Aine O'Toole | St. Paul's NS

Easter Bunny Visit!

Mar 22, 2018

There was great excitement in school today when we had our annual visit from the Easter Bunny. He had lots of fun visiting all of the children and he even left a little treat for the children to find in an Easter Egg Hunt!

Ms. Cowley’s Junior Infants

Ms. Ruane’s Junior Infants

Ms. O’Sullivan’s Junior Infants

Ms. Kennedy’s Senior Infants

Ms. Bagnall’s Senior Infants

Ms. Hession’s Senior Infants

Ms. Prendiville, Ms. Moore & Ms. Mullen’s 1st Classes

Ms. Burke’s 2nd Class

Ms. Hamilton’s 2nd Class

Ms. Egan’s 2nd Class

Ms. O’Riordan’s 3rd Class

Ms. Smyth’s 3rd Class

Ms. Bates’ 3rd Class

Ms. Brennan’s 4th Class

Mr. Duffy’s 4th Class

Ms. Ní Chinnéide’s 4th Class

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Ms. Broderick’s 5th Class

Ms. Ní Mhurchú’s 5th Class

Ms. O’Reilly’s 5th Class

Ms. Dennehy’s 6th Class

Ms. Kieran’s 6th Class

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Mr. Harte’s 6th Class

Ms. Talty & Ms. O’Connor’s Classes

Kilmainham Gaol

Mar 21, 2018

Today, Ms Broderick’s class visited Kilmainham Gaol. Our tour started at the front gates of Kilmainham Gaol. Here we were met by our friendly guide called Lisa.

Lisa began the tour by bringing us to the chapel inside the gaol. Here she told us the captivating story of how Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford were married just hours before Joseph was executed due to his participation in the 1916 Rising. Following this, we were led through the old and new parts of the gaol. As we walked through the gaol, we were able to experience a real feeling of what life was like for a prisoner in Kilmainham. The cold and damp conditions the prisoners felt were evident due to the many windows and little or no heating in the prison. Our guide informed us that the prisoners mainly survived on porridge, bread and stew. She also told us that prisoners were kept in their cells for 23 hours per day and were only allowed one hour to exercise and empty their chamber pots!

When we reached the east wing of the gaol, many of the cells were open. There were many plaques stating the prisoners’ names that slept in these cells during the lifetime of the prison. Some of these were Joseph Plunkett, Eamon De Valera, Edward Daly and Countess Markievicz. The children were fascinated to see the size of the cells.

Another famous cell inside the prison is that of Grace Gifford. She was imprisoned during the Civil War, after her husband’s death, for her promotion of Sinn Féin policies through her work as an artist. The cell in which she slept contains a painting of the The Blessed Virgin and the Christ Child.

Our tour ended in the Stonebreakers’ Yard. Our guide explained to us that it was in the Stonebreakers’ Yard that fourteen of the leaders of the 1916 Rising were executed in May 1916. Today this is commemorated by a plaque and two crosses in the yard.

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Kilmainham Gaol

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Stonebreakers’ Yard

Art Exhibition

Mar 9, 2018

The PE Hall was transformed into a colourful art exhibition last week! Well done to all of the boys and girls who produced such wonderful pictures! There was lots of variety in the pictures, ranging from unicorns to flowers to football matches to portraits to animals and much more! The children, staff and parents really enjoyed the opportunity to come and visit the PE hall and view everyone’s art work! Thank you to our Parents’ Association for providing tea and coffee on the Wednesday night.

Debating Team Success

Feb 26, 2018

On Wednesday 24th January, St Paul’s NS competed against Mullaghbuoy NS, Dundalk to debate the motion “Ireland is the best country to live”. The children of St Paul’s NS proposed the motion while the visiting team opposed it. Both schools were represented by six students from 5th and 6th classes. The six students who represented St Paul’s were Cormac as Captain, Hannah as second speaker, Oscar as third speaker while Shaun, Sarah and Isabel acted as time keepers on the day. As Captain, Cormac introduced the other speakers and outlined what they would be talking about. He himself spoke passionately about the culture, mythology and importance of the Irish language. The second speaker, Hannah, referred to the advantages of our climate, our geographical location and the validity of having English. She also highlighted the OECD results on how happy Irish people are in the world. The third speaker, Oscar, presented facts on the tourist industry and the success of the Irish food industry and how many Irish products are being sold world-wide. There was a lot of whip lashing from the opposition team as facts about the health crisis, employment figures, crime rates and the impact of the recession on Ireland were emphasised. However, after a long conference, the adjudicators announced St Paul’s NS as the winners. The proposition arguments carried the motion that “Ireland is the best country in the world to live”. The debating team will take part in the semi-final of the competition on Tuesday, February 27^th against St Kevin’s GNS, Kilnamanagh, Dublin. They will be debating the motion “Boys’ or Girls’ schools are better than Mixed Schools”. Fingers crossed they will succeed in the next round.