Assessment Test for Incoming 1st Year Students

The Assessment test will be held at School on

Saturday 2nd February 2019 from 10a.m. to 12.30p.m.

The student will need to be at the School by 9.55a.m. Please bring along a pencil and an eraser. The assessment tests are purely to assist the School in best providing for the educational needs of incoming students. They are not used for the purpose of selection or streaming. We do not want it to be a stressful process. It also provides the first opportunity for incoming 1st year students to meet one another. There will be three short breaks. A snack and drink will be provided. Your son/daughter may bring in their own food if they wish. Results of these Assessment tests will be available in September on request from school guidance counsellor.

JC & LC Mocks

Please find timetables for Mocks below. Mocks starting on 5th February for 6th years and on 6th February for 3rd years. Finishing on 15th February. Good luck to all students!

U15 Boys Soccer

Well done to our under 15 boys soccer team who played against Banagher College in the West Leinster Final yesterday. After extra time and penalties they came out victorious with the final result 3 : 2. Also thanks to their coach Ms. Quinn. 

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Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Reporters : Alannah Reid, Siobhan Kilduff

Díospóireacht
Comhghairdeas le foireann shinsearach díospóireachta Mheánscoil na Trócaire agus a múinteoir Ms.Nevin a mbeidh ag dul chun cinn chuig an chéad bhabhta eile i Mí Eanair!

Congratulations to Mercy Ballymahon's senior debating team who won their first Gael Linn debate on Monday December 3rd . The next round is in January.

Basketball

Congratulations to our U16 and U19 girls’ basketball teams who had fantastic victories over Castleblaney in the regional A league finals on December 3rd. U16 won 43-42 and U19 won 35-33. Both teams now progress to the All Ireland playoffs in January. Thanks to their coaches Ms. Coyle, Ms.Walsh and Ms. Carr.

Football

Our senior boys had a comprehensive victory in their first championship game on the 29th November, played in St Lomans Mullingar. It was a fantastic squad effort with 21 players getting valuable gametime in very windy conditions. We play Ballymahon VS in the next round of the North Leinster Championship. Full time score- Mercy Ballymahon 3-14(23) Oldcastle (St Olivers PP) 1-5 (8).

Soccer

Congrats to our U19 boys’ soccer team who won their game against Mercy Kilbeggan 4-0 on December 3rd. They are now through to the West Leinster final. Thanks to their coach Mr. Burke.

Thanks to Ballymahon AFC for the use of their excellent facilities.

Careers

Our 6th years receive excellent talks from various colleges throughout the school year. So far this year we were delighted to host Athlone IT, UCD, Maynooth, GMIT, IT Sligo and we look forward to many more in the coming months. But nothing beats having a past pupil return. Paddy Grogan gave a great insight into the option of an Apprenticeship, he is finishing his final year in Aerospace and has already been offered a permanent job starting in September! We would encourage all our leaving certs to keep all options open by applying to the CAO, Apprenticeships, PLC courses etc.

Transition Year

On Monday 3rd Ms Donoghue brought TY students to St Christopher’s Day Centre Ballymahon where both groups of students connected in a very sociable setting.

On Wednesday 5th December TY students went ice skating in Dundrum. A great day was had by all. Everyone came home safe and sound.

On Thursday 6th TY students attended an AXA Road Safety show in the Backstage. This was organised by Longford County Council. It was a very powerful show. It highlighted the importance of taking care on our roads.

On Thursday 6th and McCarron brought a group of TY students to Thomond Nursing Home carol singing. This was a very sociable gathering which everyone enjoyed.

On Sunday 9th December seven mini company groups sold their wares at the annual Craft Fair in the Rustic Inn Abbeyshrule.

Open Night

Open night proved to be a very enriching experience for our school last week. We were delighted to open the doors of our school to welcome all prospective students who are set to enrol in secondary school for September 2019. There was a great buzz of excitement around the school as present students demonstrated the full range of subjects, our school offers. Our trad group gave a lively introduction to the night and set the atmosphere of excitement and anticipation for our prospective incoming first years. Closing date for Enrolment for 1st year 2019 is 4pm Tuesday December 18th.








As part of their  Disability Awareness course, TY 2 and their teacher Ms Donoghue visited St Christopher’s Day Disability Service in Ballymahon on Monday 3rd December. 

