Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Reporters: Katie Brogan, Cormac McDonagh

Open Night

Thank you to all the 6th class students and parents who visited our school for Open Night on the 28th November. It was great to welcome you all to our school to see how we work everyday. Thank you to all our students and teachers who worked on the night, it was a great team effort from everyone and a very enjoyable evening for us as a school. We would like to remind students who wish to apply for a place at Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon, that the closing date for applications is the 17th December 2019.

Digital Champions

Our Digital Champion Team, Katie Brogan, Teni Dania, Abbey Corrigan and Cormac McDonagh travelled to Sligo on the 26th November for training in digital media. The students took two workshops, ‘Digital Editing’ and ‘Infographics’. The School Digital Champion Programme was launched as part of the National Digital Strategy to promote digital adoption and encourage the productive use of technology by students. The programme is creating an interest in STEM and developing an aptitude for digital and ICT at all levels in secondary schools. The programme is providing students with a platform to drive digital adoption outside the walls of the classroom by connecting with local enterprises and the wider community.

This exciting programme also enables students to develop their creativity, critical-thinking and communications skills. In the near future Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon wil launch our TV channel MSSB TV, which will connect our school with the wider community of Ballymahon and surrounding areas. The TV channel will operate a news programme which will report on school activities and community activities our students are involved in over the the course of the year. Watch out for further updates on this project. Thank you to Mrs. Bohan who accompanied the students on Tuesday and Mr. Conlan who is working with the students to record and edit thier programmes.

U19 Basketball

Well done to the U19 team who recently reached the regional semi-final. Unfortunately, the boys fell short against Coláiste Iosagain Portarlington. This was the first year for this team to compete in ‘’A’’ Basketball and we are extremely proud of them getting down to the final four in the region.. Congratulations to all the boys involved and our coaches Miss Curley and Miss Reynolds.

Chess Club

The school chess club has started. It takes place every Monday and Wednesday at lunchtime in room 29. Best of luck to our students who are competing in the Leinster Chess League. The 1st year league will begin in January and the Leinster league finals will also take place.

Spike Ball

Our TY students received training from Volleyball Ireland on how to coach Spike Ball to primary school students. The plan for our TY’s is to coach Spike Ball in primary schools as they have done in the past.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

by Katie Brogan & Cormac Mc Donagh

Open Night

Open Night will take place tomorrow night Thursday the 28th of November 7:00pm. We are

looking forward to meeting all our incoming students from 6th class. There will be a tour of the

school, a chance to view our broad range of subjects in action throughout our school,

presentations by present students and an introductory talk on the i-pad and value of learning

through digital media. We look forward to meeting our prospective students on the 28th

where they will begin their journey as a student of Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon.

Trinity College Entrance Exhibition Award

Congratulations to Eimear Foley who received an Entrance Exhibition Award last Tuesday

evening the 19 th November 2019. Entrance Exhibitions reward academic achievement of

new undergraduate entrants to Trinity College Dublin. They are awarded to the student

accepted into the first year of a full-time undergraduate degree programme who achieves the

highest points among Trinity entrants from their secondary school.These awards

demonstrate Trinity’s commitment to academic excellence and are a distinctive part of their

history.

Art Exhibition

The school held their Art Exhibition called ‘Step Into the Arts’ last Thursday the 21 st

November. Students exhibited in our Study Hall. The 5 th year Art students curated the event.

Well done to all our exhibitors and a big thank you goes to all who attended. Students made

a video of the event, which can be viewed on our website. Thank you to the 5 th year Art class

and Ms. Bruton for organising the event.

College Awareness

The 17 th to the 23 rd November is College Awareness Week. On Tuesday, Ms O’Brien and Mr

Larkin delivered ‘Options after Leaving Cert’ event to parents and students. The presentation

is available on the school website.

Boys’ Basketball

Congratulations to our U16 Boys team who won the Regional quarter-final, beating St. Marys

CBS, Portlaoise 44-33. The boys now progress to the semi-final next Tuesday where they

will play Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge. Best of luck to the U16 team. Well done to

our U19 team who also won the regional quarter final with a win over Pipers Hill College

Naas. This was a tough game but the team showed great determination and worked to win

59-53. Our U19 team also progress to the “A” semi-final next week. Congratulations to both

our U16 and U19 teams who are competing well in Div. “A” basketball this year. Well done to

all the boys involved in both panels and our coaches Ms Curley and Ms Reynolds.

