Happy Christmas Everyone!

Our Lady's N.S. would like to wish all our students and their families a happy Christmas. Don't eat too much turkey!

Class of the Month - November

A very excited Junior Room were the deserved winners of Class of the Month for November. Mrs Egan attributed their victory to their good behaviour in the line, their improvement in waiting for their turn to speak and how well they played with each other in the yard. Well done Junior and Senior Infants.

Mark Ivors - A Visit from an Engineer

On Monday, December 7th, Fifth and Sixth Class received a visit from local man Mark Ivors. Mark spoke to the students about his career as an engineer. He showed them a PowerPoint about the role of the engineer and the different types of engineering that there are. He spoke about the importance of Maths and Science in engineering. He then spent time answering questions from the class. We would like to thank Mark for taking the time to visit us. We enjoyed his visit very much.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Treat Time for Parents – Cookery Demonstration Thursday, 10th December – 10:00am

Treat Time for Parents – Floral Demonstration Tuesday, 15th December – 10:00am

Christmas Non-Uniform Day Friday, 18th December

Children’s Christmas Mass Monday, 21st December

Bumper Christmas Raffle Monday, 21st December

Christmas Holidays Tuesday, 22nd December – 12:00pm

Return to School Wednesday, 6th January

Fund Raising Whist Drive Monday, 11th January – Community Hall, Ballingarry

Fund Raising Bag Pack Friday, 26th and Saturday 27th February – Dunnes Stores (Thurles)

Presentation of the Irish Flag

On Friday, 20th November all of the school gathered in the library because Sergeant Kennedy and Private Flynn were visiting Our Lady's. The two soldiers came to present us with a copy of the 1916 Proclamation and the Irish flag. Isabelle and Thomas received the gifts and Kealy read the fourth paragraph from the Proclamation.
Sergeant Kennedy told us that all of the schools in Ireland will raise the flag at 12pm on March 15th.
Sergeant Kennedy spoke for 12 minutes. When he asked questions we answered them all correctly so we don't have homework on Monday. At the end we all stood up and sang Amhrán na bhFiann. Then we got to ask the two soldiers some questions.
- by Orla Ivors, Fifth Class

Presentation Secondary School Open Day

Our Sixth Class students had a wonderful day on Friday as guests of Mrs Cahill at the Presentation Secondary School. The eleven boys and girls got a little taster of life in Secondary school as they got to take part in French, Art, PE, Woodwork and Home Economics activities. They were hugely impressed with the beautiful new facilities at our local Secondary school and no doubt are looking forward to September and the next big step in their educational journey.

Science Week

November 8th -15th is Science Week and Third and Fourth Class have been very busy. We were learning all about friction and experimenting to see which surfaces caused the most amount of friction and slowed down our race car.  We also experimented with air pressure and made a balloon rocket.
On Thursday we took part in a table quiz.  There were 8 rounds with 6 questions each.  We had great fun answering all the questions and learned lots of new information too.  Well done to the winning team pictured below.

Here are some new facts that we learned during Science Week:
A geologist is a person who studies all about rocks.A female elephant is called a cow.
Bronze is made from copper and tin.Rabbits are born blind.A filament is a wire found inside a light bulb.Here is a link to our balloon rocket experiment - https://sciencebob.com/make-a-balloon-rocket/

Seanfhocail na Seachtaine

Vincent Darcy, Rang a Sé

Knitting

We were delighted to welcome back Sr. Miriam on Friday. Sr. Miriam will be taking the Fifth and Sixth Class boys and girls for knitting every Friday.

Class of the Month - October

On Friday last, the whole school congregated for the first time in the newly re-organised library for our second assembly of the year. There were many things to be discussed including previous activities and upcoming events but the 'Class of the Month' announcement undoubtedly had top billing.
The Class of the Month for October was awarded to Fifth and Sixth Class. Their improvement in lining up over the course of the month was one of the main reasons they earned the accolade. Two nights off homework now awaits....

The trophy gets passed on.

The big announcement.

More Frightening Photos!

Fearsome Fundraising!

Our Halloween hi-jinks raised €350 for the school. Thank you to all who contributed. 

