We recently had a visit from Midland Bug and Reptile Zoon. This was an exciting workshop for all. Zoologist John brought a mix of bugs and reptiles

– cockroaches, spiders, tarantulas, scorpions and a leopard gecko. The pupils got to meet Isabelle the tarantula who is 9 years old and has a life span of 40 years.

We also met Colgate the giant Millipede and Shane the Burmese Phython who is 10kg in weight!!

An unforgettable hands on learning experience.

Mathletics Success:

We love our STEM in Ballagh. Our pupils are highly motivated and enthusiastic about their STEM learning. We love to complete daily Maths puzzles and challenges. We use the ICT platform Mathletics in our learning. We are proud to announce that our 5^th and 6^th Class pupils have worked as a team to secure phenomenal success as 1^st in Ireland for 3 weeks running in September on the Mathletics Leader board and 16^th in the World. We are truly proud of this achievement.

Junior Savers Week 2025

5^th and 6^th Class were delighted to participate in Junior Savers Week 2025: A Week of Fun, Facts, and Future Finances, which ran from September 22nd – 28th, 2025. This nationwide Credit Union initiative is designed to help children (ages 5–12) build positive saving habits while exploring financial education in a fun, engaging, and age-appropriate way. The future is safe in the hands of the Ballagh Economists!

Super Scientists- Making and Doing and Working Scientifically!

We have carried out lots of exciting experiments:

Lung Capacity

• Became aware of &   investigated breathing.
• Designed and made a model Lung!
• Measured the amount of air that their lungs hold- Lung Capacity—we investigated the amount of tidal air, tidal air and reserve and also our vital lung capacity.
• Investigated the Science behind scuba diving.

Health and Nutrition:

• We investigated does food contain fat?
• We learnt that some fats are healthy  fats.
• We discovered how to test various items of food for fat content. We also found out that there are invisible fats   and visible fats.

Weaving Wellbeing:

Weaving Well-Being is the first Irish designed positive mental health programme of its kind which aims to enhance well-being in children aged from 7-12 years within the framework of the SPHE curriculum. This Positive Education programme consists of 10 lessons for each class level and is grounded in evidence-based interventions from the field of Positive Psychology, the science of well-being. It is underpinned by the concept that a state of well-being is not simply the absence of the negative, but the presence of the positive. The Weaving Well-Being programme gives children the opportunity to weave positivity into their daily lives through a range of activities in a variety of areas.

Physical Education and Physical Literacy

We are working on improving our Physical literacy in the areas of Tennis and Badminton. This has involved developing the core motivations, confidence, skills, and knowledge to participate in these sports throughout life. We have learnt in our lessons that these sports require specific racket and footwork skills, such as agility, balance, and coordination, though tennis emphasises endurance more, while badminton focuses on quick reflexes and explosive movements!

Amazing  Art in the style of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch

Portrait and Pop Art!

We would like to extend a big congratulations to Donal and Ben who were winners in the recent Roscommon/Athlone Pioneer Total Abstinence Association Regional Essay and Art Competitions.