Girls’ Basketball

Congratulations to our U16 Girls who had a great victory over Our Lady’s Bower Athlone in

the Regional “A” Basketball Final last Wednesday. It was a very exciting game right up to the

final buzzer. Thanks to Ms. Carr and Ms. O Brien for coaching the team.

Boys’ Soccer

Our U15 Boys’ soccer team played Coláiste Coilm Tullamore last Thursday. It was their first

game this year and unfortunately they lost 3-0. Thanks to Ms. Quinn for coaching the team.

Battle of Wits

Congratulations to out TY quiz team, Michelle Laffan, Rory Maguire, Cormac McDonagh and

Eoin Farrell who won the County Longford battle of Wits quiz last week. They now go

through to Region Final. Thanks to TY students Duileach Ryan and Ronan Kavanagh for

running a quiz for all of TY students to select the strongest tea.

Mercy Ballymahon Art Exhibition

Step Into The Arts

Mercy Ballymahon Art Exhibition

Student Recognition Project

Thursday Nov 21st @ 7pm in the Study Hall.

Artist Sylvia Corcoran will open the exhibition.

All welcome to enjoy the students artwork!

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Reporters: Katie Brogan, Cormac McDonagh, Abbey Corrigan

John Paul II Awards

Congratulations to our nine students who received their John Paul II Awards Sunday 27th October at the John Paul II Awards cermony at St. Mels Cathedral. Four students received the Gold award along with our Bronze award achievements. Thank you to Mrs. Bohan, Ms. Fitzmaurice and Mr. Mulvihill for their hard work organising the project.

Art Exhibition

The school will be holding an Art Exhibition called ‘Step Into The Arts’ . It will take place at our study hall at 7pm on Thursday 21st November. It is a public event and everyone is invited to attend. Admission is free. Students are asked to submit pieces of artwork before November 14th. We are looking forward to curating the amazing creativity of students work. Well worth attending.

Team Hope

1st years have been busy fundraising for the Christmas Shoe Box Appeal for Team Hope. They organised a cake sale which raised €150 and helped create extra boxes and gifts for the Shoe Box Appeal. Well done to all our students who created boxes and thank you to Ms. Úna Daly who organised the project. The shoe boxes are on their way to the deserving children for Christmas as this goes to print.

Boys Basketball

Our U16 boys played Colaiste Choilm Tullamore. It was a very tough encounter and went to extra time twice. The final score was Mercy 67- Colaiste Choilm 57. Well done to all the U16 team involved in this victory. Our U19 boys were very unlucky during this close encounter; Mercy 46 – Tullamore 48. The boys now face the Marist Athlone on Friday. Best of luck to all the boys. Thank you to Ms. Curley, Ms. O Sullivan and Mr. Tansey for coaching our teams.

Girls Basketball

Well done to our U16 girls basketball team who won the Regional quarter finals playing against Kilcullen and comiserations to our U19 team who lost the quarter final to Clonsalee. Good luck to the U16 girls who will go on to play in the Regional semi-final. Thank you to Ms. Carr for coaching the teams.

U16 ladies Football

Last week our U16 Ladies football team played Mercy Navan in a very exciting game which ended in a draw. The standard of football was excellent. Lauren McGuire scored the equalising point from a free in the last kick of the game. Thanks to coaches Mr. Seery. Mr. Bohan and Ms. O Reilly. The U16s are through to the Leinster Semi-Final in Div. “A”.

Battle of the Wits

The TY’s table quiz team has been created for the Battle of the Wits competition. The team consists of Rachel Maguire, Cormac McDonagh, Darragh Campbell and Diarmud Conlon. They will take part in a quiz in Longford library on the 21st of November. Best of luck to the team.

Open Night & Enrolment 2020/2021

Open Night will take place Thursday the 28th of November. We are looking forward to meeting all students from 6th class. There will be a tour of the school, a chance to view our broad range of subjects in action throughout our school, presentations by present students and an introductory talk on the i-pad and value of learning through digital media. We look forward to meeting our prosepctive students on the 28th where they will begin their journey as a student of Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

by Katie Brogan, Cormac McDonagh, Abbey Corrigan

U14 boys football

On the 14th October our U14 boys defeated Moyne convincingly 5-7 to 0-2. They will now advance to the quarter finals which will be on after the midterm. Good luck to the team. Thanks to Mr Larkin and Shane Kenny.

