Enrolment
Ballygar National School are now taking enrolments for September 2018. Please contact the school office on 090-6624951 for further information or call into the school to pick up an enrolment form.
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on twitter for all the latest news, pictures and updates on school events at www.twitter.com/BallygarNS
Refurbishment of Toilets
We are delighted to inform you that all of our bathrooms in the school were totally refurbished during the summer holidays. All sanitary ware was replaced along, new floor covering were put down and walls were all tiled. Refurbishments were funded through a summer works grant which was applied for by our Board of Management. I am sure you will agree that the works have made such a difference.
Ipads
We are delighted to inform you that we have invested in a set of 8 new Ipads. We hope that these Ipads will enhance the children’s learning experiences in our school.
Run Around Europe Challenge
We took part in the Run around Europe challenge. This is a project by Sports Ireland to get children active. Children run an equivalent distance to a city in Europe. We ran laps of our tennis court and added our total distance together. We ran a total of _____km which is the equivalent of running from Dublin to _______. Well done to all those involved.
Hurling and Camogie Teams meet Liam!!
Our hurling and camogie teams met Liam at the relaunch of Centra in Ballygar. The cup was accompanied by Galway Hulring stars and All Ireland Winners, Gearoid McInerney, Simon Thomas and Diarmaid O Brien. Congratulations to Ollie and the Holmes family and wishing them every success with their newly refurbished store. The Homles’ have provided great support to our football and hurling teams throughout the years and generously sponsored our most recent set of school jerseys.
Cultural Day
Our 5th/6th Class took part in the celebrations of Cultural day in Ballygar on 22nd September. Louise Houlihan carried out a workshop with . During the workshop they looked at a number of things including identity, place, and diversity. They mapped the town of Ballygar and discussed their favourite places/amenities in Ballygar and the amenities and services they would like to see in the future. They then went out and about and visited their favourite places int the town. They split up into groups and used our new ipads to take photographs of their groups in their favourtie places in Ballygar. They were very creative with our poses when it came to taking the photographs. A special thanks to Louise for organising the workshop.
Vegetable Garden Harvest
Our 5th/6th class harvested the vegetable that they had planted in our vegetable garden last Spring. They harvested carrots, parsnips and lettuce. They made delicious soup for the whole school with their harvested vegetables.
Maroon and White Day
We had a maroon and white day on 1st of September in support of the Galway hurling minor and senior teams. We had a special visit from Philip Coleman and his ‘Galway car.’ Thanks to the Philip for bringing the car to our school. We would like to congratulate both the Senior and Minor teams for their fantastic success! We would especially like to congratulate Simon Thomas, one of the players on the minor team, a past pupil of our school. Well done Simon, we are so proud of you!!
Booklists
Please click on links below to find booklists for the coming school year.
Junior Infant Booklist 2017-2018
Senior Infant Booklist 2017-2018
Our New School Crest
On Tuesday 27th June we had a wonderful celebration that will go down in the history of Ballygar N.S. We are delighted to be able to finally reveal our school crest. We were honoured to have Galway footballer and former Galway Capt
ain Paul Conroy here to reveal our crest and we had a lovely celebration afterwards and a visit from an ice-cream van. A lot of hard work has gone in to designing this school crest. We started the process in January where we sought the views and opinions of our pupils and what Ballygar N.S. meant to them. The children then all had the opportunity to design a crest. The designs and ideas that were created were all fantastic which made it extremely difficult to pick just one design so we choose aspects of different children’s designs and put them together to make one crest. A past pupil Stephanie Moran who has a background in graphic design put all of the ideas together and digitally designed our crest. Thank you Stephanie for all your hard work in digitally designing our crest and well done to all the boys and girls who contributed to the crest.
To find out the meaning behind our school crest click here:
http://ballygarns.ie/our-school-crest-2/
Sports Day
Some pictures from our sports day.
School Tours
Some pictures from our Infants to 2nd class tour to Graune pet farm
Some pictures from our 3rd-6th class tour to Lilliput.
Runners ups
Well done to our school hurling team who reached the Cumann na mBunscol finals in Loughgeorge on 13th June. The boys showed how skilful they were in what was a wonderful display of hurling. Unfortunately they were beaten by Castlegar on the day. It is a fantastic achievement as it our third year in a row to reach the finals!!! Well done to all involved and to Mr. Naughton their coach.
