LORETO KEY STAGE 3 PASTORAL HOUSE SYSTEM
The Pastoral House System encourages pupils from Years 8, 9 & 10 to get to know and work alongside one another, thereby fostering co-operation and nurturing a sense of service, camaraderie and healthy competition. The House System promotes good work and behaviour, teamwork and opportunities to take on responsibilities. The House System celebrates Mary Ward’s Value of Joy and the nurturing, inclusive Ethos of the school.
Points are awarded for:
v Attendance; Positive Referrals; Meeting your Target Grade; Extra-curricular involvement; Participation in Competitions, Initiatives and Events; Exceptional acts of Kindness and Good deeds; Endeavour and Effort.
The Houses are as follows:
HOUSE ONE-DERFUL 8A1, 9A1 and 10A1
HOUSE TWO-ERRIFIC 8A2, 9A2 and 10A2
HOUSE THREE-MENDOUS 8A3,9A3 and 10A3
HOUSE FOUR-TASTIC 8A4, 9A4 and10A4
HOUSE FIVE-ABULOUS 8A5, 9A5 and10A5
All classes receive a HOUSE PIN, with their own specific colour – pink, green, yellow, red and blue respectively. This badge becomes a sign of identity and can open up conversations, in a way to get to know new people, outside your Class, but within your House.
Year 14 pupils are our 5 House Captains and play a pivotal role on our Health & Wellbeing Prefect Team. This innovative and energetic team run a Weekly Wednesday Wellbeing Club. We have 15 Key Stage 3 House Vice-Captains, who are appointed based on a Letter of Application. The Captains, Vice-Captains and Head of Pastoral Care, Mrs M. Gavin, meet regularly to discuss ideas for our House System and to share progress.
We run a highly successful House Motto Competition; House Poster Competition, judged by the Art department, and House Points are also accrued from events such as Loreto’s Got Talent Show; Christmas Carol House Challenge; Public Speaking and Debating House Challenge; Choir and Sporting accolades… to name but a few examples. Monthly Rewards & Prizes are enjoyed. All Houses keenly await details of the Winning House MysteryTrip at the End of the Academic Year. In June of the academic year 2018-19, House FOURTASTIC won the trip to the MILLENNIUM FORUM in Derry and enjoyed a beautiful dinner in ARBUTUS restaurant followed by HAIRSPRAY THE MUSICAL. A wonderful evening was enjoyed by all!
Pupils must stay tuned to our weekly Newssheet, our House Noticeboard, Parent Newsletters and our Twitter Feed for House Updates.
International Camps Cambodia
Loreto Students on Camps International Expedition to Cambodia.
(attached photograph: James West Camps International Expedition Co-ordinator at a pre-departure meeting with 6 Loreto students and their parents.)
Six students from Loreto Grammar School are currently making final preparations for their trip to Cambodia in July. Students: Casey Devlin, Bronagh Leonard, Zara Mc Grath and Lisa Denton, Year 13 along with Lauren Gaynor and Caitlin Houston, Year 12, have registered with Camps International to embark on a 4-week expedition, 3rd and 30th July, during which they will travel around Cambodia and carry out voluntary work in 3 separate Camps. They will engage in a range of initiatives to assist local communities through wildlife, environment and community projects. In addition, the students have been afforded the opportunity to participate in a week of “adventure” and will receive training towards an accreditation in Scuba Diving. The six students will form part of a composite travelling group with three other schools from Northern Ireland and when on expedition, will join a wider range of teams from throughout Ireland and the UK.
Students have been fundraising for their expedition for the past year and through a number of school and community projects have raised £11, 194 – to date! They are extremely grateful to all who have supported them. In addition to fundraising events, the six students have received sponsorship from a number of businesses whom they wish to acknowledge: Barry Curran Optometrist, First Trust Bank, Calvert Office Equipment, Woodvale Construction Company, Dessie Collins Electrical, Icon eBusiness, Eugene Donnelly Painter and Decorator. They would also like to acknowledge Mc Cullagh’s Spar for street collection, BM Bargains for bagpacking opportunities, Dr Kevin Moore / Order of Malta for providing required First Aid Kit and Stamina Sports for sponsoring personalised Expedition jerseys.
