Tús maith, leath na hoibre!

"A Good Start is Half the Battle"

Listen to Our Parents 

Parents Responses to the Kirkland Rowell Survey June 2025

We had an 85% response rate to the Kirkland Rowell Surveys in June 2025.  Here are just a few of the many comments from parents.

I think St. Mary’s P.S. is an excellent primary school. The staff are warm, enthusiastic and care about the children.  They strive to provide the best for the children in their care and it is very evident from the posts on Facebook how happy the children are.  I believe St. Mary’s has become a leading school.  It strives to showcase innovative practices e.g. Mini- London Marathon and My Marathon.  The staff show a collective effective leadership and a commitment to student success.  They care for the pupils; this cannot be bought. Ms Coyle demonstrates a clear vision; she has an excellent staff who are continually making things better for my child. 

We think St. Mary’s is a fabulous school.  We think the child-centred ethos of the school is positive for the kids and works so well.  The principal, teachers and support staff clearly put in a lot of hard work and their care for the children at every level really shines through. There is a great atmosphere and culture throughout the school and my child is having a very positive school experience. 

St. Mary’s continues to deliver all you could ask for in a school and more. Everyone from teachers to canteen staff make the school brilliant.  My children love going, which I think speaks volumes.  Thank you. 

In June 2025 94% of parents gave an excellent overall performance score.

Of the parents whose children were in their first year 0% felt that the school had not lived up to their expectations and 51% said the school was better than they had expected.

Parents considered a number of areas outstanding including:-

Encouraging and Listening to Parents' Views 97%

Parent Evenings 97%

Explaining how parents can help their children 94%

Quality of Feedback on Pupils Work 93%

Tailoring Child's Work to Meet their Needs and Ability 92%

Quality of School Managment 92%

Out of School Activities 95%

Control of Bullying 95%

Computer Access 94%

School Communication 93%

Developing Potential 91%

Treating Pupils Fairly 90%

Levels of Homework 90%

Community Spirit 90%

Developing Confidence 88%

School Discipline 86%

Happiness of the Child 86%

Claire Mc Geary - Mother of two children presently attending St. Mary's.

Saint Mary's Primary School truly is an extraordinary school, where every single child's happiness and kindness is of utmost importance.

Our two boys are blessed to attend such a wonderful all-inclusive school, where they are given an opportunity to play, learn, develop and grow together with their friends.

Each school day is packed with fun as they learn, whether it be in the classroom, exploring the great outdoors around Susans trail, or the school garden and playground.
The extra-curricular activities on offer are an added bonus, especially Nula's fantastic running club, where she champions every single child.

There is nothing more heartwarming than watching their happy smiley wee faces skip in through St Mary's school gates every morning at 8.20am before leaving for work.

Click on the link below for information about the P1 application process.

What Sets Us Apart?

St. Mary's continue to lead the way in Ballinascreen

Our staff continue to share good practice with schools across NI - most recently in the areas of Outdoor Learning; the use of the Microsoft  Suite to Enhance Learning; Effective Communication; Our School Garden.

See our extensive array of awards across many areas of learning including Sport, Music, STEM, Eco-Schools, Wellbeing, Special Needs and Outdoor Learning

Come and see our playground areas with celebrated creative learning spaces including our award winning gardens and our brand new Nurture Nook.

We have easy access to our acclaimed biodiversity area, full-sized playing pitch, 3G pitch and Backrow Hall. 
We are an accredited Forest School, with extensive forest grounds at the school providing rich learning experiences.

We have a variety of creative learning spaces including our Sensory Room and Book Nook.

We believe that confidence in a school comes from knowing and understanding what's going on in the school.  We have strong lines of communication with our parents. We have an 'Open Door Policy' for communication regarding your child's learning and wellbeing and we keep our families well informed about the life of the school with weekly digital newsletters - our weekly Sways. 

Check out our Digital Prospectus to find out more

School is open for Breakfast Club from 8.20am every morning

(Drop your child off on your way to work)

P1 and P2 children can stay from 2.00pm - 3.00pm every day for

"Stay and Play"

(Just one school run at 3pm for your family)

KS2 children enjoy the widely acclaimed annual My Marathon event and Foundation Stage and KS1 enjoy Mini-Miles. Both are celebrated and recognised  as good practice across (NI).
My Marathon has won a regional and national award and has massive community support. Our children have the experience of running with elite athletes.  

We have large rooms with ideal class sizes, averaging 25 children

No composite classes :

P1 - P7 straight classes

We have a state of the art ICT Suite which is the envy of every school that visits.  

We have a well known musical heritage. We have several gifted musicians on our staff in addition to peripatetic music teachers and they share their talents to enhance our children's musical opportunities. Our children practise and learn in our dedicated Music Room.
Our acclaimed Harp School celebrates it’s 12th anniversary with our first  pupils now passing on their skills as music teachers.

Our musicians have had rich recognition and continue to celebrate many awards. 

We are the only primary school in Ballinascreen to have been crowned  not just Derry but Ulster Camogie Champions.  
 

We have recently achieved the Investors in Mental Health Award. This celebrates excellence in the area of Wellbeing

Our staff offer their talents and time to offer our children a rich array of after-school activities. 
 

We are continuously developing our provision at St. Mary’s. Last year, we completed our 60th Anniversary Development Project - The Nurture Nook. This year we completed our brand new Key Stage 2 Physical Play Area.
We are now ready to move on to our next exciting development project.  We look forward to unveiling our plans in the weeks ahead. Watch this space! 
 

Click on the yellow stars below to find out more.....

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA SEPTEMBER 2025

INDUCTION TO P1 

We have a busy Induction Programme, which starts in January and follows through until your child is settled into P1. 

This involves..

*An invitation to our Christmas Shows in the school

*An invitation to visit Santa at our Open Night 

*Ms Coyle and Mrs Kearney visit the pre-school settings

*An Induction morning for our new P1 children

*A Parents' Information Morning

*Our Festival of Fun with sports and activities for our pre-school children

* Connection with our new P1 children and their families via Seesaw

*Clear lines of communication and advice for parents of children with Individual Needs

*Tailored induction plans for children with additional needs

Click on the Yellow Star below and have a look at our Welcome Sway for P1 September 2022.  It will give you a feel for how we adapted our P1 Induction process last year.

NEWCOMER ADMISSIONS

We welcome families from a wide and varied selection of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.  We enjoy celebrating diversity.  Our children speak a variety of languages including Irish, French, Polish, Lithuanian, Czech, Romanian and Slovakian.  

Find below a Newcomer Welcome Booklet giving basic information about the school.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ST. MARY'S P.S.

At St. Mary's, communication is key.  Click on the link below and you can see what's happening in our school each week.  We communicate with our parents and in this fabulous digital format. This allows us to use text, photos, videos and links to share information. We pride ourselves in being one step ahead with e-learning. 
Ms Coyle was asked to present our e-learning practice at a C2k Good Practice Webinar for all schools in Northern Ireland in June 2020.  She shared the fabulous work of our school's Online Learning Hub during lockdown. You can view this work in the Lockdown Sways. 

PREPARING FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL