Winners of Trinity Book of Kells Competition

Congratulations to Sneha Singh and Shijin Li in J6 Red who were merit winners in the Primary category of this competition. This was a writing and art competition and Sneha and Shijin both competed in the writing part. The girls and their families attended a special awards ceremony at Trinity College on, January 17th. Well done, girls!

J5 Book of Kells Writing Workshop

Our J5 students really enjoyed a workshop on the history of the Book of Kells, the monks and the scriptoriums. Well-known author, Sarah Webb, led the workshop for the girls. They also got to write with quill pens! They talked about the letters and the animals and they decorated their own name using Book of Kells style lettering. It was all very interactive and hands on.

Past Alex Teacher Celebrates her 100th Birthday!

All of the students and staff in the Junior School would like to wish former teacher, Ms Honor Stuart, a very Happy 100th Birthday! Ms Stuart taught English in Alex for many years and still comes back to attend many events in the College. One of our students in J6, Sneha Singh, made a really beautiful card for Ms Stuart from all the girls in the school. We hope Ms Stuart had a great birthday party and we wish her continued good health and happiness.

J6 Power Walk Challenge

The J6 classes completed a 3-mile power walk along the Dodder with Ms Tracey on Wednesday afternoon. As you can see from the photos, the girls really enjoyed themselves.

Dog’s Trust Visit

On a cold but bright Friday afternoon, the girls from J3 Red boarded the Alex bus for a short journey along the M50. As we approached Dublin Airport and heard the humming of jumbo jets over our heads the girls, Ms Evans and Mr Fitzgerald were becoming very excited. However we weren’t about to fly abroad… we were excited by the bright yellow building just beside the airport, Dog’s Trust.

We left the bus to be greeted by Audrey, the Dog’s Trust education officer who visited us in September with her dog Lucy. Audrey was very impressed with how much the girls remembered from her visit. They are proving themselves to be excellent and responsible dog owners.

We went to visit the dogs that were almost ready for adoption. Some dogs have been so badly treated in the past that it takes them time to get used to having humans around. Even so, we doubt that they were expecting a visit from very excited J3s who were happy to say hello.

We also visited the newborn puppy area, vet facilities and training gardens used by the staff and volunteers to give the dogs the best treatment possible and hopefully a new ‘forever’ home.

Audrey finally asked the girls if they had any questions about caring for dogs to conclude our visit.

We left with a very important message for everyone: A Dog Is For Life, Not Just For Christmas.

Thank you to Ms Walsh for organising, Audrey and all at Dog’s Trust for having us, Ray for driving and to Ms Evans for accompanying us.

We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands!

Last Monday, we had an inspector from An Taisce visit the school to see how we are progressing with our Green Schools Programme. Audrey met with our wonderful Green Schools Committee and they showed her all the great work that we are doing in the Junior School. Well done to everyone in the Junior School as the Green Schools programme is a real team effort. We will hear in the next few weeks if we will be awarded another Green Flag. Many thanks to Ms Stapleton and Ms Mulligan for all their work in helping out with this programme. Each class created a poster to illustrate our Green Code: We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands.

New Year’s Strings Concert

Parents, extended family members and staff were treated to a wonderful musical evening on Thursday. Both Junior and Senior students and their teachers performed. The JS orchestra was terrific and we were so proud of all of our students. The concert featured solo harp, solo violin, piano/violin, JS Orchestra and the SS Chamber Orchestra. Huge thanks must go to Ms O’ Rourke for organising the event and to our music teachers (violin, piano, harp) Ms Dabek, Ms Kelly and Ms. 0’Connor for preparing the girls so well.

J5 Stem Workshops

A STEM workshop will be held for the J5 girls on 26 January 2018. This workshop will look at the various ways that the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects (STEM) can crossover and be applied in real-life business situations. The workshop is hosted by Mastercard and is called “Girls4Tech”. It is an interactive, hands-on workshop based on the technology that Mastercard uses on a daily basis. It connects the foundations of this technology to STEM principles and shows the students that it takes all kinds of interests and skills to pursue a career in STEM.

The students will work in groups and they will be looking at algorithms, digital convergence, encryption, near-field communications and partaking in some detective work.

Dates for Your Diary

Sunday 18^th      Boarders return

Monday 19^th    School re-opens 8.45am. JACA Committee meeting 7.00pm

Tuesday 20^th    Swimming J1/J2 (Please put names on all items!)