Equestrian Team

Our Equestrian Novice team of Katie Shaw, Aine Murray, Tommy Killian and Daniel Whyte preformed very well in the inter-schools competition last weekend. Congratulations to katie and Aine who had two great rounds in the 1.00m Class. Thank you to Mr. Mulvihll and Ms. McCafferkey for organising the equestrian team.

History Trip

Our Senior History students had a very enjoyable and informative tour of Ballymahon courthouse and the old RIC Barracks at the bottom of the town which was attacked during the War of Independence on the 19th of August 1920. Thank you to Ms. Casey for organising the trip.

Futsal

On the 15th October our TYs organised a futsal tournament for the 1st year boys as part of their GAA future leaders events and sports management programme. The event was a great success. Thanks to Mr Burke who helped the TY’s organise the event.

Maths week

As part of Maths week our TY’s ran a maths quiz for the 1st and 2nd years. There were also maths problems displayed around the school and students were encouraged to solve the problems. Well done to all members of the Maths department for organising a very successful Maths week.

Narnia Drama Outing

Students from Narnia class travelled to Dublin on Wednesday the 16th of October to see Louise O Neill’s play “Asking For It”. “Asking for It” is the stage adaption of Louise O’Neill’s devastating novel, which shines an unflinching light on the experience of a young woman whose life is changed forever by a horrific act of violence.

Asking for It had its world premiere as part of Cork Midsummer Festival in June 2018 and went on to perform a sold-out, two-week run at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in November 2018. Due to popular demand it celebrated another successful run at the Gaiety. The students have been doing a programme on consent and the play certainly gave them food for thought. The Narnia students would recommend all senior students to go to the play, it will certainly make you think about the issue of consent and how to protect yourself.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

By Katie Brogan

Rose Week - Irish Society for Autism

Our TY students collected for the Irish Society for Autism this week. Well done to the TY students who collected tirelessly downtown for the week. The people of Ballymahon were very generous as the students sold out on bags and keyrings. Thank you to everyone who supported our students and the Irish Society for Autism. We will announce the full amount raised next week when all proceeds will be counted.

Talk on Autism
Our first years received a talk on Autism from Denis Sexton who works for the Irish Autism Society. Denis told the students that he is a former vice principal and has a number of family members who live with Autism. He informed our first year students about Autism and how to make our school more inclusive.

Aisling Festival Art Competition
Mercy Ballymahon did exceptionally well this year in the Aisling Children’s Arts Festival Longford Art Competition. The theme this year was “My place in the World” and we had a huge entry this year from Mercy Ballymahon. We achieved great success this year with a number or talented art students.

The students will be presented with awards and their work will be displayed in Backstage theatre on Thursday 10th October At 6.30p.m. Congratulations go to Jennifer Flynn a 3rd year Art student who won the 12-14 year old category.

Keira Lily Farrell a 5th year student who received runner up in the 15-18 year old category,

James Gerety 1st year who received runner up in the special category and Laura Hand who recieved a special honourable award.

Sports

Our U16 boys’ basketball team had a successful first outing in the “A” division, overcoming an excellent Rathangan side. Well done to all the boys involved. Congrats to our U16 and U19 Girls’ basketball teams’ div “A” who have both qualified for the Regional quarter finals. Congrats to our U16 div “A” and Senior Ladies div “B” football teams who both won their first games.

TY Trip to AIT and Careers Fair Roscommon
Our TYs had an excellent Careers day out. First they visited AIT for a talk on college courses and then received a campus tour. Then they travelled to Kilbride for the 2019 Roscommon Education Fair Day. Thanks to Ms Bohan, Mr Larkin, Ms O Brien, Ms Malone and our SNAs Claire and Helena for accompanying us.

Alan Devine
Our TYs had a workshop from Alan Devine over the course of the past two weeks. Alan did a workshop on public speaking to promote confidence, teaching us how to connect with an audience and different techniques. He is truly inspiring and we learned lots of useful skills which will help us in our careers going forward.

TY talk
Bradley Clinic talked to our TY students on the importance of good posture and gave an insight into the work of a physiotherapist.

Mocktobers 2019 Timetables

3rd Yrs Mocktobers timetable

6th Yrs Mocktobers timetable

Aisling Festival Art Competition

Aisling Children’s Arts Festival Longford

Art competition winners from Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon

Congratulations to our talented art students who have received in the Aisling Children’s Arts Festival Art Competition “My Place in the World.”

