As part of our recent Careers week at St Paul’s, a group of Year 12 students visited Dundalk Institute of Technology for a taster day in engineering and computer games development.

The students were given two practical sessions and demonstrations on the use of mathematics in engineering and computer science.

The engineers showed how maths is used in a variety of engineering fields including mechanical, civil and electronic engineering.  The students were shown the role of maths in developing and testing the components for building aircraft and other large machinery; measuring the flow of water in a river to predict flooding; and in building electronic circuits.

The computer games developers demonstrated how straight-line graphs and quadratic equations are used to model the movements of characters and objects in computer games.  The students were shown how the movement of a bullet in a game such as “Call of Duty” would have been created using mathematical equations.  They were then given the opportunity to work with 3D Max software to create their own “minion” characters.  This is the same professional software used by Disney Pixar and other film studios and computer games developers to create movies and games such as “Toy Story”, “Finding Nemo”, “Avatar”, “Splinter Cell” and “Gears of War”.

Day 6

Checked out of hotel at 10 .30
Headed to Oparinor shopping centre to spend our last remaining euros and experience French shopping.
Checked in at 1. 30 pm for our return flight to Dublin.
All arrived back safely but very tired at St Pauls at 7pm

On behalf of myself and the other staff, it was a pleasure to have such a great bunch of  St Paul’s students with us.   

Mrs M McMahon

See below for pictures from the trip:

Day 5

Magical experience for everyone in Disneyland.
We had 12 hours to enjoy all it has to offer!!!!

Day 4

Up early, beautiful  breakfast in hotel.
Rendezvous vous at 10 15am with Tour guide, Joe Walsh at Place de la Concorde.
Entertaining tour with lots of info on Paris, is history and architecture.
Lunch on Avenue de Wagram , next to Avenue de Mac Mahon!!!!!
We then descended the Champs Élysées en masse and met up with our bus driver, Christian who escorted us to La Tour Eiffel for our 2.30pm reservation.

Everyone enjoyed this, some venturing right to the top for the breathtaking views.
En route to Flunch for dinner, we all sang”Champs Élysées”by Jean Dessinbas we made our way back up to Montmartre.
After dinner we had some free time to visit le Sacre Coeur and Place du Tertre.
More spending, presents and even more portraits were acquired.
All back safely to hotel
Lights out and dreams of Disneyland tomorrow.

Update: Tuesday 30 October, 1500 GMT

Arrived Sunday night in Hotel Campanile in Roissy near Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Dinner in Flunch beforehand. Ryan Doran was extremely adventurous in his choice. Frites frites and more frites!

Hotel is tres chic et moderne!

All slept well and ready for a full day in Paris on Monday! More updates later.

Update: Monday 29 October, 1300 GMT

Very early start in Chamonix on Sunday morning.

We then headed to Taize, and experienced really bad weather conditions en route.

Thanks to Christian, our driver, we got through the biting wind and heavy snow.

We arrived at Taize for Mass, and had a presentation on Taize from Brother Jean Luc of the community and then visited the shop where more presents were bought

We had a simple lunch in Taize and then a long trip up the road to Paris

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The IET presenter had the pupils jumping off their seats to get involved.

On Wednesday 19th September the IET presented two exciting new shows that aimed to inspire the next generation of engineers. Our own Year 8s and pupils from St Peter’s Primary School, Cloughreagh, St Joseph’s Primary School, Bessbrook and Bessbrook Primary School were entertained with the show ‘Who Wants to be a Superhero?’ and our Year 10 pupils had a ‘Rough Guide to Engineering’. The shows were thoroughly enjoyed by all.

See below for pictures of the event.

Pictured is Deputy Mayor of Newry & Mourne District Council, Ms Geraldine Donnelly, Year 13 student Ryan Cinnamond  and Olympic flame torch bearer, Year 8 student and Special Olympic medallist, Ferghal Gregory and Councillor John Feehan.

The official mascot of the 2012 London Games, Mandeville, visited recently to celebrate St Paul’s High School being designated as one of only two Olympic schools in the Newry and Mourne area.

Deputy Mayor of Newry & Mourne District Council, Geraldine Donnelly, and local representative, Councillor John Feehan, were present to welcome the mascot, along with Head of PE & Sport at St Paul’s Mr John Rafferty, and his colleague, Mr Martin Rafferty.

The mascot was introducted to our own Olympic torch bearer Year 13 student, Ryan Cinnamond, and our special Olympic gold medallist Fergal Gregory from Year 8

Mandeville also visited the boys and girls in St Paul’s Learning Support Centre where he was shown the Olympic display prepared by the pupils and their teachers.

