Following in the footsteps of previous Habitat groups to Ethiopia, in September 2016 our school began planning a group visit to Romania to support the work if Habitat for Humanity.

Nine pupils from U6; Lauren McLaughlin, Becky Ford, Cora Lagan, Bronagh Mullan, Nuala Mullan, Naomi Black, Aoife Etherson, Sophie Ramage and Brenda Grant, all agreed to take part in the trip and began an extensive campaign of fundraising which would continue throughout the 2016-17 school year.

On June 28th, with the last A Level exam papers complete, the nine students accompanied their team leaders Miss Campbell and Miss Smyth for nine days which they all concurred would be not merely the trip of a lifetime but a life changing and life-affirming experience.

On arrival in beautiful Bucharest, the group established a base four hours away in Constanta from which they commuted each day to their building site in Cumpana.

The working day for the Dominican team began at 6.00 am and continued until 5.00 pm. Daily temperatures often reached 41 degrees and the group set about their tasks with courage and determination.

Little in the girls’ A level studies prepared them for the daily rota of work which included rebarring in preparation for foundations, learning to operate a cement mixer, digging and draining fencing holes. The team found their special skills lay in step building and they would go on to complete four sets of front door steps for houses.

The team forged a special rapport with each other and established a close relationship with the Romanian families who would move into the completed houses. Over the course of nine tough days of manual labour, the group found the time to share stories with the locals and to appreciate at first hand the importance of the work of charities such as Habitat for Humanity.

The group would like to thank the entire school community for helping in their fundraising which allowed the girls to convert their efforts into brick and mortar which will provide a permanent legacy of their time and talents. In a special way the group would also like to thank Fr Raymond, our school chaplain, for inspiring the trip and for his constant support for their endeavours and to Adi, the Habitat leader in Romania, who helped the group at all stages of their mission. 
 
 
 

Libraries Give Us Power..
Year 13 Library Monitors

Congratulations to our nineteen Lower Sixth pupils who have been chosen as library monitors this year. The pupils received their badges at assembly today and will commence their work in the library this week.

The monitors will be on duty over break time and lunch time and will allow the library to be open for pupils for extended periods. These pupils have also volunteered to help with the many extra-curricular activities that run in the library during and after school and to support the work of our librarian, Mrs Davies.

The Accelerated Reader club will meet in the library each and every Tuesday lunchtime, Wednesdays will see the library chess club meet and Ms Smyth’s Book Club will convene on Thursday lunchtimes.
We strongly recommend that all our pupils avail of the wonderful resource that is our school library and we pay tribute to the superb work done by Mrs Davies and her library monitors.
Well done to the following L6 pupils pictured with Mrs Davies:

Peter Mitchell
Jordan O’Donnell
Rabann Makepeace
Joseph Patterson
Sam Purnell
Anna lagan
Hannah McAleenon
Abigail McGarel
Abbie McIntyre
Caitlin Mitchell
Jack Herald
Colum Lynch
Lavinia Eakin
Olivia Ingamells
Julia Caulfield
Natasha Boorman
Anna Lagan
Hannah McAleenon 

Caring begins at home for Dominican Students.

Just before the summer Madelayne Court, a local care home in Portstewart contacted the school to see if any of our lower sixth pupils would volunteer to help paint a selection of fences and some interior walls to help provide stimulation and relaxation for the Dementia residents.

Our school was delighted to answer the call a team of Lower Sixth pupils, including AS Art students and Eco Club members, under the Guidance of Ms Smyth the chance to support this most worthwhile initiative. The project allowed some of our John Paul II pupils the chance to reach out to the local community and to improve the lives of others by giving up their free time to help paint images for the care home.

Erin Melville and Joslyn Smyth co-ordinated the entire project and took responsibility for liaising between the other pupils and the care home. The whole project lasted roughly a month and pupils were working on their artwork three days a week.

The Care Home were so impressed that they entered into a Competition to compete amongst other Runwood Care Homes for the title of “best kept care home”.

Pupils also commented on how the Madelayne Court residents would request to be wheeled around to watch the students work and to chat to them as they painted. Below are photos of the bus stop the pupils painted inside the home to stimulate memories and of the nature wall to brighten the view of the residents.


Well done to the following group of students for their commitment to this project:

Erin Melville
Caitlin Porter
Joslyn Smyth
Catie Cairns
Aimee Semple
Orla Tracy
Lauren McCleneghan
Caolan Keenan
Heidi Archibald
Rachel McMillan
Jessica McGarrell
Faye Deering