Donard School

Colour Fun 2024

The pupils all enjoyed our Colour Fun event earlier this month - it was a huge success, as you can see from the photos. A massive thank you to our facilitators at Healthy Kidz.

The atmosphere was amazing and we all enjoyed an ice-cream to celebrate - looking forward to next year!

Inter School's Formal 2024

Formal 2024

We think we are just about recovered from all the dancing! What a night!!!!!

Last Thursday night, our Post 16 pupils travelled to Canal Court Newry to attend the Carnival themed formal. We joined our friends from Rathore, Lisanally, Ceara and Sperrinview.

We had an amazing three course meal, enjoyed the Sweet Table, Candy Floss, Popcorn and Photobooth before we danced the night away!!!!! We have been buzzing about it all week!

Thank you to Rathore School Newry for hosting a wonderful night and we can't wait until next year's already!

Senior School Football Tournament

A huge well done to those in Senior School that played in the Inter-Schools Football tournament. Thank you to the organisers in Rathore School for a great morning, everyone had a ball! We can't wait until the next one! #Teamdonard

Sacraments 2024

Congratulations to our pupils who made their First Holy Communion and Confirmation a few weeks ago. Each and everyone of them were stunning and had such a special day. Thank you to Fr McMahon who celebrated the ceremony with us.

As you can see there were lots of happy faces. Every pupil did themselves and their families proud. Thank you to all our parents who helped bring their children to this special point in their faith journey. We hope you enjoyed the celebrations.

Thank you to every member of staff who helped in any way to prepare and support our pupils in their preparation for the sacraments.

Valentines Young Enterprise stall

Our Young Entrepreneurs in Leavers Department have been working extremely hard creating beautiful Valentine's products to sell at their stall in school. Their products included beautiful wax melts, personalised chocolate bars, heart frames and delicious short bread. They set up their display, recorded their stock and managed money. They showed excellent costumer service skills and had lots of fun during each shift. Donard school was definitely feeling the love!

Christmas Jumper Day 2023

Santa Daily Mile

Staff Experience the Soundbeam

Wright Friendship Cup

Today, in conjucntion with our Hi 5 Friday activities, we re-introduced the Wright Friendship Cup. This cup was donated to our school by Emily Wright, who had been our school secretary for some time, and her late husband John. Recipients of this cup are chosen for their kind acts in school. We, as a staff, notice the smallest acts of kindness and feel that our pupils need to be acknowledged for them. Each month we will share the winners of the Wright Friendship Cup from each of our schools (Junior, Middle and Senior). Remember - it's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.

Our Junior winner was chosen for cheering his friend up in the Sensory Garden.

Our Middle School winner was chosen because she independently soothed a friend in class who was upset.

And in Senior School - team work makes the dream work. These pupils showed such kindness when they held open the doors all the way up the corridor for one of our wheelchair users - brilliant work boys!

Donard School's Christmas Letter to Santa

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A message from our Parent Teacher Association

Donard School's Rainbow Harvest

On Friday 13th October we celebrated Harvest in Donard School. Junior, Middle and Senior School had lovely assemblies celebrating the colours of the rainbow through Harvest fruit and vegetables. We are very thankful to all those families who contributed to the food bank collection. Some classes also enjoyed making Harvest crowns and using their fruit and vegetables in Art.

PageTiger Launch at Donard School

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Colour Run 2023

We had an absolute ball at out first ever Colour Run. Check out the video below.

Credit Union Sponsorship

Our pupils were delighted to be given school jerseys which were sponsored by the Banbridge branch of the Credit Union. These tops, modelled by some of our senior pupils, will be worn at shared sporting events, eg the Inter Schools Boccia Tournament, giving a real sense of team spirit. Thank you to all in the Credit Union for their continued support.

A Starry Starry Night - Inter Schools Formal 2023

Donard School hosted the Inter Schools Formal this year. The Leavers Department had been preparing for many weeks and all their hard work pulled off. See for yourself the fantastic night that was had by all those that attended. Thank you to everyone who supported us and made it happen.

High Five Fridays - May

On Friday 19th May we had a High Five Friday to support our wellbeing. The pupils had a lovely day getting active to music with Dancerise sessions. Some classes enjoyed face painting and others a woodland walk. Take a look at some photos of what we got up to.

Sponsored Walk Fundraiser

On the 9th and 10th of May some pupils helped to raise funds to support our Summer Scheme Activity Programme by partaking in a sponsored walk. A massive thank you for all your support and well done to all the pupils involved. The total raised was £1472. Enjoy some pictures from the walks.

SIBS May Meeting

In May the siblings group met up to explore our school grounds and luckily we had good weather. We had a great evening with activities including go-karting, exploring the sensory garden, enjoying the park and going on a colour nature scavenger hunt. We enjoyed a supper of Pizza and the evening was finsihed off with a few games in the hall. We look forward to seeing everyone in June for our last session of the year.

Coronation Celebration

On Friday 5th May an email came through that Donard School have been chosen for two VERY special visitors in advance of The Coronation. We loved our visit from King Chris and Queen Doreen! Some classes have shared photos of the fun activities they experienced and enjoyed.

SIBS Trip

In February the Siblings group enjoyed a trip out together. We had great fun snowtubing with the siblings flying down the slopes! We also enjoyed having our tea at McDonalds.

Holy Communion and Confirmation

Congratulations to our pupils who made their First Holy Communion or Confirmation on Saturday. Each and everyone of them were stunning and had such a special day.

As you can see there were lots of happy faces.

Every pupil did themselves proud and we hope they enjoyed all their celebrations.

Thank you to every member of staff who helped prepare and support each one of our pupils in their preparation for the sacraments.

