Become a Young Storykeeper Competition

Running until May 19th, children aged between 7 - 12 years are asked to send stories, poems, songs and comics on the theme of lighthouses.


Lighthouses are hugely inspirational and symbolise safety, guidance, help and hope - very important in these times. 
Now that lighthouses are automated, the people who work there and provide tours are called storykeepers. We are inviting children to become Young Storykeepers. Watch our video here.

Writers can create a story, a poem, a song, a play or a comic.

The story must involve a lighthouse, a buoy - or even a helper ship.

Your pupils might invent stories about the birds and animals that might live beside or even inhabit a lighthouse, or create a sea story rescue.

The lighthouse might be beside the sea - or on another planet!

Maybe the story is about the light itself – what kind of light is it? Who does it help? The possibilities are really endless.

All stories will be included in a digital magazine to be launched as part of Cruinniú na nÓg on June 13th and featured on the websites of Great Lighthouses of Ireland and Fighting Words.

A number of stories will be selected to be animated by the Fighting Words volunteer team of illustrators and animators.

For more information - Become a Young Storykeeper

Visit a lighthouse!

All children who submit a story will receive a family ticket to visit any one of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland Visitor Attractions, to be used when they re-open in accordance with Government guidelines.

Parent Survey, Ulster University

Ulster University researchers are seeking parental views of children from primary, post-primary and special schools across Northern Ireland on their experience ofsupporting their children’s learning during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

You can find the survey and more information here

Competition, Moy Park

Young Enterprise NI, in partnership with Moy Park Ltd has announced an exciting online venture for all pupils from the age of 8 to 12 years old.

The Moy Park Challenge, is an online competition which will help pupils to develop skills such as creativity, thinking, problem solving, decision-making and using ICT as well as compete for the chance to win up to £50 as a prize!

Pupils are set the task of being a  new Project Manager at Moy Park Ltd and their first job is to come up with a new and exciting chicken product or meal idea that will encourage people in Northern Ireland to eat more chicken! - as we all need to think about eating healthily and chicken is one of the best sources of protein. They have 2 parts to the task:

  1. Create a colourful and detailed ‘A4 poster’ advertising their chicken product ensuring they include a logo & slogan 

  2. Tell us about their idea and how they would encourage more people to eat chicken EITHER in a word document of no more than 200 words OR by a short video clip of no more than 60 seconds.

You can find more details at www.yeni.co.uk/moyparkchallenge

The top 3 ideas will win up to £50 of vouchers and their creation will be shared across all our Social Media channels! 

All entries are to be submitted by email to Cathy Morrison by 22nd May 2020  at cathy.morrison@yeni.co.uk.  Winners will be announced online on Friday 29th May 2020.

History Links

I received this from the Navan Centre and Fort, Armagh. It may be of interest to some of our children.  

Ongoing weekly series of educational videos focusing on topics we would normally be delivering to schools via our Education programme are now being offered by video. Every week, we introduce a video of the topic on a Tuesday, followed by the associated quiz on a Thursday. This week’s topic is The Egyptians, other weeks have included World War II, the Victorians, the Vikings and the Celts. These are published on our Facebook pagewww.facebook.com/navancentrefort and may be of interest to some of your pupils, during these times.

VE Day Celebrations /May Bank Holiday

One of our two May bank holidays, the early one, known as May Day, was moved by the Government to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day, or Victory Day in Europe. VE Day marks the the day in 1945 when the Nazis surrendered to the Allies in the Second World War, which ended the Second World War in Europe.

However, like all other mass gatherings and general activities involving leaving our homes, all public VE Day events have now been cancelled - so all commemorations will have to be kept indoors.

UK Parliament have produced new videos and resource packs for primary pupils which are suitable for use at home.

 http://www.parliament.uk/ww2

https://learning.parliament.uk/resources/uk-parliament-and-world-war-ii-video-primary/

 https://twitter.com/UKParlEducation/status/1252575800781688832

Or some other resources you could try are:

Listen to the Horrible Histories VE day song

Design a VE medal

Make a Spitfire Model Plane

Morse Code

Wartime Recipes

Colouring Page


You may wish to view some of the links on Friday when school would have been closed.




BBC Two Minute Tales Story Competition

Two Minute Tales, BBC Northern Ireland’s short story competition for 5 – 16 year olds is now open for submissions. You can find out more details here along with some creative writing tips and previous entries for some ideas. Why not have a go and your story may be published!

ThinkUKnow

The third #OnlineSafetyAtHome pack is now available with new activities for parents and carers to use at home! Access them here. 

Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress

We’re delighted that many of our pupils have been enjoying Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress during this extended time away from school. I’ve included a link on the Covid-19 page of our website with an overview sheet they have published that signposts parents to many of the ‘forgotten’ features within the program, e.g. the library of reading books at each child’s unique level, spelling lessons and story writing sections.

Coronavirus: advice and support for children and parents

To support different forms of learning, ineqe, Safeguarding have prepared a short animation, a story book and an activity that supports parents to tackle misinformation and help children understand Coronavirus. The aim of these resources is to be informative and reduce heightened levels of anxieties about the ongoing pandemic.

Childline has created a new webpage with information for children and young people about coronavirus. The page includes information about: what coronavirus is; where children and young people can find help if they are worried; coping if they are staying at home; and what to do if they are feeling unwell.

The NSPCC has created an online hub providing advice and support for parents and carers during the coronavirus outbreak. Content includes: information on keeping children safe from abuse; tips and advice to help parents working from home; and ways to talk to a child who is anxious or worried about coronavirus.

ThinkUKnow have produced a page intended to provide parents and carers with support and resources to help them learn about online safety at home with their child. Each fortnight, they will be releasing new home activity packs with simple 15 minute activities parents can do with their child to support their online safety at a time when they will spending more time online at home.

Keep Reading - AR Book Library Free Online

To help support students and parents to keep reading there are thousands of enhanced digital books through myON and articles from myON News now available here for free. These books are linked to the Accelerated Reading scheme. When you have found the book you are interested in, if you click the ‘I’ or ‘Details’ tab at the top you can see the ATOS level. This is the book level your child will have been familiar with for choosing books in school. This also gives you how many points each book is worth.

NI4kids Magazine

NI4kids have asked us to share the link to their online magazine and the information below.

It's an Easter like no other but despite the dramatic changes to our lives, happy family life must go on. That's why we've created a new digital version of Ni4kids Magazine.

Inside, catch up with the thoughts of dads Alex Kane and Alan Meban, Dr Sharon Jones has helpful advice for learning together at home, Dr Marie Hilldiscusses how to maintain positive mental health during isolation, we have a special focus on Autism plus lots of family food suggestions, activities, games, craft ideas, science experiments, books, movies and more!

School Assemblies, Hope for Youth Ministries

Hope for Youth Ministries, a children’s ministry in Northern Ireland has previously been to our school for lunchtime bible clubs.
He is presently doing online assemblies for primary school children. The assemblies are 11am, Monday, Wednesday & Friday. These are screened from the Hope for Youth Ministries YouTube Channel.

Book Trust

BookTrust have launched a new digital hub, www.booktrust.org.uk/hometime which is packed with reading advice, ideas, activities and resources. 

On Monday 6 April they launched a Northern Ireland page, where they feature local authors, illustrators and initiatives. The BookTrust NI facebook page allows them to connect with families and share the work that authors and illustrators post on Facebook.  www.facebook.com/booktrustni

Science and Technology Challenges

Sentinus are going to send out challenges three times per week. Please see information below on the first challenge. If you are interested in doing more of these check out their social media on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Welcome to Day 1 of our Sentinus Challenges! We hope you are as excited as we are 😊

Your first challenge is attached here in a PowerPoint document explaining what the challenge is in a few steps. Once you have completed the challenge you can post the outcome onto social media or you can email your photos/videos to us at info@sentinus.co.uk

When you email your response, can you please let us know if it is okay to post the pictures and your name onto our social media sites, as we would like to share your work.

All challenges will be posted at 11am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so keep an eye out on social media to complete the challenges. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Good Luck!!

Sentinus 

 

Road Safety Competitions

Please see below for information on two Road Safety competitions for when the children are off school.

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WEBSITES

We have compiled a list of useful websites which you can use with your children while they are not in school. The document is under ‘FOR PARENTS' LINKS: SUGGESTED WEBSITES FOR HOME LEARNING.

CANCER FOCUS

Today, Judith from Cancer Focus Northern Ireland came to speak to our children about ways that they can keep their bodies healthy.

Many thanks to everyone who donated money for Cancer Focus. A cheque of £100 will be sent to Cancer Focus NI, who were most grateful for our support.

  • P1 and P2 heard the story of Genevieve the Goat. The main focus was on making healthy food choices. Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, choose to drink milk or water and take lots of exercise.

  • P3 and P4 focused on the importance of taking daily exercise. They were encouraged to look for easy ways to become active.

    P5 were food detectives. They looked at the amount of fat, salt and sugar in different foods. Choosing healthier foods and living healthier lifestyles are good ways of preventing cancer.

  • P6 and P7 were taught about the harmful effects smoking can have on the body.

Coronavius

As this situation changes rapidly please continue to check the Public Health Agency website for the most current recommendations.