School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 1 14/12/2018 13:46 NEWS Public Speaking Prize Day On Sunday the 25th of November two On Friday the 26th of Octobr, Transition Year students took part in celebrated the annual the Soroptimist Girls’ Public Speaking prize day in Calry Church.The school Competition. Genevieve Cox and Tara awards prizes for sporting and academic McLaughlin spoke at the Sligo Park achievements. The guest speaker this year Hotel. There were two parts to the com- was Katie Mullan, who is an internation- petition, a prepared speech that focussed al hockey player and was Irish hockey on matters of social importance, and an captain for the world cup 2018, when the impromptu 2-minute speech which was Irish team won silver. In her speech Katie more light-hearted! This was the first spoke about the importance of friendship time in recent years the school entered and said we should never underestimate the competition, and both girls found the the role our friends play in our lives. She experience very beneficial. Earlier in the went on to say “in life theres no such year a group of students from across the thing as loosing, only learning”. All the school competed in the Soapbox Public students found this inspiring. Students Seaking competition and Alfie Barran were awarded prizes for first second and from 1st Yr was placed second. The best effort in each class, as well as for a debating society continues to meet and wide variety of extra curricular achieve- debate on Monday afternoons, 4 - 5pm. ments and involvement in activities both all are welcome to attend. within and outside school. TY students were awarded their Bronze Gaisce medals. The Leaving Cert class of 2018 was also awarded prizes to celebrate high achievements across all subject areas. Oisin Moffatt and Aoife O Donnell were awarded sliver an gold medals for their excellence in the junior cert exam. Accounting A group of senior business students ac- companied by Mr. Henry attended an ac- counting talk in the I.T. Sligo. There was an i-pad up for grabs for the person who showed outsanding effort throughout the talk. Despite there being a total of 10 schools in attendence a 5th year SGS student, Grace O’Sullivan, managed to win the i-pad. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day out, especially Grace!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 2 14/12/2018 13:46 NEWS Rotary Winner On Tuesday 20 No- Business Trip- vember, 6th yr. Juno On the 5th of December 49 first year Ellison was one students who study Business went to of three students Dublin with Mr Staunton, Mrs O’Don- from Rotary Zone nell and Mr Henry. They began their trip 8, which stretches with a tour of Butlers Chocolate Factory, from Antrim to learning about how all the chocolate is Castlebar, to win made and packaged. They then got to try the Youth Leadership Development different types of chocolate and everyone Competition. The fantastic prize is an decorated their own chocolate santa and all expenses paid trip to the European got to bring it home... yumm! They then Parliament in Strasbourg in February. went to Dundrum Shopping Centre, for a With the other winners from around the bit of a shopping spree! All the first years country, Juno will visit Stormont and the had a great Dáil where she will meet with politicians time and, and business leaders. From there she will hopefully, travel to Strasbourg in France where the will continue prizewinners will debate a variety of mo- working hard tions in the European Parliament. It was a in business! well deserved win for Juno and will be a wonderful addition to her CV. Thank you Spanish Exchange to Ms Hynes for helping and encouraging In late September 25 Spanish students Juno. came for a mini-stay of 3 weeks from IES Chrome do Castro de Vigo, Galicia. The students stayed with host families outside of the Books school but got a ‘buddy’ to stay with dur- This year we ing the school day. The Spaniards loved have a new the classes they took part in and even addition to our kept an online diary of their stay on a school - 32 blog called “Vigo En Ingles”. The group chrome books! visited the Town Hall and met Sligo’s Many teachers use them for teaching and mayor! They did orienteering around the all the sudents love them and they are town, and even saw the site of the Span- very beneifical to classes! ish Armada in Streedagh. The second years made sure to teach them some Irish over the 3 weeks!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 3 14/12/2018 13:46 NEWS Cancer Awarness Talk Rembrance Day On Tuesday the 27th of November, a On Wednesday 14th November Sligo lady from the Marie Keating Founda- Grammar School held a special Service tion came to the school to give a talk of Remembrance and Reconciliation in about the importance of the preven- Calry Church to remember the fall- tion and early detection of cancer. en of both World Wars, in particular This is an Irish charity focusing on World War 1. The school laid wreaths the awareness of cancer. She raised in remembrance of the past pupils of the issues of how leading an all-round Sligo Grammar School who fell. There healthy life dramatically decreases were many special guests at the service, risk of cancer and warned about the including Sinn Fein leader, Mary Lou dangers of using sunbeds and smok- Mc Donald, the German Ambassador, ing, highlighting that cigarettes have Frau Deike Potzel and Lord Lt. for Fer- 4000 chemicals in them, some com- managh Viscount Brookeborough KG. promising of lead and arsenic. There The school choir sang and one of the were medically accurate human body highlights was a fantastic rendition of part displays, including the mouth The Green Fields of France. A laurel tree and lungs of a smoker. The talk was was planted at the front of the school very informative! as a permanent Study Skills reminder of all This the lives lost. SGS year the students had also school been involved in has the whole commu- already nity silent march hosted a on Sunday 11th. num- ber of talks aimed at teaching 3rd and 6th year students study skills. Student Enrichment Services sent a repre- sentative to give talks to exam years on separate days. Students found the tips on taking notes helpful! For seniors there was a career options talk with a special CAO information seminar for parents to explain the points system - hopefully everyone is less confused!