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informA Ballyclare Secondary Publication First for School News & Views

Fond Farewell to Mr HoustonSchools are wonderful places. From our first day when we are shiny and new in Year 8 to our last in year 12 or 6th form, we are growing and changing and adapting. We are becoming stronger and faster and more ca-pable. Things that puzzled us in junior school make so much sense in senior school. We have opportunities to reflect on ourselves as an individual, as a member of a class and as a member of a community. Most importantly, we have the chance to make the choice every day to try and do a little bit better than we did yesterday. Change and development are what schools are all about.

It’s pretty much the same when you are a Pastoral Vice Principal. Every day is different, and I have learned something every day I have been here. I have tried, every day, to do a little bit better than I did yesterday. I have not always succeeded, but I believe educa-tion is a journey and no one gets everything right first time every time.

I certainly haven’t. For example, I failed my cycling proficiency test in primary school. I was gutted. There was only me and a boy called Richard failed it that year. But it didn’t stop me going out on my bike. And then to make matters worse, my partner in disaster, Richard, only went on that year to pass his “11 plus” transfer exam (the test before the P7 AQE test existed). I didn’t pass mine. In those days (when I were a lad…), you didn’t get a number score, you got a grade – an ‘A’, an ‘M’ or a ‘G’. Richard got an ‘A’ and kept on telling me how easy the test had been. I got a ‘G’. I was devastated. My mum kept trying to cheer me up by saying odd things like, ‘Sure just aim for the stars should you only hit a lamp post’, or ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’. What I didn’t understand at the time was that my mum,

who isn’t a teacher, was trying to teach me something important about ambition and te-nacity- about challenging myself, and aiming big, and not giving up when things don’t go my way. She didn’t cheer me up much at the time though – the only thing that did was when someone let the air out of Richard’s tyres on his bike. Wasn’t me, I promise.

When I was appointed to this school in 2012, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to join such a prestigious school. Literally everyone I told that I was going to work in Ballyclare Secondary said the same thing; “What a fantastic school, you will love it there”. I can honestly say they were right.  I have met and had the privilege of working with brilliant parents, outstanding staff in every role with-in the school and best of all, a superb group of young people.

So I wasn’t particularly looking for opportu-nities to move on a few months back when a friend sent me a text saying there was an opening for a Principal in Ulidia Integrated College in Carrickfergus. I think it’s important

to grab every opportunity that presents itself, and so I was delighted when they offered me the job. And then the realisation hit that I had to leave Ballyclare Secondary – something which I will be very sad to do.

This is a superb school, and I will always feel honoured to have been a small part of its great history. To the talented and dedicated staff, and especially to the Leadership Team, I wish to say a huge thank you for all your help and support; I think the pupils in this school are more blessed than they will ever know. To the pupils, I would leave you with the same advice I was given: dream big dreams and challenge yourself to aim as high as you can; work as hard as you can at everything you do no matter what those around you are doing; never give up no matter how many knock backs you get; treat each other as you would like to be treated and seize every opportunity that comes your way. Oh, and tuck your shirt in and do up your top button please…

M Houston

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School Enhancement Programme- Phase 1 CompleteThe school enhancement programme has provided a state of the art extension onto the existing school buildings. A completely new wing of the school now houses the English, Geography and HE departments. The HE department is still situated on the ground floor and is now equipped with state of the art equipment and computer rooms. In addition, the department now boasts a child development/ health and social care room. The English and Geography departments have also gained new suites and all classrooms are furnished and equipped to the highest standard.

The second stage of the redevelopment of the PE department has now been completed. The school now boasts modern changing facilities for boys and girls, toilets and staff offices. The second stage of the redevelop-ment has also included a wider entrance at the side of the department which will help ease of access to the rest of the school.

PE Department Given a face-lift

New Mini Bus Arrives in Ballyclare Secondary SchoolOn Wednesday 13th April 2016 a Coffee Morning was held in Ballyclare Secondary School to celebrate the arrival of a brand new School Mini Bus.

The brand new silver Ford Transit mini bus arrived on site and was welcomed by the invited guests, members of staff and the Board of Governors.

In a presentation to guests Mrs Bell, Principal highlighted the tremendous asset the new bus will be for the school. It will enable school rugby, hockey, netball and football teams to travel in safety to the many fixtures which they have throughout the season, the school will be able to facilitate many school trips including Geog-raphy fieldtrips, Scripture Union Weekend, Year 8 residential trips, a key part of our induction process, and transport for the choir and orchestra to music festivals to name just a few of the many activities which go on in the life of a busy school. The curriculum for all pupils can be enriched when there is safe transport available without the financial outlay of hiring buses. Mrs Bell stated that she hoped that all pupils would benefit from the arrival of the new school bus.

“Our pupils and staff take pride in having a school bus and it makes a difference for young people to arrive in the “team” bus, the public identity of Ballyclare Secondary School.”

Mrs Bell thanked all those involved in the fundraising activities which over the past year had raised the funds to facilitate the purchase of the new bus. Particular thanks was given to Mr Brian Casey, Opera-tions Director and Mr Scott Wylie, Business Development Manager of

Fleet Financial who had worked very closely with staff in Ballyclare Secondary School in securing the new bus and to Mr Raymond Hill, City Auction Group for facilitating a Golf 4 Ball Competition in Temple Golf Club in August 2015 which had raised a significant quantity of money towards the purchase of the bus.

Mrs Bell expressed her thanks to all present for their generosity in terms of giving of their time, financial support, sharing of talents and support for the school. Mrs Bell expressed the wish to continue to build on the links already made with local businesses. Working with the local business community provides experiences which support the curriculum and enhance our young people’s learning.

The inaugural trip of the new bus will be on Friday 21st April 2016 it will be used to transport our Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award pupils to the Mourne Mountains for their practice expedition.

