You can follow what our religion department is getting up to on: @REmaryfield

All first years took part in class retreats this week in the parish centre in St. Vincent De Paul Church, Marino.

The RE department would like to thank the first year students who participated so well together each day.

“We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

Scout’s experience of retreat

“The Theme of the retreat was Self- esteem. Self-esteem is believing in yourself and loving yourself the way God loves you. I enjoyed all of the games that we played because now I know the people in my class a bit better. I found it difficult to meditate at first but when I got into the flow of it I found it relaxing. I had a really fun day.”

Our U19 team reigned supreme in the U19 Dublin final with an emphatic win over Castleknock Community School. The pitch was frozen over at the start of the match but that did not put off our girls. Captain Ava Lambe of sixth year lifted yet another trophy, in what has proven to be a very prolific colleges camogie career. We will now represent Dublin in the All Ireland championships. Well done everyone!

It has been a triumphant return to badminton for Maryfield. Our U16A badminton team has been crowned Dublin and Region champions after a home and away victory over St Mary’s, Naas. The quarter, consisting of Michelle Shocan, Mishalini Gopi, Rayna Jose and Cheryl Nakka, will now represent Dublin as they contest the Leinster championships in March. Well done, girls!

As part of Maryfield’s Whole-School Wellbeing strategy, we will introduce a couch to 5K running programme, beginning on Monday, 23^rd of January. Each pupil is welcome to participate, regardless of fitness levels.

We will meet after school up to three times a week and the aim is for participants to be able to eventually run for 5km without stopping. It starts off with a manageable combination of walking and jogging and progresses towards running only. The plan doesn’t just include running- there will be some general cardio and strength training to help build up muscle and stamina. If you are interested, please sign up on the sports noticeboard. You must also obtain a parental permission form, available on the window ledge across from the sports noticeboard.

Please find attached a PAR Q questionnaire (Physical Activity Readiness ) for anyone interested in participating. If you answer yes to any of the questions, please consult with your doctor before you begin the programme. If any of symptoms occur while participating, you must cease immediately and seek medical help.

We will use a Couch to 5K app (C25k) to keep track of progress. You can complete parts of the programme in your own time. 

The programme will take place on school grounds. Pupils are to wear their own sports gear so their PE tracksuits will still be available for PE classes. Please note, your clothes and footwear may get muddy on occasions.

Our U19 team had a resounding victory over Portmarnock C.S. in their semi-final with a scoreline of 6-9 to 1-1. They will play their final on Friday in Trinity College Sports Ground, Santry at 10.15. Well done, girls!

Well done to our U16A and 14 badminton teams who played St Mary’s, Naas today. The U16s won 4-2 and the u14s lost 4-2.

The u19 camogie team beat Hartstown CS in their quarter-final by a scoreline of 7-14 to 0-0. They will face either St Dominic’s, Cabra or Portmarnock CS in their semi-final. Well done everyone!

Transition Year Musical – High School Musical

Tickets now on Sale

Tickets for 24^th January

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/high-school-musical-tickets-505927822737?utm_campaign=post_publish&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite&utm_content=shortLinkNewEmail

Tickets for 25^th January

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/high-school-the-musical-tickets-505978614657?utm_campaign=post_publish&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite&utm_content=shortLinkNewEmail

TY Musical 2023 High School Musical Promotional Flyer[7]

Ministers Foley and Ryan welcome progress on Schools Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/86414-ministers-foley-and-ryan-welcome-progress-on-schools-decarbonisation-pathfinder-programme/

The Prefects and Ms Farrelly wish to thank all Staff, Students and Parents for their generosity during the Prefects 2nd fundraiser .A very generous €1046.30 was raised for Sonas, which will be used to provide refuge for Women and Children in distress.

It is a longstanding tradition that sixth year students sing carols for the first year students here in Maryfield. This afternoon the sixth years encouraged the first years to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and the need for peace in our world. We sang carols together and listened to readings.

There was a special visitor and we also sang some Christmas favourites. Thank you to all the sixth years who planned and participated in our carol service. A special mention to the stars of the show and to Mary-Kate for her impeccable compere skills.

Thanks to Ms Seery, Ms McCarron and Ms Cooney for their help in preparation of our carol service.

Happy Christmas Everyone

Ways to help young people who are struggling with their mental health

by Naomi Lungu, Jay Muteba, Juliet Murphy and Zoe Lenehan

One Good School

Ms Ryan has captured some beautiful views of Maryfield this Frosty Friday!

The Music Department and Parents Association held a Christmas Musical Evening last Monday night. Thank you to all the students who took part! You are magic!

TY pupils Complete the CPR 4 Schools programme

TY students took part in a “Book Folding” craft workshop as part of Transition Year RE. The workshop took place in the Margaret Alyward Faith Centre in Glasnevin.

On 1^st December the sixth years gathered in the assembly hall for a day of reflection led by our special guest Gerry Keegan. Gerry shared aspects of his own faith journey and encouraged the sixth years to take time to reflect on their own lives and experience. Gerry sang songs and shared his story through examining the lyrics. There were plenty of games and interactive music general knowledge quizzes, correct answers were rewarded with enthusiastic cheers.

It was a powerful experience to be witnessed. Thank you everybody for your respectful participation and sense of  fun throughout the day.

A special word of thanks to our personal Adele act! 😉 Hope you enjoyed the pizza lunch.

The RE Department

Video

It’s that time of the year again and to mark the start of the Christmas Season at Maryfield College, the Parents Association have sponsored the Christmas tree in the school’s courtyard. Thanks to our committee members who helped decorate the tree which looks great alongside the five new benches that the association purchased last month for the school.

Here’s some photos of the 4th yrs. with the gnomes they made in a craft workshop run by Ms Mahoney and Ms McLoughlin. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to all our 2022 Junior Certificate candidates who received their results today! Our girls performed extremely well and made the school very proud.

1st Year Elections 

On the 25th of October the First Year elections took place 

1. The assigned student council members met at the assembly hall after break time. 

      2. They were assigned temporary roles for the election and were explained how to carry out these roles. 

      3. Four assigned members of the Student Council went to collect the first group of First Years and  brought them to the assembly hall where the elections took place. 

       4. After all the groups of First Years voted, all the members were taught how to count votes. 

       5. The elections went really well, and the First Years Student Council members were elected: Lily   Moran from 1R and Abigail Aju from 1L. 

Here is a photo of the prefects not wearing Halloween costumes!

The TY Japanese Class enjoyed a visit to Senbazuru Japanese Restaurant in Fairview with their teacher Ms O Loughlin yesterday.  They all enjoyed their Bento Lunch and using their newly learned Japanese greetings.