Ballingarry U12 Victory

Congratulations to the Ballingarry Under 12 team who won the Grangemockler U12 Tournament at the weekend.

Halloween Poems

My Halloween Poem   by Fionn O'Brien (5th Class)
Halloween in Ballingarry
I will dress up like a ghoul.
Everyone will love it,
I hope it will be cool.

Things will be scary,
I'll play a game of conkers.
Someone will be hairy
I think it will be bonkers.


Halloween Poem    by Ali O'Connell (6th Class)
Halloween in Ballingarry,
Monkey nuts and sweets.
When I go from house to house
I get all kinds of treats.

I dressed up as a ghost
With a very hairy beard
But a jelly got stuck to it
And it made me feel quite weird.

Halloween in Ballingarry    by Ciara Mullally (6th Class)
Halloween in Ballingarry
Is creepy and it's scary
I dressed up as a witch
And my sister was a fairy.

We went trick or treating
And got a lot of sweets
We went home and played some games
And had a great big feast.

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween party at Our Lady’s on Friday, October 23^rd. Such an array of zombies, witches, vampires and assorted ghouls had never been assembled in the school before. Thankfully there were a few princesses and soldiers there too to balance out the evil.

We began the day with our board games and believe me it is a sight to see vampires and witches engrossed in a game of Monopoly. After break the students got to sample some wonderful home baking at our bake sale. Thank you to all the parents who sent in those delicious cakes, buns and cookies. I had always thought that zombies only ate brains. It seems that they also have an appetite for chocolate biscuit cake too!

Mrs Egan together with her 6^th Class helpers ladled out the pumpkin soup (which they had prepared earlier). Everyone had a taste and a good few came back for seconds.

The library was the scene for the Halloween Fashion Show. Everyone took their turn on the catwalk to rapturous applause. Well done to everyone and thanks to all who helped to make it such a fun filled day.

Cross Country

We had a great day on Wednesday, October 21st at the South Tipperary Primary Schools Cross Country Competition. The event was held in Marlfield and was attended by 1450 athletes. Our 3rd and 4th Class Girls team did particularly well bringing home gold medals. All of our athletes won medals to show for their efforts.
Our top four finishers in each race are as follows:

3rd/4th Classes
Boys	Girls
Adam O’Connell – 29th	Isabelle Corbett – 3rd
Shane Ryan – 51st	Shauna Dunne – 4th
Ben Ivors – 55th	Emma Geeves – 13th
Shane Clinton – 56th	Kiera Jayne Cleere – 14th
Team Placing – 12th	Team Placing – 2nd
5th/6th Classes
Boys	Girls
Shane Burns – 6th	Emma Murray – 1st
Thomas Walton – 14th	Emer Dunne – 13th
Kieran Murray – 15th	Bonnie Hehir – 23rd
Michael Ryan – 16th	Ali O’Connell – 24th
Team Placing – 3rd	Team Placing – 5th

For a full list of results follow this link
http://www.clonmelac.com/newsportal.php?id=2748#.VjSygPnhCUk

Cross Country

All roads lead to Clonmel for our Cross Country athletes this morning. Marlfield GAA Club in Clonmel is the venue and the first race starts at 10:30. Our Lady's N.S. will compete in race numbers 7 and 8 (3rd and 4th Class) and numbers 19 and 20 (5th and 6th Class). Best of luck to all our runners.

Vandals Beware!

Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair is with us for another couple of days so why not drop in on Monday or Tuesday at home time. The books are selling fast but there are lots of great children's titles to choose from.

Insect Hotels

The Fifth and Sixth Class got a treat on Friday (Oct. 16th.) when they got to make insect hotels. The fine weather allowed us to make full use of our outdoor classroom for this activity. Many thanks to Lieneke Smyth and her daughter Anna who prepared the materials and showed us what to do.

Fifth Class student Michael Blake describes what went on...

 On Friday we made insect hotels with Lieneke Smyth. We had to use cow parsley, bark, pine cones, moss, sticks and conkers. Lieneke had made triangular boxes out of wood so we could put everything in it and bring it home for the insects. She had cut everything to size so they would fit perfectly.

