TREE PLANTING

Together with Conservation Volunteers and NIE, P 6/7 got the chance to plant apple, pear and plum trees at our school.  We hope that in a couple of years we will be enjoying some delicious fruit.

RADIO CRACKER

P1 - P3 travelled to Montgomery's Coffee Shop on Wednesday 30th November to sing on Radio Cracker.  They sang three pieces from their school play - 'Hey Ewe'  It was great to see so many parents, grandparents and friends coming along to support the children.  The children loved performing their songs and Ryan and Emma enjoyed being interviewed on the radio.  Thank you Miss Richmond and Mrs Millar for all your hard work and enthusiastic conducting.

SHARED EDUCATION

P1 and P2 joined the children from St Patricks Primary for the first session of their "Outdoor Learning Programme".  Brian Poots from N I Forest Schools Association talked to the boys and girls about shelters.  Working in teams, the children built their own forest shelters using canes, pegs and tarpaulin sheets.  The children all enjoyed the session.  Thanks to all our helpers.

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

Yes, it's coming up to that time of year again and rehearsals for the Christmas Concert are now under way. The P4 to P7 children have been given the opportunity to perform an Ulster Scots play called 'Kissing the Shuttle'.  This play was written by Dan Gordon and is about the linen mill workers at the turn of the 20th century. 

Ryan Moohan from the drama company, 'Class Act Drama' is directing the play. Ryan comes to school each Tuesday to help the children prepare for their performance on 14th December. They are all really enjoying the singing and acting.

GARDENING

This week we planted some Primroses in the raised flower beds at the front of our school.  We also planted the tulip and daffodil bulbs which will bloom in the spring time.  There were some very muddy P3 - P5 children as the rain came on as they were planting their flowers.

WINNER!

Pupils from schools in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Area were given the opportunity to design posters showing ways to improve our local communities.  We were delighted that Robyn's poster came 2nd out of a total of 94 entries.  Robyn received a £15 Waterstones voucher from Councillor George Duddy at the Council Offices in Coleraine. She also met the 1st and 3rd prize winners.  The three winning posters will be included in a new fifteen year Community Planning Booklet which will be published in 2017. 

KEEPING HEALTHY

On Monday 7th November, Louise from Cancer Focus NI came to talk to the P3,4 and 5 classes. The main aim of her presentation was to encourage our children to keep healthy, by exercising regularly, and by being aware of how to choose healthy foods.

The first half hour was called 'Fit Factor'.  The children did some light, moderate and intense exercises in the hall. They noticed that with intense exercise, their heart beat was faster than with light exercise.  Louise encouraged the children to exercise for sixty minutes every day and she challenged them to get all of the family involved in this.

The final half hour was called 'Food Detectives'. The three 'food nasties' that are hidden in the foods we buy, are sugar, salt and fat.  The children looked at various foods and Alfie, our detective, helped to set out the amounts of the 'food nasties' in each product, by reading the food label.  Foods with lots of sugar, salt and fat were given a Red Light and these foods should be avoided. Other foods were given an Amber Light, indicating that they were good foods, provided that they were eaten in moderation. Other foods such as semi skimmed milk were given a Green Light, showing that they were a healthy choice. 

Thanks to Louise for such an interesting and informative presentation. The children are now enthusiastic about taking more exercise and they are keen to choose healthy foods to eat.

HARVEST HOOLIE!

Once again, our annual Harvest Hoolie proved to be a very popular event.  The children had brilliant fun ducking for apples, making a handprint autumn tree, listening to a lovely harvest story, line dancing and playing a 'put the animal in the hoop ' game.  Some parents had provided a chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows which was a real treat.  Thank you to everyone who helped to make this Harvest Hoolie such a fun time for the children.

OCTOBER ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Congratulations to all the children who received certificates for October 2016.  Certificates were awarded for - 'Positive Behaviour towards New Challenges', 'Good Self Management Skills', and 'Excellent Behaviour'.

ACCELERATED READING CERTIFICATES

In the last school year, Rasharkin Primary School, thanks to the fund raising events by the Parents' Association, was able to purchase the Accelerated Reading Scheme for our P4 - P7 children.  This scheme encourages children to read books at their level, take quizzes at the end of each book and thus gain points towards their own personal target. 

