dominated their field to place first over all with Jacqueline Magee coming 2nd, Amy O’ Caoimhe 4th and Lara Burke 6th.

In the East Leinster Championships Gerard’s had several great performances from Jonathon Kelly (23rd), Abbie Taylor (3rd), Bobbie Rose O Neill (5th), Conor Diamond (12th), David Carroll (2nd), Hubie Opperman (18th) and Susie McParland (12th). Abbie Taylor, Conor Diamond and Susie McParland all qualified for the Leinster Schools Cross Country in Santry on Wednesday 11th February. The St Gerard’s athletes lined up against the top 120 runners from the four regions in Leinster. Abbie put in an outstanding performance to finish 5th in the junior race. Abbie Taylor competed in the Irish Schools cross-country final in Clane Co. Kildare. Abbie put in an outstanding performance here too in the junior 2,500m race, to finish in 8th place. This is an amazing achievement as there were over 2,000 girls competing nationally in this age group. Abbie Taylor proudly represented St Gerard’s and the Irish International Cross-Country Team in the Schools International Cross-Country in Santry against Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. She placed 14th and was the third Irish girl to finish and part of the Irish team which placed third overall. Abbie is the first St Gerard’s athlete to compete in the International Cross-Country event.

Boys’ Athletics Squad

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TENNIS Boys The tennis season of 2014/2015 for the senior squad was largely an uneventful one. Our first round of fixtures was a washout in terms of weather and the eventual rescheduling was also cancelled, leading to us preparing for round two, weather permitting. We learnt that we’d be facing Belvedere College in the league and after a long enough bus ride to Castleknock Tennis Club, the rackets were out, finally, a match. In keeping with the season though, about two games into our matches the heavens decided to open again, forcing us all indoors, everyone hoping the rain would stop. Eventually the sun graced us with its presence and we were able to finish out the matches. Unfortunately, losing on an aggregate score, we knew our season was coming to an end before it had even begun.

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Minor Boys’ Tennis

Back (l-r): J. Kelly, H. McCabe, J. Brodeur, J. Kennedy Front (l-r): R. Bisgood, K. O’Grady, C. Kenny, H. Opperman

Our last round was another walkover, which didn’t bode well for our score in the league. Although we didn’t have the opportunity to show our full potential, we were happy with the training and enthusiasm of all involved, another great year of tennis, maybe not on the court, but off it, and during training too. On behalf of the entire team I’d like to thank Mr. Drummy and Mr. Jolly for another year of outstanding support, both on the courts, and everything involved off the courts too, fixtures, provision of gear, the list is endless, and so is our gratitude to the coaching staff for another enjoyable year of tennis.

TENNIS Girls

Family Tennis

The Junior Tennis Team had a very notable season last year. We were entered into the Leinster Schoolgirls’ Junior League. We were given a tough draw with matches against Loreto, Dalkey, The High School and Loreto, Foxrock. We successfully qualified for the quarter finals and faced a tough match against Alexandra College. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our day and we were narrowly defeated in the final match. Hopefully we will be more successful this coming season.

A fantastic night of tennis resulted in Paddy and Hubie Opperman retaining the trophy. They beat Craig and David Kenny in a trilling final. We were delighted to see 26 parents who managed to compete this year, which only added to the class of the event.

Sarah Kenny

Cameron Dorlas

Junior Boys’ Tennis

Senior Boys’ Tennis

Back (L-R): C. Byrne, L. Concannon, P. Opperman Front (L-R): J. Trane, B. Watson, E. Riordan

Back (L-R): G. Byrne, T. Foley, C. Finnegan. Front (L-R): M. Gallagher, J. O’Caoimh, S. O’Shaughnessy, L. Caulfield

Junior Girls’ Tennis

Senior Girls’ Tennis

Back (L-R): D. Crowley, A. McCarthy, M. Stening, L. Andres Front (L-R): L. Rafferty, E. Beashel, S. O’Riordan

Back (L-R): L. Geraghty, S. Kenny, A. Carroll. Front (L-R): J. Magee, A. O’Caoimh, F. Dempsey

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GOLF

SAILING

Senior Boys After the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Leinster singles match play, we turned our attention to the fourball match play. After convincing wins away to Arklow Community School and at home against Dublin Oak Academy, we needed to beat Presentation College Bray in Bray Golf Club. Unfortunately, after a good effort we were unable to beat this strong team who went on to win the competition.

I have partaken in the sailing events with St. Gerard’s for six years, each year being more competitive then the next. St. Gerard’s partake in three events each year, one regatta in Sutton, a regatta in the Royal St. George Yacht Club and in May St. Gerard’s host an interschool sailing regatta in Greystones. The St. Gerard’s regatta in Greystones welcomes schools from all over Leinster to come together to compete for the winning trophy presented by St. Gerard’s. The festivity begins on the last morning and is a great event for many schools to come together and mingle while also enjoying healthy competition. As soon as the starting gun goes off for each fleet the camaraderie and rivalry begins, as boats fight to be the first one to cross the line.

Luke Flynn

Senior Boys’ Golf Team

Back (L-R): L. Flynn, A. O’Neill, L. Noonan. Front (L-R): J. Kissane, T. Dempsey, A. Magee, D. Hodgins

Senior Girls The 2015 East Leinster Schools Qualifier took place in Clontarf Golf Club on the 20th March. Each School fields a team of either two or three players in an 18 hole stableford event played off scratch.

As everyone returns to the clubhouse all wet and either feeling accomplished or hard done by, each sailor is rewarded with a hot bag of chicken nuggets and chips which is, amongst the sailors, the real prize of the event. Then prizegiving commences and sailors are awarded both awards of accomplishment and also joke prizes awarded for outstanding humorous behaviour during the race. Once the prizes awarded to all the participants from all of the schools are given out, St. Gerard’s awards special prizes to students from St. Gerard’s School only-the sailor of the year and the lady sailor of the year awards. Once all the awards are awarded and the sailors’ meal is completed each participant packs up their wet clothes and attaches boats to trailer until their return next May when the fun begins again.

A team of three girls, Emily Loughman, Jennifer Magee and Johanna Glynn, played in the Senior competition. All three played very well but were unfortunate not to qualify into the All-Ireland Finals.

Moirin O’Neill

Emily Loughman

Senior Girls’ Golf Team

(L-R): Magee, J. Glynn, E. Loughman

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Top: Ralph Ledwidge. Left: Danny Miller & Ms. Roy. Bottom Right: Mark Cantwell

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CRICKET This year saw the Under-15 cricket team progress into the top division after reaching the final back in first year. The team was confronted by some tough opposition with Wesley College and C.U.S but with a narrow loss to C.U.S and a well played draw against a very strong Wesley side the team definitely surpassed their ambitions. A heroic contribution from Rory Wilson against Wesley College brought the game to a last ball finish meant that St. Gerard’s felt hard done

SOCCER by to only draw the game. This season has given the team a great platform to build upon for seasons to come. The whole team is also very thankful for the contributions of the two coaches Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Craig who have certainly helped in building the foundations for later years. Richard Bisgood

Back (L-R): L. O’Reilly, A. Baker, W. Culliton, H. Begley, S. Jackson, R. Byrne Front (L-R): O. Haydock, L. Concannon, R. Bisgood, C. Byrne

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Another academic year in St. Gerard’s brings another year of competitive football. We were well drilled in our preseason training sessions, as our fitness and performance levels returned after the summer break. We felt prepared for our upcoming fixtures and were eagerly looking forward to competitive matches. Our first game presented itself as a tough away trip to Cabinteely, a talented side with good attacking players. It was a physical game, with injuries suffered on both sides. However it was the home team that managed to secure a victory on the day. We remained unphased by this early setback, and were committed to our training for the following weeks. Despite missing many of

important starting XI, we gave it our all in our matches and always showed great discipline and maturity during the ninety minutes. This season has shown the dedication of the squad, and our desire to continue to represent our school competitively. We have been delighted to do so and look forward to being provided with this opportunity again. Michael Costello

Back (L-R): P. Redmond, l. Noonan, C. McHenry, K. Molloy, D. Murray, C. Gill, A. Magee, S. Martin, R. Donnelly Middle (L-R): A. Culliton, L. O’Higgins, T. Finch, J. Cregan, M. Plomp, S. Doherty, S. Stapleton, M. Kissane Front (L-R): K. Allen, L. Flynn, R. Cullen, D. Counihan, J. Dunleavy, J. Dicker, L. Donoghue

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FAITH & SOCIAL OUTREACH

Zambia Outreach Four teachers and sixteen students arrived in Lusaka in Zambia on Thursday 23rd July exhausted, excited and a little apprehensive. Many of us did not know what to expect. While pictures, videos and accounts by other students who had visited the country somewhat prepared us for what lay ahead, as with anything in life, to understand Zambia you have to experience it first-hand. Our first few days were spent in the capital of Zambia, Lusaka. The sisters in charge of the Holy Rosary Agricultural Project in Chipapa, down a winding dirt road just outside of Lusaka, greeted us with open arms and made us feel at home almost immediately. Strong links have been forged between the Holy Rosary Sisters and St. Gerard’s at this stage and so it was heartening to see how the school community has contributed to the work that goes on as we were led around the campus. From Lusaka we travelled to Ndola where we experienced what was for some, the most emotionally difficult part of the journey. St. Antony’s Village Orphanage is run by a group of hard-working and resilient Zambian nuns. They look after a number of orphaned children ranging from babies to teenagers, many with additional needs. Many of the children have physical difficulties but came alive with delight at the

sound of Mr. Kelly playing guitar along to our warbling. While in Ndola we also visited Fr. Don’s primary school where we had the opportunity to actually see first-hand where the money fund-raised back home is going. An early morning bus-ride up to Twafwane Community School in Kitwe was also an eye-opening experience. It was great to see the how building work has progressed since the last visit but it was also clear that there is a lot more work to be done in this rural community. From Ndola we travelled south back to Lusaka before making our way down to Livingstone via Monze. The experience of seeing the Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was out of this world. We were also given the opportunity to sample some traditional Zambian fare at a unique cultural night. Our last few days in Lusaka were truly memorable. We had a wonderful time with the students at the Marian Shrine Orphanage and we were just amazed at the extraordinary work taking place at the Kissisi Centre. The experience was life-altering and unforgettable and left each and every one of us with a new perspective on everything upon returning home.

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Medjugorje Pilgrimage Pilgrimage is a holy journey in which an individual undertakes to visit a given place motivated by a spiritual encounter or the experience of somebody else. People from different regions visit places considered to have this unique spiritual significance and for St. Gerard’s this place is Medjugorje. One can understand Pilgrimage as universal because it transcends many boundaries, and people are always seeking answers to questions deeply rooted in their hearts.

Zambia Outreach 2015

Irrespective of the fact that different people have varied and interesting reasons they embark on pilgrimages and that most of the reasons are private and deeply rooted, the motivation for pilgrimage is the internal need and this is no less true for the fifth year student. Ideally, pilgrimage helps people get something that they cannot achieve themselves. During pilgrimage, participants engage in soul-searching in attempt to connect with the spiritual world. In June 1981 six children from Medjugorje, a village in Bosnia, reported that they had seen a vision of the Virgin

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Mary. They said the vision was in form of effulgence of light. In the first day of the vision, the six children saw a woman with a child and because of fear, the children ran away. The following morning, the same woman appeared at the same spot alone and the children went to her and they had a conversation. In effect, various doctors and psychologist questioned and tested them to ascertain whether they were normal. The entire test revealed that all the young people were not lying and were children of average intelligence from normal background. The doctors proved the young girls and boys had no psychological disorder or ulterior motive. The real benefit to the students lie not solely with the students who go and participate but also with those the encounter the returning pilgrims. To fully engage in a pilgrimage you must leave your original place and return reformed in some way to their homes. They then, through example and their witness spread the good news of their faith to their community. S. Jennings

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Social Awareness Council of St. Vincent de Paul The Saint Vincent de Paul Junior Conference have had a brilliant year organising and taking part in many events during the year. We also introduced many new initiatives. On the 17th of October we had our bag-packing event which tied in with the National SVP Appeal, raising a staggering € 3,256. The committee organised a group of Transition Year students to help and it all ran smoothly. Just before Christmas, the Sports Hall became a centre of hamper-packing. We managed to pack over 400 hampers for families in need in our local St. Peter’s parish. In January, our first objective was to form a connection with Eyrefield Manor Nursing Home, Greystones. Mrs. Behan organised a training day for us. Four students visited the nursing home weekly, helping in any way they could, singing

songs and chatting with the members, of the home. Also a group helped to create beautiful life story books for some of the members which they really loved. We held our annual nappy appeal in May. Every student was asked to donate a pack of nappies. The response was amazing and we collected 4,200 nappies in total.

Hospice Coffee Morning

Donal Walsh Awareness Talk

Ice-Cream Day in aid of DS Ireland

Walk in My Shoes in aid of AWARE

A stationery, arts and crafts appeal was also organised where students from the Junior School were asked to bring in a variety of stationery for local disadvantaged schools. Altogether the SVP had a fantastic year and we hope that we have made a difference. Emily Loughman, Head of PR

St. Vincent de Paul Conference (Coordinated by Ms. C. O’Connell).

Back (L-R): Oisin O’Crowley, Aislinn Byrne, Jennifer Courtney, Lucy Gelletlie, Harry Happonen, Kevin Allen, Brendan Ho, Samuel Ryan, Emmet Gallagher, Billy O’Reilly. Middle (L-R): Pippa O’Reilly, Lauren Kelly, Sophie Reboul Geraghty, Emily Loughman, Shane Kenneally, Jessica Fanning, Alexandra Dalton, Annelies Cullen, Jillian McGrath, Riona Connaughton. Front (L-R): Sadhbh McCarthy, Mark Cullen, Klara O’Leary, Iain Gallagher, Daisy O’Caoimh, Elena Tice, Sarah O’Loughlin, Nadine Buckley, Aoife Clay.

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Crazy Jumper Day

Thomas Rafferty & Cameron Dorlas recipients of the GAISCE President Award

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Catholic Schools Week Once again we were grateful to take part in Catholic Schools Week which took place the week beginning the 22nd of January 2015. As a Catholic School, we wanted to actively reflect, and participate mindfully (school motto Memor) in activities that allowed us to live out our St Gerard’s ethos. First Years took part in a Poster Competition on ‘What Makes St Gerard’s a Catholic School’, which was judged by our very own Ms. Magee and Mr. O’Connor. Second Years joined in a fun walking Quiz on campus, giving them an opportunity to reflect on Catholic Symbolism in our school, and become aware of its presence in their daily lives both inside and outside of the classroom. Third Years composed their own liturgy which as a yeargroup they celebrated in the Chapel. Fifth Years had a day retreat with the Dominicans in Tallaght as part of their refection on prayerfulness during the week. Sixth Year students had the wonderful opportunity to participate in prayerful mindfulness and their own individual prayerful intentions which we all prayed for as a year group when it came to the end of the week.

Masses We are blessed here in St Gerard’s to have our very own sacred Chapel on campus. The chapel is open each morning, with candles lighting, inviting teachers, students and parents to take some time to sit in peace and tranquility at any point throughout their day.

We are honoured to have Fr. John O’Connor and Fr. Eamonn Monson to help us in our celebrations. We celebrate a special theme in each mass. In doing so we aim to focus our attention through our chosen scripture to relay a message through our masses. From First to Sixth Year, students actively participate in choir and as Ministers of the Liturgy, Ministers of the

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The St. Gerard’s retreat programme offers each student an opportunity to reflect on their lives and reconnect with their faith. Both in-house retreats offered to first year students, and excursions to Emmaus Retreat Centre in north Dublin, Esker in Galway, the Priory in Tallaght and Lough Derg in Donegal encourage our students to engage in a range of team-building and self-reflection exercises aimed at building their self-esteem and resilience and reminding them of the core values of love and respect for all as embodied by our patron saint, Saint Gerard Majella.

Eucharist and Altar servers. More informally, we also take part in several year group or class liturgy services throughout the year, to address spiritually any issues in school life or those that come to us through the media, throughout the academic year. All of our services both formal and informal give each and every member of the St Gerard’s community an opportunity to build upon their relationship with God, and one another in a mindful and spiritual way. P. Hillman

In 2015 I was chosen as one of the twenty recipients of the Pramerica Spirit of the Community Awards. This is a nationwide competition honouring the work of Young Volunteers. I was fortunate to be awarded along with 19 other secondary school students for the work I carried out with the Saint Vincent de Paul Little Bray Conference in TY, 5th and 6th Year while at St. Gerard’s School. Garreth Byrne

The First Year students attended a programme here in the school facilitated by the Pallottine Retreat Team. The focus of the day is on assuring each of the young people that they are known and loved intimately by Our Lord. The team help the students see their own unique talents and gifts and encourage them to use these for the benefit of their community. The Second and Third Year students attended Eammaus Retreat Centre in Swords. Their dedicated team work with the students helps them to realise their potential and grow together in faith and love. With the Third Year group they endeavour to cater for the spiritual and emotional needs of a group facing the challenge of state exams. The Transition Year retreat saw the students embark on an adventure to Esker Monastery in Galway. As well as giving the students time to reflect on the many experiences that make up the Transition Year programme it was an opportunity to meditate on all they had learned and ask for God’s help and strength for the coming two years of the senior school programme.

During the year we celebrated several masses. These included our Opening-of-the-New-School-Year mass, St Gerard’s Day mass, Memorial mass for the deceased, Christmas Eve mass, Valedictory mass and End of Year thanksgiving Liturgy as well as the Christmas Carol Service. Not forgetting our own special Lenten reflection and liturgy, in which each member of the community both staff and students had an opportunity to receive ashes in our school Chapel on Ash Wednesday, and take part in the holy sacrament of reconciliation.

Retreats

Pramerica Spirit of the Community Award

Garreth Byrne

The Fifth Years have attended the Dominican Pastoral Care Centre in Tallaght for a number of years. The emphasis this year was on the pressures faced by many young people in today’s world. From exam pressure to peer pressure the students are given time to reflect upon and strengthen their values. The students return to school reinvigorated for the challenges ahead. Our Sixth Years were afforded a wonderful opportunity to attend a two-night retreat in Lough Derg. Here the school have sole access to the island and the student body get the chance to engage in both group activities and quiet time in order to reconnect with each other and re-evaluate their lives spiritually and emotionally. The retreat is scheduled for the beginning of the academic year in order to bolster their strength for the Leaving Cert year ahead.

Aislinn Byrne recipient of the Gold Pope John Paul II Award

C. Buckley 121

T.Y.

