Sullivan Results from District A Schools’ Cross Country Championships Delamont Country Park – Thursday 31 January 2013 On a very windy, sometimes wet and extremely muddy day nearly fifty Sullivan pupils took part in the Cross Country Competition. Well done to all who (despite losing shoes, sliding and falling in the mud) managed to finish the course. The following teams all managed to qualify for the Ulster Championships held on Wednesday 13 February 2013 at Mallusk Playing Fields: Mini Girls, Minor Girls, Intermediate Girls and the Junior Boys Those who finish in the top fifteen also qualify as individuals, these were: Mini Girls:  Hannah Jemphrey and Jenna McKearney Minor Girls: Nia McNally and Alice Burton Inter Girls: Jemma Speers (6th) Junior Boys: Jonny Brattle (2nd) and Stephen Hodgson Senior Boys: Harry Speers (3rd) and Roger Dawson (5th)

Visit by the First Minister Mr Robinson began by talking about his role as First Minister and the difficulties that face himself and the deputy First Minister regularly when dealing with a five party coalition. He drew comparison with the coalition in London and joked that perhaps Westminster is at last learning the difficulties themselves, and the frequent necessity to find common ground. He also discussed the trade offs between the different parties on many policies so that everyone in the Executive can agree on them. We then moved onto questions from the pupils. One of the many questions asked was in relation to the leaflets in Alliance Party colours handed out by the DUP and UUP in Belfast. Mr Robinson said the leaflets did not say to go out and protests but that people should contact their local Alliance Party councillors, MLAs and MP to voice their opinion. He then produced one of the leaflets he had brought with him and pointed out that it clearly stated “Please be respectful at all times”. One of the last questions was ‘If the UK leaves the EU, would Northern Ireland be better joining with the Republic?’ The First Minister said that the UK is a net contributor to the EU and such the reality is that Northern Ireland receives £10 billion points from the British treasury each year whereas if the Dublin government had to give us that amount it would “sink” their finances. He finished by saying that he believes a border poll would be a good way of the Northern Irish people telling Sinn Féin that they wanted to remain part of the UK. Overall, the First Minister’s visit provided a fantastic insight into his role and gave us an opportunity to hear his opinion on recent events. Jamie Woods (13G) Politics Society

Congratulations to Upper Sixth pupils Michael Robson and Conor Roberts who have been selected for the Ulster U18 and U21 teams respectively, to compete in the up-coming inter-provincial championships.  Former pupil Matthew Allister has also been selected for the Ulster U21 team.

Sullivan student Ryan Richards awarded third place at the Foyle Film Festival Moving Image Arts Awards Ryan Richards, who left Sullivan at the end of last year, has been awarded third place at the prestigious Foyle Film Festival CCEA Moving Image Arts Awards Showcase, which took place at Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast, before Christmas.  He is currently an undergraduate of Film Studies at QUB. Ryan’s film ‘Geminids’ tells the story of a young girl who is fascinated by stargazing and witnesses some strange supernatural events during the annual Geminids shower. Ryan took an adventurous approach to the making of this film, even taking an electrical generator to a local beach in order to create the stunning cinematography seen in the meteor storm sequence.  He dedicated many hours to animating the explosive special effects for this scene and in creating the beautiful ‘bokeh’ lighting effects showcased throughout the production. Starring his close family in the main roles, Ryan successfully integrates humour into this impressive and professional production.  A young film maker of considerable talent, Ryan Richards will be a name to watch in years to come! Ingrid Arthurs, Subject Officer for Moving Image Arts at CCEA, commented: CCEA’s Moving Image Arts course offers students a unique and exciting opportunity to express their ideas creatively and it is fantastic that we are able to showcase their achievement in such a public forum, where these ideas can be shared and appreciated by a wider audience. Martin Melarkey, Chief Examiner for Moving Image Arts, added: A key objective of Moving Image Arts is to support the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. From the outstanding talent and imagination on display in these short films, it certainly seems as if this ambition is being fulfilled. http://www.rewardinglearning.org.uk/newsroom/press/2011/press_061211.asp

Fencing Success for Sullivan Upper Fencers The 2012/13 fencing year is well under way and SUFC fencers have achieved some impressive successes. Victoria Duxbury Victoria has had an amazing year so far! To date she has won bronze medals at three senior British Open Tournaments: the Merseyside Open in Liverpool, the Birmingham Allstar Cup and the Scottish Open in Edinburgh. These results, along with wins in local NI events and other significant British and Irish competition performances have taken her to 18th in the Senior UK National rankings and 2nd in the Senior Irish National rankings. Victoria is the only female NI fencer in the UK top 20 of any of the fencing weapons, foil, epee or sabre. She is also the current (2012) N Ireland Women’s Foil Champion, Irish Women’s Foil Champion and Irish Under 17 Women’s Foil Champion, and has represented both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Rachel Philpott 2012/13 has seen Rachel continue to improve her fencing, having so far achieved 2nd places at the West of Ireland and North West Opens and a 3rd place at the South of Ireland Open in Cork. These results, along with others have seen her move up to 3rdplace in the Senior Irish National rankings (just behind Victoria). Sullivan Junior Fencing After 2 rounds, Iona O’Neill currently leads the Girls’ Under 14 age group in the NI Junior Foil Series, a series of competitions that runs every year for fencers in the age groups U12, U14 and U16. Iona won at the first round, held at Sullivan back in November 2012, with Emily Maginn finishing 2nd. At the second round at Wallace High School in Lisburn Iona won again, with Rachel Smyth 3rd and Emily 5th. David White SUFC Coach 7 Jan 2013

