We had a terrific fundraiser for LauraLynn when we hosted our Lá Glas on Friday 13th March! A brilliant €220 was raised – well done everyone!
Lovely Art from the Junior Classroom for St. Patrick’s Day 2026!
Road Safety Authority talks given by Fiona Kavanagh to all classes on the 11th March 2026 – very informative and worthwhile experience for all involved!
World Book 2026!
Children from all rooms dressed upas a character from their favourite book. Everyone gave a brief overview of their chosen book also. Great effort put in by all!
World Book 2026 photo of children dressed up with their favorite book.
Parents’ Association Christmas Raffle 2025:
Huge thanks to all involved in our recent Christmas Raffle which was superbly co-ordinated by our Parents’ Association Committee. A Fantastic €1,557 was raised which will be used to buy valuable resources for creative learning for all pupils in the school over the coming months. Well done everyone!
Christmas Plays 2025!
Well done to all our pupils for their wonderful performances in our Christmas Plays. A fantastic time was had by all and it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!
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Well done to all the children participated in the recent Graiguenamanagh cross country with St. Joseph’s Athletic’s Club! Some great silverware on show after all their efforts!
Some brilliant art work for Christmas by the Senior classes in the school!
Below are the photographs from the Red Kettle interactive show that the children got great enjoyment from on the 8/12/25!
Science week 2025!
The children had great fun doing experiments as well as learning about foods that humans source from the sea. They also did some coding about matter, the likelihood of events happening and how this feeds into scientific research.
Hot Lunches November 2025:
The Hot Lunch scheme has been introduced in Ballyfacey N.S. See pictures below of various pupils having their first hot meal!
Halloween Art 2025!
Great costumes and lovely display of art work from the senior classes.
Happy Halloween!
Pin the hat on the witch!
GAA and Basketball coaching!
Start of year School Mass Celebration
Huge thanks to Fr Taylor for coming to the school today and doing a really lovely Mass celebration with the pupils and staff full of prayer and hope for the school year ahead.
St. Joseph’s AC School Cross Country Sept 2025!
Congratulations to our pupils who participated in the Schools’ Cross Country event recently. Fantastic results from all involved!
New Junior Infants 2025-2026!
We welcomed 8 new girls and boys into Junior Infants last week! All 8 have made a great start to their time in Ballyfacey and we look forward to watching them flourish over the years to come!
Congratulations to our 6th Class girls who were part of the New Ross Celtic team that came second in their district league recently!
Goodbye to our super secretary Mary Mackey:
We wish Mary Mackey all the very best as she moves on to take on a new role. Mary carried out her secretarial work to the highest of standards in Ballyfacey for the past 7 years and her expertise across many areas will be sorely missed. Thank you Mary and good luck!
A fond farewell to Mrs. O’ Connor:
We said goodbye to a fantastic teacher at the end of the school year. After 11 years of wonderful teaching in Ballyfacey N.S., Mrs. Ciara O’ Connor leaves the school with the gratitude and best wishes of all. Mrs. O’ Connor was a pleasure to learn from, to work with and to get to know. We are very lucky to have had such a fine teacher work with us all – pupils and teachers alike. The reception she got from everyone on her final day speaks volumes for the positive impact she had on all who interacted with her. We wish Mrs. O’ Connor and her family all the very best for the future!
Goodbye to 6th Class 2025!
After 8 years of fun, learning and fantastic efforts by all, our 11 6th Class pupils have completed their time in Ballyfacey N.S. We wish them every success for the future as they head on to secondary school. They were a super group to deal with – one of the biggest classes Ballyfacey has ever had! Well done everyone!
Thanj 
County Finals 2025!
We had a hugely exciting month of June with both our u-13 hurling and camogie teams reaching the County Final in their respective divisions! A huge well done to all the girls and boys who played on both panels along with pupils from our sister school in the parish! The boys put up an unbelievable battle against a tough Dunnamaggin team in the final – we couldn’t have asked for any more from the lads! The girls put in a mighty performance too against a very strong outfit from St. John’s in Kilkenny – the never say die attitude of the girls was exceptional as they fought all the way to the final whistle! Well done also to our boys u11 team who were very unlucky to lose out to Paulstown in their County semi final. The grace with which all 3 teams accepted defeat and kept their heads high is fantastic to see and we are incredibly proud of you all!
The boys and girls from Junior Infants to 1st class had a great day on their school tour to Secret Valley Wildlife Park in Clonroche.
