Official Opening of Scoil Sheosaimh Naofa,Ballinagar

Our new school was officially opened on Friday 7th June 2013.We were blessed with very fine weather and a very large crowd attended the proceedings that started at 1pm. The ceremonial opening of the school was performed by John and Yvonne Malone, the generous benefactors of the site for the new building.

Our 2nd Green Flag was then raised by our school’s Green School Committee and this was followed by the official opening of our school garden and mini-forest by Petrina Slattery, chairperson of our school parents’ association.

The remainder of the ceremony took place indoors. Our “percent art” project was then unveiled by the artist, Olive Gorman. The project consists of 8 paintings that reflect the theme “What I Want to be when I Grow Up”. The brief also specified that the work had to capture the essence of the school and the local environment.

The concluding part of the ceremony took place in the GP room. A blessing ceremony was performed by the chairperson of the Board of Management, Monsignor Thomas Coonan. Our school choir sung during the ceremony, accompanied by Ms. Noreen Rabbette on the electric organ.

Concluding the official part of proceedings, the school principal, Denis O’Connor and the school chairperson, Monsignor Coonan spoke to the assembled guests. Our guests included parents, members of the local community, our parish priest, Rev. Fr. John Stapleton, local public representatives, former teachers, principal teachers of the local schools and past pupils of our school.

Refreshments were then served by our parents’ association and background music was provided by Joe Rabbette and friends from Clara. Of course it was a very special day for everybody in Ballinagar, especially our pupils, past and present. Our 6th class pupils took great pride in conducting guided tours of the new school, our school choir, as previously mentioned, sang during the blessing ceremony, our youngest and oldest pupils assisted during the cutting of the ribbon at the start of our celebratory proceedings and all enjoyed the refreshments and entertainment thereafter. A special celebration to mark a very special day in Ballinagar.