The Open is N Ireland’s premier and largest fencing competition of the year and was held on the last weekend of January in the Templemore Sports Complex in Londonderry. Eight Sullivan fencers took part, 7 of the 8 consisting of juniors still competing at U16 level but now either starting or continuing their transition into senior (adult) competition. First up were Alexandra Ong and Cassidy Ogle representing Sullivan in the women’s foil on the Saturday. Alexandra just failed to make the last 8, finishing 9th, while Cassidy went through to win a place in the semis. She then lost to the eventual gold medallist to finish 3rd and a win bronze medal, a notable achievement for a 14 year old in a senior event. The men’s foil on the Sunday had 6 SU fencers entered: Myles Wilkinson, Noah Currie, Lennox Brown, Theo Beggs, Rohan Nair and Harry McNeice. Myles was the highest finisher at 18th, with Noah next at 21st, while Theo, Lennox, Rohan and Harry, all in their first senior competition, in positions 25 to 28. This was a good turn-out of SU fencers in a tough senior competition, giving all 8 valuable experience at the higher level. The next event for SUFC fencers will be for U12s, U14s and U16s at Round 4 of the NI Junior Foil Series on 4th February in the SU Sports Hall. David White SUFC Coach 31 Jan 2024

Round 3 of the N Ireland Junior Foil Series Last Saturday 6th January the Shankill Leisure Centre was again the venue for a round of the N Ireland Junior Foil Series. This was the Round 3 and 14 Sullivan Upper Fencers were in attendance, 6 of whom brought back medals: 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. U14s In the boys’ U14s event SU fencers Sam Snoddy and Ethan Dilworth both made the semi-finals. Ethan went out at this stage, taking a 3rd place bronze, while Sam won his semi with a close 15-14 win. However, Sam then lost in the final, finishing with the silver medal. Adam Sugar ended up just outside the medals in 5th, with Thomas Morrow and Patrick John in 7th and 8th places. The girls’ U14s saw Erin Keough win her 3rd consecutive bronze medal. U16s Amelia Penny, Cassidy Ogle and Lois Donald were again SU’s representatives in the U16 girls’event. Amelia and Cassidy met in the final, a memorable fight with Amelia initially gaining a 9-2 lead but with Cassidy fighting back to take the score to 14-14. The final point was taken by Amelia for a so-close 15-14 win. Lois finished just outside the medals in 5th. The boys’ U16s had 5 SU competitors: Noah Currie, Myles Wilkinson, Lennox Brown, Tom Woolsey-Jensen and Theo Beggs. Noah won through to the semis, and then on to the final where he lost a tough fight to take the silver medal. Tom, Theo, Myles and Lennox all made the quarter-finals, finishing in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. This was another excellent SUFC competition turn-out, well done to all 14 entrants. Round 4 of the NIJFS will be on Sun 4th February in the Sullivan Upper Sports Hall. David White SUFC Coach 10th Jan 2024

Our year 8’s have started their Sullivan hockey journey with 40 girls involved in matches against Strathearn, Glenlola and Lagan so far. One team represented school at the MCB tournament on Monday and had great wins over Ballyclare Secondary and BRA and a loss against MCB. The girls were runner up in their group and then were beaten narrowly in the play off by Ballymena Academy. Lots of potential and plenty more matches to come in the New Year.

The U14’s played Killicomaine JHS in the Junior Schools cup after beating Grosvenor Grammar in the previous round. It was an exciting match with most of it being played in the puddle of the pitch and equal chances being created by both teams. Unfortunately Killicomaine were very clinical and converted all the chances they creates and Sullivan were unable to reciprocate at the opposite end. The girls fought hard and never gave up, winning a penalty corner in the final minutes. They will now go into the Junior Shield competition in the New Year.