Thursday 22^nd  JACA Talk – “An Evening with Tomi Reichental” 7.30pm JS concourse  (See below)

From the Office

Clarification: The Senior School will close for teacher training on Monday, February 26^th and Friday, March 9^th. The Junior School will remain open as usual.

Lunch Cards: Please top up your daughter’s lunch card if it has gone into arrears. Daily lunch charges are as follows: €4.00 (KGLr/KGUpr) and €4.30 (J1-J6). Call Ms. Higgins in the school office if you have any questions: 01 4704617 or email jsinfo@alexandracollege.ie   

Lost Property There are a number of items in the Lost Property box in the JS concourse – all have no names on them! There are five school coats, PE tops and a large variety of hats, scarves, gloves and water bottles. There are even two packed swimming bags with towels that must belong to students in J3/J4, as they have been going swimming for the last few weeks.

From JACA

JACA Talk for Parents:  

“An Evening with Tomi Reichental”

Thursday, February 22nd 2018 – JS Concourse at 7.30pm.

Tomi was born in 1935 in Slovakia. His idyllic childhood in rural Slovakia was cut short at the age of nine in October 1944 when he was rounded up by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, along with 12 other members of his family. The rest of the family was sent to Buchenwald. Miraculously, Tomi, his brother and mother survived Belsen and his father survived as a partisan. Altogether, 35 members of the Reichental family – grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins – died in the Holocaust. For nearly 60 years, Tomi didn’t speak of his experiences “not because I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t.” Since breaking his silence he has been on a mission of remembrance. Tomi has lived in Dublin since 1959.

He has received many awards for his work and tireless efforts to promote tolerance and to educate young people about the importance of remembrance and reconciliation and it has made him one of the most inspirational figures in modern Ireland. In 2012, Tomi was awarded the ‘Order of Merit’ by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, for his untiring commitment to furthering mutual understanding, reconciliation and German-Irish friendship. He received International Person of the Year at the People of the Year awards in 2014. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by Maynooth University and Trinity College Dublin in 2015 and Dublin City University in 2016.

Please note: Tomi’s latest documentary, “Condemned to Evil”, will be shown on RTE1 on Wednesday, February 14th. 

Bag 2School Pick Up:

We will have another clothing collection on Tuesday, February 27^th. Bags went home this week and will be picked up by 9.00am. No school uniforms in bags, please.

Friendship Week in the Junior School

We celebrated Friendship Week this week in the Junior School. Our displays of friendship trees in the Junior School and Jellicoe set the scene for the theme of the week. All of our assemblies reminded us of how to be a good friend to others.

KGLr and KGUpr sang a song to us in assembly on Monday. On other days, we talked about the Ingredients of a Good Friend: Patience, listening, forgiveness, respect, trust, kindness, encouragement and fun. Our J5s and J6s sang a song called “The Seeds of Friendship”. Three of our J1 students, Lara Fenelon, Brooke Pearle and Camellia Reddy read their super acrostic poems out to us on friendship. On Friday morning, through drama, quotes, a rap and a video, the J6W girls showed us just how important friendship is to them.

Thank to you all the teachers for all the extra work that they put into making the week a special one, in particular, Ms. Murray, Ms. Boyd, Ms. Dolan and Ms. Martin and Ms. Mahon for putting the displays together, to Ms. Fitzgerald for the songs and to Ms. Mahon and the J6W girls for the excellent assembly on Friday morning.

A Big Thank you from the Alex Guild??

Thank you to all the Junior School parents and students who came to the Father/ Daughter Pancake Breakfast on Friday morning. It was a great success and everyone really enjoyed the delicious pancakes! Thank you to George and his staff for all that they did to make this a very special event for everyone. All the money raised will go to the Alex Guild.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! from PSW

Preschool White has been learning all about Chinese New Year. 2018 is the Year of the Dog. We made dragons, masks and red envelopes with chocolate coins inside. Many thanks to Erin, Lillian and Elizabeth’s mums who gave us lots of information, art activities and delicious Chinese food and treats.

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese) from all the girls and teachers in PSW!

Sports Update

Basketball: Teresians vs. Alex

A great afternoon of basketball matches was held in Teresians’ new gym on Thursday afternoon. Captain Evie’s team had a tough game losing by 4 baskets in the end (12 – 20 points), while an even closer encounter with Captain Holly’s team, resulting in an 18 to 16 points win going to Teresians.
All matches were fast-paced, fun & action packed!!

