A year in the life of an English Dept., Sept '07 - June '08

St. Aidan's C.B.S. Celebrated "Arts, Crafts and Culture Week" from Friday 30th November to Friday 7th December. One of the highlights for the English Department was The Library Reading coordinated by Ms Thompson and featuring Mr.Connoly as the special guest reader. There were prizes for the best story or poem and a special presentation by our Vice Principal, Mr. Ward to the winner of Magazine's Creative Writing competition, Damon Foster. In the same week The Second Year Public Speaking Final was held in the P.E. Hall. Four finalists, Damon Foster, Robert Keenan, Cormac Rvan, Gavin Me Cabe (one representative from each class) spoke for five minutes each on subjects of their choice to a packed hall. The overall winner of the Dr Slattery Cup was Cormac Ryan. All participants received a voucher from Easons.The First year public Speaking competition for the Br. Sweeney Memorial Trophy was held earlier in the year. The winner was Senen O' Sullivan.

On the 6th of December , internationally acclaimed, novelist and poet, Dermot Bolger Visited the school. Mr Bolger read extracts from his work and spoke to a selection of Fifth and Sixth Year students about his experiences as an author. He very kindly agreed to pose for photographs and allowed the magazine committee to publish two of his poems in

Outside Opinion.

Tradition has it that the teachers' debate in the Demonstration Room at lunch time during Arts week. It is usually fraught with tension and this year was no different. Mr. Carmody, Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Humphries proposed the motion cannabis should be legalising. Ms Dunne, Ms. Thompson and Mr. Deneher opposed the motion. This was the first time Ms. Dunne has ever been defeated in a debate. Ms Byrne helped by providing counselling for the rest of the term.

Leaving cert classes attended a production of Othello in the Helix, Monday 26th February. Second and ThirdYears attended a production O Romeo and Juliet. Fifth Years went to see "Philadelphia Here I come" at o'clock on a Friday night in September. This is a testament to their commitment to the leaving Cert!

Two North (officially Ms. Dunne's favourite class) and Transition Years attended a fantastic screening of Films and animated films by Irish directors in the Axis in Ballymun. This day was organised as part of the Cultural festival during Easter. The events were funded by the Art's Council. Many students also attended workshops during Easter.

This years Transition years achieved a record number of distinctions and merits in their

English Speaking Exams. It was necessary to present a five minute speech, read from a pre-prepared novel and recite a poem. They were also graded on their ability to answer questions on their chosen material. Ms Dunne and Mr. Deneher are very proud of them all.

As everyone knows the teachers in the English Department are very high tech! This year Mr. Traynor and Ms.Dunne collected Tesco tokens with a view to acquiring a camcorder a data projector. The other teachers are very jealous.

One of the most significant developments of the year was the relaunch of the school's magazine Outside Opinion". Two of its past editors and contributors have gone on to pursue a career in journalism. The Editor Paul Carroll has done great work in reviving the magazine, copies of which can still be purchased from the school. Future contributors should get writing during the summer and submit their work to their English teacher in September.

Well done to Mr. Deneher and Mr. O'Connor's First and SecondYear pupils who got involved in a debating competition organised by Mercy Convent Beaumount.The teams performed brilliantly and the second years ( Lee Elliott, Damon Foster, Robert Keenan and Daniel O' Connor) were narrowly defeated in the final.