Below are some photos when Mandeville the Mascot visited St Paul’s: 

Students from St Paul’s enjoying all the fun of the Balmoral show

St Paul’s students have a long history of visiting the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show at Balmoral in south Belfast.

For the twenty-seventh year, students and staff travelled to the show and had a great time.   This year the students of Years 8, 9 and 10 were joined by their friends at Rathore School for Special Educational Needs.

The show offered something for everyone from large farm machines to wild and wonderful animal species including many rare breeds. Everyone enjoyed seeing around the show from getting to see the variety  of displays from fashion, footwear, food, gadgets, house and garden furnishings, jewellery, handbags, toys and so much more.

There were many tempting foods to sample and buy and no one had an excuse to go hungry. The crowds were all in good humour and the atmosphere was very exciting.

Below are few photos from the day: 

Below is a video from The Balmoral Show:

Pupils from St Paul’s with Ernie (Bearded Dragon) & Emma from Pet Connections

The Year 8 Science Club recently enjoyed a visit from Pet Connections, Ashtree Enterprise Park, Rathfriland Road, Newry. Emma from Pet Connections brought along a selection of animals including:

Cornflake the Corn Snake:

Ernie the Bearded Dragon: 

Mr Buttons the Rabbit: 

The pupils had the opportunity to hold some of the animals, and they also learned how to feed and look after the needs of each individual animal. All the science club members and teachers thoroughly enjoyed the visit. A big thank you to Emma and Pet Connections!

Below is a Video of the Science Club with Emma from Pet Connections:

Below are a few photos from the afternoon with Emma from Pet Connections: 

Pictured above are pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School, Meigh and Bessbrook Primary School with Sue McGrath the Science Magician

Recently at St Paul’s students from the Learning Support Centre, Rathore School, Bessbrook Primary School and St Joseph’s Primary School, Meigh, experienced a Science Magic show.

Sue Mc Grath, from the Institute of Physics and “Science2 Life”, gave the pupils a very enlightening and enjoyable experience. She made science relevant and attainable for all pupils, using materials that are easily found in our own kitchens. She captivated the children’s attention and involved them as volunteers every step of the way. All had a very enjoyable experience.

This activity was part of the PEACE (Partnership, Education and Community Enrichment) initiative set up by the Shared Education Programme. This programme aims to encourage schools to make cross-sectoral collaborations an integral part of school life, creating enhanced educational and personal development opportunities for everyone involved.

Highlights from the Science Magic Show:

Selection of Photos below:

We hosted a football tournament for our local primary schools recently – and we all had a great day.  Photos below.

St Patrick’s Primary School, Cullyhanna

St Peter’s Primary School, Cloughreagh

St Joseph’s Primary School, Poyntzpass

St Michael’s Primary School, Newtownhamilton

St Mary’s Primary School, Mullaghbawn

Clonalig Primary School

St Joseph’s Primary School, Bessbrook

 St Brigid’s Primary School, Silverbridge

Below are a few action photographs taken from the tournament:

A Level students of Irish at St Paul’s High School and St Joseph’s High School, Crossmaglen, along with guest speakers, Tomaí Ó Conghaile (Journalist), Niall Comer (Lecturer at University of Ulster), Lynette Fay (Broadcaster & Producer, BBC), Head of Irish Miss Ciara McCoy  and Irish teacher Mr Stephen Quinn.

Year 13 and Year 14 students of Irish at St Paul’s High and St Joseph’s High School, Crossmaglen, had the opportunity to discuss career opportunities in Irish with three distinguished guest speakers who visited the school as part of Seachtain na Gaeillge celebrations.  Tomaí Ó Conghaile, a journalist and TV presenter who hails from Cloghogue, Lynette Fay, producer and presenter with BBC Northern Ireland, and lecturer at the University of Ulster, Niall Comer, discussed their careers and backgrounds and answered questions as Gaeilge from the interested students.

Some photos below which were captured during the event, and scroll down for video footage of the three guest speakers’ remarks.

BBC Broadcaster, Lynette Fay 

Journalist, Tomaí Ó Conghaile

 Bosco McShane, team leader of the Síolta Retreat Team, talking to Year 14 St Paul’s students. 

The Síolta Retreat Team, led by Bosco McShane, that has worked extensively in missionary countries from 1999 to the current day,visited St Paul’s last week to provide a workshop. It was intended to help young people grow towards adulthood, and help them understand and develop their faith in our Christian heritage and practice.

The year 14 students thoroughly enjoyed their break from normal class routine and felt that this retreat helped them recharge and bond as a year group.  They understand the importance of the year ahead and how events like this will help them grow into mature, responsible young adults with a deep awareness of their faith.

St Paul’s would like to thank the team for coming in and providing an inspirational day for our Year 14 students to enjoy.

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Below is a few photos from the Síolta Retreat Day: 

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