PJP Christmas News

To all the PJP Families and staff,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas. It has been a busy term and the whole school community has worked very hard particular in the last few weeks.

A big well done to the children and teachers of second and third class for two fantastic Christmas shows! Special appearances from the school choir, our secretary Ashleen and some very talented sixth class hosts and performers led to two unforgettable nights.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Simon Community Jumper Collection we raised €1,500 which will make a real difference to those most in need.

Our annual SVP appeal was the most successful ever. We had great assistance from Ms Farrelly's class as well Ms. Bradshaw. School staff delivered over 45 hamper to very deserving families. Thank you for all of the support.

I hope everyone has a restful few weeks. I am sure that all the boys and girls are on the nice list and I look forward to welcoming every back on January 6th.

Ms. Markey

We are all very sorry to see Ms. James leave our school after several years with us. Ms. James has taught a variety of class levels in her time here and has coached many of our teams to victory. Her nerves on the sideline have always kept the supporters entertained.

Everyone in PJP wishes her the very best of luck as she moves into the next chapter of her life! Our loss is Sligo's gain!

Well done to all the amazing Boys and Girls in third class that rocked the school hall on Monday Night. Every class sang and danced their hearts out to a huge crowd of onlooking parents. Well done to everyone involved behind the scenes also who helped pull the night together!

Second class were spectacular on Tuesday as they raised the roof at their Christmas Cracker Concert. The children had a great time performing for their biggest and best supporters in the crowd! Well done to everyone involved!

Third class were very excited to see Mouse coming for his monthly visit this week. The children put themselves to work making bird feeders which they can bring home to their gardens. They used power tools and safety equipment to make their feeders which will massively help little birds like Robins in the cold over Winter!

There are many coaches in our school who deserve a lot of appreciation for what they do in our school community. This includes taking time out of their days to train, drop to matches and much more. They pick fantastic teams and are always kind and fair when choosing.

Hurling/Camogie

Starting off with Ms. McKenna.

Ms. Mckenna is a fantastic coach. Her devotion to the schools sports is unbelievable. She is kind, hardworking and always includes children who are interested in trying out for school teams. She, along with Mr. Murphy has won the award for best hurling coaches of the year last year. It was very well deserved.

Mr. Murphy is a fantastic coach. He grew up playing soccer and GAA. Before joining the PJP community he had never coached before. He believes in giving people of all ages an opportunity to play. He also is a fantastic teacher.

Mr. Freeman played football and rugby growing up. He is a big fan of Connacht Rugby, Galway and Man United. He really enjoys working with children in the classroom and on the pitch.

Gaelic Football

Ms. James played loads of sports growing up however GAA was her favorite. She played for Sligo U16 and played at half time at an All Ireland Final in Croke Park 2006. She started coaching in 2020 in PJP for the first time. Ms. James loves coaching and is very good at working with children. Sadly she is leaving us and will be missed a lot.

Mr. Murphy is also a gaelic football coach, he believes in giving all children a chance to play and that being a team player is far more important than scoring goals and trying to win on their own. Altogether he is an amazing person to work with in the school community.

Mr. Freeman coaches Gaelic football as well as hurling .Mr. Freeman loves seeing team members trying their best and helping out their teammates . Mr. Freeman started coaching teams in Pjp for the first time and went on to win Cumenn na mBunscol with senior boys in 2019. Mr. Freeman puts a lot of effort and time into coaching teams in our school . Overall Mr. Freeman is a excellent coach.

Ms. Carr is an amazing teacher and a great coach . Ms. Carr started playing gaelic at the age of twelve . She started playing with West Meath U16 all the way up to senior level. She is a current member of the West Meath LGFA team. Ms. Carr won the intermediate All Ireland in Croke Park in 2021 against Wexford. She loves coaching teams and to see girls and boys reach their full potential.

Ms .McDaid is an incredible Coach as well as a fantastic teacher. Her first time coaching was in PJP for the girls gaelic team. She loved all sports growing up but especially Basketball and GAA. She is great to work with.

