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The children of the senior room enjoyed participating in the Spar FAI 5-a-side soccer tournament held in Lees Road today.  The sunshine, ordered the evening before by Dylan in 3rd class, materialised thankfully so this added greatly to the enjoyment.  The boys acquitted themselves very well against tough opposition from Crusheen, Clonmoney and Inch while the girls did the same in some very entertaining games v Crusheen, Ogonnelloe, Mullagh and Ennis Educate Together.  As always the children represented Ballycar NS brilliantly.  Thank you to Mr Dillon who assisted Miss Maher in managing both teams.

Active schools week was celebrated in Ballycar National School this week.  Each morning the children were put through their paces on a number of fitness stations set up by Mr Gleeson and Miss Maher.  Throughout the week the children were also encouraged to walk a km around the school grounds following a marked trail. 

Congratulations to the children of the senior room who received their PAWS Level 3 and level 5 water safety certificates in recognition of the 8 week programme they completed in Shannon Leisure Centre.

Cumman na mBunscol hurling and camogie training commences this week and will run every Monday after school until both competitions are completed in May.  Ballycar NS have amalgamated with Stonehall NS for both sports.  Training will take place at Stonehall NS pitch and will be run by Mr MacMahon (Stonehall) and Mr Gleeson (Ballycar).  Children will be collected as normal after school by their parents and dropped to Stonehall. Children to be collected afterwards at 3.30pm. Best of luck to all involved.

Congratulations to Mr Gleeson who was part of the Newmarket on Fergus Handball team crowned Div. III County Champions  this evening in Clooney.  Mr Gleeson's team defeated Kilkishen in the final.

The children of the senior room participated in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme from January to March.  The programme required the children to come up with an idea for a product they would design and then sell.  The children put forward some excellent ideas to a panel of judges who, after much deliberation decided that the children's Flower in a Teacup idea was the one which was most viable.  The children worked tirelessly over the next 12 weeks to design, market and sell the 40 cups produced. 
On March 23rd to children sold their cups to family and friends and managed to make a very respectable profit from their endeavours.  Thank you to Mrs Warren, Mr Gleeson and Claudia Breen who were very formidable judges.  Thank you also to Lorna Casey who spoke to the children  about setting up your own business.  Congratulations to all involved.

Well done to all the pupils who participated in the INTO mini 7's hurling tournament held at Clooney pitch today.  Great effort from all players on such a cold and wet day.  Their efforts were rewarded with a cup of hot chocolate, made by Mrs Warren, when they returned to school.  Thanks very much to Mr Gleeson and Kira O'Flanagan for looking after the team today.  

Storm Emma caused World Book day to be rescheduled to today due to the resulting school closures.  The children were not put off by the delay, celebrating the day in style.  Characters from books such as Mary Poppins, Harry Potter and  Charlie & Chocolate Factory were represented.  The children had great fun dressing up as their favourite characters.
The children from the senior room read stories to the children from the junior room and both classes enjoyed being read their class novels by their class teachers.  The children of the junior room are currently enjoying Charlotte's Web while the senior room children are enjoying Kensuke's Kingdom.

All the pupils in Ballycar NS enjoyed being engineers for the day while designing and creating bridges for the future with a variety of materials. 
The children of the senior room linked Engineers week with their JEP project which required them to build two different types of bridges using A4 sheets of paper only.  Their challenge was to work in teams of 3 building the highest and the tallest bridges they could without allowing the bridge to fall.  The future looks bright for these budding engineers.

Congratulations to Rachel who won 2nd place in the U12 girls, Sally who won 1st in U10 girls, Meg who won 3rd in U10 girls and Tristain who won 1st in U12 boys community games handwriting competition.  1st and 2nd place winners will now go on to represent the school in the County Finals this Saturday in Tulla.  Best of luck to all involved.