February Newsletter

Post Primary Transfer

Thank you for the punctual return of the P7 Post Primary Transfer forms. Any unreturned forms must be sent to the school office by Wednesday 6^th February 2019. Please telephone the school if there are any issues regarding the completion of the forms.

Football Team Victory

Congratulations to our football team who won the South Down 5-a-side competition at Kilkeel. This is the third victory for St Mary’s in the past four years. All the boys played fantastically well. Well done to Pierce White and Adam McCann, both boys had an outstanding tournament. Our appreciation to Mr. Devlin for taking the boys to the tournament.

Good luck to our A and B teams in the next round of the EVO league which takes place at Cheney Park on Thursday.

Please see the school website for photographs.

Time 4 Me

The Barnardo’s Time 4 Me Counselling Service remains in place. Referral forms are available to download for the school website. Alternatively, she may be contacted on Tuesday mornings by telephoning the school office.

Table Tennis

Congratulations to our P5, P6 and P7 Table Tennis Teams who took part in the Ulster Primary School Table Tennis Team Event (Banbridge Region) which was hosted at St Mary’s last week. Well done to all the teams, especially to our P7 and P6 teams who received silver medals. Well done to Adam Molek and Josh Peniero our Table Tennis stars in the making. Good luck to our P7 A and B teams who now play in the Ulster Finals in Lisburn on Wednesday. Please see the school website for photographs.

Athletics

Congratulations to Annie McEvoy and Isabelle Rea who, last week, took part in the Northern Ireland Cross Country Championship Finals. This was a great experience for the girls as both will be able to participate again next year.      We are so proud of the girls, what an achievement! Well done!!

Action Cancer’s Big Bus

With the support of our PTA the School has booked Action Cancer's mobile unit, the BIG BUS, for staff, parents and members of our community.  The Big Bus provides two services which are now available to book:

If you are a woman aged 40-49 or 70+, you are eligible to make an appointment for Breast Screening on the BIG BUS. The charity is the only place in Northern Ireland for women outside of the NHS screening age range to avail of a breast screening for free, so this is a great opportunity. The screening takes only a few minutes and, for the majority of women, provides peace of mind.

MOT Health Checks are open to anyone aged 16+ and are a great way to get a current picture of your health. The check takes about 20 minutes and you will receive a variety of tests, such as blood pressure and cholesterol. You will also stand on the body composition scales to receive a print out of details such as muscle mass, hydration levels, fat around your organs, and BMI. The Health Promotion Officer carrying out your assessment will be able to provide advice and information about lifestyle improvements and cancer prevention.

The BIG BUS will be located in St Teresa's car park on Friday 1 March 2019, Saturday 2 March 2019, Wednesday 6 March 2019, Thursday 7 March 2019 and Friday 8 March 2019 from 9:30am – 3.20pm.

Please telephone 028 90803344 and use the code QJX-4229 to book an appointment. Please book as soon as possible as any unfilled slots will be made available to the general public after Monday 17 February.

Half Term

School will be closed from Monday 18 February to Friday 22 February 2019 (inclusive) for the half term holiday. School will open as normal on Monday 25 February.

Credit Union Quiz

Well done to the St Mary’s Quiz Teams who participated in the Credit Union Quiz at Edenderry Primary School last week. Congratulations to our P7 team members; Adam Molek, Maks Hoppe, Tomas Olarte Wade and Matthew Grimes and to our P6 team, who came third, Eoin Brown, Corey Paxton, Joseph Corkery and Gianna Scappaticci.

Catholic Schools Week

Thank you to Miss Geraldine McClory and Mrs Yvonne Carlin who lead our P1 - P4 and our P5-P7 Catholic Schools’ Week Assembly on Friday.

Children from P4 to P7 attended Mass as part of the Diocesan Catholic Schools’ Week which was hosted at St Therese Church for the first time. The children's excellent behaviour and wonderful manners was commented upon by members of the congregation and the Bishop. Thank you to Mrs O’Hare and Mrs Murphy for organising the Choir, our soloists, musicians and Irish Dancers.

