First Minister Arlene Foster visited Jones Memorial Primary School, Enniskillen yesterday (Wednesday) to face a question and answer session from keen students in P6 and P7 who grilled the First Minister on a whole range of issues including; Covid-19, the transfer test and what life is like as the First Minister of Northern Ireland.

The P7’s in Jones Memorial cut straight to the chase with the issue that was most affecting them with one pupil asking the First Minister: “Did you have a say in moving the transfer test to January?” The First Minister asked the children how they felt about the issue and most of the children murmured in agreement that they would rather have had the test “over and done with.” The first minister reminded the children “Some people haven’t had the support to work from home during lockdown. It would be nice to have it over before Christmas.” She advised the children to “enjoy Christmas and worry about the transfer test after.

The P6’s had a lot of questions about her job and asked her what did she want to be when she was younger and Arlene Foster told the pupils she wanted to be a policewoman but later trained as a solicitor. She admitted that being first minister is a “tough job, but a great privilege and honour” and that she did not always want to be a politician when she trained as a solicitor. When asked what she would change about her job, Mrs Foster told the students in Jones Memorial that she would “bring Stormont closer to Fermanagh so I wouldn’t have to travel as far every day.”# The First Minister was candid with the children when she told them, “if you don’t know what you want to do as a job when you’re older, don’t worry.”

The children were curious to know more about Covid-19 and the assembly and Mrs Foster addressed the issue and said “When we came back in January there was a lot to deal with including Covid-19 in February” She specified more on the issue saying: “Luckily in Fermanagh we have a low number of cases. The people here are well behaved and doing it properly.” They also asked her how she feels about a global pandemic and Mrs Foster explained who she takes advice from in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. She emphasised to the children that the priority is to is “keep you all safe and your teachers.”

Mrs Foster was then taken on a tour of the school by principal Sandra Isherwood and chair of the Board of Governors, Anne Beattie. She visited the children in the Stepping-Stones ASD Unit which is contained in the school. The children were excited to the First Minister and told her that they had been outside to see her “special car.” After demonstrating how he sings to twenty every time he washes his hands, one little boy told the First Minister that he would like her job.

Mrs Foster commented on the visit and said: “I absolutely love going out to see primary school kids and their so happy to be back in school. It’s wonderful to see the way the teachers are working with the children and to be questioned, they had some very good questions and it was lovely to be here.