A massive well done to the huge number of children who won prizes in the Pentel International Art Competition.

There was lots of sport and activity in St. Paul’s last week for our annual Active Week. Each day the children took part in different activities including Athletics, GAA, Orienteering and the much love Water Day. Thank you to all the teachers involved in making it such a fantastic week. A special thank you to Mr. Burns and Ms. McCarthy who organised the whole week.

Keith Duffy, and his wife Lisa, paid a visit to St. Paul’s last week to be presented with a cheque for The Keith Duffy Foundation. The children in Sixth Class donated some of their confirmation money to the charity, which so far has amounted to €800. Keith and Lisa really enjoyed their visit to the school and were astounded by the wonderful facilities offered to the pupils in St. Paul’s, in particular to the children in our ASD classes.

Leinster Glory for St. Paul’s!!

With all four of the St. Paul’s teams qualifying for the Leinster Olympic Handball semi-finals, there was great excitement in the build up to the big day. The Leinster finals were played in Gormonston College on Monday, 8^th May. We would like to bring you a report of what was a very special day for St. Paul’s.

The Semi-Finals

The U-11 girls’ team played the first semi-final against Corduff NS. They won 4-2 and made it into the Leinster Finals. The U-11 boys’ team played against Corduff also and won convincingly on a final score-line of 6-2. The U13 girls’ team played Rush NS and won a close game, showing great heart and skill. The U-13 boys’ team defeated St Peter’s, Phibsboro in a tense semi-final and qualified for the finals. This meant that all of the four St. Paul’s teams had made it to the Leinster finals. We waited nervously for the finals to start.

The Finals

The U11 girls’ team faced Skyrne in the final. After playing very well, they narrowly lost on a final score-line of 3-2, but came second in all of Leinster. The U11 boys’ team played Rush NS in their final. They dominated Rush and won 3-1, claiming the Leinster title. The U13 girls’ team played against Yellow Furze. After playing excellent handball, they were narrowly defeated by Yellow Furze. The U13 boys faced Skyrne in the final. After playing their hearts out, they were defeated by a very strong Skryne side.

After the completion of the finals, all our teams were presented with their medals and the U11 boys celebrated after receiving their Leinster championship shield. We would like to thank all the teachers who coached us throughout the year. It was a fantastic year! We are already looking forward to next year’s competition. Go St. Paul’s!

Seán Twyford & Erin Leeson (Rm 16)

St. Paul’s First Football County Final Appearance: Saturday 10^th June at 3.30pm, Páirc Tailteann, Navan

Saturday, June 10^th will be a proud day for St. Paul’s Ratoath, as it marks the school’s first appearance in a boys’ 15 a-side county football final.

St. Paul’s finished first in the division 1 shield division and qualified straight to the final. On route to the county final, St. Paul’s defeated Whitecross N.S., St. Stephen’s Navan, St Declan’s Ashbourne, St. Joseph’s Navan, Duleek B.N.S., and Kells B.N.S.

The boys’ final will take place in Páirc Tailteann, Navan at 3.30pm on Saturday the 10^th of June. St. Paul’s await the winners of the semi-final between Whitecrosss N.S and Duleek B.N.S in the final. We would encourage a big support for our boys on their big day.

Last February St.Paul’s took part in the nationwide Big Travel Challenge run by An Taisce. This competition saw the Green School Committee choose a mode of green transport to promote over a 10 day period. As we had noticed a drop off in the number of children cycling we set ourselves the challenge of encouraging more children to travel by bike on the school run. The committee made classroom visits and teachers recorded the numbers of cyclists daily over the ten day period. Names of all children who cycled were were entered into a raffle and Ms. Egan’s second class created some cool posters and slogans to display on the corridors.

The data we collected was sent in to An Taisce along with evidence of the work our Green School committee is involved in and details of how St. Paul’s embraced the Big Travel Challenge 2017. Our cyclists increased from a baseline figure of 32 to 104 by Day 10 of the challenge and this was based on data received from 552 pupils. We were delighted with the improvement!!

Things got even better two weeks ago when we received word that St. Paul’s had won a prize in the Big Travel Challenge awards. Details were kept secret and we were invited to attend an awards ceremony and create a display focussing on our Green School work on the travel theme.

Seven lucky committee members along with Ms. O’Doherty, Ms. Egan and Ms. Prendiville set off for the Hilton Hotel, Kilmainham on Wednesday 10^th May armed with big smiles and a colourful display! It was lovely to browse and see all of the work the seven other featured schools were involved in and we got to listen to some very interesting speakers. Then came the highlight – the awards ceremony itself! We couldn’t believe it when we were announced as the Cycling School of the Year 2017!!

We were presented with an engraved plaque, a framed and mounted certificate and a cheque for €500 to put towards our Green School endeavours next year!! To be in the top 8 of 1800 schools eligible to enter this competition is a huge achievement and we are all very proud of the Green School Committee and all of the pupils and parents of St. Paul’s who have embraced the idea of sustainable, green travel and are playing such an important part in changing our attitudes and safeguarding our environment for future generations!