St. Mary’s News

Edition No. 51

Term 2 2013-14 www.stmaryspsportglenone.com

Catholic Schools’ Week

Catholic Schools Week 2014 began on

Sunday 26 January and concluded on 1

February. The theme for Catholic

Schools Week this year was ‘Catholic

Schools – places of faith and learning’.

We celebrate Catholic Schools Week eve-

ry year in our school. On Tuesday 28th

January P1-P3 had church tours with

Fr. McCann. On Wednesday,

’Grandparents Day’, mass was celebrat-

ed in our school assembly hall and many

of our grandparents and parents came

along and had a

cup of tea after-

wards. Then, on

Thursday, it was

P5-7s turn to go

to the church for a

tour. Fr. Henry

showed us the sa-

cred oils and the priest’s robes. It was a

very special week and everyone enjoyed

taking part.

Book Fair

On Wednesday 15th

January the Scholas-

tic Book Fair came to

our school for us to

buy the latest books.

We all got a couple of

minutes to have a

look around to see

what books we would buy, then we

bought some. There was a big selection

of books but the one we liked best was

Demon Dentist and Guinness World

Book Of Records. There were some

books for the younger ones like Peter

Rabbit and Peppa Pig. There also was

two stationary sets with pencils, rub-

bers, sharpeners, notebooks, bookmarks

and pens. Key Stage 1 liked the finger

pointers best. When we got back after

the weekend the book fair was gone be-

cause it had to leave on Friday to go to

another school. We were all upset that

the book fair had left but on Monday we

were silently reading our new books and

everyone was happy.

By Michaela Henry and Orla Gribben

St. Mary’s News Page 2

Forces of Flight

P6 Visit Frankie & Benny’s

St. Mary’s News Page 2

On the 23 of January 2014 the P7 class

went to W5 in Belfast to see the Forces of

Flight Exhibition.

When we got to W5 we went inside and

got our break. After we got break we went

into the lecture theatre for a lecture on

the forces of flight. First we saw a video

about Bombardier and a slideshow about

how man has developed the abilty to fly.

Then one of the scientists from W5

demonstrated how a rocket is launched

into the air. Some children got to help

with this. After that we got lunch and af-

ter lunch we went to explore the discovery

level at W5 until it was time to go back to

school. It really was an interesting day.

By Declan Óg McFerran & Eoghan McAt-

On Monday, 20th of January, the P6 class

from St Mary’s Primary School Portglenone

were lucky enough to get to go to Frankie and

Benny’s in Ballymena where we were able to

make and eat our own pizza as our topic was

all about a healthy and balanced diet. At

9.30am we went on the bus to the restaurant

and got put into groups. We were first given

out drinks and we also got a healthy eating

activity booklet. Eventually each group got to

make their own pizza; Mrs Milner came with

us and took some photos of us. Everyone put

things on their pizza like pepperoni, bacon,

ham, pineapple and peppers. We got to watch

our pizzas being cooked in a big pizza oven.

After we ate our delicious pizzas we were giv-

en balloons and we got a photograph. We got

on the bus and went back to school. Some of

us who didn’t eat it all got to bring the pizzas

home! We had a great day and we would love

to go there again.

By Maya Marron and Matthew Milner, P6

Enrolment Ceremony

On Wednesday 12th March Primary 3 and

4 had their enrolment ceremony for First

Confession and First Holy Communion.

Father Henry McCann and Father Hugh

O’Hagan were there . They were there to

prepare for the upcoming events .They all

did a wonderful job and in assembly Mrs

Milner told the whole school

how good they were. One by

one they went up to the

priest and said they were sor-

ry for all their sins and that they will try

to get closer to God and try being better.

By Raiona Dickey & Sinéad Mc Atamney.

Page 3

Football News

Page 3

The school football team had their first

football competition of the year on 5th

January in the Antrim Forum. It was a 5-

a-side competition and the team played

well but were unfortunately beaten in the

semi-final.

On Wednesday 5th of March, 10 players

from the St. Mary’s squad went to a 7-a-

side tournament in Creggan. There were

two groups– A and B. Our school A team

won their group and played the runners

up in the B group, St. Comgall’s, Antrim,

and won com-

fortably.