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Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Pope John Paul II Award

Fourteen 5th year students from Mercy Ballymahon, guided by Fr. Liam and Ms. Nevin, received the John Paul II Award from Bishop Duffy in St. Mel’s Cathedral on Sunday 21st October, at a beautiful ceremony. Special thanks to Ms. Bohan and Sr. Úna Purcell for their help. The John Paul II Award is available to Transition Year students, it has proven to be a most rewarding, worthwhile, enjoyable experience. Ms. Nevin, Ms. Gaffney, Mr. Mulvihill and Ms. Fitzmaurice will be leading the Award this year.

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GAA

We had a fantastic first day out for our boys 4 teams, who entered in a seven a side blitz, with over 30 students making their Mercy Ballymahon debut. Our U14s have had two comprehensive victories against Ballymahon Vocational School and Moyne CS.

Our U16s play their first group game against Cnoc Mhuire Granard on Thursday 25 October 2018.

Our Senior second team made their debut and had a fine win over our neighbours BVS. Our Senior Boys’ team bet Mercy Kilbeggan in the Longford/Westmeath competition. Well done to all the teams and teachers involved, Mr Sean Larkin and Mr Shane Kenny, Mr Ger O Gara and Mr John Dromey, Mr Gary Kenny and Mr Joe McCormack.

Soccer

The Boys First Year Futsal team became County Longford champions in the FAI Schools Futsal competition held in the Community Centre in Edgeworthstown on October 10th. They won all 4 matches against Moyne Community School, St Mels College, Templemichael College & Cnoc Mhuire Granard.

Training has commenced for both the U19 and U15 boys soccer teams, who are playing in the West Leinster league on the 2018/19 season. Good luck to Mr Burke, Ms Quinn and their teams in the season ahead.

Basketball

Both the Boys and Girls U16 and U19 teams are up and running at this stage. Thanks to coaches Ms. O Sullivan, Mr. Tansey, Ms. Coyle, Ms. Walsh and Ms Curley. More updates next week.

The Green Schools Project

The Green Schools Committee continues its work this year. We are working for the Green Flag in Energy, as this is the second theme in the Green Flag series. Mr Burke, Ms Donoghue, Ms Fox, Ms Fitzmaurice and Ms Murphy all work with our eager students on the Green Schools Committee to achieve these targets.

Art

Art club has taken off with great popularity. It is open to all students and takes place every Thursday at lunch time in the Art Room. TY groups are working hard alongside Narnia students on their Junk Kouture entries. Congratulations to Katie Brogan who won First place in the Aisling Festival Art competition, special category, and Laura Hand who won highly commended, also in the special category. Also congratulations goes to Aleksandra Dul (1st Year) who was placed first in our Art competition to design the School Walk sponsorship card

School Walk

The Annual School Walk took place on Wednesday the 24th October. The student population along with their teachers and SNAs took to the route with gusto. Well done to all our teachers who supervised, walked, cycled and made it possible. Thanks to Ms. O Sullivan for co-ordinating operations.

The Oscars:

Preparations for our biennial school show are well underway. The management teams are in place and auditions and rehearsals are in full swing. So mark the dates on your calendar 20th, 21st and 22nd November. It promises to be a great night. Tickets on sale after mid-term.

Triple P – Fear Less (Reducing Anxiety in Children &Teenagers)

Triple P – Fear Less (Reducing Anxiety in Children &Teenagers) are delivering a talk for parents of children and teenagers aged 6 – 14 year olds, who might be concerned about their child/teen experiencing anxiety, on Thursday 11th October from 7 30pm – 9pm in the Radisson Hotel in Athlone.

This talk is free to attend and parents do not need to book a place.

More information: bit.ly/2pH1ySG

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Author Ré Ó Laighléis was  in Ballymahon Library on Wednesday. Ré did a workshop with our Ty3 students. Ré has written lots of books in Irish that have now been translated into 8 languages and some of his short stories are now on the New Junior Cert Irish course.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon!

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Katie Gouldsbury and Tami Dania

TY:

On Monday the 14th, there was a Photography Exhibition held in the Longford Arms Hotel. Congratulations to Oisin Brogan who won the County award in the Drink Awareness competition, and Jasmine Stansbury who won Photographer of our School Award.