Occupational Studies Patisserie and Baking students raise £327 for Cancer Focus During the month of January our Occupa-tional Studies class had two visits from Mr Alistair White from Multi Packaging Solu-tions. We discussed with him our ideas in relation to selling cupcakes for Valentine’s Day. We then had to design our cupcake box. As a class we selected a heart shaped box and decided to include an ingredients list, Valentine poems, our school crest and the name of our product ‘Something Sweet Cupcakes’. We agreed that our cupcake box would be red and pink in colour. Mr White used all this information and Multi Packaging Solutions produced our cupcake boxes. We then waited for the cupcake boxes to arrive. They looked fantastic and as a class we were really looking forward to marketing and selling these to raise money.

We put a poster up in school to advertise our cupcake sale. We baked our cupcakes, dec-orated them and presented them using our

Valentine cupcake boxes. We liked how they turned out and everyone was really happy with how they looked.

Our cupcake sale was on Friday 12th Feb-ruary just before Valentine’s Day. Over 300 cupcakes were made and these were sold out in almost 10 minutes during breaktime. As a class we raised £327 which was amaz-ing. We then had to make the hard decision of selecting a charity to donate the money

to. Following a vote the decision was made to support Cancer Focus. A big thank you must also be made to Mr White from MPS for working with our class and producing the cupcake boxes.

Renee Black

Year 12 Occupational Studies

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National ICT Careers Event

On Tuesday 1st March 2016, a group of 11 A-Level Applied ICT pupils along with Miss Nevin travelled to Titanic Quarter, Belfast for a National ICT Day Careers Event. This was hosted by Bring It On NI along with Pete Snodden from Cool FM.

We were first given an introductory talk by Pete Snodden and the Minister of Employ-ment and Learning (Dr. Stephen Farry). The first activity we participated in was led by an employee from Microsoft in Dublin. He showed us a coding programme he had created called ‘Scratch’. He showed us different ways to advance our knowledge of the programme including the use of an Xbox Kinect Sensor. This was an interesting

activity as some of us had never used the programme ‘Scratch’ before.

The second activity we participated in was being allowed to go around and chat with different companies and universities which offer a wide range of ICT courses and apprenticeships. This was very useful as it allowed us to find out more about the IT career paths some of us wished to go down. Plenty of freebies were gathered by all of us, which included Jelly Beans for our adventure back to school!

The third activity was another talk, which was presented by Tom from Bring It On and

we learned a lot about up-coming future technology which included a wrist-band which had an infrared projector in it that connects to your mobile device to display a screen of it on your wrist. This was very interesting as we had heard rumours about this but we all thought it was fake - but in reality it isn’t! We also learned about Google Glass and why this product was unsuc-cessful within the technology world, due to privacy issues and the very high price.

Overall, this day was very enjoyable and well worth attending.

Jessica Ross 14L

GCSE Art Exhibition On Tuesday 19th April the GCSE art exhibition was on show for pupils and staff to view the high quality of art work produced by our GCSE classes.  View some of the photos below.

School Formal January 2016A fantastic night was had by all who attended the annual formal at Glagorm Manor on 29th January 2016. Everyone was dressed to impress and the night was a great success with lots of good food, fun and laughter. One of the biggest highlights in the school calendar is our 5th and 6th form formal and this year was no different as it certainly didn’t disappoint. The formal committee provided entertainment in the form of a Ballyclare Secondary School version of ‘Take me out’ and many laughs were shared throughout the evening.

Food Preparation – Master ClassOn the 8th February the Food Preparation class ran a Master Chef competition. Well done to all those who took part and particularly the win-ner Stephen Coulter who won a master chef cookery book, a master class at the Templeton and afternoon tea for two in the hotel. Also our congratulations go to Hollie Henderson who was second and Amber Agnew who came third.

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School Ski TripThe school ski trip took place from Saturday 30th January to Saturday 6th February 2016. This year the pupils had the opportunity to travel to Folgaria in the Italian Alps. The pupils completed 4 hours of skiing per day under the supervision of their ski instructors and teachers. At night time the pupils had the opportunity to go ice skating, shopping in the town, take part in the talent show and most importantly eat pizza! On the final day of the trip pupils were taken to the city of Verona and visited many of the key landmarks throughout the city. The school will be returning to the same resort in 2017 and the preparations for this trip are already well underway!

Visit to Parliament Buildings, Stormont to Meet Chris Riddell, Children’s Laureate.Wednesday 27th April dawned bright and beautiful for Year 8 pupils Luke Wilson, Paige Swann and Rosalind Currie, not forgetting their keen English teacher, Mrs Massey as they embarked on their journey to the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Stormont for their eagerly anticipated talk, “The Laureate Log: Drawing you into Books and Stories” by UK Children’s Laureate, Chris Riddell, an ac-complished artist and the political cartoonist of the Observer.

Also a prolific writer, Chris’s books have won a number of major prizes, including the Costa Children’s Book Award 2013 for Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse. He is also the bestselling author of the Ottoline series The Emperor of Absurdia, and, with Paul Stewart, The Edge Chronicles.

Chris delivered a witty and entertaining speech which pupils found inspirational as he explained how his love of reading developed in his various school libraries

– and how the librarian in particular is the gatekeeper to the library! The talk contin-ued as Chris gave details of books that had shaped his life and developed his love of reading, for example, The Hobbit, read every day by his teacher for half an hour at the end of the school day. Through a bad bout of flu, Chris missed several chapters so he paid a visit to the school library where he borrowed a copy of the book, and despite finding the book challenging, he wanted to read it and loved it.

His best advice was: never judge a book by its cover, ironic enough considering he is not only a writer but also an illustrator of children’s fiction!

The setting of the talk, Parliament Buildings, was very impressive and Year 8 pupils left, after a Q & A, book signing and photo-graph, feeling inspired and determined to read a Chris Riddell novel in their next meeting of the Junior Book Club.

Club Francofun!Bonjour! The Club Francofun meets on Thursdays from 3 – 4 O ‘clock.

We complete activities, games on the computer

(Linguascope), Cooking and learn about Culture!

I think the club is fun and a great way to meet new Friends and learn French in a fun way! Everybody is welcome at Club Francofun!

