On Tuesday 21 November 2023 30 Year 12 pupils attended the annual Chemistry at Work Event at Queen's University. The purpose was to highlight possible career opportunities where Chemistry A Level or a degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering would be useful. The pupils heard and participated in presentations from companies such as Almac, Spirit and BOC.

Congratulations to the Geography Quiz Team who won the Geographical Association’s Regional World Wise Quiz competition on Wednesday 15 November 2023 at Queens University. The team fought off competition from 14 other schools, ending in a nail-biting final against RBAI. Well done. It’s great to get Sullivan Upper engraved on the trophy once again.

The 2023/24 NI Junior Foil Series kicked off last Saturday 4th November in Shankill Leisure Centre in Belfast. Sullivan Upper Fencing Club had 14 fencers competing in the U14 and U16 age groups. Nine medals were won in total by SU fencers, 2 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze. U14s Erin Keough, the lone SU competitor in the girls’ U14s, made the semi-finals, winning a bronze medal. In the boys’ U14s Sam Snoddy, Adam Sugar, Patrick John, Thomas Morrow and Ethan Dilworth all made the last 8. Sam was only one of the 5 who made it through to the semis, but lost there 13-15 in a close fight, finishing with a bronze. Adam, Tom, Ethan and Patrick were placed 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. U16s Three SU fencers, Amelia Penny, Cassidy Ogle and Lois Donald had entered for the U16 girls’, and all 3 made the semi-finals. Lois was knocked out by Amelia to take a bronze, while Cassidy won the other semi. This led to an all Sullivan final, with Amelia winning 15-12 for the gold medal, Cassidy taking silver. The boys’ U16s had 5 SU competitors: Noah Currie, Myles Wilkinson, Lennox Brown, Tom Woolsey-Jensen and Theo Beggs. All 5 made the last 8 and 4 of the 5 made the semis, making it an all Sullivan fight for the medal positions. Myles beat Lennox in one semi and Noah defeated Theo in the other. The Myles vs Noah final was a nail biting affair with Noah taking a narrow win 15-14 for the gold medal. Myles took silver, Lennox and Theo joint 3rd and Tom 5th. This was an excellent competition turn-out of Sullivan fencers, with a great set of results. Well done to all 14. Round 2 of the NIJFS will be on Sat 2nd December 2023 in the Shankill Leisure Centre. David White SUFC Coach 5th Nov 2023

On Saturday 30 September, the Sullivan Community came out in force to run the Bangor 10k in memory of Kirsty Merriman. With runners and supporters, there were in excess of 80 people wearing a “for Kirsty” Cancer Focus t-shirt in Bangor that morning. The run itself started at the city hall, went down Main Street, then along the sea front to Ballyholme before heading out to Groomsport. At Groomsport, which is just over halfway, the return to Bangor was via the promenade at Ballyholme before finishing at Ward Park. Those that ran were hugely appreciative of the support and encouragement they received around the course, particularly from those who were at 9k and the draining hill of Shandon Drive! Kirsty would have been immensely proud of all the runners and supporters. She would have gained as much pleasure from watching the Year 14 boys who flew round the course in just over half an hour to those for whom just finishing was a real achievement. It was a very special morning with memories created for all those who were there. There was a real sense of togetherness. A chance to share in an experience, to remember Kirsty and raise money for a charity which meant such a lot to her and her family. Finally, a few thank yous: to Mrs McDowell for personalising the t-shirts, to the PE department for cancelling hockey matches to allow pupils to participate and a special thank you to all those who have donated so generously. The total raised for Cancer Focus NI to date is £9,357.