Well done, girls

Ms Tracey

The Culture Club was on this Wednesday with a very exciting topic: food from around the world. Students took part in a quiz testing their knowledge about traditional dishes like Tagine which is a Moroccan stew, the name of the beautifully decorated pot it’s cooked in, products such as the Injera bread which is never missing on an Ethiopian table and many more.

The international girls brought in products from China for a blind tasting. We had spicy Chinese snacks that people would eat as a source of energy like we do with almonds and dried fruit. We enjoyed the fish tofu and the jellies that are made from the Chinese fruit hawthorn: delicious! Finally, we drank iced tea made with Chinese Ceylon.

The Culture Club continues every Wednesday in the library, during both lunches, so bring your lunch along this Wednesday!

Last Friday, all of the Fourth Year students went to the Convention Centre for the Leaders On Our Level talks organised by Terenure College.

There were six speakers from different areas who talked about what they did and their tips for being a good leader. Each of the speakers had a different view and experience and it made it so interesting to hear their personal ideas about leadership.

We all really enjoyed the talks, especially the ones given by Peter McVerry and Mark Pollock. Each one of the speakers was really inspiring and we were all able to take something from it and see what sort of things we could do if we set our minds to becoming the best leaders and innovators we can be.

The Junior Drama Society and the Intermediate Drama Society have two performances coming up on Tuesday, February 27th and Wednesday, February 28th. The girls have been working on each of these exciting productions since September.

On Tuesday 27th February at 5.000pm and 7.30pm in the Concourse, the Intermediate DramSoc will be performing the play ‘Fugee’ by Abi Morgan – Fourteen-year-old Kojo tumbles into the Irish “system” with no official papers and no words in English. He is housed in a refugee camp for under-age asylum seekers. Fugee is a play about lost dreams, lost countries and a generation of lost children walking the pavements of Dublin.

On Wednesday 28th February at 5.00pm and 7.30pm in the Lecture Theatre, the Junior DramSoc will perform ‘The Lottie Project’ by Jaqueline Wilson – This is a story about Charlotte Enright who is the most popular girl in her school. She assumes she will find history lessons boring, but she sees a Victorian photo of a girl who looks exactly like her. Charlotte decides to write her history project as the fictional diary of a Victorian servant girl named Lottie.

Don’t miss the chance to see these great performances. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday 22nd February in the Concourse. Tickets are €8 for adults and €5 for students.

After making some GAA history already at the start of the school year, the Junior School J6 girls were doing so once again after four lucky members of the class were invited by Cumann na mBunscoil Áth Cliath to play Gaelic Football on the hallowed ground of Croke Park. The girls arrived at the national stadium full of excitement, while also being treated to two fine games by both the Dublin Senior Ladies and Mens teams who beat Cork and Donegal on the night.

For Anabel O’ Hora, Alannah Whelehan, Ava Hartley and Lucy Maguire however, the night was all about making their own Croke Park debuts at half-time during the ladies game, where along with 26 girls from other schools all around Dublin, they got to show their skills in front of the crowd of just under 26,000.

Stadium announcer Jerry Grogan made it known to all the fans that this was a historic occasion for Alexandra College as they not only were represented at GAA Headquarters for the very first time but that this was the first year the school had a team and that the girls should be proud of this achievement.

The wind and rain did not dampen the girls’ enthusiasm or skill level, nor were they phased by the big crowd or by their focused faces appearing on the screen as they played on and made the most of their chance to shine under the floodlights.

Having witnessed a number of big moments at ‘Croker’ over the years, I must admit that this ranked up there with best in my opinion. I must also express how proud I was of how the girls took the opportunity and of how they represented the College on the night. I hope they enjoyed the occasion and that they won’t be the last Alex Girls to grace the biggest stage in Gaelic Games. You never know, we could have future Dublin footballers in our midst!

Here’s to hopefully many more days of seeing the Red and White of Alexandra College at Croke Park, maybe even someday in a Cumann na mBunscoil Final.

Ar agaidh linn ár gcluichí agus Coláiste Alex Abú!

Is mise,

Eddie Fitzgerald.

Our J5R girls recently took part in a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths) workshop. Under the guidance of their very innovative Class Teacher, Jennifer Mc Garry, the girls had a wonderful time creating art pieces using technology.

Workshop 1

In the first workshop, the girls were introduced to scientific principals around conductivity and insulation and concepts like polarity. They gained hands-on experience building circuits and began developing a foundation for understanding the flow of electricity and how to use it safely.