Lieneke also gave us some advice on where to put the insect hotels e.g. nice and high where pets won't get at them. 

We had to squeeze everything in so it wouldn't fall out and so the insects would like them.

GOAL Jersey Day

Our Lady's N.S. raised a massive €190 for GOAL on Jersey Day.

Have a look at the following link to see where this money goes.

https://www.goalglobal.org/what-we-do

Well done everybody!

Seanfhocail na Seachtaine

Emma Murray, Rang a Sé

Happy Days!

We’re generally a happy lot up here at Our Lady’s N.S. but some days are extra special. We asked our Senior Room students to share some of their happier memories with us.
	The Best Day Ever by Emer Dunne, 5th Class
	My best memory ever was the time my dog Skylark Snowy won the semi-final at Thurles Greyhound Stadium. She ran out of trap three. My dad and I were so happy. Then it was getting closer and closer to the final. That Saturday we looked at the computer and found out that she was in trap two. We were happy because she liked the inside. When the race started she came out well and won the final. We were so happy. She won a glass bowl. That was my best day ever!
	Tayto Park by Isabell Foy, 5th Class
	I remember when Mum, Dad, Granny (Donegal Granny!), my cousin Sarah and I went to Tayto Park. Sarah and I woke up at 7 o’clock we were so excited. The journey took about one hour and thirty minutes. It took another ten minutes just to find a parking space. When we got out of the car we could hear people screaming from The Cú Chulainn Coaster. When we got in Dad, Sarah and I had to get a wristband each and it was fifteen euro for one. The best part was going on the Cú Chulainn. Dad and I were in the queue for about five minutes. I remember I was sweating and thinking I should go back but then the car jerked and we were off. It went up the hill and there were lots of flags on top. It only took 30 seconds to get around the whole rollercoaster. Twelve people could get on it at a time and it sounded like thunder. After that Mum, Granny, Dad, Sarah and I went to the gift shop. Sarah and I spent lots of money in the gift shop. On the way home we got a takeaway in Urlingford. The next day we were all very tired.
	My Best Day Ever by Órla Ivors, 5th Class
	My best day ever was when I landed in Australia. I was eight and I couldn’t sleep on the plane at all even though I had two seats by the window. The food was horrible and I had to chew something when we were taking off and landing so my ears wouldn’t pop. I was very nervous that morning when going to Dublin Airport. Mum’s friend came with us. Brónagh and I were at the back of the mini-bus. Even though I was sad leaving my friends in Ballingarry I was also excited because I was seeing my dad over in Australia. On the flight I remember Óran coming over to me in the middle of the night because I was still awake. We just talked and looked out the window at the dark sky lit up by city lights. To take my mind off things I watched movies and played games on the plane. I had been so excited getting on the plane but after a while I got bored sitting on my own. I would walk to the toilet just to move my legs. There would always be a queue at the toilet but I didn’t mind waiting. The one time there was nice food I was actually asleep and wouldn’t wake up! It was boring when we had to stop at different airports for a few hours just to get a rest from the plane. When we were walking around Abu Dhabi Airport two men who were working there said ‘Hello Princess’ to me because of my blonde hair and blue eyes. I didn’t know whether to be creeped out or to take it as a compliment. We had McDonald’s and it could have been better. We also stopped at Singapore Airport for about half an hour and then went back on the plane. When the five of us got out of the plane in Brisbane Airport we were all excited to see what Australia had in store for us. There was a search dog sniffing our bags before we left the airport. I held back the urge to rub him. He was a beagle. He was scary and cute at the same time. It would baffle you to think if he was nice or vicious. When we were finally out of the airport the sun was shining so bright and hot but of course I was standing there in long pants and UGG boots! I ran when I saw my Dad’s familiar smiling face. There was so much joy that day and I loved it very much.
	Castlecomer Feis by Ellen Geeves, 5th Class
	One day after dancing practice, my dancing teacher gave me a feis leaflet and said that my sister and I could go to our first feis. She gave one to my friends Ellie and Ciara too. We borrowed the dresses that we had to wear. We practiced and practiced for nearly a month before the feis. The day of the feis we got up at eight o’clock. We left at around nine. We had our dresses, shoes and drinks in the boot. When we got there Kilkenny Dance Shop were there. The first thing we did was sign in. My sister and I were to have four dances. Ellie had two and Ciara had three. At three o’clock we started dancing. It took a while for all the dances to be finished. After nearly an hour of waiting the judges gave out the medals and trophies. I won three medals. I was really happy. My dad said he was never going to a feis again! Even though he did!