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TRANSITION YEAR SCHOOL LIFE The Wiz

TY Camping Trip to Lough Dann - The Boys

Transition Year Night

Working with Bray Lakers

Outdoor Pursuits Week-Gartan, Co. Donegal

TY Camping Trip to Lough Dann - The Girls

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125 The Wiz

Thomas Meagher Flag Ceremony

Working with Bray Lakers

The Wiz

THE MUSICAL The Wiz

The Transition Year musical is one of the major events that takes place each school year. Last year, we had the phenomenon that was “Les Miserables”, and before that, “Back to the 80’s.” We all entered Transition Year with one question on our minds; what will our musical be? On the 2nd of October, each of the four classes in our year group, was brought in one at a time to sing a small portion of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar for the girls, and “This is the Moment”, from Jekyll and Hyde for the boys. Afterwards, we were all told that in two weeks, we would have a musical recall for all those who would make up the main characters in our musical. Each week, we practised dance moves, acting and singing to help Ashling and Ms. Olohan decide who were going to be the main features in the musical. On the 24th of October, Ms. Olohan brought the whole year into The Splash. There was great anticipation all round because, we knew that this was the day we would be told what our musical was. Ms. Olohan talked to us about how she wanted to put on a musical production that was completely the polar opposite of Les Miserables last year. When she got around to telling us that our musical was going to be ‘The Wiz,’ I can say truthfully I had never heard of it before. After we came back from mid-term break, we all knew that this was when the real work would begin. We started having regular sections of our week, devoted to auditions and practices for the musical. On the 20th of November, we had our usual session, but little did we know that it was our final day and these were our auditions. We were all told our parts and everyone was extremely happy. We were given over Halloween to learn off the songs and familiarize ourselves with the scenes. As a music student, I was looking to get very involved in it, preferably one of Dorothy’s companions. For the official auditions, the boys had to sing the infamous, “So You Wanted To Meet The Wizard”. The girls had to sing “Home”. When we had all sung our songs, Ms. Olohan and Ashling were left to decide who got what part. After a rather nerve racking wait, we were finally told. Dorothy was revealed to be Leonie Delaney, the 126

T.Y. TRIP

Camino de Santiago Tin Man Sam Shepard, the Lion was Dominic Corrigan and I was the Scarecrow. We were then given about two weeks over Christmas to learn off our individual songs and the lines for Act 1. Then, after a few months of little class and a lot of music, we finally performed the show for our first audience; the Junior School. The first proper dress rehearsal, I dare say, was a great success. Of course, there was the usual forgotten line here, or someone missed their cue there and so on, but we were effectively ready. Then came the official performance nights. Nerves were high and so were the stakes. Stressed-out actors got into their costumes, and crammed some, last minute revision of their lines in. When the time came, we performed to the best of our abilities. As an individual, I thoroughly enjoyed the musical, and was almost disappointed that we were finally finished but I still felt like it is something every student in the school should get involved in when their turn comes around. Leonie Delaney & Evin Kerins

The TY students for the first time got the opportunity to go on the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. In just six days twenty-eight students walked over 110km from the small Spanish town of Sarria to the beautiful cathedral and square in Santiago. We had to walk an incredible distance but we had to do it while carrying all our clothes and supplies for seven days on our backs. Having all your possessions in a backpack isn’t the convenient way to travel but it does get you into the holiday mood. Another new experience for us students was staying in hostels. While most of us expected large, uncomfortable crowded rooms with lots of strangers, we were pleasantly surprised by most of them and thank God, they had WIFI. The scenery along the Camino boasts some of the best views I’ve seen in my life. Importantly, the atmosphere along the Camino was so friendly. Many of us met and chatted with many people from across the world, some who had been walking the entire Camino and of course, we said “buen camino” every time a fellow pilgrim walked by. As for the students, they had a great time exploring Spanish towns, learning the language and trying desperately to gain a tan. We bonded a lot during this trip as a group and we were so close at the end of the seven days. The biggest highlight of the trip had to be the rooftop tour of the Cathedral on the very last day. Not only was the weather beautiful, but the views were incredible and even the scaffolding on the bell tower couldn’t stop the experience from being breath-taking. Another hilarious memory was when during our walking, we happened upon a small village festival where a Spanish band Xente Nova was performing and to say we got into it, is an understatement. Finally, the best game we played all trip had to be the Mine game. The rules are if you say the word “mine”, you have to do five pushups immediately, it’s that simple. Everyone got involved, boys, girls, even teachers. While the game was slightly frustrating, the looks you’d get from onlookers as you randomly do pushups in a cafe were priceless.

The trip wasn’t all fun and games; nearly all the students experienced some form of injury or another, from sore back to blisters to bad sunburn, but no one had it worse than our fallen comrade, Art Punch, whose legs were in such a bad state that he couldn’t complete the walk and had to return back to Ireland, but we all dearly missed him. Even though the moment we finished our pilgrimage, we collapsed in the square outside the cathedral after six straight days of walking, the feeling of accomplishment only came after we had returned home, especially when we received our certs. Hopefully this trip becomes an annual highlight of Transition Year and I recommend it to next year’s TYs. 127

GRADUATES

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VALEDICTORY EVENING 2015 Donal Smith, Garreth Byrne, Jim Dunleavy, Jonathan McGovern

Lewis Fox, Michael McNieve, Steve Martin, Kane Dunne, Jack Dicker

Max Stevens, Lorna Fox, Eavan Noonan, Jack Gallagher

Moirin O’Neill & Mr. Geraghty

Aoibhinn Gilmore & Mr. Geraghty

Valedictorians Eavan Noonan & Ferdinand Emmet

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DEBUTANTS BALL Steve Martin & Clara O’Shea-Collins

James Noonan & Jane O’Grady Walsh

Guy Martin, Caoimhe Keogh, Jim Dunleavy, Sophie O’Brien

Susie Cannon & Ronan Delaney

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133 Robert Toal-Lennon & Avice Maughan

Dominic Morrisroe & Michelle Murphy

JUNIOR SCHOOL

A Note from the Headmistress “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory” The busy, exciting and productive academic year of 2014/2015 is over and, once again, true to the traditions of our school, we publish our annual Year Book in order to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments and achievements of our pupils and to commemorate the superb array of events and activities that took place during the school year.

In sum, our Year Book depicts how our futures-oriented, broad-based yet values-driven education ensures that our pupils receive from their Catholic education, as Pope Francis so beautifully puts it – a big heart, a greatness of soul, and a deep desire to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.

And so I invite you to rest awhile...... to take time to pore over each page and to pause and smile as you remember the many special moments of the school year 2014/2015 and, most of all, to take pride in the wonderful children and young people you will see and read about in these pages.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who make St. Gerard’s the wonderful school community which it is. In the first instance, I thank our Board of Governors for fostering all initiatives that promote our vision of excellence in education. I thank our parents for their constant support, interest, kindness and encouragement. I thank our staff team who set a learning environment and an emotional environment which make our school a thriving, vibrant, caring and fun learning community; and, of course, I thank our pupils - who are simply a joy to be with and who make each day happy, interesting and full of surprises!

The many stories, photographs, activities and adventures captured within this Year Book portray our pupils, teachers and the entire school community bringing to life the many facets and manifestations of our school ethos. From snapshots of St. Gerard’s Day, Green School initiatives, the Science Fair, First Communion and Confirmation to accounts of Student Council activities, Book Club events, Debating, and Robotics - the pages herein vividly display the vibrancy and joy of our school community. They speak of everything from our passionate pursuance of academic excellence to our commitment to sport and the arts; and from our fostering of imagination, effort, leadership and humour to our commitment to social justice and Christian values, in keeping with our school motto “memor” – to be mindful – and in line with our school’s Catholic ethos.

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From the diverse threads of our own lives we make up St. Gerard’s school community – and we give grateful thanks for the spirit and ethos of this community so wonderfully portrayed in this Year Book. Dr. Deirdre Farrell Headmistress

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Junior School Teaching Staff

Class Photos

Standard VI - Ms. N. Byrne

Back (l-r): T. Deveraux, L. Sweeny, J. Brennan, O. Wilson, M. Fennelly. Third (l-r): J. Fahy, J. Wootton, M.Cleary, M. Fitzgerald, R. Treacy. Second (l-r): J. Egan, R. Farrell, H. Dunne, J. Mooney, A. Gordon, M. Kovalenko. Front (l-r): S.L. Lynch, E. Crean, R. Byrne, R. Manning, R. McParland, A. Durkan, E. Ward

Back (l-r): S. Nicholson, C. Rodgers, M. McCabe, S. Phillips, I. Christian. Middle (l-r): D. Carlos, E. Flanagan, J. Olohan, S. McNally, B. Gleeson, M. Courtney, N. Byrne. Front (l-r): M. Caraher, M. McPhillips, Dr. D. Farrell (Principal) A. Murphy (Deputy Principal), C. Dwyer, J. McInerney

Headmistress:

Dr. D. Farrell

Music:

Ms. J. Olohan

Junior School Secretary: Ms. S. Nicholson

Speech and Drama:

Ms. E. Carney

Junior Infants:

Ms. D. Gregory, Ms. S. Philips

French:

Ms. C. Finane, Ms. E. Carrigy

Senior Infants:

Mr. C. Dwyer

Ball Skills:

Ms. S. Scott

Standard I:

Ms. M. McCabe

Standard II:

Ms. C. Rodgers

Standard III:

Ms. D. Carlos

Standard IV:

Ms. A. Murphy

Standard V:

Ms. B. Gleeson

Standard VI:

Ms. N. Byrne, Mr. M. McPhillips

Head of P.E. & Games:

Ms. J. McInerney

Classroom Assistant:

Ms. S. McNally

Learning Support:

Mr. M. Caraher

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Standard VI - Mr. M. McPhillips

Stephanie Nicholson Junior School Secretary

Julie McInerney Head of Sports

Back (l-r): E. Connolly, C. Manning, E. Barrett, A. O’Conor. Third (l-r): T. Stevens, C. Murray, S. Lynch, M. Peters, J. Dempsey Second (l-r): C. Keogh, D. O’Donohoe, L. Philips, K. Newsome, S. Kearney, C.Kavanagh Front (l-r): P. Ferguson, J. Romsey, M.Arrieta, B. Callon, A. Keating, M. Cahill, L. Culliton

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Standard V - Ms. B. Gleeson

Standard III - Ms. D. Carlos

Back (l-r): J. Wyse, C. Riordan, E. Begley, C. Hughes, T. McGovern, K. Murray, S. Murphy Third (l-r): D. Sheehan, R. Carroll, M. Sheehan, M. Hodgins, H. Beashel, F. Durkan Second (l-r): G. Corson, H. O’Reilly, E. O’Dwyer, L. Byrne, H. Carney, J. Wootton Front (l-r): A. Flynn, A. Ward, R. Byrne, L. Morris, E. Dargan- Hayes, C. Charlton- Phelan, C. Moroney

Back (l-r): M. O’Bric, C. Geraghty, M. Sweeney, R. Hughes, L. Cullen Third (l-r): R. Murphy, K. Dillon, K. Freeny, C. Finnegan Quirke, C. Higgins, L. Stanley, S. Williams Second (l-r): J. McCauley, D. O’Dwyer, E. Stenning, L. Egan, M. Cahill-Azijn. H. Doyle Front (l-r): C. Carroll, L. Curley, J. O’Brien, B. Donelan, M. Bisgood, K. Glass

Standard IV - Ms. A. Murphy

Standard II - Ms. C. Rodgers

Back (l-r): B. Havenga, C. Lennon, R. Kelly, A. Finnegan Quirke, P. McCauley, E. Farrell, R. Foley Third (l-r): M. Mooney, C. Higgins, H. O’Sullivan, C. Raethorne, S. I. O’Donohoe, O. MacGreevy Second (l-r): H. Wyse, B. Malone, S. M. Murphy, V. Cullen, A. Stanley, L. Gheta Front (l-r): O. Kissane, A. Lynch, C. Balmaine, F. O’Connell, P. Catterson, K. O’Brien, G. Manning

Back (l-r): H. O’Leary, D. Tucker, S. Lawless, I. O’Connor, O. Hoey, C. MacGreevy Third (l-r): R. McDonagh, D. O’Brien, C. Dodd, M. Murray, D. O’Kane Clarke Second (l-r): K. Leddy, G. Callaghan, J. Wejchert, H. Smith, S. Wooton, L. Caffrey Front (l-r): A.K. Kinsella, M. McGonnell, T. Langan, A. Roche, O. Bradshaw, A. Hoey, M. O’ Brien

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Standard I - Ms. M. McCabe

Junior Infants - Ms. D. Gregory and Ms S. McNally

Back (l-r): I. Lynch, T. Lennon, P. Hanley, R. Kelly, A. O’ Donohoe, C. Keogh Third (l-r): A. O’Leary, T. Whelehan, S. Costigan, M. O’Connor, L. Curran Second (l-r): J. McGovern, S. Carroll, D. Condren, M. Gibbons, R. Prestage, A. Condren Front (l-r): E. Manning, H. Duffy, P. Lennon, D. Reilly, A. Durkan, E. Doyle, D. Glass

Back (l-r): A. Flynn, J. Costigan, R. Stanley, Third (l-r): A. Keogh, C. Khalifa, R. Brennan- Hobbs, E. Gheta, J. Mooney Second (l-r): A. Shields, A. Condren, M. Kinsella, F. Moes, J. Reilly, A. Dillon, A. Malone Front (l-r): S. Atherfold, L. O’Reilly, E. Gleeson, J. Lake, O. Kelly, L. Keogh, E. Bradshaw

Senior Infants - Mr. C. Dwyer

Montessori - Ms. Louise O’Reilly and Ms. Rachel Kelly

Back (l-r): A. Lake, J. Williams, N. Leddy, J. Stanton, D. Quiros, J. Duffy Third (l-r): F. Kennedy, M. Naughton, H. O’ Brien, C. Rushe, D. Williams, H. Kane Second (l-r): D. Galvin, R. O’ Brien, J. Cunningham, C. Kelly, S. Balmaine, F. Butterly Front (l-r): F. Jolly, E. Roche, P. Connolly, R. Sisodiya, V. Roche, A. Whelehan, H. O’Connell, A. Cullen

Back (l-r): C. Farrell, Z. Hanley, Z. O’Dwyer, A. Naughton, L. Kovalenko, S. Murray Front (l-r): C. Cheung, J. Delmar Anderson, D. Jolly, J. Cullen, M-K. Cunningham, T. O’Connor, B. Torpey, F. McGonnell, C. Costigan

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SCHOOL LIFE

Student Council Another productive and interesting year for the student council! This year, many topics and issues were raised at our Wednesday morning meetings. We organised a number of events which were exciting and beneficial to the whole school community. Amongst these were the following highlights A book exchange, a Christmas raffle and a rounders match. Firstly, lots of students brought in books that they had enjoyed reading. Each student then got the opportunity to exchange this book for another. Everybody loved getting new books to read. Our Christmas raffle raised €800 for the homeless in Bray. We had great fun selling tickets and there was lots of

excitement as we pulled names from the hat on the final day of term- There were many happy boys and girls as they chose their prizes! Our final highlight was the rounders match. What a treat to watch Standard 6 play the teachers! Sadly, the teachers won. Next year teachers, next year - we will get our revenge. This event raised €400 for the Nepal Earthquake tragedy. Overall, we had such an exciting year. What an unforgettable and great learning experience. Thank you Ms. Carlos. The Student Council

Back (l-r): E. Barrett, J. Wootton, O. Wilson, J. Fahy, M. Cleary, E. Connolly Second (l-r): P. Ferguson, S. Lynch, J. Mooney, F. O’Connell, F. Durkan Front (l-r): R. Murphy, A. Stanley, E. Stenning, C. Carroll, R. Byrne

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Student Council Teacher V Standard 6 Rounders Match

Green Schools Committee Wow - What a year for our Green Schools Committee! We put in a huge amount of work to win big on all fronts! The Junior school won the ‘Tidy school of the Year 2015’ and the title of ‘Car pooling school of the year’ as well! Hard work and huge effort also secured our fourth green flag - The Travel flag.

A huge thank you to our groundsmen, gardening team and all the pupils and staff who helped to keep our school and our beautiful grounds spotless. The Green School Committee

Back (l-r): C. Brock, M. Caraher, M. McPhilips, N. Byrne, D. Farrell, S. Nicholson, C. Rodgers, M. McCabe, C. Dywer, E. Flanagan, B. Gleeson, J. McInerney, J. Emery Middle (l-r): S. Lynch, D. O’Donohoe, A. Gordon, M. Fitzgerald, M. Kovalenko, J. Ramsey, Z. Wong Cotter, E. Barrett, P. Ferguson, S. L. Lynch, J. Brennan Front: (l-r) C. Murray, R. Byrne

Back (l-r): E. Barrett, E. Connolly, P. Ferguson Front (l-r): K. Freney, J. Egan, D. Condren, I. O’ Connor, B. Malone, H. Carney

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Tidy Schools Competition

The Travel Flag

Each year our Green school Committee enter a variety of competitions, one of them being the annual Tidy Schools Competition. For the past three years we have come second and this year we were aiming for the gold. Phoebe and Jack travelled to the award ceremony. There was great excitement in the school when they arrived home bearing the first place plaque and cup. We are all very proud of our school. The trophy stands proudly next to our Carpooling School of the Year award. This was a great achievement and I would like to say a big thanks to everyone who worked so hard to keep our school tidy.

This year, I was very lucky to be elected Secretary of the Green School Committee. It has been a really exciting year which involved a lot of hard work. Events we organised this year included a walk up the Sugarloaf on St. Gerard’s Day and a recycled fashion show. The highlight of the year for me was going to the Green Flag ceremony and receiving our fourth green flag. I have really enjoyed being on the committee this year and I wish next year’s group good luck. Emily Barrett (Secretary)

Emilia Connolly (Chairperson)

Green Schools 1 (l-r): M. McPhillips, Chairperson, P. Ferguson, J. Egan, D. Eaton, C. Rodgers

Green Schools Carpooling Project Green Schools 2 (l-r): P. Ferguson and J. Egan

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I am the Greenschool’s representative for Standard 4. This year our school began a programme to encourage people to carpool. Carpooling is when someone gives a lift to another person thus reducing the number of cars on the road. The committee set up a ‘goal system’ to monitor and encourage carpooling. Each class were given a goal post on our large poster and a tally sheet to write down how many times the pupils in the class carpooled. They were then given a football sticker which was put into their goal post. When a class got a certain number of goals they won a prize. Katie, Hannah, Isabelle and I with Ms Rogers went to the Radisson Hotel

to present our project on carpooling and the many other things the committee were doing to make our school green and a pleasant place to be. Our Stall was at the back of the room but that did not stop people from asking us about carpooling. We won! We got a cheque and a trophy and a bag of goodies. When we got back to the school we presented the prizes to Dr Farrell. It just proves that being green has its rewards. Ben Malone (Std. 4 representative)

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DOODLE FOR GOOGLE

Harry’s Doodle Delights Google! Senior Infant student Harry Kane was named the overall winner of this year’s ‘Doodle 4 Google’ art competition at a special ceremony at Google headquarters in Dublin on 20 April 2015. Based on the theme ‘My Perfect Day’, Harry’s winning doodle was inspired by his summer holidays. Harry described his perfect day as follows, “My perfect day is on my summer holidays. I love to swim in the sea, eat yummy ice cream, sail on a boat, fly my kite and build sandcastles.” As well as having his winning doodle appear on google. ie on Friday 24 April for 24 hours for the whole of Ireland to see, Harry won a €5,000 scholarship and a Chromebook. In addition, our school received a €10,000 technology grant and Harry’s teacher Mr. Dwyer also won a Chromebook. At the ceremony, the group one winner – Harry – was

announced, followed by the winners of groups two through to five. Then, to the great excitement of Mr. Dwyer and Harry’s mum, who travelled up to Dublin for the announcement, Harry was declared the overall winner of the competition. There was a record 5,085 entries to the competition this year and Harry’s entry beat 74 other finalists. Harry was in high demand after his win, appearing on East Coast FM, RTEJR Radio and on Ian Dempsey’s breakfast show on Today FM. He was also a big hit with his classmates, who were given no homework in celebration of Harry’s incredible achievement. Huge congratulations to Harry on bringing the ‘Doodle for Google’ crown to St. Gerard’s. We are so proud of you Harry. Well done.

GAEILGE “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí,” a deir an seanfhocal- Praise the youth and they will blossom! Is é an aidhm atá romhainn, ná an grá a chothú don teanga. Is cuma cén teanga a bhíonn á labhairt acu sa bhaile, ach go háirithe, go mbaineann ár bhfoghlaimeoirí óga, taitneamh agus tairbhe as na cluichí foclóra, na dánta, na hamhráin, ghníomhaíochta agus as an gnáthchomhrá laethúil, ag baint usáid as ábhar taitneamhach. Baineann na páistí an-sult as an gceol, chomh maith leis cluichí teanga éagsúla eile, a mhúintear trí mhéan na Gaeilge. Tá an t-ádh linn go bhfuil áiseanna idirghníomhacha den scoth againn sna ranganna go léir. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. ABOVE: Harry Kane

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Múinteoir Bríd 149

LITERARY MOMENTS MATHS By the time children are delivered into the capable hands of the Junior Infant teacher, they have, through play and engagement with life, learnt to classify, match, compare and order. Therefore, they are already on their way to being mathematicians. Now, their burgeoning understanding and interest is nurtured through the five concept domains of Number, Algebra, Shape and Space, Measures and Data. By the end of Standard 2 they can add, subtract, understand place value, fractions, lines and angles, area, symmetry and manage data. And more importantly they are beginning to think and talk mathematically. What skills they are using and developing! The children can identify and see patterns. They have the language to read word problems. They develop visual spatial processing through working with 2D and 3D shapes. Their short term memory is developed through memorising tables

and procedural steps. Their attention span is developed. Their psycho-social skills are hugely improved through working cooperatively. Drawing geometric shapes improves fine motor skills. Children learn maths in Maths class but they also learn math’s skills in Art, Drama and PE, at play, shopping, cooking etc. By Standard 6 the child, who painstakingly formed the number eight in Junior Infants, has moved on through multiplication, division and decimals to percentages and number theory. They have wrestled with the abstraction of algebra and understood directed numbers and equations. By now they see Maths as quite useful as a way of thinking, seeing and organising the world. Hopefully our children also see maths as aesthetic and worthy of pursuit in its own right (Zevenbergen, Dole, & Wright, 2004). by Ms. Anne Murphy

Above: D. O’Brien, A. Hoey. Below Left: R. McDonagh, J. Wejchert

Above: K, Leddy, S. lawless

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Book Club Our Junior school Book Club meets once a month and provides pupils with the opportunity to engage with books from a wide variety of genres and styles. Over a breakfast of orange juice and croissants the pupils led by Ms. Byrne discuss the chosen book from content, themes, writing styles and authors to illustrations. The book club then rate the book and this information is posted on the literacy notice board for all to see. Following a book club meeting pupils provide feedback to their classmates encouraging them to read the books they feel are simply not to be missed!

