News at St. Colmcille’s

www.stcolmcilles.com St. Colmcille’s Primary School, Ballymena Parents’ Newsletter

Publish Date: April 2012

Issue Number 14

Welcome to our spring term News at St. Colmcille’s. This has been a wonderful term full of events and opportunities for the children, starting with French classes for our Year 7’s and ending with a showing stopping performance of the Barazena Choir to the wider school community. The after school clubs have once again proved very successful with over two hundred and fifty pupils registered in various clubs and the children have represented the school in science and technology events, quizzes, sport, music and speech and drama competitions. Once again the children of St. Colmcille’s have displayed their talent excelling in both academic and extra curricular fields. The results from the post-primary Entrance Assessment once again places our pupils among the top performing primary schools in Northern Ireland 9 pupils were in the top 10% of this cohort! The Year 7 pupils were awarded regional winners in the ‘Webster Says’ Titanic competition winning free entrance to the new Titanic Signature building which opens later in April. We were again delighted to receive the bursary for the top performing school at the Ballymena Festival. Catholic School’s Week is an important event each year and the children took time to reflect on this year’s theme ‘Christ’s Living Body Active in Our World’. Last week the Year 3 children made their First Confession. It is occasions such as this which continue to encourage home, school and the wider parish community to come together bringing the Catholic ethos of our school to life! We are also delighted to welcome Mr McKenna back to school and look forward to him returning on a full-time basis. The school has much to celebrate this term. I trust you will enjoy reading about our school both in this Newsletter and by visiting the school website.

Mr T Rodgers – Acting Principal

Individual Winners

The School Choir

Year 7 Choral Poem

Congratulations to everyone who took part in 2012 Ballymena Festival. We are very proud of all our children who took part in this year’s event. Being able to give a performance to such large audiences especially during a solo performance, takes great confidence and courage. This year the Year 7 children won the McFadden Cup for the fourth successive year with their wonderful rendition of Dad and

the Cat and the Tree by Kit Wright. The adjudicator was very complimentary of the children’s performance awarding them one of the highest marks of the festival. The school choir once again was very successful receiving marks of distinction in each of their classes and winning the Shafto Adair Cup for the fifth year in succession. On Saturday 6th March, at the festival Gala Presentations, the primary school was awarded a bursary of £100 and Nicole from Year 7 received a special recognition award for her solo performances. This continued success demonstrates the hard work and effort from all the children and the teachers who prepared them so thoroughly.

On 13th March Emma, Garrion and Finn from Year 7 took part in the Sentinus STEM challenge in the Antrim Board Centre. The task was to plan, design and make an Olympic torch with its own powered light source within an hour and then to demonstrate how it works to all the other schools who attended. St. Colmcille’s were awarded second place. Well done to our young engineers!

Once again the Year 7 children attended the annual Be Safe event in the Ballymena Business Centre on 30th January in association with the PSNI, the NI Fire Brigade and Ballymena Borough Council. The aim of the event is to teach children life saving skills in relation to fire safety, road safety, safe use of the internet and drug and alcohol misuse. The day was very useful and informative and will help our children to stay and play safely and help inform them about decisions they will make in the future. The school would like to thank all the organisations and volunteers who helped to facilitate the event.

This year the theme for Catholic School’s Week was ‘Christ’s Living Body Active in Our World’. Last year you may remember that the Eucharistic Congress Bell visited All Saint’s Church. On 10-17 June, Dublin is celebrating the 50th International Eucharistic Congress which will be gathering Catholics from all over the world, including the twenty-six dioceses here in Ireland. Catholic School’s week has been linked with the congress in preparation for this important event. During this special event in the school’s calendar each class acknowledged Catholic Schools’ Week in different ways including Grandparents’ Day on Wednesday 1st March with the Year 4 classes. This was a very moving celebration acknowledging everything that grandparents do and an opportunity for the children to say a big thank you. Year 7 made St. Brigid’s Crosses, Year 3 opened and closed Catholic School’s week with an assembly and every class dedicated extra time for prayer and reflection during the week.

Year 3 celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday 29th March in All Saint’s Church with Fr. Toland. This celebration demonstrates God’s forgiving love to the children in a very active way. The children performed a wonderful drama about the ‘Good Shepherd’. The singing rounded off what was a very special event in the lives of the children, their families and the wider school community. We would like to thank Fr. Toland, our school chaplain, for his continued support.