Congratulations to Claire Beirne and Oisin Brogan who won the TY Bake Off competition with their Muffins. Muirinn Claffey, Eva Harkin and James Murphy got second place with Chocolate chip cookies and  Shauna Gilbride got 3rd  place with her Brownies.

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Thanks to Jacob Kajan, Ciarán Hanley, Shane Prior, Oisin Brogan, Claire Beirne, and Alison Dennehy  who visited the Daycare Centre last week.

On Friday the 11th of May, the group of students participating in the Lighthouse Project, Urte Vityte, Liadhan Farrell, Ella McMonagle, Francesca McGreal, Chara Mtisi, Cillian Mckeown, Edel Clabbey and Muireann Claffey gave their final evaluation talk to the Confirmation classes in St. Matthews Primary School. Thank you to all who helped to make the preparation of Confirmation a holy and joyous time.

Well done to the 20 TY students who completed their GAA coaching course and visited St. Matthews, local primary school, for a GAA blitz with the students. Each TY student has a coaching certificate.

Congrats to Laoise Nerney, Jill Dennehy, Ciara Mulligan, Niamh Dempsey and Ellen Shannon who won 2nd place in the Drugs.ie National Youth Media Awards-‘Let’s Talk about Drugs’ Competition which was presented to Laoise Nerney and Jill Dennehy on behalf of the team at the Department of Education offices  in Dublin last Wednesday. Thanks to Ms. Bohan who accompanied them and to Mick Conlan for his guidance on this project.

Other:

The school had a busy week as our annual school tours took place last Thursday. Sixth years enjoyed a day at Tayto Park with Ms. D. Daly, Mr. Staunton and Ms. O Neill. Fifth years went to Zipit in Lough Key Forest Park, thanks to Mrs. Cooney, Ms. McGovern and Mr. Munds, Mr. Farrell, Ms. Flannery and Ms. Quinn who accompanied the students. Transition year students had a 2 night stay at Portlick Adventure Center with Mrs. Bohan, Ms. Halligan, Mr. Tansey and Ms. Costello. Third years went to Tanagh Outdoor Adventure Center. Thanks to Ms. O Sullivan, Mr. McCormack, Mr. Walsh and Ms. Ryan who accompanied them. Second years went to Pure Skills in Galway with Mrs Reynolds, Mr. Dromey, Ms. Nevin and Mr. Burke. First years went to Bay Sports Athlone with Ms. Honeyman, Ms. O Reilly, Mr. Larkin, Ms. Brady and Mr. O Rourke

Sport:

Commiserations to the First year boys’ football team who lost the Leinster semifinal against Rathangan. Thanks to Mr. Larkin and Mr. Kenny who coached the boys.

Hard luck to our U14 girls whose campaign in the Leinster championship came to a disappointing end last Tuesday where they were defeated by Loreto Navan in the U14 Leinster Final in Kinnegad. Although it was not to be, all players demonstrated great skill and passion right up to the very end.

It has been an outstanding year of football for this exceptional panel of players who have shown true dedication, determination and resilience all year. 

A big thank you to everyone for all the support throughout the year and to the coaches Ms. McTiernan and Mr. Seery.

Thought for the week:

When you can't control what's happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what’s happening. That’s where your power is.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Olivia Hoysted and Amy Cox

Transition year:

A huge congratulation to our All Ireland winners of School Digital Champions, 2017-2018, Katie Gouldsbury, Liadhan Farrell, Tami Dania and Mateusz Bednarek. The Champions produced a video on Autism Awareness and entered it into the RTÉ Schools Digital Video Competition.  Theirs was chosen as the overall winner out of over 280 entries. As part of their prize they get a video production and editing training day at RTÉ headquarters in Dublin in September. They would like to give a huge thanks to Ms. Ryan and the students in  Narnia for all their co-operation and encouragement.

Congrats to our TY girls, Niamh Dempsey, Ellen Shannon, Laoise Nerney, Jill Dennehy and Ciara Mulligan, who came second in the Let’s Talk About Drugs National Media awards competition for their video on drug and alcohol awareness. They will attend an awards ceremony on the 16th May in Dublin. Well done to the girls and their mentor Mick Conlan.

