St Teresa's is a Special School in Ballinasloe, under the patronage of Ability West. Our aim is to nurture and advance our pupils in a caring environment. More details about our school are here. We have added some testimonials from parents here. The school calendar for this year has been updated and is here.
If ever there is anything you want to discuss about your child please do not hesitate to contact our Principal Anita at any time. This school’s door is always open and Anita and the staff would love to hear from you.
Despite the Pandemic, the school will open as permitted by teh Department of Education. To stay safe and in accordance with Department guidelines we have adopted a policy to deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic. It can be found here.
For any general queries, queries about this or any other issues such as enrollment or any other aspect of the next school year, please call or contact the principal.
Santa does a drive-through at Saint Teresa's
We were delighted to be able to welcome Santa to school on Friday 18th December. He was able to meet the children in a safe socially-distanced way.
Santa spoke to all of the children and as you would expect he gave each of them a gift.
Our thanks to Catherine Murray who got in touch with Santa at the North Pole to organised his visit. Thanks also to Tom Costello and Hannah Murray, Santa's special helpers without whom Santa could have not visited. Thanks To Kate Mularska and the Polish community for organising treats and sweets.
And of course, thanks to the children for giving us such a great day.
July Provision
Despite the Pandemic, the school was opened for July Provision on Monday 29th June. Classes lasted for two weeks. Some of the pupils Art is here.
In addition to our usual cleaning, we had the school cleaned and sanitized by Declan Egan of DECO Cleaning services. He certified the school accordingly and there were no problems.
School Closure COVID-19
Due to government direction as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic the school -like all others-was closed until the end of the school year.
Further Assistance
We have added a new Home Activities Section to our website to help parents. We have also added a Family Entitlements section. The latter is more general in nature. Please click on these links above for assistance.
For further information about the Pandemic and what to do go here or here.
Unique Donation
We are delighted and happily surprised to receive a generous donation towards the School Funds from Niall Clarke and Stephanie Dunne who got married recently. Instead of the wedding gifts from the couple to the guests which have become common at weddings in recent years the newly-weds made a generous donation to the school. We wish them well in their life together and thank them and all their guests for their kindness.
Gaisce -The Presidents Award: Enda Brien
We are delight to see that our recent past pupil Enda Brien has been awarded a Gaisce award. We are all so pleased with and proud of Enda. The Galway Advertiser has an excellent tribute to him here. The local Ballinasloe Credit Union also paid tribute to him here. He is a fine young man who has shown what application and dedication can achieve.
Insurance problems
We are pleased to say that it looks like our Insurance problem has been solved. The problem arose due to an increase in our insurance premium from €3000 two years ago to €27,000 this year. This was beyond the capacity of the school even if the school had devoted all its Capitation and fundraising to paying it. After a very well organised and extremely well supported campaign, the Department of Education and Skills has made a special provision to get us over this difficulty. We are eagerly awaiting confirmation from the Department that the school, together with other special schools, irrespective of their patronage will be covered by the state's claims agency in the future. We would like to thank all those who supported us, in particular our local TDs and Senators, our local councillors and the various prospective candidates in the recent local elections. We would like to thank the trade unions and the community at large for their unfailing support. if there is anything you want to discuss about the issue, please do not hesitate to contact Anita at any time.
New School
We wish to remind parents and prospective parents that we have been on the Department of Education and Skills list for a new school. As the school is growing, we are rapidly running out of space in our existing accommodation. We have been told by the Minister for Education and Skills in May 2019 that a site is being purchased by the Department at present. Unusually, we are unaware of where that site is but look forward to hearing about a positive outcome in the very near future. We encourage all our local councillors to continue to press the issue with Galway County Council upon whose support we rely for the new school. We expect to have the good news about this shortly. Even so, we encourage everyone to continue to contact their public representatives to help us get this new -much needed- school as soon as possible.
St Patrick's Day Parade
Each year we have our own St Patrick's day parade on the school avenue. This year, we had our Parade on the 14th March.
We were joined by Springfield playschool, our neighbours at Tiny Tots Creche and pupils from Scoil Uí Cheithernaigh -who played some wonderful music, All the staff from Parkmore Electrical, the National Ambulance College, various others from the Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre and friends and family of the pupils in the school all attended to cheer on the children. It was a great event. Thanks to everyone.
Swimming
The children have returned to swimming lessons since the start of March.
We would like to thank the Coral Leisure Centre for their ongoing support and care of our pupils. We are delighted to announce the increased accessibility in the pool and on the Coral Leisure Centre grounds.
They have a new hoist which will help those with physical needs to access the pool and which will be especially beneficial for some of our children.
Children's work for Spring
We encourage the children to be creative. We have some of the children's work for the season Spring here.
Children's work for Saint Valentines day
We also have some displays for St. Valentines day. You can see them here.
Children's work for Winter
We also have some displays for Winter. You can see them here.
Open Day
The School had a very successful open day on 11th February. On the day, places were booked in our preschool for children with Autism and Global Development delay. If, for some reason, you could not attend , please contact us and we will arrange to meet you on another occasion.
Helicopter visit
We were very lucky in St. Teresa’s to have an Air Core rescue helicopter visit the grounds. Even though there was bad weather, all the children had a chance to go to visit the helicopter and to go inside it. The Crew showed the children the controls and were very happy to answer their questions. We didn't get to fly in it but the sky is now the limit.
It was a truly memorable day.
Garda Visit for Driving Test
One pupil had a special visit from the Garda Traffic Unit
They assessed his driving skills and made him drive through several obstacles.
In the end, they deemed him to be a very competent driver of his power wheelchair and award him a certificate
National Ambulance Crew Visit
The National Ambulance Crew who have a training centre in the same building as us visited the children.
They showed them what the emergency services do. The children enjoyed pretending to be patients and having a short spin in the ambulance around the school grounds.
Their many efforts are always great appreciated. It is truly in the spirit of Christmas to be so kind to those less fortunate. Thanks again.
Local Schools
We would also like to express our thanks to An Gaelscoil, Ard Scoil Mhuire and Garbally College who work with us on student exchange and in school programmes. The interaction between the schools is very beneficial for our pupils.
Local Businesses and Community Groups
We wish to thank all Ballinasloe Businesses and community groups who constantly and generously support our school
Please contact us by clicking here for any further information you may require.
We are delighted and happily surprised to receive a generous donation towards the School Funds from Niall Clarke and Stephanie Dunne who got married recently. Instead of the wedding gifts from the couple to the guests which have become common at weddings in recent years the newly-weds made a generous donation to the school. We wish them well in their life together and thank them and all their guests for their kindness.
