​

​BUNSCOIL BÉAL AN ÁTHA
BALLINA PRIMARY SCHOOL

​Ballina, Killaloe, Co. Clare. (061)376340
office@ballinaprimaryschool.com

   
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Junior Infants 2021 - Applications now open

13/1/2021

 
Dear Parents/Guardians,

The application process for enrolment into Junior Infants in September 2021 is now open. If you have previously provided your address to the school regarding enrolment for 2021, an application form will be posted to you this week. If you have not provided us with your address, please find the application form below.
 
The Admissions Policy can be found on the Policies page on the school website, www.ballinaprimaryschool.com.
 
This Enrolment Application Form needs to be returned to the school not later than 2pm on Thursday 25th February 2021. It is the parent(s)/guardian(s) responsibility to ensure they receive and return the Enrolment Application Form by the specified date.
 
The completion and submission of an Application Form, or the placement of your child’s name on a list, however early, does not confer an automatic right of place in the school. We will follow the Admissions Policy which is available on the school website.
 
Thanking you for your co-operation.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Bernice O’Connell
Principal

Enrolment Application Form - Junior Infants 2021

Christmas in Ballina Primary SChool

4/12/2020

 

Admissions Information

26/11/2020

 
Please see the following link to Ballina Primary School's Annual Admission Notice in respect of admissions for the 2021/2022 school year, which contains information regarding admission into Junior Infants and Special Classes.

Annual Admission Notice 2021/2022

The updated Admissions Policy is linked below for your convenience, and is also available on the Policies page on this website.

Admissions Policy


Aldi Play Rugby sticker competition

9/11/2020

 
Dear Parents,
 
I’m delighted to confirm that our school has been drawn as one of the Aldi Play Rugby sticker competition winners.
 
The school will receive €10,000 which can be used to upgrade and improve sports facilities.
 
Please see a video message from Ireland international and Aldi Play Rugby Ambassador James Ryan announcing our win!
 
A huge thank you to Múinteoir Adrian for organising the sticker collection and entering our school in this competition.
 
Kind regards,
 
Bernice O' Connell

Useful Documents regarding Covid-19 and Back to school

11/9/2020

 
Dear Parents,

Please see the following documents, which may be of interest to you regarding Covid-19 and the reopening of schools.

Isolation Quick Guide

Back to School Advice for Parents

Information for Parents from the HSE

​
Ballina Primary School Glance Sheet for Parents

End of year Message

26/6/2020

 

Lámh sign language and Irish Sign language

11/5/2020

 
11th May 2020 

Dear Parents and Pupils,
 

We are going to begin a new project for anyone who is interested, which is to learn some Lámh sign language and Irish Sign Language. Lámh is a simplified version of Irish Sign Language and is derived from Irish Sign Language. 
Irish Sign Language is now recognised as an official language in Ireland and is more complex than Lámh. I will be speaking in English and the signs will be matched to the English words. 

Learning sign language will allow us as a whole school community to be able to include all children in reaching their potential with regards to communicating. 
  • I will be doing one to two signs per day by video. 
  •  I will recap on the signs learned as we go along. 
I am not fluent in sign language but I will do my best to impart what I do know. This will allow us to begin to learn sign language and improve communication with the pupils who require this support. We will also have little fun challenges as we go along. 

This is open to anyone who would like to get involved: pupils, parents, grandparents, guardians, siblings, and the whole school staff. Hopefully when everyone returns to school you will have a bank of signs that will allow you to help the children most in need. It will also help develop friendships further and give you an extra skill of communicating with people who are deaf, hard of hearing and/or have additional needs in the wider world. 

Stay tuned for our first little sign language video. They can be found on the Ballina Primary School website at www.ballinaprimaryschool.com under the tab named “Lámh Lessons”. These videos were created initially for the staff and pupils of Le Chéile NS, Limerick and so may make reference to teachers from that school from time to time but the lessons are applicable to all schools. 

Please start on Week 1, Lesson 1 and continue on from there each day.  

Included under the tab “
Lámh Lessons” is some background on Lámh sign language, some links and websites to get your interest going and guide you along the way too. 

In the meantime, mind yourselves, cherish those whom you love and stay safe. 

