Vol 28 No 24      31 Mar 2023

Feis Ceoil Success

To play music with an orchestra is to be part of a unique musical family.  It takes the power of music to bring together a group of diverse, vibrant, like-minded people who are willing to share their passion by supporting, challenging, and learning from each other through every warm-up, rehearsal, and performance.  It takes an orchestra connected by the unbreakable bonds of desiring to spread the joy of music to all who hear them play to make history twice over in one day.  That is exactly what The High School Orchestra did by winning the Feis Ceoil school orchestra competition for the second year in a row in the same year as winning at the Interschools Music Festival.  From the moment we walked on stage at the Royal Dublin Society to the moment we took our bows, the joy we all had in being part of the music we played was infectious.  Having put everything into playing Khachaturian’s ‘Masquerade Waltz’, Grieg’s beautiful and reflective ‘Solveig’s Song’, and Bernstein’s exhilarating ‘Mambo’ from West Side Story, all we could do was wait with bated breath for the announcement of who won.  Although it was a tough and fastidious adjudication from Mr O’Rourke we were praised for our impressive technical ability, expression, and dynamic contrast.  Then to our complete delight and utter elation we were awarded first place.  This triumph could not have been achieved without our conductor, Ms Phillips, whose effervescent encouragement continues to inspire all our music-making.  None of us will ever forget this, because to win at the biggest classical music competition for young people in Ireland is an electrifying feeling.  That is the power of music. 
Here is a list of this year's High School successes at the Feis Ceoil:

Post Primary Orchestras: Orchestra - 1st place
Conor James - Under 15 Solo Cello - 1st place
Scarlett Xu - Terry O'Connor Trophy - 2nd place 
- St Cecilia Cup - Very Highly Commended (Finalist)
- Chamber Music Cup - Commended (Nova Piano Trio)
- Under 15 Violin 1st place
Daimee Ng - Senior Violin 18-24 years - 2nd place 
- Arthur Darley Memorial Prize - 3rd place
- Aileen Gore Cup - Very Highly Commended
Darryl Ng - Under 18 Viola - 2nd place~
- Under 15 Violin - Commended
Darryl Ng, Conor James and Daimee Ng - Open Orchestra - Young European Strings Chamber Orchestra (YESCO) - 1st Place
Fiachra de hOra (HSD, 2012-18) - Aileen Gore prize - 1st Place

We should like to congratulate all our pupils who participated in the Feis Ceoil competition this year.  The High School Orchestra will perform at the Gala Performance in the National Concert Hall in April. Click the link below for information and tickets.
Tirzah Hutchinson Edgar
Deputy Head Girl

Leinster Junior Cup Victory

Congratulations to The High School Junior Cup Team who won the Leinster Junior Cup in Donnybrook this week.  The team have gone from strength to strength this season following months of dedication and hard training. Pupils from the school lined-up to support the players who have put in thrilling performances in all of their matches this term.  The final game was between The High School and Wilson's Hospital, with our Junior team coming out on top at the final whistle, 29-0!  We are very grateful to the team coaches, Mr O'Sullivan and Ms Allen who is sadly returning to her studies in America next year. We wish her all the best.  We are looking already forward to next year's SCT competition.
Chloe O'Neill

Swim Gala Triumph

On 29 March HSD club and non club swimming teams travelled to The King's Hospital to compete in the Annual Invitational Gala.  We raced in different events including front crawl, back crawl, breast stroke and butterfly.  We took 14 individual wins and won all three of our 4 x 50m relays.  After all the races, we found out that The High School teams were placed 1st and 2nd overall receiving the cup at the presentation.  The day was very successful and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.
Esmé Donaghy

Concern Debate Win

On Tuesday 28 April members of the HSD Senior Debating Team competed in the quarter finals of the Concern Debates competition.  We are delighted to announce that we won this debate and are now progressing to the semi-finals!  The debate took place in Concern’s Head Office.  In front of an audience of friends, family, and adjudicators we defeated the motion ‘China is good for Africa’ against opponenets from St Joseph’s College, Lucan.  We should like to thank all involved in the organisation and facilitation of these debates.  We'd like to offer heartfelt thanks to Ms Hutchinson Edgar for all her help, advice, and support.  We cannot wait for the semi-finals! 
Eoin Kelly

