Dear families and friends of the school,

As another school year draws to a close, we would like to take a moment to celebrate the many experiences, achievements, and memorable moments that have made this year so special for our school community.

This final newsletter of the current school year provides an update on some of the events, activities, and achievements that have taken place in our school since our May edition.

As we begin the summer break, we hope that everyone enjoys a relaxing and enjoyable holiday, with plenty of opportunities to spend time with family and friends and recharge for the year ahead. We would like to thank all our families for their continued support, encouragement, and involvement throughout the year.

School reports and information for the coming school year

School reports were sent out last week on Aladdin. Accompanying the reports was a school calendar and information on how to interpret the report cards and standardised tests. If you have not received the information, please contact the office on 051-832984 or email secretary.ferrybankgns@gmail.com.

Stationary lists will be sent out today for all classes on Aladdin. Please let us know if you have any issues.

Booklists will been uploaded under the ‘Policy’ tab on the website. Please remember, you do not need to buy any books, workbooks or copies for the coming school year. They will be provided for you here when your child returns to school in late August.

Staffing Arrangement for the 2026/2027 school year

Staffing arrangements were communicated to the girls and their parents this week.

The staffing arrangements for the coming school year are:

Junior Infants – Ms. Ciara Hall

Senior Infants/1^st Class – Ms. Monica Kelly (Deputy Principal)

1^st/2^nd Class – Mrs. Maeve Power

3^rd Class – Ms. Carmel Fogarty/Ms. Clare Quigley (job-sharing)

4^th Class – Ms. Mairead Power

5^th Class  – Mrs. Clare Burke

6^th Class – Mrs. Feana Foley

SET – Mrs. Mary Ryan  

SET – Mrs. Aisling Shanahan

SET – Ms. Susan Rellis

SET – Ms. Ann Cunniffe

We would like to thank Ms. Alice Hutchinson and Mrs. Clodagh Hayes for all of their work and dedication over the last few years with us in Good Counsel. We are sad to see you both move on but wish you the very best for the future. Best wishes also to Ms. Eilis Walsh who is on a career break in the coming year.  

Final Assembly of the Year

Our final assembly of the school year was a wonderful occasion to celebrate achievements and look ahead to the summer break. We were delighted to welcome Helen and Margaret from Ferrybank Library, who spoke to the girls about the Summer Stars Reading Programme. This fantastic initiative encourages children to continue reading throughout the summer and helps foster a lifelong love of books.

During the assembly, we also recognised the achievements of our U-13 camogie team, presenting the girls with their Roinn A runners-up medals following their excellent season.

A number of special annual awards were also presented. Congratulations to Ms. Hutchinson’s 2nd Class, who received the Class Attendance Award, to Maelíosa in 5th Class, who was named Good Counsel Good Citizen of the Year, and to Ria in 6th Class, who received the Camogie Player of the Year Award. Well done all!

Finally, we wished 6th class well on what is their last week in primary school. As is customary here, during the assembly the 6th class girls presented all staff with a custom made card and message to thank them for their help on their journey here in Good Counsel.

Our weekly assemblies have been a valued part of school life throughout the year, providing an opportunity for classes to share their learning, celebrate successes, and come together as a school community. The girls always enjoy these gatherings, and this final assembly was a fitting way to conclude a memorable year at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Sports Day

We were very lucky with the weather for this year’s Sports Day, as the sun shone and the conditions were perfect for a fun-filled day outdoors.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the wide range of activities and events organised throughout the day. It was wonderful to see everyone getting involved, encouraging one another, and having lots of fun.

A big thank you to Mrs. Shanahan for organising another fantastic Sports Day and to all of the staff who helped make the day such a success. We hope the girls made lots of happy memories and enjoyed the day!

Cake Sale

A big thank you to the Parents’ Association who organised a Cake Sale on Tuesday of this week. Thank you to all of the girls and families for their generosity and effort in baking buns, cakes and other treats for the day. Thank you also to the parents/family members who visited the school on the day to support! As ever, the Cake Sale was a great success with over €500 raised. Well done to everyone!!

6^th Class Graduation

Last week, our 6th Class pupils took to the stage for their end-of-year production, which was enjoyed by fellow pupils, staff, and families. The performance marked a special milestone in their final weeks at Our Lady of Good Counsel and was a wonderful celebration of their time in the school.

