February Newsletter 2025
Beannactaí na Fhéile Bhríde daoibh go leir.
It is great to see signs of spring all around us, snowdrops, longer evenings and new life on the farms with baby calves and lambs being born.
Welcome
We extend a welcome a welcome to Ms Nicole McCabe as she joins the staff this month. Ms McCabe will be covering the remainder of Mrs Boyle’s maternity leave as Special Education Teacher. We thank Mr Bryan McCabe for ‘bridging the gap’ during January.
Congratulations & Best Wishes
Congratulations to Daniel Moffett, 3rd Class who was awarded 3rd place in the next round of The Credit Union Art Competition. He received his prize recently at a ceremony in Monaghan.
We wish our two quiz teams well this Friday night as they participate in The Schools Credit Union Quiz – Team A: Bryan Coleman, Emily Gilliland, Amelia Graham and Annabelle Patton. Team B: Lisa Fuller, Luke Gilliland, Aloise Leonard and Jessica Murphy.
Ballybay Cancer Society
Our student council were pleased to present a cheque for €200 to Charlie Mills on behalf of Ballybay Cancer Society recently. The proceeds were from our Christmas Walk to School in December. Many thanks to all who contributed on the day.
Postal Bible School Prize Giving
Reminder: The Prize Giving for Postal Bible School takes place TONIGHT, 5th February in Hall St. hall at 7.00pm. We encourage all children to attend the prize giving ceremony. It has been noted that a number of children just come and take their prizes and leave straight away without waiting for the talk, singing songs, food and presentation of prizes. The McMeekin family and their team of helpers put a lot of effort into the distribution and correction of the children’s Postal Bible School lessons each month. The annual prize giving involves a lot of planning and organisation. It is only right to acknowledge the work of The Postal Bible School by attending the prize giving. The evening is generally finished by 8.00pm. If it doesn’t suit to attend the prize giving in Hall St., you are welcome to attend another local prize giving –
Monaghan on Wed 12th February at 7.00pm in St. Patrick’s Hall or
Cootehill on Thurs 13th February at 7.00pm in Errigal Country House Hotel
Say Yes to Languages
We are pleased to have received funding from Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) to provide French lessons for all pupils from 3rd -6th class this term. Lessons will commence on Monday 24th February and continue for 10 weeks. The tutor is Mrs Margaret Finn. 3rd and 4th & 5th and 6th will receive 2 thirty minute classes each, per week (Mondays and Wednesdays). This is a great opportunity for our pupils to learn another language.
After School Activity
There was a great buzz in the assembly hall on 28th January when children engaged in board games after school. Snakes and Ladders, Draughts, Frustration, UNO, Ludo, Connect 4, Guess Who and Snap were just some of the games played. It was lovely to watch the children as they competed against other! The nest After School Activity will take place on Tuesday 25th February. Details will be posted on Aladdin shortly.
Parents’ Association Fund Raising Event
Ballybay Central School Parents’ Association are hosting a fundraising event featuring Gerard Butler, who is a professional dance teacher. Join us on Thursday 27th March at 8pm in The Derryvalley Church Hall for a Jive and dance class. Suitable for beginners and advanced. Tickets are priced at €15 each and will be available shortly.
Bí Cineálta
The Department of Education has published new procedures entitled Bí Cineálta (Be Kind) which provides direction and guidance to schools in relation to preventing and addressing bullying behavior in schools. The requirements of the procedures will come into effect from the start of the 2025/2026 school year. In light of these new procedures our current anti-bullying guidelines (which are available for viewing on the school website www.ballybaycns.com) is being reviewed and a new policy drafted. Part of that process involves consultation with parents, pupils, staff and the wider community as necessary. All parents will receive a questionnaire to be completed. Questionnaires are anonymous and should be returned by Wednesday 19th February at the latest. Pupils will also complete work in school about their understanding of bullying behavior. Staff will work on the new policy and a draft copy will be sent to parents next term before being ratified by the Board of Management.
Dance with Lesley
From Wednesday 26th February until Wednesday 2nd April all children will participate in Dance lessons with Lesley Goggins in Hall St. This is part of our P.E. programme and children will wear tracksuits and runners on WEDNESDAYS instead of Fridays for the duration of the lessons. Cost per child is €20 for the 6 lessons and should be paid online in advance.
