St Eithne's named Derry's best primary school
The local school scooped the 'Best Primary School In Derry/Londonderry' award at the recent Local Women Magazine Education Awards
St Eithne's is celebrating after being named as Derry's best primary school.
The local school scooped the 'Best Primary School In Derry/Londonderry' award at the recent Local Women Magazine Education Awards.
St Eithne's principal Terence McDowell described winning the award as a “fantastic achievement”.
“We were absolutely really surprised by the whole thing,” he explained. “We were closed for the week and I was on holiday and I got a text to say we won the award. It was such a lovely thing to hear.
“It's a fantastic achievement for the entire school community. We have a lovely school here and it's great to be recognised.”
Mr McDowell said the panel of 10 independent judges took on board the positive feedback about the school in awarding the gong.
“They must have been impressed by all the nice things people said about the school and what we do here and how we support our children,” he said. “The children are at the core of everything we do here and it must have come across to the judges.
“If you look at our social media pages, we're always doing something and doing something well for the children.
“We're having our school show and if you look at our assembly hall it's absolutely amazing, it's like something out of a West End production.
“It's the perfect example of the entire school working together as a team. Everybody has a hand in it and that includes parents and grandparents. It's a real community we have here.
“It's something we strive for, to have everyone involved and included.”
Over the last year, St Eithne's has been nominated for a number of awards including the School of Sanctuary award and an anti-racism award.
“It was great to be nominated and recognised for those awards as well. All those things add up and it shows how well the school is doing,” Mr McDowell said.
Despite the recent success of the school, Mr McDowell stressed that the key to its success is the pupils.
“The children must feel happy, safe and secure before the learning takes place, that's the most important thing and that's what we aim to do here. The children are at the heart of the school and so they should be.
“The award has given everybody around the school such a boost, it really has. Everybody is just over the moon. It's nice to be recognised for your efforts because often a lot of things are done quietly and not done for any recognition, so to receive something like this is absolutely fantastic.
“It's a lovely way to end the year.”