Fashion Show!

The St. Wolstan's 2014 Fashion Extravaganza took place this past Tuesday and Wednesday the 25th and 26th November in the Celbridge Manor Hotel hosted by Miss Leonard. After weeks of preparation and excitement, the two days of the fashion show flew by in a breeze! The show consisted of a mix of students and teachers modelling designs from over 14 high street and local retailers such as Next, Vero Moda, Bennetton, New Look, Born, Catch etc. The show showcased the talents of the students in the school through the glee club, singing groups and various dance performances from ballet, Irish and modern dancers. The show also featured some male models from the local Selesians boy's school modelling the evening/debs wear.

We were lucky enough to witness the talents of the teachers as they performed a rather interesting (to say the least) dance piece.

The show began at 8pm on Tuesday night. With lots of excitement backstage with students rushing to get dressed in order for them not to lose their slot in the show. The opening act of the show were the modern dancers. I wasn't due to go on until after the interval so I had plenty of time to wander around and look at the mini companies who were selling their products in the lobby. I was modelling clothes from Next and a design from a former pupil turned designer Ruth Doyle's collection. It was so much fun getting to play model for the night and having our make-up and hair done by a make up artist brought in by Ruth. My first look was from next. It consisted of a sparkly  silver three quarter length top, a black furry waistcoat and a pair of jeans.

The second design I wore in the show was a favourite of mine. It was a beautiful piece from Ruth Doyle's collection. The collection consists of a series of unique hand-made pieces using hair and various other fabrics.

Here are a few of the other pieces from Ruth's collection modelled by Isabelle Connolly,  Eilis O'Brien and Lauren.

The day after the show, the school halls were buzzing with talk of the first show and the students just couldn't wait to do it again for the second night which went just as well. Overall it was a fun  experience for the students and teachers and hopefully we will get the opportunity to do it again some time.

Vanishing Art

This week, the TYs went on a trip to Carton House, Maynooth where a sculpture exhibition was being held. We left the school for Carton after lunch at 2 o'clock on Wednesday. The exhibition features sculptures which were scattered around Carton premises, on the grass, in the water and hanging from trees.The rest of the pieces were on display in a showroom. The concept of the exhibition was bringing back the art of sculpture which is a "vanishing art" as other forms of art are now emerging.

This was one of my favourite pieces. It was titled "L'Archiere" by David O'Brien and it is a bronze sculpture of a female archer with her bow drawn, ready to fire. Another favourite of mine was an untitled piece of a man and a woman standing on opposite sides of a pillar peeking around the corner at each other but both are too scared to meet the other and so they never meet because they are unaware of the other's affection.

We were focused on the art for a while until we received the news that the Irish Rugby team were training at Carton! It's no surprise that the attention of teenagers was turned from the art to the rugby players. A few lucky girls even got autographs and pictures with Johnny Sexton and Tommy Bowe!! Overall the trip consisted of about 15 minutes of art appreciation, an hour of waiting outside the gym as the players trained, some screaming, tears and even a lost shoe! Thanks for reading, Anita (:

My TY Experience So Far

Under The Sea

Last week was annual friendship week in the school. This year the fun walk was on a Thursday instead of Friday. The colors for the TY's  was yellow and seeing as we are class Ariel, our class went for an Under the sea theme for the dance. We had a girl in the class who dressed as Ariel and our tutor Mr. Lawless dressed up as a shark while we were all dressed as flounders. Our catch phrase was "Fish are friends not food"











http://static.tumblr.com/866922ae9028272f072b30463d8dd9f0/ayylemb/pABmkhi0d/tumblr_static_finding-nemo-bruce-fish-are-friends-not-food.jpg

It all sounds a bit crazy, and it was, but it was also a lot of fun. The dance sequence started off with the flounders dancing to "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. Then, OH NO! A shark comes in and terrifies all the little fish. Then, Mr. Lawless aka. the shark, goes on to sing "Part of Your World" and we find out he's actually a lonely shark looking for friends, hence the phrase "fish are friends not food". Ariel then comes in and helps the flounders accept the shark as a friend. Finally, we all become friends and break out into a dance number and we're all friends. Yayy!!

After watching all the base classes do their dance, it was time for the walk. Every year, TY's help at the crossings to make sure everyone walks safely on the path and nobody gets knocked over. Overall it was a fun day for the whole school.

