Dear Parent / Guardian / Parent of Past Pupil / Colleague / Board Member,

 

Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh – I hope you all had a lovely Christmas 2023 and I take this opportunity to wish you all a prosperous 2024.

 

Bishop William Lee – We convey our sympathy to the family of Bishop William Lee, Bishop Emeritus of Waterford & Lismore and indeed patron of our school during the period 1993-2013 who died on Jan 5^th last. Bishop Lee would have confirmed many of our past pupils and visited the school in the past. Condolences were sent to the current Bishop on behalf of our school community and we were represented at the funeral on Monday evening. We also remember our late colleague Mr. Paul Brunnock, whose first anniversary occurred last weekend and Michael Lavery, on the recent death of his dad Tony in Antrim. Ar dheis Dé go raibh siad.

 

Pre-Confirmation Mass – Rang 6 pupils receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation at FMW in April are asked to be in FMW church at 8:50 am this Sunday to participate in a pre-confirmation mass.

 

Grandparents Day – As part of Catholic Schools Week 2024. We hope to participate in Grandparents Day on Wednesday 24^th January next. More information in next week’s issue.

 

Grants Update – It is envisaged that all schools in Ireland will run a ‘Schools Meal’ programme within a few years. DEIS schools are up and running. Like many other schools, we hope to apply when the opportunity arises and more information is known re: the delivery of this service, the space and personnel required, the hardware and extra resources needed.

 

It was announced recently that we would benefit from two substantial grants following our applications last autumn. One will allow us to purchase €10,000 worth of S.T.E.M. equipment for the school and secondly a PV Solar Grant which will allow us to install a 6 KW system on our roof. Expect to see movement on these two grants during this term and next. Our caretaker Jim installed two additional solar lights over the holidays this should help those families availing of the After School service.

 

P.A. Meeting – The P.A. will host a meeting on Wednesday next in the school at 7 pm. All are welcome.

 

Academic Calendar – This week an academic calendar for the remainder of the school year was distributed to each family. Please store safely replacing older versions.

 

Attendance Logging – Schools are obliged to keep an Attendance Register (Rolla) for all pupils and a rationale for all absences. An onus is also placed on schools to inform the Child and Family Agency’s Educational Welfare Services Department when a child reaches 20 days absence in an academic year. To this end, we plan to email families informing them if their child /children has /have reached 10 days or over at this stage in the year. There are many genuine reasons for pupil absences, we do this merely to keep you aware of the situation.

 

Enrolment – Our enrolment process remains open. Please direct any interested families to us at 052-6136349 or encourage them to visit our school website at https://www.ballymacns.com/enrolment/ for further information. I plan to contact all those who have already registered an interest by way of email next week.

 

Is mise, – Michael J. O’ Ryan – Principal.