Menu
Well done to all the Year 3 and Year 4 pupils who completed the 6 week paired reading programme last term. Today they were given their certificates to celebrate their achievement. Well done to both the children and their parents at home for their commitment over the 6 weeks.
The girls in P6 and P7 have thoroughly enjoyed their netball coaching over the past few weeks.
On Thursday we all took part in our continuous Easter Walk. This was arranged by the PTA group. We started walking at 9.15am and finished at 2.45pm. During this time there were always two classes walking around the school grounds. We faced all weathers but it didn’t dampen our spirits or our motivation and enthusiasm! We were very lucky to have had two special visitors hop by to say hello. 🐰 A big thank you to Asda who also donated 30 eggs for the children. And lastly a huge thank you to our school families for their very generous sponsors. So far our total is £2140 which is incredible and this will be put to great use for the pupils in our school.
A massive well done to everyone who took part and thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Today we had the opportunity to swap classes and read with other children within the school. We had so much fun doing this today. Have a look at the pictures below to see us reading to other children.
Today was a very slimy day in our class. Our topic is Splish, splash, splosh and today we were exploring the difference between a liquid and a solid. We made magic slime that was once a solid and then turned into a liquid!! We were all amazed that if we poked the slime quickly with our finger it was solid but when we put our hand into it, it became a liquid!!
We had so much fun! We even had a bit of an explosion! 🤣 It’s a good job we have lots of helpers in our class who were at hand to help clean it up!
What a fun experiment!!
Parenting NI are working in partnership with the Summerhill Foundation to offer a fully funded zoom programme for parents. Due to popular demand we will be hosting two more programmes, delivered over 4 weeks x 2 hour sessions. Themes covered are Nutrition and Healthy Eating, Play and Reading, Cost of Living and Fitness/Wellbeing.
Parents that complete all sessions will receive a £20 gift voucher
Well done to all of our Superhero’s who received the star awards today. You are all superheroes in our own way, keep shining bright!! ⭐️⭐️
We are inviting adults, parents and carers of children of all ages, who have:
· an autism diagnosis
· are awaiting an assessment
· are displaying early indicators ( suggesting their child may be Neurodiverse),
to attend our next Autism Social Café with local support groups, information stalls and short workshops.
These events are in partnership with statutory services and community and voluntary organisations who can support families on their autism journey.
Our aim is to bring together adults, parents, carers and organisations, to provide support and information on services available. We are hoping that adults, parents and carers will help us shape our plans for future events across the WHSCT, provide feedback, ideas and suggestions. Input from parents and carers will be extremely valuable in the co-design of our future Social Café’s.
Tea & Coffee provided
Booking is not required.
Any further questions email
We have been busy learning about the different 3D shapes. Today we made some 3D shapes using marshmallows and cocktail sticks. We had to count how many sides/edges and vertices each shape has. We used the marshmallows for the vertices and the cocktail sticks for the edges.
What a fun morning! We even got to sample some marshmallows at the end too!! 😉😉
On Friday, the children in Mr Campbell's class were treated to a workshop from the Waterside Theatre Company. We enjoyed talking and listening to a local author called Robert Campbell and a local illustrator called Zoe.
The boys and girls had a great day doing several workshops. Check out the Waterside Theatre in on Instagram, to see the cool activities we took part in. We heard about the travels of captain Timmy and we used our drawing skills to make illustrations for different parts of the book.
Check out the pictures to see how much fun we had!!
We’ve been…
- making our own play dough
- working together to construct
- Creating Scottish flags
- making thistles
- using paints to create our own ideas
- adding on the whiteboard
- using our imagination in the home corner
- exploring textures in the sand
- creating our own tartans
A huge thank you to all our families who sent in donations in lieu of staff Christmas presents and to the children who donated £1 for Christmas jumper day. We were delighted to hand over £706 to Michelle from Healing Hearts at Foyle Hospice for the invaluable service they provide to children who have a terminally ill parent or dealing with a bereavement.
We’ve been learning how to hop in P.E. It’s been so much fun trying to balance and to land safely bending our knees!
Thank you so much to everyone who has been sending in plastic lids. Our first delivery of furniture from Schoolcycled has arrived and we are delighted with it. Please keep sending in any plastic lids you have at home so we can order more items to add to our collection.
On Wednesday we had a fantastic surprise. Whilst out for break the children could hear the sound of bells in the distance. 🔔 Little did they know it was the big man himself. 🎅🏻 The children had great fun with Santa. He met all of the boys and girls and even had a go on the play equipment. We would like to say a BIG thank you to Santa for calling to see us especially when he is so busy.
The staff of Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year. 🎄🎄
This term we have been learning about bridges. We have been looking at several local bridges and how they were constructed. Today it was the children’s turn to design and make their own bridge but there was a twist!! They could only use spaghetti and marshmallows to make their own. Construction started well but some children ran into the problem of materials going missing 🤪 (eaten). Everyone worked well within a group and everyone had a great time doing this activity. Have a look at the finished bridges!! 👍
This week Year 3/4 have been learning about length. Today the children were asked to go around our classroom and measure some items. They had to decide whether or not an item was: less than a metre, about a metre or more than a metre.
We managed to find 2 things in our classroom that were just about a metre! One of our school desks and the classroom sink!! 🚰
This week has been Anti-Bullying Week. To celebrate our fantastic school, the children were allowed to wear odd socks to celebrate that everyone is different. Have a look at the pictures below.
Well done to Emma who received Mrs Harper’s Principal’s Award today for being so brave in school this week. Well done Emma! 🌟
On Tuesday we had a visit from a few members of the Strabane Branch Royal British Legion. They came to launch the Poppy Appeal and William Sayers talked to us about why we wear our poppy and the importance of wearing it with pride.
Members of our pupil council will be in the local paper along with the visitors.
Thank you to all of our visitors.
As an end of term treat, Mr Campbell had brought in some ingredients in. We followed the instructions we had written last week to make chocolate apples.
They were great fun to make and even more fun to eat. 🎃👻🍎
On Monday 42 pupils travelled to Castlederg High School for a cross-country running event. 🏃🏼♀️🏃
When we arrived we were given a number and the rules were explained to us.
The weather conditions were fantastic for running.
Well done to everyone that took part 👏
Well done to Darci who received Mrs Harper’s Principal’s Award today for working so hard and showing fantastic effort at school. Well done Darci! 🌟
We were amazed at how many shapes are actually in our environment and we don’t really notice until we are looking for them! 🔴▪️🔺
Year 6/7 thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Izak9 live Maths Extravaganza today.
Have a look at the photos below.
Well done to all of our Stars of the week who have shone brightly in school this week for lots of different reasons. Well done boys and girls 🌟
This week we had an Autumn theme. Most children chose to build trees with branches and pumpkin patches. Some of the trees were not structurally stable as they fell over easily. We improved this by changing the design of the base. The children decided they would like to try this again next week to see if this improves their structures.
We have been using apples to weigh and paint. We talked about which side of the scales was the heaviest and the lightest. The children then tried to balance the scales evenly which was tricky because the apples were all different sizes. We used apples to print autumn colours and we made chalk autumn trees with the leaves falling onto the ground. What a busy week!
We made our own owls after reading the story, Owl babies. Some children made the mummy while others made the baby owls. Aren’t they cute? 🦉
Well done to all of our stars of the week this week for putting in that extra bit of effort. 🌟
On Tuesday afternoons the Year 3 children come together with Mrs Kane. This term we are working together to create things using LEGO. On week 1 we made our own creations, week 2 we made Road safety themed scenes and on week 3 we made things based on Year 2/3 topic 'Let's sparkle'.
Take a look at what we've made!
We clapped our Year 7 children to their last assembly at primary school this week. We wish them well as they start their next chapter in September.
Well done to all the boys and girls who reached their target in Accelerated Reading. We hope you enjoyed your happy meal 🍟
We had an end of year party with some treats today to celebrate everyone having an amazing year. Well done boys and girls!
This year our class has worked so hard and it was only fitting to finish this year with a fantasitc trip. We went to the Glen Park Estate in Gortin. When we arrived we were taken away for our first activity of the day, a tractor run around the grounds, were we stopped and had a lovely treat. We had loads of fun on the soft play and to finish our day of we had a scavenger hunt.
Have a look at the pictures from our last trip of the year.
Gareth from Live Here Love Here called to our assembly today to present our green flag. A huge thanks to Mr Henderson and our Eco Committee who have helped our school receive this award. We are now an eco school thanks to the efforts of everyone working together to help the environment.
Year 2/3 had a brilliant end of year trip to Glenpark Estate. Have a look at our photos.
Well done to all the boys and girls who have completed the Boosting Reading programme with our assistants.
Well done to all the boys and girls who completed their swimming lessons at Riversdale over the past ten weeks.
All the boys and girls had so much fun today playing bowls and laser tag. The laser tag was a definite favourite! A great day was had by all.
Thank you Samantha and kitchen staff for a beautiful Leaver’s Lunch today for our P7 pupils. The P7 children chose their menu and enjoyed a lovely lunch together.
Congratulations to Poppy who won the nursery raffle-a beautiful handmade wreath and chocolates donated by Liz Keys.
Congratulations to Violet Edgar who won the Artigarvan Bear ‘Albert’ kindly made and donated by Lynsey Croft. (Lucia and Bella-Rose will deliver Violet’s prize)
Thank you to everyone who supported both draws.
Today we gave out all our Sports Day stickers to all our winners (see previous Sports Day post for all photographs).
Well done to our overall winners and runner ups in Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Thank you to Mrs Harper who provided a delicious breakfast for our P7 Leavers on Tuesday…one of many treats for our wonderful P7 pupils this week!
Congratulations to Zara who has read one million words in Accelerated Reading and Lacey who has now read two million words!! Well done girls-enjoy your treats and keep up the fantastic reading 📚
Today we finished our races! Well done to all our winners of the bean bag throw and the dash! We will have our Sports Day celebration assembly in school next week.
We had a lovely time today at the Tower Museum where we attended workshops all about WW2. The children were taken on a tour through the Museum and then attended an interactive handling workshop. They even got to sound off a WW2 air raid siren. Afterwards some children braved going the whole way up to the top of the Tower! A lovely day was had by all.
#learningisfun
Congratulations to Jessica who became a Word Millionaire this week and to Chloe who has read three million words!! Well done girls and enjoy your treats!
What an amazing morning for our Sports Day this year. The sun shone brightly and everyone had great fun taking part in their races. We will complete our final races in the next few days and then hold our celebration assembly to give out prizes. Well done to all our boys and girls for taking part and a huge thank you to Spar for sponsoring our Sports Day. Here are the first set of photographs for you to enjoy! The children love the parent races-we didn’t realize we have such sporty competitive parents in Artigarvan! Thank you to everyone who took part 🏃♂️
A huge thank you to Spar Artigarvan for donating an ice pop for every child in school and nursery today after Sports Day! Just what was needed in this very warm weather ☀️
Today 53 children from nursery and P1/2 went on our class trip to The Playshed. The first excitement was when they realised they were going on a double decker bus. 🚌 Firstly we got them all buckled in safely and ready for the road.
At The Playshed, we had lots of fun running around the soft play area. Even the adults had some fun too 😉😉. We then had some sausages/goujons and chips along with ice cream for dessert. 🍦
We had time for some more play in the soft play frames before it was time to get on the bus and return to school. 🚌
The children behaved exceptionally well and each of them had a very happy face all morning. Well done boys and girls on a super class trip! 👍
Five of our year five pupils visited the Guildhall 100 Square outdoor maths event. The children took part in engaging activities and interactive games to enhance their mathematical skills. They had lots of fun!
P1/2 had a great party on the pitch for their last day with Mr Henderson. Thank you Mr Henderson for being an amazing teacher in P/2 since September.
Thank you so much everyone who supported our school fun day. It was a lovely evening spent with our school families and local community. A huge thank you to everyone who helped out and made it all possible. Enjoy the photographs 📸
All children in Nursery, P1 and P2 received a free book from Mr Linton, a recently retired GP. Mr Linton was unable to visit his two granddaughters in Scotland over lockdown and was encouraged by his wife to write stories to communicate to the girls. It proved to be a huge success and he decided to turn his first story into a book. He delivered a copy for each child in Nursery, P1 and P2 and if anyone would like to make a donation to the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice Mr Linton would be very grateful. We hope you all enjoy this book 📚
Thank you so much to Clayton from Fulton’s Pumpkin Patch for our pumpkin plants. These are a lovely addition to our new Pollinator Garden. We hope to see lovely pumpkins by Halloween 🎃
A huge congratulations goes to Danny, Daisy and Katie who have now read one million words in Accelerated Reading. A special mention goes to Bethany who has now read two million words. Well done everyone, keep up the reading and enjoy your treats!
We are so proud of our new outdoor learning area hidden at the back of school and nursery. Today Lord Lieutenant for Co. Tyrone Mr Robert Scott officially opened our new pollinator garden and outdoor learning area. Mr Scott also planted a tree to mark the Coronation of King Charles.
This area was funded by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful Live Here Love Here School Pollinator Garden grant scheme.
We hope to have many years of fun in this new area and would like to thank everyone who made it happen and thank everyone who visited today. 🪴
Thank you so much to everyone who sent in plastic lids (especially to the family who sourced lots and lots of lids). We now have five boxes ready to be collected tomorrow. Keep sending in any plastic lids you have at home.
Every Thursday, year 5s will be taking part in Badminton in Artigarvan Hall. Last Thursday, George - our instructor - taught us how to hold our rackets properly and taught us how to serve. We all really enjoyed it and are looking forward to learning more this week!
All parents at Artigarvan Primary School are invited to an afternoon tea at the Maldron Hotel on Monday 5th June at 12noon. This is fully funded by Action Mental Health as a thank you for your support to the Our Generation programme. Please let the school know by Monday if you can attend this event.
On what felt like the wettest day of the year our Year 6 and Year 7 got their wellies and coats on and walked to Catherine’s Bridge on the outskirts of the village. The men from the Loughs Agency who have been teaching the children through the Salmon Ambassadors programme met Year 6 and Year 7 at the bridge (on the Glenmornan River).
The children had lots of fun taking samples from the water, looking for bugs and learning lots of new things…no one mentioned rain!!!
Thank you to the Loughs Agency for this opportunity and thank you Year 6, Year 7 and staff for braving the weather ☔️
We had a lovely party lunch together today followed by our tea party. Children could decorate their buns/biscuits and dance the afternoon away before home time. Have a lovely long weekend everyone!
Thank you to the ice cream van for calling to school today so that we could all have a coronation cone 🍦
After our ice cream treat we paraded around the hall in our crowns that we made in class this week 👑
Please see attached flyer for the new date for Parentline’s Speech and Language Support Workshop for parents and carers.
This workshop will focus on:
- Stuttering and Cluttering, how to support a child who stammers
- Glue Ear, listening and supporting language development
The workshop will take place on Thursday 25th May 2023 from 11am to 12.30pm, via Zoom.
Well done to all the children and parents in P3 and P4 who have completed Paired Reading together.
Well done to everyone who completed the Boosting Reading Programme.
Today we celebrated two more word millionaires!! Congratulations to Rebecca and Lucia who will now join Millionaire’s Row. Enjoy your treats 😊
This week it was the turn of the Year 6’s and Year 7’s from Mrs Doherty and Mrs Patterson class. We had a great day playing against 4 other schools. Everyone bowled, batted and fielded. Thank you to David from the NWCU for another fantastic day.
We had our first lesson in our outdoor classroom today. We learnt all about the lifecycle of a sunflower and then planted our own. We can’t wait to watch them grow.
Well done to all the boys and girls who reached their target in AR last term. We hope you enjoyed your happy meal treat 🍟
Please see attached flyers for upcoming workshops for parents
Nursery and school completed their daily mile for World Daily Mile Day!
Parents and families you are all invited to visit our new outdoor learning area/pollinator garden on Tuesday 16th May. Feel free to call in for a cuppa and have a look when you are collecting your child(ren) at either 2pm or 3pm.
Please spread the word amongst family and friends to keep any plastic lids for our school. We are sending them off as part of a recycle scheme to have them made into garden items e.g. chairs or a mud kitchen for our new pollinator garden.
The Year 5’s and Year 6’s from Mrs McClelland class attended a local cricket blitz at Strabane Academy. The weather was beautiful and all the kids had great fun. Thank you to David from the Northwest Cricket Union for organising this, we had a blast.
We were delighted to hand over £150 to Megan from Foyle Down Syndrome Centre today. The money was raised as part of Odd Sock Day on World Down Syndrome Day in March. Thank you to everyone who donated.
This week is Autism Acceptance Week. Today we wore our bright colours to support our vibrant autism community and be kind to different minds.
Earlier in the week we asked for some help planting hedges and fruit trees in our new pollinator garden. We would like to say a huge thank you to Ross and Billy for all their help this morning with William, Alfie and Mrs Harper. Our Eco Committee called up to see how our garden is progressing 🪴 we can’t wait to see the finished product when our plants arrive after Easter.
Our P4-7 have put on two amazing performances in school. A huge well done to everyone involved… We are so proud of you all.
Our kitchen staff had such a difficult job judging our Easter Egg Competition as our boys and girls put so much effort into their creations! A big thank you and well done to everyone for taking part. Our winners are:
Nursery:
1st: Amy
2nd: Sofia
3rd: Seth
Year 1:
1st: Henry - Digger (missing from photograph)
2nd: Willow - Under the Sea Ariel
3rd: Annie - Hungry Caterpillar
Year 2:
1st: Thea - Mermaid Family & Ruby - Unicorn Family
2nd: Evelyn - Humpty Dumpty
3rd: Victoria - The Eggstra Hungry Caterpillar
Year 3:
1st: Brett - Pirate Ship
2nd: Carrie - Amelia Egghart
3rd: Zac - Liverpool v Man Utd (missing from photograph)
Year 4:
1st: Esmae - The Easter Farm Egg Hunt
2nd: Ethan - Star Wars Eggswing
3rd: Finn - The Eggscellent Leprechaun
Year 5:
1st: Nancy - King’s Coronation
2nd: Aaliyah - Easter Ice-Cream
3rd: Rachel - Heggwarts School of Wizardry
Year 6:
1st: Zac - Egg-cient Egypt
2nd: Jody - Royal Wedding
3rd: Emme - The Cheshire Cats Tea Party
Year 7
1st: Beth - Easter Ski Slopes
2nd: Katie - Eggstra Claw Machine
3rd: Bethany - Easter Beach
Congratulations to you all and enjoy your treats!
P1/2 really enjoyed spending the afternoon on their bikes/ scooters. It was really great for Mr Henderson and Anne to see how well they can use them. They all used their bikes and scooters so safely.
P1/2 have been busy planting. Mrs Pollock very kindly gave us onions to plant. They really enjoyed digging the soil out and putting it into plant pots.
This was our first time visiting the new outdoor learning area.
Well done to our superstars outside of school!
Four boys who attend Leckpatrick Boys Brigade received awards:
Leo: Best New Recruit Anchor Boys
Robert and Myles: Best Leavers Anchor Boys
Max: Best New Recruit Juniors
We are so proud of all our children at Artigarvan Primary School & Community nursery and like to share their successes outside of school as well as in school.
Today was a very exciting day as The Hills Church very kindly donated a beautiful hamper to our school. Judah helped to explain about the hamper and the brilliant fun day that is happening at the Hills church on Sunday 9th April. Every child received a ticket on their way into assembly and the winner was drawn... A huge congratulations to our winner Calvin! Enjoy all the treats 😃
We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our families!! Each class have made three or four beautiful hampers for our Easter Hamper Draw tomorrow morning! Please ensure you have all your draw sheets returned to be in with a chance of winning! Thank you so much to everyone for supporting our Easter Hamper Draw.
All the Year 5’s and 6’s enjoyed EA’s show at the Millennium Forum last Wednesday. What a treat it was getting a double decker bus to take us!
Y6 enjoyed a morning of bowls with our Shared Education friends - St. Mary’s PS and Bready PS.
Every Tuesday night 6.30-7.30pm - Free of Charge (please see attached flyer)
Well done to our sporting superstars outside of school:
Chloe attends Riversdale Otters ASC and travelled to Enniskillen Lakelanders Junior Spring Gala at the Enniskillen/Fermanagh Lakeland Forum on Sunday 5th March.
Chloe achieved 4 new Personal Bests in her events at the Gala and swam brilliantly!
Chloe represented her club with professionalism and class the whole day and achieving greats Personal Bests along the way!
We are so proud of all our children at Artigarvan Primary School and like to share their successes outside of school as well as in school. Keep up the hard work everyone!
Each week Mrs Harper will choose a pupil who has shown kindness throughout the week at school to receive her special kindess award. We have so many kind pupils in Artigarvan Primary School! This week the award goes to Sophie. Well done and keep being kind...it doesn't go unnoticed.
Today in assembly we had FIVE word millionaires!! A huge congratulations to Mason, Alfie, and Ariana who have all read one million words and will now join our 'Millionaire's Row' notice board.
Chloe and Sarah have became our first multi-millionaires and have now read two million words! Congratulations Chloe and Sarah!
Keep up the amazing reading everyone and enjoy your treats!!
Yesterday our class had visitors from the Loughs Agency. They taught us all about migration. We learned the reasons why Salmon migrate. We learned about the threats they encounter and we learned all about the epic journey they undertake. We played a game a bit like snakes and ladders at the end but it was all about water and salmon.
Our eggs have all hatched now and turned into little fry. The visitors from the loughs Agency took them away to the next stage of their journey. We were all sad to see them go! Have a look at them in our photographs.
This week and next we are encouraging everyone to walk, cycle or scoot to school. Mr Campbell or another member of staff will be meeting any walkers, cyclists or scooters at the community hall at 8:40 each morning. It will be great to see you there every morning.
Here are some pictures for the Year 3/4 pupils with their bikes and scooters in school.
Please find attached a poster giving details of an upcoming blood donation session in Artigarvan
Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery rocked their odd socks for World Down Syndrome Day 2023. The date for World Down Syndrome Day is the 21st day of the third month to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down Syndrome. This year the theme of World Down Syndrome Day is ‘With us not for us’. Thank you to everyone who sent in donations for Foyle Down Syndrome Trust and thank you to everyone for wearing their odd socks as we raise awareness of Down Syndrome.
Please see attached poster for arrangements for walking and wheeling to school.
We will be celebrating world Down Sydrome Day on Tuesday 21st March by wearing our Odd Socks. Please see poster attached.
Parentline NI have asked us to share this workshop ‘Parenting Patterns and Pitfalls’. This will focus on understanding parenting styles and why it matters. This free workshop is taking place on Tuesday 21st March 2023 @ 7.45pm-9pm, via zoom.
Well done to all the boys and girls in P2 and P5 (and their grown-ups) for completing the Parental Involvement in Numeracy programme for the past six weeks. We hope you enjoyed playing your maths games together. Missing from photographs: Jack, Jodie-Lynn, Max and Sarah.
Please see attached flyer for Kids Cricket coaching which is starting up in Strabane Cricket club on Tuesday 14th March at 18.30-19.30 free of charge.
Zara received a lovely surprise when Mr Hampton from Strabane Academy called to our school with a £50 voucher prize. Zara received this prize by completing the quiz at Strabane Academy Open Evening. Well done and enjoy spending your voucher Zara!
Well done to our sporting superstars outside of school:
Ariana received Player of the Week for Sion Swifts under 10 girls. Ariana also received a medal from her football tournamnet in Irvinestown at the weekend. Well done Ariana!
Olivia also travelled to Irvinestown with Sion Swifts for her football tournament at the weekend. A huge well done to Olivia who also received a medal.
We are so proud of all our children at Artigarvan Primary School and like to share their successes outside of school as well as in school. Keep up the hard work everyone!
Each week Mrs Harper will choose a pupil who has shown kindness throughout the week at school to receive her special kindess award. We have so many kind pupils in Artigarvan Primary School! This week the award goes to Amelia and Alesha. Well done and keep being kind...it doesn't go unnoticed.
This week we have been doing lots of exciting activities to celebrate WBD 2023. We have been playing games, taking part in quizzes, dressing up and reading and listening to stories. Check out our photos - can you see what the most common character/theme was in our class?
Well done and a big thank you to everyone for making such a wonderful effort with your costumes and characters today! We loved discussing our favourite stories and sharing our books with our friends.
Everyone had a great time dressing up as their favourite book character or coming to school in their pj’s today.
Have a look can you spot anyone you know?
Look at all our fabulous costumes and PJs for World Book Day.
We had a super day today for World Book Day. All of the boys and girls and staff made a fantastic effort with their costumes. We had lots of wonderful characters from famous books. We also watched and listened to the story called “where’s Spot?” This story included Makaton signs and was read by one of the ladies from Singing Hands on YouTube.
We really enjoyed this and afterwards Mrs Preston read us one of her favourite stories, ‘The Hungry Caterpillar.’
we had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day today!!! 📚📚📚
As it is World Book Day tomorrow we have had different book related activities happening in school this week. Today we mixed up all our classes and the older pupils read books to our younger pupils. This was such a lovely little time for pupils of all ages in our school.
We are so impressed with our Year 6 and Year 7 pupils as they created beautiful bird boxes today with Damien and David from F.R.O.G outdoor educators. Each child will get to take home the bird box that they made and we also have a few to put up around school. The boys and girls thoroughly enjoyed this activity.
Our student council memebrs had a short meeting with Mr Campbell at the start of this term, we talked about how we could improve our lives at school and talked about different treats that we could have every Friday.
This week we have had a brilliant treat of hot chocolate and scones. They were so GOOD.
We want to thank Cherry and Samantha for these lovely treats.
Each week Mrs Harper will choose a pupil who has shown kindness throughout the week at school to receive her special kindess award. We have so many kind pupils in Artigarvan Primary School Mrs Harper may need to have lots of certificates!! This week the award goes to Mya and Calvin. Well done and keep being kind...it doesn't go unnoticed.
Well done to our sporting superstars outside of school:
Olivia received player of the week with Sion Swifts Football Club for her outstanding efforts at football.
The girls who attend Euphoria Allstar Cheerleading attended a competition in Antrim and brought home lots of medals and trophies.
We are so proud of all our children at Artigarvan Primary School and like to share their successes outside of school as well as in school. Keep up the hard work everyone!
Year 5 had a fun trip to Gortin on Wednesday for part of our Shared Education. We went along with Donemana PS and St Michaels PS. We participated in scavenger hunt activities, learnt about the different types of trees in the forest and fun facts about squirrels. We found things from the forest and made art work from the items. Our group spelt out the message, "Don't litter". We all had so much fun in the play park before coming back to school.
P1/2 had lots of fun today making pancakes with Mr Henderson and Anne. Have a look at our photographs to see how they turned out.
We read the story ‘Rabbit’s Pancake Picnic’ talked about how to make pancakes. The also completed a sequence activity recalling the method!
On Friday 10th February, to mark the end of Children’s Mental Health Week 2023 and Valentine’s Day being just a few days away everyone at Artigarvan was sharing the love!!!
❤️ Children could come to school wearing something red/pink.
❤️ Children could post Valentine’s cards in our special post box to be delivered around the classes.
❤️ We had a special board to pin on your heart of what love means to you.
❤️ We had sweet treats delivered to our classrooms
❤️ Our kitchen staff made beautiful heart shaped biscuits for dessert.
We had a great day sharing the love around school and nursery ❤️❤️
Well done to our Year 7 pupils who came a very impressive third place in the Road Safety Quiz at the Guildhall. There were 9 other teams in their heat. They were delighted to receive a beautiful medal and some road safety goodies.
Have a look at this video from Action Mental Health. Action Mental Health visited our school recently as part of Children’s Mental Health Week 2023.
Some of our Year 4-7’s travelled to Holy Cross College for the St Mary’s Cross Country event. They had lots of fun and brought home some medals also! Thank you to St Mary’s for organising.
For Children's Mental Health week we all participated in an online art lesson with Sinead McDermott from the art and design factory. Sinead’s aim was to reduce anxiety and stress through art and all the boys and girls really enjoyed it!
Mrs McClelland has been absolutely blown away with the talent in her class this week. The boys and girls were set a topic homework where they had to think of a local place that is special to them and create it from scrap materials. This ties in well with our topic ‘Being and Belonging’. The children then showed off their projects to the class and shared why their place was special to them.
Well done boys and girls!
Some children from Year 6 and Year 7 travelled to Foyle College for a hockey blitz. Artigarvan teams had lots of fun and won or drew every game.
Today we participated in lots of fun activities all about internet safety. Firstly, we worked in groups to rank certain situation and scenarios in order from highest to lowest risk to children, most seen on the internet to least seen and most annoying to least annoying. We then talked about how our bodies feel if we experience any of those situations and who we can talk to. In groups we each drew a person and thought of adjectives of how they would feel.
Finally, we created our own listening superheroes. We talked about what makes a good listener and played role play games on how to listen.
Please find details of upcoming event:
Autism Social Café
We are inviting parents and carers of children of all ages, who have:
- an autism diagnosis
- are awaiting an assessment
- are displaying early indicators ( suggesting their child may be Neurodiverse),
to attend our next Autism Social Café with local support groups, information stalls and short informal talks/workshops.
Date: Friday 24th Feb 2023
Time: 10am- 12noon approx.
Venue: Melvin Sports Complex, Melvin Rd, Strabane BT82 9PP
This event is in partnership with statutory services and community and voluntary organisations who can support families on their autism journey.
