PJP News

Hello everyone,

It is hard to believe that it is the May Bank Holiday. I hope everyone can relax and recharge over this break as we have a very busy few weeks ahead! As always, the final term is a busy one for sports, sacraments and special projects.

We had a super staff day on Tuesday where two facilitators from Óide (Teacher Inservice Training) introduced our teachers to the new Maths Curriculum for primary schools. While the maths and its concepts are nothing new, we have had to think about how we are teaching maths and how we can encourage more out of the box thinking in all our students.

I am looking forward to all the Sacraments. Thank you to our second and sixth class teachers who under Ms. Bradshaw’s guidance prepared the children so well for both the First Confession and the Ceremony of Light. We look forward to the Communions and the Confirmations in the coming weeks. Thanks also to all the parents who responded to our plea to help us find a pianist for The First Holy Communion Ceremonies on May 17th. We were given several leads and the good news is we have a new pianist as well as a list of substitutes! It really is true that Ar scáth a cheile a mhaireann na daoine.

An appeal to parents in relation to school tours - we need a number of adults on tours and outings to ensure we have a safe pupil-teacher ratio. Please be mindful that we need this ratio for tours to go ahead.

A sincere thanks to the PA and the Parents from the Voluntary Smart Phone Ban for arranging Richard Hogan to come and speak to a group of parents. It was a very informative and highly engaging talk.

A huge PJP thank you to our entire school community for raising an immense amount of money for Trocaire in their Easter Appeal this year. This money will go on to change the lives of countless people across the third world. We can all be very proud of ourselves for showing such generosity!

Boys Soccer:

PJP 1 - 5 Lusk SNS

PJP 4 - 0 Holywell

Girls Soccer:

PJP 6 - 1 Holy Family

PJP 2 - 1 Lusk

PJP 1 - 0 Mary Mother of Hope

Cup Quarter Final: PJP 2 - 1 Belgrove

Boys Senior Football:

PJP 4-11 - 1-8 Donabate

PJP 1-6 - 5-12 Ashbourne

Girls Senior Football:

PJP 4-16 - 1-0 Oliver Plunketts

PJP 1-12 - 3-4 Holy Family

Boys Junior Football:

PJP 6-7 - 2-2 Ratoath

PJP 1-7 - 0-12 Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe

Girls Junior Football:

PJP 4-10 - 0-1 Rolestown

PJP 1-10 - 2-0 Oliver Plunketts

Boys Hurling:

PJP 2-4 - 3-7 Oliver Plunketts

PJP 4-11 - 3-1 St. Patrick's Drumcondra

Girls Camogie:

PJP 3-2 - 0-1 Holy Family SNS

PJP 5-5 - 0-0 Oliver Plunketts

A while back we played the first round of a Fingal 5 aside tournament and we won. We then progressed onto the next round, which was the Dublin 5 aside tournament which was on Monday the 29th of May. It was in Clontarf. We arrived and we were all very excited. We warmed up and got ready for the upcoming matches. Megan, Sadhbh and Aoife were such team players and stepped up to miss a match because we had too many players on our team. In our first match we played Scoil Maelruain Senior, and we won 2-1. In our next match we played Scoil Thomas and won 4-0. The match after that was one of our hardest matches, we drew 0-0 against Belgrove Senior Girls [but we beat them 2 days later in our quarter final 2-1]. Our last match was tough, we were all tired and full of Ellen’s sweets. They got the first goal, but we came back with an amazing goal when Anna kicked it into the box and Ellen headered the ball in. In the last few minutes, they got a lucky goal, and we lost the match 2-1.

5 asides are more luck than skill. The pitches are small and slim, and the goals are tiny, you either must be very skillful or you just kick the ball and hope for the best.

There were amazing goals by Leah R, Anna, and Ellen. Everyone played amazing and tried their best and it was a good day out.

By Leah Rochford and Eva Dolan

6th Class

Ms. Mc Daid

A massive congratulations to all the girls on the senior soccer team who recently won the Fingal Soccer League. This is an amzing accomplishment for the team who have worked hard to get their hands on the trophy!

Following on from the finish of a very tight Senior Premier Fingal League group, PJP, Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe and St. Declan’s Ashbourne were all tied on 8 points. At a meeting of the Fingal League teachers, GSBB were pulled out as direct finalists which left us facing off against St. Declan’s in St. Margarets GAA Club in the semi-final. Earlier in the campaign, we had taken a heavy defeat from St. Declan’s so knew we would be up against it in this match.

