LORETO HIGH SCHOOL BEAUFORT
NEWSLETTER
May 2015
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are coming to the end of another great academic year here in Loreto Beaufort. The weeks and
months seem to fly by. Our Loreto ethos has been core to all activities this year, both academic
and extra curricular and we are grateful for the hard work invested by so many staff, pupils and
indeed parent volunteers. These last few weeks are a little poignant for us as we say goodbye to
our 6th Year pupils, of whom we have grown so fond, over these last six years. But we have lovely
end of year events to create happy memories for all in our school community: our Sports Day,
awards ceremony with guest Áine Lawlor, coffee mornings, 1st and TY evenings, pupil vs teacher
debate and both the graduation mass and our end of year mass.
Our school mission statement is at the centre of all school activities and we try very hard to develop
each girl spiritually, intellectually, socially, morally, creatively and physically. To this end we
focus hard on the academic work in the school and also on the broad curriculum of sport, debating,
book clubs, drama, choir and many social justice initiatives.
We work to keep our teaching and learning up to date and as part of our School Self Evaluation
we focussed on improving literacy (for example our Drop Everything and Read week, including a
Roald Dahl Day), numeracy and using Assessment for Learning i.e. giving feedback to pupils on
work done as well as setting clear learning goals for each class in the school. Friendship Week is
an important feature in our year as part of our anti-bullying strategy and this year we had peer
teaching, SPHE classes, a talk by an gardaí and a play on the topic of positive and appropriate
friendships. Our pupils have mostly worked really hard on their school and homework and
consistently achieve very highly. Well done, girls.
We have had a most enjoyable and successful season in sport. Participation levels are really high
in all three of our winter sports: hockey, basketball and camogie, which is fantastic. Sport helps
with fitness, good mental health and team building and whether we win or lose, there is much to
be learnt. We had some significant successes this year: one was our Senior camogie team winning
the Leinster final and progressing to the All Ireland Finals where they were narrowly beaten.
Another was the success of our Senior 1 team in winning the Dublin Loreto League and the all
Ireland Loreto League. Some terrific matches and real commitment was shown in all three sports.
For summer sports, our athletes are performing well and our tennis teams are also doing well in
the schools leagues. Well done to all and a huge thank you to all the very dedicated coaches. In the
Arts, we have had a busy year also with debating and our Junior team won the Loreto Debating
Finals and our senior team won the Loreto Public Speaking Competition. Several of our Transition
Years participated in the Toastmasters Club on a weekly basis. There has also been great success
in a range of debating competitions and levels including Irish and Spanish medium debating. The
Talent Show, our Debra Classical Concert (raising €3,000 for Debra Ireland) and our Transition
Year superb “Calamity Jane” all gave us great showcases for much talent and also great fun.
The foundress of the Loreto Order, Mary Ward, who said “Do good and do it well” would surely
be proud to see the leadsership that our prefects demonstrated in organising a Trek for Rumbek for
our sister school in Loreto Rumbek in South Sudan. Here four Irish Loreto sisters are running a
primary and secondary school for local children in a country reeling from upheaval and poverty.
Our girls have shown solidarity with their fellow pupils and came out and walked, raising over
€6,000 for the next phase of building a primary school building. The JPIC group also organised an
excellent Gender Equality Week showing us how in so many parts of the world, equality is still a
distant aspiration. Recently, our 5th Years spearheaded a Colour Run in aid of the Irish Cancer
Society. This was a staggering success (despite a rainy day) and raised over €10,000 for this
excellent cause. Our St Vincent de Paul Society and the TY social justice module increase our
understanding of inequities in our own and other societies. Our girls show a willingness to effect
change and be part of a solution for things that are not fair in our society. A big well done to all
involved.
Our pupils consistently demonstrate very strong student leadership through the roles of: peer
buddies, prefects, sports captains, council reps, class prefects, peer teaching and their ability to
form and run effective committees. We love to see such positive involvement and democracy at
work. Our teachers and support staff also demonstrate very strong leadership skills. Their patience,
diligence and fun is remarkable and they consistently show dedication and enthusiasm.
I would like to thank our parent body, who are behind their daughters and the school, in good times
and bad. We know the work that goes on quietly with organizing materials for projects, helping
with deadlines, giving lifts, attending school evenings and making sure that the girls have the right
gear with them. A particular work of thanks to those parents who serve the school on the Board of
Management and Parents’ Association, which is voluntary and often thankless. The positive
partnership between home and school is key for the pupils’ benefit.
I thank God for the many blessings he has bestowed upon our school community this year. Over
the summer we hope to renovate 3 Science labs and also start building four much needed
classrooms. On behalf of myself, Mr Carolan and the entire staff, I wish all of our pupils and their
families a great summer break and look forward to the next academic year 2015/2016. Two of our
teachers are retiring at the end of this year: Ms McAndrew and Ms Cullinane. Both women have
given so much to the school over many years and while we are sorry to see them leave, we wish
them every happiness in the years ahead and thank them for their great service, high standards and
constant professionalism.
