Dear Parents,
We have had a very busy and enjoyable second term in school and are looking forward to
working hard for our final term of this school year.
Nuacht an Tí
Student Theatre Awards:
Bord Gáis Energy announced the winners of the 2015 Student Theatre Awards. The winners
were revealed at a special awards ceremony at the theatre, hosted by actor Simon Delaney.
Over 2,000 students representing 57 schools around Ireland attended the Awards.
Little Flower N.S., Ballytarsna, was awarded the top accolade in the Best Musical Number
category for their performance of ‘Jacob & Sons’ from the musical Joseph. The judges
awarded them first place as they felt it was an energy filled number which brought the whole
school together and was delivered with great passion. The school was also selected as one of
six schools out of 3,300 entries to perform at the awards ceremony on the day and they took
to the stage with great excitement to perform their winning number.
The children from 3rd-6th classes represented the school at an “Oscars-style” awards
ceremony in Dublin and were a credit to the school. The day was rounded off with a
wonderful homecoming making it a very special occasion for the whole school community.
Congratulations and thank you to all involved in this initiative.
Science Show
Dr. Martina, a scientist from Junior Einstein Science, visited all classes in the school to
present wonderful workshops for all classes incorporating core science into fantastically
fun sessions of ‘hands-on’ experiments designed to stimulate and create a love of science
and nature. Thank you to our Parents Association for funding this initiative.
Green Flag:
We continue to work towards our Green Travel Flag. This flag is achieved over two
years. A further workshop will be presented by Hans Van De Ven of An Tasice in the
coming weeks.
SSE:
As part of our School Self Evaluation in Literacy, and to promote writing skills the
children of 4th, 5th and 6th classes enjoyed a writing workshop with author Megan
Wynne.
Megan has worked as a secondary-school teacher, run her own business providing
corporate language classes, trained teachers in university and taught English as a second
language. She has had short stories published and has come runner up in the
RTE/Penguin Ireland Inaugural Short Story Writing Competition, the From the Well,
Short Story Competition (run by the Cork County Council Arts Office), Ireland’s Own
Writing Competition and Listowel Writers’ Week Originals, Short Story Competition.
In the workshop, the children learned how to create a character together and made
up a magical world to which the character travels. The class plotted this story
together and, once this was done, each child then created their own character, their
own magical world and wrote a story about their character. This was a fun class
that covered the essential skills of fiction writing: character creation, setting the
scene and plot. Thank you to our Parents Association for funding this workshop.
Croke Park Hours
The teachers as part of Croke Park hours have completed School Self Evaluation Plan in
Literacy and are currently working on Summary Improvement Plan which will be issued
to all parents in the coming weeks, following Board of Management Approval.
All teachers participated in Child Protection CPD (Continuous Professional
Development) also as part of Croke Park Hours. 29 hours have been completed to date
this year.
Technology Week:
Tech Week 2015 is taking place from April 26th to May 2nd. The main aim of Tech
Week is simple: to get the children to interact with technology, to teach them that it
isn’t intimidating and that a career in IT is not exclusive to a niche group. The aim is to
inspire them to see the rewards of a career in IT and to make sure that they have the
information and hands-on experience to make informed choices when the time comes for
them to make future subject and career choices.
Website:
The School website is now up and running. I would like to thank Michael Murphy of
Atom Spilt Interactive for all his help in the setting up of the website. Also to Martin
Lynch, PA, for his help and support in getting the site to completion, go raibh maith
agat. There is a huge amount of information and photos on the site so please visit
regularly to get update of what is happening in our school. Address is:
ballytarsnans.com
Active Schools Week:
April 26th-May 2nd is also Active Week. The ASW initiative is about providing FUN
and INCLUSIVE physical activity opportunities for ALL members of the school
community. It allows schools to reinforce the message that not only is physical activity
good for you but it is also very enjoyable. All children enjoyed homework off on
Wednesday to engage instead in some physical activities. Shake up and Wake up
activities were greatly enjoyed in the Senior room while ag comhaireamh ó náid go
céad,, and also practicing our multiples of 3 and 5 at the same time. Hard work!!!!!