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Thanks to Bryn Peters, Ciaran Hanley and Dylan Coady, Ciara Mulligan, Ellen Shannon, Clodagh Dillon and Oisin Brogan who went to the Day-care centre last week. Well done to Olivia Hoysted who helped out at Bridgeway’s last week.

Thanks to Ms. Quinn who organised guest speaker David Cryan to speak  on ways of leading a healthy lifestyle through regular exercise and healthy eating to TY students  .  David was one of the leaders in this year’s Operation Transformation

Following on from Alpha, Simon and his team from “Youth for Christ” came to the school and did activities with the TY students on Wednesday 9th May. The students took part in cage soccer, as well as a talk about spirituality.

The 38 students participating in GAISCE Bronze award completed a 20km walk as part of their adventure trip. They walked along the canal from Ballinacarrigy back to Ballymahon. Thanks to Mr. Dempsey and Mr. Munds who accompanied them.

All TY students had a sleepover in the gym on Thursday, the 3rd of May. Each student collected money, and in total they raised €1060 for St Martha’s and Bethany House, the Saint Vincent de Paul shelters in Longford. Thanks to the teachers Mr. Tansey, Ms. McGovern, Mr. Walsh, Ms. Fitzmaurice, Ms. Bohan and Ms. McCarron who supervised the students.

News:

A reminder for Leaving cert students that C.A.O. students can place their details on a priority waiting list for onsite accommodation in U.C.D.

Sport:

Congratulations to the first year boys’ basketball team and their coach Mr. Dempsey who won the All Ireland Final on Friday the 4th of May. They beat Mungret, Limerick in the final in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. This is the first time for our school to win an All-Ireland at this level.

Well done to the under 14 girls football team who beat Bunclody in the Leinster semi-final on Wednesday the 9th. Thanks to Ms Mc Tiernan and Mr Seery.

Thought for the week:

When you can’t control what‘s happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what’s happening. That’s where your power is.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Katie Gouldsbury and Mateusz Bednarek

Tranisition Year:

On Tuesday the 1st of May, two TY groups attended an award ceremony for the RTE All Ireland Drama Festival Schools Playwright Competition. Congratulations to Sarah Cox and Edel Clabby whose scripts were shortlisted. They won two tickets to a show in the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone. Thanks to Ms. Quinn and Ms. Flannery who went with the groups.

Well done to Zoe Guinane, Olivia Hoysted, Francesca McGreal, Shauna Gilbride and Rebecca Gill who helped out at Bridgeway’s and Lucy Anne Myhill, Niamh Dempsey, Brian Casey, Dylan Coady, Bryn Peters, Gordon Farrell and Ellen Shannon who helped at the day-care during the week.

On Thursday the 3rd of Maythe Ty’s had their annual Sponsored  “lock in” in the school’s gym. All money collected goes to the homeless shelters in Longford, Bethany House and St. Martha's.

Our four school Digital champions, Katie Gouldsbury, Mateusz Bednarek, Tami Dania and Liadhan Farrell enjoyed their tour to google headquarters in Dublin with Mr. Dempsey on Thursday last.

There was a bake sale held on Wednesday 25th April in aid of St. Luke’s Hospital. It was organised by a group of ty girls who plan to take part in the ladies mini marathon in Dublin on Sunday June the 3rd and the seven Ty boys who have volunteered to help at the marathon. Together with the first years contribution to their guest speaker from St Luke’s on Friday morning and other kind donations from the public they have raised a staggering €1,022.00 which is all going towards St. Luke’s cancer hospital. The VHI Women's Mini Marathon main sponsor Today FM have chosen to work with our school this year and are going to make a clip of the different events held in our school as the students prepare to undertake this challenge. This clip will be put up on their social media accounts so that others can donate to the Charity. This clip will also be used at the start line of the run to get the thousands of us geared up for the 10km to be completed. Big thanks to Mr. Walsh, Mr. Carr, Mr. McCormack and Ms. Quinn who helped the TY students with their guest speaker and warm up for the Today FM crew.

Sports

Mercy Ballymahon’s first year girls’ basketball team qualified for the All-Ireland playoffs in the University of Limerick on the 28th and 29th of April having won 6 of their 7 games in the Regional Competition. Parents, players, coaches and supporters made the journey to the sports arena in UL for a Competition which pitted Mercy Ballymahon against Loreto Letterkenny, Regina Mundi College and Clonaslee College.