Our aim is to bring together parents, carers and organisations, to provide support and information on services available. We are hoping that parents and carers will help us shape our plans for future events across the WHSCT, provide feedback, ideas and suggestions. Input from parents and carers will be extremely valuable in the co-design of our future Social Café’s.
Tea & Coffee provided.
Booking is welcome but not essential.
Email: Lisa.storey@westerntrust.hscni.net
Today family and friends of Lucy and Calum along with Brighter Ballymagorry Development Group visitied nursery to present a cheque for £1900. The money is to be used for the enhancement of Calum and Lucy's education at Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery. The money was raised through a charity walk on New Year's Day. We are so grateful to Brighter Ballymagorry Development Group for organising the walk and raising this amazing amount of money. Thank you so much.
We were delighted to present £600 to Action Mental Health with thanks to our parents and families who made donations instead of staff presents this Christmas. Action Mental Health has worked closely with our school over the past two years. Pupils, parents and staff have all benefitted from workshops and activities provided free of charge. Thank you so much to our families for their support - it is very much appreciated.
Action Mental Health would like us to share this free online session with our parents and carers.
Year 5’s enjoyed a walk around their local Village this morning. We revised our Green Cross Code before leaving school and looked out for hazards during our walk. We found safe places to cross the road and identified permanent and temporary hazards.
Well done to six of our girls who attend Euphoria Allstars Cheerleading. At the weekend they travelled to Lisburn to take part in the DC12 Cheerleading Competition. They were delighted to come first place in their category!
Spaces available for 1 hour zoom session for parents –
Top Tips for promoting a healthy lifestyle
10.30-11.30am
this Thursday 26th January.
Parents will have the opportunity to explore the importance of a healthy lifestyle, as well as discovering activities which can promote a healthy lifestyle whilst meeting the demands of parenting. The session will touch on elements such as diet, exercise, sleep and how these impact on healthy physical and mental health.
Parents can self-refer and book onto any of these opportunities by calling our support line on 0808 8010 722.
Please read attached flyer and share with anyone who may be interested.
We had lots of fun today digging and playing in the snow ⛄️
We all had so much fun playing outside today in the snow!
A huge congratulations to Bethany, Sarah and Lacey who have all read one million words in Accelerated Reading!! They will now join Chloe on Millionaire's Row (our school noticebard for AR Millionaires). Well done to you all!!
Online applications for Pre-School & Primary 1 are now open via EA Connect
Today Year 6/7 had their last session with Ciara from the Medics in Primary Schools Programme. Ciara is a medical student at Queen’s University and has been delivering lessons to our P6/7 class once a week for the past few months. Ciara delivered some lessons online and some face to face. The children were taught all about the body including the eyes and the heart. We would like to thank Ciara for planning and carrying out the lessons over the past few months and wish her well in the next part of her studies at university. P6/7 have really enjoyed taking part in these lessons.
Geraldine from British Red Cross visited our school to deliver some first aid training to our P6s and P7s. This was a great opportunity to explore what first aid means and cover some lifesaving skills including recovery position, CPR and how to use a AED. Pupils had an opportunity to ask any questions. Thank you Geraldine for visiting our school 🩹 ⛑
The online portal to apply for your child’s place in Nursery/P1 opens Tuesday 10th January at 12noon. Please see EA website for more information on how to apply. https://www.eani.org.uk/parents/admissions/applying-for-a-school-place
Children in Years 5, 6 and 7 who have reached their accelerated reading target this term were treated to a trip to the shop! They had a great time spending their money and eating their purchases. All children will have a new target in the new year so keep reading everyone and you could be having a trip to the shop next term 📚
There was lots of excitement in school and nursery this morning when a special visitor arrived for a visit. Thank you Santa for visiting our school.
This term Mr Campbell’s class have been reading George’s Marvellous Medicine. We have enjoyed reading this book to see what happened with each medicine. Today it was Mr Campbell's turn to make his medicine. The children had to guess the ingredients in each of his concoctions. Judging by the faces of everyone I think they went down a treat.
Well done to all the boys and girls whio have met their target in Accelerated Reading this term! Enjoy your treats!
Missing from photographs:
Lacey
Robyn
Lucia
Katie H
Daisy
Thank you to everyone who braved the cold this morning to attend our coffee and carols morning. I think you will all agree our choir and Mrs Preston were amazing and everyone was feeling festive as they enjoyed the songs. Thank you to all our visitors for their very kind donations-it is all very much appreciated.
Well done to our Year 1/2 children who were amazing performing their nativity play in front of a real audience for the first time!
We really enjoyed putting on our nativity play for a real audience this year. Everyone had a great time having a boogie down to Bethlehem. Have a look at some of our photographs from our performance.
Thank You to everyone who came to our Open Day, our admission criteria for Nursery and P1 is now available on the EA website. Applications open on 10th January 2023 https://www.eani.org.uk/parents/admissions/search-admissions-criteria
This week we had our open day to give perspective parents an opportunity to have a look around our school. Thank you to those who came and we hope that you enjoyed having a look around and speaking to the staff both in Nursery and P1. Here are a few photos of some of families who came to visit.
We made a short video to thank everyone who made our Supper with Santa evening such a success. Remember to support local businesses…every event we hold throughout our school year is always so well supported by our local businesses. Thank You!
This week our school choir have been performing within our community and surrounding areas. Yesterday we brought some festive cheer to Melmount Manor Nursing home and today we joined a group of local people in Artigarvan Community Hall to perform for them also. 🎶
We are very proud of our school choir that consists of boys and girls from Year 4 -7. They have been doing lots of practising and are enjoying showing off their talent to special audiences. 😁
Last night we had an event called 'Supper with Santa' that was organised by our PTA. What a fantastic evening we all had!! The parents and children arrived and were put into 5 groups. Each group moved around between 5 different classrooms in which they completed various activities. They enjoyed listening to some music and playing board games, watched a short movie, made Rudolph buns and bags, made some reindeer dust for Christmas Eve and also listened to a maginificent story teller who read 'The Night Before Christmas.' 📖
They concluded the evening by meeting the main man, Santa Claus and spending some time having hot chocolate and a cookie for their supper. 🍪
We would like to thank everyone who was involved in organising and preparing for this event as it was a huge success. A special shout out to the following local businesses who donated everything that we needed for the event to take place. A big thank you to: Holden Agriculture, Spar Artigarvan, Dennett Outdoor, Asda and Lakeland Dairies. 👏
We managed to raise a super £505 for our school funds. All the boys and girls left with very happy faces so thats how we know it was a fantastic success. Enjoy looking through our selection of photos! 😁
We had such a fun day in school today for Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day and enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner. We would like to thank Cherry and Wendy for a beautiful dinner.
Today we took part in the Santa Daily Mile. Every day in school we complete the Daily Mile and we were delighted to sign up to the Santa Daily Mile to add in some festive fun…our new inflatable Santa watched on 🎅
P1/2 has been hit by Christmas! It is great to see so many happy faces and they are so excited! We have even been visited by a naughty elf called Buster! (Even though Mr Henderson doesn’t like elves). Ask your child about Buster everyday to see what he has done.
I hope you like the photos of our lovely class decorating.
Well done to all our highland dancers in school who received medals and trophies at the weekend. A few of the girls and boys brought their awards in to assembly and told us all about their dance competition and exam awards. Congratulations everyone involved!
Well done to all our swimmers in Years 6 and 7. Everyone has worked so hard over the past 10 weeks. Keep up the hard work and keep swimming. We can’t wait to see your awards in the new year.
This week we have been looking at the different weights of objects within our classroom.
We used weighing scales to measure the weight of each item.
Everyone in the room had a good to estimate of how many cubes it would take for the scales to balance.
Look at all the busy boys and girls 😀
All of the year 6’s enjoyed their first session of shared education at Strabane Academy on Monday. The boys and girls all participated in rugby alongside Bready and Cloughcor PS. We can’t wait for our next session.
The boys and girls have all been enjoying ‘Charlotte’s Web’ in class. We all thought of different food items for Wilbur the pig and used adjectives to describe these. Some children described them in a very appealing way and some sounded completely revolting! We then designed and created a menu for Wilbur using Microsoft Word. The boys and girls learnt how to insert a border, use bullet points and insert a picture. Check out some of the amazing menus. What would you choose to eat? 🤭
Mrs McClelland’s class finished their ten week block of swimming lessons in Riversadale Leisure Centre yesterday.
Today the boys and girls have received their certificates to celebrate how far each child can swim.
This class will have a second block of swimming lessons later in the school year. We can’t wait to see how much you will improve over these lessons.
Have a look at our award winners 🏊♀️🏊🏼♂️
The 14th to 18th November 2022 is anti-bullying week in school and this year the theme is 'Reach Out'
Anti-Bullying Week will remind everyone whether it’s in school, at home, in the community or online, let’s reach out and show each other the support we need.
Bullying affects millions of lives and can leave us feeling hopeless. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we challenge it, we can change it. And it starts by reaching out.
Whether it’s in school, at home, in the community or online, let’s reach out and show each other the support we need. Reach out to someone you trust if you need to talk. Reach out to someone you know is being bullied. Reach out and consider a new approach.
And it doesn’t stop with young people. From teachers to parents and influencers to politicians, we all have a responsibility to help each other reach out. Together, let’s be the change we want to see. Reflect on our own behaviour, set positive examples and create kinder communities.
It takes courage, but it can change lives. So, this Anti-Bullying Week, let’s come together and reach out to stop bullying.
Today the boys and girls in school and nursery wore their odd socks in support of anti bullying week 2022!
The SEND Transformation Programme Reference Group (PRG), made up of parent advocacy groups
and the wider education and health bodies, and community and voluntary organisations, will
facilitate the following engagement sessions:
Online information session 1: Thursday 24th November 2022: 8-9:30: https://bit.ly/3Ez4Z5k
Online information session 2: Thursday 1st December, 2022: 7pm-8:30pm: https://bit.ly/3tDkenz
These upcoming information events provide an opportunity for parents and carers to learn more
about the programme and to meet PRG representatives. We want to make sure all voices are heard,
so that we can be sure we are taking the right steps to deliver the right support at the right time,
for all our children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Thank you so much to all our families who supported the shoe box appeal this year! Mrs Harper has her car packed with 46 shoe boxes to drop off this evening with the Samaritans Purse volunteers. You will all bring a smile to a little child’s face this Christmas-thank you so much 🎄
Please share attached flyer with anyone you may know who has a child starting Nursery or P1 in September 😊
Y6/7 loved their technology and science lesson! Wigglebots, which could actually draw by themselves ( using a motor), caused great excitement in the classroom.
The Blood Tranfusion service will be in Artigarvan Hall on Monday 28th & Tuesday 29th November. To book an appointment please call 08085 534 653
In Mr Campbell’s the boys and girls have been learning about the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
The boys and girls have been looking at the flags of the 32 countries that will take part. Can you name all 32?
Year 6 had a fun-filled day at Gortin Glen with the Year 6 pupils from Bready Jubilee Primary School and St. Mary's P.S, Cloughcor. We followed trails, did some forest art and found out lots of interesting information about lots of the animals, birds and trees that live and grow there.
Year 7 had lots of fun at Bready Cricket Club. We joined classes from St Mary's Primary School, Cloughcor and Bready Jubilee Primary School. We did lots of aerobics and a few icebreaker activities. We all enjoyed our morning and made lots of new friends! Have a look at our photos!
The children in Mr Campbell’s class were very excited to meet Baby James and his Mummy for their first Roots of Empathy visit. The Theme is called ‘Meet the Baby”. The children talked about what babies can and cannot do. They weighed Baby James and talked lots to his Mummy about him. Everyone loved meeting him and enjoyed seeing his Mummy Mrs. Kane again! We can wait until their next visit.
A huge well done to Chloe who is our first word millionaire in Accelerated Reading this year!!! Chloe has read one million words since September! Enjoy your treats Chloe and keep up the fantastic reading!!
We started learning about length this week. Children are confident in estimating and measuring in centimetres and metres. We engaged in fun activities where we measured things in our classroom and parts of our body using rulers and tape measures. Today, we went outside to measure the length of some dinosaurs using trundle wheels. The largest one we measured was the ultrasaurus which was 30 metres long! Check out our photos.
50 boys and girls headed off to Castlederg to take part in a local cross-country competition.
The children took part in several races, the course was very long and had several changes in terrain. Everyone gave their all and came back to school with a smile on their face and muck on their clothes.
Have a look at some of the photos, can you spot yourself?
We would like to thank Mr Lowry from Edwards Primary School for the invitation.
Thank you to Darren who comes to school every Tuesday morning for chanter lessons with the boys and girls in P5, 6 and 7 who have signed up.
All our classes got creative this week as they designed and created their Halloween class doors…Thank you Mr Wright our music teacher for judging and well done to the winners…P5/6 🎉
Last week Fulton’s Pumpkin Patch very kindly delivered six pumpkins to school…every class got busy decorating their pumpkin and Cherry our cook announced the winner….Well done to P5/6 who won the competition 🎃
Thank you boys and girls for all taking part in our Halloween Colouring Competition…Catherine and Elizabeth our lunchtime supervisors had a tough job judging! Well done to all our winners and enjoy your treats 👻
Mr Henderson and Anne didn’t recognise any of the Year 1/2 children today when they arrived to school…how fab do they all look in their costumes?? Year 1/2 had a great day taking part in all our half term treats. Have a look at the photographs…Do you recognise anyone??
Year 6/7 had great fun this afternoon making some chocolate treats! We think we may have a few chefs in the future!
Today the nursery children had lots of fun dunking for apples and we also had a mini disco dancing to some music! The boys and girls looked fabulous in all of their costumes! 🕷🧙🏻♀️👻
Happy Halloween boys and girls and see you after your half term holidays.
Year 3 headed on their pedestrian walk in the village as they complete the Step out with Skooter Road Safety Programme. They stopped off at the school gate to investigate the road markings and safety barrier before heading in the direction of Church View. The children discussed with Miss Hicks about the best place to cross the road and everyone knew not to cross in between parked cars. We safely made it back to school ready to complete our road safety booklets.
This morning we welcomed members of the Royal British Legion to school for a special assembly to launch the Poppy Appeal this year. This was a great opportunity for the children to learn about the Poppy Appeal and ask questions to the members of The Royal Bristish Legion. Poppies and other poppy items will be available to purchase in school after half term with all money raised going to The Poppy Appeal 2022.
All of our Year 1 children received a gift from the Education Authority's Education Library Service and BookTrust NI.
Every child in Year 1 received a Time to Read pack. The pack this year contains the book "We're going to find the Monster" by Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola alongside some top tips for reading together, a colouring sheet, spot-the-difference and a QR code to watch the story being read out loud.
Research shows that a child who reads for pleasure will do better at school, even in subjects like maths. Not only that, but if a family read books together, it's a great way to bond, talk about the day, and have a lot of fun!
Thank you so much to Clayton from Fulton’s Pumpkin Patch for our pumpkin delivery today…our pumpkin decorating competition will be in full flow next week-let’s see which class will win the prize this year!!! Keep an eye next week for pictures of the finished products and who is the winner 🏅
Our excited Year 4’s headed to Gortin Glens as part of a school trip with our cluster schools, Donemana Primary School and St Michael’s Primary School (Donemana). When we arrived we met the other boys and girls from both schools and we were put into groups to complete a number of tasks.
These groups took part in a number of activities including finding wooden sculptures of animals, tree identification and making fireworks from leaves that had fallen from the trees nearby.
We finished off a great day when we got to play in the fantastic park.
Have a look at the pictures to see how much fun we had 😀.
Thank you to the team at Gortin Glens for a fantastic day.
Y6/7 enjoyed their visit from the Nerve Centre programmers who helped them program a game. They used Scratch coding.
The mobile library visits our school every other Wednesday morning for P2, P3 and P4. Dennis our library van driver loves his visits to Artigarvan and the boys and girls love visiting the library van to choose a book.
This Parenting Week 2022, Parentline NI remind parents, carers and family members they are here and #inyourcorner. Whatever you are facing as a parent, Parentline are here to listen, support and guide you. We have no waiting lists and are here for your call. #parentingweek
Parenting NI will be offering parents living within the Western Trust a range of opportunities around the theme of mental health and emotional wellbeing. Please see below for more information. Parents who wish to reserve a space just need to call the Parenting NI Support Line on 0808 8010 722.
Tuesday 25th October, 6.30 – 7.30pm via zoom
Top Tips – Parents Emotional Health (practical advice and guidance to support positive parental mental health and wellbeing)
Tuesday 25th October, 8.00 – 9.00pm via zoom
Top Tips – Childrens Emotional Health (practical advice and guidance for parents so that they can support the mental health and wellbeing of their children)
Tuesday 8th November, 7.00 – 8.30pm x 6 weeks via zoom
Sink or Swim (Positive Mental Health Programme for Parents)
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ P1/2: Rebecca
⭐️ P2/3: Ethan
⭐️ P3/4: Mason
⭐️ P5/6: Daisy
⭐️ P6/7: James
Please find attached a temporary dinner menu that we will follow from Monday 10th october 2022
Well done to all our stars this week:
🌟 Year 1/2: Lily-Rose
🌟 Year 2/3: Judah
🌟 Year 3/4: Esmae
🌟 Year 5/6: Max
🌟 Year 6/7: Riley
Please read attached information from EA regarding Free School meals and Uniform Allowance.
It is so great to see everyone in P1/2. On your child's first day they made a first day poster. They painted their hands and created hand prints. Then they wrote their name in the middle. I am finally getting round to uploading all the lovely photos!
Everyone has settled in extremely well in P1 and it is great that we are all now in a full day until 2pm.
Please read at the attached leaflet from Department of Education about healthy lunches.
Today the children embraced the challenge of carrying buckets of water during their daily mile in order to raise money for our sponsor child in Ethiopia as well as to raise awareness of the realities of everyday life in countries without access to clean, running water. Well done children- you did an amazing job and we raised £41.50 in our class.
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Year 1/2: Annie H & Drew
⭐️ Year 2/3: Angel
⭐️ Year 3/4: Jack
⭐️ Year 5/6: Mya
⭐️ Year 6/7: Jody
The Department of Education has commissioned a Review of Childcare Services and a survey has been launched to gather the views of parents and carers of children aged between 0 and 14 years. Please take a few minutes to complete.
What an exciting day in our school!!
Last week Lakeland Dairies contacted our school to see if we would like to take part in a colouring/poster competition. The competition is all part of recycling week in which Lakeland Dairies is taking part.
The children in P1 - P7 got very busy especially when they heard about the fantastic prizes Lakeland Dairies had to offer 😊
P1 and P2 had to colour in a recycling picture, P3 and P4 had a different recycling picture to colour and P5,6 &7 had to design their own recycling poster.
A huge congratulations to our three winners:
Myla P2
Eva P4
James P7
who each won an Amazon tablet.
All the children in school and nursery received a packet of colouring pencils and a pen from Lakeland Dairies.
We would like to thank Lakeland Dairies so much for involving our school in their recycle week. During our assembly today we realised how many children in our school have connections with the creamery so it is lovely to be involved in this together.
A special thanks to Deirdre Kellegher-Site Manager, Stephen Gourley-Environmental Manager, Dessie Donnell-Process Operator and Ellie Kee-Environmental student for coming to school today to present the prizes.
This Friday 23rd September we are going to carry buckets of water as we complete our Daily Mile and raise some money for our sponsor child Olbirat. Next week we will hold a special Stand by Me assembly in school and pass any money raised onto Olbirat.
Well done to all our stars this week:
🌟 Year 1/2: Amelia-Rose
🌟 Year 2/3: Ellie-May & Ruby
🌟 Year 3/4: Lily & Matthew K
🌟 Year 5/6: Zara
🌟 Year 6/7: Mason & Chloe
The Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion service urgently need blood donors and have asked for our help. There is a session to give blood in Strabane Presbyterian Church Hall on Thursday 22nd September. Please call the number on the attached poster to book your slot.
Strabane Tennis Club @ Strabane Academy, Derry Road, Strabane
Junior Squads for Beginners and ImproversThe squads of 4-6 will run for 6-week blocks (one hourly group lesson a week) with the first one commencing the week beginning Monday 19th September.
The cost for the 6-week block will be £30 for members (£35 for non-members). Any lessons cancelled due to bad weather will be rescheduled free of charge.
Adult lessons will take place on Saturdays (precise time to be arranged) whilst children’s lessons will take place during the week:
Provisional Days and Times -subject to change
Tuesday 3:30pm - 4:30pm for 5-11
Thursday 3:30pm - 4:30pm for 11+
Anyone interested in participating is kindly asked to complete the form below so that we can organise the relevant squads etc and all places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScR_4m_h_7vuzojQ8UqSSNUBcL3wpS6FXt7KuSchweyexRh7w/viewform
Forms must be completed by 5pm on Friday 16th September.
There will be a free taster event on Saturday 17th September from 10am - 12pm where members can meet the squad coach and experience how the coaching squads will operate.
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Year 1/2: Alexis
⭐️ Year 2/3: Jaxon, Oliver, Zac & Finlay
⭐️ Year 3/4: Hannah
⭐️ Year 5/6: Sophie N
⭐️ Year 6/7: Tamzin & Ross
Welcome to 2022 in Y6/7. There are 27 pupils in our class. The girls outnumber the boys 16 to 11. We are really looking forward to having a wonderful year becoming our best selves. We've had a very exciting first week! Mr McClean, a student teacher, has been helping our teachers,Mrs Doherty and Mrs Patterson.
Please find attached our Breakfast Club menu available in school each morning from 8.30am
Please find attached a copy of our dinner menu for this term. Children will receive a paper copy in school on Wednesday 31st August. Dinners will begin on Thursday 1st September.
Please remember to use the uniform recycle scheme at Dunamanagh Baptist Church-they have lots of Artigarvan PS uniform all in good condition. They will be open this Thursday 4th August and Friday 5th August or message their Facebook page for any help. We would like to thank Dunamanagh Baptist Church for running this scheme.
Our Year 3,4,5 and 6’s headed off to Letterkenny on Friday for their school trip. When we arrived, we were greeted by Emma who we had met before in school, when she was carrying out workshops for Action Mental Health. We had our lunch, then the real fun started! We listened to music, got our faces painted, got our hair braided and took part in arts and crafts activities.
Thank you to Emma for the invite we all had a great time! :)
On Thursday 10 boys and girls headed off to Bready Cricket Club to participate in the regional final for cricket.
Artigarvan was placed in group A where they would play three games before lunch. In our group we had Millburn PS, Comber Claudy PS and Donemana PS.
We won all three games and headed into lunch sitting pretty on top of the group but also with the most runs out of all the teams participating, 939 runs in three games 🙀🙀.
After lunch we took on Ebrington PS in the semi final, after batting first we set a competitive score. We bowled and fielded extremely well to earn us a win and a place in the final.
In the final we took on Newbuildings PS. After a strong bowling and fielding performance we were set 240 runs to win. After a few wickets the match became very close, that was before Roy came in and smashed 5 six’s off the second last over and repeated the same feat twice more in the final over to bring the cup home to Artigarvan.
We would like to say a big thank you to David and his team from the NWCU for a fantastic event.
We are the champions!!!
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Lucy
⭐️ Year 1/2: Evelyn
⭐️ Year 2/3: Robbie
⭐️ Year 3/4: Eve & Annabel
⭐️ Year 5/6: Sophie O & Jody
⭐️ Year 6/7: Katelyn
The ‘Magnificent 7s’ in-paper feature will appear in this week’s Strabane Chronicle on Thursday 23rd June.
This photographic feature includes a class photograph of the departing Primary 7’s.
During the month of June we have started our transition programme for the nursery children who are moving into P1 in our school in September. The boys and girls have been for a few visits to experience the different sections of a typical day in P1. This includes, morning break, outside play in the playground and for a school dinner.
They have coped exceptionally well with all of these transitions and we are very proud of them. Here are a few photos of them having a great time in P1 with Mr Henderson and Anne. 😁
Today was a very exciting day in Nursery! We walked down to Artigarvan play park for some fun and a picnic. Mrs Harper brought us down an iced lolly and we were so glad as it was quite warm. Thankfully the weather stayed dry and the boys and girls had so much fun. Sometimes the simple things in life are by far the best!!😁😁
The children were so well behaved and most importantly had the best morning together having fun! ⭐️⭐️
A huge well done to all our boys and girls who graduated from nursery today, what a special morning celebrating with you all 👩🎓
Everyone at Artigarvan is delighted with the newest addition to the Artigarvan family. One of our very talented parents made this bear and gifted it to our school-we just love it!! Thank you so much to Kiara’s mum for our special bear 🐻
Well done to the boys and girls who took part in the Cycling Proficiency Scheme with Mr Campbell. Today in assembly they were presented with their certificates and a special badge to mark 50 years of Cycling Proficiency 🚲
Well done to Emma and Katelyn who became Word Millionaires and have now joined Millionaire's Row. Congratulations girls-we hope you enjoy your treats 🍬
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Year 1/2: Harper
⭐️ Year 2/3: Mason
⭐️ Year 3/4: Mia
⭐️ Year 5/6: Darci
⭐️ Year 6/7: Emma & Katelyn
Everyone in our room has been working hard on their times tables and division sums. Have a look at the movers within our room in the past few weeks. Well done everyone 😀
We are delighted that we have another word millionaire to join our Millionaires Row notice board. A huge well done to Lucia 🌟 another reading star who has read one million words. 📚
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Sophia
⭐️ Year 1/2: Jack
⭐️ Year 2/3: Isla & Hannah
⭐️ Year 3/4: Eva
⭐️ Year 5/6: Jody
⭐️ Year 6/7: Olly & Roy
Well done to all our boys and girls for taking part in Sports Day today! It all went so well despite the drizzle. We will complete the obstacle and novelty races on the next dry day and let you know how we get on 😊
We have had a busy week!! On Monday we came into nursery and we were greeted with 2 new arrivals. We had 2 chicks hatched from our eggs in the incubator. 🐣 As the week has progressed we have had more and more and managed to get 9 chicks from a batch of 12 eggs. 😯
Today the boys and girls got to hold a chick for the 1st time. We wanted to leave them for a few days to let them get a little stronger before they were handled by little hands.
Today was very exciting and very child was brave enough to hold or pet a chick. We can’t wait to watch them grow and to care for them over the next couple of weeks. 🐥
Today we celebrated two little children for their successes with outside of school activities. Annie was a winner at a Jubilee Bonnet competition with Sollus which was held at Bready Primary School during the weekend. Well done Annie and what a magnificent bonnet!!
Also, during the same event Alex got presented with his Pirate Dance Award. He brought in his trophy and certificate and we even got to have a little sample of his highland dancing. Keep up the super work Alex.
Have a look at what the boys and girls in Afterschool Club have been up to as they celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 👑
Year 1/2 have been very busy learning about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. They had great fun using finger paints to design a colourful Queen’s head. The boys and girls were busy writing diamanté/diamond poems. A diamante poem, or diamond poem, is a style of poetry that is made up of seven lines. The text forms the shape of a diamond. Have a look at the finished masterpieces 👑
Thank you so much to everyone who supported our Fun Day. Over the past few weeks children have been bringing in bottles and items for the rainbow stall. We would also like to thank Spar in Artigarvan for their contribution to the bottle stall, the creamery for providing treats for break, Ali’s Steakhouse for the burgers, Mr Whippy for the ice-cream and to Mark Hetherington for his help getting the Full Swing vans up onto our pitch!!! Artigarvan definitely has community spirit when help is needed and we appreciate it all so much. We sent out a text to ask for any bakers to help out with the tea/coffee stand and we were overwhelmed by the response-thank you so much to everyone who donated tray bakes and buns. It was lovely to see all our families back at school and the children all having fun. We will update you of the final total raised in the coming days!!! Thank you once again for your continued support ☺️
On Wednesday lots of beautiful Kings and Queens were enjoying lunch together to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Thank you to the kitchen staff for providing our party lunch 👸
Today the children made crowns and worked together to create a beautiful commemorative collage art piece to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee. Look at their faces beaming with pride!
Emma from Action Mental Health called to school to collect the money that we raised from our Big Purple Picnic. Thank you to everyone who supported the Big Picnic - we raised £115 for Action Mental Health. We would also like to thank Action Mental Health for their workshops and support for pupils and staff this school year 💜
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week TT Rockstars were running a competition for all schools in Northern Ireland called Northern Ireland Rocks. The children in Artigarvan loved taking part and seeing how far up the leaderboard they could travel. Well done to the winners in each class and remember to keep practicing your tables on TT Rockstars 🎸
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Torin
⭐️ Year 1/2: Poppy
⭐️ Year 2/3: Holly
⭐️ Year 3/4: Mia
⭐️ Year 5/6: Riley
⭐️ Year 6/7: William
Well done to everyone who took part in the quick cricket tournament at Fox Lodge today.
Everyone had a great time scoring runs, bowling brilliantly and some fantastic fielding.
Well done to both teams, ‘The lads’ and ‘Partygarvan’.
Thank you to David and the North West Cricket Union for the invitation.
Thank you to Clayton at Fultons Pumpkin Patch for kindly gifting our school some pumpkin plants. We are excited to watch these grow at school. Thank you Clayton 🎃
This week we had our final week of Families Connect. We are very pleased with the turn out and would like to thank each parent for their participation in the 8 week programme. We really hope you enjoyed it and have gained some strategies to use with your child.
We had lots of discussions each week and as parents ourselves, (Mrs Harper and Mrs Preston) we were able to contribute and relate very much the rewarding job of parenting. We learned lots from each other and we hope that you continue to play the games and use the strategies that we discussed.
