February 2012, No 35

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Another student from Second Year, Jemima Turner, wowed the judges and many visitors to the RDS with her findings on an investigation on calcium supplements and their reactions in the stomach. Jemima worked diligently from September to December in the science lab reacting five different products which are on the market as supplements with hydrochloric acid. Her attention to detail was second to none and the fact that she was awarded Second Prize in the Junior Chemistry category came as no surprise. Jemima has exceptional skill in the field of chemistry and we should be very proud she has represented Newpark. Alice Hamman from Transition Year displayed her findings on differences in sensory perception while hearing is impaired.

Newpark is very proud to have had three of our entries selected for the BT Young Scientist exhibition out of this year’s record breaking 1,879 proposals submitted from 362 schools around Ireland. We were thrilled to have two prize-winners: Anna Porter came first in the Junior category for Biology and Jemima Turner came second in the Junior Chemistry section. Congratulations to all three of our Young Scientists: Second Years Anna Porter and Jemima Turner and Alice Hamman of Transition Year.

Congratulations Young Scientists!

This year Newpark has been highly successful at the BT Young Scientist competition in the RDS. Three very interesting projects won positions on the stalls to represent Newpark admirably. Second Year Anna Porter came first in her category for the second consecutive year. This year she was awarded the prize for top biology junior individual, but as you may remember, Anna was awarded top chemistry individual in the junior category last year. There are clearly no limits to the scientific skills of this young lady. Anna’s project investigating changes in air pollution since 1988 using lichens as an indicator truly impressed all who visited her stand. As part of Anna’s project she had to face the elements on many occasions in her mission to determine the best and worst indicators of the air around her.

[Continued on page 6]

Welcome back to another busy and productive term at Newpark. Our Transition Years are out and about on work experience and activity weeks. Fifth Year LCA (also currently on Work Experience) and TY students have found a fantastic range of placements and we look forward to hearing the feedback from students and employers on their return. African drumbeats and latino rhythms in the school remind us that one TY form group is busy with photography, mosaic making, dance and drumming with a range of visiting artists. Meanwhile others are braving the wintry wilds of Donegal or broadening their knowledge of their home city and environs during In Dublin Week. The LCA Fifth Year launched their art project Another Brick in the Wall at the school last Thursday evening. It was a well-attended event with students, teachers and parents present. The piece of work exhibited was part of a Creative Engagement project led by artist in residence Richie Heffernan who worked with the students over a period of months. All the students were involved in looking at their own identity and what makes them who they are. They showed excellent commitment and, ably guided by Richie and their teacher Ms Mulrooney, they showed what can be achieved by talent and hard work. The LCA is a self-contained course and sometimes the work done within it can be removed from the mainstream activity of school life. It was great to see here such a public demonstration of the talents and abilities of all involved. Their artwork is at present on display in the reception and is well worth a visit to see. The Mock examinations in Junior and Leaving Certificate are now in progress. This can be an anxious time for students. It is important for students and parents to recognise that the Mocks give students a practice run-through of the layout and timing of the certificate exams and secondly allow students to gauge their strengths and weaknesses in terms of the syllabus for each subject. Common mistakes such as misreading questions, not following instructions, or leaving out sections and running out of time can be made without serious consequences. In fact there is so much to be learnt from the experience of mistakes made at this stage. When the results come out they should be judged not as an end in themselves but as a work in progress with the aim of improving between now and the exams in June. That is the case regardless of whether an individual student has done well or poorly. The issue of appropriate levels comes up regularly following the Mocks. The decision as to what level to do should be considered carefully in the light of Mock results and in consultation with the subject teacher. This is especially true in Junior Certificate where the decision about levels needs to be made before the end of March. If changing Leaving Certificate levels,