Soccer

Ms. Diver is a fantastic coach. She has played soccer since she was a child. She played both soccer and gaa in school. She also is a role model for girls in our school being the only girl on a boys soccer team until she was 16. Ms. Diver started coaching girls soccer in 2018 excited to get back to work with our fantastic players here in PJP. She is a massive Man United fan and overall an amazing person.

Ms. McKenna is an unbelievable coach in our school always showing up to support our school in sports. She played soccer for Shelbourne FC and grew up playing soccer and GAA. She also played for Fingallians, St. Pats and played for the U14 Dublin team. Some of her Highlights coaching are ; winning the girls soccer league and winning in Croke Park with the girls camogie team.

Mr. Whiting is a great coach. He grew up playing soccer. He also played for his university and college. He went into coaching after being in South Korea during the World Cup 2002.He loves working with players of all ages and helping them play the “beautiful game”. His highlight was coaching the Canadian Men's Deaf Olympic Team in Venezuela.

Ms. Bradshaw is a fantastic coach and teacher also giving to charity while working with Ms. Markey on St. Vincent de Paul. She played soccer for 2 years in secondary school. She has been coaching the boys soccer in PJP for 4 years. Her first time coaching was in PJP.

Basketball

Fiona has been working with PJP basketball for many years. She has coached boys and girls teams with help from TY Scoil Iosa students. She is kind and caring always supporting players. She has taken 6th class basketball players to the Junior NBA winning many medals. Overall she is a great coach.

By ElizaJane Tobin and Lydia Casey - 6th Class

Three weeks ago, Mr. Whiting came into the six class to tell the boys that the football(soccer)trials were coming up and that it would be next week or the week after. Ms. Kieran’s class and Ms. Byrne's class trials were two weeks ago. Ms.O’ Connor's class and Ms. Farrelly's class trials were Thursday two weeks ago and Ms. McDaid’s class was Tuesday a week ago. All classes except Ms. McDaid’s class were on Sonesta green and Ms. McDaid's class trial was held at the school hall. Mr. Whiting oversaw all the trials.

On Friday last week he announced the people who made the second trial class by class.

We are looking forward to the next round.

Written by Oscar Walsh, 6th class.

On the 25th of November Ms. McKenna came to all the 6th class classrooms and told us that trials would be happening in 2 weeks. She also asked who would be interested in trying out {Lots of girls were.}

Two weeks later, 20-30 girls waited nervously for the trials to start. Five minutes before, we found out it would be held in the hall due to the rain! At the start everyone was a bit scared but the more we thought about it the better we felt. Ms. McKenna and Ms. Diver asked for everyone's names then we started the trials.

First, we had to dribble up to a cone and pass it to the next person. Then we had to dribble through the cones and pass it to the next person. After that Ms. Mc Kenna and Ms. Diver split everyone into 4 teams and then split those 4 teams into 2.

We played 5–7-minute matches against all the other teams. We would play a match then we would have a break then we would be back on. It was quite difficult in the beginning in the small space but by the end everyone was showing the skills and picking out passes, it was amazing.

Everyone was tired and exhausted by the time Ms. McKenna blew her whistle signaling the end of the trial. After that Ms. Diver called us into a circle to tell us more about the team and what we would competing in if we made the team. Everyone left the hall happy and proud of their performance.

Written by Anna Relihan, 6th class

What is SVP:

SVP is a charity that our very own principal, Ms. Markey, has been a volunteer with for many years. Every year she helps out families who are less fortunate or struggling in the situation they’re in at the moment. At Christmas every class in PJP gets a list of items to buy for their assigned family. The brilliant teacher Ms Bradshaw co-ordinates this mammoth task.

This Year:

This year Ms.Farrelly’s wonderful sixth class assisted Ms. Markey and Ms Bradshaw to pack and load all the hampers to the families. This took a lot of time to organise. Also, this year St Sylvester's School took part in donating fifteen hampers for families. A big thank you to all the parents and children, as well as the class teachers and SNA’s who helped buying and collecting the goods for the hampers. Many thanks to the teachers, SNAs and parents who helped to deliver these hampers. The families were very grateful.

By Emily O’Meara & Caterina Palazzi