The menu for the coming month is now live on the Get Fresh website getfresh.touchtakeaway.net/menu

To avoid queues and delays, we would encourage students to choose the pre-order service available.

Please find attached a letter from the Principal.

The site preparation for the long awaited OLS Sports Dome begins on Monday!

TY’s came back from the working world this week with more knowledge and experience than they left with! We would like to congratulate everybody on successfully completing their first week of work experience and we have heard nothing but good things back from their employers. Well done!

Junior Cycle results came out last week and we are very proud of all our TY students and all the hard work that they put in, which is clearly reflected in their results! Ms. Gorby personally congratulated all the TY’s on Monday in the Lecture Theatre as well as telling them that a surprise awaited them the Tuesday. 

On Tuesday morning a buzz filled the air and the TY’s were nearly falling over with excitement. In the morning they watched Lindsay Lohan’s latest Christmas Movie “Falling for Christmas”, getting into the festive spirit while enjoying the treats supplied by the teachers! In the afternoon they headed outside to participate in the incredible team building activities set out for them by the company Teamworks. These activities included bean bag three-in-a-row, a hula hooping battle and crack the code. The competition was high between all the teams and everybody worked together to try and bring their group to victory. I think we all agree that this was a thoroughly enjoyable day for all TY’s!

Wednesday saw the TY’s split as some budding entrepreneurial students visited the beautiful Christmas Craft Fair in the RDS to see what they were selling on the stalls and they learnt all about prices and managing a small business! The other half visited the one and only Microsoft Dreamspace and they were given valuable insights into coding, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and mixed reality. From using their eyes to send a word to their team, to programming sphereos (sphere shaped little robots) to navigate a perfect square, it was definitely a thoroughly enjoyable day and one that everybody benefited from. We loved to see all the creative chariots that each team designed for their sphereo, from butterflies to reindeer the TY’s displayed their artistic and teamwork skills wonderfully and they were great representatives for our school. Well done to both groups and we all can’t wait to return for our second day in Microsoft Dreamspace in February!

On Thursday any TY’s interested in science attended a valuable Physics webinar, focusing on how Physics is used in the real world. They participated in interactive webinars, thought provoking lectures and experiments which allowed these Physics passionate students to experience it in a different light. They heard about the work of researchers in this field and gained a beneficial insight into what it would be like to study Physics at a university level. We hope that this workshop was helpful and that anyone attending availed of the information given to them. 

What a busy week TY’s have had! But wait, it wasn't over just yet. Friday came and the TY’s travelled to their second development day of the year. The 5 TY classes all completed a different activity ranging from self defence to visiting different museums around town. It was great to see the level of engagement from all TY’s and we hope that they enjoyed the day and learnt as much as they could, both of which are what the development days are all about!

TY as always is full of exciting and interesting things to sign up for. This week the notifications were pinging in from google classroom to notify all that was on offer! The anticipated Ski Trip google form went up along with the offer of the Camino! These two trips are coveted in Our Lady’s and always greatly enjoyed by all who attend them. In order to be in with the chance to get a space on either trip you must fill out the google form expression of interest by today, Friday the 2nd of December, stating which trip(s) you would like to go on.

Also on google classroom this week, the fourth years were given the application link once again to join the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin for a week where they will explore learning spaces of the future and how to make education better for everyone. The programme will run from February 20th – 24th 2023. Please note this does clash with the TY Subject Choice Talks and a few workshops that week. This is a great opportunity and one that we hope a few of our TY’s will apply for. Lastly, for this week the fourth years were given the opportunity to sign up for the STEPS engineering programme. STEPS is a not-for-profit strategic outreach programme that promotes engineering as a future career for young people. They are running multiple programmes in all areas of engineering in universities across the country. We would encourage any TY student who is considering pursuing a career in engineering to apply for one of the programmes as it would be very worthwhile and perhaps help you decide if a career in engineering is for you. 

