Visits

April 2011 - Derrinturn Pupils visit Germany

Pupils Ciaran Gallagher, Chloe Cummins, Megan Hogan and Aoife Jenkins visited partner school in Neuruppin, Germany in April 2011. They travelled with teachers and with similar groups from their other partner schools in Belfast and Slovenia. They participated in morning classes and visited host families. They also represented our school in “Drums for Peace” You can see a video from their trip HERE.

 

Previous visits

Comenius visit March 2010

23 pupils visited our school for 2 full days in March. They came from Germany, Slovenia and County Antrim. They had a very varied experience with our pupils of 6th class.

Sean Norman Ceili Band welcomed the guests with a lively selection of Irish music and song. Caitriona Dunne taught them “The Walls of Limerick”. Bernie Kennedy introduced them to the skills of hurling/camogie, while Marjie Morrin and a team of parents did a cooking class with them.

The pupils from the 5 schools put on a very entertaining concert on Tuesday night, 23rd March.

On Wednesday 24th March, the visiting schools got a tour of the hen run, and met Lucky1, Daisy, and sisters. They found 3 fresh eggs. Then, along with Naomi Doyle, each school planted a tree in the school garden.

The pupils took part in our annual “Drums for Peace” on Wednesday night, 24th March 2010. Earlier in the day they took part in workshops on “Peace”. Ms Cahill did a really wonderful art workshop, where the pupils created a huge jigsaw of peace. Mrs O’Donoghue conducted a fantastic music workshop, assisted by teachers and musicians from the visiting schools. Julie Duane held a Drama workshop on the same theme. In the afternoon, Eddie O’Neill led all in an amazing drum circle which was probably the highlight of the visit. See photos here. “Drums for Peace” was also videoed that evening, and you can watch the video here.

As part of Drums for Peace, pupils from the 5 schools wrote poetry on the theme of peace. A booklet of poems was produced, which was judged by Dominic Cogan, a local writer and teacher.

 

The winning poem was written by one of our own pupils, Lauren O’Reilly (4th Class). Read poems here

 

Visit to Belfast in December 2009

Pupils, teachers and parents travelled from Derrinturn to Belfast in December 2009. One of our Partner Schools, Whitehouse PS, was destroyed in an arson attack in July.

St Conleth’s NS, Derrinturn, St James PS, Newtownabbey, and Whitehouse PS joined together for a solidarity concert. The UUP Mayor of Newtownabbey was present, as was a DUP councillor, and the local P.P. The following day, the delegation from Derrinturn visited both schools.

 

Comenius visit November 2009

The 4 schools involved in Comenius visited Derrinturn in November 2009. 2 Teachers came from Germany, 2 teachers from Slovenia, 3 teachers from St James PS, and 5 teachers from Whitehouse PS.

They met all the staff, and visited every classroom. They studied our Water Project Green Schools, and found out about Harry Happy Heart (which is used as part of our Health Education). They learned about Reading Recovery, a programme run by Mrs Curley.

 

• Click here for information on what Comenius is
• Click here to read about the 'Drums for Peace' work that the children are involved in
• Click here to read some of the 'Drums for Peace' Poems our children wrote