We wish everyone good luck in the upcoming house exams and especially our 3 rd and 6th Years
who have state exams this year. We know how hard you have prepared and feel that you deserve
to be confident and do yourselves proud. For the 6th Years in particular, we hope that the exams in
June go well and that you move on to the next chapter of education with enthusiasm and energy. I
hope you enjoy third level and bring to it as much positivity as you have showed us here in
Beaufort. We will miss you and hope that you keep some of the Loreto message with you, as you
move on to the next exciting phase of life.
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Margaret O’Donoghue
Principal
Beaufort Debating Report
Beaufort have had a great year in both Debating and public speaking– one of the best ever. The
Junior Team of Alysia Cloake and Leesha Curtis won the Junior Inter-Loreto Cup. This is the third
consecutive year we have won. Orlaith Barry and Aislinn Carty won Three Schools Mace Debating
Competitions and finished their year as Semi Finalists in The International Competition for Young
Debaters in Cambridge last weekend.
Maeve Ni Bhraonain, Sarah Hickey and Alysia Cloake also won several Mace competitions between
them.
Beaufort Debaters featured in the finals of every Schools Debating Competition this year. Well
done
Library News
Any borrower who does not have an overdue by Wednesday 20th of May will have their name entered into a draw
for a €25 Dundrum voucher. So bring back those overdues today!
The Graphic Novel Bake sale raised a fabulous €261 so watch that section in the library expand even more.
Irish author, Aine Ni Ghlinn, came in to TYs last week to talk about writing and her latest award winning novel,
Daideo. Author of The Weight of Water, Sarah Crossan, came in to talk to 2nd Years. Ms Keenan’s English 1st
year English class are Shadowing the CBI awards this year and will be filmed reviewing the books on Monday
11th May – so double silence please that morning!
Most popular book this year was Wonder by R J Palacio – and for seniors, Only Ever Yours, by Louise O’Neill.
If you wish to borrow a book or two over the summer please call in.
Student Council Report 2015
September:
The council set up a Twitter Page which has been a wonderful success. The page keeps students
from 1st to 6th year up to date on news in all years. We also started a Student Council Facebook
page.
On the 29th Beaufort was presented with the Amber flag. The flag acknowledges the work of the
student council for promoting positive mental health within the school. We focused on the five
key practises for maintaining a positive mental health which are: Learning to Relax; challenging
yourself; practising gratitude; being active and eating healthily and connecting with others.
Receiving the flag is a huge honour and we as a school community have continued to instil the
message of positive mental health within Beaufort.
October In October the council promoted the senior prefects fundraiser ‘Trek for Rumbek’, which
raised over €5,000 for our sister’s school in south Sudan.
The annual school talent show was organised. Sub committees organised music, judges and prizes.
We raised over €800 for the council funds.
Council members attended The Loreto Student Council Conference in Croke Park
November/December
In November the Council helped Ms Donoghue organize The Remembrance Tree to be placed in
Reception. The council made golden leaves and students could write the name of any loved ones
who had passed away on the leaves.
In December we worked alongside 2Q to organize the Christmas Tree Decoration competition and
the brief was to use recycled materials and warm red colours. The overall class winners were 3S
who won themselves a pizza party.
January
On the 14th of January 2015 the senior council reps attended the cycle against suicide conference
in the RDS. The main aim of the conference was to raise awareness about the different supports
available for suicide prevention in Ireland.
February
The councils chosen fundraiser for the year was in support of autism Ireland. On the 27 th of
February the council held a blue day to raise awareness about autism. The week encouraged a few
particular students to speak openly about living with autism.
March
After the midterm the council organised Spirit/mental Health week. The week began with the
raising of the Amber flag continuing our focus on Mental Health Awareness in the school.
Junior Hockey
Junior 1’s had a very good cup run until they got to the 1/4 final where they came up against the
eventual winners, Foxrock, and lost a very exciting match 1-0 in the final seconds of extra time.
Unfortunately they also met Foxrock in the final of the Loreto League and were again beaten but
were without their influential Captain Katie Fearon through injury. Junior 2’s and 3’s were unlucky
to be in very tough groups in the Leinster Leagues with Junior 3’s getting to the Loreto Final and
losing to Foxrock. Junior 4’s reached the play-offs in the Leinster League losing to a very strong Mt
Anville Team and also competed very well in the end of season Loreto Tournament. Jnr 5’s were
runners up in the Loreto League.
Tennis and Athletics
Congratulations are due to all our athletes this year as we had a very successful season. We travelled
to Kilkenny for The All Ireland Loreto Championships and came away with some great performances
on a beautiful day. Our medallists were Eilis O’Neill, Ellen Smyth, Elizabeth Brady, Caitlin Dunleavy
Larkin and Isabel Mullarney.