The 1st XI Boys Hockey Team are through to the McCullough Cup final this Wednesday 19 December 2012. This is only the second time in the school’s history that we have reached the final. The Final is against Banbridge Academy starting at 2.00 pm at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club.

Sullivan Upper Junior Drama Society are delighted to present their ‘Celebration with Dickens’ evening in the Drama Theatre this week. Students from Years 8 to 10 will perform an extract from ‘Oliver Twist’ and an abridged version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 December 2012 at 7.30 pm. Tickets are on sale now for £5, and should be available at the door on both nights.

Two teams took part in the BPW Public speaking Competition on 16 November 2012 at Newforge Country Club, Belfast. The girls, Cathy Kitchen, Alix Murray and Megan Bourke spoke on Economic issues and the boys, Nick Hodgson, Ross Mckenna and James Convill chose “Stress- the threat from within” as their topic. Both teams were  highly commended on their thought-provoking  and most enjoyable speeches.

Sullivan Upper pupils are once again celebrating after obtaining superb results in the recent GCSE, AS and A level examinations. At A Level 83% of pupils obtained 3 grades A*-C and 35 pupils were awarded at least 3 grades A/A*.  Five pupils (Kirsten Beggs, Wilson Hill, Adam Leach, Jill Luke & Tom McClelland) secured places at Oxbridge.  As always, the most important statistic is that the overwhelming majority of pupils secured their place at university. At GCSE a highly impressive 50% of the year group obtained at least 7 grades A/A* and 96% obtained at least 7 grades A*-C.  23% of all entries were awarded an A* grade.  Five pupils (Rebekah Fitch, Rebecca Kelly, Michael Kennedy, Catherine Kitchen & Rowena Seaton-Kelly) were each awarded 11 A*s – a further three obtained 10 A*s + 1 A and another four obtained 9 A*s and 2As. The Headmaster, Mr Peel, commented: “These results do not just happen – they stem from a combination of ability and sheer hard work on the part of the pupils; skill and dedication on the part of the staff; and the support of family and friends.  I congratulate all pupils and to those who have moved on I offer my best wishes

Mr Simpson started by talking of his time at Sullivan and how he left with the aspiration of being a sports journalist but was told that it would not be as interesting as he hoped and that he should go into overall news journalism. We were also shown as short DVD clip of Mark reporting on an event in the North East of England a few years ago and what goes on behind the scene in his job. He then went on to show a slideshow on Stormont, but not before he had embarrassed his two daughters who attend Sullivan but had boycotted his talk by putting up baby photos of them! Mr Simpson went through a number of different slides on words that he would link to Stormont. He started with ‘Stable” saying that “if Stormont collapsed before the next election I would run round the back pitches in my boxers!” He believes that Stormont, through all its flaws has worked effectively to move Northern Ireland forward. The next slide was ‘Tense’ saying that although the leadership at Stormont works well together, there are still issues at grassroots level. Mr Simpson also thought ‘Open’ and ‘Robust’ described Stormont well. He also said Stormont was ‘Media-Friendly’ saying that there is a human side to the politicians up at Stormont who want the media to give a positive view of what happens up there. In Mr Simpson’s opinion Stormont is ‘Overcrowded” saying that 108 MLAs for 1.8 million people far outweighed public representation in any other part of the UK and Ireland. He finished by saying Stormont was ‘Nasty’ and ‘Tedious’ with some of the work being done there was monotonous and sometimes not done in the friendliest of ways. When asked if he thought community relations had improved Mark said that they certainly had and he had seen them get better in his job but the leaders had to do more before Northern Ireland truly moves on. He was also asked what moment in his career stuck out in his mind the most. Mark recalled a live report he did in 2007 during the disappearance of Shannon Matthews in England. During his live report he said Shannon had been arrested rather than her mother and got himself completely confused. He described as “almost career destroying!” Overall, Mr Simpson’s visit provided the society with a very different viewpoint of Northern Irish politics and was extremely interesting. Jamie Woods Chairman of the Politics Society

Sullivan Singers singing with Peter Corry in Music Box Extravaganza at the Theatre in the Mill – Friday 14 December 2012 at 7.30 pm.