• Day of Results 14th  August 8.00am to 7.00pm
• 15th August  8.00am to 7.00pm
• 16th August  8.00am to 1.00pm

• CAO 1st Round Offers 19th August  8.00am to 7.00pm
• 20th August 8.00am to 7.00pm
• 21st August 8.00am to 1.00pm

Representatives from the feeder schools of Maynooth Post Primary School met with Deputies Emmet Stagg and Bernard Durkan on March 14th. They clearly outlined the many advantages of the Junior Senior concept and   the overwhelming support of the community in Maynooth and surrounding areas for this progressive idea. They  are now awaiting the rescheduling of the proposed meeting on March 13th with Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn.
A website  has been set up by Kildare VEC for the parents of Maynooth. http://www.maynoothcampus.kildarevec.ie  The purpose of the website is to provide access for  the community to up to date  information regarding the Education Campus at Mariaville

By now most people will have heard of The Gathering 2013. The Gathering is an exciting year-long celebration of Ireland, its people and all that is great about its connections, both at home and abroad. The Gathering Ireland invites anyone who has a link to Ireland or just loves the country, to come to Ireland for a series of events throughout 2013.
Over the past two years the Maynooth 10k Challenge has established itself as one of the premier 10k events in Ireland. In 2012 the event attracted over 700 runners, joggers and walkers to the historic town of Maynooth. This year’s 10K will be the centre piece of a Gathering Weekend running from Friday 17th – Sunday 19th May. The weekend will feature a range of events including a welcome reception on Friday night, an exhibition of old photographs from the school archives and from local collectors, guided walking tours focusing on the Four C’s – Carton, College, Castle and Canal, visits to a working farm, musical and food events.  The 10K will be held on Sunday morning followed by a Gathering on Sunday afternoon.
Planning is well advanced for the 10k. This year we plan to publish and distribute 12,000 copies of the Maynooth 10K Times. The deadline for advertisements in the dedicated newspaper is 16th April. All businesses who advertise in the 10K Times will also get a free listing and placing of their logo on the Maynooth 10K Gathering website. Our dedicated advertising sales people are currently canvassing local businesses and getting a great reception even in these recessionary times. Our local businesses recognise the value that the advertising offers with distribution now being increased to 12,000. The PTA would encourage all parents of MPPS to support the local businesses who advertise with us and support our school.

The PTA would also like to congratulate two TY students who were awarded prizes in the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) Press Pass competition a national competition that encourages reading and aims to improve literacy and critical thinking. Sean Flanagan was awarded 3rd place in the Sport category for his article of Kenyan Olympic champion, David Rudisha, Elizabeth Pranskute came 2nd in the photo journalism section for a wonderful photo of a street scene.

Congratulations to the Junior Boys Gaelic Football team who won the Dublin Schools B Championship and the Junior Girls Camogie Team who are Kildare Schools’ Champions. Congratulations also to our Gael Linn Irish Senior Debating Team who won out in their region and reached the Comórtas na Piarsigh All Ireland Debating Final in Carlow on 25th February. The Final will take place on March 22nd in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise.

The French/Ireland student exchange programme with a second level French school in Cannes, will continue with the French students coming to Ireland from 12th-19th April. Thanks to Ms. Fiona Merrigan and Madame Marie Miot who are organising this exchange.
In addition we had a successful exchange with school in Madrid, Spain in early February with Spanish students due to come to Maynooth from 13th-20th March. Thank you to Ms. Donnelly and Ms. Cusker for setting up and supervising this exchange.
Current exchange arrangements for students of German will also continue in 2013.

The PTA held a band night on Friday 8th March in the Assembly Hall. Three bands from the school played on the night and over 70 students attended. The event got a great reaction from the banks who loved the set up and the event was a big hit with the students too. 

The PTA held a very successful careers’ evening for transition year, fifth and sixth year students on Tuesday 26th February in the Assembly Hall. The event provided a great opportunity for students to meet over 40 people working in different professions and trades who have made their careers in a wide variety of fields. We also had representatives on the night from UCD, TCD, DIT, DCU, NUIM and St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
The event was a great success with over 200 students attending. We had 40 volunteers in attendance who thoroughly enjoyed the night. Most of them enjoyed the night so much that they have committed to coming back next year!

