ROCKFORD MANOR, Secondary School, Stradbrook Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin A94 H294

Tel: 280 1522 Email: info@rockfordmanor.ie @rockfordmanor

www.rockfordmanor.ie

Rockford Manor Newsletter December 2018

“A Christian environment where teaching and learning nurture the personal development of every student”

Rockford NewsRhythm of RockfordOn the 23rd & 24th of October, students from 1st to 6th year performed in the annual Rhythm of Rockford production. The students performed musical numbers from blockbuster movies and Broadway shows such as West Side Story, Grease, The Greatest Showman and Mamma Mia. Under the direction of Ms. Whyte and Ms. O’Toole, the TY students did a fantastic job with the production. The audience were blown away by the professionalism of the stage crew and all the talented actors, dancers and singers - including the teacher and parent performances! Many thanks to our wonderful choreographer Rachel Sheahan and to all staff members who were involved in the preparation and running of the musical!

Check out our website for more information about this fabulous musical event!

Winter MessageWelcome to the Christmas 2018 Newsletter!

As you can see from the photographs and articles a lot has been happening in Rockford Manor over the past few months. The newsletter, while it cannot report on all of the activities happening in the school, gives us a flavour of the variety of life in Rockford Manor. Take time to read the newsletter and visit our website to get more details of what’s happening in our school.

Best wishes for a Happy, Peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Tony Collison - Principal Mary Gallagher - Vice Principal

2nd & 3rd Years - Time Warp!

TY students - West Side Story 1st Years - The Greatest Showman6th Years & Sharal D’costa (1st Year)

5th Years - Grease!

Conradh na GaeilgeRockford took part in the Conradh na Gaeilge 24hrs ‘Caint i nGaeilge’ event. Students made a huge effort to speak informally to staff and students ‘as Gaeilge’. Teachers wore badges and students who engaged in ‘cupla focail’ with them, received a raffle ticket with prizes given at the end of the 24hr period. Gaeilge is truly alive and well in Rockford!

TEDx Talk

STEMTY students have been busy attending STEM workshops in UCD Sparks, DLR TY Entrepreneur STEM-Camp in DLR Lexicon and a visit to Salesforce a partner of CodePlus/Bridge21 in Microsoft. Studying STEM subjects gives students a set of skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and communications, all of which are highly valued by many employers. All students are welcome to participate in these STEM workshops! Ms. Horkan

Maths WeekMaths Week in Rockford Manor was celebrated with daily activities including the ‘The Hexagon Puzzle’ Challenge and Sudoku puzzles. A lunchtime ‘Teach or Beat the Teacher’ Chess competition was held. Two TY students carried out a ‘Random Act of Maths’ asking maths questions to students to win prizes! The Great Rockford Manor Bake off was held, with a Maths Twist! The students rose to the challenge and produced some fantastic

maths bakes. Well done ladies!

Anthea Ring (5th Year) – Winner of The Great Rockford Manor Bakeoff!

Conradh na Gaeilge- Winners!

Kate Doran & Lauren Dunne (6th Year) presented a TEDX Talk on Oct 26th in Dun

Laoghaire. What an achievement!

STEM Workshop

Teach or Beat the Teacher

Teachers- Wearing their green ‘Gaeilge’ badges!

Welcome to New Staff MembersMary Gallagher - Vice PrincipalKelly Ryan - Science & MathsAoife Wilson - Maths & GeographyJudith O’Brien - English & Learning Support Aaron Price - Learning Support

Ruth Delahunty - Religion & English

Best Leaving Cert Results 2018Congratulations to Martyna Szmagara, Class of 2018, who received the highest Leaving Cert grade in Rockford last year!

Student Leadership Team 2018/19This year’s Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl are Lauren Dunne and Michelle Khong respectively. Our prefects are Emma Hughes, Charlotte Kelly, Sarah-Ann Mullane, Camille Reyes and Caitlin Dunne. Congratulations girls and thank you for all of the time and energy you have put in so far this semester!

Martyna Szmagara, Best Leaving Cert 2018

www.rockfordmanor.ie

SportsVolleyball: Congratulations to our Cadette B Volleyball team who are through to the All-Ireland quarter final. The Cadette C team got to the regional finals but were unlucky to lose out to Santa Sabina. The Cadette A team are through to the All-Ireland Final on Mon 10th December. The Senior team will play their final on Wednesday 12th December. Great success with the Volleyball this year!

Basketball: Congratulations to our Cadette C Basketball team who got through to the regional semi-final and were unlucky to lose out to Old Bawn Community School. The Senior team got to the regional final on December 5th but unfortunately lost out by just 5 points! Well done girls!

Geography WeekGeography Week was marked with daily geography facts over the intercom, a lunchtime Geography quiz and ‘Drop everything & David Attenborough’, where all students were shown a video about waste in our waters. Well done Ms. McLean and Ms. Wilson for a great week!

