Visit by the Deputy First Minister This week the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness visited the Politics Society. Mr McGuinness began by telling us his claim to fame was playing golf with former Sullivan pupil, Rory McIlroy, at the back of Stormont Castle when he nearly took the head off Peter Robinson’s private secretary! The Deputy First Minister started by saying that the media’s reports of him and Peter Robinson having fallen out were not true and that they talk every day. Recent discussions included dealing with issues such as the Belfast City Hall flag disputes, the summer parades and welfare reform. Mr McGuinness said that although he and Peter Robinson came to office during a recession they have been able to attract foreign direct investment from the USA, Brazil and China with the creation of 1000s of jobs in the region. He also said that Northern Ireland was being damaged by the London government’s resistance to lower corporation tax from 21% to 12.5%, as is the case in the Republic of Ireland, and went on to say that following a meeting with David Cameron there were no plans to devolve corporation taxes powers until after the Scottish independence referendum. Mr McGuinness used his home city of Derry as an example of how relations have improved in Northern Ireland. He said that there are now regular meetings between himself, the DUP, Bogside Resident Association and the Apprentice Boys to discuss parades and there are no longer any major issues with parading. The first question put to the Deputy First Minister was about the Education and Skills Authority and its impact on grammar schools. Mr McGuinness confirmed agreement has been reached between Sinn Féin and the DUP and grammar schools, such as Sullivan, should be happy. Mr McGuinness was then asked if he believed an opposition at the Assembly would make it more effective. He said that the people talking about forming an opposition (ie the UUP and SDLP) were the ones who wanted it least and believes that what they want is remain in the executive but also criticise it at the same time. We thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the Deputy First Minister to the Politics Society and hope he returns to Sullivan in the future. Jamie Woods Chairman of the Politics Society

Congratulations to Victoria Duxbury (Yr 13) and Rachael Philpott (Yr 11) on their tremendous performances in the recent Irish National Championships.   After six hours of competition, the girls faced each other in the senior final, with Victoria emerging as the winner (thus retaining her Irish National Champion title) and Rachel as runner-up.

I am delighted to inform you of recent sporting success and significant upcoming fixtures. Girls Hockey This Saturday (16 March 2013) the U14 Girls play in the Final of their Plate competition at 10.30 am at the Dub. Boys Hockey Our boys have reached the Final of three major competitions – a tremendous achievement in itself. All matches to be played at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club Tuesday 19 March 2013 U15 (Richardson Cup) 2.00 pm Wednesday 20 March 2013 1st XI Schools (Burney) Cup 2.00 pm Thursday 21 March 2013 U14 (Ferris Cup) 3.00 pm Rugby Seven boys have been selected for Ulster at U19 level to play Munster on 23 March 2013: Dave Cave, Michael Cartmill, Josh Davidson, Scott Finlay, Chris Griffiths, David McMaster and Ross Todd. Four boys have been selected for Ulster at U18 level to play an English Independent Schools Touring side on 8 April 2013: Mark Adair, Zach Bertenshaw, James Houston and Angus Macartney. The Annual 7s competition takes place at Campbell College this Saturday (16 March 2013 – 11.00 am-4.00 pm) we will have teams in both the Senior and Medallion competitions.  Meanwhile, the U12 team will be competing in the Coleraine Tournament 10.00 am-2.00 pm. Netball The Senior girls won their division of the Belfast League. Badminton The Senior boys and Minor girls were runners-up in the recent Schools competition. Congratulations to all pupils involved and their coaches. C J W PEEL Headmaster

The  Ulster Rugby U19s are playing a match against Munster U19s on the 23 March 2013 and have selected the following Sullivan Upper pupils to play – Scott Finlay, Chris Griffiths, Ross Todd, Dave Cave, Michael Cartmill and David McMaster.

Visit by Yvonne Galligan Professor Yvonne Galligan, a lecturer in woman’s politics at Queen’s University, visited the Politics Society last Friday 1 March 2013. Professor Galligan began by describing her experience of monitoring elections in Macedonia, while working for the Council of Europe. She explained how men would take the voting cards from their wives and daughters and vote on their behalf, undermining their rights. She pointed out that this problem was not limited to Macedonia, but happens all over the world. Professor Galligan shared statistics from the last Assembly election to show how the different parties compared when it came to putting woman up as candidates in constituencies. The Alliance Party, SDLP and Sinn Féin faired significantly better than the unionist parties when it came to fielding woman candidates but even those parties had no more than 25% of female candidates. Professor Galligan then went on to show how many female candidates went on to get elected to the Assembly. Again the Alliance Party and Sinn Féin were the best parties when it came to having a larger proportion of female MLAs but the overall percentage of woman in the Assembly was still only 19%. This is obviously not right considering woman make up 50% of the population. Professor Galligan continued by showing us how educationally, a higher percentage of woman leave school with 3 A-Levels and go onto university, asking the question, why is their such a low percentage of woman in politics? Professor Galligan then presented research conducted by herself and a colleague on the public’s view on female participation in politics. The results were startling. They showed that 2/3’s of the Northern Irish population said that they supported the idea of more female politicians; although woman were more likely to support the idea than men, the bigger difference was shown in age. People between the ages of 50 and 65 were the most supportive – Professor Galligan suggested that this was because this age group grew up during the time that the civil rights movement was in its prime. This gave them a more liberal view on gender equality and they consider it to be very important. Professor Galligan was the first lecturer the Politics Society has welcomed but, following this meeting, she certainly won’t be the last as she gave us a lot of useful information in enhance our understanding of the political landscape. Jamie Woods Chairman of the Politics Society

