Mid Term Break – School will be closed from Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th February. School will resume as normal on Thursday 20th February.
P7 Confirmation will take place on Friday 13th March at 11am in Holy Trinity Church.
P3 First Penance will take place on Friday 3rd April in Holy Trinity Church. Inter-Schools Blitz On Tuesday 3rd December, a selection of pupils from primary 7 took part in a fun blitz. Since September, the primary 7 classes have been working with Ronan McCartan on Gaelic skills. They have practiced and learnt a variety of skills including; hand passes, kicks, toe tapping as well as having had many opportunities to play competitive games. As Ronan works with other schools in the Belfast area, he invited them to Holy Trinity to display all the talent he has been working with. The games were fast moving and competitive and Holy Trinity were more than able to hold their own, often triumphing. The boys and girls have benefited greatly from Ronan’s input and will hopefully take his advice and go forward with their own Gaelic games successes.
Well done to all pupils involved! Girls Indoor Football Congratulations to the Holy Trinity Girls’ Football team who emerged victorious from their group in the recent Indoor Football blitz held at Brook Activity Centre. In a series of tightly contested games, Holy Trinity displayed outstanding skills coupled with a tenacious will to win. The day started with a 14-5 win against Scoil na Fuiseoige and was followed by an end to end battle with Bunscoil an tSleibhe Dhuibh which our girls won 11-1. St Aloysius P.S. were our next match and once again our girls proved too strong before our final group match with also unbeaten St Clare’s. St Clare’s started quickly with a point but as our girls settled into the match and found their range we edged a tight match 7-1. The girls have now qualified for the final against the winners of the other groups. Good luck girls!
Beam Creative Workshop Beam Creative came to school to work with various classes about the importance of internet safety and cyber bullying. The primary 6 and 7 classes took part in the workshop and found it both, informative and fun. The boys and girls were able to discuss their views on social media and the role it plays in our lives today. They were able to recognise and respond to various scenarios, which is a testament to the hard work and awareness raised by Mrs Rooney and our own internet awareness within the school. Through the use of our E-safety codes of the month, the pupils are engaged regularly with the importance of staying safe online. It was a worthwhile morning working with Beam and we hope our boys and girls are better equipped to deal with any issues that might arise in this area.
St. Louise’s Taster Morning On Wednesday 10th December, the pupils of Primary 7 were invited to visit St. Louise’s to experience a few of the subjects on offer there. We were met by various teachers and past pupils of Holy Trinity were on-hand to show us around. The St. Louise’s girls were confident and chatty and had so many good things to say about their school. All Primary 7 groups took part in Art, Religion, Music and Drama lessons. They were engaging and fun and the teachers were very welcoming. The atmosphere in the school was one of hard work and high expectation, while feeling comfortable and inclusive. The boys and girls had a lovely morning, getting a flavour of what life will be like for them next year in their chosen schools. Thank you very much St. Louise’s!
St Louise’s Visit On Monday 6th January a representative from St. Louise’s College came to talk and introduce St. Louise’s to the Primary 6 & 7 classes. Ms Smith spoke about all the various subjects, sports, opportunities both in and out of the classroom and the many successes achieved by St. Louise’s. The boys and girls of Primary 6 & 7 were enthusiastic and pleased to see past pupils return and talk about their time at the College. The presentation was thorough and covered a wide area of interests. The pupils were particularly impressed to receive a bag of goodies; including highlighters, water bottle and leaflets about St. Louise’s. They were then warmly invited to attend the Open Day in January 2020.
P1 Trips to Salto Our Primary One children are extending their gymnastics programme taking turns to visit the world famous SALTO Gym in Lisburn where they receive expert tuition in using a variety of apparatus like the rings, ropes, beams and climbing frames. These visits to SALTO which commence in February, help our children develop their gross motor skills, their fundamental movement skills and their general co-ordination.
ICT NEWS
CR-IS Award
Holy Trinity Primary School are the first school in Northern Ireland to be awarded the CR-IS Badge! Developed by Digital Schools Awards Northern Ireland to provide education professionals with the resources and support needed to help pupils stay safe in the digital world, the new Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CR-IS) Badge is backed by technology companies HP, Microsoft and RM Education with the support of C2K and the Department of Education.
