Ballindangan N.S.

Well done to Michael who is one of 75 finalists in the Doodle 4 Google Competition! Voting is now open until 21st February so please click on the following link to vote. https://doodles.google.ie/d4g/vote.html#d=d1-11

This is Michael’s entry: “If I could create anything it would be a pet calf called Moogle on my farm. He would be black with a white head and tail. He would be able to talk to me and he would be my best friend forever.”

Michael will attend the prize giving ceremony in Google headquarters, Dublin on 3rd April.

We wish him the best of luck, get voting everybody!

Today marks the end of another school year and as we break for the summer holidays we reflect on the school year just gone. We have undertaken and achieved so much; achieved our first Green Flag, Confirmation, mediation, runners up in Sow and Grow competition, gained status of Digital School of Distinction, set up a school website and Twitter account, Christmas concert, tennis lessons, National Spring Clean 2016, and Aistear to name but a few! We also welcomed two new junior infant pupils into our school, we have watched them thrive and become part of our school community. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank parents, staff and members of the community for their continued support. We hope everyone enjoys the break and we look forward to seeing everybody in September for another fun filled year!

Junior Infants pupils receiving their memory books of their first year in Ballindangan N.S.

We had our end of year awards yesterday. At Ballindangan N.S. we believe in promoting and recognising all aspects of our pupils’ achievements throughout the year. Our awards ranged from fabulous friend to maths magician. Well done to all!      

We have a champion in our midst. Darragh has become Park United Player Of The Year. We are not surprised here in Ballindangan N.S as he is very talented and dedicated to the sport. Well done Darragh. We are all very proud of you!! Maith thú!

We have successfully been awarded the Digital Schools Award. This now means we are a ‘ Digital School of Distinction’. Here is a piece written from the inspector on her evaluation report-

This school meets all the criteria for Digital School of Distinction Status and I have no doubt it will continue to lead the way for other schools to follow in this area. I would like to thank Íde Walsh, Alma and Geraldine as well as the students of this school for helping to give us a glimpse of what a successful future might look like for Ireland when these young people reach the workforce. With schools like this, Ireland’s future is secure.

We will receive a plaque, a wireless printer and free resources. Thanks to everyone involved, especially Alma O’ Sullivan and Geraldine Sheehan, in this great achievement. Our pupils always make us proud !!

We are delighted to have come runners up in the Sow and Grow competition this year! We will receive €300 of gardening equipment/plants and a visit from one of the GIY team to advise on spending the money wisely to help our school on it’s way to becoming even greener! We look forward to a visit from the GIY team next year. Well done to pupils and staff, we thoroughly enjoyed the competition. Take a look at our growing diary on the Sow and Grow page on our website to see what we got up to.

Delighted to have received a cheque from Tesco as part of their community fund. Thanks everyone for putting in your blue tokens !!

Our Confirmation Day
When we arrived at Glanworth church, the choir started practising our songs for the mass.
When the mass started, the bishop and four other priests waked up the isle with the cross.
Bishop Crean started saying the mass and we all stood up. Fr Corkery told us a story about a father
and two sons. When he had finished, Bishop Crean came down to the bottom step and asked us
about what happened in the story. He was saying that it was like a mime artist that acts to tell
people what he is saying. After a few minutes we went up to the altar to get confirmed. All of our
sponsors came up and stood behind us. When we were finished we got Communion. At the end of
mass there was lots of photos and then we all went to Glanworth’s community hall. Everybody went
home and celebrated with their families.

Yesterday , we went to the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cork and we received our very first Green Flag. It was extremely well organised considering the amount of people there.  To say we are delighted to receive our flag is an understatement. We all worked really hard to achieve this and it is now hanging proudly outside our school. We are hugely proud of our pupils !

Today we enjoyed a tennis lesson with coach Bryan Stewart. He started off showing us a few skills and then we were so good we progressed on to actual matches. We all had great fun!!