A bientôt!

By Luke Wilson 8L

Theatre Trip - Jane EyreOn Saturday 9th January 2016, I attended a theatre trip with the English department to the Theatre at the Mill in Newtownabbey to see a special screening of Charlotte Bronte’s classic: Jane Eyre, that was performed and filmed in a theatre in London.

I was pleasantly surprised by the experience, and I now hold a memory of a particularly enjoyable night, I really loved it.

It was unlike any production I have seen before, and for those who know me, you will know that I have seen a fair few in my time! The whole play was performed by six actors, who covered about three or four different characters each, with great fluency and ad-mirable skill. They used one set throughout the duration of the play (similar to Sweeney Todd) which included many different levels and several ladders which was cause for some great entertainment, and probably much to the actors dislike, a thorough

workout! My favourite character, believe it or not, was Mr. Rochester’s dog, Pilot, who was played rather accurately and convincingly by a male actor… he made me giggle at every appearance.

My favourite part of the whole play was actually the music. They had a professional singer who provided the music throughout the whole show, one extended song which spanned the entirety of the show, the same melody, mostly the same lyrics, but there were some alternates and I was astounded by her perfect, angelically haunting voice, I could listen to it forevermore. There was also one beautiful male singer who sang too. It was all very minimalist with the instruments, and the costumes, but I feel it suited the simple, plain, nay even traditional way of life in terms of the time period that it was set in, the nineteenth century.

The show lasted for three hours but it did

not seem it, as the story line of this play is so sumptuous and eventful, that not once, were you left bored or distracted thinking about the time. As always, however, it’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with as I like to say, and it was lovely to see my friends at the weekend and catch up with Mrs. Oliver and Mrs. Massey, and we shared some great banter of course. All in all, it was a great night, and I would highly recommend attend-ing any future theatre trips with the English department if you get the chance.

Amye Fothergill 13C

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New Year Ball 2016On Thursday 14th January year 8 and 9 pupils attended the New Year’s Ball. The event took place in the school assembly hall, which was transformed into a buzzing banquet hall with food, music and entertainment. The evening was a tremendous success and everyone, pupils and staff, who attended thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Open Evening 2016A wonderful night was had by everyone involved in our Open Evening. Thank you to everyone who took part in demonstrations within different departments, provided tours and guided prospective pupils and parents around our school. You were all a credit to the school and yourselves, well done.

Defibrilator Purchased!Ballyclare Secondary School is pleased to announce the recent purchase of a defibril-lator (AED). In a school with approximately 1140 children and staff it is a vital piece of equipment that can be used for both adults and children.

It is estimated that 100,000 people die each year in the UK from sudden cardiac arrest and thousands of them could be saved if a defibrillator had been available. For every minute defibrillation is delayed the person’s chance of survival decreases by 10%. While CPR alone (chest compressions and rescue breaths) saves around 9% of people who suffer from a sudden cardiac arrest, CPR and using an automated external defibrillator

(AED) increases the chance of surviv-al five-fold to 50%.

Currently it is not mandatory for schools to keep a defibrillator and Ballyclare Secondary School has purchased the AED in order to provide exceptional care for all.

Moving forward into the next aca-demic year all PE staff will be trained first followed by the rest of the staff. This is a great development when it comes to the safety and well-being of our pupils and staff, you cannot put a price on a life.

“The health and safety of the pupils and staff is paramount”.

Mrs Bell Principal

BBC micro:bit STEM Day – 24th June 2016On 24th June all Year 8 pupils will receive their very own micro:bit – a pocket-sized, codeable computer that will allow pupils to get creative with technology, provided free for all Year 8 pupils by the BBC and their partners as part of an initiative to get pupils interested in digital technology. The mini circuit board can be programmed using a web-based interface to do many things including flashing up numbers, letters

and scrolling messages on the LEDs. Plus, since there’s a built-in accelerometer and compass, it can detect movement and tell which way it’s pointing. All Year 8s will have the chance to programme their micro:bit on the 24th June in the ICT department, led by the STEM team.

Rotary Club Prize WinnersThree of our pupil’s received prizes from the president of Newtownabbey Rotary club, Leonard Sproule, at Corr’s Corner Hotel on 3rd May 2016.

Congratulations to Chloe Ellison who won the Young Photographer, senior section. Sarah Kerr who won Young Photographer, interme-diate section and Abigail Coyle who won the Young Writer competition.

Prize winners pictured at the prize giving hosted by Newtownabbey Rotary Club at Corr’s Corner hotel. From left: Chloe Ellison (Young Photographer, senior section) Winner from Jordanstown School The President, Leonard Sproule Sarah Kerr (Young Pho-tographer, intermediate section) Abigail Coyle (Young Writer)

I was lucky enough to get invited along with two other girls, Chloe and Sarah to receive our prizes for the rotary competitions. We also received a lovely meal and a very warm welcome by all who were there. Overall, it was a lovely evening and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Abigail Coyle 11F

Action MS Thank You LunchCaitlin McKeown, James Close and Michael Murphy were invited to attend the MS lunch at the Ramada Hotel as they were runners up in the Northern Area Secondary Schools Fund Raising for Action M.S. Each pupil raised over £100 and the school raised a total of £3380 last year. Congratulations to these pupils and everyone else who took part.

Jason Lee Achieves Top Award for Occupational StudiesCongratulations to Jason lee Suitors who won the top award for Occupational Studies in Design and Creativity. We are very proud of Jason Lee and his wonderful achieve-ment.

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Year 10 W5 Languages TripWe all left Ballyclare not caring whether or not we did French for GCSE for all we knew was that we were getting out of school for the day. Little did we know that this trip would change our thoughts about doing French GCSE.

We arrived at Queens University and were guided in to the main courtyard. Miss Dun-das talked to us in French about all the dif-ferent language buildings in Queens showing us the scale of language opportunities. After some short French vocabulary questions we all boarded the bus for the Titanic Quarter.

