On Friday 17^th December, the children of St. Paul’s N.S. took part in a Santa Run on the school grounds. All children wore their school tracksuits and something festive. The children turned up very excited wearing Christmas Jumpers, Christmas Hairbands, Santa Hats and all looked very festive.

The children came out with their Year groups. We had 19 wonderful 6^th Class children who were the pace setters for the laps to help keep the class socially distant. The 6^th Class children ran in front of each class setting the pace and encouraging the classes as each class completed 2 laps of the front yard. 5^th and 6^th Classes completed 3 laps of the front yard.

Lots of smiles, laughter and Christmas songs were to be seen and heard as the children completed their Santa Run. Have a look at some of our pictures from the day thanks to their teachers. Thank you to all the staff for helping out on the day. Our 6^th Class children who helped out with the younger classes were Katie, Jamie, Lucy, Tadhg, Kian, Emily, Rian, Ben, Kean, Lauren, Aoibheann, Gracie, Megan, Amber, Caoimhe, Olivia, Daisey, Harry, Jack and Morgan.  

Today, we were delighted to welcome back two past pupils, Tomás Corbett and Ben Fraser, along with their Ratoath and Meath team mates Liam Kelly and Ronan Byrne, as All Ireland Minor Football Chamapions. The Meath Minor team won the All Ireland Minor Football Championship in September after beating a tough Tyrone side in the final. Today the boys and girls of St. Paul’s were delighted to welcome them to our school. It was great to see the footballers arrive to excited cheers and applause with green and gold on show. Some of the boys and girls from our 5th and 6th Classes prepared some questions for the Meath Champions to answer. The Meath Captain, Liam, spoke to the boys and girls of St. Paul’s. It was a great morning of celebration and we are all so proud of Tomás, Ben and all the Meath Minor Team for the latest achievement and we look forward to welcoming them back in a few years with the Sam Maguire!!  

On Sunday the Meath Ladies Football Team will play Dublin in the Senior Football All-Ireland Final in Croke Park. The match will be live on TG4 at 4.15pm.  The Meath Ladies won the Intermediate Final last year and it is a huge achievement to make it to the Senior Final this year. We have lots of links to the Meath Senior Footballers here in St. Paul’s N.S. Ms McCabe’s sister Aisling is part of the panel while Ms Bagnall’s has friends and team mates in Shauna Ennis (captain) and Emma Troy also part of the Meath squad. We cannot forget the two Ratoath ladies who are part of team: Katie Newe and Saoirse O’ Kane. All in St. Paul’s would like to wish the Meath team and managemant all the very best in the All-Ireland Final on Sunday. The children have been very busy decorating the school for the final. Take a look at some of the photos.

Meath Finals

It was another successful day for St. Paul’s Olympic Handball teams in Gormanstown College with all four of our teams having reached the Meath Finals. Each team started with a semi-final game. First up, our U11 girls’ took on Skryne N.S. The game was a very close encounter and St. Paul’s displayed some great skills but were unlucky to lose out to very strong Skryne team who went on to win the Final. The U11 girls played Yellow Furze N.S. in the play-off game for 3^rd place and played their hearts out to earn 4^th place. Our U11 boys faced St. Ultans N.S. in their semi-final game and played with great skill to secure their spot in the final. The boys then went on to play Yellow Furze N.S. in the final in what was to be the match of the day. Both teams showed great skill, determination and passion throughout and at the final whistle it was a draw. With extra time looming the boys knew they had to give it their all but finishing all square at the end of extra time with neither team willing to relent, the game went to penalties. With great saves from Daniel Foster and a terrific score by Michael Ward the boys won a very hard fought contest to be crowned Meath Champions and qualify for the Leinster Finals. We are all so proud of the team and their coaches.

Our Senior Teams were up next to play St. Ultans N.S. in their semi-finals. With a great display of teamwork and skills the boys and girls secured their victories and a place in the Meath Finals. For the U13 boys the Final was very fast paced with both teams displaying great skills and passion. The boys were unlucky to be beaten and came 2^nd in Meath and qualified for the Leinster Finals.

Our Senior Girls Team met Yellow Furze N.S. in their semi-final. Both teams showed great skill with end to end goals. This final also ended in a draw. With the game going to extra time the girls showed great passion and determination and went two ahead in extra time. The girls defended ferociously to try and secure their win and in the dying minutes Yellow Furze scored a goal but it was not enough. The girls defeated Yellow Furze by the narrowest of margins to become Champions of Meath and also qualify for the Leinster Finals. We are so very proud of all the children and the work they put in to reach the Meath Finals and now the Leinster Finals. Thank you to all their coaches for giving up their time to train their teams. The Leinster Finals take place on March 10th.

The handball leagues have once again been a huge success, with the boys and girls of fifth and sixth classes participating in the now annual handball festival of fun and skill.  A defining feature of all the leagues was the high level of skill shown by all the children. Congratulations to all the league winners. 

*Some children were missing the day the photographs were taken.