Their oppo-

nents in the

final were

Glenravel,

whom we had

beaten al-

ready in the tournament. But, sadly,

when we played them again in the final

we got beaten by 4 points.

Ruairi McGuigan & Aidan McAleese

Camogie News

Every Wednesday from three

to four o’clock girls from clas-

ses’ p5 to p7 participate in

after school camogie training.

This is taken by camogie

player Caitriona Hasson and

coach Marie Doherty. We thank them for all their

help and hard work. Our first tournament was an

indoor five aside match In Antrim Forum on the

12th of February. Our school had two teams, team

A and team B. we all tried our very best in every

match we played. Overall both teams came 3rd but

sadly only 1st and 2nd places got a reward.

Our second tournament was held in Roger Case-

ments pitch on the 26th of March. Both teams

played exceptionally well but in the end there

could only be one winner. Our school was lucky to

have two teams participating, the captain of team

A was Aoibhinn McCloskey and the captain of

team B was Catlin O’Hagan. Team A were lucky

enough to get into the final but unfortunately got

beat by one goal, it was a great match and at least

we got a medal for coming second and for great

sportsmanship. We all hope we will be invited to

another tournament in the future.

By Cait McFall and Aoife McCloy

Girls Football

On Wednesday 29th February 2014, St. Mary’s

Girls Football team took part in their first football

competition in Antrim Forum.

There was an A and B team. Both teams did

equally as well as the other teams. Mrs Milner

and Ciaran Doherty, our coach, came with us. Mrs

Milner did very well because when she coached us

we won!

At the end of the tournament both teams came 3rd

place. It was a very good start to our football expe-

rience.

This year we raised money to buy a

new school kit to be used by both the

girls and the boys. Here are Sinead

and Aidan from P7 wearing the new

kit.

Casements GAC also donated a set

of shirts for the boys to wear and we

would like to thank them for their

continued support of our school.

By Emily Payne and Sáoirse Scott P.7.

New School Kit

Ballymena Bee Safe Event

Ramp up the Red

P5 & P7 Go Swimming

St. Mary’s News Page 4

On the 30th January the p7 class went to

the bee safe event which taught us how to

keep safe in a variety of situations such

as:

Internet

Farm

Bus

Alcohol

Drugs & Smoking

Fire safety & Hoax Calls

Pollution

Electricity

We were shown videos to show us the

consequences that it can have on our lives

for ex. Mucking about on the farm behind

vehicles or annoying the animals. We

were also shown the effects of smoking

how it can turn your lungs black and your

teeth yellow. I think it taught us all a lit-

tle more about how to bee safe as we grow

up and witness these situations

By Caitlin O'Hagan P7

This term it was the turn of P7 and P5 to

go swimming and have been swimming

for 12 weeks.

Last week we had to swim lengths and

many of our best swimmers try to achieve

the maximum number of lengths in 30

minutes. In P7 Aidan and Alisha swam

26 lengths which was the best in P7. In

P5 Charlie swam 14 lengths and Cathe-

rine swam 5

lengths and these

were the best in

P5 .

In the last week we

got on the slides

and got to play and

relax.

By Peter Graham

On Friday 7th

March our

school had a

fundraising day

called ‘Ramp up

the Red’ when

the whole

school had to dress up in red and give in

one pound and it would be donated to the

Heart Foundation. We raised £192 for

charity which was really good and we

learned a lot about keeping our hearts

healthy.

Keir Hardy P7

Salmon in P6

Page 5

On Thursday the 20th March we went to

release the salmon we had kept in P6 for

six weeks. A man named Mark came in

and he taught us all about the different

stages of the life cycle of a salmon. We

were paired up with the children from

Portglenone Primary School and we took

the salmon to a farm near Kilrea and re-

leased them into the river. We had to

bring spare clothes in case we got wet and

wellies because we would be in the river.