students need to be aware of differences in content

and layout of papers and should avoid very late changes of mind. Parents/guardians can help by discussing with their son/daughter the results and ways they might help provide support over the remaining months before the exams. The last of our annual parent teacher meetings took place last Thursday. Many thanks once again to Suzanne Harris for her organisation of these meetings. With 110 students represented, the event constitutes a major logistical operation. It can be difficult for the timing to run precisely but I thank all parents and teachers for their efforts to keep to the schedule. This is a very valuable exercise in sharing information about a student’s progress. At Senior Cycle it is encouraging to see the growing number of students who accompany their parents/guardians to the meetings. It can be very helpful for students and parents to hear the same information at the same time. We welcome suggestions and comments from parents/guardians with regard to their experience of the process or improvements which could be made. The recent budget brought some mixed news for the school. The pupil teacher ratio has been kept intact so it should be possible to retain the existing curriculum in 2013/14. However, while the numbers of resource teachers and SNAs has been fixed this is a de facto reduction in provision as there is an increase in the overall number of students with special needs entering second level. Last year the school suffered a significant reduction in the number of SNAs allocated. This has had a considerable impact on our capacity to meet the needs of all our students. The applications for SEN hours for next year will be submitted in the coming weeks and we await our allocation with interest and concern. The capitation grant per student has been decreased by another 2% which follows reductions in each of the past three years. Therefore it is becoming increasingly difficult for the school to stay within our allocated budget when vital and necessary expenses such as electricity, gas and oil continue to rise in cost as well as the recent additional burden of water rates. In a building so poorly designed the costs in these areas are very substantial. We are looking closely at all expenditure to keep the school within its constricted budget. We are very thankful for the continuing support of parents/guardians in making their voluntary contributions which are so important in supporting so many aspects of school life both within the curriculum and in extra-curricular activities. We would remind parents/guardians that contributions can still be made in cash, by electronic transfer or by direct debit through the school office. Finally, the recent achievements of our wonderful Young Scientists and Senior Girls’ basketball team have brought great delight and pride to the school. Congratulations to all involved.

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Mr Derek Lowry

Since last November Fifth Year LCA students have been on a creative journey working on an art project with artist Richie Heffernan. The project was s u p p o r t e d b y C r e a t i v e Engagement and the Newpark PTA and BOM. Students created a

number of art works based on their identity which were then incorporated into a purpose built sculpture made by Richie. They unveiled this piece at an exhibition in the school canteen last Thursday evening. The exhibition was well attended by students, teachers and parents and was a great success, with music from Wayne and Sean Magee.

The art work is now on display in the reception area. Go and see it for yourself.

Dee Mulrooney, Newpark Art

Thoughts on the Exhibition At the end of the Fifth Year parent teacher meetings last Thursday I called in to see the Brick in the Wall art exhibition. There was a lovely atmosphere in the canteen with live music provided by students and lots of parents, students and teachers enjoying and interacting with the piece of art!

Just Another Brick In The Wall? Each student in the class created artwork for four faces of a rotating “brick” in the sculptural “wall”. One face is a self portrait, then a collage represents important people and places in the individual’s life, the third lists personal attributes and the fourth uses images and words to capture an outlook on life. Viewers could stand on either side of the wall and turn each individual brick to see all four sides in turn At the exhibition visitors were chatting, turning bricks and asking questions of the student artists nearby. Lots of the artwork was both striking and beautiful, but there was more to it than that—it felt both a privilege and a challenge to see each individual represented by themselves in this way. In our daily lives—and perhaps especially in a big, busy place like Newpark—we might never see beyond the one face most obviously on show. For me it was fascinating to see how the constantly changing combinations in the wall created a dynamic and complex portrait of a group. It must have taken great courage and trust too. This was a most unusual and thought-provoking exhibition. Congratulations and thanks to

all involved. Anna Johnston 3

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from two free-throws in the last minute we managed to secure a place in the final. The following Tuesday we found out that the final was to be held on Friday 25th against Dominican College, Wicklow. The nerves started kicking in when we realised that we would only have one training session to prepare for the game.

On Tuesday 15th of January Newpark Senior Girls played a thrilling basketball semi-final against Cabinteely. Cabinteely had a substantial lead until the 3rd quarter, but Newpark managed to come back to make it 29-29 with two minutes to go. With scores

Senior Girls delight fans with blazing League Victory!

