The High School  Zion Road  Rathgar  Dublin 6   Tel: 01-4922611   Fax: 01-4924427  office@highschooldublin.com

sM*A*S*H* hit!

Well done to all who were involved in the fantastic production of M*A*S*H* last week! The compliments have been flowing in!!! Full review next week - watch this space.

Below: Ross as the American Footballer

Fair Trade Fair - please support!

This Saturday 6 December there will be a Fair Trade Fair in the Reynolds Hall from 11 to 3 p.m. in aid of organisations such as Tearcraft, Amnesty and Oxfam, who support Fair Trade. There will be food and drink on offer, Christmas music and a multitude of great goods for sale, from chocolate to Christmas gifts.

Fair Trade involves the purchasing of goods directly from producers in developing nations, giving them a larger profit and keeping them from being exploited, as they often are by multi-national corporations. This is an extremely worthy cause, as it is of great benefit to people in developing nations and helps to ensure their livelihood.

So, whether you want to support this just cause or simply get some Christmas shopping done while having a great time, come along to High School this Saturday and buy, buy, buy!

Martial arts competitors

We would like to congratulate Robin Leavy (4G) on his achievements in recent years. He is a member of the Irish Shotokan Karate team and has competed in many different countries, coming first in the European Championships in Cardiff.

Robin was also placed 1st in seven recent national competitions in Ireland and was selected to go with the Irish team to compete in the world championships in October 2002. He received two bronze medals in a team event with Niamh Hogan (Form 5) who also won two bronze medals (well done Niamh!). The sport seems to be making quite an impact among High School pupils, with Karl Browne (Form 4) and Pamela Webster (Form 5) also on the Irish team (great achievement!). Keep up the good work!

Carol service

The annual carol service will take place on Monday 8 December at Zion Parish Church at 8.00 p.m. All staff, pupils, parents, relatives, past pupils and friends of the school are welcome to attend this service which is always a very pleasant occasion. Tea/coffee and mince pies will be served in the school afterwards for those who have attended the service.

Library events

The library committee recently mounted a display to mark science week. Pictured below are the organisers . Another display was held to mark United Nations Day on 24 October and this was prepared by Shay Arias-paz, Kevin Smith and Conor Frizzelle.

Master and Commander

"Oscar winner Russell Crowe stars in this epic based on Patrick O’Brian’s series of Aubrey/Maturin novels. The movie is set on a British Navy ship during the Napoleonic Wars. Crowe stars as Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey renowned as a fighting captain in the British Navy. The ship is attacked by a superior French enemy in a frantic first scene. With the ship badly damaged and much of his crew injured, Aubrey is torn between duty and friendship as he pursues a high-stakes chase across two oceans in an attempt to get revenge on his foe. In the course of the characters’ epic journey, the movie travels the world- from the coast of Brazil to the storm tossed waters of Cape Horn, south through ice and snow, all the way to the far side of the world.

Russell Crowe plays a compassionate character that suits him down to the ground but rarely inspires the audience into being whisked away into the movie. One major downfall of the movie for this reviewer is the fact that, although the acting is good (Paul Bettany as the ship doctor especially), there is no stand out great character that you admire or love the presence of when they appear on the screen.

The attention to detail in the movie to a ship at that time is staggering all the way down to how they put the cannon balls into the cannons and the gun powder in behind them as well as other features which may not have been possible years ago. Another good touch in the movie is how the doctor cured the injured in a fairly rough fashion to say the least. At one stage a young boy on board the ship breaks his arm and the doctor decides it best to cut it off, but the scene is shot well the way the cutting off of the arm is done in a suggestive rather than comparative way with the fact that you can’t actually see them cutting it off but it is still very effective.

The movie definitely loses steam after the initial fight scene and without an inspiring character to keep the movie flowing it does tend to get awfully slow and boring in the middle (mainly because it drags out for two and a quarter hours.) If you’re not expecting to be lifted off your chair when you first go into the cinema this film should entertain you. With the acting and directing solid, this non-groundbreaking movie should spring a bit of life into your day if nothing else."

Material held over

Well done to all contributors this week. Some material has again had to be held over due to lack of space.

Sport this week

The ball is cleared for the Under 13s

SCT (L 1/2 final) King's Hospital Wed 3 Wesley 2.30

U 14 A,B Kilkenny Wed 3 Kilkenny 2.30

U 13 A, B S Paul's Wed 3 Home 2.30

JCT A CUS Sat 6 Bird Ave 11.00

1st XI Alexandra Wed 3 Home 3.15

Min B, 2nd XI Wesley Wed 3 Away 2.00

Min A, C Wesley Wed 3 Away 3.00

Jun B Wesley Wed 3 Home 2.15

Jun C Wesley Wed 3 Home 3.15

2nd XI (L) Muckross Thurs 4 Pembroke 4.00

Jun C (L) Mullingar Thurs 4 Home tbc

Min A (L) St Wolstans Sat 6 Celbridge 10.00

Min B (L) Mt Sackville Sat 6 Home 11.30

Jun A (L) Loreto Dalkey Sat 6 Away 9.00

1st XI Loreto Dalkey Sat 6 Home 9.15

2nd, 3rd XI Loreto Dalkey Sat 6 Home 10.15

Seniors Mercy Coolock Tues 25 Arena 3.00

Training Thursday 27 and Friday 28 at 4.00 p.m. Forms 1-5

In girls hockey 4th XI won their league match against Holy Faith Clontarf. Junior B won against Alexandra.

In rugby, SCT beat Roscrea 23-18 in the quarter final of the league. The Under 13 A beat Templeogue 10-7.

In girls basketball the Cadette A team beat St John of God 45-21 and St Joseph's 50-28. The seniors beat St Joseph's 32-22.