Here’s some pics from the Taekwondo National Championships in Limerick last Saturday. Ai Lin got a bronze🥉for 1st Dan patterns and gold🥇in the black belt 1-3 Dan U18 -61kg sparring. Winners will be selected into the National Team and the girl that got silver for sparring is the reigning World Cup Champion! Congratulations, Ai Lin!

Congratulations to Fiona Joby 1L who bought the winning raffle ticket at the Halloween Sale on Thursday 27th of October. Enjoy your prize 😊

Our first years enjoyed a Halloween extravaganza in the pe hall today! Spooktacular!

Fifth years Holly and Rebecca ran a best fancy dress competition with Ms McCarron’s 1st year classes 1L and 1K. Winners were Alisha Alim and Anna Binoy.

5th Year Students enjoyed a morning of teamwork and problem solving at Go Quest in Carrickmines on Friday 14th October. They challenged themselves with a mixture of  mental, physical and skill based ‘quests’ to gather as many points as they could for their team. Enjoy the photos from the day!

Mr Smith, parent Patricia Mulligan and pupils, Sarah O’Rourke and Kayleighann Burgess attended the One Good School Assembly in Croke Park on October 19th. It was an event to celebrate the good work that has been done so far by the participating schools.

The event was organised by Jigsaw, who provide help for young people from the ages of 12 to 25.

Former Irish President, Mary McAleese, was a guest speaker, she spoke about the influence one good adult can have on a student.

🙋Amazing turn out this morning for our #OneGoodSchool assembly – We are joined by 350 teachers and students in Croke Park to discuss how youth mental health can be supported in schools.

Here's what that looks like! 👇 @CEO_JigsawYMH pic.twitter.com/c2ovrCuzaL

— JigsawYMH (@JigsawYMH) October 19, 2022

Ai Lin Sun (4th year) flew the Irish flag high at the VIII ITF Taekwondo World Cup in Koper, Slovenia. She earned two bronze medals – for individual and team sparring.🥋 A massive congratulations, Ai Lin, on this huge achievement!

Here's Ai Lin in action at the World Cup in Slovenia… she's wearing the blue of Maryfield! pic.twitter.com/9rQnP0mcyb

— MaryfieldCollegeDublin (@MaryfieldDublin) October 19, 2022

CLANG is Jigsaw’s campaign to help us all learn about and look after our own mental health and wellbeing. From Monday, 10 to Friday, 14 October, we’re asking you to join us in doing five simple actions proven to help with your mental health and wellbeing.

1. Connect
2. Keep Learning
3. Be active
4. Take notice
5. Give back in support of Jigsaw

Ways to connect

• Connect over lunch, featuring special treats brought in by the students or free pizza.
• Digital detox day, where students and staff don’t use their phones for a whole school day. There’s nothing like removing devices from your day to promote connecting with those around you.
• A screening. Use a room with a projector in and screen a film or game. A love of sport and film can bring people together like nothing else!

Ways to keep learning

• Presentation in school, college, or the student union by one of the organisers, explaining the Five a Day for Mental Health and its benefits.
• Webinar or completion of online course. See what courses we have available on jigsaw.ie
• Learn a new skill. Research a skill such as knot tying, cooking a particular meal, origami, etc. Then teach this new skill to each other!

Ways to be active

• Organised run, walk, or hike. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Pick a nice location locally or further afield and go for a run, walk or hike there.
• Interschool or intercollege sports game. What about students versus teachers or lecturers or a match against another school/college/society?
• Board game evening. So why not organise an evening where people can bring in their favourites?

Ways to take notice 

• Guided meditation There are lots of great guided meditation resources online. Have a look on YouTube and see if anything would suit your group.
• Nature walk around the school or college grounds. Are you near a nice park or located out in the countryside? Why not find a nice spot and go for a relaxing walk as a group?
• Litter pick up around the local area. There are few things more relaxing than taking a stroll and cleaning up your local area.

Ways to give back in support of Jigsaw

• Bake sale. Get a few talented bakers together, make some cakes and treats, and sell them. There’s nothing like a home baked brownie to put a smile on someone’s face.
• Non uniform day/costume day. Let everyone express themselves through their own choice of clothing in exchange for a modest donation. A classic!
• Sponsored run, walk, or hike. Keep things simple, pick a challenging location for a run, walk or hike and get sponsored by friends and family.
• Charity night out, gig or concert. Pick a venue, pick a form of entertainment to offer, and charge for tickets. Maybe throw in a raffle and there you have it!

CLANG with Jigsaw: Team challenge

The TYs travelled to Russborough House in Wicklow last Thursday where they participated in Archery, Zip-lining, High Ropes, Bushcraft and Rock Climbing. They then canoed across the Liffey Reservoir to their campsite, and braved the elements as they camped outside. A great time was had by all, where they learned to work as a team and bond with their year group! Many thanks to their teachers Mr. Dempsey, Mr. Devlin, Ms. Keating and Ms. Cooney for travelling with them!

On Thursday 29^th September we gathered as a community to celebrate the Opening of School Year Mass in St. Vincent De Paul Church, Marino.  Fr. Tom Noone celebrated our Mass with us and blessed our school community for the coming year.  We reflected on the values of our school and the symbolism of the Sunflower. We were encouraged to be like the sunflower.  “Be like the sunflower that follows every movement of the sun and keep your eyes always towards our God”. We formally welcomed all the first year students and new members of our Maryfield Community. There were presentations to our newly appointed sixth year prefects and the four students who represented Maryfield on the Dublin Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. Thank you to all who participated so wonderfully in the Liturgy.

It’s National Walk to School Week! Maryfield chose Wednesday 21st as their day.

Here is a few images from the 4^th Year Physics Design Investigation, building tall, stable towers.

Here are some of Ms Mahoney’s second year art pupils with their pinch pot clay creatures. Well done to everyone concerned.

The Griffith Avenue Mile returns this year. This is a family event and you can run or walk. If you are interested in participating, please contact Mr Smith.

The class of 2022 received their Leaving Cert. results today. They did extremely well and have made the school very proud. Well done to all our candidates and subject teachers.

Leter from NPCPP – LC Helpline 2022[21]

This afternoon we celebrated the end of the current Transition Year by bringing the TY students together with their Year Head Ms McAuley, TY Co-ordinator Ms Ryan and their Form Tutors Ms Cooney, Ms Mahoney and Ms O’Toole and the Principal and Deputy Principal also to look back on all of the wonderful achievements of the year group and to celebrate their collective and individual successes.  We were also very pleased to have with us a representative from Young Social Innovators YSI to present the students with their pins for participation and the winning class 4L with their award for their #whowearsthetrousers campaign.