Traffic Warden Winners
Well done to the school traffic wardens who won the Junior Warden Competition in Mountbellew on 18th May. Representing our school this year was Millie Holmes, Eábha Conroy, Éabha McArdle, Cormac O’Malley, Shauna Carty, John Calligy, Julia Krzak and Cathal Bury. They did a terrific job representing our school! A special thank you to all the boys and girls who were involved in the warden programme this year. 17 pupils in total. They play a important role in ensuring the safety of their fellow pupils when crossing the road at home time. A special thank you also to Garda Pat Regan and Mrs. Watson for all of their hard work putting all of our wardens through their paces this year
Window Boxes
This year we linked up with tidy towns. A group of child
ren were involved in making the lovely window boxes which you can see on display at the front of the school. A big thank you to Pat McDonagh and Maura Fitzmaurice who came in to help the children make the window boxes. I am sure you will agree they really add to aesthetics of our school.
Vegetable Patch
In association with tidy towns we also set up a vegetable patch in our school this month. We planted carrots, lettuce, turnip, peas and even pumpkins. Thank you to all those in tidy towns who helped prepare our vegetable garden. We can’t wait to harvest them when we return to school in September.
Field Trip to Aghrane Forest
5th/6th class went on a Geography field trip to Aghrane forest. They learnt how to follow and read a map and explored a number of geographical features such as depressions, pits, ringforts etc. They then put their map reading skills to the test and completed an orienteering trail in pairs in the forest. A very enjoyable and educational day was had by all!
Internet Safety Talk
On Thursday 11th May, our 3rd-6th class pupils took part in a Cyber Bullying and internet safety workshop. This workshop was delivered by Jeremy Pagden, the Managing Director of Schools Websites. In today’s rich environment it is vital that children are equip with skills to deal with cyber bullying and to dangers they may encounter on the internet. The children learnt about cyberbullying, the potential dangers associated with the internet including encountering dangerous people (people with fake accounts), social media and free apps which can sell on personal information and pictures, rules for posting to the internet. The topics were covered extremely relevant and were dealt with in a sensitive manner. We hope that this workshop will highlight the dangers and potential risks that children can encounter when using the internet and empower them to make better choices to keep themselves safe while using the different technologies available to the,
It is equally important that parents know what their children are experiencing when they use the internet. Technology has come along way since we were in school and most of us often feel woefully inadequate when it comes to keeping up to date when the latest technology. It is therefore important that as adults and parents, we are educated and know the potential risk that exist for our children on the internet, mobile phones and tablets. As a result an internet safety talk for parents was held in the Mattie McDonagh Centre on 11th May. This talk was also delivered by Jeremy Pagden, Managing Director of Schools Websites. Topics covered included cyberbullying, sexual predators and fake personas, dealing with inappropriate content, reputation damage, types of internet theft, safety settings on your home wifi, browser history, safe use of apps, social media issues and challenges, email scams, safe searching on You Tube, the Dark Web.
The link below is an information leaflet for parents about internet safety
Internet safety handout for parents
First Holy Communion
A big congratulations to 2nd class who received their First Holy Communion on Saturday May 13th in St Mary’s Church, Ballygar.
Confirmation
Congratulation to 6th class pupils who made their Confirmation in St Mary’s Church, Ballygar on March 22nd.
10 at 10
The whole school took part in 10 at 10 on Friday 10th February. This initative was promoted by Operation Transformation and encouraged primary school in Ireland to get moving for 10 minutes of exercise at 10am on 10th February. We had great fun taking part in circuits which was led by the pupil sin 5th/6th class completed lots of different exercises at each circuit.
Lunchtime League
Round 2 of our lunchtime league for 3rd-6th class is in full swing. This time the children are taking part in a Gaelic football league which is played weekly during lunchtime on Thursdays. The children are once again very excited and enthusiastic about the league. Thank you to Mr. Fahy for organising the league.
Confirmation Retreat
6th class had a fun filled action packed day in Knock on Monday 13th February for their confirmation retreat. This was part of their preparations for receiving the sacrament of Confirmation which they will receive on 22nd March 2017.
Grandparents Day 2017
As part of Catholic Schools Week, we held a very successful Grandparents Day on Friday 3rd February. It was marvellous to welcome the huge amount of Grandparents who spent the afternoon with us. Our 6th class ambassadors were on hand to welcome the grandparents as they arrived. All of the classes put on a special performance for the Grandparents. Ms Glennon’s class performed a lovely poem called ‘My Gingerbread House’. Mrs Watson’s classes performed beautifully, ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’.This was followed by Ms Hanley’s classes singing ‘Photograph’ and finally Ms Flaherty’s 5th and 6th class playing a tune on the tin whistle which was followed by a beautiful rendition of ‘Grace’. The celebrations concluded with a prayer service which was led by 5th and 6th class.