Since September, we have seen the benefits of this scheme with children reading enthusiastically.  Many have reached and gone beyond their individual target set for the first half term. At our Harvest Assembly, thirty two children were awarded certificates for reaching or almost reaching their target.  The cup for the child who reached his/her target, and who gained the highest percentage accuracy in the quizzes, was presented to Andrew from P5.  New targets will be set for the next half term and the cup will be re-presented at the end of this period. Well done to all the children who reached their target.  Keep this good reading up!

 

P4 and P5 Gift

Children from P4 and P5 brought money to school to buy a football and goalie gloves.  These were given to Justin McMinn from 'Homeless Street Soccer N.I.' at the Harvest Service.  We hope that they will be used by some of the team members.

HARVEST ASSEMBLY

Our annual Harvest Assembly was on Wednesday 26th October.  The children from P1 - P3 sang a song called 'The Farmer', and P4 - P7 sang 'Remember'.  We were delighted to welcome Justin McMinn from 'Homeless Street Soccer N.I. to take our service.  Justin spoke about the work of the charity and showed a video of the Homeless Street Soccer World Cup, which was held in Glasgow in 2016.  Two of the team members, Mark and Gavin demonstrated their football skills and had a penalty shoot out for children, parents and teachers.  Afterwards, Justin, Mark and Gavin joined the children in the playground to show some more of their football skills. We wish to thank parents and friends for coming along to support our children at the Harvest Service, and for their very generous donations for the work of the charity.  Also, thanks to the ladies of the Parents' Association for serving tea and coffee.

'THANK YOU GOD TREE'

In Assembly, Mrs Calderwood reminded everyone of all things that we have in our lives, that we should be grateful to God for. Everyone had lots of ideas - homes, families, school, church, food and our beautiful world.  Each child was given a coloured label to write or draw something that he/she wanted to say thank you to God for.  These labels were put on to our special 'Thank you God tree', which was on display for our Harvest service.

SCRIPTURE UNION

Scripture Union restarted this week and will continue for the next five weeks.  It is held on Thursday's at lunchtime, from 12.40pm until 1pm.  All P4 - P7 children are very welcome to come along.  We wish to thank the volunteers from our local churches who have trained, and are now giving of their time to run the Scripture Union Club.

SMILE!

On Thursday the photographer was in school for his annual visit. Everyone was looking neat and tidy for this very special event.  I'm sure all parents are looking forward to getting the photographs in good time for Christmas.

FINAL LIBRARY VISIT

The P4 and P5 children had their final visit to Kilrea Library on Thursday.  This week they learned about using the Library Service Website to access information from Encyclopaedia Britannica for doing homework projects.They also listened to a story called 'Clicking Chicken' which focused on Internet Safety.  The children had prepared 'Thank You ' cards for Anne and Jean, who over the past three weeks, have shown them how to use the library.

September Assembly Awards

Congratulations to all the children who received certificates in Assembly for September 2016.  Certificates were awarded for : 'Remembering to Choose a Healthy Break', 'Working Well with Others' and 'Lovely Manners'.

VISIT TO RADAR

The P6 and P7 classes from our school, along with pupils from Carrowreagh and Damhead, visited the RADAR (Risk Avoidance and Danger Awareness Resource) Centre in Belfast.  RADAR is Northern Ireland's first and only, life sized, interactive safety and life skills education centre.  This unique and innovative centre has a full sized street scene, with a house, bus, train, fire station, courtroom, prison cell, shop, boat and much, much more.

The children, through interactive, informative and fun workshops were given the opportunity to explore dangers in a risk free setting.  This included learning about protecting our environment, safety on our roads and fire dangers in our homes.  The most memorable part of the day was when the children were given goggles, which when worn, showed them the effect of using alcohol.

Farewell to Mr Fleck

It was with mixed emotions that we said goodbye to Mr Nigel Fleck, our school caretaker for the past two years.  Nigel has carried out his role as caretaker to the very highest standard, keeping both inside and outside of our school clean, neat and tidy at all times.  Whilst we are sad to see Nigel go, we do congratulate him on his new post as caretaker in the Buick Primary School, Cullybackey.

Presentation of Plaque by Ulster Scots Society

Gary Blair from the Ulster Scots Society, presented P6/7 with a plaque of achievement to commemorate the completion of a twinning project with Monreagh National School in Donegal. Earlier on this year, P6/7 corresponded with the school via emails and they also met up with this school for a trip in Londonderry.