Virtual Office
March 10, 2021 2026-09-21 10:37Virtual Office
Staff & Governors
The Principal of St Comgall’s is Mr Matthews and is also the Deputy Designated Teacher for Child Protection. Mrs Cunningham is the Vice Principal and is the Designated Teacher for Child Protection.
Below you will find the names of all our teachers as well as our Learning Support Assistants, Building Supervisor, Chaplains and Board of Governors. If you require any further information about our Staff & Governors please contact us.
Our Teachers
Year 1
- Mrs Mullan
- Mrs Ntareme
Year 2
- Mrs McCaughan
- Mrs O’Neill/Mrs Walls
Year 3
- Mrs McCreedy
- Miss Conlon
Year 4
- Mrs A Walsh/Mr Henry
- Mrs Quinn
- Mrs Black
Year 5
- Mr Magill
- Mrs McLaughlin
Year 6
- Mrs Walsh
- Miss Donnelly
- Mr McLaughlin
Year 7
- Mr McShane
- Mrs Duffy
- Mr Jones
Newcomer Teacher
Miss O’Sullivan
Learning Support Teacher
Mrs O’Donnell
Our wider team
Ancillary and Auxiliary
- Mrs McCollum
- Mrs Mallon
Learning Support Assistants
- Mrs Walker & Mrs Hirst
- Mrs Trelford & Mrs O’Neill
- Miss McKay & Mrs Mulholland
- Mrs Hunter & Mrs Floyd
- Mrs Magee & Mrs Murphy
- Mrs Hussain & Mrs Western
- Miss Lavery & Mrs Irvine
- Mrs Brady & Mrs Horan
- Mrs Bell & Miss Brennan
Building Supervisor
Mr Tony McDonnell
Chaplins
- Canon Emerson
Board of Governors
- Very Rev Cn S Emerson – Chairperson & Trustee
- Mr Stephen Marley – Vice Chairperson & DENI
- Mr Declan Callan – EA
- Mrs Ciara Parker – EA (Safeguarding Governor)
- Mrs Sinead Barwick – Trustee (Safeguarding Governor)
- Mr Bijumond Michael – Trustee
- Mrs Carine Gillan – Trustee
- Mrs Louise Black – Teacher Governor (Safeguarding Governor)
- Mrs Bronagh Maguire – Parent Governor
- Mr J Matthews – Principal (Secretary to Governors)
Admissions Critiera
Admissions Criteria
RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRINCIPAL IN RELATION TO ADMISSIONS
The Board of Governors draws up the admissions criteria and delegates the responsibility for applying these criteria to the Principal.
When considering which children should be selected for admission, the Board of Governors will only take into account information which is detailed on the application or provided directly to the school. Parents/Guardians should therefore ensure that all information pertaining to their child and relevant to the school’s admissions criteria is stated on the application or provided directly to the first preference school. Examples of such information include whether the child has brothers/sisters attending the school or is the eldest child in the family.
OPEN EVENING AND WELCOME DAY
We will welcome prospective P1 children and their parent(s)/carer(s) to an open evening in our school from 6pm – 7.30pm on THURSDAY 5th DECEMBER 2024. On this evening you will be able to tour the school, meet the children and staff, look at our facilities and ask any questions you may have.
Welcome Day: Newly admitted Year 1 pupils and their parents will be invited to attend a Welcome Morning in Term 3 of this academic year. Times and dates will be communicated in due course.
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
During the admissions procedure when applying the criteria punctual applications will be considered before late applications are considered. The application procedure opens on 10 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 24 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application. An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 24 January 2025 and up to 4 pm on 29 January 2025 will be treated as a late application, this is also the last date and time for processing a change of preference in exceptional circumstances. After 4 pm on 29 January 2025 no applications will be processed until after the close of procedure on 9 April 2025.
The following criteria will be applied in the order set down by the Board of Governors of St. Comgall’s Primary School in selecting children for the admission to P1 in September 2025.
COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE
Any child who reaches their 4th Birthday on or before 1st July 2025 is of Compulsory School Age. Under the School Age (NI) Act which became law in Northern Ireland in April 2022, ‘compulsory school age’ also includes those children who deferred commencing Primary 1 in September 2024 as defined by the new School Age (NI) Act (both groups to be treated equally).
Priority will be given to children resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission to the school before those who are not so resident.
Admissions criteria for Primary 1 to be used in the event of the school being oversubscribed. The criteria are listed in order of priority.
- Children who reside in the Parish of Antrim.
- Children who have a sibling presently enrolled in the school.*
- Children whose sibling is a past pupil of the school.*
- Children who, at the date of their application, are the eldest child of the family to be eligible to apply for admission to the school**
- Any other application from within the Antrim Parish boundary.
