St. DaviD’S C.B.S.

Newsletter 2012 St. DaviD’S C.B.S, MalahiDe RoaD, DuBlin 5

Ph: 01 8315322

Principal’s Address

I hope you enjoy reading the current edition of our

Newsletter. You will be pleased to see how many activities

go on in the school throughout the year. It is to the great

credit of our teachers that they put so much effort in to

organising all these activities. Indeed the contribution of

teachers to such a wide range of activities was noted by the

Board of Management at its last meeting. Of course, it is the

pupils who actually participate in the events. I want to thank

them for representing their school so well.

The variety of extra-curricular and co-curricular activities is

striking. There are many sporting activities as well as a maths quiz in DCU, drama, science competitions,

business/ entrepreneurship competitions.

We relaunched our website this year. There is still a lot to do with it but we are delighted that a start has

been made. We hope many of you will visit the site and while there you can click on the eportal link.

Your son was given a code which can be used to access his records on his eportal page. You can access

information on his attendance, punctuality and all his exam results.

We are planning for a new computer room for September. We already have two computer rooms, as well

as a computer room especially for Design & Communication Graphics (DCG). Another computer room

will allow more teachers to use ICT in the teaching of their subjects. This is a very important advance in

the educational standards for St David's and will also place our facilities at a standard which will be way

above similar schools. Obviously there is a cost involved. We are looking at quotations at the moment.

We expect the cost to be around €30,000. We intend to have a large raffle in late September to raise some

funds. Any parent who would be in a position to donate money or donate a prize for the raffle or to sell

tickets should contact me.

We were delighted to welcome Dublin football team manager, Pat Gilroy to the school recently. He made

an inspirational speech and presented the Annual Awards. Later that day Dublin footballer Paul Flynn

presented the Annual Sports Awards. Congratulations to Philip Flanagan who was presented with the Paul

Boyle Award which is presented to the best hurler and footballer each year. This award is in memory of a

past pupil who died while he was a pupil of St David’s.

Finally, I want to wish the 3rd

years and the 6th

years Good Luck in their exams this year. Our results have

been mostly getting better every year and I hope this year will be the same. I hope all students and

teachers have an enjoyable and safe summer holiday.

Padraic Kavanagh

Science at St. David’s

SciFest 2012 at Blanchardstown IT

After last year’s great win by Shane Boylan, Carl

Burke & Cathal Fagan taking away the INTEL Best

Project of the Year Award, 7 new teams went on

inspired to represented St David’s at SciFest at

Blanchardstown IT this month, mentored by Miss

Dixon. St David’s took away 2 awards! Rohith Roy

Philip won second place in the Senior Chemical &

Mathematical section for his work on the intrinsic

mathematics to scoring the perfect goal in soccer!

Connor Monks & Neil Quinn took away second place

in the Junior Physical Sciences category for their work

on the testing of Pykrete as a super durable

construction material to replace existing ones. Ross

Mason & Lee McCormack discovered ‘hidden fats’ in

crisps, while Erin McIntyre & Jamie Farrell tested the

effects of caffeine on teenagers. Mr Costello came on

board with the Leinster Rugby coaches, guiding one of

the teams in their discovery of rugby as a method to

improve social skills in students with autism. This team

of Adam Benazous, Adam Murphy and Aaron Dunne’s

project attracted much attention from media in Scotland

and Dublin City FM. Other students who did great

work in SciFest were Gareth Gilroy, Daniel Griffin,

Scott Harte, Ahmar Nawaz & David Mulcahy. The

students were very professional, a credit to the school.

Well done to all!

Above: Ms. Dixon, Ms. Hehir and all students who

participated in Sci-fest 2012.

Sponsors of Tomorrow exhibit at the Science

Gallery

On Wednesday May 23rd INTEL have offered

St David’s students a free trip to this exhibit and

coach transfer to thank us for our involvement

in INTEL’s SciFest events. A fun afternoon in

store for our SciFest teams, Ms Dixon and the

1st years!

ST. DAVID’S GOT TALENT!!! St David’s Valentine’s Play ‘Grease Meets Twilight’

[Directed & written by Jennifer Dixon].