Daniel is 9 years old. He lives in a country in Africa called Uganda. He lives with his mother and father in a village called Bar Kawach. Daniel loves going to school. His favourite subject is English. He loves to play football with his friends. His favourite team is Arsenal. If Daniel could have three wishes he would like to stay in school, to become a doctor and to wake up early every morning to pray. This Lent all of the classes in school are raising money to support Daniel and his family and many other families just like his. On Friday 30th March the children had a special Fair Trade Break. The Year 6 pupils sold only Fair Trade products around the classes to raise awareness of the benefits of buying Fair Trade goods and also raising money for Trocaire. This activity alone raised £200.00. We will announce how much the school has raised early in the third term. Thank you for all the money that you have sent to school in support of this year’s Lenten campaign.

Over the last seven weeks three students have been completing their teaching practice in St. Colmcille’s. Miss Quinn was in Mrs McAleer’s Year 7 class, Miss McMullan was in Miss O’Kane’s class and Miss McAleenan was in Mrs Tally’s class. All three students worked very hard and learnt a great deal during their time at our school. We wish them well as they continue their studies.

The Year 7 children have been carrying out a project called ‘Unsinkable’ based on the theme of Titanic. In this the centenary year since the disaster the children really immersed themselves into the topic and carried out research projects culminating in the making of a model of the ill-fated ship. These models were entered into the ‘Webster Says’ competition run by the Belfast Harbour. Over 70 schools entered the competitions and St. Colmcille’s were one of seven to reach the short-list for the finals. Finn and Rory’s models won the regional prize and appeared on RTE television. The Year 7 were invited to the Harbour Commission building on

the 8th March to receive their prize which included free entry for all 52 Year 7 children into the new Titanic Signature building which opens in April.

As part of the Year 7 Formula 1 in Schools competition the children must design and create a team identity and logo. Paul Fagan a graphic designer for Auto Trader came to carry out a workshop with the Year 7 children, helping them to create a team name and logo. The children created a wide range of designs and decided to call the team ‘Colmcille’s Comets’. Paul has taken their designs and will use computer software to create the finished logo. The school would like to thank him for his time, effort and enthusiasm during the workshop!

As many of you are aware our PTA have been working tirelessly to raise funds to purchase outdoor play equipment for our school. A team of teachers have also been busy contacting suppliers of playground equipment and obtaining plans. We have received quotes and plans from a number of different suppliers. The Pupil Council met to view these plans and give their opinions. They were very shocked at the cost of the individual items but were extremely excited and enthusiastic at the prospect of enhancing our play time. Unfortunately we are still a long way off the necessary fundraising target and therefore, we are not ready to order the equipment just yet! A message from the Pupil Council, “Thanks for your support so far and please continue to support the fundraising ventures - give what you can!”

The Eco Council have undertaken their Energy Saving Campaign in school. Energy Monitors are now in place in every classroom and these pupils have the responsibility of ensuring that lights and taps are turned off when there is no-one in the room. Progress is monitored closely by the Eco Council and already we have noticed an improvement in making sure appliances are turned off. The Eco Council and the Years 3s were busy planting new flowers and seeds for the window boxes around the school. Hopefully the recent good weather will encourage them to grow faster! We look forward to Term 3 when we will host Healthy Living Week. Activities during this week will include the ‘Walk to School’ initiative and whole-school exercising activities. More details to follow after Easter!

Each year St. Colmcille’s uses World Book Day as an opportunity to promote and raise the profile of reading and literacy. This year World Book Day fell on 1st March. There were a number of organised events to celebrate the occasion including the school Book Fair. It was a tremendous success and the children have had the opportunity to purchase quality levelled reading material. As a result the school has received £1,233 commission to buy additional reading resources for the children. Thank you very much for your continued support. Clifford the Big Red Dog was back to visit the children along with a new friend the Gruffalo Mouse. The children and many of the staff dressed up as their favourite characters from books they loved to read. We also held the web conference ‘Author’s Live’ during which the children could be part of the live broadcast from Scotland interviewing Francesca Simon author of Horrid Henry. In addition the Year 2 classes went on a Bear Hunt with staff from the local Waterstones' Book Shop. Our Year 4 children had one of three trips to Ballymena Library where they had a tour of the library and information on how to use this wonderful resource on their doorstep. We hope that these events will continue to help the children develop a love for reading and highlights the importance that St. Colmcille’s continues to place on the raising of standards in Literacy.