Congratulations to the 1st year girls’ basketball team who, at the end of a long campaign, can say that they are deservedly one of the top eight teams in the country. Thanks to coaches Mr. Walsh and Ms. Carr for all their work with the team. We would like to thank all players, parents and Ms. Donohue for making it a memorable and successful weekend.

Thanks to the PE teachers Ms. Carr and Mr. McCormack who taught all their students CPR during their PE classes last week.

Well done to the u14 girls football team who beat St. Marys Edenderry in the Leinster Quarter final and now play Bunclody in the final. Thanks to their coaches Ms. McTiernan and Mr. Seery.

Last week was active schools week. Throughout the week students were informed on the importance of healthy eating and an active lifestyle. A simple exercise routine was called over the intercom and lasted for ten minutes each day. All students and staff were encouraged to participate. The 2nd and 5th years had a basketball tournament. The sixth years played the teachers in a volleyball game. There was an Art Competition held among 1st years to design a “Mercy Ballymahon Get Active” Logo and Slogan.

Other News:

Eleven of our teachers took part in staff golf outing on Friday 27th at Newforest Golf club, Tyrellspass. Congratulations to Ms. Donohue, Mr. Dromey and Mr. O Gara who won the tournament. Mr. Walsh got the closest pin and Mr. Bohan got the longest drive.

Our LCVP students completed their exam on Wednesday the 2nd of May.

Thanks to Moate business college who spoke to the leaving cert students last Thursday re post leaving cert courses available at their college in September next.

Our Narnia students enjoyed a tour to Tayto Park last week accompanied by Ms. Ryan, Ms. Costelloe,Helena Brady and Claire Doyle

Thought for the week:

If you want something you never had you have to do something you’ve never done.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Tami Dania and Sarah Cox

Transition Year:

On Thursday 26th April, TY1 and TY2 visited Boda Borg as a part of their TY Logic class. They were accompanied by their teachers, Mr. Dromey and Ms. Daly.

TY students participated in a Farm Safety course held at the Ballymahon Mart on Wednesday 25th April. Students who attended : Keith O'Halleran, Patrick Smyth, Richard Sweetnam,  Chara Mtisi, Patrick Conlon, Eoghan Bannon,  Ella Mc Monagle,  Richard Prior,  Shane Prior,  Dylan Coady,  Bryn Peters,  Edel Clabby,  Dillon Ryan,  Jack Murtagh,  Ciaran Mc Donnell , Ciaran Hanley, Richard Laffan and Brian Casey. Thanks to Mr. Munds for accompanying the students.

Three TY students, Ali O’Connor, Zoe Guinane and Rebecca Gill, attended the science competition Scifest which took place in The Helix in DCU. The title of their project was ‘An investigation into the way in which digital devices alter our perception of time’. The competition took place on Tuesday the 24th of April. There were 350 students participating in the event and 166 projects.

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The girls’ experiment involved participants reading an extract from a book in a physical copy and then from a digital device. In each case the participants had to read for what they estimated to be two minutes. They were timed and the actual time and the perceived time were recorded. The experiment was carried out on over 200 people. A survey was also carried out on over 250 people and it included questions regarding lifestyle in relation to their use of digital devices and reading. The results they got proved that there is a relationship between our perception of time and the use of digital devices in which digital devices lengthen our perception of time.

The girls received great feedback from the judges and were awarded Best Project in Life Sciences for the Intermediate/Senior Category. They received D.C.U hoodies and want to say a huge thanks to their science teacher Ms. Fiona Noone.

Thanks to  Brian Casey, Gordan farrell, Jacob Kajan, James Murphy, Ryan Shannon, Niall McGarry, Liadhan Farrell, Amy Cox, Lucy Ann Myhill Sean Kenny, Laoise Nerney and Olivia Hoysted for visiting the Day Care Centre this week and to Francesca McGreal and Shauna Gilbride who visited the Bridgeways homework club last week.