Arriving at Titanic we were told in French a little bit about all the outside sites to do with the Titanic. We were also told about the Ti-tanic Studios famous for its filming of Game of Thrones that employs French camera workers and the need of English interpreter.

After walking through the SSE Arena we finally arrived at W5. After the usual talk of health and safety we meet our two guides who spoke fluent French. From that point onward they didn’t speak English. We were then led into a big science lab and we were

given the instructions of two experiments in French. After learning the equipment names in French we did the screaming jelly baby and money on fire experiment.

After that a lady from Bombardier Belfast came to give us a short talk about what Bombardier is and why if you are to work for them it is important to have a language. Then she talked about STEM subjects (sci-ence, technology, engineering, maths). She then went on to talk about STEM L the L for languages. It’s important to have a language as most of

Bombardier main factories are foreign so a language is needed.

After lunch and an hours worth of free time we headed back to school all wondering should we include GCSE French in our choice of subjects? Should we pick more STEM L subjects? Do I need to rethink what I’m going to choose? It certainly got me thinking.

John Watson 10N

Year 9 Trip to W5On Friday 12th February all of Year 9 were treated to a day of activities at W5 in Belfast as part of the school’s STEM programme. They each participated in one of three workshops. The ‘Extreme Weather’ workshop involved having to investigate how tropical storms develop into hurricanes and learn of their impact on people and places. The pupils worked in small groups or ‘emergency taskforces’, charged with limiting casualties and hurricane damage in a simulated scenario using iPads. Those who took part in the ‘Chemical Reactions’ workshop explored a variety of reactions including combustion, neutralisation and oxidation. The ‘Technology Trials’ workshop involved teamwork and problem solving skills to design and construct a racing buggy using K’Nex in small teams. Pupils then raced their inventions to find out which team had produced the best design. All pupils had a chance to try out the different interactive exhibits as well as testing their agility on ‘Climbit’. 

Edgar Graham Memorial Public Speaking Competition On the evening of Wednesday 10th Feb-ruary Ballyclare Secondary School pupils, Nicole Reid and Kathryn Wilson, both Upper Sixth, participated in the prestigious ‘Edgar Graham Memorial Public Speaking Compe-tition’ – run annually by the ‘Ulster Unionist Women’s Council’ to commemorate the life of former Ulster Unionist party member and lawyer Edgar Graham. The event was held in the Senate Chamber of Parliament Buildings, Stormont, courtesy of host Mrs Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, with prizes distributed by Ms Lynda Bryans, wife of Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt.

A wealth of top grammar schools where represented at the event – including Meth-

odist College Belfast and Coleraine Grammar School. We are delighted that Nicole was placed 2nd for her speech entitled, ‘Social Media: Friend or Foe?’ and Kathryn won, ‘Most Promising Speaker’ for her speech entitled, ‘Gender quotas in politics: Right or wrong?’

University Open days: QUB, UU & Stranmillis CollegeUniversity Open Days are a great way to see what a university is really like. The wide range of courses and faculty criteria is outlined through talks, as well as by exhibitors. You can chat to current students and by visiting the campus and taking a look at facilities, get a feel for what life could be like for you once you become a student at the University. There are tours, visits to university accommodation (halls of residence).

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Career Convention January 2016This is a collaborative careers event with Ballyclare High School for pupils in Years 10, 12 and 13. Pupils are invited to attend this important evening to further their knowledge on career choices. This year BHS hosted the event, exhibitors and display stands, were in several halls whilst a programme of talks were held, giving young people a chance to learn more about career paths that interested them.

What do pupils gain from attending the Careers convention?

93% gained new insights into career options

100% gathered knowledge about qualifications, skills and experiences needed for their desired career

70% received information that will help with their career decision

Congratulations!Ballyclare Secondary School has achieved Stage 1 IiC Award

Investor in Careers is a quality standard for the management of ca-reers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) and is now the most widely used quality award of its kind recognised nationally across the country.

The Investor in Careers (IiC) standard is about improving student’s awareness of opportunities, raising their aspirations and working with them to ensure they achieve their full potential.

Dairy Council Young Cook of the Year Competition 2016Rebecca Moore (10B) travelled to Holy Cross College, Strabane, on Tuesday 19th April to compete in the final of the Dairy Council Cook of the Year Competition.

She was asked to create a two course meal that would promote local produce and showcase food produced here in Northern Ireland, as it is Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink.

Rebecca decided to base her menu on the theme of the Titanic as it is one of Northern Ireland’s biggest tourist attractions and is a massive part of our heritage.

Her delicious menu consisted of:

‘Thompson Dock’ Fish Pie

SS Nomadic Cheesecake served with Glastry Farm Homemade Yellowman and Honeycomb Ice-cream

Rebecca competed against other finalists in a ‘cook off’ situation where she cooked and presented her dish in 60 minutes. Her dishes were amazing and many people commented on her presentation which was of a very high standard.

Rebecca received £50.00 worth of Top Shop vouchers for winning the North Eastern EA Category and the Home Economics Department received £100.

Congratulations Rebecca we are very proud of your achievement.

Aimee Gilmour Performs in ‘Into the Woods’Aimee Gilmour was very lucky to get the opportunity to play the flute in the orchestral pit for the musical, “Into the Woods.” It was produced by Belfast Voice & Dance Acade-my, Directed by Matthew Forsythe and the Music Director, Niall O’Flaherty. She stated that ‘It was a great and thoroughly enjoyable experience which has enhanced my playing and I hope to continue playing in musicals in the future. Playing the flute and piccolo part

was challenging but I loved every minute of it. The shows were on Friday 11th march (7 pm) and Saturday 12th March (2pm/7 pm). The dress rehearsal was on the Thursday and it was stressful for all the musicians and people involved as this was the first time playing along with the cast but once everything was settled, it was brilliant!’.

