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St Patrick’s (Ballymaghery) School 13 Castlewellan Road Newry

This Week at a Glance

14th May 2023

Dear Parents and Guardians,    

Please read the attached notification for details of what is happening in our school this week.  

Congratulations to our P.7 children who received the sacrament of Confirmation on Friday afternoon. We are so proud of our boys and girls! You were truly wonderful in every way!  We will be posting a few of the photos taken later today and over the week. Please send in any photos you would like to share.   A word of thanks needs to be said to the following groups of people who made it a very special event which I am sure our Primary 7 children will remember for many years to come; to our Primary 7 children for being terrific children during the practices and on the day; to the parents, for your support in helping to prepare your children; to the Primary 7 teachers, Mr McConville and Miss McAnulty, for your hardwork in preparing and teaching the children about the sacrament; to their committed classroom assistants, Mrs Branagan, Mrs Savage and Miss Keenan; to our beautiful choir and choir leader, Mrs Clarke, who was assisted by Mrs O'Neill and Mrs Craven; to our dedicated staff who helped with prepartions in school and on the evening. A special word of thanks to Father Charles and Deacon Gerry who made the ceremony very special; to Des our sacristan who works quietly in the background making sure everything runs smoothly, and finally to Eileen our church organist, who helped us preform the musical liturgy. As a school community we are very blessed to have such wonderful people working for our children.  #thankyou! #progressthroughpartnership!

Primary 7 should wear their Confirmation clothes to school tomorrow to have their photo taken, and take their PE kit to school to change into afterwards. Father Charles will also present the children with their Confirmation certificates.

Mrs Kearney's Primary 5 class will be leading our assembly this Friday and perform it for their parents and families at 1:15pm in the afternoon.   

Over the coming weeks, the local branch of the Legion of Mary will be visiting our Primary 4 to Primary 7 classes to talk about how we honour Our Lady and show the children how to pray the Rosary. Your child's class teacher will let you know the date. If your child has Rosary beads please let them take them to school so they can learn to say the Rosary using the beads.  

The Primary 4 classes will be celebrating the Sacrament of First Holy Communion on Saturday 20th May.  The children have been busy preparing for this and we ask that you keep them in your prayers so that they are strenghtened on their faith journey.

The annual May Procession will take place next Sunday, 21st May at 11:30am Mass. Our Primary 4 and Primary 7 classes will lead the procession. All our families are invited to attend this beautiful occasion. 

The next seven weeks are going to be very busy and we ask that you keep your children in school until the end of term. There is still a lot of learning to be completed. The Education Welfare officer is carrying out an audit of attendance in the coming weeks and it is imperative that, unless your child is ill, they should be in attendance at school every day.

Our online payment system has proved to be a great success but unfortunately we are encountering some difficulty with the acccuracy of the number of children taking school dinners. If you miss booking your child for dinner please contact the office that morning. DO NOT book for the next day in lieu of the day you missed because this means inaccurate numbers are sent to the kitchen, which results in less food being available or too much being made. In this scenario we are having to use school funds to pay for the extra meals.  This is not something we can sustain in the current financial crisis. Please make sure your child knows if they are taking dinner.

The school will be closed on Thursday due to the local elections.

If you have anything you wish to discuss with any of our team, please contact us through the school email or call the office.

Kind regards

Mrs Smith