The weather was perfect for the 1pm throw-in as the planes landing in Dublin Airport flew in overhead. St. Declan’s started strong with long spells of possession very close to our goal but with little reward taking 2 points in the first 10 minutes. Luckily for PJP, they also had 3 wides in this period which would have changed the outlook of the game from the start. Conor Halpin was the first to get us on the board which was followed by a Dylan Cramer point to level the game after 13 minutes. Conor Halpin had settled into the game at this stage and fired PJP ahead with a well taken goal and a point immediately after. A Gavin Shanley point grew our lead while at the other end of the pitch, Séan Osario, Tadhg Dunphy and Rian Gardiner were supreme under high balls and pressure from the opposition. The big moment of the first half came when Dylan Cramer linked up with Tomás Mylan who cleverly handpassed the ball across the goal to Conor Halpin who slapped it in from close range. Lachlann Traynor added two more points just before St. Declan’s scored a goal and point at the end of a highly competitive first half leaving the halftime scoreline at PJP 2-6 – 1-3 St. Declan’s.

St. Declan’s began the second half just as they finished the first. They were full of momentum and belief and scored 1-2 in the opening minutes of the half. With only 1 point in the difference, PJP were really feeling the pressure as shot after shot were being waved wide by the referee. After 10 minutes, we finally broke our second half deadlock as Tomás Mylan calmly finished a 1-on-1 chance in the bottom corner of the goal. Conor Halpin followed up with 2 points to put some breathing distance between us and our opposition once again. PJP would be under immense pressure for the end of the match as we were reduced to 14 players after a foul near our goal. The resulting free went over the bar leading to many sighs of relief from onlooking supporters on the sideline. Despite being outnumbered, PJP powered on, and Conor Halpin scored another point to extend our lead once again to 6. St. Declan’s fired back with two points either side of a Josh Dignam save. Our lead was at 4 points when the ball broke to the unmarked St. Declan’s full-forward who faced Josh in a 1-on-1. While many would expect the net to bulge, Josh stood tall, dived at the last second and pushed the ball over the crossbar for a point. St. Declan’s would add a final point after the kickout before full time. PJP has won on a scoreline of 3-9 to 2-9, only one goal separating the teams. After shaking hands with the St. Declan’s team, Josh Dignam was deservedly carried off the pitch by his teammates as they celebrated their win.

This win sets up a repeat of last year’s premier final in Parnell Park against Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe where the boys will be looking to defend our title. The boys can be confident going into this final having already beaten Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe 3-6 to 2-5 earlier in this year.

This is the second year in a row where both the Senior Boys and Girls have qualified for the Fingal League Premier finals, which is a testament to all the boys and girls, parents, teachers, and coaches in their clubs. The finals are due to be played in Parnell Park on either May 21st or 23rd. All support will be welcomed!

The PJP team of 4 consisting of Izzy, Clara, Olivia and Tomás took to the walls of the indoor rock climbing venue in Finglas on 26th February.
Hosted by Awesome Walls there were 25 teams in their year group from the greater Dublin area competing for the top 2 positions. At the same time their other venue in Cork held the same competition for schools in the south of the country with the top 2 in each age group also qualifying for the final in Dublin.

The PJP team climbed 3 walls each with a different level of difficulty and a final speed round with 2 attempts each at the best time. On completing all their climbs they had to wait an agonising 4 weeks for all schools to complete their rounds but the wait was worth it as they finished second and made it to the finals.

The finals took place on the 25th April in Awesome Walls Finglas. On arriving at 09:15 for registration there was such a buzz of excitement with schools from around Ireland ready to compete. The PJP Team were paired with a team from Cork and they took it in rotation climbing 4 walls each of increasing difficulty and a final speed round.

The PJP Team held their nerve and scored 154 out of a possible 160 on the 4 standard walls, the Cork Team scored 145. There awesome display also carried on to the speed round with a blistering time of 24.31 seconds in comparison to Corks 36.50 seconds.

A long wait on completing all climbs for all the other teams to finish and it was results time. The team feeling optimistic were unsure how the other 2 teams in their age group had performed. Then results time, they placed second an outstanding result for an outstanding performance and a truly impressive achievement considering the caliber of contestants.

PJP’s was delighted to recently welcome and host a group of Polish students and teachers from Słoneczna Szkola Podstawowaa as part of an ongoing Erasmus+ partnership project.

The focus of this visit was a collaborative technology project between the students in Mr. Freeman’s and Ms. McKenna’s 5th classes and our visiting Polish students.

A great week of fun and collaborative learning activities took place in the school and on various educational trips around Dublin.