Massive commiserations to the 1’s who lost 2-1 in a very entertaining contest v Victoria in the 3rd round of the Senior Schools’ Cup on Monday. The girls had come into the round after convincing victories in the 1st round v Belfast High School and in the 2nd round against Cambridge House, setting up this 3rd round clash. The 2 teams were very evenly matched with Victoria getting off to the better start scoring twice in the 1st half. However, the Sullivan girls played themselves more and more into the game becoming stronger and stronger and creating several chances which they were just unable to convert. The girls gave absolutely everything in the last 1/4 with Tara McCombe pulling one back with a great penalty corner strike, several more chances were created, the best of which being cleared high off the line by the Vic GK in the last few seconds of the game. The girls can be very proud of their performance and should hold their heads high. They now go into the Senior shield competition after Christmas where they will face Omagh Academy.

On Monday 18 December, two U16 teams and one U14 team travelled to Portadown RFC for the final blitz of 2023. Special mention to the U14s who had their first experience of a tournament and performed really well. The girls will be back in action on the 16 January and will resume training on Tuesday 9 January 3.30-4.45 pm. All new players are welcome to join.

Congratulations to Owen Johnston (former pupil) who has made the final of the ITV show ‘Mamma Mia: I have a Dream’. It is the public vote this Sunday (10 December 2023) for the final and Owen would appreciate your support. You can read more about the show here: https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/belfast-mans-dream-shot-at-mamma-mia-stardom/a1652836794.html Good luck Owen.

The 2nd round of the 2023/24 NI Junior Foil Series took place last Saturday 2nd December in Shankill Leisure Centre in Belfast. Sullivan Upper Fencing Club had a strong team attending, with fencers competing in 4 age groups: U14 girls, U14 boys, U16 girls and U16 boys. It was a good day for SUFC, with Sullivan fencers taking home a total of 8 medals: 2 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze. U14s In the boys’ U14s event SU fencers Sam Snoddy and Ethan Dilworth met at the semi-final stage, with Sam winning to go through to the final. Sam finished with the silver and Ethan’s 3rd place won him bronze. Thomas Morrow finished just outside the medals in 5th, with Adam Sugar, Patrick John and Hugo Hazle in 6th, 7th and 8th places. In a repeat of her performance back in Round 1, Erin Keough again made the semi-finals of the U14 girls’ competition, winning a bronze medal. U16s Amelia Penny, Cassidy Ogle and Lois Donald were SU’s representatives in the girls’ U16s. Amelia and Cassidy met in the semis, Amelia taking a narrow 15-14 win. She had an easier time in the final, with a convincing 15-6 win for gold. Cassidy’s 3rd place gave her bronze, while Lois finished 5th. The boys’ U16s had 4 SU entrants: Noah Currie, Myles Wilkinson, Lennox Brown and Tom Woolsey-Jensen. Tom made the last 8 while Noah, Myles and Lennox all won through to the semis. Myles fell at this stage, as did Noah, knocked out by Lennox. Lennox went on to take gold with an emphatic 15-7 win in the final. Tom finished 8th. This is another superb set of competition results from SUFC fencers. Well done to all 14. Round 3 of the NIJFS will be on Sat 6th January 2024 in the Shankill Leisure Centre. David White SUFC Coach 4th Nov 2023