Sport:

Congratulations to Mr Dempsey and the first year boys’ basketball team who beat Abbey Grammar Newry, Knockbeg College Carlow and St Brendan’s Belmullet at the All Ireland playoffs on Tuesday the 24th of April which were held at Mercy Ballymahon. They are now through to the All-Ireland semi-final against Old Bawn Community School, Tallaght, which will take place in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght on Friday the 4th of May.

Commiserations to Ms. Carr and the second year girls’ basketball team who lost just one of the three games at the All-Ireland playoffs on Friday the 20th April which also took place in Mercy Ballymahon. The girls beat the Presentation Killarney and Coláiste Einda, Galway before losing to Mercy Waterford who are current All Ireland champions

News:

First year students visited Knock for their annual retreat on Thursday 26th of April. They were accompanied by TY students, Sophie Hogan, Caitlin Farrell, Rebecca Gill and Zoe Guinane and teachers, Ms. O’Reilly, Ms. Fitzmaurice, Mr. Larkin and Mr. Walsh.

The Ag Science students completed their orals on Thursday last. This Oral exam and project is worth 25% of their Leaving Certificate Ag. Science exam.

Our school trustees CEIST have been seeking volunteers to help out at the World meeting of families in August 25th and 26th. To date 40 students from Transition and 5th year have volunteered. They will be helping out during the Pope’s visit to Ireland in Croke Park and the Phoenix Park and will be staying overnight at another CEIST school in the Dublin area. Thanks to Mrs. Bohan for coordinating the students.

Thought for the week:

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

 Notes by: Olivia Hoysted and Amy Cox

TY

Thanks to Mairead Casey who has completed the Irish dancing and Jive classes for TY students. They all had great fun.

Thanks to a Keith from IT Tallaght who came to talk to the students about Computer Science and Coding last week. The students found it very interesting and informative, and enjoyed it immensely. It was a hands on approach with a holographic virtual reality part to it.

Congratulations to Rebecca Gill, Zoe Guinane, Shauna Gilbride, Olivia Hoysted and Francesca McGreal who were selected to go and help out at Bridgeways Resource Centre. 

TY students Patrick Conlon, Evan Chalmers and Seadhna Ryan ran a basketball tournament last week, in the gym. They raised €60 for the Day Care centre. Thanks Mr. McCormack and Ms. Carr for facilitating this event

Thanks to Ciarán Hanley, Gordan Farrell, Brian Casey, Clodagh Dillon, Lucy Anne Myhill, Oisin Brogan, Laoise Nerney, Jill Dennehy, Múirín Claffey, Shauna Gilbride, Francesca McGreal, Ciara Mulligan Ellen Shannon, Niamh Dempsey and Cormac Dixon who attended the Day Care centre last week.

Good luck to Shauna Gilbride and Francesca McGreal who are working on a Ty Year book, which will contain memories and achievements of the class and will be on sale at the end of the school year.

The School Digital Champions team of Liadhan Farrell, Tami Dania, Katie Goldsbury, Mateusz Bednarek, have been busy submitting the work they have done behind the scenes in producing a video to RTE. They have submitted the actual video for Autism Awareness to School Digital Champions headquarters. This video may be viewed on You tube. As part of the project the team will get a site tour of Google headquarters on May 3rd.

Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon School Digital Champions are proud to present to you our autism awareness video. We made this in the hopes of maybe changing our society's opinion and educating you, in simple terms, about autism. Enjoy!

Sports

The U 14 girl’ football took part in a blitz last Thursday organised by the Leinster Council. They have also qualified for the U14 Leinster 1/4 finals next Friday.  Thanks to their coaches, Mr. Seery and Ms. McTiernan

Commiserations to first year boys’ football who were defeated by Cnoc Mhuire, Granard last week. However they have qualified for the Leinster quarter final after beating St. Marys Edenderry and Moyne Community School recently. Thanks to their coaches, Mr. Larkin and Mr. Kenny.

Other

Well done to the Leaving Certs who took part in their Leaving Cert Irish orals last week. Also well done to the Junior Cert students who completed the Home Economics practicals last week.

A reminder to 6th year students, that applications for the Naughton Scholarships are still open. 5th year students are encouraged to sign up for at least one of the summer courses at N.U.I.G, NUI Maynooth, U.C.D., or Athlone I.T.

