Scríobh Leabhar
Pupils from 1st to 6th class were given the opportunity recently to take part in a wonderful project designed to promote reading and writing in Irish among young children. Scríobh Leabher is an initiative which allows primary school children to write, design and bind their own book – as gaeilge. Each and every book designed was wonderful but there could only be one winner from each class. Congratulations to everybody who took part and special congratulations to our winners – Tommy, Donal, AJ, Laoise, Phoebe and Anna. Winning entries are shown below and will appear on the Foras na Gaeilge website in due course.
Engineers Week
We were very busy during Engineers week completing our projects. The task for pupils was to construct a 3D playground design using recyclable materials and as you can see from the photos, there are some fantastic engineers in the making. Pupils in the Junior Room also made windmills and St. Patrick’s Day Decorations.
Thank You
The staff and students of Ballagh NS would like to extend a big thank you to Oliver Walsh and the Westside Equestrian Club for their donation to our school following a recent hunt in the area. We would also like to thank John Lackey from John’s of Doughill for nominating Ballagh NS. We really appreciate your kindness and generosity.
Green Flag Update
We are currently working on our application for our next Green Flag, “Global Citizenship-Litter and
Waste”. Our Green Schools Committee is keeping a watchful eye on the targets in our Action Plan all the
time and a lot of these targets are ongoing.
The school is a hive of activity preparing for our virtual renewal meeting with our local Green School’s
officer on February 23 rd . The school submission is to be uploaded by April 1 st so it’s all shoulders to the
wheel!
In the coming days we plan to have our “Day of Action” where we will weed out our garden plots in
readiness for planting potatoes and onions. Our window boxes and flower beds are going to receive an
injection of colour too as we plan to plant spring flowers such as primroses, hyacinths, crocuses and
tulips. The “Bug Hotel” will also receive a revamp, so that all our creepy crawlies enjoy a 5 Star hotel
experience!
The Junior classes have been making sure our birds are looked after in this frosty weather by making
new bird feeders from recycled materials and checking regularly on bird food supplies.
The Senior classes have been very busy working on interesting projects on the subjects of Global
Citizenship, Global connections, Fair Trade, Recycling of litter/ electrical waste etc… and renewable
energy
Even better, the whole school has come up with a green code which we have decided to compose a
song around. It really helps us remember our Green Code. We hope that everyone will enjoy it.
⚪🔴⚪🔴 Best Wishes to St. Faithleachs ⚪🔴⚪🔴
The Staff and pupils of Ballagh NS would like to wish St. Faithleachs the very best of luck in the All-Ireland Semi-Final on Saturday, 29th January. To mark their wonderful achievement of winning the Connacht Final, we have recorded a little anthem, called The Red and White of Faithleachs. The words of this anthem are written below so please sing along with us. We hope you enjoy our song and our slideshow. .
- Oh the Red and White of Faithleachs, I can see it still,
- It’s rich and pure farmland, it’s tall majestic windmills,
- Where the Shannon kisses Lanesborough, and the waves caress it’s shore,
- Oh the feeling it came over me, to stay forever more, forever more!!!
- From it’s rolling river waters, I can see Sliabh Bán’s peak
- Where one Sunday every summer, the pilgrims climb the reek
- Where the cross in it’s solitude, looked down across Curraghroe
- and with a ringing of Ballagh’s bells, called the faithful there to pray, there to pray..
- Oh take me to Faithleachs pitch, the home of GAA
- It’s players are the best, from the goalie to the forwards,
- and now I must depart, and reality is plain,
- may the time not pass so slowly, before I get playing again, playing again….
- Chorus x 1..
Christmas is coming
Christmas preparations are well underway here in Ballagh NS. Some wonderful artwork resulted in beautifuil festive decorations which will proudly adorn many homes this Christmas. The pupils entertained the staff and fellow pupils with a wonderful Christmas Variety show this week, performed at a social distance. A fundraiser to support the St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal resulted in a generous donation to this worthy charity. And the Parents Association Christmas Raffle was an outstanding success as always and we would like to thank our ticket sellers and everybody who supported this draw. Congratulations to all the prize winners. Finally, from the staff and students at Ballagh NS, we would like to wish you all a safe and relaxing Christmas and a Happy New Year.