Daniel Kerr Performs in ‘Go the Distance’Daniel Kerr was approached to perform at The Mary Peters Trust show ‘Go the Dis-tance’ to be held in the Island Centre in Lis-burn. This show was to raise money for the Mary Peters Trust which helps young people in sport. Daniel stated that ‘I was asked to sing solo at the 3 shows which I agreed to, I sang Stars from Les Miserable and joined the choir to sing many more songs related to sport and music.’ Overall the ‘Go the Dis-tance’ concert raised an amazing £10,000 for the Mary Peters Trust.

Daniel Kerr sings with Peter Corry in the Music BoxJust before Christmas Daniel had the wonderful opportunity to perform with Peter Corry in the Music Box concert held in the Waterfront Hall. Here is a short write up from Daniel about his experience and a few photographs from the event.

I gained a position to sing alonside Peter Corry having gone through an audition pro-cess. The Music Box was to be held in the Waterfront from the 17th-19th December. Rehearsals for this show ran from October for 2-3 times per week. As the time went on during rehearsals Peter asked if I would sing solo in the show. I was so excited and I had

the privilege to sing O’ Come all ye Faithful by candlight. As this is road I wish to take in my career, I have gained so much valuable experience by work alongside Peter Corry, Fleur Mellor the choreographer and Ashley Fulton the Musical Director. I hope to be successful next Christmas to perform with them again.

Melissa’s First FlightMelissa Edwards a member of the RAF Air Training Corps 2349 Ballymena Squadron has taken to the air on her first flight in a Tutor T Mark 1 Aircraft!

Flying to Liverpool on a Monday morning 25th January at the crack of dawn on Easyjet as a com-mercial passenger and arriving at 10 AEF ( Air Experience Flying) Woodvale in Liverpool she was one of only 6 cadets to experience her first flying lesson.

The lesson lasted approximately 25minutes with Melissa taking control of the flying equipment. Her instructor then performed a series of aerobatics which Melissa thoroughly enjoyed! She will have continued flying lessons throughout her time with the 2349 Ballymena Squadron. The Air Corp at Ballymena continually provide teens like Melissa with challenging and exhilarating activities throughout the year and they look forward to having new recruits!

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Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition: 1st & 2nd June 2016Sun, sweat and smiles! Our Bronze team completed their qualifying expedition in scorching hot temperatures this June. Each team navigated their way from Hen Mountain, past Spelga Dam, finishing up at Meelmore Lodge. Their first night was filled with laughter and competition as a boys vs girls tag rugby match broke out - it wasn’t long until the staff joined in to liven things up. Day two involved our teams hiking over Luke’s Mountain and down into the beautiful Tollymore Forest. Each group showed great team spirit, spurring each other on until the very end. What an achievement for forty of our pupils!

Bronze & Silver Practice Expeditions 2016Both the Bronze and Silver teams ventured into the Mourne Mountains to complete their practice expeditions this year.

Both teams were kitted out with brand new tents trangias and compasses, sourced from fundraising carried out by this year’s Silver team. Packed and ready, both groups felt the

strain on their shoulders from the word go. The Silver team started their three-day hike at the bottom of Hen Mountain, whereas the Bronze team departed from Bloody Bridge. The Bronze team of forty spurred each other on until the end. The Silver team demon-strated an ability to think quickly in difficult terrain, managing steep group and helping

team members along the way.  I am ex-tremely proud of how both teams performed; they showed team work, perseverance and key navigational skills; all of the things necessary to succeed in their upcoming assessment expeditions. Well done to both groups!

Duke of Edinburgh Training days and practice expeditions 2016Bronze Training Day – Glenariff – Tuesday 8th March 2016

Forty of our Bronze team ventured to Glenariff and up into the Garron Plateau. Departing at Larragh Lodge, our pupils got to enjoy the wonder of the local waterfalls. Each group had an opportunity to put their navigation skills to the test, leading a section of the hike with their two best friends (map and compass). All forty students and staff (Mr Nicholl, Miss Bothwell, Mr Crothers, Miss Trimble, Miss Oliver and Mr McCausland) enjoyed lunch in the rain beneath one of Glenariff’s largest waterfalls. Pupils are now set to plan their practice expedition after the Easter break.

Silver Award Training Day - Bloody Bridge – Newcastle – Bouldering Activity Day – Monday 14th March 2016 This year the Silver Team got the opportunity to join Mr Nicholl, Miss Dunwoody and Mr Blain in a bouldering session up the Bloody Bridge River. Pupils and staff departed for Ardnabannon Centre at 9am and began bouldering along the rocks and river at 10:30am. With the sun splitting the rocks, as well as a few worried faces, it wasn’t long before everyone was clambering under huge boulders with the river cascad-ing down over them. The afternoon finished with our pupils jumping off boulders into deep pools of water. The Silver Team are looking forward to planning their practice expedition after the Easter break.

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Ballyclare Music FestivalOver 40 soloists and 6 ensembles from Ballyclare Secondary School took part in Ballyclare Music Festival. An array of silver-ware was brought back to the school and a special assembly was held to recognise the achievements of the music students.

Three first places, 6 second places and 6 third places were awarded in the various solo classes while the schools Brass En-semble, Wind Ensemble, Wind Band, String Ensemble and Orchestra swept the boards winning cups in all their categories. Daniel Kerr, one of our Year 13 students, won the Performance of the Festival.

Mr Jonathan Rea, the adjudicator, was par-ticularly helpful in his comments and pupils will take on board the suggestions he has made to help improve their performances even more.

We would like to thank the festival commit-tee for organising the festival, giving pupils the opportunity to perform outside school and in our own community. We look forward to next year’s festival.

Overview of results

Brass Solo 12-15 Natalie Mateer     1st Place David Bell             2nd Place Emily Campbell   3rd Place

Woodwind Solo 12-15 John Watson     Joint 2nd Place Sophie Coiley    Joint 2nd Place Sarah Halligan  Joint 3rd Place Olivia Smith      Joint 3rd Place

Woodwind Solo 16-18 Aimee Gilmour  3rd Place

Vocal Solo 12-15 Lauren McKinty  1st Place

Vocal Solo 16-18 Daniel Kerr       2nd Place

Song from a show Daniel Kerr      1st Place Lauren Fittis   2nd Place

Piano Solo 12-15 Emily Campbell   2nd Place

String Solo 12-15 Louise Moore             3rd Place Zara-Jayne Strange  3rd Place

Woodwind Ensemble  1st Place Wind Band                    1st Place String Ensemble           1st Place Brass Ensemble            1st Place Orchestra                    1st Place

Winner of the Overall Performance of the Festival was Daniel Kerr.

