Category Archives: Junior Cycle

Poem for anti-bullying week

Here is a poem written by Mia Delaney in 1A1 for anti-bullying week last week. Mia read this poem aloud at school assembly.

 

Anti-Bullying Poem

I don’t know why it started,
It caught me by surprise,
Classmates making fun of me,
Spreading rumours and lies.

At first it was nothing,
Just a few sly remarks,
But then it got worse,
Their words vicious like sharks.

I bottled it up,
I let it consume me.
It made me feel small,
And I didn’t tell my family.

I felt like if I told,
It would make me look weak.
So I continued on,
My life becoming bleak.

My personality shifted,
My grades started to fall.
A numbing pain spreading inside me,
I felt no happiness at all.

But then one day,
I had enough.
Enough of their words,
Hurtful and rough.

I couldn’t deal with it,
I was taking a stand.
This icy pain had to stop,
That was my demand.

So I told my parents,
And instantly felt better.
To my principal
They wrote a letter.

Soon enough
The teasing ceased.
And from my shoulders,
Pressure was released.

I soon became happy,
And found interest again,
In hanging out
With my friends.

No one deserves to go through that,
No, not anyone at all.
So if a friend seems out of sorts
Please just give them a call.

Music and Poetry for Christmas

On Tuesday 20th December the Senior Choir visited Gormanston Woods Nursing Home for a morning of Christmas Carols and Poetry. The choir visits the Nursing Home every Christmas under the guidance of Ms O’Hare and Ms Hodgins, taking the opportunity to share the Christmas Spirit with the residents. It is always a joyful and lively experience.

This year, as part of our school’s Wellread initiative, the choir was accompanied by a number of students reading Christmas poetry to the men and women in Gormanston Woods. Pauric Leech read ‘A Christmas Childhood’ by Patrick Kavanagh and Aaron Rock read ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ by Clement Clarke Moore. This added an extra literary element to this festive occasion that was greatly appreciated by all involved.

Music and poetry at Gormanston Wood

Drop Everything And Read 2016

We are half-way through another Drop Everything And Read week here at Franciscan College Gormanston. Everyday at 10:30 teachers are told to stop teaching and students are told to put away their work. All members of the school community take out a book and read for their own enjoyment.

Both students and staff really enjoy this week every year as it gives a short break from work to do something very pleasant and relaxing. Also, all members of the school community take part in this week with great enthusiasm because we fully recognise that reading for pleasure is proven to help improve students’ grades across all subjects.

Drop Everything and Read week
Drop Everything and Read week

 

Class 1A2 reading for pleasure
Class 1A2 reading for pleasure

Graphic Novels in the library

A number of our students are very interested in graphic novels. They see them as a different way to enjoy narrative – one that has visual appeal to match the story itself. Like traditional novels, there are endless ways to categorise graphic novels. Today, Alex from 6th year spoke to some junior students in the library about the types of novel that he enjoys.

The first type he spoke about were manga – these are read from top to bottom and right to left in the traditional Japanese style. One of Alex’s favourites is ‘Death Note’.

He then went on to speak about superhero stories. This sparked the age-old debate of whether DC or Marvel is the better comic type. Alex’s favourite is the Marvel series, but needless to say, there was a lot of disagreement!

Many students had questions for him and everyone enjoyed sharing their own personal experiences.

We are very grateful to the parents who run the library at lunchtimes who allowed us to use this beautiful space for the talk.

 

Alex talking to some junior students.
Alex talking to some junior students.

 

Students listening to the talk about graphic novels.
Students listening to the talk about graphic novels.

Horror Projects

Class 1A2 was hard at work before the mid-term break, writing about the enduring appeal of horror stories. They investigated why it is that we are drawn to this particular genre and what writers have made a name for themselves through writing stories filled with fear, suspense and tension. The students did some research on writers such as Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe and Derek Landy. A number of our students have a very particular interest in anime and they wrote about this in their project. Some students were even brave enough to write their own original poetry. Here are some samples of their work:

Horror Project

Horror Project

Horror Project

Horror Project

Space Week in the Library

Last week was Space Week in the Library and here we can see some of our junior students with a display of books that are available.

Students have access to a wide range of books – both fiction and non-fiction. The library, run by the Parents’ Association, operates themed weeks during the course of the year. Be sure to pop in whenever you can to find out what is going on!

Students with a display of books about space.
Students with a display of books about space.

Bob Dylan – Nobel Laureate

American singer-songwriter has today been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’. He is the first singer-songwriter to win the award and the first American to win since Toni Morrison in 1993.

He was born on 24th May 1941 in Minnesota and began writing and performing in his teenager years and has not stopped since.

Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sarah Danius, said later: ‘We we’re really giving it to Bob Dylan as a great poet – that’s the reason we awarded him the prize. He’s a great poet in the English tradition, stretching from Milton and Blake onwards. And he’s a very interesting traditionalist, in a highly original way. Not just the written tradition, but also the oral one; not just high literature, but also low literature.’

Author Salman Rushdie stated that he was delighted with Dylan’s win and said that his lyrics ‘had been an inspiration to me all my life since I first heard a Dylan album at school.’

Prof Seamus Perry, chair of the English faculty at Oxford University, compared Dylan’s talent to that of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, calling the songwriter ‘representative and yet wholly individual, humane, angry, funny and tender by turn; really, wholly himself, one of the greats’.

