NewslinkOCTOBER 2017

MOATE COMMUNITY SCHOOL

MCS presented Disney’s Beauty and theBeast from the 24th to the 27th ofOctober. This show was set to be our mostextravagant and entertaining production-to-date and did not disappoint. Themusicality of the student-body combinedwith the enthusiasm and energy of all thecast members and staff involved in theproduction of this tale, guaranteed afantastic nights entertainment. This 18th century classic is a timeless taleof a beautiful and intelligent girl namedBelle (Annalise Peredo) who feelsmisplaced in her French village and has toface the unwanted affections of Gaston(Dean Rooney). An arrogant young prince(Colm Shortall) and his castle's servantsfall under the spell of a wicked enchantress,

who turns him into the hideous Beast untilhe learns to love and be loved in return.The spirited, headstrong village girl Belleenters the Beast's castle after he imprisonsher father Maurice (Oisin Johnston). Withthe help of his enchanted servants,including the matronly Mrs. Potts(Therese McCormack), Chip (HollyKeenan), Cogsworth (Kenny Heffernan)and Lumier (Jack O’Donovan), Bellebegins to draw the cold-hearted Beast outof his isolation. Of course, this providedmuch for the audience in the form ofsinging, dancing and comedic respite andas the audience invested in Belle, it soonbecome a tale of love and hope, fun andlaughter. Well done to all involved.

Beauty and the Beastbrings lights and laughter

Dean Rooney captivates his audience.

Cara Greville and Kenny Heffernan.Holly Keenan as Chip.

Belle attendes to the Beast wounds. Colm Shortall and Annalise Peredo.

From the Principal…I welcome all studentsback to another year inMoate CommunitySchool, where superbLeaving Certificateresults have enabledmany of our Class of2017 to realise theirdreams. A fresh andenthusiastic bunch ofFirst Years haveembarked on a newchapter in theiracademic lives facing new and exciting challenges. Thisyear sees much change in our school with theintroduction of one hour lessons and theimplementation of a new structure which I’m glad tosay has been embraced and supported by staff,students and parents alike. It has been a busy termwith “Beauty & the Beast” taking centre stage alongwith a myriad of curricular and extra-curricularactivities. My thanks to all for your endless dedication,cooperation and support.

S W I M M I N GS U C C E S S

Bryan Scully, a Sixth Year student in ourschool, has added to his impressive swimmingsuccesses recently. He won a gold medal inthe 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke atthe Castlebar Gala in September. He won abronze medal in the 200m freestyle, a goldmedal in the 50m breaststroke and a bronzemedal in the 100m freestyle at the LongfordGala in October. Bryan also won gold in the100m breaststroke at the Claremorris GalaConnacht SeniorSchoolsChampionshipsand thereforegoes through toqualify for theAll-Ireland schoolsChampionships inMay. Well doneBryan and best ofluck.

Westmeath SchoolsCross CountryChampionship

On a stormy Wednesday the 27th ofSeptember, in the lovely surroundings ofBelvedere, Mullingar the Westmeath SchoolsCross-Country Championships took place.Philip King, our only representative, took tothe course of the Intermediate Boys 3000mrace. The race stared off at a very fast pace andPhilip sat at the back of the leading packmaking sure they didn’t break away from him.After 2000m he was sitting nicely in fifthplace. With 500m to go, he passed twocompetitors and was running right behind theperson lying in second place. Coming aroundthe final bend with just 100m left, Philip tookoff and finished the race in second place witha very good time of 9.05.This competition marks the start to the cross-country season and Philip has a number ofraces coming up and he is hoping for a fewmore good results and times.

Philip King.

GAISCE

First Year Bonding TripFirst Year students together withtheir Tutors and Year Head, MsDuignan enjoyed a bondingday in Jump Zone TrampolinePark in Santry. On arrivalstudents were provided withspecial socks with good grip, toprevent them falling andgetting injured. Our studentscould try out each of the manyactivities, such as jumping into afoam pit, free-style trampolinejumping, dodge ball on trampolines, basketball on trampolines and a game where the objectwas to try to push ones opponents off a beam using a long pole. It was a great opportunity for our newest students to make new friends and have fun at the same time.