Thank you for your support and commitment each week.
This term our 2 topics are based around the farm and in the garden. We have had lots of exciting things happening over the last few weeks.
We have watched our sunflowers grow taller and taller each day. 🌻🌻 Some of them are growing slower than others but we are having patience.
We have watched 10 caterpillars grow, make cocoons and we have been able to watch as 9 of them have turned into butterflies. We even managed to watch 2 butterflies emerge from their cocoons. It was amazing to watch this transformation! 🐛➡️🦋 We will release them from the net into the world very soon.
We also have 12 hen eggs sitting in an incubator and we are hoping in 3 weeks time we will have some baby chicks. 🤞🏻
We have had fantastic learning opportunities with all of the new life and we are very excited to watch our eggs very carefully over the next few weeks.
Enjoy looking at our photos and keep coming back to see if we have any new friends arrive. 🐥🐥
A huge well done to Ella and Rebecca who became Accelerated Reading Word Millionaires today. Their photograph will now join the other Millionaires on Millionaires Row Notice Board 😊 Congratulations girls and keep up the fantastic reading 📖
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Annie W
⭐️ Year 1/2: Eve
⭐️ Year 2/3: Russell
⭐️ Year 3/4: Charlie
⭐️ Year 5/6: Zac
⭐️ Year 6/7: Katelyn
Thank you to everyone who supported our Action Mental Health Big Purple Picnic today-we raised £108 for Action Mental Health.
Primary 2 and 3 had great fun today sharing their picnic goodies with their friends and Mr Henderson’s class.
Please see attached flyer from Parentline NI about their latest workshop
You are all invited to our Fun Day on Wednesday 1st June from 5-7pm
There was lots of excitement in school this morning as we switched on as many devices as possible to help set a new Guinness world record “most viewers of a rolling numbers live stream”.
A few weeks ago Gill and Tom from TimesTables Rockstars 🎸 visited our school and filmed Mr Campbell’s class performing the special five times tables chant. The boys and girls were happy to see themselves on screen this morning and delighted that the new world record has been set at over 5000.
Today is National Numeracy Day and we are proud that our little school has been chosen to be part of this event…we would like to thank TimesTables Rockstars for involving our school. Keep rocking and rolling for National Numeracy Day 🎸
Huge congratulations to Noah who became an AR Word Millionaire today. Well done on reading one million words and we hope you enjoy your treats 🍬
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Eve
⭐️ Year 1/2: Charlie
⭐️ Year 2/3: Brett
⭐️ Year 3/4: Abbie
⭐️ Year 5/6: Rebecca
⭐️ Year 6/7: Noah
The Translink Safety Bus visited our school and the pupils in P6 and P7 had the opportunity to hear what Kevin and Paul from Translink had to say about keeping safe on the bus (and waiting for the bus). This was especially useful for children moving to secondary school in September who may not be familiar with travelling by bus. Thank you for visiting our school Translink!!
On Friday 29th April our Year 6 pupils travelled to Strabane Academy to take part in a cricket blitz organised by North West Cricket Union. Congratulations to Olivia and Noah who received a prize on the day.
On Friday 6th May the Year 7 pupils travelled into Strabane Academy for their blitz, well done to prize winners Katelyn and Harry 🏏
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Drew
⭐️ Year 1/2: Jaxon
⭐️ Year 2/3: Ellie-May
⭐️ Year 3/4: Ariana
⭐️ Year 5/6: Sophie O
⭐️ Year 6/7: Abbey-Gale
On Tuesday 10th May we will be taking part in Action Mental Health Great Big Purple Picnic as part of Mental Health Awareness Week (9th-15th May). More information will follow 🧺
This week we have been keen little gardeners as we have planted some sunflower seeds. Mrs Preston read us a story called ‘Sam plants a Sunflower’ and we used this to help us with each step. The children have planted one seed each and we will watch over the next few weeks to see if we can see any little shoots starting to grow.
Each day we will choose a little helper to water and check our seeds.
We can’t wait to keep you posted if we see any growth but we know that we must have patience.
Last week we met for week 5 of Families Connect which was based around ‘Book Talk.’ We had lots of conversations about the importance of books and reading stories to our children. Our parents participated and told us about experiences they have at home in relation to story time and exploring books.
When the children joined us they spent some time with their Mummy reading some of the books on display. One child was enjoying the special story time so much he stayed behind with his Mummy to finish his book after the session had finished.
Thank you to those parents for their participation and commitment each week.
This morning we had 3 fluffy little visitors who came to meet us. 🐥🐥🐥 Torin’s Daddy Tom, brought in their chicks to let the boys and girls see and hold them. Torin taught us how we need to hold the chicks and told us about which ones will grow to be chickens or roosters. Did you know if a chick has furry feet, it is female?
Most children wanted to hold a chick and the they all did fantastic. One little chick kept trying to fly away but we managed to keep it safe. It even tried to climb up onto William’s shoulder!😁
A big thank you to Torin and his Daddy for bringing in the chicks and teaching us lots of new things. What a fantastic learning experience!
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Cally
⭐️ Year 1/2: Judah
⭐️ Year 2/3: Alesha
⭐️ Year 3/4: Beth
⭐️ Year 5/6: Olivia
⭐️ Year 6/7: Beth
We had lots of fun taking part in the 10th anniversary of the Daily Mile. Each day in school the boys and girls take some time to go outside and complete the daily mile. We have been doing this in our class bubbles for some time now but today we all joined together (including nursery) in our lovely pink t-shirts to celebrate ten years of the Daily Mile. Happy 10th Birthday Daily Mile from everyone at Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery 🥳
Our school and nursery will be taking part in this tomorrow-please wear your trainers and tracksuit bottoms/shorts. You will receive your free tshirt in school tomorrow morning 😊
Well done to all the boys and girls in Year 3 and Year 4 and their grown ups who completed six weeks of paired reading.
Well done to all the children in Years 5-7 who reached their target in Accelerated Reading-enjoy your Easter egg and homework pass.
Today, every child in school and nursery has received an Easter Egg from the Hills Church. Inside one of the eggs there will be a golden ticket 🎟 If you find the golden ticket you can visit the Hills Church Fun Day (every child has a leaflet today about this). At the Fun Day you will receive your prize which is a pair of Air Pods. Thank you so much to the Hills Church for their kindness and good luck everyone….who will find the Golden Ticket????
Easter has arrived at After School Club this week - the boys and girls made beautiful Easter trees and some yummy treats 🧁 have a look at the photographs to see the finished products.
What an amazing display of egg creations in our hall today, the cooks Cherry and Samantha had such a hard decision to pick a first, second and third in each class. Well done everyone you all made beautiful eggs this year. Congratulations to all our winners:
🐰Nursery🐰
1st: Darcy
2nd: Drew
3rd: Lily-Rose
🐰Year 1🐰
1st: Sophie (two chicks)
2nd: Alex (bumblebee and ladybird)
3rd: Amelia-Rose (a man)
🐰Year 2🐰
1st: Brett (meteor hits dinosaurs)
2nd: Carrie (smell the morning flowers)
3rd: Jamie (Mario)
🐰Year 3🐰
1st: Eva (Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your eggtastic hair)
2nd: Russell (Minions)
3rd:Amelia (egg zoo)
🐰Year 4🐰
1st: Rachel (Barry’s Eggscellent Bus)
2nd: Nancy (Queens Jubilegg)
3rd: Max (Egg Sheeran)
🐰Year 5🐰
1st: Jasmine (Humpty Dumpty)
2nd: Zac (Easter Castle)
3rd: Mason (Egg-cient Egypt)
🐰Year 6🐰
1st: Chloe Y (Easter Tree)
2nd: Zara (wildlife)
3rd: Beth (Easter Fish Bowl)
🐰Year 7🐰
1st: Sarah-Jane (The Wizard of Eggz)
2nd: Savannah (Secret Garden)
3rd: Ella (Mr McGregor’s Garden)
Please find attached our new menu for after Easter. Children will receive a paper copy tomorrow.
Last week as part of our 50th celebrations every child received a birthday bag with some treats. Thank you to past pupil Trevor McGerrigle for this lovely poem that we were able to put in the birthday bags.
This week we had lots of fun again with Kathleen. We sang a new song about a bunny for Easter and Kathleen treated us with some music by playing her ukulele as we sang along. We explored fast and slow music too. Thank you for another fantastic session Jo and Kathleen. 😁
- The children in Year 2 and Year 5 have been enjoying Parental Involvement in Numeracy. The children had the opportunity to take home numeracy games to play with their parents. Well done to all the children and grown ups!!
Today in assembly Sarah-Jane and Jessica became Word Millionaires and will join the others on Millionaire’s Row photograph board. Chloe has now read two million words 🌟 and received some treats also. Well done girls and keep up the reading 📚
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Tommy
⭐️ Year 1/2: Bella-Rose
⭐️ Year 2/3: Ella & Mason
⭐️ Year 3/4: Rachel
⭐️ Year 5/6: Zara
⭐️ Year 6/7: Sarah-Jane & Jessica
Today we had our 3rd week of Families Connect. We talked about the importance of giving your child praise and we also looked at the different types of praise.
It made us all think about how often we actually praise our children and the different ways in which we do it.
When the children came to join us, they spent some time making a Superstar Award with their Mummy. They will use this at home to pick someone each day to be the Superstar and they will talk about why that family member deserves to get the award.
Praising our children will help develop their self esteem and self confidence so let’s all think and speak positively to our children. 💙
What a special day we had in Artigarvan Primary School celebrating our 50th Birthday! It started with a shout out on Downtown Radio from Gary and Glen who sang Happy Birthday to our school 🎵
In school, Mrs Harper held an outdoor assembly on the playground, we sang our Happy Birthday song followed by a quiz about our school. The boys and girls in Artigarvan have definitely researched the history of our school very well-they answered every question correctly 🌟
We had a disco/party on the playground before dinner with lots of fancy dance moves on display followed by a lovely party dinner -thank you to the kitchen staff for providing this 🌭 🍟
The children were wondering why there was no dessert at dinner time but soon had a big smile on their faces when they went out to find the Mr Whippy van parked outside 🍦
Before the children went home they received a birthday bag with some treats as well as some keepsakes to remind them of the time their very special primary school turned 50.
We hope everyone enjoyed their day and thank you for celebrating with us 🎂
What a noisy week with Kathleen and Jo today, we were playing the cymbals!!! Look at how much fun we were having and we were still able to follow the instructions that Kathleen was giving us. Well done boys and girls!
Our topic at present is Nursery Rhyme time and we have decided to participate in The Rhyme Challenge from Bookstart. Each week the children get sent home 2 nursery rhymes to learn during that week. We try to sing these in class also as singing can be done by anyone no matter of their ability. This initiative is to encourage parents/grandparents to sing more nursery rhymes with their children as it seems that fewer children can recite the most common rhymes when they are of pre-school age.
Have a listen to 3 of our children who very confidently stood up and performed these rhymes in front of their peers. Well done to William, Lily-Rose and Darcy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A huge well done to Bethany who has joined Millionaires Row and has read one million words in Accelerated Reading. Congratulations Bethany…we hope you enjoy your treats and keep up the fantastic reading 📕
🌟Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Elsie
⭐️ Year 1/2: Victoria
⭐️ Year 2/3: Nicki
⭐️ Year 3/4: Nancy
⭐️ Year 5/6: Tamzin
⭐️ Year 6/7: Bethany
Today we received our Queen's Green Canopy Plaque from our tree planting on Wednesday, we also received this message:
We are delighted to confirm your Jubilee tree planting has been uploaded to The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) map.
Please find attached your QGC virtual plaque, which we invite you to share on social media using the hashtag #QueensGreenCanopy or #plantatreeforthejubilee to encourage others across the UK to get involved.
Please follow our digital channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where we will be sharing Jubilee tree plantings throughout the official planting season, which is from October to March.
Thank you for your contribution to this special initiative, which we hope will inspire countless others. With your support we are creating a greener UK and a legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the nation, which will benefit future generations.
This week our class were working hard on their times tables. We have all 32 pupils on the T-team board now 🙌🙌
Have a look at the movers this week.
Eva became a cub
Emily became a cadet
Nancy became a captain
Sarah became a commander
Lacey and Alfie have became a division whiz
On Monday it was our turn to walk, bike or scoot to school. We got out on our wheeled vehicles to have some fun on the playground. It was so encouraging to see so many confident riders in our class already!
Thank you so much for your fabulous contributions to our growing challenge! We weeded the bed before planting onions, carrots, peas, sunflowers and some beautiful wildflowers! We can’t wait to see the little seedlings sprout but until they do we have some weeding and watering to do each week!
On Wednesday 23rd March the sun shone brightly over our little school while the boys and girls sat patiently awaiting the arrival of our special visitors. The Board of Governors and Mrs Harper first welcomed Lord Lieutenant Robert Scott to Artigarvan Primary School. The Lord Lieutenant visited as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative.
The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 which invites people from across the United Kingdom to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee”.
A short while later we welcomed Minister of Education Michelle McIlveen to our school and we were delighted that she was able to attend our school as it is our 50th birthday next week.
When everyone had taken their seats the Minister and Lord Lieutenant were treated to some highland dancing by eight of our pupils who attend Sollus Highland Dance. Darren who comes to our school each week to teach chanter kindly led the girls on the bagpipes and we would like to thank Georgina (Sollus Highland Dancers) and Darren for this special touch to our day.
The boys and girls sang our Happy Birthday song to the Minister and Lord Lieutenant before P7 girls Savannah and Emma presented a letter to the Minister from our P7s explaining how the plans for our new school in 2008 never happened. They listed some of the things that they would like changed at our school especially our toilets and are hoping the Minister will have a think about our new school that we were promised back in 2008.
Jodie-Lynn and Layla our youngest pupils in P1 presented a beautiful basket of flowers to the Minister and Cassie presented a gift to Lord Lieutenant Robert Scott to thank them for visiting our school on its 50th birthday. 🎂
We had some birthday bags to give out to our guests which contained some little keepsakes to remember our 50th birthday as well as a copy of one of the winning birthday cards from our birthday card competition. Thank you to Alex, Cassie, Emily, Danny and Olly for distributing these.
Next Roy met with the Minister and Lord Lieutenant to tell them about the items we had chosen for our time capsule. We had items to remind us of 2022 such as face mask, a pencil for our 50th birthday, a special 50p which was released for the Jubilee and an AQE test. The Minister and Roy placed the items in the time capsule before screwing on the lid and putting up our plaque “Here lies our Time Capsule, Artigarvan Primary School 50th Anniversary”.
It was then time for the planting of our beautiful birch tree. Lord Lieutenant Robert Scott with the help of James in P6 planted the tree. We had lots of photographs and clapping before the Minister went on a tour of our school with Mrs Harper and the staff.
We would like to thank the boys and girls for being wonderful representatives of our school-you all were amazing and the Minister especially loved meeting the boys and girls in our Afterschool Club while she was having a tour of the school.
Thank you Minister and Lord Lieutenant for a lovely relaxed afternoon that we won’t forget on our 50th year and please everyone check out the Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative website. We are very proud of our little school and all the teamwork from staff and pupils to have it looking beautiful for our guests.
We had a lovely afternoon yesterday when the Minister of Education and Lord Lieutenant visited our school. Here is a video of the highlights…more photographs to follow 📸
Yesterday we arrived to nursery to find a brand new climbing frame. We were given some funding for the well being of the children and we decided to buy this for our outdoor area. It has a climbing wall, metal bars and ropes to climb up and the best bit is the long wavy slide. We took turns to make sure everyone had a go today and there were lots of happy boys and girls. 😁
Children in school were asked to design a birthday card for our 50th birthday next week. Thank you to all the boys and girls who created some beautiful birthday cards 🎂 Well done to the winners who received a 50th birthday pencil and bar of chocolate:
🎈 Robbie
🎈 Russell
🎈Aaliyah
🎈Emme
🎈Sarah-Jane
Copies of the winning cards were put into gift bags for the Education Minister, Lord Lieutenant Robert Scott and special guests who visited our school to plant a tree for the Queens Jubilee and our 50th birthday celebrations.
This week our school is taking part in the Sustran’s initiative ‘Wheel to School Week.’ Today the nursery boys and girls were allowed to bring their bikes or scooters to school. We got the chance to ride around the playground in the main school and what a special treat for the boys and girls. They absolutely loved it and had so much fun. Well done everyone for taking part today and don’t forget to keep scooting/riding to school every day this week. 👍
Well done to Charlie and Zara for becoming Cubs, to Mya who is a Cadet and Sarah who is now a Captain. Keep up the hard work!
On Wednesday we were learning about St Patrick. Afterwards we completed some art work. First we cut out a template of a shamrock. ☘️ We then held it in place on another page and used our fingers to dab the paint around the outline of the shamrock. When we removed the template it showed the outline of the shamrock. Have a look at our super art work.
An invitation for past pupils and former staff to call into school for a browse around school, a time to reminisce, meet the staff and enjoy a cup of tea...
Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our Ukraine Appeal last week. We were able to donate £410 to help the people of Ukraine through Colin Tinsleys GoFundMe page. You may have seen Colin on the BBC news or you can check out his Go Fund Me Page “Helping Ukrainians taking refuge in Poland” to see the amazing work he is doing for the people of Ukraine.
As our world book week author was Julia Donaldson, each child brought in a wooden spoon to transform into their favourite Julia Donaldson character. The children chose their characters, painted the spoon and then added details once it was dry. We had great fun retelling our stories using the spoons, don’t they look great?
As part of our topic ‘In the toy box’, Year 1 & 2 enjoyed making their own sock puppets this week. Mrs Kane helped with the hot glue gun and the children chose their materials and where each item would go. We can’t wait to use them next week to tell stories!
On Monday, Kathleen and Jo Jingles came to Nursery. We had fun singing lots of familiar songs and it linked very well to our new topic, Nursery Rhyme Time. We can’t wait for the next session next Monday.
Well done to Katie who has now joined Millionaire’s Row!! Katie has read one million words in Accelerated Reading and today received some treats for her achievement and has earned her place on our special board of Word Millionaires “Millionaires Row”. Congratulations Katie 🌟
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Jacob C
⭐️ Year 1/2: Poppy
⭐️ Year 2/3: Robbie
⭐️ Year 3/4: Melissa
⭐️ Year 5/6: Katie B
⭐️ Year 6/7: Katie H
This week we have been looking at symmetry, we have been trying to find symmetrical items within our room.
We have also been looking at the lines of symmetry in shapes.
On Thursday we made our very own symmetrical cards. We first folded the page in half then put blobs of paint in a pattern. When we folded the other half of the page over we pressed it down and held it for 10 seconds. Have a look at our finished cards.
Lyric theatre visit - lots of fun watching the show - a great way to learn about recycling through drama ⭐️
Most of the boys and girls have now received a certificate for zipping up their coat independently. Super work boys and girls! Now your grownup won’t have to help you to do this job. 👍👍
🌟Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Henry
⭐️ Year 1/2: Victoria
⭐️ Year 2/3: Jamie
⭐️ Year 3/4: Eve
⭐️ Year 5/6: Kiara
⭐️ Year 6/7: Alex
We had so much fun in class today talking about and describing our favourite book characters. Thank you for making so much effort to dress up and to bring in your favourite books to read together. I am so proud of the Primary 3 girls and boys who had the confidence to read their books to the rest of their class- what a marvellous achievement. I wonder if we will have any budding authors or illustrators of the future in our class? All things are possible with hard work and determination.
Have a look at our fantastic World Book Day door displays 📚
Today we all brought in our favourite books from home. Mrs Preston gave us 10 minutes to look through our books and share them with our friends. We loved swapping and reading each other’s books for a short time too. Spending time reading and looking at books is so important and such a fun thing to do. 📚
Today was a really fun day as we all came dressed as our favourite book character or wearing our pyjamas. I wonder can you guess who is dressed up as what character? 🤔
What a fantastic effort that was made by our children, staff and parents today for World Book Day. The children were allowed to wear pyjamas or a book character costume and the effort put in was amazing.
Well done to each of you. 😁
Our class have been taking part in mind explorers each week. The children have been learning some breathing techniques using a breathing ball, when the ball pens we take a deep breath in and then closing the ball we breathe out. Using a mirror the children look at their reflection, give themselves a big smile and express something they are thankful for. Lots of the children are thankful for their family members, pets and friends in school. It has been a lovely time for the children to be still and to have a brain break from their busy schedule in school each week. Why not ask your child about the breathing ball, I’m sure they will have lots to tell you!
Wow, look how amazing our book day costumes are! Some of us dressed up as our favourite book characters and some children wore their pyjamas to read a ‘bedtime story’. Each child brought their favourite story which you can see in their photo. We had some really creative costumes using items from home, thank you so much for all of the extra-special efforts put into preparing for these costumes today!
Today was an exciting day in Nursery. Amelda from Debutots came and did some storytelling with us. We helped and joined in to tell a mashup Fairytale story. Why don’t you ask the boys and girls to tell you who was in our story? We did lots of actions and sounds to represent different parts of the story. It was lots of fun and we finished off by catching lots of bubbles.
What a fun morning! 📚
Today we had our first session of Families Connect with some of our year 1 parents. This week’s theme was play and we talked about the importance of play and the benefits that it has for our children. We discussed how it is important to try and make time to play with our children even if it is only a 10min slot. Play is the most crucial part of a young child’s early development. Well done to all of our families who took part today and we look forward to meeting again next week to talk about our feelings.
Lots of fun at Afterschools Club making and tossing pancakes 🥞
The boys and girls in Year 3/4 had great fun on Pancake Tuesday making pancakes and deciding what toppings to choose. They had to write instructions on how to make pancakes…Can you remember all the steps involved to making tasty pancakes??? 🥞
We enjoyed delicious pancakes in class yesterday! Mrs Kane was our chef, we waited patiently for them to cook in the pan, they smelt so good! To make our ‘Gruffalo’ pancakes we added blueberries for the prickles, orange segment for the eyes and a juicy raspberry for the nose. Thankfully they weren’t poisonous as the story suggests! Unfortunately by the time Mrs Kane got it all served out there weren’t many pancakes left to photograph- we-ll take it as a sign that they were really enjoyable! 😂 Did you make pancakes at home?
As part of our world book week activities our class got to enjoy a fabulous session from Debutots. We heard a fairytale mash-up story which taught us all about saying please and than you. The children took part through using actions to retell the story and playing musical statues and acting out parts of the story. at the end of the story the characters all had a party, we joined in by having a bubble party!
We all had a go at trying to toss and catch a pancake in the pan. It was such good fun and we have some very clever boys and girls who were able to throw it up and catch it.
Well done everyone 😁
Today we had so much fun making and eating pancakes. We have some children with allergies in our class so we used a vegan recipe that has no eggs and we used oat milk. The children thought the pancakes were really tasty. They were allowed to have honey, syrup, jam or butter on top.
What a super morning and even Mrs Preston and Judith enjoyed a pancake too. 🥞🥞
Well done to everyone that has moved in the month of Feburary. Will you move next month?
Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Alex
⭐️ Year 1/2: Layla
⭐️ Year 2/3: Ella
⭐️ Year 3/4: Abbie & Daisy
⭐️ Year 5/6: Sophie N
⭐️ Year 6/7: James
This week we have been looking at the different letters in our name. A lot of children are able to recognise their own name and some can make an attempt at writing it by themselves. This activity helped to develop our hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills as we used finger painting on each letter. We had lots of fun doing this!
A big thank you to the nursery boys and girls who very kindly helped to clear out our sand pit and dig up all the weeds. We have a very kind parent who volunteered to do it but unfortunately due to circumstances he wasn’t able to help so we gathered up our spades and rakes and got to work. What a good job boys and girls! We can now have lots of fun in the sand pit.
We would like to thank the McCrea family for donating a creamery can for our 50th Birthday this year. We were so delighted this week when the we got to see the finished product-it is such a lovely keepsake for our school.
We have lots of lovely activities planned for next week as it is World Book Day on Thursday 3rd March. Remember on Thursday of next week children can come to school dressed as a character from a book or wear their pyjamas.
Is your child finding it difficult to attend school? Have a look at this online workshop to support children to return more willingly to the school environment.
Have a look at the lovely crafts the boys and girls at Afterschools Club made for Valentine’s Day ❤️
Today we treated our Year 7 pupils who sat the AQE to some sweets and homework passes for all their hard work over the past year. Well done everyone, we are so proud of you all 🌟
Well done to all the winners in our Numbots and Times Tables Rockstars this week:
Year 1 Numbots: Erin, Ethan & Myla
Year 2 Numbots: Matthew McG, Mitchell & Jenny
Year 3 Numbots: Alesha, Amelia & Eva
Year 4 Numbots: Emily, Rachel & Lacey
Year 4 TT Rockstars: Melissa, Ariana & Lacey
Year 5 TT Rockstars: Zac, John & Jasmine
Year 6 TT Rockstars: Bethany, Noah & James
Year 7 TT Rockstars: Olly, Adam D & Roy
Thank you so much to everyone who ordered Valentine’s Goody bags and a huge THANK YOU to Liz for making and donating 260 goody bags to our school. This means we have raised £260 for school funds…we can’t thank you enough Liz 😍 Have a lovely half term break everyone, we will see you on Monday 21st February.
🌟Well done to all our stars this week🌟
⭐️ Year 1/2: Robbie
⭐️ Year 2/3: Carrie
⭐️ Year 3/4: Layla
⭐️ Year 5/6: Darci
⭐️ Year 6/7: Ella
Thank you so much to everyone who sent in their 50p's and a huge well done to our winner of £50.....ZAC McSPARRON
We have a few items of lost property that we would like to reunite with the owners 😊 Please check if anything in the photograph belongs to your child. All items are in school porch. Thank you
Please see attcahed flyer from PHA about COVID-19 vaccinations.
Have a look at all of the number related activities that we did last week. We had lots of fun and managed to learn 2 new number songs and actions. Ask the children and they will demonstrate for you. 5 Little Speckled Frogs and 1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive.
In Nursery we have been encouraging the children to become more independent. They can all put on their own coats but we have been encouraging them to try to zip it up by themselves. We are super proud as most of the children can do this and all of the children are trying very hard. Keep up the super work boys and girls. 😁
The Nursery children all participated in wearing an item of clothing that related to numeracy on Friday. We wore lots of numbers, spots, stripes and some people were even very creative. Well done everyone.
Two Chloe’s…. Two million words!!!!
A huge well done to Chloe B and Chloe Y today on becoming word millionaires in Accelerated Reading. This is a fantastic achievement…congratulations girls and we hope you enjoy your treats 🌟 🌟
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Annie H
⭐️ Year 1/2: Harper
⭐️ Year 2/3: Jenny
⭐️ Year 3/4: Beth
⭐️ Year 5/6: Jessica D
⭐️ Year 6/7: Roy
Today was our first 'BIG 50' Draw. Thank you so much to everyone who sent in their 50p's and a huge well done to our winner of £50.....ISLA CRAIG
Today we have been ordering numbers to 50 in class. This involved some cutting and sticking activities.
We discussed different ways of ordering each other. We had so much fun sorting ourselves in order of height and then by age from the youngest member of the class to the eldest. This was quite confusing as we have 2 year groups within our class so it required lots of problem solving! In the afternoon we explored measure using standard and non standard units to measure objects around our classroom. I hope you enjoy our photos.
Strabane Academy Virtual Open Evening this Thursday 3rd February at 7.30pm
This week in school and Nursery we are having Number Week. The nursery children will be taking part in lots of number activities within 5. Yesterday the children who stayed for extended nursery made some fairy buns. They were able to help measure out the ingredients by looking for the numbers on the recipe. We talked about lots of numbers and used mathematical language during this activity. Today each child decorated their own fairy bun. They had to choose and count 5 different sweets to put on top. Let’s say, they left nursery with a big smile ready to eat their bun when they got home.
Well done boys and girls, what a good start to Number Week. 😁😁 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣
The boys and girls in our class have been working really hard with their time tables this term. Have a look at our photographs to see who is a cub, cadet, captain, commander and division whiz. Can they move up rank this week?
Year 6/7 investigated the length of the perimeter of the playgrounds using trundle wheels, measuring tapes and metre sticks. We found the trundle wheels the easiest to use for this task. We found the average length of one circuit of the playgrounds was 128m, which means we’d need to walk (or run) 391 of them to complete a distance of 50km. Will we be able to walk 50km before Easter? Can you work out how many circuits we’d need to do per day to reach our target before Easter?
Please find attached a leaflet for our P7 pupils to help apply for their post primary place. Your child has received a paper copy today also. You can apply from tomorrow (1st Feb) at noon until it closes at 4pm on Wednesday 23rd February.
This week we had our first session with Sarah from Mind Explorers NI. We really enjoyed it and Sarah couldn’t believe our fantastic listening skills. We tried really hard with practising our breathing techniques too. We are looking forward to the next 5 weeks and learning lots of new mindfulness tools.
On Friday 14th January, Mrs Pollock took the children up to the greenhouse and planted some bulbs. They enjoyed exploring and looking around at all of the gardening tools and also helping to plant the bulbs. We hope we can get up again to do some more planting for the Spring.
Thank you Mrs Pollock.
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Willow
⭐️ Year 1/2: Jaxon
⭐️ Year 2/3: Mitchell
⭐️ Year 3/4: Robert & Finn
⭐️ Year 5/6: Zara
⭐️ Year 6/7: Bethany
The boys and girls in P2/3 have been learning all about Robert Burns today. They learned about his famous poems and songs. They also had a go at learning some Ulster Scots words! Thank you to our Highland dancers- your amazing dancing was the icing on the cake of our super celebration day!