By the end of the session, the group was shown an example of the project they would be making, an LED art piece. They understood the process in how to go about this and gained hands-on experience using the specific materials and electronic components needed for their project.  Students learned how different materials diffuse light and how they might like to design their art piece to light up in the way that they felt worked best.

Workshop 2

During the second workshop, the girls supervised the construction of circuits and switches and the soldering of LEDs to complete the exhibition piece(s). This workshop allowed the students to apply what they had learned in the first workshop.

You will get an opportunity to see the girls’ work at the upcoming Hermione Art Exhibition that begins on Tuesday, March 6th at 6.00pm.

Kate and Siobhán ran the STEAM workshops from MakeCreateInnovate http://www.makecreateinnovate.ie/. They run a variety of workshops, such as; Build Your Own Instrument Workshop, Paper Circuits, Wearable Tech, Design and Make a Scribblebot, Circuit Building with Conductive Clay, Design a Game Controller, Musical Greeting Card, etc.

Dates for Your Diary

Monday 25th – J6W visit water treatment plant in Blessington, Wicklow

Tuesday 27th – 

• Swimming J2
• Bags2School Pick Up by 9.00am

Wednesday 28th – World Book Day- Dress up as your favourite book character (see below)

March

Thursday 1th – KGLr vaccinations (HSE)

From the Office

Topping Up Lunch Cards: Thank you for topping up the cards – the arrears have decreased significantly. Please top up your daughter’s card regularly.

World Book Day 2018 – The JS will celebrate this day next Wednesday, February 28th. The girls may come to school dressed up as a book character. There will be different activities going on around the school during to week to encourage our girls to read as much as possible. The Scholastic Book Fair will take place in April, after the Easter break.

Father/Daughter Pancake Breakfast: Thank you for your fantastic support for this annual event. €2600 was raised for the Alex Guild. It was a very enjoyable event for everyone.

J3/J4 Hockey After School: This will now only take place on Thursdays from 3-4pm. The coaches (Alan and Sophie) are unavailable due to match commitments in the Senior School. The girls who usually go on Wednesdays can now go on Thursdays.

From JACA

Reminder: Bags2School Pick Up by 9.00am on Tuesday, February 2th. Please leave the bags in the front Reception area of the Junior School.

Living History: “An Evening with Tomi Reichental”

We were all truly privileged to hear the remarkable Tomi Reichental speak to us on Thursday evening about his experiences during the Holocaust. Tomi is the grandfather of Anna Reichental in J3. In a packed Junior School concourse, Tomi shared his very moving first-hand experiences of the atrocities that he experienced during his time in Bergen-Belsen and talked about his on-going work to make sure that we will all never forget what happened during that time. For over two hours, Tomi told his life story and then answered questions. Very few speakers can deliver a real-life story like Tomi Reichental and everyone rose to their feet as he finished. His message was clear – we must never forget what happened during that time.

For nearly 60 years, Tomi didn’t speak of his experiences, “Not because I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t.” Since breaking his silence he has been on a mission of remembrance and reconciliation.

He has received many awards for his work and tireless efforts to promote tolerance and to educate young people about the importance of remembrance and reconciliation and it has made him one of the most inspirational figures in modern Ireland. In 2012, Tomi was awarded the ‘Order of Merit’ by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, for his untiring commitment to furthering mutual understanding, reconciliation and German-Irish friendship. He received International Person of the Year at the People of the Year awards in 2014. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by Maynooth University and Trinity College Dublin in 2015 and Dublin City University in 2016.

Tomi Reichental is best known for writing his autobiography, I was a Boy in Belsen (2009) and for making three documentaries, Till The Tenth Generation, Close to Evil and most recently Condemned to Remember which was on RTE a few weeks ago (Wed. Feb 14th)

Tomi gave us the opportunity to ask questions and to buy a signed copy of his autobiography. It was truly a real honour for us to have Tomi speak to us and it is an evening we will all never forget.

Food Dudes Boost Healthy Eating Programme

Get ready! The Junior School has signed up for the Food Dudes Healthy Eating programme. The programme is designed to increase children’s consumption of fruit and vegetables. The programme is comprised of positive role models, repeated tastings and rewards.

Hopefully, by getting involved in the programme, it will encourage our girls to choose more fruit and vegetables for snacks and lunch. It is amazing to us that so many girls don’t touch the vegetables on their plates at lunchtime!

