Presentation Secondary School, Wexford

20 mars - Journée de la Francophonie
20th March - French speaking day
We will be celebrating all this week. Several events have been organized :  quizzes in class, we also have a quiz on famous French speaking people and  French speaking countries. 1st years have been busy choosing their favourite  French word and making funny captions. We will also show a film for TY, 5th and 
6th years on Thursday and Friday at lunch time in the library. If you wonder
why  you should learn French, well what about in case you meet Johnny Depp!!!
For  more reasons, have a look at the posters!
Bonne journée !
A bientôt !
Les professeurs de français

Deep Green, a new student run website has been officially launched. The site is run by the Creative Writing Group and gives students an opportunity to show off their writing skills.

The site welcomes submissions from all students. Student short stories, poems and artwork are displayed on the site as well as reviews of movies, music and books. Why not turn up to a meeting and get involved? The Group meet every Tuesday @ 1.30 in the Technology Room.

Too busy cramming at lunchtimes for meetings? Just submit a review or piece of writing/art online using the submissions section at www.deepgreen.preswex.ie.

The site even has plans to expand into TV! Watch out for video reviews in the near future.
A short video explaining everything is available here.

Sixth year student at the Presentation Secondary School, Yunwoo Lee, brought home first prize in her Senior Individual category at last week’s BT Young Scientist Competition. Her project entitled “A study of allicin and an investigation of its potential use in combating antibacterial resistance” fought off stiff competition in the Biological and Ecological Sciences section.

Yunwoo began her investigation having read a number of papers on the natural antimicrobial action of garlic. In the course of her work she managed to confirm its potency against common bacterial strains and to stabilise the molecule responsible for this effect, the highly unstable compound allicin. Her hope is that her discovery could give doctors a new way to combat the hospital bug MRSA.

Yunwoo began her work while in 5th year and entered the project in the South East SciFest competition held each year in WIT, where she achieved overall 2nd place. She continued her experiments over the following months and was well prepared for the tough questioning by the judges at the Young Scientist Exhibition.  She was thrilled to have her innovative idea and hard work  recognised last Friday.

Yunwoo plans to go on to study medicine after she completes her Leaving Certificate in June.    

The fantastic team work and dedication of the under 16 and senior basketball players shone through on Monday last as they claimed both titles with clear voctories over Loreto Wexford in the finals in WIT.  
 
Under 16. Presentation 23 – Loreto Wexford 14
The under 16 team were always in control of their fixture as their defence stood firm when they came under fire from Loreto.  Leanne Brennan and Kasey Maher were to the fore on defence, as they twarted any attack launched by Loreto.  Meanwhile on offence, the slick passing of Ciara Redmond, Cliodhna Flynn, Jessica Hore and Sophie Donnelly when introduced, displayed exactly why the Presentation girls remain unbeaten in this competition.

Presentation led from start to finish in this exciting tie, with the half time score 12-4 in their favour.  They continued to add scores in the second half, with Jessica Hore really asserting herself on proceedings both in defence and attack. The final buzzer was greeted with euphoria by both players and supporters as Presentation claimed the title on a scoreline of 23-14.

Team: 
Jessica Hore (8), Sophie Donnelly, Ciara Redmond, Ania Blachon, Shannon
Di-Luca, Leanne Brennan (9), Joanna Kavanagh, Kasey Maher (6), Cliodhna Flynn,
Roisin Hayden, Sadhbh O’Flaherty, Kim Brazzill, Katie Mae Boyce, Niamh Kenny,
Bridin Nolan. 


Senior –Presentation 36 – Loreto Wexford  26

The Seniors took to the court following the under 16 victory for what was expected to be a cracker of a match, as Loreto were intent on causing an upset.  It was Loreto who started the
brightest, leading 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Presentation settled into their rthyhm in the second period outscoring their opponents 10-2 to lead Loreto 13-8 at the turn-around.  
 
Excitment oozed in the third quarter, as Loreto were determined to claw back the Presentation lead.  They scored some fine baskets to bring themselves to within two point of the Pres, before Aleisha Cullen cooly slotted in a swish to push the lead out to four again.  Presentation put themselves firmly in the driving seat with three unanswered baskets through Eadaoin Miskella, Rebecca Kirwan and Aleish Cullen to end the third quarter 26-14 in front.

Further baskets were added by both sides in the final quarter, which descended in a stop-start affair. Lauren Lawlor was fouled several times going  to the basket and Loreto found themselves on team fouls.  Some late scores from Loreto didn’t dull the polished performance of the
Presentation girls as they won by a handsome 10 points, with the game finishing 36 to 26 Prentation’s favour.