Great fun was had by all at our annual sports day which took place on Monday 16th June 2025
June 2025: It is with heavy hearts that we as school community say farewell to our fantastic school caretaker Willie Murphy, who after many years of hard work and dedication to the school, retires from our staff. Thank you for everything you did and the high standards you held over your long career with us here in Ballyfacey N.S. You will be greatly missed by us all. Here’s to many happy years of retirement Willie!
June 2025: Huge congratulations to the three winners from our school of the Glenmore Tidy Towns art competition!
30th May 2025: The children from 2nd to 6th recently went on their school tour recently to Alive Outside at Kilruddery House – home of RTE’s tv show “Ireland’s Fittest Family”. Great fun was had taking on the various challenges!
The Junior room recently enjoyed a teddy bears picnic in the sun!
The Junior Room did some baking recently and then enjoyed their yummy treats!
The Junior Room recently enjoyed a visit from members of an Garda Siochána!
May 2025: Kilkenny Cycle Clinic owners Paul and Dina visited us for National Bike Week 2025 to give a talk on Bicycle safety and bike maintenance.
The boys and girls are continuing to have great fun at the Rhythm and Shakes workshops which are running in school at the moment.
First Holy Communion 2025!
The girls from 2nd class made their First Holy Communion on Saturday 10th May in the church of St. James Glenmore. The sun was shining and great day was had by all! Thank you to Mr. Dunphy for all his hard work in preparation for the First Confessions held in March and First Holy Communion itself. Congratulations girls!
Graiguenamanagh Fire Station Visit
The children from Junior Infants to 6th class recently enjoyed a fire safety and awareness talk during a visit from fire officers Christy and Leo from the Graiguenamanagh Fire Station. Thank you Christ and Leo for visiting our school and for such an informative and interesting talk!
The Junior and Middle Room enjoyed some spring gardening in the sun!
GAA Hurling Skills
We are delighted to welcome back Seamus Dollard and Philip Campion to the school for GAA hurling skills sessions with pupils from 2nd to 6th Class!
Five A Side Soccer Waterford Region Finals Day April 2025
The girls from 5th and 6th Class put in 3 fantastic performances at SETU Arena in the second qualifying stage of the 5-a-side soccer, backing up their wonderful efforts when qualifying from stage one back in February! Unfortunately the girls missed out on qualification for the provincial finals but we congratulate them hugely for their efforts. Both days were thoroughly enjoyed by all involved!
April and May 2025 – Rhythms and Shakes
The whole school are currently taking part in drumming workshops which were facilitated by Rhythms and Shakes!
Clay Modeling
The pupils from 4th, 5th & 6th class had greatly fun recently in art using clay. Some beautiful clay pieces were created.
Spring has sprung here in Ballyfacey N.S.! The daffodils planted by our senior room back in Autumn have bloomed – look at them now enjoying the fabulous Spring sunshine we are enjoying this week!
We had a very interesting talk from Future Energy Ireland about Renewable Energy during the week as we learned that renewable energy is made from resources that nature will replace, like wind, water and sunshine. Renewable energy is also called “clean energy” or “green power” because it doesn’t pollute the air or the water.
Lá Glas 2025
On Friday 14th March we celebrated Lá Glas and all the children had great fun taking part in all the different activites. They sang Zombie as Gaeilge and danced to Shoe the Donkey! 2nd to 6th class took part in a Tráth na gCeist (Irish quiz) and we had a 6th class pupil who played some fantastic Irish music for the whole school to enjoy!
Engineering Week 2025- The children from 4th, 5th & 6th class celebrated engineering week by designing and constructing some bridges. These took a great deal of initiative and thought, as the groups needed to design and construct a bridge capable of holding a few kgs in weight. So well done all – some great work done here yet again!!
Engineering Weeks for Mr. Dunphy’s Classroom
The boys and girls from 3th & 4th class had great fun participating in Engineering Week this year.
On Thursday 6th March we celebrated World Book Day. A great effort was made by all and in the senior room the following were the chosen favourite characters from books the children read. Grace Rowan, Alex Rider, Matilda, Ben from Gansta Granny, Ronaldo, Liverpool Soccer Player, Grace Rowan, Tandy Tantrum, Gansta Granny, Alisson Becker, Dominik Szoboslai, Zoey Franklins, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gangsta Granny, Alex Rider, Salah. Well done everyone, you all looked amazing!
March 2025, Measuring in the Sun. We took advantage of the good weather and went outdoors learning about measuring width, length, area and perimeter.
