Harry Sheridan returns to HPS

Harry Sheridan current Ulster Rugby Player and former Holywood Primary School pupil kindly popped into this afternoon to coach the rugby squad.

The children loved getting some expert tips, learning new drills and were able to ask Harry about what is like as a professional rugby player.

Thanks again to Harry for coming in and good luck for the rest of the season.

Football season kicks off!

HPS footballers headed down to Bangor Football Ground to lace up their boots and kick off the start of the season in the North Down League.

Holywood played 3 games in the first round of fixtures winning two and drawing one. There was some super possession football played under the floodlights topped off with some great teamwork and precision strikes that nestled nicely in the net!

RESULTS

2-0 St Patricks (W)

4-0 Bloomfield (W)

1-1 Glencraig IPS (D)

SQUAD: Tate, Fraser, Cade, Luke, Harry, James, Peter, James and Rudy

We look forward to more football fun in the new year. A big thank you again to all the parent helpers for their assistance and support on the day!

HPS are Feeling Festive

The whole of HPS had a fun filled start to December dressed in our festive clothing to complete the Daily Mile . The children across P1-P7 wore all things bright and beautiful to bring some seasonal festive cheer while completing 12 laps of the main playground for our Santa Run.

The Daily Mile is a simple and free initiative which gets children out of the classroom for 15 minutes every day, to walk, run, jog or wheel at your own pace. Whilst making them fitter, healthier and able to concentrate in the classroom, it has huge social and emotional benefits too.

HPS were among many schools across Northern Ireland, to get moving on the same day, to celebrate the positive benefits that daily activity can have on our mental health.

Check out some of the festive fun in the photos below:

P3 Rugby Blitz

P3 had great fun today when they met at Spafield playing fields to play some tag rugby alongside both Glencraig IPS and St Patricks. Both P3 classes have enjoyed the opportunity to develop their rugby skills during the coaching they have received with Holywood Rugby Club over the last number of weeks in their PE time.

At the event they got to take part in lots of small sided games and enjoyed the sunshine and mud! We mixed with lots of new and familiar faces - all while getting active and playing sport. A big thank you to all the parent helpers for their support and to Holywood RFC for having us down.

Check out the action in the photos below!

Cricket Success

This week 32 pupils across P6-P7 took part in the annual Holywood Cricket Club Tournament held at Seapark.

The boys competed on Tuesday and came up against tough opposition from Campbell, Gilnahirk and Rockport. There was some great individual performances but some closely contested matches went the other way with Campbell edging out the overall tournament victory.

BOYS SQUAD: Zach, James, Will, Jacob, Oscar, Rudy,Luke, James, Peter, Jacob, Fraser, James, Harry, Ben, Isaac and Ethan

The girls tournament took place today and they found themselves up against formidable opposition from Penrhyn, Gilnahrik and Rockport. There was great sportsmanship, cohesion and team spirit on display from the entire squad throughout the duration of the competition. In some tightly contested fixtures there were moments of brilliance behind the bat and some super fielding that led the team to the final to compete for some silverware. In a wonderful game HPS came out on top against Penrhyn and were crowned Cricket Champions 2023 for the 2nd year running! What an amazing achievement to all involved!

GIRLS SQUAD: Clara, Sophia, Martha, Katie, Ruby, Eve, Isobel, Polly, Amber, Grace, Marcia, Charlotte, Skye, Natasha, Charlotte and Emma

A special thank you to Mrs Harper for kindly giving up her time (even on her day off) to help facilitate the fixtures and make the event possible. A big thank you again to all the parent helpers for their continued support throughout the year!

North Down Athletics

Last week 30 pupils from P5-P7 took part in the North Down Athletics competition at Bangor Sportsplex. It was a fantastic week of fun in the sun competing in both track and field events alongside many other schools. The events on display were the sprint, cricket ball throw, long jump and the team relays.

The heats took place on both Monday and Wednesday with 12 pupils from HPS qualifying for the Finals on Friday to compete for a chance of winning a medal.

The week was a great success and everyone involved did themselves and the school proud. Congratualtions again to the following pupils who came away with some silverware to show for their efforts and fantastic performances.

GOLD

Clara (P7) - Cricket Ball Throw

SILVER

Martha, Clara, Charlotte, Katie (P7) - Girls Relay

Abigail (P5) - Long jump

BRONZE

Martha (P7) - Cricket ball throw

Martha (P5) - Cricket ball throw

The HPS girls team came away with a very impressive overall finish of 3rd from all the schools competing and retained their trophy from last year!

A massive well done to all who took part and a big thank you to all the parent helpers who helped create wonderful memories and made the occassion possible!

Rugby Fun in the Sun!

On Thursday afternoon, the HPS rugby squad travelled to East Belfast for a tournament at Strandtown Primary School.  The sun had finally come out which made it ideal conditions to play rugby.

The first game was against a very strong Standtown Primary School. We had already played Strandtown Ps in a friendly earlier in the year and knew to expect a tough opening game. The match was played at a quick pace with both teams playing great attacking rugby.  Final score Strandtown PS 2 – 1 HPS.

The second game was against Ben Madigan, HPS started strong and scored 3 early tries, the team played some excellent rugby keeping the ball alive with superb offloading and passing. The final score Ben Madigan 1– 3 HPS.

The third group game was against Campbell, this was a particularly important match for Will, the HPS rugby captain, as his dad was the Campbell coach. This game was extremely close, Campbell scored 2 quick tries and then managed to defend the HPS attack for the rest of the game.  HPS came very close and were camped on the Campbell try line for much of the match.  Final score Campbell 2 – 0 HPS.

Our final game was against Strandtown Eagles, they were a big side but that didn’t put off the HPS players who tackled well. This was another very close game and both teams matched each other with tries scored. Final score Strandtown Eagles 2 – 2 HPS.

Many thanks again to Mr McKeown for helping with the coaching, to all the parent volunteers (and supporters) and to Strandtown Primary School for hosting a fantastic event. 

North Down Football League Round 2

Holywood enjoyed another round of football at Bangor FC in the North Down League. Round 2 included three matches against Crawfordsburn, Glencraig IPS and St. Malachy’s which resulted in a win, a draw and a loss. There was great teamwork and individual moments of brilliance on display in what was another fun filled day of football!

Well done to everyone involved and a big thank you to both Mrs Cupitt and Mrs McConnell for helping with lifts and making participation possible. We’re looking forward to Round 3 in March and finding out who our new opponents will be!

Holywood PS Football Team

The P6 and P7 football team travelled to Bangor for the first two matches of the North Down Football League. We were super excited to get started and we successfully won our first match 3-0 against Rockport. Two great goals from Luke and one from Zach gave us our first 3 points. Our second match ended in a 0-0 draw against Rathmore. This was a very close match which could have gone either way. An amazing save from James in the first half kept the score at 0-0! Well done to everyone involved and thank you to the parents who helped with lifts and those who came along to support. We are looking forward to finding out who our next opponents are!

Cross Country comes to a close

On Monday 20 pupils across P5-P7 took part in the final round of the Flavahan’s Primary School Cross Country Competition in the Down area.

Round 3 took place at Londonderry Park in Newtownards on what was a relativey flat course compared to recents rounds with a total running distance of 1400 metres. There were lots of smiles as everyone enjoyed keeping fit and connecting with friends on what was another great day out.

A massive well done to all participants in this years Cross Country League! A big thank you again to Mrs Crowe who was the school representative and to all the parents for their help and support. We look forward to many more athletics events in the months ahead.