The quiet country lane were Belleek Primary School is situated was alive with busy children when The Impartial Reporter visited the school. The walls were adorned with old photos from the years gone by some from a recent exhibition to mark 100 years of the school's existence. 

 

Beautiful class work and art work was on display as the children gathered to answer some questions about their school and lives. 

 

First to speak was Aleister from P1  and Clarke from P2 who are cousins. 

 

Victoria Johnston: What do you think of P1?

Aleister : Eh, good, we are doing P.E.

VJ: What do you do in PE?

Aleister : So we sit and listen on the ground and run, we jump about.

VJ: What do do you fun?

Aleister : I play games with my mummy and daddy.

 

Do you like your teacher?

Aleister : Miss McMorris and Mrs Patterson, they are nice and let us play in the playroom.

VJ: what do you play with?

Aleister : Whatever is out.

 

VJ: What do you think of school, Clarke?

Clarke: It is good.

 

VJ: What do your friends do in P2?

Clarke: Run around in the play ground.

VJ: What do you do outside of school?

Clarke: Play with Issac and Theo, my friends.

 

VJ: Do you have a favourite snack?

Clarke: I don’t know, the school dinners.

VJ: What is so good about school dinners?

Clarke: I like eating them.

Aleister : I do, there is ice cream, it is sweet.

VJ: Is it cold?

Aleister : A wee bit.

VJ: are the dinner ladies nice?

Clarke: Mrs Gormley, she is good at the dinners.

VJ: Who makes dinner at home?

Aleister : Mummy.

Does Daddy help?

Aleister : No he has to do jobs, putting in silo for the cows.

VJ: Are you a farmer?

Aleister : Yes, but Clarke’s granda comes with his big silo trailer and loads the grass in and he has the seat. 

What do you have on your farm?

Aleister : Cows, generally we have a white and a black one but I can’t remember their name.

Clarke: I like feeding the cows meal , I get a little jug and pour it on the silage.

 

Do you have a favourite tractor?

Aleister : Massey Ferguson.

Clarke: New Holland, it is very fast.

 

Next to speak were Blake from P3, Lexie from  P1 and Alfie from P2 who were full of chat about football, tractors and food. 

 

Do you like school?

Blake: No!

Do you like playing in school?

Blake: Yes.

Who is your favourite team?

Blake: Devenish.

 

Lexie: Devenish.

Alfie: Ballinamallard.

 

Are you going to be a footballer when you grow up?


Alfie: Like a Ballinamallard footballer, I like them all.

 

Blake: I go to training on a Sunday morning in Garrison.

 

What else do you do for fun?

Blake: Farm, I feed the cows. We have got limousines and charlois. 

 

Have you been to the mart?

 

Blake: A sheep mart, I sold some.


 

What do you think of P1, Lexie?

Lexie: Bad.

Are you playing a trick?

Lexie: No, I like playing outside, we play in the forest, we play house games.

 What do you for fun at home?

Lexie: I play in the sitting room with Leah. 

 

Do you have a favourite colour?

Lexie: Pink, because it is my favourite.

 

Do you have a favourite animal?

Lexie: Sheep.

Are you a farmer? How many sheep do you have?

Lexie: Two.

How do you look after them?

Lexie: In the shed. 

What do you do for fun Alfie?

 

Alfie: I like staying at home watching my tablet all the time.

What do you watch?

 

Alfie: I play baking games.

 

What do you make?

 

Alfie: Doughnuts and cakes and gingerbread mans.

 

Have you ever tried making them at home?

 

Alfie: I have made eggs and toast before with my mum.

 

Is mummy a good cook?

 

Alfie: Yes, sometimes daddy does.

 

Do you get school dinners here?

 

Alfie: They are good, I get sausages and ice cream.

 

You are all farmers so tell me about the farm.

 

Blake: I do bale wrapping.

 

What type of tractor?

 

Blake: A New Holland.

 

Alfie:  I have a New Holland, a Fiat and an International. 

 

Lexie: I have a red tractor.


 

What is the best tractor?

 

Blake: Fords.

 

Alfie: JCB.