Preschool – J2

• 16 days of prepared fruit and vegetables in individual portion packs
• Stickers and awards for every child
• Food Dudes DVDs

J3-J6

• The older students will be provided with fruit and vegetables for 8 tasting days and will receive awards as well as their Food Dudes lunchboxes.
• During the summer term, fruit and vegetables will continue to be delivered to the school to help sustain the maintenance part of the programme.
• We will keep you updated on the programme once we get started. We need your full support at home too to make the programme successful.

J6 Engineering Workshop

The students in J6R enjoyed working collaboratively at designing and building towers this week. Engineer, Troy Bannon, guided the girls through this activity. 

J5R Remind us all about Lent

For assembly this week, J5R brought the story of Lent to life through the narration and dramatizing of a short story. They explained what Lent is and why it is an important event in the Christian calendar, one that gives us time to both remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to reflect on ourselves. The girls spoke about how Lent is a time to think about our sins and a time to think about how we can become better Christian people.

They also shared a Lenten prayer with the other girls to allow each student to take a moment to reflect upon themselves, to consider what they could do to be the best possible version of themselves.

Sports Update 

Alex Play at Croke Park – 10th February 2018

After making some GAA history already at the start of the school year, the J6 girls were doing so once again after four lucky members of the class were invited by Cumann na mBunscoil Áth Cliath to play Gaelic Football on the hallowed ground of Croke Park. The girls arrived at the national stadium full of excitement, while also being treated to two fine games by both the Dublin Senior Ladies and Men’s teams who beat Cork and Donegal on the night.

For Anabel O’ Hora, Alannah Whelehan, Ava Hartley and Lucy Maguire however, the night was all about making their own Croke Park debuts at half-time during the ladies game, where along with 26 girls from other schools all around Dublin, they got to show their skills in front of the crowd of just under 26,000.

Stadium announcer Jerry Grogan made it known to all the fans that this was a historic occasion for Alexandra College as they not only were represented at GAA Headquarters for the very first time but that this was the first year the school had a team and that the girls should be proud of this achievement.

The wind and rain did not dampen the girls’ enthusiasm or skill level, nor were they phased by the big crowd or by their focused faces appearing on the screen as they played on and made the most of their chance to shine under the floodlights.

Having witnessed a number of big moments at ‘Croker’ over the years, I must admit that this ranked up there with best in my opinion. I must also express how proud I was of how the girls took the opportunity and of how they represented the college on the night. I hope they enjoyed the occasion and that they won’t be the last Alex Girls to grace the biggest stage in Gaelic Games. You never know, we could have future Dublin footballers in our midst!

Here’s to hopefully many more days of seeing the Red and White of Alexandra College at Croke Park, maybe even someday in a Cumann na mBunscoil Final.

Ar agaidh linn ár gcluichí agus Coláiste Alex Abú!

Is mise,

Eddie Fitzgerald.

The Junior Certificate Art students have been working very hard on their art projects this week. You can view some of their work in the gallery below.

Our Junior and Intermediate Dramsoc have been busy rehearsing for their upcoming play productions.

The Junior DramaSoc’s (First Year) production is an adaptation of one of Jacqueline Wilson’s novels:

‘The Lottie Project’
by Jacqueline Wilson.

DATE: Wednesday, February 28th
TIME: 5.00pm & 7.30pm
LOCATION: Lecture Theatre

What it’s about:

‘The Lottie Project’ is a story about Charlotte Enright (Charlie) set in late 20th century England. Charlie is the most popular girl in her school. She assumes she will find history lessons boring, but she sees a Victorian photo of a girl who looked exactly like her and from then on she becomes interested in history. Charlie decides to write her history project as the fictional diary of a Victorian servant girl named Lottie. The play alternates between the narrative of events in Charlie’s life and extracts from the diary. The play is directed by Molly O’Cathain and Lorna Quinn, along with a supportive team of TY Drama Reps.

Our Intermediate DramSoc (Second and Third Years) will also be performing two showings of their production next week. This is a challenging and relevant production set in Dublin. This play contains some swearing and may not be suitable for younger audiences.

‘Fugee’ by Abi Morgan    

DATE: Tuesday 27th February
TIME: 5.00pm and 7.30pm
LOCATION: Senior School Concourse

What it’s about:

Fourteen-year-old Kojo tumbles into the Irish “system” with no official papers and no words in English. He is housed in a refuge for under-age asylum seekers. ‘Fugee’ is a play about lost dreams, lost countries and a generation of lost children walking the pavements of Dublin. It is directed by Clodagh Rycraft, with help from some TY drama students.

Tickets for both productions are on sale at €5 for students and €10 for adults. There will also be a number of tickets available at the door before both performances.