Year 2 and Year 5
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we begin PIN (Parental Involvement in Numeracy) please find attached a powerpoint from Mrs Doherty our Numeracy Co-Ordinator to help explain what PIN involves.
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week:
⭐️ Nursery: Sophie W
⭐️ Year 1/2: Sophie & Alex
⭐️ Year 2/3: Russell
⭐️ Year 3/4: Bella
⭐️ Year 5/6: John
⭐️ Year 6/7: Adam D
We used marshmallows to find out the different ways to make ten. Using chalk, we drew two circles onto the table. We rolled a dice to tell us how many to put into the first circle, we then counted to find out the number pair. What a fun Maths lesson!
We have been learning about instructions in class. We looked at bossy words that tell us what to do and also time words which tell us the order to do them in. After watching Mrs Kane, we used our own instructions to make a hot chocolate, it was delicious!
Today Gareth from Cancer Fund for Children called to our school to collect the money that we raised at Christmas. The staff at Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery decided they would support this charity instead of the children bringing in Christmas presents for staff. We are so grateful to everyone for their generous donations and today we were able to present Gareth with a cheque for £707. Gareth also asked that we pass on a huge thank you to our parents and families on behalf of Cancer Fund for Children ❤️ Our P7 pupils along with Mrs Harper joined Gareth on the playground to present the cheque and get a photograph.
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Pyper
⭐️ Year 1/2: Jack
⭐️ Year 2/3: Esmae
⭐️ Year 3/4: Melissa
⭐️ Year 5/6: Zac & Esmae
⭐️ Year 6/7: Adam C & Chloe
Please find attached a letter sent to us from the Minister of Education for our parents regarding Covid.
Mr Allen from Lisneal College would like us to share this digital version of their school prospectus for our Year 6 and Year 7 pupils.
Today during outdoor play some boys and girls were trying very hard to practise their balancing skills. You can see they are using their arms to help them to balance and try not to wobble off the walking beams. Well done boys and girls!
We have attached two flowcharts sent to us by the Department of Health that may be useful for parents. You can use these if you are unsure about which test to carry out or if you are a close contact to someone who has tested positive for Covid19.
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Arlo
⭐️ P1/2: Sam
⭐️ P2/3: Holly
⭐️ P3/4: Sarah & Lacey
⭐️ P5/6: Darci
⭐️ P6/7: Hannah
This week we have been encouraging the children to practise zipping up their own coats. Some children have been very determined and have been practising lots at home. Well done to these boys and girls and they were very proud when they received a certificate in assembly this morning. Keep trying hard everyone! 👍
The EA would like us to share with you this poster seeking after-school relief cleaning staff
For attention of pupils in Year 6 and Year 7. Tomorrow night (Thursday 6th January) at 7.30pm you can join in Foyle College Open Evening virtually by scanning the QR code on the attched flyer. You can also join through the Foyle College website or Facebook page.
Spar Artigarvan asked if we would like to participate in a whole school colouring competition. Our children really enjoyed taking part and their final masterpieces were judged by Canon Judith McGaffin from the village.
Our winners in each category were:
Nursery- Pyper
P1-3: Eva
P4-5: Max
P6-7: James
Well done to our winners and we hope that you enjoyed your fantastic prizes. Thank you to Spar Artigarvan for giving us the opportunity to take part. Merry Christmas everyone 🎄🎄
We have just had our Christmas draw...please find attached the list of winners. We cannot thank you enough for your kindness and generosity - we were able to produce 13 beautiful hampers and raise £708 for our school. A huge well done to all our winners! Please collect your hampers at school before 3pm on Tuesday 21st December.
Please read the attached letter from Mrs Harper
Please read attached letter from PHA regarding the cluster of covid cases in our P3/4 class
Have a look at the amazing hampers that we were able to create thanks to the kindness and generosity of our families at Artigarvan PS. We are going to do our draw on Thursday morning (16th). Please return all raffle sheets and money tomorrow (Wed). Thank you so much for your continued support and good luck everyone!!
Last Friday was a very exciting ‘Feel good Friday’ in school. We all had a scone and hot chocolate for break. It was also Christmas jumper day. We all paid £1 to wear our jumpers and all money is being donated to ‘Save the Children’. Some children even made their own Christmas jumpers.
We hope you will enjoy these songs, sing along if you know them!
Sit back and enjoy our Christmas nativity, we hope you’ll enjoy it
Roll up roll up, sit back and enjoy year 1 and 2’s Christmas show
We hope you enjoy our Christmas play! Sing along to all our songs 🎵🎄🧑🎄
Today Orla left off the new booking forms for children to book onto the next sessions of Skill School Dance in January. They will begin on Monday 10th January for ten weeks. You can return the booking form to school or book online at skillschoolni.com/bookings
Please read the attached flyer from Mr Allen at Foyle College regarding their virtual Open Evening. Put the date in your diary 6th January 2022 @ 7.30pm
Have a look at these picture to see what we have been doing this term. We have been so busy.
We would like to thank the canteen staff for their lovely treats on Friday, everyone really enjoyed them.
Please see the dates for admissions to Nursery and Year 1. Please share with any families who have children eligible to enrol in Nursery or Year 1 in September 2022. You can find more information on the EA website. https://www.eani.org.uk/admissions
Please read the attached letter from PHA regarding the cluster of covid cases in your child's class. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Children in Years 5 - 7 are really enjoying Accelerated Reading and there have been lots of tickets in the pot each week!! The boys and girls eagerly wait each week to find out who wins the bar of chocolate. Today was extra special as we celebrated all the children who had reached their AR target. A special mention goes to Mason and Chloe who reached their target twice!!! Well done everyone and keep reading 📚
All the boys and girls in our school will be familiar with Colin Tinsley who has been hosting daily videos on his YouTube channel as well as an online Sunday school. Colin very kindly delivered a package to our school and when we opened it we found some beautiful colouring in books called “The Christmas Story”. We would like to thank Colin and everyone at Hope for Youth Ministries for giving every child in our school a colouring in book. 🖍 📖
Mrs Harper set everyone a challenge to decorate their door for Christmas…Have a look at all the festive doors in Artigarvan Primary School 🚪 🎄 A huge thank you to everyone for taking part-we look forward to finding out who owns the winning door 🤩
🌟Well done to all ours stars this week🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Jacob
⭐️ Year 1/2: Rebecca & Eve
⭐️ Year 2/3: Brett
⭐️ Year 3/4: Olly & Charlie
⭐️ Year 5/6: Rebecca
⭐️ Year 6/7: Katie
The boys and girls in Year 5, 6 and 7 designed Christmas pictures that could be used as the front of our school Christmas card this year. Well done to Adam C in year 7 who had the winning design. 🎄 🎅🏼
Our class ‘What’s on Your Plate?’ topic would not have been complete without making some edible reindeer heads. Even more fun was eating them!
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: Darcy
⭐️ Year 1/2: Josh
⭐️ Year 2/3: Willow & Finlay
⭐️ Year 3/4: Emily & Matthew
⭐️ Year 5/6: Jody
⭐️ Year 6/7: Emma
We had lots of fun completing the Northern Ireland Daily Mile Santa Run with all our Christmas accessories and jingle bells 🎅🏼
We have been learning how to calculate change in numeracy and today we played a fun version of the popular game monopoly. We worked in groups of 4 and the first person to reach 50 points won. Check out our winners! We have a very competitive bunch in year 5/6 😋
The boys and girls in Afterschools have been very busy on Mondays and Wednesdays doing arts and crafts. Have a look at what they’ve been making 🎨
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
Nursery: Leo
Year 1/2: Ruby & Judah
Year 2/3: Amelia
Year 3/4: Beth
Year 5/6: Amelia
Year 6/7: Savannah
Every Wednesday we go to Mrs Kane's classroom and we have great fun doing art with her.
We have been using lots of different materials to create a beautiful Autumn picture. To begin with, we talked about creating a pathway. We experimented with drawing the lines at different angles to achieve the correct look. Next we needed to draw a country house, full of lovely details such as windows and plants. Using chalks, we managed to create the look of a leafy path by smudging the colours together. Then using crayons we completed the sky and the house. By mixing autumn colours on a sponge we managed to achieve the look of autumn trees. Finally we added trees to the pathway, and their shadows using charcoal.
Take a look at our fabulous Autumn pictures, aren’t they amazing?
The boys and girls have settled back into nursery so well and they are learning lots of new things. Our topic this term is Helping Hands and we are learning about all the different people who help us. Have a look at what we have been getting up to.
The boys and girls had lots of fun doing activities all week for this years ABW. We acted out various scenarios and role plays, complimented our peers, took part in a colouring in competition and wore our odd socks!
🌟 Remember 🌟
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted ❤️
Today we all wore odd socks to show how we are all different. This was Anti-Bullying week and we were learning about how lovely it is to use kind words.
ONE KIND WORD...... makes others smile and feel good about themselves. Let’s keep using kind words in Y6/7!
We had great fun doing activities in our odd socks today. We hope you like all our sock colours and designs.
The theme for this years anti-bullying week is “One Kind Word”. We had to look out for people who show kindness, use kind words and are a good friend. This was very difficult as all the children in Artigarvan Primary School are very kind. Well done to everyone who received a certificate today:
Nursery: Elsie & Drew
Year 1/2: Oliver & Josh
Year 2/3: Matthew K & Lily
Year 3/4: Eva & Mya
Year 5/6: Emme, Amelia & Zac
Year 6/7: Sarah-Jane & Abbey-Gale (missing from photograph)
Well done boys and girls and remember “one kind word” can mean so much ☺️
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Nursery: William
⭐️ Year 1/2: Amelia-Rose
⭐️ Year 2/3: Isla
⭐️ Year 3/4: Calvin
⭐️ Year 5/6: Mason
⭐️ Year 6/7: Daisy
Always remember boys and girls to use One Kind Word and that will make you a fantastic friend. ⭐️⭐️
Today we all wore our odd socks to represent that fact that everyone is different. Even though we are all different we are still very special and unique.
Share a smile and kindness ❤️
Today some of the Year 7’s helped Mrs Harper pack all our shoe boxes into the boot of Mrs Harper’s car so that she could drop them off at the drop off point in Ballykelly this evening. The lady from Samaritans Purse is so thankful to everyone in Artigarvan PS for supporting the Shoe Box Appeal this year.
Have a look at what they’ve been getting up to at After Schools this week…sun catchers and bird feeders with lots of fun along the way!
Guidance from the PHA for parents about healthy eating, please have a read...
| Healthy Eating Support for Parents (18th Nov 2021) |
 |
Year 4 have been busy with Mrs Pollock's help planting daffodil and bluebell bulbs in planters for Spring.
They planted strawberry runners from the raised beds and collected wildflower seeds from existing plants.
Boys, girls and grown ups we cannot believe how many shoeboxes you have brought in for the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child Appeal. Thank you so much for supporting this appeal. It is lovely to be able to pass on FIFTY shoeboxes to little boys and girls a lot less fortunate than ourselves. Thank you 😊
🌟 Stars of the Week 🌟
Well done to ours stars this week:
⭐️ Year 1/2: Charlie & Jenson
⭐️ Year 2/3: Alesha & Zac
⭐️ Year 3/4: Aaliyah & Layla
⭐️ Year 5/6: Jasmine
⭐️ Year 6/7: Olly
Have a look at the beautiful bookmarks that the children at After School Club created this week. The children enjoyed following their instructions and cutting out their templates to create their masterpieces 📚
Our topic for this term is People Who Help Us and over the past few weeks we have been taking part in an art project with Mrs Preston on a Wednesday afternoon. We worked in groups to plan, design and create a lifeboat. The first week we planned what resources we would need to make our lifeboat and what each resource would be used for. The next few weeks we used our imagination and creativity to create the lifeboat using junk art, paint, glue and other resources.
Today we were able to present the boat to our class and tell them lots of details about the name of the boat, the captain’s name, how many crew it had and one group even told us the measurements of its height, width and length.
The most exciting part of our project was testing if our boats floated or sank. We are pleased to say that most of our boats floated and only a few toppled over onto their side. We talked about why they toppled over and we would consider this when completing a similar project. ⛴🛳
Well done to all the boys and girls for their fantastic team work and excellent presentation skills in front of their peers. Super work! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Children in Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 will be visiting Dennis on the library van every other Wednesday. Today the children were all given one book to return by Wednesday 24th November. If your child has a library card please send it with them every other Wednesday. If they do not have a library card please fill out the form in their school bag today and Dennis will issue them with a library card. The children really enjoyed their visit to the library van 📚
🌟Well done to all our stars this week🌟
⭐️ Year 1/2: Evelyn
⭐️ Year 2/3: Hannah
⭐️ Year 3/4: Zara & Lily
⭐️ Year 5/6: Riley
⭐️ Year 6/7: Noah
Richard from Sustrans very kindly organised a scavenger hunt for some of the older boys and girls in our school. Well done to all the winners ⭐️
Richard from Sustrans visited school today to help Year 1 to "Ditch the Stabilisers". Well done to all the boys and girls who took part 🚲
Well done Year 5/6 on winning the pumpkin decorating competition 🎃 We hope you enjoy your treats 🍬
🌟Well done to our stars this week🌟
⭐️ Year1/2: Eve & Oliver
⭐️ Year 2/3: Lily
⭐️ Year 3/4: Annabel
⭐️ Year 5/6: Danny
⭐️ Year 6/7: Chloe Y
🎃 Enjoy your half term break 🎃
What a busy half term it has been! Well done boys and girls on all your hard work to date. I was amazed and a little bit frightened by some of your costumes today 😱🎃 👻 😂
Well done to Lily on her pumpkin design. We had so much fun decorating it together in class.
This week the boys and girls have had lots of fun playing with the Halloween related resources. They have been drawing Halloween pictures, carving and decorating a pumpkin, making potions in the water tray and dressing up in the home corner.
We have been busy little bees, learning lots of new skills.
Today we came to Nursery dressed up in our Halloween costumes. Some children were scary and Mrs Preston couldn’t figure out who was hiding behind the masks.
The children had some treats to finish off the day before their half term holidays.
Happy Halloween boys & girls and see you in November. 🎃🕸🕷🧙🏻♀️🧛🏻
Look at the amazing pumpkin creations that our classes have designed and made!! 🎃 A huge THANK YOU to Fulton’s Pumpkin Patch for kindly donating the pumpkins and to Mr Wright for judging today. The winner will be revealed tomorrow 🎉 🎉 🎉
Today Mrs Harper very kindly organised a Halloween Scavenger Hunt outside for the boys and girls in school and nursery. If you found the sweet with the sticker you got an extra treat from Mrs Harper’s office. Well done to all the boys and girls for taking part and thank you to Mrs Harper for the surprises.
When everyone was back inside, the winners of the Halloween competition were announced. All the pictures were amazing and it was so difficult to choose the winners. Well done to everyone for taking part 🤩
Here are the winners from each class:
Nursery:🎃1st:Pyper 🎃2nd:Annie 🎃3rd:Drew
Year 1/2:🎃1st:Alex 🎃2nd:Ruby 🎃3rd:Eve
Year 2/3: 🎃1st:Alesha 🎃2nd:Amelia 🎃3rd:Russell
Year 3/4: 🎃1st:Sarah 🎃2nd:Melissa 🎃3rd:Robyn
Year 5/6: 🎃1st:Amelia 🎃2nd:Zac 🎃3rd:Jasmine
Year 6/7: 🎃1st:Sarah-Jane 🎃2nd:Chloe B 🎃3rd:Chloe Y
👻Congratulations to all our winners👻
We have enjoyed learning about items related to the Hymn 'All things bright and beautiful' in September and October.
Colour played a major part and we enjoyed painting our colour wheels and studying the Rainbow Fish book.
We especially liked our Autumn Walk around the school grounds looking at the changing colours.
Y5/6 enjoyed this quick and effective art lesson today. We drew our squiggly lines for our ghosts with black marker then made up our own faces for them. We then used blue pencil to lightly highlight around the edges of our ghosts to create a 3D look. Don’t they look great !?
Next Wednesday we are having a pumpkin carving competition in school. Each class will carve/decorate their pumpkin and there will be a prize for the winning class. We contacted Fulton’s Pumpkin Patch about our competition and they very kindly donated a pumpkin for each class in our school. Thank you so much Clayton for our pumpkins…we will keep you all updated how the finished creations turn out 🎃
🌟Well done to all our stars this week🌟
⭐️ Year 1/2: Myla & Ethan
⭐️ Year 2/3: Adam
⭐️ Year 3/4: Robyn & Ethan
⭐️ Year 5/6: Jessica
⭐️ Year 6/7: Katelyn
The nursery children have all settled in very well. We have 26 children and each of them have individually adapted to life in their new classroom. Here are a few photos to show you a snippet of what they have been getting up to over the past few weeks.
As our topic this term is ‘What’s the weather?’ We found out all about the water cycle and how rain is formed. We then went on to make our very own rain cloud in a jar. It was great fun. Check out the pictures!
This week we have enjoyed learning about the properties of 2D shapes. We made our own cartoon faces by drawing as many different shapes as we could think of. Check them out!
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Year 1/2: Sam & Eve
⭐️ Year 2/3: Myles & Mason
⭐️ Year 3/4: Mya & Jack
⭐️ Year 5/6: Kiara
⭐️ Year 6/7: Beth & Abbey-Gale
🌟 Well done to all our stars this week 🌟
⭐️ Year 1/2 Brody & Sophie
⭐️ Year 2/3 Matthew M & Jenny
⭐️Year 3/4 Arthur & Alfie
⭐️Year 5/6 Lucia & Riley
⭐️ Year 6/7 Amber
A few years ago we applied for funding from The Donnelly Group Foundation to enhance our equipment for outdoors. We were nominated to receive the funding at that time but due to Covid19 we were unable to use the funding until this year.
We decided to buy a permanent climbing wall and tunnel that will be available for the children to use every day. This was purchased from Creative Activity in Londonderry and we used the funding to pay for this alongside some nursery funds.
We are absolutely delighted with the product and we know it will enhance the children's physical development and also increase their confidence in climbing on aparatus.
A big thank you to The Donnelly Group Foundation for their funding and also to Gavin at Creative Activity for helping us with our order.
We will enjoy lots of climbing and crawling through the tunnel.
Today we were very excited as we got new road markings and car parking spaces in our playground. Yesterday Jason from Allplay came and did a fantastic job of laying our new playground markings. This will help us remember where to ride our bikes and trikes and teach us how to cross the road safely at the zebra crossing.
Thank you Jason for a super job!! The funding for this has come from the build up on nursery funds that our parents contribute to each month, so thank you to you also.
I'm sure the kids will have lots of fun with this over the year!
🌟 Well done to all of our stars this week 🌟
Year 1/2: Erin
Year 2/3: Russell & Matthew K
Year 3/4: Mia
Year 5/6: Tamzin
Year 6/7: Jessica & Marcel
We had so much fun on our Autumn walk. As we walked along the footpath we noticed the blackberries at the tops of the hedgerows. Some children thought they were for the giraffes but we eventually came around to the idea of leaving them for the birds. The blackberries were ripe and ready for us to pick as we walked further, we even heard the river flowing beside us. After a steep climb up a hill we spied conkers on the chestnut tree! A few had fallen down so we were able to investigate them.
What a busy morning we had, our wellies came in very handy and the children were glad to have their milk and snack on our return!
Perhaps you could continue the search for signs of Autumn at the weekend, after all, your children are now experts in berry picking and conker spotting!
🌟Well done to our Stars of the Week🌟
Year 1/2: Poppy and Jodie
Year 2/3: Tommie
Year 3/4: Eva
Year 5/6: Zara
Year 6/7: Jacob and Ross
The PHA have asked us to share some information to parents about RSV infections this winter. Please read the attached leaflets.
| Information for parents about RSV this winter (20th Sep 2021) |
|
| Information for parents about RSV this winter (20th Sep 2021) |
|
10th September 🌟Stars of the Week🌟
🌟Well done boys and girls🌟
⭐️ Year 2/3 Cassie
⭐️ Year 3/4 Max
⭐️ Year 5/6 Zac & Lucia
⭐️ Year 6/7 Sarah-Jane & Harry
We hope this flowchart will help with what to do next if your child has been identified as a close contact at school.
Please read and follow the instructions on this letter relating to Covid-19. Thank you so much for your co-operation.
| **For attention of Year 2/3 parents** (8th Sep 2021) |
|
All the boys and girls settled in so well today and I am so proud of each and every one of them. We played some games so we could all get to know each other, had some sweet treats and played outside!
Please have a read through this guidance for help with what to do if you have symptoms of Covid-19 or have been diagnosed with Covid-19.
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/coronavirus-covid-19-self-isolating
Please find attached a letter from Mrs Harper about school re-starting. We can't wait to see all our boys and girls back in school after the summer break.
| Mrs Harper-Sept 2021 (26th Aug 2021) |
|
Updated information for parents from the Education Minister
| Education Minister Letter (26th Aug 2021) |
|
Please find attached a copy of our school dinner menu from September to December 2021. This menu will run from Monday 6th September.
Please send the correct money on the first day of the week in a named envelope stating which days your child(ren) will be taking dinner.
The menu for 1st to 3rd September will be:
Wednesday 1st September
Oven baked chicken bites, herb diced potato, mixed vegetables, home-made fruit muffin & custard.
Thursday 2nd September
Oven baked fish, pasta bolognaise, mashed potato, sweetcorn, garlic bread & flakemeal biscuit.
Friday 3rd September
Beef burger in a sesame roll, sweetcorn, chipped potatoes & ice-cream tub.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in items of uniform over the past few days at school. We have attached a list of the items we have. School will be open from 24th August and we will place all the uniforms out on the school playground so you can browse and purchase anything which may be suitable. We will leave a box beside the clothes so that you can leave a donation for school funds. Thank you once again for your support. Have a lovely summer!
What a lovely ending to our school year! Have a look at our photos and videos to see what we got up to on our Colour Run. Each class bubble had a turn to go to the pitch and Ronan got everyone warmed up with some Zumba. Next it was time to get colourful as our lovely white t-shirts got covered in coloured powder. Our time at the pitch was finished off by making a colour cloud. Well done boys and girls on making this such a success and a huge thank you for the amazing amount of money you and your families have raised for our school-you are all superstars!!
What a lovely ending to our school year! Have a look at our photos and videos to see what we got up to on our Colour Run. Each class bubble had a turn to go to the pitch and Ronan got everyone warmed up with some Zumba. Next it was time to get colourful as our lovely white t-shirts got covered in coloured powder. Our time at the pitch was finished off by making a colour cloud. Well done boys and girls on making this such a success and a huge thank you for the amazing amount of money you and your families have raised for our school-you are all superstars!!
What a lovely ending to our school year! Have a look at our photos and videos to see what we got up to on our Colour Run. Each class bubble had a turn to go to the pitch and Ronan got everyone warmed up with some Zumba. Next it was time to get colourful as our lovely white t-shirts got covered in coloured powder. Our time at the pitch was finished off by making a colour cloud. Well done boys and girls on making this such a success and a huge thank you for the amazing amount of money you and your families have raised for our school-you are all superstars!!
What a lovely ending to our school year! Have a look at our photos and videos to see what we got up to on our Colour Run. Each class bubble had a turn to go to the pitch and Ronan got everyone warmed up with some Zumba. Next it was time to get colourful as our lovely white t-shirts got covered in coloured powder. Our time at the pitch was finished off by making a colour cloud. Well done boys and girls on making this such a success and a huge thank you for the amazing amount of money you and your families have raised for our school-you are all superstars!!
What a lovely ending to our school year! Have a look at our photos and videos to see what we got up to on our Colour Run. Each class bubble had a turn to go to the pitch and Ronan got everyone warmed up with some Zumba. Next it was time to get colourful as our lovely white t-shirts got covered in coloured powder. Our time at the pitch was finished off by making a colour cloud. Well done boys and girls on making this such a success and a huge thank you for the amazing amount of money you and your families have raised for our school-you are all superstars!!
We had so much fun at our afternoon ice cream party. We got to choose our own sauces and toppings and some of us even had seconds!
Super work boys and girls, you have worked so hard on your Accelerated Reading this year ⭐️
⭐️Well done⭐️
This is an amazing achievement...you have shown so much dedication to your Accelerated Reading this year, you should all be so proud!!!
Well done boys and girls for achieving 100% attendance at school this year!
I hope these future superstars remember their Y5/6 teacher when they all become millionaires! 🤪😜
Andrew from Bready and District Ulster Scots Development Association came to talk to us about the history of flutes and demonstrate how they are played. From September Andrew may be in our school giving flute lessons to those who wish to avail of free lessons.
Thank you Andrew 😊
Today we took our lunch up to the pitch and had our very own little picnic 🍽
What a lovely end of term treat 😁
On Friday our nursery children had their graduation. They were amazing and what a special way to celebrate the wonderful achievements they have had this year.
We are all very proud of them and wish them the very best as they begin the next chapter of P1 in September. Well done boys and girls!
Today we enjoyed having our favourite bears in class. We counted cookies for the bears to eat, designed our own bears and had fun dancing to many songs. 🎵 What a special treat it was to eat our lunch outside today! We made a circle and had fun playing games. Using our bears we put them in order from largest to smallest. During our playtime we gave our bears a bounce by propelling them using the parachute, such fun we have had!
Have a look at our had so much fun after our sports day. To end the day we had a water fight, unfortunately we didn’t get any photos as the Anne and Mrs Kane were too busy dodging wet sponges!
Mrs Preston had some little visitors at Nursery so we headed over for a little peak. To our surprise, three fluffy ducklings were waddling around! We got a close look at their features, we noticed they had webbed feet to help them in the water and they were surprisingly soft to touch. They didn’t like a lot of noise, so using quiet voices and still hands we observed closely. Mrs Preston refilled their water and they loved drinking the fresh water, splashing around and stretching their wings. This was so much fun and a great end to our week!
Today we all went down to assembly with Mrs Harper. Sandra presented all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners with their stickers and some boys and girls got a special effort sticker for showing perseverance during races.
Well done everyone! Wear those stickers with pride.
What a day we all had for our sports day followed by a fun afternoon on the pitch. All the boys and girls tried their very best with all the races and had fun 🤩
Check out all our photos 📸
Have a look at our video of P3/4 Sports Day - what a great morning - well done everyone ⭐️
This term our topic is “Let’s get growing.”We have been learning all about life cycles. We have learnt all about the life cycle of frogs and ducks. We got to see tadpoles and hold some ducklings. Look at our photos below, the boys and girls had a quacking time. 🐸🦆🐸🦆
A big thank you to Mrs Preston and Mrs McGinnis for allowing us to see these animals.
We had the best fun day ever- we got slightly wet in such a ‘heavy down pour’ of water guns 😉 It is even more fun when you are allowed to soak the big people in your class!
This week the pre-school children who are coming to our school in September went over to the main school and had their first experience of a school dinner. They all did exceptionally well and had a fun time. Well done boys and girls! 😁
The boys and girls absolutely loved our visit from Stephanie from Time Steps. The session was very interactive and engaging. She even wanted to trade one of our year 5 girls for a calf! Tempting, but I declined the offer 😅
We would highly recommend Time Steps and will definitely be using them for future topics. It really brought our current topic to life for the boys and girls.
The pictures provide a glimpse of just how much fun we had - so many giggles too!
Parents of Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery,
Our PTA would like to trial a Uniform Recycling System at the end of June.
If anyone has any pieces of uniform that they no longer need if they could kindly remove their child’s name from the clothing and send to school before the term finishes on 29th June.
The PTA will sort all the items that have been sent into school and let you know how you can purchase items before we return for the new school year in September.
All items will cost £1/£2 and all money raised will go to school funds.
We know buying uniforms can be costly so this will be a good way to cut down the cost of purchasing uniforms while supporting our school at the same time.
Thank you 😊
Staff from Artigarvan PS very proudly present Emma McCann from Cancer Focus NI with £1500 raised through donations in lieu of Christmas presents and the ‘March a Million’ step challenge. Thank you to everyone who supported us in memory of our former teacher Mrs Craig. Also pictured in the photograph are David an Olivia Craig (Mrs Craig’s husband and daughter). We would also like to thank David and Olivia for joining us for the presentation.
Here’s a little update from our greenhouse and planter:
The weeds have been cleared and our sunflower seeds that we planted are coming along nicely (see the attached pictures).
We also planted some onions and spread some more wildflower seeds kindly gifted by the council. Families can call into the reception of the council offices and pick up their free pack of wildflower seeds (while stocks last). Thank you so much to the council for our seeds.
In class Mrs Pollock read a lovely story about sunflowers 🌻 and told all the boys and girls about a famous sunflower painting by Vincent Van Gogh. The boys and girls then designed their own sunflower pictures using chalk based on the work of Van Gogh.
During term three our class have been reading ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ by Roald Dahl. In this book George makes a number of medicines, all of which have different effects on the people that take them. On Friday Mr Campbell brewed some of his own concoctions for everyone to try. Have a look at the pictures below, can you tell that the children enjoyed these?
Parents,
We are pleased to inform you that resources to help your child with maths have been made available on the CCEA website. These resources are designed to help you support your child's maths learning at home. They will build their understanding of the maths concepts covered in the classroom.
Being the parent of a young learner is challenging, as you have to balance supporting their learning with your other responsibilities. If the maths methods used by your child’s school are different from those you learned, or if maths has always been challenging for you, we hope that these resources will help you and your child navigate maths learning together, and hopefully have a little fun along the way!