Our Polish visitors were so impressed with the welcome they received at Pope John Paul’s and thoroughly enjoyed their week with us.

A huge thank-you to all the students and staff who helped make this possible.

We are incredibly grateful to Mark from the Malahide Pipe Band who recently visitied our school. Mark gave us amazing renditions of Star Wars and When the Saints Go Marching In on his bag pipes and drums. Mark demonstrated his instruments to every child in our school over two sessions. Malahide Pipe Band is constantly seeking new members, especially children. If you or your child is interested in finding out more about Malahide Pipe Band, don't hesitate to get in touch!

For a second year in a row, our sixth classes were treated to a drumming workshop with Eamonn Cagney. Eamonn is a professional drummer who has been educating children for over 20 years. Eamonn explained about how drums are made, where they come from, and of course, how to play the drums. All the classes loved this workshop with Eamonn and had a great time trying out the drums!

The school choir are busy rehearsing for the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation. They are sounding great so far! Links to all the songs are on www.pjp.ie/school-choir .

A note has been sent home to check the availability of choir to sing at the afternoon masses. We will also be seeking a few volunteers to help supervise the children walking to/from the church on the day of the ceremonies. We'd greatly appreciate anyone that might be able to spare 15 minutes to walk to/from the church with the choir. Thank you in advance for this

We have had a great start to our Spanish lessons in sixth class. These enjoyable lessons are being provided as part of the Say Yes to Languages Programme. Our students have loved this introduction to Spanish!

The whole school enjoyed a skipping workshop when we returned to school the week after the Easter Holidays. It was a fantastic form of exercise as well as a lot of fun!
Here’s how Saoirse Quinn and Annabelle Staunton from 4th class got on:

"We really enjoyed skipping because we learnt new things such as backwards skipping, double under crossover and the Figure of Eight game. For this game, you need a long rope and two people need to hold the ends. You have to run into the middle while the two people are swinging the rope. You stay in for a jump and run out the other side. It was pretty scary when you got to the top of the line and Mark shouted “One, two, three, IN YOU GO!” But it was really fun! After that, everyone bought a skipping rope for really cheap prices! It was only €7. Mark was really good at skipping and he has a YouTube channel too but it’s more impressive in real life. We really hope he comes back next year!"

A huge WELL DONE to Ronan Lynch, Luka Steininger, Cillian Kincaid, Cormac Gilbane, Olan Dunphy and Laila Asraf Sani who took part in the BEBRAS Ireland Computational Thinking National Finals at Maynooth University last weekend.

12,000 students from across the country took part in the competition with only 340 making it to the national final! What a great achievement and a wonderful experience for these students. Well Done again!

Third class are still getting their monthly visit from Mouse who works with OWLS school programme. This month's theme was all about dispersal of seeds in nature and predators and prey. Mouse had the children outside on nature walks and playing fun interactive games!

A massive congratulations to Dearbhla who plays for Malahide United and was selected from trials to join the MGL (Metropolitan Girls League) under 11 training and development squad. Dearbhla is one of only 3 girls from her team and the only girl from Pjp's!!

We are all very proud of Dearbhla and wish her the best of luck with her new team!

If your child has accomplished something outside of school recently, please let us know on newsletter@pjp.ie to feature in the newsletter!

We are very grateful for Ms. Whyte's work in getting brand new maths equipment for the whole school. Every class is now equipped with a box of fantastic resources and our maths presses are also fully stocked. The new trundle wheels are certainly going down a treat with the children!

An seachtain seo táimid ag caint le Ms Reddy as rang a dó.

Cad is ainm duit?

Ms. Reddy is ainm dom.

An bhfuil aon pheata agat ?

Níl aon pheata agam.

An t-amhránaí/banna ceoil is fearr leat?

Is fearr liom Taylor Swift.

Cad é an scannán is fearr leat?

Is fearr liom 'The Bodyguard'.

Cad é an leabhar is fearr leat?

Is fearr liom 'Harry Potter'.

Cén bia is fearr leat?

Is fearr liom píotsa.

Roghnaigh an ceann is fearr leat :

Bia Síneach nó Bia Iodálach .......Bia Síneach

An samhradh nó an geimhreadh.....An Samhradh

Madra nó cat .......madra

Seacláid nó criospaí......criospaí

Lá cois farraige nó lá faoin tuath .....lá cois farraige

Toy Story nó Minions.......Toy Story

Uisce nó bainne ......Uisce

Oíche Shamhna nó An Nollaig ........An Nollaig

Go raibh maith agat!