Libraries Give Us Power..
Year 13 Library Monitors

Congratulations to our nineteen Lower Sixth pupils who have been chosen as library monitors this year. The pupils received their badges at assembly today and will commence their work in the library this week.

The monitors will be on duty over break time and lunch time and will allow the library to be open for pupils for extended periods. These pupils have also volunteered to help with the many extra-curricular activities that run in the library during and after school and to support the work of our librarian, Mrs Davies.

The Accelerated Reader club will meet in the library each and every Tuesday lunchtime, Wednesdays will see the library chess club meet and Ms Smyth’s Book Club will convene on Thursday lunchtimes.
We strongly recommend that all our pupils avail of the wonderful resource that is our school library and we pay tribute to the superb work done by Mrs Davies and her library monitors.
Well done to the following L6 pupils pictured with Mrs Davies:

Peter Mitchell
Jordan O’Donnell
Rabann Makepeace
Joseph Patterson
Sam Purnell
Anna lagan
Hannah McAleenon
Abigail McGarel
Abbie McIntyre
Caitlin Mitchell
Jack Herald
Colum Lynch
Lavinia Eakin
Olivia Ingamells
Julia Caulfield
Natasha Boorman
Anna Lagan
Hannah McAleenon 

Caring begins at home for Dominican Students.

Just before the summer Madelayne Court, a local care home in Portstewart contacted the school to see if any of our lower sixth pupils would volunteer to help paint a selection of fences and some interior walls to help provide stimulation and relaxation for the Dementia residents.

Our school was delighted to answer the call a team of Lower Sixth pupils, including AS Art students and Eco Club members, under the Guidance of Ms Smyth the chance to support this most worthwhile initiative. The project allowed some of our John Paul II pupils the chance to reach out to the local community and to improve the lives of others by giving up their free time to help paint images for the care home.

Erin Melville and Joslyn Smyth co-ordinated the entire project and took responsibility for liaising between the other pupils and the care home. The whole project lasted roughly a month and pupils were working on their artwork three days a week.

The Care Home were so impressed that they entered into a Competition to compete amongst other Runwood Care Homes for the title of “best kept care home”.

Pupils also commented on how the Madelayne Court residents would request to be wheeled around to watch the students work and to chat to them as they painted. Below are photos of the bus stop the pupils painted inside the home to stimulate memories and of the nature wall to brighten the view of the residents.


Well done to the following group of students for their commitment to this project:

Erin Melville
Caitlin Porter
Joslyn Smyth
Catie Cairns
Aimee Semple
Orla Tracy
Lauren McCleneghan
Caolan Keenan
Heidi Archibald
Rachel McMillan
Jessica McGarrell
Faye Deering 

                                                                                                                                                      Dominican College Charities and Beach Walk 2017

This Friday will see our entire school community of pupils and staff once again take part in the shared act of social justice that is our annual Beach Walk. This is one of our charity events planned for the 2017-18 school year. Others will include our Lenten campaign in Spring 2018, our Christmas Readon for NICFC, our shoeboxes appeal and the work of our SVP society.

Over the past fifteen years we as a school community by means of the annual Beach Walk have raised in excess of £150,000 for our sponsored charities. This is due to the generosity of parents and friends of Dominican and to the commitment and dedication of our students. We want to thank everyone who contributed or helped in any way.

During the course of this school year we are asking again for your help and we would like to continue to support a range of charitable causes including the following:

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust
This is our first year supporting the KBRT.
The KBRT aims to help alleviate the cost of returning the bodies of loved ones who have died tragically or suddenly abroad.

This charity was very involved in helping the family of Craig Church, a past Dominican pupil who passed away suddenly in China this summer. As a school we wish to acknowledge and support the work of this charity in helping Irish families at the most difficult and tragic of times.

The charity was founded by the family of a late GAA player who died in an accident in America and have raised over £100k to help other families on the island of Ireland who find themselves in the same tragic situation. Kevin Bell, from Newry, died in June in a hit-and-run accident in New York.

St Vincent De Paul
As a school family we are very mindful of our responsibilities to those in need both near and far from our school. We continue to support the work of our local SVP society in initiatives such as the shoebox appeal each Christmas and are delighted this year again that they are one of the local charities that we have agreed to support.
SVP aim to turn concern into action. This charity helps the disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable in our local community. The charity was founded by Frederick Osman who was inspired to fight poverty in Paris.
Our school has its own thriving SVP society and we have worked closely with this charity for a number of years.

Barefeet
This is a charity founded by Adam McGuigan, a former Dominican pupil.
Barefeet Theatre is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that uses play, creativity, and empowerment to give vulnerable children in Zambia a chance at a better life. Barefeet was founded by former street children as a response to the plight of young people living on Zambia streets. Through the power of performance, educational workshops, and more, we develop vulnerable youth into physically healthy, cognitively, and socially competent young people.
As a school community we have supported Barefeet for many years and are immensely proud of what the charity has achieved.

LEPRA
This year again we are pleased to be able to support the work of LEPRA.
LEPRA are a UK-based international charity working to beat leprosy. This disease affects the most vulnerable people in the world, causing life-changing disabilities, but there is a cure.
More than 600 people are diagnosed and start treatment each day, over 50 of these are children.
But, due to fear and lack of knowledge, there are over 3 million people across the world living with undiagnosed leprosy and every day the disease causes more damage to their health, livelihood and future.

Good luck to all pupils taking part in this week’s walk and to our entire school community in our fundraising work throughout this school year.