News at St. Colmcille’s

St. Colmcille’s Primary School, Ballymena Parents’ Newsletter Publish Date: Christmas Term 2012

Issue Number 16

Welcome to the latest issue of News at St. Colmcille’s. We began our sixth year by welcoming sixty-two children to Year 1. We trust they will enjoy their time with us in the knowledge that we work collectively as a learning school to ensure that everyone gains maximum benefit from their time at St. Colmcille’s. Every term is a busy time in school and none no more so than this particular one. The children have had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of activities both as part of their curriculum provision in class and the extensive menu of extra-curricular activities. We continue to develop our links with outside agencies and enjoyed the projects with the University of Ulster, Poetry Ireland, Arts Ekta, the Hope Centre and Ballymena Library. I hope many of you will take the opportunity in the New Year to view the mural of St. Colmcille in the front foyer. Christmas would not be the same without the retelling of the Nativity Story by the younger children. Our senior pupils were invited by Highkirk Presbyterian Church to sing at their annual Carol Service. However, the highlight this term, from a musical point of view, was the choir singing with Fr Liam Lawton in All Saints Church in December. This was a wonderful occasion for our pupils and the people of Ballymena. The school staff have also had occasion to celebrate. St. Colmcille’s has been recognised as a STEM lead school by the Department of Education and Miss Stewart has been seconded to the ELB to promote the delivery of STEM in other primary schools. Mr Rodgers, too, has received another teaching award – this time the Primary Science Teacher of the Year. He goes to England in the New Year to receive this prestigious award. This Newsletter gives you a synopsis of some of the many activities that have happened during the term in St. Colmcille’s. I trust you enjoy reading the articles as much as we have enjoyed participating in the different programmes.

Mr B McKenna – Principal

The school year began with the celebration of Mass on the 25th September. Fr Toland, our school chaplain, officiated at the ceremony and the children sang beautifully under the direction of Mrs McDonald. A number of children from Years 4-7 were involved in the readings, prayers of the faithful and the offertory - they carried out their roles with reverence. This marked the beginning of our sixth year in St. Colmcille’s Primary School.

Four classes have been working with our local artist in residence Louise O’Boyle (a Lecturer for Art & Design at the University of Ulster). The Year 7 children made a number of their favourite book spines in clay which you can see in the photograph above. This is now displayed in the front foyer of the school. The Year 5 and 6 mural will be unveiled soon and will tell the story of St. Colmcille’s journey to Iona. We look forward to seeing the children’s work come to fruition. We would like to thank Louise for all her hard work and effort, and a big congratulations to the girls and boys of Key Stage 2 for their contributions.

The Year 1 parents attended a workshop on ‘helping your child read at home’. During the workshop parents were informed about the reading programme in Year 1 and in particular how the ‘Jolly Phonics’ programme is developed. Parents were given an outline of how books are introduced and how to best support their child in emergent reading at home. This year we also provided the same workshop for our Polish parents and provided a Polish interpreter for the event. Evaluations of the workshop were very positive and we hope to build on this next term.

Every year the school focuses on certain pastoral issues as part of the school’s Pastoral Care Week. This year it coincided with the national Anti-bullying Week. Each class carried out their own activities highlighting the consequences of bullying. As well as hosting a whole school assembly on the theme ‘Everyone is Somebody’, Miss Cunningham invited Amy Gregg from the NSPCC to talk to the children about being safe and to raise awareness of Child Line. The school presented the NSPCC with a cheque to help them continue to support children and young people in Northern Ireland.

Maths Week Ireland 2012 is an annual event that promotes awareness, appreciation and understanding of mathematics to all. Once again our school registered with Maths Week Ireland and every class took part in a series of activities during October. Activities included Autumn walks, counting and sorting leaves; measuring and drawing objects in the environment to scale; calculating the area of irregular shapes around the school and learning about financial management with visits to the local Credit Union and First Trust Bank.

Congratulations to Brenda who was awarded a distinction in her Grade 1 Viola exam. Brenda sat the Associated Board examination in the Antrim Board Centre in November. She is now working towards her Grade 2. We, in school, are grateful to the NEELB peripatetic music staff who provide instrumental tuition to over forty children in string, woodwind and brass instruments.

