Principal’s Welcome:

Welcome to the website of Drumahoe Primary School, a medium sized school of approximately 310 pupils.

Drumahoe Primary School has been serving the Drumahoe community and beyond since 1934. We maintain a proud academic record along with a reputation for providing opportunities for every child, irrespective of religion, race or creed, to discover their true potential and experience success.

The new Drumahoe Primary School was opened in November 1999 and replaced the old school which faithfully served the community for over sixty-five years. £1.2 million was spent on the building to provide state-of-the-art facilities that enables us to create an environment conducive to high quality learning.

We are very proud of everything that goes on in our school and have been rewarded by ‘outstanding’ DENI Inspection reports with the most recent being in 2014 and again in 2017.

The current teaching staff in the mainstream school is Principal plus 12 full-time teachers, an ASC and LSC teacher ably supported by 3 additional needs classroom asistants and 4 Foundation Stage Classroom Assistants. The school also currently has the services of 7 Special Needs Classroom Assistants working in the mainstream school.

In April 2016, after the approval by DE of a Development Proposal, we opened the Autism Specific Class (ASC) which is a provision designed for supporting statemented pupils with a diagnosis of ASD who need support with interaction into mainstream. The school also recently opened (September 2017) a new KS2 Learning Support Class (LSC) which will allow for progression and continuity for those pupils in the ASC reaching the age for Years 5-7 in primary school.

Pupils are placed in the ASC/LSC with the agreement of parents and Special Education. Pupils transferring to the class from other schools are, once placed, enrolled into Drumahoe P.S. Placement is reviewed annually and pupils may stay in the facility for Years 1-4 or Years 5-7 as suitable. On leaving the ASC, the normal procedure for amending the statement is followed and the pupil may take a place in the mainstream part of the school, transfer to another school or take a place in the KS2 Learning Support Class (LSC) in the school as suitable.

The ASC has a full-time specialist teacher and 2 Special Needs Assistants whilst the LSC has a full-time specialist teacher as well as 1 Special Needs Assistant.

The combination of experience and expertise in the school together with regular meetings of staff, curriculum co-ordinators and senior management teams contribute to the achievement of the school’s development plan. The administrative staff, caretaker, cleaner, lunchtime supervisory assistants, school meals staff and crossing patrol, complete a team dedicated to the education and welfare of the pupils entrusted to its care.

The school building has twelve mainstream classrooms, a two classroom ASD Specific Centre, three learning resource areas, a computer suite, an assembly hall, two offices, a Learning Support room and five cloakroom/toilet areas to serve the classrooms. The construction of a new purpose built School Meals Kitchen and Dining Centre was opened in November 2017 providing state of the art catering facilities and a bright and spacious area for the children to enjoy the social experience of dining together at the mid-day break.

The school aims to provide a broad and balanced curriculum which is flexible, relevant and meaningful to children at Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and 2, so as to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, intellectual and physical development of each pupil in an environment that is happy, caring and disciplined. Allied to the development of excellence in the core subjects, great emphasis is placed upon developing confidence, self-esteem and consideration for others. Pupils are required to adhere to the school’s homework, discipline, uniform, attendance and punctuality policies which demand high standards in all areas.

Educational visits form an integral part of the curriculum enrichment programme. Opportunities are provided throughout the year in various extra-curricular activities which support the areas of study in the whole curriculum including: Dance, French, Boys & Girls Football, Netball, Cricket, Hockey, Cross-Country, Swimming, Junior & Senior Choirs, tuition in Strings, and Woodwind, Performing Arts and Outdoor Education.

Parents and community involvement is one of the cornerstones of the ethos of the school. The very active P.T.A has had many successes both socially and financially. A number of parents voluntarily assist with educational visits and various sporting activities. Every opportunity is taken to maximise parent/teacher contact which ensures that the school is at the heart of the community and that the community is at the heart of the school.

Drumahoe Primary School has a very active and dedicated Board of Governors. Various committees deal with the greatly increased responsibilities given to the Governors under Educational Reform.

The most important aim of the school is to raise the standards of teaching and learning to improve school effectiveness. The school recognises that staff learning is at the heart of any effective and developing organisation.

Good communications between parents and teachers are to everyone’s benefit. If you are worried do come and see us. If you are particularly pleased about some aspect of work do tell us!

The new millennium has brought new opportunities to the school, to its pupils and to the community it serves through a complete re-development of our campus.

Please do call in and see us, as the true ethos of our school can only be fully experienced through a personal visit.

Our new website and School App will also give you just a flavour of life at our school. It is our belief that every child matters and we consider it a privilege when a parent entrusts his / her child to our care.

The website/app provides us with another opportunity to celebrate the success of our children and share the learning experiences they have had with a wider audience.

We are extremely proud of our children, our staff and our school, and hope, that in exploring our website/app, you get a flavour of many aspects of school life and the excellent work of our children, our staff and our parents.

In addition, our website/app are the places where you will find information about the school, its location, events, term dates and current activities.

Overall, the website/app is the result of a concerted effort by all at the school to provide as much information as possible to those who visit the site for whatever reason. Regular updates and maintenance keep it topical, and our thanks are due to all those who created and continue to maintain the site.

I encourage you to explore our website where you will find out about various aspects of life in school fulfilling our mission statement which is to …..

“develop the potential of everyone to the full within a caring and stimulating environment.”

Best Wishes
E Walker
Principal