The Junior Girls team finished 2nd in the Ulster Cross country Championships and then went on to win the All-Ireland Cross Country competition. The following girls were in the team: Erin Bond, Ellie Dines, Katie McKittrick, Tara Spence, Elsa Montgomery and Monica Stuart. Ava Downey had an impressive season placing 2nd in Districts, 8th in Ulster and 30th in Ireland for the Inter-Girls cross Country. The Mini Girls team placed 1st in Districts and 2nd in Ulster. The following girls were in the team: Erin Playfair, Isabella Wray, Eva Cupitt, Lucy Steele, Cora Hayes and Hannah Monaghan. Other notable achievements: Matthew Lockington - 4th in Districts, Emily Ridout - 9th in Districts, Oliver Playfair - 21st in Ulster. Katie McKittrick finished 10th in Ireland and has been selected to represent Ireland in the mixed cross country relay team at the British Championships in Swansea at the end of March 2022.

The 2022 Commonwealth Fencing Championships will take place in London this August and will include Senior, U20 and U17 championship competitions. Five SU fencers have been selected to represent N Ireland at the CFCs: Alex Atkinson, Alexander Penny, Keir Murray, Izzy Evans and Victoria Morris. Selections Alex Atkinson: NI U17 and U20 Women’s Foil Individual and Teams. Alexander Penny: NI U17 Men’s Foil Individual and Team. Keir Murray: NI U17 Men’s Foil Individual and Team. Izzy Evans: NI U20 Women’s Foil Individual and Team. Victoria Morris: NI U20 Women’s Foil Individual and Team and Senior Women’s Foil Individual and Team. Congratulations to all five. Excalibur Cup Well done Amelia Penny who won a silver medal after making the final in the Girls’ U14 age group of the Excalibur Cup, held in Dublin back on Sunday 13th February. This was a strong performance from Amelia, a lone NI fencer competing against the best fencers of the RoI. Scottish Open Amelia’s brother Alexander also set out to compete in foreign fields this month, travelling to Scotland’s National Sports Centre in North Ayrshire to take part in the Scottish Open last Sunday 27th February. After doing well in the poule stage he was knocked out in a very close fight 14-15 in the last 32. This was a fencing step-up for Alexander and valuable experience of UK level competition. David White SUFC Coach 28 Feb 2022

The 3rd round of the 2021/2022 N Ireland Junior Foil Series took place last Sunday 6th February in the Queen’s Leisure Complex in Holywood. A record breaking 18 SUFC fencers turned out for it and for 7 of them it was their first experience of fencing competition: Victoria Meharg, Cassidy Ogle, Effie Lappin, Lois Donald, Phoebe Henderson, Lennox Brown and Tom Woolsey-Jensen. U12s Mia Morrow won gold in this category after a nail biting 10-9 win her semi-final, followed by a convincing 10-1 win in the final, both wins against fencers from the leading club in Dublin. In the boys’ U12s Ben Wilson and Sam Snoddy made the quarter-finals but were then knocked out, finishing 7th and 8th, with Adam Sugar coming in 9th. U14s After the poule stage in the U14 girls’ age group, Amelia Penny was seeded 2nd, with Victoria, Cassidy, Effie, Lois and Phoebe taking seeding positions 4 to 8 respectively. Amelia and Victoria made the semi-finals, where Amelia won through to the final and Victoria was knocked out. Amelia lost in the final, taking the silver medal and Victoria's progression to the semi won her a bronze. Cassidy, Effie, Lois and Phoebe finished 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. In the boys’ U14s Noah had 4 wins from 7 in the poules, giving him a 3rd place seeding for the knock-out stage with Myles seeded 5th, Rohan 7th, Finnbharr 9th, Lennox 12th and Tom 13th. Only Noah and Myles made it out of the last 16 into the quarters where Noah was knocked out and Myles won a close fight 15-14 to go into the semis. Myles lost his semi-final to finish joint 3rd and take a bronze medal. Noah finished 5th, Rohan 9th, Finnbharr 10th, Lennox 12th and Tom 13th. U16s Charlie and Alexandra met in the U16 girls’semi-final, with Charlie going through to the final and Alexandra taking a bronze medal. Charlie ended up with the silver after losing in the final. Finn Neely was again absent from the Boys’s U16s after getting Covid for a 2nd time. An excellent set of results from the SU fencers, with a total medal tally of 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze. Well done to all 18 and thanks again to senior fencers Izzy Evans, Alexander Penny, Victoria Morris and Angharad King, who attended the event as fight referees. Round 4 of the NIJFS will be on Sat 12th of March in the Sullivan Sports Hall. For the seniors the next event will be the Belfast Open, temporarily moved to the Ulster University Magee Campus in Londonderry on 13th March. David White SUFC Coach 09 Feb 2022

