March News Letter
World Book Day
To mark World Book Day on 3rd March we held a special Assembly.
Pupils and staff shared their favourite books with us and we learnt how
UNICEF is helping children throughout the world receive their right to
education. A local author Pauline McGarry came in to school to share
one of her published books with Nursery, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3
pupils. Many thanks to all who sent in donations of books for our book
“Bring and Buy”. Year 7 worked really hard selling the books
and we raised £90 which will go to UNICEF to help with their
education projects.
Lisburn in Focus
Kathryn McCamley, Joanna Jones and Orla the Guide Dog from Lisburn
in Focus visited Ballinderry Primary on Tuesday 15th March to talk to
pupils. They explained the many different aids available to blind or
partially sighted people to make their life easier. The
children learnt that there are gadgets for safely filling
cups, talking clocks and even one that will tell you the
colour of your clothes. They also demonstrated the advantages of
Braille and large print books. Of course Orla the Guide Dog played a
starring role.
Year 2 Trip
Year 2 visited Tesco in Lisburn where they saw bread being
baked and learnt about storing food such as meat and fish
safely. The highlight was being allowed to scan 2 items each
at the checkout and keeping their receipts. The pupils
enjoyed a picnic lunch and time to relax in Wallace Park
before a story telling session and book browsing in Lisburn Library.
Ladies Night
Donna Harbinson owner of DNA did a wonderful job showing us
all how we should apply our make up. Her “pupil” for the evening
Maddie McRoberts produced some wonderful results on her own
model. Donna donated some super prizes for the ballot and Alma
on behalf of the PTA provided some very tasty snacks. The
evening generated £102 for PTA funds.
New Cycle Shelter
We have been provided with a cycle shelter to accommodate 10 cycles
through “Safer Routes to Schools”. This is now erected in the top
playground and will be invaluable for storing cycles when we begin
Cycling Proficiency after Easter. Also any pupil cycling to school will be
able to avail of the shelter but they must dismount at the pedestrian
gate and walk their bicycle across the playground.
Parent-Teacher Consultations
We hope you found these recent meetings with Staff useful and you
have a clear picture of your child’s progress. Remember that you are
very welcome to discuss progress and/or issues with the teaching staff
at any time – just ring the school office to arrange an appointment.
Friendship Week
Our PD& MU co-ordinator Mrs Rosca planned a week full of activities to
promote friendship and positive relations in school. These included a
friendship message board, a staff lunch and friendship related
assemblies and class lessons. People were encouraged to pass on a
smile and be particularly nice to their “secret friend”. The
charity bun sale has gone extremely well and has raised
over £100 so far. The week culminated with an exciting
friendship drama from Year 7.
PD&MU Evening
Many thanks to all who attended the PD&MU evening
when the school’s work on Rights Respecting School and
PD&MU was highlighted and Mr Graham Hare from ‘Love for Life’ gave
a very enjoyable talk on their Year 7 programme “Health, Growth and
Change” that will be delivered to our pupils in June.
Environmental Youth Speak
Joshua Lindsay (Year 6) and Liz Gunning (Year 7) went off to
represent the school in the Environmental Youth Speak
Competition in the Lagan Valley Leisureplex on Wednesday.
Both spoke extremely well on the topic of ‘Reducing, Reusing
and Recycling’. They did the school proud.
Cross Country
Mr Campbell our PE coordinator took 16 pupils to the Cross
Country competition in Lisburn Leisure Plex. They all competed
well and overall our boys came 9th out of 13 schools and the
girls came in 7th. Courtney Conroy (Year 6) was 34th out of 120
in the girl’s race and Miro Novaes was 32nd out of 120 in the
boy’s race.
Zumba
Don’t forget the Zumba Aerobic Dance classes
starting in the school on Thursday 31st March at
7.30pm.
WWF's Earth Hour
WWF’s Earth Hour asks people to switch off their lights for 60 minutes
on Saturday 26th March 2011 to show that everyone needs to help
tackle climate change and protect the natural world. Last year,
hundreds of millions of people from 128
countries, including 1,700 UK schools, took part,
making it the biggest Earth Hour yet. Ballinderry
Primary as an Eco school fully supports this
initiative. This year with your support, we hope
to involve more families than ever.
L.Magowan