St. Aidan's C.B.S

St. Aidan's C.B.S.,
Whitehall, Dublin.

Scoil Aodháin, Fionnbhrú, Baile Átha Cliath

News Update
Christmas 2009
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First Year Public Speaking Competition 2009

An element of the First Year Programme in St Aidan’s is preparation for the Brother Sweeney Memorial Cup. Second Years compete for the Dr. Slattery Cup. All students prepare speeches in class, practice with their teacher and classmate and then are nominated or volunteer themselves to present a three to four minute speech in from of sixty students in the Demonstration Room. Adjudicators, usually seasoned public speakers or veteran debaters from the Student’s Council determine

First Year Public Speaking Competition

which four of the sixteen candidates go through to the Public Speaking Final in the Hall at the end of November. Excellent prizes are provided by the school along with beautiful certificates for all those who participate.The presentations are make by the principal and Vice-principal.

Semi-Finalists 2009 were Rhys Holden, Karl Cutbert, Luke Memory, Conor,(from One East), Shaun Ryan, Niall Ryan, Glen Callery, Niall Norman, (One North)Evan, Sean, Ross, Michael (One West) Peter Hunt, Stephen McKnight, Aidan Twomey, Mark Sewell (One South) Karl and Ross will be competing for the Br Sweeney Cup Darragh Fleming and William French are organising our first ever Fifth Year Public Speaking Competition.They have taken the initiative themselves and all the students involved are preparing in their own time. It is an indication of the sophistication and ambition of the senior students in the school that they have taken on this challenge as an extra curricular activity.They will be preparing their speeches in Room 5 at lunch time; any interested Fifth Years are welcome to attend.

Halloween Library Readings

The Halloween Readings in the library continues a long standing tradition of combining creative writing, public speaking and dramatic reading. Ms Anne O’Driscoll established this celebration of reading in the school in 2001. This was a particularly popular reading, so much so that we were forced to limit entry to the library to participants. The new library was decorated by Mrs Lewis, our librarian, to create an appropriately creepy atmosphere. Students read extracts from gothic novels and classic poetry. Edgar Allen Poe,The Darren Shan series and The Harry Potter novels proved very popular. Several students wrote poems and short stories with a supernatural theme especially for the occasion.The overall winner was Conor Saunders from One East, who read his own composition. Lorcan Reilly, Alan Murphy and Karthik Gopi shared second place. Everyone who participated received a small prize.The winners were presented with vouchers from The Students’ Council, who kindly adjudicated and sponsored the event. Thanks also to Ms Dunne and Ms McGrath who organised the event and have planned another one for Christmas. St. Patrick’s day readings have been very successful in the past, especially with the senior students. Ask your History teacher about famous political speeches.

Ms. A.M. Dunne
Halloween Library Readings