News at St. Colmcille s St Colmcille s Primary School, Ballymena Parents Newsletter Publish Date: Summer Term 2009 Issue Number 6

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1 News at St. Colmcille s St Colmcille s Primary School, Ballymena Parents Newsletter Publish Date: Summer Term 2009 Issue Number 6 Welcome to the sixth issue of News at St. Colmcille s marking the end of another academic year. This newsletter gives a snap shot of school life during the third term. The summer term is traditionally a very busy one in schools and in St. Colmcille s the children have immersed themselves in a varied programme of activities. Children in Years 4 and 7 received the sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation. Not only were these days of great joy for the families of these children, but also days of great celebration for the parish community. The children have been recognised for their achievements on many occasions throughout the year. The teaching and non-teaching staff have also received much deserved recognition. The ETI published the findings of their inspection and this outstanding report is testimony to all associates of the school community. I congratulate everyone and thank them for their commitment and dedication. I trust you enjoy reading the newsletter and wish you all a restful summer holiday. Mr B McKenna (Principal)

2 On April 27 th the Year 4 classes went to the Braid Arts Centre to attend a workshop on World War II. The children created a number of dramas, describing the various roles of those engaged in the war, from soldiers to evacuees. The children also had the opportunity to listen to real life accounts from two eye witnesses who lived in Ballymena during the war. Finally there was a question and answer session for the children - really bringing to life what it was like to live through such a difficult time in our history. Earlier this year our school received Book Time book packs to give to every Year 1 pupil. Book Time is managed by the independent charity Book Trust and is inspired by Book Start, the national programme providing free books to babies and toddlers. Set up in 2006 in association with education and publishing company Pearson, Book Time encourages parents and carers to continue sharing books with their children at a stage in their learning and development. To launch this year s book pack we were fortunate to have Valerie Nicholson from library services who came to our school on Wednesday 6 th May. She conducted a short session with children and parents before the book packs were distributed. The morning session involved reading the book and playing games. Both parents and children found the event helpful in fostering a love of reading in our Year 1 children.

3 Well done to the Year 4 children who celebrated their First Communion in All Saints Church on the 7 th of June. The children successfully completed their preparation for this sacrament by participating in the Do This in Memory programme co-ordinated by Mary Waide and the parish core team, and also completing the programme outlined in Alive-O 4 in school under the direction of Mrs McKenna and Miss O Donnell. The children were all beautifully presented on the day and music was provided by the Parish choir. The ceremony was a real celebration of how family, school and parish can cooperate together for the benefit of all our children. The Year 7 children celebrated their Service of Light on April 27 th and their Confirmation on May 11 th, along with the children from all the local parish schools. The confirmation ceremony was celebrated by Bishop Treanor. There was a great sense of reverence on the occasion and all of the children who took part were exemplary ambassadors for St. Colmcille s. We are grateful to Fr Toland and Fr Aidan for their support during the preparation for Confirmation and to Bishop Treanor for ensuring that all the children had the opportunity to get a photograph with him after the ceremony.

4 Earlier this year, Niamh Carberry nominated Mr Rodgers for the Teacher of the Year award. After Easter the school was informed that Mr Rodgers had been shortlisted as a finalist. This involved a judging panel visiting the school to observe Mr Rodgers in the classroom, assess the standards of work being achieved and talk to the children and other peoples associated with the school. On Monday 21 st June, Mr Rodgers was announced as the NI Teacher of the Year at the Teaching Awards ceremony in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. There was great celebration when Mr Rodgers returned to school the next day. However, this was not the end. As a result of winning the NI Region, Mr Rodgers was one of thirteen regional winners being considered for the UK Teacher of the Year. On Monday, the UK Judging Panel flew into NI to visit the school and announce that Mr Rodgers has been shortlisted as a finalist for the UK award. We extend our heartiest congratulations to Mr Rodgers and wish him every success in the UK finals in October.

5 Matthew & Conor receiving their prize from Bombardier. Mr McKenna receives the 1000 cheque from Bombardier education officer Tony Monaghan. Year 7 attended the Flight Experience Challenge on 19 th May at W5. The competition challenged pupils of all ages to design, build and fly a self-propelled model aircraft. Encouraged to use recyclable, everyday objects, children constructed aircraft from a wide range of materials including balsa wood, paper clips, lollipop sticks and elastic bands. In addition to design and construction, they were also judged on flight and livery. 158 teams from 28 schools took part. The standard of entries in each category was high, and to our delight the judging panel selected Matthew Sullivan and Conor O Brien as winners of the Key Stage 2 category. Both Matthew and Conor will spend an action-packed day in the British Airways pilot and crew training facility at Heathrow Airport, London. Opportunities to operate a flight simulator, take part in cabin crew training and tour the engineering works, where aircraft are serviced, are all part of the prize. The winning team also received 1,000 for the school.