A huge amount of work and dedication went into preparing for the production, and the girls, together with their teacher, should be extremely proud of what they achieved. From the confident performances and lively musical numbers to the energy, enthusiasm, and teamwork on display, the show was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

The production provided a fitting opportunity for the girls to create lasting memories together before moving on to the next stage of their educational journey. Throughout their years in Good Counsel, this group has made a valuable contribution to school life and has been a credit to themselves, their families, and the school community.

We congratulate the girls on all they have accomplished and wish them every success, and happiness as they begin their journey in secondary school.

School Tours

Our school tours came to an end this week, with 6th Class enjoying their trip to the Dunmore Adventure Centre. The excitement was building across the school in the lead-up to each tour, and it was great to see every class looking forward to their special day out.

The tours provided wonderful opportunities for the girls to have fun, try new experiences, and spend time together outside the classroom. As ever, we were also delighted to receive such positive feedback on the girls’ behaviour throughout the trips. They represented Our Lady of Good Counsel exceptionally well and were a credit to themselves, their families, and the school.

A sincere thank you to all of the teachers, SNAs, and to Tracey in the office for the work involved in organising and accompanying the tours. We hope all of the girls enjoyed their trips and have made lots of happy memories on their days out.

Camogie

Congratulations to our U-13 camogie team, who reached the Roinn A Final in May. The girls were defeated by a strong St. Mary’s N.S, Ballygunner team in Walsh Park, but they worked extremely hard and represented our school with great pride in very warm conditions.

This was a significant achievement for the school, as it was the first time we have competed in Roinn A, having previously played in Roinn C and Roinn D since we began taking part in school camogie. Reaching the final shows the excellent progress that has been made. Well done girls!

Many thanks to Mrs. Shanahan for all of her hard work in preparing and training the team throughout the year.

Africa Day May 25^th 2026

We were delighted to celebrate Africa Day in our school, recognising and celebrating the rich cultures and traditions of our pupils of African heritage. A number of our girls proudly wore their beautiful traditional dress, giving everyone the opportunity to appreciate the wonderful diversity within our school community.

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the many nationalities and cultures represented in our school. Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and occasions like Africa Day remind us of the importance of inclusion, respect and learning from one another.

Thank you to the wonderful girls in our school community who helped us share Africa day.  Ms. Kelly

The Vegetable Garden – June 2026 Update.

Our school garden is thriving at this time of year and is producing an abundance of fresh vegetables that were carefully sown during early spring. We are delighted to see our broad beans, peas, beetroot, salad leaves, radishes, potatoes, onions, and garlic all growing so well.

We have also planted carrots and parsnips, which will be ready for harvesting in early autumn, along with our recently planted pumpkins — just in time for Halloween!

A sincere thank you to all of our wonderful little gardeners who helped in so many ways throughout the year. Your enthusiasm, care, and hard work have played a very important role in helping our school garden flourish. Ms. Kelly

Rapunzel Foundation

We would like to congratulate Sophia in 4th Class, who recently donated her hair to the Rapunzel Foundation. Sophia made the generous decision to have a significant amount of her hair cut so that it can be used to help create wigs for children and young people who suffer from long term hair loss.

Well done, Sophia, on this wonderful achievement. We are very proud of your kindness and generosity!

Ferrybank Camogie

Ferrybank Camogie are holding a fundraising event and memorial blitz in aid of Féileacáin on Saturday July 11th in memory of Aoife (Oates) and Ailbhe Bird. See below for more details.

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Peadar’s Summer Camp 2026

Peader’s Summer Camp will take place in Ferrybank GAA Club from Monday July 20th – Friday July 24th from 10am – 2pm. Fee €30 per child Ages 5 – 15 years. Please see the application form below if your daughter would like to attend they should be returned be July 10th.

In Memory

We extend our sincere condolences to Mrs. Ryan (5th Class) and her family on the recent passing of her Mam. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Ryan and her family at this sad time. May she rest in peace.

As we close this final newsletter of the school year, we would like to take a moment to thank all of our pupils, parents, staff, and the wider school community for your continued support, enthusiasm, and partnership throughout the year.

We hope you all have a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable summer break. May it be filled with sunshine, fun, and well-deserved rest. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for another exciting year ahead.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer!

Your sincerely,

J. Nagle

Principal

Term 3 was lighter and brighter with some nice sunshine to brighten our days and also a nice mid-term break in June. The girls were, as always, busy with different activities and projects throughout the term and I enjoyed seeing them bloom.