A special thank you to some of our parents who served tea, coffee and lovely cakes to the grandparents. All our pupils prepared gifts to show their grandparents how much they mean to them.
Grandparents Day has become a feature of our school calendar now and we celebrate it every year during catholic schools week. We are already looking forward to next year.
Soccer Blitz
Our 5th/6th class took part in a soccer blitz organised by Mr. Curran and the Transitions years in Coláiste Mhuire on 29th January. Thank you to Mr. Curran and to the Transition years for organising a fantastic day. We are already looking forward to next year.
Attendance Awards
We recognise the importance of good attendance at Ballygar N.S. Children were awarded for good attendance on the day of the Christmas holidays. So many boys and girls have excellent attendance in our school and alot have not missed any days of school this year so far. Well done and we hope you all keep it up!
Santa’s Visit
Once again Santa took time from his very busy schedule to visit the girls and boys at Ballygar National School. He arrived in style in a boat along with his elf to help him. The children were so excited to see him and gave him a great big welcome. He went to each classroom where he gave them all treats and each classroom sang a song. He was very impressed with their beautiful singing.
Christmas Carol Service
We held our annual Carol Service on Tuesday 20th Dec 2016 in St. Mary’s Church, Ballygar. It began with a beautiful performance by some of the 5th and 6th class pupils who played Joy to the World on tin whistle, chime bars and violin. This was followed by prayers and reflections to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. The 5th and 6th class children also acted our the story of the nativity.
All the children for infants to 6th class then sung a number of well known Christmas carols with great passion. They sang beautiful renditions of O Come All ye Faithful, Westminster Carol, The First Noel, Silent Night, Mary’s Boy Child and Away in a Manger.
Well done to all the pupils (and teachers!!) who took part.
Credit Union Art Competition
Congratulations to Mashal Khan 3rd class, who came first place in his category for the 2016 Credit Union Art Competition. Mashal also went on to the regional rounds of the competition winning yet another prize for second place. The theme for 2016 was ‘Dreams are made of this…….’. Mashal created a beautiful picture of all that he dreams of having one day. He focused on the simple things in life that we all should treasure. This was a huge acheivement and we are all very proud of you. Congratulations again Mashal and well done!
Science Week
All classes were very busy throughout science week this year (November 13-20th).
A huge variety of experiments were undertaken by the boys and girls during the week.
On Tuesday the 14th of November, in association with NUIG and Galway Science, we had a visit from the ‘Mad Scientist.’ We learnt all about air and air pressure and had lots of fun helping him to conduct lots of very cool experiments during his Science show. We even made a hovercraft and some of us were very lucky to get to try it out.
Everyone had great fun participating in Science Week. We are already looking forward to next year!!!
Christmas Shoebox Appeal
We took part in the annual Christmas shoebox appeal this year. Over the years we have been hugely fortunate to have tremendous support from parents and students in promoting this hugely worthy cause. This year proved to be no exception as we had a huge donation of shoeboxes (65 in total) which were collected from our school for Team Hope Ireland. We know that these small gifts will make a massive difference in the lives of the children that are less fortunate than ourselves. We would like to say a big thank you to all the families that supported this undertaking.
Halloween
Maths Week 2016
Last week, 17th – 21st October all our pupils participated in a range of activities for National Maths Week.
Ms. Hanley set up a Halloween Themed Maths Week Board outside the office which proved to be quite the hit. There were a number of maths problems of the board. All pupils were encouraged to answer each of the questions throughout maths week and record their answers on the answer sheets provided. All correct answer sheets were entered into a draw on Friday. Well done to Harry Holmes who answered all 12 questions correctly.
All classes participated in a maths trail around the school. They went ‘out and about’ to solve maths problems in our school environment.
We also held a ‘Guess How Many Sweets Are In The Jar’ competition, which proved to be one of the star attractions of Maths Week. We had some wide ranging guesses from the students. Well done to Julia Krzak in Ms Flaherty’s class who had the closest guess to the correct answer.
All pupils made a special effort during maths all week. Based on these efforts one pupil from each class was chosen as Mathlete of the Week. Well done to Isabelle Mulrooney, Sara Pietrick, Pat Corcoran, Alyssa Galvin, Ekramullah Jan, Julie Ann Fahy, Cathal Bury and Shauna Carty who were are Mathletes of the Week.
Here are some pictures of us completing our maths trails
Lunchtime League
Mr. Fahy has set up a Multi Sport Lunchtime league for all the children in 3rd-6th class. Throughout the year the teams will be battling it out to be crowned league champions in a number of different sports (soccer, Gaelic football, hurling/camogie). The children have been divided into 6 teams. The first league is a soccer league. The first round began last Friday and subsequent rounds will be played weekly during lunchtime on Thursdays and Fridays. The children are very excited and enthusiastic about the league. Thank you to Mr. Fahy for organising the league.
