Welcome to
St. Louis Secondary
School’s Open Day.
15th October 2014
3.30pm-6.30pm
St. Louis Secondary School
Dun Lughaidh
Catholic Ethos-Christian Heritage
Welcoming those from all faiths and
none.
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.
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 2nd and 3rd year and Maths from 1st 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.
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!
Junior Certificate Programme –
st
rd
1 – 3 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 1st Year
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 1st
Year
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
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
Use of ICT and tablets in class
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.
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.
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.
Cairde Team 2014-2015
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.
Sports’ Day 2014
Minister for Education’s Visit
The Minister of
Education
Jan O’Sullivan TD
visited St. Louis
Secondary School
on the 2nd of
October.
Minister for Education’s Visit
Higher Options
Our 6th year students
headed off to the
RDS, Dublin to visit
potential colleges
and Universities
such as Trinity, UCD,
DCU, DIT etc.
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!!!
DKIT Open Day
Our 6th Year
students will
attend DKIT Open
Day on
Friday 17th
October.
Kilmainham Gaol
Last week, 6th year
history students
visited Kilmainham
Gaol as part of their
Irish History course.
Blood Brothers
Last week the 5th and
6th 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.
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
16th October.
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!!!
Green Committee
Well done to the Green Committee
who have worked tirelessly to
obtain our first Green Flag.
Congratulations to the Green
Committee who won the Senior
Climate Change Award at ECO
UNESCO Young
Environmentalist of the
Year 2014
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.
TY Musical
Mark these days
in your diary –
th
th
th
11 , 12 and 13
March 2015
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 15th and 16th
December.
Basketball Match
On Wednesday the 8th Oct
and Tuesday 14th October,
St. Louis U16 and U19 won
4 matches led by
inspirational captain
Sinead O’Hagan against
Sacred Heart Drogheda
and Scoil Mhuire Trim
Sports #Louisroar
Fitness training Thursday 12.30
sharp in the gym
for senior sports
students
TY Disability Awareness Workshop
Thank you to the
Irish Wheelchair
Association for
hosting the TY
Disability Awareness
Workshop on
Thursday the 9th and
16th of October.
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.
Fundraising for Charity
Selling Flowers and
collecting for
Women’s Aid
Clothing Drive for
Women’s Aid
Fundraising for Charity
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!!
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….