6 Congratulations to all the winning teams of the alternative sports! Parade of the Athletes Key Stage 2 Alternative Sports

7 Don t give up boys Nearly there! Miss Cunningham motivates the athletes! Three winners. The boys stand proudly! Pupils at St. Colmcille s Primary School had an extra special guest at their sports day on Tuesday 16 th June as Double Paralympics Gold Medallist Jason Smyth was on hand to give out medals, cheer the pupils on and even take part in some of the activities. Jason s visit was to congratulate the school on winning the Activ8 classroom display they had submitted as part of the Sport Northern Ireland Activ8 campaign. Activ8 is a new initiative from Sport Northern Ireland promoting 8 steps for children to get active and stay healthy and has been awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark. Speaking about his visit to St. Colmcille s, Jason said: It was great fun to come to St. Colmcille s Primary School sports day and to find out about their involvement in Sport Northern Ireland s Activ8 programme.

8 The summer term just wouldn t be the same without a school trip. With that in mind every class throughout the school planned their own adventure including visits to The People s Park in Ballymena, the Ecos Centre, Greenmount College in Antrim, Dunluce Centre in Portrush, the Causeway School, Portglenone Forest Park and Pirates Adventure in Maghera. A great time was had by all and many treasured memories were made. Here are some photos from the various trips. Year 5 at Portglenone Forest Year 5 at Greenmount Year 4 at the Causeway School Year 3 at the Ecos Centre Year 2/3 at the Pirate s Adventure Year 1 at the People s Park

9 Miss Stewart and Mr McKenna with members of the school s ECO Council receiving the ECO flag at an awards ceremony at the ECOS Centre, Ballymena. The school had a visit from twelve ECO judges who were so impressed with the pupils work and presentation that they awarded the school the 2 nd ECO flag! This is a wonderful achievement as the children only began the project in October There is a strong tradition of music in St. Colmcille s. Children have opportunities to receive instrumental tuition from the NEELB s peripatetic music staff. The children play a range of string, brass and woodwind instruments. During the year selected children successfully completed the Associated Board Graded Music Examinations at the Antrim Board Centre. Listed are the pupils who completed the examinations. GRADE 1 VIOLIN Ernine Darragh Steven Esler Maeve Goldring Rachel McCormick Sophie McLaughlin Rachel Reid GRADE 1 VIOLA Erin Casey Joseph McCann GRADE 1 CELLO Michael Carberry Sean O Rawe GRADE 1 FLUTE Eilis Fraser Aisling Laverty GRADE 2 VIOLA Anthony McGuigan Ganesha O Donnell GRADE 2 CELLO Lucy Stuart GRADE 2 CLARINET Lydia Gardner Kori Gault Cara Smith

10 As part of the extensive after-school clubs, children in Year 7 have the opportunity to complete a cycling proficiency scheme. They had to competently carry out a number of skills on their bicycles under the watchful eyes of Miss Stewart and Miss O Donnell. All the children successfully completed the course and were awarded certificates at the annual prize-day in school. Ganesha O Donnell reached the finals of the Primary School Young Musician of the Year. This competition is organised by the Rotary Club of North Down. It is open to pupils of primary school age throughout Northern Ireland. Having successfully qualified through the heats, Ganesha played two pieces on the piano at the finals held in Bangor.

11 Primary ConneXions is a science conference for primary schools. On 21 st May one team representing Year 7 in St. Colmcille s joined hundreds of pupils in schools across Northern Ireland in carrying out project work based on this year's theme of 'The Science of Sport and Healthy Living'. The pupils' findings are presented to their peers and to invited Scientists, Educationalists, Engineers and others from Business and Industry. The team including Emma Devlin, Ruairi Casey, Emma Canning, Terence Diamond, Louise Kearney and Calum McNeill presented an interactive demonstration on the Science of Sport. They very professionally investigated the forces of sport, the Olympics and healthy living and enthralled audiences with their expertise! On 6 th May Cara Smith and Aisling Laverty from Year 7 took part in a mental maths tournament using the high speed 24 GAME in the Antrim Board Centre. There were over 80 primary children who took part. Aisling was narrowly pipped in the semi-final of the competition. Cara reached the final and received a trophy for her achievement. Well done girls!

12 As you will know from the last newsletter, a number of schools across Northern Ireland were funded by the Department of Education to carry out a STEM project (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). St. Colmcille s used the theme of flight to develop these four key strands. As a result of the high quality project carried out, St. Colmcille s was selected as the school to represent the ELB as the beacon school demonstrating best practice in this field. On the 10 th June a camera crew and presenter from NEELB TV arrived at school and filmed a number of Year 7 pupils presenting their project. This programme will be available for viewing early in September and will also be shown on Sky TV s information channel 166. As you are aware the school was visited by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) on the 25 th and 26 th February. Although a very nerve wrecking time for all the staff, the outcome was extremely positive. The report was published and can be viewed at The Board of Governors received oral feedback from the ETI team. The report was outstanding and remarked on the impressive journey we have travelled as a school in such a short time. However, the most pleasing aspect of the inspection was how well the children communicated as the ETI team recorded, The children are enthusiastic and highly motivated, they enjoy talking about their learning, they are confident young people, and show that they enjoy learning. Comments like these make us all so proud of our school and most importantly the children themselves.

