Mar/Apr Newsletter

The Reading Room

There was great excitement on Thursday 1st March when we welcomed author Nicola Pierce to the school to open our new library. Her latest book, and her first for children is called ‘Spirit of the Titanic’ and the evening began with a short talk on how she was inspired by the real life story of Samuel Joseph Scott and some of the other stories she discovered during her research.


After the ribbon had been cut parents and pupils enjoyed some refreshments whilst they browsed the books in the book fair and visited our newly refurbished ‘Reading Room’.

The celebrations continued the next day when everyone came to school in their pyjamas and we had a bedtime story day. Each class visited the new library and enjoyed listening to stories as well as exploring the books on display.

Titanic Tribute

In April the whole school went Titanic crazy with lots of research and activities to commemorate the building of this great ship and the tragic story of it sinking. This culminated in a special Titanic lunch on Friday 20th April. Everyone dressed as either passengers or crew and those who dressed as grand ladies and gentlemen soon discovered the perks of travelling first class with softer seats, waitress service and even after dinner treats.

Victorian School Day

P4-7 stepped back in time at the beginning of April when they found out what school was like over a hundred years ago. They came to school dressed in Victorian clothes and spent the day doing the three Rs, writing on slates and with ink pens, reciting poems and doing drill instead of P.E. They even spent their breaktimes playing old games like hopscotch, skipping and marbles and no 21st century snacks were allowed either. They all agreed that the worst part was trying to keep quiet and the teachers were very cross. Luckily the cane is no longer allowed or there could have been some sore hands on the way home!

Home and Away

P4, 5 & 6 from Kilrea and St Columba’ have been learning about local townlands and what their names mean. They enjoyed a day of icebreakers in Kilrea Sports Hall and this was followed by talks from experts in local place names. Now they are looking for landmarks and stories about local places to help them to produce artwork and entertainment to display to parents in May.

P6 & 7 from the two schools have also been studying migration and the Titanic and this included an overnight stay at the Ulster American Folk Park where they took part in lots of activities based on the theme.

Sporting Heroes

Over the last two month the teams have been out in force playing matches in football, hockey and netball. Each outing has seen the teams grow in confidence and last week the boys team won two of their three matches and the girls finished second in the netball tournament.
All the classes also attended mini Olympic days at Kilrea Sports Hall to help celebrate it tenth anniversary. Pupils from four local primary school came together to try out different sports.