You can access the resources by clicking on the hyperlinks below:
Tens and Units (TU) - Units (U) Subtraction
Tens and Units (TU) - Tens and Units (TU) Subtraction
Hundreds, Tens and Units (HTU) - Tens and Units (TU)
Hundreds, Tens and Units - Hundreds, Tens and Units (HTU)
Rosie's 5 step guides to subtraction (decomposition) encourage all learners to Watch, Try, Practise, Build Confidence and Celebrate Success.
With help from ready-to-use videos, support materials and work cards, these resources are perfect for children practising this essential maths skill at home. They also support parents as they reinforce the processes and language used with learners in the classroom to further promote self-paced, relaxed learning.
We hope you find these resources helpful.
Today was Break the rules day in school. The children loved being able to break some of our school rules.
They were allowed to:
1.Wear their own clothes
2. Have crazy hair
3. Bring an unhealthy snack
4. Come to school late
The children had lots of fun and we managed to raise lots of money that will go towards our school funds.
Thanks everyone for your support and most of all thank you for having fun!!
Over the past few days the children have been learning about 2D shapes, we have been learning about the properties of these shapes. We have used several different shapes to make some tiles, have a look at the wonderful tiles we have made.
Last week we finished off our length topic by finding the area and perimeter of some delicious, well know biscuits. The children all worked so well with their study buddies during this activity. Might have something to do with being allowed to eat the biscuits at the end 🤣
Now that all our donations have been gathered in and counted we are so proud to say that we raised £511.36 for Cancer Focus NI. We also have sent £105 direct to Cancer Focus to sign up to March a Million. Our donations in lieu of presents at Christmas came to a total of £860 making a final total of £1476.46 to be presented to Rosie from Cancer Focus NI in the coming weeks.
We cannot thank everyone enough for their generosity and we know that our very special Mrs Craig will be so so proud of everyone’s efforts. We can imagine her laugh and smile watching everyone stepping around the roads of Artigarvan and beyond and those famous words for a full month were “how many steps are you on now?”
Most of you will know what an amazing teacher Mrs Craig was at Artigarvan P.S, some of the parents will remember her fondly as Miss Chapman. We all have so many wonderful memories of Mrs Craig not just as a teacher but as an amazing friend to all the staff at our school. Together the staff of our school walked 7,087,769 steps in the month of March and we will be so proud to hand over all money raised in memory of such an amazing lady and teacher to so many children over the years 🥰
Thank you to everyone who supported this worthy cause 🌟
Y 5/6 all enjoyed bringing their bikes and scooters into school last Thursday!
We have been learning about measurement in Y5/6. Yesterday we worked with our study buddies to test if a persons height is 3 times the distance around their head. This was not the case for our class.
Today we went outside and measured the distance of our jumps. Apparently how far you can jump depends on your height. A lot of us recorded our jump to be the exact same length as our height!
Some of us almost jumped 2 metres!
Year 2/3 visited the greenhouse to tidy our planter and plant some seeds. Have a look at our photographs-we will keep you updated about what we grow 😊
Even though the weather wasn’t ‘playing ball’, we were! 🤣
We had so much fun this afternoon playing different games and learning cricket techniques. Thank you Brian!
Today was Year 2/3 turn to bring their bikes to school...it was lots of fun having a chance to play on our bikes and scooters outside. 🚴🏻♀️ 🚴🏻♂️
This morning Year 2/3 got their green fingers out as they made wildflower seed bombs. Each group had a tray of soil which they mixed with some grit, this made some very messy hands but in the words of Finn “this is so relaxing” and a lot of fun was had. The children loved mixing in the seeds and the water together then we took our trays outside to put our seed bombs out on the grass through the fence. We can’t wait to see if they grow.
What a way to start a Monday morning. This week our school are participating in the Sustran's Big Pedal. Today was our selected day to cycle/scoot to school and what a fantastic effort the nursery class have went to! 19 children either cycled or scooted to Nursery and we all had so much fun out in the 'big playground' on our bikes and scooters.
Well done everyone you all did amazing!!
PS: Even some of the grown ups brought their scooter to school too! :)
On Friday we completed our one hour skipping challenge!!!! Some of the boys and girls wanted to keep skipping! We brought out the large skipping rope and had lots of fun with that whilst also keeping up our individual skipping.
What better way to celebrate finishing out challenges than with a bag of skips!!! 🤩🤩🤩
I am so proud of all the boys and girls for really pushing themselves. We all really enjoyed it and it made us feel super good 😁😁😁
We would like to say a big big thank you to the boys and girls in Mrs Kane's class as they have been very busy looking after our school grounds. They noticed lots of weeds along the paths and got to work pulling them out. Such a difference you have all made, thank you!!
Today we got outside for some outdoor play. Firstly we started off with our story time outside. This was a real treat for us. After story time we got very busy!!
We have now got a new stone area to play with our trucks and vehicles and it is has been very popular today. The children also had lots of fun in our sand pit and they were very busy digging in the sunshine. We have 2 playhouses now and the children loved exploring how one house is big and the other one is smaller.
What a super outdoor play session today - we had lots of fun!
We have now skipped for 45 minutes! I am so proud of all the boys and girls and how much dedication and effort they are putting into our wee challenge!
At the start of this challenge some of the boys were very apprehensive and now I have them telling me how much they love skipping!
It helps that we are getting beautiful weather to complete all our skipping 🌞🌞🌞🌞
We have done a total of 30 minutes of skipping now and it’s making us all feel FANTASTIC 😁😁😁😁😁
One boy said today that he felt like he was better at it today than he was yesterday 😁👍🙌
Others even informed me this morning that they practiced at home yesterday evening! Amazing dedication 💪
And then as if they hadn’t skipped enough I spied them skipping again at lunch! (Check out my sneaky window pictures 🕵️♀️)
Half way there! Stay tuned for all our updates.
We all returned to the classroom before Easter after a long 3 months of remote learning. We were all very excited to return to school, but it can still be very challenging adjusting to ‘normal’ school life again. We talked about the 5 ways to help our mental well-being.
Evidence suggests there are 5 steps you can take to improve your mental health and wellbeing. Trying these things could help you feel more positive and able to get the most out of life. One of the five is exercise. Before Easter we decided to take part in an exercise challenge!!!
This week, over the course of 4 days, we will be skipping for one whole hour!
Check out the video and photos from today! Mrs McClelland is joining in too of course but she isn’t half as fit as the Y5/6 boys and girls!
Our challenge will be documented here every day so stay tuned!
This week we have enjoyed many fun Easter activities starting off with listening to the Easter story. After listening to the story about Jesus dying on the cross and being raised to life again we wondered why eggs were such a big part of Easter, eating them, decorating them and even playing hide and seek with them! Did you know that eggs are a sign of new life? We learned lots about how eggs activities come from church leaders not eating eggs during Holy Week and they needed to do something with all of the eggs at home so they decorated them and distributed them to the children.
In school we enjoyed decorating our eggs and creating fantastic scenes which had been extremely well-planned at home. You will see our pictures below of what we have created!
The next day we decorated Easter cards to hang around our houses, we made beautiful eggs using paint and used old cardboard tubes to create a bunny. You won’t believe what happened next! As we hung our Easter bunny up to dry by the window we heard a knock, to our surprise it was the Easter bunny waving us outside, so we followed him! He had hid so many eggs around the school and our job was to find the colour he left for our class. What a busy few days it’s been!
Have a lovely Easter everyone, stay safe!
We are near the end of our challenge now and would firstly like to thank everyone who has sent in money for Cancer Focus NI. This week together we walked 1,648,438 steps 🎉
Star Steppers this week are 🌟:
1st: Anne 145,042 steps
2nd: Mrs Patterson 133,186 steps
3rd: Joanne 128,768 steps
Have a look at some of the photographs from our travels this week. We will do our final March count on Wednesday night 😊
We were so 'eggcited' today when Thea noticed somebody outside in our playground....THE EASTER BUNNY! We couldn't believe that he came to visit us today and he even left us some treats in our playground. Look at all of these happy faces.
Happy Easter boys and girls :)
Well done to all of the boys and girls for their hard work making their wonderful egg creations. They were all fantastic but we had to choose some winners in each class. Samantha and Cherry from the kitchen had the very difficult job of choosing a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each class.
Well done to everyone for taking part.
Happy Easter :)
Year 2/3 were very busy this week creating their egg masterpieces. We also loved having a look around the hall at all the other egg creations. Have a look at our photos and see if you can find your child’s egg.
Making the most of the beautiful weather today and making fun memories with our friends ❤️
Y5/6 were all working so hard this morning, when all of a sudden, there was a knock at our classroom window! It was the Easter bunny! We were all invited outside to hunt for all the pink eggs!
It was all very exciting 🤩🤩🤩
Check out our video and photos!
All the boys and girls were busy doing their work today when they heard a big knock at the window. Mrs Pollock opened the blinds and what a surprise we got when we saw the Easter Bunny looking in at us. The Easter Bunny left everyone a little chocolate bunny and we had to search on the playground to find them. We had so much fun 😊
Mr whippy surprised us with a visit today after a hard morning of egg decorating 🐣🥚
What a well deserved treat for all the boys and girls 😁😁😁
The nursery children have been practising recognising their name and also becoming familiar with the letter shapes within their names. We used the cotton buds and paint to print over each letter.
Miss Moore enjoyed helping the children to decorate their Easter eggs on Thursday. These are for the school egg competition and will be judged on Tuesday by our cooks, Samantha and Cherry.
Good luck everyone!
This week the boys and girls had a super week of learning. They were learning lots of new things and tried hard with remembering our golden rules again.
Have a super weekend boys and girls. :)
We have all had a lovely first week back at school.
We have been catching up with our friends 👭👫, talking about our lockdown experiences, thinking about things we are grateful for 🙌,playing games 🎲, and participating in arts and crafts 🎨
Big well done to the children who reached their AR reading target this term too👏📚. They all look very pleased with themselves. I wonder how long it will take them to eat those eggs? 🤔
Check out our photos!📸
When we arrived in school this morning we found a lovely surprise in the corridor...have a look at the photographs to see what we found. We had PE this morning so we were able to have a go on our new corridor activities on the way to the hall. For PE we were on an egg hunt at the zoo, we had to listen carefully to our instructions and do the correct movement.
The children in Year 2/3 have been learning about Spring and growing seeds. In our Musical Pathways last week we had to pretend to be a seed and grow and grow into a beautiful sunflower.
A very suitable book to read this week was “The Enormous Turnip”. The children really enjoyed listening to the story and retelling it in their own words.
Today we saw amazing teamwork in our classroom as we all worked together to create a beautiful display about our story. Have a look to see all the hard work and our finished masterpiece. We are so proud of you Year 2/3 🌟
Yaayyyy it’s our highest week so far for steps!!!! We managed to get 1,879,065 steps all together 😊
A huge well done to everyone for taking part and thank you to everyone for their donations. This is our last stretch now...maybe next week we could hit the two million?????
Star Steppers this week are:
1st: Mrs Patterson 197,623 steps
2nd: Anne 145,254 steps
3rd: Darryl 128,341 steps
🌟 🌟 🌟
Today was a super exciting day as we welcomed back the whole school for the first time since Christmas!
Year 5/6 made the most of the dry weather and played games outside, it was so much fun!
It was really lovely to have everyone together again and we can’t wait to welcome the rest of our class back next week. All the boys and girls have settled back in so well and I am so proud of them all.
Some overheard quotes of the day 👂:
“I can’t wait to come to school again tomorrow!”
”I can’t choose my favourite part of today”
”it’s been a long 8 months” 😂
After a very miserable week of weather there were a lot of nervous people sending in their steps this week. We were thinking that we wouldn’t have enough to make our million. We were pleasantly surprised when our total steps added to 1,346,886!!! Well done everyone 🌟
Our star steppers this week are:
1st: Mrs Patterson 150,043 steps
2nd: Anne 130,045 steps
3rd: Laura 106, 109 steps
We would like to thank everyone who has sent in donations so far-it is greatly appreciated. If you would like to send in a donation there is a box in the school porch to post your donation.
Here is a little snapshot of our outdoor play session on Monday. :)
Today the weather had picked up so we finally got outside to play. The children were very excited and we had a wonderful outdoor session with lots of learning opportunities. Enjoy browsing through our photos.
Year 2/3 were delighted with their treat on Friday when the ice cream van arrived. The boys and girls had a brilliant first week back and this little treat was so well deserved. Have a look at all the smiles 😊
We have been talking about the signs of Spring and reading books to find out what we need to look out for. Carrie told us all about the daffodils in her garden and we have learned that they grow from a bulb, which the children thought looks a bit like an onion!
Mrs Kane brought daffodils but they didn’t look very nice to begin with. A few days later and after adding some water to the stems they had opened up, a bright yellow colour appeared and a beautiful sweet scent! Brett brought his own sunny daffodil to school, he thought it best to add it to our collection!
During play we have been busy making spring items, using junk and craft materials the children have made some fantastic pieces. Take a look at what we’ve made so far but do check back for an update soon!
This week we welcomed back our children into the classroom and such fun we had. The children settled back in so quickly, remembering routines and adapting to life back with their friends. We are so proud of the fantastic week they had, so we thought they deserved a little treat today.
We had a visit from our local ice-cream man, Mr Whippy, which brought a smile to everyone's face on a Friday morning. Big smiles all round!!
Thank you Mr Whippy
Today at school we had a surprise visit from the ice-cream van. 🍦 This was a special treat for our children as they have been working so hard during their first week back at school.
The children were chanting “best day ever!” as they received their treat, albeit in the pouring rain! ☔️
Anne and I have had such an enjoyable week with these amazing children! They have had a very strange start to Primary school but we endeavour to make the next term the most enjoyable yet! 😁
‘After every storm comes a rainbow’ 🌈
We were all excited on Sunday night to see how many steps we had clocked up together for our first week of our March a Million Challenge. The number of steps that everyone sent in was AMAZING and our grand total was 1,552,219 steps!
Well done everyone-we will put another £5 each in our donation box. Thank you also to our families who have sent in donations for Cancer Focus NI, it is greatly appreciated.
Our star steppers this week were:
1st: Mrs Patterson 175,225 steps
2nd: Anne 124,016 steps
3rd: Sandra 116,566 steps
Have a look at some photographs of our travels to get our steps up and once again a huge THANK YOU to everyone for taking part and for all the donations. I wonder can we beat our score next week???
Today was a very exciting day as we all got back to the classroom after weeks of remote learning. The weather forecast shows a lot of rain for the rest of this week so we decided to go outside for a play together. It was so lovely to have our class back together and we had lots of fun. Well done boys and girls you had a super first day back.
The Staff at Artigarvan PS are taking part in March a Million Challenge for Cancer Focus NI. There are 19 members of staff taking part so we are hoping that together we can do one million steps each week in March. We have paid our £5 each to sign up and will put in £5 each week in March and work hard to get as many steps as we can. Laura has very kindly agreed to donate fudge to the person with the most steps... I wonder who it will be???
Keep an eye each week here for updates on how we are getting on :)
Also if anyone would like to sponsor us, it would be very much appreciated. You can send money into school with your child in an envelope and we will have a box for donations that they can post their envelope in.
Year 5/6 took part in a little challenge this week. They have all been reading in the most peculiar places!🧐
Check out our video. Looks like they all had a lot of fun 😀
Can I begin by saying how proud we are of our nursery children the past 6 weeks. They were thrown into the world of remote learning and they have excelled themselves.
We are delighted with the dedication and commitment each family have shown to developing their child’s learning.
So well done to the children and also their parents.
Here is a short video to showcase the amazing work they have been getting up to.
Enjoy and thank you 🌟🌟
Mrs Preston
Our topic this term is called ‘Through the eyes of the child’ 👀👁
Lockdown has not stopped the year 5/6 pupils from working their socks off and getting stuck into this topic.
See for yourselves what we have been learning in the first part of this amazing topic. Enjoy 😊
Year 1/2 had an amazing day! Don't believe us? Check it out for yourself! 🥳
Year 1/2 have been so busy during remote learning!
Miss Moore and Anne are so proud of each and every one of them 😀💕
Have a look at our school promotional video!
Tell everyone you know, who has a 3 or 4 year old child, about our super school and why they should choose our Nursery or School for their child in September 2021.
It's an amazing school and nursery full of amazing children!
Well done to Cassie, our Bug Club Reader of the Week and all the boys and girls for doing so well in their keywords!
All the children in Y1/2 were happy to receive a special gift from Miss Moore and Anne today 😀
The children have worked so hard since August, they were so deserving of a lovely present.
All the boys and girls in Y1/2 enjoyed decorating biscuits! They used icing, sprinkles, sweets and chocolate chips to make their tasty treat. The best part was eating it!
Merry Christmas from all the staff at Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery🎄
Y6/7 had some festive fun today making these beautiful wreath decorations to hang on their Christmas trees!
A few weeks ago the boys and girls in Year 2/3 were very busy writing letters to Santa. Miss Hicks posted all the letters on her way home from school and today a special parcel arrived in school addressed to Year 2/3. When we opened the package we found a letter for each child in our class. There was lots of excitement as we realised these letters were from Santa!
The boys and girls enjoyed playing with the playdough today. They used all the tools and cutters to design their creations!
We have put together a video showing you all the fun Christmas activities they have been getting up to this past month. We hope you all enjoy.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 🎄🥳
We all enjoyed our Christmas dinner in the hall last week - it was delicious!
Thank you to all our lovely canteen staff.
Here is our video filled with just some of the fun, festive activities we have been doing this month. We have had so much fun, especially acting out our little comedy sketch. We hope you enjoy watching it.
Merry Christmas from Mrs McClelland, Shauna and all the amazing boys and girls in Year 5/6.
As we come to the end of term we would like you to see a Christmas video that will show off some of the activities the children have been doing over the last few weeks.
We are excited for our Christmas holidays but hope that all our children and their families stay safe but have a very Happy Christmas. Lets hope that 2021 brings everyone the happiness and health that we deserve.
Have a super Christmas break and we will see you all soon in January. Enjoy our short Christmas movie :)
Mrs Preston & Yvonne
Here is a little video, filled with all the fun things we have been getting up to during the Christmas period ⭐️
We hope you enjoy it 😊
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Mr Campbell, Laura and all the boys and girls in Y3/4. 🎄
During last week we held a competition within our class to see how could create the best Christmas jumper. All entries were amazing! In join 3rd place was Abbie and Rachel, in 2nd place we had Lily and first place was Danny.
Well done to everyone 😁😁😁
Last week we all took part in a 'Design a Christmas jumper.' Mrs Harper and Sandra had a very hard job in choosing some winners from our class. Well done to all of our children on participating in the competition. The winners are:
Joint 3rd place: Harper & Erin
2nd place: Alex
1st place: Victoria
Well done girls :)
We hope you enjoy our festive news live from the Year 6/7 classroom...you will find lots of interviews, lots of jokes and some festive musical fun.
Merry Christmas from everyone in Year 6/7!
We hope you enjoy watching all our stars in P2/3. We have worked so hard this term and you can see what we have been doing in the last few weeks!
Happy Christmas from all the pupils and staff in P2/3!
Last week brought many fun and exciting activities. On Wednesday we were about to start our scavenger hunt when we heard bells ringing in the car park! It was Santa! We all loved having a wee chat with him and some of us got our photo taken. We then enjoyed our tasty gold coins that we all found. What an exciting break time!
Last week we arrived to school to find presents underneath our class Christmas tree! We excitedly opened them to discover we now have lots of new, fun games to play during golden time. What a lovely surprise!
Some of the games we received were Monopoly, hedbanz, 5 second rule, connect 4 and the old classic, snakes and ladders!
We enjoyed playing these games On Friday and can’t wait to play some more this week before we finish for Christmas!
Year 6/7 had great fun learning about coordinates. They had to use a google earth map of the school to complete tasks. They left items at certain points (using coordinates), recorded themselves singing songs at other locations and even solved a maths problem they found at a certain location. They worked exceptionally well within their groups and hopefully know all about coordinates now !😊
18 pupils in Year 6/7 reached their target in Accelerated Reading this term. Here they are receiving their prizes which included a ‘ homework pass ‘ from Mrs. Harper. A huge well done to everyone.
Our first word ‘millionaire’ of the 2020/21 school year ! Well done William !
The children were so excited to get their Christmas dinner in school today. Year 1/2 spent the morning listening to Christmas music and making party hats to wear to dinner.
It is always so exciting going to the canteen and sitting at the big yellow tables to eat lunch. The children enjoyed a lovely turkey dinner and a choc ice after. It was delicious!!
We wish it could be Christmas dinner everyday!
At break time, the children all embarked on a scavenger hunt! They were on the hunt for chocolate gold coins.
All 27 children did an amazing job and were able to find themselves a tasty coin - Anne and Miss Moore on the other hand are still looking!!
What a surprise we got at break time today! When we searched for our chocolate coins we could hear a bell....we couldn’t believe our eyes when we spotted Santa at the school gate. Well done to everyone who found a coin and a special mention to Mya who found the special coin with the sticker on it. Thank you to Mrs Harper for organising our coin hunt-we had so much fun.
Well done to all the boys and girls in Year 2/3 for their beautiful Christmas jumper designs. Here are our winners:
1st: Mya
2nd: Emily and Mia
3rd: Zara
Today, Mrs Harper set the children a challenge! Design a new Artigarvan P.S. Christmas jumper ☃️🎄
All the children in Y1/2 worked really hard designing their jumper and Mrs Harper found it soo difficult picking a winner. ⭐️
A big congratulations to our winners:
1st - Isla
2nd - Eve
Joint 3rd - Cassie and Mitchell
Well done to everyone, you all did an amazing job! 👏🏻
Congratulations to Mason, our Star of the Week and Leo our Reader of the Week.
On Thursday the boys and girls in Year 2/3 worked hard to write instructions on how to make a melted snowman biscuit. They worked out everything they would need and how they would make them. Miss Hicks bought the ingredients that were needed and today we had lots of fun making our creations. Have a look and see.
Just look at our fabulous penguins! Didn't they turn out brrrr-illiant?! 🐧
We are all wrapped up at ready for Winter in Y1/2 ❄
The Year 3 boys and girls in Mrs Pollock and Miss Hicks class made these beautiful melted snowmen.
The children have been feeling very inspired with our topic 'In the Toybox' 🧸
During play, children have been using their imagination and creativity to build their own toys using junk materials. 📦
The children are so inventive that sometimes Miss Moore thinks she's in Santa's workshop and not the classroom! 🎅
A big shout out to a wonderful girl in Y1 who designed not only a toy for herself, but also for her friend 💕 Thank you for being a bucket filler! 💫
This morning Annabel and Russell were the first two names in our class Advent Calendar, we hope you enjoy your treats.
A special postbox arrived in our classroom this week and this morning we made cards and posted them to our friends.
Have a look at our beautiful Christmas wreaths made with glitter, finger prints, jewels, sequins and stickers. There is lots of sparkle in Year 2/3.
On Friday we had a very special visitor called Lorraine who is a member of the PSNI. Constable Lorraine came into Nursery to talk to us about lots of very important things. She talked to us about how to cross the road safely and to remember the 3 very important words: Stop, Look and Listen. She also talked to us about staying safe on our bicycles and helmets and how to do this: always wear a helmet and check your brakes!!
Finally Lorraine told us what to do if we get lost in a big shop or supermarket and that we need to always look out for someone who works there and is wearing a uniform.
Lorraine we thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to come and see all the boys and girls at our Nursery.
Christmas magic seems to have turned Y6/7 pupils into complaining Christmas characters! Oh dear! Oh dear!
Well done to all our children who have been the Star of the week so far.
Last week we all wore our odd socks to school to support Anti-Bullying Week. We talked about how it is ok to be different and how each person is different in lots of different ways. We talked about how it doesn't matter if we don't like the same things and it is ok to like things different things to our friends. :)
Today we had our Big Bedtime Read that is linked to the Getting Ready to Learn Programme that we are involved in every year. The children arrived to Nursery in their pyjamas along with Mrs Preston and Yvonne. Today we had a special day as we had a break all together today and we pretended it was our supper. After our 'supper' we went into Storyland and had a magical time together. Mrs Preston read us a lovely story called Mouse's Christmas and we were all fantastic at listening and answering all her questions. Well done to all the boys & girls and I know you all had a very special day. I hope you enjoy your 1st story book pack when you get it on Monday.
As we draw closer to the end of what has been a particularly difficult year for all, Y1/2 would like to share a special song with you all. Hopefully you all enjoy it as much as we do ❤️
We sing this song in class to remind us that although sometimes things can be a little difficult, there is no need to worry because “every little thing, is going to be all right.” 🐥
Y1/2 were so happy to welcome Constable Lorraine to school today. She came in to talk to us about bullying and what we can do to stop it.
Our class know that bullying is bucket dipping and that’s not a nice thing to do. The children all know that if it ever happens to them, or if they ever see it happening to someone else, they must tell an adult.
The children asked fantastic questions and gave wonderful answers, Constable Lorraine was so impressed. ⭐️
Thank you very much to our local PSNI community team for your special visit.
We have recently finished the topic ‘Once Upon a Time’ with lots of book studies. For November and December our topic is ‘In the Toybox’.
We ended Anti-Bullying week with our odd socks day! Lots of great work this week in school to highlight how unique we are, what we can do to stamp out bullying in our school and how important it is to treat everyone with kindness and respect!
Well done boys and girls!
UNITED AGAINST BULLYING 2020
Well done to Eve, Y1/2 Star of the Week and Matthew, our Reader of the Week.
The children this week have been listening to stories and talking about bullying and what we can do to stop it.
In our class, we try really hard to be ‘bucket fillers’ by being kind, having manners, sharing with our friends and looking after everyone in our class.
Odd Sock Day reminds us that we are all unique and that is really something to celebrate!! ⭐️🌈
Today, Y1/2 had a fantastic first music lesson with Una from Musical Pathways.
They all tried so hard singing along and copying with the actions 😀
Miss Moore and Anne were so proud of how they all listened.
We are already so excited for next weeks lesson 🎼
Well done to all the boys and girls who are now on the Key Word Rocket!
We are so proud of how well you are doing. Keep revising your key words - the sky is the limit!!
Today in bus room, the children enjoyed creating some autumnal artwork with Miss Moore.
They used cotton buds to dot on leaves to their tree.
They used orange, yellow and brown to re-create the beautiful colours of the autumn leaves. Our pictures reminded us of the beautiful trees out at nursery.
Well done bus children 🍂🍁
Thank you to all the boys and girls in Y1/2 that donated to the Samaritans shoe box appeal 🎁
Look at the excitement on those little faces!
Last week we started our new class novel - David Williams ‘Awful Auntie’. Everyone is really enjoying it so far and we just can’t wait to find out what the family mystery is.
A big shoutout to Gary and the team at CORE NI for their fantastic P.E. videos. The children had so much fun with their animal workout 🦁 Can you guess what animals we were?
For the first time this school year, Y1/2 got to go to the dinner hall to eat their lunch! 🍽
This was the Y1’s very first time sitting up at the big yellow tables ⭐️
It was such good fun - we cannot wait to go back down next week as well 😀
All of the boys and girls have had a lovely day for world kindness day today.
Our anti-bullying ambassadors created little baskets with random acts of kindness for every class. Every child chose one and had to carry out their act at some point throughout the day. Some children helped the teacher, gave compliments and some drew pictures or wrote notes for their teachers and classroom assistants.
We also created lovely kindness posters. Please check out some of the photos. They are just so beautiful!
Last week our Anti-bullying ambassadors had a meeting to discuss what we could do for World Kindness day. We decided it would be nice to send thank you letters and some pictures to Altnagelvin. We thought with all their hard work during this world wide pandemic they would like a little pick me up. We posted them on Tuesday and got a lovely phone call on Thursday to thank us and to tell us how much they meant to all the staff.
Today we had such a lovely surprise when a lady called Nicola who is a theatre nurse came to our school to thank us in person ! She even brought us all treats! What a lovely gesture :)
We are just so delighted that our letters brought a smile to someone’s face.
Remember in a world where you can be anything - BE KIND!
The children in Y1/2 created beautiful poppy illustrations to commemorate Remembrance Day. They used bottle lids, sponges and paint to create a beautiful field of poppies.
They also enjoyed listening to the story ‘Anzac Ted’ and designing their own medals of honour for their own hero’s.
Carrie even made her own poppy!
We have been learning how to change the tense of verbs in literacy. Today we played a memory game where we had to match the correct present, future and past tense.
Is there any better maths lesson than one you can eat at the end?
This week we have been learning all about division.
We have shared sweets into equal groups and we have also used our sweets to learn about remainders.
We have linked multiplication and division and participated in lots of practical activities.
Year 6 and 7 worked in small groups to create their own newspaper front pages telling the wonderful news of the 1969 moon landing. Some wonderful future reporters!
The children enjoyed a Halloween party to celebrate the arrival of their half term holidays. They created their own pumpkin craft before dancing to their favourite song. They ended their day enjoying an outdoor picnic party in the beautiful October weather!
What wonderful artists we have in Year 6/7! Have a look at our ‘Harvest moon silhouettes!’
The children in Y 6/7 are really enjoying Accelerated reading. Have a look at the photos of them during AR time in class. We read for half an hour each day. Each child takes a quiz at the end of every book they’ve read and their progress is recorded.
If they get 100% in a quiz they get a stamp! If they get 4 stamps they get a free ticket for our Friday draw. They can also get a ticket for this for every 5 points they earn in AR each week.