N Ireland's most prestigious annual senior fencing event is the N Ireland Open and the 2022 Open took place last Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of January in the Ulster University Magee Campus Sports Hall in Londonderry. Six Sullivan fencers entered the women’s foil event: Izzy Evans, Rachel McKillen, Angharad King, Victoria Morris, Alex Atkinson and Alexandra Ong, while three entered the men’s foil: Alexander Penny, Keir Murray and Finn Neely. Finn and Alexandra, while still in the junior ranks as U16s, were taking their first steps into senior competition. In the men’s foil event Alexander Penny had an excellent start with 7 wins from 9 fights in the poules, placing him 9th in the seedings for the knock-out stage. Keir and Finn both had 3 wins, seeding them 17th and 18th. Alexander and Keir won their way into the last 16, but both were defeated there, finishing 9th and 16th respectively. Finn lost in his L16 fight, finishing with 18th place. All three fenced well against tough opposition. The women’s foil event saw Izzy have a strong start in the poules with 10 wins from 14 and Victoria close behind with 9 wins, placing them 6th and 7th in the seedings for the direct elimination stage. Alex, Angharad, Rachel and Alexandra finished the poule stage ranked 9th, 11th, 13th and 16th respectively. Izzy, Victoria and Alex made it out of the L16 into the quarter-finals, though all 3 were knocked out at this stage, ending up 6th, 7th and 8thoverall. Angharad, Rachel and Alexandra didn't make it out of the L16 and finished the competition 11th, 13th and 16th. This was an excellent turn-out of SU fencers in a tough senior competition, competing with the best fencers in Ireland. The next event for SUFC fencers will be for U12s, U14s and U16s at Round 3 of the NI Junior Foil Series on 6th February in the Queen's Leisure Complex in Holywood. David White SUFC Coach 03 Feb 2022

The 2nd round of the 2021/2022 N Ireland Junior Foil Series took place on Saturday 11th December at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute in the centre of Belfast. Thirteen Sullivan Upper Fencing Club junior members attended, seven of them new beginner members from years 8 and 9 competing in their first ever fencing competition: Ben Wilson, Mia Morrow, Adam Sugar, Theo Beggs, Joshua Walker, Finnbharr McCracken and Rohan Nair. U12s In the Boys’ U12s Sam Snoddy won all his poule fights and took the top seed position for the knock-out stage. There were 3 SU boys in total in this category and unfortunately all 3 ended up in the same side of the tableau last 8. This resulted in Sam knocking out Adam in the quarter-finals and then Ben in the semis. Sam then lost in the final to take the silver medal. Adam finished 8th while Ben’s semi-final exit earned him a bronze medal. Mia Morrow was the SU’s only representative in the U12 Girls’ event. She made the final, taking silver, losing to an opponent she had beaten earlier in the poule stage. U14s For Amelia Penny, the lone SU fencer in the U14 Girls event, things went much the same for her as in Round 1 back in November, winning all but one of her poule bouts and then fighting her way through to the final to again take silver. There were 6 SU fencers in the in the U14 Boys’ event where Myles Wilkinson, Rohan Nair and Noah Currie made it out of the last 16 into the quarter-finals. Noah went through to the semis but lost there to finish with a bronze medal. Myles was 6th, Rohan 7th, Finnbharr 10th, Theo 12th and Joshua 13th. U16s Charlie Beimers won gold in the U16 Girls, beating fellow SU fencer Alexandra Ong in the final 15-3. Finn Neely was absent from the Boys’s U16s this time due to Covid. Another excellent set of results from our SU fencers, with a total of 1 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals. Well done to all 13 fencing competitors and thanks to 4 of our senior fencers, Izzy Evans, Alexander Penny, Victoria Morris and Alex Atkinson who attended the event as fight referees. Round 3 of the NIJFS will be on Sat 5th or Sun 6th Feb 2022 (tbc) in the Queen’s Leisure Complex in Holywood. For those 16 and over the next event will be the Northern Ireland Open in the Ulster University Magee Campus in Londonderry on 29th and 30th Jan 2022. David White SUFC Coach 15 Dec 2021

