Please apply NOW if you think you may be eligible for free school meals, as this is something which benefits you and the school.

If your claim is successful, the daily cost of a school meal is waived and you do not have to pay. Your child will then be eligible for a free school meal every day. However, your child does not have to take dinner every day if they don’t want to. It is available as often, or as little, as you prefer.

The school benefits through extra funding for every child that is eligible for free school meals.  This is extremely important to us in today’s climate of cuts to the Education budget.

We need to make sure we get the maximum funding possible for the school.  Even if your child rarely takes school dinner please apply (you don’t have to avail of the dinners).

The link for applications is below - it is all done online. Thank you.

CLICK HERE FOR FREE SCHOOL MEALS APPLICATIONS

The dinner menu for September - December 2023 can now be viewed in the 'Parents' section of the website. 

The Holiday List and term dates for the 2023/24 school year are now available to view in the 'Key Information' section of the website.

On Friday 5th May we will be holding a celebration event, to mark the coronation of King Charles III the following day. This will take the form of a family fun night, and we would encourage all parents, pupils and members of the school community to come along. It will run from 6pm to 9pm, and is being held at the Ballyvea FC Hub on the Carginagh Road. Entry is free.

There will be a wide range of games and activities on offer for the children, as well as face painting, bouncy castles etc. Ballyvea FC will be offering burgers and hot dogs via a BBQ, and Southpoint Coffee will also be in attendance. Naturally, there will be a charge for both of these. We hope everyone will be able to come along and join us as we mark this historic event.

Easter Service

We will be holding our Easter Service on Wednesday 29th March at 9:30am in the Assembly Hall, when Rev G Hamilton will be  our guest speaker. The P1, P5 and P7 classes will also be taking part, and all parents and friends are very welcome to come along.

On Monday 19th December we will be holding our annual Christmas Jumper Day. This will involve the children wearing a Christmas themed jumper to school on that date, if they so wish.

The Christmas jumper doesn’t have to be new or custom-made;  it can be any top that the child already owns, with some Christmas decorations added. This is a non-uniform day, so children can ‘team’ the Christmas jumper up with their own clothes for the day!

We have refreshed our stock for the Tuck Shop, and the available items and prices are shown below.

School will be closed on Monday 19th September for the Queen’s funeral, as the day has now been designated as a Bank Holiday.

We were delighted to receive a new mural this week, to commemorate 100 years of Northern Ireland. The Schomberg Society very kindly facilitated this via funding from the Northern Ireland Office and The National Heritage Fund, and we are extremely grateful for the help we’ve received from Roberta Heaney and James Donaldson thought the project. We also want to thank Dee Craig for his wonderful work in producing such a great piece of artwork.

On each end of the mural we have two local people - one past and one present - whose achievements and talents we want to celebrate. On the left we have Nurse Margaret Anderson from Ballinran, who was awarded the Royal Red Cross for nursing in WW1 and went on to serve during WW2 including at the evacuation of Dunkirk. On the right we have Bethany Shields, a former pupil of Brackenagh West, who has progressed to a very high level within the field of Highland Dancing, and has performed at major events across the British Isles.

In the middle we have two NI sporting icons, in George Best and Mary Peters, who reached the pinnacle of their respective sports, reminding us what can be achieved with a combination of talent and hard work. Finally, the background shows some of the things for which Mourne is famous, such as the mountains, the Silent Valley and the dry stone walls, plus a tractor which represents the central place farming has within our community.

The quote at the bottom is a reminder to all our pupils to aim high and follow their dreams in life, without ever forgetting where they come from. We are truly delighted with our new mural and it’s a nice reminder of the past 100 years of Northern Ireland as well as being a great addition to our school in this our 50th anniversary year. We were pleased to welcome Bethany, along with her parents, plus Roberta and James, as we unveiled the mural in school yesterday morning.

A letter from the Education Minister about the current situation in schools can be viewed in the 'Parents' section of the website, under 'Education Restart'