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Skiing for Ireland

Transition Year skier Cormac Comerford has been selected to represent Ireland at the forthcoming European Youth Olympic Festival. This ski event takes place in Brasov, Romania from the 17th-22nd February 2013. Best of luck to Cormac from all at Newpark.

International Swim Success

Congratulations to Jeff Fahy, 2GC, who competed in the Poseidon Swimming Gala in Germany last month. Jeff won two bronze medals, in the 200m Individual Medley and the

100m Butterfly. Well done, Jeff!

The game was to be held in St. Columba’s College but after both teams and our supporter bus arrived we noticed a leak coming from the roof landing right by one of the nets and the officials decided

it was not safe to play there. We had to find another court which would be free at short notice! Luckily, Oatlands College were able to lend us their court and eventually we got the match started. We led all the way through the match with the help of our enthusiastic supporters who came prepared

with banners and signs of support. We put in a great team performance and finished the game off by winning 30-9. On behalf of the team we want to thank everyone from students to teachers to parents who came out to support us: we really appreciate it. Well done to all the Sixth Years who

managed to end their time in Newpark basketball with a great win in the South Dublin final and also a special mention to Lauren Downes who won the MVP award for being top scorer in the match. Finally, a massive thank you to our two coaches, Ms Steele and Dean

Rowe for all their h a r d w o r k throughout the

y e a r ! Carla

Redmond & Lauren

Downes 5th Year.

Photos by Anna Moran, 6th Year

First Year Girls Hockey

On Saturday 12th January, Newpark First Year Girls played Holy Child Killiney in our first league match of the season. We were playing in freezing cold conditions, but once the match started we were fully warmed up! Holy Child had beaten us 6-0 in a friendly before Christmas, so we were focused on getting our revenge!

Our coach Ms Cooper set the team up very well. In the first 15 minutes it was even, with both having good chances but none taken. All the players on the pitch were tiring coming up to half time, but we came very close with two shots at goal. Our defence and goalie were very strong and saved a good few shots.

We started well in the second half with some really good passing by our mids up to the forwards. We just couldn’t break down their defence. The final score was 0-0. Although we didn’t score, we all thought we played really well as a team and we were always there for each other. Coaches Ms Cooper and Ms McCarthy said they were very proud of our performance and we all agreed that it was our best match yet. Thanks to Ms Cooper, Ms McCarthy, and Simon Lowry for preparing us for our match!

Ella Walsh and Skye Jackson. 1MDY

Update: the First Year girls drew 1-1 against Our Lady’s Templeogue last Saturday. This weekend they need to win their match against Loreto Foxrock to remain in the league. Reporters Ella and Skye will give an update on their progress in the next newsletter.

BT Young Scientist [continued from front page]

For Alice Hamman’s project, five lively TY volunteers had their ears injected with a substance which resulted in the ladies having a feeling of being deaf. Their ability to hear was taken from them for three hours. The procedure was totally reversible and conducted by Spec Savers hearing specialist Stephen Dansac. Alice then performed a series of tests on the young ladies and compared results with tests conducted while the girls were able to hear. Peripheral vision and reaction times changed and the experience for the volunteers was unforgettable but highly rewarding. All involved were delighted to hear again and learned to always appreciate this wonderful sense!

Miss Clarke and I were delighted to work with Anna, Jemima and Alice as they prepared their projects for the Young Scientist exhibition. Congratulations to all! This year the science teachers brought all of Second Year to the exhibition at the RDS. The students thoroughly enjoyed their trip and were delighted to show their support for the Newpark participants. We hope that next year there will be even more Newpark stalls representing the wonders of science at the Young Scientist.

Joan Hannan, Newpark Science

At BT Young Scientist

Last week all of Second Year went to visit the BT Young Scientist Exhibition. The RDS was jam packed but we got to see Anna, Alice and Jemima’s projects which were superb. It was a great day. Well done to Anna coming first and Jemima coming second in their

categories. Elvira Guiomard 2RS

The science trip was great fun! We got loads of interesting free stuff from the different stalls and learnt

many surprising facts! Muireann McDonnell 2RS

The science trip was really good with so many different things to look at and loads of stalls. I went to a really good 3D exhibition about the solar system

Jemima and Anna’s stalls were really good and it

was Anna’s second time. Ailbhe Duke 2RS

Andrew Meagher liked the technology section best.

