The Bad Apple

Congratulations to our TY students who have just completed a two night run of specially commissioned drama, 'The Bad Apple', by playwright and former Villiers student Maeve Stone. Over 80 students participated, many of them treading the boards for the first time.

Stone's play shines a humorous light on science and technology, whilst exploring the moral dilemma of the loss of meaningful, face-to-face communication. Our budding actors embraced the sentiment of the plot and successfully brought Stone's work off the page under the guidance of directors, Ann Blake and Niamh Bowen.

What another great achievement and experience for our TYs. We are certain that a number of them have been bitten by the acting bug and look forward to the next time they open the grease-paint.

Girls' Junior Bs

Congratulations to the Junior Bs who are keeping Cup hopes alive, after they beat Laurel Hill Colaiste in a very exciting game last week.

Teams were level after both full time and extra time, it is credit to the great goal keeping skills of Ana Keely and stroke taking skills of Mikayla Kearney, Orla Mulvihill and Grace Keeley, that they went on to win 3-1. Best of luck in the next round which will be after mid-term.

Girls' Junior A's Hockey

1. Well done to the Junior As who beat Ashton 3-1 in the league on Friday 16th January, with goals from Taine Amadeo and Lauren Ryan. The team also showed true spirit in the semi-final of the Cup on Wednesday of last week. They played a fantastic game against a very strong Crescent team, who went on to win 4-1. Mariana Birdthistle was outstanding in goals and Muireann Scanlon, Tara Finucane and Ciara Murphy-Wright had a particularly strong game. It was a huge achievement to get this far with such a young squad, so well done to all involved.

Phoneless For Childline

TY student, Ciara Frawley, joined with her peers from 6 other limerick schools to launch “Phoneless for Childline” in Villiers Secondary School. This campaign was organised by Ciara to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by Childline and the children accessing it. 

On Tuesday the 16thDecember students were asked to switch off their phones and place them in sealed envelopes for 24 hours, as a symbol of what it will be like for children to have no access to Childline should the service be forced to close at night due to lack of funding. All students who participated received sponsorship for their endeavours, and all proceeds went to Childline.

The initiative spread across the country and students from Villiers and other secondary schools demonstrated that a simple, combined, gesture by them could raise national awareness. In fact the initiative was so successful that the service was enabled to remain open at night throughout the, often times difficult, christmas period. 

International Students Create Lady Villiers Sow

The Jack and Jill Foundation put out a call to Professional Artists in July 2014 for the submission of designs for the painting of 100 pigs, to be auctioned in February 2015 to raise funds. 

This very worthy charity has a long standing relationship with Villiers school and we decided to submit a design. Our international students decided that it would be their 'pet' project, and so began a United Nations project by our Russian, Chinese, Korean, German, Spanish, US, Thai and Japanese students. The design featured aspects related to each country and thus began the journey of the magnificent Lady Villiers. 



She is currently on display in Dublin, with the other 99 piggy’s, and is enjoying the life of a 'super-model' as she is exhibited & photographed in preparation for the auction in February. Well done to all the students and their teacher Ms. Jane Murtagh. 

    

Villiers Equestrian

In December 2014 the Villiers Equestrian team competed at the Ennis Show-Grounds in the Limerick-Clare Interschools. We were delighted to introduce six new riders to our ever growing team; Katelyn Sweeney, Enya Conway, Rachel Mullins & Sarah McMahon from first year and
Melanie Leonard & Aislinn Patrick from fourth year. These new riders are very accomplished and performed well, despite it being quite a long day. 

Success came for Kelly Gleeson, who won the Individual Secondary School Competition with a stunningly, lively speed round. 

The junior team qualified for the Speed/Jump-off round but sadly did not progress from this. Meanwhile, the senior teams had some good rounds but were unsuccessful in qualifying for the Speed/Jump-off round. The new riders were joined by team stalwarts, Laura O’Connor,
Orla Shiel, Becky Davis and Kelly Gleeson. We were delighted that Laura and Becky took time out from their busy study schedule to participate and guide our new riders. 

The Great Debate

Aileen & Ms. Woods

 5th form history student, Aileen Greenwalshe, is currently preparing for The Historical Association Great Debate at Royal Holloway, University of London on Saturday 14th March. Aileen won the Munster Heat of The Historical Associations bi-annual Great Debate, hosted by UL History Society, under the chairmanship of Declan Mills.

The topic this year is 'What does Magna Carta mean to me?' 2015 is the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, an event that is often described as a significant turning point in the development of civil liberties. Students were encouraged to explore whether, after 800 years, it is still significant, or whether they would cite another turning point that they believe has greater bearing on their civil liberty today.

Aileen excelled over stiff competition with her speech on how she believes the Industrial Revolution and the ensuing suffrage has had a greater impact on her civil liberties. 

Nastasia Vashko, Isabel Shultz-Austum and Aoife McGoey also participated in the Great Debate, focussing on the 12th century document has laid the foundation for basic Human Rights, as we know them today, particularly various articles of the United Nations Charter. 

Each competitor was given five minutes to present their case and then field a variety of questions from the four judges. All four students were guided by their history teacher, Janet Woods, who encourages her students to move beyond the curriculum and explore the impact of historical decisions on their lives. 

We wish Aileen all the best as she prepares for the finals in London.

Transition Year Drama

                                                          TY Drama 2015
                                               'The Bad Apple' by Maeve Stone
                                      69 O' Connell Street (formerly the Belltable )

Rehearsals are well underway for this year's TY Drama Production which will see over 80 students take to the stage in a new play by Maeve Stone. Maeve is a past pupil of Villiers. We are particularly proud that this is the third play of Maeve's that our students will perform.

In a world where technology has replaced meaningful communication, where dinner-time is divided between phone-calls and skyping and family loyalty is bought by new gadgets, the Eye-Brain 4 is launched by Apfel, a seemingly harmless corporation. Beneath the surface, however, lurks the dark intentions of Pink Lady and her coven of apple witches, vying for world control.

Only haphazard scientists and children fighting for the freedom of their parents, battling internet bugs and trolls, stand in her way.

In a brand new play by Maeve Stone, The Bad Apple shines a humorous light on technology and society. Directed by Ann Blake and Niamh Bowen The Bad Apple will be brought to the stage by Villiers Transition Year students performing and working on all aspects of production.

The play opens for two nights Thursday Jan 29th  and Friday January 30th at 8pm.
Tickets available from School reception.