The Year 3 children shown in the photograph have successfully completed the ten week reading partners programme with Mrs Beattie, Mrs Clarke and Mrs Hayes - 3 specially trained learning support staff. The children read a wide range of exciting books set aside for the sole use of the reading partners programme. The children have three individual sessions per week with one of the reading partners and further develop their skills of decoding words, talking about the story and developing a love for reading. Well done to the boys and girls who completed this programme!

The Time to Read programme has continued to be a great success this term. The school now has five volunteers for the programme - Eileen Traynor, Clare Burke, John McElrea, Patrice Fyfe and David McCausland. The volunteers meet the children weekly to spend time reading from books specially selected for the scheme. The children this term have been delighted to continue with the programme and have read a wide range of books. The school would like to thank once again the time given by the volunteers to support our Year 5 children.

Well done to the Year 7 children who received their swimming awards. The boys and girls have been attending swimming lessons every Friday afternoon at the Seven Towers Leisure Centre. They have been developing their skills, fitness and having great fun at the same time. We hope the programme will ensure that the children will be safer when swimming outside school. At the end of the programme each child had to complete a swimming test of various lengths and strokes. Many of the children managed to swim very long distances and everyone managed to improve on last year’s performance.

Congratulations to the girls’ Gaelic football team who represented the school at the GAA Blitz hosted by St. Patrick’s College. Although they didn’t come away with any silverware, Mr Murray commended the girls for their sportsmanship. We look forward to developing the girls’ skills in the future and providing even more opportunities for them to display their talent and represent the school.

The St. Colmcille’s soccer team competed in an indoor football tournament held in St. Patrick’s College, Ballymena. The team won the group stages of the competition and didn’t concede a goal throughout the whole tournament! The boys played brilliantly and were only narrowly beaten on penalties in the semi-final. Well done boys! The team members were Kuba, Eoghan, Conor, James, Pól, Rory and Conor.

The St. Colmcille’s soccer team got their defence of the Senior Schools’ Cup as reigning champions off to a winning start. In February they beat Randalstown Central Primary School in the first round.

Well done to the soccer team once again as they progress into the semi-final stages of the Senior Schools’ Cup after their 5-3 victory in Fourtowns Primary School on 15th March. The goal scorers were Conor, James and Kuba but it was a great team effort from all the players.

History makers at St. Colmcille’s.! The school’s Gaelic team won the SW Antrim INTO 5-a-side football blitz. This is the first Gaelic football silverware to St. Colmcille’s. This group of players now represent the SW Antrim in the county finals later in the year. Good luck boys. The full team of St. Colmcille players endured the elements of the weather in Creggan on Thursday 8th March as part of the INTO seven –aside blitz. The boys had a lot of fun and were great ambassadors’ for St. Colmcille’s.

On Wednesday 28th March Mrs McAleer’s Year 7 class took part in the Sport’s For Peace programme facilitated by the University of Ulster. The children have been involved in a range of shared education activities linking with other schools. The event had an Olympic theme and helped the children to develop the attributes encouraged in the Olympics such as equality, friendship, excellence, courage and determination. There will be further follow-up events organised for the third term for both Year 7 classes.

Once again the University of Ulster has recognised the great work that St. Colmcille’s continues to carry out in developing the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Over the last two years the Year 7 classes have been piloting a new strategy called Community of Scientific Enquiry, the aim of which is to observe a scientific phenomenon (such as exploding fizzy drinks when Mentos are added) and then in a very structured and organised fashion, discuss why this has happened and determine the science behind it. As a result of this project leaders from the University of Ulster came to St. Colmcille’s to video the Year 7 classes in action and record both pupil and teacher opinions of the strategy. These recordings will be viewed by teachers across the country as the programme is rolled out to other schools.

The Year 7 children have been working with the Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People (NICCY) as part of their work for the school’s Community Relations programme. NICCY were so impressed with the children that they asked them to pilot the Life and Times Survey which will be issued to all Year 7 pupils across the North of Ireland. The children were asked their opinions of ‘Shared Education, and to trial the questionnaires to be used in the survey. NICCY have asked the school to closely work with them on a number of other projects currently being developed.

