Swim a mile with a smile

Each year all TY's and LCVP students from St. Wolstan's participate in the annual Ian Daly Swim a Mile With a Smile challenge. The annual event was set up by Laura and Brian Daly after the death of their son, Ian in 2003. Ian died of a rare form of cancer and all funds raised from the event go towards Our Lady's hospital, Crumlin and Barretstown Camps. 

On the 19th of April we travel to The National Aquatics Center to take part in the event. In total the TYs and LCVP students clocked up a total of 24 miles. Most of the miles counted were completed in times of 4 or 5 people, there was also some people who completed the full mile themselves including Ruth Kelliher, Ciara Foran, Roisin Nolan, Ciara Hodson, Katie Sheehan, Aoibhinn Daly, Chanice Corcoran and Abbie Keegan and myself. 

Afterwards we had enough time to go to Blanchardstown shopping center for Mc Donalds and a quick shop! Everyone really enjoyed the day out and wished we could go swimming more often for PE! :) 

Gaisce Planning

It is coming to the last leg of the year and our Gaisce is beginning to finish up. Throughout the year anyone participating in Gaisce had to do 13 week of community involment, 13 weeks of personal skill, 13 weeks physical recreation and an added 13 weeks to an area of your choice.

To finish up the Gaisce award, we will have to complete a 26 mile hike. At the moment we are all very busy preparing for the hike which will take place on the 26th and 27th of April. This week everyone had to get into groups of 5 or more and organize all of our food for the weekend and what we are going to pack for the hike.

We will be staying in 3 separate houses at the Kippure Adventure Center in Wicklow. Everyone is really looking forward to getting away with most of the TY's but not really looking forward to the actual 26 mile hike! ha :)

Mini pilgrimage, Bowling, Food ... :)

As it is the season of spring the time St Bridget  Mr. K organised for all TY's to go on a sort of mini pilgrimage to the famous sites of St. Bridget. 

To start off the day we watched a video in the heritage center in the main square in Kildare town. We learnt about St. Bridget's life and how she came to set up some of the presentation sister schools here in Ireland. We also learnt about the meaning of the St. Bridget cross and how it is made. 

Afterwards we crossed over to the far side of the square to visit the cathedral, her chamber of fire and the round tower. 

It is said if you walk round the round tower backwards 7 times you will dream of your future husband that night. Of coarse we all gave it a go anyway! 

Once we had finished up here we all hopped on the bus and drove to the famous St. Bridget's well. We prayed at each wishing stone and took part in the scarred walk around the well. 

At around lunchtime we went to White water in Newbridge on our way home to stop for food!! There was a mad dash for Genzenge as per usual, and once we were finished we all got on the bus and headed off to Kbowl. 

Everyone really enjoyed the day even though it was absolutely freezing for most of it. It was a great way to end Term 2 of Transition Year. ( Can't believe I just said that! TY is flying by!) 

TY Retreat

This week there were no scheduled classes for Wednesday as all our work experience placements had finished up. So instead Ms. L and Mr. K brought us on a retreat to the Tallaght retreat center, "Dominican Retreat Center" for the day.

When we arrived we were given a short talk on what the day was all about and what topics would be covered in each group. We were then asked to break up into groups of 12 with people we trusted. Each group then assigned a sort of concealer who would be with us for the day in a private room.

To be completely honest I didn't really know what to expect of the day. However, I throatily enjoyed it. We spoke about both happy and sad events in our lives, and I released that there is a story behind every person. I also enjoyed the free tea and biscuits provided by the staff :) Thanks to Mr. K and Ms. L for organizing the day out for us as well. 

If you wish to find out more about the "Dominican Retreat Center" check out their website here.

Rápido y Furioso's success!!

Last Friday my F1 team, Rapido y Furioso and Team Petrolic, traveled to Griffith Collage Dublin to compete in the F1 in School Challenge regional final. 

Our two team succeed in securing a place a place the regional final back in November of 2012. All TY's studying technology this year got into groups of fives and wrote a five page plan of what they would do if they succeed into the next round. Two teams were then selected from our school which were team Rapido y Furioso and Team Petrolic. Since November we have designed out car on Solid works, and got it made in Cork IT. We also secured sponsorship with Institute of Technology Blanchardstown - ITB. Their generous contribution funded our uniforms, embroidery on our uniforms, printing of posters and transportation. 