Congratulations to Jennifer Flynn 3rd year art student who won the 12-14 year old category. Jennifer painted a fantastic piece reflecting “my place in the world”.

Congratulations to the talented Kiera Lily Farrell a 5th year art student, a runner up in the 15-18 year old category. Kiera created an amazing piece using markers to reflect “my place in the world”.

Congratulations to James Gerety 1st year art student who received runner up in the special category .

And congratulations to Laura Hand who received a special honourable recognition.

All students work will be displayed in Back Stage Theatre Longford on 10th October 2019.

My place in the world by Jame Gerety 1st year art student who received runner up in the special category

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Ty trip to the Ploughing

Our Ty students had an early start on Wednesday morning when they went to the Ploughing Championships in Carlow as Ms Murphy felt it would benefit students doing Agricultural Science for Leaving Certificate. Despite the hot weather it was a very enjoyable day for all who went. Thank you to Ms. Murphy for organising the trip.

Mass on Monday

We had our School Year Opening Mass in the School Gym to accommodate the whole school community attending the one mass. This marks the beginning of our school year and gives our students and staff the opportunity to participate in our faith community. Fr. Liam our chaplain celebrated the mass with us and our choir added a special atmosphere to the celebration. Thanks to Ms. Malone for all her hard work preparing the choir. We celebrated Mercy Day which was on September 24th. Thank you to our Religion department who worked hard in preparation for this very special occasion.

Sports

The girls U16 football team have their first match of the Leinster ‘A’ championship on the 2nd of October, against Eureka Kells. Meanwhile the senior girls begin their Leinster ‘B’ championship with a game against St Marys Edenderry on 8th October. In basketball the U19 and U16 boys have their first match in the Midlands League against St Mel’s on Tuesday the 1st of October. The U19 and U16 girls have their first match of the season against the Bower on 27th September. Next Thursday the U14 boys football team will play Moyne CC in their first match of championship. Best of luck to all the teams in their upcoming matches.

Higher Options

On Thursday our 6th year students went to the RDS to attend higher options where they were shown future career options. They found the event very worthwhile. Thanks to the Guidance Department for organising the trip.

TY Enterprise Talk

Sadie Wheatley came into talk to our TYs on Wednesday about TY mini companies. Thanks to Longford Enterprise and Sadie for the talk, it was very informative. The students are very excited about starting their own companies. We look forward to seeing their product lines, and we wish them the very best as they embark on their new enterprises.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

by Katie Brogan and Abbey Corrigan

 TY Activities

 Aisling Festival

The Longford Aisling festival committee are busy preparing for the Aisling Children's Arts Festival 2019. Every year some of the post-primary schools from Co. Longford take part in a Print Media Project in conjunction with the Longford Leader.  Our school is involved this year.

 Our students are very excited about the project and are looking forward to seeing their work in print.They are working towards creating the Aisling Supplement which appears in the Longford Leader the week before the festival (which this year takes place from 20th-26th October).

 Abbey Corrigan, Rachel Maguire, Leigh Gurney and Michelle Laffan travelled to the Longford Leader offices on Wednesday 11th September in Longford where they met the editor, Alan Walsh, and journalist Jessica Thompson and the other teams from Scoil Mhuire and Árd Scoil Phadraig.  They gained an insight into how a newspaper is put together, page layouts, generation of ideas for stories, setting and meeting deadlines, writing and editing their work, what a good story or piece of journalism should contain, and lots, lots more. Our TYs returned to school very excited about the project and are currently working on ideas for their stories. Thank you to our Principal Ms. Donohue who accompanied the students on the day, we look forward to reading the supplement.

TY Schedule

September 9th to 13th was once again a busy week for TY. On Monday Sports Partnership continued in room 35 for Grainne Mhaoil students. This completes the three days of this workshop for these students. On Thursday Sports Partnership took place in room 35 with Lír students. This was day one of the three day workshop. Also TY students were preparing for their trip to the Ploughing Championships, Wednesday 18th September. This will be the first trip of the year for TY students, we look forward to their report on the ploughing next week.

 The Naughton Scholarship

Congratulations to Cian Belton who won a Naughton Scholarship this year. The Naughton Scholarships are a scheme of scholarships to promote the study of engineering, science and technology at third level by students in Ireland. Each year from February to May Leaving Certificate students can apply for a scholarship if they intend on studying science, engineering or technology at third level that year.