Well Done That Man!

Shane Long had a fair few Green Flags flying tonight! 

Well done Shane and Ireland.

Book Fair

Thursday, October 15th to Wednesday, October 21st.

Opening times to be confirmed.

The Cat Ran Under The Bed......

The cat ran under the bed and disappeared.

“Oh not again Mervin” Zelda cried.

Zelda was a witch. She lived in a very, very, very, very, very old house. She did not wear a pointed hat and she did not wear a raggy, old, black dress (although she did wear a black robe everyday).  And also there wasn’t cobwebs hanging out of her. In fact Zelda was almost the complete opposite all of this. Okay maybe she had a wand and a broomstick and also a cauldron and she may have had quite long finger nails that were painted scarlet red, but if you think about it this would NOT lead you to believe she was a witch.
Or would it?

“Merlin’s beard Mervin, why does it always have to be under this bed that you run?”

Mervin was Zelda’s husband. And I mean was, when I say it. Mervin had been Zelda’s husband until two weeks ago she had made him drink one of her wonderful concoctions. She had been making her wand topper-upper potion in her extra large cauldron and he had simply walked in rolled up his sleeves, walked up onto the podium (that Zelda had been using to stir the potion as it really was an EXTRA large cauldron) and dived in. The effects had been extraordinary. The potion had boiled and bubbled and then suddenly the was a loud bang and a cat had jumped out of the cauldron. This was no ordinary cat. This was a talking wizard cat, but as he could not hold a wand, magic was no use to him.

“I jump in here” replied the cat “Because the portal to ‘our’ world is down here. Goodbye again my dear wife” and he dived back down.

“Can’t you just act like a normal cat for once?” she cried back, but there was no answer.

Zelda pulled out her wand, as she didn’t want to crawl under the dirty bed on the filthy floor, and muttered casualy “alexano, bulet, dunvin diggily!”

In a flash Zelda landed in xZendleboeurg, a German wizards' town.

“Mervin!” she shrieked

“You lookin’ for tha’ bloomin’ cat of yours again?” asked Nilo, an English emigrant.

“Yes I am” answered Zelda coldly “And if you are just going to distract me then you can get your nose out of my business.”

“There ya go ya ungrateful gargoyle” and he threw a hissing bundle into her arms.

“Oops my mistake” said Zelda in an I don’t care kind of attitude.

“Gimmee a bit more respect next time ya see me then.”

“Fine so” said Zelda scowling. She picked up her wand and said again “Home sweet home again, xZendleboerg to Keeper Hill” Sparks flew out of her wand but other than that nothing else happened.

“Why wont you work you piece of scum!” roared Zelda.

“Wand going to shutdown mode” said a mysterious voice from Zelda’s wand.

“Oh! Blithering bumps what shall we do now!”

“Come on. Ya can stay with me for the night”

“Only if you promise to fly us home tomorrow morning p-please” she said disgusted.

“Come on it’s a bit of a walk from here.”

They walked for ten minutes and finally reached Nilo’s house.

“Come in. the cauldron’s on.”

The room they walked into had a bed, a fire, a small stove, a bed and what appeared to be a toilet.

“Where do you shower?” asked Zelda.

“Huh? Shower! I haven’t had one in thirteen years!”

“Oh you must be so proud” said Zelda sarcastically.

“Go on and get some sleep then” said Nilo, and he snuggled down into his own bed.

“But where do I sleep?”asked Zelda

“Beats me” and he started to snore.

  

“Ge’ up we’re goin’” yelled Nilo.

Zelda had  fallen asleep sitting on the toilet. It wasn’t the comfiest but it was better than the concrete floor.

Zelda, Mervin and Nilo flew through the sky. They passed villages, towns and cities until they finally reached the peak of Keeper Hill in County Tipperary.

