Antrim Primary

The pupils of Antrim Primary School have made an absolutely fantastic
effort in their bid to raise money for Allen Ward, in Belfast Royal Hospital,
where children are cared for who have cystic fibrosis. The pupils in each
year group undertook a sponsored physical activity and a marvellous sum
of over Ł7000 was raised by their efforts.
A cheque for Ł6500 was presented to a nurse from Allen Ward at Antrim
Primary's 2004 Harvest service. Ł500 was also handed over to a
representative from the Wildlife Trust, who are endeavouring to save Barn
owls.
This is a record collection by the pupils of Antrim Primary School, made
possible by the generosity of friends and family. A BIG "Thank You" to ALL
who contributed and helped raise this wonderful sum of money.

After a superb performance in their heat at the Whitla Hall,
Belfast, Antrim Primary School achieved a marvellous second
place. Three P7 girls tell us about the experience.....

It all started when Mrs. Reed told us, just before Christmas that
our school choir was entering "School Choir Of The Year
2005," we were all so excited!

We started practising our songs, "Butterfly," "A Gaelic
Blessing" and "Name Of Jesus Medley." We worked very hard,
practicing for 45 minutes, every Wednesday after school.

The week before the big day we were practising very hard
nearly every day.

On Friday we performed our three pieces in assembly. Mr.
Black and Mr. Magrath recorded it on video and on Monday the
choir watched it. We were ready for our big afternoon!

We left school at 1:30 pm. Everyone was very nervous and the
journey to Belfast seemed a lot longer than it really was.

When we arrived at the Whitla Hall everyone was amazed at
the size of the hall. There were lights and cameras everywhere.
It didn't look at all like it did on T.V. The choirs started to come
in and before we knew it, we were listening to Paul Clarke
announce the first choir.

We heard the first 11 choirs before we went out to a small
practice room. After hearing the first 11 choirs we thought we
probably didn't have much of a chance because the standard
was so good.

Our legs were like jelly with nervousness. On the stage we
were nearly blinded by the light. Mrs Torrens sat down at the
grand piano to accompany us and Mrs Moore stood in front to
conduct us. We sang our two songs. We knew we had done
well but we really had no idea if we had done well enough to
challenge some of the other schools.

The judges went out to decide who be the winners would be.
They named the two schools that were highly commended.
When the judge said, "2nd place goes to ANTRIM PRIMARY
SCHOOL" we were overjoyed. Our teachers were delighted
with our performance and on the way home on the bus we all
felt very proud of ourselves.

One thing for sure, it's a day we will never forget.

By Robynne Beers, Anna Gardiner and Rhianna Brown.

* 2005 Best Kept Large School (Northern Board) - ANTRIM
PRIMARY *
We are delighted to announce that our school has been
judged WINNER of the Supervalu Best Kept Large School
in the Northern Board Area.
The key element in our success was the commitment
shown by staff, pupils and support staff to improving the
environment, both within the school grounds and beyond.
Particular congratulations go to Mrs McKee and our pupil
ECO Committees for all their hard work in recent years. The
judge was very complimentary to P7 pupils he interviewed
during his assessment - Rhianna Brown, Amit Jayaprakash,
Megan Smith, Chelsea Craig and Alana Houston. As prizes
we received a crystal trophy, a plaque for the school and
Ł125 for future environmental development.

Golden Tapestry (co-ordinated by Mrs McConnell)
At present, we are taking part in an Art & Design project entitled "The Golden Tapestry".
This is a Commonwealth wide project for schools and will involve 1800 Primary and
Special Schools across the whole Commonwealth. We are extremely pleased and excited
to be involved in such an event. Our school will make a metre square of textural
embroidery depicting our 50th Anniversary Fancy Dress Parade through places of
interest in Antrim Town. Children from all year groups will be involved in this work. A
programme of exhibitions across the Commonwealth is planned up to the year 2006,
culminating in a final exhibition of all canvasses from all schools at the Melbourne
Commonwealth Games in March 2006. Our school's tapestry will be one of the 1800
combined to make "The Golden Tapestry" - what an honour!