Today we celebrated the efforts and achievements of all the children through a very different school year. Well done! We wish to thank the committed network of adults they are supported by, both in school and at home, for the many hours invested in these children’s learning journey.
The Libraries NI Summer Reading Challenge will take place from 19th June until 18th September. Children can sign up at their local library, choose their reading goal then read books to collect special stickers and other rewards along the way – all for FREE. There is a digital platform too, so the fun can carry on at home! Children can read whatever they like in their chosen format – fiction, fact books, poetry, joke books, picture books, graphic novels, audio books and eBooks. Everyone who completes their personal challenge will receive a certificate and medal. Events and activities will take place throughout the summer online and possible face-to-face depending on guidelines issued by the Northern Ireland Executive.
Why should children take part?
Children's reading can 'dip' during the long summer holidays if they do not have regular access to books and encouragement to read for pleasure.
The Reading Agency’s annual Summer Reading Challenge really helps by getting over 700,000 children regularly into libraries over the summer, with thousands more taking part online. There is no other free reading activity that involves so many children, introduces families to their library, encourages children to choose books freely and independently and is endorsed by parents and teachers.
What is the focus this year?
This year the Summer Reading Challenge 2021 is called Wild World Heroes and it is a celebration of nature and action for the environment, in partnership with WWF UK. Children age 4 to 11 can join the World Wide Heroes for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge to discover how they can make a difference to the environment. The challenge will feature amazing books, awesome rewards and plenty of ideas for taking care of the environment.
https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/news/general/wild-world-heroes-intro
Sports Day was a little different this year because we were not able to invite parents and friends to it. However, everyone had a brilliant time today, with lots of enthusiastic support from the other classes during the races. There was great competition and some very close finishes. The four main races were, running race, beanbag race, obstacle race and egg and spoon race. There was also a mini marathon for P4 and P5, and P6 and P7. The other class team activities were, football, netball, welly-wanging and golf.
Thanks to everyone for taking part, and also to Fullans who supported our Sports Day. We have included some photos of the various races and activities.
Congratulations to Lucy, Susanna and Molly who have become Millionaire Readers in the Accelerated Reading Scheme. Each one of the girls has read more than one million words this year. Great achievement girls!
Over the past months the Education Authority has been encouraging children to learn about the importance of healthy bodies and minds. Our school has been using ‘Take 5’ steps to a healthy mind and body to help us. The ‘Take 5’ acronym is CLANG:
C - Connect
L - Learn
A - Be active
N - Take notice
G - Give
Today, Chris Lindsay from Education Authority presented our school with official ‘Take 5’ accreditation.
As part of this, our P6 and P7 children have been making animations using Movie Maker. Their animations focus on CLANG.
The winners of the animations were
Ethan, James and Archie - Click to view
Annie and Thomas - Click to view
Runners up were
Susanna, Molly and Ellen.- Click to view
We were delighted to join with schools across the country by all doing the Daily Mile together on Friday. Time spent outside exercising is good for all of us, both physically and for our mental health and well-being. Classes take part in the Daily Mile regularly in Rasharkin Primary School and today was a great chance to highlight this.
![IMG_E3540[1].JPG](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5684021ed8af10fc737c847c/1622212205908-M38XXOAEBX8VXTBW036J/IMG_E3540%5B1%5D.JPG)
Congratulations to all the children pictured below who have been working really hard to improve their speed of recall for multiplication tables. The class records for the fastest time for 100 tables were set by Lucy C (2.13 min) and Sam (2.25 min). Well done!
All playground supervisors have recently completed ‘Positive Playgrounds’ training. They were very enthused with many of the good ideas the training provided. Some of these ideas were shared with the School Council who agreed to run ‘Craze of the Week’, ‘Golden Tickets’ and ‘Lunchtime Targets’ on a trial basis until the end of Term. The school council members will meet again to discuss how these have gone and then agree what to take forward for September.
In preparation for ‘Craze of the Week’ the School Council agreed four crazes and sorted out toys and resources. Thank you to all the School Council members for their hard work.
Action Mental Health have organised a Healthy Me session for parents/carers on 9th June. Please see attached flyer.
Lots of our children have been working hard on their Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress programmes. They have got lots of certificates for their hard work.
Congratulations to Noah P4, who was the winner of the Accelerated Reading Cup for this half term. Noah was 400% over his target. Well done Noah!
Congratulations once again to everyone who received Accelerated Reading Certificates. The children have put in a lot of effort since Easter, to achieve their targets.
Congratulations to all the children who received certificates for May 2021.
Certificates were awarded for:-
Super STEM Skills
Being Kind and Caring
Excellent ICT Skills
Great Art Work
Miss Craig is a 2nd Year student at Stranmillis College Belfast. Over the past few weeks she has been on teaching practice, working in the P6 and P7 classroom. The children all worked really well with Miss Craig and had many enjoyable lessons with her. Best wishes to Miss Craig for her final two years at Stranmillis.
Miss Galloway is a 1st year student at Stranmillis University College in Belfast. She has been with us for the past eight weeks on teaching practice, working alongside Mrs Henry with P4 and P5. The children have all enjoyed her lessons and we wish her all the best for her studies, over the next four years.
There was great excitement in school today when we noticed that a thrush has made her nest on top of the entrance to our sensory garden. When she was off her nest, we took a quick look and she is sitting on four eggs. We are hoping that she will be able to hatch her eggs, even with all the noise of the children in the playground. P4 and P5 have been learning about the ‘Lifecycle of Animals', so this is very exciting for them.
We are delighted to have a new outdoor classroom. This was purchased with earmarked funding from Education Authority, Health and Well Being Fund. Our children love outdoor lessons, so this will be a well used space. P4 and P5 had their World Around Us lesson in it today.
The Annual Report from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) highlights the growing risk of children falling victim to internet predators, with young girls (11-13 years old) currently standing as the most vulnerable group. The criminals are known to groom, bully and coerce children into filming their own sexual abuse via internet-enabled devices, often from within the child’s own bedroom in the family home. The images and videos can then be shared widely online. In response to their findings, the IWF has launched a campaign, backed both by Microsoft and the Home Office, to empower girls through social channels such as Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube; as well as to arm parents against the risks posed by internet predators, preparing them with knowledge and information on how they can protect their child(ren) online. As part of the Home Truths campaign aimed at parents, a televised advert will depict a queue of adult sexual predators lining up outside a house before making their way upstairs and into a child’s bedroom, with the child’s parents remaining oblivious to the ‘open door’ to abuse in their home.
The campaign urges parents to T.A.L.K to their children about online threats:
Talk to your child about online sexual abuse. Start the conversation – and listen to their concerns.
Agree ground rules about the way your family uses technology.
Learn about the platforms and apps your child loves. Take an interest in their online life.
Know how to use tools, apps and settings that can help keep your child safe online.
Discuss and agree on privacy settings for the platforms and apps your child uses, and on more general settings for the family.
The winners of the Sustrans Poster competition promoting active travel were.
P6 - Ellen, Emma, Hana and Sam
P7 - Oliver, Lucy, Susanna and Annie
