We are grateful to the Education Minister, Mr Paul Givan MLA for spending a morning with the children and staff of Moneyrea.

We also welcomed officials from the Department of Education and Education Authority, along with school governors and our PTA Chair.

The Minister was welcomed to Moneyrea by 4 members of our School Student Council.

The morning commenced with a Welcome Assembly to showcase some of our pupils' amazing talents.

Our assembly began with a rousing rendition of our morning praise song, The Rainbow , followed by a Highland Dance demonstration by Joel and Angela who performed 'Seann Triubhas' (Old Trousers), a flawless violin duet by Sienna and Aryia who played 'Ode to Joy', a mesmerising drum solo by Josh and a pitch perfect performance of 'Let it Be' by our school choir.

Rev. Mark Brown concluded our assembly with a prayer for our school community and the Minister and all those who work in the DE and EA to support our schools.

We then enjoyed an informal chat with the Minister over coffee when we had opportunity to discuss:

1. Funding of Primary and Nursery Schools.

2. The need to promote and acknowledge the inclusive ethos of our Controlled Schools.

3. The need for school counsellors in primary schools.

4. Supportive approaches to school inspection.

5. The importance of primary children learning a second language.

6. The importance of the DE and EA working in partnership with our schools for the benefit of all of our children.

7.The need for more PGCE places in Northern Ireland for teacher training.

The Minister and our guests were then taken on a whistle-stop tour of the school by our Yr7 School Council reps. It was good to see how comfortable the Minister was in talking to our children and staff. I know our staff were pleased that the Minister took time to visit all of our classrooms and the children thoroughly enjoyed asking the Minister all sorts of wonderful unscripted questions .

The photos below give a little flavour of the visit.