This afternoon students shared their experience of their participation in European Youth Parliament, An Gaisce, & Relove Fashion Project,  and Ms McAuley and Ms Ryan praised the students for their participation in all TY activities and opportunities with a particular focus on how this years group of TY’s reached out to their local community and those in need of help the most through the Christmas Care Package Initiative and charity fundraisers for Breast Cancer Ireland.  During the afternoon we enjoyed watching montages of both video and photo that reminded the students of all of their achievements and time spent together this year forging new friendships, learning new skills and participating in new experiences. Students all received their individual Transition Year completion certificates and a range of other subject and workshop certs also.

Please take a look through some photos and videos from this afternoons presentation.

We wish all our TY students a lovely Summer and look forward to welcoming them back to school at the end of August as 5^th Years.

Ms Carroll

Attached are some photos of the 5th Year LCVP/Business/Accounting trip to Tayto Park with Ms Darcy, Mr Devlin, Ms Reardon and Ms Bermingham.

Prefects enjoy lunch together, as a thank you for all their hard work. Despite COVID restrictions , such as staggered breaks  hampering their interaction with the junior classes, they still managed to  arrange  quizzes , pancake day for all the juniors,  picnic lunches,  and  3 whole school dress up  fundraisers, raising a staggering €7500. Congratulations, farewell and thank you .

Fourth years reflected on what the word ‘Faith’ meant in the context of their own lives and experiences. They created pieces of art, poetry and music that connected with their understanding of faith.

Congratulations on all your hard work everybody, it was a pleasure to see you working on your pieces and then sharing them with your classmates. A special shout out to our two rappers and their performance of ‘appreciation of life’.

On the 17th of May, the Music Department and Parents Association hosted a Musical Evening for the 1st and 2nd Year Parents. It was a fabulous evening with music from the Junior Choir, Full Choir, 6th Year Chamber Choir, Trad Group and 3rd Year Ai Lin Sun

Congratulations to the Transition Year students that raised a fantastic €422 in aid of St. Francis Hospice from their Spring Memorial Walk. Many thanks to everyone that supported us and donated to this worthy cause.

We are so delighted to announce that Maryfield has been awarded a Diplomatic Passport from Worldwise Global Schools.  This is an award to commend our commitment to Global Justice Education and our work in this area.  It has been challenging to continue our work this year due to Covid restrictions but we continued to prioritize Global Justice in our lessons and were excited to be able to run actions days for International Women’s Day and Anti-Racism Day.  We also ran a very successful Intercultural Week this week!  We look forward to more exciting projects to come!  Thanks to Worldwise and our Education Office Lizzy Noone for her constant support!

The sixth years went for a hike in Howth…

5^th Year Politics & Society students enjoyed a wonderful trip to the Dáil on Friday and had the opportunity to meet Aodhan Ó’Riordain TD and Richard Bruton TD and discuss some of their concerns.

Trip to Knock – 12th May

Fifth years had an early call on Thursday 12^th May. They headed west to Knock, Co. Mayo to take part in the #Livelife reflection day in memory of Donal Walsh.

Donal Walsh is the Kerry teenager who touched so many lives when he came to prominence through his writings and subsequent appearance on Brendan O’Connor’s ‘The Saturday Night Show’. Donal fundraised tirelessly while battling cancer. His family set up the foundation to promote his #Livelife message.

During the reflection day students listened to guest speakers Lisa Fallon, Annette Kelly and Paul Galvin. The speakers talked about the value of practice, positive thinking and pushing towards fulfilling their dreams.

Later, we gathered for mass in Basilica to celebrate and reflect on what Donal’s #Livelife message meant in the context of our own lives. Donal’s parents spoke during the mass keeping Donal’s message alive. We all found it a very thought-provoking experience.

Thank you to all the fifth years who represented our school so respectfully during our day in Knock.

RE Department

Hard luck to our u19A team who lost their final against Our Lady’s, Terenure. Their team was made up exclusively of club players whereas we only had one, so we were a little short changed…

Well done and thank you to our two sixth year players, Grace Gilroy and Claire Canning, who have served us so well over over the years. They’ve won 10 basketball medals between them (and last year there were no matches).

10/5/’22

The Maryfield first year A team won the premier league basketball final against St Louis, Rathmines by a score of 10-7. Captain Marissa Cox lifted the coveted trophy while Isabelle Lyons was awarded the Most Valuable Player hoodie. Well done to student coach, Olivia Ross and thank you for all your hard work. Congratulations, girls!

Class 4R Japanese Culture and Language Trip to Senbazuru Fairview to have a traditional Japanese Bento Box Lunch.  Thanks to our PPLI Japanese Teacher  Ms O Loughlin.

Out 3rd year students enjoyed a wonderful trip to Tayto Park last week. It was so nice to have some fun in the sun together as a year group with our tutors and year head!

Huge congratulations to the u19A basketball team who beat St Mary’s, Killester today to book a place in the final!

As part of the Green Schools module, the students in 4R organised a litter pick of the local area surrounding the school. We collected three large bags of litter:  including face masks, sandwich wrappers, plastic bottles, crisp packets and socks!  Many members of the community thanked us for helping to keep our area clean. Well done to all involved!

The East Leinsters took place on the 28th of April and the 3rd of May this year. Notable achievements were:

Ines Jauny, second in the minor 100m and long jump

Abbie Lowry: 5th in the senior 100m final

Lily Gaskin: 5th in the junior 100m final

First year relay team, finalists

Second year relay team, 3rd in heat

Massive congratulations to Cara Grange, Laura Marmion and Elaine Murphy-Transition Year students who were chosen to represent Ireland at the national finals of European Youth Parliament in Cork.  They are pictured with past pupil-Gabriele Rimkute (EYP) who helped to organize the event.

The Politics & Society Dept. welcomed some past pupils to come to talk to the 5^th year students about their university studies and how their learning in the subject inspired them to continue their studies in the area.  It was lovely to have you back girls!  Best of luck with your studies.

Click on the link to see a short video of the bake sale that 4K and 4L organised to raise money for Breast Cancer Ireland. The total came to €714.09. In loving memory of Ellen Gormley, past pupil and past staff member, who passed away recently. Rest in peace.

Here is a video from 4K and 4R's Bake Sale to raise money for Breast Cancer Ireland. The total came to €714.09 pic.twitter.com/fjN0MOKvz4

— MaryfieldCollegeDublin (@MaryfieldDublin) April 27, 2022

The RE Department organised some pilgrimage days in Glendalough for our second and third year students. Students took time out of their secular lives to enter into the sacred and connect with their spirituality in the beautiful surrounds of Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. They learned about the legends and stories of St. Kevin and the life of a monk.