150 auditions, 41 selected cast, 43 crew, 8 weeks of

rehearsals, evenings, weekends, 18 scenes, 14 songs, funds

raised for Irish Cancer Research, 2 sold out packed out nights,

made up this year’s play of Grease Meets Twilight! Set in

high school, but instead of there being one hunk (Danny

Zuko/ Dale O’Hanlon), there were 2 (Twilight’s Edward/

Robbie Maher), each with their own love interests & posies!

High school musical/ glee elements in the mash too featuring

stunning performances by Dale, Shane Boylan, Ydrian,

Maron, Matthew Broderick to name a few. Girls from Mercy

Beaumont & InGoodCompany Agency joined to make up the

very talented female cast, Sandy, Bella, Little Pinks! One goal

to find their one true love in time for the Highschool Harlem

Valentines Ball was all livened up by the ever flamboyant

Secretary Pauline/ Carl Stringer! The level of acting, singing,

dancing this year was second to none, extreme professionals,

none of the cast/ crew wanted it to end, amazing memories,

many friends made & a DVD to remember it all by. Thank

you to all those who made it possible, Staff Fiona Taaffe

Cosgrave, Mr Howe, Mrs Flanagan, Mr Kelly, Eugene, Fran,

John, Actors Alan Sherlock, Patrick Murphy & Stephen

Brady (DVD), Stephen Lawless, Adam Cahill.

FILM AUDITIONS, PARTS BOOKED &

WORKSHOPS!

Several directors, producers & industry friends approached

requesting to come in and audition the St David’s students for

parts in a music video, TV show & films. Nathan O’Connell

has shot a short film, a TV ad & booked the lead male in 2

new short films, filming during summer. Killian O’Farrell has

shot a music video, a short film. Shane Boylan shot two short

films and has other projects in the work. Jason Sherlock has

shot a short film, a music video & is in rehearsals for a feature

filming in summer .Adam Benazous & Luke Markey have

had their own written script which has been picked up by

October 11 pictures ans is due to be filmed soon. They’re

both joining Kevin Buckley & Neil Quinn at The Burlington

for a workshop in script writing with head writer of TV show

SKINS. 15 of St David’s students are doing a FilmBase

course/ rehearsals each Saturday in Temple Bar in preparation

to film a feature film.

Well done to all involved in ‘Grease Meets Twilight’, it was a fantastic night and it was thoroughly

enjoyed by all!

DALE’S MUSIC VIDEO STORY

After seeing Dale O’Hanlon’s outstanding

performance as Danny Zuko in the play & touching

heart strings with his own self written songs, a

producer offered a free professional recording of his

song ‘Cheer Up’ in JamPot Studios. Anthony Downes

also loving the vibe of the track offered to film a

music video to go with it. Over several weeks of

recording studio time & filming, Dale’s new music

video was premiered in St David’s to a rapturous

applause, it was stunning. It also features actors Jake

Kearney, Conor Flanagan, Robbie Maher, Killian

O’Sullivan, Karinann Cosgrave & Suzanne Ryan.

Currently it is being sent to producers in the UK &

will be available on iTunes soon after. He has now

also been offered a year of studio time, with intent to

produce one new song each month culminating in the

finishing of Dale’s first album.

A special thanks to Ms. Dixon for her contributions to

the school this year. Well done!

St David’s Acting & Entertainment Awards

2012

Wednesday May 16th saw the school

transformed into a glittery green carpet affair for

the first ever screening & awards show. Screened

on the projector were 3 of the films starring the

St David’s pupils and the premier of Dale’s

music video ‘Cheer Up’. The applause and

support for each production was fantastic. 12

awards followed. Some of which included; Best

Newcomer Killian O’Farrell, Best Actor Dale

O’Hanlon, Best Supporting Actor Jason

Sherlock, Biggest Contribution to Acting in St

David’s Nathan O’Connell, Best Producer

Stephen McDonald, Best Script writer Adam

Benazous, Best Musical Performance Maron

Belocura & Ydrian Pagaduan, Best Comedic

Actor Carl Stringer. Thanks to Fiona Taaffe

Cosgrave, Brian Talty, Alan Sherlock, Jason

Shalloe, Patrick Murphy.