As stated by Camps International Group: “This expedition will allow students to live alongside rural communities and work on projects which could include helping to build classrooms, community centres, combating deforestation or protecting wildlife. Since Camps International started running expeditions in 2002, over 22,000 students have travelled with them from around the world. These students have collectively completed over 80,000 weeks of volunteering, worked on truly inspirational projects which have positively impacted on the lives of over 103,000 people”.
Our six Loreto Students are excited about their expedition and the opportunity to make a real and lasting difference.
Our Music Department’s Spring Concert Was a Resounding Success
Our Spring Concert was held on Thursday 11th April and can only be described as an ‘all-round success’. This wonderful event allowed Mr Bradley (Head of Music) to showcase the outstanding musical talent in the school. The audience responded with rapturous applause and standing ovations on the night, and indeed we are still receiving messages of appreciation. £1370 was raised from the event and this will go towards covering the remaining costs of the Senior Choir’s Prague trip. If you missed it…..don’t worry! You can see some of the highlights on our YouTube channel.
Loreto Shortlisted for Capita & C2k NI Schools ICT Excellence Awards 2019
We are absolutely delighted to have been short-listed for the ICT Excellence Award at Post-Primary level. The Capita and C2k NI Schools ICT Excellence Awards celebrate the innovative and collaborative use of technology in schools across Northern Ireland and the positive impact on students and their wider community.
Now in its fifth year, the awards are for schools that have used technology to transform their educational experience and improve the engagement, achievements and motivation of staff and students.
On a daily basis we are demonstrating innovation in our use of technology in teaching and learning here in Loreto. It is just fantastic to get such high level recognition for all our work. We now look forward to welcoming the judges in May.
A Celebration of Success at GCSE Level
Our current Year 13 pupils were formally acknowledged for their outstanding GCSE success at a special assembly. The girls were congratulated by Principal, Mrs O’Hanlon and by Head of Post-16, Ms Fahy. To be placed top of the NI (Belfast Telegraph) League Table is indeed an incredible achievement and credit was given to the pupils and their teachers for the hard work and dedication that it took to reach these standards of excellence. ‘Sweet treats’ were enjoyed by all!
Success for Loreto Show Jumping Team
Loreto Show Jumping Team secured first and second place at the Drumragh Show in the Open Competition. They have now qualified for Balmoral!
Chemistry Summer School – University of Ulster
An exciting opportunity for Chemistry students to attend a fully funded week long summer school. Click on the links below for further information.
Loreto Girls’ Choir – International Award Winners 2019
PRAGUE YOUNG BOHEMIA 2019 WINNERS
Our school choir, comprised of sixty talented senior students, travelled to Prague on Thursday 21st of March to compete in the prestigious Prague Young Bohemia competition. This was our school’s sixth time to participate in the festival and we were truly delighted to secure an ‘overall’ win for the second successive time. Under the supervision of Mr Bradley and Mrs O’Neill, the girls had a fantastic all-round cultural experience. Some of the highlights of the trip included an impromptu singalong outside Prague Castle and a Saturday morning performance to a packed St. Nicolas’ Cathedral, which received raucous applause from locals and tourists alike. Friday night’s competition saw a breath-taking performance of five pieces, which the girls and their choir master Mr Bradley put their hearts and souls into. This was the culmination of many months of rehearsal. The girls competed against choirs from Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the extremely popular Mount Sion Choir from Waterford. Commenting on the win, our highly esteemed Mr Bradley said “I am thrilled to have received this endorsement of our school’s choir. To achieve an accolade at this highest level is just brilliant. This success means that we have now won outright in the only two categories for which we are eligible – ‘Girls Choirs’ (2016) and ‘Spiritual and Gospel’ this time round.” There has been fantastic media interest in our success. UTV Live will air our story on Friday 29th March and we will also feature in local newspapers, the ‘Tyrone Constitution’ and the ‘Tyrone Herald’.
Loreto GS Omagh Top the Northern Ireland GCSE League Table 2019
We are absolutely delighted to be announced top of the 2019 Northern Ireland GCSE League Table!
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/revealed-five-schools-share-the-top-spot-in-gcse-league-table-results-37939064.html
Open Night 2019
Wednesday January 23rd gave us the opportunity to open the doors of our school to prospective primary 7 pupils and their parents for our Open Night.
This annual event gives us the chance to show girls from many local primary schools what we can offer here at Loreto Grammar. The whole school was buzzing throughout the night as groups were taken through each of the subjects, with many girls getting their hands dirty in each of the classes.