Yours Sincerely, 
Niamh O’ Sullivan Costa Pinto (Aidan Costa Pinto’s mother) 

Letter to Parents and Pupils of Rang 4, 5, and 6 re Microsoft Teams

4/5/2020

 
 Dear Parents and Pupils of Rang 4, 5 and 6,
 
On Tuesday morning we will begin to use Microsoft Teams to improve the provision of distance learning in the senior end of Ballina Primary School. The teachers completed online training over the last fortnight on Microsoft Teams and have been supported in this set-up and training by IT Systems, Killaloe.  
  • Over the last two days you should have received a username and password for each pupil.  
  • Each class teacher has set up a team for his/her class.  
  • Students can log into their school accounts at Office.com, where they will have access to Microsoft Teams, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.  From this home base, students can open Office apps in their web browser. 
  • Microsoft Teams can be accessed online or downloaded to a home or mobile device. 
  • It is better to download the Microsoft Team App and to use that for online learning. 
  • To explore Teams and see the class team they are in, the pupil can sign in to their school Office 365 account at Office.com and select the Teams app. Students will also receive an email notification when they've been added to a team (see links to Microsoft below for further guidance). 
  • Teams is an online classroom hub, where the pupil can chat with their whole class, in groups with other students, and one-on-one with their teachers. 
  • The weekly plan of work, similar to those that they have been working from over the last few weeks, has been uploaded to outline the work that the pupils will cover at home each day. Worksheets, assignments and other documents have been included to support the children with their work. Each teacher will chat to the pupils online each day through the written word to support any queries and give any feedback and support required. 
  • As we know circumstances are different in each household at this time. Pupils (supported by their parents) are working on their school work at different times of the day (morning, afternoon, evening) depending on access to devices and circumstances in the home. For this reason we are trying to make the education we provide as fair and balanced a system as possible. Pupils can access the work on their class team whenever it suits your home each day and it does not have to be during official school hours. We are trying to include a balance between online and pen and paper tasks. If you choose not to use the Teams platform the weekly plan will also be on the school website as before and will be sent to you via the Aladdin App also. Teachers will not be teaching live via video link but will be using the chat forum to contact pupils and to give advice and feedback. They will be online every school day during school hours to support the children with their learning. Children/ Parents may submit the work requested through the Teams App or via the teacher’s email. 
  • While the internet is a very valuable resource and is vital in many homes at the moment, it is important to remember that when it comes to primary school children its use needs to be monitored. Webwise.ie offers some very valuable information for parents on how they can help their children stay safe on-line.  They also offer advice for parents on dealing with on-line access during Covid-19. Please see the links below for further support on internet safety.  
  • We are anticipating it will take a few days for us all to get used to this new way of learning so please email the class teacher if you have any questions or difficulties. 

​Thank you for your continued support and feedback.
 
Príomhoide Bernice, Múinteoir Deirdre, Múinteoir Michael, Múinteoir David, Múinteoir Claire, Múinteoir Ciara O’ S and Múinteoir Cathal.  

Rang 4: 
 
  • Múinteoir Ciara O’ Sullivan:  4thclassballina@gmail.com or ciara.osullivan@ballinaprimaryschool.com 
  • Múinteoir Cathal: cstritch@ballinaprimaryschool.com 
Rang 5: 
  • Múinteoir David: dhickey@ballinaprimaryschool.com 
  • Múinteoir Claire: cosullivan@ballinaprimaryschool.com  
Rang 6: 
  • Múinteoir Deirdre: drussell@ballinaprimaryschool.com 
  • Múinteoir Michael:  mhurley@ballinaprimaryschool.com 
Bernice O’ Connell: boconnell@ballinaprimaryschool.com 
 
 For further help and guidance to Teams setup please use the links below: 
 
  • Distance learning with Office 365: Guidance for parents and guardians 
https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/distance-learning-with-office-365-guidance-for-parents-and-guardians-89d514f9-bf5e-4374-a731-a75d38ddd588 
  • Getting started in your class team 
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/get-started-in-your-class-team-6b5fd708-35b9-4caf-b66e-d8f2468e4fd5#ID0EBBAAA=Students_ 
 
  • Webwise have a special link with information for parents during Covid 19- 
https://www.webwise.ie/parents/covid19-online-safety-advice-for-parents/ 
  • Webwise  also have the general tab on information for parents- 
https://www.webwise.ie/parents/ 
 

School Work, Aladdin Connect, and Active Schools Week

29/4/2020

 
29th April 2020
 
Dear Parents, 

I hope this letter finds you all well and safe. Thank you to everyone who responded to the recent Distance Learning Survey. The results and feedback have been shared with all the teachers. We found the feedback extremely valuable to inform future planning of how best to support our pupils during this unprecedented school closure while being cognisant of the needs and demands on families as many parents continue to work from home.  We were glad that the vast majority of parents were happy with the amount of work given each week. We recognise that parents continue to want a balance between online and pencil-and-paper work. We know that there remain issues with connectivity, access to online resources, collection of books, and other issues raised and we will continue to try to devise the best strategy in planning going forward that suits the majority of pupils and their families. We would love to allow for collection of books; however, we have been advised by the Patron’s Office that this is not permitted at this time. Should circumstances change, we will review this.  

