Ballyholme Primary School

Ballyholme Primary School is a school in the town of Bangor, County Down, a coastal on the East Coast of Northern Ireland. It was founded on 31 August 1953. For many years there had been an argument on whether a new school should be built or not in the small area of Ballyholme, which has increased since then. The argument had started over twenty years before the school had even been built. The initial thought was to accommodate the residents of the expanding area as they were getting fed up sending their children to a far away school.

In 1931 there was a school in the centre of Bangor, it was called Bangor Central School. Children who lived in Ballyholme would have to walk quite a distance to get to this school which provided education for both senior and junior pupils, of both genders.

The fight for a school in Ballyholme continued without success and was paused by the outbreak of World War II Bangor Central was turned into a hospital for sick soldiers and the school continued in a small hall behind St Columbanus Church on the Groomsport Road, and a teacher there, Miss Martin, soon became the Head Mistress of Ballyholme.

After the war the campaign for the new school was continued and the government finally agreed to build the school that had been asked for, so many years ago. Their budget was £845,000 and began building in the early 1950s. It was intended for 450 pupils and after three years was opened for the first time.

Ballyholme Primary School has recently undergone a programme of refurbishment and extension to accommodate the ever increasing pupil numbers. The school was re-opened on 28 May 2008. It has also recently built an adventure playground and has its own school website. The school also sells a school newspaper called the 'Ballyholme Bugle'. It has a school council.

The current headmaster is Mr.Hewitt and the vice-principal is Dr.Henry. In P6 and P7 pupils visit Ardnabannon O.E.C and P7 pupils visit Killyleagh O.E.C. Pupils from Key Stage 1 recently built a bug hotel.