1. The History of St.Mary’s College The Sisters of Mercy came to Arklow in 1881. In 1903 the Sisters opened a boarding school to take in students who lived great distances from the school. In the mid 1950's the boarding school was extended and a new building, Maris Stella, was added on to make more room because of increase in population. The student population became bigger and an extra building, Cluain Mhuire was added on in 1985.

2. Mission Statement “St.Marys is a catholic school for girls. It welcomes students of all religions. It educates the whole person to a full potential in a positive and caring way.” This picture is the main building of our school.

3. Junior Certificate cycle Student study for the junior cert over a three year period between first & third year. For junior cert, a state exam, we do eleven subjects. The core subjects, english, irish, maths, religion, geography, history & CSPE. We had a choice between, french, german, home economics, science, art, business studies & music.

4. Practical Subjects Science – split into three areas chemistry, biology and physics. Disection is done in biology, chemical experiments are done in chemistry such as preparing oxegyn. Physics deals with electricity etc. Home Economics – deals with preparing and presentation of meals such as chicken curry, fruit scones and plenty of other tasty treats!!! Music – 25% of the junior certificate result is based on a practical performance such as singing or playing an instrument. Also a sight test or clapping test is given. Art – a portfolio is the required assesment for junior certificate candidates. Topics such as wildlife and water activities are given. In leaving certificate essays along with a portfolio is necessary.

5. Transition year. Between the junior cycle & senior cycle there is an optional year forth year known as Transition Year. We can take part in extra modules such as, beauty care, crafts, ECDL, swimming, theatre, communications, mini company, young social inovators, hospitality, yoga & european studies. We go on SLD’s significant learning days, a class trips

6. Subjects The main subjects in TY are irish english maths. In this year french and german are done with a greater emphasis on oral work

7. Sports  This year offers us the opportunity to do different sports such as  Rugby  Swimming  Pilates  Gaa  Kick boxing  Badminton

8. Extra Curricular Activies in St. Marys College Arklow! Hockey Debating Basketball Public Speaking Gaelic Football Library Volleyball Christmas Concert Athletics Music Tennis Bugsy Malone Camogie Gymnastics Variety Concert Badminton

9. Irish Sports Students have many sports to choose from including Irish sports. In our school we have camogie which uses a stick of ash and a ball. These are called a hurley and a sliotar. We also play gaelic football which is like soccer only you can handle the ball and score points

10. Other Sports in our School We have many competitive sport teams in our school there is nearly 2 basketball teams and 1 hockey team in every year. Our school also has athletics and every year they compete in a national competition and usually do very well. We also have 2 outdoor tennis courts in our school which you can play on if you want to.

11. Drama in St. Mary's In St Mary's Drama is very important. In TY you do theatre for the year under the supervision of the highly esteemed Ms. Imelda McDonagh. This a very popular module with all the girls. This year St. Mary's College Arkow staged the classic gangster production of Bugsy Malone. It was hugely popular and had a strong cast of nearly 80 and countless others helped out behind the scenes.

12. Music in St. Marys St. Mary's in Arklow has always been a very musical school. It has competed in local, national and international choral competitions for decades and is very widely known for its musical achievements. St Mary's also has Mr. Bonner as a music teacher. He is a renowned musician and is leader of the famous Arkow Silver Band. St. Marys has also always offered musical tutition and has a 4 th floor completely dedicated to musical instruments.

13. Bugsy Malone Musical, November 2005 Auditions were held in the last school term of last year. All the characters were cast and it was planned to start rehersals in September. Fundraising was key to the musical as the production cost a massive €25,000 to stage. Costumes were ordered in from England, along with lighting and sound technicians.

14. Production Team Director: Imelda Mc Donagh Musical Director: John Bonner Chorus Mistress: Mairead McKenna Choreography: Francis Ryan Along with the make-up team, back stage crew, set design and scenery painting.

15. Story Line The musical of Bugsy Malone is set in the 1920’s and centres around two gangs, Dandy Dan’s gang and Fat Sam’s gang. The two gangs are involved in a number of fights where the artillery is cream pies and splurge guns. In the end the two gangs realise that they are stronger together than they are apart and join forces.

16. The History of the Green School. St. Mary’s was the first secondary school in Ireland to achieve the green flag in 1999. Both students and staff had to work very hard to keep the school in good shape. Both recycling and putting your litter in the bins provided are very important factors to maintaining the Green flag. The school now has to renew its Green flag every two years. Everybody works very hard over the course of each year to make sure the school is living up to it’s Green flag standards.

17. Environmental Awareness. We have a team of Environmental carers. Each month they meet to discuss the matters of the Green school and what condition the school is in, i.e. if we the students need to improve on keeping the grounds and classrooms clean. In each classroom there are three bins. One for rubbish, one for plastic bottles and another one for cans. This is great so everything is organised and when the bins are full they get emptied into a black sack and are brought up to the farmhouse so they can be collected for recycling.

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