School one step closer to £25k playground makeover

The school played host to the judges from the Wicksteed Playscapes Facebook competition.

In a recent online public vote held as part of the competition the school came fourth overall after it received 730 votes.

Judges are currently touring the 11 schools from across the UK and Ireland which received the highest number of votes.

The school’s entry was initiated by the Parent Teacher Association, led by Karen Sims.

All members of the school community rallied together to canvas for online votes from all over the world, but especially in Newtownabbey and across Northern Ireland.

Hannah Elliott, commercial director’s assistant for Wicksteed Playscapes and all-Ireland area sales manager Mike Callaghan were given a warm welcome to the school by pupils, their parents, teachers and staff during the visit on Wednesday, January 23.

Hannah and Mike were given a tour of the school and its facilities by Principal Nigel Arnold, Karen Sims and a delegation of P6 and P7 pupils from the School Council.

They were given an outline of the history of the school and its recent growth and progress within the community. The visitors also met with staff and children from some classes, the community playgroup on-site and the after-school club.

They were also able to see and hear about the wider use that is made of the school facilities by a range of community groups in the area during weekdays and evenings.

The final part of the judges’ visit was to receive a thorough brief on the rationale and argument as to why Glengormley IPS believe themselves to be worthy beneficiaries of such a wonderful award as a new £25,000 playground makeover.

Each of the visitors was then presented with a portfolio of evidence which included some fantastic endorsements from a range of school partners, such as the PSNI, The Northern Ireland Council For Integrated Education, Glengormley Community Group, the Community Relations Forum, local MLAs and MPs.

Karen Sims, Chair of the PTA said: “It was brilliant to see how well supported our school has been with this competition. Every parent and friend of GIPS got on board and made their votes count on Facebook.

“Our Pupil Council were a credit to the school and made a fantastic first impression to our visiting judges. We would like to thank everyone in Glengormley, Newtownabbey and beyond for their amazing level of support for our wonderful wee school.”

See more GIPS coverage in this week’s Times...