Sarah McCullage liked the interactive things.

It was really fun to do some of the activities and learn new things and nice to see Anna and Jemima representing our school and doing so well!

Kailin Shanahan 2RS

Deryn Casey liked seeing loads of experiments.

I spent the whole day in the stands, looking at the great work done by the students. I was very impressed by the quality of work and I was very proud of Anna

and Jemima. Ruan O Conluain 2RS

A Fine Young Scientist

I was at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition from Tuesday the 8th to Saturday the 12th of January. I had been working on my project, Calcium supplements and their reactions in the stomach, all the previous term. On the Tuesday I went in to set my project up and on Wednesday I went in for the first round of judging. I was quite nervous but my judge was really nice and seemed interested in my project. The following day, Thursday, there were two rounds of judging. One of my judges was Dr Tony Scott who co-founded the Young Scientist Exhibition, and he was really interesting to talk to. Members of the public also came to my stand and there was quite a lot of interest from people who were taking calcium supplements themselves. The awards ceremony was on the Friday evening. It was really exciting to see who won different prizes and I was thrilled when I heard my name and Anna’s called out! Looking back, it was a really great experience and I made friends with lots of people with stands near mine. I would definitely do it again another year!

Jemima Turner, 2JH

Newpark CoderDojo

Come join Newpark CoderDojo and learn to write code, develop websites, apps, games and more. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s YOUR club.

We meet on Saturday afternoons, 2pm-4pm, in the library. All you need is a laptop. In our first sessions we looked at HTML (the main markup language for displaying web pages) and CSS (a style sheet language for design and layout). At our most recent session, some of the students demo-ed what they had learned, with some pretty amazing results. Well done guys! And a huge thanks to the volunteers who have made this possible.

Next up is Scratch, a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.

All Newpark students are welcome to join. Volunteer mentors are also very welcome. Need more info? Email coderdojo@newparkschool.ie

Natalie Butler, PTA 6

Alice Hamman, Jemima Turner and Anna Porter at the BT Young Scientist

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TY Arts Week

4TC have been busy all week experimenting in the arts with a range of visiting artists: during Arts Week they have tried out photography, mosaic making, tie-dye, photography, Latino dance, drumming and craft. Above is a selection of their photographs from their workshop with photographer Dermot Byrne. View the newsletter online to see the impact of the startling colours they found around the campus.

Feather Boy by Nicky Singer

Age Group: Junior Cycle

Robert is trying to cope with the break-up of his parents’ marriage and with being horridly bullied by a boy at school. Readers will enjoy the tension-filled plot that follows Robert as he learns to confront his fears. I loved the voice of the main character whose story stayed with me long after I’d read the book.

Rachel Cullen

Billy Elliot by Melvin Burgess

Age Group: Junior Cycle

You’ll really enjoy the story of Billy Elliot even if you’ve already seen the film. My favourite thing about this novelisation of the film is how the story is narrated from the differing viewpoints of Billy and the other characters.

Rachel Cullen

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Age Group: Junior or Senior Cycle

A Monster Calls is very different to the author’s other popular books such as The Knife of Never Letting Go. I have to be upfront and say that it is an incredibly sad story (the central character has to deal with being bullied and with his mother’s illness) but it is well worth the read. It’s worth having a flick through this book for the beautiful illustrations alone.

Rachel Cullen

My favourite book

Guess what book it is as you read the review!! Every story needs a hero. Someone noble but common, safe but dangerous, pure but streetwise, gentle but confrontational. It also needs a “baddie” – an enemy force, ruthless and sinister. This story opens with genuine horror, scenes of babies being murdered and one family racing from the infanticide. The hero escapes and discovers his mission – to save the planet from the enemy force. He gathers a group around him who provide help, humour and light relief with their mess ups! Believe it or not, this story is 2000 years old and nearly all stories since then have been based on it. This story is told in the best selling book of all times. Many miss the ending. They think it is when the hero is killed, but, like all good stories, there is a twist! The hero travels to the Headquarters of the enemy and wrestles death itself to destruction. He walks away with all power and a motley crew that includes me and could include you! You see, my favourite book is the Bible – read it again if you think you knew it already but didn’t!