Junior Choir Performs at the Peace Proms ConcertOn Sunday the 28th February members of the Junior Choir took part in the Peace Proms Concert in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. This was a wonderful opportunity to sing live with the The Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland with pupils from other schools across the province to promote peace and unity in our society. Pupils had to work very hard to learn the vocal programme which consisted of 13 songs, varying from traditional pieces to modern pop songs with lots of actions and energy needed during the performances. It was, however, well worth all the hard work and everyone really enjoyed taking part in

the concert. We hope to be part of this event again next year so if you were not involved this time you may still get an opportunity next year.

Pipe Band Awards May 2016Congratulations to the following pupils on receiving certificates for Piping, Drumming and Theory. These certificates were awarded during Assembly on behalf of the Ulster Scots Agency who provide tuition in school.

Grade 1 Practical Drumming Katie Thompson

Grade 1 Practical Drumming Rebecca Moore

Grade 1 Practical Drumming Adam Alderdice

Grade 5 Practical Piping and Grade 2 Theory Dylan Coyle

Grade 5 Theory Abigail Coyle

Fantastic Females EventOn Wednesday 16th March all of Year 9 and Year 11 girls took part in a Fantastic Females event to discover more about STEM careers. The school hosted 10 Female STEM Ambassadors from careers in the STEM sector such as chemical engineering, civil engineering, public health and nutrition,

cancer research and the Royal Air Force. The girls had a chance to interview each of the Ambassadors as part of a ‘speed-network-ing’ activity in the assembly before taking part in a K’Nex bridge-building challenge in the Youth Centre.

GCSE Geography Field Tip April 2016Our annual GCSE Geography Fieldtrip took place in April to the Curly Burn River near Magilligan, Co Londonderry . Our year 11 group were split into two with one half going on the 19th and the other on the 26th April. We left school equipped with lunch, a change of clothes (just in case anyone fell in) and a sense of excitement as to what lay ahead.

The field trip provided the opportunity to collect primary data for the controlled assessment, worth 25%, as well as an important active revision session on the processes within a river; something that was then assessed in the unit 1 module less than a month later.

Upon arrival at Magilligan field centre the group were briefed about the river, health and safety and how to use the various piec-es of equipment to measure width, depth, velocity, gradient and bed load size and shape. The next step involved getting suited and booted in some very attractive (not) waterproof coats, leggings, wellington boots, waders for some and helmets.

After a quick lunch we then boarded the bus, which took us to near the source of the Curly Burn River on Binevenagh Mountain and from there we then made our way down-stream with each group having the oppor-tunity to take the various measurements required at each of the five sites.

Skills developed included using a clinome-ter, timing and catching floats, measuring bed load, working as a team, following instructions and having fun as you learn. We calculated averages and velocities in metres per second and learned about Cushy Glen, the highway man, who used to rob and mur-der his victims before dumping them at the Murder Hole, one of our data collection sites. Some even learned by experience the vol-ume of water that a wellie boot could hold. Who would have thought that paddling about in a river for a day could teach you about geography, maths, history and science?

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Netball ClubBallyclare Secondary School’s netball club has come along leaps and bounds this year. The club now consists of three teams, with an average of twenty girls training weekly. Through long practice sessions and great commitment, our netball teams competed in The NEBSA and Northern Irish netball leagues, taking on Secondary and Grammar schools from all over Ulster. The highlight of the year for our club, was beating Ballyclare High School by three points at U16 Level.

Several of our rising stars were nominated and took part in Regional Development Trials. Hannah Kirkpatrick, Kirsty Stevenson and Lois Sellar were successful and are members of the U15 Regional Devel-opment Squads. Whilst Nikita Graham was also successful and is a member of the U19 Regional Development Squad, competing in the prestigious Podium Tournament.

Miss Oliver would also like to give a special mention to Miss Trimble who has been most generous with her time and netball experience, lending a much appreciated extra hand. I know that all of our net-ballers would also like to thank Miss Trimble for her help during this busy netball season.

Basketball ClubBasketball club has started as a recreational extra- curricular activity this year. The boys have improved immensely as they work to-wards their first competitive game, hopefully once again re-igniting the spark of compet-itive basketball on offer here at Ballyclare Secondary School.

Eco-Schools ClubOn Wednesday 3rd February the newly formed Eco-Schools Club met for the first time led by Mrs Colgan, Miss Trimble, Mr Hill, Mrs Williams, Mr McKean and Miss Boyd. Representatives from Years 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 turned up to show their support and to get involved with making Ballyclare Secondary a more environmentally friendly school. The club has completed an audit of the school environment and are currently working on an action plan to achieve the Bronze Award. They have already made progress towards the first objective of increasing the level of recycling done throughout school by ensuring that every department has a paper recycling bin and by organising regular collections for these, and also by making use of an ink cartridge and toner recycling scheme in aid of Cancer Focus NI. If you would like to become a mem-ber of this enthusiastic team as they work towards gaining ‘Green Flag Status’ for the school please come along to the meetings which are announced on the information sheet. New members from all year groups are always welcome!

Easter Egg EventWhat a wonderful celebration of Easter for the pupils of our school. Once again the members of the PTA organised a fantastically fun after-noon filled with chocolate, laughter and decoration. In partnership with Thorntons Abbeycentre, seventy of our pupils had the opportunity to decorate their own chocolate Easter Egg. Needless to say, competition was sparked when the icing was released - proud pupils were ready to show off their decorative skills. What a superb opportunity for the parents of our PTA to interact with our pupils - another year, another success!

