Autumn Sweep

Last week we had our HPS Autumn Sweep, this involved a big tidy up of the school grounds in preparation for Winter. We want to thank the great team of parents and relatives who got involved! Our Eco club also pitched in with weeding and planting bulbs. We also want to thank Bill, Sam and the team from Holywood Men’s Shed who have built a picket fence to mark off the construction play area for the P1 and 2s and created a lovely log border for one of our wildflower areas. Sam was remincising that the last time he was at HPS was in the 1950s as a pupil! Lovely to have you back Sam! Here are some photos of everyone’s hard work.

Kindness Links Us!

Primary 1-7 all participated in the NSPCC Kindness Challenge Week this week and created kindness paper chains with acts of kindness written or drawn on them. Kindness links us together at Holywood Primary!

Operation Christmas Child Harvest Collection

We were blown away by the generosity of our school community in our Harvest Collection in aid of Operation Christmas Child. Lots of toys, pencils, paper, books and hygiene products were brought in. These have been packed into shoe boxes and will be sent to children in other parts of the world who lack basic necessities. A big thank you to Laura Blacklock and the 3EN Group in Holywood who kindly added a generous donation of toys to our collection. Another big thank you to Mr and Mrs Armstrong from Operation Christmas Child who came in and spoke to our pupils about where their donations were going and collected the items. They were able to assemble ninety one boxes with your donations! Thank you Holywood Primary School!

2023/24 HPS Eco Committee

We are proud to present our recently elected Eco Committee for this academic year. The committee comprises a representative from each class from P4-7. The committee will work closely with Mrs McKeown promoting our Eco topics of Biodiversity, Healthy Living and Marine Life as we work towards the renewal of our Green Flag in June.

The committee:

Chair Person: Finn P7

Deputy Chair Person: Harry P7

Other committee members:

Miller P7, Jamie P6, Harrison P6, Ella P5, Ellen P5, Ellie P4, Jack P4 and Evie P4

We look forward to the great ideas and intiatives they will bring to our school this year.

HPS Colour Run

Last Friday, children from P1 – P7 took part in a sponsored colour run. The children started with a fun warm up before starting the colour run.  Their objective was to keep on moving around the course whilst running past the different coloured paint stations and dancing to the music.  

The children (and adults) had a great time, thank you again for all the generous donations.

Pupils of Term 3

We were so pleased to say well done to a number of our pupils at the end of Term 3. Members of staff noticed their kindness and thoughtfulness. Well doen everyone and congratulations!

Markus (P1) for being very polite and helpful in the Dining Hall.

Marcia (P7) for always helping to tidy up in the Dining Hall without being asked.

Leon (P6) for super sportsmanship during House football competitions.

Noah (P3) is a very thoughtful boy. He helps others without being asked.

Hollie (P6) displayed resilience and strength, not giving up when she hurt herself during House football. Hollie took a quick break and got fully involved!

Taylor (P6) was such a lovely friend when a classmate was upset, Taylor stepped in to help.

Well done everyone, we are very proud of you.

House Champions 2023

A big congratulations to all the P5-P7 pupils for their participation and efforts throughout the year during the House Competition!

The pupils have competed in lots of activities from creating a school mascot, competing in a sports quiz, designing their own house crest, creating their own game to showcase to their class to a range of sporting challenges including competing in Sports Week. Every individual earned points in each of the competitions that were accumulated throughout the course of the year! It was a closely contested affair with some Houses coming out on top in the creative tasks while others had greater success in some of the team sporting events.

It has been great to see every House encourage one another, celebrate each others success and work hard together as a team towards achieving success.

After tallying all the points from across all the various competitions, this years HOUSE CHAMPIONS 2023 with a whopping 1,432 pts ARE….

GREEN HOUSE!

Congratulations again to all the competitors from each of the Houses for all their efforts this year in what has been a fantastic display of sportsmanship and team work. You should all be very proud of your achievements!

Playground Winners P5 Room 8

CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs Brown’s P5 class  who were winners of the Playground  Competition from February to June. The children have tried  really hard to play well together, be kind and helpful as well as lining up quickly at the end of playtime.  A special treat was arranged for them at the Edge Coffee shop in Holywood. They had a great time!

Cricket Success

This week 32 pupils across P6-P7 took part in the annual Holywood Cricket Club Tournament held at Seapark.

The boys competed on Tuesday and came up against tough opposition from Campbell, Gilnahirk and Rockport. There was some great individual performances but some closely contested matches went the other way with Campbell edging out the overall tournament victory.