Thirty one Fifth Year students recentlyparticipated in The Presidents Award (Gaisce)venture as part of their bronze award. Thosestudents who finished this award alreadycommitted to, and completed a community-related activity, developed a personal skill andengaged in an activity to enhance his/her personalhealth during Transition Year.The venture was the final element of the awardand it took place in conjunction with BirrOutdoor Education Centre and their wonderfulstaff Dave, Lorraine, Louise and Edgar; theseardent outdoor adventurers led the hikes in theSlieve Bloom Mountains over two days as requiredby Gaisce for completion of this award. Theventure also entailed a one night stay at the centreand night time activities including rock climbingand archery facilitated by the group leaders.The students received excellent hospitality fromthe chef, Bill who catered for the students byproviding them with nutritious food, fuel for their25km hike. We would also like to express our

sincere thanks to Mary, Deirdre and Yanni who dostellar work at the centre and who are instrumentalin assisting with planning this annual event.The Gaisce award is world-recognised and willcertainly enhance the students’ CVs in the future.Many congratulations to this wonderful groupwho were a pleasure for their PAL (PresidentAward Leader) Josephine Meehan to work with.

Ronan Murphy, Cillian Carroll and Gerard O’Reillylead the way on the Gaisce hike.

First Years enjoying the Trampoline Park in Santry.

Three of our finalistdresses from JunkKouture 2017 wereinvited to the launchof Junk Kouture2018 - “Can you SeeMe?, “WWW.net”and “Fiber Optic”.Guest celebrityJudge PippaO’Connor wasannounced at thelaunch, along withLouis Walsh and Glenda Gilson.Our TY students are already working on this yearscreations. Good luck to all involved.

Above: Emily McCabe and Laura Kirwan representMCS at the Junk Koture launch.Right: Laura Kirwan and Muireann Booth withLouis Walsh.

Junk Kouture Launch 2018

LOURDES PILGRIMAGEThis year our school was offered the opportunity of sending eight students andtwo teachers to help the sick on the annual Carmelite pilgrimage to Lourdes. Towards the end of last school year the RE department spoke to the third yearstudents and invited applications. As part of this, students had to write abouttheir reasons for their interest in going and they also had to write about theirparish involvement and any ideas how they might fundraise as this was animportant element. The school was going to fundraise some of the cost butstudents then had to raise the rest.Over thirty students applied and each of them had their own unique story. Itwas a very difficult task interviewing and selecting as each student that appliedwould have been a worthy applicant.The eight were chosen and then the job of fundraising was addressed. Weorganised Dodge Ball matches, Cake Sales and the students organised CoffeeMornings and Ice Cream Parties in their local area. The students and teachers Ms Kelly and Mr Tormey attended an InformationEvening in Knocklyon in Dublin so that our students could meet with theDublin students. Before they departed for Lourdes, the group attended a family Mass in Moateand Fr Noonan gave them a special blessing. There was great excitement and alsoa little anxiety as they were going to be looking after the sick and elderly. Theywere also going to be working closely with students from parts of Dublin, Corkand Armagh. However each of the students were enthusiastic and had greatsupport from Ms Kelly and Mr Tormey.The experience proved to be a very valuable and life changing one, each studentgot so much from the pilgrimage, they went with their own story and cameback with so much more. They were wonderful ambassadors for our school andwe are so proud of each of them. We are organising a Mass of Thanksgivingover the coming weeks.We are so appreciative ofthe opportunity that wasgiven to them by theCarmelite pilgrimagegroup and we are alreadythinking about next year.

