Mr Darcy steps down after 12 years as principal

Mr Darcy steps down after 12 years as principal

5 April 2017

PUPILS and teachers at Ballynahinch Primary School say farewell to principal Chris Darcy this Friday.

After 12 years at the helm of the school, which has over 220 pupils on the roll book, Chris is retiring but the Saintfield man — who has taught at six schools during his career in primary education — has no intention of taking things easy.

While he admits he will be sad to leave behind pupils, teachers, Board of Governors representatives and very supportive parents, the principal is looking forward to what promises to be an exciting new chapter in his life, writing his first children’s novel and further immersing himself in his love of drama and music with the Belvoir Players with whom he acts and directs. 

Although born in Derbyshire, Chris (60) is now very much a Northern Ireland man, arriving here when he was just 12 years old. Educated at Newry High School, he graduated from Stranmillis University College in 1979, subsequently teaching at five primary schools before succeeding Ian Shields at Ballynahinch Primary in 2005.

Twelve years on and he has decided to retire with the principalship handed over to Michael Moore, who is the current vice-principal at Belmont Primary School in Belfast.

Chris, whose first teaching job was a temporary post at Carr’s Glen Primary School in the city, has spent the majority of his teaching career in Ballynahinch and thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

“This is a lovely school and when I got the job here I knew I did not want to go anywhere else,” he explained. ”It is a great school with nice staff and pupils, supportive families and Board of Governors and I don’t know where you would have gone to better this great school.

Chris said he could not have wished for better staff and suggested that if his son had been educated at Ballynahinch Primary School, he would have been more than happy. 

“There is not a teacher whom I would not want my son to be in their class. They are all terrific, very professional people. Up until I was appointed principal at Ballynahinch Primary, I taught mainly P6 and P7 pupils at my other schools and also taught a P5 class,” he continued.

As the countdown to his final day this Friday continues ahead of the school’s Easter break, Mr Darcy admitted he has mixed feelings about finally saying goodbye.

“I have been in education for 37 years and while I have decided it is time to go, I am going to miss all the people, the children, staff and parents and it will be quite strange,” he said.

Reflecting on his time in Ballynahinch, Mr Darcy said one of the most important issues was school budgets which he said are in “crisis” as schools currently do not know how much money they will have in the new financial year.

“The amount of money allocated to schools is decreasing which means they are all going to have to make difficult decisions. Government policy of trying to save money across all public sectors is something that hits everyone and this has always been an issue for schools in particular,” he said.

“AQE (transfer tests) was an issue because it was new at the time and outside the regulations if you like, with private companies running transfer tests. We always took the line that if our parents wanted us to help children prepare for the AQE test then we did. We always ask parents this and there are some who do not wish to sit the test.”

Mr Darcy said a lot of Ballynahinch Primary School pupils make the switch to grammar school and while a majority opt for Down High, others select grammar schools including Belfast and Lisburn given Ballynahinch’s relative proximity to these particular areas.

“Schools are in effect now businesses and you do have to balance the books, but their primary function is to educate children and everything else should feed into supporting that,” admitting that after four decades in education he still gets a lot out of what he does.

Mr Darcy added: “When you see children being successful, you think you have had something to do with that and know you have done your job properly. All teachers want to do their jobs properly and success is lots of things, not just academic prowess. I enjoyed my career in education and hope to pop back into Ballynahinch Primary now and again in the future. I am also delighted the P7 class has invited to its farewell event in June.”