House Egg & Spoon Race As part of the House competitions, LLW classes participated in a House Egg and Spoon race as part of the Easter celebrations in school. All key stage three classes went to the Gym during their timetabled LLW period. The PE Department kindly had the Gym set up, with five tracks laid out. Eggs and spoons were provided and a member of the PE staff assisted with the supervision of the race. All pupils throughly enjoyed the event and each pupil received a cadburys creme egg for their participation.

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Road to Rio- Primary Schools EventThis year the BTEC Sport students at Ballyclare Secondary School organised an educational sports event for P5 children from our surrounding primary schools. With the Rio 2016 Olympics just around the corner the BTEC students decided it would be a good idea to use their knowl-edge and expertise, which has developed throughout the year to showcase what Ballyclare Secondary has to offer. Their plan was to offer a fun, engaging group of workshops in the morning surrounding the importance of hydration, healthy eating and living by the Olympic values as well as a variety of physical activities based on the current Olympic events.

With a total of 110 pupils taking part from Tildarg PS, Parkgate PS, The Thompson PS, Doagh PS and Ballynure PS the pupils enjoyed creating their own ‘tortilla pizzas’ in Ballyclare Secondary’s new state of the art Home Economics department, designing their own water bottle covers, discovering new facts about the sugar found in everyday food and drink, discussing what it means to live by the Olympic values and stretch-ing their legs in the sunshine to take part in a variety of sporting activities. The positive feedback from pupils and teachers implied that an excellent day was had by all. It Is hoped that BTEC students at the Secondary school will offer a similar event on annual basis as part of their course.

A-Level Travel and Tourism Trip to GlasgowOn Wednesday 2nd March pupils studying A-Level Travel and Tourism flew from Belfast City Airport to Glasgow to study the cus-tomer service provided by their case study airline Flybe. They carried out both staff and customer surveys in order to assess internal and external customer service and made their own judgements during their ‘Mystery Flyer’ exercise. Between flights they had the opportunity to explore Glasgow City Centre which included shopping, lunch and even a trip to the cinema!

Northern Ireland Creative Movement ChampionshipsThe dance team took part in The Northern Ireland Creative Movement Championships in March which were held at Lisburn Leisureplex. We beat stiff competition to retain our reign-ing title for the second year in a row ‘junior team Hip Hop champions.’ We also gained some new titles; Junior pair hip hop champions first place (Danielle Wilson and Alisha McNeilly) Junior pair hip hop champions second place (Lauren McKinty and Lucy McCormick) Intermediate pair hip hop champions first place (Emma Stanbridge and Anna Scott) Intermediate pair hip hop champions third place (Morgan Turkington and Rachel Houston)Junior pair creative movement champions third place (Emily McCarroll and Hollie Elliott)

We then entered The Ulster Fitness and Dance Championships in April at Queens University Belfast. There were 137 entries in total and our girls beat stiff competition to place bronze in Junior Hip Hop team, bronze in Intermediate Hip Hop duet and gold in Junior Hip Hop trio.

This was an exceptional achieve-ment in a prestigious competition which is extremely difficult to place in. The success of the dance team is phenomenal and they are certain-ly making a name for themselves as a force to be reckoned with on the dance scene.

Cross Country 2015/2016The NEBSSA Cross Country Championships took place on Tuesday November 24th at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. The Year 9 Boys Cross Country Team dominated their race Jamie Bell had a fantastic run narrowly missing out on becoming NEBSSA champion, placing 2nd and it was a Ballyclare 2-3 with Seth McCracken claiming the bronze medal. Bradley Yip placed 9th to give Ballyclare three top 10 finishes and guarantee the overall Year 9 Boys Team title.

The Year 9 Boys Cross Country Team placed 3rd at the District Championships qualifying them for the ulster finals. Jamie Bell had another fantastic run and added a bronze medal to his collection placing third out of 122 runners. Jessica Mc Clements in year 10 also qualified for the finals after a fantastic run placed her in 8th position out of 70 runners. The Ulster Finals produced more success for Ballyclare Secondary

with Jamie Bell finishing in 5th position and qualifying for the Irish Schools in Sligo. Jamie placed 15th out of 111 athletes and was placed 4th from Ulster in the race. This is a fantastic achievement and it is great to see our pupils competing with the very best runners from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Jamie also became a Junior international athlete after he was selected selected to represent Northern Ireland, Jamie competed in the London Mini Marathon and finished 24th out of 250 boys competing from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Further he was the first to finish from the Northern Ireland team. A fantastic achievement!

Team: Jamie Bell, Seth McCracken, Bradley Yip and Jamie Wharry.

The Year 11 & 12 Boys Cross Country Team were also crowned NEBSSA Champions. Some great individual performances helped the team to secure the overall team title with Isaiah Close placing 5th (while running a year up), Aran Lynch placing 7th and Leon Smiley close behind in 8th position, three top ten finishes in the race was enough to secure the overall team title for the boys.

Team: Philip Maybin, Aran Lynch, Leon Smiley, Isaiah Close, Kofi Balmer and Jack Buckley

Athletics 2016Ten pupils represented our school at the NEBSSA Finals held at the Antrim Forum. All pupils had qualified for today’s finals from the heats last Thurdsday. Seth McCrack-en ran a fantastic 2:23 in the boys 800m final convincingly claiming the gold medal. Jack Milton continues to dominate school shot put with another gold medal to add to his collection. Year 8 Ashley Doherty also performed well in the shot put and claimed a silver medal while Natasha Fee claimed a bronze medal in the same event. Year 11 pupil Isaish Close claimed a bronze medal in the boys 1500m while, while Jack Milton won his second medal of the day with a bronze in the boys 100m final. Lauren McK-inty narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the girls 300m finishing 4th and Blane Warren also just missed out on a medal also finishing 4th in the 800m.