MUSIC STUDENTS GIVENSPECIAL PERFORMANCE IN

CLARA BOG VISITOR CENTREOn Wednesday 27th September our 3rd, 5th and 6th Year music students visitedClara Bog Visitor Centre for a special performance by artist and musician, KarenPower. Karen has been commissioned by Offaly and Laois County Council tocreate a sound-scape of the native pollinators and the natural environment. Thestudents were given a talk by Karen about her experiences in field recording andlearned about all the different types of recording equipment she uses. Theperformance itself captured the pollinating sounds of Clara bog to the naturalmeadows in Birr Castle and the controlled world within manned beehives. Thedifferences could be heard clearly between the meadow and the beehives. Karenthen told students that the next phase of the composition is to add the recordedpieces to music with the help of a talented orchestra. The final performance willshowcase the composition of the recordings and the orchestral music. All detailsof this performance can be found on the Offaly Arts Council website.

Music students at Clara Bog Visitor Centre.

JUNIOR CERT SCIENCE HIGHACHIEVERS

The State Examinations Commission has identified four of our students as highachievers in Science in the 2017 Junior Certificate Science Examination. EmmaKelly, Colm Shortall, David Healy and Brian Conlon will now participate in thevery challenging Science Olympiad to be held in Dublin City University laterthis month. If successful at this level the students will progress to the EU ScienceOlympiad later in the year. We congratulate all four students and wish them thevery best of luck.

Junior Cert Science High AchieversColm Shortall, Emma Kelly, Brian Conlon, David Healy.

Back row: Niamh Lynch,Tara Geoghegan, BrianConlon, Aaron Keane andEoin McCormack.Front row: CiaraMaxwell, Shane Hynesand Emma Kelly.

Students wowed by the wondersof Technology at Ericsson!

Fifth year and Transition Year students were fortunate to attend the recent TechDay at Ericsson in Athlone. It was interesting and enjoyable for the students toexperience the future of technology at their doorstep and to feel that they could bea part of it in their future careers. They were able to see many of the ongoing projectsbeing developed at the Ericsson site. Demos covered projects ranging from the new5G system, the use of the IOT (Internet of Things) in the Health System and the‘Awesome Ericsson Network Management’ system portrayed as a colourful, funLegoland model.The students were amazed at the array of projects which will change the way we useand look at things around us and also the fast roll-out times.The Fifth Year students presented their last year’s BT Young Scientists projects toEricsson staff and visitors.The Transition Year studentshad the opportunity to talkto Ericsson experts on theirtechnology based projectsfor this year’s YoungScientists Competition.They gained valuable adviceon how they can progresswith their BTYS projects.A big thank you to SineadO’Reilly who organized forour students to visit theEricsson Campus.

EUROPEAN LANGUAGES DAYAll our language students united this year celebrate European Languages day.Spanish, French, and Irish students worked hard to provide a rich tapestry ofculture in the form of posters, banners and flags and music.Language, art, history, geography and festivals, were just a few of the manycultural aspects promoted in this celebration. Students from all languages, with the help of the ever willing Home Economicsdepartment prepared traditional cuisine for all to sample and enjoy.The day was a wonderful success and a clear indication that cultural awarenessis thriving in our school.

Lorna Boland, Gerard O’Reilly and Joe Murtagh.

Eight projects proposed for the BT Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition

Our TY students have been investigating variousscientific ideas for this year’s BT Young Scientistsand Technology Exhibition. Ideas range fromcreating apps to investigating bogland andgrassland habitats. The following projects are proposed fromTransition Year students.Jack O’Donovan and Therese Hamm aredesigning a food storage container to prolong theshelf-life of fruit and vegetables in developingcountries in their project ‘Fridge Free Freshness’.In their project ‘The Beauty of the Bog’, NiamhO’Reilly, Hannah O’Connor and Lisa O’Brien arecreating a resource pack for Junior Cycle Scienceclasses to use to determine the health of local bogs.They will compile the results of their All-IrelandBog Survey on their ‘Boggled’ app. Colm Shortall, Jamie Ravenhill and Philip Kingare investigating the effect of glyphosate weedkiller on soil micro-fauna in their project ‘Overkillwith Weedkiller’. They will also study the changesin soil content that occur when glyphosate weedkillers are applied to grassland habitats. Emma Kelly and Brian Conlon are investigatingthe impact of gorse fires on bog land habitats intheir project ‘Ireland’s Burning Problem’. The

