Our second annual ‘Readers and Writers Week’ which ran from 28th April – 1st May, was a great success.

With the help of 5th Year library prefects, the whole project began in February and culminated in a fun-filled week of reading and writing based events.

School Library (Click on image to see full-size)

The Visiting Writers
Our week was formally launched by Ms Mannion when she welcomed the first of our eight visiting writers, Sinead Moriarty. Sinead spoke to our 3rd Years and some 4th Years on Monday 28th April. Sinead has had four books published to date, with her fifth due out in September. Her humour, so evident in her books, kept the students entertained and Sinead was delighted with the feedback from and discussion with her audience.

Later that morning, award-winning writer Siobhan Parkinson arrived for her ‘exclusive’ interview with our senior reporters Kirstie McArdle and Anne Moloney, who organised, managed and conducted the interview with great maturity and professional poise. The audience for this event won their tickets in a specially run competition inviting them to submit original questions to ask of our guest. Overall, it was a resounding success, and Siobhan also expressed her pleasure with the way the morning worked out.

Tuesday morning, 29th April, was 1st Year morning and they were to enjoy a very special treat. I don’t think any of them anticipated how much they would enjoy it, but when Judy May Murphy started talking, the entire audience, including staff, was captivated. This was a very special highlight for the girls who were inspired and empowered by this remarkable woman. Judy May was delighted with the interaction and has already promised to return to Foxrock.

On Wednesday 30th, about half of our 6th Year group attended a session with poet and translator Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. This was a wonderful opportunity for our senior students to meet and listen to an experienced person in the field of Irish literature.

Also on Wednesday, writer and poet Larry O’Loughlin conducted three separate creative writing workshops with 4th Years. These were extremely lively and at times hilarious sessions, in which he demystified story telling and provided us with basic building blocks to use when tackling creative writing. In the process, students were poets, lyricists, actors and musicians. All students thoroughly enjoyed the workshops.

Thursday 1st May was our busiest day with three invited guests in our midst. The award winning writer and illustrator Oisin McGann conducted two creative writing sessions with our 2nd Years. Once again, these were lively, funny and very interactive workshops, and Oisin provided lots of useful steps to follow when approaching any creative writing project. All students came away full of ideas and we expect great essays from them in their forthcoming exams! As he was answering our numerous questions, Oisin finished each session with a drawing which he gave to the school as a gift.

Our second group of 6th Years was treated to a most interesting and informative talk by journalist Jennifer O’Connell. We have quite a few aspiring journalists amongst this senior group, and they were delighted to meet with an experienced journalist who has worked in newspaper, TV, media companies and, more recently, as freelance. Jennifer gave us an insider’s view of this very interesting, challenging, varied and at times very difficult profession.

Lastly, but not least, we were once again treated to readings and ‘questions and answers’ by the hilarious Paul Howard, aka Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. Our 5th Years, along with some 4th Years were delighted with the visit - a very light-hearted and enjoyable respite from studying for the forthcoming exams. Paul stayed on to sign books, journals, notebooks etc at the end, and was delighted to receive a presentation from the girls.

The Book Fair
The School Book Fair hosted by Scholastic was open for business every afternoon in the school hall. It was ably manned by a committee of students from 5th, 2nd and 1st Years with sales increasing in volume as the week went on.

We also ran a staff writing ‘guess who wrote which?’ competition which generated a lot of interest. Thanks to all who helped with this, and to those who read all the pieces and made their ‘guesses’.

It would not have been possible to run the fair without all the help – many thanks to all.

Competitions
Art: Students were asked to design posters advertising ‘Readers & Writers Week’. The posters were displayed around the hall, lunchroom and rooms where talks took place, providing a wonderful splash of colour to our displays. A special thanks to Ms Norton and Ms O’Leary for judging the entries. The results are as follows:

1st place: Katie Ryan 2 Wigmore
2nd place: Ludivine Rebet 2 Rookwood
3rd place: Aoife Beary 2 Ward
4th place: Laura Dent 2 Poyntz

Creative Writing:

There was a great response to the creative writing competition, and once again, judges had a very difficult time in deciding the winners. Many of our stories and poems were in contention for prizes, which were eventually awarded as follows:

Poetry
1st place: Sinead Cullen 3 Babthorpe
2nd place: Mary Gilbride 4R
3rd place: Andrea Kelly 4O
4th place: Cliodhna Moloney 2 Rookwood

Short Story
1st place: Casey O’Toole 3 Ward
2nd place: Aoife Duffy 2 Rookwood
3rd place: Caoimhe Stafford 3 Rookwood
4th place: Labhaoise McCarthy 5D

Staff Writing ‘Guess who wrote which’?
Joint Winners: Emily Daly & Caoimhe Stafford

Thank You!!
The ‘Readers and Writers Week’ is a big undertaking which could not happen without a great deal of help. On behalf of the whole school community, I’d like to thank all students for their part in making the week such a success.
Special thanks to the 5th Year Library prefects Nicola Piggott, Liane Fitzgerald and Aoife Noone; to the senior reporters Kirstie McArdle and Anne Moloney and to 5th Years Laura Noone, Labhaoise McCarthy and Rachel Hoolahan for all their help. Special thanks are also due to a fabulous team of 1st and 2nd Years including Eabhan Rowe, Grainne Kelly, Louise Holst, Fatima Ismail, Clodagh Donlon, Susan McGing, Paula Maatouk, Rebecca Geary, Niamh Rainey, Aisling Cullen, Molly Gleeson, Leah Kelly, Aoife Duffy, Niamh Keane, Amy Linehan, Sarah Kane, Clodagh Harney, Louise Morton and Ciara Farrell. Thank you also to the many volunteers who moved chairs and desks each day and set up rooms and hall in preparation for visits.
Well done to all.

