Dear School Community,
I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas.
We have had a nice return to school yesterday and today! We are busy preparing now for Term 2 which is always a very busy term.
Enrolment Forms
Please send in Enrolment Forms for Junior Infants to the school secretary by Jan. 16th. All information about the enrolment process is on the website by clicking here: http://ballymittyns.ie/News/Admissions-Notice-2022--for-enrolments/399782/Index.html
GAA coaching
Thursday morning GAA coaching begins again with Adam on Thurs. 19th January at the usual 8.30am. We look forward to seeing 2nd - 6th class pupils!
Grandparents' Day
We are hoping to hold this lovely celebration again this year. It usually involves a whole school mass followed by a cup of tea/coffee and a visit to the classrooms. There may not be a whole school mass this time but we will celebrate it in sty! We will let you know next week the details for this lovely day.
Homework Survey
We will be putting together a working group to get the viewpoints of the various stakeholders in our school on the topic of homework. We will work on this over the next 6 months with a view to surveying the whole parent body by the end of June so that we can make any changes that need to be made. There are pros and cons to every topic and at the moment this topic is being highlighted on various social platforms and media outlets. Perhaps keep an eye on those debates over the coming weeks and we will come back soon to invite some parents onto the working group which will also be made up of staff and pupils etc.
Swimming for 3rd and 4th Classes
Swimming lessons will commence on Thurs. Feb. 2nd for 8 weeks in Ferrybank Swimming Pool (apart from Thurs. Feb. 16th which is Midterm Break). These will be held from 10 - 10.45am on Thursdays. Pupils will travel on a bus to and from school. We encourage all pupils to go. We are getting bus prices at the moment. We will send out a letter on the app/website about the swimming lessons in the coming weeks. Parents will need to give permission and we will also need 2 parent/guardian volunteers each week to help out.
Sensory Pod
We were very kindly gifted a Sensory Pod to our school before Christmas. This is a very a futuristic calming space for the pupils in our whole school. This calming space is full of amazing features such as wifi control, custom branding, screens etc.
The Sensory Pod has a mood light ceiling which is calming and relaxing. It can be changed instantly to the favoured colour. The space is fun, relaxing and appealing to any child, or adult, to spend any length of time. It is already being used successfully in An Choill and we look forward to all of our pupils getting a turn in this fantastic space. We thank wholeheartedly the local family and business who very kindly donated this high spec piece of equipment to our school. Míle, míle buíochas!
Sub crisis
At the moment, there is a severe lack of subs for both teachers and SNAs. We try to manage as best we can each day. There will be days when classes will be split etc. This is unavoidable and it is a reflection of two main issues - the level of sickness in our communities at the moment but also the lack of trained teachers and SNAs at a national level. We never want to get to the point where a class or pupils have to stay at home but I appreciate everyone's support with this at the moment.
Chess Tournament
We have entered a team of 8 players into our first Ficheall Chess Tournament which will be held on Thurs. Feb. 2nd in Gaelscoil Inis Córthaidh. Our players meet twice per week to play chess and we look forward to experiencing our first ever tournament. The players involved will need to get to the school for 9.30am that morning and the tournament will finish at 2pm. We will let parents know the details in the coming weeks.
Credit Union Quiz
We will be entering teams into the Credit Union School Quiz competition which will be held on Sunday January 29th in the Riverside Hotel, Enniscorthy. Pupils will need to be accompanied by parents to the quiz which is held at 3pm. We will let you know more details in the coming weeks.
RSE - Relationships and Sexuality Education
We will put up information about the RSE lessons which will be taught in each class from next week. The teaching of RSE is compulsory and there are some very sensitive lessons in each class programme. Keep an eye on the website/app for more information next week.
Finally, Happy Women's Christmas or as we know it in Irish - Nollaig na mBan - today to all the fantastic women, ladies and girls in our school, community, lives and world! It is great to think how women's lives have changed over the years and how women have changed the lives of others!
A reflection for this special day:
Happy Friday everyone!
Audrey