Making Learning Fun

St. Mary's P.S. 

Best Kept School in NE Area 2014, 2017, 2018,2019

Best of the Best in NI 2018.

Excellent Practice at St. Mary's

St. Mary's P.S. represented the primary school sector at the launch of the Food in Schools Policy in Stranmillis College, Belfast.  The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride commended the excellent practice at St. Mary's.

NISCA Awards

The whole school community of St. Mary's is celebrating after scooping two prestigous  titles at the Northern Ireland School Catering Awards.  St. Mary's won the Best Primary School in the North Eastern Education and Library Board and went on to pick up The Best Primary School in Northern Ireland at the ceremony in W5, Belfast.  The adjudicators commented on the whole school approach to Healthy Eating and Healthy Living.  They commended the excellent practice including the work carried out in the school garden, Family Meal Day and the Foundation Break Initiative. Congratulations to everyone especially, Karen, Trea, Eileen, Dolores and Marie.  It is fantastic to have our good practice recognised at this level.

Mid Ulster Eco-Speak Public Speaking Competition 2016

Congratulations to our P.7 pupil who won the Mid-Ulster Council Eco-Speak competition.  She faced stiff competition at the heats and finals in The Burnavon in Cookstown.  The judges praised her speech, saying her choice of topics were current, local and creatively delivered.

We are celebrating the award of our second Green Flag.  The adjudicator was so impressed with the whole school presentation that he has informed us that we will be put forward as an eco-ambassador school.  We look forward to learning more about this prestigous honour.

Miss Mc Williams, Mr Scullion and the Eco-Team were delighted to be guests of honour at the celebration of 20 years of Eco-Schools in Northern Ireland at Meadowbank.  The children made a presentation of the work they do in the school and shared their good practice with hundreds of other children and a variety of schools on the day.  They were delighted to be presented with their Eco-Ambassador award.  St. Mary's is the only school in Derry to have received this award and one of ten schools in Northern Ireland.  The award recognises the leadership the children have shown in this area and whole school involvement.  Congratulations everyone. We are continuing to be the best we can be.

OUR BRILLIANT CHOIR

Check out our wonderful choir performing at the School Choir of the Year competition 2016 at Strule Arts Centre in Omagh.  Congratulations to Mrs Graham, Mrs McAllister and all of the children for a wonderful performance and all of their hard work and dedication.

We are very proud of our Special Needs Classroom Assistant, Aislene who was asked to share her good practice on strategies for transition for children with ASD.  She presented to her peers at an ASD Seminar in Antrim Board Centre.  Well done Aislene.

Congratulations to Earth Girl and Reusable Queen who represented the school so well at Environmental Youth Speak in Magherafelt.

The Hanen Language Programme

As early childhood educators, it is our responsibility to give each child the best experiences, knowledge and growth in all areas of development, giving them the opportunity to be the best they can be.  With this in mind St. Mary's P.S. organised a cluster group for Classroom and Nursery Assistants in the local area to take part in the Hanen Language Programme.  Speech and Langauage Therapist Rosie Sleator led the course.  The Hanen Language Programme is a child-centred approach to facilitating children's social, language and literacy development.  Staff from St. Mary's, Slievegallion Early Years and Naiscoil na Sperrini took part.  It was an excellent course and a huge benefit to children and staff alike.

Anti Bullying Week 2014

              The theme for Anti Bullying Week 2014:

                      'Together we can make a difference' .

  Pupils from all  year groups participated in class based activities to promote positive behaviour and strategies for keeping safe .

Once again the highlight of the week was the poster competition

The children worked very hard to create colourful posters giving the very important message that bullying is wrong and not to be tolerated in our school.

Winning entries were chosen from each class and prizes were presented at Primary Three Advent Assembly on 28/11/14

Pictured below are the winners with their posters.