Charis Rowan

So, what are you reading?

In the last newsletter you may have read about the new notice-board (pictured above) beside the reading area in the library. Here students, staff and parents can post short reviews of books that they have enjoyed and would

recommend to others in Newpark. Mr Byrne has designed an interesting format for the posts that includes the book cover too. You can see two examples on the next page. Join in by writing a short review or recommendation for a book that you have read and enjoyed. In addition to the name and author please include what you liked or disliked about the book and why you would recommend it. You just send us the words and we’ll find the cover image to go with it. So far we have had recommendations from teachers only (you can see some on these pages) and we would really like to add reviews from students. Reviews can be given or emailed to Ms Meredith who hopes to hear from some of you readers soon! We will feature student reviews in the next newsletter. You can email these reviews to vicky.meredith@newparkschool.ie

Vicky Meredith

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

Set in early seventies Britain this is the story of young graduate who finds herself being groomed to work for the intelligence services during her final year in college. She is sent on a secret mission which brings her into contact with a young writer. Against a backdrop of industrial chaos and the Cold War the challenges of living a double life are very well drawn as are the consequences. As usual McEwan writes with great fluency and style. While not as good as some of his other work it is a very intriguing and enjoyable story to read.

Derek Lowry

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Visit to the IWA

On Friday 14th December Ms Mackey’s Third Year CSPE class visited the headquarters of the Irish Wheelchair Association for our Junior Certificate Action Project.

The idea of doing an Action Project on something wheelchair related was given to us by a boy in our class, Daniel Airey, who is in a wheelchair himself. He told us about all the exciting activities he takes part in with the IWA. We thought that choosing this topic was appropriate after the Paralympics took place in London in the summer and that we should raise awareness about various wheelchair sports.

We hired a bus and arrived at the Irish Wheelchair Association in Clontarf at 12.30. We were introduced to Mark Barry who personally knows Daniel and had arranged for us to visit. He told us about the range of wheelchair sports and the various chairs used for them. We even got to sit in the chairs ourselves and had races, and played British Bulldogs and Wheelchair Basketball! We were so surprised at how enjoyable it was and how different it is to play in a chair.

Our class were so pleased that we chose this Action Project as it was really enjoyable, informative and educational. We hope to raise money for the IWA, so watch out for some fundraising events around the school after mid-term!

Juliette McBain 3KC

Mini-Med School

I went to the Mini Med School at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) as one of my Transition Year work experience placements. I had to apply through the school and was delighted when I got a place on the course. There were about 150 other Transition Year students from schools around Leinster also taking part. We were in the RCSI on Monday and Friday and in Beaumont Hospital from Tuesday to Thursday. The course was mainly lecture based but also had practical activities in the labs. I got to practise things like stitching, surgical knots and I put a cast on someone’s arm. Everything we did was really interesting: the lectures were given by highly qualified doctors and surgeons—and we even got to hear the perspective of some patients who spoke to us. For me the highlight of the week was definitely the live surgeries which we watched on Tuesday. This was really interesting and we were able to ask the surgeon questions while he was working. Overall this was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in working in healthcare.

Anna Richardson 4TC

Newpark Mathletes

Team Maths Quiz 2013 is a major maths event for higher level leaving cert students across Ireland. This year the quiz took place on Friday, 25 January at venues in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Galway and Donegal. Mathletes Myles Butler-Wolfe, Aedan Hamrock, Isla Hoe, Katie Jess, Charles Marchant, Erica Millet-O’Beirne, Madison Porter, and Henriette Roessing came out on the night to represent Newpark at the Dublin quiz at St. Andrew’s College.

After months of intense training with Coach O’Neill, and with Coach Lawless cheering on from the sidelines, the two Newpark teams put in a most impressive performance, competing against 41 other teams from 29 schools all across the greater Dublin area.