Work Experience

I started work experience at the Irish Red Cross head office in Dublin on Wednesday. I was asked to dress "smart casual". With absolutely no clue what exactly "smart casual" was, I threw on a black blazer, a teal button down shirt, a pair of black high waist jeans, a pair of flats and I was good to go, My outfit looked a little like this...

http://www.chictopia.com/Black-BDG-High__Waist-Jeans/info

On my first day, disaster struck. My alarm didn't go off and instead of waking up at 6, I woke up at 7.05. I was absolutely horrified. My bus was in just over an an hour! That wasn't nearly enough time to get ready. I somehow managed to get ready in that hour and I was out the door by 8.10 am. I started work at 10 am and I was in town by 9:45. Thankfully, I found my way to the building in time.

I was introduced to everyone working in the building and I was brought around to the different departments that I would be working in and I met the people I will be working with while on work experience. They were all so welcoming and although I was nervous at first, that went away after I learnt how friendly everyone was.

It was then straight into work for me. I was given the task of finding headlines for the monthly newsletter on different issues in society at the moment such as: racism, migration, direct provision etc.

After that, I was sent off to a briefing about the work done by the Red Cross international department in Africa and South America. I learnt a lot about the incredible work they do in times of crisis.

I was finished work at 4pm. I enjoyed my first day, It gave me a good taste of what the world of works is like. I can't wait to go back next week.

Thanks for reading,
Anita.

Carlingford

Day 1:

The week of the 15th of September was a very busy one for Transition Years. On Monday the 15th we were up bright and early for our trip to Carlingford. By 7 am, we were all on the bus and headed for Carlingford adventure Centre. As soon as we got there, we were straight into our wet suits and in the water. On the first day at Carlingford, we went canoeing which was tons of fun. i even saw my first jellyfish! After about two and a half hours of canoeing, it was time for lunch. After lunch, we headed off for the combat course. Shall we say things got slightly too competitive (uh oh!). After two hours of team building on the combat course, we headed off to dinner and then we got some free time to ourselves. Around 7 pm, we were headed off on the night line. A walk up the mountains blindfolded! The view on the walk back down was incredible!

Day 2:

We were up bright and early on day 2 at Carlingford. Our first activity after breakfast was kayaking which was also a two and a half hour activity. I was tons of fun but extremely tiring. After kayaking, we headed back down for lunch and then it was time for laser tag. This was by far the most fun I had at Carlingford. The course was in the forest and we got guns made from real gun metal which were really heavy! We all brought out our inner soldiers for this one. I got a little into the game and ended up hurting my ankle (it was worth it).

After laser tag, it was safe to day we were all absolutely exhausted! We were on the bus headed home by 5.30 pm. Sadly we were back in school on Wednesday morning but on the bright side, it was a day filled with workshops.

Junior Cert Results!

We received our Junior Cert results on Wednesday 10 September. I had been dreading this day since June! We were all gathered in the hall where we lined up in our old class groups, Emerald, Amber, Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire. Its was nice to see some of my old classmates who had moved on to fifth year. Tensions were high in the hall as we awaited our results.As the teachers came into the hall, brown envelopes in hand, there was a mixture of fear and excitement in the air. After we received our results, we were allowed to leave the hall and open our envelopes in private. It took me a good half hour to build up the courage to open my results! Overall I was delighted with my results as were most of the other girls. Screams and happy dances galore! We all went our separate ways and prepare for the celebrations we had planned for the night.

Thanks for reading,
Anita.

First Impressions

After my sun and fun holiday in Ibiza with my sister, it's safe to say that I was less than eager to return to Ireland. However, I was excited for my first day of school as a Transition Year student. This was a day I had been looking forward to in anticipation for months. With TY comes new learning experiences. New things to look forward to each week. New things such as work experience, trips and workshops on different topics such as positive parties, etiquette and first aid. After hearing of different Ty experiences from previous Transition Year students, my expectations were set mile high. The big question was, would those expectations be met?

First Week Back

On my first day back in school I was a bit unsure. After missing the first few days, I felt slightly lost. Everybody else seemed to have settled back into school life but i was still still finding my feet. It felt like a normal school day. I got my timetable and my journal and went to classes as per usual.

As the days went by, I began to settle into the new school routine a lot better. I found that I was put in the same class as my best friend which, now that I think about it, probably wasn't the best idea (oops).

I am enjoying TY so far. My first week back was good. I got to try new subjects such as IT, Music and Technology and I enjoyed them. Now let's see what else Transition Year has to offer.

xoxo Goss... I'm just kidding