Sullivan Upper School: EDUCATION BILL Please click HERE to find a very important letter asking for your support to amend the ESA Bill that is passing through Stormont at the moment.  At the conclusion of the letter, the Principals of Bloomfield and Strathearn are asking you to join with us to lobby the First Minister.  You can do this by completing a postcard (which your son/daughter should bring home this week) or, more easily, copying the text of the paragraph below into an email (subject ESA Bill), adding your name and address, and emailing it to rt.hon.peter.robinson@btconnect.com. Thank you for your support in the matter. C J W PEEL Headmaster March 2013 Dear Mr Robinson As a supporter of local grammar schools, I wish to express my opposition to the Education Bill currently before the Assembly Education Committee.  Specifically, I am opposed to: the reduction in powers of local Boards of Governors; the control of our schools being surrendered to ESA and the Education Minister; the increased bureaucracy and associated costs; the lack of representation for grammar schools on the ESA Board. I request that, before this Bill is passed into law, you ensure that amendments are put in place to make certain that the power to run all schools resides with local Boards of Governors and more power and funding would come directly to all schools for the benefit of pupils. Thank you Name Please Print Address  Signature Please click here for the Executive Summary – GBA Analysis of the Education Bill Please click here for GBA – Frequently Asked Questions Please click here for the List of Contact Details

At the Grammar Schools Swimming Gala held on Saturday 2 March 2013 the results and medals are as follows:  Junior Boys:    Peter Speers  Silver Butterfly/4th in Breast stroke Intermediate Girls:  Gemma Speers Gold Butterfly / Silver Backstroke Senior Boys: Roger Dawson Gold Freestyle / Bronze Breast Stroke James Doggart Silver Individual Medley / Silver Butterfly Harry Speers 4th Butterfly / 5th Freestyle Senior Girls: Robyn Laird 6th Individual Medley Relays: Senior Team  (Harry Speers, James Doggart,  Roger Dawson, Peter Speers) Gold freestyle / Gold Individual Medley Senior Boys 1st  and winners of the Senior Boys Cup Sullivan overall 3rdHelped by : Christian Best/Ethan McKnight/Megan Laird/ Robert McNutt/ Jessica Chishop

Visit by the Justice Minister Mr Ford began by describing his role as Justice Minister and explained how he was the only candidate for the job as the other parties couldn’t agree to whom the role should go to. He also stated the way the Alliance Party had two seats at the executive, when larger parties only had one, was down to the poor way executive seats are given. Mr Ford said that prior to Alliance gaining two seats they had put forward a resolution, which if accepted would resolve the problem. The resolution was put down by other parties. Mr Ford also made reference to the ongoing flags protests and said that in his role as Justice Minister he fully supported the police and believed all illegal protests should stop. He said he believed the distribution of leaflets by the unionist parties played a key role in inciting violence from the loyalist community. Then came the questions from the floor, the first asking how the Alliance Party attracted young voters. Mr Ford said he believed the fact that Alliance was neither unionist nor nationalist would attract young people who no longer wanted ‘the sectarian head count’ that other parties give. He was also asked if he believed that bringing up further legislation on flags was provocative. He replied by saying he didn’t believe that an inclusive society couldn’t be built when there are still areas where certain members of society are not welcome. Finally, Mr Ford was asked if he believed MLAs performed their role to the best of their abilities. He said that the Assembly has many former councillors who don’t have experience as full time public representatives and that many had a stark unwillingness to contribute to debates. Jamie Woods Chairman of the Politics Society

Two of the Sullivan Upper Art Club groups have made it through to the Northern Regional Finals of the Junk Kouture fashion design competition for the second year running. The qualifying entries are  ‘A (d) Dress’ by Katie Ireland and Esther Millar, Year 10, and ‘Supernova’ by Meg Wilson and Isobel Meharg, Year 9. If you could take a moment to  vote for their entries that would be greatly appreciated!  The entries can be viewed and you can vote at : http://www.junkkouture.com/

Well done to all who took part on a very wet and muddy course at Mallusk in the Ulster Cross Country. Three boys have qualified for the Irish Finals: Jonny Brattle 7th in the Junior competition Harry Speers 12th and Roger Dawson 14th in the Senior competition. The Junior boys came 4th in the team event , just missing out on qualification. Each race had between 100 and 150 runners from all Ulster including Donegal so competition was at a high level. W Gilfillan

Congratulations to former pupils Emma Burgess, Matthew Graham, Jamie Smyth, Anna Betts and Jess Brown who received their certificates for the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme from Peter and Richard Chambers, Olympic Silver Medalists, at St James’s Palace on Tuesday 5 February 2013.

Congratulations to the following Sixth Form Creative Writers – Rachel McDougall, Victoria Wilton and Nina Lloyd Humphreys who have successfully been selected to attend the renouned Arvon Residential Writing Course, in Devon on July. As members of the Inter-Schools Creative Writers’ network, they have qualified to have their places at this course fully funded. Excitement all round!