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Newsletter 3rd May 2018

Parking at the School
Thank you for parking in an orderly fashion at the school. Please remember that the drop-off area is only for that purpose; no double parking in that area is allowed because then children have to walk between cars which can be dangerous. Allow plenty of time if at all possible!

Junior Infants 2018/19
We are preparing for next year! Parents of children starting in September have been notified that a meeting will be held in the school on Wednesday, 16th May at 2:15 p.m. Please note that this meeting is for parents only.
A “get to know you” session for new children is arranged for Thursday, 31st May from 1:00 – 1:45 p.m. While the session is in progress a speaker from Midland Area Parenting Partnership will speak about ‘Positive Parenting’.

Bereavement
We were very saddened to hear this week of the untimely death of Keith Murphy, a parent in our school. His family and particularly his children are in our thoughts and prayers.

Youth Work (Laois)
Meeting in St Anne’s Hall Thursday 17th May at 8 pm. to organise setting up of a Youth Club in Ballylinan for children aged between 12 – 17 years.  We urge all parents to attend and show your support.  A representative from Youth Work Laois will be in attendance.

Labels
It’s a good time to ensure that your child’s name is on all clothing. We can have great difficulty identifying jumpers/tracksuit tops in the playground. Please check now!

May Closure
Please remember that the school will be closed next week, hopefully with some decent weather in store. Some people use the time to take a family break; it can be very useful, less expensive than peak summer dates and avoids interrupting school time. On a related note, school will reopen after the summer for all pupils on Wednesday, 29th August and we will be closed for a week in early June (3rd – 7th) in 2019.

Tomorrow (Friday 4th May) is a normal school day with the usual closing times. 

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Board of Management Report

Agreed Report

  1. A meeting of the Board of Management of St. Patrick’s N.S., Ballylinan was held in the school on Thursday, 15th March, 2018.
  2. The Board notes the publication of the report on the recent Whole School Evaluation.
  3. The Board agreed to formally adopt and implement in full the Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools 2017, including the protocol authorising immediate action detailed in section 7.2.
  4. Maintenance / Property
    Additional security lighting seems to be working well.
  5. Enrolment
    There are currently 40 pupils enrolled to start in September 2018.
  6. Curriculum
    The Aistear programme for infants is being implemented and the children are benefiting from it.
    The introduction of the ‘Literacy Lift Off’ programme will commence during the coming school year.
  7. It was agreed that the next meeting would be on Thursday, 3rd May.
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Newsletter 26th April 2018

Confirmation
Well done to the children who made their Confirmation recently. It was a lovely ceremony in beautiful weather! We hope you had a memorable family day. Thanks to all who helped in the preparation of the children. First Communion will be on Saturday, 26th May.

Tin Whistle, Homework Club
Continuing as normal. If you’d like your child to take part, please contact the school.

FREE Triple P Parenting Programme
For parents of children 2-10 years. Triple P gives you tips and strategies to make family life less stressful with children, giving good understanding of positive parenting with plenty of ideas to make parenting easier.The Programme takes 7 weeks. Each session lasts 2 hrs. After 4 weekly sessions, you have 2 weeks to practice Triple P at home with support phone calls. Check their website www.triplep-parenting.net . We hope to arrange some further sessions in the Ballylinan area in the next few months.

 Junior Infants 2018/19
Talks for new parents: incoming parents will be notified next week about upcoming dates.

Social, Personal and Health Education
This is one of the curriculum areas that we implement in the school. During the course of the year the children in all classes have been taught the ‘Stay Safe’ programme. We also teach the RSE (relationships and sexuality education) programme which includes modules on growing and changing. If you have any queries please contact your child’s teacher. Thank you.

Labels
It’s a good time to ensure that your child’s name is on all clothing. We can have great difficulty identifying jumpers/tracksuit tops in the playground. Please check now!

Half Day
Please note that all school staff are required to undergo training in relation to child protection matters. To facilitate this the school will close for children at 12:30 on Wednesday 2nd May (next week).

 

 

 

 

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Quiz Winners!

Well done to James, Tadhg, Mackenzie and Jack who won the St. Abban’s Table Quiz. They were best of 32 teams from 11 schools.

Baile Uí Laigheanáin abú!

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Newsletter 20th March 2018

Quiz Season
Well done to all those competing in the St. Abban’s quiz recently; some very good performances and Ballylinan had three teams that finished in the top 7. Congratulations to our winning team who brought home the Fr. Kennedy Cup; Tadgh McGrath, Mackenzie McIvor, Jack Dunne and James Hovenden.

Internet Safety
An Garda Síochána recently gave a talk on safe use of the internet to 5th and 6th Classes.

Blitzes
6th Class will be providing the teams for the (postponed) FAI blitz this Wednesday 21st in Portlaoise. Ms. Hogan’s and Ms. Buggy’s classes will be providing the teams for a fun football blitz in Killeshin on the same day.

 Zim Day (Friday 16th March)
Our Annual Fr. O’Shea appeal was held last Friday and was a great success. A grand total of €1,800 was collected and is winging its way to Zimbabwe to help those in need. Míle buíochas díbh go léir.

Tin Whistle
Classes for both groups this Thursday 22nd March.

Thank You
A big thanks to Tadhg Kelleher, Peter Barry, Liam Brennan and Frank Shanahan for providing our ongoing rugby, hurling and football coaching. We really appreciate it!

Recent Activities on Website
As always, please check out recent activities and photos on the school website (address below).

Easter Holidays
Remember school closes this Friday, 23rd March for the Easter holidays (12:20 for Infants and 12:30 for all others). We reopen on Monday, 9th April.

Happy Easter to all and thank you for your support as always.