The PTA previously advised parents that Dr. Gerry Jeffers would conduct a consultation process with the members of the Parents’ Associations of our various feeder schools.  These meetings took place in recent weeks. Many MPPS parents participated in these meetings as they also have children attending the various national schools.  At this stage he has met the PAs of all of the feeder schools that will send their children to Maynooth and completed his report for the Co. Kildare VEC.
While there are a number of aspects to Dr. Jeffer’s   draft report one key conclusion is that the overwhelming majority of parents who attended the meetings in the feeder schools expressed a strong preference that the school model to be implemented in Maynooth should be a combination of a junior and senior school rather than two separate schools as currently approved by the Department.
Representatives from all of the feeder schools will shortly meet with Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn TD to communicate the overwhelming desire of the community in Maynooth and surrounding areas for a junior/senior school concept.
In relation to the design of the new school buildings at Moyglare Hall MCOH Architects presented plans for the new schools to the staff of MPPS on 12th March and Principal Nevin presented an overview of the plans to the PTA on the same evening. Full details will be presented to the PTA at the next meeting.
The design work is moving ahead quickly with a view to applying for planning permission in the next few weeks.  Achieving planning in the coming months would enable the Department to invite tenders in Autumn 2013 with a view to having the two new school buildings completed for occupation in September 2014.
The PTA will hold an information meeting for parents to present and discuss the plans at the appropriate time.

By now most people will have heard of The Gathering 2013. The Gathering is an exciting year-long celebration of Ireland, its people and all that is great about its connections, both at home and abroad. The Gathering Ireland invites anyone who has a link to Ireland or just loves the country, to come to Ireland for a series of events throughout 2013.
Over the past two years the Maynooth 10k Challenge has established itself as one of the premier 10k events in Ireland. In 2011 the event attracted over 700 runners, joggers and walkers to the historic town of Maynooth. This year’s 10K will be the centre piece of a Gathering Weekend running from Friday 17th – Sunday 19th May. The weekend will feature a range of events including a welcome reception on Friday night, an exhibition of old photographs from the school archives and from local collectors, guided walking tours of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth Castle and Carton House, visits to a working far, musical and food events.  The 10K will be held on Sunday morning followed by a Gathering on Sunday afternoon.
The programme for the weekend is being developed and full details will be published here as the programme is finalised. We expect to have a wide range of events to suit all interests so please check the 10k website www.maynooth10kgathering.ie  regularly for updates.
To register for the 10K challenge please visit www.runireland.ie

Congratulations to the Boys Senior Gaelic Football team who won the Dublin Senior ‘A’ championship recently. 
Good luck to our Gael Linn Irish Senior Debating Team who will compete in the Comortas na Piarsigh All Ireland Debating Final in Carlow on Monday 25th February.

The school held an open enrolment morning coordinated by Ms Celine McLoughlin on Saturday 26th January. It is expected that enrolment in 2013 will be 231 - an increase of 77 on this year - bringing the school student population to 1230.

The annual Transition Year & 5th Year Musical West Side Story ran from Wednesday 30th January 2013 to Sunday 3rd February. The show was an outstanding success and congratulations to all concerned.  
The PTA funded the cost of the tiered seating for the show and also organised the sponsors’ reception on the opening night and the after show party for the cast and crew.

The French/Ireland student exchange programme with a second level French school in Cannes, France took place week commencing 17th February with the French students coming to Ireland in April. Thanks to Ms. Fiona Merrigan and Madame Marie Miot who are organising this exchange.
In addition we had a successful exchange with school in Madrid, Spain in early February with Spanish students due to come to Maynooth in May. Thank you to Ms. Donnelly and Ms Cusker for setting up and supervising this exchange.
Current exchange arrangements for students of German will also continue in 2013.

Dr. Gerry Jeffers is involved in a consultative process with the members of the Parents’ Associations of our various feeder schools. At this stage he has met the PAs of almost all schools and he will be in a position to submit his report and recommendations to the Co. Kildare VEC and Department of Education and Science in March.

The PTA will hold a band night on Friday 8th March from 8-10pm in the Assembly Hall. Doors open at 7.30. Four bands from the school will play on the night. Attendance is confined to senior cycle students from the school. Tickets will be available at a cost of €5 in the school shortly.