February 2025: The boys and girls from 5th & 6th class took part in the FAI Primary 5’s 2025 soccer tournament. Congratulations to all involved on fantastic team spirit and determination on the day! Our boys team won two of their three games only losing their final game 2-1 which meant they narrowly missed out on qualification for the next day out. A huge well done to girls who have progressed to the next round after winning all 4 of their games on the day!
December 2024: We had a visit from the Red Kettle Theatre Company. It was a fantastic experience with lots of pupil interaction and pupil performances! Great fun was had by all!
2024-2025 school year: The Kilkenny Mobile Library visits the schools once a month and the children love going out and changing their books regularly.
February 1st 2025: The children in the senior classes recently made St Brigid’s Crosses.
Our school recently took part in the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal. Well done on a fantastic effort made by everyone!
Science Week 2024!
Halloween in the Senior Room!
Many Thanks
On behalf of Ballyfacey N.S. we would like to thank most sincerely the following local groups who donated money to the school in recent weeks. We greatly appreciate their support and generosity at this time and wish them continued success for the future.
Tullogher Rosbercon Vintage Club €400.00
Glenmore Camogie Club € 150.00
St. Vincent de Paul €1000.00
Halloween Fun!!!!! We had some spooktacular costumes for our Halloween Dress up day on Friday 25th October. Brilliant costumes everyone!
The pupils of Ballyfacey N.S. recently held a fundraiser in aid of the Solas Centre, Waterford. Everyone dressed up in orange or yellow clothing on the day and an amazing €250.00 was raised! The Solas Centre wish to thank the pupils, staff and families for their very generous donation and want everyone to know how much they appreciate it. Well done everyone – great work!
September – November 2024: GAA Skills Coaching Skills with Seamus Dollard. The boys and girls from 2nd to 6th class are really enjoying the GAA coaching in Gaelic and Hurling with Seamus Dollard from the Glenmore GAA Club.
September 2024: SPHE Skills – The children from 4th, 5th & 6th class took part in SPHE Skills lessons. Each pupil carefully planned their own mini-lesson which they then taught to some classmates. On the day there was art and drawing demonstrations, Weaving Skills, Photography demos, Magic Tricks and Sports Skills. The boys and girls thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to become teachers themselves for a lesson!
October 2024: The children from 4th, 5th and 6th class planted bulbs in the school planters during October and we can’t wait to see the array of colours in the spring time
October 2024: 2nd & 3rd class enjoyed some coding with Mr. Dunphy as part of their ICT work recently!
October 2024: The children from our Junior and Middle Rooms had great fun taking part in the reading buddies programme!
September 2024: Last week we took advantage of the lovely weather and the children enjoyed some time outside in by completing some very creative yard art displays with Ms. Aylward. Well done everyone!
September 2024: This week we were joined by members from the Kilkenny Sport Partnership where great fun was had by all!
June 2024: Congratulations to the girls from Ballyfacey N.S. & Glenmore N.S. who reached the mini 7s camogie finals!
June 2024: Congratulations to the boys from Ballyfacey N.S. & Glenmore N.S who won the Roinn C Shield Final. Well done everyone – a great achievement!
The boy’s and girls from 5th & 6th class celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation in June. Bishop Niall Coll, Bishop of Ossory was chief celebrant on the day. A great day was had by all!
On Saturday 12th May the boys and girls from 2nd class celebrated the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. Congratulations to all on making this milestone Sacrament!
Our March 2024 School Newsletter.
https://ballyfaceyns.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Second-term-March-2024-Newsletter.docx
April/ May 2024 – We are delighted to be joined by Anne-Marie Cooney for a 6 week block of Dance Classes. Dance is part of the Primary School Curriculum and the children all really enjoyed learning new routines and dance moves!
9th April 2024 – Clothing Collection. We are delighted to let you all know that an amazing amount of € 362.40 was raised from our recent clothes collection. Thank you to everyone who so generously donated to our clothes collection. All money raised will used for the benefit of the school.
15th MArch 2024 – Lá Glas was celebrated in Ballyfacey N.S. recently! This was a lovely event to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge and St Patrick’s Day! Well done to all for the efforts in dressing up, playing music and learning Shoe the Donkey!!
World Book Day 2024!
On Thursday 7th March we celebrated World Book Day by dressing up a character from our favourite book. Everybody made a super effort and we have many interesting characters come to school that day. We had Amber from The Midnight Gang, Dribbling Drew from The World’s Worst Children, Opie Jones from I am Dog, Nikki Maxwell from The Dork Diaries in Paris, Mo Salah, Doctor Upper from The Midnight Gang, A Dalmatian, from 1001 Dalmatians, Holly Dixon from the Friendship Fairies Series and Grace from Ride to the Rescue.
