Bhí Seachtain na Gaeilge ar siúl an seachtain seo caite, Márta 11-15. Ghlac gach duine páirt! Ar an Luan bhí Tráth na gCeist againn. Bhíomar go léir ag damhsa ar an Máirt le Céilí Mór. D'éisteamar le Ceolchoirm Miss Killeen ar an Céadaoin. Ar an Déardaoin  d'imir gach rang cluichí agus gníomhaíochtaí suaimhneach. Bhí Lá Glas againn ar an Aoine. Is breá linn Seachtain na Gaeilge!

On Thursday 29th February we leaped into our first ever Feile Ficheall Chess Tournament. We hosted over 120 pupils and staff from Rochfortbridge, Miltownpass, Tyrellpass and Clonown in our school for a great day of friendly competition. We entered 2 teams in the Budding Masters section (3rd and 4th class) and another 2 teams in the Masters Section (5th and 6th class). The teams were selected following an internal school competition in November and December and received expert tuition from Natalia Strelcova in January and February in preparation. It is hoped that some of the players will now be invited to the Comortas Ficheall later in the year. We have to give special mention to our 3 TY students, Josh O’Brien Evan Murphy and Luke McRedmond who prepared the venue for the tournament.

The teams were: 

Budding Masters Section.

The Ballinamere Pawn Crackers: Finian Condron, Georgie Cleary Carroll, Kate Mooney, Cailin Guinan, Conor Goodings, Elsie Kilmartin, Robbie Wyer, Jason McKinney, Noah Dunne, Kritian Butnickis, Alan Oleszczuk

The Ballinamere Kings and Queens: Alex Thornton, Billy Marsden, Ava Harney, Tadhg Kenny, Eiveras Rastauskas, Jamie Healy, Cillian Tracey, Oisin Spollen

Masters Section.

The Ballinamere Bishops: Cian Boland, Holly Mooney, Daire Garvey, Halle Thornton, Lucy Kieran, Joe Haverty, David Guiney, Lucy Bell, Ross Spollen, Lily Morris

The Ballinamere Check Maters: Sam Jordan, Devon Molly, Daniel Sempere Strelcov, Tom Walsh, Annie Mooney, Jake Casey, Colman Condron, Lucy Marsden.

Huge congratulations to our senior quiz team who competed in the CUDA Quiz final in Blanchardstown on March 2nd. There were 23 schools participating in the quiz. After ten rounds, we were one of three teams who were tied for first place! After taking part in two tie breaks, our wonderful quiz team came second!  A fantastic result! We are very proud of them! Comhghairdeas leo!

The Credit Union Quiz takes place in the Tullamore Court Hotel on Wednesday, 21st February.  Best of luck to the Junior and Senior Quiz teams!  Beir bua!

Well done to 6th Class who raised €320 by donating some of their Confirmation money.  They chose 2 charities; Irish Heart Foundation and Crumlin Children's Hospital and gave €155 to each. 

To celebrate Science Week Sixth Class held a science fair in the gym. All classes from Junior Infants to Fifth took part. It was a fantastic day, full of exciting experiments and fun science activities!

A big thank you to all for your very generous donations of Shoe Boxes for our Christmas Appeal. In all, 130 Christmas Boxes were collected. These boxes will bring much excitement and joy to less fortunate children. 

The children in Third Class were learning about the past.

They interviewed their grandparents to learn about life when they were young! 

Some grandparents did not have electricity when they were small. 

They used candles and oil lamps. 

Kate brought in a tilly lamp to show the class.

There was great excitement in the senior classes over the last few weeks. A draughts competition was organised for third and fourth and another one for fifth and sixth. Congratulations to the finalists! Thanks to Mr Greville for organising the competition.

Congratulations to the boys and girls who represented our school so well at the recent Athletics competition in Tullamore Harriers. They were very successful and we are very proud of them.

Congratulations to the boys and girls who took part in the Inter Schools'  Athletics Competition. The event was held in the Harriers last Friday, 21st April. The children competed in the sprint, long distance, relay and throwing competitions. They had a super day! Thanks to Offaly Partnership for organising the event.

