St John Baptist De La Salle Tercentenary Celebrations - Knock Shrine

On Saturday 6th April, a group of students travelled to Knock Shrine. We gathered with other Lasallian schools to celebrate the Tercentenary (300th anniversary) of the death of St John Baptist De La Salle. We joined together with other members of the Lasallian community to celebrate the work of St John Baptist. Each of us took part in the ceremony by reading, singing, carrying a banner and a presentation. It was a really nice day that all of us enjoyed in Knock. It was nice to gather with all the other schools and learn more about the Lasallian community. All of us who travelled would like to thank Emilie and Emma for organizing the trip for us, for making sure we had our banners, blazers, permission slips and getting us to the bus on time. Most of all thank you for your help making sure we made it back to Dublin. We look forward to our next trip to Knock. It was a really great day and it was nice to see all the different De La Salle schools in one place.

St John Baptist De La Salle Tercentenary Celebrations in Knock

To mark the tercentenary (300 anniversary) of the death of St John Baptist De La Salle there will be a celebration in Knock Shrine on April 6th 2019. All students will receive an invitation for themselves and their families to travel to Knock on 6th April over the coming weeks. Any staff past or present and past pupils and their families are very welcome to attend. Those interested in attending or looking for more information please contact the school.

Lasallian Competition 2019

With an early start of 7:00am on a Tuesday morning, nine Ardscoil La Salle students set out for Castletown, Co Laois on a mission. This mission was to represent our school in the Annual Lasallian Competition and maintain the excellent standard set in previous years. The theme for this year’s project was ‘Then & Now’. As a group of 2nd years, we created a ‘Back to the Future’ themed mode of transport. Our idea was to include three forms of transport that were/are/will be taken to school. These forms of transport were a wagon (past), an American School bus (present) and a hover car (future) with St John Baptist De La Salle as the driver.

For our second project, we created a timeline in photos to trace the history of our school over 50 years. We had great fun looking back over the photos and discovered some hidden secrets about our school. Did you know that in the early days there was no uniform? We also found out that many a famous faces visited our school throughout the years, including Mary Robinson and Ian Dempsey. It was nice to be able to create a snapshot of our school to showcase in Castletown. For these efforts we received a medal which we have proudly placed in the trophy cabinet. #lasalle300

Sadly, we did not bring the Lasallian Cup home this year but we had loads of fun creating our projects. It was an enjoyable day. Thank you to everyone who helped us in preparing our projects for the competition.

Well-Being Week 2019

Monday 4th February marks the beginning of our annual Well-Being Week. Throughout this week, students will participate in various activities and workshops. This week promotes a positive atmosphere throughout our school environment and our school work. On Friday 8th February, ‘Della goes Blue’. Friday is a non-uniform day. All students and staff are asked to dress in BLUE. A contribution fee is asked of our school community to help us fundraise for our mental health campaign ‘Behind the Obvious’. During this week, we encourage our students to be respectful and open to all talks, workshops and events taking place. We ask for Della students to carry on our positive message and vibes throughout the rest of the school year. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter as we promote #dellagoesblue #happlyclappyweek #dellawellbeing #progress4pieta.

Events include:

Every School Day Counts - Georgiana's Winning Poster

The winning poster by Ardscoil La Salle student, Georgiana. The theme of the competition (run by the HSCL service of TUSLA) was 'Every School Day Counts'. Georgiana's poster will be displayed in all Northside DEIS schools to promote the '20 day attendance challenge' starting on Monday, Jan 21st.

Two in every Three Della Students go on to Third Level

Ardscoil La Salle are delighted to see that we are now up to 68% (more than two thirds) of our 2018 Leaving Cert group going on to 3rd Level education.

Our ongoing involvement with the Trinity College Access Programme (TAP) and the DCU Access Programme has really benefited our 2018 class as they were the first to be involved with the College for Every Student (CFES) initiative and the results speak for themselves.

The supports our students get from our staff, TAP and DCU Access have really helped them to achieve to their potential.

These results put us on a par with other large single sex schools in the area and well ahead of all the other DEIS schools in the Dublin 5 & 13 areas.

We continue to work closely with TAP and DCU Access to constantly improve our college progression rates but we also encourage our students to follow their interests into PLCs, apprenticeships and the world of work.

As always, we continue to offer a broad curriculum in a mixed and inclusive environment with small classes and excellent supports.

Merry Christmas 2018

Ist year trip to Causey Farm

First years enjoyed a day trip to Causey Farm, Kells, Co. Meath with the School Completion programme. We had lots of fun baking brown bread, visiting the animals, and bog jumping!!

