Redsokz Christmas 2015

Christmas Redsokz 2015

Christmas Supervised Study

Christmas Supervised Study

Tuesday December 29th

Wednesday December 30th

Thursday December 31st

Monday January 4th

Tuesday January 5th

9am - 4.30pm

 

‎€5 per day

Study included in boarding options

Christmas Carol Service Videos

Villiers Choir - Pie Jesu

Villiers Choir - Oh come all ye faithful

Walking in the Air
Holly Sturton

O Holy Night
Eoghan Kavanagh & Ms. Janet Woods

The Lord Bless You and Keep You
Emma Gordon & Sinead O'Donnell-Stolz

Suggested Christmas Reading - Senior and Junior Students

Suggested Christmas Reading – Senior Students

A Brief History of Seven Killings                         Marlon James

A Little Life                                                           Hanya Yanagihara

The Grass is Singing                                              Doris Lessing

The Book Thief                                                      Markus Zusak

A Spool of Blue Thread                                         Anne Tyler

Did You Ever Have a Family                                 Bill Clegg

Lila                                                                          Marilynne Robinson

Endgame: The Calling                                            James Frey

Into the Wild                                                           Jon Krakauer

Statin Island                                                            Tom McCarthy

Sleeping on Jupiter                                                  Anuradha Roy

The Chimes                                                             Anna Smaill

City of Bohane                                                        Kevin Barry

The Fisherman                                                        Chigozie Obioma

The Green Road                                                      Anne Enright

An Eagle in the Snow                                             Michael Morpurgo

The Illuminations                                                    Andrew O’Hagan

The Moor’s Account                                               Laila Lalami

The Year of the Runaways                                     Sunjeev Sahota

Suggested Christmas Reading – Junior Students

The Art of Being Normal                                        Lisa Williamson

Before I Die                                                             Jenny Downham

Game Changer                                                        Tim Bowler

The last Leaves Falling                                           Sarah Benwell

We are all made of Molecules                                 Susin Nielsen

Noughts and Crosses                                               Malorie Blackman

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas                               John Boyne 

Spotlight on Sunny                                                  Keris Stainton

The Kite Rider                                                         Geraldine McCaughrean                                                                     

Seven Days                                                              Eve Ainsworth

The Honest Truth                                                    Dan Gemeinhart

The Hunger Games                                                 Suzanne Collins

This is Not a Love Story                                         Keren David

Lost on Mars                                                           Paul Magrs

The Fellowship of The Ring                                   J R R Tolkien

Stone Rider                                                             David Hofmeyr

The Big Lie                                                             Julie Mayhew

Finding Violet Park                                                Jenny Valentine

Villiers Christmas Dinner 2015

Christmas Dinner 2015

As always, our Christmas Dinner was a moving and special occasion in the School Calendar. It’s a treasured ‘Villiers Family' event, there’s no better way to celebrate a sense of family than to eat together. Head Boy, Conor Ryan, with his usual poise, made a remarkable speech and captured the true spirit of Villiers, extracts of which are below:

"…I am in this school is because my dad wanted me to have the same experiences as he received. He wanted me to learn how to become a man of manner, confidence, maturity and most important of all, he wanted a son who knew how to cook some fine rashers!

He wanted me to be someone who will give their all going through life. He wanted me to be taught how to think, not what to think. And so going into first year I adopted the notion of giving everything 100%, which has become one of the best decisions I have ever made. This idea was reinforced one evening when Janet turned to me and said, “As with anything, you only get out of Villiers what you put into it.” I find this very true. And there is no doubt that there's a strong student-staff relationship which helps students make the most of their time here in Villiers…

…It's not often that you see a teacher who is an ex-Aussie prop forward take to the pool like a natural and play a game of bulldog against the whole rugby team, and still manages to win. He was just too quick on his feet and out paced us all. The fact is that we all get along with our teachers, something which is quite special nowadays…

…Going through Villiers has happened so quickly that you really have to cherish every day. Sometimes, you just have to stop, and take a second to really appreciate everything that is going on around you. Whether it is Mike and Dimitri fixing almost anything, or our newest member of staff, Sam the dog, bringing Ms.Storey for walks and keeping her on her toes. It was only yesterday when one member of the housekeeping staff came into Ms. Moriarty’s office with practically no voice and refused to go home because she needed to prep the dining hall for the Christmas Dinner. This just shows the dedication that is shown to Villiers School…

…It could be said that Villiers is more than the sum of its parts. Each and every one of us contributes something to make the wheel turn, and once we do, the system functions and collectively, we drive forward to achieve great things. In my time here, I've heard Villiers be compared to many things, such as a clock, a wheel and even chapters of a book. But I like to think of this school as a system of intricate gears, working collectively to drive Villiers on. The teeth on each gear are the members of the non-teaching staff, and what if those teeth are missing? The gear slips and the system breaks down…

…I am privileged to be the head boy standing in front of you with the opportunity to thank these important people in the Villiers family. But I am very conscious that I do so on behalf of all the Villiers students who are deeply appreciative of what each and everyone one of you do.

