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Year 9 pupils at St Joseph’s High School, Newry, have taken part in an environmental improvement campaign, focusing on lifting and disposing of litter that had accumulated around the boundary of the school.
Under the stewardship of Mr Pat McParland (RE HOD) and Mr Brendan Fearon (Citizenship HOD), pupils took part in a cross-curricular initiative using resources that had been provided through the ‘Down Your Street’ environmental campaign, by the Newry, Mourne & Down District Council.
Mr Patrick McShane (Environmental Co-ordinator of NMDDC) commended the enthusiasm of pupils and congratulated them on their endeavours as part of their Eco-School status for helping to improve the environment around St Joseph’s as well as in the local community.
For more information and images – please see the school web-site at: www.stjosephsnewry.com
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St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook has raised over £40000 last year for a wide range of charities.
Speaking at the school, the co-ordinator of charity work and International projects Mrs. Bridget McConville said ‘St Paul’s High school, Bessbrook has always prided itself in the ability of the pupils and staff when working together to achieve great things. One of our strengths is our commitment as a collective to raise funds for charities’.
Principal Jarlath Burns added ‘We have worked together using schemes such as Spinathons, ice cream selling and non-uniform days to raise money for a whole range of charities. These included All in for Ann Cancer Charity, CHS, Head Injury Support, Childhood Liver Disease, Macmillan Nurses, organ donation charity and The Alzheimer’s Society’.
A total of £15,704.53 was raised for eleven local charities for that academic year and approximately £25,000 was raised for our International Projects.
Mr. Burns and Mrs. McConville wished to thank everyone who contributed to or helped us to organise events throughout the year and concluded by emphasising the difference this makes to so many lives at home and in countries less well off than our own.
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Lauren McMahon a Southern Regional College student from Burren has won Silver in Media Make up at UK WorldSkills.
The event which was held in the NEC in Birmingham showcases talent from students all over the UK. Lauren had to go through a passive photographic stage in April, a Semi Final in Burton Upon Trent in July, in which she achieved 2nd place and then the final in the NEC, Birmingham in which she won her Silver medal.
For the final she had to paint full bodies and put at least two prosthetic pieces on, at each stage she was given a theme to adhere to.
Lauren studies Level 3 Media Make Up at Newry Campus of SRC and previously studied Level 2 Beauty and also Art and Design at SRC, which has helped to build up her artistic talents.
Having only painted her first full body in March a UK Silver medal is a fantastic achievement!
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Twenty five schools from the Newry, Mourne and Down area took part in the local heat of the Northern Ireland Primary School Road Safety Quiz, which was held at the Canal Court Hotel on Tuesday 17th January 2017.
St.Patrick’s PS from Hilltown came out on top by the narrowest of margins. Team members included Aiofe Quinn, Shay Fegan, Meabh McPolin and Blaithin Shields. They were followed by Holycross PS from Kilkeel in second place and St.Bronagh’s Rostrevor who came third.
The top two schools will now compete against 20 other teams in the final which will take place at the NI Fire & Rescue Training Centre, Belfast on Monday 20th February.
The annual event, which is for P7 pupils, received a major boost this year by being awarded a Department for Infrastructure Road Safety Grant. The grant means that the quiz will run across all 11 council areas for the first time, including the full Newry, Mourne and Down council area.
The quiz is organised by Road Safe NI through their Newry & Mourne Road Safety committee to promote awareness with primary school children, who are a vulnerable road user group. The table quiz covers road safety, road signs and general knowledge.
The quiz was very much a team effort as the PSNI provided a quiz master and the PCSP provided high visibility jackets to all participants. All children signed the Department of Infrastructure Share the Road to Zero pledge, took home a certificate and a road safety booklet. Following all heats, the questions will be made available to all Primary schools to conduct the quiz in their classrooms.