“Thank you Nilo” said Zelda “I owe you one”

“Well in that case I suppose I could do with a bath”

“NO” and she slammed the door of her very, very, very, very, very old house in his face.

“MUM! Where’s Snuddly Bumps?” cried Sarah suddenly sitting up in bed.

“He ran under the bed and I haven’t seen him since” answered her mum.

The end

Emma Murray 6^th Class

Vandalism

Unfortunately our school suffered at the hands of vandals over the weekend. The goalposts and a basketball hoop have been damaged while some litter had been thrown around the yard. Most upsetting of all though was the destruction of the pumpkin plant donated to the school by Lieneke Smyth. 

Lieneke came to the school recently and transplanted the pumpkin plant into our raised bed. She spoke to the children about how to care for the plant and showed them different seeds. Ellen Geeves and Orla Ivors of Fifth Class took responsibility for watering the plant and we were all very excited to see how big the four pumpkins would become. 

Thankfully, for the last few years our school has been relatively vandalism free. Before the Summer holidays however it became clear that people were again trespassing after school and at the weekends and causing damage to our property.

Please report any incidents of trespassing to the school so that we can notify the guards. Our children don't deserve this. 

Class of the Month!

Congratulations to First and Second Class who received the very first Our Lady's N.S. Class of the Month Award for September. All the teachers agreed that Miss Quirke's class had lined up very well all month and had behaved themselves excellently in the yard while Miss Quirke praised their manners and hard work in the classroom. 

The children of First and Second Class get to display the Class of the Month trophy in their classroom for the month and they also get two nights off homework for their efforts. Well done and well deserved.

Seanfhocail na Seachtaine

Aaron Dunne - Rang a Sé

Cross Country Success!

We had a very successful day at the Tipperary Cross Country Championships on Wednesday, September 30th. In beautiful Autumn sunshine our runners were not intimidated by the large crowds and posted some very impressive finishes. Isabelle Corbett finished first in her race as did Emma Murray while there were top ten finishes for Shane Burns (3rd), Shauna Dunne (4th) and Bronagh Ivors (7th).
Our 3rd/4th Class Girls were the highest ranked team in their race. The 3rd/4th Class Boys finished 11th. The 5th/6th Class Girls finished 5th while the 5th/6th Class Boys were narrowly beaten into 4th. All the hard work really paid off and we are indebted to Marie Corbett for all her help on the day and in coaching our young athletes.Thanks also to the parents who came to support.
Fifth Class student Bonnie Hehir tells of her experience.

As I sat in the car waiting to get to school, I thought about the upcoming races. I smiled with excitement as I got out of the car and into the line. When we got into class we sat down and got to work

When the time finally came I got onto the bus with a grin on my face. I sat beside my friend Ellen. The bus started moving and we were on our way. As Ellen and I talked I started getting nervous. When we got there I had butterflies but was eager to race.

We got out, chose a spot and waited. We ate our lunch and talked a bit. Then the 3rd/4th Class race was about to begin.We waited by the race track and suddenly there was a lot of cheering. Isabelle passed by us with two other girls.We cheered on all the Ballingarry racers. At the end of the race we saw Isabelle with a gold medal in her hand. She had come first!

Races passed until it was the turn of the 5th/6th Class girls. We got in position and then a sudden whistle went off. I sprinted with other girls at the front but soon became tired. I jogged, walked and sprinted. At the end I had come in 48th place. I was happy and tired of course. On the bus home everyone was talking and having fun. I went to my mum at home time and told about everything.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

GOAL Jersey Day Friday, October 9th

Book Fair Thursday, 15th October to Wednesday, 21st October

Halloween Fancy Dress and Cake Sale Friday, 23rd October

Mid-term Break Friday, 23rd October. Return Monday, November 2nd

Swimming – 3rd to 6th Classes Tuesdays, 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and Thursday, 26th of November Tuesdays, 1st, 8th and 15th of December

Recycling Day (Clothes and Mobile Phones) Friday, 20th November

Christmas Holidays Tuesday, 22nd December. Return Wednesday, 6th January