After we released the salmon we got nets

and caught some mini beasts, then we

went back to school and in our groups we

looked at the mini beasts we had caught,

some groups had some really interesting

insects. When we were finished in the as-

sembly hall we released the mini beasts

into our eco pond so that we could keep an

eye on them. We all really enjoyed the day

and would love to do it all over again.

By Maria and Dorisa P6

Credit Union Quiz

The Credit Union Quiz took place on the

Monday 3rd February at 7pm in S.t.

Mary’s P.S. Greenlough I remember the

excitement when I was in the car; my

Grandad and all my small family accom-

panied me while I did the quiz though

mum had to go home with Niall as he was

barely able to stay awake.

When we arrived it was a brief wait until

the rest of my team mates came. Daniel

was first to accompany me followed by

Ben and finally Aoibhinn. We were ready

when we received our pencil. When we

started we were told that there were 6

rounds containing 6 questions each. As

the number got larger the questions got

harder! I was not the biggest contributor

though I did help with many questions.

As it continued we were ahead and before

we knew it we had a large lead and we

ended up winning the local heat with

roughly 95% right. We received a plaque

and a school bag with gear. All of us re-

ceived a packet of crisps and a drink. I got

a picture with the other team members:

Daniel McNicholl, Ben Friel and Aoibhinn

McCloskey. Aoibhinn and I held the

plaque in the centre of the photo. Then I

departed and had cake at home. I couldn’t

wait until the next round.

The second chapter took place in Ballyme-

na North Centre on 28th March. This was

a more difficult round and although we

did well, we did not get a place in the Na-

tional Final.

By Owen McAuley

Cumann na mBunscol Quiz

Road Safety

St. Mary’s News Page 6

On Wednesday 27th March four pupils

from P7 named Ben Friel, Daniel

McNicholl, Aoibhinn Mc Closkey and

Colla McDonnell went to the Cumann

Na mBunscol quiz in St.Brigid’s Primary

School Ballymena. There were 12 rounds

of 6 questions in each. The question mas-

ter was the principal of the school called

Mr.Brady [the former principal of our

school]. The questions were about Irish

Trivia and were a bit difficult to answer.

Luckily we came 2nd which got us through

to the Ulster

Final. The win-

ning team was

Glenravel Pri-

mary School

and they went on to win the second

round, gaining a place ine the national

final in the R.D.S. in Dublin. We wish

them good luck.

By Daniel McNicholl and Ben Friel.

On 3rd March 2014, three drama students

from Lisburn came to teach our school

about road safety. They performed a play

for us and many valuable lessons came

out of it. The three actors were called

Josh, Kimmy and Belinda. Together they

formed the ‘Street Smart Team.’ They

said to us that while crossing the road we

need to use our eyes, ears and common

sense. Here are some useful tips for when

you are cycling, walking or travelling:

Always wear your helmet.

Always wear your seatbelt.

Always look before you cross the road.

Always stop before you cross the road.

Always remember that you are not the

only person eligible to the road.

Always drive at the right speed in cer-

tain zones.

Always beware of pedestrians.

Never distract the driver.

Don’t get distracted while cycling or

walking.

By Aoibhínn McCloskey P.7

Page 7

Eco Committee News

The Eco Committee has been very busy

this term. We have planted flowers in the

platers and hope to plant soup vegetables

in Term 3. We recently got a new Eco

Schools flag that we only get every two

years if we take care of our school. This

week we have had a” bring and buy sale,”

this is when we bring unwanted stuff that

we have into school that other people

might like but they have to be in great

condition. Some people brought in CDs,

DVDs, toys and cakes. We had seven

stalls all-round the hall that were operat-

ed by the Eco Committee. All proceeds

went to Trocaire. Over all we managed to

raise the total amount of £1200. We are

also entering the Tidy Schools Competi-

tion to see if we can win it; the prize is a

personalised sign, a perpetual crystal tro-

phy and a monetary award. If we win it

would really show how much we care for

our school.

By Eimear McCormack and Aidan Mc

Aleese P7

Student Teachers

This term we had three student teachers

in our school: Miss McErlean, Miss Quinn

and Miss McKee.