- Any other application from outside the Antrim Parish boundary.
- Children for whom St. Comgall’s is the closest maintained primary school to their home address – as measured by Google Maps.
- Children who live closest to St. Comgall’s Primary School – as measured by Google Maps.
DUTY TO VERIFY
The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application.
*If using criteria (b) or (c), it is the responsibility of the applicant to list the sibling’s name(s) and dates of attendance within the application in the online EA Connect Portal. Failure to do so will mean the Board of Governors will not be able to apply the selection criteria.
**Should verification of this criterion (d) be required by the school, in the event of oversubscription, you will be requested to supply this on headed paper from a relevant verifying professional body such as family GP or family solicitor.
If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place. Similarly, if information is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.
Upon application, the Child’s Birth Certificate along with any “Duty to Verify” documents requested by schools of any preference within the application, must be uploaded to the EA portal at the time of application.
WAITING LIST POLICY
Applications for admission to Y1 for September 2024 before the start of the school year:
Emails will be issued via the citizens portal advising parents of the primary school in which their child has been placed. After this date, all applications for admission to Year One that were initially refused, late applications, applications where new information has been provided and new applications received will be treated equally and the criteria as listed above will be applied. Your child’s name will be added to this list automatically and, if a place becomes available, the school will contact you. This waiting list will be in place until 31 August 2025.
Parents must inform the school in writing if they wish to have their child’s name added to a new waiting list which will take effect from 1st September 2025. The school will contact you if a place becomes available.
ADMISSION TO Y2 – Y7
Applications for places in Y2-Y7 after the start of the school year i.e. from 1st September 2025:
If a vacancy arises and the school has not exceeded its maximum enrolment number and provided no class from Y1 – Y4 exceeds 30 pupils, the above criteria will be applied to select pupils from the waiting list. It is the parent’s responsibility to inform the school in writing that they wish to have their child’s name added to the waiting list.
Open Night & Welcome Day
- Open Day normally takes place around mid-December of any school year. This will be advertised on-line and through the school communications.
- Welcome Day: Newly admitted Year 1 pupils and their parents will be invited to attend a Welcome Morning in Term 3 of the academic year. Times and dates will be communicated in due course.
Admissions Criteria
RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRINCIPAL IN RELATION TO ADMISSIONS
The Board of Governors draws up the admissions criteria and delegates the responsibility for applying these criteria to the Principal.
When considering which children should be selected for admission, the Board of Governors will only take into account information which is detailed on the application or provided directly to the school. Parents/Guardians should therefore ensure that all information pertaining to their child and relevant to the school’s admissions criteria is stated on the application or provided directly to the first preference school. Examples of such information include whether the child has brothers/sisters attending the school or is the eldest child in the family.
OPEN EVENING AND WELCOME DAY
We will welcome prospective P1 children and their parent(s)/carer(s) to an open evening in our school from 6pm – 7.30pm on THURSDAY 5th DECEMBER 2024. On this evening you will be able to tour the school, meet the children and staff, look at our facilities and ask any questions you may have.
Welcome Day: Newly admitted Year 1 pupils and their parents will be invited to attend a Welcome Morning in Term 3 of this academic year. Times and dates will be communicated in due course.
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
During the admissions procedure when applying the criteria punctual applications will be considered before late applications are considered. The application procedure opens on 10 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) and an application submitted by the closing date of 24 January 2025 at 12noon (GMT) will be treated as a punctual application. An application received after 12noon (GMT) on 24 January 2025 and up to 4 pm on 29 January 2025 will be treated as a late application, this is also the last date and time for processing a change of preference in exceptional circumstances. After 4 pm on 29 January 2025 no applications will be processed until after the close of procedure on 9 April 2025.
The following criteria will be applied in the order set down by the Board of Governors of St. Comgall’s Primary School in selecting children for the admission to P1 in September 2025.
COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE
Any child who reaches their 4th Birthday on or before 1st July 2025 is of Compulsory School Age. Under the School Age (NI) Act which became law in Northern Ireland in April 2022, ‘compulsory school age’ also includes those children who deferred commencing Primary 1 in September 2024 as defined by the new School Age (NI) Act (both groups to be treated equally).
Priority will be given to children resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their proposed admission to the school before those who are not so resident.
Admissions criteria for Primary 1 to be used in the event of the school being oversubscribed. The criteria are listed in order of priority.
- Children who reside in the Parish of Antrim.
- Children who have a sibling presently enrolled in the school.*
- Children whose sibling is a past pupil of the school.*
- Children who, at the date of their application, are the eldest child of the family to be eligible to apply for admission to the school**
- Any other application from within the Antrim Parish boundary.