Rapido y Furioso and Team Petrolic

Last Friday was the regional final of the F1 in schools competition. On the day we were judged on our stand, our portfolio, our 5 minute verbal presentation in front of the judges and the average speed of our car. 

Our stand and display

Racing time!

For those of you who are wondering what the car is actually like, it is only about 15cm in length and our car weights about 72g. The body of the car is made entirely out of balsa wood which is a special light-weight wood. To race the car, there is a 30mm long hole in the back of the car. A small gas canister fits into this slot and then connects up to a gas pump which shots off the car when the starter button is pressed. 

Rapido y Furioso car ready to race! 

Overall the day was a fantastic success, with both St. Wolstan's team qualifying to the next round, The National Finals!! Our team, Rapido y Furioso also won a prize for best use of computer-Aided- Design. The entire team is over the moon and can't wait for the National finals on the 30th April! :) 

Accepting our award

Teams trough to national finals

Intel Workshop

Today all TY's traveled to Trinity College of a workshop and lecture on Intel and about studying science coarse for the leaving Cert. 

We started of the day with a sort of speed dating section in groups of four's with an Intel worker. They gave us an introduction into what thy do in Intel and what they studied for the Leaving Cert and at Third level. They asked us what we were planning on studying for the Leaving cert and what sort of career we would like to go into in the future. They also gave us some advise on what are the best coarse to study at third level. 

Afterwards everyone got a small lunch bag with sandwiches and popcorn and a drink before moving onto the last part of the workshop.

Once we had finished eating we made our way to the auditorium for a talk with 2 Intel representatives on what Intel actually is all about ad the future of technology and science for males and females. 

Here is a video on what it is like inside the Intel fab:

We also learnt about the typical working day of an Intel worker and what it entails. We also learnt about the new and up coming move "Girl Rising", which is about girls in third world countries fighting for their right to an education. 

Here is the trailer for the movie the Girl Rising: 

The Spider Awards

Today, Ms. L, 3 fifth years, 2 TY's and I caught an early mini bus to the RDS for the Eircom Junior Spider Awards. There was huge excitement between us all. I won't lie, we did get a bit lost but when we finally got into the RDS we began setting up our display stand. Each website or blog had to have its own display poster representing what their website was about. My blog "Katie's Thought's" was nominated for a Junior Spider Award, therefore I had to design and make a poster to represent the content of my blog.   My poster was a big mind-map of all of the events and memories of TY so far and how they all interlinked with one-another. 

Spin 1038!

There was a great buzz in the display room, with the Spin 1038 DJ's and Spinnies running loads of mini competitions and giving away free prizes! There were also a good few primary school children running around and giving out free sweets, what more could you ask for?! :) 

After about 3 hours of looking at displays and everything, Spin packed up and we all had a free lunch! Happy out! :) Once we were all finished everyone made their way into the Concert Hall for the Awards Ceremony.

For the first part of the Ceremony there was a show and a demonstration from the Comedian Jack Wise, who was hilarious getting both students and teachers up on stage! We tried to get Ms. L up but we weren't quick enough! :( 

After the show they moved on to the actually Awards Ceremony presented by Aidan Power. We found out more about the Spider Awards and their sponsors. Unfortunately my blog didn't win out of my category but it was amazing to be shortlisted in the first place! :) Ms. L's blog on their project on St. Bridget from last year won best project in the senior section! So well done to all involved and especially to Ms. L! Some of the winners had amazing websites and ideas. My favorite website was The Geek of Comedy by Lee-Loi Chieng! make sure you check it out! 

Today was absolutely fantastic, and was a great experience for me! We all walked away with a goody bag as well! Hopefully I might be back in the never future! 

Wesley School Choir Competition

Today was the day St. Wolstan's choir had been preparing for since the beginning of the school year. Today we were taking part in the Wesley school choir competition at Wesley collage Dublin. we were competing in the all girls school choir category along with 11 other choirs. The St. Wolstan's choir is open to all students in the school and currently ave 55 very committed members.