Ms. Dixon would like to take this opportunity to

thank the staff and students for all their support

throughout the year.

NFTE Awards Day in DCU

Pictured: Darren Quinn and Darren Cullen

NFTE ‘Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’ is

an optional part of transition year. It gives students

the opportunity to experience business first hand.

NFTE students are required to develop a business

during the year; they are supported and encouraged

by their teacher, Ms. Hussey. At the end of the year

each student presents their business plan as part of

the Youth Entrepreneurship Awards.

Congratulations to Luke Madden, a former NFTE

student who continued his business and won the

Alumni award. He received prize money and a

trophy.

Thanks to Ms. Hussey for all her hard work and

guidance.

‘Safe school for everyone…..for children to

learn and adults to work’

Congratulations and comhghairdeas to the 25

students who took part in a ‘candlelight

demonstration’ at the 1st Anti-Bullying Forum

which took place on the 17th May 2012 with the

Minister of Education – Ruairi Quinn and the

Minister of Children and Youth Affairs – Frances

Fitzgerald. The demonstration was held to

commemorate those children and adults who took

their own lives as a result of bullying in schools, to

show solidarity with the survivors of bullying and

to show our support for the forum. The students

were great ambassadors for our school. They

follow in the footsteps of the N.A.B.C. ambassador

Jeremy Prince – father of deceased bullied teenager

Phoebe Prince R.I.P., he has been at the forefront of

this campaign to make schools safe. This is the 2nd

event these students have participated in. The ‘flash

mob’ demonstration was held on Grafton street in

March. Check it out on ‘youtube’ – www.nabc.ie.

Well done lads. A helpline and peer counselling is

also available from this side. Mile buiochas and

stay safe.

Thanks to Ms. McVeigh.

St David’s Immersion visit to Nairobi 2012

The following students and teachers will travel to Nairobi in October as part of the Christian Brother Immersion

project , Ryan Broderick, Eoin Brunton, Darren Cullen, Daniel Cummins –Hughes, Robert Eviston, Sean Halion,

Joseph Harry, Sean Moran, David Mulcahy, David O’ Brien, Niall O’ Connor, Darren Quinn, Martina Flanagan,

Amanda Mullins and Mick Nally.

We are fast approaching the end of another school year here in St David’s but this brings us to new beginning as we

prepare for another journey to our African home from home in Enbulbul, a slum village on the outskirts of Nairobi.

This journey to Kenya has become a biannual journey, a journey that will bring 12 St David’s

students and 3 Teachers, to work with the poorest of the poor in the outskirts of Nairobi next

October. Whilst there, we will teach in the local schools, visit local orphanages and visit the homes

of the local community to offer support and share in their lives for a brief time.

Transition Year

Glendalough Gaisce Walk

Gaisce Students On Their Hike!

In April the Transition years

went to Glendalough as part of

the Gaisce walk. We spent the

night in a hostel and had great

fun. Despite the bad weather,

everyone was in good form and

completed the walk. The walk

was very long (17k) but

thankfully nobody got lost up

the mountain! A special thanks

to Ms Mullins, Mr Ball and Mr

Farrell. We would like to thank

Ms Mullins for organising the

trip and we look forward to

doing it all again next year.

Thank you Ms Mullins!

Group At The Tower!

St Paul’s Special School, Life Skills Module

As part of transition year the students do a ‘Life Skills’

module. This consists of cooking, photography etc. One

of the modules takes place in St. Pauls Special School in

Beaumont. Students make their own way down to the

school and most make their own way back to the school

for the following classes. While students are in the

special school they have a choice to do either pottery or

cooking. This year transition years had life skills for 6th

and 7th periods (first two classes after lunch) on a

Wednesday. Also students from St. Pauls came to our

school on a Tuesday. Being part of this module was a

very enjoyable experience and I’m glad I did it.

Transition Year Rugby

A new initiative launched this year saw Jack

Hanratty, Leinster Community Rugby Development

Officer provide a six week rugby coaching course to

Transition Year. All the basic skills of the game were

taught by Mr Hanratty and by Billy Phelan also of

Leinster Rugby. The course was highly enjoyable

and thanks also to Ms Rowan, Mr Ladden and Mr

Costello who participated on the course.