Ballygar Enterprise Towns Competition Winners
This year we once again took part in Ballygar Enterprise Towns exhibition in the Mattie McDonagh Centre on Friday 14th October. This was a community event organised by Bank of Ireland which was aimed at raising awareness about local businesses, clubs and schools in the community. As part of this event, each school was required to display one piece of artwork based on our community. Eábha Conroy one of our 6th class students designed and created a collage of some of important buildings in our community. Look at the picture below to see Eábha’s outstanding creation. The standard across all of the local schools who participated was very high. Mickey Harte Tyrone Football Manager was the judge on the day. We were extremely proud to win the competition and won our first tablet for the school.
Well done Eábha and thank you to Ms. Watson for co-ordinating the project.
Food Dudes Programme
This term we participated in the Food Dudes Healthy eating programme. This programme aims to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables and to come to enjoy the taste of the foods at school and at home.
During phase one of this programme one portion of fruit and one portion of vegetables were provided to the children every day (fruit includes bananas, apples, grapes, oranges. Vegetables include peppers, carrots, cucumber). The children were encouraged to try both fruit and vegetables and were rewarded with great prizes for their efforts. There were two levels of participation in the programme within the school: junior classes and senior classes. Pupils in junior classes were offered the opportunity to participate for 16 days, while those in senior classes were offered the opportunity to participate for 8 days.
To date the children have made a terrific effort and have been rewarded with lots of cool prizes. We hope they will continue in their efforts and win lots of more great prizes!
We have now entered the second phase of the programme. During this phase the children are encouraged to bring in fruit and vegetables as part of their lunch. The children have been provided with lunchbox to bring in fruit and vegetables and will be rewarded with certificates for bringing in fruit and vegetables for their lunch.
Food Dudes was originally developed by the University of Wales, Bangor, to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables both in school and at home. It is now managed by Bord Bia and is funded by Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the EU. It is based on positive role models (the Food Dudes characters), repeated tasting and rewards.
The Annual Christmas Puppet Show
On Wednesday 7th December the Junior and Senior Infants attended The Annual Christmas Puppet Show, Magic Show and Disco in the Mattie McDonagh Centre, Ballygar. This show was hosted by The Ballygar Parent & Toddler Group. They all had great fun taking part in all the activities and also enjoyed meeting the children from other schools.
Welcome
Welcome back to everyone. We hope you had a lovely restful summer and are ready for the new school year. In particular, we want to welcome all of the Junior Infants who have joined our school. They are all settling in very well and coming to grips with being in “big school”!
Booklists for Next Year.
Click on the links below to download booklists for School year 2016/17
End of Year Video
We have had a very busy school year. Here is a short video which will give you a glimpse of the rich and varied school life here in Ballygar N.S.
Science and Maths Award of Excellence
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Discover Primary Science and Maths Award of excellence.
Discover Primary Science (DPS) is the national programme designed to foster interest in science and engineering among children in primary schools.
Participating schools carry out a range of science activities in the classroom and are also encouraged to undertake additional explorative activities and projects in the area of technology, engineering and maths. Throughout the year, our pupils worked hard and carried out various experiments and investigations such as making light spinners, gravity investigations, cleaning water by filtration, floating and sinking, dancing raisins and many more. They made and designed bird feeders, boats, bridges and parachutes. We also incorporated maths into our work measuring and recording results.
Well done to all involved, all of your hard work really paid off.
County Champions
Well done to our school hurling team who were crowned Cumann na mBunscol champions in Loughgeorge on 9th June. They bet off stiff competition from Kilglass N.S. and had a one point victory in what proved to be a very exciting final. This is a fantastic achievement as it is our 3rd hurling county title in 4 years. Well done to all involved and to Mr. Naughton their coach.
Awards
This year we held an ‘Awards Day’ to acknowledge the hard work and good behaviour of some of our pupils. Choosing the award winners was extremely tough as there are many boys and girls in each class whose efforts and achievements this year deserve to be acknowledged. Prizes were awarded for ‘Pupil of the Year’ and ‘Special Recognition’.