In The West Leinster Championships we again had some outstanding performances despite
competing against very strong opposition, with Elizabeth Brady, Eilis O’Neill, Eva O’Donohoe,
Amelia Rodgers , Isobel Mullarney and The Minor Relay Team all qualifying for the Leinster
Championships in Santry. Our Minor Team also finished second overall in West Leinster which was
a marvellous achievement. Well done to all the girls and the best of luck in the forthcoming Leinster
Championships.
We have four teams competing in the Leinster Tennis League, Senior A, Junior A, Minor A and B.
All teams have been playing well and are currently taking part in the Loreto Tennis Competitions.
Best of luck with all remaining matches.
Basketball
We had a very successful Basketball season this year with over 160 girls involved in 14
separate teams. While participation is our main priority we had some great individual
and team achievements.
We competed in 8 of the 12 Loreto League Finals, which is a great achievement in itself.
Congratulations to the Senior A, Senior C and the 1st Year C's who all came out winners.
The first years showed great potential with all teams reaching their respective Loreto Finals, while
the A's just missed out on the All Irelands.
Best of luck to our outgoing 6th years. Captains Aoife Hughes and Lauren Flynn along with Rachel
Cleary and Isabelle Maguire have shown so much character, spirit and dedication over the last six
years and they will truly be missed.
Congratulations to Ellen Kirwan who made the Irish Under 15 Team and to Alex Keogh who
played with the South Dublin Under 15 Team in April. I hope everyone has a great Summer and
keep up the practice.
Camogie
The highlight of the year was the marvellous performance of our Senior team, led by captain,
Zenouska Murphy. They won the Leinster Championship, beating Castleknock Community
College in the semi-final and Knocklyon Community College in the final. In the All-Ireland quarter
finals they beat the Connaught Champions, Mercy College from Rosscommon and had a great win
over Our Lady’s of Castleblaney in the semi-final. The All-Ireland final was played in Nenagh and
great support travelled from the school to watch them take on the Munster champions, Colaiste na
Piarsaigh from Glanmire in Cork. After a fantastic performance the girls were unlucky to be beaten
by just one point. Junior A’s had a tough start to the year, and came up against strong opposition.
They were knocked out in the Quarter Finals – hard luck to Cora Ryan and the team.
Also in the Junior League – the Junior B’s reached the shield quarter final but were beaten by Scoil
Caitriona. A great effort by Aoife O’ Connor and the team who worked really hard at training all
season.
This year, we had a third team in the Junior section – the Junior C’s is made up of 1st years, which
is a real challenge for them in a Junior league. The girls have put up a great fight under Captain
Olivia Meagher and Vice Captain Erika Tobin, beating Mercy College Drimnagh in the Shield
Quarter final. After a great win in the semi-final they then met Old Bawn Community College in
the final. After a great battle the girls won the Shield in extra time. Well done! The Minor B’s,
despite playing against A teams in all of their matches, were unlucky to lose some of their matches
but out last match of the season, the Minor A’s won the Leinster Championship beating Our Lady’s
Templeogue in a topsy-turvy game. At half-time the girls were behind 1.2 to 4.0 but in a brave
second half they kept the opposition scoreless and won convincingly. Well done to captain Aisling
Gargan and vice Sarah Meagher. As ever, a huge thank you to the parents for all the
support, and for lifts when we needed them. Best of luck to our departing sixth years
and the hope that they will continue to enjoy their sport.
Senior Hockey
We had a very successful and enjoyable hockey season this year. We had sixteen teams playing in
the Loreto and Leinster leagues and another four First Year teams playing inter-school matches. Our
Senior 1 Team, captained by Sarah Nagle and Sophie McMahon, had a good league campaign.
They qualified for the Claudia Tierney Cup Semi-Final but unfortunately lost to Alex on 1 vs1’s. A
similar fate awaited us on 1vs1’s to Andrews after a great Cup match. However the team regrouped
and performed really well in the Loreto League winning the shield with a great win over Foxrock,
2-1 in the Final. We then went into the newly formed All Ireland League Tournament where we
played against Loreto Kilkenny, Wexford and Foxrock. The team played extremely well and came
out on top with 3 wins and so were presented with the cup for the very first time.
Our Senior 2 team also performed very well in Leinster and reached the Loreto Final, loosing
narrowly to Foxrock. Our Senior 3 team excelled this year reaching the Leinster League Final and
winning the League. Our Senior 4 & 5 Teams reached The Leinster Semi-Finals and Quarter Finals
respectively and played each other in the Loreto Leagues final with the Senior 4’s winning a very
competitive game. Good luck to all the 6th years in their exams and hopefully they will continue to
play next year. Many thanks to all the parents for the great support this year.