Victoria Primary School & Nursery Unit Carrickfergus

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are writing to you regarding contributions to our School Fund for the current academic year.

Traditionally, we ask for School Fund donations in September. However, this year we made a conscious decision to delay our request. We wanted to ask at a time of year that may be less difficult financially for families, only when it became clear that additional funds were needed.

We have now reached the point where increasing the balance in the School Fund account is essential to ensure that we can continue to enhance the quality of provision for all our pupils.

The School Fund is separate from the school’s main budget. As we all know, school budgets are extremely constrained, and they do not adequately cover all the experiences, resources, and opportunities we strive to provide for our children. Support from parents and carers therefore makes an enormous difference and is very much appreciated.

The School Fund allows us to enhance our provision in many important ways, including:

• Continuing the lease of iPads for pupils in P1–P3
• Contributing to the cost of school visits and visitors
• Purchasing resources to enrich and enhance the curriculum
• Financing school productions, including scripts, costumes, and related materials
• And supporting many other valuable experiences that benefit all pupils

Each year, we ask for a donation of £35 per child, and this year we will continue to suggest this amount. A £35 per child payment request will be sent automatically to parents and carers via SchoolMoney.

We are, however, very mindful that families’ circumstances vary. Some parents and carers may wish to contribute less than £35, while others may wish to contribute more. To allow this flexibility, we have set up a range of donation options in the SHOP section of the SchoolMoney app. There you will find options to make a School Fund donation of £10, £20, £30, £50, or £100, and you may select as much or as little as you wish to contribute.

In summary:

• If you are happy to contribute £35 per child, you can do so via the payment request sent to you on SchoolMoney.
• Alternatively, you may ignore that request and instead visit the SHOP section on the app to choose the amount you would like to donate.

Thank you very much for your continued support and generosity. Your contributions help us to provide enriching experiences that make a real difference to the education and enjoyment of all our pupils.

Yours sincerely,

Mr C. Fulton

Principal

The Minister for Education has announced two additional School Development Days to support schools as they prepare to implement changes to the curriculum under the TransformED initiative.

As a result, Victoria Primary School, Nursery Unit and Specialist Provisions will be closed to ALL pupils on:

Monday 13th April 2026

and

Friday 1st May 2026

To try to minimise disruption for our school community, these additional days have been added close to existing holiday periods.

Pop along to the canteen, this Friday 30th January, on International Parent Mental Health Day and get a nice warm cuppa and a piece of shortbread to set you up for the day.

Dear Parent/Carer,

You will have received a communication from school advising of our intention to open tomorrow.  Given that further MET Office updates have been provided, now including a danger to life warning, I have had no option but to review that earlier decision.

You will be aware of the severe weather warnings associated with Storm Chandra. Earlier today, the Education Authority and the Department of Education advised that decisions regarding school closures should be taken by individual school leaders. While I respect the intention to allow local judgement, it is important to state formally that placing such responsibility solely on individual principals during a danger to life weather alert represents, in my view, a significant failure to provide clear, system‑wide direction at a time when consistency and safety should be paramount.

Nonetheless, given that the responsibility has been delegated to schools, I have consulted with principals across the East Antrim area and reviewed the most recent Met Office updates. These now include explicit warnings of a danger to life. In light of this, the decision has been taken to close the school tomorrow. The safety of pupils, staff, and families must always be our foremost priority, and under the current conditions, opening the school would not be safe or responsible.

I appreciate that this decision may cause inconvenience for some families, and I offer my sincere apologies for the disruption. However, the seriousness of the weather warnings makes closure unavoidable.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Please stay safe.

Our whole school attendance as of 2nd January was 95.6%.

This is just a little below our target of 96%.