Our weekly winners so far are Abigail, Emma, Adam D, Sarah-Jane, Megan O and Sam. Well done all !
Miss Moore’s Y1/2 children enjoyed riding their scooters and bikes to school. They even got to take them out for a spin during outdoor play! 🤩
Miss Moore and Anne were so proud of how many children didn’t need stabilisers!! 👏🏻
Y1/2 had so much fun breaking the rules!
Who doesn’t love mad hair and chocolate for snack?? 🍩
International Dot Day is a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration. All around the world children and adults celebrate Dot Day to encourage people of all ages to harness their creativity. The inspiration behind the event is the children’s book ‘The Dot’ by Peter H. Reynolds. It relates the tale of a teacher who challenges one of her pupils to take courage in her abilities and “make a mark and see where it takes you.” 🎨
Y1/2 along with their friends in Y3/4 were inspired to collaborate on their own Dot project, and together the created the most beautiful wall display. ⭐️
Well done Mr Campbell class and Miss Moore’s class - you have definitely left your mark in APS. 👏🏻
I had popped into Nursery today and thought it was only fair that all the boys and girls were able to see Barney's weekend with Mitchell. This was such a long time ago but I thought I would share it with you as Barney is missing all the boys and girls so much. Mitchell and Barney had such a busy weekend that started with a trip to McDonalds for a happy meal. Barney met Mitchell's 2 gorgeous dogs and he also got to listen to fantastic stories that we love in Nursery; The smartest Giant in Town and The Gruffalo. Barney and Mitchell has great fun at Donemana park playing on the swings, tunnels, bike and riding around on the John Deer Gator. They even had a visit from Mitchell's friend from nursery, Joe.
I would say both Barney and Mitchell were very tired after such a busy weekend. Thank you for all the fun Mitchell and I hope Barney gets a chance to see everyone very soon again.
Keep your eyes peeled, even Barney was staying safe!!!!! ;)
Lots of love; Barney & Mrs Preston
On 13th March we had a special occasion to attend, a wedding! Rev. Russell met us at the church as we arrived in our extraordinary outfits, but whose wedding were we attending? We walked down the aisle and sat in a pew where we waited patiently for the bride and groom to arrive, and so they did, along with the bridesmaid and best man, of course! Rev. Russell told us all about a wedding ceremony, our newlyweds even exchanged rings, said vows to each other and gave a friendly high-five to mark the end of the ceremony and the beginning of their (pretend) marriage. Rev. Russell even had music for the bride to walk down the aisle to, accompanied by her bridesmaid, he even had a special song which was played at Mrs Kane's wedding! The children had some fantastic questions ranging from, 'why do you exchange rings?', 'why do you change names?', 'why do you get married in a church?'. Our bride had a little last minute panic that her name had suddenly changed but we reassured her that this was only a practice!
I had hoped to share these photos with you at our class assembly, I thought you would love to have a look through our special day which the children thoroughly enjoyed. A huge thank you to Rev. Russell for all of his help and for enabling this learning experience for our children!
Don’t forget that David Walliams has a new story to share every day all eleven
Also Carol Voderman has created a site with lots of very useful maths lessons to keep you busy.
Have a lovely day all and please stay safe. Xx
Phonics-
Phonics play https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk Year 1 Phase 1,2,3, Year 2 Phase 1,2,3,4
Letterland- youtube then search for the sound/formation
Alphablocks https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks
Bug Club signin
Literacy-
Conversation starter ideas Pobble365 http://www.pobble365.com
The Literacy Shed https://www.literacyshed.com/home.html
Twinkl www.twinkl.co.uk
Numeracy-
Topmarks https://www.topmarks.co.uk
Number formation rhymes http://www.communication4all.co.uk
Numberblocks https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks
Relax!!
Cosmic kids yoga https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
GoNoodle https://www.gonoodle.com
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/joinin/seven-techniques-for-helping-kids-keep-calm
Year 6/7 tried out some experiments with different salts to grow some crystals. The different salts used were Epsom Salts, alum, and table salt mixed with boiling water and food colouring. Each group then wrapped a pipe cleaner up and attached some string so that the pipe cleaner could dangle in the mixture. They left the experiment overnight and produced some amazing crystals. The boys and girls have also completed their instructional writing on how to make crystals. A great bunch of scientists in Year 6/7.
As the most popular time to read seems to be bedtime, the pupils and staff at Artigarvan P.S decided to come to school in their pyjamas for World Book Day 2020. The teachers each chose a book that they would read in their classroom and the children could pick which story they would like to hear. This was a huge success and children loved hearing stories like 'The Gruffalo' and 'Stick Man'.
Year 7 were delighted when Mrs Patterson arrived with her special delivery of hoodies for Year 7. They all look so well and we wish them well for their last few months in Primary School.
We had a lovely treat on Friday when George Murphy visited our school to sing some songs and rhymes with the children from Nursery up to Year 7. We joined in singing songs like “She’ll be coming round the mountain” and “Tell me ma”. It was a fun morning for our Feel Good Fridays in school. We hope George will come back to visit again.
All those pupils who were Stars of the week before half term had great fun at the Principal’s party this week !
Well done everyone - Mrs Harper is very proud of you all!
P7s went to the hall in Artigarvan to enjoy badminton coaching with Naomi - it was great fun and we look forward to our badminton tournament in a few weeks.
3rd March 2020
Baby Joanna and her Mummy visited today for our theme of communication. We talked about how babies communicate and looked at Baby Joanna's body movement and gestures. We learnt that nursery rhymes are very helpful to language development and we presented Baby Joanna with a beautiful nursery rhyme book made by all the boys and girls in Year 3/4.
On Saturday 29th February it was the final of the ‘Couch to 5K’ very kindly organised by Joeanne Kerr. Twelve ladies were out in some of the worst weather conditions over the past six weeks and everyone at Artigarvan P.S would like to say a huge WELL DONE and THANK YOU for your dedication and for supporting our school and nursery. On Saturday families and friends were invited to join in for a family walk after our twelve superstars had taken off on their run. The weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t pleasant and we thank those who came out to join the walk and thankfully the rain stayed away for the duration of this event. Everyone could enjoy refreshments after in Fox Lodge and we would like to thank Nicola and Laura for helping with this as well as all the parents who provided scones, pancakes and treats to eat. It was a brilliant morning and together an amazing £787.50 was raised for Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery. A huge thank you to Joeanne and her helpers for organising this event and thank you everyone once again for your support.
Today, P5/6 were learning about instructional writing. They helped Miss Moore make some tasty treats to celebrate Pancake Tuesday and then wrote their own recipe to try at home! Who knew literacy could be so tasty?
For Pancake Tuesday Laura made us homemade pancakes in school! We then chose which toppings to add to our pancakes. Take a look at our delicious pancakes!
There was lots of love and excitement in school as the Enterprise Team delivered their ‘goody bags’ around the classes today. Thank you to everyone who supported this event, and thank you to the boys and girls who spent a lot of time making up 165 goody bags!!! The total money made was £60.76 for our school.
We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Sandra and Laura for providing lots of delicious treats for our unhealthy break to raise money for our sponsor child Olbirat. Thank you to everyone who supported this event, we raised a total of £83 to send to Olbirat.
Year 5/6 have been progressing well with their Mandarin lessons each week with Ren. Last week they learnt all about Chinese food and the importance of chopsticks to the Chinese culture. They even had a go trying to use chopsticks themselves!
Years 5, 6 and 7 were treated to a lovely assembly about Robbie Burns, some of the boys and girls even tried some Haggis.
We enjoyed a ‘Stand by me’ assembly with Johnny who works for the charity that supports Olbrait our sponsor child. We learned about living conditions for some of the children that ‘Stand by me’ care for and also some of their recent work. Year 5,6 and 7 then took part in a workshop with Johnny.
During P.E we have been busy learning numbers and colours. We used Numicon to match numerals to the shapes and then we matched colours using coloured objects. It was a competition between two teams, we had to work together and make sure we were paying attention so that we didn't miss our turn.
Today we enjoyed some delicious treats baked by Laura and Sandra. We had a choice of pancakes, cupcakes or scones and the money we used to buy our snack will be donated to our sponsor child Olbirat.
We had another lovely visit from Baby Joanna, this time she brought along her Mummy and her Daddy. We talked about how babies are vulnerable and need to be kept safe. The children were able to see the huge responsibility of being a parent and that babies should never be left alone (except when put to bed). Thank you Baby Joanna and your Mummy and Daddy for another lovely Roots of Empathy visit.
Year 7 were treated to an outing to Domino's Pizza in Strabane to have a go at their own pizza making. They got to see behind the scenes and even inside a fridge that could hold all the pupils in Year 7. They had a go at making pizza boxes and working the tills. One group had a pizza on the till that totalled £101.99!!! Finally they got down to business...making their own pizzas (yum yum). Everyone had a lovely morning and would like to thank the staff at Domino's Pizza for this wonderful opportunity.
On Friday we celebrated the beginning of Accelerated Reading in our school. Children in Year 5, 6 and 7 have been reading to earn points. This is a brilliant opportunity for our pupils to “accelerate their reading”. Well done to all the boys and girls who have made it onto our points board and received their raffle tickets to win a bar of chocolate. We are excited to see who has moved up the board this week. Keep reading everyone!
This week our session was all about the importance of praise. We shared an interesting fact - with every 1 positive comment we give to our children we also give them 8 negative comments. It made us think about the types of praise that we give to our children on a daily basis. We talked about specific, genuine, focused on effort and without a sting in the tail. I hope all our parents who have taken part, are consciously thinking about the type of praise they are using at home with all their children. We all made 1 praise star to use at home and we also got to take home resources to make a star for every member of our family.
The boys and girls in Year 6 and 7 enjoyed a visit from Mr Hampton, Mr Bratton and two pupils from Year 8. They heard all about the wonderful new facilities at Strabane Academy and are invited to their Open Evening on Thursday 30th Jan.
Well done to Amy in P7 who won a prize for completing a treasure hunt at the open evening at Lisneal College.
On Wednesday four children from Year 7 travelled to the Guildhall with Mrs Harper to take part in a Road Safety Quiz alongside other local schools. Penny, Ron, Matthew And Mya received a goody bag and a certificate. They were presented their certificates in assembly. Well done boys and girls!
Mr Campbell’s class and Miss Moore’s class have been extra busy this week and we have lots of new members to T Team who know their 2 and 10 times tables and are now ‘Cubs’. Other children are moving up the T Team board and are working so hard on their times tables and division facts. Well done everyone, fantastic work this week!
In this theme we talked to Baby Joanna’s Mummy about how Baby Joanna sleeps and what little comforters she has to help her sleep. We measured and weighed Baby Joanna to see how much she had grown since her first visit.
This term our class will be looking at the topic 'People who help us'. Our class has identified that are lots of people that help us on a daily basis. These people include; Police Officers, Firefighters, Farmers, Teachers and loads more.
Today Mr Campbell asked the children in his year 3/4 class to become Police officers, but not just any police officers, they had to become detectives. The children had to crack codes and find where Mr Campbell had hidden his secret agents, their aim was to rescue them. The children had to work as a team to solve these problems.
Everyone cracked the codes and released the secret agents, Hooray!!
I wonder who will help us next?
A big THANK YOU to everyone who bought tickets for our Christmas Draw. We were overwhelmed by your generosity. Also a huge thank you to those who donated prizes for the draw, we really appreciate your support. The winners were:
John Briggs bag of potatoes: Jenny Thompson
John Briggs bag of potatoes: Arthur Patton
Fane Valley Stores, Tractor Ted Colouring: Ella Kelly
£10 Spar Voucher: Ella Kelly
£15 Fulton’s Coal voucher: David Shields
Barrontop voucher: Joy Sproule
Diana Thompson Hairdressing voucher: Joycelyn Devine
Velda Fulron, cloth giftpack: Leo Olphert
Ali’s Steakhouse Voucher: George and Sylvia Haire
Victor and Ann Magee, box of sweets: Calvin McNeill
Holdens Toolbox: Joan McGerrigle
Eclipse cinema, Lifford, two cinema passes: David Sproule
McGarrigle Family, handcrafted picture: Pyper McGinnis
Floyds voucher: Katie Hetherington
Dennett Honey, Mans watch and milk tray: Tiannah Haire
Brighter Ballymagorry Group, biscuits and sweets: Jennifer Robb
£10 Spar voucher: Joeanne Kerr
Be You Hairdressing voucher: Andrew McGerrigle
Fudged with Love box of fudge: Hazel Black
Valerie Manning Jewellery, Newbridge glasses set: Colleen Murphy
Brendan’s Chipshop Ballymagorry, sweets and shloer: Jodie Spence
Playstations, Strabane, two play passes: Jessica McClean
Four piano lessons with Anne Killen: Richard Thompson
Playstations, Strabane, three play passes: Rebecca Johnston
Centra Ballymagorry, box of Heroes: Gordon Buchanan
Mr and Mrs L. Hetherington, box of Roses: David Sproule
Our draw raised a grand total of £496 for our school – we can not thank you enough for your continued support!
Well done to all our Star Award winners in November and December who enjoyed the Principal’s Party with Mrs Harper today.
Since our topic this term is about food it was very appropriate that we got to make and eat delicious chocolate reindeers. We had lots of fun!!
Mr Allen from Lisneal College popped in to visit Year 6 and 7 and invite them to their Open Evening on 8th January 2020.
A huge well done to Chloe on coming second in the SGN Natural Gas Christmas decoration competition. Chloe won a £50 Amazon voucher.
Pupils from Key Stage 2 were very kindly given hi vis vests from Peadar and Jennifer from Specsavers Strabane. The boys and girls would like to thank Specsavers Strabane for providing these for our school.
We raised a fantastic amount of £144 for Save the Children. Thank you for supporting this worthwhile cause.
5th December 2019
We had our fourth visit from Baby Joanna and we talked about how we felt in different situations. We gave Baby Joanna a build a bear as her Christmas present and we look forward to her next visit in the new year.
This week we had a very exciting few days as our Mummies and Daddies came to play in Nursery. On Tuesday and Thursday we had a busy room and lots of happy children. The parents had the opportunity to have some valuable play time with their child and also had a chance to have a quick with Mrs Preston.
We hope you found this useful and also special to spend 1 hour with your child in their school environment. Sorry we didn't manage to get a photo of everyone but here are a few snaps we managed to capture.
Pupils from Year 3 to Year 7 had a vote to elect the new members of our student council for this school year.
Year 3: John & Zac
Year 4: Olivia & James
Year 5: Emma & Adam
Year 6: Luke & Jodie
Year 7: Brodie & Matthew
On Friday a lady volunteer called Jill Fulton came to our school to collect our filled shoeboxes. We were delighted that we had 54 shoeboxes for Jill to take for the children in Syria. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. Have a look at the pictures to see the boys and girls in our school helping Jill to load the operation Christmas child shoeboxes into her car.
On 14th Nov we had our third visit from Baby Joanna. Our theme was teething. Baby Joanna has no teeth yet but her Mummy thinks it won’t be long! We talked to Joanna’s Mummy about what she carries in her changing bag for Baby Joanna.
We have been extremely busy in Year 1 & 2, learning colours, numbers and even sounds! Stories have been a huge part of our learning, we have read all about the Creation story, Noah's Ark, Anna's amazing multi-coloured glasses, Elmer and Owl Babies. Take a look at some of our learning activities and play.
Take a look at our busy bees in the pupil council who are helping Mrs Harper fill the shoe boxes. So far we have 36 boxes ready for the collection on Friday. A huge thank you to everyone who sent in items for the Operation Christmas Child appeal, our boxes will be making their way to Syria in the next few weeks.
Thank you to Rev. Russell for visiting our school assembly today and sharing the special message about being thankful.
Well done to our anti-bullying ambassadors who received their new “wellness” badge today. Keep an eye on for our next ‘Feel Good Friday’ events that our anti-bullying ambassadors are organising.
Today marks the beginning of our Smartie Tube Fundraising activity organised by our PTA. Each child has received a tube of smarties which they can eat and then fill the tube with 20p’s. We would be so grateful if each family could return one tube filled with 20p’s. We will keep you updated on how many tubes have been returned and how much money we have raised. We thank you once again for your support.
The children in Miss Moore's class had great fun making fabulous Halloween lanterns with Leona from Derry and Strabane District Council. The lanterns were then on display on Halloween night at Melvin Sports Complex in Strabane.
The boys and girls enjoyed a visit from our CEF visitor Heather. She told us all how important it is to trust God. Thank you Heather and see you again next month.
Well done to all the boys and girls who received a star award in October, we hope you enjoyed the Prinipal’s Party.
Mrs Harper held a party in afterschools for all the boys and girls who received a star award in September. Well done to all our September Superstars!
Every Monday just after lunch Year 2 and 3 enjoy a Musical Pathways Session. We have been singing songs, learning about rhythm and pitch and playing percussion instruments to discover what noise they make and how we can change the sound.
Our school hockey team travelled to Foyle College for a localised blitz competition. On a bitterly cold morning the girls started with a very strong performance beating Culmore Primary School 5 nil. In our second game, the temperature was raised even further with another 5 nil win over Drumahoe Primary School. In our third game we played Limavady Central Primary School where a great team effort produced a four nil win. Our fourth and final game saw the girls produce their best team performance against a very strong Ebrington Primary School team, the girls fought well and came out 2 nil winners. A massive credit has to all girls as playing conditions were far from ideal. Well done girls.
There was so much excitement in school this week as the boys and girls got dressed up for our Halloween Disco and non-uniform day. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. The Enterprise Team will also be selling some photographs after half term for 20p.
Year 7 joined with their Year 1 buddies today to make chocolate apples! We had great fun!
Well done to all our colouring competition winners and thank you to Leah for helping Mrs Harper give out the prizes.
The winners are:
Nursery: Willow, Brett and Olivia
Mrs Kane’s class: Eva, Mya and Finn
Mrs Pollock/Miss Hicks: Sarah, Annabell and Max
Mr Campbell: Jessica, Mason and Lucia
Miss Moore: Destiny, Harry and Shay
Mrs Doherty/Mrs Patterson: Megan, Zara and Alana
26th September 2019
The children in Mr Campbell’s class were very excited to welcome Baby Joanna and her mum for their first Roots of Empathy visit. This theme is called ‘Meet the Baby’. The children talked about what babies can and cannot do. They weighed and measured Baby Joanna. Everyone enjoyed meeting Baby Joanna and her Mummy Ashley.
17th Oct 2019
We had our second visit with Baby Joanna and her Mum. Our theme is crying and we discussed why babies might cry. We also talked about the importance of being gentle with babies. The children sang some nursery rhymes to Baby Joanna and watched her on our special green blanket.
Year 5/6 treated pupils and parents to a lovely class assembly all about harvest. We all enjoyed what they had to say and their beautiful singing. Well done Mrs McClelland and Year 5/6 boys and girls.
Unfortunately due to the weather in June our school fun day had to be postponed to September. Thankfully the weather was beautiful and we had a great day together with the families and friends of Artigarvan Primary School. A big thank you to everyone to helped out on the day and to everyone who supported this event.
Our school choir were delighted to be asked to take part in the opening of the Wedding Dress Festival at Leckpatrick Presbyterian Church. The choir entertained the congregation with a few songs including ‘This Little Light of mine’ and ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. The choir then had a chance to look around the fabulous display of wedding dresses and enjoy some treats which were kindly provided by the organisers before returning to school.
During the month of September we have had a busy month learning lots of new things. Our little minds have been thinking a lot about all the new routines but we managing very well and settling into our new surroundings. We have made lots of new friends also.
Every Thursday, pupils will be increasing their problem solving skills through Investigative Maths. We started last week with the 'Magic V's'. The rules: the numbers 1 to 5 had to be put into the V shape so that the two arms of the V have the same total - without using the same number twice. This was extended to using the numbers 2-6. Lots of different strategies and methods were put into action during this lesson and all the boys and girls showed great determination!
Year 4, 5, 6 and 7 all had a ball on their end of year trip to Arena 7.
We played bowls and a game of laser tag which was a first for many and proved very enjoyable!
The day was finished with a delicious lunch.
The children represented Artigarvan PS so well as always.
Have a lovely summer everyone!
Well done to Roy in Year 4 as he received our cricket cup today in assembly. Mr Campbell very kindly presented Roy with his cup for all his effort at cricket this year. Congratulations to Roy!
On Sunday 23rd June Millie and Jodie completed the Hard as Oak challenge and raised £145 for our school. We are very thankful to Millie and Jodie for this very kind gesture. We loved hearing all about the challenge during our assembly and seeing some pictures of the girls in action. Thank you so much Millie and Jodie!!
A number of children have been working on progressing their phonics and reading skills through Headsprout, an online reading programme. Gerry, the headsprout leader has commented on the fantastic progress made by all of the children. The children were congratulated in assembly and presented with a certificate and a prize. Well done everyone!
Our year 7 children have had the opportunity to train in Heartstart, an emergency life support programme. This is such an important skill to have, well done to everyone and a big thank you to Laura for delivering the programme in school.
In our school the children have many opportunities to play a range of musical instruments. Darren came to school to distribute certificates to children who have achieved awards in playing the chanter. Well done to all of the children for their hard work and dedication.
This term Year 1 have been learning about various types of homes. So far we have sorted animals into groups such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects or humans. We then thought about where different animals and people live. For homework the children were asked to be creative and transform a shoebox into a home. Take a look at the fantastic work they have created!
Thankfully the weather stayed dry and we had lots of fun competing in our annual Sports Day. Well done to all our children for taking part and congratulations to all our winners!
Today Year 5/6 had a little party to say a huge THANK YOU to Baby Ralph and Victoria for visiting our class since September. We loved watching Baby Ralph grow and develop and we have learnt lots of new things. We hope Baby Ralph will visit Artigarvan P.S sometime again in the future. Thank you from us all!
There was lots of excitement today as we walked to Artigarvan Community Hall to show our parents and friends some of our Highland Dancing and to receive awards for our recent dance exams. Everyone was amazing and we are very proud of all our highland dancers. A huge thank you to Georgina for all her hard work and effort at dancing each week and especially preparing for exams.
Today was our last Mandarin Chinese lesson with Sun. We would like to thank Sun so much for teaching us Mandarin each week since September and wish her all the best from everyone at Artigarvan.
We have been having so much fun learning all about capacity this week. We have done lots of practical activities indoors and outdoors every day this week. Including board games, sorting and ordering, estimating and measuring, capacity puddles and interactive games. Just look at what we’ve been doing :)
As a special treat for being such a fantastic class P5/6 went on an egg hunt this afternoon.
It was great fun!
This week we have been learning all about length. In groups we went outside to draw snakes, ladders, trains and people at two different lengths. Once we done this we worked together to work out the difference between the two lengths.
We have all really enjoyed our topic this term all about bridges. This week we learnt all about the forces that make a bridge so strong - compression and tension. We done lots of fun practical activities to see just how these forces work.
On Friday we said goodbye and a huge big THANK YOU to Colleen our Crossing Patrol Lady. We are all going to miss Colleen so much and wish her well in her new job. Thank you for crossing us safely over the road Colleen from all the pupils and staff at Artigarvan P.S.
Our class has been so busy and we are so lucky to be involved in so many exciting events. Two lovely lads from the Nerve centre came to deliver an animation workshop with our class. We used the apps green screen and iMovie to create our own dumbo movie. It was such fun and we learnt loads. We were at an advantage from our last animation workshop and remembered lots of what we learnt and were able to apply it to this workshop.
Lucy visited our school and went round all the classrooms delivering a super fun workshop tailored to each age group. From food detectives, fit factor and smoke busters, to staying safe in the sun, she really did do a great job of covering it all. Staff and children learnt all about looking after their own health in school and at home.
check out our own crazy scientist!
On Tuesday it was our last day with the sweet project. We had a lovely celebration day where we showed off our boxercise skills and received certificates and prizes.
Everyone really enjoyed this experience and we are very lucky to have been part of it.
Miss Coulter has been blowing some paint bubbles with P3/4 ☺️Messy but lots and lots of fun!!
On Pancake Tuesday we decided to make our very own pancakes. Centra at Ballymaggory were very kind to donate pancakes to our whole school and we have eaten these already, however we decided to show the children how to make their own. We had lots of helpers to measure and pour the ingredients and of course lots of little tasters and flippers. I think you can see that they went down a treat!!!!!
Take a look at our Pancake related Literacy and Numeracy activities. Centra, Ballymagorry were extremely kind and donated pancakes and toppings to our whole school! A big thank you from our Year 1 children who thoroughly enjoyed their pancakes.
We recently had a special visitor to the school. Genevieve the Goat, from the Action Cancer charity, came to the school to talk about ways of keeping healthy.
Genevieve's tips for a fun and healthy way of life included:
- Eating five portions of fruit and vegetables every day;
- Drinking lots of water;
- Being healthy and active.
Visit https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-and-your-family/ for more information on ensuring you and your children get their 5 a day!
To celebrate World book day we made our very own bookmarks to use when reading our books at home or during guided reading. Our favourite time to read stories is at bedtime so we came to school wearing our pyjamas and brought along our favourite book to read.
Our Year 1 children are taking part in a 4 week programme of Relax kids. This has been a fantastic time for our children to unwind and focus simply on being relaxed and taking time out from a busy day. Here’s what our children have to say about it!
“We get to play fun games!”- Sarah
“You get to relax when the music plays.”- Melissa
”I like the lavender smell because it makes me feel happy.”- Max
Ballymagorry Centra were so kind to donate pancakes to the school last week. Year 5/6 had so much fun choosing their toppings for their pancakes and getting stuck in. Y6’s were super lucky and had two pancakes. During shared education we made healthy pancakes with fruit.
Children in Year 4/5 receiving certificates for becoming anti-bulling ambassadors. They received training from the Diana Award along with Mrs McClelland and Mrs Harper.
We look forward to them sharing their ideas with us in school and going their very best to keep our school happy and full of positive behaviours.
With the last spell of wintery weather, we decided in nursery it was time to make some vegetable soup. The children helped to chop up the vegetables using scissors and knives. They learned lots of new vocabulary about the different vegetables that they were chopping. The children really enjoyed taking part in this and the next day we all had some for our snack. Every child tasted it and some children liked it more than others.
Mr Wright is our music tutor who comes every Friday.
The children receive tuition using a variety of musical instruments.
Have a look at this sample of their work.
Colleen our very own school crossing patrol lady received a highly commended certificate recently for her on going commitment to road safety. Mrs Harper nominated Colleen for the excellent job she does here in school.
Davy Jackson from Road Safe NI came to the school to present her with the award.
Well done Colleen!
On Tuesday we talked about the importance of making sure an adult watches and monitors the apps that we use on our ipad/ tablets. We enjoyed playing on our class ipad and linked it up to our interactive whiteboard for everyone to take part.
Last week Jack Frost spent a few days with us in Artigarvan. It was only fair that we were able to go outside and have some fun, both the little people and the big people enjoyed it!!
Today we celebrated Safer Internet Day and had lots of fun using our class iPads. We thought about how much time we spend online and decided that maybe it's a bit too long. In class, we played lots of games which we could play at home as an alternative to going online. Using a timer we were able to time how long we spent on the iPads and then move onto a different activity. The children thoroughly enjoyed doing Yoga in class, the link is attached for you to access this at home.
The theme this year was all about 'consent' and having a choice about what is shared online. Believe or not, some Year 1 children knew about posting videos onto Snapchat!! Our children have gone home with a very important message- WE CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU SHARE! Please consider this before posting online. Take a look at what fun we got up to today!
This year the slogan, "Together for a better internet", is a call to action for all stakeholders to join together and play their part in creating a better internet for everyone, and especially for children. The main message this year is based around consent.
Our whole day was spent learning all about what exactly consent is and how we can be safe online.
We watched videos, played quizzes, created cyber superheroes and made posters.
Check out our photos and video!
Today was Safer Internet Day. Yr 2/3 heard a story about Smartie the penguin getting a new tablet. We discussed the right choices if something went wrong.
Afterwards in groups we sang the song mummy penguin taught Smartie. We discussed and sorted symbols which represented yes and no and acted out situations when we had to make a good choice.
When we spotted the first snowflake fall we just had to go outside and feel the snow beneath our feet. Take a look at how much fun we had!
We are so sad to see Liz leave us. Lots of tears today from everyone. Such an amazing lady and we are all so blessed to have known her. Such a fun day had by all today.
We had so much fun this afternoon playing outside in the snow! Making the most before it turns to slush!
Our class are so lucky to be involved in such an amazing programme - Roots of empathy. It was Baby Ralph and mummy Victoria’s 4th visit to our class and we just can’t believe how much he has changed. Ralph is such a happy baby and he just loved when we talked and sang to him! We noticed so many changes in Ralph. He can sit for very short periods of time on his own and he can roll over. We always give Ralph lots of encouragement and praise when he does different things for us.
We talked about the different feelings and emotions that Ralph could and could not (yet) feel. We agreed that Ralph maybe won’t have some feelings like embarrassment but could feel jealousy and even anger. It’s ok for baby Ralph to have all these different feelings!
We can’t wait to see baby Ralph again. Maybe then he will have some teeth!
Last week we were exploring 3D shapes. We played lots of different games, practical activities and watched videos and learnt songs. We made 3D shapes using cocktail sticks and mini marshmallows, played connect four (monster shape version), looked at nets of 3D shapes and then created and designed our own. Just look at our pictures to see how much fun we had!
Mrs Gregson brought baby Seth to visit today. The boys and girls loved seeing the new baby. They had lots of questions for Mrs Gregson!