Team:  Jessica Reville, Aleisha Cullen (8),
Aine McDonnell, Eadaoin Miskella (8), Cathy Wheeler, Lauren Lawlor (6), Emma
Walsh (5), Chloe Thomas, Rebecca Kirwan (7), Niamh Butler (2), Eleanor Franquera-Nolan.

All credit to Loreto in both matches, they were well prepared and the game was played in a tough, yet fair manner.
Our girls now go on to the All-Ireland play-offs after Christmas. 
The dates, opposition and venue have yet to be finalised. 
Well done to both squads, their wins were just rewards for the amount of
work they have put in this year.

On Thursday last, the sports hall in Presentation played host to two South East basketball semi finals, that saw the home side take on Stella Maris, Tramore at under 16 and under 19 level.  Both Presentation teams maintained an unbeaten record throughout the league stages of the competition following wins over Bridgetown, Colaiste Bride, OLOL New Ross and Loreto Wexford to see them gain home advantage for the semi-finals.

First on court were the under 16 side, and from the early stages, it was evident that it was going to be a tight game.  Both teams were defending with a trojan like work ethic and scores were hard to come by.  The 1st quarter ended with the home side trailing Tramore, 6-8.

The Wexford side asserted themselves more in the second quarter and outscored their opponents 6-2 during the defence dominating period to leave the half time score in their favour.  A basket separated the sides as Presentation led 12-10 at the changeover.

Presentation really hit a purple patch in the third quarter and began to dominate proceedings.  The played confident defence, setting the platform for some great team attacks and left their opponents in their wake, outscoring them 12 points to 2, and the score at the end of the penultimate quarter at 24 to 12, in Presentation’s favour.

The final quarter was played in a settled manner by the Pres girls, as they twarted any attacking threat their opponents made.  The final buzzer was greeted by delight by the Presentation girls as they had put in a worthy performance to seal their place in the regional decider.  The final score was 32-14.

In the under 19 semi-final, Presentation set their stall early and stormed into a 14 to 1 point lead at the end of the first quarter.  The pace of the game dropped considerably in the second quarter as Tramore started to find their range, bringing themselves back into the game.  At half-time the scoreboard read 26-9 in favour of the Presentation.

The second half maintained the same pace as the second quarter, with Tramore working hard for their scores, but Presentation always keeping the scoreboard ticking over and maintaining their control on the game.  The match finished 42-15 and the senior team join their under 16s in the finals, which will be a double header in WIT on Monday 5th December.

Presentation Under 16s:  Jess Hore, Sophie Donnelly, Ania Blachon, Shannon Di-Luca, Leanne Brennan, Joanna Kavanagh, Kasey Maher, Cliodhna Flynn, Roisin Hayden, Kim Brazzill, Ciara Redmond, Katie Boyce, Niamh Kennny, Bridin Nolan, Sadhbh O’Flaherty.

Presentation Seniors:  Emma Walsh, Lauren Lawlor, Niamh Butler, Eadaoin Miskella, Jessica Reville, Rebecca Kirwan, Aleisha Cullen, Chloe Thomas, Aine McDonnell, Eleanor Franquera-Nolan, Kathy Wheeler.

Loreto Wexford won both of their semi-finals on Friday last against St Anne’s, Tipperary and so a mouthwatering clash is guaranteed in a unique, all-Wexford final.

2nd Year  3v3 League Final was played on Wednesday 23rd.  The
team of Trudy  Downy, Dearbhla Moore and Eimear Gilhooly edged out Camila
Amiranhov, Kayleigh  Goodison, Ciara Doyle and Sadhbh O'Flaherty.  Well done to
all involved and many  thanks to Mrs Mahon and her helpers.

Basketball - Training has commenced for all first year students on Wednesdays from 4pm until 5pm in the sports hall.  All first year students are welcome to attend.  
The Senior and under 16 basketball teams have both won their groups following victories over Loreto Wexford and are are now through to South East semi-finals.

Good news about the Maths achievements of some of our students.

Students who perform exceptionally well in their Junior Certificate Maths exam are invited to attend Mathematics Enrichment classes in either U.C.D. or NUI Maynooth.  These enrichment classes lead into to Olympiad training classes.

The International Maths Olympiad is a prestigious annual team competition for mathematically talented second-level students representing their countries.  Ireland has participated in the competition since 1988, and Irish students have won medals in eight of those competitions. In fact one of our own students, Yun Woo Lee in 6th year was one of four students selected to represent Ireland in last year’s competition.

So continuing with the success we have had in the past and based on last year’s Junior Certificate results, four of our students have been invited by the UCD School of Mathematical Sciences, to attend these Mathematics Enrichment classes and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate these girls and of course their teacher Ms Wall.

The four girls are:

Geraldine Doolan, Gabia Varnelyte, Eadaoin Fitzferald and Beibhinn Whelan

 So congratulations again girls and well done to you all.