St. Ita's Gilrls are Soccer Stars!

On Friday evening (11th May) the St. Ita's Girls soccer team attended the Inaugural Rosario Girls Fooitball Tournament and what a special evening it proved to be. The girls played four matches and won three; they lost their final match by a solitary goal. However, that didn't matter because the girls had such a wonderful evening and enjoyed every minute of the tournament. I was absolutely amazed by the wonderful skills on display and the sense of teamwork. I am sure we will be hearing so much more about these girls in the years ahead! I would like to thank Cara, Eilidh, Mia, Nicole, Anna D, Rachel, Julie, Bella and Anna M for providing me with an evening to remember.

Major Success for the Senior Choir!

We are very proud of our Senior Choir who came second place in the Bangor International Choral Festival on Thursday 26^th April. It was a very tough competition and the other choirs were fantastic but our choir sang so beautifully. Ms Harkin and Mrs Barr are delighted with the boys and girls who have worked so hard and really deserve this success. Well done to everyone involved.

Online Safety Workshop

The NSPCC and O2 have joined forces on a mission to help all children and their families in the UK stay safe online. Together, they are offering useful tools, support and guidance to help parents and carers have frequent conversations with their children about their online lives.

We would like to invite all P5-P7 parents/carers to a free Online Safety Workshop at St. Ita’s Primary School on Thursday 19th^th April (1.30pm-2.30pm) in the Assembly Hall. The content covered in the workshops is aimed at adults. Parents with children in P1-P3 are advised to arrange childcare if possible. Children in P5-P7 classes can collected at the normal time.

The hour-long workshop will help you understand your child’s online world, build confidence to have those important conversations that can help keep him/her safe online and help you know where to go for help and advice.

If you need any support or guidance about keeping children safe online, here are a few things you could do:

• Visit the NSPCC and O2 NSPCC website pages

• Call the free O2 NSPCC Online Safety Helpline on 0808 800 5002

• Download the ‘Net Aware’ app on the App Store or Google Play

• Pop into your local O2 store for online safety help from a Guru (you don’t even have to be an O2 customer)

• Sign up to the icebreaker email series.

Thank you

St. Ita’s Basketball Champions

St Ita’s first foray into basketball took place at the Northern Ireland Primary Schools Easter Blitz on Wednesday 28^th of March at Queens PEC. A mixed boys and girls team gelled together brilliantly right from the off and had resounding victories over Park Lodge PS, St. Mary’s Star of the Sea PS, Our Lady’s PS and Victoria PS on their way to winning the competition and lifting the trophy. A past pupil of St. Ita’s, Emma Cooney, helped coach the team. The team was Conor Boyle, John Connor, Ellie Sergeant, Cara Cassin, Maeve Cassidy and Eimear Napier. Special mention goes to Cara who was awarded the team allstar award at her first attempt at basketball. Well done boys and girls.

PRESS Release: 'The Science of Flight P5 Challenge'

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Our Lady and St Patrick’s College is celebrating after receiving a £4,078 grant from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

The Engineering Education Grant Scheme (EEGS), which is run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, aims to engage young people aged 5-19 in learning about engineering and to develop the professional skills of those involved in supporting Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning and careers awareness. The EEGS also supports projects that improve wider engineering literacy.

For the past three years, Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College, Belfast has been working in partnership with teachers from St. Ita’s and St. Joseph’s Primary School in Carryduff to deliver a STEM project linked to supporting the P5 curriculum, culminating in a skills activity day in the College during summer term. This additional funding will allow the College to offer St Joseph’s Primary School, Ballyhackamore with the opportunity to get involved in this year’s event.

The ‘Science of Flight P5 Challenge’ was developed to further strengthen curricular links between the College and local primary schools, whilst also demonstrating how important technology and STEM is in the modern world. This has been complemented by building excellent links with Bombardier, whose employees add a ‘real life’ dimension to the itinerary for the day by delivering a company presentation, hosting a Q&A session with the pupils and then acting as mentors during the ‘construct and build’ stage of the model planes.

The IET and IMechE are partnering with the Year of Engineering, the Government-created and industry-backed year-long campaign to encourage more young people to pursue an engineering career.

Dermot Mullan, Principal at Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College said: “The place of STEM subjects in education, both primary and post primary level, is essential to increasing the supply of young people into the local STEM sector. Our teachers and schools collectively have a pivotal role in highlighting how relevant STEM subjects are in the current and future job market. This project provides participating pupils with the opportunity to utilise their STEM skills in a fun, interactive and stimulating ‘Construct & Build’ Challenge Day. This crucial funding will allow us to expand the project further for 2018 – truly inspiring the next generation of engineers.”

Peter Finegold, Head of Education and Skills at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “The Science of Flight P5 Challenge is a fantastic example of the kind of projects the EEGS scheme aims to promote. The UK is facing a critical engineering skills shortage and showing young people how creative and exciting engineering can be a key way of inspiring the engineers of tomorrow.”

David Lakin, Head of Education at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said: “In order to tackle the engineering skills gap we need more graduates and apprentices to enter the profession, and this can only happen if more school-age children – girls as well as boys – are attracted to, and choose to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects. The IET is investing considerable resource in EEGS to support vital projects like The Science of Flight P5 Challenge, which highlight the exciting, creative and rewarding world of engineering careers to young people”

Update: After School Activities Block 2

As a result of school closures due to the extreme weather conditions  the 'After School Activities' program has been amended.

Please click on After School Activities Block 2 for more information.

Thank you

On Wednesday 7th February, a team of twelve pupils (6 boys and 6 girls) from Primary 7 travelled to the Lough Moss Centre to compete in the P7 Primary School Athletics Event. The team members were required to complete an obstacle race, sprint, standing broad jump, chest push, speed bounce and sprint relay. Times were recorded by the coaches and at the end of the competition the team winners were announced. We are very happy to say that the P7 girls finished in a magnificent FIRST place in many races including the sprint, sprint relay and standing broad jump and received beautiful medals. Sporty Rhianna Brady was personally congratulated as she won 4 first place medals and was faster than all the girls and boys in the whole competition. What an achievement! The boys were fantastic aswell and finished in second place in the sprint, speed bounce and sprint relay. A huge well done to everyone who was involved in this event and good luck to those who are selected to compete in the Finals.