Last year Ronan delivered a fantastic programme 'ditch the stabilisers' to the Year 1 & 2 children. We are delighted to now offer this to our new Year 1 children in school following the previous success. This is a practical session lasting around 45 minutes, held during the school day, where parents come along and support their child in the process of riding without stabilisers. Ronan will be leading the session, supporting parents on what to do at home in relation to your child's progress throughout the day. This is a fantastic opportunity in preparation for the Spring, to enable your child to learn to ride their bike independently.
Due to the nature of the programme only 15 children will be able to take part in this activity over 3 sessions. Sandra will be sending out a letter in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled as places will be secured on a first come basis. If demand is high for this programme we will consider running another session. Please note, this is specifically for Year 1 children however if places become available Year 2/3 children will then be offered.
Parents must attend the session as it is tailored towards supporting parents in this process. Children must bring their own bikes and helmets to school on the day.
We had a learning experience day on Friday where the children were invited to bring a bear to school. Throughout our topic the children had explored different bears including; polar, grizzly and teddy bears! When the children arrived with their teddies we read to them during our Guided reading, the bears sat in our carpet spaces while we ate our snack and they sat on our tables keeping look-out while we went outside to play.
During circle time we discussed what kind of bear we had brought, named them and told everyone what we used our bears for. Some bears helped us with emotions, when the children felt sad they often cuddled their bears. Others played imaginary games with their bears. To end the day we had a bear banquet, full of bear-themed treats and games. The naughty bears were up to no good and we had trouble keeping them on the ground at the end of it all!
Thank you to all of our wonderful parents for engaging in this activity with your child at home.
On Thursday of this week, Jack's Mummy Selena, brought in lots of different animals for us to learn about. She told us about what kind of animals they were, what they like to eat, and the brave children even got to touch or hold the animal. We are very thankful for Selena taking the time to bring all these animals in for us as it is a great learning experience for our children. Have a look through and see what animal would be your favourite.
We all had great fun on Wednesday in our wonderful Christmas jumpers. We had a competition where we had to design our own Christmas jumpers then we had fun with photo props and got some lovely Christmas photos. We then danced the afternoon away during our Christmas disco. We hope you like all our photos!
Our choir treated us to a few songs in our last assembly before end of term. They have been singing their little hearts out and spreading the Christmas cheer. They have been out and about as well, visiting Melmount Manor, Mums & Tots and the Tuesday Club. Well done, we are extremely proud. 😇😊
Well done to all our wonderful designers, Liz had an extremely difficult job judging.
Year 7 girls were involved with a project "Little Girls with Big Goals" in which they took part in two workshops. They learned all about 'Great Woman who had changed the World' and were inspired to be involved with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) by Nicky and Nicola from Allstate. Now the girls have a new mantra- Set your goals and don't stop until you get there!
Today all of P6 and P7 came together to do some work with Izak 9. We all worked in groups and solved problems based on multiples and prime numbers. Some questions were tricky but we all helped each other. Mrs Doherty even taught Mrs McClelland a thing or two!
We have been so busy in P5/6 which is why we have been so quiet updating all our lovely parents with our news. A couple of weeks ago we had an animation workshop delivered by the nerve centre. We learnt all about how movies are made and then we made our own movie using a green screen based on Disney’s movie ‘Small Foot’. It was all very exciting and we all had lots of fun.
Last week our class put on a fantastic performance of the Christmas nativity story. The children did us proud as staff but I am very sure that our parents were as proud watching their little one on the stage. Each child put in so much effort and were all bright shining stars. Well done Nursery :)
Today in nursery we had a special visitor called Stuart. He is a policeman and he came to talk to us about his job and he reminded us that police officers are there to keep us safe. He talked to us about how to stay safe when crossing the road, riding our bicycles and staying safe when we are in the car. The children had lots of fun trying on his coat and hat and he showed us all the different things that he carries on his belt everyday to work.
Today we had a visitor from Donal McGovern who is an optician from Strabane. He shared with us the importance of eating lots of vegetables to ensure our eyes are healthy. He told us what happens when we go to the opticians and that we do not need to be afraid. We looked at what our eyes look like inside and we had some fun trying on his 'special' glasses. Even the big people in nursery had some fun!!!!!
This week we explored number names. We played some games were we had to find the matching number within a busy picture. We looked at the numbers that end with 'ty' and the numbers that end in 'teen.' With the parents we investigated the welsh numbers and how they have been devised. Believe it or not they make more sense than our numbers within the English language. Go and investigate this for yourself.
Year 7 designed and made their own electrical moon buggies with Mrs Doherty. They enjoyed making electrical circuits with motors and testing out their designs.
Last week Y6/7 learned all about Diwali, festival of light. If you want to find out more follow the link below.
Today we wore odd socks to school to raise awareness for Anti bullying week. In assembly we watched a short video about having respect for other people. Our odd socks were worn to represent that we are all unique, we definitely saw some really unique odd socks today.
This week in Families Connect we were thinking about numbers. We realised how difficult and daunting it could be for children as they are introduced to what a number is. We pretended to live in Letterland and each letter of the alphabet represented a number. Ie: A= 1, B= 2 & C = 3. So with that in mind can you work out what E+E=??
Today we had a workshop all about identity. We learnt all about fingerprints and how everyone's is completely different. We discovered which type ours was in a really interesting activity. We also tasted lots of different foods. The tomatoes didn't go down so well!
Y6 enjoyed learning new skills with children from Bready and St. Mary's Cloughcor PS. Watch out for the sharks lurking under the colourful rainbow sea!
Last week our class started Pushkin workshops with Frank Galligan. In groups we created a verse for a school eco song to the tune of Bob Dylan’s hit single ‘Blowin in the wind’. Frank encouraged us to think about issues affecting our world and animals that are being affected.
This week we travelled to Melmount Nursing Home where we performed our song to the residents. Throughout the afternoon children had opportunities to chat with the residents and Frank told us all many funny stories and read some of his favorite poems to us which we really enjoyed.
We have had lots of fun in Nursery before our Halloween holidays. Don't get too scared when you look at all our spooky costumes!!!!
This week during our session of Families Connect, we focused on 'Beyond the page.' We talked about the many different ways that children can be exposed to language and how we can tell stories using lots of resources other than a book. The children and parents were able to experience creating their own stories using children's toys, pictures from magazines and picture cards. We also explored the CBeebies Storytime app that provides invaluable experiences to extend children's reading and comprehension skills.
Today in p2/3 we have been learning about why we wear poppies at this time of year. We also learned about what the colours of the poppy mean then we created our own poppy collages.
P2/3 enjoyed a visit from Environmentalist Lynn Greer who talked to us about different forest animals and how they hibernate for the winter. Did you know that bats wrap themselves up in their wings to keep warm and hibernate in trees? Hedgehogs snuggle up in a ball in the autumn leaves to hibernate. Their hearts only beat twice a minute when in hibernation and they wake up in Spring. We enjoyed making our own leaf crowns. Have a look!
We have been learning about Remembrance day in class and today we used lots of different objects to make our very own poppy fields. The red reminds us of the blood, the black reminds us of the sadness but the green brings hope that new life will come and happy times are ahead.
All of our year 6’s had so much fun yesterday at Bready Cricket Club. We played lots of different sporting activities such a boxing, football and bowling along with our friends from Bready PS and Cloughcor PS. This term our focus on shared ed is physical activity which is being led by Everybody Active coaches from the district council. The coaches were all fantastic and great fun. Thank you!
We had Great fun dressing up in our costumes and making chocolate apples today in school. What a super way to finish off the term! Happy Halloween everyone!
This week we had a very exciting trip back to Nursery in the dark. We came to Nursery in our pyjamas for our Big Bedtime Read. We were brought to the P1 room to have a short play, and Yvonne and Mrs Kane gave us our scrummy supper which was hot chocolate with marshmallows and a cookie. After Mrs Preston had talked to our Mummy's and Daddy's we all went out to Nursery which was very cosy with dim lights and fluffy blankets. Mrs Preston read us a story, 'Peace at Last' and we sang some songs and then she said we had to go home, brush our teeth and hop into bed.
This week we focused on 'Book Talk.' We as adults did lots of talking about how and when story time takes place in our homes, what books our children like to read and why we think children chose the books that they do. We discussed ways that parents can extend their child's thinking through using open and closed questions and also ideas of activities that can be carried out after, that are related to the chosen story. When the children joined us after the break, they were able to spend a short time sitting with their Mummy to explore a new book.
In Nursery on Thursday the children who stayed for extended nursery made sparklers. Don't worry Mum's and Dad's they are safe and were made using lots of yummy treats.
Today was a very exciting day in our classroom as it was our first visit from Baby Ralph and his Mummy as part of our Roots of Empathy Program. The children welcomed Baby Ralph by singing to him and touching his feet as his Mummy walked him around our special green blanket. We found out what Baby Ralph can do and can’t do just yet. We measured and weighed Baby Ralph and compared him to our Roots of Empathy doll. We thoroughly enjoyed our session with Baby Ralph and already looking forward to his next visit. Thank you Ralph and Victoria!
Have a listen to this fantastic version of Little Red Riding Hood captured during our play!
We programmed our robots to move around buildings and arrive at a parking spot. We added lights and sounds to our robots at the zebra crossing.
On Wednesday the nursery boys and girls went on an Autumn walk around our school grounds. They enjoyed looking at all the different trees and they were able to find trees that had very little leaves left. We looked at all the different shapes, sizes and colours of the leaves and we brought 2 full bags back to use in nursery during our play. We had our wellies on and had so much fun walking and swishing through all the crunchy leaves.
Today we welcomed Nicky and Nicola from Allstate in Strabane to our school. They told the girls in year 7 all about some inspirational women in the world. The girls were given beautiful books to read and activity books to complete. We look forward to our next visit from Nicky and Nicola in November.
This week we have started learning all about fractions in numeracy. In pairs we all got a pack of smarties and worked together to find the fraction of each colour of smartie. We then worked independently to find fractions of different amounts. We know the difference between the numerator and the denominator and know to divide by the bottom and multiply the top!
Sophie was so kind to bring in her snakes skin for us all to look at today!
Sophie told us all about how snakes shed their skin to allow for further growth and to remove parasites that may have attached to their old skin. As a snake grows, its skin becomes stretched. Unlike human skin, a snakes skin doesn't grow as the animal grows. Eventually, snakes reach a point where further growth is not possible.
Another little girl who is snake mad in our class was even able to tell us if it was a boy or a girl snake from its scales! We can confirm it is a boy and his name is Popcorn.
Check out our photos and see if you can see it’s eyes!
Today we had our second Mandarin Chinese lesson with Sun. Last week we learnt how to say hello, goodbye and thank you whilst learning all about the moon festival. This week we learnt how to count to five through singing and dancing. It was great fun and we can’t wait until next week!
Friday is our favourite day in Year 1 for many reasons, mainly because it is our P.E day! The children have been changing themselves independently and learning how to find a space. Some children are extremely fast at getting changed which means they can help those who maybe have their shoes on the wrong feet. Our first game is a game to develop recognising colours, balance and taking turns. Please remember to send your child's P.E kit to school, we will send it home at half-term.
Today P2/3 had the first of our Mandarin Chinese lessons by Sun. We learned all about the Mid-Autumn festival which is being celebrated now around the time of the full moon. The Chinese people celebrate this festival by eating ‘Moon cake’. We got to decorate our own. Have a look!
Today p2/3 had the opportunity to listen to a talk on recycling by Yvonne from Derry/Strabane council. We learned about all the different materials which can be recycled in our blue bins and what the recycled materials can be made into.
Today Sun came to teach us Mandarin. She told us a bit about herself and taught us about the Mid-Autumn festival held in China. We know that moon cake is ate to celebrate this festival and beautiful dances are performed about the moon. Sun gave us our own moon cakes to decorate and colour in, it was great fun!
Each Thursday Year 1 get the opportunity to engage in outdoor play along with Mrs Pollock and Mrs Gregson's class. We have so much fun making use of our fantastic resources. Some children have brought along waterproof clothing and wellies, what a great idea! Take a look at a few of our photos.
Bosco (an electronic engineer) will be visiting our class every Friday for six weeks. During this time we will be building a Lego robot. We will also be learning how to program our robots. Look out for photographs coming soon!
On Friday 7th September our class went to Melvin in Strabane to take part in a Rugby Blitz organised by Strabane Rugby Club. There were over three hundred children taking part. We took part in lots of fun activities and had a great day!
On Thursday we loved doing practical maths stations. In our groups we rotated round different stations of games and activities. We have been learning to double numbers, round, multiply and divide.
Who said there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo?
We had fun making masks of the different characters in our topic book ‘The Gruffalo’. Have a look!
We have really been enjoying our current class novel Charlotte’s web. Today we read chapter 7 where poor Wilbur was told that he was being fattened up so he could be turned into ham! We then got into groups of 3 and acted this chapter out. We got into character as Charlotte, Wilbur and The sheep. Check out some of our videos!
Our annual sports day and fun day was a huge success! Have a look at our pictures.
Today the children from P5/6 and P2/3 walked to Artigarvan Park for the morning. We had great fun playing football, parachute games, skipping and playing on the apparatus. We even had a visit from the ice-cream van before we made our way back to school.
Well done to all the children who participated in Sports Day. As always, competitors were strong resulting in a few trophy ties! We are extremely proud of everyone who took part and perservered to reach the finish line in the races.
Well done to all our Year 6 & 7 children who were involved in our swimming scheme at Riversdale Leisure Centre. Certificates were presented today at assembly.
Today children from year 5 and 6 had the opportunity to take part in a music workshop delivered by Andrew and Elliott from 'Peace Building through music'. They brought a selection of instruments with them, all of which we had the opportunity to try out.
On Friday we had a fantastic treat of milkshake and brownies from the Enterprise team. We had to pay by ourselves and collect our change, which was a big responsibility!
We are so fortunate to have had a visit in school from an award-winning author, Stuart Reid. He shared snippets from his latest series of books- 'The Gorgeous George' series. The parts that he shared with us were hilarious, they also included alliteration which has inspired some of the children to include this in their writing more often. Stuart shared stories behind the inspiration for his writing, including a story about a panda from Edinburgh Zoo, these were shared to us with hilarious video clips as Stuart read poems and storied from his books.
Have a look at his website below for more information about his books and writing.
This week the Nursery children have commenced their induction programme. They are very excited about starting P1 in September. This can be a very daunting experience for both the children and their parents so this year we have devised a new programme. We hope it makes the transition in September a little easier for all. Here was the first step: our visit to the canteen for lunch. It was very successful and the children really enjoyed it.
As part of our Explorer's topic this term, year 5/6 have been doing lots of work around volcanoes. In science, we carried out an experiment to investigate which liquid would help us to create the biggest 'explosion' to replicate a volcano erupting. We found out that vinegar mixed with baking soda created the biggest reaction, then orange juice and finally coke had the smallest reaction. We then went on to make our own volcanoes using salt dough and painted them. Finally we erupted our volcanoes using what we had learnt in science. Have a look!
Alex's Dad brought his New Holland to school today, it was much bigger than the Massey- especially for the P1 children to get their picture taken in! The children climbed up the three steps, holding onto the handrail, they sat up in the seat and had a look around. A few children were able to spot the gear stick, indicators and the horn! The New Holland has 120 horse power and is ran on diesel. Norman had washed it especially for us, we could see the white of the wheels and the link box attachments at the back. A big thanks to Norman for taking time out of this busy farming season to come and visit us in school.
Back in class, the children compared the two tractors and wrote about their favourite. They gave reasons to explain, using the word because. Some of the Year 1 children were fantastic at using full stops, capital letters and finger spaces- not to forget, their fantastic phonics too!
Year 1/2 finished off the big pedal by having fun on their bikes and scooters before lunch. Thank you to all of the parents, grandparents and childminders for taking time to bring the children on their bikes and scooters! The children have thoroughly enjoyed competing against each class to win the daily outdoor play session. We hope that this will encourage more children to cycle or scoot to school to ease congestion outside of the school.
We love to hear of pupils excelling at other activities outside of school. We are extremely proud of our Year 2 pupil who won Most Improved Player of the Year for the under 6s at Strabane Rugby Club.
Well done to our Nursery class and Mrs Kane's class who all participated in the Jo Jingles sessions. As always, the children all enjoyed these sessions and behaved beautifully, always remembering their manners and singing loud and clear!
In our school we have extremely kind and helpful parents. William kindly offered to bring along a tractor to school for our children to have a look at. The children were filled with excitement as they saw the red Massey sitting in the car park. William carefully explained to the children, the various parts on a tractor and their purposes. You could tell the children were fascinated as their eyes were fixed on William, listening carefully to the information. Lots of our children come from farming backgrounds, they were able to share their own knowledge and experiences.
We left knowing some interesting facts
- the tractor has 100horsepower
- it runs on diesel
- their is a dipstick to check the oil level
- you can find a toolbox on the front
- the engine is at the front
- the exhaust runs up to the side of the window
- you can attach a link box at the back of the tractor
Each of the children then got a chance to climb up into the tractor and have a look around, there was a lot of excitement to say the least!
A huge thanks to William for taking the time to provide such a fantastic experience for the children in our school!
P3/4 have been learning French with Mrs Gregson. They have been practising their greetings and asking one another how they are feeling. Have a look at our video.
Today in p5/6 we continued our work on volcanoes as part of our explorers topic. We created paintings of erupting volcanoes. Have a look!
The boys and girls in Nursery were treated to a visit from a local PSNI Road Safety Officer. Stuart talked to the children about how to stay safe when crossing the road, staying safe in the car and staying safe when cycling their bike. He showed us all the different things he has to wear on his belt and we had a look at his uniform. We were very lucky to get to sit in the Police car and see the flashing lights along with the noisy sirens. Thank you to Stuart for taking the time to talk to the children. His message to the children was: ‘The PSNI are always here to keep you safe.’
Today we had a visit from our local vet, Lindsay from Parkview in Strabane. She brought a very well-behaved puppy with her too! We learned so much today about farm animals, pets and exotic animals too! Lindsay told us about the tools she uses to check the animals, they looked similar to those found in our doctors. The children asked fantastic questions at the end. Jonny wanted to know what the biggest animal Lindsay had helped was- to our surprise, she told us about how she had helped insert a micro-chip into an elephant which was with a circus in Strabane!
This week at STEM we worked on 2D and 3D shapes. We used matchsticks and play-doh to create 3D shapes such as cubes, cuboid, prisms and pyramids. We were then set a challenge to build a structure using marshmallows and at least 10 cocktail sticks that would be able to withstand an earthquake!
We were treated to a nursery rhyme today in assembly by our little nursery experts! A lovely way to end the week.
Well done to all the children who attended typing club. Everyone worked very hard and received their certificates today in assembly. Thank You to Mrs Kane for all her hard work also.
Well done to our typing club children who received their certificates today.
Today was the last session that we had with Melissa from Jo Jingles. We have had lots of good fun over the past 6 weeks learning lots of new songs and using lots of different instruments. Thank you Melissa and Jo!
Well done to everyone who entered our Easter competition. As always, the standard of the items made were outstanding. Mrs Craig and Liz had a very tough job judging the work. Everyone enjoyed visiting the hall to look at everyone's creations.
Congratulations to all our egg hunt winners. Everyone had great fun searching for the eggs, all well hidden by our enterprise helpers! There was a little treat inside each egg for every child and one egg contained the winning golden Jewel for a prize!
Winners were as follows:
Nursery - Nathan
P1/2 - Sophie N
P2/3 - Ross
P3/4 - Destiny
P4/5 - Sarah
P6/7 - Lauren
Year 5/6 have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in a range of Easter activities this week. They ranged from Easter egg hunts to creating our Easter egg competition masterpieces.
Last week the nursery children were very lucky. The Enterprise Team work very hard throughout the year and use their money to resource the different classes. Last week the girls presented a range of different wooden toys to the Nursery children and we are very thankful. We will get lots of fun building the different vehicles.
Thank You
We had a visit today from Mr Jim McCool who performed his interactive Celtic Yarn-Spinning show.
The children thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
This week we were playing instruments keeping a steady beat, playing fast, slow, loud and soft. We had to follow instructions too, we tried head, shoulders, knees and toes- some children found it hard to do the actions to this song when the music played faster. We had great fun today!
Year6/7 made beautiful pop-up flower cards and photograph frames to give to their mums on Mother's day.
Last week our school participated in the Feet First Families Week. Each day a specific class were given the option if they wanted to walk/cycle to school from the local Presbyterian Church. On Friday it was the Nursery boy's and girl's turn and we had a fantastic turn out. During our Nursery day, we were able to go out to the playground and show off our skills on our bikes and scooters. Well done to everyone who participated last week.
We had lots of fun singing and dancing with Jo Jingles today. we had to listen carefully to the songs as they gave us instructions to follow.
P5/6 met again with Bready Jubilee and St Mary's Cloughcor on Tuesday to continue our maths activities with STEM Aware. We worked on tally charts, frequency charts and bar graphs. We particularly enjoyed creating a human bar chart to show eye colours of all the children in our STEM group. Out of 133 children, we found out that 31 had blue eyes and the least common was grey with only 6 children. We used this information to create our own bar charts when we got back to school.
We also used tape measures to measure the size of our feet and our height. We went on to measure our hand span and found out that the hand spans of the teachers in the room were exactly the same as their heights but the hand spans of the children weren't the same as their heights. Do you know why this might be?
This week in school we are participating in an event called Feet First Families. The children have been asked to walk to school each morning from the Presbyterian Church hall. Each class have been assigned a day to bring in their bikes or scooters and we encourage all children to participate in some way if possible.
On Monday, the staff were delighted with the effort made by parents and families as we had over 50 children walk up to school. This was a fantastic turn out and let's hope we keep this up for the rest of the week. There might be a prize for the class with the most number of children who walked and also individual prizes for the children who managed to walk to school every day.
Here are a few photos of everyone setting off on our first morning.
We have had a busy two weeks bringing our favourite books in to read during book day and riding our bikes and scooters for "Feet First Families".
This week in French, we have been learning how to introduce different members of our family. Have a look at our video.
On Thursday 1st March, the children were asked to come to school wearing their pyjamas or a onesie for World Book Day. Each child brought in one of their favourite books from home and were given the opportunity to share with the rest of the class what part of the story was their favourite. All the children really enjoyed taking part and we were all very cosy in our pyjamas.
On Thursday Mrs Doherty brought IZAC9 to our class, this was a real treat to use a resource from the Year 6/7 room. We were given a challenge to build a wall, but not any wall. Each block had a number from 1-9, so we had to put the blocks in order. This was really easy for us as we have been counting forwards and backwards using numbers from 0-20. Some children were even able to find larger numbers and order them too!
Today in school we celebrated world book day. We came dressed in our pyjamas and brought our favourite book. We thought we'd have some fun reading in strange places, so when the children heard the bells ringing they had to stop what they were doing, get under their table and read their book. We had lots of fun and have been making bookmarks in class to remind us which page we have read up to.
The year 3 and 4 children were getting prepared for world book day. They discussed their favourite books and the book which they have chosen to bring to school on World book day. Today in Mrs Kane's afternoon class, the children made personalised bookmarks to use tomorrow when reading their books.
Check out our latest half term disco photographs. Another successful P.T.A organised event. Thanks to everyone involved and to parents for your continued support.
Last week we read the story 'Oliver's fruit salad'. Our tummies were rumbling at the thought of eating the delicious, sweet fruit so we decided to make our own. First we created lists using commas, selecting the fruits we would like to put into the fruit salad. On Monday we made our fruit salad and enjoyed them together. We tried new fruits and looked forward to our favourite fruit- strawberries and bananas! We will post some photos soon of our delicious salads and our fantastic writing too.
The Y5-7 Shared Education Project got off to a flying start with Years 5-7 learning about fractions and decimals using lego. They also enjoyed building the tallest towers they could.
This week we had our first outdoor play session along with Mrs Kane's P1/2 children. We try to do this on a weekly basis as it helps to improve the transition for the nursery children whenever it comes to September. They really enjoyed playing alongside the older children and some even managed to find a familiar face. We will aim to do outdoor alongside Mrs Pollock's P2/3 class well on the alternate week.
Year 5/6 have had an incredibly busy week this week! We started off with some drumming practice with Ronan to perfect our performance piece for the show on Thursday. On Tuesday morning we had our STEM event at the Sollus centre, which you can read about in 'other news'. Then on Tuesday afternoon we had our first practice on stage at the Alley Theatre. Wednesday and Thursday were full days spent practising our dance on stage for the dress rehearsal on Thursday afternoon. We even managed to get a little maths revision fitted in in between dances on stage!! We got a real buzz being on stage with an audience of around 130 people. We have worked so hard for the show and now we can't wait for the big performance at 7pm tonight! The show is sold out! Hope to see you there! Here are some pictures from the last few days.
On Tuesday 20th February we had our latest Stem Aware maths event with Bready Jubilee PS and St Mary's Cloughcor. Our multiplication skills were challenged through games of 'Back 2 Back', 'Multiplication War' and 'Multiplication Bingo'. We thoroughly enjoyed having the chance to get to know more about our team mates from the other schools.
On Tuesday 6th of February we started the maths challenges with STEM Aware. We were put into our groups which we will stay in for the remainder of the programme. This will give us the opportunity to develop close friendships with the other children in our groups. We started off with some lego multiplication then we were set a challenge to build the longest bridge using lego. Whichever bridge was able to hold the most weight was deemed the winning bridge. We had great fun with this and there were some very interesting techniques used.
On Tuesday 20th February, year 5/6 took part in their latest STEM event with Bready Jubilee PS and St Mary's Cloughcor. Our multiplication skills were challenged through games of 'Back 2 Back', 'Multiplication War' and 'Multiplication Bingo'. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the children in the other schools and we are starting to develop some close friendships.
In Nursery we couldn't resist having lots of fun in the snow. We wrapped up cosy warm with our coats, hats, scarves and gloves along with our wellies and headed out for some fun. We really enjoyed trying to throw snowballs at the adults and we made a great attempt at making a snowman.
On Thursday 8th January both pupils from the Nursery and Primary School were given permission to break some schools rules. The nursery children had the option of breaking one, two or all 3 of the following rules:
- Wear no school uniform
- Have crazy hair
- Come into Nursery late
The children had lots of fun taking part and even the staff in Nursery managed to break all 3 rules. Well done everyone!!
Year 2/3 watched the story of Smartie the Penquin. We discussed all the problems he had using his new Ipad.
We all decided that we had to ask for help rather than press buttons and get into a bigger computer mess.
It is Smart to 'Ask'
On Monday, year 5/6 visited a garden centre in Strabane to learn about the different plants and flowers growing. Our trip was centred around the Pushkin Trust's theme 'Opening Ground'. We had a quick tour then had the opportunity to plant some daffodil bulbs in pots. After that we made our way to the Alley Theatre where we had lunch before beginning a creative writing workshop with Frank Galligan.
This week, we have been making our very own 'The very hungry caterpillar' books in class. We have been talking about how we need to eat healthily, but it is okay to have an occasional treat. To that end, we decided everyone on the class deserved a treat. The children went in small groups and measured the ingredients, then baked the buns in the oven. On the following day we decorated the buns using icing and chocolate treats. Lastly, we enjoyed the buns in class, they were delicious!
Our next school disco is on Thursday 8th February. Check our poster, designed by Year 5 pupils, for more information!
Today year 5/6 had a visit from Lynn Greer, an environmentalist who works with the Pushkin Trust. She talked to us about soil which she called “green gold”.
We learned how precious soil is because only 3% of the world has soil which we can use to grow things. She told us that there are about 12 different types of soil in Ireland.
We had a go at making soil. We added sand, clay, water, small fragments of rock, leaves, air and salt for the minerals. We learned about different vegetables and whether they grow above or below the ground. We also learned about animals which we have in Northern Ireland and whether they live above or below the ground.
Mrs Doherty held a meeting for parents to explain the PIN project which is taking place with Year 2 and Year 5 children within our school. The children will be playing Maths games for 6 weeks in place of written homework. For parents who were unable to attend, please view the presentation to familiarise yourself with the project. Happy gaming!
| Numeracy PIN presentation for parents (29th Jan 2018) |
|
We have started our buddy reading system in school where Miss Hicks' class read to the children in Mrs Kane's class. The year 4 children have been considering the level of books to choose and will now begin to choose books the children are interested in and will enjoy.
In year 5/6 we are learning about 3D shapes. We have been learning about their properties including how many faces, edges and vertices different shapes have. We have been completing a challenge to see how many different nets of cubes and pentominoes we can find. Year 6 have also been constructing nets of shapes such as square based pyramids, pentagonal prisms and tetrahedrons. Have a look at our learning!
We have been collecting different items from around our classroom and sorting them by their materials using Venn Diagrams to help us.
Kenzie from Action Cancer came to read us a story about Genevieve hand the farmyard animals. The animals had to train for sports day, she made sure to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables everyday. We then played a game where we voted on certain foods deciding if they are good, okay, or bad for us. We talked about some activities we might do after school, watching t.v., playing games on the PlayStation and riding our bike. The children were surprised to find out that watching t.v. and gaming is not a healthy choice.
Parents of pupils in Years 2 and 5 are invited to come along on Monday 29th January at 3.15pm to find out about an exciting new project involving all pupils, parents and teachers in Years 2 and 5. Pupils and parents will get to play maths games instead of some written homework for 6 weeks!
NSPCC Numeracy Day is on Friday 2nd February! To celebrate all pupils in Artigarvan will be playing maths games! A super fun maths day for a really good cause!
