Football News
At school (Cumann na mBunscol) level our teams are doing well this year so far. Our boys have won four out of five and our girls two out of four with some very good football being played! The groups this season are as follows:
Buachaillí (Roinn 2A)
Ballylinan
Scoil Mhuire, Abbeyleix
Ballyadams
Ratheniska
Stradbally
Ballyroan
Cailíní (Roinn 2A)
Ballylinan
Scoil Mhuire, Abbeyleix
Ballyadams
Ratheniska
Stradbally
Child Safeguarding
The schools’ child safeguarding and anti-bullying policies are available on the school website (click Policies and Procedures at the top of the page). The Board of Management welcomes comments and suggestions for improvement. If you wish to comment, please ring the school or email feedback.ballylinan@gmail.com . Thank you.
Parents Meeting
We have a great tradition of supportive parents in Ballylinan. Interested parents are invited to a meeting to form a working group of people who are willing to support the work of the school in the coming months and years. The meeting will take place in the school on Thursday week, 20th October at 8 p.m. We will outline planned activities that can involve your support and discuss things that we could work on together. Our Parents Association had to take a back seat during Covid and we will resume its activities at subsequent meetings. All are welcome.
Parenting Courses
Please click for info: Parenting When Separated and Parenting Early Years. Note that some of these courses may have started but will still accept attendees. Contact details can also be used to find out about subsequent or follow-up courses. Parenting is a difficult job, we all need a hand or some advice at times!
Parent-Teacher Meetings
These will take place next month; details to follow.
School Attendance
If your child is absent for a total of 20 days or more in a school year, we are legally required to report this to Tusla. You may see an alert on the Aladdin app. If many of these days are Covid or illness-related or you have provided a reasonable explanation, there is no need to be concerned. If you have any queries, please contact the school. Thank you.
Allergies / Epipens / Asthma
If your child has an allergy and we have an epipen here in the school please contact us immediately to check that it is in date. If we are not aware, please let us know immediately. Please also ensure that we are aware if your child uses an inhaler for asthma and that we have been informed if there are any particular concerns in relation to your child’s asthma. Thank you.
Covid Reminder
Public health advice remains that your child should not attend school if they are unwell or have Covid symptoms. If you are unsure, please contact us. Thank you all.
Primary Language Curriculum Inservice
Teachers are required to undertake inservice on the revised primary language curriculum. This will take place on Friday, 28th October, the day of the Halloween break. School will finish for all pupils at 12:30 (12:15 for infants) on that day. There is likely to be another inservice in the afternoon of Monday, 14th November. Confirmation to follow.
Halloween Hike
As in previous years we will be dressing up for Halloween, this year on the morning of Friday October 28th. Like last year we plan to ‘hike’ from the school down to the village and will be issuing sponsorship cards soon. Details to follow.
Collection
Our school is one of the nominated charities in Tesco Portlaoise to which you can donate a ‘blue token’. If you or anyone you know is shopping there, please do consider us! Thank you very much.
Labels
A reminder that it’s a good time to ensure that your child’s name is on all clothing. We can have some difficulty identifying jumpers/tracksuit tops in the playground. Please check now! We have plenty of lost property; please ask at the office.