All applications are reviewed in August each year and the winners of scholarships are notified in September.  Full details on who is eligible to apply for a scholarship, the terms and conditions applicable to the scholarships and answers to frequent questions can be viewed on the Naughton Scholarships website,www.thenaughtonfoundation.com/scholarships. Pictured below is Cian Belton with principal Josephine Donohue and Cian Belton with past pupil Derek Shaw who was awarded the scholarship himself in 2017.

 Sports

All sports facilities were busy this week as teams returned to training. Fixtures for games will begin shortly for Boys and Girls Football, Soccer and Basketball. We look forward to many successes in sport again this year, good luck to all our students who compete for our school.

 Art Club

Art club has begun on Tuesdays at lunchtime, all students are welcome. Look out for Art Competitions outside the Art room. ‘School walk’ competition open at the moment for all first years, details on posters placed around the school. Closing date the 27th September.

Leaving Certificate Results

Leaving Certificate results will be available at School from 9am tomorrow, Tuesday 13th. Please see FAQ guide prepared for Parents and Students “The Results Are Out, What Now?”. You might find also helpful National Parents Council’s Helpline 1800 265 165, please see details below.

A reminder from Bus Eireann re School transport payments which have to be made by 26th July 2019.

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Boys GAA
Our first year boys GAA team qualified for the Leinster final winning against Wexford CBS on a score line of 5-11 to 5-7. Final is set to be played this week, venue and time yet to be decided as we went to print. Good luck to the first year boys in the final.Thanks to coaches Mr Larkin and Mr S Kenny.

TY All Ireland Script Writing Competition

The TY students entered the ‘All Ireland Film Festival Script Writing Competition’. In order to participate they individually had to type up a 2000 word script on the title ‘Connections’. Unfortunately no student was shortlisted this year but all received a certificate of completion at a fantastic awards ceremony in The Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone. Well done to all the students who took part and their English teacher Ms. Quinn for her guidance.

Women's Mini Marathon

Once again TY students and staff( Ms. Quinn, Mrs. Minogue, Mrs. Fitzmaurice and Ms. Donohue) will be completing the Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin on the 2nd of June. This year their chosen charity is Ballymahon Day Care Centre. In order to fundraise for this extremely worthwhile charity, 1st and 2nd year students were taken on a tour of Ballymahon Day Care Centre and a bake sale was held within the school. So far the tally is €540.30. A massive thanks to everyone who has contributed to this fantastic cause, it is much appreciated. Lastly, best of luck to all taking part on the 2nd of June. Without a doubt it will be a day you will never forget!

Leaving Cert Graduation

Congratulations to our Leaving Certificate Class who graduated last Thursday. They celebrated the end to their secondary school education with a beautiful Mass and graduation ceremony. The night was preceeded by a super last day of activities, on the Wednesday. The teachers cooked a tasty bar-b-que and the day ended on a long established tradition of walking up the avenue with the Principal, Deputy Principal, Year Head and teachers. Thank you to all who helped out on the day and a video of the last moments can be viewed on the school website. An emotional goodbye, but a very proud moment for our school as we send our students on to the next chapter of their lives. We wish them every success in their future lives.

Awards Ceremony
Congratulations to all our students to took home an award on Tuesday last from our Awards Ceremony. Stuents received awards for attendance, student council, exam success, sporting success and specific subject excellence. The Leaving Certificate students received awards for their excellence in their role as school leaders, Roisin Leen Ceist Award, Aisling McCormack Leadership Award, Ronan English Mercy Award and Claire Shaw Student of the Year Award. Well done to everyone your hard work has paid off.

TY Graduation

Congratulations to our TY students who graduated from TY on Tuesday last. The night was a wonderful celebration of all the activites and success’ that took place during their year, everyone enjoyed a cup of tea afterwards and chatted about all the high points of the year. Thank you to Mrs Bohan our TY Co-ordinator, Ms. Gaffney, TY Year Head and all the teachers involved with TY, and who make it a fantastic experience for our students.

Junior Cycle Exams and Leaving Certificate Exams

It is exam time once again and we would like to encourage our students coming up to their exams. We wish you the very best of luck and your hard work will pay off. Good luck Leaving Certs and Junior Certs from everyone at Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon.