Eight pupils from sixth class took part in the Pauline Curley Girls Relay Marathon last week in Tullamore Harriers. They did a fantastic job running 42kms in 200m relays. They were successful in breaking the world record time, congratulations on a fantastic achievement!

Congratulations to our Senior Quiz Team who came in joint second place in the CUDA National Table Quiz Competition on Saturday last.  A great achievement and we are very proud of them. Well done to all who helped them prepare.

Tullamore Credit Union’s annual Primary School Table Quiz took place in the Court Hotel on Wednesday 8th February. Congratulations to the senior team who came fourth and will go forward to compete in the CUDA final. Well done also to the junior quiz team who performed very well on the night and represented our school so well.

Congratulations to the boys and girls in 6th class who made their Confirmation last Saturday the 28th of January in Church of the Assumption, Tullamore.

 A special thanks to Ms. Guest and Ms. Quinn along with Fr. Joe Campbell who prepared them so well for the sacrament.

Our class representatives meet with Ms. Cusack and Ms. Hogan every fortnight. At this meeting they bring forward ideas to improve school life. These ideas are discussed and decided on. On Thursday last, Father Joe presented the group with their pins.

A total of 106 boxes were collected in our school for the Christmas Shoebox Appeal this year. These will bring much joy to children living in difficult conditions.  

Tullamore Harriers held the Primary Schools Cross Country Championship on Thursday last, the 6th of October.  Over 700 children from 30 primary schools participated. The children had a fantastic day! Congratulations to the third class boys' team who came third, the third class girls' team who came second and the sixth class boys' team who were placed first.  Well done to all the boys and girls from 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th  who took part in the races!

Congratulations to the boys and girls in second class who received their First Holy Communion on Saturday the 14th May.  Special thank you to Fr. Joe for the lovely ceremony and to Ms. Buggy the class teacher for preparing them so well. Our choir, under the direction of Ms. O'Sullivan were fantastic.  A big thank you to everybody involved. 

Pupils from 4th, 5th and 6th class really enjoyed participating in the Spar FAI primary school 5 a side competition over the last few weeks. The whole school gathered outside to watch the very exciting finals. Well done to all involved and a big thanks to Mr. Fahey, Mr. Forde and Mr. Greville  who helped organize it.

Third Class had a very exciting day today! Geraldine brought in a hand churn and showed us how to make butter. Geraldine told us how she used to make it at home when she was a little girl. We really enjoyed helping her! It was fascinating to see how the churn worked. It was lovely to see the buttermilk and also to taste the delicious homemade butter. Special thanks to Geraldine for teaching us how to make butter. Thanks also to Sharon for supplying the cream.

The Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal was a great success this year. We received 124 shoeboxes which will be donated to less fortunate children around the world this Christmas. Thank you for your generosity and support.

Congratulations to the children from Third Class who received their First Holy Communion on Saturday 18th September.

Special thanks to Fr. Joe and Fr. Séan for a lovely ceremony.

Second class did a fantastic job creating  a May Bush this week in school.  They handmade lots of lovely ribbon decorations and wild flowers to bring us all luck. It looks really beautiful in the playground.

We had great weather for our outdoor assembly for St. Patrick's Day. We celebrated by singing "Ireland's Call" together and 6th class showed the rest of the school how to sign "Ireland's Call" using Irish Sign Language. 

The county finals took place on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd of October in O’Connor Park, Tullamore.

The boys were up against Edenderry. They played very well and claimed the shield. Well done to all the lads!

Congratulations also to the girls who played against Rahan. They had a superb game and brought home the cup. A special thank you to Carina, Alan, Mr. Forde, Mr Fahey, Ms. O’Sullivan and Ms. Brennan.

Ballinamere took part in the largest festival of maths in the world!

Many of the classes took part in the Ninja Maths Challenge on Mangahigh.

All students took part in the school challenge. Students had to solve a daily puzzle that was set for each class.

Other Maths activities such as Maths trails and games took place in each classroom.

Well done to all the children!