The choir and music students had a great day out at the @IIMusicSong today in Balbriggan, here we all are standing in the world’s largest guitar 🎸🎶🎤🎼

TEEN SYNOD 2022

On Wednesday 6^th April 2022, five students from Maryfield College (Emily Burke 5thYear, Aoife Quinlan and Aisling Fallon 2^nd year, also Michelle Matthew and Amelia Solinska 1^st year) took part in a TEEN SYNOD GATHERING in the Margaret Aylward Centre, Glasnevin. This event was organised and hosted by St. Mary’s Holy Faith Secondary School and the arish of Our Lady of Dolours, Glasnevin.

Pope Francis wants the Church to be a “Church that listens,” and therefore it is vital that the views and responses of our young people are included in this listening process. The aim of the Worldwide Synod is a process to gather the experiences of Church and Faith from those who are actively involved as well as those who may have become detached from the Church.

The students discussed various things with other students such as – “What is the Church?,” and what has been their experiences of Church or Faith, especially with regard to their own school, community or parish. All students present at the Teen Synod represented the voices of young people who attend a Faith Based Secondary school.

The event was extremely engaging and informative, and all the submissions gathered will now be added to the submissions of the Dublin Diocese, and then will be sent as part of the National Submission to Rome ahead of the Pope’s World Synod in 2023!

In relation to Local Synods- Pope Francis has encouraged openness and freedom to speak using the term “Parrhesia,” which means speaking from the heart in charity. There was a great opportunity for all the students to participate and specially to listen to their peers.

Well done to all our girls involved on the day – they did a fantastic job! May God bless all involved in this process of shaping the Irish Church, within the Universal Church of the future.

(Patricia Seery- Maryfield College)

Here are some photos from Ms Keating’s 2nd year science trip to the Botanic Gardens on Monday.  The girls got to see the Viking House, the organic veg and fruit gardens, the glasshouses with their tropical habitats!

This week is intercultural week.

On Monday, the girls participated in a Bollywood Dancing workshop. (1) MaryfieldCollegeDublin on Twitter: “A great time was had at the Bollywood Dancing today. https://t.co/s1symhxCpn” / Twitter

On Tuesday, the Wadaiko Experience drummed up a storm. (1) MaryfieldCollegeDublin on Twitter: “Waking up the neighbours in style. https://t.co/zPbwMH5HZl” / Twitter

On Wednesday, we sampled some delicious ethnic food. Also, the Enterprise Club created a display of countries represented by students in Maryfield College on our Intercultural Signposts to celebrate diversity and inclusion.

Thursday was Intercultural Day.

Our U19 team contested the U19 shield final against Colaiste Iosagain. Our girls put in a brave and skilful performance and were unfortunate to lose.

Well done and thank you to our four sixth years for all your dedication and achievement. Grace, Claire, Jane and Megan.

Congratulations to Elaine Murphy and Cara Grange-Transition Year students who participated in the Dublin Regional Session for the European Youth Parliament @EYP_Ireland in UCD from 25-27^th March.  The event was organized by Gabriele Rimkute-a past pupil of Maryfield.  Massive Congratulations to all three!

Massive congratulations to Olivia Shibu in 3^rd year came 1st in the Senior Singing Competition for Hindi Music and 2nd overall for Singing and Dance.

Massive congratulations to Ai Lin Sun in 3^rd year who came 1st in the TU Dublin Conservatory u18 Piano Repertoire Competition.

• Staff can find out more about Jigsaw and reflect on their important role in promoting and supporting youth mental health. ​
• It will help them to identify practical strategies that they can use to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people in their role.​
•  After completing this course, they will have the opportunity to sign up for a follow up support webinar. 
• They will need to create a LearnUpon account and can complete the course in their own time.​
•  

Congratulations to Ai Lin Sun 3^rd year who won a gold and a bronze medal in the Irish Taekwon-Do National Championships last week.

Check out this artwork by Aoife Peelo Smyth of 2S. You will learn lots about One Good School from it.

The prefects organised a rounders match for the second years today (15/3/’22). A great time was had by all!

The Maryfield College Parents Association are delighted to announce that their Annual Spring Clean event in association with An Taisce Spring Clean will be taking place again this year on Saturday 2^nd April.

All parents, guardians and students are being invited to give up as much time as they possibly can between 09.30 and 1 pm to help with gardening, weeding , painting and a general ‘Spring Clean’ of the school grounds.

If you cannot help out on the day you may be in a position to donate or loan gardening tools, paint or paint brushes, you can also sponsor plants for the grounds.  The day is always rounded off with refreshments.

The Parents Association have attached a flyer to this email with all the details of the event and how you can register to participate.

We are delighted that this event can take place again this year and hope to have a good turn out of volunteers on the 2^nd of April.

Relove Fashion Champion!

Elaine Murphy of 4L won ‘ Best casual outfit’ at the Relove fashion grand final 2022 today.  The project was based on making a sustainable, wearable outfit. Her outfit displayed great creativity and skill. Well done to all students who entered the competition.

Today in our school we are trying to raise awareness to end violence against women. When you entered our school this morning you were met with over 1,000 stars. These beautiful stars were individually hand woven by Class 4L, and other members of the school community.

The project “ONE MILLION STARS” began in Australia in 2012, when Samoan artist Maryann Talia Pau began weaving the eight-pointed stars as a response to the murder of Gillian Meagher, an Irish woman living in Australia.

Australia reached over one million stars and now it is a global movement trying to create one billion stars throughout the world. The artist Maryann claims that “every time a person weaves a star, they are expressing their hopes, dreams and concerns.” She says, “that weaving stars helps us to feel less alone, and less overwhelmed by the enormity of violence and more confident to face the next step.”

The stars represent LIGHT, HOPE and SOLIDARITY against violence throughout the world.

The Project came to Ireland in 2019, and in connection with the AMBER WOMEN’s REFUGE in Kilkenny, the project hopes to raise awareness of domestic abuse by holding public star installations.

Today in Maryfield as part of INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’s DAY, Class 4L are proud to launch our public STAR Installation. We hope other individuals and communities will join this wonderful project.

SOME IMPORTANT POINTS:

• 1 in 3 women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence and everyday 137 women worldwide are killed by a partner or member of their own family.

• In Ireland, 1 in 4 women experience emotional, physical, sexual, or financial abuse from a partner or ex-partner.

• Since 1996- 244 women have been murdered in Ireland.

• The Pandemic has had an “unprecedented impact on victims of domestic abuse”. There was a 43% rise in the number of women contacting Women’s Aid.

• According to a report based on a nationally representative sample of 500 young people (age 18-25), the report found that 1 in 5 young women were abused with 51% of them under 18 when the abuse started.

• Violence against women is caused by gender inequality. This leads to further inequality as it prevents women from participating in society and achieving their full potential.