Spelling Bee Spelling Bee 2

The Junior School spelling Bee took place on Thursday 7th of May. There were three categories with Junior and Senior infants starting the event. They all sounded out their words correctly and each won a medal. The second category tested standard 1 to standard 3. Ciara Carroll claimed the top prize although it was a very close competition!

This year we have enjoyed stories from a variety of authors from Dan McGuinness and Lemony Snicket and Oscar Wilde to Jeff Kinney and Michael Morpurgo. Book club is open to all pupils from Standard 3 to standard 6 and Ms. Byrne looks forward to lots of new members next year. For all our literacy news from Book Club, Movie Club, World Book Day and the annual Read a Thon don’t forget to visit our Frog Literacy page.

(l-r): R. Sisodiya, J. Cunningham, E. Roche

The third and final category comprised of standard 4 to standard 6. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the hall as Ben Callan and Miguel Arrieta fought for the title. Ben won the senior competition. It was a fantastic afternoon and as Dr. Farrell handed out the medals, every child who took part was very proud. Spelling Bee 3

Dr. Farrell, B. Callan, M. Arrieta

Poem of the Year Earth has got the Common Cold Earth has got the common cold, oh earth is getting sick. Earth has got the fever and he needs the doctor quick! His icy caps are melting and polluted are his seas And if we do not start to help worse will become his sneeze. Earth has got a temperature and it is rising fairly fast And as for all the litter, through the wind it sadly blasts. Earth has got the common cold, You’re the doctor so go help. Recycle, re-use, go for gold, clean up the seas of oily kelp. Earth has got a virus, don’t let earth be scarred for life. Let it be good and pure, help earth get through the strife. by Jake Wootton 152

Spelling Bee 1

Back (l-r): C. Carroll, K. Freney, C. Finnegan- Quirke. Second (l-r): D. O’Kane Clarke, A. Hoey, P. Hanley Front (l-r): S. Carroll, R. Kelly, H. Smith

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SCIENCE

Science Fair 2015 St. Gerard’s Junior School annual sixth class science fair was spectacular! Our fabulous sixth class boys and girls each put together their own science project. They displayed their projects in the school hall and presented them beautifully. All the Junior school classes got an opportunity to observe each project and the sixth class parents came in as well. Mr. Reidy, from the senior school Science Department judged the competition. Emilia Connolly was a welldeserved winner with her project entitled ‘How does weather impact Vegetation?’

R. McParland, J. Wootton, M. Kovalenko, M. Arrieta.

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Young Scientist Competition Our class presented at the RDS Primary Science Fair at the beginning of January this year. In October we thought about what our project should be. We went with our second idea ‘why water is important.’ This was a very popular topic in the media at the time. Our two mottos were:’ If you were aware would you take more care?’ and ‘Every Drop Counts’. We sent our proposal to the RDS and a few weeks later they replied, ‘You’re in!’ Sarah, Adah, Hugo, Ally and I were presenting together. We showed a lot of people our project. Absolutely everyone loved it. We had the time of our lives, well of our school life anyway. Christian Higgins

Robotics We were at the RDS but not just to admire the new upcoming young scientists. We were there to present our own project. Our project was about water, why we need it and how we are going to run into problems if we do not take more care in how we use it. You see while there seems to be a lot of water in the world in fact only 1% of it is drinkable as 97% is saline and another 2% is frozen. There is always the same amount of water on Earth but the number of people is growing all the time and people are using more and more water in the way they live. We came up with some ideas of how to save water and how to manage it more efficiently by using a water harvesting system in our houses. That is what we were telling people at the RDS.

We spent November and December in school preparing for the FLL Robotics competition in Galway. Our class was split into two teams, Batbot and Mr. Increbibot. One team researched easy ways to learn spellings while the other team researched easy ways to learn tables. We worked together on our iPads and netbooks to research these unique solutions to help make it easier for children to learn. We had to design a robot and there were different tasks the robot had to complete like opening a door and pushing a lego set into a marked circle. I was lucky enough to be one of the six programmers. Team Batbot won the best presentation award. We learnt so much about working together as a team and it felt really good to bring a Lego trophy back to St. Gerard’s! Evan Dargan-Hayes

Max Mooney

Above (l-r): A. Flynn, A. Ward, C. Moroney, C. Hughes, H. O’Reilly, R. Byrne, G. Corson, E. Dargan-Hayes. Below Back (l-r) H. Beashel, C. Hughes, F. Durkan, A. Ward, L. Byrne. Front (l-r) E. Dargan-Hayes, E. O’Dwyer, R. Byrne

(l-r): H. Wyse, A. Finnegan- Quirke, A. Lynch, S. M. Murphy, C.Higgins

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St. Gerard’s Equestrian Team

Back row: R. Treacy, A. O’Connor, J. Fahy, F. Dukan Front Row: C. Charlton-Phelan, A. Ward, R. Byrne, A. Durkan

SPORT Cross Country team

Back Row: M. Fennelly, J. Dempsey, A. O’ Connor, B. Callan, D. O’Donohoe Middle Row: R. Farrell, S. Lynch, H. Dunne, E. Ward, M. Cahill Front Row: A. Gordon, P. Ferguson, R. Treacy, O. Wilson, E. Connolly, J. Wootton

Standard 6 Athletics Team

Back Row: Z. Wong Cotter, A. O’Connor, J. Mooney Middle Row: S. Lynch, H. Dunne, D. O’ Donohoe, M. Cahill Front Row: A. Gordon, C. Manning, R. Treacy, O. Wilson, K. Newsome

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Standard 6 Girls’ soccer team

Back Row: R. Farrell, J. Fahy, L. Sweeney, P. Ferguson, E. Connolly Front Row: J. Mooney, K. Newsome, S. Lynch

Standard 6 Boys’ soccer team

Back Row: A. Gordon, S. Lynch, T. Devereux, J. Dempsey, S. Kearney, M. Fitzgerald Middle Row: H. Dunne, R. Mc Parland, C. Murray, M. Arrietta, R. Manning Front Row: D. O’Donohoe, C. Manning, M. Fennelly, B. Callan, C. Keogh, M. Cleary

Standard 6 Boys’ Basketball team

Back Row: A. Gordon, D. O’Donohoe, B. Callan, T. Devereux, M. Fitzgerald, S. Fitzpatrick Middle Row: M. Peters, S. Lynch, H. Dunne, R. Byrne, C. Murray, R. Mc Parland, R. Manning Front Row: C. Keogh, M. Fennelly, J. Dempsey, M. Cleary, C. Manning, J. Brennan, J. Wootton

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Standard 6 Girls’ Tennis team

Back Row: E. Barrett, L. Sweeney, O. Wilson, J. Fahy, E. Connolly Front Row: J. Mooney, S. Lynch, I. Philips

Standard 6 Boys’ Golf Team

Back Row: C. Kavanagh, J. Dempsey, J. Brennan, S. Kearney, M. Peters Front Row: J. Egan, A. Gordon, M. Arrietta

Standard 6 Boys’ Tennis team

Back Row: T. Devereux, J. Dempsey, H. Beashel Middle Row: A. Gordon, D. O’Donohoe, C. Murray, B. Callan Front Row: C. Kavanagh, R. Mc Parland, S. Lynch

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Standard 6 Girls’ Golf Team

Front Row: J. Mooney, J. Ramsey, J. Fahy, O. Wilson

Standard 6 Swim team

Back Row: J. Mooney, R. Treacy, J. Wootton, S. Kearney Front Row: R. Byrne, A. Gordon, Z. Wong Cotter, E. Crean

Standard 6 Girls’ Basketball Team

Back Row: A. O’Connor, E. Connolly, M. Kovolenko, O. Wilson, R. Treacy, J. Fahy, Z. Wong Cottor Middle Row: E. Crean, J. Ramsey, J. Mooney, I. Philips, S. Lynch, M. Cahill, E. Ward Front Row: K. Newsome, L. Sweeney, E. Barrett, R. Farrell, P. Ferguson, A. Durkan, L. Culliton

Standard 6 Boys’ Rugby Team

Back Row: J. Brennan, M. Fitzgerald, C. Manning, J. Wootton, J. Dempsey Middle Row 2: M. Cleary, T. Stevens, C.Keogh, D. O’Donohoe, T. Devereux, S. Kearney. Middle Row 1: A. Gordon, S. Fitzpatrick, H. Dunne, S. Lynch, M. Peters, C. Kavanagh, B. Callan, M. Fennelly. Front Row: M. Arrietta, A. Keating, R. Mc Parland, R. Byrne, C. Murray, R. Manning, J. Egan

Standard 6 Girls’ Hockey Team

Back Row: A. O’Connor, E. Connolly, M. Kovolenko, O. Wilson, R. Treacy, J. Fahy, Z. Wong Cotter Middle Row: E. Crean, J. Ramsey, J. Mooney, I. Philips, S. Lynch, M. Cahill, E. Ward Front Row: K. Newsome, L. Sweeney, E. Barrett, R. Farrell, P. Ferguson, A. Durkan, L. Culliton Junior Sailing Champion

C. Murray

Standard 6 Boys’ Rugby Team

Back Row: D. O’Donohoe, H. Dunne, C. Manning, C. Kavanagh, B. Callan Front Row: S. Fitzpatrick, A. Gordon, M. Fennelly, S. Lynch, M. Peters, M. Cleary

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Standard 5 Boys’ Rugby Team

Back: R. Byrne, L. Morris, C. Riordan, J. Wyse, H. O’ Reilly, E. Dargan Hayes Front: G. Corson, S. Murphy, M. Hodgins, H. Beashel, K. Murray, T. McGovern, R. Carroll

Standard 5 Girls’ Basketball Team

Back: H. Carney, F. Durkan, C. Hughes, E. Begley, J. Wootton Front: C. Charlton- Phelan, A. Ward, L. Egan, A. Flynn, C. Moroney.

Standard 5 Boys’ Swim Team

Primary School Leinster Orienteering Champion

Back: C. Riordan, T. McGovern, H. Beashel Front: G. Corson, R. Byrne

Standard 5 Boys’ Cricket Team

Back: M. Hodgins, S. Murphy, T. McGovern, C. Riordan, J. Wyse, H. Beashel Front: R. Byrne, G. Corson, R. Carroll, K. Murray, E. Dargan Hayes, H. O’ Reilly, L. Morris.

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C. Riordan

Standard 5 Girls’ Swim Team

Back: J. Wootton, C. Hughes, F. Durkan Front: L. Byrne, C. Moroney

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Standard 5 Athletics Team

Back: K. Murray, H. Beashel, M. Hodgins, J. Wyse Front: H. Carney, C. Moroney, J. Wootton, C. Charlton - Phelan

Standard 5 Girls’ Hockey Team

Back: H. Carney, F. Durkan, C. Hughes, E. Begley, J. Wootton Front: A. Ward, L. Byrne, C. Moroney, A. Flynn, C. Charlton - Phelan

Standard 4 Girls’ Hockey Team

Back: A. Stanley, I. O’ Donohoe, O. Kissane, G. Manning Front: K. O’Brien, S. Murphy, A. Finnegan- Quirke, C. Lennon, A. Lynch

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Standard 4 Swim Team

Back: A. Lynch, P. Catterson, A. Stanley Front: S. Murphy, B. Malone, C. Lennon, R. Kelly, V. Cullen

Standard 4 Boys’ Hockey Team

Back: B. Malone, B. Havenga, M. Mooney, L. Gheta, R. Foley, C. Balmaine Middle: H. O’Sullivan, H. Wyse, V. Cullen, F. O’Connell, P. Catterson Front: P. McCauley, C. Raethorne, R. Kelly, C. Higgins, O. MacGreevy

Standard 4 Athletics Team

Back: I. O’Donohoe, C. Balmaine, K. O’Brien, G. Manning Front: H. Wyse, O. Kissane, O. MacGreevy, C. Lennon, H. O’ Sullivan

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Standard 4 Girls’ Tag Rugby Team

Standard 3 Athletics Team

Back: I. O’Donohoe, O. Kissane, A. Stanley, G. Manning Front: K. O’Brien, S. Murphy, A. Finnegan Quirke, C. Lennon, A. Lynch

Back: D. O’Dwyer, L. Stanley, M. Sweeney, J. O’ Brien Middle: M. O’ Bric, L. Egan, C. Higgins, E. Stenning, C. Finnegan Quirke Front: L. Cullen, H. Doyle, J. McCauley, K. Dillon, C. Geraghty, L. Curley

Standard 4 Boys’ Rugby Team

Back: M. Cahill, C. Geraghty, M. Sweeny, K. Dillon Front: M. Bisgood, M. O’ Bric, K. Glass, L. Egan

Standard 3 Swim Team

Back: B. Malone, B. Havenga, M. Mooney, L. Gheta, R. Foley, O. Mac Greevy Middle: H. O’Sullivan, H. Wyse, V. Cullen, F. O’ Connell, P. Catterson Front: C. Raethorne, R. Kelly, B. McCauley, C. Higgins, C. Balmaine

Standard 3 Boys’ Hockey

Back: K. Dillon, R. Murphy, M. Sweeney, R. Hughes, L. Stanley Middle: J. O’Brien, B. Donelan, M. Cahill, R. Tareen Front: J. McCauley, C. Geraghty, H. Doyle, S. Williams, D. O’Dwyer

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Standard 3 Girls’ Hockey team

Back: C. Finnegan Quirke, M. Bisgood, E. Stenning, L. Cullen, L. Curly, C. Higgins, L. Egan Front: C. Carroll, K. Freeny, M. O’ Bric, C. O’Dwyer, K. Glass

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SPORTS DAY 2015

Standard 3 Boys’ Rugby Team

Back: K. Dillon, R. Murphy, M. Sweeney, R. Hughes, L. Stanley Middle: J. O’Brien, B. Donelan, M. Cahill, R. Tareen Front: J. McCauley, C. Geraghty, D. O’ Dwyer, S. Williams, H. Doyle

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SPORT IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL It truly has been another fantastic sporting year for St. Gerard’s Junior School. This year, we have had huge success in golf, rugby, hockey, swimming, tennis and all the other sports our students participate in! A highlight this year was when St.Gerard’s Junior School took part in the AIJS athletics competition. We managed to claim the overall title for best school- what an achievement!

INTERSCHOOL EQUESTRIAN EVENTS This year, St. Gerard’s Junior School took part in the Interschools Show Jumping competition. We were represented by two teams, the green team which I was a member of along with my classmate Emma Ward and two std.5 pupils; Ronan Byrne and Faye Durkan. The blue team was made up of Caragh Charlton, Jordan Fay, Abi O’ Connor and Róisín Treacy. For most of the riders it was their first time competing in a league event. The competition was tough not only between the other competing schools but between our own two teams! The league started on October 19th at Killosery Lodge Stud and ran every Sunday for seven weeks. In week one, St. Gerard’s were off to a flying start with the blue team placing third and the green team placing fifth. The team event was

There is great pride in wearing the St.Gerard’s jersey as St.Gerard’s continue to punch above their weight in the sporting arena. Congratulations to all our wonderful students! Jennifer Mooney (All Round Sports Girl of the year)

great fun and we all supported each other. The highlight of the season came on the final day of the league. The weather was harsh starting off with cold and windy conditions and later turning to snow finally giving way to sunshine. The green team managed to pull it off coming home with a superb second place finish and new head collars and lead reins for our ponies. On behalf of the students, I wish to thank our team manager Deirdre O’Connor, Valerie Charlton, Chef d’équipe of the blue team and finally my dad Neil Durkan, Chef d’équipe of the green team for all their help and support. Ailbhe Durkan

AIJS SANTRY In October the cross country athletics team went to Santry to compete in an athletics competition. When we arrived the weather was horrible but that didn’t put us off! We got off to a great start and kept up a good pace for the 1500 metre race. Corrine Kenny won the race and I proudly took second place. Next up was the sixth class boys who got off to a great start and made good finishing times. We all had a great day and enjoyed every second. Well done everyone! 172

Róisín Treacy

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CHEADULE HULME This year we went to Chedule Hulme and stayed with host families. The boys and girls played a rugby and hockey match for the Anglo Irish Cups. Sadly the boys lost their rugby match. Although the girls drew their hockey match we got to take the cup home. The host families were lovely and we had lots of fun and made loads of friends.

I love swimming and had great fun representing St.Gerard’s for the first time this year. by Rossa Byrne

Kirsty Newsome

AIJS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT On the 18th of October, St Gerard’s hosted the AIJS Soccer Tournament. There were eight teams with two groups and we were lucky enough to have two teams playing. One of our teams won three out of their four games and drew the other so they qualified for the semifinal. We can be proud of our efforts on the day.

AIJS GOLF This year Standard 6 took part in two golfing events which took place on Delgany Golf Course. We were fortunate that on both days of the events we had sunshine and no rain so conditions were perfect for good golf to be played. We were unlucky at both events despite our good play however we really enjoyed the days out and having fun with friends and making friends from other schools is what it is all about. Matthew Peters

Daniel O’ Donohoe

RUGBY 2015 This year was our best year for rugby because lots of new boys came into our class and it was exciting to see how they played. It was really fun to play with everyone and you could see that we had some great players. Throughout the season Jason and Mr Caraher coached us. They were great coaches and they came up with fun training sessions. Our highlight of the season is when we went to Cheadule Hulme in Manchester England. We beat Cheadule Hulme’s B team. Unfortunately we were beaten by the A side when playing for the Anglo Irish Cup. Rugby is my favourite sport and it was an honour to be the captain of the team. We had a great season. Sam Lynch (All Round Sports Boy of the Year) 174

SPORTS 2015 What an exciting and varied sporting year it has been. From basketball to football, rugby to tennis and just about everything in between, we got lots of sporting achievements. Our victories were memorable, our defeats educational and above all we had great fun in the participation of all these great sports. For me the stand out events were the rugby and hockey trip to Cheadule Hulme were we took 40 standard 6 players to Manchester to compete for the Anglo Irish Cup. The football tournament took place in October when 10 schools participated in a five a side football tournament hosted my St Gerard’s. Unfortunately we finished fourth all but had a great day. Personally, my first try in rugby was memorable and we won that match against Pres Bray Cubs. I would like to say a big thank you to all our teachers and coaches especially Julie for organising all the fantastic sporting events this year. Ben Callan

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THE SWIMMING GALA by Jasmin Wootton On Tuesday 28th of April, 17 boys and girls from both Std 5 and Syd 6 were entered into a swimming gala in Castlepark. As the boys and girls competed against five other schools, excitement bubbled through everybody on the St. Gerard’s team as we scored quite a lot of first, second and third places in the races. We really enjoyed watching many of the St. Gerard’s pupils perform so well. From frontcrawl to backstroke, breaststroke to butterfly, overall it was a great day. A big congratulations to all the swimmers who participated and of course to Julie for organising our team. HOCKEY by Ciara Moroney This year the Std 5 girls did very well in hockey. At the very start of the year we were in a massive blitz with lots of other schools. This blitz was held in St. Gerard’s. As a team we won all our matches and we didn’t even let one goal in! We were then entered into a 6th class hockey league and we did pretty well in that. At the end of the year we had another blitz in St. Gerard’s – this blitz was to win a Leinster hockey shield. We won all our matches and got through to the semi-final. We won the semi-final and got through to the final. In the final we were playing really well but the other team got a shot at goal but we saved it! It was still 0-0 and we had a long corner. Jasmin swept the ball into me and I scored a goal. It was now 1-0 and the final whistle blew. We were awarded with gold Leinster medals and a school shield. A big thank you to our coaches Sarah Scott and Julie for organising our matches. It has been such a great year for hockey!