group have been monitoring the regeneration of anumber of sites which were subjected to gorse firesin May 2017. ‘Can the Technology of IOT devices create anintelligent monitoring system to increase thequality of living for the less physically abled’ isthe project of Joe Murtagh, David Healy and MarkSheridan. The students are creating a system that

will detect when a less physically able person hasbroken routine or if they have fallen over will sendan alert to someone in the locality to assist thatperson.David Murtagh’s project focuses on how VirtualReality can be used to develop a client’sunderstanding a possible renovation of their housebefore laying a single block, avoiding errors andunnecessary expense. The title of his project is‘The uses of VR Technology for Architecture’.Owen Collins is working on project to develop aPlug Timer which will extend the life of batteriesfor mobile phones and laptops. He is creating anapp which will monitor the current charge of thedevice and maintain charge between 40% and80%. This has an important environmental impactreducing the disposal of batteries which arecomposed of potentially hazardous materials.Many thanks to Sineád O’Reilly at Ericsson,Athlone, and her team of engineers for theirsupport with these Technology projects.Second Year student Adam Kelly is attempting toanswer the question ‘Will Beet Beat Other CattleFeeds?’ in his project. Adam has compared theweight gains of weanlings were fed different dietson his family farm. Adam is also studying theimpact of feed type on rumen fermentation. All the budding young scientists continue work ontheir projects while they anxiously await the resultsthe judges as to whether they are accepted for theExhibition at the RDS in January. Good luck toall.

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Our annual fitness academy, organized by Mr.Dolan and Mr. Flanagan, began on Friday29th September with an excellent turn out bythe u14 girls. An enthusiastic bunch of girlsarrived to the school gym at 7.30am to be putthrough their paces. A special word of thanksto Eleanor in the kitchen who had a lovelybreakfast ready for all attendees. The boy’sacademy will commence after the midterm.

Mr Flanagan puts the girls through their paces.

FITNESSACADEMY

Back Row: David Healy, Jamie Ravenhill, Jack O'Donovan, Owen Collins, Mark Sheridan,David Murtagh, Philip King, Therese Hamm. Front Row: Joe Murtagh, Adam Kelly, Lisa O'Brien,

Hannah O'Connor and Colm Shortall. Missing from photo: Brian Conlon, Emma Kelly and Niamh O'Reilly.

TY Biology students are taking part in a polytunnelproject in our school. This is a very practical andexciting project that the whole class can get involvedin. This outdoor classroom is growing a variety ofvegetables from which vegetable juices and healthymeals can be made. The idea of the project is to teachstudents more about organic food and its differencesand benefits compared to genetically modified andstore bought vegetables. It is hoped that this projectwill encourage students to plant their own vegetables,eat more organic foods at home and when they areolder.When students and their teacher Ms. O’Sheaanalysed where the fruit and vegetables available inour shops originated from they saw examples oforganic carrots coming from Italy – that’s a 2618 Kmjourney to the kitchen table versus taking a few stepsinto the back garden for organically grown ones.This has become a much wider school project asstudents undertake various tasks such as recyclingwaste from the Home Economics kitchens to createcompost. One group used available materials to makea scarecrow for our outdoor garden with the help of

the Woodwork teacher who made the structure.Students are also upcycling any containers they canfind to grow more vegetable and fruit in. Thestudents are already cooking healthy meals usingfresh vegetables.

TY Biology project…. A classroom outside

Richard Browne, Zain Kenny, Evan Fogarty and Jack Moran.