Awards are as follows:
Miss King’s Junior infant pupil of the year – Simone Carty
Miss King’s Senior infants pupil of the year- Amelia Lopatka
Miss King’s Special Recognition – Patrky Zwierczyk
Mrs. Watson’s 1st class pupil of the year- Adam Naughton
Mrs. Watson’s 2nd Class pupil of the year- Tiernan Keegan
Mrs Watson’s Special Recognition – Klaudia Ozga
Ms. Watson’s 3rd class pupil of the year- Aoife Kelly
Ms. Watson’s 4th Class pupil of the year- Cassie Gately
Miss Watson’s Special Recognition – Kacper Krystoforski
Miss Flaherty’s 5th class pupil of the year- Shauna Carty
Miss Flaherty’s 6th Class pupil of the year- Ciara Mulrooney
Miss Flaherty’s Special Recognition –Edward Kilheeney
Attendance Award- Cathal Bury. Cathal has not missed a single day all year.
Well done to everyone and we are already looking forward to next year.
Galway’s Bid to be European Capital of Culture 2020.
Sheila Flanagan and Claudia Keegan visited the school on Wednesday 8th June and conducted a art workshop with 1st/2nd and 5th/6th class. This was in conjunction with Galways bid to be the European Capital of Culture in 2020. Ballygar was chosen to be part of a pilot project. As part of this project Sheila and Claudia showed the children the old craft of sugan rope making. All of the children played their part in making sugan rope. They also made hay figures. Their hay figures and rope will be displayed at the Ballygar carnival this summer.
Sports Marathon
On Friday 27th May we held a Sports Marathon fundraiser in order to raise money for our school. Throughout the course of the day, all of our pupils took part in a wide variety of sporting activities. Activities included football, hurling, basketball, rounders uni-hoc, tag rugby, obstacle courses, parachute activities, athletics activities, orienteering, playground games and much more. We would like to thank all those who sponsored the children and our parents for their continued support. It was certainly a fun filled action packed day and was enjoyed by all.
Cumann na mBunscol Hurling Success
Our hurling team took part in the annual Cumann na mBunscol hurling blitz last Monday 30th May. The boys (and girls) did extremely well fighting off stiff competition from Ballaghlea and Woodfood and earned themselves a place in the Finals in Loughgeorge on 9th June. Well done and good luck in the finals.
Runners Up
Well done to the school traffic wardens who were runners up in the Warden Competition in Moylough on 19th May. They did a terrific job representing our school and were runners ups. A special thank you to all the boys and girls who were involved in the warden programme this year. 20 pupils in total. They play a important role in ensuring the safety of their fellow pupils when crossing the road at home time. A special thank you also to Garda Pat Regan and Mrs. Watson for all of their hard work putting all of our wardens through their paces this year.
Communion Class
Well done to our second class who made their First Holy Communion on 14th May.
Confirmation Class
Congratulations to our 6th class pupils who made their Confirmation on 12th April. 
Ballygar 1916 Commemorative Event
Along with 3 other local schools, Mount Talbot, Ballaghlea and Colaiste Mhuire, our school took part in the Ballygar community 1916 celebrations on Sunday 24th April. All four schools worked very hard to put together a short performance which included song, drama and poetry which they performed in the Mattie McDonagh Centre for everyone on the day.
A great day was had by all. Everyone really got into the spirit and dressed up in fancy dress for the occasion. Well done to all those children who took part.
Community Games Winners
Well done to all of our pupils who won the community games art and handwriting competition.
The winners are as follows.
U-10 Boys Handwriting:
Tiernan (1st Place), Hayden (2nd Place), Harry(3rd Place) and Myle (4th place)
U-10 Girls Handwriting
Kladia (2nd Place) and Caoimhe ( 3rd place)
U-12 Girls Handwriting
Millie(1st place) and Shauna (4th place)
U-10 boys Art
Tiernan (1st), Marshal (3rd) and Dawid (4th)
U-12 girls Art
Eabha (2nd), Julia (3rd) and Shauna (4th)
U-14 boys Art
Gerard (1st) and Cormac (3rd)
Proclamation Day
On March 15th 2016, the staff and 
pupils of Ballygar NS celebrated Proclamation Day as part of the 1916 celebrations. The celebration took place at 1pm outside in the school grounds on what was a beautiful spring day. Parents, grandparents and family members of the children were in attendance.
One of our very talented students Shauna opened the ceremony playing the violin. Mártín Ó Cinnéide spoke about the local significance of 1916 in Ballygar. Two of our teachers here in the school have very close links to the Easter Rising. Both Ms. Mannion’s and Ms. Hanley’s grandfathers were both involved in the rising. Ms. Mannion spoke about both Grandfather’s involement.
Members of 3rd/ and 4th class then read out the poem ‘The Mother’ which was written by Padraig Pearse. It reminded us that although the rising was a time of great pride and joy, it was also a time of great sadness for many families who lost a loved one.
