Loreto Secondary School | 22 February 2024

Letter to Families:

A letter to families was uploaded on Monday, 19 February. It is also available here.

Diverse Voices – Multicultural Week:

An important job of the Inclusion Committee is to give everyone a voice. Sometimes we might unintentionally overlook the voices of those from a minority group and miss a valuable chance to learn more about our wonderfully diverse school community. In this new regular feature, we hope to share the interesting stories of students from diverse backgrounds.

As we prepare for Multicultural Week on the 26^th of February, we hear this week from first year students Kirsty and Kristy Maenzanise who will represent Zimbabwe.

Age: 13 (We’re twins!)

Class: 1.3

Country of birth: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Parents Country of birth: Zimbabwe

Tell us about your homeplace:

It is a very eco-friendly place. We walked a lot and used very little fossil fuels. We rarely chopped down trees because we need them for food and for shade. The temperature could reach 47 degrees Celsius in the summer. We lived in Bulaywo for four years and then for five years in Serima. Serima is an incredibly beautiful place with many lakes, waterfalls, and greenery. It is a small town where everybody knows everybody. There is a really strong sense of community. If you were out of salt, you would go straight to your neighbour and they would help you out.

Our mother is a nurse and there were few opportunities for her to develop her career in Zimbabwe, so she moved to Ireland when we were 7. We lived with our grandmother until our mother had set up a home and established herself in Ireland. For two years we only saw our mother over video phone. Our grandmother’s name is Ruramisai (pronounced roor- a- mees –eye) and she wasn’t very technical! There was no TV, no radio or landline phone in her house. She had an old Nokia. Our cousin lent her his smartphone so we could call our mother. Mum had bought her many smartphones, but she kept giving them away to her relatives! Eventually we managed to get her to keep one!!

Mum came to meet us at the airport in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, we were late for the flight- the gate was about to close when we arrived. So, we were too rushed for hugs and kisses! The journey took a long time as there were many connecting flights. When we arrived in Ireland it was spilling rain and very windy. It took a while for us to get used to the Irish climate!

We started school in Wexford Educate Together and we were famous because we were the only students there with our colour skin. We noticed that students divided into smaller groups at playtime rather than everyone playing together. In Zimbabwe there were no groups like this, we all played as one large group. By the time we left primary school we had taught the class to all play together!

My favourite memory:

Kirsty: When we were living with my grandmother, we used to go pick wild mushrooms. Those mushrooms were the nicest I have ever tasted. My grandma made delicious fish and tomato soup with them. This was one of my favourite meals.

Kristy: My favourite memory was a rainy day in July in Zimbabwe. We have winter when Ireland has summer. It had been raining all day but eventually our grandma let us out. We went with a group of friends to the forest, and we filled our dresses with all kinds of fruit- machees, makwakwa, tiritose and mutohwe. There was so much fruit everywhere, we never got hungry. We could even fill our dresses with fruit on the way home from church on Sundays if we wanted to!

Our Hopes for Multicultural Week:

We haven’t celebrated Multicultural Week before because we’re first years but 5^th year Zinzile is going to help us as she is representing Zimbabwe too. We hope that all the students in Loreto will learn more about the beauty of Zimbabwe. Sometimes when people think of Africa they think of a sad, barren, bare, sandy place but we lived in one of the most beautiful places in the world with lush greenery. Hopefully, students will learn more about all cultures during this week. We are especially excited about the fashion show. We are currently working on our outfits.

Life at the moment: Our life here is very nice. Things are pricey but we’re very happy here. Ireland feels like home now but at the same time we can’t wait to go back to Zimbabwe for a visit.

If you would like to feature in ‘Diverse Voices’, please contact michellejordan@loretowexford.com

Loreto Wexford Interact Club Official Charter Ceremony – report by Catherine O’ Reilly:

On January 26th, 2024, the Loreto Wexford Interact Club held its official charter ceremony. The Loreto girls prepared for the day by baking treats at home to share with those who attended the event. They were joined by the President of Wexford Rotary Club, Natasha Hughes, along with members Maree Lyng, Michael Brand, Christine Doyle, and parents.

Before the presentations, Natasha Hughes and Michael Brand made speeches congratulating the members of this new Interact club for their work and how it will help many people across the world. Lauryn Murphy, the president of the Interact Club, also made a speech, thanking everyone for coming and describing how much the Interact Club means to all its members, showcasing their collective power to make a positive impact on the world.

The official charter was presented by Natasha Hughes to Lauryn Murphy on behalf of all the members. The charter had travelled all the way from America to be signed by the International Rotary President and was also signed by the Rotary Wexford President. The charter recognized the new club’s opening and welcomed all the new members to the Rotary family.

Following this presentation, Lauryn gave a sum of over €500 that the girls had raised during their first project to Natasha. This money was raised by the girls selling packs of crocus bulbs and was deposited into the Rotary fund dedicated to polio eradication.

After the presentations were over, everyone enjoyed some tea and home-baked treats. The girls discussed plans for a new project with the Rotary members and were given tips on what else they could do.

Soccer Update – Junior Soccer (report by Nicole Lageu):

On the 25th of January 2024, our junior soccer team played Presentation Secondary School in the last group round of the league.

The weather was not what they had hoped for, as the rain was pouring down, but that didn’t stop Rebecca Power during her goalkeeper debut for Loreto. She made some fantastic saves throughout the match, but halfway through the first half, Presentation scored a strong goal to take an early lead. Another goal from Presentation and they began to slip away. In the last ten minutes, a fantastic assist from Ciara Whelan and a goal from Polly Redmond brought Loreto back into the game. As the first half concluded, Polly Redmond scored another goal to end the first half level.

Conditions deteriorated in the second half as the rain got heavier and the wind picked up. The match finished with a score of 2-2, a great result for our Loreto team.

They have qualified for the next round of the league, the knockout round. We wish the team, Mr. Usher, and Ms. Sweetman all the best of luck!

Senior Soccer (report by Doireann Ní Mhaoláin): Loreto 4 – 0 Callan, Kilkenny.

On Monday, the 19th of February the Loreto senior soccer team faced their most important challenge yet, the quarter final of the regional soccer league against Callan Kilkenny.

It was a tight and challenging match at the beginning with no score in sight for a while until Hannah Kehoe shoots and scores putting Loreto up by 1-0. Some time passes now with no other score in sight. Then Hannah Kehoe saved the day with another epic goal putting Loreto 2- 0 up just before half time.

The second half began after a brief break and the girls really take on the challenge. The game was going steady for a while when suddenly, Alexa Clancy scores an absolutely amazing goal putting Loreto Wexford up by three. Just to finish off the game on a high Hannah Kehoe scored yet another goal putting the girls up by four. Then the referee blew the final whistle and that was that, the girls were victorious.