Cumann na mBunscol:
Thank you to Declan Fanning who continues to coach the children every Wednesday. It
is a very busy time for Cumann na mBunscol competitions and the school is competing
in U-13 and U-11 hurling and camogie. Well done to all children who have represented
the school with pride and best of luck for the remaining games.
Spelling Bee
We had our in-school spelling bee competition in school recently. Abby (5th class) won
on the day and represented our school in the County Final in Nenagh. Abby progressed
through many rounds of the competition and spelled many words which would have
many of us reaching for our dictionaries. We are very proud of her efforts. Well Done,
Abby, Congratulations!!!
School Garden:
All children in the school were busy planting in the school garden on Friday last. Thank
you to Emmet Thornton for presenting such wonderful workshops.
Tennis Ireland:
Cheryl, a tennis coach, from Tennis Ireland and Larkspur, has commenced a six week
tennis programme with all classes in the school. To conclude the programme we have
been invited to Larkspur to try out the new skills we have learned. The children are
greatly enjoying the classes, see photos on website.
Golf Ireland:
All children will participate in a six week programme of golf.………More details to
follow.
FAI Ribena Cup:
Well Done to the children who represented the school in the recent FAI soccer
competition. A great day was had by all.
Confirmation:
Congratulations to the children of 5th and 6th class who received the Sacrament of
Confirmation recently. They sang their hearts out on the day and were a credit to the
school.
First Holy Communion:
The First Holy Communion Mass will take place on May the 9th in Dualla Church at
11am. Children have completed their “Do this in Memory” programme and are
preparing and looking forward to their big day.
Blue Star Programme:
All children from 1st to 6th class have been busy doing project work relating to the European
Union. This programme challenges the children to get creative and think about Europe by
carrying out projects in relation to four key elements: the history, geography, culture and
creativity, and Institutions of the EU. We have completed many projects on European
countries and will be looking at the work and contribution of local MEP. T.J Maher (whose
anniversary occurs at this time) and his contribution to farming community through his work
in Europe. We will also be celebrating an Italian Day in coming weeks!!!
We will be holding a European Day to display our work and celebrate our involvement in this
programme. More to follow…….
School Tour:
We hope that this year all children in the school will go on school tour to Kilkenny Activity
Centre. More details to follow……………..
Fr. Joe:
We were very sorry to hear of Fr. Joe’s recent illness. We wish him a very speedy recovery.
Bicentenerary of Boherlahan Parish Church:
The bicentenary of the church in Boherlahan will be celebrated on the weekend of June 26th.
A special mass will be celebrated on Friday evening the 26th June at 7.30pm at which the
children will be singing. The mass will be celebrated by our new Archbishop, Kieran
O’Reilly, D.D.
Parents Association:
St. Patrick’s Day: Thank you to our Parents Association who organised for the school to
march in St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Well Done to all who took part.
Easter Cake Sale: Our Parents Association recently organised an Easter Cake. Thank you to
all who baked the delicious cakes and treats and to all who supported this event.
Clothes Collection: The clothes collection organised by the PA was a wonderful success.
Over 100 bags were collected from the school yesterday. Bags of clothes were delivered to
the school over the past fortnight from all over the parish. Thank you to everybody who
supported this event.
I would like to sincerely thank the Parents’ Association for their support and enthusiasm; We
really appreciate the commitment and dedication of our Parents Association but more than
that the friendship and support in all aspects of school life. Go raibh mile maith agaibh go
léir.
Board of Management:
Thank you to the members of our Board of Management who give freely of their time and
talents for the betterment of our school.
Staff:
I would like to sincerely thank the staff for all their help, support and enthusiasm in both the
organisation and the delivery of all aspects of the curriculum.
Parents:
I am also very grateful to all parents for your support and commitment to delivering a wellrounded curriculum for all our children.
Finally to the children thank you for being all that you are. We are very proud of you,
Keep up the good work,
Ní neart go cur le chéile.
Is mise
_______________________________
Siobhán McGrath Byrne (Principal)