 

But, you have a New Holland?


Alfie: I keep it at my Granny and Granda’s house, but my favourite one is the JCB.

 

Do they spoil you?


Alfie: No, but I play with my cousins there.


 

Friends Hollie and Charlotte from P5 were full of chat when they joined with Isabel from P4.  The girls had some interesting insights to the world as they talked about animals, superheroes and wanting to be a teacher in their old school.

 

I am told that Mrs Young the Principal has a special sparkly box for well behaved children, what is that about?

 

Hollie: It has treats every week from Mrs Young, there is like sweets, water guns, sticky men and toys and loads of teddies and games. Every week one person from each class gets it.

 

Isabel: You get it for good manners, helping out.

 

Charlotte: The one this week was for independence. 

 

Do you hope to get something from the box for doing this?

 

All: Yes!

 

Do you like school?

 

Isabel: Yes, the art, break time and lunch time.

 

What do you get to eat?

 

Isabel: I have been having oranges for break.

 

Charlotte:  My favourite time is Tuesday and Fridays because we do PE and Mr. Beattie is the best PE teacher because we have two day. 

 

Isabel: My favourite teacher is in today, Mrs. Patterson every Thursday, she comes to Mrs. McMorris’s class. She does a bit of literacy, handwriting and art.  She has a big box with treats.

 

I am told one of you girls is an animal lover?

 

Isabel: Me, we have alpacas at home. We have four and we got our first baby last year and they are called crias. 

 

Do they do anything funny?

 

Isabel: They spit and they have one area where they go to the toilet.

 

Charlotte: It is like giant cat litter area.  I had five cats but they are not all here anymore. I have some pet sheep, we have two ewes, we have three lambs going to the market this week so we have to say goodbye to them and that will be really sad. We have a friend called John and he brings them. 

 

Isabel: I have a new cat called Mela and she is a ginger female and there is only 20 per cent of ginger cats are female.

 

Hollie: My granny and granda have a farm. My dad doesn’t do much farming he goes to work with pipes and tanks, he has to go different places to do it.

 

What do you do for fun?

 

Hollie: I do art, reading.

 

Who is your favourite author?

 

Hollie: I don’t really have a favourite.

 

Charlotte: Roald Dahl, my favourite is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda .

 

Isabel: I have a new favourite called Zoe’s rescue and it is about a little girl and she can talk to animals. She has a little Mouse Lemur and she is very cheeky.

 

What super power would you have?


Isabel: Talking to animals, flying and speed. 

 

Charlotte: I would like to talk to animal and flying, I would fly to spain.

Isabel: I would fly to Cyprus. 

 

Hollie: Flying and Super dodging, where if someone threw something at you you can dodge it really good and never get hit.

 

Do you do any activities outside of school?

Charlotte: Gymnastics.

Hollie: Charlotte taught me how to do handstands and cartwheels, i only do them on the trampoline now.

 

Charlotte: A magpie ate out trampoline net, it could never be the sheep as that would never ever happen.

 

Do you like your teacher

 

All: Yes

 

Do you like your Principal?

 

Charlotte: Yes, she had this idea where we would get a school council , it starts from P1 - P7 and there is one person and they are the council. 

 

Do you do anything else in school?

 

Hollie: We go to swimming but we haven’t gone swimming yet as we need to get into school and get settled down. 

 

What are you going to be when you grow up?

 

Isabel: A vet or have a zoo or have a farm.

 

Charlotte: I might be a teacher or an artist or a book.

 

Hollie: I am going to workin this school probably in Mr. E’s classroom  as an assistant as I like this school.

 

Charlotte: If I was going to be a teacher it would definitely be at this school,  Mrs Doogan in Mr. E’s classroom, she is the assistant and she actually went to this school too with my Dad. 

 

Hollie: So did my Dad.

 

Isabel: So did my Mummy, there is loads of pictures of her. 

 

Charlotte: I think my Granda went to this school.

 

Isabel: Guess what happened when we were dosing the alpacas.

 

What?

 

Pearl gave a ginormous spitball because they hate the dosing, it came out in green spit and it was like vomit.