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'

123 Club will be re-commencing on Wednesday 1st September, and is open to any children from P1 - P3 who wish to attend.

Further information is available on our 123 Club page in the 'Parents' section of the website, where you can also find the booking forms.

Information and arrangements pertaining to the P4 - P7 classes returning to school on Monday 22nd March can be found by clicking on the link below:

https://www.bwps.co.uk/education-restart-covid-19/

On Friday 26th March the children will be finishing school at lunch time for the Easter holidays. In order to facilitate this, and to avoid too many people exiting the building together, the following pick up times will apply:

P1 & P2: 11:40am

P3 & P4: 11:50am

P5, P6 & P7: 12:00 noon

If you have children in different classes you can collect them all at the earliest applicable time. Please send in a note to your child’s class teacher if you are collecting anyone earlier than the time shown.

Buses will be available on Friday to take the children home, as usual. Please note that the Ballyvea bus can only take children from the P4 - P7 classes, due to a lack of space.

It has now been confirmed that schools will remain closed until after the half-term break in February. Therefore, most children will be engaged in remote learning for the next 5 weeks. As a result, we have put together answers to a range of questions that parents may have about school, lockdown and home learning.

Please visit the 'Parents' section of the website to access the Covid Lockdown FAQs page. If you have any further questions that are not addressed on this page, please email Mr Peacock and he will be happy to help with your inquiry. His email address is bwps@btconnect.com.

The quick link to the COVID Lockdown page is below:

https://www.bwps.co.uk/covid-lockdown/

Instead of a pre-Christmas Book Fair, this year we will be operating a Scholastic Book Party over the next three weeks, whereby parents can choose to buy from a wide range of books, organised by age.

Please visit the 'Parents' section of the website to find out more, and view all of the books on offer.

The Education Minister has now provided guidance around the closure of schools for the next two weeks. As you know, the week beginning 26th October had already been designated as our half-term holidays, which means that the children will effectively be missing one week of school due to this new directive.

The Minister has stated that next week will be classified as "an extension of the half-term break, and it is not intended to be used for remote learning." As a result, this will not be the same as the previous period of closure and no additional work will be provided. It appears that there is a strong desire for schools to re-open on 2nd November, and we will be planning on that basis.

This is a situation very much beyond our control, and we very much hope that this school closure will not last beyond the two weeks specified. Children will attend school as normal on Thursday and Friday, after which the school will remain closed until Monday 2nd November.