Una Lawless, Principal of the winning team from St.Patrick’s PS, Hilltown said "We are delighted to win the Newry, Mourne and Down heat of the NI Road Safety quiz. It is extremely important that all of our children keep receiving the message about the importance of Road Safety in their lives. The School's Road Safety Quiz is a very welcome initiative and all involved should be congratulated. It also lends itself very well to implementation within schools and will provide a novel and interesting approach to reinforce and consolidate the important message of safety on our Roads."
Tony McKeown from event sponsors CRASH Services added, “As a local business we are delighted to be able to support the NI Primary School Quiz. We are involved in accident management and breakdown recovery services, so we have a close connection with road users and we are pleased to get involved with road safety projects like this.
"I would commend the local road safety committee for their efforts in staging the event and look forward to other initiatives in the future."
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The Southern Regional College have held their Inter-Campus Skillbuild Competition at the Greenbank Campus in Newry. There were 30 separate competitions held showcasing the skills of SRC students.
The competition was the first stage of the renowned Skillbuild Competition, and drew together students from all campuses of SRC. The Skillbuild competition is the largest multi-trade competition in the UK for young students and apprentices. It covers crafts including carpentry, joinery, beauty, bricklaying, hairdressing and plastering. Thirty skills competitions took place on the day with industry experts judging the work and skills of the students.
Thomas Fegan from Newry was the winner in the Brickwork competition and Jordan Hughes from Bessbrook was the winner of the Painting and Decorating competition.
There was also an event for students from our local high schools. Over 100 students from over 20 schools took part in 16 events in crafts such as carpentry, joinery, bricklaying, hairdressing and catering . The competitors came from schools across the Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon and Newry Area Learning Communities. The students attend the College as part of the School Partnership’s Programme where pupils from local schools attend SRC to study a range of vocational and academic programmes.
In the Schools’ competition Newtownhamilton High School pupils won two events; Aaron Whyte Adair took a gold medal in Electrical and Calvin Park won the Plumbing Pipework category.
To find out more about Southern Regional College courses you can visit one of their Open Days taking place in early March.
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Southern Regional College student Clodagh McComiskey recently beat off competition to pick up the Champion of Ireland U22 title in Boxing.
The event was held at the National Stadium in Dublin and Clodagh was presented with a Medal, Belt and Certificate of her win.
Clodagh from Gilford and is doing the Foundation Degree in Sport Exercise and Fitness at SRC Newry Campus. Clodagh will go on to represent SRC in March at the All-Ireland College’s Competition in Dublin.
If you would like any further information on this course or others available why not attend SRC’s upcoming open days at the start of March.
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St Joseph's Boys High School in Newry are taking part in Catholic School’s Week 2017, taking place from 29 January to 4 February, This years theme is "Care for our Common Home"
As a school St Joseph’s has a strong tradition of positive environmental improvement work including creating a mini-orchard, planting trees, litter-picks, paper recycling scheme as well as several big projects scheduled for later this year.
In addition however, they have a deeper and more pertinent understanding of what it means to care for our common home. At St Joseph’s staff place the Gospel values of love and respect at the heart of their educational, pastoral, social and communal pursuits in the belief a school is not merely a building of bricks and mortar, but rather a family who live out - through action - the Christian attributes of inclusion, empathy, tolerance, compassion, autonomy and forgiveness towards all, so that each and every person at St Joseph’s is truly cared for in our common home.
Citizenship co-ordinator and RE teacher Mr Brendan Fearon commented that; “During turbulent times around the world, we hold dear to our emancipatory beliefs that every single person is welcomed, valued and respected unconditionally at our school. Through understanding our differences and celebrating our diversities we have the ability to grow our capacity to make an active difference in the world around us by dismantling the barriers of ignorance and toppling the walls of intolerance.
"Pope Francis reminds us that ‘This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good."
Mr Fearon concluded, "At St Joseph’s we believe that, rooted in our Catholic faith, we lead by example, and that our collective actions lead towards the Good. We believe that individually at St Joseph’s we are Irish, Polish, Spanish, Hungarian, Indian, Sri-Lankan, Lithuanian, Syrian, Romanian, Slovakian, Latvian, Brazilian, Filipino, Cuban and Chinese; but together we are one, and as one - we all care for our common home, and those who make it so special here in St Joseph’s.”