Here in Maryfield College, we all have a part to play in putting a stop to violence against women. Let the One Million Stars project inspire and encourage us to work together to end violence against women.

Thank You,

Class 4L

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 8^th March 2022

Ms Cooney and the school choir sang “A Woman’s Heart” for International Women’s Day. Click on the link to watch it.

A Woman’s Heart International Women’s Day.MOV

MsMcLoughlin with students Meabh and Anita from 4L on Ireland AM this morning promoting their YSI project #whowearsthetrousers

Our ty YSI pupils have made the news today! They’ve launched a campaign for more choice in the school uniform.

They also discussed it on Newstalk’s Lunchtime Live.

‘Cold… discriminatory’: Students campaign to end skirt-only uniform policies (irishtimes.com)

Thursday, March 3rd was World Book Day. Our pupils vowed to put their free book tokens to good use!

The 6th year prefects served up a  pancake picnic for the 3rd years on Pancake Tuesday. Delicious!

Well done to the first year A team who won 28-6 against Maynooth PP.

Here are some of the winners from the art competition held as part of Catholic Schools Week. The students were asked to draw or create their image of God.

SHOWCASE AND SHARE –

STUDENT ACTION FOR CHANGE

Patricia Seery / Maryfield College

On Tuesday February 1^st, Maryfield College attended an online gathering to connect with the wider Le Cheile community. This day was to celebrate St. Brigid’s day by showcasing and sharing all the amazing work that all the Le Cheile schools are involved in. the day was a celebration of many forms of student action that our schools are involved in.

Five Maryfield students were involved- Karoline Biju(6thYear), Amy Sheehy and Emma Kearney (5^th Year) and Sophia Malik and Sarah Elders (3^rd Year). There were over four hundred participants from seventy-five schools.  everyone gathered in prayer, in shared activities and shared ideas.

This meeting also provided an opportunity for the teachers involved to connect with other teaching colleagues in the Le Cheile community regarding Student Leadership and ethos in action. As part of the gathering, everyone was divided up into Breakout Rooms, where the students got to talk to each other, and were able to share and highlight the many great things that happen in their school community involving student leadership and action.

The students enjoyed the gathering and perhaps have brought some new ideas back to Maryfield.

Some student reflections:

REFELCTION ON LE CHÉILE’S ST BRIGID’S DAY CELEBRATION 

Since St Brigid’s day is officially a national holiday starting from next year, this year was the last year where schools would be open for St Brigid’s Day. To celebrate this joyous occasion, On the 1^st of February this year, Le Chéile organised a zoom meeting where all Le Chéile schools could gather to show their appreciation for St Brigid, and her core values evident in each Le Chéile school. I had the honour of participating in the celebration and I really enjoyed it. The day started with introductions given by the CEO of Le Chéile and then it moved onto the showcase and share where presentations were made by different schools to showcase the values of St Brigid evident in their schools. I thought all the presentations made by each school were well done. I especially enjoyed the song that was sung by one of the schools. The song was an original written by a student in the school and it showed the talent and creativity found in the Le Chéile schools. It made me reflect on how being a part of Le Chéile has allowed schools to harness their students’ abilities and give them an opportunity to reach their full potential. After the showcase and share, we were put into breakout rooms. This was my favourite part of the day because it allowed me to connect with students from other schools across the country and abroad! We had a chance to talk and present our schools to each other. There were about six other schools in my breakout room, and I really liked how small the breakout rooms were because we all had a chance to talk and converse. When it was my turn to talk, I had so many things I wanted to talk about, but I settled on talking about the One Million Stars project we started doing in school that aims to end violence against women. I wanted to talk about something that was important and something I was proud of doing in school. I also hoped that other schools would hear the idea and would be inspired to also start the project in their own schools. Not only was I able to represent Maryfield and present what we had to offer, I was also lucky enough to take from the experience, new ideas that can be brought into Maryfield such as the initiative to cycle to school or including learning about all the languages found in Maryfield into our intercultural club. I am so thankful to have been asked to be a part of this celebration and I enjoyed and learned a lot from this occasion.

Showcase and Share 2022

My experience in the showcase and share with Le Cheile was very special and moving. I thought it was incredible the way so many schools were connected and were able to spread the things and events that make their school special. I really enjoyed watching the videos that were presented during the meeting as I think they were very impactful as they showed you a visual of all the amazing things they do, whilst watching the videos it just put you in a great mood and made you want to do all those things too. During the zoom meeting I learned that our school and all the other schools celebrate similar events and have similar procedures, but we all do them in different ways. By attending the zoom meeting, it really opened my eyes to some of the ideas that other schools shared and made me want  to bring and spread those ideas in our own school. I think by attending the showcase and share, it really made me want to make a difference in our school and make our school have an even better atmosphere, including environment and do things that don’t just benefit us in Maryfield, but the wider local, national, and international community. Overall, I think the Le Cheile St. Brigid’s day Showcase and share made everyone feel touched and motivated to do amazing things in their schools and made everyone feel included in an experience that will change the way all the schools approach all these events, holidays, social issues, and problems in their schools. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful and impactful event.

• Le Cheile Schools in Action:

https://youtu.be/RbvYRMY1RrM

• Le Cheile Keys Project:

https://youtu.be/t6eTnDtHkWs

• Le Cheile / Welcome to the Le Cheile Centre

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v+GueKPNL05Jl

Senior Cycle Options 2022-2023

Well done to the second year A team who marked their debut with a 10-6 win over St Dominic’s, Cabra.

Check out the posters our first years created to raise awareness about safety on the internet. Safer Internet Day is Tuesday, 8th of February.

#SID2022

Safer Internet Day 

Next Tuesday, February 8th, is Safer Internet Day. In preparation for this day, students will be learning about the importance of online safety, respectful communication on social media platforms and managing their wellbeing online, in Digital Media Literacy. 

This week, students are asked to create a digital poster promoting online safety and include their top tips for developing positive online habits to manage their wellbeing.  

This competition is open to all students in the school. Digital posters should be submitted to Mr Smith via teams by Monday 7th February. The winning poster will be announced on Tuesday the 8th and displayed on the school’s website and twitter account.  

If you have any questions regarding this competition, feel free to ask Mr Smith, Ms Clancy or Mr Dempsey.  

Good Luck!

Student Council Update Newsletter

This year’s current Student Council members are a determined and dedicated group of Maryfield students. Over the past number of months the Student Council have had weekly meetings discussing topics such as organising competitions,, events and coming up with new ways to resolve any issues that arises in school. Since forming in October, this year’s Student Council have accomplished several achievements so far:  

At the start of the year, we carried out our weekly toilet checks to each year group’s toilets as well as wire checks to ensure a safer and cleaner school.  