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 4 14/12/2018 13:46 Trips and Tours German Tour Rugby Trip This past October, the senior rugby lads had the fantastic opportunity to go to Portugal on a team bonding trip. They travelled to Amazonia Jamor in Portu- gal. On the Saturday they arrived they played a “sevens” rugby match. Despite the boys tiredness, they won the match by an astounding 69 points! Afterwards they recovered and relaxed by the pool From October 11th followed by an epic pool party! On sun- to 14th the German day morning the boys did tree climbing language students and team bonding. By the time Monday in 3rd and 4th year came the boys were prepared for their visited Cologne. next match and had another great win, They saw many 54-14. Top scorer of the trip was Will beautiful landmarks Whelan. Daniel Ford was probably the such as the Gothic largest child ever admitted to to the pae- Cathedral of Co- diatric wing of the hospital with a broken logne, Drachen- nose, as he currently stands at 6’5”! Mr. berg Castle and Gavin and Mr. Staundon accompained Cologne Zoo. When evening time neared the microphones were whipped out for a bit of a sing along on the karoke machine,where Sligo Grammar’s very own Backstreet Boys (Mr.Brandon and Mr. Henry) made their comeback and sang their hearts out!! Other activities included laser tag,swimming,tobagganing and ice the 17 boys on the trip. skating! A true SGS German trip would The lads had a great not be complete without a trip to the time and the summer theme parks “Movie Park” and “Phan- weather in October tasialand”. The tour was undoubtedly a was a plus too!! huge success and the students “enjoyed every second of it!” A special mention to the teachers who gave up their time to take the students to - Ms.Fin- nerty, Mr.Brandon, Mr.Henry and in particular Ms.Tansey who organised the trip. Danke Sin!!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 5 14/12/2018 13:46 SPORTS Golf Hockey In septemeber two The hockey season was a very exciting first year girls, So- one to say the least. The senior A’s won phie Reynolds and their first match against Seamount 1- 0 Meabh McLoughlin the goal being scored by Geneveive won the Junior Irish Cox. Unfortuantely it was downhill Schools Champi- after that with the girls drawing multiple onship times throughout the season, unfortu- Disctrict. Winning nately not making it to the semi finals. with 32 gross points. Well done girls! Nevertheless the girls put in a great Calry Fun Run effort and were constantly motivated Three TY German students flew the by their captain 6th year Sarah McCor- local Calry Fun mack. However the senior B’s had a Run and left cracking season winning the Ward Cup. the Irish in the Keely Lindsay scored two goals in the dust! Well done highly exciting final. The B’s certainly to Maya, Nadja deserved the Cup, having won all their and Alicia. games. Well done to the girls involved and especially to captian Grace Burke Kick-Boxing who scored her first ever 3 goals for Kyle Keaney, a this year in all six years of her hockey 3rd year student, career! 1st years have had a good year represented Ire- starting off with a blitz in the Ursline land in the World College where they performed very Kickboxing well! Congrats girls and keep it up! Championships. Thanks to all the coaches Mr.Graham The competition and Ms McDermott for the encour- was held in Jesolo, Italy in agemnet and dedication throughout the September this year. Kyle had 4 fights at seaosn. Well done to all our teams, 1st the Worlds with two rounds in each fight. years, U15s, U16s and Seniors for their Big “well done” to Kyle for winning 2nd hard work and dedication to the sport. in the world in his division! Capped for Connacht Well done to Sarah McCormack who got capped for the Connacht Hockey team!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 6 14/12/2018 13:46 SPORTS Girls Active Kayaking This year Mr.Cradock organised a TY The Sligo All Schools Kayaking Compe- Girls Active group. This is a national tition was held in the Grammar School drive to get more teenage girls involved earlier this term. The new clubhouse and with activity. The girls showed great gear came in handy as over 40 students interest and around 20 of the girls meet participated between ourselves, Sum- every wednesday to take part in various merhill College, the Ursuline College activites. The girls started off with team and Ballinode Community College. A bonding followed by 4 weeks of zumba! student even travelled all the way from Big thanks to Ms.Stinson for taking part Athlone! The competition was sponsored in the activites with all the girls! by Call Of The Wild, and all competitors Rowing went home with a t-shirt. The overall best The school rowing club is up and running school received the late Alex McGour- with new rowing machines purchased ty’s boat donated kindly by his family. over the Summer. Mr Ronan Ivers comes Matthew White, Tara McLaughlin, to the school to train the rowers and has Finn Grennan, Hadley Scott, Cameron been working them hard this year so far. Kilcoyne and Nicole Kennedy all won The SGS rowers competed in the Indoor medals for the school and Dillon Hogan Rowing Championships in October and was our Most Promising Paddler! were placed joint 5th.