Some of our fifth and sixth class shared their Proclamation, which they wrote as part of the ‘Proclamation 
for a New Generation’ initiative. It detailed their hopes and aspirations for the future.
Finally Patryk and Siabhe were then called upon to raise the tricolour, which was then followed by the singing and playing of Amhrán na bhFiann.
Over the last few months the children have been learning all about 1916. The pupils from 3rd to 6th class completed lovely projects based on what they had learnt. These were on display for all to see on the day.
A lovely day was had by all. Thank you to all the parents and families who attended the celebration.
Ready Set Go Maths
As part of school self evaluation in the area of numeracy, we have introduced a new numeracy programme ‘Ready, Set Go maths’ into our school. For the last number of weeks our infants have been taking part in the programme. Ready, Set Go is an activity based maths learning programme, designed to develop children’s number sense in a fun and stimulating environment. This programme takes a very hands on approach to learning mathematical concepts and the children will explore concepts such as sorting, pattern, counting and understanding Number using concrete materials in small groups. Every day Ms. Hanley and Mr. Crowe go into the Junior and Senior Infants to work with the children and Ms. King. The children work in small groups at stations and complete different activities at each station. The activities generally involve working with concrete materials and playing games and the main focus is on discovery learning, and developing language for children to describe the process used. The children are very enthusiastic and love Maths time! Here are some pictures of the children working in their maths groups.
East Galway Champions
On Wednesday 2nd M
arch, our boys soccer team took part in the FAI East Galway 5 a side competition. We bet off stiff competition from Kilglass, Drim and Garrafaun . This now qualifies us for a place in the Galway finals which will take place next month.
Well done to our girls soccer team who also competed in the FAI 
East Galway league on Friday 11th March. The girls did extremely well on the day and narrowly missed out on a place in the Galway finals. Well done to all involved and to Mr. Crowe who has been giving up his lunch times to train both teams.
Engineers Week
We have been working very hard all year towards being awarded an SFI Discover Science and Maths Award of excellence. As part of our drive, we had a special visit from Engineer Damien Cunningham during Engineers Week on 5th Friday March. Damien spoke to the children from 3rd-6th class about the different kinds of engineering and how examples of engineering are visible all around us. The pupils really enjoyed his visit and came up with a range of inventions that they would like to see in the future. Thank you to Mr. Crowe for organizing this visit.
Bernard Dunne
We had a very special visit from Bernard Dunne on Monday 29th February. Bernard Dunne is a former boxing World Champion and is now involved in coaching the current All Ireland football Champions, Dublin. Bernard spoke to the children about his boxing career, the importance of a healthy diet and exercise. He gave a motivational talk to our senior classes which he emphasised the importance of following your dreams and never giving up. We feel very privileged that Bernard took time out of his busy schedule to travel down from Dublin to visit our school. Here are some pictures of Bernard’s visit.
P.E
All classes are now going to the Mattie McDonagh Centre once a week for P.E.
Grandparents Day
As part of Catholic Schools Week, we held a Grandparents Day on Friday 5th of February. We invited all grandparents to spend the afternoon in our school. This is the second time we have held such an event in our school. We were overwhelmed by the amount of grandparents who visited our school to celebrate this day with us.
Our 6th class ambassadors we at hand to welcome the grandparents as they arrived. All of our classes prepared a special treat for the grandparents. Ms. Kings class performed a lovely poem with actions for the grandparents entitled ‘I’m growing’. Mrs. Watson’s 1st/2nd class entertained everyone with an action song led by Tiernan. This was followed by a performance of ‘More than many sparrows’ by 3rd/4th class. Our 5th/6th class played ‘Galway Shawl’ on their tinwhistles for the grandparents and were delighted when some of the grandparents started singing along. Our Grandparents day celebrations concluded with a prayer service which was led by 5th and 6th class.
A special thank you to some of our parents who served tea, coffee and some yummy treats to the grandparents during their visit.
All of our pupils prepared gifts to show their grandparents how much they mean to them. The atmosphere in the school that day was amazing and the grandparents definitely knew how much they were loved and valued.
Grandparents’ Day has become a feature of our school calendar now and we celebrate it every year during Catholic Schools’ Week. We are already looking forward to next year
Catholic Schools Week
All classes celebrated Catholic School Week from 31st January to 6th February. The theme for Catholic Schools Week this year is Catholic Schools: Challenged to Proclaim God’s Mercy.
During Catholic Schools Week, Each day during this week, the children participated in a less based on this theme. They explored how they can be the face of God’s mercy in our classrooms, the playground, our school, our families and our community.