BOYS SQUAD: Zach, James, Will, Jacob, Oscar, Rudy,Luke, James, Peter, Jacob, Fraser, James, Harry, Ben, Isaac and Ethan

The girls tournament took place today and they found themselves up against formidable opposition from Penrhyn, Gilnahrik and Rockport. There was great sportsmanship, cohesion and team spirit on display from the entire squad throughout the duration of the competition. In some tightly contested fixtures there were moments of brilliance behind the bat and some super fielding that led the team to the final to compete for some silverware. In a wonderful game HPS came out on top against Penrhyn and were crowned Cricket Champions 2023 for the 2nd year running! What an amazing achievement to all involved!

GIRLS SQUAD: Clara, Sophia, Martha, Katie, Ruby, Eve, Isobel, Polly, Amber, Grace, Marcia, Charlotte, Skye, Natasha, Charlotte and Emma

A special thank you to Mrs Harper for kindly giving up her time (even on her day off) to help facilitate the fixtures and make the event possible. A big thank you again to all the parent helpers for their continued support throughout the year!

North Down Athletics

Last week 30 pupils from P5-P7 took part in the North Down Athletics competition at Bangor Sportsplex. It was a fantastic week of fun in the sun competing in both track and field events alongside many other schools. The events on display were the sprint, cricket ball throw, long jump and the team relays.

The heats took place on both Monday and Wednesday with 12 pupils from HPS qualifying for the Finals on Friday to compete for a chance of winning a medal.

The week was a great success and everyone involved did themselves and the school proud. Congratualtions again to the following pupils who came away with some silverware to show for their efforts and fantastic performances.

GOLD

Clara (P7) - Cricket Ball Throw

SILVER

Martha, Clara, Charlotte, Katie (P7) - Girls Relay

Abigail (P5) - Long jump

BRONZE

Martha (P7) - Cricket ball throw

Martha (P5) - Cricket ball throw

The HPS girls team came away with a very impressive overall finish of 3rd from all the schools competing and retained their trophy from last year!

A massive well done to all who took part and a big thank you to all the parent helpers who helped create wonderful memories and made the occassion possible!

A fond farewell to Mr Widdowson

Mr Widdowson, our Crossing Patrolman who has worked at Holywood Primary School for almost 12 years, is retiring.

Mr Widdowson joined us for a special Assembly to allow us the opportunity to say good bye.

We thanked Mr Widdowson, ‘Laurence’, for his loyal service to the school.

We presented Laurence with a gift on behalf of the HPS community. We were so glad that he could be with us to receive it and see everyone!

THREE CHEERS FOR LAURENCE!

Keeping active with the help of Spar, Torgrange

We really appreciate the generous donation from Spar, Torgrange, Holywood. The water and bag of sports equipment they gave us, helps our emphasis on keeping active and enjoying being outdoors.

Thanks so much!

Wildflower Sign Competition Winners

Well done to our Wildflower Sign Competition winners! The school council and the Eco committee were involved in judging the competition, they were very impressed by the time and effort the P4-7 pupils put in. It was a very high standard of entries! Each of our winners won a packet of wildflower seeds to take home and we are planning on displaying these signs in our wildflower areas.

First place: Emma P6 R9 

Second place: TJ P7 R11

Third place: Molly P6 R10

 Fourth Place: Susanna P5 R8

Well done everyone! We are very excited to see our wildflowers starting to grow in this lovely weather.

End of Season Rugby Friendly

The Holywood Primary School Rugby Squad finished their season with a friendly game against Sullivan Upper Preparatory Department.

It was another great day for rugby and after the short walk along Demesne Road it was time for the match to begin.  After a typical slow start, HPS started to play some excellent rugby. Some brilliant, tactical kicking helped HPS gain so good territory and even a try. The team defended well in a very evenly matched game. With the ball in had the team were prepared to offload the ball, when given the chance, and some direct running lead to several excellent tries. Thank you again to Sullivan for hosting the match and to all the parent helpers for coming along to assist and support.  

Final Score Sullivan Prep 5 – 6 Holywood Primary School

Well done to all the players who were involved in HPS rugby this year. With a lot of P6 players in the squad, rugby in Holywood Primary looks in safe hands. A special mention must also go to all the P7 players who were playing their final game for the school, they have all been fantastic and a pleasure to coach over the last two seasons. I really hope they all continue to play rugby as the move on to their new schools.