Soccer The U17 boys soccer team have played a few games this year so far. Unfortunately the boys haven’t won any of their match- es but they have had a few scores on the scoreboard scored by Aaron O’Toole (TY) and David Barlow (TY). The boys will continue training and playing match- es for the rest of the year. Thanks to Mr Mooney for his continued support and belief!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 7 14/12/2018 13:46 SPORTS Rugby Basketball- The senior rugby team has had a good This year all the year so far. They reached the semi-final basketball teams have of the league beating local rivals Sumer- perfromed very well hill College to secure their place in the in all their matches. final. As usual there was great interest The U19 team got in the event, especially since the match all the way to the was played on home turf. After a slow quarter final in the first half the SGS team came back from Cup competiton but half time on fire! The scales tipped in were unfortunate- the Grammar’s favour for the 3rd year in ly knocked out when they lost against a row. Final score 24 - 7. The team led a Claregalway. The Junior team also had moment of silence at the pitch for our be- a good season. All the basketball teams loved late staff member Patricia Burke. will continue training with Mr Flores The juniors have had it tough this term every week. Sligo Grammar also now but in their last League match they have a U16 girls baskteball team! They defeated St Muredachs, Ballina and are train every Thursday with senior bas- looking forward to their Connacht Cup ketball players Mark Mc Glynn, Dipo campaign next term. The U14 team has Odeajo and Divine Akude. Well done to had a great start to their rugby careers TY students Christian Lally and Divine this term! They are unbeaten in the Con- Akude who were chosen for the U17 nacht League, having beaten Summerhill North West team! College, Marist College, Garbally Col- Sailing lege and Roscommon CBS. They have 3 matches In September the left in the school sailing team League of Holly white, Jack and we Draper, Ross clarke, wish Isaac Marsden, them the Ben millar and Gus best after Bamber, competed Christmas. in the All-Ireland Inter-Schools Sailing Competition. The team came 5th in their category out of a total of 47 entries. Well done! Capped for Connacht Well done to Kacper Palamarczuk, Matthew Early and Hubert Gilvarry who represented Connacht U18 rugby at the Inter-Provincial tournament in Limerick just before school re-commenced after the Summer holidays.