Swimming Lessons January to March 2024!
The children from 2nd to 6th class are currently enjoying a block of 8 weeks swimming lessons in the Apex New Ross. We are delighted to be able to provide swimming lessons for the pupils of Ballyfacey N.S. as swimming is an important part of the primary school curriculum and the learning objectives can be found within the aquatics strand f the P.E. curriculum.
Recently completed art projects from our senior room.
Our senior room took part in some outdoor measuring of length, width & height.
In honour of St. Brigid, one of Ireland’s patron saints, we made St Brigid’s crosses. A St Brigid’s Cross is a cross woven from rushes with four arms tied at the end and the centre is woven pattern square. They are traditionally displayed to ward off evil. The tradition of making St. Brigid’s Cross marks the beginning of Spring. There was great teamwork shown in making these crosses together – well done to all!
As part of art we did some clay modeling, where we made coil pots, clay hands, and sculpted faces. Great fun was had by all in the making of these!
Climate Action Work Shop with Sarah Keane
Sarah Keane from Waterford Sustainable Living visited the school recently with Kíla’s Climate Hero Journey. The children really enjoyed learning all sustainable living and how we can help with climate change in our everyday lives.
Christmas Jumper Day 2023
Download our December 2023 newsletter here.
https://ballyfaceyns.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/0271_001.pdf
The Children had great fun when the Little Red Kettle Theatre Company visited on 6th December with their interactive touring play
Visit to all classes by Fiona Kavanagh from the Road Safety Authority on Tuesday 21st November
The Senior Room pupils have been testing out their balancing ability and were experimenting with their centre of gravity!
Helena Byrne resident Story Teller with Kilkenny Library came to visit the school. Helena visited all classrooms and told stories to the children and some of the younger children also got to do some art. The children really enjoyed Helena’s visit.
The children from 4th / 5th / 6th class recently completed a project on the human digestive system with Ms. Cleere.
The children from 4th 5th & 6th class have completed some fablous Autumn art with Ms. Cleere recently
As part of Bookville 2023 the children took part in an Escape Room Webinar with Christopher Edge. The children all enjoyed taking part.
6th Class say farewell
As we draw to the end of another school year we would like to wish the 6th class pupils who are leaving us after eight years to head on the their next chapter in Secondary School the very best of luck. You are a credit to your parents and the school, you really were a fantastic bunch and you will be missed by us all here in Ballyfacey N.S. So all is left to say is ” You’re off to great places, Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, So ……get on your way” Dr. Seuss
The senior school took place on Wednesday 14th June 2023. The children travelled to the Shielbaggan Outdoor Education Centre. A great day out by the sea was had by all!
School Sports Day 2023
Graiguenamanagh Fire Station Visit
Christopher Browne Station Officer with Graiguenamanagh Fire Brigade recently visited the school to all the children a fire safety talk. The pupils found this very interesting and we learned some very important lessons about fire safety.
Caoimhe from Torque Gymnastics taught six gymnastics lessons to every class during the last term. Children learned how to roll, cartwheel, handstand and more during these weeks. Everyone enjoyed it and some pupils have been cartwheeling ever since!
Children from First Class upwards have been taught Tag Rugby free of charge courtesy of New Ross Rugby Club. The pupils have been enjoying these sessions immensely.
Our Parents Association recently organised a sponsored to raise much needed funds for the school. Thanks to all who organised and participated in this worthy event.
Seachtain na Gaeilge was celebarted from 1st to 17th March. Students from Ballyfacy N.S. took part in several activities to celebrate our culture and language. We had a treasure hunt “as Gaeilge”, took part in Céilí dancing, had a Green Day in school on Thursday 16th and we even had a student play some traditional Irish music for us. There certainly was ceol agus craic had by all!
For art the children made Cardboard Towns. Don’t these look amazing…. well done everyone!
Science Experiments from the Senior Room.
As part of their Science work, the children in 4th, 5th & 6th class designed and built electrical circuits. These circuits were then used to create various general knowledge quizzes – match the correct answers to light the bulb!
Our next generation of computer programmers!!
The pupils in 4th , 5th & 6th classes are currently taking part in computer coding classes using the Scratch computer coding programme!
New Recreational Space!
We are delighted with our new tarmac recreation area at the back of the school. We have added some extra basketball hoops along with a larger tarmac play area! The children now have more playing space which is great – this area will be particularly useful during the Winter months when our pitch area will be getting muddy!