2008 Photos will follow soo

Readers & Writers Week 2007 Photos
We hope you enjoy this small selection of photographs celebrating the recent Readers & Writers week. Unfortunately, some technical difficulties meant that not all the highlights were captured, and not all of our writers are featured here.
However, we think they give a good idea of how things went!
If you do have any photos on your camera, please email us.....To Photos

Readers & Writers Week 2007 Report
The ‘Readers and Writers Week’ was a wonderful success – and one which we fervently hope will become an annual event. The project began in February when we started to make contact with possible visiting writers. This culminated in arrangements which provided for every student to attend a talk by an author.

Thank you to 5th Year Prefects - The ‘Readers and Writers Week’ was a very big undertaking, involving a lot of organization. It would have been difficult to tackle the workload without a great deal of help. That help was always forthcoming from the fantastic library prefects – Karen Egan, Saoirse Daly, Linda Monaghan and Laura McKenna, ably assisted as needed by Stephanie Reville and Aisling O’Byrne. From early suggestions, emails and internet searching for contact details; to input on ‘what speakers for what classes’; to posters and displays; competition advertising; to setting up, calling classes to the hall, greeting the speakers etc etc – the list goes on.
But perhaps more than any of this was their enthusiasm and willingness to put so much into the project – this was the most invaluable contribution of all, and I hope that each girl in turn got a lot out of it. On behalf of the whole school community, I’d like to thank them for their huge input into making the week such a success.

The visiting writers - In April the 4th Years were treated to a most entertaining hour with the young Ruth Gilligan. Ruth brought along copies of her books for sale, and stayed afterwards to talk to some of the girls and sign their books. The other five year groups all had their talks during the ‘Readers and Writers Week’. On Tuesday 8th May, the 2nd Years thoroughly enjoyed the visit by Claire Hennessy. Claire has recently had her seventh book published, while still at the young age of 22. The accomplished story-teller and award winning writer, Marita Conlon-McKenna, came to speak to 1st Years on Wednesday 9th May. Marita has received world-wide acclaim for many of her books and now writes for both adults and children. She was most impressed with her audience and the girls really enjoyed the morning.

On Thursday 10th May, 3rd Year students were treated to a wonderful talk and slide show by Aubrey Flegg, author of several books including the Louise trilogy – the first book of which is called ‘Wings over Delft’. The slide show gave a very interesting insight into the background and setting of the book, and sparked a great interest amongst the girls to read the other books in the trilogy.

Finally, the 5th and 6th Years came together for a very lively and funny appearance by the popular Paul Howard or as he is better known - Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. Through a mixture of readings and questions and answers, Paul proved himself to be as amusing in person as on the printed page. It was a great morning of light relief for our senior students who are so busy studying for their end of year or leaving cert. exams. Paul stayed for over an hour after the talk such was the demand for autographs, and no-one left disappointed.


Book Fair - The School Book Fair hosted by Scholastic was open for business each day from Wednesday 9th – Monday 14th May. It was very busy at times and sales were quite brisk overall. Thanks to all those who helped out during the fair, especially in those first few busy days.

Competitions
Art: Students were asked to design posters advertising ‘Readers & Writers Week’. Thank you to all who submitted entries. The standard was very high and judging was difficult. Special thanks to Ms Norton & Ms O’Leary for co-ordinating the judging.

1st Hannah Byrne (2 Poyntz)
2nd Sinead Cullen (2 Babthorpe)
3rd Claire Bowers (2 Ward)
4th Sophie Madden (2 Ward)

Creative Writing:

There was a wonderful response to the creative writing competition in terms of quantity and standard. Several staff were called upon to assist in the judging, and it was decided to make awards in two categories – Poetry and Short Story.

Poetry
1st Sinead McGinley (2 Ward)
2nd Kate McNamara (6D)
3rd Louise Kelly (3 Wigmore)

Short Story
1st Casey O’Toole 2 Ward
2nd Ciara Fitzgerald 5B
3rd Aoife Duffy 1 Rookwood

Foxrock's first Readers' & Writers' Week (2007)
As you may be aware from the signs which are appearing around the school, Loreto Foxrock is having its first Readers’ and Writers’ week in the school next week.

The week will involve:

Visiting writers - all students will have the pleasure of a talk by a visiting writer.
1st Years will hear from the award winning author Marita Conlon-McKenna on Wednesday.
Claire Hennessy will visit 2nd Years on Tuesday.
3rd Years will be treated to a talk and slide show on Thursday by award winning author Aubrey Flegg.
And on Friday our 5th and 6th Years will enjoy a talk by the popular Paul Howard.
The 4th Years already had their day a couple of weeks ago with Ruth Gilligan - it was a great success.

School Book Fair - As part of our special week, there will be a Book Fair each day from Wednesday at allocated times in the library. Please remember to bring money in with you so that you can buy books by your favourite authors. We hope to have plenty of copies of our guest writers' books for sale. Why not come along and have a look.

Poster and Creative Writing competition - Entries are now closed for the poster competition and there are some fabulous submissions. These will be displayed around the school in the next couple of days. Submissions in the creative writing competition are more than welcome with a deadline of next Wednesday 9th at the latest. Have you written a poem or short story lately – would you like it to be considered for a prize?
There are great prizes to be won in both competitions so get writing and get your entries in.

Download Readers'/Writers' Week Schedule

Please note that due to the events of the week and the fact that the Book Fair will be housed in the library, all normal library business will be suspended for the week. The library will not be available for general work at lunchtimes, or for class groups working on projects. Will students with exemptions from Irish use free classrooms for the Irish classes. Photocopying and other services will only be available through written order.
Apologies for any inconvenience.

We hope that everyone enjoys this special week.