St Louis Whole School Evaluation Management, Leadership and Learning January 2019.
We are delighted to share with you our recent Inspection Report which went live today on Education.ie
Water For Africa Fundraising
Ms Sherry’s 5U class held a very successful bake sale and Shrove Tuesday event this week to raise funds to buy a well for a village in Africa. The campaign which is spearheaded in part by Dad of three students in the school, Ugochi, Ife and Ije Enyoazu, and he was delighted to learn that the girls’ efforts were rewarded with a very respectable €360 which will go towards the well to be built in a village in Africa. The plan is that a well will be drilled at least 300 feet down to ensure the water is fresh and not contaminated. Taps will be provided and the whole community will be assured of a fresh supply of clean water for drinking and cooking. This ties in nicely with our Global Schools Network membership and also the Green Flag for water which is making the whole school community aware of the importance of water as a precious and rare commodity which is to be guarded.
Business Department’s trip to Euroscola 2019
We are so delighted to share a video with you of highlights from last week’s Euroscola trip to Strasbourg by the Business and Economics Departments in St Louis. Thank you to Ms S Brady for her help in preparing the girls for the competition before Christmas and to MS Smith and Ms Mallon for accompanying them there. Abby Murphy of Fifth Year is the digital genius behind the video compilation.
Enjoy!
Safer Internet Day – February 5th 2019.
Safer Internet Day (SID) is an EU wide initiative to promote a safer internet for all users, especially young people. It is promoted in Ireland by the PDST Technology in Education and Webwise.
The Theme for Safer Internet Day is “Together for a Better Internet“. Safer Internet Day 2019 will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 5th. Over 100,000 young people across Ireland joined the celebrations last year. This year St Louis will host a lunchtime event to mark the day. There will be an Internet Safety Quiz at lunchtime today February 5th @12:50pm in Room 45.
Check out the link below for information on staying safe online. There are sections for both parents and children.
Transition Year Students reap rewards of ties with DkIT.
In January 20 very lucky TY students got the opportunity to spend a week in DkIT for an Enterpreneurial Week.
Below is the article published by DkIT on the event followed by a report written by one of our own TY students who participated – thank you very much to Emma for her very enjoyable report! DkIT was so impressed with our students that they have already agreed to a similar event next year.
“Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) recently welcomed 20 Transition Year (TY) students from St. Louis Secondary School, Dundalk on campus as part of the Institute’s Entrepreneurial School Week Programme. The week is designed to develop students entrepreneurial, creativity and innovation skills. The programme is delivered by a multi-disciplined team comprised of members from School of Engineering, School of Health & Science, School of Business & Humanities, as well as the Regional Development Centre.
The aim of the programme is to enable TY students to recognise entrepreneurial opportunities. Exploring possibilities is designed around the broad concept of the entrepreneurial mindset and will facilitate TY students to:
- consider what it means to be ‘entrepreneurial’;
- recognize their entrepreneurial potential;
- identify sources of entrepreneurial opportunities;
- develop problems solving skills
- creatively engage in identifying opportunities that could benefit others.
Colman Ledwith, from the School of Engineering and Bridget Kelly from the School of Health and Science organised the Entrepreneurship Secondary School Week.
Speaking during the event Colman said,
“I believe it is important to get students involved in entrepreneurial activities at an early age to enable them to develop curiosity and confidence to explore their own entrepreneurial ability. I have been extremely impressed by the ideas presented by TY students this week. The various workshops held allow them to recognise their own potential.”
Also speaking on the day, TY student Inga Mainule said,
“The activities throughout the week really helped me learn to think outside of the box more. There was such a mix of activities. We really got to try everything from engineering to marketing. I love coming to these programmes in DkIT so much that I’ve already signed up for another one! Coming to DkIT is always such an exciting experience for me. We spent a lot of time here last year when our school burned down and I loved the atmosphere and the environment – it’s great!”
Fellow Transition Year Student, Victory Isyola added,
“This week has been so much fun. It has really brought out our competitive streak! Everyone is so keen to win each competition or come up with the best idea. I love that we have been given the opportunity to work with our hands and do something practical. I usually hate the engineering side of things but this week we were given the task of making a paper bridge without any glue or tape or staples and the bridge had to be sturdy enough to withstand 5 times the amount of paper used to create it, it was tough but we persevered as a team and then we got it! I was so proud of all the work we put in.”
The Programme is facilitate by staff from across the institute – all contributing to its success. Staff involved in the delivery of the programme are Bridget Kelly (Health & Science), Garrett Duffy (Regional Development Centre), Brendan Mac Quillan (retired lecturer Engineering), Neil Mc Loughlin (RDC), Kate Johnston (Business and Humanities), Fergal O Rourke (Engineering), Paul Durcan (Engineering ) and Colman Ledwith. The support team consists of Orlagh Devine, Nicola Larkin, Louise Mc Caul, Grainne Mc Kenna, (All Engineering Administration) John Collins, Pat Mc Carthy Jim Connolly (All Technical Support Staff). The programme is funded by the HEA.”
Originally published on DkIT.ie/news January 24th 2019.
Report by Emma Lynch, TY.
I really enjoyed being part of this workshop up in DKIT and I feel as though all the others who took part would agree with me in saying that it was a very helpful workshop in which we learned, saw, and tried things that very few people get the chance to.
Throughout the week people from various departments in the college came in to speak to us about how their department relates to creativity and how import creativity is in the world that we live in.
Before we even went to DKIT Coleman and Bridget spoke to us about what to expect from this week long workshop and put us into pairs, giving each pair two words which we felt went hand in hand with creativity, we were then told that we had to produce a video log from our week in DKIT based on these words.