13 As part of the Year 7 project on The Science of Sport Maeve Kyle Ballymena s local Olympian visited the Year 7 pupils. The children had the opportunity to listen to Maeve s sporting achievements and question her about sport. They also had a personal invitation to attend her athletics club in the Antrim Forum on Tuesday Nights. On behalf of St. Colmcille s we would like to extend our thanks to Maeve for giving her time and so passionately encouraging the children to get involved in sport. On Thursday 18 th June the Year 6 boys represented the school in its first hurling blitz at St. Joseph s Primary School in Crumlin. Six schools participated in the blitz with St. Colmcille s achieving the position of runner up. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and showed great sportsmanship throughout the tournament. Well done boys!

14 Miss O'Donnell Mrs McKenna Miss Stewart Mrs Kearney Maths Award Peter McCormick Mariusz Wieczorek Niamh Bartley Rory Corr English Anna-Maria Award Anna Doherty Niamh Wray McDonnell Shakira Martin Best Effort Award Sophie Read Sarah Crawford Scott Phillips Ryan McGarry Social Spirit Award Ciaran Farrell Keavey McGuigan Alana McDonnell Emma McKeever Maths Award English Award Best Effort Award Social Spirit Award Maths Award English Award Mrs Kane Conor Doherty Michael McDonald Ryan McKenna Zuzia Twardowska Mrs McAleer Mark Crawford Erin Casey Mr Murray Steven Esler Mrs Kelly Cup Michael McElroy Maeve Goldring ECO Award Caolan Stuart Weronika Bocian Bethany Kerr Mr Rodgers Catherine Laverty Niall McCorkindale Best Girl Athlete Best Boy Athlete Musician of the Year Cyclist of the Year Top Girl Award Best Effort Award Lakia McCarte Sophie Davis Top Boy Award Social Spirit Award Ernine Darragh Lydia Gardner OVERALL AWARDS Aisling Laverty Thomas Johnston Ganesha O'Donnell Daniel Doig Sophie McLaughlin Terence Diamond Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7

15 Top girl and boy Athlete Cyclist, Eco and Musician award. Aisling and Thomas Daniel, Caolan and Ganesha Year 7 Cycling proficiency awards Top Girl: Sophie Top Boy: Terence

16 Mrs. McAleer s Class Mr. Rodgers Class This has been a truly adventure packed year for Year 7 and it is with sadness that St. Colmcille s bids farewell to both classes. The year 7 children finished their time at St. Colmcille s by celebrating a thanksgiving mass with Fr. Toland and Fr. Aidan. The ceremony was beautiful but tinged with sadness. However, with the talents all of the children have displayed throughout the year we are certain that they will have a bright future ahead of them, and we wish them well through their journey in life!

17 School closes on Friday 26 th June at 12.00noon 2009/2010 Academic Year Term 1 starts 1 st September 2009 Half-term 26 th - 31 st October 2009 Holyday 8 th December 2009 Christmas 23 rd December th January 2010 (inclusive) The Governors, Principal and Staff wish you all a safe and fun filled summer.

18 Congratulations to the Year 5 children who were presented with swimming certificates after their first term of swimming lessons. The children had a great time developing essential swimming skills and some managed to swim great lengths during their swimming test at the end of the term. They are pictured with teachers Mrs Kearney and Miss Stewart. Congratulations to Mrs Beattie and Mrs Clarke who have successfully completed the READING PARTNERS training provided by the NEELB. Both members of staff work with children to support them in their reading. It has been an extremely successful programme and it is hoped to continue with the initiative next year.

19 The Year 7 classes at St. Colmcille s Primary School recently completed a project on flight. As a finale to the project the RAF landed a Puma Helicopter on the school grounds on Friday 19 th June. The Puma aircraft was manned by two pilots, a crew man and was organised by Dean Nesbit a liaison officer for the RAF. The spectacle was witnessed by all the children at St. Colmcille s as it landed in the pitch in St. Louis Grammar School. The children watched in amazement as the helicopter slowly descended from the sky and they even had the opportunity to observe the interior of the aircraft and speak to the pilots and crew. The event was one the children are unlikely to forget and was a truly exciting way to finish what was a great project. (The school would like to thank the RAF for their support and St. Louis Grammar School for use of their grounds, making the event possible.)