The Assessor Dr Victor Mc Nair reported that in Holy Trinity: ‘It was clear that the team recognise the importance of building good cyber resilience and esafety awareness in early years so that the inevitable increase in internet use as their pupils get older will be tempered by good habits and understanding. This, for me, is perhaps the most striking part of the school’s vision. The multi-level approach has resulted in a strong culture of cyber resilience and internet safety.’ ‘I am delighted that Holy Trinity Primary School is the FIRST school in Northern Ireland to receive the CR-IS award and I commend the staff and pupils on their achievement. In particular, I would like to commend the Principal and ICT coordinators for their vision and hard work in bringing CR-IS alive in the school.’
Ann-Marie Whelan, HP Education Manager said, “Advances in digital technology have brought about huge positive change into almost every aspect of our lives and we want to ensure our young people enjoy a very positive and beneficial experience. However, we also need to better equip and educate young people on the potential dangers and how to stay safe online.”
Digital Schools Awards Validator Dr Victor McNair said, “Schools are ideally placed to provide progressive and relevant activities that help pupils build enduring and adaptable cyber-resilient skills.” “Teachers will instantly recognise the language used in the self-review framework and they will benefit from the local and national resources provided to help them develop classroom activities, partnerships and professional learning opportunities.” Pete Murphy, RM Education said, “Introducing the new CR-IS badge is a really positive way to encourage both staff and pupils to understand the actions they can take to stay safe online.
360 Degree Safe Award
An Assessor from the South West Grid for Learning visited us on 27th November, 2019, to review the school’s online safety provision. The Assessor, Mrs A Allen, met school staff, parents and carers, Governors and pupils and was pleased to find that the school provides a high level of protection for users of digital technologies. The South West Grid for Learning Trust is lead partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre and in the forefront of national and international developments in online safety. To enhance these services, they have developed a tool to help schools address online safety issues. To apply for the 360 Degree Safe Online Safety Mark, schools have to reach a series of benchmark levels when they complete the online self-review. The evidence is then verified by a visit from experienced Assessors. The prime benefit of using the review and applying for the Online Safety Mark is that it does not focus on the individual aspects of online safety such as technological solutions, but instead it integrates online safety into school policy and the curriculum, challenging teachers and leaders in the school to think about their provision and its continual evolution.
Holy Trinity has shown that they have provided a high standard of online safety education and awareness for all staff, pupils and also for parents and carers, to ensure that these users of digital technologies can be safe online – whether they are in school, in their homes or out and about using mobile devices. We are the second Primary School in NI to get this award. Following the visit, the Assessor, Mrs Avril Allen reported that: ‘The principal and senior leadership of the school are to be commended for their excellent work on online safety provision in the school. There is a very clear commitment from the principal, Governors and all staff to effectively and continuously develop policy and practice within the school. There is a well embedded ethos and culture of online safety across the school.
The monthly eSafety codes provide a focus each month for all age ranges and are very relevant to the challenges they face. The eSafetysaurus mascot is a terrific asset for the school to reinforce the eSafety message.’ Ron Richards, Lead Assessor for the 360 degree safe Online Safety Mark congratulated the school on its success and commented that it was re-assuring to know that the school had put a lot of thought and effort into improving the online safety of the staff and young people, by addressing these important safeguarding issues.
Our January eSafety Code is ‘Think Before You Buy’. The children will be talking about ‘in app purchasing’ and the importance of asking an adult before they buy ‘add ons’ in a game or app.
Bug Club Bug Club is an online reading programme which has been used by teachers and pupils for several years. It is a brilliant resource which the school has purchased to enhance the reading skills of all our children from Primary 1 to Primary 7. We are looking forward to our Primary 1 children beginning to use it over the next few weeks. Here is a reminder of how to access it: Type www.activelearnprimary.co.uk into your search engine. Each child has been given the relevant username and password. You will then be prompted to enter the school code which is tgpr.
RIGHT OF THE MONTH We have the right to receive the care and support we need if we have a disability. (Article 23)
RIGHTS RESPECTING BEHAVIOUR We can respect each others’ rights by including everyone in our activities whenever possible, being understanding and celebrating our differences
ADVERSE WEATHER
Our aim is at all times to keep the school open. However, there are certain times which make this impossible. In the event of severe weather like a very heavy fall of snow it may not be possible to ensure the safety of our parents, staff and pupils. Should the school be unable to open we will follow these procedures:
• A decision will be made by 8:30am
• Text message to parents
• Posted on our school website and Twitter account If the school should have to close due to unforeseen worsening conditions during the day parents will receive a text message and information will be sent to broadcast on local media for parents to collect children.
UPCOMING HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS
Mid Term Break – School will be closed from Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th February.