Our school participated in the Irish Young Philosophers Awards on May 15^th in UCD.  It was our first time to enter. Some 5^th class students did a philosophy project with Ms. French.  We started by having some very interesting philosophical discussions about the kind of world we want to live in. This led us to our project topic which we entitled “How to create a perfect world”. Our discussions led us into dividing the project into three main areas.

• Basic Needs
• Freedom
• Equality

We had such an interesting day in UCD. We got to discuss our project with the judges and the other entrants. We also got to see some really inspiring projects about the effects of technology and art on humans, and the effects of humans on the Earth. There were lots of projects looking at what do we mean by equality and justice. There was a mixture of individual, group and class entries. We had great discussions with the other groups about their projects.

President Michael D. Higgins spoke at the awards ceremony about the importance of teaching young people how to think deeply, see other perspectives and be able to engage in debate with others. The most exciting part of the day came near the end when to our surprise we won the first prize in the best class category. Senator Alice Mary Higgins presented us with our award.

Our team of young philosophers who represented the school are:

Ailsa, Alannah, Bria, Bronagh, Carla, Eabha, Elizabeth, Emily, Gabrielle, Hannah, Holly, Rachel, Roisin, Ruby & Sadhbh.

On the 16th May we had a visit from the Garda Band.  We were treated to a fabulous concert and as the weather was so nice we had it outside! We were introduced to all the members of the band and they talked to us about what instrument they played.  We finished with an interactive dance where the staff and pupils had to show their dancing skills off!  Thank you to the Garda Band for visiting St. Pius X GNS!

The Running Club finished the cross country running season on a high today, 16th May. They competed in the final of the South County Cross Country races in Corkagh Park, Clondalkin. They achieved an amazing 3rd place overall out of 78 schools competing from South Dublin! The scores were carefully calculated on each schools performance over all the previous races, and including today’s final.

Well done girls on such a fantastic achievement, and on your commitment to the training throughout the year. We have some amazing talent here in St. Pius X G.N.S.

Ms. McGuinness, Mr Walsh, Mr Neary