Miss Quinn was in P6 for three weeks and

she helped Mrs McLaughin and the P6

class. She taught the P6 class about

Healthy Eating and Wind Turbines in

World Around Us. She also spent 3 weeks

in P1 with Mrs Martin.

Miss McErlean was in the Nursery for six

weeks helping Mrs McKenna and the

Nursery children.

Miss McKee was in the P7 class for five

weeks helping Mrs Goldring and P7. She

taught us about The Unsinkable Titanic.

We wish them good luck in their future

teacher careers.

By Declan Óg McFerran and Eoghan mc

Atamney

St. Mary’s News Page 8

Page 9

Feast of St. Blaise

Young Enterprise

St. Mary’s News Page 10

3rd February is a very special day because it is

the feast day of St. Blaise. Fr. Henry came to

school on this day and blessed everyone’s

throat.

Many Catholics might remember Saint

Blaise's feast day because of the Blessing of

the Throats that took place on this day. Two

candles are blessed, held slightly open, and

pressed against the throat as the blessing is

said. Saint Blaise's protection of those with

throat troubles apparently comes from a leg-

end that a boy was brought to him who had a

fishbone stuck in his throat. The boy was

about to die when Saint Blaise healed him.

Very few facts are known about Saint Blaise.

We believe he was a bishop of Sebastea in Ar-

menia who was martyred under the reign of

Licinius in the early fourth century. The leg-

end of his life that sprang up in the eighth

century tell us that he was born in to a rich

and noble family who raised him as a Chris-

tian. After becoming a bishop, a new persecu-

tion of Christians began. He received a mes-

sage from God to go into the hills to escape

persecution. Men hunting in the mountains

discovered a cave surrounded by wild animals

that were sick. Among them Blaise walked

unafraid, curing them of their illnesses. Rec-

ognizing Blaise as a bishop, they captured

him to take him back for trial. On the way

back, he talked a wolf into releasing a pig

that belonged to a poor woman. When Blaise

was sentenced to be starved to death, the

woman, in gratitude, sneaked into the prison

with food and candles. Finally Blaise was

killed by the governor, and that’s why the

sick get their throats blessed on his feast day.

Maria McAleese P.7

On Tuesday 11th March P6 went to Tully-

glass Hotel Ballymena for a Young Enter-

prise talk about Healthy Eating. At 9:30

we left school and got on the bus. We

went with Portgleneone Primary School.

When we got there and entered the hall

in the hotel there were lots of different

schools from around Ballymena. There

were 14 tables with 8 children from dif-

ferent schools at each. When you walked

into the hall you were given a sticker

with a number on it, and that was the ta-

ble that you had to sit at. When it started

there was a girl who said a few words

then asked people from Moy Park to go to

a table and do some fun activities. There

was a bag filled with arts and crafts to

complete our activities. There were felt

tip pens, pipe cleaners, balloons and lots

of other things. The first activity we had

to do was make our own creature using

the materials that was giving in the bag.

It was competition to see who could the

best. After that we had our break which

was a fruit platter. Our second activity

was that we had to design a poster for

Moy Park using the materials in the bag.

Then we had our lunch which was Chick-

en squires and potato wedges. After we

had our lunch we had prize giving for all

the activities we had completed. The win-

ner got vouchers to spend in lots of differ-

ent shops. It was a very good experience

and we hope we will go back again soon.

Scór

Page 11

On Friday 14th March the annual Scór

Competition took place in Randalstown

Parish Centre. Many schools took part in

the competition and they were all very

talented indeed. St. Mary’s were the sec-

ond last school to perform. The represent-

atives of St. Mary’s were: Eimear O’Neill

P.5, Megan O’Neill P.6 and Maria

McAleese P.7 (ME). Mrs B. Milner

(Principal) guided us on our journey to

and from the venue. It started at 10am

and ended at 12.30pm. Eimear in P.5

played the band flute, Megan in P.6 did

Irish Dancing and I sang. Overall it was a

really good day and I would like to do it

again.

By Maria McAleese P.7

Confirmation

The P.7’s Confirmation was on 3rd April 2014

in Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate Church,

Portglenone. Most of us got out of school at 12

O’ Clock that afternoon after hurling so we

could get ready! We had to be at the chapel

for a quarter to five so no one would be late.

Bishop Farquhar, Fr. Mc Cann and Fr. Ó Ha-

gan were the Celebrants for the ceremony.

Daniel Mc Nicholl read the first reading and

Frances Mc Ateer (me) sang the psalm, then

Aoife Quinn (from S.t Paul’s) read the second

reading and Aoife Mc Cloy sang the Acclama-

tion. We had six prayers of the Faithful and

they were read out beautifully and the choir

sang out tunefully! Mrs Friel was wonderful

playing her piano and guiding the choir; with-

out her, we wouldn’t have been able to sing at

all! Next the bishop prepared a lovely speech

for us at the Homily about dreams and not to

throw them away. A short while later Emily

and Ben brought the gifts of bread and wine

to the celebrants reverently. We all felt a holy

atmosphere when the Bishop brought the Ho-

ly Spirit down on us. When we received the

anointing of the Holy Spirit, we were filled

with the seven gifts and the nine fruits of the

Holy Spirit! I think we all had a wonderful

day!

By: Carlene Tierney and Frances Mc Ateer

Our School Pet

The school council have been very busy

this term researching and organising a

school pet, with the help of Miss Camp-

bell. First we had a school vote to decide

which pet we would like to have. We could

have had turtles or fish. The winning vote

was turtles. We now have two baby tur-

tles in a tank near the front door.

Pupils and visitors like to have a look at

them as they pass by.

The tiny creatures are

still growing.

And when they get used

to their new home, we

might get some fish as

well. We are organising a vote for nam-

ing them soon.

By Daniel McAleese P7

Young Pioneer Association

Youth Speak Competition

St. Mary’s News Page 12

This Lent our school has been helping to

raise money for Trocaire. The cause is to

help people in Malawi to get access to wa-

ter pumps and irrigation systems for

drinking, cooking, cleaning and farming

along with other things we take for grant-

ed.

One story that catches our attention is a

nine year old girl called Enestina who

lives with her family in a small village in

central Malawi. Every day she has to get

up at 5am and walk a kilometre with her

mother to collect water from a small local

river. She has no choice but to do this be-

cause although the water is full of bacte-

ria she has to have something to drink. As

she spends so much time fetching the wa-

ter she can be late for school or be too

tired to study therefore she might not be

able to get a good education. Her family

and she are often ill as the water they do

collect is very dirty. Enestina’s father Ste-

ven explained that there wasn’t enough

rainfall to water the crops as the water

was needed to help his family survive. To

help Trocaire every Friday at school there

is a draw for an Easter egg. The pupils of

our school are allowed to buy tickets (20p

per ticket) and the money we raise goes to

help the people in need of water in Mala-

wi .

We also held a ‘bring and buy sale’ on Fri-

day 11th April, hosted by the Eco- Com-

mittee.

The total raised for Trocaire this year was

an amazing £1200!

By Cait McFall & Eimear McCormack

On Wednesday the 12th March, I went to the

Youth Speak 2014. I had to write a speech

called ‘If I was principal what would I do to

reduce waste in our school’. I travelled to the

Ecos Centre and was accompanied by our

principal, Mrs B. Milner. Many schools took

part and the standard was very high. There

was a secondary competition and a primary

competition. After all the competitors had

read their speech we got a complimentary

lunch and then we headed back into the main

hall to hear the results. Every competitor was

awarded with a beautiful certificate and

goodie bag. Fortunately I came first! If you

came first you got through to the regional fi-

nal. I was so amazed. Soon enough the re-

gional final rolled round. I had to be in school

for 8:00a.m. to travel to Craigavon Civic Cen-

tre. Mrs Milner and Mrs Mc Kenna came

with me and we travelled in Mrs Milner’s

white sporty Audi. It took quite a while to get

there and once we arrived there were lots of

people already there. We were guided into a

large room and many pupils were sitting pa-

tiently. We finally got started and it ran very

quickly. Then it was time for the results. Un-

fortunately I didn’t win but I really enjoyed

the day out and I would really encourage

more children to take part in the Youth

Speak Competition.

