Today Mr Tony Osborne, a past Dominican parent, came to school to collect a cheque for 500 pounds for the Northern Ireland Air Ambulance. The school are delighted to be able to support this most worth cause and the money donated will go a small way towards the average daily cost of 5500 pounds to run the Air Ambulance Service.

Tony, an ex- fireman and keen motorcyclist, was inspired to become a fundraiser for the NI Air Ambulance following a motorbike accident involving his son Simon. At the beginning of this year Simon was involved in a very serious accident just outside Bushmills and, due to the speedy intervention of the air ambulance team who arrived on the scene in less than 20 minutes, was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and brought to the team of surgeons who would save his life.

Realising the vital role played by the Air Ambulance team, Tony was inspired to fundraise to help support this valuable service and set himself a target of 100,000. Tony plans to return to DCP later this year to tell pupils Simon’s story and to pass on vital road safety messages and the school hopes to continue to promote and support the work of the NI Air Ambulance
.
Mr Tony Osborne is pictured receiving a cheque from Dominican Principal, Ms Ronan and three Year 8 pupils:
Sorcha, Lea and Holly.

This week saw the first Surf Club at DCP giving our students the opportunity to develop their surfing / paddleboarding skills on the beach. The initiative is organised with the National Trust and Ocean Warriors and Mr Coils is accompanying the pupils. Such has been the demand from pupils that two groups have been set up with one group attending on Wednesdays and one group on Thursdays for the next four weeks. Thirty-four Dominican pupils are taking part.

The two-hour sessions will include full surf tuition from a qualified surf instructor. There will also be RLNI Beach Lifeguards present during the sessions as well as Mr Coils as supervising teacher.

Eco Initiative

Our Eco Club and Media Club are working alongside the National Trust to help raise awareness about plastic waste, as part of the project we are building a sculpture from plastic bricks (made by local primary schools and ourselves) which will be displayed on the beach.

To help we are would like some bottle caps (milk or water bottles) and some old clothing or cushion pads; we would really appreciate it if you had anything you could donate. We are asking the students to put their plastic tops in a box in Miss Thompson’s room when they are finished with their bottles.

The sculpture will be unveiled on 8th June on the Portstewart Strand by Sarah Travers at 11.00 AM.
We look forward to welcoming you there.

Opportunity for Dominican pupils to take part in Pirates off Portrush.

Kerry McFadden- Newman, a Dominican parent and past pupil, had contacted us about an opportunity for our pupils.

Pirates Off Portrush is due to take place on Saturday 29th June with a new adventure in store for Tavish Dhu. Please follow link to the outline of this years adventure with Tavish, ‘The Doctor’ and the Leprechauns. https://www.ireland.com/events/music-and-theatre/concerts/destinations/northern-ireland/county-antrim/portrush/all/2-83311/
In order for this adventure to take place we need assistance from x10 teenagers (aged 13 +) who would be happy to take part in the procession on the Saturday 29th June from approx 2.00- 5.00 PM. This would involve wearing a costume (see photos) and taking part in the procession around Portrush town.
If you are interested please contact Kerry McFadden-Newman via this email address and/or my mobile 07714001267 by 30 May 2019

Bishops Athletics May 2019.

Good luck to our Year 8 athletes who will be competing in the Bishops Athletics competition held in Coleraine Grammar School on Friday 31st May.

For competitors list click here.

Well done to Jake Speers in Year 10 who had great success in his burgeoning Golf career over the Easter Holidays.

Jake was the overall winner of the Ulster Winter Series, a two- day tournament which took place at Kirkistown Golf Club and Galgorm Golf Club. The first round of this competition took place in February and culminated last Sunday, April 28th. Jake, playing off a handicap of four, competed against a host of local young golfers from all over Ireland. By the end of the second day Jake had shot six over for the competition and won the overall prize for the Under Sixteen event, despite being the youngest competitor in his age category.

In winning this trophy Jake is following in the footsteps of two of his heroes, Tom McKibbin and Rory McIlroy. Jake explained how he dedicated his victory to his mum Evelyn who encouraged him from a young age to swing a golf club.

Jake’s second success was within his local Portstewart Golf Club where he went on to win the Annie Wilson Cup with a level par score. Representing Ulster, Jake was the winner of this competition which was open to players from the ages of 12-18.

Well done Jake from all here in Dominican College and we look forward to reading about future success and seeing how far your talents will take you.

Jake is pictured being presented with his Ulster Winter Series U-16 trophy.

Well done to the ten Year 14 pupils who received their Gold John Paul II Award medals at a special presentation at Senior Assembly today.

To receive a Gold Award a pupil must complete 40 hours of voluntary work. We also had one Silver Award Winner for whom the minimum was 28 hours of voluntary service.

The success of these pupils this builds on the work done by previous Gold Medal winners and demonstrates the continued growth of this initiative within Dominican College and will hopefully motivate and inspire our younger pupils to strive to be champions of social justice.

Students got involved in a range of activities in their own local parish and in school which encouraged them to give back to their communities. Activities ranged from trips to Lourdes, helping out with charity collections and coffee mornings for several charities in their parish, and organising various fundraising initiatives in school for charities such as SVP, as well as becoming involved in both school and parish liturgies where appropriate.

Each student displayed faith in action in their respective volunteering endeavours, representing each of our shared Christian values.

Well done to Miss Anderson and Miss Smyth for all her work in leading and co-ordinating the work of the pupils his year and a special thank you to our school chaplain Fr. McCullagh for his continued spiritual guidance and leadership.

The John Paul II award winners are pictured today with Ms Ronan, our principal, Fr Raymond , Miss Anderson and Miss Smyth.

Well done!