School News
Here’s what’s been happening in Gracehill
The Choir is Coming to Town…
Our school choir have had a wonderful time spreading Christmas cheer with our performances at Radio Cracker and Creative Gardens. Thanks so much to all the parents, family and friends for their support in coming along to these events and to all the children who have worked so hard over the last number of weeks in preparation for these events and our upcoming Carol Service.
Outdoor Learning in Primary 4
Mr McBurney's P4 class enjoyed using iPads to identify a huge variety of birds in our local area. Who knew Gracehill was home to so many species of birds?
Dreamspace Ambassadors - Term 1 Update
Our 8 Dreamspace Ambassadors (DSA) have been getting trained up online by Neeve and Matty from Microsoft Dublin and W5 respectively.
They have learnt how to code and today were learning how to use AI through Minecraft Education Hour of Code.
After their training session today, our DSA’s then became the teachers! They taught P6 how to send secure encrypted messages from one Microbit to another using the radio feature. P6 have been studying WWI and they were imagining how you could create a useful gadget for the front line.
They have been super learners and teachers.
Primary 6 & WWI - Visit from Rev Jim Francis
This term in P6 the boys and girls have been learning all about World War One. We had the pleasure of having Rev Jim Francis from St Patrick’s church in Ballymena come in to talk to us about being a Chaplain in the British Army. It was very interesting to get an insight into training, life in war zones and what his job entailed. Jim told us lots of stories all about chaplains from WW1 and WW2. It was great to hear about how being on the army has changed since World War One to today. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us Jim.
Little Miss Muffet Visits Gracehill
We had a wonderful morning watching the pantomime in our assembly hall.
Our P1 - P7 children loved watching the story of Miss Muffet unfold. Thank you so much to Centre Stage for coming in and getting us into the Christmas mood.
7-a-side Football Success
Well done to our 7-a-side football team who won the local tournament at Fourtowns Primary School on 27th November. The boys came up against some very tough opposition in Buick Memorial, St Mary’s Portglenone, Groggan, Fourtowns and the Diamond.
They did extremely well not to concede a goal all afternoon but score 13! Buick and Gracehill were drawn on points but the trophy was awarded to Gracehill as we had scored more goals on the day.
Both Buick and Gracehill will progress to the Ballymena 7-a-side Finals Day after Christmas. Well done boys!
Hockey Team compete at Ballymena Academy
Our P6 and 7 girls represented our school at the Antrim area Ulster Hockey Blitz tournament on Wednesday 26th November at Ballymena Academy AstroTurf pitches.
Well done girls!
Netball Tournament
Our P6 and P7 girls had a great day representing Gracehill at the ‘Newbies Netball Tournament’ in Ballymena Leisure Centre. It is a new sport for all the girls and they learned lots of new skills and made a great improvement from getting beaten in their first few matches to winning 3-0 in their final match. They should be so proud of themselves, well done girls!
Football Club visit Carniny
Gracehill took three football teams (40 children) over to Carniny Primary School on Tuesday 18th November. They played three games against a Primary 7 team, a Primary 6 team and a mixed team. The boys and girls did brilliantly winning all of their games and conceding no goals. Thanks to Carniny for hosting and we look forward to many more good contests this year.
Kindness Week
As part of Kindness Week (10th - 14th November), we wore odd socks to celebrate how each one of us is unique.
We will be hearing in assemblies, and in our classrooms, about how we can be an even kinder school.
Check out some of our amazing odd socks below.
Rugby Club -
New Tackle Pads
Children at our rugby club had good fun learning to tackle last week. Many thanks to Mrs Henry, Miss Millar and Mrs Robinson for organising the purchasing of the new tackle pads. Watch out!
In Loving Memory
We were honoured to be presented with two new pBone beginner trombones by our Brass Tutor Mr Graham Murray and his daughter Rowan, a past pupil of Gracehill, in memory of our much-loved Brass Tutor Mrs Beverley Murray, who sadly passed away in February of this year.
The pBones were bought from the generous donations received in Bev's memory and are a very fitting, living legacy and tribute. We are most grateful to receive these fabulous new instruments and wish to express our sincere thanks to the Murray family.
Pictured are our P4 pupils who have started to learn to play the pBones, with Mr Murray their tutor.
Musicians of the Month
Well done to our October Musicians of the Month!
We love your hard work and dedication.
Keep it up!
I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to everyone who contributed to our harvest assembly. We collected 114 shoeboxes and a full carload of food items to forward to Ballymena foodbank. You can be assured that those less fortunate than ourselves will benefit greatly from your generosity and your gifts will make a big difference to those who receive them.
I would also like to thank Eve, from Scripture Union NI for speaking to the children and to our Primary Six children for leading our assembly so confidently.
Mr Radcliffe
Harvest Assembly
Owen Daley 7-a-side Football Tournament Success
A massive well done to our school football team who competed in the annual Owen Daley 7-a-side tournament.
They played 8 games and scored 14 goals including a bicycle kick from Rory to top their group.
They met Buick Memorial in the semi-final and two super strikes from Logan and Rory helped them into the final against St. Mary's Portglenone. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as St Mary's scored a winner in extra time.
However, our boys can be extremely proud to have made it to the final 2 teams out of 18. They played with freedom and creativity and it was a joy to watch them during the day.
You represented our school brilliantly, well done.
Ulster Hockey Blitz
Our P6 and P7 girls hockey had a brilliant day representing our school in the Ulster Hockey Blitz hosted at Parkhall’s astroturf pitches.
Well done girls!
Clubs are back in action!
We are delighted that children have the opportunity to try rugby, hockey, football, netball, ukulele, orchestra and Scripture Union this term.
All our clubs run from 3-4pm. More info is on the Friday News Sheet.
P3’s visit the Castle
The P3 classes took a walk to Galgorm Castle as part of their World Around Us learning.
They even bumped into a very special character who was able to tell them all about the castle.
See if you can spot him below!
P5 Trip to Breckenhill
Primary 5 had a superb day getting to know their new classmates over a friendly game of paintball!
The boys and girls had a wonderful day away and got to experience so much. It was a great day forming new friendships and enjoying old ones too.
Click below to see more photographs.
