To all our school community - Parents/Guardians, Pupils, Staff and Board of Management,
Can you believe summer holidays are here?!! Wow! A very happy holiday to you all - in one way it seems like it has come upon us quickly and yet we all know that everyone has given their best and sometimes a break and a rest are badly needed!
I want to thank our fantastic staff - teachers, SNAs, school secretary, school cleaner, our TÚS worker Conor and student teachers - for all your hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and spirit. There is a great sense of team work in Ballymitty NS and we try our best everyday to keep the pupils at the centre of our focus, our planning, our teaching and our learning. There have been many changes since September this year for the staff and they adapted to these changes quickly, without fuss and always with great professionalism. Teaching with a mask on is never easy and keeping a distance from the pupils in our classes is nigh on impossible. The constant hand washing and sanitising, although essential, brought many interruptions to each school day. And as a staff, not having whole school events, endangers the whole ethos of our school. Also, the impact of social media and various sides of disagreements with unions and the Department of Education was felt by the staff this year especially during periods of lockdown. Preparing, teaching and correcting school work online are elements that staff didn't envisage when they trained as teachers or SNAs. So well done everyone - you certainly left nothing behind and deserve a chance to kick back, relax over the summer holidays and re-fill the tanks that have emptied so that we can all be full of energy for late August.
I want to thank our parents for all their patience, understanding and support over the past year. It has been a worrying time for you when you sent your kids off to school each morning in the hope that Covid 19 didn't arrive or come back home. When it did arrive your support and your communication was integral to us as a staff ensuring that we could get past it! And we did! During periods of lockdown it has also been very tough for parents and we appreciate how you all took on board the various online platforms and websites etc. Everyday certainly was a school day! We hope you all have a well earned break from teaching and homework and all the pressures that have come this year. Thank you also to the Parents and Friends Group and other parents who organised, paid for and delivered various treats to the pupils over the past few weeks.
I want to thank our Board of Management for their support under the direction of our recently appointed Chairperson Mary Hayward. Thank you for working together with our school staff.
Finally, I want to thank our pupils - you have shown so much strength, spirit and resilience over the past year when it hasn't been easy! You are the reason we all work together and we hope you have enjoyed school despite the changes and challenges. We hope next September will be a little different - with some more freedom, school events and dare I say it, normality! Enjoy the summer, take a break from homework but try to do some reading everyday! And we look forward to seeing you all back here in late August.
To our 6th class - you have been a great bunch of senior pupils this year and I hope you have enjoyed your graduation ceremony and all the little events and treats. We wish you well in your next chapter and there is always a welcome here for you in Ballymitty NS. The graduation ceremony will be put up online later today where you can check in to see who has won the Pupil of the Year awards in Ballymitty NS!
For 6th class parents - we do have to add our incoming pupils/parents to our App so you will be taken off automatically next week as a parent unless you still have other children in school. You can always rejoin the App and register under 'Other' to keep in touch with all the news in Ballymitty NS!
School will be open from 10 - 2pm for the next two weeks until Friday July 9th for our pupils in July Provision and our Complex Needs Summer Camp.
The school office will remain closed thereafter for 6 weeks until Monday August 24rd. Emails to ballymittyns@gmail.com will be checked randomly over the summer.
Have a safe, sunny and happy Summer,
Míle, míle buíochas,
Audrey