Menu
School Fund
Thank you to all our parents and families who have already submitted their School Fund. If you have not already done so, please forward it to the school office. A contribution of £20 per child or £30 per family is requested.
Coffee Morning
Thank you for the fantastic support at our PTA Coffee Morning for Macmillan Support. A total of £290.00 was raised by the parents and children.
Many thanks for the fantastic support at our Halloween Scavenger Hunt on Sunday 17th October. A great day was had by all the children and adults.
Well done to Emer Smyth who won the Scavenger Hunt in 11 minutes. The fantastic sum of £450.00 was raised through donations at the event.
Our next event is the Halloween Disco in the school hall on Friday 23rd October from 7.00pm to 9.00pm, £3 admission.
There are a small number of places left on the bus for the trip to Kildare Village on Saturday 14th November. Details are available on the school website.
The next meeting of the PTA will take in the school at 7.30pm on Tuesday 10th November.
Parent Teacher Meetings
Parent Teacher Meetings take place on Thursday 22nd October from 3pm to 8pm and on Monday 26th October from 9am. Parking is available in St Patrick’s car park or on the all-weather pitch on Thursday evening and all day Monday.
Fit To Dance
Our ‘Fit to Dance’ annual school fundraiser, will take place on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd October. Each child has been issued with a sponsorship form for the event. On return of the form and sponsor money each child will be entered into a school raffle. With your support we hope there will be a great response to our school’s fundraising event.
New School Update
‘Glassgiven Contracts’ has been awarded the contract to build our new school. Asbestos removal work is now complete and the relocation of an electrical substation, that was located in the school grounds, is also complete.
It is anticipated that work to demolish the old building will commence very shortly. Unfortunately, there have been some legal issues around Housing Executive land that has caused some delay. We hope this will be resolved in the next week or so.
Workshops
Thank you to all our parents who were able to attend our recent workshops. I am sure you will have found them very valuable. The ParentingNi programme, ‘Dealing with Children’s Challenging Behaviour’ will begin on Thursday 5th November 3.00pm to 5.00pm. Places are limited to a maximum of 15 participants and will run for 6 weeks.
Cross Country/Gaelic Football
Well done to all the boys and girls who participated in the first Cross Country race of the season last week. Ryan Meara was first home for the boys (finishing 13th from 140 runners) and Cliodhna Wolfe was first home for the girls(finishing 27th from 150 runners). Well done to Ryse Berry, Denis Kerr, Alana Burns-Atkin and Cara Henning who were the other top finishers for St Mary’s.
Well done to the school’s Gaelic Football Team who came fourth in the recent blitz in Newry. Congratulations to Ryan Meara, Liam Vaughan and Denis Kerr who had an outstanding tournament.
Parking
Please continue to use St Therese’s car park to avoid congestion on the Scarva Road. There is limited parking available in St Patrick’s car park. The drop-off arrangements are working well and we would encourage parents to either park in St Therese’s car park, if you wish to escort your child to the school playground, or use the supervised drop off points in St Patrick’s car park.
Football Team Victory
Congratulations to St Mary's A and B teams who won their sections in the EVO 7-a-side competition at Cheney Park on Thursday 24th September. All the boys and girls played fantastically well. Well done to Ryan Meara, Denis Kerr, Thomas Cunningham and Declan McCourt who all had an excellent tournament.
Unfortunately, both teams were less successful at the Thursday 15th October tournament but hope to improve for the next round of matches.
Our thanks to Paul Evans for organising the tournaments and the Banbridge League.
Super Swimmers
Congratulations to Alana and Lauren Burns-Atkin who represented St Mary’s at the Swim Ulster School Championships at Bangor Aurora swimming pool on Saturday 17th October.
Alana swam in the under 10 category swimming freestyle and breaststroke over 50 meters. Alana finished 12th in the freestyle and only just missed out of being in the final. She did however get the qualifying time to represent the school at the Ireland national minor schools championship in February 2016.
Lauren competed in the under 9 age group and also did freestyle and breaststroke.
In the breaststroke she did amazingly well and finished 10th in the heats and made it into the final. Her time for the heat qualified her to go to Dublin with her sister.
The girls will again represent the school on February 7th 2016 in the national swimming competition in Dublin. Good luck girls!
Cancer Awareness Pink Day
The school will host a Pink /Fancy Dress Day on Friday 23rd October for Cancer Awareness. Children may wear something pink or his/her own clothes or dress up on the day. Parents are asked to donate a £1 to Cancer Awareness.
First Penance
Well done to all our P4 children who made their First Penance last Thursday. The children were terrific. First Holy Communion will take place at 11.00am on Saturday 21st May.
School Closures
School will be closed for children from Monday 26th October to Friday 30th October (inclusive) for the mid-term break. A full list of school dates is available on the school website.
