We are celebrating St. Brigid's Day today in Ballyea N.S.

 The  The tThe Story of St. Brigid

 St. Brigid was born in AD 450 in Faughart, near Dundalk in Co. Louth. Her father, Dubhthach, was a pagan chieftain of Leinster and her mother, Broicsech, was a Christian. It was thought that Brigid’s mother was born in Portugal but was kidnapped by Irish pirates and brought to Ireland to work as a slave, just like St. Patrick was. Brigid’s father named her after one of the most powerful goddesses of the pagan religion - the goddess of fire, whose manifestations were song, craftsmanship, and poetry, which the Irish considered the flame of knowledge. He kept Brigid and her mother as slaves even though he was a wealthy man. Brigid spent her earlier life cooking, cleaning, washing and feeding the animals on her father’s farm.

A clothes collection was held on the 24th January which raised funds for school activities. A sincere thank you to all who donated. You can see our hard working helpers above!

Pupils of third class recently entered the U10 Community Games Handwriting Competition. We were very lucky to have four winners of gold and silver medals:  Moya S. Hazel C., Dara G. and Patrick S. We chose a story from our English readers and wrote it out in our nicest handwriting. Then we signed it and dated it. Our stories were ‘Dublin Zoo’, The Magic Horse, Chinese New Year and A Hairy Story.