We had a meeting with Ms. Ryan who spoke to us about CAO booklets for the future and current senior cycle students. We also discussed the school’s digital learning strategy with Ms. McCoy. 

We have informed students about the ISSU survey on Covid in schools. We have discussed issues that year groups have brought up including eating arrangements. We have had several meetings with Ms. O’Rourke about issues that have arisen in school. One of the major policies we have discussed has been the new uniform policy of the introduction of trousers. As a group we have discussed potential designs and ideas for the new trousers.  

We organised our 12 Days of Christmas competition in December in collaboration with the music department. The competition was a huge success, each year got involved with answering the festive questions. We would like to say a massive thank you to all the students who got involved in our competition.  

Most recently, we have begun the process of organising ISIC cards for Maryfield students, which will begin this week. If you would like an application form make sure to come and collect it from us before the due date.  

If you any issues or concerns please make sure to inform your student council representative.  

Sincerely,  

The Maryfield College Student Council 2021-2022.  

You can follow our brand new Twitter account to keep up to date with everything that is happening in Maryfield College.

Find us @MaryfieldDublin

As part of our approach to whole-school wellbeing, we have launched the Drop Everything and Exercise initiative.

What is it?

• It is the use of physical activity breaks during lessons.
• Pupils and teachers stop what they are doing and engage in a little bit of exercise.
• New exercises are tried out every week.

Why?

• These physical activity breaks allow you to clear your mind, get some fresh air and energise yourself.
• They will increase your focus in a fun and healthy way.
• 

We are very proud to say we are enrolled in Jigsaw’s One Good School initiative.

Jigsaw is the national center for youth mental health in Ireland.

The One Good School Initiative involves a whole school approach, aimed at supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people and those around them.

OGS will involve:

• A wide range of activities, based on the school’s needs. These include face-to-face classes, events and online learning options.
• Topics include managing exam stress, anxiety in the classroom, how to get help and self care.
• Young people are the experts in what affects them. Therefore, pupils will have the opportunity to lead, support and promote mental health in Maryfield.

What’s next?

• Right now, we are establishing a One Good School team, made up of school management, teachers, pupils and parents. Their job is to roll out the programme in the school.
• Team members will receive training from Jigsaw. Between now and the summer, they will complete 5 team tasks. One would be to assess the needs of the school in order to plan for September.
• Pupils and parents will start with an online course.

For more information, click here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7xd1Q-jVyU

The week before Christmas, the Transition Year students made chocolate yule logs. Thank you to Ms McAuley and Ms Gordon for organising this for us. We all had great fun and it definitely got us in the festive spirit!

Áine Bolger & Róisín Kelly

This year the Transition year students took part in the Care Pack initiative during November and December. The aim is to spread joy and goodwill towards senior citizens who are residents in a care facility in Ireland. Many of these residents, have had limited visits from family and friends during this time, so when we heard of the opportunity to get involved and make a difference, we couldn’t wait!

55 students from our year volunteered to participate in the project. On completion of our application, we received a list of residents currently residing in local nursing homes within the Drumcondra and Glasnevin area. We wanted to support the residents by wrapping them in a blanket of kindness andwhile they may have to isolate away safely during the pandemic, they most certainly are in our thoughts. We sent letters, cards, gifts, handcrafted items, and treats. All parcels were individually wrapped, packed, and posted. Each package is a unique representation of how we are keeping our senior citizens in our thoughts and prayers over the festive season.

Many thanks to Ms. McAuley for supporting us on this project and well done to all Ty students on thewhat has been a great success– great team work!

Ava Cleary, Megan Savage, Sarah Preston & Louise Hennessey

Students learning how to use chopsticks! Many thanks to their teacher Ms Mika O’Loughlin who takes TY classes for Japanese every Tuesday afternoon as part of the TY Programme.

Today 17^th Dec we had our 2^nd Perfect Fundraiser.  The money raised today was all for Women’s Aid. Staff and Students came to school in Christmas Jumpers, Santa Hats, Tinsel Scarves and Christmas Fancy Dress.

A big thanks to the Prefects and Ms Farrelly for all the festive fun that they brought to the school today and to all staff and students for getting involved and raising money for a worthy cause.

November is a time for remembering and praying for our loved ones who have gone before us and whose loss we feel. It is a time when we are particularly conscious of those in within our school community in Maryfield College who are grieving and all those families who have lost loved ones in the past year. More than most years, this November will be especially poignant as we remember all those who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many thanks to the RE Department who have created this beautiful display to help us remember our loved one who have gone before us.

Our 6^th Year Students who are have been taking Japanese since TY and who will complete the Leaving Cert Japanese Exam visited the Edo in Colour Exhibition yesterday 2^nd November at Chester Beatty Library.  Their teacher  Ms Mika O’ Loughlin organised the trip and by all accounts the students thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon of Japanese culture including their Bento Lunch!

Elle Cooper, Charlotte Velasco, Sophia Rafferty, Cherie Salo, Maja Rycerz, and Daniele Uzpoleviciute

Massive congratulations to Christine Cooke in 5R for getting her drawing published in the current edition of Paper Lanterns, The Teen and young adult’s literary journal. It is a fantastic piece of work and a much deserved achievement. Well done Christine.

2nd Year Students participating in TeamWorks Team Building Workshop on 23rd September, a great opportunity to get to know each other again at the start of the school year and take on challenges that used the mind and body’ A big thanks to Ms McLoughlin and the 2nd Year Form Tutors, Ms Seery, Ms Townshend, Ms Gordon and Ms Keating for organising the day’s activities’

As part of the Green School’s module, our teacher Ms. Gormley brought our class out on a litter pick of the area around our school for a class. We wore high-vis jackets, and we had litter pickers, gloves, and plastic bags. We picked up a lot of litter in the area around our school, including masks, plastic bottles, pizza boxes, and even tweezers and a make-up brush. We found it surprising and disappointing that although there are public bins, people are still littering. Many members of the public thanked us for keeping our area clean.

Dearbhla Parker, Sara Zenelaj, Nadine Rafferty

Our 3rd and 6th year students had great days out to the National Concert Hall to see their Course Set Works performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Many thanks to Ms. Byrne, Ms. Flynn, Ms. Cooney and Ms. Clancy who accompanied them on their outing.

The Maryfield u16 team narrowly missed out on winning the div A Dublin colleges camogie championship. They lost by 2 points against St Joseph’s, Lucan.

They also travelled to Wexford to play Colaiste Bride in the all ireland semi final.

Congratulations to the three teams who contested the basketball finals on the 16th of January. The u16 and 19 A teams were victorious against St Mary’s, Killester and Our Lady’s, Drogheda respectively. The u19B team fought bravely but succumbed to a strong St Mary’s, Baldoyle team

1st year Home Economics class made Oreo truffles today and packaged them as gifts to give to their family and friends.

