Get This...

Go Anywhere...

End up in Harvey Nicks ... with McDonald's pit stops along the way

On 24th of March the two Transition year classes and all the Fifth years went to the FAS Opportunities 2006 exhibition in Croke Park. The exhibition provided a chance for the students to look at all different careers and courses. There were countless numbers of stands with hands-on practical demonstrations providing the students with information leaflets and prospectuses.The number of free pens and key rings also went down well with the students.

The Transition Years however, were doing this as part of a special 'Careers Investigation' project under the guidance of Mr. Deneher and Mr. Keane.The two classes were split into groups, and they all had a particular topic to explore. This brought students all across Dublin, from Howth, investigating maritime options to Dundrum Shopping centre, to explore marketing and admire Harvey Nicks. There were lots of pit stops in McDonald's and Burger King in between.

The aspiring entrepreneurs had to record all their findings and compile a project which they would have to present in front of their class.The project not only provided information about different careers but also helped develop key skills such as teamwork, enterprise and public speaking. Most importantly, it allowed four of us to produce a documentary on our experiences. We won €50 and each of us got a nice scroll of which our mammies would be proud. Thanks Mr. Deneher and Mr. Keane for your inspiration and encouragement....we'll not forget you when we get that BAFTA or Oscar!

Eoin O'Liathain Kevin Sheridan

Photo shows Mr. Deneher with one of the winning teams who took part in the TYP Careers Project.

Maths Olympiad

The top 500 maths students in the Junior Cert maths exam are entered for the Irish Maths Olympiad. '65000' students sit the Junior Cert maths, so to make the top 500 is some achievement.

Our three representatives, Joshua Tobin,Wes Hunter and Kevin Reilly, are in the final 100 students in Ireland.

This is a truly remarkable success and they will sit a final exam in May.The top 6 students in Ireland will then compete in The World Maths Olympiad in Slovenia.

Fire Drill

There was great excitement on Tuesday the 28th of March when the Fire Brigade arrived for an "Emergency" at St. Aidan's to extinguish a "fire" at the main entrance to the school. Many students were taken by surprise that afternoon by the drill, even though they were hints given by the principal the day before. Many students even wondered if the "fire" was for real, when they saw the smoke and the fire engines with lights flashing.

Fortunately, however, as we all know by now, this was merely a simulated event on this occasion. The value of the exercise, of course, lies in the making of us all more aware of what we should do in the event of a real fire. In particular, we all need to evacuate the building more rapidly. It is essential for all students to leave their classrooms in an orderly manner -and with some sense of urgency, when led out by their teachers. It is equally important to line up quickly at the assembled area, so that heads can be counted quickly, and everyone be accounted for. You must then remain in your line until the all-clear is given and you are given the order to return to class.

Remember, the purpose of the fire drill is potentially to SAVE LIVES!

K. Casey, Fire Health and Safety

Chess

The St. Aidan's Chess Teams have enjoyed considerable success this year. The Senior-A team, consisting of Kenneth Dowler, Shane Sexton, Mark Higgins and Joshua Tobin, demolished Blackrock in the opening match of the league, leading to an interesting St. Aidan's-A vs. St. Aidan's-B match-up. Meanwhile, Paul Kelly led the Junior-A team to an impressive victory over Lycee Francais. Congratulations also go to the other players on the day, Steven Murphy, Sean Bourke-McKenna and Adam Sexton, who all performed excellently. Both teams are immensely grateful to Mr. Carmody, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Hastings, whose ongoing support has been invaluable.

YSI

Good luck to the two Transition Year classes that submitted their Young Social Innovators Projects last week.There were two groups in TYP I who produced great projects highlighting issues of suicide ("The Depressing Truth") and homelessness ("It Could Be You"). TYP I brought in a speaker from AWARE who spoke about how depression affects young people and the various reactions it can cause.Their study looked at the issues that can lead to adults and young people feeling that there is no hope. The other group in that class looked at reasons why people become homeless and discovered some very interesting findings.

The TYPA group also put in great work into their project on the issue of music and violence. They sought to find out if there was a connection between violent and aggressive lyrics in songs and people's subsequent anti-social behaviour. The class conducted experiments to discover if there was any truth in this proposal. One such experiment involved placing a person in a room alone and requesting them to listen to various types of music, ranging from classical to rap to heavy metal. The class, after each song, would take note of the participant's mood and general demeanour after each song to discover what kind of effect, if any, the song had on him. Participant's moods ranged from anger to sedation to agitation depending on the music. Both classes conducted surveys around the school and in local schools to get the pupils' opinions on their respected topics. These three insightful projects can be found in the library. Students are invited to read them on their next visit. Many thanks to Mr. Richard Gill and Mr. Tom Corbett for all their help and guidance.

St. Patrick's Day Library Reading

As usual our scholars read a wonderful variety of material, much of it poetic and many original compositions. Darren Maher, Gavin Geherety and Paul Carroll all presented their own work. Students chose poems from famous Irish poets such as Seamus Heaney, W.B.Yeats, James Simmons, Evan Boland, Michael Longley, Anthony Cronin and Brendan Kennelly. Niall Kelly read Pearse's Oration at the Grave Side of O'Donovan Rossa. The Valentine's Day Reading was also a huge success. The adjudicators from the Student's Council were very impressed by the high standards on both occasions.