However, the highlight of the night came at the end of the evening, when textbook author George Humphrey came over to chat with the Newpark team. George autographed tables books and posed for a photo with the delighted Newparkers! All in all, a very exciting Friday night out.

Ellen Lawless, Newpark Maths

More Maths News

The first Newpark Maths Competition of the year took place before Christmas, with questions at first year, junior and senior levels. Congratulations to Benedek Teleki 1DBT, winner of the first year competition, Alice Hamman

4CD winner at junior level, and Zeph Philips 1DBT, winner at senior level.

There were many correct answers submitted at all levels, but unfortunately only one winner could be chosen for each category. Well done to all participants, and look out for new questions after February midterm!

Ellen Lawless, Newpark Maths

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Maths Puzzler

See if you can work out the solution to the following problem. The answer is on the back page of this newsletter, but make sure you give it a good try before looking! A worked solution will also be posted on the maths noticeboard in the C corridor.

The father of a number of children wanted to distribute 24 €1 coins among them, each to receive a different number of coins, and none to receive less than 2 coins. He found that there were just five ways of doing this.

How many children did he have? What are the five different ways he could distribute the coins?

TY Zumba

I chose Zumba as my Leisure and Recreation option because I had heard from various people that it was a fun way of having a serious workout. Right from the outset it was obvious those people were right! Every Wednesday afternoon the canteen turned into a Latin style fiesta! Led by Californian teacher Hailey Kingston, about 25 of us would shimmy and shake and strut our stuff to the sound of some seri-ous Latin American beats. The workout was intense but great fun and there was lots of laughter as we tried to master the various steps. We were a bit self conscious at first, hence the newspaper ‘curtains’ on the canteen windows for the first few weeks but by the end of the module we were all enjoying it so much we didn’t really care who was watching. Zumba is a great way to get fit and I would

recommend it to anyone. Aoife Jungmann, 4TC

Extra Curricular Arts

Comics Club and Film Club have been running in C5 and C7 on Wednesday afternoons since September. They both have a dedicated core of enthusiastic participants who are producing new and amazing things every week. Everyone is welcome to take part. Both groups meet in the art room from 1.20pm every Wednesday. From Wednesday 6th February, these activities will be joined by a Wall Art group. After the very successful wall art project that took place in Newpark in collaboration with the Dublin Contemporary exhibition last year, the renowned street artist JO’R will be returning to mentor a group of Newparkers in transforming designated walls around the school into works of art. JO’R will share his creative process and experience to equip the students with the skills to match their enthusiasm. Would you like to take part? You need to meet with JO’R and Ms Mulrooney in the Art room on Wednesday 6th February at 1.20 and get going. If you can’t make it this week, get in touch with Ms Mulrooney and let her know that you are interested. JO’R will be coming in for four Wednesday afternoons. After that he and Ms Mulrooney will review how the project is going. These activities are part of the stated aim of Newpark’s Arts Policy to provide support for student led cultural activities. If there are other arts activities that you would like to do or share at Newpark, please get in touch with Ms Johnston or Mr Byrne.

Drama

Junior Plays 2013 The Junior plays will take place in the Hunter theatre on the 20th and 21st of March 2013. This year there will be four plays performed—all written by their Fifth Year directors. Tickets will go on sale in the library in

the first week of March: €10 for adults and €5 for students. ICBMazing: As the Cuban Missile Crisis paralyses the Motherland with fear, a Soviet nuclear submarine drifts through the Atlantic in a whalesong of paranoia, tension and radioactive fallout.

Niall Sherlock, Fiachra Kennedy & Louis Furney:

The Waiting Room: This play follows a boy's journey through the everything that is life, death, rebirth and time. Tick...tock…

Richard Harvey, Mark Ball & Chloe O'Hara:

Vintage Smort: The life and times of the spritely young Vintage as he blunders through time like a startled imp. He adventures with his father (who is disguised as a young girl) to find his mother, who has joined a book club run by witches.

Adam Boland & Eve Nolan:

I Have Never Been to Carrickfergus: despite the title, each character in this play has been to Carrickfergus, and they had a rough time of it, a punctured rear bicycle tyre apiece. Result: a cataclysmic cocktail of two-wheeled chaos.