The Derry Open Fencing Tournament was held last weekend 20th and 21st November at the Magee Campus of the Ulster University in Londonderry. The women's foil event was held on the Saturday and 5 SU fencers took part: Alex Atkinson, Charlie Beimers, Izzy Evans, Angharad King and Victoria Morris. The men's foil event was on the Sunday and had 2 SU fencers competing: Keir Murray and Alexander Penny. In the poule stage of the women’s foil event on the Saturday all 5 SU girls fenced well, Alex Atkinson putting in an especially strong performance to win 9 of her 10 fights, placing her as no.2 seed going into the knock-out stage. Alex, Victoria and Izzy all made it through to the quarter-finals, with Alex winning there to make it into the semis, where she lost a tough fight to finish 3rd. Victoria and Izzy were 5th and 6th, Angharad and Charlie 9th and 10th. In the men’s foil on the Sunday Alexander Penny won 6 from 10 fights in the poule stage, while Keir won 3, placing them 9th and 13th in the seeding for the knock-out stage. Both had byes into the last 16 where Keir had a tough fight, going out to the no.4 seed to finish 13th, while Alexander beat the no.8 seed 15-13 in a close fight after being 11-13 down. Alexander then met and lost to the no.1 seed in the quarter-finals to finish a creditable 8th. This was an excellent turn-out of SU fencers in the first senior N Ireland fencing competition since the arrival of Covid-19, with strong performances given by all seven. The next event for SUFC fencers will be for U12s, U14s and U16s at Round 2 of the NI Junior Foil Series on 11th December. For those 16 and over the next event will be the Northern Ireland Open 29th and 30th January. David White SUFC Coach 24 Nov 2021

Last Sunday 7th November saw the return of competitive fencing to N Ireland with Round 1 of the 2021/2022 N Ireland Junior Foil Series, held at Hunterhouse College in South Belfast. Six Sullivan Upper Fencing Club junior members attended: Noah Currie, Finn Neely, Alexandra Ong, Amelia Penny, Sam Snoddy, and Myles Wilkinson. U16s In the U16 Boys, Finn Neely won all his poule fights to take the no.1 seed position for the knock-out stage. He then won through to the final where he was narrowly beaten 10-9 in a tie break. Alexandra Ong made the semis in the girls’ U16s, but lost, finishing with the bronze medal. U14s Amelia Penny won 4 fights from 5 in her poule, placing her 2nd in the seedings for the U14 Girls’ knock-out stage. She ended up facing the no.1 seed in the final where she took silver in a tough fight against the top U14 from Dublin. After the poule stage in the U14 Boys’ event Noah Currie was seeded 2nd and Myles Wilkinson 3rd. Unfortunately the 2 SU fencers met in the semis, with Noah going through to the final and Myles taking the bronze medal. Noah then defeated the no.1 seed in the final with a convincing 15-7 win. U12s Year 8 Sam Snoddy won all his poule fights and took the top seed position for the knock-out stage. He then had a tough route through to take the U12 Boys’gold medal, winning both semi-final and final by one point 10-9. These are excellent results for our SU fencers, with a total of 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. Well done all six, and bad luck Charlie Beimers for missing out due to Covid! Thanks is due to 3 of our senior fencers, Izzy Evans, Alexander Penny and Victoria Morris who attended the event as fight referees. Round 2 of the NIJFS will be on Sat 11th December in RBAI in Belfast. For those 16 and over the next event will be the North West Open senior competition in the Ulster University Magee Campus on 20th and 21st November. David White SUFC Coach 08 Nov 2021

Four Sullivan fencers (plus coach) travelled south to the Irish National Indoor Arena at Blanchardstown, Dublin on Saturday 23rd October to compete in the Irish Open Fencing Championships. This was the first event of the Irish 2021/22 fencing season, and the first fencing competition to be held in Ireland since March 2020. In the women’s foil event Izzy Evans and Alex Atkinson finished in the last 16 in 9th and 12th places, while Victoria Morris fought her way through to the quarter finals to finish 6th. Alexander Penny represented Sullivan in the men’s foil, finishing 21st, the youngest in a field of 38. These are excellent results for the 4 SU fencers, stepping up this year from junior to senior level to compete against the best fencers in Ireland. The next event for SUFC fencers will be for U12s, U14s and U16s at Round 1 of the NI Junior Foil Series on 7th November. For those 16 and over the next event will be the North West Open senior competition in the Ulster University Magee Campus on 20th and 21st November. David White SUFC Coach 31 Oct 2021

If you need to speak to someone about a pastoral issue, please email info@sullivanupper.holywood.ni.sch.uk. Please include pupil name and class so this can be directed to the Form Teacher. Alternatively, and also if there is a safeguarding issue, you can reach a senior member of staff via the pastoral email: suspastoral114@c2kni.net

The English and Drama Department have organised a festive treat for Year 8. On Wednesday 16 December 2020 they will be part of the worldwide audience for The Old Vic’s “A Christmas Carol”.