Darkley Primary School

24/08/2026

📣 Support available for families as new school year begins

The EA is reminding parents and carers that help and information is available as schools across Northern Ireland prepare to welcome pupils back for the new academic year.

A number of dedicated helplines are in place and further information and details of support are available through the EA website and social media channels. This covers a range of areas, including special educational needs (SEN), school transport, free school meals, uniform grants and admissions.

🔗 Read more: https://ow.ly/7b8M50ZEAHu

24/08/2026

📚 WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL! ✏️🍎

We hope everyone has had a lovely, restful summer break and that batteries are fully recharged! ☀️

Here in the school, the staff are already busy behind the scenes - getting classrooms ready, displays up and everything prepared for the start of another school year.

We’re really looking forward to welcoming back all our familiar faces…and giving an extra special welcome to our new Primary 1 pupils and all those joining our Darkley family for the first time 🥰

Please see below for times and details of our Breakfast, Minding and Afterschool Clubs.

For more information and school updates, please visit our school website:
www.DarkleyPrimarySchool.co.uk

Enjoy the last few days of the holiday - we can’t wait to see you all! 💙📚✨

16/07/2026

Congratulations, Miss Beagan!
We are delighted for you and Jack. Enjoy all the excitement over the next few months 💙

Congratulations to one of our senior hurlers, Jack Molloy, who popped the question to his long-time love, Catherine, yesterday!
What a breathtaking setting to choose for such a special moment 😍

Jack has had a hurl in his hand since before he could walk, and Catherine has been just the same. United by a shared love of GAA, they truly are a perfect pairing. And, while they’ve won plenty of matches over the years, it’s fair to say they’ve just made the best match of all 💍

Everyone here at the club wishes Jack and Catherine every happiness as they celebrate their engagement, and begin planning for the big day. It’s a hugely exciting time, and we wish them a lifetime of love, laughter and wonderful memories together.

Congratulations to you both! 💙💛

07/07/2026

Best of luck to our soon-to-be-P6 pupil, Leo, who is heading to the Finals of the Dance World Cup on Friday! We’ve no doubt you’ll smash it, Leo 🕺🏼🪩🧑‍🩰

05/07/2026

Good luck to our very own Gemma who is representing Darkley PS by playing at half-time in Croke Park today during the Limerick & Clare All-Ireland Hurling Semi-final. An amazing experience on such a big day. Wishing Gemma a wonderful time! Many thanks to Cumann na mBunscol for organising. 💙🔵

26/06/2026

We had a great last day today and everyone enjoyed the fun activities in each class. We wish each and every child, staff member, and their families, a wonderful and safe Summertime, and look forward to seeing them all back in September!

It really WAS a last day for one of our Darkley family as Mrs Fitzpatrick (aka Miss Hughes 😉) walked out through the front door for the last time as our Primary 6/7 teacher. But not before surprising her former teacher, Mr Monaghan, with this wonderful drawing of our school. What a talented artist she is!

Our entire school also had a surprise for her, with some wonderful fingerprint artwork of their own. We wish Mrs Fitzpatrick the very best of luck as she takes up her new post in St Patrick’s, Armagh, and we know that our loss is most definitely their gain. An end of an era with the last Farrell gone after 3 generations. But we hope she won’t be a stranger to our door! Good luck, Mrs Fitzpatrick.

25/06/2026

A few months ago, we were delighted to welcome Frank and Niamh, from The John Hewitt Society, to our school.

We spent a wonderful day with them in Primary 6 and 7, learning how songs are created and how storytelling and poetry have been passed down through generations.

Before they left, they challenged Mrs Fitzpatrick’s class to work together to write a poem about Darkley. We were more than happy to accept the challenge!

As the school year comes to an end, we thought this would be the perfect time to share our poem with you all. Written by both Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils, and narrated by Primary 6, we hope you take a moment to enjoy this special poem.

Thank you to Martin McCann for the use of photos!

25/06/2026

Today, it was time for our youngest pupils to head off on their end-of-year trip!

There was great excitement as they climbed aboard the coach and strapped themselves in beside their friends, ready for a day of fun and adventure.

After a wonderful time at Peter Pan’s Soft Play, the children were treated to ice lollies, kindly provided by Mrs King, Michael’s mum. Thank you so much for such a thoughtful treat, it was just the thing to cool everyone down after all that energetic play!

As you’ll see from the photos, we had some very sleepy heads on the journey back to school after such a busy and enjoyable day. We suspect a few children were dreaming of their next adventure before we’d even reached the gates!

25/06/2026

A huge thank you to Eoin McCormack, who comes along week after week to coach our younger pupils. Eoin always arrives with fantastic drills and games prepared, and does a brilliant job encouraging and developing the children in a fun and positive environment.

We are very grateful for his time, enthusiasm and commitment. A sincere thank you also to Granemore GFC for facilitating these weekly coaching sessions for our pupils. It is greatly appreciated by everyone in our school community.

24/06/2026

We had a big assembly last Friday!
Congratulations to all Pupil of the Week and Master McCall winners, and a special congratulations to Jack who won the Principal’s Award! 🏆

We also counted up house points for term three and, by a massive margin, the Weavers won the House Cup and all Weavers members got their treat for adding tokens to the tally. House captain, Ellie-Rose was delighted to received the Mrs McGivern Trophy on her last day.