Opening School Mass & Celebration of Fifty Years as a Community of Learning

When:   25th October;

Time:     2:30 pm

Where:  St Benedict's Church, Grange Park View, Dublin 5.

Transition Year trip to Trinity College

Our TY class went on a trip to Trinity College Dublin. When we got there we met up with 2 past pupils from our school who now attend Trinity. They brought us on a tour around the campus, we were brought around the museums and libraries. Afterwards we all went to a lecture hall where one of the Trinity Access team talked about how to get to college and what college is all about.

Our guest speaker was Detroit Slam Poet, Natasha T Miller. She came up and started talking about her career in a specific type of poetry called button poetry. She was really good and performed a few of her poems for us. As a class we all enjoyed her performance.

Later we attended a probability lecture by Katie Steckles as part of Maths Week. She talked about the probability in flipping a coin and in having the same birthday as someone else. Overall the day was good and a new experience for the TY group.

By Jenny McGrane

Parents' Association AGM 2018

The Parents Association AGM is next Tuesday 16th October at 7:30pm in the library. All parents welcome.

Jubilee Tree Planting

Minister Bruton visited our school on Monday 24th September to plant a tree in celebration of our 50 year Jubilee. We are looking forward to what the next 50 years holds for us. We have further celebrations planned throughout the year for our students past and present and the local community.

Cycle Against Suicide Ambassador School Award

On Wednesday last, September 12th, the now annual Cycle Against Suicide Ambassador Schools’ Awards ceremony was held at the honourable society of King’s Inns, Dublin. These awards recognised the immense efforts of 99 schools around the island of Ireland who have completed the Ambassador Schools’ Programme, and became actively involved in mental health promotion. The Ambassador Schools’ Programme is one aspect of a wide range of Cycle Against Suicide initiatives and programmes, is school-led, and involves the completion of “Five Gears” over the course of a year, all of which are aimed at raising awareness of the message that “It’s OK not to feel OK; and it’s absolutely OK to ask for help”.
The programme provides a framework for schools to integrate mental health activities into the school plan, and rewards schools who go the extra mile. The programme also aims to recognise innovative and effective initiatives, and facilitates schools to share and showcase good practice.

At the special reception, Ardscoil La Salle was awarded the prestigious status of Ambassador School by Cycle Against Suicide in recognition of their fulfilment of the Five Gears, and their exceptional commitment to the promotion of positive mental health.
Ardscoil La Salle was represented at the event by Ms McGovern, Caitlin Butler and Alice McLoughlin, who understandably are very proud of their achievements. “The Ambassador Schools’ Awards ceremony was a great day. It’s wonderful to attend such a positive event, and have the efforts of the students recognised. Our participation in the Ambassador Schools’ Programme has had an enormously positive impact on our school community, fostered a school-wide approach to the promotion of positive mental health, and provided incredible opportunities for student leadership” said Ms McGovern speaking at the event. Minister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee, Dr. Harry Barry author and mental health expert and Adam Weaver actor and musician presented the awards to students on what was a very positive enjoyable day for all involved. More information on the Ambassador School Programme is available on www.cycleagainstsuicide.com

Junior Cert Results Day

Scholars Ireland - Health Promoting Taxes in the EU

Trinity College Dublin and Oxford University run Scholars Ireland to further the knowledge of a small group of secondary school pupils. It aims to give us an authentic experience of university, from being taught by PHD students to studying undergraduate style topics.

The course was launched with a workshop in Trinity College and followed by a series of in-school tutorials. The graduation took place in Queen’s College, Belfast on September 6th.  A group of 9 transition year pupils including Katie, Madeline, Kaitlin, Laurence, Caitlin, Thomas, Luke, Ciara and Alice all took part.

On our first day in Trinity we got an introduction to what Scholars Ireland is about and what work we would have to complete throughout this process. We met our PHD tutor, Juliana Soria, who asked us to write notes and a summary about a story using university style references and during our first tutorial we learned some keywords about Health Promoting Taxes in the EU.

When Juliana first came to the school, she taught us about people influencing other people’s health options, the nudge theory and how it works. In subsequent tutorials we learned about Health Promoting Taxes in other counties and their advantages and disadvantages. We’ve also discussed cross boarder shopping, low income households and participated in a group activity on how to avoid the negative outcomes of these topics.

We each wrote a short thesis about Health Promoting Taxes in the EU. This programme has taught us a lot about what college would be like and was very helpful in preparing us for the work we will have to put in for college.

By Katie Radley and Madeline Hibbett

Open Evening

Welcome Back

Welcome back to Ardscoil La Salle 2018-19