Book Week was a fantastic celebration of reading and creativity in our school this year. With the theme “One School, One Book”, every class took part in reading “After the Fall” by Dan Santat – a powerful story about resilience and courage. We recommend you give it a read, if you haven’t already.

Throughout the week, students engaged in a variety of exciting activities linked to the book, including art and science projects, drama, creative writing, and discussions. The shared reading experience brought the whole school community together and sparked thoughtful conversations in every classroom. We finished the week off with the children dressing up as their favourite character from a book.

We’re also delighted to announce that through the Book Fair we raised nearly €6,000, 60% of which the school will get back in books. This amazing total will go towards improving literacy resources both in classrooms and the school library.

A big thank you to all the pupils, staff, and families who made Book Week such a memorable and meaningful event! Thank you in particular to our wonderful Parents’ Association who worked at the Book Fair every day – we really appreciate it.

A massive well done and thank you to our Student Council who raised €1851.30 for Daffodil Day last Friday. They had a very busy day selling daffodil pins, flowers and raffle tickets. Thank you to everyone who supported this very worthy cause. 

At St. Paul’s National School, we are always striving to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all our students. We are thrilled to share an exciting new addition to our school grounds: communication boards that have been placed at key locations around the school grounds. These boards are designed to support both speaking and non-speaking pupils in expressing themselves and engaging with others.

Sourced from the renowned company Charlie’s Voice, these communication boards are a valuable tool for fostering communication, independence, and inclusivity. Charlie’s Voice specializes in creating visual communication aids, and we couldn’t be more delighted with the quality and functionality of the boards we’ve installed.

The communication boards feature clear, easy-to-understand symbols and images, allowing students to express their needs, thoughts, and ideas in a way that is accessible to everyone. They serve as a bridge for our non-speaking and minimally verbal students, enabling them to interact with their peers, teachers, and staff in a meaningful way.

The impact of these communication boards has been immediate and heart-warming. In particular, our students from the two autism classes have expressed great joy in using the boards. It’s been inspiring to see how the boards have sparked conversations and helped our pupils feel more connected to the community around them.

The installation of these communication boards is part of our ongoing commitment to promoting inclusion and communication across the entire school. We believe that every student deserves the chance to be understood, and these boards are a fantastic step forward in making that happen.

We look forward to seeing the continued positive impact of the communication boards, and we are excited about the future possibilities for helping our students connect and thrive in our school community.

Best of luck to our boys ‘and girls’ basketball teams as they begin this year’s Meath basketball tournament. We think you’ll agree they look like quite the pros in the new basketball kits. These are with thanks to you our parents for your recent donations on our Movie Day before Christmas and also to Complete Office Equipment for sponsoring the jerseys.