Next week the school will be closed on Monday but it will be open as normal Tuesday. Ms. McAleer’s English class will go to the Fighting Words Workshop on Tuesday afternoon. Google forms regarding the second and third weeks of work experience are now available to be filled out on the TY google classroom and we would encourage everyone to do so as promptly as possible. In addition to that, anyone who needs garda vetting for their next week of work experience should go and see Ms. Phelan as soon as possible as this is something that can take many weeks to get. Finally just a gentle reminder to all TY’s that their exams on the 15th-16th of December are fast approaching so it is time to brush the dust off the books and begin revising! We hope you all have a nice long weekend and we will see everybody at the usual time Tuesday morning.

Contributed to by Saibh Gormley and Maria Hennelly (TY Journalism).

AWS GetIT

On Thursday Laura from Amazon Web Services (AWS) came to the school to meet with our First Year students to let them know about the AWS Get It programme. AWS GetIT is a program and competition designed to inspire 12-14 year old students, especially girls, to consider a future in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). The program helps schools and educators bring tech role models to their classrooms and gives them access to curriculum designed to help students build foundational skills, learn about cloud tech, and design app ideas to solve problems in their communities. Many thanks to Laura for visiting our school and hopefully some of our First Year students will sign up to be involved in the programme as an extracurricular activity. Details of how students can sign up will be emailed to them next week. 

Craft Fair

The TY Enterprise class attended the Craft Fair in the RDS on Wednesday. They are preparing for their Christmas Enterprise Fair coming soon! 

Physics Talk

Ten TY students attend a UCD Physics online workshop. It provided information on studying physics and different careers in the world of physics. 

Short Story Competition

The library is also running a Christmas Short Story Competition. Submit a Christmas related short story for a chance to win a prize. Maximum length of 5 pages and only one submission per person. Due by Thursday 15th December. Email your story to <40>library@olschool.ie Any questions please see Miss O Neill in the library.

A reminder that school is closed on this coming Monday the 5th of December. 

Many thanks. 

Congratulations to Eliana, Kathryn, Rachel, Maria, Jane and Ciara on the exceptional number of distinctions they achieved in their Junior Certificate results!

Advent

The start of Advent began on Sunday and here at Our Lady’s School we celebrate by lighting a candle each week in the run up to Christmas. Fifth Year student Ella McCabe lit the first advent candle on Monday. 

Le Chéile Council

Congratulations to all the girls in the Le Chéile Council who received their badges from Claire Kilroy the Le Chéile ethos leadership officer. 

Matilda Musical

On Tuesday the First Years celebrated Alisha Weir whose film Matilda was released last Friday. We are all very proud of her work and can't wait to watch it! Some students presented her with flowers, gifts and a signed frame from everyone in the year. 

Result Celebrations

The TYs celebrated their Junior Cycle results on Tuesday with some fun group activities with Team Works. The students had to work together to figure out each activity. 

FEAST Ireland

The Third Year students were visited by FEAST Ireland on Tuesday. They taught us all about past, present and future food production. The students got an insight into the global food industry and all of its hidden secrets, as well as everything that happens before the food we eat arrives on our plate. After learning about food sustainability and waste, students were invited to try some interesting sustainable foods. Students tasted sourdough bread, granola made with repurposed grains and some very brave students tried some oysters!

Almost Christmas!

The school has been decorated for Christmas. Our House Captains have decorated the individual trees representing each house and their colours in the GPA. 

As part of our SSE (School Self Evaluation) for the year we ask parents, students and staff a to complete a survey in order to provide us with a rounded view of the learning experience for students in our school. Your response to the survey helps us to identify and plan our targets each year in order to provide the best possible learning environment for our students. We would really appreciate you taking two to three minutes to complete this survey: forms.gle/XPM2TKimKQHuggnz8

Many thanks.

UCD’s Ad Astra Academy Scholarship Programme comprises of three strands-Academic, Elite Sports and Performing Arts. For the September 2023 intake, the applications to the Elite Sports and Performing Arts Programme closes on 31st January 2023. The application is made online, www.ucd.ie/adastraacademy/. Academic Scholarships will open next February and close in August 2023. The Academy provides a nurturing infrastructure for students who show exceptional potential in academic pursuits, sports or the performing arts. This includes a bursary, academic mentoring, a scholars room, workshops with industry experts, elective modules, team building evenings, campus accommodation, innovative supports and more that will help them to achieve at the very highest levels.