I have met with all the teachers this week online. The following changes were agreed and will be implemented from this May bank holiday weekend.  
  1. For pupils from Junior Infants to 3rd Class: Each teacher is devising a weekly plan of work to be completed by pupils. This will be sent to you by email or using the Aladdin Connect system by the Sunday before the start of the new school week. The weekly plan will also be uploaded to the school website under the relevant “class news tab” section as before. Children will be offered the opportunity to submit work to their class teacher via email by parents. The teachers are delighted to receive children’s work and will respond  with feedback and encouragement. As highlighted previously, the work set out is only a suggested programme of work. We understand each family has differing circumstances and all work may not get completed each week.  
  1. 4th, 5th and 6th Classes will begin to use the Microsoft Teams platform from next Tuesday to receive and submit work. Each pupil will be given a school email address and log-in code. This will only be used for the purpose of school work using Microsoft Teams. Teachers have set up a team for each class. Information with regard to set up will be distributed to these parents and pupils in the next few days. We will continue to upload a weekly plan of work to the school website under the relevant “class news tab” as before for these pupils and also in case there is any difficulty setting up individuals on the Microsoft Teams system. Teachers will be asking pupils to submit some completed work to them  each week for review and feedback. 
  1. Our school is delighted to announce that we will roll out the Aladdin Schools Connect to parents/guardians of children in our classes this week.  The school uses the Aladdin Schools software service www.aladdin.ie for administrative purposes and Connect will give you secure access to messages from the school and to details of your child’s attendance, test results, reports cards etc via secure login from your internet browser or Aladdin Connect App. 

In the next few days, you will receive a text message containing your registration link.  There will be one link per parent which will allow the parent to access information for all their children in the school from one user account. Please do not forward this text or share this link as this is a unique registration code for each parent for your child/children in this school. During registration you will choose a password that will be used in conjunction with your email address to securely access the Aladdin Connect going forward. Once you are registered you will be sent an email with links to download the Aladdin Connect App for your mobile device. The main advantage of using the App is to receive immediate alerts for app messages sent by your school. Downloading the App is highly recommended to enhance both the parent and school's Connect experience. 
 
 Aladdin Connect is a fantastic way to enhance a school's communication with parents. It enables parents to stay connected and informed about their child's education by: 
  • Ensuring that the school has their most up to date contact information. 
  • Allowing schools to gather permission(s) from parents. 
  • Allowing parents to quickly and efficiently select preferred slots for parent teacher meetings.  
  • Keeping parents apprised of their child's attendance. 
  • Keeping parents up to date on school and classroom news via noticeboard messages. 
  • Allowing parents to view what items their child had for homework. 
  • Allowing parents view their child's approved report card. 
  • Allowing parents to view their child's latest standardised test results. 
 Along with strengthening our home/school partnership, we also envisage Aladdin Connect helping the school by: 
  • Helping to improve attendance by allowing parents to keep track of any school days their child may have currently missed, along with late arrival information.  
  • Helping to reduce the amount of class/school notes being sent home. 
  • Helping the school/ teachers communicate with parents when the need arises. 
  • Reducing costs by eliminating the need to send school report cards by post. 
  • Reducing costs by reducing the number of text messages that need to be sent. 
You can rest reassured that Aladdin Schools uses state-of-the-art security to safeguard information entered by the school and data is stored and processed in strict compliance with Irish and European data protection laws. 

Finally, do not forget that our Active Schools Committee has asked us all to take part in the “Active at Home Week” this week to help us achieve our Active School Flag.  There are plenty of ideas and activities under the Active School section of our school website and clips of some teachers taking on the challenge to become more active. You can use the link http://www.ballinaprimaryschool.com/active-school-week-2019-2020 to view them. If any parents wish to send pictures, video clips or emails of our active pupils please send them to  cslattery@ballinaprimaryschool.com, 
amcloughney@ballinaprimaryschool.com or cosullivan@ballinaprimaryschool.com.

We congratulate all the pupils for their efforts to complete their work at home during this closure. We sincerely thank the parents for encouraging the children to continue some study at home at this time. Having spoken to many parents over the last fortnight, we understand great learning is taking place other than the academic work set out. Families are enjoying quality time together and undertaking many different activities such as learning to cycle, enjoying some story books, learning new sports skills, baking, cooking, and gardening. We have enjoyed hearing about these new skills and look forward to more news from you all in the coming weeks. The well-being of school community is of paramount concern and importance to us all at this time. 

Príomhoide Bernice. 

Confirmation/ Communion Updates

27/4/2020

 
Dear Parents,

Attached please find a letter received on Friday evening last (24th April 2020) from Archbishop Kieran O' Reilly regarding preparation for Communion and Confirmation . Fr. Tom Lanigan- Ryan has asked me to share it with you all. 

The staff of Ballina Primary School were very disappointed that the Confirmation had to be postponed on Friday. However, please be assured that the hymns, prayers, and mass booklet had all been finalised in conjunction with the staff of Boher National School before this unexpected school closure. We will be ready to assist the families and the parish to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation when a new date has been rescheduled. 

The same is true of the First Holy Communion and we look forward to celebrating this special day in the parish also.

Kindest regards,
Príomhoide Bernice.

Letter from Archbishop Kieran O' Reilly
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