Try some of watching some of the demonstrations, games and activities on the attached word document. Just click on the hyperlinks!
| Maths Help (22nd Jan 2018) |
|
Our new topic for this term is Come & Join the Celebration. We have talking about different celebrations that we are familiar with such as: birthdays and weddings. We have also been learning about the Chinese New Year. The boys and girls have enjoyed watching a video to explain why we celebrate Chinese New Year and also they have been busy making lanterns and tasting noodles. With the help of Yvonne we made a great attempt at using chopsticks. It was very difficult but we tried our best.
On Thursdays we have fun PE lessons with Lisa. Today we played cats and mice and mini dodgeball, it was so much fun! Remember to send PE kits for your child to wear on Thursdays!
Every week selected children in year 2/3 are asked to bring in a special object that they wish to share with their peers.
This week Hannah brought in two toys that talk and Ross brought in his Shepherd's crook, cap and dog.
They told us so much and the children asked lots of questions.
Our new topic this term is 'What a Disaster!' We are all very excited to learn about one of the most famous world disasters- the Titanic. We have also been enjoying some new rugby coaching.
P5 have started learning French with Mrs Gregson. We have been learning how to greet someone, ask their name and say what our name is.
Welcome back, our theme for the next few months is Yum Yum. We will be exploring food. Healthy and unhealthy choices, food groups, how food is produced, where food comes from and we will be tasting lots of different foods and doing some cooking.
Our Topic for this term is 'How it's Made'. We will be looking at different materials and fabrics and thinking about the construction and properties of things around us.
Year 5/6 are keeping fit and healthy by playing rugby each week. Have a look at our skills!
This week we have been reading the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Now that we know the story really well, we drew a story map together so we can walk along the story to remind us of what happened. Goldilocks and the three bears LOVE porridge, in our class we're not so sure about it so we are going to make our own, add some toppings and try it for ourselves. We will update you when we do this!
Year 5/6 are currently involved in a project with the Pushkin Trust. They have had the opportunity to take part in African drumming workshops and the next stage is a series of dance workshops. The first of these was on Tuesday. We enjoyed expressing ourselves through dance.
Have a look at our photographs from Christmas 2017. Firstly we had our festive school dinner followed by a very successful school disco, helped and organised by the PTA. It was a brilliant night and we are hopeful to have many more PTA involved events in the near future.
Next was our school nativity, which this year, involved each class from the school. All of the children did a wonderful job and we are very proud of them.
What a lovely way to end the year and we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year.
Your child has received a consent form for our whole school cinema trip on Monday 11th December. Please complete and return the form along with the £3. We can't wait to see 'The Star' and have some popcorn too!
The children in Year 4/5 loved pretending to be mummies. This ties in with their new topic on Ancient Egypt!
Our key stage 2 children took part in a moving image program. They all got the opportunity to make a mini movie using the I-pad and really enjoyed making their movies.
Our topic until Christmas is called Let's Sparkle. We will begin by looking at night and day, changes in our weather and where light comes from. The children will be learning about stars and comparing different colours of stars. They will be thinking about why stars cannot be seen during the day and why some stars look bigger than others. We have lots of play based learning opportunities planned for the children, we can't wait to see where our learning will take us. Stay tuned for some pictures and videos of our learning so far.
Ronan McKee from the Pushkin Programme came into our school on 14/11/17 to deliver a drumming workshop to the Year 6/7. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and taking part.
Ronan from Sustrans was back in school on Tuesday 14th November.
On this occasion Ronan put the children through a series of tasks.
These tested the children's skills on balance, control and agility.
Have a look at the pictures and videos below of the children.
On Tuesday 7th November the year 6/7 class spent the afternoon having an Izak 9 challenge.
Izak 9 creates a fun, dynamic and highly interactive shared learning environment where all children can excel in their learning of mathematics in Schools. Team work and learning from each other is also a big part of this.
Kyle Year 7 - "I like using Izak 9 because its fun and you learn at the same time"
Lauren Year 6 - "Its a very fun and interesting way to learn maths"
The children were treated to a spook-tacular display from the highland dancers in this morning's assembly.
All the children in Y5/6 looked great in their costumes!
We had fun in class decorating pumpkins and we even had a special visitor during Golden Time.
I hope everyone has a safe and fun-filled half term break.
Mrs Evans
Our Year 6 and 7 class got creative today carving out pumpkins! Have a look at their wonderful creations.
Have a look at some of our spooktacular children who dressed up for Halloweeen.
Well done to the Y5 children who completed their road safety training programme this week. The final session of the programme was a walk around the village, demonstrating what they had been learning about hazards, following road signs and using the Green Cross Code.
Our road safety assessor, Gareth, was impressed with all the children and they received a certificate and flashing reflector for their efforts.
Great work staying safe on the road Y5!
Our class have been busy making ornaments out of clay and wood. They enjoy using the electric saw and sculpting the clay.
Please be advised that Artigarvan PS & Community Nursery will be closed on Monday 16th October, as advised by the Department of Education, due to the expected storm.
Congratulations to Joanne H, who had a baby girl on Wednesday 11th October.
Everyone at school is excited to meet baby Annie Hamilton! Best wishes to Mummy, baby and all the family from everyone at Artigarvan P.S.
This week's star writer was chosen for using WOW words, great openers, and punctuation.
Well done!
You can read an extract below:
Once upon a time, there was a boy called Tiny Tom and his room was a gigantic mess. There was baggage everywhere, sometimes you could not see his floor! One morning, Tiny Tom woke up to a big problem. His dog Max had chewed up his homework. "Oh no!" cried Tom.
Pictured are some of our year 6 children who are learning how to ride their bicycles safely during our on-road cycle scheme with Sustrans.
Our Year 2/3 class made these beautiful collages made out of recycled paper.
What a wonderful display of sunflowers welcoming us back to school after our Summer holidays!
P5/6 wanted to wish our classroom assistant. Joanne, all the best as she goes off on maternity leave this week. The children all donated items for a baby hamper. The children enjoyed making guesses about baby Hamilton too - we are excited to meet him or her!
This week's Star writer was chosen for her use of great openers, WOW words and punctuation. Well done!
Read an extract of her writing below:
Last summer, I went to London with my mum and my sister Jai. I was petrified of the London bridge. I went in a taxi and I saw Buckingham Palace as well as the maze of the Queen’s garden. I also took a picture with…BIG BEN!
We have all been settling into Nursery over the past few weeks. We have made lots of new friends and we enjoy playing with lots of new toys.
Enjoy having a look at all the exciting things we have been up to.
The children have been busy this week turning their designs into reality.
They were creating t-shirts using fabric pens, materials, buttons and lots more. The children experienced using needle and thread and glue guns.
The children are looking forward to trying them on when they are finished and strutting their stuff :)
It was great fun to see the children take part in 'odd sock day' to show that's it's okay to be different. Check out Y5/6 class photo-it was a stinky 5 minutes!
On Wednesday the 13th of September 25 children from Artigarvan had the opportunity to go and watch the Ireland v West Indies match in Stormont. Unfortunately the match was cancelled due to the weather. However the children enjoyed the experience and met some of the Ireland players.
This term we are learning all about food, farming, fair trade and rainforests.
We will be finding out about what makes a balanced diet, where our food comes from, what fair trade is and our impact on rainforests.
Your children have been sent home a folder with phonics information. Please read this carefully. Year 1 sound sheets are optional for now, for Year 2 they are compulsory. All folders should be returned on a Friday morning to enable preparation for the following week.
Please contact us if you require any further information.
Year 1
The children can change their library books with Anne in class on Wednesdays. This is a great opportunity for you to read with your child and talk about the books they choose.
Year 2
The children can change their library books with Anne in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a special treat for our Year 2 children as we know how much they love to read!
Welcome back!
We hope you have had an enjoyable break and are feeling refreshed as we begin our new school year. Newsletters will be sent home termly, giving you a brief overview of what is happening in class and providing you with extra- curricular information too.
Our topic for Term 1 is called ‘Off we go to school!’ We will begin by settling into our new class and learning new routines. As the Term progresses the children will be reflecting on how our school has changed over the years. This is where we need your help! Please send in any photos you may have of past pupils who attended our school, these may even be of yourselves! Using these photos, we will create a display, asking the children to sort the images into past or present. We really need your help for this so don’t be shy!
Phonics will be taught daily through short interactive sessions. There will be a parent’s information evening during the term to familiarise the teaching of phonics and what you can do at home to assist. I intend to send home help sheets to reinforce our classroom learning at home as this is vital to ensure your child has a secure knowledge of phonics. Year 1 children will begin to learn the sounds S, A, T, P, I, N; Year 2 children will revise these sounds in Term 1 and be introduced to new sounds when ready.
In addition to sounds, your child will be learning keywords, which will be learnt upon sight. This will increase their sight vocabulary and enable them to read at a greater pace as their reading strategies progress. More information will be available on this when necessary however we would greatly appreciate your help by reinforcing these words at home for a short time each day after school.
Numeracy- Within the Foundation Stage Curriculum (Years 1 & 2) the children are required to sort items into a variety of ways, this could be according to their colour, shape, size or name. This could be done at home using, dried pasta, stones, outdoor natural materials or even sock! Counting will be reinforced beginning with numbers 0-10, progressing onto 11-15 and finally 16-20. Counting rhymes and songs are great to ensure your child is confident with their numbers. Try starting in different places, not always with 0. You could even play number ping-pong, making it as fun as possible!
Writing- In Term 1 the children will be practicing and perfecting their name writing skills. During play, your child will be engaging in activities to develop the muscles in their hands and to encourage drawing and mark-making. This will assist with your child choosing their dominant hand to write with and as they become more independent, they will be able to develop their pencil grip, beginning to correctly form letters and numbers.
Our class Physical Development session is still to be confirmed. Please ensure that your child has a clearly named P.E. kit in school at all times. We hope that your child will be able to dress themselves, please consider tights and laced school shoes for school uniform on these particular days.
Despite our weather, we aim to make the most of our fantastic outdoor facilities at school. Please ensure that your child brings a coat to school each day. You are welcome to provide clearly named wellies or a waterproof suit for your child to wear if you wish.
During September Year 1 children will be collected after they have had their lunch at 1pm. Please wait outside of the school gates until the children have returned to their classes after their lunchtime break. Year 2 children will be collected at 2pm. Collection points for all children will be on the bottom playground. We ask the children to remain with the staff until we have seen the person who is there to collect your child. If your child’s collection arrangements change, please notify Sandra of this in the office. Thank you in advance for your patience during this busy time.
Allergies
We remain a nut and egg-free school due to serious allergies. Please consider this when providing snacks or packed lunches in school and on trips.
Healthy eating
Healthy lunchboxes and snacks are encouraged throughout our school. If you would like assistance with this, please visit …….. for ideas and support. Children are encouraged to bring personal water bottles to school which can be refilled when required. During break time your child can bring a healthy snack from home. Alternatively, a healthy snack can be bought from our canteen with options such as fruit, scones or pancakes. If your child prefers skinless fruit or for it to be sliced, please prepare this in advance at home. School milk is available for your child at a small cost. Please ensure you have notified our classroom staff if your child is taking milk. A letter will be sent home containing information regarding payments.
Money
If your child is bringing money to school we recommend it is sent in sealed, labelled envelopes or wallets.
Thank you for your cooperation, and I look forward to a fun and successful year at school!
Please do not hesitate to contact me via the office if you would like additional information.
Mrs Kane
Year 1 & 2 class teacher
On Wednesday 28th June the nursery children had a fantastic day away to Tropical World in Letterkenny. The children really enjoyed looking at the different animals and some children were very brave and stroked a snake and bearded dragon.
The children behaved exceptionally well and listened very well to Tanya our tour guide. We all had fun and we had 24 tired little children on the way home.
Well done to everyone on a successful trip away.
Mrs Craig and Mrs Kane took their class on a trip to Eclipse cinema in Lifford.
They then finished the day with a trip to the park.
On Friday 23rd June the school had their annual prize giving for the Year 7s.
Congratulations to all the boys and girls and we wish them all the best as they start the next chapter in their life.
We are also super proud of all our stars on stage! The children's performances were amazing.
We are blessed to have a wealth of talent in Artigarvan Primary School!
A brilliant day was had by pupils and parents at our sports day event on Friday 16th June.
Well done to each and every child that took part in our sports day!
We would like to start by thanking the large number of parents and children who attended our summer fun day.
It was a memorable day and we hope that everyone enjoyed it.
Artigarvan Primary School and Community Nursery would like to thank all the local businesses who donated to the summer draw or contributed in any way.
List of prizes and winners
£50.00 Cash- Zac McSparron
Girl's Prize- Nicola Britton
Boy's Prize- Caroline Gilchrist
Valerie Manning- Caomhan McGhee
Ali's Steakhouse- Olivia Shields
Barrontop- Lynn Stevenson
Julie Mooney Beauty- Leah Hamilton
AJ Cupcakes- Lisa Wallace
Floyds- Helen Thompson
Brookview Cottage- Lexi Hetherington
Holden's- Tammy McNeil
Be You- Michelle Watkin
Hanging Basket- Chelsea Jackson
Bottle Whiskey- Anne Barnett
Red Wine- Jensen Moore
White wine-Matthew Finlay
Sparkling Wine- Olly Britton
Sweets in a Jar- Tracy Ashenhurst
Name the Dog- Angela Hamilton (dog was called Honey)
Catch up on the growth of our cress seeds. Some of our seeds have not germinated, can you think why this might be? This is the final week of our growing challenge, let's make it a good one!
Excitedly, we arrived to school today to find that four of our butterflies have emerged from their chrysalides. How amazing they are! We are unsure of when they emerged but we know that it was over the weekend. Since this morning, they have completely changed in colour. We predicted their symmetrical patterns, to our amazement they looked nothing like we had imagined. They were dull in colour, almost like a moth. As the day progressed, two of the butterflies' wings have changed. They now have orange and red throughout their wings. We were a bit shocked at a red liquid that had been expelled, we read our information leaflet and it assured us that this was normal and it is not blood but meconium- essential for the formation of their wings. Have a look at our most recent video blog.
A number of our highland dancers recently received awards for their tremendous dedication and effort.
Well done to each and everyone!
In Year 3 and 4 our final topic is 'Let's get growing'. The children would like to learn about how plants, children and animals grow. We will begin by looking at plants. So far, we have named the different parts of plants and are learning what their jobs are. Using our iPads, the children have researched each of the parts and are observing this first hand in class by planting our own cress seeds. To begin with we were a bit confused as to how some seeds grow in different places even though they hadn't been planted by a person. Some of the children had a question they would like to find the answer to which was, 'Do all seeds need soil to grow?' The cress seeds have proven the answer to this question as they can grow on cotton wool so long as they get watered each day, have sunlight and a bit of heat. Be careful not to add too much water though, they might get too soggy and kill the seeds! We have uploaded video blogs about the growth of our cress seeds, check out our videos!
In Year 3 and 4 we have been learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. We have observed our caterpillars changing and have created video blogs each day to create a diary of the different stages of their development. Check out our video blogs, it won't be long until the butterflies emerge from their chrysalides!
Year 2 and 3 have been enjoying our sunny weather. We get outside as much as possible and love to play together - sharing, laughing, helping and having fun!!
To tie in with our new topic we've been busy growing cress seeds in class. Have a look at our video diary where the boys and girls are documenting their findings.
We are also learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. So stay tuned to follow their progress!
To coincide with our topic 'Floodtide of the Heart', the Year 4/5 class took a trip to Baronscourt Estate where they got to explore their creative side with a series of workshops. These included creative Art, writing, drumming and dance. The children had a wonderful day.
We would like to express a huge thank you to all the parents and children who put in a lot of effort to ask friends and family to guess the name of the lamb. We had a winner who guessed the name Willie correctly. This was Aaron Parke, Jasmine's daddy.
The parents managed to raise a massive £370 that will be used to buy nursery furniture. We would like to say a special thank you to Liz our caretaker who very kindly donated the hamper.
Well done to Aaron and the nursery staff wish you all a happy Easter.
The children have been very busy this week making and decorating their eggs for the annual Easter competition.
Once again the children did an amazing job and their creations were fantastic.
Have a look at our gallery which shows the making, judging and winning Easter eggs.
The Year 2/3 class had a visit to a local building site this week.
Our topic is Home Sweet Home and the visit helped the children understand the process of building a house.
The children also posted letters from the post office that they wrote.
Two teams of children from our 6/7 class took part in a recent cricket tournament in Artigarvan Hall.
Both our teams were runners-up! Well done boys and girls.
Another pupil receiving an award for completing our reading challenge.
Here she is with her new book 'Demon Dentist' which she chose as her prize. Well done!
Mrs Kane's class chose the Chinese new year as their recent assembly.
The whole school enjoyed learning about the Chinese culture and traditions.
Our Year 4 pupils recently took part in a 6 week Guided Reading programme.
Here they are with their certificates which they achieved after completing the task.
Well done everyone!
Year 6/7 are taking part in a computer coding programme here at school.
The children are learning how to create and make their own games using the scratch 2 programme.
Liz worked her magic again and held a successful coffee morning.
Helped by a team of children she cooked up tasty pancakes and bacon for all.
Thanks to everyone who came and helped raise funds for school.
Our annual book character day was another great success!
Both children and staff dressed for the occasion, and great fun was had by everyone.
Many thanks to our parents for all your support and help to dress the pupils.
Have a look at our gallery of photos!
Our Year 2/3 class enjoying a Relax Kids session.
The classes promote emotional wellbeing and self confidence.
It also helps the children feel calm and focused for the rest of the day.
Another reading superstar! 30 books read!
Here she is with her new book and certificate.
Well done you!
Year 6/7 have been participating in a joint project involving children from Knockavoe school.
Both groups of children embarked on a special workshop in which they made colourful windsocks.
It will culminate with a celebration walk to be held on the 21st February.
Our Year 6/7 class recently carried out an experiment to illustrate how we can clean water.
As you can see from the pictures the boys and girls really enjoyed being scientists!
In Nursery Mrs Preston has been watching the girls and boys behave and how they can share with their friends. We have been trying to remember our golden rules and to use gentle hands with our friends. Each week Mrs Preston chooses two children for her Stars of the week. This week she has chosen Mia and Annabel. Well done girls, and to everyone else keep trying hard!
Just before Christmas our Year 6/7 class took part in a dodgeball tournament against a number of different schools from the council area.
Both of our teams went on to face each other in the final!! Artigarvan Primary School were the overall winners receiving a trophy and medals! Well done to all who took part.
Year 4 and 5 have been participating in Creative Dance workshops through their involvement in the 'Let the Dance Begin' project.
Visit the following website for more details:
Year 4/5 have produced some beautiful Art work using the works of Leonid Afremov as inspiration.
We enjoyed Art lessons using the works of Leonid Afremov as inspiration. We sourced images of the work of the artist Leonid Afremov. There are many examples of his paintings online. They are beautiful and particularly colourful. We focused on creating a small area of the painting and then building on this to create a final piece. Lots of discussion centred around the colours used to create a paint palette for Leonid by mixing appropriate colours. We then got very messy as we used our fingers and hands to create the type of marks he makes. The paintings then progressed on as we created the background of leaves. We thought about symmetry and how folding could help to create the reflection on the page. Finally we painted in the tree trunks and added people.
All the children have been busy rehearsing for the school Nativity and have put so much joy and enthusiasm into the performance!
Have a look at our recent pictures from the show.
A selection of pictures showing the Year 1 class busy planting seeds in our greenhouse and also going on a nature walk.
This month we have said goodbye to George our crossing patrol man as he is retiring after 15 years.
He will be sadly missed by all and we wish him a happy and healthy retirement.
We had a special school assembly to show our thanks and appreciation.
Our new topic this term is toys!!
The boys and girls have loved learning all about different types of toys and how they work.
Take a look at our pictures and see the busy little bees hard at work.
Have a look at pictures from our recent super hero day!
The children loved dressing up as their favourite super hero.
They also celebrated by watching a movie on the big screen.
Our first Year 7 pupil to complete our class reading challenge!!!! Well done!!!
She has read 30 books since September.
Here she is with her new book 'Clover Moon' which she has chosen as her prize. Well done you!
World Animal Day
This month we have been learning about World animal day which was celebrated around the world on the 4th of October. We have been learning that certain species are becoming extinct because of pollution and rubbish. The children thought of different ways that we could protect animals. They came up with ideas such as; giving our pets more space to play, making sure that animals have fresh, clean water and making time to spend with animals.
Belfast Zoo look after animals that are endangered so we decided to donate some money and adopt an animal. At first we were expecting to adopt a penguin, however when the envelope arrived in school we were shocked to find out that we had actually adopted an Asian Elephant! In the Bible we read about Noah who built an Ark to save the animals when God sent a flood. In our class we are trying to be more like Noah, looking after the animals and thinking carefully about what we do.
The next time you visit the Zoo, have a look for the Asian Elephants and let us know how they are doing. We hope that the zoo will keep us up to date with how they are getting on.
Click on this link to have a look at the elephants in the zoo.
http://www.belfastzoo.co.uk/animals/asian-elephant.aspx
Well done to all of the Year 4 children who took part in the Pedestrian Safety training. The children went out on their walk on Wednesday and were under close observation as a member of the Road Safety team came to assess their learning. Gareth talked to the teachers afterwards and said how impressed he was by the children's knowledge of signs and their Green Cross Code practice. The children who took part in the scheme will receive certificates after half-term as a reward for all of their hard work.
Have a look at this website to remind you of the Green Cross Code steps.
http://think.direct.gov.uk/education/early-years-and-primary/parents/5-to-7s/the-green-cross-code/
This is a really fun website where you can remind yourself of some of the important Pedestrian Safety rules.
http://talesoftheroad.direct.gov.uk/
We really enjoyed making our scarecrow. In class we had a vote to choose a name, Nasher had the most votes from the children! The council have now collected Nasher so keep a look out for him in the shop windows! Send us a picture if you spot him on his travels.
In Year 3 and 4 we are working extremely hard but we still manage to have lots of fun. In September we thought about the lovely holidays we went on over the summer and we have written a few of our favourite things in a "Summer Selfie". We built Lego and drew pictures to remind us of these wonderful memories. Have a look to see if you can spot your selfie!
In Year 3 and 4 our topic is called "Take a good look at the body". We have been busy naming the bones in our body and even the organs too! A new member has joined our class especially for this topic, his name is Skelly.
We made our own skeletons using art straws and crayons to create wax resistant pictures. All of the children are very proud of their efforts. The children really enjoyed learning the dancing bones song. You can find the words in one of the pictures or you can watch the video for yourself.
Keep moving those dancing bones!
A very mucky, funny, wet and adventurous day was had by year 4/5 and 6/7 in Extreme Adventure!! A day to remember for all of us !! :)
The children and staff had a fantastic day at Leisure Land, in Redcastle, for the Primary 1, 2 and 3/4 end of year school trip.
Today P2/3 had 2 ladies from Derry City & Strabane District Council doing a 'Bridges' workshop with them in class.
First they showed us lots of lovely pictures from the area in the council and we identified and discussed them.
There were lovely pictures of bridges - 7 large ones in this area in total - and the children shared their knowledge and experiences of the bridges.
Then as a team we worked together to build a bridge from cardboard and everyone's pole structure was taped together before a road way was put across the top.
And guess what!!?? We were all able to walk across the bridge - even Mrs Harper!!!
Struggling to think of a little something to give on Father's Day?? Why not have a look at what the Enterprise have made. Stocks are limited so first come first served! Items are priced at £5 each.
Hand made Father's Day cards are priced at £1 each....that's a bargain!!
Take a look at some pictures from our Sport's Day. What a great day of sporting achievement and most of all, fun was had by all.
Sports begins with a bacon butty served for a good hearty start to the day!! Liz and her helpers will be selling these for £2 each. Sports Day to commence at 9.30 am . Happy meal will be served in canteen at 12 noon. Children free to go home after dinner. Fun Day begins at 2pm until 5pm. Have a great Day everyone!!
As you know the Primary 1 children have been learning about food this term. To help this theme come to life and seem more purposeful the Primary 1 and 2/3 children were taken on a trip to Asda. Greeted by our lovely guide Matthew we were taken on a tour of the supermarket and given access to some special areas including the bakery and the checkout desk. The children had a wonderful time and have documented their trip through photos they took on the school ipads.
The Year 1 pupils have been learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly and have created a butterfly garden habitat.
Continuing on with our food theme, the children have been exploring the work of Guiseppe Arcimboldo. Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books. The children have used a variety of two and three dimensional materials to create their own Giuseppe portraits. You can see for yourself the results are amazing!
This term the Primary 1 children have been learning about food. Most recently we have been exploring fruit and vegetables from other countries. In class the children had the opportunity to investigate these unusual foods. We used our senses to examine their smell, look, taste and touch.
Thank you to everyone who supported our non-uniform day in support of the Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand. This elephant sanctuary is being set up by a former pupil of our school Kerrie McCrea. A presentation will be made at an Assembly in the near future to Kerrie's mum Carol who works in the Nursery.
To link in with our topic 'It's a Disaster!', we visited the Folk Park were we viewed an exhibition on the Titanic.
The Year 6/7s enjoyed this chance to look at artefacts and displays on the Titanic.
A big thanks to our visiting artist Bronagh Corr who visited Year 4/5 on Thursday 28th April. We had an inspirational and creative morning with Bronagh producing loads of amazing individual and group pieces of art. They will be on display in our school assembly hall for everyone to admire. Well done year 4/5 - you are amazing!!!
Years 3 & 4 enjoyed taking part in the Pushkin project. Have a look at some of the dance moves!
A special gathering took place before Easter in our school to unveil a piece of work collated by girls who both attend and have attended Artigarvan Primary School. They worked alongside our very talented Liz to design and create a piece of Art fit for displaying in our school, with the sole purpose of 'remembering Hannah'. Hannah was a very talented pupil in every way and she holds a very special place in the heart of Artigarvan Primary School.
There is now a special wall as you enter the school where a plaque and an exquisite piece of craft hangs to commemorate our Hannah. Thanks to everyone who was involved in any way in making this special memorial for Hannah.
Mrs Thompson's class were recently invited along to the Baronscourt Estate. The trip tied in with our Pushkin programme and children took part in a number of artistic workshops focusing on Writing, Music and Art.
We recently had the opportunity to take part in a dance workshop as part of the Pushkin project. The children loved getting involved in this project.
The Y.7 class had a challenge in Technology to build a crane. The crane had to lift an object off the ground. Have a look at their creations
The Y.7 class had a challenge in Technology to build a crane. The crane had to lift an object off the ground. Have a look at their creations.
The boys and girls have been busy creating their Easter eggs for the competition. As always so much thought and hard work has gone into the making of the designs. Have a look through the gallery at their amazing work.
Year 3 had lots of fun making their St Patrick's Day hats and cards.
A sea of colour arrived to school today as pupils and staff dressed as their favourite characters from a book.
We had a special Assembly to show the vast array of characters to the rest of the school.
See how many characters you can identify!
Today we had a Fire Fighter in the Year 4/5 classroom.
He is from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and came to talk to us about ways we can prevent fires and accidents.
We had discussions about how to keep our homes safe and what measures we can take to ensure we are as safe as possible.
We also received a 'Safety Team' activity pack full of fun ideas, activities and keepsakes.
A sea of colour arrived to school today as pupils and staff dressed as their favourite characters from a book.
We had a special Assembly to show the vast array of characters to the rest of the school.
See how many characters you can identify!
Year 6/7 were hard at work solving maths problems using our Izak 9.
Try some of these exciting website links to practise your maths skills at home.
| Maths Help Websites Y6/7 (1st Mar 2016) |
|
Thursday 11th February 2016
P2/3 arrived to school as normal this morning. They entered their classroom only to discover a HUGE surprise!!!
An ENORMOUS penguin !!
The day before the children had put a tiny penguin in water expecting it to expand and grow bigger over 3 days....but no one expected him to grow this big!!
Have a look at our video and photos to see for yourself!
We recently had a special awards assembly to recognise our talented highland dancers. Dance tutor Georgina proudly handed out certificates to all pupils who took part in the exams.
Lots of fun was had by the whole school as we all came together to celebrate Burns night!
We were treated to highland dancing, haggis and traditional Scottish poems. Even famous poet Robbie Burns made a special appearance.
Year 4 and 5 are learning about animals and species which are endangered or extinct.
Our work in school inspires and supports young people to build their knowledge and understanding, develop their skills, and explore their values so they're motivated and equipped to enjoy and care for our beautiful planet.
We are studying how Animals and habitats are under threat:
*Climate Change
*Illegal wildlife trade
*Forests
*Rivers and Lakes
*Oceans and Coasts
*Safeguarding wildlife
*Poverty and the environment
We had a special visitor in our class today. We made some fans and bracelets...all from recycled materials.
We had lots of fun during our topic Splish Splash Splosh. We enjoyed making bubble pictures and building lego boats and lots of other activities. Have a look at our pictures.
We went on a road safety walk in the local area with Pamela. Pamela helped us to cross the road safely and taught us the safest places to cross the road.
Have a look at some of our Christmas Art + Craft activities! We used our digital camera along with other art media to Elf ourslevs. We even 'elfed' our teacher. We had such fun!!
Our topic this term is water. We have been learning about all the different uses of water. We enjoyed making our watery pictures using paints and collage. Have a look through our photos to see if you recognise anyone ;)
The Y6/7 girls had a great day at Holy cross on Thursday. They attended a football fun day.