Now my English teacher always said I needed to include a quotation in a speech, so I’m going to leave you with one. “Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”

Tonight my job has been to put the student’s appreciation into words, and on that,

I'd like to wish everyone an early merry Christmas and best of luck to those of you doing exams next week.

Thank you."

Christmas Antique Fair Launch

Next Easter twenty Transition Year students and five teachers will travel to Uganda with the charity

organisation Zest for Kidz. They will partner with local organisations and work in schools and hospitals, helping former child soldiers and children with disabilities. To help with the fundraising effort Villiers School and Hibernian Antique Fairs present a Christmas Antique Fair on Sunday December 13th 2015 from 11am until 6pm. €5 entry includes mulled wine, mince pies and plenty of Christmas cheer. Do join us for what promised to be an enjoyable afternoon and a great opportunity to get some lovely Christmas presents!

Enjoying afternoon tea at the launch of the Christmas Antique Fair

Mia uses an antique sextant at the launch of the Christmas Antique Fair

Harris the Hare

Meet Harris the Hare who has been commissioned by the Jack & Jill Foundation and the Department of Foreign Hares to travel the globe painting the portraits of the famous Eqyptian, Irish, English and Japanese hares. Harris only travels by night hopping via the Shannon to Devonshire, then very bravely and swiftly around Iran to paint the three hares near his tail.

Harris will hop to Dublin this Thursday to be photographed and put into a smart glossy publication so he can be sold to raise funds for the Jack & Jill Foundation. 

We wish him the best of luck as we thank, most sincerely Ms Jane Murtagh and her boarding students for all their help to Harris. 

Harris surveying Irish humans at lunch in the School Dining Hall!

Girls Rugby

Moving Forward and Making History!

On Tuesday 17^th November2015, nineteen of our girls took a huge step forward in Villiers’ history books being the first female rugby representatives for the school. Captained by Della Daly, a travelling senior squad of 15 senior girls and five juniors made their anticipated debut with a short trip to Limerick Institute of Technology. Here, they took part in a Development Day run by Munster Rugby which included games along with skills and drills.

The programme was based on Leprechaun Rugby, an adapted form of rugby created by the IRFU as an introductory process to the more commonly known 15 aside full- contact game. This short, 20 minute, 10 aside game involves uncontested set pieces and two handed touch but includes many aspects of rugby union, such as; general movement, effective attack and solid defence.

The girls began the day with a game against St. Anne’s Community College of Killaloe, this close encounter challenged the girls as they got to put nine weeks of hard work and training to the test. With a team full of new caps and first-time players, the girls were anxious and nerves were high. However, we saw a great display of rugby from both teams involved. Fantastic work rate from players like Olivia Gurnett, Alex Clohessy, Rachel Hoctor and Rachel Butler made it very difficult for the opposition to make ground. Huge carries by Laura O’Riordan and Becky Manifold kept the momentum in Villiers favour with some very effective evasive attacking lines by Tamsin Harvey, Grace Keely and Katy Reddan. Tries scored deservedly by Molly Pattison and Claire Brewitt gave Villiers the win. Only conceding one try, the girls were happy with their debut lead excellently by Daly.

Meanwhile, our travelling junior players; Ava O’Connor, Jessica Hickey O’Neill, Siban Dalton, Aoife Kavanagh and Amy O’ Leary got a chance to play with the two Junior teams that had made the trip to the event. In a thrilling opener between St. Annes and St. Mary’s the girls fitted in perfectly making some very effective line breaks and an all-important try from Jess Hickey O’Neill, her first every try in her first game of rugby, a huge achievement that she should be extremely proud of.

After the opening games, the girls were then put through their paces with some skills and drills by Munster Development Officer Amanda Greensmith, IRFU Referee Andy Brace and other members of the Munster Development Team. This was a great way to work on specific aspects of weakness that had been identified in their games, a lot was learned and taken on board coming into our final game.

We saw the two sides battle it out once again and the improvement on both teams was undeniable. The girls had listened, learned and now got the opportunity to put it into practice. Huge individual performances resulted in a collective team win that saw inexperienced players step up to the mark and really impress. This game saw a lot more advancement passed the gain line and a huge increase in supportive line running, individual line breaks and movement of the ball to wings. Villiers ran in six tries against St. Annes’ four giving us our second win of the day.

We had decided collectively as a team before this tournament that we were not here to win or get involved in the competitive aspects. We were there to learn, develop our skill set and enrich our understanding of the game. However, this was done so well the wins fell into place. Huge effort by all involved, we are looking forward to our next encounter, where we will continue to move forward and make history!

Huge thank you to Eve Meaney and Kennedy Tabot Ndip for their help on the day, some great photography for Active Schools!