Once again, our annual Harvest Hoolie proved to be a very popular event. The children had brilliant fun ducking for apples, making a handprint autumn tree, listening to a lovely harvest story, line dancing and playing a 'put the animal in the hoop ' game. Some parents had provided a chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows which was a real treat. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this Harvest Hoolie such a fun time for the children.
Congratulations to all the children who received certificates for October 2016. Certificates were awarded for - 'Positive Behaviour towards New Challenges', 'Good Self Management Skills', and 'Excellent Behaviour'.
In the last school year, Rasharkin Primary School, thanks to the fund raising events by the Parents' Association, was able to purchase the Accelerated Reading Scheme for our P4 - P7 children. This scheme encourages children to read books at their level, take quizzes at the end of each book and thus gain points towards their own personal target.
Since September, we have seen the benefits of this scheme with children reading enthusiastically. Many have reached and gone beyond their individual target set for the first half term. At our Harvest Assembly, thirty two children were awarded certificates for reaching or almost reaching their target. The cup for the child who reached his/her target, and who gained the highest percentage accuracy in the quizzes, was presented to Andrew from P5. New targets will be set for the next half term and the cup will be re-presented at the end of this period. Well done to all the children who reached their target. Keep this good reading up!
Children from P4 and P5 brought money to school to buy a football and goalie gloves. These were given to Justin McMinn from 'Homeless Street Soccer N.I.' at the Harvest Service. We hope that they will be used by some of the team members.
Our annual Harvest Assembly was on Wednesday 26th October. The children from P1 - P3 sang a song called 'The Farmer', and P4 - P7 sang 'Remember'. We were delighted to welcome Justin McMinn from 'Homeless Street Soccer N.I. to take our service. Justin spoke about the work of the charity and showed a video of the Homeless Street Soccer World Cup, which was held in Glasgow in 2016. Two of the team members, Mark and Gavin demonstrated their football skills and had a penalty shoot out for children, parents and teachers. Afterwards, Justin, Mark and Gavin joined the children in the playground to show some more of their football skills. We wish to thank parents and friends for coming along to support our children at the Harvest Service, and for their very generous donations for the work of the charity. Also, thanks to the ladies of the Parents' Association for serving tea and coffee.
In Assembly, Mrs Calderwood reminded everyone of all things that we have in our lives, that we should be grateful to God for. Everyone had lots of ideas - homes, families, school, church, food and our beautiful world. Each child was given a coloured label to write or draw something that he/she wanted to say thank you to God for. These labels were put on to our special 'Thank you God tree', which was on display for our Harvest service.
Scripture Union restarted this week and will continue for the next five weeks. It is held on Thursday's at lunchtime, from 12.40pm until 1pm. All P4 - P7 children are very welcome to come along. We wish to thank the volunteers from our local churches who have trained, and are now giving of their time to run the Scripture Union Club.
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On Thursday the photographer was in school for his annual visit. Everyone was looking neat and tidy for this very special event. I'm sure all parents are looking forward to getting the photographs in good time for Christmas.
The P4 and P5 children had their final visit to Kilrea Library on Thursday. This week they learned about using the Library Service Website to access information from Encyclopaedia Britannica for doing homework projects.They also listened to a story called 'Clicking Chicken' which focused on Internet Safety. The children had prepared 'Thank You ' cards for Anne and Jean, who over the past three weeks, have shown them how to use the library.
Congratulations to all the children who received certificates in Assembly for September 2016. Certificates were awarded for : 'Remembering to Choose a Healthy Break', 'Working Well with Others' and 'Lovely Manners'.
The P6 and P7 classes from our school, along with pupils from Carrowreagh and Damhead, visited the RADAR (Risk Avoidance and Danger Awareness Resource) Centre in Belfast. RADAR is Northern Ireland's first and only, life sized, interactive safety and life skills education centre. This unique and innovative centre has a full sized street scene, with a house, bus, train, fire station, courtroom, prison cell, shop, boat and much, much more.
The children, through interactive, informative and fun workshops were given the opportunity to explore dangers in a risk free setting. This included learning about protecting our environment, safety on our roads and fire dangers in our homes. The most memorable part of the day was when the children were given goggles, which when worn, showed them the effect of using alcohol.