- Any other application from outside the Antrim Parish boundary.
- Children for whom St. Comgall’s is the closest maintained primary school to their home address – as measured by Google Maps.
- Children who live closest to St. Comgall’s Primary School – as measured by Google Maps.
DUTY TO VERIFY
The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application.
*If using criteria (b) or (c), it is the responsibility of the applicant to list the sibling’s name(s) and dates of attendance within the application in the online EA Connect Portal. Failure to do so will mean the Board of Governors will not be able to apply the selection criteria.
**Should verification of this criterion (d) be required by the school, in the event of oversubscription, you will be requested to supply this on headed paper from a relevant verifying professional body such as family GP or family solicitor.
If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place. Similarly, if information is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.
Upon application, the Child’s Birth Certificate along with any “Duty to Verify” documents requested by schools of any preference within the application, must be uploaded to the EA portal at the time of application.
WAITING LIST POLICY
Applications for admission to Y1 for September 2024 before the start of the school year:
Emails will be issued via the citizens portal advising parents of the primary school in which their child has been placed. After this date, all applications for admission to Year One that were initially refused, late applications, applications where new information has been provided and new applications received will be treated equally and the criteria as listed above will be applied. Your child’s name will be added to this list automatically and, if a place becomes available, the school will contact you. This waiting list will be in place until 31 August 2025.
Parents must inform the school in writing if they wish to have their child’s name added to a new waiting list which will take effect from 1st September 2025. The school will contact you if a place becomes available.
ADMISSION TO Y2 – Y7
Applications for places in Y2-Y7 after the start of the school year i.e. from 1st September 2025:
If a vacancy arises and the school has not exceeded its maximum enrolment number and provided no class from Y1 – Y4 exceeds 30 pupils, the above criteria will be applied to select pupils from the waiting list. It is the parent’s responsibility to inform the school in writing that they wish to have their child’s name added to the waiting list.
Duty to Verify
- The Board of Governors reserves the right to require such supplementary evidence as it may determine to support or verify information on any application.
- If the requested evidence is not provided to the Board of Governors by the deadline given, this will result in the withdrawal of an offer of a place. Similarly, if information is supplied which appears to be false or misleading in any material way, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.
- Documentation submitted in support of your application should be provided directly to the school of first preference.
- Upon application, the Child’s Birth Certificate along with any “Duty to Verify” documents requested by schools of any preference within the application, must be provided to the 1st preference School.
Waiting List Policy
- Applications for admission to Y1 for September 2021 before the start of the school year:
- Letters/emails will be issued advising parents of the primary school in which their child has been placed/not placed. After this date, all applications for admission to Year One that were initially refused, late applications, applications where new information has been provided and new applications received will be treated equally and the criteria as listed above will be applied. Your child’s name will be added to this list automatically and, if a place becomes available, the school will contact you. This waiting list will be in place until 31 August 2022.
- Parents must inform the school in writing if they wish to have their child’s name added to a new waiting list which will take effect from 1st September 2021. The school will contact you if a place becomes available.
Admission to Year 2 - Y7
- Applications for places in Y2-Y7 after the start of the school year i.e. from 1st September 2022.
- If a vacancy arises and the school has not exceeded its maximum enrolment number, and provided no class from Y1 – Y4 exceeds 30 pupils, the above criteria will be applied to select pupils from the waiting list. It is the parent’s responsibility to inform the school in writing that they wish to have their child’s name added to the waiting list.
Applications and Admissions to Year 1
| Applications and Admissions to Primary 1 | ||
| Year | Total Applications | Total Admissions |
| 2019/2020 | 77 | 77 |
| 2020/2021 | 67 | 67 |
| 2021/2022 | 57 | 57 |
Meals & Breaks
School Dinners
- School dinners cost £3.10 each day. Alternatively, children are welcome to bring in a packed lunch.
- The menu for the canteen is prepared a month in advance, it is sent home or can be viewed by clicking on the pdf above.
- Dinner children eat in the canteen. Lunch children eat in the classroom.
- Please note that the menu at times may change at short notice due to intermittent delivery issues.
Lunch Time
- After lunch children go outside to play and are treated to a variety of playground games and activities (weather permitting).
- Children are asked to bring in a busy book for wet days.
Healthy Eating
- We operate a healthy eating policy.
- We encourage children to have fruit and/or yogurt at break time and drink water throughout the day.
- We have water fountains from which children can refill their bottles.
- Due to allergies (some life threatening) we request that parents refrain from using nut based products in lunches such as Nutella spread.