Colm Higgins & Rory Fogarty:

St Andrew’s One Act Festival This year Newpark is performing Tom Stoppard’s unusual play The Real Inspector Hound for the festival. This is being directed by Aoife Burke, a wonderful drama facilitator, who recently helped us with our award winning Richmonde Avenue. Aoife is volunteering her time to help us as she loved Newpark from her last experience. She is being ably assisted by past pupil David Magee. The cast consists of six Fifth Years: John Cummins, Zoe Perrin, Anna McCarthy, Natalie Pullen, Niall Sherlock, Colm Higgins and two Transition Years: Meabh Hennelly and Max Goldman. This play will be performed at St Andrew’s during the week of 11-14 March 2013. (our date will be confirmed closer to the time). We’d really appreciate as much support as possible and can offer at least 50 free tickets. Please contact Cathy Devis at cd@newparkschool.ie for further information. We wish those involved the best

of luck and hope they break many legs! Cathy Devis

February newsletter compiled and edited by Anna Johnston.

Thanks to all our contributors.

Please email contributions for the next issue to newsletter@newparkschool.ie

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A Word from the PTA

Hello from the PTA: so far we have very little to report this year. The Christmas Raffle was deemed to be

a great success raising approximately €1,100 in much needed funds for the school. The following people were our winners this year

iPad – John Carton

iPod iTouch – McDonald Family

iPod Nano – Gwen Moran

Cadbury’s Hamper – Cian McGearailt

Wine Hamper – Aristi Monoyios

Butlers Hamper – Oisin Clarke

Voucher Brendella Skirts – Isabel Horner

Xtra Vision Voucher – Ethel Glancy

We had our first committee meeting of 2013 in early January. Our main priority is to communicate the need for hard work on fundraising in the coming years as there are going to be so many associated costs with the new school building. You have been warned!! The school building will come to us largely as a shell and there are going to be SO many incidentals that will need to be paid for by the school. For example the classrooms will need presses and the canteen kitchen will need to be fitted out with microwaves, countertops, cupboards, kettles, fridge and cooker. The list will be LONG! Over the coming months the PTA will be asking parents for ideas and input into fundraising and we would ask you to please, please respond in any way you can (pta@newparkschool.ie) In March we are organising a parents’ evening at which we hope to have two guest speakers: a local Community Guard hosting a question and answer session and a second speaker giving a talk on ‘Facebook Uncovered’. Texts and emails will issue with the details closer to the time.

Phoebe Crowe, PTA

Ambassador to Mexico

Did you know that the next Irish ambassador to Mexico is a Newparker? Many congratulations to Sonja Hyland on her appointment last month to her

first ambassadorial post. Sonja will take up her new post this summer after completing her current diplomatic role for Ireland during our EU Presidency.

Shave or Dye!

The Fifth Year LCVP class has teamed up with Today FM to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society, by dying or shaving their hair. This will take place in early March and everyone is welcome to take part.

The Irish Cancer Society is Ireland’s national cancer charity which aims to improve the lives of those affected by cancer. They provide those affected by cancer with up to date information and a range of services which they may need. The Irish Cancer society also helps raise awareness of cancer to the public by airing adverts on the television and having posters up in public areas.

All money raised by the Fifth Year LCVP group will be donated towards helping the work of the Irish Cancer Society e.g. cancer information, patient care and support, financial aid, cancer research and lots more.

So come along and take part in this fun-filled event taking place in early March where students will be given the choice to shave or dye their hair in aid of this amazing charity!

Rebecca Kavanagh 5PH/SH

Answer to maths puzzler: The man has 5 children.

The possible ways to distribute the coins are: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 coins; 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9 coins; 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 coins; 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 coins; 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 coins.

Photo from 4TC Arts Week

Lego Club at Newpark

Lego club starting on Thursdays at lunchtime. Bring along a model to show others. Any donations of bricks or lego technic would be very welcome.

All students welcome as participants or mentors.

Contact Ms Kelly for details at fio-na.kelly@newparkschool.ie