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 8 14/12/2018 13:46 TRANSITION YEAR Sponsored Swim The TYs ran into the cold waters of Ross- es Point on October 10th to raise funds for a selection of local Sligo charities. The swim was organised by Ms O’Don- nell and is an infamous annual TY SGS event. Over €1800 was collected from friends and family. There was a wide range of hilarious costumes, from Donald and Melania Trump, to priests and nuns, animals, rappers, Young Offenders, and even a student’s dad was imitated! After the 5-minute dip there was a race to the hot showers and everyone’s body temper- atures were soon back to normal. Funnily enough, the boys took longer heating up than the girls, and even held the bus up… Everybody was treated to ice pops, eclairs and Capri-Suns from the back of Mr Henry’s car! Thank you to anyone who sponsored a swimmer!

Mindfullness and Wellbeing Surfing and Climbing On September 28th TY students travelled For the first four weeks of school the to Sligo Tennis Club where they parti- Transition Year students had a phenome- ciapted in a mindfullness and wellbeing nal 2 hour surfing session with Strandhill day. They part took in actvities including Surf School. All students improved their art, team bonding, meditation and several skills immensely as well as having a tennis drills. All the activities were de- great experience and a fabulous time. signed to help students be more mindful Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a yummy of their own and others’ mental health treat at Mammy Johnston’s. While some and wellbeing. It was a great day out and TY students were surfing the others everyone enjoyed themselves. participated in a challenging climb up and around Knocknarea. There were many laughs and sweets shared along the arduous - but rewarding - clmb.

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 9 14/12/2018 13:46 TRANSITION YEAR Bonding Trip We started off our Tranistion Year with an overnight bonding trip to Killary Adventure Centre. After a long bus journey with lots of Katy Perry (!) we arrived ar our destination. Firstly we made our way down to our accomodation and refuelled with lunch to prepare for the busy day ahead. As there were 84 students, we all couldn’t be doing the same thing at the same time, so teams 1-4 went orienteering through wet and marshy bogland. Meanwhile teams 5-8 jumped into the freezing fjord, walked up a gorge and finally slid into a slip- pery mud pool. Last but not least team 9 climbed up a 30 metre high climbing wall and swung 10 metres in the air on the gi- ant swing. Soon after we were fed again, we went to the dome for a competitve game of dodgeball....aka the Rugby Lads vs the Basketball Boys!!! We ended the night in the dome with a bit of “limbo limbo limbo”! We then returned to our cozy accomadation where the night was spent chatting and getting to know each other. The following morning we reluc- tantly packed our bags before another day of activities. Later that afternoon we got back on the bus and returned to Sligo. Art Gallery Visits We will remember Killary as one of the As part of their Art and Craft module, all highlights of this year. Thanks to every- TY students get the opportunity to take body who organised the trip especially a trip to the Model Arts Centre in Sligo. to Mr.Lynch and our form teachers for There they see both traditional and con- giving up their time to come with us !! temporary art works. It is hoped that the Hawkswell Trips visits might whet their In September TY students went to the appetites Hawkswell Theatre to support a local for more muscial ‘The Apprentice’ and Northern visits to the comedian J.K. They had a great laugh gallery in and fun times on these two days out! the future!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 10 14/12/2018 13:46 TRANSITION YEAR NEWS Paintballing Field Trips Galore! On the 8th and 9th of November groups Field trips of all descriptions form an of TY students went paintballing outside important part of life in SGS. These trips Carrick-on-Shannon. TY students Mark, can be in Sligo or farther afield. Here’s Luke ans Isaac organised the day. All a flavour of equipment was supplied and the stu- where the dents got paint-balling! The boys were students barred from going against the girls due went this to worries we’d be sending people across term... the road to Sligo University Hospital! As English it was, everyone walked away with a few teachers took bruises! Mr Brandon fearlessly crawled their senior the terrain and only got hit by the pellets students to a handful of times. Unfortunately on the Dublin to way back the bus broke down, but after a see Macbeth short wait for a second bus in Collooney, on stage at the all students arrived safe and sound at Mill Theatre in Dundrum school for the end of the day. and to Castlebar to see the National Theatre’s production of Hamlet on the big screen. LCVP students were taken to see the factory at Abbot, Ireland in Sligo as part of their Leaving Cert course. Leaving Certs also visited a farm as part of their Agricultural Science studies, where they were taken around and by the owner and representatives of the farming bodies. They also had their annual Geog- raphy Field trip where they spent the day College Visits studying the river Difreen. TY students got the opportunity this term The Business department was very busy to visit Universities in Dublin in order to this term with trips to local and national help them think about what they would busineses.The Irish Depart- like to do after school. They visited ment also got the students out UCD, DCU and Trinity College. In UCD to use their Irish down town they were shown around by past pupil in real situations - ordering Cian Burns. food as gaeilge in Lyons’ Next term the Cafe! TY students will have to choose sub- jects for the Leaving Cert.

