November Newsletter

27th Nov 2017

St Mary’s Open Night

St Mary’s Open Night, for prospective parents of Nursery and Primary 1 children, will take place on Tuesday 5^th December 2017 from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. Our Autism Specific Class and Junior Learning Support Class will also be open on the evening. Application forms are available to download from the school and Education Authority, Southern Region websites or may be collected from the school office.

Please be aware that we will not be accepting applications for our Playgroup for September 2018. The Playgroup will close in June 2018 due to unavailability of suitable accommodation for September 2018. We intend to investigate the viability of funding a purpose built Playgroup/Nursery on the St Mary's school site. However, this may take some time to complete.

Crossing Update

EA Transport has completed the survey of the Crossing at the Scarva Road junction. A manned School Crossing Patrol will not be put in place.

The EA reported that, ''90 pupils/parents crossed safely at the Scarva Road using the lights controlled crossing. Used properly the lights are the safest way for parents and pupils to cross that junction.’’

''The responsibility for the safety of pupils travelling to and from school is parental, consequently the responsible adult taking a child to/from school is as well equipped to operate the lights as a school crossing patrol.''

We are very disappointed with the EA response considering there has been a number of accidents at or near this junction over the past 12 months. The school will continue to petition the EA with regards to the matter.

The Department of Infrastructure has agreed to erect signage on roads around the school warning drivers that a school in the area and children may be using the crossing.

Fit To Dance

The final draw for our “Fit to Dance” fundraiser will take place on Friday 1^st December. All cards and monies must to be returned by then to enter the draw. The draws will take palce at our KS1 Assembly and KS2 assemblies

Good luck to everyone in the draw!!!!!

Anti-Bullying Poster Competition

Well done to all the children who entered our annual Anti - Bullying Poster Competition. Congratulations to the winners and best runners up. Our P7 children performed an amazing anti bullying rap and a dance to help promote a strong Anti-Bullying message. Thank you to our PTA for funding prizes for the children.

This year’s theme for the NIABF Anti-Bullying Week (13^th-17^th November) is ‘All Equal, All Different, All Together” and aims to encourage children and young people to encourage and celebrate respect and kindness in diversity.

NIABF is an inter-agency body, made up of over 20 regional statutory and non-statutory organisations, all committed to ending the bullying of children and young people. NIABF is hosted by National Children’s Bureau, and is funded by the Department of Education.

NIABF, working together with colleagues in the Education Authority and Stranmillis University College, has developed a campaign pack which includes presentations, activity plans, project briefs and ABW17 themed posters. The resources and activities available to support Anti-Bullying Week aim to encourage the development of personal skills and provide an opportunity to understand the nature and complexities of bullying behaviour and how schools work collectively with parents and carers to end bullying. The activities also highlight key issues in relation to bullying behaviour to both the school and wider community.

Following the work on topics and themes that were covered in class this week and at assembly today your child/ren may have questions that you may wish to discuss with them. For more information we would recommend visiting the Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF) website http://www.endbullying.org.uk/ and consulting the Parent/Carer Toolkit.

Thanks you to our PTA for funding the winning prizes and judging the overall winners.

Afterschool Club

Children attending the Afterschool Club must be booked in advance via the school office or directly through Afterschool Club on 07549097163. A space cannot be guaranteed for children not booked to attend. All payments should be made to Julie in the office.

Breakfast Club

Please note the new Breakfast Club price will be £1.40 per day from Monday 8^th January.

Tax-Free Childcare

Recently, the government launched a new scheme called Tax-Free Childcare, or TFC for short. Currently it's being rolled out to parents whose children were under 4 years old on 31^st August 2017, but it's being launched to parents of older children soon.

In a nutshell, through TFC the government will pay £2 for every £8 parents pay for childcare. This is capped at £2,000 a year. While some parents will be better off with TFC, most will not and would save more money with childcare vouchers.

Childcare voucher schemes will only stay open to new entrants until April 2018. After that time, TFC will be the only option. So, if you're a parent, it's important to find out which scheme works best for you; and if you'd be better off with childcare vouchers, you'll need to sign up before the deadline.

You should also check out the Government Childcare Choices website and Check what help you could get with childcare costs calculator for a more personal illustration.

Please be aware there are various online petitions calling for Childcare Vouchers to remain. These can be accessed at

Banbridge Arts Festival

The annual Speech and Drama Festival was hosted last week, 6 -10 November, in the Belmont Hotel, Banbridge.

St Mary's had over 100 children who participated at individual or group level, in this competition. The Principal and staff of our school are so very proud of all the boys and girls who were involved in this significant public speaking event. The standard was exceptionally high. Many of our pupils won medals and certificates of achievements in their individual classes. Well done to each and every one of you.

Kathy Colgan, our Speech and Drama teacher, entered a group of children, including some of the older boys and girls from her drama group, to represent our school in the group classes of 'Good Conversation,' 'Dramatisation of a Poem' and Choral Speaking. Imagine the delight when the children achieved first place in all of these categories at primary school level. One of the highlights of the festival was "The Clown Show," which received one of eight golden tickets to return on Friday night to the Belmont, and perform in the Battle of the Champions. Eight memorable acts delighted the audience with miming, singing, dancing and acting. It was such a treat for all there. After all the performances, it was up to the audience to cast their votes to find an outright winner. That winner was the cast of THE CLOWN SHOW.