The PTA is planning a careers evening for transition year, fifth and sixth year students on Tuesday 26th February from 7-9pm in the Assembly Hall. The event will provide an opportunity for students to meet around 40 people working in different professions and trades who have made their careers in a wide variety of fields and discuss how they got into their chosen career, what aptitudes are required, what they like and dislike about the job and so on. The idea is to provide the students with some real life insights into what particular careers entail and so help them to prepare for making the career and college choices that they will face in sixth year.  We are also expecting representatives from UCD, TCD, DIT, DCU, NUIM and St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. We would ask parents to strongly encourage TY, fifth and sixth years to attend and avail of this unique opportunity.

A Community Meeting, organised by the HSE, to support parents, guardians and adults interested in the welfare of young people in the aftermath of recent tragedies will take place on Thursday, January 17th in the Glenroyal Hotel at 7.00pm.  Topics will include - support for schools, supporting young people to develop the skills necessary to deal with life's challenges, with reference to issues of bullying, internet safety, and talking to children about suicide.  The Samaritans will speak about their service and the programme they can deliver in 2nd Level Schools.  Tea/Coffee will be provided, and the opportunuity for people to talk privately with professionals in this area if they wish to.

Please note that application forms for incoming first years 2013/2014 will be available from Wednesday 21st November 2012. The closing date for receipt of these application forms is Friday 7th December 2012.
We have applied to DES for sanction and associated resources to allow us to start an Aonad Lán Ghaeilge, to provide education through the medium of Irish up to and including Leaving Certificate, in September 2013. We ask parents of children who wish to enrol their sons / daughters in the proposed Aonad to indicate this intention on the Green Application Form.

Our continued emphasis on literacy is in direct response to the implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2011-2020 by the DES.  It is accepted that improved literacy skills enable students to access all subjects more successfully and so we in MPPS aim to support our students in developing these fundamental skills.  With that in mind we aim to hold a Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) class once per month, where students read an appropriate (non school) text of their choice with teachers leading by example in also reading during these classes.  It is hoped that other initiatives will be rolled out throughout the year to maintain focus on literacy.  We welcome your continued support of this promotion of literacy within our school and welcome your input or observations.

Well done to the following past students who have being awarded University Entrance Scholarships
NUIG Excellence Scholarship (560+ points) – Aisling Ni Chathain
UCD Entrance Scholarship (540+ points) – Aimee O’Keeffe Ahern
NUIM Entrance Scholarship (500+ points) – Hugh Clarke, Louise Doran, Aoife Dunne, Luke Hare, Megan Marshall, Katie Curran.  Congratualions to Katie Curran who won the All Ireland Scholarship which was presented by Bill Clinton.

MPPS is proud to present ‘West Side Story’ as this years musical production.  Auditions will take place from Tuesday 6th November. All boys involved must sing ‘Maria’ at the auditions and the girls must sing ‘I Feel Pretty’.

Well done to all teachers, parents and students on the great results in this years Leaving and Junior Certificate exams.

Top students at Leaving Certificate were Conor Delaney, Luke Hare and Elaine Kelly with 615 points, while Ciara Heslin, Sinead Burke and Sean O’Flanagan were the top Junior Cert students with 9A’s and 2 B’s respectively.

Presentations were made to the Leaving Cert students in recognition of their excellent academic standards at the First Year Service of Welcome held in the school on 20th September. The 2012 Tom Ashe Bursary Award were presented on this night to Aisling Bonass.

Congratulations to:
   Teresa Murray as Kildare VEC member nominated as VEC rep on MPPS BOM
   Alan Millett Male Parent Representative
   Nuala Forde Female Parent Representative

The School Newsletter is available from the school website here

DATE: Sun 20th May 2012.

TIME: 10:30 A.M.

Fantastic route taking in the historic grounds of St Patrick's College, Maynooth town and the majestic grounds of Carton Hotel/ Estate. All proceeds go towards the developmnt of playing pitches, running & walking track at Moyglare Road, Maynooth which will be of benefit to the whole community. 

Click here to download application form

Click here to download a sample Training Plan

Entry forms are also available in local papers or you can enter online at:-

http://www.runireland.com/events/maynooth-post-primary-10k-challenge

Thanks

MPPS PTA