Drama Workshop
Tony Daly from Backstage Ireland Academy of Performing Arts completed a drama workshop with our senior classes on Thursday 21st January. The children had great fun taking part in a variety of fun drama games, and improvisations. Backstage is recognised around Ireland for its performing arts work with young people and have worked with Niall Horan from One Direction and their students have also appeared on television programmes such as ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Moone Boy.’
Soccer Tournament
On 20th January, our 5th and 6th classes took part in a 6 a side soccer tournament organised by Coláiste Mhuire in the Matte McDonagh Centre. We entered two teams into the competition and competed against a number of local primary schools including Ballyforan, Creggs, Ballaghlea, Mount Talbot, Fuerty. We did extremely well and reached the semi-final, narrowly missing a place in a final. A great day was had by all. A special thank you to Ms. O Malley, Mr. Curran and to the transitions years for organising the tournament.
Santa Arrives in Style
Santa made sure that the bad flooding this year did not affect his visit to Ballygar National School. He left the sleigh at home in the North Pole and arrived in a boat instead. The children were very excited to see Santa and gave him a great welcome. Santa brought some treats for all the girls and boys.
Christmas Carol Service
On Thursday 17th December, we held our annual carol service in St. Mary’s Church. The service began with a beautiful performance be some of our 5th and 6th class pupils who played ‘Joy to the World’ on the tin whistle, violin and chime bars. This was followed by some prayers and reflections to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. Our 5th and 6th class pupils also acted out the story of the nativity.
All children from infants to 6th class then sung a number of well known Christmas carols with great passion. They sang beautiful renditions of O Come All ye Faithful, O Holy Night, Silent Night, Westminster Carol, The First Noel, Away in a Manger before a lively upbeat version of Mary’s Boy Child.
Well done to all the pupils (and teachers!!) who took part.
A great night was had by all and we are already looking forward to next year.
” width=”500″ height=”300″]Fire Safety Talk
On Monday 14th December, Noel O’ Brien visited our 3rd and 4th class to speak to the children about fire safety. During this workshop the children learnt about the different ways they can stay safe both at home and in the local community. Fire safety is an important topic especially during this festive season. This visit was organised as part of our expansive Social, Personal and Health Education curriculum which allows our students many opportunities to explore various ways of keeping themselves safe in various different circumstances.
Christmas Shoebox Appeal
This term we have been promoting our annual Christmas Shoebox appeal. Over the years we have been hugely fortunate to have tremendous support from parents and students in promoting this hugely worthy cause. This year proved to be no exception as we had a huge donation of shoeboxes (66 in total) which were collected from our school for Team Hope Ireland. We know that these small gifts will make a massive difference in the lives of the children that are less fortunate than ourselves. We would like to say a big thank you to all the families that supported this undertaking.
Infant Puppet Show
Our infants attended a variety show and enjoyed a great afternoon of entertainment in the Mattie McDonagh Centre on Wednesday 9th December. First of all they participated in a sing-a-long and they all got into the spirit and showed off their dance moves. This was followed by a magic show. Niall Dowd was chosen as the magicians assisant and helped the magican perform a number of tricks. Finally the children were entertained by characters Granny Annie, Boris and the Wizard in a puppet show.
Thank you to the Parents and Toddlers group who organised the show for the children.
Orphanage Presentation
Peter Daly visited 3rd-6th class on Friday 4th December. Last year the children had a non-uniform day in order to raise money to improve the facilities for the children attending the orphanage in Vorontsovo, Russia. Peter showed the children pictures of the projects which their generous donations went towards. He also spoke to them about life in the orphanage and the living conditions which these children were living in prior to the project.
Enterprise Town Exhibition
Bank of Ireland held an ‘Enterprise Town’ exhibition in the Mattie McDonagh Centre on Saturday 28th November. This was a community event which was aimed at raising awareness about local businesses, clubs and schools in the community. As part of this event, the Bank held a photograph competition in which children were asked to take a photograph based on the theme of ‘My Community.’ All entries were displayed in the Mattie McDonagh Centre. Well done to everyone who entered a photograph. The standard across all of the local schools who participated was very high. We were extremely proud on the day as we won all 3
categories. Well done to our winners
- Megan Gately- Category A (infants),
- Hayden Naughton – Category B (1st-3rd Class)
- Zuzanna Kubien – Category C (4th-6th Class)
Here are some pictures of our displays in the Mattie McDonagh Centre. Thank you to Ms. Hanley for coordinating the project
National Science Week
All classes were very busy throughout science week this year (November 8th-15th).