Mr Rodgers’ Year 7 class have been involved in a Community Arts Project called Poetry in Motion. As part of this project the children worked with local poet Brenda Liddy during three workshops. During the sessions the children learned how to use their senses to write poems based on the theme of ‘Local and Vocal’. The children then had the opportunity to record their poems with a sound engineer in November. A selection of the children’s poems will become part of a published anthology of poetry with an accompanying CD. In addition, the children will be invited to perform their poetry at the Waterfront Hall in March. Well done to all the Year 7 children and we extend our thanks to Brenda for her efforts during her workshops.

Mrs McAleer’s Y7 children have also been writing Poetry with another local author, Kate Newman as part of a project with Poetry Ireland. Kate was sponsored by Poetry Ireland to complete a number of very engaging workshops with the children, helping them to develop their skills as writers. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions with Kate and produced some great poems. Again we would like to thank Kate for her enthusiasm during the workshops.

After last years success with the Road of Hope Shoe Box Appeal St. Colmcille’s went into action again this year in support of this worthy cause. We collected over two hundred Christmas shoeboxes for the orphanages in Bosnia, Croatia and Romania. Pictured with the pupils is Fiona Kelly the organiser of the Road of Hope charity. Fiona is sending our boxes by lorry to arrive in time for Christmas Day. What joy your gifts will bring to the boys and girls this Christmas. Fiona and the school would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all those who responded so generously to the Christmas shoebox appeal.

The Pupil Council once again organised the collection of grocery items in support of the Ballymena Rotary Club’s Christmas Appeal. Mr Stuart of the Rotary Club extends his thanks to everyone who supported the appeal particularly in the current economic climate. Your generosity is very much appreciated.

From Hallowe’en to Christmas the Year 7 children began a new theme as part of the World Around Us. The theme was called ‘Faith and Light’ and connected festivals of light (such as Diwali, Hanukah and Advent) with the science topics of electricity and light. The Year 7 children took part in a workshop provided by Arts Ekta, an inter-ethnic organisation that promotes inclusion and diversity. During the workshop the children learnt about the Indian festival of light called Diwali. The children had the opportunity to dress up in Indian clothes, light some Diwali lamps and complete some rangoli art using coloured rice.

The Fire Safety advisors paid their annual visit to St. Colmcille’s Year 5 to inform them of the dangers of fire. The children learnt about some measures to prevent fires and how to protect themselves and their homes. They heard about the important work that fire officers undertake and how their time can be wasted by prank callers. Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed the talk and have learnt lots of important messages to pass on to their parents!

Congratulations to all the children from Year 3 and 4 who have successfully completed the Reading Partners programme. Mrs Beattie, Mrs Clarke and Mrs Hayes worked with the children during the term developing their reading skills. The school would like to thank the reading partners for all their hard work throughout the year and to the parents whose support at home makes the programme so successful.

Throughout the term five members of the business community have been supporting a number of Year 5 children with reading. The school purchased a wide range of exciting books to be used solely by the children in the programme so as to help foster that ever special love for reading. The school would like to thank most sincerely all the volunteers who have given their time so generously.

As part of the school’s literacy programme, the Year 4 and 6 classes took part in three visits to the local Ballymena Library. During their visits the children learnt how the library is organised, how to use the dewy decimal system and how to become a new member. They were also shown how to use reference materials and were able to look up historical documents about people who lived in Ballymena a long time ago! In their final visits the children used the library’s ICT suite and learnt how to use the library NI website and in particular the free online resource ‘Britannica’ which is a very useful tool for the children to use when carrying out research projects. I would urge you all to visit the website (http://www.ni-libraries.net/ ) and use many of the services available. Thank you to all the staff in the library that facilitated the visits for the Year 4 and 6 classes.

The Year 7 children, as part of their PDMU programme, have been working throughout term 1 with Nikky from the Ballymena Hope Centre. During the workshops Nikky demonstrated the dangers of alcohol, smoking and drugs, and discussed the serious consequences of taking illegal drugs. The children had the opportunity to examine various drug samples and were able to discuss with Nikky and each other how to make better informed choices in the future when it comes to these harmful substances.

As part of the Ulster Rugby schools’ initative, St. Colmcille’s were delighted to host an audience with three of the Ulster squad in conjunction with Bank of Ireland, their main sponsors. The players answered questions, joined in photographs and provided autographs in what was a fun-filled afternoon. Their visit was a follow-up to the school’s participation in the ‘Rugby Rewards’ initiative where the pupils collected tokens from the Belfast Telegraph and look forward to receiving their free rugby training kit bags.

