The Mass for the Opening of the School Year was celebrated in Foxrock Parish Church on Friday, September 23^rd. This is a special occasion for the school community and this year marked the final time Father John celebrated mass with us before he moved parish.

On Friday September 23^rd we were led in our year groups to our annual school mass. The mass for the opening of the school year is a very important event in our school calendar; it welcomes all the students, new and old, to a new year of learning, and new year of experiences. This year the mass was beautifully arranged, with an assortment of songs prepared by Ms.Gormley’s music classes interjecting throughout. It also held a special importance as we said goodbye to Father John, who has been working and helping our school for over thirteen years. It gave us a chance to thank him for all the hard work he has done and all the great things he has accomplished for our school.

No school mass would be complete without the head girl speeches. This year the speeches were given by Ludivine Rebet and Niamh Durcan. They were the highlight of the school mass and truly proved why these two girls were chosen to represent their peers in their final year here at Loreto College Foxrock.

Speech given by Ludivine Rebet;

“It would be wrong to go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

This Mark Twain quote reminds us of the extent to which we are truly blessed. It might not feel like such good fortune when we find ourselves fretting over exams or struggling to finish that English essay on a Sunday evening, but we really are lucky. It is not in every school that all resources are focused on helping us achieve and be happy at the same time. Nor is it in every country that there is a good standard of schooling. In fact, it is not on every that children, especially girls, are even given the right to an education.

As we are all gathered here today, I would like to thank those who genuinely want us to succeed, and who make it their mission to allow us to flourish- teachers, staff, principal and deputy principal. Nowhere in the contract is it written that you have to actually care.

Niamh and I would also like to warmly thank Father John for the great guidance he’s given our school over the past thirteen years. Father John, we wish you all the best in your new position in Mount Merrion/Kilmacud although here your dedication and enthusiasm will be dearly missed. At the same time, we are excited to welcome new students in all years, and the first year year group.

In the grand scheme of things, first year wasn’t so long ago and yet I have had so many different experiences and grown so much in Loreto Foxrock that I can barely remember what is was like to be sitting on that side of the church five years ago. Foxrock has become a second home, especially in the senior years- and I’m sure that you too will settle in fantastically. You might even have already done so. My greatest wish for you is that you will enjoy your first year here and all the years to come. I have no doubt that you will keep your old friendships while making many new ones, that you will forge the same strong bond my year feel with each other, and have a happy and fulfilling time in this school.

Having grown into the uniform( you never thought you would) and been in the school for over a year now, it is a great time for second years to try the things which you didn’t have a chance to experience last year, be it sport ,debating, choir or just really getting to know everyone in the year. Now that you’ve picked  some of your own subjects you should feel more in control of your school life. School is what you chose to make it and this is the best time to decide what you want that to be. A positive attitude will help you make the most out of the year.

To the third years, it’s understandable that you may feel a little nervous about the year ahead, but ask any of the seniors and they will tell you that you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of. There’ll be plenty of time to keep up hobbies and social life on top of school work. If I ever started to feel under pressure in third year I’d think about two things-firstly the prize: not just transition year but a sense of achievement, and secondly: the fact that I wasn’t alone but working through the exact same thing as a hundred other friends. Above all, it’s not about being better than your peers but being better than you yourself thought you could be.

Speech given by Niamh Durcan;

To the fourth years,

Firstly, I would like to congratulate each and every one of you on your fantastic Junior Cert results. All of your hard work has paid off and now you face fourth year as your reward.

Fourth year is all about opportunity. It is a year that becomes what you make it. If you participate and get involved, you are guaranteed to have a brilliant year. You are given a well-deserved break from the tough academic role of school, and are given a chance to try new things, make new friends and make new memories. Catch what is thrown at you. Get a taste of something you’ve never experienced before. Capitalise on your opportunities because they are there for the taking.

Over the past four weeks you may have noticed some peculiar behaviour from the fifth years. You may have noticed the odd scowls on their faces as you pass them in the corridor with their head-down, solemnly trudging towards their next class, supporting a bag of books, while you gleefully skip, empty handed towards the main door to head off on your weekly cultural ed trip, without a care in the world. You may also have heard some strange grunts as they overhear you in the corridor, boasting about how ‘little ’homework you have, while they stare at their journal taking in sharp, slow, dangerous breaths. To this I say, don’t worry its natural. The fifth years had their chance last year and now it your turn so trust me, tensions will ease-eventually.

Which brings me to our fifth years I hope that you all had a fantastic TY year and didn’t find the transition into fifth year too difficult .For many of you, you may still be finding the change hard- don’t worry, it doesn’t happen overnight. The year isn’t as daunting as it seems, we’ve made it through, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.

I really encourage you girls to get a good solid year of work done in fifth year because it’ll make sixth year a lot less stressful. As well as this, I urge you to get involved in all areas of school life, be it sport, drama, debating or the fifth year committees. It gives you a chance to practice leadership and co-operation throughout the year.

The best piece of advice which I can give you is to work steadily. If you listen and concentrate in class, you have 60% of the work done. The other 40% relies on your homework and your revision. Fifth year will fly by and you’ll be in your final year before you know it.

This finally brings me on to our sixth years, my colleagues, my companions, my friends.  It’s hard to believe that we are the same group of girls who once sat where the first years are sitting now-six years ago. The same group of girls who got up to all sorts of mischief in our days of being little menacing first years down in our secluded locker-room of the long lost D corridor. The same group of girls who’ve come together as one year group, one big group of friends.

We are now the girls who wear the white shirts. We are now the girls who look the tallest and oldest in the school. We are the leaders. We are now the sixth years.

We had an amazing few years here in Loreto College Foxrock. With tears have come laughter, with frowns have come smiles but most importantly, with mistakes have come experience. We have a tough enough year ahead of us, but we have a solid year of work covered, we have teachers who are behind us every step of the way, and we have each other to fall back on should we need it. I really want to encourage you to make the most out of the year. One month has come and gone, so we can already see how fast the time goes. Make the most out of and bond with each other as much as you can. We have such a lovely year group and as we come into our final year it would be nice to form some new friendships, as well as maintaining our old ones.

I would also like to say, on behalf of Ludivine and myself, how proud we both are to be up here representing our year group and our school. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer bunch of girls to work with and we know that we are 100% supported with you behind us, even if you decide to delete our numbers by the end of this term. I really hope that we can make this year one to remember, because it will certainly be one we won’t want to forget .To the rest of the school, I hope that new friendships and companionships within all year groups may be formed; because when we leave school and head off to college or work, it’ll be those links, those connections, but most importantly those familiar smiles that’ll make all the difference.

On a final note, I would like to wish each and every girl and member of staff/school community God’s blessing over the coming year. There will be temporary highs, there will be temporary lows, but at the end of the day, our friends and our memories will stay with us forever.

 Aoife Datta
Senior Reporter