Freelance and local illustrator Kerrie Mc Neill of Kerrieillustrates.com came to Sullivan to share her industry experience and digital illustration tips with current pupils from yr12, yr13 & yr14. Kerrie creates vibrant, quirky illustrations that ‘add a sense of cheerfulness and excitement’ for the purchaser. She works in areas spanning branding, editorial, packaging, and Licenced based work with outlets like ‘Etsy’, ‘Not on the High Street’, The ‘National Trust’ and ‘Tesco’ Cards. An afternoon session was arranged where Kerrie had a question-and-answer session with some of our exam age budding artists. An integral part of the current CCEA GCSE Art & Design syllabus requires pupils to ‘Investigate the Creative and Cultural Industries’ so it was very apt having a young experienced and local artist to talk through the route of education they choose in NI. Kerrie talked about her choice of studying Foundation Studies at University of Ulster as it gave her the opportunity to explore and engage in many areas of Art & Design. This was beneficial as Kerrie was able to try out different areas of Art & Design helping her gauge what area she would prefer to study to Degree Level. The ‘year out’ during the degree course catapulted Kerri into making decisions about the field of work and how she needed to push herself towards getting work as it wasn’t going to land on her lap. Kerri won the opportunity to create ‘quirky’ illustrative designs to advertise the UU Art degree shows which were on show on Billboards around Belfast city centre. Kerrie Mc Neill’s style of vibrant and colourful illustrations was of immediate appeal to our pupils who engaged on a workshop on school ipad’s. Kerrie set the group a task and engaged with all sharing apps and discussing techniques. It was of immense enjoyment for the pupils who revelled in learning new techniques which will be developed in the pupil’s own portfolio of exam work. A special word of thanks came from Amber in yr14 to acknowledge the benefit each pupil got from such an approachable and talented NI craftsperson. The Sullivan Creative Arts Department (SCA) would like to acknowledge our thanks to our invited guest who made the link with the ‘Creative and Cultural Industries’ so enriching for our pupils.

We are delighted to announce that Art & MIA department scooped up three prizes at the annual CCEA MIA showcase awards. The awards were hosted by Cinemagic International film festival and Foyle International film festival. Our winning pupils work was screened to audiences of 600 pupils, teachers and industry experts at both Cineworld in Belfast and at the Brunswick Movie bowl, Derry. We were immensely proud to see Amy Warnock (1st place in A2 film), Chloe Hanna (2nd place in A2 animation) and Charlie Beimers (2nd place in GCSE animation) gain recognition at such a prestigious competition where they competed against 1.5K pupils across N.Ireland and beyond. Our three pupils were presented with their awards by Oscar winning Ross White & Pearce Cullen of ‘An Irish Goodbye’, they had an opportunity afterwards to meet industry representatives and of course see the real Oscar close up! 30 of our Year 12 and 13 MIA pupils travelled to the event, they were inspired by the quality and creativity of the finalists films. In addition, they were able to attend an MIA careers & education fair. This years showcase event marked the 20th anniversary of Moving Image Arts as a subject. Sullivan Upper pupils have gained much from the subject which has now been running here since it was launched back in 2003. Our past pupil Katie Ireland who was costume designer on 'An Irish Goodbye' was asked to conduct an interview on stage at the event. Eavan King, Foyle Film Festival Film Education Programme Manager said: “The Moving Image Arts qualification has been a game changer, providing all students the opportunity to develop knowledge, critical understanding and skills fostering a lifelong love of film. Many of these talented filmmakers have returned to screen films as part of our Oscar and BAFTA accredited Light in Motion competition at Foyle Film Festival, coming full circle from where they started from,” If you would like to keep up with the day to day creativity of Sullivan Upper Art & MIA department and view the winning films, follow us on Instagram sullivan_creative_arts from left to right: Pearce Cullen, Chloe Hanna, Amy Warnock, Charlie Beimers, Ross White

Dublin based Pembroke Fencing Club held their annual Christmas Cup junior fencing competition last Sunday 26th November at the Loreto Abbey Sports Centre in Dalkey in the south of the city. Two SU fencers made the trip south for the event: Cassidy Ogle and Noah Currie, both having entered in an U17 age group. Cassidy took the U17 girls’ winner’s trophy and Noah the boys’ trophy, an excellent pair of results for SUFC, congratulations to both fencers. Cassidy and Noah will be competing again next weekend at Round 2 of the NI Junior Foil Series in Belfast. David White SUFC Coach 27 Nov 2023

Sullivan Cross Country runners had their first meet of the 2023/24 season at Campbell College on Monday 20 November 2023. It was great to have over 60 runners representing the school. Well done to all of those involved!