Take Me Out: The Take Me Out event was organised

by Transition Year students Seán Moran and Seán

Halion and Teacher Mr Nally. It was a fundraiser in aid

of the Nairobi immersion project. Students are obliged

to raise €1500 each and this was organised to do that for

one of the Students. The event took place on March 15th

and was a huge success. It was a great night for the

school and for the organisers who put a lot of hard work

into organising the event. The hall was packed and

many people didn’t get a seat. A total of €1519 was

raised on the night.

Green School Programme

In September this year, St. David’s was registered with the Green School

Programme. It is a long-term programme that introduces participants

(students, teachers, parents and the wider community) to the concept of an

environmental management system. Our committee is made up of

teachers, students and school management. The programme is based on a

seven step system and our initial focus theme is litter and waste in our

school and wider community. Next year our plan is to submit our

application and hopefully be rewarded with our first ever Green Flag!!!

Well done Ms. Bowden and the TY students for their hard work and

dedication.

Maths Quiz

(L-R) Erin McIntyre, Mark O’Connor, Ryan

O’Shea and Gareth Gilroy.

Students from the first year

class of A4 participated in a

Maths quiz in DCU. Two

teams of four entered the quiz

and were very successful

while the remainder of the

class cheered them on. Thanks

to Mr. Woods and Ms. Cullen

for accompanying the students

on this outing. Also a special

thanks to Ms Mc Anallen who

created a fabulous banner.

Students hard at work!!

JCSP Reading Challenge

(Pictured: the A3 Class that took part in the JCSP

Reading Challenge)

Congratulations to A3 on completing the JCSP reading

challenge. The aim was to read as many books as possible

in three weeks and all students were very successful. It

was a very enjoyable experience for all involved.

Fighting Words

During the academic year, students from St David’s

CBS visited the Voluntary English Workshop

‘Fighting Words’ set up by Roddy Doyle. A group

of students B4 made two trips to the workshop

whilst the A2 English class went once. The students

found it to be a very worthwhile experience, with all

sorts of activities taking place from Acting to

Creative Writing. Well done to a very imaginative

and inventive group!

C.S.P.E.

For our B3 CSPE action project, we decided

that we would like to sponsor children in

Embulbul, Kenya to go to the Brother

Beusang Primary School for a year. We did

research and we discovered that it costs

€80.50 to sponsor a child to go to school for

a year. To raise money, we had a non-

uniform day and we sold raffle tickets. With

the help of the staff and students in the

school, we raised €805. With this money,

we sponsored ten children to go to school

for a whole year! It makes us very proud to

know those children will be getting an

education for an entire year thanks to St.

David’s C.B.S.

Student Awards

The Annual Student Awards took place in St.

David’s on Wednesday 16th

of May. We were

honoured to have Dublin manager Pat Gilroy to

present students with their awards. The students

were selected for awards based on their

commitment to learning, positive attitude in the

classroom and participation in the school

community. We are very lucky to have such

students here in St. David’s. Well done to all

students and their parents!

Outdoor Pursuits

A very successful year was had by all in the

Outdoor Sports Club. We continued with our

programme of Mountain biking in Wicklow,

Kayaking in Malahide and on the River Liffey. The

climbers competed in two competitions, the Dublin

round of the Irish Bouldering league in Inchicore

and the Dublin round of the Youth climbing series

in UCD. There were great results from all involved.

Trip to Old Trafford

A large group of St. David’s pupils and teachers

travelled to Old Trafford to see Manchester United

take on West Bromwich in the Premier League.

The students and teachers had a great time at the

game and sight-seeing around Manchester. Many

thanks to Mr. Costello and Mr. Ball for arranging

the trip.

St David’s Sports Day

St David’s Sports Day took place on Friday the 4th of May. It began

with an exciting first year race which showed off the talented

running of Conor Mulcahy who took first place. The second year

race was won convincingly by Lee Foley, an athlete to look out for

in the future. Aaron Leonard took first place in third year race he is a

superb athlete and an all-round sportsman. Robert Eviston once

again displayed his excellent running skills to take first place in the

fourth and fifth year race. Finally an extremely competitive sixth

year race was won by a very fit Richie Heddarman, a number of

teachers also competed in the race which added to the excitement of

the day. The fun races began immediately after the competitive

races in which all classes took part in the egg and spoon, three

legged; throw your runner and the sack race. The highlight of the

day was not only Mr Costello’s very fashionable ensemble but the

Tug of War event. Each class put forward their strongest team and

the grand finale was the winning sixth year team against the

teachers. The 6th years triumphed and took the title. The strongest

10 men in the school!!!!

