The Board of Management is delighted to hear of the announcement of the progression of the proposed bypass of the village of Slane. The people of Slane have campaigned for a long period of time for this day.

Over 22,000 vehicles travel through the village on a daily basis, and 23 lives have been lost in traffic related accidents in recent years. The volume of traffic is a defining aspect of life in the village for our community and our school.

Despite the challenges it presents, the pupils, families, Parents' Association, Board of Management, staff, and traffic wardens have gone to extraordinary lengths to promote sustainable travel for children to and from school. For a long number of years our Parents' Association has co-ordinated a Bus, Bike or Walk on Wednesdays (BOWOW) initiative each spring.

More recently, our green school committee hosted a Bling Your Bike or Scooter day, when over one hundred children brought bicycles or scooters to school. It is clear that there is an appetite for safer streets for children to travel to and from school on.

In addition, continuous measures have been put in place to increase road safety for pedestrians outside our school gates. Most recently improved safety measures, via painted railings, refurbished speed signs and pencil bollards were installed by Meath County Council. We are indebted to our Parents' Association member and local County Councillor, Wayne Harding, for campaigning for the measures, and to the staff of Meath County Council, including road safety officer, Audrey Norris, for implementing them.

However, the spectre of so much vehicular traffic continues to dominate the local landscape. For the past two years, the pupils have participated in an air quality study with GLOBE (Global Learnings and Observations to Benefit the Environment), collecting data on traffic patterns and carbon dioxide levels. The study findings have shown that St. Patrick's National School has the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide, an air pollutant from vehicle exhausts, for any primary school of our geographic profile in Ireland.

Consequently, our Board of Management published a submission on behalf of the school community to An Bord Pleanala, stating our support for the new enhanced village works and village bypass. Our submission can be read here

In the coming years, we look forward to a better local environment for our children to live, learn and play in.