Development Squads over recent months and have been further selected for Summer Development Squads. They represented both their school and their clubs really well.

The Youth Irish Open was held last Sunday 11th May in the Loreto Abbey Sports Centre in Dalkey, Dublin. Six SU fencers made the trip to this, the largest junior fencing event of the year in Ireland: Tom Morrow, Lydia Hamilton, Eric Hutchinson, Flynn Woolsey-Jensen, William Penny and Olivia Morse. All 6 put in strong performances with 3 of the 6 returning home with age group bronze medals. U12s Olivia made the semi-finals in the girls’ U12 event, but then lost 7-9 in a close fight to finish 3rd and earn one of the above mentioned bronze medals. U14s In the girls’ U14s Lydia won 3 from 4 in her poule, making her 2nd seed going into the knock-out stage. She made the semis, but in a nail-biting match lost there to the number 3 seed 14-15 to take the 2nd bronze for Sullivan. Tom, Eric, Flynn and William were all competing in the boys’ U14s. William got off to a flying start with 4 poule wins from 5, seeding him 3rd for the knock-out stage. Unfortunately, in this stage Tom and Eric met in the L16, with Tom taking the win 15-10 to go into the quarter-finals. William and Flynn had also made the L8 and the two met there in another very close fight with Flynn winning 15-14 to go into the semis. Meanwhile, Tom lost his L8 fight to the no.1 seed to finish 8th overall, with William 5th and Eric 9th. Flynn lost his semi-final fight to the number 2 seed to finish 3rd and win a 3rd bronze medal for SUFC.

The 2025 British Youth Fencing Championships were held over the weekend May 3rd to May 5th in the English Institute of Sport Arena in Sheffield. Three SU fencers had qualified to represent N Ireland in the event across 2 age groups: Lennox Brown and Noah Currie in the U16s and William Penny in the U14s. The BYCs is the biggest UK youth fencing competition of the year with all of the UK’s best young fencers competing. Lennox, Noah and William all put in strong performances, all 3 taking L64 finishes. SUFC 2025 BYC Results U16 boys: Noah 38th, Lennox 47th. U14 boys: William 60t

Henry Campbell (Year 10) recently participated in the season opening Golf Ireland event, Connaught U14 at Strandhill Golf club, Sligo. In blustery conditions Henry finished 3rd in a tough U14 field, whilst also competing in the U16 event coming 31st in a field of 120 competitors.   Henry was also competing in a 18-hole Justin Rose qualifying event at Lough Erne Faldo course, and again in poor weather with driving rain and blustery conditions,  Henry finished 1st with a +3 finish.   The following 2 days in a 36-hole event at  Lough Erne Faldo course, this time in a European Ranking event, Henry finished 3rd overall with a strong UK wide entry list. A great start to the U14 season.

Congratulations to the A Level Chemistry pupils who took part in the Royal Society of Chemistry's International Chemistry Olympiad. Robbie Barnett and Megan Mountford were awarded Gold, Izzy Martin, Holly Robinson and Eve Moore (not photographed) were awarded Silver and Susanna Reavy, Rachel Meharg and Ellie Savage were awarded Bronze. Robbie achieved the highest mark by a Sullivan pupil since we introduced the competition. Well done everyone!

Congratulations to Year 8C pupil Charlie McVeigh who recently won a European Under 12 Tennis Title beating players from Spain, Estonia, Turkey and Romania. Charlie is also the current national champion ranked number one in his age group in both singles and doubles. Charlie is looking forward to representing the school in the upcoming tennis season.

The East of Ireland Open, the 5th of Ireland’s 6 Senior National Circuit fencing events, was held last weekend 22nd & 23rd March in University College Dublin. Five SU fencers took part: Amelia Penny, Cassidy Ogle, Myles Wilkinson, Lennox Brown and Tom Woolsey-Jensen. Also taking part was ex-SUFC fencer, now fencing for Oxford University, Alexander Penny. The men’s foil, held on the Saturday, saw Myles, Lennox, Tom and Alexander all make it through to the last 32. Tom and Lennox were knocked out at this stage, while Myles and Alexander both went through to the L16, Myles winning 15-12, Alexander 15-13. Both then lost their L16 fights with the same score, 9-15. Alexander finished 12th, Myles 14th, Lennox 28th and Tom 29th.   In the women’s foil on the Sunday both Amelia and Cassidy made the last 16. Cassidy lost at this stage, while Amelia went through to the last 8 with a convincing 15-5 win. Amelia then lost her L8 bout to the eventual gold medal winner to finish 7th, with Cassidy 9th.   Overall, strong performances by all 5 SU fencers in a tough competition. The next event for SUFC senior fencers will be the Irish National Championships in Dublin on the 26th and 27th April.   David White SUFC Coach 25 March 2025

Brody Neely (Year 11) has qualified for the under 15 European Championships in Madrid in July representing Ireland. He smashed the target weight of 177KG and lifted a total of 180KG to qualify. He is now Irish Age Grade Champion in the U15 71KG category too and current British no 1 in the U15 67KG category - a few pictures here from Cork Weightlifting Club.

Congratulations to Polly Smith (Year 9) who has retained her U13 Irish Nationals table tennis title. Polly turned up the heat in the semi-final to overcome a very defensive player from Munster and then had to step up another gear to beat one of the close Ulster rivals in the final.  This ends her time in the U13 category apart from hoping on a call up for the inter pros now which are due to take place in Ulster in April this year.  Well done Polly! During January and February, Toby Caldwell (Year 11) travelled with both the Ulster and Irish Table Tennis teams, to competitions in Ayrshire, Derby, Sligo and Craigavon. He won medals both in the individual and group teams. Most recently Toby competed in the Ulster Table Tennis Championships 2025, he achieved gold in the under 17s and silver in the under 15s. Pushing his Irish Under 17s ranking to 3rd.

The Mathematics Department held their annual pi-day competition on Friday, March 13th (3.14). The winner is the pupil who can recall pi to the greatest number of decimal places.  We had pupils across years 8 to 14 taking part and all impressed with their ability to recall the random list of digits.   If you have been following our pi-day story over the last few years, you may remember that Holly Robinson achieved 1000 decimal places two years ago when she was in Year 12.  She did not participate last year, though had promised she would enter again this year, her last chance to do so before she leaves Sullivan for adventures further afield.  Holly did not disappoint and achieved a phenomenal 1 415 (one thousand four hundred and fifteen!!!!!) decimal places.  In all it took her about 10 minutes.  The teachers checking all was correct were left in awe.  We presented Holly with a special personalised mug to recognise her unbelievable efforts.   Winners in the other age categories were at Key Stage 3  Luca Jordan (Year 8) with 262, Amy Walker (Year 9) with 296 and at Key Stage 4 Andrew Greer (Year 12) with  297.

We have more news of some outside school Drama Success. The Youth Lyric have just finished four fabulous shows of Alice in Wonderland, feathering Erin Williams (Yr 13) as a fantastic Caterpillar, Poppy Wilson (Yr 8) as 7 of Hearts and Olivia Currie (Yr10/11) as a member of the Queen's Counsel. Over 100 people audition for a cast of 24 and these girls were successful to be cast in the show - Directed by Lynn McElroy, They have been rehearsing every Saturday since November for this show, involving dancing, singing and acting. What a slick, fast paced and professional show ! The Mayor of Belfast & other VIP guests attended Friday's production.

Year 13 English Literature pupils enjoyed an interesting visit to the Seamus Heaney Homeplace at Bellaghy on Wednesday 5 March. They were treated to a lecture, a seminar, lunch and a tour of the exhibits. An inspiring day was had by all!