U16 Football

The U16 footballers won the Dublin ‘B’ title

putting in some great performances on the way

especially in the final where they overcame a very

committed Colaiste Eanna side, winning in extra

time. We congratulate the team on their

achievement and thank them for their commitment

and effort during the year.

Well done to the managers involved, Mr. Talty and

Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Pictured above: Mr Costello and some Rugby

fans enjoying the game!

Rugby Review 2012

This year saw a greater expansion of rugby

following the highly successful season of 2011. A

Senior and Junior team were entered in to the

Dublin Development cups. The Heineken Cup

visited us in November and Mr. Costello travelled

with 25 students to the Aviva Stadium for the

Leinster versus Bath Heineken Cup match in

December. Everyone had a very enjoyable day in a

ten try thriller. The under 15 team managed by Mr.

Nally and Mr. Costello were involved in the first

ever schools rugby sevens tournament held in

Limerick and managed to make the semi finals at

their first attempt. The team was featured on a

rugby programme by TG4 on Sunday last. Finally,

well done to Senior and Junior Rugby Players of

the year Jordan Buckley and Kamil Nazaruk who

collected their trophies at the annual sports awards.

Teacher’s take the glory over Leaving Cert students!

Who said they were too old??? The gauntlet was well and truly thrown down to the male staff when the

Sixth years challenged the teachers to an end of year soccer match on Wednesday last. At 4.15 the

whistle was blown and the game ensued. A tightly contested affair held in front of a large school audience

and more following worldwide saw some eye catching performances from Mr. Mynes, Mr. Ball, Mr.

Fitzpatrick. Mr. Kelly in defence allowed Mr. O’Brien to have the day off in goal, to the athleticism and

skills shown by a dominant midfield trio of Mr. Molloy, Mr. Campion and Mr. Farrell. The dynamic duo

of Mr. Moran and Mr. Costello were a constant threat up front and some great saves by James Murtagh in

goal prevented a huge win for the teachers. The decisive moment came when Mr. Costello rose like a

salmon at the back post to head the ball into the roof of the net to give the teachers a 1-0 win. The legends

are well and truly alive!!!

Special Achievements DCU/Young Social Innovators Poster Campaign

St. David’s won second prize for their

poster campaign on Mental Health

Issues. Their slogan ‘Happy or Sad’ How

well do you know your friends? received

glowing comments from the DCU/Young

Social Innovators judges. The judges

expressed how impressed they were with

the students’ knowledge and

understanding of mental health problems

among teenagers. Congratulations to

Niall O Connor, Jerald Pasaos, Robert

Eviston, Rohith Roy Philip, Kairm El

Gendy, Ciaran O Brien, Ryan Broderick,

Daniel Cummins, Christopher Broderick

and Abin Saju.

Boxing

Sean Heary, a 1st year student has excelled at boxing. He won

the Dublin Boy 3 50kg and the Leagues Boy 3 48kg. Sean also

boxed in the All-Ireland Boy 3 50kg and got to the quarter final.

Furthermore, he boxed in cadets and got to the semi-final. A

select group of Dublin boxers fought against a group from

Tyrone and Sean was an essential member of this group. Well

done to Sean and we wish we the best of luck in your future

endeavours.

Sport’s Award

The Annual St. David’s Sports Awards were

held in the sports hall on Wednesday 16th

of

May. Member of the All- Ireland winning

Dublin team Paul Flynn came to present the

awards. The students of St. David’s were

celebrated for their high achievement in an

array of sports. Awards were given for Gaelic

football, hurling, rugby, athletics, basketball

and outdoor pursuits. Well done to Philip

Flanagan of sixth year who won the prestigious

Paul Boyle Award. This is a great achievement,

well done Philip!

We would like to wish all 3rd

and 6th

year students the very best of luck in their exams!