Payments should be made by:
- Online banking – IBAN IE20AIBK 9324 2601 2651 56 or
- Cheque/draft from bank or Credit Union
If using Online banking please put your child’s name and ’dance’ on the reference line so we know it’s your payment.
Mrs McBride will issue receipts of payment.
We thank the committee in Second Ballybay for allowing us to use the hall.
Think Before You Click Week
Tuesday 11th February is ‘Safer Internet Day’. Safer Internet Day is a day dedicated to creating awareness of a better and safer internet for all users. We have decided to dedicate a period each day next week to safer internet use. So many children are engaging in different on line activities from watching videos, using apps, playing online games to using social media. It is important that children are aware of the benefits and dangers of using the internet. Materials used will be taken from websise.ie and are age appropriate. Written homework next week will be activities based on our theme Think Before You Click. It is very important that parents take responsibility for their children’s internet use.
https://www.webwise.ie/parents/
The above link offers much advice for parents. Many children are using phones and parents need to be aware of the potential dangers this creates.
Homework
Pupils in all classes receive homework Monday-Thursday. Homework is a very important aspect of school life and it is required to be completed in full each night. Reading logs/diaries must be signed by a parent/guardian each night (Junior classroom, middle classroom, SET) indicating that reading time has been done.
Spellings For Me programme is used from 2nd class upwards and Spell Well for Senior Infants and 1st class. An important part of learning spelling is writing out the word each night in preparation for the Friday test. Please ensure spellings are written out. Children should be spending the appropriate time on homework each night and all homework must be completed to the best of your child’s ability. If there is a valid reason why homework can’t be completed please contact your child’s class teacher.
The following is taken from the School's Homework Policy -
Homework routines
Homework is given from Monday - Thursday. However, sometimes at the discretion of the class teachers, children may be given a night off homework as an acknowledgement of a special occasion/treat or during specific times of the year e.g. Christmas, Active School Week.
Ideally homework will contain a balance between reading tasks, learning tasks and written tasks. Oral language and DEAR time are assigned each week to all classes.
Junior classes:
- In J.I. the main focus of homework is to revisit letter sounds and formations covered during class as well as carry out some reading/numeracy tasks.
- In S.I. spellings are introduced on top of reading assignments as well as sentence writing which helps children to revisit spelling rules and basic punctuation and grammar covered in class. Maths tasks are also assigned.
* Reading in the Junior end should be assisted and supervised by parents.
Middle and Senior classes:
- As the children move up the school, maths and grammar homework are introduced as well as written assignments from other areas of the curriculum.
- Homework will regularly contain reading, spellings, tables, written work, pieces to be ‘learned by heart’.
- At times, when carrying out project work in class, associated activities are given for homework which may involve research, collection of information for individual or group projects.
- At times, oral work is given.
- The Spellings for Me programme is carried out in Ballybay Central and provides a wonderful home school link. The idea is that a unit of spellings and assignments based on their usage is completed in approximately one week.
- Irish spellings and reading are regularly set from 2nd class upwards.
- Homework in 6th class should be viewed as a form of preparation for homework in Secondary School. In this regard, homework may be given and not requested until the next week.
- In the senior room, the digital platform, Seesaw, is used frequently to upload completed assignments and to upload recordings of reading tasks etc.
SEN class
- S.E.T. teachers will have a special programme of work for those children needing additional support. The S.E.T and classroom teacher liaise initially to ensure each pupil who receives SEN is not getting too much homework overall.
Recommended times
Infants: 20 minutes
1st & 2nd class: Average 30 to 40 minutes
3rd & 4th class: Average 45 minutes
5th & 6th class: Average 1 hour
Dates For Your Diary
Wednesday 19th February: Open Afternoon 1.00-3.00pm
Thurs & Fri 20th & 21st February: School Closed Midterm
Wednesday 26 February: Dance with Lesley in Hall St. (6 weeks)
Thursday 6th March: World Book Day (start planning outfits!)
Monday 17th March: School Closed St. Patrick’s Day
Friday 21st March: Odd Sock Day in aid of Down Syndrome Centre North East
Thursday 27th March: Jive and Dance Class - Parents’ Association Fundraiser in Derryvalley Hall