Latest Newsletters

  • 27 Jun 2025
    Friday 27.06.25

    Dear parents,

    Please find attached this week's newsletter. Highlights this week include:
    • Celebrating Our P7 Leavers
    • Thank You for Supporting Our Sponsored Walk!
    • Our Grand Day Out to Belfast Zoo!
    • Achievements…Inside of School
    o Accelerated Reader Word Millionaires!
    • Achievements… Outside of School
    o Faith Hits the Mark—Again!
    o Glentoran FC Academy — 2014s Shine at Saughall Colts Tournament!
    • Free School Meal and Uniform Allowance
    • Community Events
    o Uniform Donations – Drop-Off Information
    o The EDGE Mission Week
    o Irish FA Summer Football Camps
    o Netball NI- Lisburn Summer Camp
    o Ballynahinch Baptist- Rescuers 5 Day Club
    o The Big Summer Read 2025 – Launching Soon!

    Please also be reminded that Monday 30th June is our final day of term and will be a non-uniform day (no fee required). Families are welcome to donate any unwanted or outgrown uniform items to the Ballynahinch Uniform Zone (BUZ) by leaving them in the school with their class teacher. We would ask that children do not wear football kits to school on Monday.

    PTA Tuck Shop:
    As our wonderful P7 children have now left us, the extremely capable P6 children will assuming the responsibility of selling the various drinks, sweets and crisps left over from the Summer Fair. Please be assured, there is no expectation or pressure on any child to purchase items, and all treats bought will be sent home with the children to be enjoyed after school hours.
    For your information:
    • No regular Coca-Cola will be available for sale.
    • Cans of fizzy drinks will not be sold to P1-P3 children. Younger pupils will have the option of choosing from alternatives such as Fruit Shoots.
    • We would kindly ask that children wishing to buy a treat bring no more than £3.00 with them on the day — and they are more than welcome to bring less!
    • Children will only be allowed to buy a maximum of 3 items each.

    Dismissal:
    School will dismiss pupils between 12.00 noon and 12.20pm.

    o Nursery pupils will leave from their usual dismissal point.
    o All other classes, including P1, will be collected from the main school car park.
    Return to School
    We look forward to seeing you all again on Friday 29th August.
    • All children will be dismissed at 2pm (separate arrangements have already been communicated to our new P1 children).
    • Due to it being a non operational day for the EA, we are unable to provided dinners/packed lunches, and children will need to bring their own packed lunch with them on that day.
    • Please also be aware that there will be no bus service either.
    On behalf of all the staff at Ballynahinch Primary School, may I wish you a wonderful summer break.

    Yours faithfully,

    Mr J Anderson

  • 20 Jun 2025
    20.06.25-Newsletter

  • 13 Jun 2025
    Friday 13.06.25

  • 13 Jun 2025
    13.06.25- Newsletter

  • 06 Jun 2025
    Firday 06.06.25

Environmental Youth Speak 2025

Our P7 pupils participated in the Environmental Youth Speak 2025, an event organised by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, giving pupils the opportunity to have their say on a current environmental topic.

The pupils researched and delivered a speech, lasting 3-5 minutes long, with the title:

"Welcome to the World of Waste Wizardry-Lesson One: Making Our Waste Disappear!”

Our P7 pupils all shared their speeches in the classroom, after which four were chosen to go forward to round two. This was a more daunting task of delivering their speech in the hall with a much bigger audience of P5 and P6 pupils.

Sophie R, Erin H, Zach M and Scarlett S all performed brilliantly.

Our chosen representative for the competition, sharing her lesson from the School of Wizardry is Scarlett S – congratulations Scarlett!

Ms Eakin, P7 teacher

NI Road Safety Award Winner 2024

"I am absolutely delighted and proud to receive this award on behalf of my former P6 class and our school, Ballynahinch Primary.

This time last year, a number of children arrived up to my classroom rather irate saying that they had trouble getting across the road.  Every time that they tried, a car came flying around the corner and they witnessed one parent pulling their child back onto the curb side.

My immediate reaction was: what do you want to do about this? And this was the start of our journey. 

We had just started to implement Thinking Frames into our learning and we used these to  identify the problem and suggest solutions.  We collected and analysed data and used this to present as evidence in our letters to our local councillors.

All of the councillors wrote back to the children but there were two councillors, in particular, who took on our campaign and lobbied on our behalf.  I want to take this opportunity to thank personally Councillor Callum Bowsie, Councillor David Lee-Surginor and MLA Nick Matheson for all that they have done.  They kept us updated throughout the process and didn’t just send an email to me each time there was movement with the campaign, but they came into our school to speak to the children directly and ask for their input, if they were happy with each decision and to how proceed. 

Our campaign made it to the local newspapers but to our amazement, we watched MLA Nick Matheson debate our issue in the chambers of Stormont, which we visited a few weeks later and got the opportunity to see how it all played out.  Our children have a voice and they were being heard.

We are highly invested in the Sustrans Active Travel programme and over the past year, we have seen a dramatic decline in the children walking, scooting or cycling to school.  We are the only school in the town of Ballynahinch that doesn’t have any safe places for the children to cross.  Our school sits on a busy road that has a profound bend.  We take part in all the active travel initiatives, but until our children have a safe place to cross, we are not going to reap the rewards of this.

We were delighted at the end of June to hear that we were on a list. Last week we received an email to say that it wouldn’t be happening any time soon, that we didn’t score enough on points.  I am disgusted at that remark.  Children’s safety should not be about point scoring.  It should be a priority. 

I am asking the Roads Service to continue to lobby on our behalf and let our young leaders of the future, see how they can make a difference, even at a young age of 9 or 10.  Our campaign continues…"

Mrs Kirland, P6 teacher.