An important part of the mathematics programme in school is the development of the children’s skills in financial capability and learning how to manage money. As a result, the Bank of Ireland carried out a workshop in Year 7 on how a bank operates, how to open an account, how loans and interest work, budgeting and many more aspects of managing finances. The children had the opportunity to look at foreign currencies and also counterfeit money. They enjoyed trying to identify which notes were real and which were counterfeit. This will be followed up in term 2 with a visit to the Ballymena Branch of the Bank of Ireland. You can also see in one of the photographs above all of the children who have recently opened accounts with the Bank of Ireland this year!

The school choir were contacted in July and asked if they would like to sing with Fr Liam Lawton as part of his forthcoming Christmas Tour. The school gladly accepted the invitation and were even more delighted when it was announced that the venue would be All Saints Church, Ballymena. Mrs McDonald worked tirelessly with the choir in the lead up to the concert, teaching the children the different voice parts to accompany Fr Liam. It certainly was challenging music but the children worked really hard and were rewarded with a standing ovation at the concert on Sunday 16th December. Not only was this a wonderful opportunity for our school choir but a great occasion for the people of Ballymena. The school wish to thank Fr Delargy; Breda, Parish Office; Barney the sacristan and the Parish Centre for their support.

This year we had a very special visit from the NEELB Orchestra, which consists of many of the peripatetic music teachers that work in St. Colmcille’s throughout the year. The children learnt about the different sections in an orchestra. They played percussion instruments and took part in a number of musical games. The performance culminated in a musical quiz, making the whole event a thrilling experience for the children. We would like to extend our thanks to Margaret Gough, a member of the NEELB CASS service for organising the event.

The St. Colmcille’s soccer team competed in the Owen Daley 7-A-Side soccer tournament in the Ballymena Showgrounds on September 28th. This was the first outing for the team this year. The boys played brilliantly and only narrowly missed out on a semi-final place. Well done boys!

The Year 6 and 7 girls took part in the Cumann na mBunscol Camogie blitz in Dunloy on Wednesday 21st November. The girls have been practising with Mrs O’Boyle each week after school and were able to demonstrate their skills during the blitz. Well done to all the girls and a big thank you to Mrs O’Boyle for coaching the girls each week.

As well as our after school basketball club, the Year 7 children have been developing their skills in basketball throughout the term. As part of the Ballymena Borough Council’s promotion of sport, Craig has been providing weekly coaching lessons to the children. These skills will be further developed in term 2 as Craig will be returning to St. Colmcille’s.

The children in Key Stage 2 have continued to develop their skills in Hurling and Camogie through the weekly coaching sessions provided by Dominic from the Antrim GAA coaching team. Each week the children have been learning a range of skills which will improve their performance in the sport. We would like to thank Dominic for his continued hard work and enthusiasm throughout the year.

St. Colmcille’s has been widely recognised for its achievements in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Miss Stewart has recently been appointed as a STEM specialist teacher for the NEELB until April. During this time she will be promoting and teaching science to many schools across the country. This is a great accolade for Miss Stewart and indeed for St. Colmcille’s. We also welcome Miss Agnew who will be teaching Year 3 in Miss Stewart’s absence.

St. Colmcille’s has recently applied to be assessed for the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM). The purpose of PSQM is:

• To raise the profile of science in our school; • To encourage our school to increase the range and quality of teaching and learning in science • To recognise, promote and spread good practice in science teaching and learning; • To provide a framework for evaluating, planning and developing the quality of science teaching

and learning in our school; • To celebrate a commitment to excellence in St. Colmcille’s.

We also hosted a cluster meeting for other schools to learn about PSQM on Monday 5th November, during which a member of the UK PSQM panel explained how to achieve PSQM to the visiting schools.

