Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon notes

TYP:

Transition Year started with a splash last week as the entire group went down to Brannigan Harbour for a bonding day. The day consisted of many activities such as kayaking, wall climbing and archery tag. It was a brilliant start to the year. Thanks to Alex and his team at Outdoor Discovery. TYs have also started a range of new modules in school. Fencing, photography, health education and sign language were enjoyed by all. Karate is being taught alongside self-defence for the first time. TYs will be kitted out in karate suits and will be competing against others schools in county Longford, such as St Mel’s and Scoil Mhuire. As if maths wasn’t fun enough, a new subject known as Logic will be taught by Ms Beirne to all TY students. Logic allows you to use maths to play games and solve puzzling brain teasers and see maths in a new light. This will be of great benefit as they study project maths for their Leaving Certificate exam later.

Class of ‘88:

On Saturday, September 14, there will be a reunion for the class of 1988 at Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon. Mass will be held in the school at 6pm followed by a meal in Cooney’s Hotel at 7:30pm. Tickets cost €25 each and there will be a DJ playing all your favourite hits. For further information contact Mary Curran on 087 6850268.

IPads:

The first years are the envy of the rest of the school with their new iPads which have been a huge success. Students enjoy the luxury of lighter school bags and benefit from the latest IT teaching and learning aids.

Student sport:

We would like to extend congratulations to Tracey and Rachel Dillon who recently won the U-16 All-Ireland football final with their county team, Westmeath. Well done girls! Also, good luck to Patrick Flanagan who will be swimming in the UK School games in Sheffield next week with the Irish team.

Exchange students:

We extend a warm welcome to the exchange students Astrid, Jorge Andres and Celia, who have joined us this school year from foreign countries. They have come from Spain and Switzerland! It’s brilliant for our students to have the chance to practice speaking foreign languages in our school with native speakers and make the learning of foreign languages more fun.

Results:

Good luck to all TYs and fifth years who will be receiving their Junior Certificate results on Wednesday.