A huge variety of experiments were undertaken by the boys and girls during the week. Our infant classes for example explored floating and sinking, while our senior classes investigated chromatography- the process of separating coloured inks.
On Friday the 13th of November, in association with NUIG and Galway Science, Ms. Jane McLoughlin visited our school and conducted a number of science workshops with all children from 1st-6th class. The children took part in various scientific experiments including making gloop, magical marbles, floating balls, the lazy coin, making a hovercraft and designing a boat fit for passengers.
Everyone had great fun participating in Science Week and can’t wait for next year!
Watch this short video to see pictures of the children participating in Science Week.
Author’s Visit
All children from 2nd-6th class visited the library for a story telling session last Thursday 15th October. They met with Author Gerard Siggins who spoke to the children about the process of writing. Gerard Siggins has written a number of children’s books including Rugby Spirit, Rugby Warrior and Rugby Rebel. He spoke to the children about his children’s books and how he came up with the ideas for his stories.
School Wardens
School Wardens
Our school traffic wardens are back up and running once again this year. We currently have two 6th class teams.
Teams are as follows:
Team A: Rachel McConn, Seamus Langan, Alanna Healy, Ciara Mulrooney, Brian Kelly, and Sara Mrozek.
Team B: James Connelly, Gerard Calligy, Patryk Ligeza, Ola Pyclik, Emilia Mrowiec, Edward Kilheeney and Zuzanna Kubien.
5th class are currently in training and we are hoping to have a 3rd team up and running soon. A special word of thanks to Pat Regan who trains the teams and puts them through their paces and to Mrs. Watson who accompanies the teams each evening.
Sports News
Mini 7’s
The first round of the Cumann na mBunscol Mini 7’s boys hurling competition took place on Thursday 15th October. The boys did extremely well. They bet off stiff competition from Mountbellow, Cappataggle and Moylough and came out on top of their group on the day. This qualified them for a spot in the finals on Thursday 22nd October. The boys did extremely well on finals day beating Oranmore B.N.S. and Carnmore N.S. They narrowly missed out on being crowned group winners loosing only one match to…….
This years panel consists of Seamus Langan, Brian Kelly, Gerard Calligy, James Connelly, Edward Kilheeney,John Calligy, Cormac O Malley, Harry O Sullivan, Harry Holmes and Anthony Naughton. Well done to all involved.
A special thank you to Mr. Naughton who returned to coach the boys this year and to Ms. Hanley for assisting Mr. Naughton on the day of the competition.
National Maths Week
From 12th – 16th October all our pupils participated in a range of activities for National Maths Week. All pupils made a special effort during maths all week. Based on these efforts one pupil from each class was chosen as Mathlete of the Week. Well done to Riain Healy, Salman Khan, Eoghan Conroy, Hayden Naughton, Evan Doyle, Cassie Gately, Jonathon Dowd, Éabha McArdle and Sara Mrozek who were our Mathletes of the Week.
On Friday 3rd and 4th class took part in a maths trail around the school grounds. They went ‘out and about’ in search of 2D shapes in our school surroundings. 5th and 6th class competed in a Maths Table Quiz on Friday. They also conducted surveys in the other classes and constructed multiple bar charts illustrating their results in groups.
We also held a ‘Guess How Many Sweets Are In The Jar’ competition, which proved to be one of the star attractions of Maths Week. We had some wide ranging guesses from the students. Well done to Cathal Bury in Ms Flaherty’s class who was the only pupil in the school to guess correctly.
National Flag Presenation
As part of commemorative events organised by the government this year for the centenary celebrations of the 1916 Easter Rising, we had a very special visit from the Defence Forces on Thursday 8th October. They spoke to the children about the significance of the Irish flag and the 1916 Easter Rising. With the help of Gerard Calligy, Lieutenant Holmes read out the same Proclamation that Padraig Pearse read on the steps on the GPO in Dublin on Easter Monday 1916. They then presented our school with a copy of the proclamation and a national flag. James Connelly and Aoife Kelly accepted the proclamation and flag on behalf of the whole school community. We all then joined together in song and sang our National Anthem.
click on arrow to scroll through pictures
6 Nations Visit
We had a special visit from Wendy Hickey, Connaughts Women’s Rugby Development Officer on Friday 25th September. Wendy brought the 6 nations cup which the Irish ladies rugby team won this year for us all to see.
Maroon and White Day
In Support of the Galway Hurlers and Camógie Players who reached the All-Ireland finals this year, we orgainsed an Maroon and White Day to show our support for all the players involved. We had a great response and our boys and girls were as patriotic as ever. Here are some pictures of the children
