2019-2020 is a very exciting and busy school year for the new Year 13 students in St Paul’s. In true spirit of our school motto ‘Caritate in Radicate’ – ‘Rooted in Charity’, St Paul’s sixth form students have embraced the proverb ‘Charity Begins at Home’ which requires us to look after people who live close to us before reaching out to others. This year we are focused on assisting Newry Help the Homeless group in co-operation with past pupil, Mrs Stella Maguire. Teams of our students and staff volunteer in Newry 3 nights a week and travel to Dublin each Friday. We have been involved in distributing hot food at their stands, sorting out clothes for distribution and fundraising.

Further afield, we are continuing our 16-year partnership with St Patrick’s Missionaries in Kenya and a new extended team of 10 students, 2 staff and Fr Seamus, the school chaplain, will travel to Kiamaina outside Nakuru in January 2020 to continue their new project from 2019. Money raised by the group will assist the community to improve their water storage systems, equip schools with basic equipment such as toilets, desks, blackboards, laboratory apparatus, and churches with windows. This group will travel throughout the parish visiting the many schools and Christian communities and look forward to sharing their stories, talent and culture.

Team Kenya 2020.

Senior teacher, Mrs Bridget McConville will lead another team of 10 students and 3 staff in February to a new destination to the school; Meghalaya, a small state in the extreme northeast of India. Fr Kevin Ward, a missionary priest from Co Meath has worked here in different capacities for over 50 years and has invited us to assist his parish in a similar way to our support in Kenya. The group will be based in the village and work mostly with their primary school, assisting with lessons, games and cultural exchange. Education is not yet free for all in India. The missionary school charges fees amounting to 1 euro a month and teacher salaries average 50 euro per month! The money raised by the group will be able to allow a few more children to attend school and ensure the teachers are paid for the rest of the year. Meghalaya is known as ‘The Scotland of the East’ because of its cooler climate and mountainous landscape.

Team India 2020.

There are no tourist facilities in either destination; no 5* hotels, no single rooms, no public flush toilets, few tarmacked roads, lots of potholes and poor wifi (if any); a world away from the pupils daily lives! The groups will be accommodated in the priests’ compounds; basic but adequate with meals of simple, organic and nutritious food. Both missionary projects have required the students to get involved in a huge fundraising programme, including many street collections, coffee mornings, Santa Run, St Paul’s Got Talent, quizzes, and ‘The Penny Appeal’ is always running. All of the funds raised go directly to the villages we are working with, no middle man or administration fees, and we encourage pupils to get involved with supporting these fundraising events were they can!