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 11 14/12/2018 13:46 SGS IN THE COMMUNITY. Concern Our Transition Years have always done the Concern Fast and this year was no ex- ception. The TYs fasted from 2pm on the 22nd to 2pm on the 23rd of November to fundraise for Concern which does a lot of work to provide food aid in some of the poorest parts of the world. Over €2000 Focus Ireland was raised, between the students canvass- The year started off with a bang when ing their neighbours for spare change and Sligo Grammar School received con- two days spent in town with collecting firmation,that we had officially set a buckets. Having to stand collecting in the world record and became a world record bad weather scored us some pity points holder. In May 2018 the whole school thankfully, as the buckets totaled €600! body of SGS came together to form the When the 24 hours were up there was a largerst image of a human house. The feast in the old gym. All the pizza, garlic aim was to fundraise and raise aware- bread and cookies ordered by the TYs ness for Focus Ireland which deals with from Domino’s backlogged their deliv- helping the homeless. Over 402 students eries for 2 hous! The students all agree and staff, wearing red, blue and yellow this was a good experience for them as it hairnets and ponchos gathered on the raised their awareness about what it must astroturf pitch to create a human house. be like to live with hunger and not know It was mandatory that we all kept our where the next meal is coming from. position for 5 minutes and fortunately we succeeded in doing so. Over €2000 was raised for Focus Ireland to help combat the housing and homelessness crisis in Ireland. We now feature on the Guiness World Record site. The money we raised was formally handed over to focus Ireland at a special Assembly in Calry Church. A massive thanks to everyone involved and in particular to Ms.Lipsett and Mr.Henry who were the brains be- hind this hugely successful project. Jersey Day A TY committee organised a jersey day on the 12th of Octobher in aid of the charity GOAL. All the students in the school were encouraged to pay €2 and wear the jersey of their favourite team or county for the day. Everyone got involved and it was a huge success!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 12 14/12/2018 13:46 SGS IN THE COMMUNITY St Cecelias Movember Every Friday, four TY students go hors- Sligo Grammar School Senior Rugby eriding to Island View Riding Stables Team decided to do Movember to raise with students from St. Cecelias Special funds and awerness for men’s health. The School. The SGS students spend time charity focusses both on physical health with the students from St. Cecilias, and mental health and the team thought helping them with the horses. Every these issues were very relevant to their Tuesday a class from St Cecelias come own lives. The lads did their best to grow to the Grammar School and a TY class ‘taches and beards…some better than play basketball others! But they all put in a great effort with them. The for the month. It was a great success TY students with donations coming in at over €1,100 involved find Well done lads for the iniative! the experi- ence very rewarding. Road Safety Authorithy During the months of October and November, our Transition Year students attended a workshop day where they were informed about the many dangers and risks on Irish roads. They experinced a roll-over car simulator which imitated Green Schools the real life experience of a car rolling This term has seen the start up of a new over, and tried out many other bike, committee in the school. Seven TY stu- motorbikes and car simulators. Transi- dents are now involved in the Secondary tion Years gained even more knowledge Green Schools Programme for an An from a RSA talk organised by the Rotary Taisce. Hopefully in the next academic Club Sligo. Gardai, firefighters, surgeons, year all our efforts to reduce waste and RSA represntatives, Motorsport Ireland recycle will be rewarded! repersentatives and even road accident Comhairle na nOg surviors spoke at the event and touched On the 26th of October a group of TY and moved us all with their stories and students went to the AGM of Comhairle experiences. na nOg. Comhairle na nOg is a youth council that is linked to the County Council. At the meeting the students discussed and debated social issues affecting young people today in Sligo. At the end of the day an election was held and Genevieve Cox, Rosie Wright and Ezekiel Cashman Legg were elected to the council. Well done guys!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 13 14/12/2018 13:46 STUDENT VOICE Q: Should there be a mircowave Following a survey questioning microwave in the sandwhich in bar? sandwhich bar?? students about our school the magazine committee has become aware of these particular issues. MAYBE LUNCH

