LUNCHTIME AWARDS

Congratulations to Susanna P5, Hana P4 and Joy P1 who received lunchtime awards for ‘Being a good example’. Matthew P7, received his lunchtime award for ‘Being a really patient server’. Tyler P7 received a special award for being exceptionally helpful to the younger children in school in the dinner hall.

MUSIC SUCCESS

Congratulations to Isaac P6 who was awarded a Distinction in his Initial piano exam. Hannah P6 was awarded a Merit in her Grade 1 Clarinet exam. Both Isaac and Hannah are pupils of Mrs Heather McAleese who teaches piano in our school.

DOUBLE MILLIONAIRE!

Congratulations to Alexander in P7 who has now read more than two million words in the Accelerated Reading Scheme. He already had one million words last year!

Keeping Children Safe

We are very aware of our responsibilities to keep children safe whilst they are entrusted to our care. Our Safeguarding and Child Protection policy has recently been reviewed and updated and can be found under the ‘Policies and Documents’ section of our website.

Mrs Lorna Wylie has kindly agreed to serve as Designated Governor for Safeguarding and Child Protection.

We are also holding a parent information session to help parents understand how to keep their child safe whilst they are playing games online (Thurs 14th Feb @ 11.30am, in the school library).

KRD CREDIT UNION QUIZ

Grace, Alexander, Stephen and Andrew took part in the Kilrea, Rasharkin and Dunloy Credit Union General Knowledge Quiz, today, Although they did not come 1st or 2nd they did really well and answered lots of questions correctly.

ROAD SAFETY QUIZ

Yesterday four of our P7 children, Alexander, Andrew, Stephen and Grace took part in the Causeway Coast & Glens heat of the NI Primary school road safety quiz. There were twenty four teams taking part and we were delighted that our team came 2nd in the competition. They now go into the Northern Ireland Road Safety Quiz final which will be held in early March.

HELPING HANDS - PARAMEDICS

There was great excitement in the P1 and P2 classroom when they had a visit from two paramedics, Joe and Robert, as part of their ‘Helping Hands’ topic.  Robert and Joe told them about their job and demonstrated how to put on a bandage, how to use foil to keep warm, how to use oxygen and Miss O'Boyle had her blood pressure taken and heart rate checked.  Afterwards the children went outside to see inside the ambulance and to listen to the siren.  Thank you so much to Joe and Robert for taking time to visit us at Rasharkin Primary School.

ACCELERATED READING CERTIFICATES

Congratulations to all the children from P4- P7 who received certificates for reaching their Accelerated Reading targets for this half term. 

HELPING HANDS - PLAYROOM

In the afternoons our P1 and P2 children go to the playroom for activities linked to their topic work.  This half term their topic work is ‘Helping Hands’.  The children have been enjoying playing in the health centre, and playing with the hospital Lego and emergency vehicles.  I think there may be some doctors and nurses in future years!

'HELPING HANDS'

P1 and P2 have been looking at ‘People who help us’, in their topic work of ‘Helping Hands’.  They have been learning about the people who work in school.  Mrs Hutchinson, who is our school secretary, came to their classroom to talk about her job in school. The children helped Mrs Hutchinson to open the post and answer the telephone.  The children practised answering the phone politely “Good morning, Rasharkin Primary School - how can I help you?”

Mrs Hutchinson took the children for a tour of the office. They saw the money boxes, catalogues, accounts books and Mrs Hutchinson’s diary which is always full of dates for school trips and courses. 

Thank you so much Mrs Hutchinson for taking time to talk to the P1 and P2 children!

TABLE TENNIS

On Wednesday 9th January a coach from Causeway Cost and Glens Borough Council came to take an after school session of table tennis, for P4 - P7 children.  They  enjoyed their first session and they all made great progress from the beginning to the end of the class.

HEALTHY BREAK REWARD- DOUGHNUT DAY

Children from P1-7 enjoyed a doughnut on Wednesday 12th December as their reward for making twenty healthy break choices.  The school councillors came up with the idea in October and staff were happy to use this as a way to encourage children to make healthy choices.  Any fruit, vegetable or non – sugary bread based snacks, e.g. toast, and a drink of water or milk, are recommended by the Department of Education.  Although these guidelines are stricter in their recommendations, we try to accommodate children’s varying tastes, with allowing some exceptions, e.g. pancakes.  For more information please see the guidelines by clicking on the link below.  

 

https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/de/Healthy-breaks-for-schools-A5-leaflet-may-2016.PDF

 

FOREST SCHOOLS WINTER THEME

P3 and P4 together with the P3 children from St Patrick’s Primary enjoyed a Christmas/ Winter themed Forest School Session on Tuesday 19th December. They had six different activities

  • Build Santa’s house  - using large scale construction blocks and pipes

  • Story Time - ‘ A Little Bit of Winter’ - they then made insulating layer to prevent ice from melting

  • Santa’s Elves - The elves’ house was destroyed in a rainstorm.  Use natural materials to build them a new house ( twigs, leaves, moss etc)

  • A home for a hedgehog - Build a warm comfortable home for a hibernating hedgehog

  • Paint a picture - Mix own paints using coal, mud, leaves grasses and warm water and then paint a winter scene

  • Collage - gather natural materials to make a winter and a summer tree.

    Thanks to Mrs Henry and Mrs Morrison for all the work they did in preparing the activities.

CHRISTMAS PARTY FUN

Thanks to Mrs Morrison for organising parties for everyone.  They all had a great time.

Air Ambulance Thank You

NI Air Ambulance sent this letter to thank everyone for their support.

 

thank you letter.jpg

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Congratulations to all our P1-P3 children who showed brilliant acting and singing skills in their school play ‘Chicken Licken’!  The P4- P7 children shared the Christmas story in their play ‘Night of all Nights’.  We saw great talent as the children acted, sang and danced their way through the story. Thanks also to Andrew, Isaac and Grace who played some carols on the piano and also to the group of violin, clarinet and bells players who entertained us with ‘Jingle Bells’.  Thanks to parents, relatives and friends who attended the performance and also thanks to the Committee of Rasharkin Presbyterian Church for  the use of their halls for rehearsals and for the concert.

IMPRESSIVE WIND TURBINES

As part of their energy topic, P5/6/7 were learning about renewable energy.  They wrote an explanation of one type of renewable energy, then added text, photos and audio to make these super interactive books.

P5/6/7 were set a challenge to make a wind turbine from everyday materials.  Lots of problem solving and  team work skills were required.  The turbines were tested using a hair dryer to see if they worked.  There were some very impressive wind turbines!