At around 3 we arrived at Wesley collage and we shown to our practice  room. We had a small rehearsal but was quite difficult as there was no piano to play the accompaniment, but we made do! :)

At around half 4 our competition was due to start and we were first up. We waited back stage until we were called. Our performance went really well and Fiona was brilliant on the piano. After our performance we went to the back of the hall to watch the remaining performances  Some schools were just outstanding and were note perfect. 

Once all the performances were over the results were announced straight away. Unfortunately we weren't placed, however we were recommended, which means we came 4th overall which was fantastic. We received an overall score of 82% which was just a few percent off the winners! Everyone was in great spirits on the way home sing loudly! Thanks to Ms. O'R and Ms. M for all there hard work and dedication to the choir for the year, and bring us to the competition. 

West Leinster Cross Country Race

Today 10 Ty's traveled to the Phoxic Park for the West Leinster cross-country Competition along with the St. Wolstan's cross-country team and our 2 P.E. teachers, Mr. L and Mrs. O'C. The competition was run by our P.E. teachers and they asked us to come along to help them organise the event. Over the past week Alanna, Liz and I have been organizing the entries, directions, score cards and numbers for each race. 

Overall best girls team 

Today we were each in charge of one job for the day. Orlaith and I had to take the names of the first three runners from every race and present them with their medal at the end. While other TY's gave runners stickers for their position in the race, mapped out the coarse and worked on tallying up all of the scores at the end. 

St. Wolstan's had a very successful day, winning best overall girls School! So well done to all the runners in St. Wolstan's! :)  And of coarse a day out would not be complete without a trip to Mc Donald's!  Everyone got a take away meal and ate their lunch in the hall back at school and played some ping pong afterwards! Thanks to Mr. L and Ms. O'C for bringing us today it was enjoyed by all.

Lollipop Day

Today all TY's and LCVP students traveled into town at 9:15 this morning. We first walked to the Powerscoart center to collect our t-shirts, caps, collection buckets, lollipops and balloons.  We then split up into our groups of 4 and went to our collection points doted around the city center. 

Alanna, Orla, Orlaith and myself were at Temple Bar at the Hay Penny bridge. Besides the freezing cold, we really enjoyed ourselves! :) We found that people were particularly generous and interested in what we were collecting  for which was in aid of Oesphagel Cancer. People donated €2 and we gave them a badge or lollipop to show our appreciation to their donation. 

We got to go out for lunch in twos for an hour during the day. I think Orla and I were happier about getting into the heat! ;) We had a walk up Grafton Street as well, and the atmosphere was amazing some girls were even dancing along with the buskers to raise money for this worth-while charity! 

The aim of today was to raise money for the Oesphagel cancer fund and also raise awarness of the symptoms of the cancer which are:

1. Food 'catching' with swallow.
2. Unexpected weight loss.
3. A change in your reflux symptoms. 

Click here to visit their website and find out more.

Jabba Jabba Jembe

Today we had a drumming/ percussion workshop with Dave from Jabba Jabba Jembe. My class, Siocháin, were the first group of the day. We started off the workshop in the school library by introducing our selves and learning the different sounds of the drums. Dave then introduced us to some basic drumming rhythms. Once we had that nailed, Dave moved on and introduced us to the different sorts of drums for example:

The Jembe

The Kpanlgo

Bass drums

After our short break we moved over to the music room to make more noise! Dave taught us some more intricate rhythms . He also gave out more percussion instruments such as the Asalatos, Agogo bells, Marakas and Shekeres. Everyone got a go of each instrument. Once we had profected our song we recorded it on Ciara's phone while wearing traditional African hats. We also had a bit of a free-styling session to Bob Marley with Zoe on the piano and Shannon on the Guitar. Everyone was in great spirits and really enjoyed the 3 hour session. Thanks to the music department for organizing the workshop for it, it was great fun! Pictures from the day and our recording will be coming soon. :)

The shekeres

The marakas

Agogo bells

The Asolatos 

Also make sure to check out Dave's website for "Jabba Jabba Jembe" here. There is loads of background information on the different types of instruments and traditional drumming. 