Year 2 had a wonderful trip to the ECOS centre where they went on a spring walk to observe the changes in nature such as buds appearing, changes in wildlife, listening to the noises in the environment and watching to see how the landscape changes as the warmer weather and longer days start to work their magic.

The Year 2 children really enjoyed their tour of the newly refurbished All Saint’s Church, provided by Barney McKeown, the sacristan in the Church. He gave a wonderful explanation of the paintings, objects and symbols in the church. The children were also shown how the Church bell is rung. The school would like to thank him for his time and energy during the visit.

At our school assembly on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day Miss Brady’s Year 7 class performed their version of ‘This is Your Life’ for St. Patrick. The children were enthralled by the class’ power-point presentation depicting the story of St. Patrick and showing how famous landmarks around the world turn green to celebrate the feast day. Paddy gave a fantastic performance as St. Patrick and all the children spoke and sung with confidence. The assembly culminated in a celebration of Irish culture with traditional music, song and dance. Well done to everyone who took part.

The school has a well established music tradition. Pictured are the children who sat their Grade 1 and 2 practical music exams with the Associated School of Music this term. We are indebted to the NEELB music peripatetic staff who visit the school every week to provide instrumental tuition to over thirty children on string, woodwind and brass instruments.

St. Colmcille’s made a successful application to the NEELB for funding to support the school’s Community Relations Education programme (CRED). As a result Year 7 continued their shared education programme with Carniny Primary School. The children have been engaged in a number of activities including a trip to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont. Here the pupils had to complete a workshop on politics and how the government operate, as well as a unique opportunity to talk to MLAs and to sit in on a live discussion in the assembly chamber. The children also took part in a cross-cultural sports initiative experiencing both GAA and rugby. The Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People (NICCY) hosted a workshop with the pupils on the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) informing them about the importance of the convention, on rights and responsibilities and looking at human rights issues around the world. We hope to extend the programme next year to other year groups and additional schools.

Some of our Year 6 pupils participated in Fun in Athletics hosted by the Northern Regional College on 24th January. The children participated in a range of track and field events, such as obstacle course, relay races, chest push and vertical jump. This initiative was part of the Sport Studies department’s project on the theme of ‘Olympics’.

Year 6 have been learning about the Fairtrade Foundation and how it benefits farmers in the developing world. Johnathan, the manager of the Co-op store in Ballymena, visited our school to share his knowledge of Fairtrade and tell us how the Co-op stores promote Fairtrade goods. He brought some Fairtrade products to show us the range of goods that are available to buy. The school would like to thank him for his support.

The Year 7 children have been studying the French language since January with Mrs Herbison from St. Louis Grammar School’s French department. The children learnt many introductory phrases during the lessons through games and songs. They were so excited when they were allowed to use the latest technology - Apple I-Pad - to improve their knowledge of the language. The school would like to thank Mrs Herbison for all her effort and energy during the lessons. The children will certainly be more confident in French when they move to their new schools next year.

Year 2 learn all about ‘Staying Safe’ as part of their topic ‘Light and Dark’. Constable Rush from the PSNI discussed lots of safe ways to act when out and about in Ballymena. She also showed the children her special car and her special uniform!

As part of the children’s PDMU programme, they investigate ways to stay safe and keep healthy. The local fire brigade visited the school to provide the Year 5 children with information about what to do in an emergency including how to evacuate a house safely, and how to check smoke alarms are working correctly. The children were very excited to go inside the fire engine and were even allowed to test the siren. A great time was had by all. Again the school would like to thank the fire brigade for their support in helping us ensure the safety and well being of all our children.

Mrs Agnew, one of our parents, who is a trained first aid instructor and nurse, facilitated two introductory first aid classes for parents and teachers. The aim of the classes was how to deal with emergencies and in particular how to resuscitate someone when there is no pulse or sign of breathing. Both parents and teachers found the workshops very helpful and feel more confident in dealing with emergencies in the future. The school would like to thank Mrs Agnew for her time in providing the workshop. We hope to be able to offer this again in future years.

