Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, has visited St Brigid’s Primary School in Maghera

Speaking after the visit the Minister said: “I want to thank everyone here at St Brigid’s for making me feel so welcome. I especially enjoyed the children’s assembly which was held in both Irish and English. There is a very successful Irish Medium unit in this school and it is supported greatly by the strong Irish language community near by.

“I was also pleased to hear that St Brigid’s has taken the opportunity to take part in two important programmes launched in 2007 by my Department, to introduce primary school children to organised sports and to a second language.

“The Primary Languages programme enables tutors to visit schools, assisting teachers in delivering Irish and Spanish lessons. Due to the popularity of the programme it has now been extended to include Polish as this represents the largest number of newcomer languages in our schools.

“Since the sports programme was introduced in 2007, over £3.7million has been made available. Every week the 62 GAA and IFA coaches work in 600 schools with over 32,000 children. I have been impressed with the very positive support from both organisations in getting involved in this programme from the very start. They see the potential to not only nurture our children’s interest in sports but also to identify talent of the future.

“I want to thank the Principal, Patricia McMaster, her staff and of course the children for showing me round their school and for their high quality education provision. I would also like to pay tribute to the staff at Bunscoil naomh Bríd whose commitment to the Irish language is second to none.”

Notes to Editors:

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