TYTY students have been participating in a wide variety of activities since September! The year started with induction workshops of Drama, Brain Bootcamp, Dance and bouncy castles! Students completed their ‘An Gaisce Hike’ – 26km along the Wicklow Way and are in the process of completing their other criteria for the award of community, physical and the skill component. They visited a Careers Summit, Trinity College, IADT (for mini company and business workshops), St Vincent’s Hospital (Food Facts and Fads) and the Axa-Road Safe Workshop. The Rhythm of Rockford played a very big role in the first half term in relation to their performance and organisation of the show. All students have completed 2 weeks of Work Experience which varied from designated TY courses in the National Rehabilitation Hospital to Solicitors’ offices, An Garda Síochana, Mardi Confectionary etc. Two students worked as journalists and had articles published in the Dublin Gazette (Lucie Weidenauer) and Her.ie (Jessica Lee). The goal is for TY students to avail of as many opportunities as they can this year. Doing well so far girls! Ms. O’Toole

Celebrating LGBT week!Rockford Manor was delighted to be involved in the BelongTo Stand Up LGBT Awareness Week 2018. During the week lots of activities were held such as SPHE class discussions on diversity and wearing rainbow colours on the Friday. By undertaking the week’s activities, we are sending a message of

inclusion and care to our LGBT students!

Cheerios BreakfastCheerios Childline Breakfast was held in Rockford on October 17th. This is a really important fundraising event for the ISPCC. Childline has to raise over 90% of its income through the generosity of the public. Thank you to parents who donated and Musgrave Marketplace, Sallynoggin who supplied the milk. Thank you to my SPHE class who took charge of this event and raised €190. Ms. Horkan

LCAThe LCA class have had a very busy term. On October 15th - 16th they went to Baltinglass Adventure Centre. The girls did a huge variety of activities including canoeing, rock climbing and orienteering. The girls had a fabulous time! All LCA students went on Work Experience from November 5th - 16th, working in local primary schools, The Yaught Club Dun Laoghaire, an Interior design company, a Cafe etc. The girls got excellent reports from their employers and gained great skills from their work placements. The girls are currently working on three tasks at the moment: Practical Achievement Task; Information Technology Task and a Contemporary Issues Task. The girls will be examined by the Dept. of Education examiners at the end of January 2019. Well done girls on all your hard work. Mrs. S. Joyce

UCD Entrance Scholar Awards 2018Congratulations to Stephanie Kerr and Lauryn Brien (Class of 2018) who received an Entrance Scholar Award from UCD in September. We are very proud of our past pupils!

Science WeekFrom Nov 12th - 16th, Rockford Manor marked ‘Science Week’ with various activities, trips and science events. Lunchtime demonstrations were held such as, 5th Years performing dissections and 1st Years learning about chemical reactions. 2nd Year students visited DIT for a talk about the ‘Science of Harry Potter’. A lunchtime Science quiz was also held (unfortunately the teachers were beaten!). See our Twitter page for more videos and photos!

Winners of the Geography Week Quiz- Lauren Hayes, Natasha Coffey & Nicole Bolger!

TY Students with Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor at the ‘I Wish’ conference.

TY ‘An Gaisce’ Hike.

Celebrating LGBT week!

Stephanie Kerr and Lauryn Brien

Science Week - 1st Year Experiments

Senior Basketball team LCA Baltinglass Trip LCA Baltinglass Trip

LCA students

Run in the Dark 5km walk

Mark Pollock - Guest Speaker

Mark Pollock - Guest SpeakerOn Wednesday 26th September, we welcomed Mark Pollock to Rockford Manor, who gave an inspirational talk about his life, challenges and achievements. To support his charity, The Mark Pollock Trust, a group of students from 1st - 6th Year and a group of teachers participated in the ‘Run-In-The-Dark’ 5km walk in the city centre on Nov 5th. Many thanks to Ms. Wilson for organising both events!

Senior Volleyball Team & Ms. Howlin

Cheerios Breakfast

TY students at TCD

www.rockfordmanor.ieRockford Manor Newsletter

College Awareness WeekDuring College Awareness Week (19th - 25th November), students attended talks and met with Liaison officers from various colleges, such as UCD, IADT, National College of Ireland and TCD. Some 6th Years and LCA students attended the Sallynoggin Open Day and some senior students participated in a song-writing workshop with BIMM. Teachers displayed posters with information about their college education and students were encouraged to chat with their teachers about their degrees. Several past-pupils of Rockford also returned to share their experiences of college. It was a successful and informative week!

Dara Coady from UCD with 6th Year students.

6th Years at Higher Options

Rockford Manor Choir‘Sing While You Can’ - The Choir joined with Oatland’s College for a Gala Concert on Thursday 25th October to raise funds for Fr. Tony Coote, their College Chaplain. Fr. Tony was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and he has raised awareness about the disease through the campaign ‘Walk While You Can’. The concert featured many well known performers such as: Liam O’Maonlai, Johnny Logan and Camille O’Sullivan. It was an amazing concert and raised €520,000 for

Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association.

Oatlands College & Rockford Manor Choir