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ATHLETICS by Max Hodgins On Thursday 7th of May, St. Gerard’s participated in an athletics event held in Greystones. I ran in the 50m sprint and came first. I also participated into the long jump and jumped a personal best of 4.27 metres and got myself a gold medal. Lastly I ran in the relay with Joshua, Karl and Hugh. Unfortunately we didn’t win but we did come in second place. It was a very enjoyable day and St. Gerard’s Junior School won the overall athletics trophy.

STANDARD SIX SKI TRIP 2015

CRICKET by Hugh Beashel We were excited to hear we would be playing in a cricket league even though most of us had never played before! My team played three matches. Our first one was against Willow. Our second was against Star of the Sea and our third was against Delgany. We didn’t win any but we got better in every match and Delgany even had Leinster and Ireland cricket players on their team! My highlight was hitting a six and maybe if we’d had a fourth match we’d have won! There’s always next year!

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HONK! The Ugly Duckling Musical

In the final week of school, standard six showcased their acting, dancing and musical talents in Honk! The musical. Led by Ms. Carney and Ms. Olohan, both classes gave an extraordinary performance! With the help of our amazing parents came the creation of beautiful costumes, a fabulous backdrop and outstanding make-up and hairstyles. Weeks of learning lines and rehearsing scenes paid off - an unforgettable production.

Above: (l-r). M.Fennelly, M.Cleary. Below: (l-r) A.Durkan, S.L. Lynch, R. Treacy, P. Ferguson, R. Farrell, J. Mooney

EXPLORING THE ARTS

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The Talent Show In February, standard four and standard five showcased their many talents in the annual Junior School Talent Show. There were dance acts, solo singers, piano, guitar and violin performances, comedians and even a four piece band. It was a fantastic night with entertainment for the young and old. What talented students we have in St. Gerard’s school!

Above: (l-r). K. Murray, J. Wyse, E. O’Dwyer, G. Corson, R. Carroll, T. McGovern

Above Left: C. Murray. Above Right: R. McParland. Left: S. L. Lynch. Left: S. L. Lynch. Above: A. O’Connor, E. Barrett, A. Durkan Below Right: J. Brennan. Below: (l-r) R. Manning, A. Keating, R. Byrne, E. Ward, R. Farrell, M. Cahill

Above: A. Stanley

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Above: D. Sheehan, M. Sheehan

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CHRISTMAS

in the Junior School

OUR CATHOLIC ETHOS

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St. Gerard’s First Holy Communion Day

OUR STUDENTS

St. Gerard’s First Holy Communion Day

Back (L-R) D. O’Kane Clarke, M. Murray, J. Wejchert, C.MacGreevy, O. Hoey, H.O’Leary, L. Caffrey, C. Dodd. Middle (L-R) D. O’Brien, T. Langan, A. Hoey, S. Wootton, S. Lawless, M. O’Brien, I. O’Connor, L. Farrarr, R. McDonagh, O. Bradshaw. Front (L-R) G. Callaghan, A. Roche, K. Leddy, H. Smith, D. Tucker, M. McGonnell, A.K. Kinsella.

St. Gerard’s Confirmation Day

Back (L-R) S. Kearney, E. Connolly, M. Cleary, J. Fahy, C. Manning, L. Sweeney, J. Wootton, R. Treacy, J. Brennan, A. O’Connor 3rd Row (L-R) M. Fennelly, P. Ferguson, C. Keogh, L. Culliton, J. Dempsey, K. Newsome, D. O’Donohoe, J. Mooney, A. Gordon, M. Fitxgerald. 2nd Row (L-R) E. Crean, M. Peters, M. Cahill, Z. Wong Cotter, C. Kavanagh, J. Ramsey, S. Lynch, B. Callan, R. Farrell Front (L-R) C. Murray, H. Wall, A. Keating, H. Dunne, S. Lynch, R. Byrne, A. Durkan, R. Manning, J. Egan, R. Mc Parland.

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JUNIOR INFANTS

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SENIOR INFANTS

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STANDARD 1 SPORTS DAY

ART

VINCENT VAN GOGH

by Sam Fennelly On sports day, we had a great time. I missed the first race. Nevertheless, I went onto win the hoop and ball race. I had a wonderful time with my friends. Dad bought me a delicious ice cream. My brother Matthew won player of the year in 6th class. I am so proud of him. I love my school. Ronan, Jack and Rob played a great football match.

by Toby Lennon Sometimes on Friday, we do art. We paint, draw and make things. We learned about Vincent Van Gogh and painted a picture of Sunflowers. We also did clay pottery after listening to the story. It was lots of fun.

by Ronán Kelly Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853 in the Netherlands. He had many jobs in an art gallery, a bookstore and he was even a teacher! In 1880, Theo his brother suggested he become a full time artist. In his paintings he only uses blobs and dashes. His paintings are very inspiring. He did over 2000 paintings but he only ever sold 1! In 1885 Vincent went to Belgium and discovered the Japanese art which had bright colours. His most famous painting was called The Starry Night. He got in a temper and he cut off his ear lobe. When he died his paintings were worth millions and I really like his paintings.

THE SCIENCE FAIR by Isabelle Lynch Hello, I am Isabelle and this year I am writing about the eye. When your eye sees something first its actually upside down but the brain turns it the correct way! But you don’t even know this because it happens so fast. The coloured bit in your eye is called the iris. Most of the people in this school have blue eyes. Only 2% of people have green eyes. All eyes in the country were once brown. Eyes are very important because they help you see. It is important to look after your eyes. You blink 12 times a minute and the muscles in the eye are the most active out of all the muscles in the body. New born babies can’t make tears until they are 4 to 13 weeks old.

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I made a Halloween top hat for the recycling competition and I won a prize. I made it from cereal boxes, bin liners, egg cartons and wool. It had spiders, ghosts, pumpkins and bats on it. On St. Patrick’s day we made leprechauns. When we learned about planets we made a picture where we cut out and coloured all the planets and stuck them to the page in the correct order. When we learned about photosynthesis we made a picture of a flower out of coloured paper. I like art, it is my favourite subject. I like to draw pictures and paint. The reason I love art is because my grandmother was an artist and we have lots of her paintings in my house. AUSTRALIA by Dylan Glass. There are lots of different animals in Australia. Their names are dingos, koala, wombats, kangaroos and lyre birds. Kangaroos have pouches and so do koalas. A new born joey is the size of your finger nail. The baby joey has a long way to get to its mums pouch. One of the most dangerous spiders is the black widow. When it is very hot people did home underground. The capital city is Canberra. The most famous city is Sydney. The most famous building in Sydney Opera House. The states are Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. An island off the coast of Australia is called Tasmania. Most of Australia is a desert.

LADYBIRDS by Ariana Durkan This year we learnt about ladybirds. Most ladybirds are red with black dots. Some ladybirds are yellow with black dots. Ladybirds live in bushes of long grass. Ladybirds can walk and fly. Ladybirds eat plants and greenfly. Ladybirds stay the same size as they get older. They sleep in the cold winter months. So please take care when you cut your hedges and grass. WELLY WEDNESDAY by Charlotte Callaghan Every Wednesday is Welly Wednesday. It is my favourite day because we learn about plants. Ms. McCabe shows us all the plants in the school grounds. We work together to find the plants and sometimes we do quizzes on plants. We learned about photosynthesis and phototropism. Roses are my favourite flowers and we love learning about all the plants names.

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THE SOLAR SYSTEM

THE SPELLING BEE

SCOTLAND

by Jack McGovern The solar system is made up of planets, moons, comets, asteroids, minor planets, dust and gas. There are 8 planets. These are Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Earth, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter and Neptune. Pluto used to be one of the main planets but it is now a dwarf planet because of its size and location in space. Everything in the solar system revolves around the sun. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Jupiter is the largest of all the planets. It is around 1000 times bigger than earth. Saturn is the second largest planet. Neptune is the smallest planet. Uranus is different from the other planets because it spins on its side.

by Sean Carroll I was very excited when I got through to the Spelling Bee. Ronan Kelly and Patrick Hanley also got through in Standard 1. We all had to stand on stage and everybody was listening to us. I wasn’t nervous at all. I was very proud that I got into the Spelling Bee. The spelling I got wrong was ‘fail’ because I said it was spelled ‘fale’! Patrick Hanley went out on the spelling ‘dangerous’. Ronan Kelly went out on ‘answer’.

by Aibidh Condren The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh. The biggest city is Glasgow. The money in Scotland is called pounds and pence. I used to live in Scotland in the city of Glasgow. The symbol of Scotland is a thistle. In Scotland the people speak English and Gaelic. Scotland is famous for whiskey and Irn Bru. Scotland is also famous for fishing and the beautiful highlands. The most famous poet and music writer was Robbie Burns, who wrote the poem ‘Red Red Rose’ and ‘Address to the haggis1 and the world famous songs ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and ‘Amazing Grace’. He lived close to where I lived near Glasgow. There is a famous monster called Nessy, who lives in Loch Ness. Scotland has big oil fields in its seas and this makes lots of money for the country. Scottish people invented lots of medicine, golf, phones, trains and TV. In the old days men wore kilts but today they only wear them for weddings and special occasions.

My sister did very well in the Spelling Bee too. She won the whole competition. Next year I am going to practice very hard. Hopefully, I will get in again and I might win it next time.!

INSECTS by Matthew O’Connor An insect is a very small animal. Some insects can be scary. But they won’t touch you. Some ants can fly. You will mostly see a beetle in Ireland. Caterpillars can get very fat. There are many types of butterflies. The wolf spider does not make a web. There are several types of bees. The largest known snail is the African giant snail.

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IRELAND THE CAT IN THE HAT by Hannah Duffy We went to see The Cat in the Hat in the Pavillon Theatre in Dun Laoghaire. We left the school during lunch and travelled there on a big bus. Everyone was very excited. When we got there we had to wait a little while because we were early. When we went into the theatre, we were sitting in the very front row. On the stage there was a very pretty house with a tree blowing in the wind. The show was very funny. They threw balloons at us and they used almost all the same words as in the book. My favourite part was when they threw the balloons. My favourite person in the show was the cat in the hat.

by Patrick Hanley There are 32 counties in Ireland. There are 4 provinces. Cork is Ireland’s biggest county and Louth is Ireland’s smallest county. The Atlantic Ocean is on the west of Ireland and it is very cold! The world famous Guinness is from Ireland. The longest river in Ireland is the River Shannon and the biggest lake is Lough Neagh. You would be facing east if you were looking at the Irish Ocean. I have heard the Titanic museum in Belfast is very good and I will be going to visit it in June.

THE LORAX

THE PLANETS

WELLY WEDNESDAY

by Cathy Keogh The lorax has orange fur. I think the lorax is cool because I like trees too. The lorax loves trees. The trees are beautiful. The lorax is really inspiring. The lorax is inspiring because he takes care of the beautiful trees. The lorax used a toothbrush to comb his moustache. The lorax got angry when a man came to chop down all the trees. After all the trees are cut down the lorax sends all the animals away. The lorax said ‘now I have to send all the animals away.’ The lorax gave the oncler a single seed.

by Dylan Reilly The planets in our solar system orbit the sun which is a big ball of burning gas. There are nine planets in our solar system. Mercury is the closest to the sun and is very hot. Venus, the second planet from the sun, is even hotter because it has a thick layer of cloud covering it. Earth is warmer than Venus and has a moon we call the Moon. We live on Earth and it is covered in land and water. Earth is the only planet with life on it. Maris is a rocky red planet. Mars has two moons called Phobos and Deimos. Jupiter is the first of the gas giants and is the biggest planet in the solar system. It has a big red spot, which is a raging storm, and has more than sixty moons. It’s biggest moon is called Ganymede. Saturn is also a gas giant and has rings made of rock, dust and ice. Uranus is very cold and lies on its side. Neptune is blue and named after the roman god of the sea. It is the fourth largest planet. Pluto is one of the largest of the dwarf planets.

by Darby Condren Welly Wednesday is a thing that my friends and I like to do with my teacher Ms. McCabe. We put on our wellies and go outside with our partners. We see worms, snails, woodlouse and slugs. We also see birds such as blackbirds, blue-tits, robins, magpies and pigeons. We continue to walk to where the flowers are an here we see flowers such as dandelions, daisies, primroses and buttercups. The flowers look so beautiful with all the different colours. We also see many plants and trees such as box-hedges, holly, ivy, oak trees, beech trees, evergreens, monkey puzzle tree and the Cherry Blossom tree. We also go to the frog pond which is my favourite part of the walk. We put frog spawn into the pond and they have now grown into frogs and moved away. We also walk to the big fish pond and look at the different fish that swim there. We then walk back to our classroom and we talk about what we’ve seen. It is a fun walk and we all love Welli Wednesday.

NEIL ARMSTRONG

BLACKBIRDS

by Robert Prestage Neil Armstrong was born on August 5th 1930 in Wapeknoeta Ohio. His love for flying started at a young age. When his father took him to an air show at the age of 15 he got his pilot licence. After graduating from college, Armstrong became a test pilot. He flew over 200 different types of aircraft during his career. Armstrong applied to become an astronaut and in September of 1962 he was selected for the NASA astronaut programme.

by Seán Costigan The Irish word for blackbird is lón dubh. It is part of the thrush family and is the most common thrush. It has a very distinctive yellow bill. The male is an excellent songster. It feeds on worms, insects, fruit and berries. It often hops around on lawns in search of worms. It has a light blue egg with black spots. It breeds in Europe, Asia and North Africa and has been introduced to Australia (where it is considered a pest and New Zealand.

SPORTS DAY by Eva Doyle Sunday the 17th of May was St. Gerard’s Sports Day. Standard 1 boys and girls ran three races, the sprint, the ball and hoop and the relay. My relay team was myself, Amber, Dylan Reilly and Sean Costigan. They were all very fast. Our team came in a draw for first place. After the races Ariana and I went to get and ice-cream with my Grandad. Then we came back up to watch my brothers races, he was very fast in all his races. After the races we all sat down and had a picnic, I had sausages and strawberries. I really enjoyed the day and we all got a medal.

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THE BOOK REPORT by Lucy Curran On Thursday 30th April we did a book report. You pick a book you really like and tell the class about it. My book was called the Folk of the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. You have tp tell them what it’s called , who it’s by and what it’s about. Then you tell them who you think would like it. I thought Thea, Hannah and Cathy would like my book. We got to dress up as a character in the book. I dressed up as Beth. She is a girl who has who has a sister called Franny and a brother called Joe and together they go up the Magic Faraway Tree. Dressing up was great fun! My favourite book that my friends talked about was Hannah’s book. It was called Nancy Clancy. ART by Eloise Manning We have been doing a lot of art over the year. We painted butterflies, made clay objects. I made a canoe. I painted it yellow. I found it was a bit difficult to shape and you had to be careful it wouldn’t fall apart. We made calendars for 2015 and I drew lots of nature things on mine. We learned about Vincent Van Gogh and copied his famous painting called the Sunflowers. We learned that no one bought his paintings when he was alive! We also painted cherry blossom trees which we hung outside our classroom. They looked lovely. Art is my favourite subject because you can use lots of different colours and its great fun!

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THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

FOXES

by Alice O’Leary The cherry blossom tree is called Sakura. The name Sakura comes from Japan. In general, the flowers on the cherry blossom come before the leaves. Prunus is the Latin word for cherry blossom. The tree has different colours and shades of pink. Some cherry blossom trees make fruit but only the birds like to eat it because it is sour for people. Cherry blossoms bloom for one week and the trees live for about 30 years. Cherry blossom trees are my favourite trees because they are so colourful. They brighten up my day.

by Patrick Lennon All foxes come out at night they eat mice and rabbits and caterpillars. They live in burrows, they are called a den. Baby foxes are called cubs. When the cubs are four weeks old they are big and strong enough to go out and play. They like to fight and chase and play tug of war. Sometimes they come into our gardens. They like to eat chickens. We read Fantastic Mr Fox with Ms McCabe. I love reading Roald Dahl books.

THE PRESIDENT by Mirabelle Gibbons My news is about Michael D. Higgins. He is the President of Ireland. The Taoiseach works for the president. Mr. Higgins was a member of the Labour party. The D in his name stands for Desmond. When the queen came to Ireland, the President got to meet her. Enda Kenny, who is the Taoiseach, goes to Michael D Higgins and asks him to sign a piece of paper to say that the rule is ok and to make it a law. Michael D. lives in the Áras an Uachtaráinin the phoenix park. It’s a very nice house. He was born 70 years ago. He has 2 children and they are both grown up. His wife is called Sabrina. SPORT’S DAY 2015 by Thea Whelehan On the 17th of May, Sports Day took place. All of the junior and senior school were there. Standard 1 had three races - a relay race, a sprint race and a hoop and ball race. My relay race team had four people - Jack, Thea, Eloise and Dylan. We won all our races. After our races Dr. Farrell gave us our medals. We all felt very proud! Then we all went to have our picnic. After lunch we went and got an ice-cream from the ice-cream van. Then we watched all the other races. After that we sold some buns. It was funny when Standard 4 did a 3-legged race. The best part was when we were given our medals. It was a magnificent day!

STANDARD 2 MATHS GAMES

CHRISTMAS PLAY

by Daniel O’Brien To play ‘All Around the World’, somebody goes behind someone and Miss Rodgers asks a sum. Whoever says the answer first wins. If you win you go on to the person beside them. If you beat the whole class you get a sweet. I got a sweet once. If you both say it at the same time it’s a draw and Miss Rodgers asks another sum. ‘Top Marks’ is another maths game. We play it on the whiteboard. Sometimes we do our class versus the board. Miss Rodgers puts on a timer and a maths game on top marks and we all line up beside the whiteboard and everyone answers a sum. If everyone answers a sum before the timer is up we get to put on a potato head piece. We all try our best.

by Amy Roche On the week before the Christmas holidays, Standard 2 and Standard 3 did a Christmas play. We did a rehearsal in front of the whole school. I was very nervous. Maya was Doc and Isabella was Grumpy. Senior Infants and Junior Infants did the Nativity. I had a colourful hairstyle. It was pink, purple, orange, blue, green, yellow and turquoise. Before the Christmas play was about to begin, Standard 2 and Standard 3 watched a movie. It was really funny. I was one of Snow Whites seven dwarfs. We sang Happy!

SPORTS DAY PLANTS by Amber O’Donohoe In class we learn all about plants and trees. I learnt that the cherry blossom tree has many names. In Latin it is called ‘Prunus’ and in Japanese it is known as ‘Sakura’. We learnt about phototropism and photosynthesis. Phototropism is when plants grow in the direction of the sun. We each got a plant called a Nasturtium. As part of our experiment we turned the plant away from the sun. At the end of the day the plant had turned its leaves towards the sun. Photosynthesis is when plants use light energy from the sun to turn it into sugar to help them grow.

by Jude Wejchert We had our sports day last Sunday. There were lots of races like the sack race, the egg and spoon race and the relay race. I came in second place in the sack race and first place in the relay race. There were joint winners in the relay race. We had to run a lap of the pitch. There were gold, silver and bronze medals. In my relay team there were 4 people. Myself, Matthew, Aoibhe and Darragh. I ran the second part of the relay race. Later on I had a hamburger, yum yum! My little brother was running around the place and my family were there. There was a very good brass band who were playing and it made the day feel special. Sports day is fun!

