National Anti-Bullying Week 2024 (November 11th – 15th) followed immediately after National Stand-Up Week 2024 with the fitting theme of Choose Respect.

Last week in our school we chose to focus on our student-designed School Pledge which adds Kindness to the national message of choosing respect in our treatment of every individual in our school.

Our ABA message for this year is Inclusion is the Conclusion which is why awareness of the nine grounds for discrimination is only the starting point. Respect for diversity is essential but kindness is crucial for making our school a happier place for everyone. Well done to our student Anti-Bullying Ambassadors for offering reminders to us all of our promise to keep our School Pledge during this year’s National Anti-Bullying Week 2024.

Please feel free to look through a selection of photos of our students creating a vibrant rainbow of colour and happy smiles during our Rainbow School for a Day on November 8th in the gallery attached.

Please take a read of a recent article that the Irish Independent ran on our Schools Mock Election that took place last week. 

Credit to Nell Grzybowska from TY on the Election Press Committee who organised for the Independent group to cover our debate.

FF election candidate criticises minister’s decision to spend €9m on phone pouches for schools | Irish Independent

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

The Loreto College Foxrock Parents Association is up and running for this school year. We have lots of new members and would like to introduce you to your year representative.

1st Yr: Emer Carty & Mary Louise Irwin 

2nd Yr: Nessa Carson & Louise Hickey 

3rd Yr: Jennie Pluck & Denise Ceannt 

TY: Alberto Sanchez & Jane Long 

5th Yr: Michelle Rourke & Anna Hand 

6th Yr: Louise Martin & Joanne Boothman.  

The PA meet once a month and are involved in many events through out the school year including; our Christmas Concert, TY Musical, Ladies Lunch and The Foxrock Games to name just a few.

This year your year rep will be communicating with you through the Notice Board Section on the school app. The Notice Boards are on the menu board on the main page of the school app. The minutes from our monthly PA meetings will be posted along with information on upcoming events and fund raising initatives. The noticeboards can be used for parents to ask questions within a year group and respond to your Parent Rep if they are looking for parent volunteers for events such as The Foxrock Games. 

The minutes to our October PA Meeting are currently posted on your board now. 

Please keep and eye out for any notifcations that are coming from your noticeboard. If you are having abny trouble accessing it please email me on jbrock@loretofoxrock.ie

A big thank you to our PA for giving their time so genrously and we look forward to a fun and productive year ahead. 

Today saw the "Foxrock General Election Special 2024" where candidates from the local constituencies were invited to the school to debate issues and answer questions from our students. 

Candidates faced questions this morning submitted from all year groups, provoking lively and interesting debate in areas such as education, housing, immigration, local transport and disability access.

Congratulations to all the student volunteers who organised and ran today's event - particularly to TYs, the Student Council and the Senior Debaters. Many thanks also to the teachers involved - Ms Early, Ms Giblin, Ms McGinley and Ms Lea.

We look forward to tomorrow lunchtime when Student Council will run our own mock election at lunchtime in the Concert Hall. 

Please click the attached link for the latest newsletter from Loreto Rumbek, our sister school in South Sudan, Africa. 

National Stand-Up Week 2024 is being celebrated this week in Loreto College Foxrock. The theme for this year is Standing up in our Communities by challenging prejudice and discrimination wherever it is encountered.

Our student Anti-Bullying Ambassadors (ABAs) have developed this further by presenting our own theme for this school year – Inclusion is the Conclusion. This links to the foundation of our ABA designed whole-school pledge which is to treat everyone with real kindness and respect.

Our ABAs have designed a range of educational and fun Stand-Up activities to foster awareness and empathy. Their badge competition has been a huge success, and students and staff are enjoying wearing different student designed badges each day of Stand-Up Week 2024. The creators of the winning badge designs will be announced on Friday.

Our corridors provide a Stand-Up educational Walkabout with definitions of key terms and facts visible as the correct and respectful use of language is the cornerstone of kindness and inclusion in every context. Our ABAs are presenting each day this week on different aspects of what standing up against prejudice, being an ally and what inclusion involves. They have also arranged a fabulous balloon Rainbow Arch at the entrance to our school, adding further to the bright colour and positivity of this week.

This Friday, we plan to make our school a living ‘Rainbow School for a Day’ by asking each year to wear a top in a particular colour: 1st Years – red; 2nd years – orange; 3rd years – yellow; 4th years – green; 5th years – blue and 6th year – purple. All other items worn must be school uniform.

We look forward to our school being a rainbow of colour on Friday!

Friday marked the end of the first term of 2024/25 at Loreto Foxrock and what a way for it to end!  The talent show was truly astounding. As a parent for a few years at this stage and now also a staff member I was lucky enough to experience the talent show first hand!  To say it blew my mind probably sounds a little strong but it’s true!

The girls performed as solo performers, duos, small groups, class groups and everything in between.  And what a talented bunch! – singers, violinists, guitarists, pianists, dancers, storytellers, comedians…  And even better than the talent on show was the support from the student body for each other! The cheering and whoops of appreciation could be heard by our neighbours in Springfield Park I’m sure! I loved it, the confidence of the girls and the ability to laugh at themselves, all at once.

And then there were the staff, who knew there was so much hidden talent! I won’t name names but whoever it was, they should have put a ring on it!!!  There were shivers down the spine for the beautiful rendition of Fairytale of New York and no-one knew where to look when One Direction took to the stage!! I could go on and on…

They are lucky girls. 

In musical parlance, 2024 that’s a wrap!!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2025 from all at Loreto Foxrock.