Form 2 Rugby Tour 

We set off on the bus on Thursday 9 March.  Due to poor weather conditions, we left a day earlier than expected.  Excitement was high and the two hour journey seemed to fly by with all the games and songs sung on the bus from Dublin to Rosslare.  Despite the choppy crossing on board the ferry we had fun.  It was the early hours of the morning by the time the bus took us from the port to our accommodation in Wales.  We all bedded down for the night ready for a big day of rugby ahead!  Our Welsh hosts treated us to a breakfast fit for rugby champions including sausages, rashers, beans, and eggs.  We were ready to tackle the day.  The Welsh opposition put up a good fight but ultimately both The High School teams came out on top.  After a brief re-fuel at lunchtime the Form 2 rugby teams took on the mud run.  This involved crawling on hands and knees through muddy puddles and plunging ourselves hip deep into freezing cold pools of slimy water.  To feed our hungry, weary bodies at the end of a long day we were once again given a delicious dinner by our Welsh hosts.  The last evening involved a movie experience and some games.  Our brilliant coaches happily obliged by laying out a various selection of challenges to choose from.  On the ferry home we held a prize giving and awards were given for players of the year and then we watched the Six Nations games.  Our Form 2 rugby team has much potential and our Welsh tour has given us an opportunity to bond not only as players but as people.
Samuel Sheedy

Form 1 Farm Excursion 

On 21 March Form 1 pupils participated in an excursion to Causey Farm in County Meath. They were greeted by the friendly staff and led around the farm. We enjoyed various activities such as baking bread, petting the animals, and crawling through tunnels.  We especially enjoyed the bog activities: everyone jumped enthusiastically into the cold, wet bog with glee as mud covered us from head to toe.   We enjoyed petting young animals such as bunnies, puppies, chickens, lambs, and the exotic llama.  The puppies certainly won the most votes for being the cutest animal of them all.  The tour also included sharing fun facts with us which was very educational.  All in all we learned a great deal on this Form 1 day out.
Nicole Zisengwe

Agricultural Science Field Trip

Recently Form 5 Agricultural Science pupils participated in their inaugural field trip to experience aspects of daily life for many farmers.  The highlight of the day was when Form 5 pupil Tom Whelan delivered a lamb!  Little did we know that the day would be so eventful when we left The High School and headed to Kilcullen Mart in County Kildare where we were welcomed by mart manager Patricia and the Leinster Mart CEO Jimmy Walsh.  We spent some time looking at the cattle and sheep sales rings before the action started.  We enjoyed a full Irish breakfast in the canteen and chatted with potential customers and mart staff.  Jimmy Walsh shared his experience of mart life and described driving cattle through Dublin city in the 1960s, a time when the fields around The High School were home to the Bewley family farm and estate at Danum.  We had a few minutes to experience the auction and enjoyed listening to ringside bidders like Jonny O'Shea.  After a short journey on the N7 we arrived at the UCD Lyons Estate Research Farm near Newcastle.  We walked around the farm to six different stations (equine, sheep, dairy, farm technology - including robotic spraying, crop research, and development - and the multi species award) where we were educated by experts in their respective fields.  We returned to The High School tired but fulfilled after a number of photographs and interviews.  We should like to thank AgriAware for organising such a great visit. 

Senior 2 League Final

On Thursday 23 March The High School Senior 2 team were playing their highly anticipated Leinster Hockey Association Cup final at home against Wesley College.  We knew it was going to be a tough game as we hadn’t beaten them yet this season.  However, we got off to a great start with Isaac Reid finishing a well-worked goal after some fantastic skills from Andrew Robinson.  We went into the half time break 1-0 up and we were confident in ourselves.  A few mistakes on our side combined with our opponents being clinical and we found ourselves 2-1 down with a few minutes to go. We managed to convert one of our pre-planned short corners through the hands of Andrew Robinson to draw the match at 2-2 and now it was going be decided by 1v1s.  The team brought it all the way to sudden death but unfortunately we fell short at the last hurdle. Thanks are due to our opponents for a great game, the supporters who spurred us on till the very end, and of course to Mr Howard, Mr Fitzpatrick, and Ms Gray for coaching us throughout the entire year.
Sam Kelly

Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA)

On Friday 24 March Form 4 pupils received their Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA).  The JCPA captures pupil achievements in a number of assessment elements undertaken over the three years of Junior Cycle, including the grades in the state-certified final examinations at the end of the three years.  It also reported on pupils’ achievement in Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs) in all subjects.  In addition, the JCPA provides an opportunity for schools to comment on achievement and participation or progress in other areas of learning that have been included in the HSD Junior Cycle programme.  In short the JCPA recognises achievement not solely through the state-certified final examinations but also through a range of other assessment modes and areas of learning.  We should like to congratulate our Form 4 pupils for their hard work and efforts over the three years of Junior Cycle at The High School. 

Science Week Competition Winners

For World Space Week, there was a poster-making competition called “Ireland's Place in Space”.  For this, I made a poster on Ireland’s plans for space exploration in future years.  Our prizes were badges and flyers signed by Dr Nora Patten who is training to be Ireland's first ever astronaut!
Navya Nayak

Poetry Aloud Prize

Following on from her win last year in Senior Category of the Poetry Aloud Competition, this High School pupil recently received her prize which was €200 of book vouchers for her school.  She had great fun selecting the books to donate to The W B Yeats Library.  They will be available to borrow very shortly!
Ms Wiggle
W B Yeats Librarian