BEHAVE FOR MR. POTATO by Luca Caffery In class, we have a Mr. Potato Head and every time we were behaving very well we would put a piece back on wherever we wanted. Once all of his pieces were on Mr. Potato Head, we would vote on a fun activity to do. The things we could vote for were; playing on the astro, going on a nature walk, a homework pass or a movie and treats. At the end of the year, we watched Winn Dixie that Daniel brought in. This was the same novel that we read in class. It was brilliant! THE SECRET STUDENT by David O’Kane Clarke Everyday Miss Rodgers picks someone called the secret student and she does not tell anyone who it is until the end of the day. If the person is good all day he or she will pass. If the student passes it is a massive honour. The first secret student was Cosmo. They get a goal for their table and Miss Rodgers says the name and why they are special. Sometimes when the secret student’s team is losing by more than one goal on a Friday, they are allowed to transfer the goal over to the following week. If the secret student’s team is winning on a Friday, he or she would transfer it to the next Monday. One of the yearbook

pieces will tell you about goals, teams and tables. Thank you Miss Rodgers for making secret students! ENROLLMENT SERVICE by Cosmo McGreevy Our enrollment service was on Monday 1st December 2014. It was on in the school chapel. And my mum and Dad were there. We were celebrating our promise to be part of God’s family. We were wearing our full school uniform. Everybody had their own pew. Miss Rodgers made doves and they had our names on them. Oscar, Amy and I did a reading. The parents did readings too. We sang lots of songs. Father Larry lit our candles to celebrate. My favourite song was Circle of Friends. PROBLEM OF THE WEEK by Hugo Smith Problem of the Week is what Standard 2 do when they finish their work early. Problem of the Week is something that Miss Rodgers makes up and you have to show Miss Rodgers how you worked out the answer. If you get the Problem of the Week correct you get a goal and if you and your table get the most goals you get a prize. I’m very good at solving Problem of the Week and I enjoy the challenge! BEES by Grace Callaghan We learned all about bees. Did you know that a honey bee’s body has three parts and the bumble bee is very hairy? Both have four wings and six legs. Honey bees have thousands of tiny eyes and there is a special dance called the woggle dance that bees do to tell if the flower is near or far away. A man came

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THANKS BE TO GOD

in and told us more. He brought in his bee hive and Miss Rodgers said some interesting things too. Buzz! PERFECT POETS IN STANDARD 2 by Aoibhe Hoey I’m Aoibhe and my favourite thing about Standard 2 this year was reading poems. The moment we started school we became perfect poets. My favourite poems are the acrostic poems. They have a word spelling down and you start the sentence at the letter you are on. Poems are sentences that can describe your feelings whether you are sad, happy, nervous or excited. So go ahead and write a poem! Here’s mine! Paths are fun to follow

by Timothy Langan On the week before the Holy Communion, we had our Reconciliation service. We had a party in the canteen afterwards, yippee! We said sorry to God for times when we weren’t our best self. We did a play. I had the first line. It was the story of the lost sheep. We all went up to the priest to say sorry. We all had a great time. I wished the evening never ended, I enjoyed it so much! GREEN SCHOOLS by Isabella O’Connor I am the Standard 2 core member on the Green Schools committee. I did an interview with Ms Rodgers to get the job. Every day, Standard 2 go out to the yard and pick up litter. We won our green travel flag and we won the tidy schools competition this year. We went on a trip to get our award for carpooling school of the year. When we came back, everyone was happy! Every week we have a meeting and talk about things we can do. I am happy we won our 4th green flag!

On a sunny day Every girl loves to hop

COUNTRIES PROJECTS

Making friends on the way.

by Matthew Murray We did a project on countries around the world. We all picked a different country. I got Argentina. We collected history and information on our country. Then we made a big project. Miss Rodgers connected all the projects to a world map. We could follow the string to find where it was in the world. We had to present our project and Miss Rodgers gave us a score of 1-10. I felt proud that I did well on my project.

THE SWEET SEAT by Mia McGonnell We made a sweet seat. It was just an ordinary seat before we changed it. We all brought in sweet wrappers and Miss Rodgers stuck them to the sweet seat and that is how it became the sweet seat. We use the sweet seat whenever someone is sad or if someone is reading their work out to the class. The sweet seat was very useful for lots of people. I used it when I was reading out my work. I am glad Miss Rodgers came up with the idea of the sweet seat. It is so colourful and pretty.

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REPORT FROM THE WEATHER STATION by Harry O’Leary This year in Standard 2, we had a weather station. In our weather station we kept track of the changing weather conditions. We made a sundial, a wind vane, an anemometer and a rain gauge. We also had a weather journal where we wrote our weather reports. Our teacher Miss Rodgers made a big cloud

over the weather station. She made it with little balls of cotton wool. It must have taken her ages! Our teacher Miss Rodgers also recorded us reporting the weather at our weather station. We put this on Frog. Having a weather station in our class was lots of fun as well as educational! We collected our data and made graphs to show our results. ART by Maya O’Brien I love art. When I am older, I would like to be an artist. Art is great in Standard 2. My favourite thing in art was the Chinese clay dragons. These were great fun to make. I also loved the colour wheel clock. We mixed red, yellow, blue and we made lots of colours. I also loved the silhouettes. You get a torch and shine it on the person and Miss Rodgers would draw the persons shadow. Then we wrote things to describe ourselves. Miss Rodgers is great at art. THE FAMILY TENNIS NIGHT by Cameron Dodd On Monday the 11th of May, my Dad and I went to the tennis courts in St. Gerard’s. There was music and food. It started at six o’clock. I got a medal. We had lots of fun. I got a burger and sweets and drinks. I played against Patrick Lennon from Standard 1 and Darragh Tucker from Standard 2. After, I played build-up with my friends. TABLE OF THE WEEK by Siofra Lawless Table of the Week is when there are 5 tables - the red, green, blue, orange and yellow teams. You get a goal for team work or being the ‘secret student.’ The highest amount was 27 goals. The red table won and they had barely any room left for goals on their sheet! When you win Miss Rodgers opens her cupboard and gets her prize box out. There are bracelets, book tokens, rubbers, games, marbles and water guns. There’s even treats! Everybody tries their best. Sometimes a team would win twice. If you win there is a trophy and if you win Miss Rodgers puts your name on the trophy.

LARRY LIATHRÓID AND FROG by Darragh Tucker I love Standard 2 and two of my favourite things about it are Larry Liathróid and Frog. During Irish, Miss Rodgers would sometimes get Larry Liathróid (Larry Liathróid is a ball!) and ask someone a question. If we were doing Irish, Ms Rodgers would ask an Irish question. If we were doing English, Ms Rodgers would ask an English question. If we were doing maths she would ask a maths question. She throws the ball and asks a question and then we answer it and get to throw it back to her. Every day when we had homework, Miss Rodgers would go into Frog . She would type the homework onto it. There is also games on frog. I love Standard 2. THE PEN PALS by Ryan McDonagh We have pen pals in Mayo. We write to them. They go to school in Swinford, Co. Mayo. My pen pal’s name is Daniel. We wrote 2 letters to them and they wrote 1 back. There are 25 children in their class and there are 25 children in our class. Some of them have brothers and sisters. Our teacher Miss Rodgers is from Co. Mayo. My pen pal’s favourite food is blueberries and his favourite game is Harry Potter 1-4. I am very glad to have a pen pal. FIRST HOLY COMMUNION by Oscar Bradshaw My First Holy Communion was great. I liked it. I got the Body of Christ and it tasted nice. My Mam and Dad came and my brothers came too. Their names are Ethan and Dexter. Afterwards, I went to Paul Foleys restaurant with all my family. I had a good time. I ate chicken and chips, it was lovely. After that, I came home and my cousins and

friends came over. We went on the bouncing castle, it was great fun. I ate a lot of sweets and I had some cake too! When everyone left, I watched a movie and ate popcorn. I had a super day! FAIR TRADE by Odhran Hoey Fair Trade gives farmers a fair wage. Lots of companies use fair trade. Some companies make chocolate like Cadburys. Lots of companies make t-shirts. Lots of companies make footballs. Also, lots of companies make flowers. We watched a video and did a pretend court case. Mr Brown won the case. We also performed in front of the school. We taught them about Fair Trade. We only used Fair Trade products. It was really great fun. I was quite nervous before we started performing our assembly for the whole school. But we did a brilliant assembly and project. Please look out for the logo, it’s green and blue. BUTTERFLIES by Lainey Farrar Today on the 20th May, we watched our cocoons hatch. It was very cool. I saw a butterfly hatch out of its cocoon. It twisted and then it opened. It pushed against the cocoon and one piece fell off. It pushed again and the wings were the first part to come out. The wings were so small. Then they opened fully. We have 3 butterflies and we saw the other cocoons shaking. They will hatch soon. Butterflies are very nice. Sometimes you see red liquid but that is normal. The butterflies lose their liquid so they can open their wings. Our butterflies are ‘Painted Ladies’. They are orange and black and have white spots. It was awesome watching them!

SCHOOL TOUR by Saffie Wooton For our school tour, we went to Airfield. We were separated into two groups. We saw cows getting milked! There was a plastic cow and we milked it. We also got to feed chickens. A chicken laid an egg. We saw a stuffed fox, two squirrels, a jay and a spiky hedgehog. There was a magic hill and people believed that fairies dwelled there. My group went to a beautiful pond and we caught water spiders and wood lice. After, we went to Marley Park. We played football and got to play in the playground. I loved the school tour! CHINESE NEW YEAR PROJECT by Kristoffer Leddy We learned lots of interesting facts about China. We did a project on Chinese New Year. Sarah from Junior Infants came in and told us about her experience of living in China for a year. Miss Rodgers taught us about the dragon dance and we made clay dragons. 2015 is the year of the goat. Miss Rodgers also showed us a video. We had a great party! We got to taste lots of Chinese treats. It was so much fun to learn about Chinese New Year. SWIMMING! by Amy- Kate Kinsella Every Monday Standard two went swimming for eight weeks. Julie and Miss Rodgers came with us. We had hot showers before we got into the pool. We learned how to swim on our back. The girls got changed in one room and the boys in another room. We got free play on the last day. We got to go on a bus every week. I was so scared at first but now I love swimming!

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STANDARD 3 ST. GERARD’S DAY

SCHOOL PLAY

ATHLETICS

by Lucy Egan This year we did ‘The Fairytale Nativity’ for our Christmas play. Ms. Carney read us the story and then we started the auditions. I really wanted to be Goldie or Red. After a week she told us the results. When I heard I was Goldie I was so excited I couldn’t believe it! My friend Clara got the main part Red. We live beside each other so we practised everyday after school. We really enjoyed practising together Everybody worked hard learning their lines and songs. We had lots of fun learning the songs and dances. My favourite song was ‘Happy’. Kate, Molly and Lily sang solos. They were really good. There were loads of great scenes. Some were really funny, I loved the Ugly Sisters, Hansel and Gretel and the Shepherds. I really enjoyed performing on the stage and loved being all dressed up with the make-up and the microphone.

by Lily Curley This year I was picked for the athletics team. We had to do try outs for the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, long jump, shot put and high jump. Lucy was picked for the 50m, Charlotte was picked for the 100m, Molly was picked for the 200m, Laura was picked for the 400m, Ellie was picked for the shot put, Ciara was picked for the high jump and I was picked for the long jump. We had a competition in April. We had to compete against different schools such as Rathdown, Castlepark, Terenure and St. Andrews. Out of the three girls that were against me I won but I had and advantage because I was taller than them! It wasn’t a nice day, there was a mixture of hailstones and rain and a strong wind but we all enjoyed the competition anyway. When everyone was finished we went inside and got our picture taken and after that we got flapjacks and orange juice. I love athletics!

THE SCHOOL PLAY by Clara Higgins This year we did our school play. Everybody got a part. When I heard I got the main part ‘Red’ I was so happy! My best friend Lucy got the second main part as ‘Goldie‘. We were both very excited when we heard the news. I got the microphone number one. My friends Maria and Ciara were the ugly step sisters and Molly got the part of the ugly step mother. Lily got Alice in Wonderland and Kate got Snow White. Ellie was Cinderella. Katelyn got Queen of Hearts. I was very nervous but really excited about the play. I was wearing a red skirt and red leggings and a red top and red tinsel in my hair. I was in every scene. I loved the whole experience and I wish it wasn’t all over!

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SPEECH EXAM by Laura Cullen This year, I did extra speech on Thursday mornings at 8:15. In the first week, we chose our favourite poem. Mine was “Spring Song”. A few weeks later we chose another poem, I chose “The Owl and the Pussy Cat.” We also did sight reading , I read “The Witches”. When I went into the waiting room, I was shaking. But when I went to the chair outside the examination room I was fine again. I waited while the examiner had her lunch. Then I went in. She was very nice. I was so scared, I had to start again. Ms. Carney will give out the results soon. I hope we all do well.

by Martin Sweeney St. Gerard’s day takes place in October. Every year the junior school climbs the Sugarloaf mountain. St. Gerard’s day celebrates the memory of St. Gerard Majella. He is the patron saint of our school. For the last two years I have been going to the Sugarloaf with the school which I enjoyed immensely. We have to partner up with somebody. Then we come back from the breath taking walk and enjoy a movie and sweets and it is a half day so we leave at twelve o’clock. We go home for the afternoon and return at 6 for a mass. The mass is beautiful. Two priests come and the mass goes on for an hour. All the parents join in the celebration of the mass on St. Gerard’s day. Afterwards the parents go for a cup of tea or coffee while the children go on the astro having the craic. All in all, the day of St. Gerard Majella is a great celebration in our school.

OUR FIRST RUGBY SEASON by Henry Doyle It’s my first year upstairs and we now do games after school. On Tuesday and Thursday we have rugby training which I love. Our coaches this year were Junior and Mr. Dwyer. They taught us lots of new skills during training and were great fun! We did passing drills, tackling drills, practice matches, rucking and sometimes we would have kicking competitions. My favourite part of rugby is tackling. Most Saturdays we had matches, they were home and away games. I really enjoyed playing matches and it was great seeing all my friends on Saturday mornings too. We all learnt a lot and got better as the season progressed. Our last games was against Pres Cubs and I think our best performance all year. The whole team played brilliant and we all really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to next year’s rugby season and thank you to Junior and Mr. Dwyer for being great coaches this year.

One by one each class goes into the hall for half an hour to examine their amazing science experiments. When it was Standard 3’s turn to go in, the first thing I looked at were two boxes; one filled with fibreglass and one filled with egg cartons. The boy told me fibreglass is a better soundproofed after checking by putting his phone in both of them and calling it. My favourite experiment was a mini twister made by a girl. There are some very clever people in Standard 6. I am looking forward to participating in the Science Fair when I am in Standard 6. EASTER EGG COMPETITION by Matthew Cahill Azijn This year in St. Gerard’s Junior School, there was an Easter egg competition in all the classes. That meant that everyone had to decorate an egg and if you wanted you could make it 3D. At the end of the day the principal Dr Farrell announced the winner of each class and the overall winner from Junior Infants to Standard 2 and the overall winner from Standard 3 to Standard 6. When I won the competition I felt very proud of my achievement. It was a very competitive competition. STANDARD 3

STUDENT COUNCIL by Ryan Murphy This year I really wanted to be on the student council. Your classmates must vote you in. I worked hard on my speech. I was very nervous but excited. I was voted in by my friends. It has been a busy year. We had meetings every second Wednesday at 8:15AM. We raised money for charity with a raffle at Christmas, there were great prizes such as two teddy bears, sweets and toys. We raffled homework passes and the students loved that! We also organised a book swap. We organised the whole school to bring in stationary for the St. Vincent de Paul school appeal and we organised a collections of €2 or more from each student for Nepal. The highlight of the year for me was the teachers rounders match against Standard 6. It was great fun.

THE SUGARLOAF by Ben Donelan One of the highlights of the year for me was climbing the sugarloaf. It was really windy. I walked and climbed up with five of my friends. It was so breezy and took long enough to get there. We also had so much fun on the bus. We were just past halfway up the sugarloaf and as we were getting to the good part, the teachers who were up the front called the it off and said to stop. I was really disappointed. Anyway, I had so much fun. SCIENCE FAIR by Simon Williams Every year Standard 6 put on a science fair for junior infants to Standard 5.

by Jacques McCauley I am really enjoying my year in Standard 3. It’s great because we get to do rugby, hockey and football. We go to the canteen every day. We get lunch cards. We also do the tables test every Friday. We have to stand up on our seats and if we get a sum wrong we have to sit down. We do art every Friday. We also did a project on Egypt which I really enjoyed. We have also learnt cursive writing. We learn Irish, French and English. In the changing rooms there are boxes to put all of our stuff into.

TENNIS NIGHT by Robert Hughes Every year there is a tennis evening in St. Gerard’s Junior School during May. All the pupils can invite a family member to play a tennis blitz which means each child can play many different opponents. I invited my cousin Nat. We did very well and got to the semi-final. My sister Claudia played with my Dad. When our game was over we went to play with our friends and then we had some food. I enjoyed a hot dog and a nice cool drink. Then we were presented with our medals by Dr. Farrell. Then we went home. I enjoyed the evening very much and I look forward to another tennis blitz at St. Gerard’s school in the future. FAMILY TENNIS NIGHT by David O’Dwyer I really enjoyed the family tennis night because you get to play about 4-6 matches. If you are average at tennis you will play 4 times and if you’re good you might play 5 times and if you’re very good you will play 6 times. I was playing with my brother. It was the first time we have played together in the family tennis night. Lots of people were there. It was great fun! There was a barbeque and burgers, hotdogs and sweets. It is on every year and Julie runs it. Hugo and Mark Wyse won out of our group. My friend came second out of our group, his name is Robert. The person who won out of Standard 5 and 6 was Ciaran and his mum. Ronan and his brother Niall came second. THE GREEN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE by Kate Freney This year I represented Standard 3 as a core member of the Green Schools committee. Our main goal was to achieve the Travel Flag by car-pooling. I am delighted to say we were awarded Car Pooling School of the year 2015 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dublin. Ms Rodgers from Standard 2 kindly accompanied us on the day when we gave our presentation and received our award. This was a great experience and a day that I will remember. We also 201

organised other events throughout the year including The Recycled Christmas Decoration competition, the Recycling Fashion Show and the Big Spring Clean. I believe all of our efforts made a big difference in creating awareness and education our school community on the value of working together to help our environment. I would encourage any student to join the Green Schools Committee because it’s a lot of fun and you can make a difference to our school. TABLES TEST by Rayyan Ahmed Tareen Every Friday we have a tables test. This started in September 2014. There was a ‘non-winners’ group, a ‘winners’ group and a ‘hat-trick’ group. People who won 3 times entered into the ‘hattrick’ group. Initially, I was not good at it but I continued to work hard for it. I wanted to win for the first time on my birthday date which is 19th September 2014. I practiced everyday. Then I was in the winners group. I lasted for 2 weeks which made me quite upset. And then I won twice and I became a ‘hat-tricker’. On the first week I was very nervous and was not sure if I could win as all of the ‘hat-trick’ group were intelligent and hard-working. But I won and continued to win for many weeks. I have won 24 times and I will continue my hard work. Winning the tables makes me happy. I would like to thank my teacher Ms. Carlos who started the exciting tables competition for us and her weekly prizes which made every winner contented! RECYCLING COMPETITION by Charlotte O’Dwyer Every year we have a recycling competition. When you enter the hall you wait until it is your class’ turn to show off their pieces. The judges ask you questions for example ‘how did you make your costume?’and you have to answer them. Dr. Farrell announced the runners up who were Cian, Jack and Maria. Dr Farrell was about to announce the winners from junior infants to Standard 6. Everyone was banging on the floor -a drum roll as we call it. I had my legs and fingers crossed and the name called out was me! I 202

One day we got to see the senior girls hockey team in the final and they won. Overall, I really think that I would like to do hockey next year and I am so excited for it.

was so proud of myself. I won a pencil case, colours, rulers, a sharpener and a pencil. I thanked all the teachers and of course Ms. Flanagan and the other judges. When we got back to the classroom I was looking at all of the bags, they looked amazing. David made a briefcase, Katelyn made a little handbag and people were saying ‘well done Charlotte, how did you make your bag?’ I was thrilled! WRITE A BOOK by Charlotte Finnegan Quirke I was lucky enough to be picked as the winner of the Write A Book competition this year. Everybody else’s book was great. I was so surprised and happy when I found out. At Fitzpatrick Castle in Dalkey, my family and I had a cup of tea before we went into the ceremony. I was a bit scared as we walked in. I went to a desk to get my book, it was called ‘All Alone’. I got a certificate and a medal. I had lots of fun!

