School News
Best wishes are extended to Leaving Certificate students who will be taking oral examinations in Irish, French, German and Japanese and a Music practical during the first week of the Easter break.
A letter to families this week set out the details of revised school hours with effect from 25 April. It also contained the school’s updated policy on homework as a means of assessment. The letter may be viewed on www.loretowexford.com
School activities on Social Media
Please follow us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to read about and see pictures of school activities this week:
- Tasty preparations for forthcoming Home Economics practical examinations
- Ongoing celebrations of “Teresa Ball 200”
- 1st year Science T-shirt design
- Cake sale in support of Loreto Secondary School, Rumbek, South Sudan
- Wildflower seed cards being given to students by the Green Schools Committee
- The success of Ava Whelan, who placed third, and Roisin Lawless, who won gold, in the Loreto swimming gala last week.
Diverse Voices
An important job of the school’s 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 on our website, we hope to share the interesting stories of students from diverse backgrounds.
This week we feature Yosra El Hussein, a 2nd year student.
Name: Yosra El Hussein (pronounced Yuss-ra).
Age: 14
Year: Second Year, 2.2
Home: Homs, a city in Syria
Tell us about your homeplace:
Homs is the largest city in Syria. I lived in a large house or mansion with 9 different families. We were all related. Each family had a separate apartment in the house.
I did not attend school in Syria as I left when I was 6.
Memories from home:
My favourite memory would be our house and that I grew up so close to my cousins and my extended family. My grandmothers and uncles and aunts are still in Syria. They cannot leave because they have no passports. Once or twice a year if the electricity comes on, we can talk to them on a video phone. They cook on oil and gas and use candles because the electricity has been badly damaged due to the war that has been happening there for the last 11 years.
My granny Tamtam is 100 years old. She wants to escape to Jordan because she has children there who she would like to see before she dies but this very difficult without a passport.
1kg of sugar costs €20 because of the war. Family members who work outside the country earn money and send money home to the family still in Homs.
Once when I was asleep in our house in Homs, I was awoken by a gunshot. It hit the wall 2cm from my bed. This also happened to my brother and mother too. We had to stay very quiet in Homs so as not to put ourselves in danger. There were soldiers with weapons outside our door. We knew we had to leave to stay safe.
When did you leave Syria?
My mother, 3 siblings and I left Syria for Lebanon when I was 6 because of the war. We lost one of our siblings, my nine-year-old brother, on the journey.
A family friend who worked in the local council helped us to escape the country in a van. He had the power to do that because he worked for the government. I remember hearing shooting when I was in this van.
My father left ahead of us for Lebanon so he could secure a home and a job. We wanted to get by ourselves and not ask for charity. It took us 6 months to get to Lebanon.
We stayed in Lebanon for 4 years. The people were very welcoming and understanding. I went to school there. I started in second class. I learned English, Arabic, History, Geography, Science, Maths and Arts and Crafts. School lasted from 6am to 5pm!
In Lebanon we had summer school where we got extra help with some subjects such English and learning the Koran.
I came to Ireland when I was 9. It was a long process to get passports to come to Ireland. We travelled on 4 different planes to get here and lived in a hotel in Monasterevin in Kildare for 6 months. We went to school in Kildare Educate Together. We went on a lot of trips to get to know the area.
I was put into second class. My teacher Louise was so nice. She had studied medicine but switched to teaching. I was her favourite student! Talking with English speakers really helped my English.
Bake sale for Syria:
When I saw the UNICEF link to help the children still in Syria, I asked Ms. Jordan and the Inclusion Committee to help. I do not want other children to go through what I went through. When we donate money, these children will be provided with essentials like clean water and food. We are not terrorists in Syria, we are victims. Just because we do not have blonde hair and blue eyes, we are not bad people. All Irish people do not have ginger hair and freckles. There are people with blonde hair and blue eyes from the Middle East. We must stop stereotyping people. I think this will create more peace in the world. Please support the school bake sale by purchasing treats this Friday 8th of April. I will not be eating the treats because of Ramadan but I will be there to sell the cakes and I look forward to getting treats during Eid!
Please donate to UNICEF by following this link to help the children still trapped by war in Syria:
Life at the moment:
I am so happy to have access to education and have my family with me.
My message for everyone is that we should be grateful to be educated and be with our families.
If you would like to feature in ‘Diverse Voices’, please contact michellejordan@loretowexford.com