The Getting Ready to Learn (GRTL) programme aims to help parents to learn about:

• how children develop, including attachment and brain development;
• the importance of parent-child relationships for the child's development and behaviour;
• the importance of childhood education and learning; and
• the importance of healthy lifestyles and diet.

Magherafelt Integrated Nursery School has gained funding to deliver a combination of the following themes:

• Big Bedtime Read focuses on developing parents' understanding of the importance of reading to young children, building not only a love of language and foundation for future learning, but also strengthening bonds between parent and child. We enjoy welcoming parents to our November 'Big Bedtime Read' event every year.
• Education Works in Pre-school focuses on increasing parents' understanding of the preschool curriculum and the importance of play; and on encouraging parents to support their children's learning at home.
• Happy Healthy Kids focusses on increasing parents' understanding of the benefits of exercise for pre-school children and on encouraging them to increase the amount time spent on physical activity and reducing screen time at home.
• Ages and Stages focuses on increasing parental awareness of important milestones in children's social and emotional, physical and cognitive development.

More information and lots of resources for parents, are available at the Getting Ready To Learn Website

"Promoting sustainable living through whole-school action supported by learning resources, management tools and the internationally recognised Green Flag award scheme"

Our most recent Green Flag status was awarded in June 2024 and runs until June 2026, this shows continual improvement of the school's environmental performance and pupils' environmental awareness and actions.

We have an involved and proactive Eco Team with members from all classes.  All our children enjoy improving the school environment through Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Our outdoor learning zone is packed with raised beds where we grow our own vegetables, herbs and flowers to promote pollinators and lots of free space to enjoy in all weathers! We regularly do litter picks to keep it tidy. We have enjoyed talks from Habitat for Humanity and NI Water to help us learn more about our global environment. We promote natural learning resources indoors and outdoors, compost our food waste, repurpose 'junk' in our craft activities, make bird feeders and every year watch with excitement as our caterpillars grow into beautiful butterflies.

For more information on Eco Schools NI and the 'My Earth' programme, go to the Eco Schools NI website.