Siblings Group News

Dear Parents,

please find an amended copy of the Siblings dates 2023.

Times and Dates for your diary

Wednesday 18th January 2023: 4:30pm - 6:30pm The Great Siblings Bake off!

Thursday 2nd February 2023: 4:45pm - 8pm Snowtubing Trip with tea at McDonalds

Wednesday 15th March 2023: 4:30pm - 6:30pm Art Attack and Wellbeing

Christmas 2022

What a wonderful evening at our Junior Christmas Winter Wonderland. Emergency services, snow, reindeers, Christmas crafts, the Grinch and a special visit from Santa. A fun time had by all!

Siblings Group Christmas Party

How to access the Annual Review Portal

Please see instuctions below on how to access your child's annual review meeting

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Siblings Group

Our first Siblings group was a great success. Our ice breaker let us know a little about each other and the Siblings created their own group rules. We enjoyed having a tour of our school and exploring some of the specialist resources we use. We had lots of questions and all the siblings enjoyed seeing their brother or sisters classrooms. Some of the Siblings enjoyed experiencing what it was like to be hoisted. We enjoyed pizza and a chat to finish our session and the Siblings decided we would go Snowtubing for our Christmas trip. We hope that will be on Wednesday 14th December. We are looking forward to our next session.

Numeracy week

October 2022

Last week Donard School celebrated a Food theme Numeracy Week. Each class took part in a range of activities using tasty treats to help them complete their work. We are very proud of all the Mathematicians in Donard School!

Hi Five Fridays

Last week in school we had our first High Five Friday to support our wellbeing. The pupils had a lovely day full of activities that allowed us to connect with one another, get active, take time to relax and do something good for someone else. The staff got to celebrate the launch of their brand new staff room with lots of treats at break and lunch and plenty of opportunity to connect. Check out the photos for more info.

Prize Giving 2022

Check out some of our Donard stars from our Prize Giving events last week We are so proud of all of the achievements and hard work from all our pupils in Donard School.

Donard Disney Fun Day 2022

Donard’s Disney Fun Days

Last Thursday and Friday saw the annual Donard Fun Days.

The theme was Disney and the games did not disappoint, even if the weather did. Among the games we had a Frozen themed target throw, Brave themed archery and a Pixar character relay race. Some of the younger pupils enjoyed an Aladdin themed carpet ride and we all finished off with a game of ‘pin the nose on Mickey Mouse’.

Special thanks go to our sponsors for our refreshments - Tayto for the crisps, Rosehip for the finger rolls, George Rice for the sausages and Tesco for the finger rolls and drinks. A special mention goes to Damien Lennon from Archery4U for lending us the archery equipment as this really enhanced the games for the pupils.

School Formal, 9th June 2022

A Night in a Million!

Leavers, Class 16 and Class 11 lobbied our senior management team and got some money to organise their own formal. A business meeting at The Belmont, advertising the event, developing the menu and collecting meal choices, working with the DJ on a playlist, decorating the venue and selling the tickets - what better way to learn new skills?

Huge thanks to all the pupils and their parents for making it so special, and to the staff who gave up their time so enthusiastically!

Top Hats and Tiara Jubilee Party

What a great day we all had celebrating our Top Hats and Tiara Jubilee event. Pupils and staff all enjoyed an outdoor picnic, and danced the afternoon away in the beautiful sunshine. The ice cream van was a special treat, with party games and photo opportunities throughout the day.

Senior School Residential to The Share Centre, May 2022 - A wee bit of sun and a whole lot of fun!!

Brighter Beginnings PE Programme

April/May 2022

Some classes in school have availed of a bespoke PE programme with Brighter Beginnings. Pupils have been able to experience a range of new sports and games such as boxing, target practice, fun parachute games and much much more. This has been a great boost for physical activity and well being for our pupils.

Mount Ida Pottery Workshops

March/April 2022

Mount Ida Pottery Workshops

From wellbeing funding school were able to provide two workshops for pupils with Mount Ida Pottery. Pupils had an amazing time creating and painting flowers for our 'Garden of Hope'. Keep an eye out for the finished product coming soon.....

Great British Bake Off - Donard Style - Showstopper Challenge

8.4.22

Show Stopper Challenge Donard style!

What amazing talents we have here at Donard with our themed bake-off showstopper tables! Congratulations to all classes involved and particularly to class 16 who scooped the 1st prize with their Alice in Wonderland theme and class 10 who came in 2nd with their Pirates of the Caribbean table! A super event! Well done

World Book Day 3.3.22

Some children from Middle and Senior school showing off their cool costumes during our World Book Day parade!

Christmas Craic-er 16.12.21

There's nothing quite like spending time together at Christmas!

We are so pleased to let everyone know that our Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day 2021 raised £281.20. Thank you to all the pupils and staff in Donard School for supporting this event

Mayor's Christmas Card

This year Donard School had the privilege of designing the Lord Mayor's Christmas Card. Artwork created by these young ladies was chosen for this project. The Lord Mayor made a visit to Donard to thank them and to present them with their cards. Their beautifully designed cards have been distributed all over the borough - What an achievement!!! Thank you so much Alderman Glenn Barr for this opportunity and many thanks to all our pupils who contributed.

Everyone had a wonderful time outside taking part in the “Daily Mile Santa Run” on Friday 3rd December. We had lots of fresh air and exercise. There were loads of smiles and plenty of giggles along the way

Anti Bullying Odd Socks Day

Monday 15th November

Donard pupils had great fun wearing wacky odd socks to suport Anti-Bullying wweek.

Whilst focusing on the theme 'One Kind word' all classes designed a kind word poster. The Junior classes completed many activities about socks and the Senior classes enjoyed circle time activities about bullying.