2nd Years made delicious mince and apple pies.

Great fun was had by all doing Christmas cookery.

Maryfield students who took part in the Poetry Aloud Competition in the National Library of Ireland earlier this term

Many thanks to Ms. Whyte for preparing the students for this competition.

Transition Year student and her horse Indie jumping in the Interschools League

Ar an 12 Samhain 2019, ghlac daltaí agus múinteoirí ó Choláiste Pháirc Mhuire páirt i nGaeilge 24. Is dúshlán é Gaeilge 24 chun daltaí scoile a spreagadh chun labhairt as Gaeilge amháin ar feadh 24 uair an chloig; sa bhaile, ar scoil agus gach aon áit eile. Tá an dúshlán á eagrú ag Conradh na Gaeilge agus ghlac 30,000 dalta ó 300 scoil páirt i mbliana.

Deis iontach ba ea í do na daltaí a gcuid Gaeilge a feabhsú agus a chur chun cinn sa scoil. B’iontach an rud é an Ghaeilge a chloisteáil timpeall na scoile.

Bhí lá den scoth againn i gColáiste Pháirc Mhuire agus bhain gach duine taitneamh agus sult as an lá.

Thosaíomar le Bricfeasta Gaelach ar maidin agus bhí Pop-up Gaeltacht againn ag am lóin. Labhair na daltaí as Gaeilge don lá ar fad. Comhghairdeas leo go léir.

Beatha teanga í a labhairt !

Translation

On the 12th November 2019, students and teachers from Maryfield College took part in Gaeilge 24. Gaeilge 24 is a challenge which encourages pupils to speak only in Irish exclusively for 24 hours; at home, in school and everywhere else. The challenge is organised by Conradh na Gaeilge and this year 30000 students from 300 schools took part.

It  was a wonderful opportunity for the students to improve their Irish and to promote it in the school. It was wonderful to hear the Irish language being spoken around the school.

We had an excellent day in Maryfield College and everyone enjoyed the day.

We started with Breakfast in the morning and we had a Pop-up Gaeltacht at lunch time. The students spoke in Irish for the whole day. Congratulations to everyone.

As part of our Transition Year Computer Coding Module 4K took a trip out to visit Cisco Systems a company that uses programming and coding to produce communication systems for companies throughout the world. They learnt that Cisco was voted the number one company to work for in Ireland in 2019.

The girls had a fun filled and informative day learning about the history of the company and how it all started. They got to meet a Sales Engineer and they had a talk by a female employee who works as a coder within Cisco creating a communication tool for companies called Web Ex.

They got to play with interactive screens and communicate with each other on different screens and in different rooms throughout the building. A great day was had by all.

Thank you Cisco!

Transition Year Students attended a talk today by guest speaker Fionnbar Walsh, the father of Donal Walsh and a representative of the #LiveLife Foundation.

The talk was about Donal’s life and struggles when he was diagnosed with Cancer as a teenager. Donal Walsh, the Kerry teenager who touched so many lives when he came to prominence through his writings and subsequent appearance on Brendan O’Connor’s ‘The Saturday Night Show’ is being honored by his native county. Donal who fund raised tirelessly while battling Cancer has now had the Donal Walsh #Livelife Foundation set up by his family primarily in order to promote his anti-suicide #Livelife message.

This talk was moving and inspiring and promoted Donal’s message to live your life to the full and when you are struggling in life to reach out and tell a friend, find someone you can open up to, there is always help.

Donal’s message has inspired the class of 4K to create a Charity Christmas calendar that will promote this important message and all funds raised will go towards the #LiveLife Foundation.

Thank you Fionnbar for sharing Donal’s story with us!

5th and 6th Year Politics & Society students attended The Claire Byrne Live Show in RTE Studios on Monday 16th September.  The group had the opportunity to meet some of the producers of the shower and participate in the debates broadcasted live on RTE 1 Television.

€1,170 raised for Sherrard House, for homeless Teens.
Thanks to all for their support and enthusiasm.

The first year A team beat st Dominic’s, Cabra by 4 points. The second year A team beat st Mary’s, Glasnevin by the same margin.

The first year captain is Grace Cleary and the second year one is Roisin Boland.

The Annual  Public Speaking Competition for girls U’15 years organised by The Irish Federation of University  women took place in UCD Belfield on Saturday 2nd February at ! p.m.

Maryfield’s three first year ambassadors spoke with eloquence on their given Topics

Suzanna Jurkiewiez  Teenage Years
Ella Foley    Travel
Sara Vailiu   Social Media

Congratulations to Ella Foley who was awarded Best Speaker overall for her amazing speech ‘ My mobile phone travels everywhere with me’

Ella  will represent Maryfield in the final in the Edmund Burke Hall at Trinity College Dublin in three weeks time. Suzannah  Ella And Sara were also awarded certificates  for their excellent participation

What was outstanding about their  speeches was that  they were allowed only 30 minutes to prepare .

A special thanks is due to all who supported this event- parents, members of staff,  students  inparticular Nina Coghlan Colley  who gave  valuable advice from her experience last year   and to our loyal  first year substitute Emma Venables

Congatulations Ella Sara and Suzannah

Ms Whyte

Transition Year students from the Green Schools class  with their teachers Ms.Parkinson and Ms. Carroll organized their own Beach Clean at Burrow Beach, Sutton in association with Clean Coasts and An Taisce Spring Clean.  On Monday 25th February the students assembled at Burrow Beach and armed with litter pickers they spent the afternoon clearing the beach of plastic fishing netting and rope,plastic bags, empty bottles and Aluminium cans and other general rubbish.  The beach clean was also another step for Maryfield College in the achievement of its third green flag for water conservation.

Congratulations to Class 4L on winning ‘Best Artistic Performance’ at the YSI Speak Out on March 4th in the Mansion House. Their project involves lobbying the government for free sanitary products for girls in schools and colleges. They wrote a poem and performed powerfully on the day. We all had a great day.

Congratulations to the u16 camogie team who were crowned Dublin champions! They beat St Macdara’s by 21 points and will now represent Dublin at All Ireland level.

On Friday 18th January 2019, the 3rd annual Intercultural Day was held in Maryfield College.  The day saw Maryfield hall exploding with colour, sounds, tastes and culture from all over the world.  In total there were, 16 countries exhibiting and Maryfield students represented their cultures confidentially and passionately. 

The day is a wonderful opportunity for students with diverse cultural heritage to present their culture to the other students in the school and it is a great chance for us as a school community to learn more about other cultures in the world and perhaps more importantly, the diversity of the other cultures we have here in Maryfield. 