PARENTS ASSOCIATION ART COMPETITION because I had a cold. At the end of the swimming lessons our coach told us he was going to elect some of the best swimmers to go to a swimming gala. A few months later our PE teacher told us that we were having a gala on the next Tuesday. She then called out the names of the people going to it. I was called out and so were Lucy, Katelyn, Maria, Kevin, Matthew and Martin. We left the school at 2:00pm and went to Castlepark school. Martin and Matthew came in my car. When we got there, I did 3 races - front crawl, butterfly and relay. All of the trophies went to Castlepark but Gerard’s did really well. LÁ SPÓRT

SWIMMING by Molly O’Bric This year we did swimming lessons in Shoreline in Bray. Every Monday we had to leave the school at 11:50am to go swimming. We went on a bus to Shoreline and we had to have a partner on the bus. When we got there, we went into the changing room and got our togs and hat on. After that we went on to the pool deck and they put us into groups. I was in the second group. When we started swimming I did some examples for the other pupils. We did loads of different strokes like front crawl, back crawl, butterfly and breast stroke. Sometimes if we were lucky we would be able to play ‘Dominoes’ or we would dive. Once I had to sit out

le Ciara Carroll Lá scamallach a bhí ann. An Domhnach a bhí ann. Bhí lá spórt ar siúl ar Scoil Ghearóid I mBré. Bhí na múinteoirí agus na páistí amuigh sa pháirc. Bhí téad ag Lilí agus ag Ellie. Cheangail said a gcosa le chéile don rás trí chos. Bhí Maria agus Laura ag gáire. Bhí sceitiminí orthu. Bhí siad ag ullmhú don rás na sac. Bhí na páistí óga I líne don rás práta agus spúnóg. Bhí feadóg ag Julie. Thosaigh an rás ar a dó dhéag a chlog. Shéid Julie an fheadóg. Thosaigh an rás práta agus spúnóg. Bhí na páistí ag rith. Bhuaigh Cian an rás. Bhí áthas an domhain air. Thaitin an lá spóirt go mór linn! HOCKEY by Ellie Stening This year we started doing hockey after school at 2:45. Our coach was called Sinead Duffy. At hockey, Sinead would set up a course like dribbling around the cones. Afterwards, we usually played a friendly match. Sometimes we played a match against Delgany, Castlepark and loads more schools but mainly those 2.

by Maria Bisgood Each year, the St. Gerard’s Parents’ Association have an art competition. The theme for the competition this year was “What makes me happy”. I drew a picture of two girls looking at a sunset. I love the colours of a sunset especially on a summers evening when the setting sun turns the sky lots of shades of yellow, red, orange and sometimes pink. The two girls watching the sunset are friends. One of the things that makes me happiest is playing with my friends. I’m very lucky to have lots of really amazing friends! There were many fabulous pictures drawn by the students. I was really lucky to have my picture chosen as the winning one in Standard 3. The Parents Association gave me a plaque and also framed my picture. Unfortunately my Mum broke the glass when putting it in the car to take home. The glass has been replaced and it is now hanging on the playroom wall in my house. My Mum says it makes her feel very happy every time she looks at it! BROCHURE PHOTOS by Kevin Dillon Martin, Henry and I went with Mrs. Carlos in her car to Bray beach for the school brochure photos. It was sunny and the sea was very calm. We also saw a seal in the water. We climbed on the rocks and threw stones in the water. The sand was all rocky and you could hardly see it. The pictures that we took were of us walking with stones and we were with the other kids from Standard 1,2 and 3. The other pictures were of us standing on the rocks. In our spare time when we were not taking pictures, we played on the rocks. Martin and I threw some rocks into the rock pools. After we went back to school, we played a game on the computer and played a puzzle. We also drew on the whiteboard. I drew a picture of Sponge Bob and

Martin drew a picture of a house. We had a great time in Bray. My favourite bit was when we took the picture of us on the rocks or when we had our free time. The photographer was very kind and made us laugh so we would smile for the photos. RUGBY SEASON by Cian Geraghty Hi, my name is Cian. I am 9 years old and I am writing about my rugby season. My team and I had training every Tuesday and Thursday. Our first match was a blitz in St. Mary’s school. We won all of our matches. I scored 5 tries in the blitz. My best try was against St. Michael’s. I ran the pitch from our own try line to the other team’s try line. Our coaches name is Junior. He is an excellent coach. And Mr Dwyer helps out coaching as well. I scored a lot of tries. I loved this rugby season!

their chairs and Ms. Carlos calls out a table. If you get it wrong, you must sit down and if you get it right you stay standing on your chair. Ms. Carlos holds a meter stick and you must shout out the answer before the stick touches the table. It is very nerve racking!!! There are 3 groups. Non-winners, winners and hat trickers. The winner gets a treat. The winner has to eat the treat in front of everyone else and you are not allowed to share even with your best friend. Rayyan and I are the top two in our class.

SPORTS by Leon Stanley This year in Std 3 we started after school sports for the first time. We played hockey on Mondays and rugby on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After the spring holidays, we started playing tennis, cricket and rounders. My two favourite sports are rugby and cricket. My least favourite is hockey. Our hockey coach was Mr Dwyer, our rugby coach was Junior, our cricket coach was Mr. Caraher and our rugby coach was Wesley. I’m better at cricket but I still love rugby. Today we played rounders and my team won. If I was able to choose a sport for Wednesday it would be football. I’m probably one of the worst at hockey but I don’t care! I love sports and I can’t wait until next year to do more! TABLES TEST

ANCIENT EGYPT by Katelyn Glass In Standard 3, we did a project on ancient Egypt. We had to bring in scrapbooks to put our topics in. We had about 12 topics to put in. We had to check with our teacher before we stuck the topic in the scrapbook. Lots of people got books about Egypt for Christmas. When we got back from holidays we had a whole shelf full of books! We talked about it for a week and then we got started. We worked on it about twice a week. At the end we had extra time because some people needed to get finished. At midterm, we brought it home to finish it off and do the cover. I absolutely loved the Egypt project and I hope the Standard 3 next year love it too!

by Jack O’Brien Every Friday in Standard 3 we have a tables test. During the week you must practice your tables for Friday. At the beginning of the year we learnt addition and subtraction and then we moved onto multiplication and division. Everybody must stand on

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STANDARD 4

WINNING THE CHRISTMAS DECORATION COMPETITION By Adah Lynch This year I was the overall winner in the whole school in the Christmas Decoration Competition. One day when I came into class I saw that my reindeer was gone from the display of Christmas decorations. I thought that it was broken and that someone did not want to own up. Then a couple of days later I got a letter to bring home. I waited for Mum and Dad to come home so I could open my letter. It said something like this, ‘ Well done Adah. You have won the Recycling Christmas Decoration and you have to go to Dun Laoghaire Town Hall to represent your school. My decoration got a special merit and I was given two presents. After that I went to a coffee shop and got a hot chocolate and a little cake to celebrate. I had a great day.

I KNOW I AM JUST A KID By Ava Stanley I know I am Just a Kid I know I am just a kid But when I’m at school I feel so uncool, By the girl that makes me look like a fool, I want to be pretty, I want to be smart, And not this girl with the very sad heart. At lunch I feel so left out I really just want to scream and shout. I am jealous of Sandy

THE TALENT SHOW

Who won’t let me play,

By Ben Havenga This year’s talent show’s theme was DISNEY and some real talent was on display.

But I don’t want to be the girl Who sits and watches her all day.

HISTORY PROJECT By Ally Finnegan Quirke For my history project I decided to write a play about Sitting Bull and the Battle of Little Big Horn. In my play Sitting Bull, a leader of the Sioux tribe, had two wives, three daughters and two sons. I tried to put some humour into my project. I think it is easier to remember something when it is a bit funny.

THE MAGIC BOX by Ben Malone I will put in my box The heart of a dragon, The voice of a chatter box, The light of day. I will put in my box

In the first scene the family is eating their dinner. Sitting Bull is talking about going to the mountain to ‘seek a vision’. One of his wives tells him to be back in time for dinner as it is his favourite – buffalo and beans. One of the reasons I wrote the play was I thought the class would enjoy acting it out and there was a part for everyone even if it was playing a Tepee! I spent a long time in the costume room picking out costumes during break with the help of Adah, Sarah and Keeley. The class tried their best to perform the play but things became complicated and difficult to control. Now I understand why teachers sometime shout!

The shield of a knight, A lion’s roar And riches galore. I will put in my box Mario’s cap, a forest to roam, The Eiffel Tower And the Colosseum in Rome. My box is made of stars and shadows And it has a mind of its own. I will use my box to explore The marvels of this world and more.

The talent show started with a band “The Wicked Lizards” including Ally, Ally’s younger sister Charlotte, Conor and Oscar. They sang a cover version of the Seven Nation Army and they were great. They all sang, Ally played drums, Conor played the electric guitar, Oscar played keyboard and Charlotte played base. After that the fourth and fifth class sang “The Circle of Life” together from the Lion King. The next group act was Caoimhe and Georgia. They did Irish dancing and towards the end of their act, some of the other girls joined in which was a nice way to end the dance. Then Ava played “Somewhere over the rainbow” on the harp - It was unforgettable. Other instrumental performances included piano solos by Luca, Victor, Adah and Indie. Continuing the Disney theme, Peter, Hugo, Robbie and I sang “That’s What Friends Are For” from the Jungle Book while Patrick sang “Zip-a-Dee-DooDah” from “Song of the South” an old Disney movie released in the 1940’s. There were too many performances to mention individually but we all had a great night out.

IRISH DANCING by Caoimhe Lennon My love of Irish Dancing began when I was just doing one, two, threes. I loved the music and the fast movement of the feet. At four years old I learned my trebles. A lot of kids did not like learning them and found them difficult but I adored it. I remember when I was seven flying around the stage, feeling that this was magic. I won the school plaque and won it again in second class. In my bedroom I have set aside a corner to display my medals and trophies. I have now started competitive Irish dancing. I went to the Leinsters and won a medal. This year I will be going to the Worlds and I hope I do well. I really thank my teacher, Claire Dowling, for always supporting and encouraging me. I feel special when I am dancing. ST. GERARD’S DAY by Charlie Raethorne St Gerard is the patron saint of motherhood and the patron saint of our school. As this is a very special day we do something special. At ten o’clock we head off for to walk up the Sugar Loaf. We got back at twelve, were given a treat and then headed home for a half day. The whole school Senior and Junior returned for mass in our Sports Hall at seven. At eight o’clock we got to play on the Astro! Two days before my class had put on an assembly to remind everyone about the history of our school and to have some fun. Everyone had a part. Peter, Harvey, Robbie Conor and I were part of the play within a play and we did the Haka in Irish! At the start of the play a news reporter called Sarah McPhillips (Ava) came to our school to interview the teachers. Caoimhe was Ms Gregor, Ben H. was Mr Dwyer, Finn was Mr Caraher, Indie was Mrs Murphy, Sarah was Ms Carlos, Ally was Ms McCabe, Keeley was Ms Rogers, Olivia was Ms Gleeson, Oscar played Mr Mc Philips and Adah was Ms Byrne. Ella was Ms Farrell and Georgia was Julie which was good casting as Julie always calls her mini- Julie.

by Christian Higgins Happiness is the colour yellow,

by Finn O’Connell Happiness is the light of the world, Its enemy is darkness,

It tastes of sweet candy,

Its best friend is joy,

Happiness smells like chipper chips on a sunny day,

Its parents are love and hope,

It looks like a baby’s first smile,

Its sister is beauty and its brother is forgiveness.

Happiness sounds like waves crashing,

It smells like a fresh summer’s morning,

Happiness feels like a warm hug.

With bees buzzing and birds tweeting, When you can just sit down,

JOY

Get a suntan,

by Conor Balmaine Joy tastes like chocolate pancakes with swirly cream on top,

Go for a swim,

It tastes divine and smells like wonderful pine,

All you have to do is be happy.

It is gorgeous to see, smell and hear,

ST GERARD’S DAY

It looks beautiful,

by Georgia Manning In my first years in St. Gerard’s we were too young to climb up the Sugar Loaf. We stayed back in class, played games and watched movies. We also got sweets, messed and had lots of fun. In Standard 1 we were allowed to go up and I got so excited that I nearly ran the whole way. The only thing that stopped me was my teacher Mrs Christian. When we were older we came back for Mass in the evening and then played on the Astro with our friends while our moms had a coffee in the Dining Hall. But everyday must come to an end, even special days like St Gerard’s Day, so finally we get in the car and go home.

Sounds scrumptious, And feels like fluffy fluff. ME IN A DREAM by Ella Farrell Unfortunately it wasn’t a luxury place With hot and cold running Nutella or With a Bird-a-com bringing me breakfast In my jet. A talking cat didn’t toss sardines at me To wake me up. No – that wasn’t how it was. I hid high up in the rainbow

Or have a picnic in the countryside.

ATHLETICS

So many thoughts were floating I speared them onto the magic To see them twinkle in the sun. But now I realise I named this poem the wrong thing. It’s not me in a dream It’s the thoughts in me! HAPPINESS

HAPPINESS 204

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by Harvey O’Sullivan This year St. Gerard’s took part in two athletic competitions, one in Castle Park School and one in Greystones. The first competition was in Castle Park with 7 other schools and was great fun. When we arrived, Conor and I immediately started practicing for the hurdles as we did not realise that we might have to do hurdles. As we were about to start the race I heard, ‘Sorry only one boy from St. Gerard’s can run’. So I did it and came second and Indie who was also in the race came third. Robbie did the Shot Put and threw it 6m, which is actually pretty good, but came in 6th. Now it was time for the Sprints. Conor went first in the 50m and came 1st with Olivia coming in in 4th place. Hugo and Georgia ran the 100m with Georgia coming 3rd and Hugo 4th. Now it was time for Keeley and Oscar to run the 150m and again we did well with Keeley coming forth and Oscar 5th. The last of the sprints was the 200m and I came second in that. The last race was the Relay and our team came second. St Gerard’s was the overall winning school. This was a great day of sport and I think our class all tried really hard and did very well. THE SCHOOL TOUR

SPORTS DAY

by Hugo Wyse The school tour for Standard 4 and 5 was on the 21st and 22nd of May. We started the day early and set off for Dunmore Adventure in Waterford. We began with Kayaking and went on to the Wibit Adventure, an obstacle course on water, and then on paddle boats. After lunch we began the indoor activities. First we did Archery, then Climbing and then Caving which was the best fun as we went underground like miners. That was the end of Dunmore East and we got on the bus and headed for the Ferrycarrig Hotel where Conor, Charlie. Patrick and I shared a room. After dinner we watched ‘Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters’. Next morning we had a swim in the amazing hotel pool and headed off to the Ferrycarrig Heritage Park. It showed how Irish people lived over the last 5000 years. We were all tired when we got back to our parents but this was definitely my favourite school tour yet. HORSES by Indie O’Donohue Mighty and strong and full of grace You will never keep up with a horse’s pace, They run like the wind, they never slow down, Horses will always have my last halfcrown. Stallions, Connemara and Shetland too, One of these will suit you. Trotting, cantering and galloping too These are some of the many things horses can do.

by Keeley O’Brien Sports and Prize Giving Day took place on May 17th. The Junior School races began at 12:00 on the dot and when we finished at 2:00pm the Senior School races began. After they finished there was afternoon tea in the Dining Hall and then at 4:00 the prize giving ceremony began in the Sports Hall. This year in the girls’ 60m sprint I came second with Olivia and Indie drawing 1st and Caoimhe and Ava drawing 3rd. In the Sack Race I came 5th and in the partner Obstacle, which I did with Caoimhe, we came 3rd. But in the Sack Race, Potato and Spoon and Partner Obstacle races it is only first and second who get medals. However in the Relay Race Ben M., Max, Harvey and I won 1St place with the help of our lucky blue baton! Sports Day was great and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. THE MOON by Luca Gheta I always wanted to visit the moon to see its marvellous rocks and to see what it is like to fly way up into space. I would fly to the moon in a blue and white, sleek rocket that had my name written all around it. I could bring my friends and we would play so many fun games. We would jump ever so high. Maybe I will make some alien friends. They might be green and have many colourful eyes and twenty legs. But they might speak some weird alien language called ‘Egh’. I have always wanted to visit the moon and I wish I could. HOW CÚCHULAINN GOT HIS

NAME by Max Mooney A skilled blacksmith called Culainn invited Conor and his friends to a feast. Conor asked his nephew Setanta to come with them. Setanta was in the middle of a hurling match and said that he would be along later. Culainn thought that everyone had arrived for the feast and asked that his guard dog be released to protect the fort. Setanta arrived with his hurley and sliotar. When Setanta was seen by the dog it started barking but Setanta was not afraid because the dog was on the other side of the fence. But then the dog jumped the fence and attacked Setanta. Frightened and screaming for help he took his hurley and killed the dog with the sliotar. Hearing the noise everyone came out. Culainn was sad to lose his dog and Setanta offered to guard his house until another dog was trained. That is how Setanta became known as Culainn’s hound, Cú Chulainn.

At Ferrycarrig Heritage Park we looked at castles and old buildings. I was not looking forward to getting back on the bus but we had to and got home tired but happy. THE MAGIC BOX by Oscar MacGreevy I will put in my box A football player with powerful skills, A piece of grass from Stanford Bridge, And the mighty roar from the cheering crowd.

by Peter Catterson Science is my favourite subject and for my science project I did Food Chains and Food Webs. I picked it because it is the easiest and funniest topic in Science and I presented it on a poster. I learned about Photosynthesis – the process by which plants make their food and that plants are the only Producers of food. Everything else has to eat something which they don’t produce. They are known as Consumers. A food chain describes how different organisms eat each other, starting out with a plant and ending with an animal. Herbivores just eat plants, omnivores eat plants and animals and carnivores only eat meat so they are in the 3rd or 4th place in a food chain. Food webs show several connected chains. The most energy comes from plants so your mother is right when she says vegetables are good for you! THE TALENT SHOW

I will put in my box The smell of freshly cooked chips That lingers in the cold night air.

SCHOOL TOUR by Olivia Kissane Our school tour was amazing fun. On the way down to Dunmore East Adventure I was partners with Indie. When we got there we had to get into wetsuits and that is always a bit of a disaster! We started with kayaking and then moved on to an inflated playground on water. It was such fun and so funny. I went down a slide and they had to help me every time with getting back up through the bouncy castle. On the castle there was a very floppy mattress which was really cool. Once when I sat down on it I was bounced right up into the air and everyone had a good laugh. Back at the hotel they called out the

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names of who was sharing rooms. I was with Georgia and Ella which was perfect. After the lovely dinner we watched a movie and then went to our rooms and ate lots and lots of sweets. In our room Ella took out the card that turned on the lights. Very soon we were completely in the dark. We all screamed and fumbled about and got into trouble.

CHINA by Patrick McCauley I went to China and really enjoyed it, We climbed The Wall and were extremely impressed. We went to a museum which took us back hundreds of years To that great kingdom of Marco Polo. It was so hot, it was so heavy, China will be in my mind forever. SCIENCE PROJECT

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STANDARD 5 A POEM

THE TALENT SHOW

SPORTS DAY

by Jasmin Wootton The year has gone so quickly,

by Murray Sheehan This year Std 4 and 5 did a talent show. It was really exciting. We knew it was going to be fun as Std 5 had done it the year before. This year’s theme was ‘Disney’. There were songs from Pocahontas to dances from Madagascar. Backstage everyone was beaming at each other, mixed with emotions of fear and excitement and, when coming offstage, pride. Dylan, my twin brother, and I sang the song ‘Under the Sea’ from ‘The Little Mermaid’. Our class teachers, Ms. Gleeson and Ms. Murphy, helped us as well as our drama teacher Ms. Carney and our music teacher Ms. Olohan. This year’s talent show was an amazing success and I hope Std 3 will have just as much fun doing it next year as we did!

by Ciara Moroney On 17th of May 2015 the school gathered together to take part in Sports Day. It was a very fun, exciting and enjoyable day. The first race was the three-legged race and my partner was Jasmin. When the race started, we legged it up the trach and took first place! The next races were the sprints and Std 5 ran 80 metres. In the heats I came first and I was put into the final and I came first in that too! After that we had the partner obstacle, I was also with Jasmin for this race, it was such a funny race but in the end we came joint first! The last race was the relay and I was with Amelia, Hugh and Luca for this. Hugh started the race, then Amelia ran and then Luca and finally it was my turn to run. As a team we came first in the relay and were delighted. By the end of the races I had 4 gold medals. For the rest of the day I played a cricket match with the rest of Std 5, I got a burger and I went to the prizegiving ceremony. All in all it was a very fun day.

oh the year has gone so fast. The year is about to come to an end, oh I just wish it could last! We have done so many fun things throughout this exciting year. by Robbie Foley In November we discussed The Talent Show with Ms Carney and we agreed that the theme should be ‘Disney’. I was stuck for a song to sing. My teacher suggested that Ben H., Ben M., Hugo and I do a cool version of ‘Everyone Wants to Be a Cat’. After a while the song proved to be too difficult and Ben Malone wanted to do his own song and he left the group. It was just like show business! In late December Peter joined the group and it turned into a barbershop quartet and we were given the song ‘That’s what Friends Are For’, the Vulture song from the Jungle Book. We practiced a lot for the next few weeks. We were very nervous sorting out the choreography with Ms Carney as it was hard to remember. On the day I wore a black shirt and grey jeans. We were second on stage which added to the nerves. We got through, took our applause and whooped with relief. RECYCLING FASHION SHOW by Ross Kelly In this year’s Fashion Show each class were given a particular item of clothing to make out of recycled materials. Standard 4 had to make bags. I made a bag with wires as handles and the bag itself was made from woven strips of paper, comics, newspapers and magazines. When they day came everyone had a different kind of bag. Keeley had the same idea as me to use woven strips of paper but hers was a purse. We had to walk down the hall 208

with our bags showing them off. My bag and I were runners up. I was very pleased. I used the bag for Halloween to carry all my treats but it nearly broke. I think my bag was cool. THE SEASONS by Sarah Mae Murphy The sun was shining, clouds were floating, flowers were opening and people were planting. Lambs are born and the cows are out grazing the fields. Trees start to sprout while red and orange crispy leaves are swept off the streets. Everything has to be new again. It was summer. The sun blazed high in the blue sky and snow-white clouds slowly drifted about. Plump red strawberries hung off of long drooping green stems while lush green leaves hung on spreading branches. All kinds of flowers bloomed, their intoxicating smells filling the warm air with sweetness. Now it’s autumn and the sun disappears behind cold clouds. A chilly wind blows and leaves gently float down from the tall trees above. Children scramble around on the ground looking for chestnuts. We start putting on our coats. Now the sun is in the sky but it does not heat the ground below. Bare trees sparkle in the low sunlight. Soon grey clouds fill the sky and puffy white snowflakes flutter down slowly. Kids tumble down hills, throw snow balls and make snowmen. Best of all Santa is

coming. The year is nearly done. RDS PRIMARY SCIENCE FAIR by Victor Cullen At the beginning of January we set off for the RDS and it wasn’t to watch the horses. It was to show people our Water Project. It was a big project and a lot of work had gone into it. Here are some of the facts about the project. Did you know that of all the water on Earth 2% is frozen and 97% is salt water! As you can see that only leaves 1% available as drinking water and that is not much. So that is why we did the project to make people aware of how important water is. We sent out surveys to find out people attitudes to water. We found that the kids knew more about water than their parents. We knew that we had a lot to teach them. We started with the Water Cycle and showed the expensive process of getting water in and out of our houses. We showed ways of saving and harvesting water. I think we informed people because when we did our second survey the adults knew a lot more.