Elections were held in October and a new Pupil Council was formed. They have already been busy holding meetings and discussing issues which have arisen. Once again the Pupil Council have been monitoring healthy breaks in each class. They decided that as an incentive, each child with a healthy break should be awarded a class point, and that any class achieving 100% healthy breaks would be awarded 5 extra minutes of Golden Time. There has already been an improvement! Well done everyone and keep bringing those healthy breaks! One of the primary objectives of the Pupil Council is to seek methods for which they can access resources and funds for our school. They began this year by obtaining new resources for P.E. The Belfast Telegraph in conjunction with the Bank of Ireland (sponsors of Ulster Rugby) held a promotion, whereby schools could collect tokens to receive rugby kits. Lots of children opened accounts with the Bank of Ireland while others gathered tokens from the Belfast Telegraph. In total we gathered 1600 tokens, for which we will receive 4 rugby kit bags. Thanks to everyone involved! The school is once again registered with the ‘Nestle Books for Schools’ promotion. The Pupil Council have been reminding pupils about these tokens and collecting and counting them. So far, we have a total of 126. So if you, or anyone you know, eats Nestle cereals, cut out the tokens on top of the boxes and bring them to school. The more tokens we collect, the more books we receive for our school! The major focus for our fundraising this year is to buy and install playground equipment for Key Stage 2. The Council have been considering events which they could organise to help raise funds. We will keep you posted!

Year 2 have been busy making snowmen and have followed instructions in sequence to make their own model snowmen.

Although the children all love playing in the snow they have also been thinking about the birds in winter. They made bird feeders out of raisins and popcorn and hung them out for the birds to enjoy!

Year 1 children had a very special visitor on Thursday 13th December. Santa Claus came with presents for all our Year 1 children. As you can see they were all very excited that Santa could take time to visit them during his busiest period! Thank you Santa!

Congratulations to Mr Rodgers who has been announced as the UK Primary Science Teacher of the Year for 2012. The award is sponsored by the AstraZenica Science Teaching Trust. Mr Rodgers was nominated for this prestigious award by the University of Ulster. The school has worked alongside the University for a number of years developing a programme of Scientific Enquiry for Primary Schools. It is this work and the promotion of STEM subjects in the primary school that has led to this recognition. Mr Rodgers will attend an awards ceremony in England on the 5th January and will collect a cheque to the value of £1,000 for the school. Congratulations Mr Rodgers!

Last year two Year 7 boys (Finn and Rory) won a national Titanic model competition. As a result our current Year 7 children (along with Rory and Finn) were invited to celebrate the opening of the new Titanic exhibition in the Braid Arts Centre. The two boys’ models were chosen as part of the display.

St. Colmcille’s opened its doors to the wider community during the school’s open night on December 10th. Many families came to see first hand the excellent provision that St. Colmcille’s can offer their children. Families were entertained by the school’s award-winning choir and a group of talented instrumentalists. Pupils were very keen to show how the ICT suite is used, demonstrate the technology models made in Key Stage 2 and a variety of other learning activities the children experience on a day-to-day basis in St. Colmcille’s. However, it was the Foundation Stage classrooms and the early year’s resource area that were of most interest, particularly among the three and four year old children. We look forward to welcoming them to St. Colmcille’s in September.

Year 5 attended the Bethlehem Village Experience at the Ballymena North Centre on Thursday 13th December. Whilst there the children walked around learning the story of the Nativity through drama. This really helped bring home the true meaning of Christmas for the children!

A number of our senior choir members were invited by the Highkirk Presbyterian Church to sing at their Christmas Carol Service on Wednesday 12th December. The choir sang two pieces and then joined the pupils of Dunclug Primary School to sing Joy to the World as part of the finale. Maria O’Rawe, Year 6, read a poem as part of the service. This was our first visit to Highkirk Presbyterian Church and we thank them for their hospitality and warm welcome.

St. Colmcille’s continues to develop links with the local preschools in the Ballymena area. Throughout the year Mrs Tally and Mrs O’Kane visit the local preschools to help the children have a smooth transition from preschool to primary school. We have fostered strong links with the preschool leaders. We were delighted then that many of the local preschool children were able to visit St. Colmcille’s to watch the Years 1-4 Christmas concert. The children enjoyed the show and were able to take home a small memento of their visit.

Our Year 4 pupils were invited to take part in Radio Cracker’s Christmas performances. They sang a number of well-known carols and performed a number of instrumental pieces live on the radio. I’m sure for those that heard it agree that the children did the school and Mrs McDonald proud.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without panto! All the children from the school attended a full-scale breathtaking production of Aladdin in the Braid Arts Centre, starring Xfactor contestant Eoghan Quigg. Mr Kearney became the star of the show after ‘Widow Twanky’ went in search for a companion! A great time was had by all. It was a great way to finish a fantastic term and indeed 2012!

