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A chairde,
An fhad is lá, tagann an tráthnóna, is an old Irish proverb meaning that no matter how long the day is evening eventually falls, and as evening falls, and another great school year comes to an end, I am delighted to offer you our Annual Report for the Academic Year 2018-2019. This is also my last Annual Report as Principal of our great school before I move as Principal to Waterford College of Further Education.
Santa set the scene for
The great educationalist John Dewey said, “We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience”.We have an abundance of experiences here in St. Paul’s Community College to reflect on for the academic year 2018/19, as our students and staff have been involved in many innovative experiences, initiatives, competitions and activities over the course of this school year. The many articles presented in this publication demonstrate the commitment of our staff to the education and welfare of the whole person and showcase the many skills and talents of our student body that are often not captured by state examination results.
This publication is an opportunity for our school community to look back over the past year and reflect on the many varied activities, achievements, talents and skills of St. Paul’s Community College students and staff. It is then with great pride that I take this opportunity to all thank all staff members and parents of our students who have contributed to our student’s journey of discovery here in St. Paul’s Community College especially staff who have generously given their free time to support student’s endeavours.
And what a year we had, we began our year by rolling out a red carpet to welcome our first-year students, followed by an Incidental Inspection by the Department of Education and Skills Inspectorate who reported that “First years were very happy and were settling in very well in the school”, the Inspectorate also reported that there was “a very positive atmosphere in the school and that teaching was good”.
We participated in many events this year including the Solas run, fundraising for Noah’s Wish to Walk, fundraising for Ben Cahill’s neighbour, Creative Schools, Tech Week, CAO Day, Maths weeks, Friendship Week, Artifice Competition and Internet Safety Day.
We introduced Digital Leaders, Music Generation, and Movement Matters to our school. Our Young Environmentalists were very busy we achieved our first Green School Flag as was our St. Vincent De Paul Conference. We achieved second place in the National Final of the Apprentice Chief for “Our Good Mood Food”,
We achieved TCD Trinity School of Distinction Award for our involvement in 21st Century Teaching and Learning and staff travelled to Burlington in the USA to attend the International Conference of CFE. We rocked our school hall with raving reviews for Spotlight Talent Show, our staff Wellbeing Choir also performed on the night and we participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
We participated in College Awareness Week and organised a Job Shadowing day for our 5th year students and a CAO day for our 6th year students.
In December we held our now annual Christmas Craft Fair, students enjoyed Christmas merit trips, and a visit from Santa set the scene for Christmas. Our Christmas Carol Service uplifted all students and staff as we headed home to enjoy the season of goodwill and cheer.
We celebrated ASD week, Down Syndrome day, Pancake day, Valentine’s day, nternational Language day, International women’s day, Maths week, Science week, Scifest, and Vocational skills week.