For more information please see: www.stjosphsnewry.com
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Art students at Southern Regional College’s Newry Campus will be launching their annual Art Exhibition during the College’s Open Day on Thursday 2 March.
This student-led and organised event will feature a wide variety of pieces created by the College’s Level 3 Art and Design students, ranging from traditional art to new age art and will include fine art, textiles, 3D art and graphic design, photography and animation. Caoimhe Clements, Level 3 Art student at the College, designed the printed and digital promotional materials for this exhibition.
The art exhibition is free and is open to the public to attend during the College’s Open Day event on Thursday 2 March from 11am-8pm. The exhibition will be formally opened on the evening from 6:00pm – 7:30pm and light refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Fidelma Logan, Art and Design lecturer at Southern Regional College said “The students have worked incredibly hard in the preparation and organisation of this exhibition. It has been a fabulous opportunity for them from creating the pieces, designing the promotional materials, organising the exhibition space and actively promoting the event within the local community. We are very proud of their efforts and the professional approach they have demonstrated and we are confident that their efforts will be very well received by the public on the evening.”
This exhibition will also be an excellent opportunity for students considering the pursuit of career within the art and design field and there will be experienced and enthusiastic lecturing staff and students at the exhibition who will be happy to answer any queries from potential students, their parents and/or art enthusiasts.
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Celebration of 50 Years at St Paul's High School in Bessbrook continued today with a Golden Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving in the school's sports hall with Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of all Ireland, the main celebrant.
St. Paul’s opened in September 1966 and over the ensuing years has gone from strength to strength.
Guests at the mass included past principals, chaplains, original pupils and staff from 1966; members of our board of governors and of course our present pupils and staff.
The music was performed by the school choirs under the direction of Mr Colm Murphy, Ms Bridie Mc Evoy and Mr Peter Slane. It was an integral part of the celebrations helping to create a spiritually up- lifting, joyous and moving experience for all.
In thanking all those who contributed to the Mass, Jarlath Burns, principal, paid tribute to the staff and pupils who had passed away during the past fifty years and said the school community held them in a special place in their hearts. He also had a special word of praise for the three past principals who were in attendance and whose work and effort had got the school to the place it is today. He welcomed principals from the local schools and stated that St. Paul's enjoys excellent relations with all its partner schools. He concluded by saying that this was a momentous day for the school and that all involved should feel proud of what the school stands for and what it has achieved and that the future was bright for a school that is so close to the hearts of the people of south Armagh.
Giving his reading on the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus Archbishop Eamon Martin said “If we were true to the motto of St Paul’s Bessbrook (from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians) “In caritate radicati”. or “Rooted in Charity”, ‘rooted in love’, then people would have no problem seeing in us the face of Jesus, and we would be quick to recognise the same in them. That is why I am pleased that, since this school’s foundation 50 years ago, it has always considered it important to value and celebrate the gifts and goodness in all its pupils and staff and visitors. And that of course is what Saint Paul himself would want of you, because, as he writes to the Romans in today’s Second Reading - “the body has many different parts, and all these parts have different functions, but we are all called to use our different gifts as God wants us to”. This school has consistently found ways of bringing together a whole variety of gifts, in its pupils, its staff, its supportive parents, its Governors and chaplains, so that together the sum total of all these gifts is greater than all its parts!
"Today I want to thank the generations of people who have made St Paul’s the great school that it is, proud of its fine tradition of faith and culture, and “rooted” in the love of God. This school has become a beacon of education that is open to all and challenging for all, education that appreciates the wide range of talents and abilities of young people, challenging them all to excellence - not just academically or in sport and music (although St Paul’s does that so well). but also in values like kindness, friendship, generosity, Christian charity, and awareness of others.”
The year’s celebrations will be completed with an exciting Gala Ball in The Carrickdale Hotel, on May 5th. Further details on the ball and other events can be obtained from the school.
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