School Web Site
18/12/15
Some snippets from the Christmas Concert. A full video will be available from the school.
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5/10/15
Sophie and Callum gather caterpillars from the nasturtium plants in the school nature area.
Tommy Kennedy quietly explores the science door in the school nature area.
What did he find?
27/6/15
Delighted to be asked after working with three different Green School Committees. Five Green Flags now flying at front of schools. Congrats to school and special thanks to Mrs Mullins. Click on school link above for more pictures.
Volunteers needed to keep the vegetable garden at the school over the summer months. Please contact Siopa Glas if you can help in anyway.
24/6/15
School/BIG gardening club
On a tour of Altamont Gardens 23rd June 2015
23/6/15
Bicycle Day was held in Ballon National School on Thursday 18th June, during Active Schools Week. This was organised by the school and Ballon Improvement Group. The staff from GP cycles came to the school to do cycling safety with the school children. They emphasised the importance of wearing a helmet. A great day was had by all.
James Keogh (teacher) Aoife Kearney, Shauna Downey, Caoimhe Holden, Kerry Nolan, Emily Kyle, Jade Whelan.
James Keogh (teacher) Conor Kelly, Craig Maher, Ted Kelly, Kathleen Ryan, Leah Barron, Katie Keating.
13/6/15
10/6/15
Ballon School Staff
The school has 285 pupils and 15 teachers. 10 main stream classes and 1 special class.
Some, currently on leave, came back for the picture in case you’ve done the maths.
100 years ago there were 29 pupils and one teacher. Times change. See picture near the bottom of this page.
27/5/15
21/5/15
Green Flag
Ballon N.S were awarded their 5th Green Flag at an awards ceremony held in Hotel Kilkenny. The ceremony was attended by Green Schools committee members Róisin Connolly and Charlie Delahunty from 4th class, Mar. Heffernan Principal, Mrs Mullins Green Schools co coordinator. This flag was for Biodiversity. The school ran many different projects to increase the biodiversity of the school grounds egg. Creating bug hotels, log piles, leaf piles, butterfly gardens and planting wild flower seeds to encourage bees and butterflies. The committee also handed out packets of wild flower seeds to families at the open science day to sow in their gardens.
A well deserved congratulations to the green schools committee, school, parents and Ballon Improvement Group for all their hard work.
30/4/15
Science Display
Today the school opened its doors to its Science projects. About 30 separate experiments were shown covering a diverse range of topics. A lot of study and preparation was evident and the enthusiasm to display was genuine. First the whole school took it in turns to get involved with the work and then at lunch time the mums and dads had their turn. The pictures tell the stories.
25/3/15
Junior Entrepreneur Programme
This year 6th class in Ballon National School took part in the Junior Entrepreneur Program. This program helps the children develop an interest in business and makes them learn how to look after money. This is a crucial part in a child’s life. Our business idea is called ’Ballon Bits ‘n Bobs’’ and we are donating to The Caro-line Foundation (Cancer Research) We sold Bookmarks, Sticker Magnets, Finger Puppets and you can buy our products from the school office or from most of the shops in Ballon. The children have worked very hard. Please show your support for this local enterprise.
See Callum Byrne’s Time Lapse video below
25/1/15
Chicks hatch in the school.
On Wednesday the 4th of February, Gareth from Nore Valley Pet Farm in Kilkenny came to visit our school. He told us about ‘The Schools Incubator Project’. It is a simple 4-5 week process. An incubator is left in our school with seven fertile eggs . Gareth will come and check the eggs and make sure everything is okay during the incubation process. We track the progress and then watch the chicks hatch. Once hatched children mind the chicks for two weeks and watch them grow, they will then go back to the pet farm.
Gareth gave the pupils and the teachers strict instructions on what to do when the eggs begin to hatch. He also told us that we always have to keep the incubator on at 37 degrees and last but not least he told us that we should not touch any buttons on it or touch it just in case. Now that the school has an incubator with eggs in it, everyone is so excited to see the eggs hatch.
We would like to thank Gareth from Nore Valley Farm and Mr. Heffernan for letting us have them
By Caoimhe Holden and Shauna Downey.
12/1/15
Ballon National School 100 years ago
Ballon School Pipe Band1956