This year the children from Years 1 - 4 worked very hard to prepare for their Christmas concert. The Year 1 children carefully retold the story of the nativity through song, dance and music. Year 2 performed Snowman at Sunset and Year 3 show-cased The Bossy Fairy. Year 4 finished the extravaganza with Children of the World. Well done to all the children and of course a big thank you to all the teachers and learning support staff who helped to make St. Colmcille’s Christmas concert so special. Here are some photographs of the big event.

Year GroupYear GroupYear GroupYear Group Term 1aTerm 1aTerm 1aTerm 1a Term 1bTerm 1bTerm 1bTerm 1b 1 Eibhleann Ardiff

Maeve Preston Finn Connon

Hanna Markowska

2 Ann Joseph Serena Gallagher

3 Daniel Patterson Amy McCambridge

Lucy McGuigan Alicja Markowska

4 Jessica Beverland Cara McDowell

Patrick Kerr Michael Doherty

5 Aoife Devlin

Sian Zensque

6 Niamh Walsh Emma Duffy

Ciara Thom Beth Mullan

7777 Arianna Chang Leah Barker

Emer McAtamney Caitlin Martin

Year GroupYear GroupYear GroupYear Group Term 1aTerm 1aTerm 1aTerm 1a Term 1bTerm 1bTerm 1bTerm 1b 1 Oliver O’Donnell

Tony Logan Nicholas Agnew Kian McDonald

2 Conan McKeown

Zach Mitchell

3 Clodagh Reid Oliver O’Rawe

Ryan Laverty Jay McKeown

4 Ryan Thom Aoibhin Cosgrove

Chloe Mullan Lara Haughey

5 Joseph O’Rawe

Lucy Donaldson Richard McCann

6 Odhran Cosgrove Joe Martin

Leah McErlane

7777 Oskar Malecki Ciara Fraser

Christopher Laverty Conor Kerr

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

Year GroupYear GroupYear GroupYear Group SeptemberSeptemberSeptemberSeptember OctoberOctoberOctoberOctober NovemberNovemberNovemberNovember DecemberDecemberDecemberDecember 1 Sienna Crawford

Caoimhe Loughran Denisa Timuc

Amelia Gallagher Jack Patterson Iseult O’Loan

Belle Buick Cillian Walsh

2 Charlie Aikman Aimee Corrigan

Anna Read Pearse Duncan

3 Callum Hendron Karina McQuitty

Johanne Torres Connliath McIlwaine

Jakub Kostolny Alicja Markowska

Jamie Riordan Anna Suto

4 Charlie McGarry Patrick Kerr

Michael Doherty Samuel Logan

Sarah Healy Kurian Joseph

Tyrone Mitchell Matej Kostolny

5 Sophie Doherty

Cara Kane

Jack Hamill Ryan Martin Paddy O’Brien

6 Odhran Cosgrove Megha Sibi

Jane O’Boyle David McGaughey

Caolan Robb Maria O’Rawe

Shae Williamson

7777 Lucy McNeill Niamh MacRory

Meghan Herald Brenda McGuigan

Mate Kopczysnki Jack Agnew

Niamh Bird Christopher Laverty

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. The Golden Rules have been introduced to the children at assembly. They are clearly displayed in classrooms, the corridors and outside in the playground to remind the children of the positive behaviour that is expected. Teachers develop this further by using circle time as a tool to encourage positive behaviour in and outside the classroom. Congratulations to all our Star of the Month award winners who demonstrate how our Golden Rules can be lived out everyday in school.

Monthly Draw Winners: October Christopher Laverty The Spring Term Draw Dates: November Paddy O’Brien 28th Jan; 25th Feb & 25th Mar December Niall Esler

Our fundraising target is £12,000 in order to build a second Trim Trail for our pupils.

Term 1 finishes on Friday 21st December 2012 at 12.00noon Term 2 begins for the children on Monday 7th January 2013 Mid-term break: 18th – 22nd February 2013 Term 2 finishes on Thursday 28th March at 12.00noon

The Governors, Principal and Staff wish you all a very holy and happy Christmas and

best wishes for the new year.