On our first day in the college Garrett came in to speak to us about breaking existing patterns and thinking outside the box and how this is vital for any company to do well. I really enjoyed this session because while we learn a lot we also got to have lots of fun doing it as we were asked to solve various problems.
His session was followed by a session on engineering, specifically designing building and testing. This session was given to us by Brendan from the engineering department. Our task was to make bridges using only paper. This proved to be a challenge but it was a great exercise to get us thinking creatively and we had a good laugh doing it too.
We had another session on protecting ideas and intellectual property which was given to us by Neil. This was very interesting and was a topic most of us knew very little about. Neil also made this session as interactive as possible so at no stage were any of us bored.
Kate from the business department in the college led a session in which we learned about marketing. We were first asked to design packaging and come up with a name for a new product, a healthy bar. After doing so we were asked to come up with a place to sell the product. a way to promote it and a suitable price for it. We then presented our ideas in groups and voted on which product we liked the best. Inga and Victory won. This session was my favourite. We had great fun doing it but at the same time learned so much about marketing techniques.
Fergal spoke to us about energy preservation and how engineers help this. This area isn’t one that I would normally be very enthusiastic about. Fergal however managed to make it very exiting and I would no like to learn more about the topic.
On the Thursday we had a session on design and manufacturing and led by Paul and this was an amazing session. We got to design our own phone stands using computer software and then cut them using a laser cutter. In the afternoon Bridget brought us to the microbiology lab and we got to use microscopes to look at different bacteria.
I really enjoyed this course and would definitely recommend it to any future TYs if the opportunity arose for them to take part in it.
I developed many amazing skills, gained insight and learned things that aren’t on our general curriculum.
Thank you to DkIT for this experience, and to Ms Galligan, TY Co-Ordinator for facilitating such a great week of Active Learning for us all.
Aisling, Julie, Kaiya and Sophie enjoying the TY Enterpreneurship Week at DkIT.
Ty students coming to grips with their design ideas for a new healthy bar.
First Year Entrance Assessment February 9 2019
As agreed by all schools in Dundalk, the Assessment Day for incoming First Years will take place on February 9th 2019. Details of your daughter’s time will be given to you.
Below you will find both the PowerPoint Presentation given to parents of incoming First Years, and a cover letter from the Principal which was sent to you at the end of November.
We look forward to meeting your daughters again next week.
MESSAGE FOR PARENTS FROM HSE REGARDING MUMPS OUTBREAK
Please can you take a moment to read the following message from the HSE about an outbreak of mumps in the North East of the country.
Mumps Parents Letter for schools 15-01-2019
Information for Parents on the Whole School Evaluation 2019
Attached below are two documents for your perusal regarding the current Inspection in St Louis. They were previously posted but our website has just changed its host site so some posts were lost. Thank you for your understanding.
Class of 2018 presented with their JCPAs by past pupil Niamh O’ Neill
Last year’s third years were in for a wonderful surprise when they headed to the Chapel Hall just before Christmas to recieve their JCPAs. The Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement is the new Junior Cycle Certificate which replaces the old Junior Certificate. They are distributed in November or December each year which gives time to students to query results and have them rechecked before the certificate is generated. Last year Roisín Ingle of The Irish Times came to the school to present the certificates but this year the school invited one of its own past pupils, doyenne of fashion Niamh O’ Neill.
Niamh who has worked in the past with both John Galliano and Diane Von Furstenberg came home to set up her own fashion label in 2012 in Ireland and hasn’t looked back since. She is a regular visitor to the school, having previously being honoured with the Sr Claire Past Pupils Award. Deputy Principal Mary Glmore was delighted to welcome Niamh to the school. ” The JCPA is very different to the old Junior Certificate. It contains an area for each girl to highlight her personal achievements in school outside of the academic ones. It is a lovely certificate of achievement and so we in St Louis like to make a fuss to celebrate all the Other Learning Experiences of every girl.”
Principal Michelle Dolan said: “Our ethos here in St Louis is about so much more than just the academic achievements of our students. it is wonderful to see the Dept recognising that too in this new certificate. It shows the whole education received through all the extras that go on in the school every day. We were delighted that Niamh, who is such a great role model for the girls, was able to present the awards. It made for a very special day for them and for the parents who attended to wupport their daughters.”
Well done to everyone! 
Marshes Shopping Centre donates Chromebooks to St Louis
Marshes Shopping Centre last month presented 20 Chromebooks to St Louis Secondary School in the first donation of their new community initiative.
“900 people are employed at Marshes Shopping Centre, and many have strong links to the school,” said Aoife Kerley of Marshes Shopping Centre.
“The donation forms part of Marshes’ social initiative, Marshes Community Fund, which supports local causes put forward by Marshes customers.
“As Marshes is involved with a number of local causes, we received a lot of requests to assist the school and are very happy to help.”
The donation was warmly welcomed by both the Principal and Deputy-Principal of St Louis Secondary School.
“The gift from Marshes is very generous and well-timed, especially as it fits in perfectly with targets around the promotion of digital literacy in our school,” said principal Michelle Dolan.
“We plan to use the Chromebooks for the accelerated reader programme which has been rolled out to first years.”
Deputy Principal Mary Gilmore echoed Ms Dolan’s sentiments, saying that the donation will be a great benefit to school life.
“The generous gift from Marshes supports our work in enhancing the digital skills of our Junior Cycle students,” she said.
“This support is very welcome and is timely in given that the Department is aiming for high levels of student engagement in learning through teacher use of the digital learning framework, so students can become engaged thinkers, active learners and
knowledge constructors .”