Once again TY students and staff( Ms. Quinn, Mrs. Minogue, Mrs. Fitzmaurice and Ms. Donohue) will be completing the Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin on the 2nd of June. This year their chosen charity is Ballymahon Day Care Centre.  In order to fundraise for this extremely worthwhile charity, 1st and 2nd year students were taken on a tour of Ballymahon Day Care Centre by its manager Breda Greeves and a bake sale was held within the school. So far the tally is €540.30. A massive thanks to everyone who has contributed to this fantastic cause, it is much appreciated. Lastly, best of luck to all taking part on the 2nd of June. Without a doubt it will be a day you will never forget!

Easter Raffle

Please support our school in our Easter Raffle fundraiser which takes place on 11th April.

The Naughton Foundation Scholarships

2019 Scholarships for STEM Undergraduate Applications is now Open - Closing Date May 18th.  Apply on line www.thenaughtonfoundation.ie 

The Naughton Foundation is awarding thirty six scholarships in 2019 to promote the study of engineering, science and technology at third level by students in Ireland.   Each Naughton Scholarship is valued at €20,000 i.e. €5,000 for each year of students third level course.

There will be one guaranteed scholarship for each of the participating Counties.  Mercy Secondary Ballymahon student's have been awarded the scholarships many times.

Apply on line www.thenaughtonfoundation.ie  

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Reporters : Alanah Reid, Siobhan Kilduff, Katie Quinn

Seachtain na Gaeilge
Seachtain na Gaeilge was celebrated in the school last week. First years participated in a poster competition, second years took part in a ‘Tráth na gCeist’, while our 5th years enjoyed a traditional céilí in the Canteen. As well as that, all students and teachers made use of their ‘cúpla focal’ in a ‘Gaeilgeoir na Seachtaine’ competition. Bhí seachtain den chéad scoth againn! Beatha Teanga í a labhairt! Thank you to Ms. Nevin, Ms. Fox, Ms. Mc Cafferkey, Ms. McGovern and Ms. Daly for all their work organising the weeks events.

Boys GAA

Our U14s boys GAA team play Cnoc Mhuire Granard Thursday next the 28th in the North Leinster C Final. Good luck Lads and thank you to Mr. Larkin and Mr. Kenny for training the team.

Girls Basketball

Mercy Secondary School girls basketball team travelled to the Phoenix Centre in Carrickmacross on Tuesday the 19th March to play Virgina college. The game was very close for the first two quarters with Virginia pulling away in the end to win. Even though the girls lost the regional final, they still progress on to the All-Ireland play offs. The venue is yet to be decided. Thank you to Ms. Walsh and Ms. Coyle for training the team. Good luck girls in the play offs.

1st and 2nd Year Boys Basketball

Our 1st and 2nd Year Boys Basketball teams won the North East Regional Finals on Wednesday with impressive wins over St Pats, Navan and Cnoc Mhuire Granard. Both teams put in outstanding performances with out 1st Year team winning 48 - 22 and our 2nd Year team winning 36-32. Both teams will now advance to the All Ireland Play-offs.

We wish both teams the best of luck in the finals. Thank you to Ms.O Sullivan, Mr. Tansey and Ms. Curley for all their hard work training the team.

Book Club

On Thursday March 7th, we at Mercy Ballymahon celebrated World Book Day by hosting a variety of events including Booky Breakfast, Library visits, our monthly book club and to end a successful day writer Eammon Brennan spoke to our fifth year students.Remember "the journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page". Thank you to Ms. Gaffney for organising our book club.

Careers

6th Year Students have all finished their DARE applications - they now need to ensure they get their forms together with proof of disability into the CAO by April 1st.

5th Years are currently having their 1:1 appointments with their Guidance Counsellors. They are all being advised to apply for at least one Day Summer School which are being advertised at the moment. Summer Schools are really excellent and are held in UCD, NUIG and Maynooth University. They give you the opportunty to expereince college life as well as trying out areas of interest. Thank you to Ms. O’Neill and Mr. Larkin for all their hard work helping students decide on their future careers.

TY News

TY 1&4 attended their Holy Spirit Day in Mullingar with the Alpha team on Wednesday last. Thanks to Ms Walsh and Ms Gaffney who accompanied them.

Sports Partnership commenced a coaching course with our TY students, all of whom will avail of this opportunity. Students will then be in a position to coach young people in any sport.

Enterprise finals. Our school was represented by Brian Maloney and Robert Smith of Nanny’s Candles and Molly Doyle and Aisling Dolan who sold dog accessories. Brian and Robert were runners up in the competition. Well done to all involved!