Some Local VIP’s came to visit.
Ian Byrne & Billy Reid – both members of the U20 Kilkenny All-Ireland winning team of 2022 – visited the school recently. All the children were delighted to meet the local lads and to see the silverware on the day! Billy is a past pupil of the school while Ian attended Glenmore N.S. The two lads were part of parish primary school teams which won Roinn B and C hurling titles along with a Country Cup title also. It is great great to see the lads continue those winning habits with intercounty squads. Well done Lads!
June 2022: The school recently held a non-uniform day in aid of the Irish Red Cross support of the crisis in Ukraine. A fantastic total of €250 was raised! Thank you to everyone who contributed so generously on the day.
June 2022: We recently collected our Mud Kitchens for outdoor play from Dungarvan Mens’ Shed! These were very kindly sponsored by our Parents’ Association so we would like to thank them for their recent fundraising which made this possible!
Rhythm & Shakes Drumming Workshops
Each Wednesday for the month of June, the children from all classes are enjoying percussion sessions with Cathy from Rhythm & Shakes. Thank you to our proactive Parents Association for helping with the funding of this initiative when the idea was put to them!
On Tuesday 3rd May the Little Red Kettle Theatre Company visited our school where they performed their inter active show Funky Fandango. All the children really enjoyed the show and we had plenty of pupil participation too! Well done to all!
February/ March 2022: Pupils from our Senior Room are currently attending swimming lessons in the APEX New Ross where they are learning new swimming techniques and improving their skills.
Congratulations to the children from 5th & 6th class who celebrated their Sacrament of Confirmation on Saturday 26th February in the Church of St. James Glenmore. A lovely day was has by all.
January/ February 2022: Children from 2nd to 4th Class who recently took part in swimming lessons in the APEX New Ross.
Ger Brick Internet Safety & Cyber Bullying Parents Information
October 2021: Please find below the link for parents information following the recent inter safety and cyber bullying talk held here in Ballyfacey N.S. Log in and password details have already been emailed to parents, however should you require them again please contact the school directly and we will arrange to have them forwarded onto you again.
http://www.inetsafetytalk.com/parentinfo
Home learning during Covid 19 Closure
During this strange and unprecedented time, the pupils of Ballyfacey N.S. have been making the best of situation in which they find themselves. They have been working away diligently on suggested home learning activities provided by the school staff and have shared lovely samples of their work with the teachers. The children have also been getting up to a wide variety of their own activities also – be those exercise-based, helping around the home, developing their creative talents or progressing some key life skills! Pictures of many of these activities have been shared by families and it is these activities which can be seen below! We will add to this gallery as more pictures come our way!
Well done to all families for their commitment to getting the most out of this challenging time and keeping spirits high!
Here are some images from lock down 2021
Home Learning March to June 2020!
Peace Proms 2020!
The pupils from 2nd to 6th Class had a hugely enjoyable experience with the Peace Proms initiative this year. All their hard work on preparations in their classrooms paid off when they participated in a wonderful show along with a number of other schools on Saturday, the 7th of March. A great night was had by all as seen in the pictures below. A special word of thanks to Ms. Phelan and Mrs. O’ Connor for supervising all the lads on the night!
Christmas School Plays
Below are a few pictures from our very enjoyable Christmas Play which were performed by the children on the day of the Christmas Holidays , Friday December 22nd. This year the children performed “Silent Night” and “Ralph The Reindeer”
Swimming Lessons in The Apex New Ross
Swimming lessons commenced on Monday 13th January 2020 in the Apex New Ross. Swimming lessons will run for a 10 week block and children from 1st to 6th class are participating in swimming lessons.
Southeast Science Festival 2019
Children from Ballyfacey N.S. travelled to two events as part of the Southeast Science Festival. On Friday 8th November children from 4th to 6th Class traveled to the WIT arena for The Real Science of the Circus. On Tuesday 12th November children from Junior Infants to 3rd class traveled to Carrickphierish Library to see Bubbly Bubbles.
Halloween Fun 2019
Michael Moylan visits from Kilkenny Heritage Council
We had a fantastic visit from Michael on Thursday the 3rd of October to all three classrooms. Michael is a real character and had a great time with the children discussing the various weapons and tools used through the different eras of Irish history. His hands-on approach went down a treat and was thoroughly enjoyed by all!
Junior Infants September 2019
Ballyfacey N.S. were delighted to welcome five new junior infants to our school this September 2019.
