Fri 1st May

Good afternoon,

May and June are the months of trips and lots of outdoor learning. We have so much learning still to do, but love to get that learning outdoors as much as possible.

As this good weather continues, we would ask you to apply sunscreen in the mornings if it is to be a hot day as the children will be outside more. A hat is always a good idea. Kids are welcome to wear shorts or summer dresses this term.

We wish our P6 and P7 kids a great residential next week and we are hoping the sun will be shining for them. I also want to publicly thank the staff who go on these trips. Giving up their own time to ensure the kids have this lasting memory experience.

Remember we are off on Monday and return to school on Tuesday.

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend,

Mrs F

We are meeting on Mon 11th May to plan for our biggest event of the year, our School Fair. We need lots of help with this event and this year we would love to make it even bigger and better. Save the date, and come along with your ideas. The planning meeting should last no longer than an hour and everyone welcome. If you haven't come to Friends of Spa before we would love to see you.

Our Rugby Team headed off to Ards RFC on Tuesday for their first tournament of the year. As always, they did the school proud and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship. Out of their 5 matches they had 3 Wins (AMAZING), 1 Draw and 1 Loss. A fantastic scoresheet for a first outing. A big thank you to Ross for coaching them and to Jonny for assisting him. Thanks also to parents who took the time to go along and support. We are always proud of the amount of parental support we have at these days.

Reuben is Co-ordinator of Junior Boys and Girls Rugby at Down High School. With the support of the Principal of Down High School and Ulster Rugby, our P5 and P6 pupils have been offered a school tag rugby coaching programme. Reuben has just retired from Ulster Rugby and we feel privileged to have him. P5 and 6 are loving it so far.

We are incredibly proud of our P6 pupil, Ember Ryan, who was awarded runner-up at the Trócaire Game Changers Awards in Dublin on Tuesday 28th April. Ember designed her own board game based on the theme of Climate Justice, showing creativity, thoughtful learning and a strong awareness of global issues. Her game, Keep Earth Cool, is very impressive. This achievement is a fantastic recognition of her hard work and talent. Well done, Ember!

Louisa's family approached us a few weeks ago regarding Helping Hands funding which Power NI run. Our netball posts needed replacing so Louisa's dad put in an application for funding for this. We were delighted to learn that we had been awarded £600 to spend on Netball. Our new posts have been delivered, along with new bibs and balls, our pitch has been marked out and we are raring to go for our first tournament in Dromara on 13th May. Louisa's mum, is an international netball player and coach and came down this week to give us some tips and advice. Thanks also to Mrs Foster and Mrs Horner who take the girls week on week in their own time.

You may remember a while ago Charlotte's mum nominated us for a competition for World Book Day. We asked you all to go online and vote for our school to win some electronic readers as this would fit in really well with our reading focus in school. We were notified yesterday that we are one of 5 lucky schools across the UK who have won:

1 of five mini school packs worth £410.

The packs include:

• 5x Voxblock audiobooks with bumpers
• 10x audiobooks
• 1x charging bank
• 1x aux cable
• and school resources.
• We are so excited to get these and get using them across the school. Thanks to all of you who took the time to go on and vote for us.

P3 had two Shared Education sessions this week. We focused on 'Keep Learning' and had a fantastic visit from Joe the Gathering Drum. He was able to teach us all about drums and we got to experience playing a drum. Our second session focused on 'Take Notice'. We went to Hillsborough Forest Park and we had a great time exploring the natural environment alongside our new friends.

P4 had a really enjoyable and interesting trip to the Transport Museum to finish off their topic on Flight.

Lots of fun facts learnt and hands-on experiences. They even got put on the Golden List of schools because of their excellent behaviour. So proud of our P4s.

P6 had a fantastic day at BallyBurren as part of a Shared Education visit with St Francis Primary School. The focus for the day was ‘Keep Learning’ linked to the Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing. The children took part in a range of exciting activities including Alpaca Trekking, Tribal Drumming and Crafting. It was wonderful to see the children learning together, building friendships and enjoying such a fun and enriching outdoor experience.

P7 have been enjoying their Cycling Proficiency on Thursday afternoons this term. Learning how to ride safely on the roads is a really important life skill.

We are a cashless school and all payments are made through SchoolMoney. If you have any trouble getting on please email Joy in the office at jwhitley697@c2kni.net.

New dinner menu February - June

Mon 4th May- Bank Holiday

Tues 5th May- P2 Forest School

Wed 6th May- P6,7 go to Kilbroney until Friday, P5 Swimming and P1 Forest School

Thurs 7th May- P3 Forest School, School Nurse P1 Check-ups

Fri 8th May- P4 Forest School

Sat 9th May- P7 notified of their schools

Mon 11th May- P5 Forest School

Tues 12th May- P6 Forest School, Football tournament, Dromara

Wed 13th May- Netball Tournament, Dromara, P7 Forest School, P5 Swimming, Pre-school Stay and Play 1

Fri 15th May- Football tournament, Assumption

Tues 19th May- P3 Aquarium

Wed 20th May- P5 swimming, Pre-school Stay and Play 2

Thurs 21st May- Football at Community Centre, Wellbeing Warriors visit Kinedale Donkeys

Fri 22nd May- TransformED Exceptional Closure- school closed

Mon 25th May- Bank Holiday

Tues 26th- Staff Development Day- school closed

Wed 27th May- P5 swimming, Pre-school Stay and Play 3

Thurs 28th May- School Council visit Stormont

Tues 2nd June- P6 Shared Ed, Castlewellan Forest

Wed 3rd June- P5 swimming, Pre-school Stay and Play 4, P3 Shared Ed at St Francis

Fri 5th June- Sports' Day

Tues 9th June- P6 visit Down High

Wed 10th June- P5 swimming, P1 Induction Morning

Fri 12th June- P7 Forest School, P1 Farm Trip

Tues 16th June- School Fair

Wed 17th June- P5 Last swimming

Fri 19th June- P7 Forest school, Big School Picnic

Thurs 25th June- Leavers' Assembly