We borrowed a Home Energy Testing Kit from Roscommon Library as part of our “Green Schools – Global Citizenship Energy” theme. This kit contained many gadgets that could be used to test where we might be over using or wasting energy either in the home or at school. The children were facinted with the different gauges and tools that can be used to help read and save energy.
Ballagh National School were extremely lucky and very proud to be selected as one of only twelve schools throughout the whole of Ireland to take part in the National Art Gallery’s holistic programme “Gallery at School 2022-2023”. This initiative brought the Arts to life for our pupils as they had the opportunity to take part in 3 workshops with the highly experienced staff of the National Gallery of Ireland – Mentor and Artist Karen Webster, Visiting Artist Leonora Neary and Anne Hodge, Curator of Prints and Drawing.
During the first two weeks, Karen taught the school about water colours and drawing and introduced us to various pieces of art and artists who used their medium. We also went on a virtual tour of the National Gallerty of Ireland. In the final visit, artist Leonora Neary from Roscommon, introduced us to her beautiful artwork and a zoom meeting was held with Ms Anne Hodge who spoke to us about her responsibility for the works on paper collection in the National Gallery (comprising of over 1200 items!) She also manages the prints and study rooms.
All in all, everyone in the school learned a lot about the National Gallery and learneed lots of new techniques to be used when drawing and painting.
Thank you to Karen Webster, Leonora Neary and Anne Hodge for a great experience.
We are delighted with the lastest addition to our school – our outdoor seating area which was installed with assistance from the Sliabh Bawn Communinty Benefit Fund. These picnic benches are a tremendous asset to our school and will allow us to create an outdoor classroom in the warmer weather. It also gives the children the opportunity to eat their lunch outdoors in comfort.
We are busy working on our next Green Flag for Global Citizenship – Energy. A competition was held to select a new Green Code and congratulations to Makayla who was the winner with her fantastic entry:
