The Eagle Lands At Ballymacash
We had some very special visitors to our assembly hall on Tuesday . Ian Patterson brought his Flying Falcons Birds of Prey display to the school and delighted many of the pupils who were able to handle some of the birds and watch them perform tricks.
Alba the barn owl, Otis the long-eared owl and Bill the kestrel falcon were all very well behaved new pupils to the school!
The children learned many new facts about these birds as well as having a first hand experience of holding them with the gauntlet. Some of the lucky Primary 1, 2 and 3 children who took part in the demonstration are pictured here with Ian and the birds.
NETBALL TEAM IN NORTHERN IRELAND FINAL FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
Saturday 7th June 2008 was a momentous day as the Senior Netball team left our PTA Summer Fair in a flurry of balloons, banners and cheers heading to the Antrim Forum to play for the title of Northern Ireland champions! Never before has Ballymacash reached these levels and it was with great pride that the girls left the fair......
One good turn deserves another
Following a visit from the Prince's Trust within the South Eastern Regional College where they repainted some of the outdoor areas of the Nursery Unit, it was decided to donate the proceeds of the sponsored High School Musical week to the Trust. A superb total of £400 was raised and this was presented to Team leaders Adele McSherry and Ray Todd by Mrs Orr and Mr Gilmore.
First steps in our Eco-Schools Challenge
As part of our work to help the children to understand environment issues and indeed do all that they can to help protect the future of the local, national and global environments we have begun working towards the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. These awards celebrate and encourage all manner of good environmental work. Under the direction of Mr Reilly, our primary six classes carried out an environmental review of the school complex identifying issues where improvements could be made, thus helping to successfully gain the Bronze Award in May 2008. We now plan to work towards the silver award which we hoped to have achieved by a target date of December and finally the higher achievement of "Green Flag Status."
More details about Eco-Schools can be found from the following link:Tidy Northern Ireland
Goodbye "Mac" - our oldest member of Ballymacash!
Congratulations to Chris who is the proud new owner of our school goldfish.
He was the lucky pupil whose name was picked out of the goldfish bowl by Stephen Auld in assembly. We wish Mac well in his new home and know that Chris will take great care of him. All money raised will go towards new trophy cabinets to display our successes in all the sports events both in and out of school.
Ulster Fry Smiles at The Ballymacash Primary School Big Breakfast
After years of events for the ladies, the male members of the PTA decided it was time to address the imbalance and what better way to draw the crowds than with an Ulster Fry! Last Saturday morning over 100 dads 'n' lads 'n' lassies (and a few grandparents) gathered in the school canteen for a morning of feasting with footie. The breakfast entertainment was a DVD of top Premiership goals, after which the guests had a chance to score one of their own in a penalty kick competition for a signed Linfield shirt, which was kindly donated by Noel Bailie - one of the pupil's uncles. Following a seven round deadlock between Scott and Lydia, she finally hit the back of the net to claim her prize. The food was second to none, waistlines certainly expanded and if you ask any of the dads it is certainly set to become an annual event (although rumour has it with the extra lie in which mums enjoyed, any repeat of the event also has their vote!)
Our thanks goes to our kitchen assistant Mrs Jean Ellison, who co-ordinated the kitchen crew with great ease - even drawing Mr Gilmore in on the act. Thanks also to all of the mums who sacrificed their lie in to make the event such a success. A grand total of £230 was raised from the event for PTA funds.
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The Kitchen Crew |
Footie and a fry..what a morning! |
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Sorry, no time to chat! |
Are you sure that's not seconds? |
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The penalty shoot competition |
Scott goes for goal
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The winning shot |
Lydia claims her prize |
House Tournaments commence with a Basketball Bonanza
On Tuesday afternoon, members of the basketball club battled it out in our Key Stage Two house tournament. Under the watchful eye of coach Chris Smye, the children thoroughly enjoyed the event, with the Red House emerging victorious. Cole Maginnes, Leon Young and Lewis McKelvey all proved key players for their respective houses - however it was the performance of Lydia Kelly, the player of the tournament which paved the way for Red house glory.
Tied with the yellow house after all their matches, the two sides met in a final playoff and a closing second 'Troy Bolton' basket from birthday boy Ross Doherty sealed the victory!
Our thanks goes to Chris for raising the profile of the sport in the school and for those interested in taking up basketball next year - the good news is he will be returning in the Autumn to coach on Wednesday afternoons.
High School Musical Week passes all expectation...
The Spring term ended with a fantastic week of special events around the theme of High School Musical. Each day had a different focus including fashion, sport, dance and performance day. The week end with a Wacky Hair day and the winners from each class are shown below. The pupils were sponsored for participating in the week and the money raised is going towards the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice. The nursery also took part in the week and they raised over £500 for the Princes Trust.
The top P1, P2 and P3 hair dos or rather don't! The KS2 Crew!
As part of the week' events, each of the P4-7 classes were asked to design a T-shirt for Friday's fashion show and these can be seen below.
The P4 Models The P5 Models
The P6 Dudes The P7 Posers
More pictures of the week will be posted later this week.......