On Wednesday 4 October, Year 14 Nutrition & Food Science pupils enjoyed a full day interactive workshop at the College of Agriculture, Food & Rural Enterprise. This supported the delivery of their A2 Nutrition and Food Science course. Eva Weiniger (Year 14 pupil) provided feedback on the day: When taking part in the practical section of our educational visit we dressed ourselves in PPE and familiarised ourselves with the production line of burgers. We learnt about the importance of food hygiene by analysing the steps taken to produce burgers and identified critical control points that could cause danger to consumer health and safety. The presentation on HACCP and involvement in the practical session has given me a head start to what we will later be learning later on in our A2 course. It will help us to understand the need for HACCP in the food supply chain. We were also given a careers talk which highlighted a variety of courses, including CAFRE’s opportunities for careers in the food industry. Eva Weiniger, Year 14

The 2023 Irish Open was held Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October in the Irish National Indoor Arena at Blanchardstown in Dublin. Four Sullivan fencers took part: Myles Wilkinson, Noah Currie and Harry McNeice competing in the men’s foil competition and Amelia Penny in the women’s foil. The Open is always the biggest Irish fencing event of the year with fencers from Europe and further afield competing along with the best in Ireland. In the men’s foil Myles finished 24th and Harry 30th, while Noah, seeded 24th after the poule stage, knocked out the 9th seed to take a place in the last 16. Amelia finished 18th in a tough women’s foil event. All 4 put in strong performances and gained valuable experience fencing at senior level. The next event for SUFC fencers will be at Round 1 of the 2023/2024 NI Junior Foil Series in Shankill Leisure Centre on Saturday 4th November. David White SUFC Coach 25 Oct 2023

The Derry Open senior fencing competition was held last weekend the 7th & 8th of October in the Ulster University Magee Campus Sports Centre in Londonderry. Seven SU fencers took part: Amelia Penny, Alexandra Ong and Cassidy Ogle in the women’s foil event and Adam Caldwell, Noah Currie, Myles Wilkinson and Tom Woolsey-Jensen in the men's foil. Five of the seven, all except Alexandra and Adam, while still competing this year in U16 junior events, were taking a significant step-up into senior competition. On the Saturday in the women’s foil event Cassidy won all her fights in the poule stage, making her top seed. Then in the knock out stage Amelia met Alexandra in the semi-finals, Amelia winning to go through to fence Cassidy in the final. It was a close match, Amelia taking the win 15 to 13, Cassidy taking silver and Alexandra a bronze. The men’s foil was on the Sunday, a tough event with several of Ireland’s top 10 ranked foilists competing. Myles finished just outside the last 8 in 9th, with Adam and Noah close behind in 10th and 11th, and Tom 13th. Well done all seven fencers. David White SUFC Coach 10 Oct 2023

Today, Thursday 24 August 2023, Sullivan Upper School’s Year 12 cohort are celebrating superb GCSE results, which are reward for all their efforts during their courses. Much of the reporting of today’s results nationally will focus on a drop in grades following the grading systems used in recent years. However, we are delighted that Sullivan pupils have been able to maintain such high levels of performance. Our pupils achieved an overall pass rate of 99.6% with 80.9% of grades at A*-A level. 99.4% of the cohort achieved 7x A*-C grades, and over one-third of the year group (35.2%) gained 11x A*/A grades. Eight Sullivan pupils achieved the impressive feat of a full set of A*grades. The Principal, Craig Mairs, said: “We are very proud of the achievements of our pupils and are delighted that their hard work has been rewarded. We are also grateful for the efforts of our committed and skilled staff team whose dedication has helped our pupils fulfil their potential. There are some very impressive headlines here, but we are proud of all our pupils, and we wish them every success as they begin their A Level courses in the autumn.” C J D Mairs Principal