- Click on the links below to find information about healthy lunches and snacks.
Parent Info Sheets
Below are our latest parent information sheets please click on the file below to view your selected month
Monthly Parent SWAY
General Information Sheets
Family Support NI
Prospectus
Click below to download our School Prospectus or P1 Welcome Group
School Rules
- Children must be in school at 9.00 but no earlier than 8:45.
- Children must go to school every day. Holidays are not allowed during term time.
- If your child is not at school the reason must be provided to the teacher in the form of an absence note (for our records).
- If you want to take your child out of school for an urgent appointment you must telephone or write to the school.
- A child’s name should be on all belongings – bags, uniform, especially coats!
- Children must complete homework. All written homework activities must be signed by an adult.
- The only jewellery allowed in school is a watch. If earrings must be worn, only stud earrings are permitted. Only black school footwear – no high heels are permitted.
- Mobile phones are not to be brought to school.
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club is in the main school hall.
From 8.10am – 8.45 am
Cost: £2 per day for supervision, cereal, toast and fruit juice/milk.
Board of Governor Annual Reports
Please find below the link to our Board of Governor annual report to parents.
This report is produced by the Governing body annually.
A paper copy of these reports can be made available upon request at the school office.
Uniform
Where to Buy?
Uniform Supplier: THOUSAND STITCHES
BT41 4JZ Antrim
Tel: 07580136883
E-mail: info@thousandstiches.com
Web: www.thousandstiches.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thousandstiches/
School uniform is compulsory and must be labelled with name and class.
The school uniform must be worn in schools, at concerts and on school outings unless otherwise stated.
Summer uniform can be worn during the months of September, May & June.
Whilst all uniform supplies can be sourced from our uniform supplier, uniform items can be purchased from other suppliers – e.g. online or from large chain suppliers. Parents can chose if they wish their child to wear crested or not crested items. If sourcing non-crested items of uniform we ask that those items be of same style and colour.
Boys
Winter Uniform
Royal Blue Jumper (crested/not)
Blue Shirt
Blue & White School Tie
Navy Trousers
Navy Socks
Black footwear
Summer Uniform
(September & May-June)
Blue Polo Shirt (Crested/Not)
Royal Blue Jumper (Crested/not)
Navy Shorts / Trousers
Navy Socks
Black Footwear
Girls
Winter Uniform
Royal Blue Cardigan or Jumper (Crested/not)
Blue Shirt
Blue & White School Tie
Navy Pinafore or Skirt
Navy Socks or Navy Tights
Black footwear
Summer Uniform
(September & May-June)
Blue & White Checked Summer Dress
Royal Blue Cardigan or Jumper (Crested/not)
Navy Socks
Black Footwear
Our Old Uniform
Some of our old Uniforms were taken to Africa in the Summer of 2018.
The children there were delighted to get a uniform. Don’t they look great!
Translated Policies
Links
Below are a few websites for parents and children who have English as an additional language.
We hope you find them helpful and if you need any further support please do not hesitate to contact us here in St.Comgall’s.
Family Support NI
Language Websites
Secondary Schools
Transport
Children can travel to and from school on the bus.
Translink have increased the bus fare to 95p.
If there is a seat belt, it must be worn.
Children should sit in the first available seat and fill up the bus from the front.
School Closures and in-year return dates
RSE Programme
Please select the relevant year group below to view the material that will be used to teach your children about Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE).
The ‘Flourish’ booklets will be used in conjunction with our religion programme. We require permission for your child to be part of the lessons. Please take time to view the material that will be used.
Timetable
Timetable
Registration – Learning Begins: 9am
Break Time: 10:15 – 10:30
Lunch Times:
P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5 : 12.00 – 12:35
P.6 & P.7 : 12:40 – 1:15
Home Times
| Classes | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | |
| P.1 | 1.45pm | 1.45pm | 1.45pm | 1.45pm | 2pm |
| P.2 | 1.45pm | 1.45pm | 1.45pm | 1.45pm | 2pm |
| P.3 | 3pm | 3pm | 2pm | 2pm | 2pm |
| P.4 | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 2pm |
| P.5 | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 2pm |
| P.6 | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 2pm |
| P.7 | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 3pm | 2pm |
Waiting Room
To support families with multiple school pick-ups we have a facility from 2-3pm where children can remain in school.
A variety of activities take place and the children are given a small snack and drink.
This is a facility for children in P1/2/3 who wish to remain behind in school from their class finish time until 3pm.
Registration fee for the year is £20. It then costs £2 per day to use.
You can only use the facility if you have registered.
Inspection
Please follow the link below to view our most recent school inspection report, which was carried out by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI)at the beginning of March 2016.