Q: Do you consider the food avail- NO YES ableIs in our the sandwhich sandwhich bar to be healthy? healthy?

YES yes no maybe NO COMMENT: We propose that there is a com- munal microwave in the sandwich bar. This could be supevised by either the teacher or the prefect on duty. If this wasn’t possible, the

Q: Should cookiesyes beno restricted to microwave could be kept behind Fridays only? the deli case and be avaliable at

Chart Title lunchtime for a small fee. This would be beneficial for students 100% 90% that would love to bring in and 80% 70% safely reheat their home cooked 60% 55 45 dinners. 50% 40% 30% 20% YES NO Q: Does the canteen queue scare 10% 0% you? Chart Title yes no

no NO COMMENT:

“Bring back caramel squares yes YES and brownies!!!” (every) senior 0 10 20 30 40 50 student 60

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 14 14/12/2018 13:46 STUDENT VOICE WIDER UNIFORM RANGE COMMENT: UNIFORM Students in general suggested that Q: Do you like our P.E uniform? they would like a few new pieces of uniform for extracurricular activi- ties and P.E. class. NO OPINION YES “The Portwest fleeces are great for the colder months as they are NO lined and zip-up to the chin. These were actually uniform a few years ago and we’d love to see that trend yes no don’t care return!” COMMENT: “The hockey and rugby team both What the students said: have exclusive gear that we would -Tracksuit bottoms are not wear- love to make avaliable for all stu- able dents for P.E. and other activites - - They are uncomfortable and especially the hockey half-zip and don’t function well the waterproof rugby pullover”. -They are both sweaty and cold at the same time, I think its the Q: How about adding these to our fabric. uniform range?Chart Title -Too tight on the hips... and too lose on the legs Overall the general feedback portwest fleece was that new ones are needed PORTWEST FLEECE ASAP. We propose that Jako half-­‐zip supply us with a more function- HALF-ZIP TOP

al school tracksuit. They supplywaterproof pullover other sports clothing in the school WATERPROOF PULLOVER which are better than the present 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 PE uniform.

We canvassed a selection of students to hear their opin- ions on these issues. We hope the management, teachers and staff hear our voice!

School mag Christmas 2018 finished version .indd 15 14/12/2018 13:46 NEWS Scholar of UCD Corn Bedell Wel done to Cian Burns who sat his Well done to our present 6th year stu- Leaving Certificate in 2018. He was dents who, as 5th years, organised and named a Scholar of UCD in a special ran Seachtain na Gaeilge in the school ceremony in and and this term were awarded the the University Corn Bedell for the promotion of Irish in in November. Church of Ireland schools. The certif- This award was icate was awarded at the begining of in recognition October of the excellent and the points scored in Cup was his Leaving Cert presented exam. to two of St. Patricks Cathedral the team at Students representing the school travelled Prize Day. to St. Patrick’s Cathedral at the begining Well done all! of the term to mark the commencement Business Excellence of the school year in a special service for Four TY students were awarded special Church of Ireland schools. certificates for Outstanding Achievement in the Junior Cert Business exam, 2018. The awards were presented by NUI Galway’s College of Business, Public Policy and Law. The students were, Ra- chel Thorpe, Yeji Kim, Aoife Win- ters-O’Don- nell and Ammar Khan. Art Prizewinner Congratula- Well done to Hadley Scott whose pen tions to all. drawing of Lyons Shop, Sligo was se- lected to be used as the front cover of the Volunteers Specialist Crafts catalogue. This term SGS 5th year students contin- ued the tradition of volunteering to help with the annual Primary School Athletics event in Sligo IT.

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