Just the thought of it ending brings me almost to tears. From the talent show to robotics, activities on the school tour, Planet groups in the yard and many, many more! Swimming galas and athletics teams, rugby matches and cricket games, sports day fun and hockey leagues, Oh what a sporty year! Maths, English and Irish, a lot of work to do. History, geography and science, music and French too! The year has gone so quickly, the year has come to an end. I’m going to miss Ms. Gleeson and especially all my friends.

THE WORLD WAR MILITARY MUSEUM by Rory Carroll Last November we all went to the Irish Military War Museum. We got on the bus early in the morning. The museum was in county Louth so we had a long way to drive and when we got there we were split into 2 groups. We had a tour around the museum where the guide showed us all the weapons that were used in World War 1. Then we saw the uniforms that the soldiers wore and the medals they won. After that we went down to a field where we rode in a real-life tank from World War 2! Then the guide demonstrated how loud a gunshot from a rifle was but he only fired a blank! We had a great day and really enjoyed the museum trip!

A POEM ABOUT STD 5 by Hannah Carney St. Gerard’s, St. Gerard’s, memor all the way. At St. Gerard’s we work and we play. We did a robotics competition in January, I wouldn’t change it for the world, well that’s me! We did art in class and thing in our planet groups, We had a hot lunch everyday, I so do love the soups. This year we did loads and loads, From maths to learning to cycle safely on the roads!

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THE FIRST DAY OF THE YEAR

LEGO ROBOTICS 2015

A VISIT FROM THE GARDAÍ

by Tom McGovern When I first walked into the standard 5 class,

by Hugh Beashel After months of preparation finally it was time for the competition. Most of us stayed at the Radisson in Galway because it hosted the event. We all went to our project stands where we sat and waited for people to come around so we could talk about our projects. Whenever there was a robotics game on for our programmers we all would crowd around and cheer for us to win. The project team had to do a Core Values presentation which is where we talked about how we worked together and solved the problems we encountered in programming and building. Then we had to present our project to the judges and my team won the best project award! Once the presentation was over we all finally relaxed. We all got gift bags which had some nice stuff in them. We were singing and dancing on the stage too which was brilliant and we should have got a prize for that too! Later on we found out how we got on with the programming side of the competition, we didn’t go great but everyone cheered anyway. Overall, it was a great experience and lots of fun as well!

by Faye Durkan This year we were very lucky to have some visits from a lovely guard called Denise. Every now and then she came in to see our class and she would talk about something new with us. On the first visit she told us all about what the gardaí do and the different tasks they have and equipment they use. On another visit she told us all about fire safety and explained how to be safe around fireworks especially at Halloween. She also talked about internet safety and bullying on other visits. Denise was really nice and we all loved her visits!

I looked out the window ans saw lots of grass. Ms. Gleeson was there to greet us all, WORLD BOOK DAY

ROBOTICS by Max Hodgins. This year our class took part in the Lego Robotics competition in Galway. We were divided into two groups. I was on team Incredibot and the other team was called Batbot. A group of us learnt how to programme Lego robots to do an obstacle course and another group worked on the project creating songs and dances about how people learn. We all travelled to Galway and competed against children from different schools. We were one of the youngest groups there and still took part in the competition and managed to bring home a trophy for Project Presentation. We sadly did not win the programming but still had a lot of fun on the day. STD 5 ICT by Edward O’Dwyer. For the last term of school this year, Std 5 had ICT classes every Wednesday afternoon for an hour over in the Senior school computer room. We learnt lots of new skills such as how to use Google Docs and Google Slides. We also did work using PowerPoint and Scratch. We used these skills to present our endof-year class projects in class which was really fun. I really enjoyed these computer classes. 210

OUR SCHOOL TOUR TO DUNMORE EAST by Ella Begley For our school tour this year we wen t to Dunmore East in Waterford. It was about a two and a half hour drive to get there. When we got there I realised I had been there before, in fact I had been there every summer! First we got on little boats where two people had to pedal and two people would sit. I was in a boat with Evan, Ronan, Luca and Jasmin. We did lots of races. After that we did canoeing which was super fun. I was in a canoe with Murray and Dylan but then I got my own canoe. Caragh, Faye, Claudia and Lucy were all in one boat and Caragh was standing up in her canoe when I crashed into them and she fell head first into the water! Don’t worry she wasn’t hurt, she actually laughed! After canoeing we went on a big bouncy castle and when I was climbing up to go down the slide I fell from the top and on my way down I hit Joshua and then he fell too! It was so funny. After the water sports we did outdoor rockclimbing and then we did archery and caving where we went into a fake cave and got to explore. It was amazing school tour!

by Ronan Byrne In St. Gerard’s we celebrate World Book Day every year. This year we were paired up with Std 1 to do shared reading with the kids. Some of us went down to the Std 1 classroom and some of us stayed in our classroom and the Std 1 kids came up to us. I was reading with a boy called Robert, he had brought up a book with him. I read the book with lots of expression and made him laugh lots. We both really enjoyed it! Also the Student Council organised a book swap where people brought in books and swapped them for other books, it was a great success too! PROJECT WORK IN STANDARD 5 by Claudia Hughes This year we did so many projects in our class. We started with a project on Greek myths where we had to research and report on a myth of our choice. Lots of the class did the myth of Pandora’s Box! Next we did a history project on the Renaissance where we were put into groups of three or four. I was with Murray and Karl and we worked well together on a project about Donatello. Our geography project was on Europe and we had to pick a country to research out of a hat, I got Romania. Our science project this year was about Irish Mammals, again we were in groups of three or four. My group used the ipads to research the Red Squirrel and then presented the information to the rest of the class. Our last project of the year was where we had to pick a person who made a difference to the world and we had to present this on Google Slides or PowerPoint. I did my project on Anne Frank. We really enjoyed the fun projects and working together.

Then she said we could go out and play some football. After that she sat us down and we had a chat, We talked about class rules, class work and all of that! Before we knew it it was break, and I even brought in a sneaky slice of cake! After break we played some board games, one of them involved learning about place names. Time flew by, and then it was lunch, but when I looked in my bag my sandwich was in a scrunch! After lunch we went out to play, shortly after it was the end of the day!!

THE TALENT SHOW by Sean Murphy The boys and girls from Std 4 and 5 took part in the school talent show under the management of Ms. Carney and Ms. Olahan. Myself, Harry, Luca and Ronan performed ‘The Elephant Song’ from ‘The Jungle Book’. Patrick from std 4 introduced us onto the stage. We sang and marched around the stage performing our act and pretending to be elephants! Stds 4 and 5 sang two songs as a whole group ‘Together’ from ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Circle of Life’ from the Lion King. It was a great experience and we all enjoyed it. After all the acts finished, I went home and fell straight asleep because I was so tired from all the excitement!

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THE BIG MATCH BY JOSHUA WISE THIS PIECE WASN’T INCLUDED IN STANDARD 5 DOC, ONLY TITLE WAS THERE THE SCHOOL TOUR by Amelia Flynn On Thursday the 21st of May, 4th and 5th classes set off on their school tour. When we got to Dunmore East we got changed into wetsuits and got into pedal boats and kayaks. My favourite activity was a giant water bouncy castle with a slide, a trampoline, swings and more fun things. After some lunch we did outdoor rock climbing (which was really high off the ground!), archery and caving. Then we got back on the bus and went to the hotel ‘The Ferrcarraig’ where we were told what rooms we were staying in. I was with Amy, Hannah and Jasmin. We had dinner and watched a movie ‘Perrie Jackson’ and then it was time for bed. The next day we got up, had breakfast and went to the playground. Then we

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went for a swim in the hotel’s pool. After that we were back on the bus to go to the Heritage Park nearby. At the park we were walked through nine thousand years of Irish history by a tour guide. We got lunch and went to the gift shop. It was a really good tour, we all loved it and I can’t wait for next year’s tour!

we went on stage I was very nervous. But it was fun when I got on stage. I personally think we did very well and I was very relieved when it was all over. Everybody enjoyed it and I enjoyed it too!

be one of the six programmers. Team Batbot won the best presentation award. We learnt so much about working together as a team and it felt really good to bring a Lego trophy back to St. Gerard’s!

THE MILITARY MUSEUM

VISITS FROM DENISE THE GARDA

but I have to stop now as I’m shedding a tear!

by Caragh Charlton-Phelan At the start of the year our class went to the Irish Military Museum. We saw all the guns and equipment that they used during both World War 1 and 2. We also saw what the trenches looked like and what the German, French and British soldiers wore in the wars. The guide fired a blank bullet from a World War 1 rifle and it was very loud. The best part of the tour was the ride in the army tank, it was so cool. We all sat inside in the dark and drove quite fast around a track. We were singing lots of songs in the tank too! On the bus home we were chatting away about the museum and everything we learnt. It was a really fun day!

THE TALENT SHOW

ROBOTICS IN GALWAY

by Dylan Sheehan This year Standard 4 and Standard 5 performed in the annual talent show. When we were told the talent show was coming up, we were all very excited. It took everyone a while to find an act but Ms. Carney helped us all find something. We has about a month of practicing until the big show. Everyone was quite nervous but we were looking forward to the day anyway. Some people were singing, some people were playing musical instruments. There was a dance group and a band. Me and my brother, Murray, sang ‘Under the Sea’ from the Little Mermaid. Before

by Evan Dargan-Hayes We spent November and December in school preparing for the FLL Robotics competition in Galway. Our class was split into two teams, Batbot and Mr. Increbibot. One team researched easy ways to learn spellings while the other team researched easy ways to learn tables. We worked together on our iPads and netbooks to research these unique solutions to help make it easier for children to learn. We had to design a robot and there were different tasks the robot had to complete like opening a door and pushing a lego set into a marked circle. I was lucky enough to

on the same floor! Then we had our school athletics event, Where I met my cousin which was great entertainment! We did lots more fun things during the school year,

A POEM ABOUT STD 5 by Harry O’Reilly This year we had lots of fun, Going to a military museum and looking at guns. As well as that we went on a trip to Bray beach, where we picked up rubbish and I found a rotten peach! We went to the Robotics Competition in the Radisson Blu When we got there we had lots to do! Also in May we went on our main school tour where we stayed at a hotel and were all

by Cuan Riordan One day near Halloween a garda called Denise came in to tell us all about safety and how important it is to be safe on the roads. Denise told us what it was like to be a Garda and we enjoyed asking her lots of questions. Denise works in Shankill Garda Station. She also told us about how you should stay far away from firework because they can be very dangerous and harmful. A few weeks after Halloween, Denise came back to check that we did not have any accidents over the mid-term. All of us said no. She came back in again after Easter and told us she’d gotten married in New York and we all congratulated her! Hopefully she will come back next year to tell us more about being a garda because we all loved it! SPORTS DAY by Karl Murray It was the 17th of May and it was sports day in St. Gerard’s. It was a cloudy day but quite mild. When we arrived at the school we all headed down to the track where there was cones laid out with the class names on them. I went to the 5th class cone and met with my friends. The three-legged race was first up and I was with Hugh, we ran so fast and we came first! We were so happy we won. Next myself and Max got ready for the partner obstacle race. First we had

to throw two bean bags into a hoop, next we had to do the wheel barrow move, after that we had to hold a ball between our bodies without dropping it and finally we had to do five leap frog jumps over each other. It was a tight race ending with us drawing with Ciara and Jasmin. Next up was the 80m sprints and I was very scared. I came forth which is not good for me but I didn’t mind too much because I had my two gold medals from the other races! Finally we had the relay race and I was with Any, Sean and Hannah. It was a fantastic day. THE TALENT SHOW 2015 by Amy Ward Our talent show this year was very entertaining for all. lots of parents were walking out of the hall after it saying how it was the best show yet! There was a range of different acts from big dance groups to a girl playing the harp! Some acts were funny, some were creative, some were very entertaining and some were simply brilliant. It was a lot of fun for the kids too. The girls got to wear make-up, the boys got to show off their moves but most of all, we got to perform infront of the audience – who seemed to love watching us! Overall I think the 2015 talent show was a complete success!

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MY SCHOOL YEAR by Luca Morris Every morning I go to school, Every evening I go to pool! English, spelling and maths helped me to create a new path. At big lunch I always have great fun, even if there isn’t any sun! STD 5 SCHOOL TOUR 2015 by Guy Corson On Thursday 21st of may Std 4 and Std went to Dunmore East, Waterford. We were told to be in school at 7:30 sharp. When everyone was there, we set off. When we arrived we were told the rules and then went off the get changed into wetsuits. First std 5 went pedal boating. We got into groups of 4 or 5 and got ready for a race from the beach around a big rock and then around a buoy. It was very tense but in the end my group won! We also went kayaking. It wasn’t as exciting as pedal boating just going around the rocks but it was still quite fun. People were splashing each other and bumping into each other. Then it was the main water sports event: a bouncy castle floating on the water. There was a long jump, a trampoline, a wall to climb across, a bag that flings you up into the sky, a slide and a swing. It was so much fun. There was a lots of us on it but that didn’t stop us from having fun. After that we were all wrecked but once we had lunch we were ready to go again and did the rock-climbing wall. Only a

couple of people made it to the top of the wall, me included. Then we had an archery competition. It was Mad Squad 2.0 versus Katniss Everdeen. In the end Mad Squad 2.0 won. Rory was the only person who got a bullseye! Then it was indoor climbing which was cool, there were steps all around the walls and there was even little platforms that you could sit on to take a rest. I thought caving was the best indoor activity. You went down a mineshaft into a plastic cave. My group all found each other in a massive ball pit. When we were finished the activities we went to the hotel. We were split into rooms of 3 or 4. We got settled into our rooms and then we all had dinner together in the restaurant. We then gathered into a room where we watched a movie. After a while people got tired after the adventurous day and went to their rooms. We had so much fun on our school tour and I hope that we have an even better time on the Std 6 tour next year! STD 4 AND 5 SCHOOL TOUR by Lucy Byrne This year we went to Dunmore East Adventure Centre and we were all very excited! I sat beside Claudia on the bus and we talked and then we played cards. Finally after 2 and a half hours we arrived at the adventure centre and got our wetsuits, life jackets and helmets. We followed the leader and got onto a boat and then we were put on this plank in teams. Caragh, Faye and Amy were on my team. We got into paddling boats and paddled away. We were allowed jump off the sides of the

boat. Our team came second on the boat races. Caragh, Claudia and I went into a three-person canoe and we all paddled to the little beach and messed around. After a while we got back to the main beach and went on this really cool and fun bouncy castle thing in the sea! It was called a Wibit. There were lots of activities and obstacles to do on it! After our lunch we went and climbed the rock climbing wall. That was really cool! The wall was really high! When I had my turn, I did not get to the top but I got high up anyway! In the archery competition we were split into two teams. My team was called Katniss Everdeen, we were winning but then the other team beat us. My favourite part was the caving. It was really small but really fun! There were ball pits, tunnels, slides and when the lights turned on we had to leave the cave! On the second day of our trip we went to the playground and the swimming pool in the hotel. Next we got onto the bus to go to the Heritage Park where we watched a video about 5000 years of history in Irish. We then went outside and saw what houses looked like back then and the boats and tools they used. After all that we got our lunch and went to the gift shop. Then we were back on the bus on the journey home. It was nice to arrive back home!

STANDARD 6 Ms. Byrne DOWN IN THE TRENCHES My hands, red raw, I hold the gun straight. My shoulders, numb now, I bare the full weight. Soldiers drop dead as I fire off a round. I don’t think my ears can take much more of this sound. By Ross McParland THE FLOWER Slowly it blooms, that little flower, With petals pink and red. It will watch the sun go down before it goes to bed. Lilies, roses and snowdrops, such beautiful little things. You can smell the lavender and hear the bluebells ring. All of these beautiful scents attract the bumble bees, But just be very careful, the pollen makes you sneeze! By Orla Wilson

AUTUMN The leaves have gone from green to gold The sunflowers are now looking old. The night comes earlier by the day, As the farmers bring in their hay. A gust of wind goes through my hair which makes me shiver everywhere. The leaves swirl round and round until they rest upon the ground. Then suddenly we realise that Autumn has just arrived.

Coastal Clean-Up 2015

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I pack my bags and prepare for class, because a new year will now come fast. By Eva Crean MOUSE HUNT The door creaked open I tiptoe in. I tie my hair back with a silver pin.

SHARKS Sharks swimming in the depths of all the oceans. Great whites in South Africa, Australia and America. Whenever I’m swimming I often fear a great white is swimming near. I think of the mouth open and big sharp teeth. I have to close my eyes or else I’ll freak! But I know that I will be safe and sound, Because in Ireland there are no dangerous sharks around!

I have been told stories of this place, the By Joshua Brennan house that no one dares to face! All is well for now at least, but I keep my MY HOMEWORK eyes open for signs of the beast! My Homework yesterday was long and While setting up traps, I hear little taps, boring. the beast is awake! If I did it any longer I would have been I place down some cheesecake, there snoring. isn’t a sound You see, I’m bad at maths and English At last I have captured it, my mouse has too. been found! I felt like flushing them down the loo. By Jennifer Mooney By the time I’d finished it was late at night. LIFE BY THE SEA So I went to bed with great delight! It’s like a dream to live by the sea. By Harry Dunne Watching swimmers and surfers is the best part for me. THE PARADE Ships and boats all sailing past, I ran in front to get a good view. I wish that this would always last. I pushed and shoved trying to get But sadly in the garden is now a sign through. ‘For Sale’. I could hear the crowd starting to This means our time has sadly come to chant. bail. In the distance I saw a grey elephant. So good bye beach, you’ve been like a There were dancers dressed in green friend. and blue, I will remember living here till my very I wonder where they are all marching end. to. By Max Cleary Next there were the bands, all beating drums with their hands. There were tons and tons and tons of more acts. They’ll be back next year and that’s a fact. 215

Finally I saw them turn the bend, The crowd cleared, it was the end. By Roisín Farrell

My dog may be clumsy, lovely and moody. But I still love my little Prudy! By Louise Sweeney

LIFE First you’re young lively and free just as any person would love to be. But as you get older, still young in age, your life is more filled with sorrow and rage. Every week, month and year ticking by, my God doesn’t time fly! Soon you are old, wrinkled, cracked and bent, losing your money, counting every cent. When you have lived your life with love, God will take you to heaven above. So when you’re up there, looking around at everything beautiful on the ground. After a while you soon will see that everything in life is just meant to be. By Sarah Lily Lynch TORNADOES They can be big, they can be small. They can be tiny, they can be tall. They swirl around and when they do. They make a sound that will frighten you. They can be deadly, they can be cruel. When you watch it on TV, it looks really cool! By Harry Wall MY CLUMSY DOG My dog is so clumsy, dizzy and flimsy.

