Have a look at the video below of our new 3D printer in action. 

We are absolutely delighted to announce that, through our recent Re-turn Drive in May and June, our wonderful school community raised an incredible €628.05! 

A huge thank you to all of our families and members of the St. Paul’s community who got behind the initiative and returned their cans and bottles to our orange bins. Your fantastic response shows what can be achieved when we all work together.

As promised, the money raised has already been put towards new IT and STEM equipment for our school, including exciting resources such as micro bits and a 3D printer. We are already looking forward to seeing the children explore, create, problem-solve and bring their ideas to life using this new technology!

Mr Duffy already has some amazing ideas for how our children will get to experience and use this equipment, so we can’t wait to see where their creativity takes them.

Keep an eye on our website for STEM and IT in action in St. Paul’s! We look forward to sharing examples of the wonderful learning and creativity that will come from these new resources.

We are also incredibly grateful to our amazing Parents’ Association and our outgoing Green Schools and IT Committees, who worked collaboratively to make this initiative possible. David our caretaker worked tirelessly to make sure our bins were available to families as well as keeping us updated when they needed to be emptied! Thank you also to Ms. Begley for over seeing the drive and ensuring it all ran smoothly. Their time, energy and commitment have helped us take another exciting step towards bringing IT and STEM learning to life in St. Paul’s.

Every bottle and can really did make a difference!

Keep an eye out for details of our next Re-turn Drive — and once again, a heartfelt thank you to you, our school community, for making this happen.

Together, we are helping to make St. Paul’s an even more creative, innovative and sustainable place to learn! 

Have a look at our photos here for a sneak peek of how the children are enjoying the 3D printer so far!! More experiences and photos to come! 

Huge congratulations to all of our race winners from Active Week this year. 

Our Sixth Class students had a wonderful day out in when they visited Leinster House and the National Museum of Ireland. Here, students Niamh, Mia and Jaden write about the
experience:

We came in the normal door on Thursday the 21st of May and saw all three sixth classes and teachers standing in the hall. Everyone was excited to go to Leinster House and the National Museum.  We talked amongst ourselves whilst waiting for everyone to come in. When everyone arrived we got on the bus in our pairs. The bus drive was around an hour long due to traffic. We pointed out many different things we saw, including old architecture, and buildings like the Spire and the G.P.O.  When we arrived on Kildare Street, we went straight to the museum. It was full and there were other schools also on a trip there. There were many different areas to explore with a unique assortment of artefacts on display, including bog bodies. Bog bodies are human bodies from mediaeval times that have been preserved in bogs. Whatever is in the bog keeps most of the skin and bones intact. They were intriguing. Very much so.

Whilst walking to the Dáil we witnessed a group of people protesting against overfishing. When we arrived at the Dáil, we met our tour guide and he told us the rules. After that we continued on inside. We first walked up a staircase into the gallery. We watched Helen McEntee as she debated with other TDs in the chamber below. We were guided into a long hallway with portraits of past Taoisigh hanging on the walls. The tour guide told us a little about each Taoiseach before moving on into a hallway of offices. It turned out that one of the fireplaces in that hallway came from the mid eighteenth century. Next, we went into the upper house, which is also known as The Seanad. It had a very beautiful ceiling. It was blue and white with many intricate details. In a hall downstairs, we viewed the original Proclamation of Independence. It was extremely interesting to see how the Irish people protested for our freedom. If that hadn’t happened we would not be living in the same Ireland that it is today.

All in all it was a wonderful learning experience and a lovely day out.
Written by:
Niamh Farrelly
Mia Kelly
Jaden McGurk

The Junior and Senior Infant classes recently teamed up with the 5th Classes for a wonderful Geography Tree Trail around our school grounds. Each infant class was paired with one of the 5th Classes, giving the older pupils an opportunity to support and guide the younger children throughout the activity.

The children set off to find the trees marked on their trail. Along the way, they learned about four different tree species: the Birch, Oak, Alder and Hazel trees. The infant pupils had to identify and match each tree and created leaf rubbings too. After completing the trail, the 5th Class pupils helped the infants explore a map of Ratoath and identify familiar places within the local community, including schools, shops, restaurants and other important landmarks. Both the infants and the 5th Class pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learned a great deal about trees, maps and their local environment. 

Take a look at some of the photos from the day!