Friday 20 December 2013

Form 2 Girls Christmas Performance


Form 2 Christmas Performance from John Scottus on Vimeo.


Mrs T Contemplates Childrens Christmas Plays



 Christmas performances are unique events and although nearly as old as the original itself year on year something fresh emerges. 2013 is no exception.

I have only got to see a selection of offerings. Time and an unusual bust of interest in places in JSS for 2014 have taken me off the circuit but as Kavanagh muses “Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonderMy chink was narrow and I think I got a view of the “spirit shocking wonder” and "the newness that was in every stale thin"

The youngest got the show on the road with simple seasonal poems but the wonder of this one was the capacity for language displayed. In less than 5 months in school they had sufficient command of 4 languages to sing songs, do recitations and perform little playlets. I saw another dimension of the concept of Universality. We adults talk about living in the global world. For these 5 year olds it is the reality and they embrace it with staggering ease and charm.

The snippet I witnessed of the 6 year olds was marked by speech. They had definitely got the message of opening the mouth and pronouncing the ends of each word. They transformed the joke-telling scene by the way they told’ em. “What do monkeys say on Christmas morning ? Jungle Bells, Jungle Bells”; every word as clear as crystal despite half of them collapsing with the wit of it all even before the joke was finished.

From the oldest in this building came the sweetest revelation. I was lucky to see the whole novel take on Christmas from beginning to end. It was excellent; acting, scenery, music, dancing choreography, organization. But wonderful as this was, the element that took my breath away was a more subtle aspect of the children. There were a few rare moments when one of them was unsure of a line. No fuss, no panic, no embarrassment, just a direct look at teacher, a nod of the head, a brief Oh Yeah and then on with the show. Again in these cramped beleaguered conditions where there is no room, a spiritual ideal is realized and made manifest , this world is all a play, enjoy it, play your part to the full, help each other and then forget it.

This is the newness and spirit shocking wonder that was revealed by the Christmas performances of 2013. Wasn’t I lucky and wouldn’t the Centre of it all be pleased?! Form 2 Girls performance is available here and more will be posted as we get the videos

Mrs T

Friday 29 November 2013

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Visit of the Indian Ambassador to JSS

On November 12th JSS were honoured to have the Indian Ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Radhika Lal Lokesh launch Mr Kortenhorst's new textbook.


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Monday 25 November 2013