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.
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.
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.
We are so grateful for the help from those who participated in this scary venture. Rachael Culloo and her cousin Stephen McMahon are two very brave people. All such efforts mean so much to us and we can never thank enough those who participate in them. We're not so sure we could go to these lengths ourselves but we are so proud of the courage and dedication of these two brave supporters.
Ballinasloe Cycle Club had their annual charity spin for us this year.
There are 2 cycles this year, a 50km and a 100k. The Club will be splitting the 100km group up into a 30kmh+ group to go on ahead and then the regular 100km group at about 25kmh. There will be a food stop about 60km into the race. For those doing the 50km this will be a nice relaxed spin also with a food stop halfway.
The Cycle will start and finish at St Teresa's. Our location is here.
The Club will also have spot prizes for lucky dips. Its 25e entry and sign in is from 8:30. Lots more information to follow but just save the date 28th August. The club can be found on Facebook here.
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.
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.
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.
Each year we have our own St Patrick's day parade on the school avenue. Our last one was in 2019 when 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 attended to cheer on the children. It was a great event. Thanks to everyone.
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.
We encourage the children to be creative. We have some of the children's work for the season Spring here.
We would like to congratulate Carol Chamberlain on completing “To Hell and Back” and to thank her so much for raising €2,500.00 for the school. Carol called to us and presented the School with her cheque for €2,500.00. We are extremely grateful to her for fundraising on our behalf and putting in so much effort to give us such a generous donation.
The School would like to offer it’s condolences to the family of Kevin Whyte who passed away in October. Kevin was a member of our Board of Management until he became ill; he was highly respected and much loved . He was always interested in the children. He enjoyed meeting them and was always keen to hear of their successes whenever he called. Ironically, he wondered at their ability to be so happy despite their personal difficulties when he himself was a major and unfailing contributor to that happiness.
Kevin became involved in the school when we were fundraising for our sensory garden. He supported us in the successful application for a grant from the Maureen O’Connell fund. He helped with the supervision and building of the garden. He saw it as a personal goal to help us build a haven where the children could have a safe place to be and to play. He helped us in so many ways that no amount of thanks can repay. We will miss Kevin for a long, long time. May he rest in peace. Go soilsí solas na bhflaitheas ar a anam álainn uasal. Tá laoch ar lár.
We would also like to thank all those who voluntarily gave up their time to help with swimming, horse riding and outings. You all help to make the school year more enjoyable for the children.
Thanks again to everyone involved.
Our new bus arrived during the last week of school in June 2014. The bus is used by the respite service during the summer. We have the full use of the bus at all times for the children in the school.
We plan to bring the children out of the school for various new activities this coming year. We will be swimming, visiting the library, visiting the Gaelscoil and going out for lunch. Horse riding will recommence in the next few weeks for those who can participate in it. Due to the large number of children who usually go swimming together, we also use Ken’s bus. We also use his services for group tours or outings outside of Ballinasloe. However, we use our own new school bus for other local activities.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, your families and your friends for supporting the fundraising for the bus. As you may know, we managed to get a grant from Ballinasloe Town Council for €29,000 for the bus. In addition, we sought and received a special social grant for the School from Ballinasloe Credit Union of €5,000. We are so grateful to both organisations for their support. Ability West gave a substantial donation towards the cost of the bus and have undertaken to cover its running costs. We are very grateful to them for their continued support. The balance of the money was raised through fund
raising.
Many local businesses supported our fundraising drive, giving spot prizes and donations for the raffles we held at Nathan Carter and Mike Denver Concerts. We would like to thank both singers and their management and the local businesses for their support. We also received great support in Ballinasloe for our Church Gate Collection in June 2014. This was organised by Michelle, a former teacher in the school.
A massive amount of organisational effort and commitment went into the organisation of the school’s cycle day. We are extremely grateful to Simon and Geraldine and to Turas Bikes and the Ambulance Centre and the many volunteers and staff who acted as stewards on the day.
We would like to thank Tesco who allowed us to hold a bag packing event and have organised other events to help us raise funds for the bus.
The staff in the school designed and developed a remembrance area in our sensory garden. It is there to remind us of Jason Maughan, Emily Nevin and Shad Rahain all of whom, sadly, have passed away over the last few years. We are greatly indebted to David O’Connor, a local stone mason from Brackernagh, Ballinasloe who designed and very generously donated a beautiful bench and remembrance plaques. It is comforting to know that these children who have left us are not forgotten. It will also be an enduring reminder of teh help, assistance and support we received from the late Kevin Whyte.
Last year saw the retirement of Celia Hobbs and Anne Cormican who were our two school nurses. They were both held in very high esteem by staff, parents and loved by all the children. Their example is a continuing inspiration to us all. We wish them well and many long years of happiness in their retirement. We welcomed our new nurse, Ann Robinson who is well settled into the School at this stage. We are very happy to have Ann with us. Already her undisputed competence has shown her to be a worthy successor to Celia and Anne.
Last year, we said also farewell to Alan O’Hara who has graduated and transferring to adult services in St. Dympna’s, Portumna. We hope Alan will be very happy there and wish him well.
This was a major clothing recycling project ran by the staff in September 2014.
As always the aim was to fundraise for the school.
Thanks to everyone involved.
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.
In June also, we said also farewell to Alan O’Hara who has graduated and transferring to adult services in St. Dympna’s, Portumna. We hope Alan will be very happy there and wish him well.
June saw the retirement of Celia Hobbs and Anne Cormican who were our two school nurses. They were both held in very high esteem by staff, parents and loved by all the children. Their example is a continuing inspiration to us all. We wish them well and many long years of happiness in their retirement. We welcomed our new nurse, Ann Robinson who is well settled into the School at this stage. We are very happy to have Ann with us. Already her undisputed competence has shown her to be a worthy successor to Celia and Anne.
St. Teresa’s Special School was involved in the Ballinasloe Christmas Jumper Day fundraiser for Pieta House. This was organised by Geraldine Dean, who is an SNA at the school.
We would like to express our thanks on behalf of the children, staff and parents to the following:
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.
On Sunday 18th May 2014, We held a charity cycle to raise money for a bus for the school. This event could not have been held without the constant help of Mark McKeigue of Turas Bikes who has been guiding and supporting us from the start to the finish. The cycle catered for experienced and novice cyclists. There were two routes: a 30 Km route and a 100Km route. Despite the bad weather conditions, a large number of cyclists took part. There was an excellent atmosphere. We would like to thank all the participants, the Civil Defence, Gardaí, Stewards, Mountbellew Vintage Club and parents. We would like to extend a special thanks to Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre, Supervalu Ballinasloe, Ken Daly Bus Contractor; and Kieran and Niamh Cannon. With such a success, we are hopeful that this will become an annual event.
Please contact us for any further information you may require.
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Copyright © St. Teresa's Special School 2013-
| Contact: +353 (0)90 9643934 | info@stteresas.ie | Roll Number: 20328W
Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre, Creagh Road, Ballinasloe Co. Galway, H53 NW54. | Loc8 Code: L6F-33-2VK.