18 October 2019
Multicultural Week, 4 – 8 November – report by Ms. M. Jordan
Plans are well under way for our Multicultural Week. This year we have 19 different cultures to celebrate. Students are working hard gathering items with which to decorate their classrooms, selecting cultural music to play over the school intercom and preparing items for their cultural stalls.
Multiculturalism will be experienced in our classrooms from 4 to 8 November. Students from Russia, Italy and India are working on lesson plans to teach students some basic words and phrases in their languages. The Home Economics Department will cook dishes from around the world during the week and Herbie Honohan from Cricket Ireland will visit PE classes to give cricket demonstrations. Other subject departments will also endeavour to have a multicultural aspect to their lessons.
Below is a list of the cultures being celebrated and the names of the student leaders:
| Culture Stall | Led By |
| 1. England | Abi Reynolds, Eloise O’Boyle Ferguson |
| 2. South Africa | Eva Henwick & Rebecca Henwick |
| 3. Canada | Isabelle Bates |
| 4. Spain | Marta Goni & Charlotte Buckley |
| 5. Sri Lanka | Mindulee Seneviratne |
| 6. India | Angel Maria Thomas, Krishna Ramesh, Sidhi Sinnott, Aneena Judymon Pynadath, Hari Parimkayala, Malavika Manoj, Angeleena Juddymon Pynadath |
| 7. Sweden | Caoilinn Shore |
| 8. Lithuania | Gabija Varnauskaite & Abbi Grigoriavaite |
| 9. Pakistan | Auj Khan & Newel Naeem |
| 10. Ireland | Erin Kehoe, Blathnaid Beaumont Howell, Nicole Casey, Rachel |
| 11. Australia | Molly Nieuwenhoff |
| 12. France / Monaco | Violette Simon (Teaching Assistant), Molly O’Shea, Kate O’ Flaherty, Abigail Buckley |
| 13. Japan | Aki Obayashi (Teaching Assistant), Shannon Doyle |
| 14. Russia | Ruth Avtina & Esther Avtina |
| 15. Germany | Fiona Doyle, Louisa Hover (Teaching Assistant) |
| 16. Sudan | Minna Yousif |
| 17. Poland | Victoria Melech, Julia Pawlak, Jagoda Staszewska |
| 18. Zimbabwe | Zinzile Mtetwa |
| 19. Italy | Sophia Zipoli, Hazel Hickey, Robyn Hayes |
South East Radio Interview:
On Monday, 30 September, the five 6th year students who are leading Multicultural Week were interviewed by Alan Corcoran on his ‘Morning Mix’ programme. Minna Yousif, Caoilinn Shore, Minduli Seneviratna, Angel Maria Thomas and Krishna Ramesh spoke passionately about their cultures and their lives in Ireland now. A common thread that ran through each girl’s interview was the warm welcome they received in Wexford and the curiosity among their friends and neighbours about their cultures. The interview is still available on podcast on southeastradio.ie.
Invitation to all Parents:
This year we warmly invite the parents and grandparents of all students to join in our celebrations on Friday, 8 November from 11.45 to 13.00. Guests are invited to visit the 19 multicultural stalls and sample all that these wonderful cultures have to offer.
We are delighted to announce that parents and grandparents will be joined by Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin and Indian Ambassador Sandeep Kumar who will speak to the student leaders and visit the stalls also. Presenters from South East Radio will be present to cover the event.
We are looking forward to a wonderful week of celebrations!
Healthy Lifestyle talks for Transition Year students – report by Ms. Kelly (Guidance Department)
We were very happy to welcome Eugene Daly, Life Coach, back to our school last week. Eugene gave a very inspiring presentation about how the students could question their attitudes and approaches to themselves and to others and how this shift in perspective might lead to a more positive, effective lifestyle. We’d like to thank Eugene hugely for this talk.
We also welcomed Michelle O’ Gorman this week to speak with TYs about the importance of food in our lives and how food is medicine for our physical and mental health. Michelle will see all TYs by the end of this term.