P7 Shannaghmore Visit

The Primary Seven children spent a great week in Shannaghmore last week. Both P7 classes had the opportunity to experience a range of activities including, adventure walking, scrambling, orienteering, archery, night-line walking, high ropes, zip line, descender and low ropes.  All the children challenged themselves and attempted every activity with a positive attitude. 

A big thank you to all our parents for ensuring the children were well organised and prepared for the trip. 

The children would like to thank all the staff at Shannaghmore for their leadership throughout, Miss Downey, Mr McCreery, Mr Mackle, Mrs Lennon and Mrs Murphy for giving up their time to take the children away for the week. Please see the school website for photographs.

School PTA

The next meeting of our PTA will take place on Tuesday 12 February at 7.30pm. All support is greatly appreciated.

Valentine’s Day Disco will take place on Friday 15 February from 6.30pm to 7.30pm for children up to P3 and from 7.45pm to 9.00pm for children from P4 to P7 in the school hall. £3.00 admission.

Parking

The school car park is for staff parking only. Parents should park in the Parish Centre if they wish to escort their child to the playground.

If dropping off at the school, please use the drop off bays. These are drop off bays not parking bays. Children can access both playgrounds from the bays. Supervision is in place from 8.50am. There is a set of steps next to the nursery which leads directly into the bottom playground. Children do not need to cross any roads or walk through the car park when using these steps.

Please do not park in the disabled bays, these are for 'disabled badge holders' only. There is no reason why anyone else would need to use these parking bays.

On wet or icy days children may enter their classrooms directly from 8.50am. P3 children may use the main entrance at this time. There will be no access to classrooms before 8.50am.

Thank you for adhering to the above arrangements.

Afterschool Club

Please note children attending the Afterschool Club must be booked in advance via the school office or directly through Afterschool Club. A space cannot be guaranteed for children not booked to attend.

School Certificates

Congratulations to Ronin Devine, Eddie Stokes, Jonah Matthews, Sophia Noble, Ciara Stokes. Rose Smylie and Charlie Mulligan on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 25 January. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to Erin Louise Cassidy, Danny Burns, Cameron Richardson, John Christopher Stokes, Daniel Cunningham, Vartan Koulaian, Caitlin Grimes, Fionnan Cunningham, Fionn Sipson, Orla Fullerton, Kate Finnegan, Sophie Quinn, Zara Cummings, Adam McCracken and Tomas Orlate Wade on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 25 January. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to Oisin McGrath, Mateus Moore, Zoe McNicholl, Amelia Smith, Daniel McGivern, Sami Finnegan, Eoghan Cassidy and Alice Udo on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 18 January. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to Harry McGovern, Laochra Hill, Jake Winters, Bobbi Campbell, Dylan Duffy, Tristan Berry, Pierce White, Ross McPolin, Ronan Sweeney, Nora Toth, Melissa Ross, Maddison Smith, Aoife Deegan, Isabelle Rea, Naomi Muntean, Adam Henry, Cathal Hill, Ellie Richardson and Fiona Norrby on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 18 January. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to Jayden Turland, Tyler Kerr, Darragh Sullivan, Tierna Fearon, Ciaran Connolly, Robert Lewinski, Nicole Moore, Shane Reilly, Abigail McConville, Adrianna Kramarz, Lennon Bell, Leo McFadden, Nikolas Skartsolia, Sean Convery, Chloe King, Jack O’Hare and Calvin Shead on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 11 January. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to Tyler McArdle, Cara Copeland, Kevin Hillen, Conor Gribben, Lucy Devlin, Ciara Stokes, Chloe O’Neill, Kailab Lee, Soifra Darragh and Jack Mooney on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 11 January. Well done everyone! Please see the school website for photographs.

School Menu

Please check the school website or app for the monthly school menu.