1. Welcome to St. Louis Secondary School’s Open Day. 15 th October 2014 3.30pm-6.30pm

2. St. Louis Secondary School Dun Lughaidh

3. Catholic Ethos-Christian Heritage Welcoming those from all faiths and none.

4. Mission Statement As a Catholic school, St. Louis Secondary School, Dundalk, aims to educate the whole person and to encourage the qualities of respect, truth, responsibility, happiness and excellence in a caring inclusive atmosphere.

5. Mixed Ability Teaching In St Louis, our classes are grouped on a mixed ability basis. Students are banded for Irish, English, Maths, French and Business for 2 nd and 3 rd year and Maths from 1 st Year. This allows room for movement between groups. All other classes are mixed ability, in line with best practice, and ensures that each student can be pushed to achieve the very best that she is capable of. Our assessment test (which takes place generally in March in consultation with the other voluntary secondary schools in Dundalk) is used for diagnostic purposes and to provide teachers with an overview of how your daughter best learns-spatially, verbally, visually. This forms the basis of teaching and learning approaches which can then target each individual student.

6. Moving Up study  Carried out by the ESRI to analyse the experiences of 900 students progressing from Primary to Secondary Education  Important findings: Communication between primary and secondary schools is important Open Days are a good way for prospective students to see the school in advance of starting Student mentors in secondary school greatly assist students to settle. Mixed ability teaching is optimal to student contentment and attainment Where streaming occurs, it tends to result in students being labelled as ‘smart’ or ‘stupid’ Many students in streamed groups said that their teachers moved too fast or too slow for them Students in higher streamed classes tend to take longer to settle in than those in mixed ability classes Students in streamed schools tend to make less progress in reading and maths during their first year Mixed ability grouping makes for more confident learners!

7. Junior Certificate Programme – 1 st – 3 rd Year Year 1 Core subjects: Irish, English,Maths.,Religion, History Geography, French, Science, Music Business, P.E., CSPE and SPHE. Options: 2 subjects from Art, Home Economics, German, Spanish, Technology. Subject total: 15 in 1 st Year

8. Junior Certificate Programme Years 2 & 3 Core Subjects: Irish, English, Maths., Religion, History, Geography, a European language (French; German; Spanish), P.E., CSPE, SPHE. Options: 3 subjects from the following – Art, Business, Home Economics, Music, Science, German, Spanish, Technology. Students must have taken all three subjects during 1 st Year

9. Senior Cycle Programme Following the Junior Certificate, students have the option of doing the following programmes: Transition Year (optional) and/or one of: Traditional Leaving Certificate Leaving Certificate Applied

10. Traditional Leaving Certificate Programme St Louis Secondary School draws up the timetable around student needs, which change from year to year. Irish, English and Maths are compulsory subjects In 2014, we are running the following subjects due to student demand: French, German, Spanish, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Business, Accounting, Economics, History, Geography, Music, Art, Home Economics and Technology

11. Use of ICT and tablets in class

12. Transportation to and from school A reliable bus service is available from all outlying areas to St Louis Secondary School. Students travelling from Carrickmacross, Carlingford and Annagassan directions change buses at the Bus Depot at the Long Walk Shopping Centre in Dundalk for a service to the school All other buses come directly to the school without a necessary change.

13. Student Supports All classes are assigned a class teacher and each Year group has a Year Head Our Guidance counsellor Ms Dara Mee is on hand to address any issues which interfere significantly with a student’s quality of life and/or educational experience. Excellent career guidance is also given by Ms Mee. Our Learning Support Department is excellent and visits are made to our feeder Primary Schools from March in the year preceeding your daughter’s entry in order to discuss her educational needs. Contact is also made with the schools again in September to get updates on all STEN scores. All First Year students are assigned a Cara-a fifth year mentor-who will look after her as needed. The cairde will help your daughter to settle in for her first weeks with us and will organise and coordinate lunchtime activities for the group.

14. Student Supports We also allow your daughter to request a small number of friends with whom she would like to be with in her class and we endeavour to facilitate this. We do the same for Transition Year and Fifth Year Our SPHE programme is tailored to address the many issues which are relevant to a growing teen. We have an open door policy here in the school and encourage you as parents to contact us if you have any concerns or queries.

15. Cairde Team 2014-2015

16. Awards night 2014 This is our opportunity to reward our students for all their hard work and dedication throughout the year. There are awards for academic excellence, endeavour, music, sport, attendance and we also honour a past pupil each year. Our past 2 recipients have been Eilish Byrne Paralympian from London 2012 and Zoe Conway, well reknowned fiddle player on the national and international stage.

17. Sports’ Day 2014

18. Minister for Education’s Visit The Minister of Education Jan O’Sullivan TD visited St. Louis Secondary School on the 2 nd of October.

19. Minister for Education’s Visit

20. Higher Options Our 6 th year students headed off to the RDS, Dublin to visit potential colleges and Universities such as Trinity, UCD, DCU, DIT etc.

21. Poetry Aloud Competition Several Junior and Senior students are taking part today in the Poetry Aloud Competition in Mullingar. They will recite two poems each. Best of Luck!!!

22. DKIT Open Day Our 6 th Year students will attend DKIT Open Day on Friday 17 th October.

23. Kilmainham Gaol Last week, 6 th year history students visited Kilmainham Gaol as part of their Irish History course.

24. Blood Brothers Last week the 5 th and 6 th year music students had the chance to experience the spectacular Blood Brothers in the Bord Gais Theatre, Dublin as part of their Leaving Certificate course.

25. Butlers Chocolate Factory 6th year business, accounting and economics students will get an opportunity to see a factory floor in action on their visit to Butlers Chocolate Factory on Thursday 16 th October.

26. New York Trip 2015 We are busy getting ready for another exciting international trip to New York City Easter 2015!! And then it’s China in May!!!

27. Green Committee Congratulations to the Green Committee who won the Senior Climate Change Award at ECO UNESCO Young Environmentalist of the Year 2014 Well done to the Green Committee who have worked tirelessly to obtain our first Green Flag.

28. Music Generation Initially funded by U2, we are the only school in the county that offer music lessons at a reduced rate to help make music accessible to all.

29. TY Musical Mark these days in your diary – 11 th, 12 th and 13 th March 2015

30. Search for a Star Only one week to go until the Search for a Star heats commence!! The Finals will be held in the Fairways Hotel on 15 th and 16 th December.

31. Basketball Match On Wednesday the 8 th Oct and Tuesday 14 th October, St. Louis U16 and U19 won 4 matches led by inspirational captain Sinead O’Hagan against Sacred Heart Drogheda and Scoil Mhuire Trim

32. Sports #Louisroar Fitness training - Thursday 12.30 sharp in the gym for senior sports students

33. TY Disability Awareness Workshop Thank you to the Irish Wheelchair Association for hosting the TY Disability Awareness Workshop on Thursday the 9 th and 16 th of October.

34. The Great Louis Bake Off TY Home Economics students are currently elbow deep in flour!! The Great Louis Bake Off is underway. Here are some examples of their signature bakes.

35. Fundraising for Charity Selling Flowers and collecting for Women’s Aid Clothing Drive for Women’s Aid

36. Fundraising for Charity

37. Boy Band- ‘Taken’ The entire school was treated to the talents of a new Irish boy band ‘Taken’. There were some excitied fans in audience!!

38. Thank you for visiting our school and hope to see you in the near future. Check out the Dun Lughaidh Facebook page and keep an eye out for our revamped website coming soon….