Secondary school aims to raise €80,000 from car raffle
Roberto Lopes (Shamrock Rovers), Christina McGinty (Thomas Davis), Zak Moradi (Tallaght Person of The Year), Siobhan McGrath (Thomas Davis), Shane McGrath (Thomas Davis), Cian Murphy (Dublin player) and (front) Adam Karim (Fair City) with Jay McClelland (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Secondary school aims to raise €80,000 from car raffle

A SECONDARY school is raffling off a new car in a bid to raise some €80,000 to help develop an all-weather Astro facility and turn their “dream into reality”.

Old Bawn Community School has launched its Monster Car Raffle to raise funds for an Astro turf pitch to help uphold its longstanding traditions of providing sport to its students.

The biggest post-primary school in Dublin 24, with 1,014 registered students, the school prides itself on catering for “diverse needs, hobbies, and co-curricular interests”.

At present, the school has a sports hall and no outdoor facilities for training.

Therefore, students are confined to a small area to play sport at lunchtime and do so on a tarmac surface in front of the school.

Edde Quigley, Simona Leitnerova, Sarah Whelan and Eoin Casey

“It is entirely inadequate and unsafe for our students who enjoy sport or playing at breaktime in our school,” Old Bawn CS principal, Ursula McCabe said.

“We can never invite teams to school to play matches.

We always have to travel. “We have nowhere for football or any other training after school. We look at the vast pitches that other schools have in the area, and we are letting down our students.”

As a Microsoft Showcase school, the school is considered “leaders in digital teaching and learning in the country” but want to also put an emphasis on taking care of students’ holistic needs.

Sarah Mullen, Maura O’Connor and Amanda Breegan

As a result of the inadequate existing space, the school and the board of management launched a fundraising campaign on Tuesday, April 18, to build an Astro pitch on a car park in the school.

Plans for the Astro comprise of two five-a-side pitches and a bigger pitch, a walking track around it, and the existing basketball hoops will be moved, and tennis markings put down.

Fencing and gates will be erected to keep it secure, and there is a long-term plan to obtain planning permission to erect flood lights and make the facility available to the community.

“This takes time, but we feel that we cannot wait any longer to provide a necessary facility for our student’s wellbeing,” Ms McCabe said.

“We know that our school community will get behind us and support this cause.

“We will be reaching out to the Tallaght people also to support our raffle.”

Limited to just 4,995 tickets, the draw will run until the end of June with the goal of having everything ready for September 2023. Tickets cost €25 or five for €100.

The first prize is a Toyota Aygo X, partially sponsored by Tadg Riordan Motors, while the second prize is €3,000 and third prize is a family season ticket for Shamrock Rovers.

Those interested in taking part in the raffle can purchase tickets through www.oldbawncs.ie or by visiting the school in person.

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