Autumn Meeting of Parents
Mr. O’ Shea, Mr. McGinnity and Ms. O’ Reilly held a general meeting of parents in the school on Monday, 14 October. They presented the annual report from the Board of Management and dealt with a number of current issues. The annual report may be viewed by clicking here.
Maths Week 2019
Maths Week Ireland kicked off here in Loreto on Monday, 14 October.
Over the course of the week, we will be running lots of fun activities for all year groups. There will be many prizes up for grabs! We look forward to welcoming Bricks 4 Kidz for a day of fun and interactive workshops. We hope to see the whole school community having fun throughout Maths week.
Loreto students competing at European Gymnastics Championships
The school warmly congratulates Isabella Gainford, Alison Doyle and Abby Mulligan who are on the Ireland team that will compete in the European Gymnastics Championships in Israel on Monday, 21 October. We wish the girls well as they compete at such a high level.
Swimming success
Congratulations to Hannah Fitzpatrick and Roisin Lawless who achieved personal best times in the Leinster Senior Schools Swimming Gala last weekend. The competition featured swimmers from over 100 schools. Both students continue their seasons at the Leinster Qualifying meet, which is a two day event, next week. Sophie Mahon and Eve O’ Hanlon will also participate in this event and the school wishes them all the best.
Athletics – Report by Senan O’Reilly (parent)
Over the summer, three of Loreto Wexford girls brought honour to county and school with their athletic performances at provincial, national and international levels.
Maeve Hayes started her track & field season with triple gold at the Leinster Championships (U18) winning high jump, long jump and 100m hurdles. She also picked up a bronze at those championships in the 400m running a personal best (pb) in the process. Maeve won a silver medal in the National Youth Heptathlon. Despite this being her first time doing this event she came away with personal bests in the 100m hurdles, 200m and 800m. She won All-Ireland silver and bronze medals in the long jump and high jump respectively, with the silver medal in the long jump, securing her place on the Irish team which competed at the inaugural Youth Nations Cup.
Aisling Kelly, one of the top sprinters in the country, started her summer with Leinster Schools bronze medals in 100m and 200m. She followed this up with provincial wins at both distances at both U17 and junior levels. Aisling missed the All-Ireland Schools due to illness. This may have been timely as it gave her an opportunity to take a short break and prepare for the busy weeks ahead. At the inter-provincial Tailteann Games she was third in both 100m and 200m as well as helping the Leinster relay team to silver. At the All-Ireland Junior T&F she was 2nd in 200m and 6th in a very competitive 100m final. She was back to her winning ways at the National Juvenile Championships with gold in 100m and 200m. Aisling’s fine form throughout the summer brought her two international vests. At the SIAB, an annual ‘home countries’ schools international, which this year was held in Swansea, she was 4th in 100m, 5th in 200m and a member of the silver medal winning relay team. Like Maeve, Aisling also made the Irish team for the Youth Nations Cup, placing 4th in 200m.
Róisín O’Reilly followed up a great cross country campaign with a no-less stellar track season. She won the 1500m Steeplechase at the All-Ireland Schools; the 2000m S/C at the N.I. and Ulster Championships; the U18 2000m S/C at the National Championships. A pre-planned trip to Salzburg meant that she missed the Leinster Championships, while an untimely muscle strain led to her missing the All-Ireland 1500m. Any thoughts she may have harboured that this might have been a much more lightly raced season than planned were dispelled when it was announced that she had been selected to run the 2000 S/C at the European Youth Olympics in Baku, Azerbaijan. The EYOF is, to all intents, a dress rehearsal for the Olympics Games. Many of the athletes who competed in Baku will go on to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Róisín loved everything about the event – the buzz in the Olympic Village, the friends she made and experiencing Azeri culture. While she was happy enough with how her race went she received top marks for her very upbeat post-race interview! As with Maeve and Aisling, Róisín’s season ended with the Youth Nations Cup where she placed 2nd in the steeplechase.
Well done to all three girls. We wish them well in the year ahead and look forward to hearing of their future exploits.