The Effects of War - Briery Gap

Today, after weeks of preparation our TY Religion class traveled to Mullingar to preform our plays as part of the Briery Gap Drama competition. 

At the beginning of December our religion Class divided into two separate groups and and choose a topic of interest inspired by the Millenium Development goals which we had studied earlier in the year. WE chose to write our play about the effects of war and how it impacts on everyone's life and that there are two sides to every story. 

When we were in Mullingar we got to take a visit to Mc Donald's  watch some of the other plays hat were being preformed by other groups and also a trip to the playground, (It wouldn't be the same without the rain though!) 

Overall we felt that our play went very smoothly and most of the comments from the judges were very positive, however they advised us not to us as many props if we were to preform it again. 

We will be finding out within the next week or two which dramas/group got through to the national finial which will take place in Cork. 

You can also take a look at our script for our play. Hope you enjoy! :)

Find out more about Briery Gap here.

Strike!

As there is only 5 Christmas exams for TY's, Ms. L decided to have a party and bring us bowling for our last day because were such good girls! ;) 

This morning all TY's went to the library for our Christmas party hosted by Class Cairdeas. There were all sorts of cakes and goodies to eat! Towards the end of the party we all put our Kris Kindle presents into a Santa sack. Then Aisling, dressed as Santa distributed all of the presents. There were smiles all round! We also all joined in on the Cha-cha slide and Gangnam Style!

After, we headed straight to Kbowl in Newbridge. It took a while to organize all of the teams and lanes but eventually we were all set! Afterwards we were aloud to go to WhiteWater in Newbridge to do some shopping or just eat! haha

Today was a great  to finish off our first term in TY. It was nice to have a little treat after our Christmas tests. I think everyone is really excited for Christmas now, and I hope everyone has a brilliant Christmas! Talk soon :) 

The little Nutcracker ballet

Just before our Christmas tests Ms. l decided to bring us to see the Nutcracker ballet. Here is the opening performance of the ballet. 

St. Vincent de Paul Collection

As part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at school, we were asked to participate in the annual SVP Christmas collection. We were organised into groups of  three or four students per each 2 hour shift. Last Saturday morning Kate, Fiona and I collected money from busy Christmas shoppers at the doors of Tesco in Celbridge. I must be said that most people were very generous and willing to reach out and help some of the less fortunate people in their local community. Over the past few weeks we have also been encouraging students to bring in small gifts for the annual SVP Christmas appeal. We were delighted that so many people brought in gifts for the appeal and we know that they are going to a great cause. 

If you want to become part of the action and get invloved with the St. Vincent de Paul Society make sure you check out their website here.

Bond, James Bond!!

Today we traveled  to Odeon cinema in Naas for our second mini company workshop. However, when we arrived we got news that our presenter, Orla was ill and the workshop would not be going ahead. So instead the staff decided that we could watch the new James Bond film "Skyfall"!! The shouts and screams let out by everyone was unreal! We all couldn't believe it and we were so excited. It's fair to say everyone got really into the film as-well, like clapping when Bond killed the villain! :D

Afterwards we were greeted with another present surprise.... everyone got a goodie bag with popcorn, sweets, a drink and a Madagascar cup! ;) It amazing how excited TY's get with free stuff! ;) Today was defiantly one of the best days of TY so far!! :) Thanks to the business teachers for bring us today it was truly enjoyed by all.

Minor Hockey Match

Today I went with the schools  minor hockey team to St. Raphaela in Sandymount! When we arrived it looked as though their entire year came out to support them! But of coarse the Wolstan's girls went out fighting getting a goal within the first 15 minutes. From then on it only got better, with St. Wolstan's receiving another 2 goals in the second half! 

It was a great game but a lot of the time I was organizing the subs going on and off which is actually a little more difficult than you may think! But luckily I got everyone on and everyone got a chance to dig in! :) 

Afterwards the coach Vinny agreed to bring us to Mac Donald's to celebrate our 3 - 0 victory! I have to say it was well deserved girls  so WELL DONE! :D 

TY so far through pictures

Sweets at Carlingford

Fun Walk

Positive parties

Lazer at carlingford

Zorbing at carlingford

Positive parties

Night Walk at carlingford