St. Paul’s are still on a high after the fantastic achievement of our boys’ team winning the Meath Primary School’s Division 1 Shield final against Duleek. We are incredibly proud of the boys and their coaches Ms. Dennehy, Mr. Duffy and Ms. O’Reilly. Have a read below of reports on the match from our team Captain, Seán, and one of our devoted Sixth Class fans, Erin.

A CAPTAIN’S POINT OF VIEW

The team and I got onto the bus with all of sixth class. We were all so nervous on the way to Páirc Tailteann. We finally got to Páirc Tailteann, got out of the bus and made our way to the dressing room where Ms. Dennehy told us what drills we would do to warm up. When she was finished talking we all ran out onto the back pitch to warm up. We warmed up for about 20 minutes and then jogged back into the dressing rooms. Then we put our gum shields in, tied up all our laces and ran out onto the pitch. All we could hear was cheers and screaming from all of our supporters. We went out and started kicking points over the bar. Then the referee blew his whistle and we all got into position. He threw the ball up and James Kelly caught it and kicked it up to the forwards and we scored a goal. Then they scored a goal. It was back and forth for a lot of the match. In the middle of the second half we scored a lot of goals and points and established a big lead. Then they started to come back and by the end of the second half we were winning by a point. The referee blew his whistle and it was all over. St Paul`s had won the finals by a single point. I felt delighted to go up to collect shield, but a bit nervous to making my speech!                                                                                                               Written by Seán Twyford

A FAN’S POINT OF VIEW:

The Gaelic team and all of 6^th class got on the bus and we drove to Páirc Tailteann in Navan. When we arrived the team got off the bus first and they went to the dressing rooms while the rest of us went up to the stands to wait. When the boys ran onto the field all of St. Paul’s cheered and screamed. Both teams spread out on the field to start the match. The referee threw the ball up and St. Paul’s got the ball. St. Paul’s scored again and again, but Duleek kept up. They scored again, but St. Paul’s wouldn’t give up. We got the ball back and the boys ran to the other goal and scored and scored again. We were in the lead. Everyone from St. Paul’s was shouted and chanting, watching the match eagerly. St. Paul’s scored more and more, but towards the end of the match Duleek got the ball, they weren’t going to give up without a fight. They scored again. We were still in the lead by two points. Duleek scored another point. Everyone from St. Paul’s watched wishing for St. Paul’s to win. Only a minute left….Duleek had the ball….They were charging towards our goal with the ball….Then the whistle blew. The match was over and we had won! We all felt overjoyed. St. Paul’s went wild. We all screamed and chanted as the boys ran across the pitch, victory theirs! The boys received the trophy as we all cheered and waved our flags and jumped with joy. We left the pitch chanting, all of us proud of St. Paul’s.                                               Written by Erin Leeson

There was great excitement in St. Paul’s last week during our annual Book Week. The children spent time browsing and buying books from the huge selection of books on display in the PE Hall. We were also very lucky to have the award winning children’s author Benji Bennett visit the children from Junior Infants to Second Class. Benji had lots of fun meeting the children, reading his books, signing autographs and he even taught the children a song from one of his books. The children (and staff!) thoroughly enjoyed Benji’s visit and some were eager to know when he’d be visiting again, before he’d even left the school! We finished the week off with the children dressing up as a character from their favourite book. As well as having lots of fun, we also raised over €5,400 which will be spent directly on books for the children’s libraries in their classrooms and for the main library. Thank you to everyone for their support during the week.

On November 8th, five engineers from Intel came to St Paul’s to judge the Intel Mini Scientist competition. Four classes had entered- Ms Broderick’s 4th, Mr Duffy’s 4th, Ms Tully’s 4th and Mr Harte’s 6th. Over the last couple of weeks, the children worked in groups conducting an experiment of their choosing. Plenty of research and hard work went into investigating and conducting the experiments, gathering the materials and creating a written submission for the judges to see. The judges had a tough decision to make! There were prizes for first and second place. Michael Ward, Ben Cunningham, Lucy Cameron and Amber Lane from Mr Duffy’s class came in second place with their experiment ‘The Balloon Powered Car’. Melissa Connolly, Ella Newman, Jessica Callan Smith and Deividas Matijosaitis from Ms Tully’s class came in first place with their experiment ‘Cloud in a Jar’. The first place team will now go to the Intel offices in Leixlip to compete in the next round of the competition. We wish them all the best of luck! A huge amount of work was put in to this competition by the children and their efforts were rewarded with a goodie bag and certificate from Intel. Well done to everyone involved!

Congratulations to our Senior Boys’ Football Team who have reached the Cumann na mBunscol Meath Final. The final will take place on Friday 23rd November in Páirc Tailteann during the school day (time to be confirmed). The boys topped their group with great displays of football throughout the group stages. We wish the boys the very best of luck as they prepare for the final. All support will be greatly appreciated on the day.

Have a look at all of the fantastic costumes from Hallowe’en dress up in St. Paul’s today!
We hope everyone has a wonderful midterm break and remember to stay safe!

Last week was Maths and Science Week. In Room 8, we loved not using our books and engaging in activities, be it in pairs or in groups. Have a look at the pictures to see just some of the things we got up to!