Thought for the week:

You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome, but you can control your attitude and how you deal with it

Digital Champions

Good luck to our TY students in RTE competition Digital Champions which aims to encourage young people to use digital technology. Please watch the video about Autism Awareness below. Students made this in the hopes of educating and maybe changing our society's opinion on autism. Enjoy!

Shorter Version:

Longer Version:

FanTAXtic competition

Good luck to TY students Ali O'Connor, Shane Prior and James Murphy who take part in “FanTAXtic” competition run by Irish Tax Institute.  For the project students had to answer four questions about the sugar tax while being recorded on a 2 minute video.

The winning team members will receive individual pairs of Beats headphones and a €500 cash prize for the team. The school of the winning team will receive a €500 cash prize. Winners announced Tuesday 1 May 2018.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Tami Dania and Sarah Cox

It was with great sadness that we heard of the death of our beloved retired teacher and colleague, Mrs Carmel Casey during the Easter holidays. She is remembered as an excellent teacher of Irish and History who had a great love for her subjects. She was extremely hardworking and always had high expectations for her students. Her caring nature was very evident through her work at Mercy Ballymahon. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Jimmy and family at this very sad time.

News:

Thanks to Michael John Harney a past pupil who spoke to 6th year students about the various pathways to where you want to go and what you want to do with your life after the Leaving Cert.

5th year Interviews for the role of helpers on the Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage were held before Easter and congratulations to the two successful candidates Ciara Healy and Kevin Lynch. A huge thank you to Sr. Úna and Sr. Angela who interviewed all the candidates.

Thanks to all who supported the annual Easter raffle. €3,400 was raised. The raffle was held on Friday 23rd of March. The winners were as follows; 1st prize, B & B in the Wineport and Dinner for two was won by Chloe Freeman. The 2nd prize, €100 voucher won by Emer Gavigan. The 3rd prize, an Easter hamper was won by Paulina Zajac. The 4th prize, an Easter hamper went to Claire Beirne. The 5th prize, an Easter hamper was won by Mr Walsh. The seller’s prize was won by Dúileach Ryan and Michael O Leary.

Well done to all the students who did their Music and Home Economics practicals, French and Spanish orals last week. Irish orals are on this week.

Sport:

The U14 girls’ football team, coached by Mr. Seery and Ms. McTiernan, won the last match of their group stage against the Sacred Heart Secondary School, Tullamore. They are now through to the knockout stages of the competition.

Commiserations to the senior boys’ football team, coached by Mr. O’Gara and Mr. McCormack, for their loss against Cnoc Mhuire, Granard in the Longford League final held in Pearse Park on Thursday 22nd of March.

Congratulations to the 1st year boys’ basketball team, coached by Mr. Dempsey who won the Regional final against Colaiste Óireall on Thursday 22nd March.

Transition Year:

Thanks to the School of Excellence Safe Driving team , all TY students have now completed a Safe Driving course.

Thanks to Ciara Mulligan, Ellen Shannon, Ciaran Hanley, Brían Casey, Gordan Farrell, Jakub Kajan, Niamh Dempsey, Clodagh Dillon, Bryn Peters, Dylan Coady and Ciarán Hanley and Lucy Anne Myhill for helping at the Day Care Centre last week. Well done to Rebecca Gill, Zoe Guinane, Francesca Mc Greal and Shauna Gilbride who helped the Bridgeways Girls Youth Club last week.

Anti bullying ambassadors, Olivia Hoysted, Patrick Conlon, Evan Chalmers, Ali O’Connor and Sophie Hogan, attended an Anti-bullying talk in Coláiste Baile an Chláin, Galway  on Wednesday 21st of March.

Thanks to Geraldine from Samaritans who spoke about the work of the Samaritans to all TY classes last week

Transition year students – Rebecca Gill, Ali O’Connor and Zoe Guinane under the guidance of Ms. Noone are participating in the Scifest competition in DCU on the 24th April with their project entitled “An investigation into the way digital devices alter our perception of time”. The project involves reading a piece of text for 2 minutes on a digital device and then again on a hard copy. The participants must estimate when they think the 2 minutes are up while their actual times are being recorded. The results are then analysed to see whether using a digital device changes perception of time. Also they have produced a survey regarding people’s use of phones and watches. They are analysing if people who wear watches have a better perception of time elapsed.