Author Joyce Carol Oates said there should be no question about Dylan’s work being considered literature, praising the academy’s ‘inspired and original choice’.

Not everyone was overjoyed by the announcement, however. Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, said that although he was a Dylan fan ‘this is an ill-conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies’.

Here is one of my favourites:

Poems written by First Year Students

First year students have been very busy already this year, writing poems on topics that are of personal interest to them.

One such poem was written by Ife Jawando on 28th September 2016 as part of Bullying Awareness Week in the school. Have a read of this thought-provoking piece of work:

 

I don’t know why I do what I do.
But all you know is that people hate you.
You try and try to change
I take my anger out on the firing range.

I try to be a better person.
But my situation finds a way to worsen.
I hear all screaming and crying.
If I said I was nice I’d by lying.

I get no attention at home.
People wish I was sent away to Rome.
Got a mum, but not a dad.
She is always so sad.

They say my temper is a fad.
I do not know why I get so mad.

 

This next poem was written by Ruairí Costigan on 30th September 2016. It is on the ever-present news topic of violence caused by drugs and gang feuds.

 

Gang Wars

Bang bang he is dead,
I wish we could’ve just broke bread.
In these gang wars no one is keeping scores.
For the battles I have fought
My family are being sought.
To them my kids’ lives do not matter;
From them I only hear
Sadistic laughter.
Good men’s blood drips from tables: 
Because this job is dangerous but the income is stable.
Good men’s blood drips from chairs:
This could’ve stopped with warning flares.
Good men’s blood drips from the wall:
May name it seems to call.
It’s a sweet adolescent sound telling me
Civilians are buried underground.
The voice is softly spoken – 
I reject it for my soul has been broken.
Nothing to me is trustworthy;
To my family I am unworthy.
I’m now counting my days.
I’m now a man that prays.
I know my soul is diminished.
I know my life is finished.
And it’s all for fame and glory,
This is how I must end my story.
I am sorry for my family – to you I lied.
I am sorry to the families of those who died.
I am sorry to those I made join my side . . . 

 

I’m sure you’ll agree that these are powerful and moving poem. They show the great potential that we have here in our First Year group – we shall be expecting a continuation of this high standard from them as the year progresses.

First year debate

A massive congratulations to class 1A3 which has emerged as the champions from last Friday’s 1st year debate. The three debates were hotly contested and many excellent speakers demonstrated their talent in trying to convince us of the merits of their given topic.

The first debate:
That city life is better than country life.
1A2 was represented by Luka McGrath, Jack Taaffe and Abdul Mhueez Olaosebikan for the proposition and 1A1 was represented by Rapha Diamond-Ebbs, Louis Mbikakeu and Evan Logue for the opposition. With well-researched and informative speeches, the motion was narrowly defeated.

Abdul, Jack and Luka from 1A2
Abdul, Jack and Luka from 1A2

 

Rapha, Evan and Louis from 1A1
Rapha, Evan and Louis from 1A1

The second debate:
That teenagers spend too much time on computers.
This motion saw 1A3 achieve their first victory with very well delivered speeches from Yasmin Hanratty, Emma Mullen and David Alabi for the proposition. Val Farrell, Ignas Prakapas and Anthony Ryan valiantly opposed the motion for 1A2.

David, Emma and Yasmin from 1A3
David, Emma and Yasmin from 1A3

 

Val, Ignas and Anthony from 1A2
Val, Ignas and Anthony from 1A2

 

The third debate:
That history is an important subject in school.
The history department at Franciscan College Gormanston heaved a collective sigh of relief as this motion was carried. The debating talents of 1A3 were again on display through the persuasive skill of Ruth Flanagan, Megan O’Toole and Sarah-Jane Byrne. The proved to be too skillful for the courageous debaters of 1A1 – Sarah Browne, Edward Hamilton and Ewan Costigan.

 

Sarah-Jane, Megan and Ruth from 1A3
Sarah-Jane, Megan and Ruth from 1A3
Sarah, Edward and Ewan from 1A1
Sarah, Edward and Ewan from 1A1

 

The amount of preparation put into each of the speeches was clear to see and this was a contest that every team wanted to win. The speakers did themselves and their teachers proud and we look forward to many more heated debates as these very hard working classes move into second year.

All first years attended the debates and the students who did not have the opportunity to represent their class this year are very eager to do so next year.

All first years would like to extend a very sincere thank you to Ms Ryan and Mr Buckley who were faced with the very difficult task of adjudicating all three debates and to Eoin Gormley and Sean Landers from 5th year who were our very capable Chairperson and Timekeeper.

Sean and Eoin from 5th year
Sean and Eoin from 5th year

‘Noughts & Crosses’ by Malorie Blackman

As we continue our study of ‘Noughts & Crosses’ it may be useful to have a sense of the overview of the novel. Here is a list of the different section headings with the page number to help you navigate your way through the book:

Prologue p. 7 – 14
Three years later . . .  Callum and Sephy p. 17-86
The Turning p. 87 – 101
The Picnic p. 103 – 112
The Split p. 181 – 255
The Trial . . . p. 257 – 284
The Way It Is . . . p. 285 – 329
The Hostage . . . p. 331 – 390
The Confession . . . p. 391 – 419
Decisions . . . p. 421 – 430
Losing My Religion . . . p. 431 – 443

Here is a very interesting interview with Malorie Blackman about her views on reading, writing and ‘Noughts & Crosses’: