P7B had a fantastic day filled with lots of fun and treats to celebrate Easter. We had an Easter quiz, a
pop up farm and took part in some fun Easter arts and crafts. A fantastic day was had by all. A big thank you to everyone who helped organise the day.

On Friday 15th March, P7B took part in our St Patrick’s Day celebrations. We started the day with a special 50p Friday and class quiz focused on Ireland and St. Patrick mixed with topics of great interest to the class such as gaming and music. Our day finished up with a wonderful disco and treats. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!

Today P7B celebrated International Women’s Day by drawing pictures and creating fact files on women and girls who inspire them every day. The women we celebrated included athletes, musicians, actresses, historical figures as well as the people who help us in every day life such as mothers, sisters and the staff within our school.

P7B were delighted to celebrate the return of an old St. Colmcille’s favourite, 50p Friday! Today we celebrated by treating ourselves to some tasty pancakes. 

Before we take our mid-term break we had the opportunity to have a few treats and a dance at our Valentine’s Day disco. Everyone had a great day, thank you to everyone who helped organise the day.

The RSPB Big School’s Birdwatch takes place from January 8th until February 19th. P7B took some time this week to observe our school grounds and record some of the birds we could find before sharing our results with the RSPB. Some of the birds we found included starlings, magpies and a robin.

On Friday 2nd February we celebrated 100 days of school. As a class, we split into three groups and each group made a PowerPoint demonstrating 33 things we have learned or achievements we have completed during our time so far in P7B. We then combined our 33 items to make 99 before everyone was asked to set themselves their own unique 100th target which they would like to achieve.

Congratulations to our Primary 7 Boys’ team who took part in a mini football tournament along with teams from St Nicholas’ PS Ardglass, St Brigid’s PS Downpatrick and St Mary’s PS Dunsford. There were some excellent skills on display with the boys winning the final game 2-1. Thank you to the other teams who attended and for being great sports.

P7B and LSC4 had a great time getting their hands muddy in our Daily Mile area as they began to plant our hedgerow in our second Hedgerow Heroes workshop. The boys and girls worked very hard planting over 100 new plants for future pupils of St. Colmcille’s to enjoy.

Over the course of the last few weeks our P7s have been lucky enough to visit Blackwater Integrated College. The pupils had a wonderful time and enjoyed languages, science and home economics lessons delivered by staff at Blackwater. It was an excellent experience for the P7s, giving them a taste of life after St. Colmcille's. 

Today we wore blue to commemorate World Children's Day. P7B took the opportunity to recognise children as rights holders, to acknowledge the progress that has been made for and with children, and to demand action to protect and fulfill the rights of every child. 

During Road Safety Week, P7B took part in a class discussion focusing on the best ways to stay safe when crossing the road. P7B also took part in our school road safety poster competition, providing some excellent posters highlighting the importance of staying safe on the roads. 

We were very lucky to be visited by local author Charlie Graham who read us an extract from his book, Missing Monkeys.

This was a great opportunity to talk to an author about his writing process and ask questions about to boost our own writing skills. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed being able to hear an exciting new story

P7B and LSC4 welcomed Noel from Arc 21 (on behalf of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council) who delivered a very interesting workshop highlighting the importance of recycling and how household and rates bills can be impacted negatively by poor recycling.

The boys and girls then took some recyclable materials which they gathered themselves and turned them into useful items such as pencil cases, bookmarks and buttons. It was an excellent session and hopefully the girls and boys can put their new skills to good use in the future.

We were delighted to have been selected by Eco-Schools Northern Ireland to be entered into the Hedgerow Heroes Competition based on the tremendous effort by P7B and LSC4. The boys and girls presented an outstanding sketch of the school grounds to show how our outdoor learning areas promote biodiversity. Our own Maria also wrote a brilliant short story, ‘Holly, The Hedgerow Hero’ which highlighted the importance of habitats for wildlife.

We were delighted to be one of only eleven winners, meaning we will receive a hedgerow which the boys and girls will help plant. We were pleased to welcome Emma, Biodiversity Recovery Coordinator, for our first workshop - ‘Why do we need hedgerows?’. We are looking forward to continue working with Emma in future workshops, as we continue to working towards being Hedgerow Heroes!

Congratulations to Lara-Marie and her cousin Calvin (P6) who recently completed a First Aid course with Badgers and received first prize in a competition based on what they had learned. Well done.

P7B and LSC4 have worked very hard on their return to school, and made good use of the good weather, by entering a contest run by Moy Park to have a hedge row placed into our school grounds. The boys and girls sent sketches of our school grounds, as well as writing persuasive letters to the company to let them know why our school grounds would make the perfect habitat for the wildlife a hedge row would attract. We have high hopes that we will have a positive response from Moy Park in the next few weeks and will be able to add a new hedge row to our already outstanding school grounds.