In History we were learning about the Middle ages/Medieval times in Waterford, in the towns and countryside and further afield in Europe. In small groups, the girls worked together to present an area of Medieval times – the types of houses; the manor layout; the tools and equipment used.

We had 6 weeks of fantastic gymnastics for P.E. with Kenny. The girls learned loads and also learned confidence in this area, as did I!

We compared Waterford city with our capital city, Dublin, for our Geography class. Using images from both of these areas, the girls had to compare how these two cities were similar and different on a worksheet. This included housing, landmarks, shops and workplaces.

During Friendship week, the girls participated in lots of healthy, friendly and fun activities such as meditation, mindful colouring, sharing bracelets, showing kindness and tasting some healthy and tasty treats provided by 6th class. At the end of the week, the girls dressed in bright colours to celebrate friendship Friday.

The girls did some investigating of our outdoor environment for Science and discovered some plants, animals and evidence of animals around our school environment. Outdoor activities are always the most enjoyable and the girls are always amazed at what is around us but sometimes we forget to stop and look.

We did some team building exercises in SPHE where I set them a challenge to use anything available to create a structure. We had Eiffel towers and a tunnel game. Pretty creative and imaginative and they all completed it, as a team.

In Geography, we have been learning a lot of the natural and man-made features of our environment. We took a look at the coast and the different coastal areas here in Waterford, Ireland and around the world. One common item that the children noticed at all of these locations was ‘rubbish’. We discussed the effects this has on our environment and living things. Using recyclable materials, the girls were asked to create a coastal box in 30 minutes. What they created was really impressive – there were mountains, cliffs, seas, beaches, yachts, rocks, trawlers and more.

Another group exercise was our History games. Over a number of weeks we have been learning about games from the past and present. We interviewed parents and grandparents and we have revived old games as new games in the playground. The girls taught games to each other from other countries and displayed and presented these in class – Mancala from Kenya , Kabbadi from India, Kendama from Japan and Loteria from Mexico.

We worked as scientists in our Science class and grouped living things into different categories. The girls decided what the categories would be i.e. plants with petals/plants with no petals; common everyday plants/uncommon plants; animals that swim/don’t swim etc. We also went on an outdoor habitat search to see what living things, or evidence of these, there are on our school grounds.

We went on our History trail around Ferrybank discovering places, people and jobs in our community. We learned to follow maps, find names of roads and discover distances to other places. We could see how our community has changed and is continually changing and recorded all this information in our ‘Footsteps around Ferrybank’ trail booklet. Why not ask the children some of the interesting things discovered!

In Geography we explored our school grounds and green areas investigating plants, animals, insects and soil. We learned the names of some new plants and animals – Common Mallow, wild poppy, Cat’s ear, Self-heal. We used our natural surroundings and took a breather to see what sounds we could hear as we lay still.

We had a super time on our school tour and I hope the girls shared their homemade chocolate with you??!! After the chocolate making workshop the girls had a play and boarded the train through the woods where they saw a herd of deer and even got to feed the geese. Following this, we had lunch and another play in an even bigger playground. At the end of the day, the girls did some orienteering through the maze of Ireland. Thankfully we didn’t lose anyone!! The girls arrived home tired but satisfied after a fun day out.

We also had a fantastic Sports’ Day and cake sale in the super sunshine. And the ice-creams were a welcome treat too.

In Art the girls did a tie-dye t-shirt and designed it with fabric markers. They turned out really bright and the girls will have this as a memory of 3rd class and can wear it with pride. Well done fashion designers!

Also in Art, the girls started and finished their wall hanging project where they included a foreground, middle ground and background sea theme. When the backdrop was complete, they then cut, pinned, sewed and stuffed some sea creatures to apply to the backing. The end result was really impressive and certainly a level up from last year’s. Well done girls!

It’s been a really fantastic year in 3rd class, full of happy memories. The girls will continue making more memories in 4th class and I wish them all the best over the summer. Enjoy the summer break and thanks for making my job so enjoyable each and every day. Mrs. Power

Senior Infants have been learning about the postal service and have been enjoying writing letters and cards to friends and family.

This week we visited our local post office where we met Linda and Paul who answered all the questions we had prepared.

Linda kindly had a little gift for all the girls and we all enjoyed our visit.

We then walked over to Little Sisters of the Poor Residential Care Home and hand delivered the cheerful summer cards that the girls had made for residents there.

The girls know alot more about the work of An Post now and will be keeping an eye out for postman Paul doing his rounds in the locality.