By Aoibhinn McCloskey

Senior Citizens Art Competition

Page 13

The annual Senior Citizen’s Arts and

Craft Club again invited the pupils of St.

Mary’s along with the pupils of Port-

glenone Primary school to partake in their

art competition on Saturday 22nd March.

This year the theme was ‘People’ and the

children enjoyed creating art work of their

own on this theme.

All entries were displayed along with art

work belonging to the senior citizens, in

the Portglenone Community Centre on ,

for the children, their parents, friends and

family to view between 2-4pm. The Club

has awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each year

group in both primary schools.

We are delighted to have this opportunity

available in our locality as it helps pro-

mote art in our primary school. We would

like to thank any parents who took time

on Saturday to visit this exhibition. On

behalf of all the pupils and staff of St.

Mary’s, we would like thank the club and

in particular Annie Keenan, for organis-

ing this event.

The winners were as follows:

R.E. Advisor Visits St. Mary’s

On 25th March 2014, a RE inspector

came to our school to access our school

and to see how good our RE curriculum

was. His name was Mr Tom Nolan and he

talked to each class about what they were

learning in RE. When he came to P7 he

firstly said a prayer and asked us if we

would open up our favourite piece of work

and tell him why we liked it. It was really

nice to look back at our work from the

start of the year until our confirmation.

Mr Nolan was so pleased with the work

our school was doing that he said we were

an example to all other schools. Well done

everyone!

By Eimear Convery & Sinead McAtamney

P1

1st– Elle Storey

2nd– Ronan

McCallion

3rd– Dylan Lagan

P2

1st– Fergus Eddis

2nd– Annie McAteer

3rd– Cara Burns

P3

1st– Oisin Scullion

2nd– Laura Mitchell

3rd– Hannah Friel

P4

1st– Annie McCrory

2nd– Aisling Dunlop

3rd– James McAleese

P5

1st– Katie Gilmore

2nd– Liam Kelly

3rd– Maeve McAuley

P6

1st– Maya Marron

2nd– Joey McDonnell

3rd– Marie Kearney

P7

1st– Kevin O’Kane

2nd– Daniel McAleese

3rd– Aoibhinn

McCloskey

Nursery News

St. Mary’s News Page 14

The nursery children have had a very busy second term with lots of visits in the com-

munity focusing on ‘People who help us’. Thanks to all who made us so welcome -

Turner Opticians, O’Neill’s Costcutters, The Bannside Pharmacy, Fullan’s Post Of-

fice, and Portglenone Health Centre. We had some visitors in the nursery too. Mar-

garet McCormack (Fionola’s mum) told us all about her job as a dentist and showed

us how to brush our teeth properly. Four fire-fighters from Ballymena Fire Station

came with a fire engine and told us all about their work. Some children said they

wanted to be fire fighters when they grow up and were keen to act out the role dur-

ing playtime.

The children visited some ‘people who help us’ in school - Mrs Milner and Denise in

their offices and Betty and Oliveen in the school kitchen.

Page 15

We are extremely grateful to them all. We have some lovely displays in our nursery

with lots of photos and children’s art work etc. as a record of our outings and our visi-

tors.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in nursery on Friday 14thMarch. All the children and

adults were dressed in something green for the day and had a ‘green party’. We all did

lovely green collage shamrocks, listened to Irish music and even did some Irish danc-

ing.

On Wednesday 20th March we went

for a walk in Portglenone Forest

looking for signs of Spring. We en-

joyed our walk and all arrived back

to nursery tired and hungry just in

time for dinner.

The run up to Easter was an exciting time in the nursery. The children enjoyed deco-

rating hard boiled eggs and having egg – rolling races down the hill outside the nurse-

ry. They all took part in an Easter egg hunt around the school grounds carefully look-

ing for clues. You can imagine their surprise when they arrived back in nursery to

find that the Easter Bunny had sneaked in and left a lovely egg for each one of them.

Spring Colouring

St. Mary’s News Page 16