Victoria Primary School & Nursery Unit Carrickfergus

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%.

Hi all

Thanks for your understanding given today's school closure. 

The school site is still not in a great condition and Mr McMaster is still working hard to clear the snow and ice - which is not an easy job. 

However, VPS will be open tomorrow, unless the situation deteriorates overnight. 

A few important points:

Please take GREAT care when entering the school grounds.  A reminder that doors open at 8:50am.

Parents / Carers should NOT use the school car park tomorrow for drop off for Breakfast Club.  Please park outside the school grounds and walk your child(ren) in.  This is to reduce the number of cars at peak time tomorrow.

Breakfast Club - will take place in the canteen tomorrow. 

P1 children will enter via the P1 doors as normal, however, only a small part of the playground will be open. 

P2 - P7 children should all enter via the main entrance at Mrs Ritchie's office. 

Please ensure that all children have a warm coat.

There will be NO afterschool activities tomorrow  

Kids' Cave will operate as normal, however, will take place in the P1 corridor for the duration of Kids' Cave.  All collections should take place from the P1 door.

Looking forward to welcoming you all back to school tomorrow.

Mr C. Fulton

Principal