The day was organized by Ms. Mellon and The Global Issues Group and supported by Worldwise Global Schools and Irish Aid.  We were delighted to have Lauren Wright from Concern Worldwide present on the day to encourage the students to engage with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and learn more about how their actions impact the wider world.

The Global Issues Group see this day as a really important part of celebrating diversity in Maryfield and reminding us that all over the world, we are united by our common humanity.  We hope that days such as these might remind us to continue to look out for our brothers and sisters all over the world and to always endeavour to live responsibly and sustainably so that we can ensure a fairer more just world in the future.

Download the timetable here

The annual Mince Pie and Mulled Wine Evening for parents of First Year students took place on Tuesday the 4^th of December. The event began with a concert showcasing the musical talent of students from throughout the school. The audience was treated to performances by the school choir, the Maryfield Wind Ensemble, the First Year Music class and a variety of soloists. The varied and entertaining programme certainly captured the Christmas spirit. The evening concluded with a reception hosted by the Maryfield Parents’ Association. A very enjoyable evening was had by all.

Programme:

Once again Maryfield College has managed to fill the list of 133 children for the Christmas toy appeal for the SVP. All these toys will go to local conferences and make Christmas a little nicer for people who have little. Thank you to all staff, students and the Parents’ Association for all the wonderful toys donated.

The semi-finals of the Poetry Aloud Competition took place on Thursday 22 November in the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street. Maryfield’s semi-finalists in the Intermediate Category were Sara Coogan and Aoife Kehoe.  Both students were flawless in their recitals of both their prescribed poem ‘The Great Blasket Island’ by Julie O’Callaghan and their personally chosen poems from one of the prescribed Anthologies. Judges remarked that they found the standard very high and complemented all competitors who reached this stage of the competition. Sara and Aoife came away with the award of being a semi-finalist from well over 1,300 entrants and look forward to the Poetry Aloud Competition in 2019.

Transition Year, 5th and 6th Year students all attended the Careers Fair which took place in the Maryfield Sports Hall on Tuesday 13th November. The range of industries and professions represented at the event included Technology, Healthcare, Finance, Civil Service, Education, Government Bodies, Aviation, Legal, IT and Engineering. The colleges in attendance were National College of Ireland (NCI), Dublin City University (DCU), Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Maynooth University and Portobello Institute. The students visited each stand and employers were able to share their experience and career pathways as well as offering information and advice to the students. Admissions Officers from the colleges provided our students with information and advice about the vast range of courses available and how to research their future options. Two local politicians, Richard Bruton and Naoise Ó Muirí, lent their support to the occasion with Naoise Ó Muirí providing very practical insights into the working life of a politician. Ms. Ryan, Guidance Counsellor, is very appreciative of all the people who gave their time freely for the benefit of the students. Employers and students reported how much they enjoyed the event and found it useful. It was good practice for students to engage with people from the world of work and ask career related questions on a one to one basis. This was a vibrant and hugely successful event for the Maryfield school community. We are extremely grateful to all staff members and parents who assisted in the organisation of this very beneficial event.

The choir have just returned from a lovely trip to Sligo for the Sligo International Choral Festival. We set off very early from school and arrived at IT Sligo. We enjoyed a choral workshop before the competition. The choir sang two pieces arranged for SSA choir, ‘City of Stars’ from the movie La La Land, and Burt Bacharach’s ‘I Say A Little Prayer’. We had a great day out. Looking forward to many more singing opportunites. Many thanks to the teachers who accompanied us that day – Ms. Clancy and Ms. Tyrrell.

Our First Year students enjoyed a fun afternoon of Halloween themed games, activities and treats to celebrate their first term as Maryfield Girls. Well done to all on participating with such enthusiasm. Thanks so much to all those who helped to set up the Sports Hall and in particular to the Sixth Year prefects who ran the afternoon for the First Years. What a lovely way to start the mid-term break. 🎃👻

Some members of the Global Issues Group attended a workshop on World Food Day last Friday 20th October. The workshop was organized by Concern Worldwide and offered the students an opportunity to engage with students from other schools on the topics of sustainable development goals and the challenges surrounding global hunger.

The Maryfield College Debate team successfully opposed the motion “Individuals serious about climate change must give up eating meat” in their first debate this year of the Concern Debates series. The team debated against Moyle Park College and enjoyed exchanging thought-provoking ideas before the judges brought back their unanimous decision in favour of Maryfield.

The prefects held their first fundraiser of the school year on Friday 12 October. This purpose of the event was to raise funds for St. Francis Hospice and also to remember our dear pupil Ciara Hawe. €1,765 was raised on the day and we all enjoyed looking pretty in pink!

Congratulations to Transition Year student Katie Farrell, who received the award for Female Second Level student from the “Write Here, Write Now” Writing Competition. This competition is presented annually by Hot Press Magazine, in conjunction with Creative Writing Ireland and the Irish Writers Centre. Katie was presented with the “Very Highly Commended” award by the Most Honourable President Michael D. Higgins at the Irish Writers Centre on Monday the 28th May. Katie also won an award for her writing from Trinity College Dublin earlier in the year. Well done Katie!

Three First Year science students, Martyna Baran, Anna Kendellon and Lara Phipps, represented Maryfield College in the Salters’ Chemistry Festival held in Trinity College on Saturday 21st April 2018.This is an annual event held in the Chemistry Department of Trinity College to promote science among First Year students. This year twenty-four schools participated in the festival.

The three Maryfield students won first prize in the Salters’ Challenge and according to the judges they obtained one of the highest marks ever awarded for this Challenge.

Well done girls!

We congratulate all our Maryfield competitors in SciFest@DCU 2018.  SciFest is an all-inclusive, all-island science initiative which fosters active, collaborative and inquiry-based learning among second-level students. It involves second-level students showcasing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) projects at a series of one-day science fairs. We are very proud of our eleven students who represented Maryfield so well at this prestigious festival. Well done to all!

Maryfield competitors: Ramsha Owais, Charlotte Velasco, Ava Flynn, Elle Cooper, Holly Donnelly, Elycia Flood, Anu Thomas, Sarra Ryan, Róisín Brennan, Viktorija Cvetkove, Leah Wu.

Maryfield College choir recently performed in the choral section of the Kilkenny Music Festival. This was a very enriching experience for these students whose love of singing was very evident on the day. They sang in two competitions and were awarded a second place and third place against very notable competition. Participating in the Sacred Music and Post-Primary School Choir categories, they gave very musical performances of John Rutter’s May the Lord Bless You and Keep You and Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus. Adjudicator Peter Stobart commended the choir for their tone and musical interpretation, produced under the baton of their dedicated conductor Ms. Flynn.

You can listen to the choir’s prizewinning performances on the below video.

[vimeo width=”600″ height=”400″]https://vimeo.com/264217101[/vimeo]