SKI TRIP Oh, how our ski holiday rocked! It was so good, I don’t know where to start! From the Aer Lingus terminal, the giggling classes flocked. Stuffed suitcases, ski jackets, furry boots and gloves, We were a buzzing bundle of glee, as we took to the sky like doves. The captain was a funny chap; he welcomed us all with a big loud clap.

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It is really funny, it may make you laugh,

Really have you found what love could do for you?

But I went to the zoo to steal a giraffe!

I can only try to explain what she has done for me,

I know it sounds bonkers, I know it sounds mad MY GRAN In the year of 1914 and the start of World War one. My gran was born and her life had just begun. She is going to be 100 this coming Saturday. A grand lady, what more can I say?

But when I couldn’t get my giraffe I was terribly sad.

Have you guessed who I’m talking about, want to give up?

By Jordan Fahy

Freckles is my pony who I really love to show.

Everybody sing and play!

From Rossa your grandson and your biggest fan.

While Mary and Joseph sing along.

“Hurray, we can’t wait to ski” we all shouted cheerfully. Suited, booted we were ready to go, how we would do it was difficult to know. After an hour of a lesson it all came together, this holiday was getting better and better. A trip to Venice, a toboggan ride, card games and a disco where we all went wild! It was a trip of a lifetime, I have to admit. Topped off at the end with a visit to the cockpit!

To the grass between my toes. Nature is everywhere and is always within my grasp,

By Rossa Byrne WINTER Summer is gone, winter is near. Take out your warm clothes as the cold will be here. Duvets and blankets and woolly socks No more use for sandals and crocs. I like the winter and sitting by the fire. It is warm and cosy, a nice place to retire! By Matthew Fennelly

EARTH Earth Earth, so much to explore!

The Drummer Boy plays his song. The star above leads the way, So the Kings could find where he lay. By Mariya Kovalenko

THE RUGBY MATCH On Saturday morning we played a match. Pres’ kicked off and we had to catch.

So look around a little more

Just waiting to be discovered.

Earth will reveal its wonders galore!

By Mark Fitzgerald

By Ross Manning

We had a small birthday party to celebrate. But she doesn’t know what day it is.

I made a wish that she was better. By Jack Egan

HALLOWEEN On Halloween night I got such a fright. I stumbled and tumbled at a rare sight.

INTO THE FOREST Go into the forest,

I saw a ghost who left me aghast.

Where there are lots of trees,

My heart beat quickly as I ran past.

Lots of flowers,

I held on to all my treats

Therefore lots of bees.

Not letting them fall about my feet. As I turned round it was only a kid Under a white sheet where they had hid.

By Tom Deveraux

How could I be scared in such a place?

The crowd gave a cheer as we won the game, AUTUMN IN ACROSTIC Animals get ready to hibernate. Under the leaves are conkers The leaves are brightly coloured. FRECKLES You may think of Freckles as spots on

It is sad to see her so weak.

By Emma Ward

We scored a try and Pres just frowned.

Open it up and you find the Earth’s core.

MY GRANNY My granny was eighty three this week.

I helped her blow out her birthday candles.

We caught the ball and passed it around.

By Alan Gordan

By Ailbhe Durkan

I love her so much I never want her to go.

I continued on with a smile on my face

In our next match, we hope for the same.

Nature is amazing!

Equally there is lots of work to be done,

If I manage to get it, how wonderful I’ll feel!

So happy birthday to you, my dearest gran!

After four hours ride we saw the Dolomites covered in a white blanket of snow.

Keeping my dreams trotting before being called in for tea. Saturdays and Sundays are the days we share most.

CHRISTMAS Christ is born today.

At last we arrived in wonderful Italy.

But I think of Freckles as something loving and full of grace.

I’ll try again next week and I’ll try to get a seal!

stories of her childhood and becoming a wife.

AN AMAZING WORLD From the highest mountain to the deepest ocean,

before once again falling flat on her face.

We have a friendship in what we know and love to do.

Oh! I forgot to mention he was my dad!

and suddenly I hear an unbearable sound.

She hops and skips all over the place,

I wanted to have fun and to try something new!

She loves to sing and tell me about her life,

By Róisín Treacy

And she runs back all tired and wrecked.

your face

I thought he was great, some thought he was mad.

She takes one step then falls to the ground,

I throw the ball and say ‘Go fetch!’

THE ZOO You’ll never believe what I was going to do!

Under the blanket I shiver. Marvellous times playing in leaves.

Beside the paths are mushrooms and mice, Oak trees and badgers looking much more than nice. The squirrels are starting to scamper and play, As the wind whistles softly day after day. I like to go into the forest, There is just so much to see, Surrounded by nature’s beauty, You will love it too……. believe me. By Jake Wootton

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STANDARD 6 Mr. McPhilips STANDARD 6 VERSUS THE TEACHERS ROUNDER’S MATCH On the 13th of May a group of teachers played a rounder’s match against some sixth class pupils. Although we looked good at the start, the teachers came back and beat us 14-4. Mr Mc Phillips hit two home runs and Conor Murray hit one. There was great tension and excitement throughout the match. We all hope that next year’s standard 6 have better luck then we did. By Miguel Arrieta

SPORTS DAY My last ever sports day in the Junior School was on the 17th May and it was followed by the prize giving ceremony. Everyone was on the track at 12:00 and each class began to run their sprinting events. After the sprints concluded you could enter two other novelty events (three-legged race, partner obstacle, sack race and potato and spoon). I decided to do the sack race and the partner obstacle. At around two o clock the Junior School races were over and the Senior School events began. We all had to make our way to the sports hall for four o clock for the prize giving ceremony. It’s a great day full of fun and excitement for everyone. By Daniel O Donohoe

GREENSCHOOLS This year I was Chairperson of the St Gerard’s Greenschools Committee. We had great success over the course of the year. Ali Meanary, the Travel Coordinator from An Taisce visited us many times during the year. Two of the visits were to get everyone to take part in surveys and to see if our carpooling levels had increased, which they did. We were so proud of what we had achieved that we entered “The Big Travel Challenge” competition in the category of carpooling. 1400 other schools from around the country took part in this but we won carpooling school of the year!

taken and had a short reception. After this everyone did their own thing by going home and having family over or heading to a restaurant with some family and friends.

Dean Eaton a member from Dun Laoighre and Rathdown county council came to adjudicate our Halloween Recycled Fashion Show and was very impressed by the high standards.

I could not have asked for more happy memories,

Overall it was a very successful year winning lots of awards and being congratulated for having a committee run by students and members rather than by the supervising teachers. I really enjoyed being Chairperson this year and I am certain that the Junior School will continue to work hard on their next flag on Biodiversity. By Emilia Connolly

It was a great day and one that I will always remember. By Abigail O Connor

STANDARD 6 MEMORIES Wow! What an amazing year we’ve had. Although leaving the school makes me sad,

Like the ski trip that began on the 7th of February. The bus journey took three whole hours! And when we got there the snow looked like flour. The weather was hot and the skiing was great, But best of all I got to spend time with my mates. Cheadle Hulme made lots of memories, Or Botanical gardens and the Glasnevin Cemetery.

CONFIRMATION Confirmation is a day that we all gathered together and received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. My job on the day was to carry the communion bread up to the altar. Shortly after being confirmed everyone went back to the school were we got our class picture

Our class was the best in Standard 6! With lots of personalities, a variety a good mix. This year has been the greatest it could be. So goodbye St Gerard’s Junior School, farewell from me. By Ilana Philips

WRITE-A-BOOK Getting involved in the write a book was one of the best parts of the year because my book got Highly Commended. My book was about Brian O Driscoll and his rise to fame and I wrote about some of his most famous tries and achievements down through the years. I enjoyed writing it because it was all about rugby, my favourite sport and because I would love to be as successful as Brian in the future. By Saul Fitzpatrick GLASNEVIN CEMETERY TRIP This year Standard 6 went to Glasnevin Cemetery and the Botanical Gardens on an educational field trip. The highlight was getting to go inside Daniel O Connell’s (The Liberator) crypt as we had learned about all he had done earlier this year in History. We were told that the approximate number of people buried in Glasnevin was 1.5million. It was the first cemetery where Catholics could be buried respectfully after Daniel O Connell achieved Catholic Emancipation. By Joe Dempsey WRITE-A-BOOK Write-A-Books came in many different genres from horror to adventure from sport to fact based books but whatever genre they were they all had one thing in common, they were all exciting. The runners up in Mr Mc Phillips’ class were Emily with her book “Geektastic”, “The Galacticoes” by Sam about the world famous Real Madrid team and finally Saul’s book on Brian O Driscoll called “The Bod”. The overall winner was Emilia with her chilling horror story called “Soul of Darkness”. After we got our books back we wrote reviews on each other’s books which were great as we got a closer look at everyone’s books. By Alex Keating

SPORTS DAY On the 17th May our annual St Gerard’s Sports and Prize Giving Day took place. Everybody turned up at 11:45 and got ready for their races. The races started at twelve o clock and we finished up with the Standard 6 relays at two o clock in the afternoon. There were barbeques and picnics scattered around the grounds selling hot dogs and burgers. After the events were over we all went home to change into our school uniforms for the prize giving. Standard 6, the senior school and some of the younger classes in the junior school all attended. I was delighted with the awards that I got. By Sam Lynch CONFIRMATION We made our Confirmation on the 13th of March this year in St Fergal’s Church in Bray. The day was dedicated to renewing our baptismal promises that our parents said on our behalf when we were baptised and were too young to say them ourselves. We promised to always believe in God and to use the Fruits and Gifts of the Holy Spirit in everything we do and say. We were then blessed with the chrism by Father Larry. Readings were made on the day by boys and girls from both St Gerard’s and St Ciaran’s and gifts were also carried to the altar. By Jemima Ramsay

ROUNDER’S MATCH VERSUS THE TEACHERS On the 11th of May 2015 there was a rounders match between sixth class and the teachers. First we were split into four teams because we all had to play each other to decide which team would play the teachers. I was on the team that was picked and I was really happy but nervous. When the match day came around I was last up to bat. It was a really fun match but we got destroyed by the teachers which you have to admit was really unexpected but funny to watch. By Zaelie Wong Cotter FAMILY TENNIS NIGHT 2015 This year’s family tennis night has the biggest turn out yet. There were two different competitions run simultaneously and the main attraction would be the final of the standard 5 and 6 competitions. The first round of the Standard 5 and 6 matches was held on the second astro pitch were teams were split into four groups and only the winner of each group continued to the next round. After some tightly contested semifinals that saw some brilliant tennis being played our two finalists would be Ciaran Kavanagh and Emir Kavanagh versus Ronan Byrne and Niall Byrne. After the match was the prize giving with my mum and I got awarded the cup! By Ciaran Kavanagh

SCIENCE FAIR On the 29th of April the annual Science Fair took place in the Junior School. As suspected it was a huge success. The day was filled with fun and it was a great learning experience for all of Standard 6 as well as the younger classes and parents. It was very enjoyable to present my project and to hear about other people’s interesting ideas. It was very informative and I as well as others learnt a lot from the displays. By Lucy Culliton

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CELTS PROJECT Our first project of the year in Standard 6 was based on the Celts. It was our first big assignment of the year and everyone wanted to get off to a good start. We learned a lot from reading the information that people put on their projects like that the Celts had their own special language and that they never stayed in the same place for too long because they were nomads. I think the most interesting thing I learnt from this project was about the different types of forts that the Celts used to live in and why they were built in certain places and ways. By Ben Callan FRIDGE I stand tall near the door On the cold white tiled floor. I just can’t take this job anymore, Open, close, drip and pour.

END OF YEAR PRODUCTION This year our end of year production was Honk which is a musical adaptation of the story of the Ugly Duckling. On the 28th of May we performed in front of our parents and other members of the school community. The night was very successful and the parents all seemed to really enjoy it. We never would have been able to put on such a great show if it wasn’t for the hard work of Ms Olahan and Ms Carney and the support of Ms Byrne and Mr Mc Phillips. I would also like to thank all the parents that helped out with the costumes and make up which made us look the part on the night. By Matthew Peters FEASTS AND FESTIVALS PROJECT When Mr Mc Phillips asked us to do a project about Feasts and Festivals I thought I should do one the not a lot of people have heard of so I chose Diwali. I learned lots of very interesting things about the festival of light. The standard of projects that everyone presented was very high with feasts and festivals from all around the world being displayed such as TeT (the Vietnamese New Year), Holi (the Indian Paint festival) and even Glastonbury the English music festival. It was great to see such a wide variety of feasts and festivals and learn about the different customs associated with them. By Emily Barrett

The humans come and fill my belly. They take out the cheese when it gets smelly. My friend the oven gets to lie in the heat. I stand here all day on my very sore feet. The cupboard laughs at my silly dreams, But I can see the garden is it all that it seems? By Mia Cahill

CHEDULE HULME This year on the 7th of November 2014 the Standard 6 classes went to Chedule Hulme in Manchester England. We stayed with a family with a child attending Chedule Hulme School. Eva and I stayed with a girl called Amy Waterson and had a brilliant time. We went swimming and got to meet up with a few friends of the girls for dinner. We stayed for 2 nights and on Sunday morning we played a hockey match for a cup. We drew the match but we got to take the cup home to Ireland. After we had lunch it was time to go and we were all sad to leave but we have friends and memories that will last forever. By Phoebe Ferguson

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WORLD WAR 2 PROJECTS This year Mr Mc Phillips 6th class all decided that we would do our end of year projects on World War 2. We were allowed to be as creative as possible when making our project so some people made a slideshow, some made posters and some even made replicas of different things from the war. We all concentrated on our projects on different areas of World War 2. Some of the areas that people concentrated on were land and sea, Russia’s role in the war and Women’s role during the war. I learned so much from the projects and found them all very interesting. By Toby Stevens AIJS ATHLETICS FIELD EVENTS This year for the AIJS athletics field events we had many winners across different disciplines (long jump, high jump and shot putt). We had two gold medals, two silver medals and two fourth places finishes. There were great performances from Alan and Max in the high jump and long jump respectively where they sored past their competition to get the gold. Other super performances came from Mia and Christian in the long jump and shot putt. Zaelie and I were unfortunate not to get medals against tough competitors but it was a great day that was lots of fun for everyone involved. Kirsty Newsome

AIJS BASKETBALL This year I was on the basketball with Sam, Max, Joe, Alan and Ross Mc Parland. We played matches against tough opposition such as Castlepark, St Michael’s and Willow. After good wins in two of our matches and a draw in the other we thought we were in with a good chance of winning the trophy at the end however it was not to be. Castlepark came out on top with some great players and they won. We were disappointed but hope that next year’s team can go and do even better. By Christian Manning

SKI TRIP 2015 On the 7th of February Standard 6 went to Lavorone in Italy for a week long ski trip. After we landed in Italy we had a three hour bus journey up through the mountains until we reached our skiing resort. Our hotel was only two minutes from the slopes so at least we wouldn’t have too much more travelling to do after we got there. We were all put into rooms with our friends and each night we would go downstairs for a delicious dinner after which we would go and have a night activity that was always fun. My personal favourite was the tobogganing. In the mornings we would spilt up into our ski groups and go to the slopes. The skiing was amazing and the instructors were really nice. On the Wednesday we went to Venice and we bought souvenirs for our families as well as getting a tour of around the beautiful streets of Venice. Overall I had a great time and have memories that we last a life time. By Conor Murray

SWIMMING GALA St Gerard’s Standard 6 entered a swimming gala event this year in which we had a boys and girls team. The boy’s team consisted of Alan, Rossa, Sean and Jake and the girl’s team included Zaelie, Jenny, Roisin and Eva. The boys did well getting silver in the relay and the girls were also successful as they got bronze in the girls relay event. Overall it was fun and we all did very well. By Sean Kearney SKI TRIP 2015 On the 7th of February we went to Italy to go skiing on the slopes of Lavorone. On the Wednesday of our week long trip we went to Venice. Venice was amazing and all my classmates thought so too. My favourite part of the trip was the skiing. We stayed in a nice hotel only a few minutes from the slopes. The bus journey to the hotel took around 3 hours. Overall I thought this was an incredible trip which I made many more friends on and got to know more people better. I know the ski trip was only a short time ago but I know I will remember it for a long time. By Conor Keogh 221

ACHIEVEMENT

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Academic Achievement

Back: C. Kavanagh, J. Wootton, R. Treacy, O. Wilson, E. Connolly Middle: K. Newsome, M. Arrieta, A. Gordon, I. Phillips, M. Cahill, J. Mooney, T. Devereaux Front: A. Keating, C. Murray, S. Lynch, R. McParland, S. L. Lynch, J. Ramsay

Academic Effort

Back: S. Kearney, C. Manning, E. Ward, L. Sweeney, J. Brennan, J. Dempsey Front: A. O’Connor, S. Fitzpatrick, Z. Wong-Cotter, M. Fennelly

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All Round Sports People of the Year

Sports Girl: J. Mooney Sports Boy: S. Lynch

Arts in Education (Excellence in Drama and Music)

S. L. Lynch

Overall Academic Excellence

Athlete of the Year

Emily Barrett Runners up: R. Farrell, L. Culliton

R. Treacy, A. Gordon

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Swimmer of the Year

R. Byrne

Academic Effort and Improvement

C. Murray

Rugby Player of the Year

Back: A.Durkan, P.Ferguson Front: H. Wall, M. Cleary

M. Fennelly Rugby Improvers of the Year: M. Peters and T. Devereux

Soccer Player of the Year

Tennis Player of the Year

D. O’Donohoe

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Skier of the Year

J. Fahy Runner-up: J. Mooney

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Excellence in Mathematics

E. Barrett Runners-up: M. Arrieta, R. Farrell

Hockey Player of the Year

R. Manning, J. Fahy, M. Fitzgerald

Duais Don Ghaeilge

J. Fahy Hockey Improvers of the Year: K. Newsome, A. Durkan

E. Ní Bhairéad, C. MacEochidh, J. Wootton, O. Nic Liam

MEMOR Award- Spirit of St. Gerard’s Junior School

Basketball Player of the Year

Back: J. Wootton, L. Sweeny, R. Treacy, M. Fennelly Middle: T. Stevens, P. Ferguson, E. Ward, I. Phillips, J. Egan, J. Mooney, M. Cleary Front: R. McParland, E. Crean, A. Durkan, R. Manning, B. Callan, M. Cahill, S.L. Lynch

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Excellence, Improvement and performance in Mathematics

C. Manning

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Excellence in Science

E. Connolly Highly Commended: R. Byrne, R. Farrell Missing: M. Kovalenko

Academic Effort and Achievement

Back: T. Stevens, M. Fitzgerald, D. O’Donohoe Middle: J. Fahy, H. Dunne, J. Egan, M. Kovalenko Front: B. Crean, E. Crean, M. Peters

Outstanding Contribution and Commitment to Equestrian

A. Durkan, E. Ward

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Green Schools Committee

E. Connolly, P. Ferguson, J. Egan, E. Barrett

Medal Of Merit

S. Lynch, E. Connolly

Excellence in Visual Arts in Education

H. Dunne, I. Philips

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Tennis Player of the Year

C. Kavanagh Runner-up: A. Gordon

Excellence in English

L. Culliton Runners-up: R. Farrell, J. Ramsay

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NOTE FROM THE EDITORS The experience of compiling the 2014/15 Yearbook has been truly rewarding. It is the incredible achievements and accomplishments of our wonderful school community that make the Yearbook such a joy to read. We were overwhelmed by the many talents displayed by the students from Junior Infants right up to Sixth Year. We would like to thank everyone who helped us to fill the pages with such colourful moments. We hope that reading the 2014/15 Yearbook will bring you the same enjoyment and sense of pride that we have experienced this year. Alex Kavanagh & Catrina Rodgers

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