Today, Thursday 17 August 2023, Sullivan Upper School’s A Level cohort are celebrating superb A Level and AS Level results, which are reward for all their efforts during their courses. At A Level our pupils achieved an overall pass rate of 99.6% with 82.3% of grades at A*-B level. 89.5% of the cohort achieved 3x A*-C grades and 46.8% of the cohort achieved at least 3x A grades. Sixteen Sullivan pupils achieved the impressive feat of at least 3xA* grades. The Principal, Craig Mairs, said: “We are very proud of the achievements of our pupils and are delighted that their hard work has been rewarded. We are also grateful for the efforts of our committed and skilled staff team whose dedication has helped our pupils fulfil their potential. There are some very impressive headlines here, but we are proud of all our pupils, and we wish them every success as they take up their places on competitive degree courses this autumn.” Sullivan’s Year 13 pupils have also enjoyed great success in their AS Levels with 74.2% of grades at A*-B level and 76.6% of pupils achieving 3x A-C grades. This gives them a very good platform to build upon next academic year. C J D MAIRS Principal

The 2023 British Youth Fencing Championships were held over the weekend April 29th to May 1st in the English Institute of Sport arena in Sheffield. Four SU fencers had qualified for the event and took part across 3 age groups: U18 Alexander Penny, U16s Noah Currie and Myles Wilkinson and U14 Cassidy Ogle. The BYCs is the biggest UK youth fencing competition of the year with all of the UK’s best young fencers competing. All 4 SU fencers put in strong performances: Cassidy in her first British national competition, and Alexander, Myles and Noah all improving on their previous year’s results. SUFC 2023 BYC Results U18 boys: Alexander 23rd. U16 boys:, Myles 49th, Noah 60th. U14 girls: Cassidy 46th. David White SUFC Coach 03 May 2023

The Irish National Fencing Championships decide the six senior fencing champions for all of Ireland each year, i.e. in men’s and women’s foil, epee and sabre. SUFC had 6 entrants, 4 in the men’s foil and 2 in the women’s foil. The MF entrants were Alexander Penny, Adam Caldwell, Noah Currie and Myles Wilkinson, and in WF Victoria Morris and Amelia Penny. Following the women’s poule stage Victoria and Amelia unfortunately met in the last 16 of the knock-out stage. Amelia put up a strong fight but Victoria took the win 15-11 to go through to the quarter-finals, though she lost there to the eventual gold medallist to finish 8th, with Amelia in 9th. In the men’s foil a narrow 13-15 defeat meant that Alexander just missed making the last 16, finishing 17th. Myles finished 19th, Adam 20th and Noah 24th. The next event for SUFC fencers will be the British Youth Championships in Sheffield on the 29nd and 30rd April. David White SUFC Coach 26 Apr 2023

For the 2nd time this month Sullivan Upper Fencing Club hosted a round of the 2022/23 NI Junior Foil Series: round 4 on Sunday 26th in the school sports hall. Seventeen SU fencers took part across U12, U14 and U16 age groups, winning 8 medals in total, 1 gold, 1 silver and 6 bronze. U12 Thomas Morrow, our only U12 entrant, had his best result so far with a 3rd place and a bronze medal. U14s In the U14 girls’ Cassidy Ogle reached the semi-finals to win her 4th consecutive bronze medal in the series. Phoebe Henderson, Lois Donald and Erin Keough finished 5th, 6th and 7th. The boys’ event saw Sam Snoddy return to last year’s form by finishing 2nd, while Tom Woolsey-Jensen won his second bronze of the series with a 3rd place. Rohan Nair made the quarter-finals with an 8th place finish, while Theo Beggs, Adam Sugar, Riley Browne and Thomas Gillespie were 9th, 10th, 11th and 13th. U16s Amelia Penny increased her series lead in the points table with another convincing win in the U16 girls’ final, while Alexandra Ong made 3rd place and a bronze medal. In the boys’ U16s both Noah Currie and Myles Wilkinson made the semi-finals, Noah having knocked out clubmate Lennox Brown in the quarters in a nail-biting 15-14 win. Both however went out at this stage to finish joint 3rd. Lennox finished 5th. Well done all 17 SU fencers, and thanks again to SU senior fencers Victoria Morris and Alexander Penny who attended the event as a fight referees. Round 5 of the NIJFS will be on Sun 16th April (tbc), venue tba. David White SUFC Coach 28 Mar 2023