Helen Emerson continues her workshops on Mental Health.

Lighthouse Program

Thank you to Sr Úna Purcell who mentored Derinn Finn, Ailbhe Molloy, Brona Cox, saidhbh Doherty and Danielle Nally empowering them to return to their primary school St Matthew’s and work with the young students there in their Confirmation.

Daffodil Day

A coffee moring took place last week in the staffroom to support Daffodil Day. A Bake sale was held in the Open Area. Students and teachers sold Daffodil badges to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. SWe raised €847, all proceeds went to the Irish Cancer Society. We would like to thank every one who supported this worthy cause. Thank you to Ms.Úna Daly, Ms. Curley and Ms. Fitzmaurice for organising the activities.

Junk Kouture Finalists

Congratulations to our Bank of Ireland Junk Kouture 2019 Regional finalists:

Maria Gallagher, Olivia Hamilton and Alannah Reid - ‘Leave it in the Past; Papers’

&

Katie Farrell, Siobhan Kilduff and Katie Quinn - ‘Puzzle of Life’

Almost 1,400 entries were submitted to Bank of Ireland Junk Kouture this year and the judges had once again a very tough time picking the regional finalists! The regional final takes place in TF Royal, Castlebar on Thursday March 7th 2019.

Tickets for the regional shows will go on sale from The TF Royal box office and website on Monday February 18th at 9:00am. These are expected to sell out fast as they did in previous years. Tickets are €20.00 plus booking fee.

Voting

Public REGIONAL VOTE for all finalists is worth 10% of overall score, and will take place from 10am on Monday 18th February until midnight on Friday 22nd February. Voting for both will take place on app.junkkouture.com - please note that all public voters will be required to register before they can vote.  Please download the app and vote for Mercy School’s team!

Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Reporters : Alanah Reid, Siobhan Kilduff, Katie Quinn

T.Y.

Paul from Getwest came to visit our school on Monday. He was speaking to our TYs about their outdoor pursuit trip, which will take place on the 15th, 16th and 17th of May. T.Y. students are very excited about the upcoming trip. They are looking forward to the water sports, climbing wall and archery.

St. Christophers Visit

On Tuesday Ms Caroline Donoghue brought T.Y.1 to St. Christopher's Day Centre in Ballymahon as part of their Disability Awareness Course. We would like to thank St. Christopher’s for hosting the group. The students learned about the services St. Christopher’s Resource Centre and Residential Services provide to people with disabilities and their families in the Ballymahon area. They learned about how they could volunteer to help the service and about future potential career opportunities. They met some of the service users and viewed the Resource Centre’s facilities and training rooms.

Student Bank

Derek Glennon from Bank Of Ireland empowered our students from T.Y. to join the school bank team. The students will now run the school bank at lunch time. The team members are Chloe Kelly, Kevin Tansey, Jesse Aguneche, Cait Keily and Aoife Nolan. Also on Tuesday Derek gave an informative talk on cyber safety and living in our modern world. It made us all stop and think about the consequences of our cyber footprint.

We would like to sincerely thank all the employers who have taken on our T.Y. students for work experience this week. We wish the students good luck and we hope everyone enjoys their time in the world of work.

On Friday the 1st of February, we held a badminton tournament in the gym for our T.Y. students, great fun was had by all.

LCVP

Mairead Murtagh, past pupil, owner of “Murtagh’s Dog Grooming” gave a talk to our LCVP students on her experience of running her own business. Mairead set up her own business ‘Murtaghs Dog Grooming’ in Ballymahon having completed her training. Mairead’s talk was an inspiration to our students, she made her dream happen and now enjoys a successful career in her local town.

Soccer

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

Girls Football

The Senior Ladies football team played Presentation Kilkenny in the Leinster semi final in Portlaoise last Thursday. The final score was 5-17 to 1-2. Well done girls and thank you to the coaches Mr. Sean Bohan, Mr. Colin Seery and Ms. Niamh McCann. They will meet St. Joseph’s Navan in the Leinster Final.

Girls Basketball

Well done to our U16 Girls’ Basketball team who played St. Angela’s Cork in the All-Ireland quarter final last Monday. Well done girls for reaching the final 16 in the “A” Division. It was a great battle and unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Thank you to Ms. Coyle, Ms. Walsh and Ms. Carr for all her hard work coaching the team.