James Murphy, Shane Prior and Ali O Connor are working on Sugar Tax Competition organised by the Irish Tax Institute and which is open to transition year students. They have to upload a two minute video presentation by Monday 18th of April. Thanks to Mr. Staunton for his guidance.

Thought for the week:

Remember the 3 time rule

1.     Look over work before class

2.     Listen in Class

3.     Look over after class

 Information heard 3 times can be remembered up to 9 weeks later.  For information heard once, 50% can be lost within 24 hours. Following the 3 time rule is what is expected of students in College.  Start today, make a difference. 

Kate Coffey Talk -2nd Yr CSPE

2nd Year CSPE Students held an interactive talk on Thursday April 12th on development in Sri Lanka with Kate Coffey, receipient of The International Volunteer of the Year Award for 2017.

Kate is originally from Cork but now lives in Vancouver in Canada and was presented with the award on Capitol Hill in Washington DC last December.

Kate spoke to the students via Skype live from Vancouver at 4.40am local time and a little over 7000kms from Ballymahon.

She outlined her experiences in Sri Lanka - from helping small business owners to sustain and grow their business with the support of the VEGA / Biz program (Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance) to highlighting the perils of rural existence in Sri Lanka. Kate shared with 2nd year CSPE students some case studies on the individuals and busineses that she has met and helped.

The lesson was a nice example of how technology is bringing the outside world directly into the classroom and enabling speakers who are remotely based to share their own experiences with our students. Mr Burke and the 2nd Year CSPE class were delighted with the talk and are continuing to research this topic by visiting Kate's personal blog -"From Bowen to Bangladesh". 

 

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Katie Gouldsbury and Amy Cox

Ty:

All TY students learned how to play “Bridge”, with Margaret Larkin last week culminating with a Competition on Friday.

Thanks to Ryan Shannon, Niall McGarry, James Murphy, Lucy Ann Myhill, Ellen Shannon, and Dylan Coady who visited the Day Care centre this week.

On Wednesday the 21st, all TY groups went to the Longford Arms Hotel for a Mental Health photography exhibition where one of our students Meghan Finnan was placed first.

Sport:

A big congratulations to the 2nd year girls’ basketball team who won their regional final against Colaiste Oireall in Kingscourt, Co Cavan on Tuesday last. They also beat  Scoil Mhuire Longford in their semi-final. Thanks to Ms. Carr for all her hard work in coaching the team.

Congratulations to the 1st year girls’ basketball team who beat Dunsaughlin in their regional semi-final last week. Thanks to their coach Mr. Walsh.

Commiserations to our second year boys’ basketball team and their coach Ms. Flannery, who were beaten by Bush CC in the regional semi-final last week.

First year boys’ basketball team beat De La Salle recently in the regional semi final and won the regional final against Colaiste Oireall on Thursday the 22nd in Dundalk. Thanks to their coaches Mr. Dempsey and Mr. Walsh

1st yrs bball boys.jpg

Well done to the 1st year boys’ football team who beat Edenderry in the Leinster league last week. Thanks to their coaches Mr. Kenny and Mr. Larkin.

Other:

All 5th year LCVP students were on work experience as part of their coursework from Wednesday 21st to Friday 23rd March. Thanks to all their employers who gave them this opportunity to complete this module of their course.

Well done to19 students from first to transition year who have been trained as Anti Bullying Ambassadors for our school. Their training took place in Galway on Wednesday 21st March and they all received the Diana Award. Thanks to Ms. O Neill for mentoring the students.

Ms. Donohue, Mr. Larkin and Mr. McCormack attended the launch of the new LC P.E. program as a leaving cert subject in Portlaoise last week.  64 schools in the country have been selected to introduce the pilot program to 5th year students from September 2018. We are thrilled to be one of the selected schools.

6th year students who are interested in studying in the STEM subject area at 3rd level are reminded that applications for the Naughton Scholarship are now open.

Thought for the week:

There are considerable benefits to having an attitude of gratitude. When we make a conscious effort to focus on the things/people for whom we are grateful in our lives, we lift our own mood, and thereby the mood of those around us.

 

We wish all our readers a Happy Easter and our third and sixth year student’s good luck as they prepare for their oral and practical exams which will take place during the first two weeks on our return after the holidays.