McKee's, a long established family business in Maghera, is providing "lifeline" sponsorship to the Home Economics department at Rainey Endowed School in Magherafelt.

Both McKee's and the Rainey School have been around for a long time - McKee's dating to 1898 and Rainey 1713 - and the sponsorship came about after Emma Beverland, from the Rainey's Home Economics department, visited McKee's factory earlier this year.

"Rainey has a long history that has always been keen to build links within the local community," stressed Mrs Beverland. “Paul Gibson (McKee’s managing director) later made contact with me to explore the possibility of becoming a sponsor for the department.

"After discussion with Paul a few areas in how they could help the Rainey Home Economics department with new equipment and ingredients to help improve the current experience of pupils (in particular at GCSE) were discussed.”

Pictured are Mrs Emma Beverland (Rainey Endowed Home Economics Teacher), Mr Mark McCullough (Rainey Endowed Principal) and Mr Paul Gibson (McKee’s Managing Director). Credit: Submitted

The partnership includes plans to have new equipment purchased before the end of June, new aprons for GCSE Food and Nutrition pupils, with a lovely treat of food for all staff delivered on Monday at break.

The arrangement will help to ensure that all pupils are able to benefit from using the highest quality local ingredients, with equipment that will help to strengthen and build practical cookery skills. With school budgets getting ever tighter, this is a lifeline to help ensure that our pupils reap the benefits and perform at the highest level possible.

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Mr Gibson said: “We are delighted to sponsor the Rainey Home Economics department to ensure that pupils receive the best learning experiences possible.”

“Our relationship will allow the pupils to benefit from quality ingredients and modern equipment. Furthermore, we are keen to share knowledge from within the agrifood industry that we have accumulated from over 125 years we have been in business.”

Rainey principal Mark McCullough said it was brilliant to see a business like McKee’s investing in helping make our department even stronger.

"I know this will benefit our teachers and pupils particularly during practical sessions,” he said. “It’s an exciting new partnership that will bring many benefits to the Rainey Home Economics department, in particular helping provide further resources for those pupils studying GCSE Food and Nutrition. We are so grateful to Paul and all the team at McKee’s for their sponsorship so far.”

Long established family business sponsors Rainey School’s Home Economics department