News

We are happy to announce that from January the 6th 2020 home educated children can apply for a home education entitlement card. This new card will allow them to borrow more books than the standard - 15 books for three weeks rather than the usual 9.

We know how welcome this will be to families all over Northern Ireland! 

A note on privacy:

We have discussed concerns that families have over their personal data and any hint of a register with Libraries NI, and we are confident that this is a useful and positive initiative. No register will be kept and no details shared.  However any family who prefers not to take up the offer can of course continue to use the standard library card.

Libraries Application Form - General

Application for Home Education Entitlement Card

A large group of home educated families got to enjoy the 3rd place game in the Friendship Four tournament yesterday for free.

The fast paced game saw UNH WildCats take third place.

It was a unique opportunity as this tournament allows local sports fans to watch the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hockey tournament that takes place outside of the United States. 

A lot of team members from top American colleges are well on their way to becoming the NHL stars of the future, this was a great opportunity to see their skills.

This match was thoroughly enjoyed by all! 

Our bi-monthly art class at the FE McWilliam Gallery was created around the gallery’s current exhibition- Together Now: The Engagement Project.

Two groups led by Deborah Malcomson started with the kids looking around the gallery to gain inspiration with a space theme in mind. After a loosening up excerise the kids started their projects.

The first was marbling.  

Using shaving foam, food colouring and templates they created their very own marble planets. 

The second project saw the kids creating space alien heads from boxes - using cut outs and string to create some seriously strange looking specimens.

The final was to style an alien using the templates provided.

As always this art class is unique and thoroughly enjoyable for the kids and the adults.

We all look forward to January’s session! 

Our monthly science club at w5 had a very chilly theme. 

The kids made snow, decorated their own editable snowman and learnt how to stick ice together and melt it. 

As always the kids learn a lot at these sessions and always come away wanting to explore more science! 

“Today we attended w5 to learn about bugs, we started off with a workshop showing us shadows of different bugs and with each we had to identify, then we made our own bugs with colourful maize, we really enjoyed this.

Afterwards we all had a picnic and enjoyed exploring the rest of w5.”

Our monthly science club at w5 got up and running again this term with Potions for Little Wizards. 

An absolute hit with all of our kids! 

From jumping spiders and magic pumpkin growing to lots of chemical experiments the children really got into the science and magic that enshrines Halloween.

Some of our home educated kids had a great time at their slime workshop with w5 for Halloween. 

They got to create their own slime, explore a sorting activity, meet Gary the slime Monster and meet the nitrogen bubble monster! 

As always w5 put on a great workshop that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. 

“Today 40 children in two separate groups got to meet Wee Critters.

The children sat attentively and got to learn about an array of little critters from a large snail to lizards to owls.

Every child had the opportunity to pet or hold the creatures and lots of questions were asked. 

The children had a great time in this session!”

Home ed kids aged 9 and under had a great time dressing up for their Halloween party with Sarah at Debutots Ulster! After a spooky warm up the kids got to listen to a story, act out the characters and do some pumpkin crafts. Always a hit, we look forward to another session at Christmas!

“On Tuesday,young children and teens met up at Finaghy Community Centre to decorate spooky Halloween kites.

After an initial talk by the teacher about overhead dangers to be aware of when kite flying, and the need to fly in open spaces, the fun began!

Some of the children designed their own,  while others traced an initial design and then had a lot of scope to personalise with colour and details.

Either way  it was tricky to keep the slippy kite material in place while drawing, but everyone was up for the challenge.

Many of the kites were tested immediately afterwards, and there are many reports of how well the kites take to the wind, as yesterday's weather proved to be a good test.

The final detail of a small Halloween light to clip on made their kites even more special.”