Not only did we win the McKay-McKenny Cup for the audience appeal but we took home an array of silverware:

The Gillen Shield, awarded for the Dramatisation of a poem, The Clowns, by Margo Bosenay.
The Anderson Cup, awarded for group choral speaking, The Visitor, by Jack Prelutsky and The Land of the Bumbley Boo, by Spike Milligan.
The Lockhart Shield, awarded to our Senior Learning Support Class for their dramatization of the story, Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes.
The INTO trophy, awarded to the school that appeals most in any group, St Mary's Primary School, Banbridge.
The Armstrong Cup, awarded for the most promising speaker(s), in primary school, The Visitor.
£100 bursary, awarded to the primary school with the highest overall marks of the festival, St Mary's, Banbridge.
Such an impressive haul of awards for our school!! We are so excited to be able to show off this collection to our school community

EVO League

St Mary's were joint winners of the EVO 7 a-side at Cheney Park today. After a 1-1 draw in the final, St Mary's and Abercorn Primary schools were declared joint winners of today's tournament. This keeps St Mary's clear at the top of the EVO League with one round of games to go.

The A Team, who were well beaten by Bridge A in the first game, managed to complete the tournament without conceding a single goal until the final. With excellent performances from all the boys in particular Robert Lorencs, Carter Gorman and Mark and Adam McCann.

The B Team were very unlucky in their league section conceding unlucky goals against the run of play in two very close games. The boys did managed two victories and were helped by excellent performances from Luke Balchin and Jamie Trainor.

Well done both teams! The final round of games will take place in January.

Canon Esler Cup

St Mary's unluckily exited the Canon Esler Cup after a narrow defeat in the final game on Thursday against St Patrick's, Mayobridge. Having won one and lost one game the final match turned out to be a decider to see who qualified for the semi-finals.

St Patrick's luck was in with St Mary's missing relatively easy scores to be defeated by the narrowest of margins.

Well done to the whole team; especially Jack Conlon, Tom Jordan, Carter Gorman and Robert Lorencs who all had terrific performances.

School PTA

The next meeting of our PTA will take place on Tuesday 5^th December from 7.30pm in the school. All are welcome to attend.

Santa Sunday comes to St Mary’s on Sunday 10^th December, 2pm to 4pm. There will be a variety of entertainment and refreshments available.

Christmas Dates

The P3 Christmas Assembly will take place on Tuesday 19^th December at 9.30am and at 11.00am in St Mary’s Assembly Hall.

The P1 Christmas Assembly will take place on Tuesday 19^th December at 10.15am and at 11.45am in St Mary’s Assembly Hall. P1 children may go home after the 11.45am performance.

The P2 Nativity Performance will take place on Thursday 21^st December at 10.30am and s at 7.00pm in St Patrick’s Assembly Hall.Please use the main entrance to St Patrick’s College.

There will be a small charge of £2 on the door at all assemblies to support our School Fund. Thank you to St Patrick’s for helping to facilitate our P2 Christmas Nativity.

Please note P5 to P7 Friday Clubs will finish on Friday 24^th November. Clubs will restart on Friday 12^th January.

Parking

Please continue to use St Therese’s car park to avoid congestion on the Scarva Road.

Please use the drop off bays in the school. Please do not drop off at the gate or zebra crossings at this blocks access and is potentially dangerous.

Children can access both playgrounds from the bays. Supervision is in place from 8.45a.m. There is a set of steps next to the nursery which lead directly into the bottom playground. Children do not need to cross any roads or walk through the car park when using these steps.

On wet days children may enter their classrooms directly from 8.50am. P3 and P4 children may use the main entrance, there normal entrance, at this time. There will be no access before 8.50am.

School Certificates

Congratulations to Grace Udo, Ciarrai Simpson, Rosie Copeland, James McGivern, Blanaid Conlon, Eimear Simpson, Ashton Winters, Matthew Grimes, Shania Wolska, Dan McEvoy, Andy Lennon, Nathan Barlow, Fergus McSherry, Sophie Quinn, Niamh McNally, Connor Hussey, Viktorija Paberza, Patryk Bebenkowski, Josh Peniero, Aaron Keenan, Jordan McNamara, Chloe Andrews, Tiara Scappaticci, Tyler Kerr, Ryan Creaney on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 10^th November.

Congratulations to Noah Savage, Matthew King, Ava Grimes, Pili Olarte-Wade, Daniel Cunningham, Cormac Cairns, Cormac Poland, Cara Copeland, Gracie-Anne Grime and Cody McClay on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 10^th November.

Congratulations to Adam Stevenson, Milo Quail, Megan Hickey, Sophie Bell, Kevin Hillen, Sami Finnegan, Ryan Cairns and Aimee Keeley - McDowell on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 17^th November.

Congratulations to Adam Devlin, Nicole Moore, Fiona Norrby, Corey Paxton, Shona Knox, Chloe Ellis, Kasey Hamilton, Tom Jordan and Jack Conlon on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 17^th November.

Congratulations to Conor Copeland, Sophie Bernes, Summer McCreedy, Joseph Gribben, Dylan Bell, Ava McAleavey, Emily Kerr and John-Christopher Stokes on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 24^th November.

Congratulations to Naoimi Reilly, Calvin Shead, Adam McCracken, Peter McCreesh, Dumi Fratescu, Caoimhe O’Rourke, Fynn Young-Brady, Sierra Meara, Kaitlyn Bagnall, Joesph Corkery, Pierce White, Ellie Richardson, Ryan Gallagher, Casey Smyth, Sarah-Kate Hamill, Ethan Mone, Sally Convery, Aoife Gartland, Nikolas Skartsolia, Annie McEvoy, Cora Malone, RhysMcConville, Evie Ward, Rosie Stokes and Grace Rea on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 24^th November.