Year 1 parents were invited to a workshop on ‘How to support your child’s reading at home’. The focus of the workshop was on the school’s synthetic phonics programme, namely Jolly Phonics. The parents were informed of the letter sounds that make up the programme, how they are introduced and most importantly how they can help their child at home use these sounds to decode and read words independently. It is vital that parents foster a love of reading from an early age and the Year 1 parents were given ideas and strategies that they can use at home to support this. Thank you to all the parents who attended the workshop.

Following the success of their award nominated performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie, St. Agnes' Choral Society were proud to present the family favourite Annie. This Tony Award Winner of the Best Musical in 1977 has entertained audiences throughout the years and St. Agnes' performance was as magical as ever. Miss Cunningham is an established member of the society and the staff of St. Colmcille’s look forward to the shows each year. Miss Cunningham never ceases to impress us all with her talent. Well done Miss Cunningham!

This year as part of the Year 5 theme on ‘Liquid Gold’ the Water Bus came to St. Colmcille’s. Whilst on the bus the children get to study water, its properties, conservation and they carry out a number of enquiries. The children were very excited to visit the outdoor classroom and we were able to allow other classes to visit the bus as well.

St. Colmcille’s has strong curricular links with our neighbouring grammar school – St. Louis. This term a number of sixth form students visited the Year 7 classes to support our pupils in their preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation. This initiative called Faith Friends is a very powerful way of living faith to the full. We are indebted to the RE department and the pupils of St. Louis Grammar School for their continued support and interest in our children.

Monthly Draw Winners

January: Jack Agnew February: Conan McConville March: Mollie O’Brien

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA fund-raising activities. The Night at the Races in March was a fun night and a sum of £1400 was raised for the school’s outdoor equipment project. A huge thank you to the sponsors of this event and to the small group of parents who work tirelessly for the school’s PTA.

The After School Clubs continue to be very popular. This term two hundred and seventy-five children took part in a variety of clubs including Body & Mind, Basketball, Soccer, Gaelic, Tennis, Art, Cookery and Drama. Next term only the soccer and Gaelic clubs will take place. We thank all the club leaders for their support throughout the year and look forward to working with them in the next academic year.

Patrick Doherty represented our school in the 2012 Action Cancer Schools’ Show jumping competition at the Meadows Equestrian Centre Lurgan. Patrick and his horse Cinders came away winners and won the Bailey’s Horsefeed Perpetual Cup. Some of you may remember Cinders. This was the horse Beth Doherty jumped with two years ago when she won the Primary School Ulster Championship.

Star of the Month Congratulations to all our Stars this term:

Year GroupYear GroupYear GroupYear Group JanuaryJanuaryJanuaryJanuary February February February February MarchMarchMarchMarch

1 Chloe McPeake

Lara Buick Sarah O’Callaghan

2 Olivia McGarry

Eimear Larkin Tess Brady

Enzo Murray

Conan McConville

Abby Kirkwood

3 Anna Larkin

Neil O’Hagan

Evelyn Solcanska

Ellie Tang Laura Daniel

James Martin

4 Sofia Agnew

Sian Zensque Emma McElroy Erin Scullion

Amelie Gardner

5 Caoimhe Tierney

Aedan McAleese

Leah McErlane Kara McLaughlin

6 Luke Mulholland

Arianna Chang

Callum Brett

Taylor McNeill

Brenda McGuigan

Meghan Herald

7 Ahmed Idris

Rory McLaughlin

Wiktoria Babuszewska

Alan Chang Aaron Magill

Mollie O’Brien

Our Golden Rules

In creating an ordered and caring environment the staff and pupils have adopted six Golden Rules that permeate all aspects of school life. During the term classes have introduced each Golden Rule at assembly. Golden Time has been introduced as part of the school’s positive behaviour procedures. Please visit our website to view: Amazing Author’s Awards and Magical Maths Awards.

End of Term 2

Thursday 5th April

Term 3 begins

Monday 16th April

Service of Light (Y7)

Wednesday 18th April

Do This is Memory Mass (Y4) Sunday 22nd April & 10th June

Confirmation (Y7)

Wednesday 25th April

School Closed Friday 4th & Monday 7th May

First Communion (Y4)

Sunday 27th May

School Closed

Monday 4th June

Sports Day

Tuesday 5th June (weather permitting)

Y7 Mass of Thanksgiving

Friday 22nd June

End of Academic Year

Friday 29th June

The Principal and Staff wish you all

a very holy and happy Easter.