In the District Championships Ballyclare Secondary claimed 5 medals. In the last three years the school has now improved its medal count each year in both the NEBSSA and District Championships. Seth McCracken stormed to victory in the boys 800m and is now both NEBSSA and District champion. Jack Milton added two silver medals to his collection with second place finishes in the boys 100m and the shot put. Year 8 pupil Alannah Greer claimed a silver medal in the girls shot, while Adam Shields claimed a bronze medal in the same event. All of these pupils represented the school at the Ulster Schools finals on Saturday 21st May. Year 8 pupil Alannah Greer finished 4th in the Mini Girls Shot while Year 13 pupil Natalie Cahoon claimed a silver medal in the Senior Girls 100m Final and has qualified for the Irish School Championships.

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East Antrim Football Success Year 8 The Year 8 Football team had an extremely busy season with the completion of 12 fixtures in the East Antrim League, East Antrim Cup and the Northern Ireland Cup. They were unbeaten in the East Antrim League and Cup with impressive wins against Abbey Community College (5-1), Boys Model (8-0) and Larne High School (2-0). While they also progressed to the final of the East Antrim Cup with emphat-ic wins over Downshire (13-1) and Abbey Community College (7-0). Victory over Carrickfergus College in the final crowned the team East Antrim Champions. In the Northern Ireland Cup a first round home tie resulted in Ballyclare winning in extra time 3-2 against Rathmore Grammar School. The second round opposition St Killians College, Garron Tower produced a great game of entertaining football resulting in a 4-2 victory for the Ballyclare boys and progression into the third round of the tournament. The third round ties featured all of the seeded teams for the competition and Ballyclare drew a home tie against Edmund Rice College, Glengormley. Ballyclare went behind early in the game and fought their way back to lead 3-2 with only two minutes of normal time remaining, unfortunately a defensive mistake cost the boys their lead and at full time the match was tied at 3-3. Extra time resulted in end-to-end football and Ballyclare were

caught on the counter attack twice resulting in Edmund Rice progressing with a 5-3 win AET. The team have scored an impressive 49 goals this season with Max Greer and Jack Montgomery leading the charge up top with 15 goals each! The team has conceded 15 goals giving the boys an impressive +32 goal difference.

Squad: Aiden Boyd, Scott McAuley, Blair Sawyer, Corey Houston, Jamie Murphy, Paddy Gallagher, Jonny Yip, Adam Cope (Captain), Jamie Stewart, Max Greer, Jack Montgomery, Matthew Ferguson, Darren Hawe, Cameron Entwistle and Dean McIntrye. Coach: Mr. A Blain.

Year 9The Year 9 Football team has competed in both the East Antrim League and Cup this term. A 4-1 victory over Ulidia Integrated College in the East Antrim cup quarterfinal set up a semi final tie between Ballyclare Secondary and Glengormley High School. The match was extremely close and with nothing separating the two sides after both normal time and extra time the tie was decided on penalty kicks. This nail biting semi final did not effect the nerves of penalty takers from either school and the first 10 penalties were all successfully scored! Sudden death loomed and finally Ballyclare were victorious winning 8-7 on penalties! The boys successfully won the Ballyclare derby in the final by defeating Ballyclare High School 2-1 to be crowned East Antrim Champions!

Squad: Oliver Hill, Ryan Henry, Jamie Wharry, Jamie Bell, Seth McCracken, Aiden McGar-vey, Carson Todd, Matthew Patterson, Craig McAuley, Bradley Yip, Michael Murphy, Anthony Gillianders, Ryan McWilliams, Adam Warren, Sam Gardiner and James Forsythe. Coaches: Mr. P McCausland, Mr. S Hennessy and Mr D. McKean.

Year 10The Year 10 Football team opened their East Antrim League cam-paign with a home win against Boys Model and an away victory against Ulidia Integrated College. The Northern Ireland Cup then took preference where the boys were unfortunately knocked out in the first round against Carrickfergus Grammar School losing 3-0 the team is now competing in the plate competition and are due to play Dundonald in the next round. In the East Antrim Cup quarter final, Parkhall Integrated College were the opposition and after a close match, Ballyclare progressed into the semi final winning by one goal. The semi final brought another dramatic penalty shoot out, this time the Boys Model were the opposition. The game ended with neither team able to score and therefore went to penalties. Accurate spot kicking from Ballyclare ensure their place in the final winning 5-4. In the end the boys battled their way to finish 3rd in the East Antrim Schools league, lose in the final against rivals Glengormley

High School and reach the quarter finals of both the Northern Ireland schools cup and Inspire sport plate competitions. With excellent per-formances from all on the squad they hope to build on this success next year and look forward to getting back on the pitch again.

Squad: Colin Graham, Jack Moore, Daniel Livingstone, Jack Milton, Ross Warren, Luke Brobyn, Max McAuley-Brown, Peter Grimley, Ethan Adams, Jack Rodgers, Josh Steele, Ryan Campbell, Bradley Hutchinson, Daniel Stewart, Aiden McGarvey, Andrew Hawthorne and Ryan McBurney. Coach: Mr. S Crothers.

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Year 11The Year 11 team has had a mixed season on the pitch, they completed their East Antrim League season undefeated and were runners up narrowly missing out on clinching the league title by two points. They began the season with a 2-2 away draw to Glengormley High School with goals from Kofi Balmer and Gary McCormick. Next up was a home tie against Larne High School, the boys played some great attacking football and comfortably won 3-0 with two goals from Ethan McKeown and one from Kofi Balmer. The third league match was played against Abbey Community College at home, the boys took an early 2-0 lead but some sloppy defending let Abbey back into the game and eventually they took the lead 3-2. A fantastic free kick from Kofi Balmer saved a point for Ballyclare Secondary with the game finishing 3-3. Unfortunately it would be this match that would cost the team the league title. Further victories were recorded against Carrick College (8-1), Downshire (3-0) and Boys Model (5-4). In the quarter final of the East Antrim Cup, Parkhall

Integrated College were comfortably defeated 6-0 setting up a semi final tie against Glengormley High School. The semi final game was extremely close with both sides having chances to take the lead, finally just before the end of the first half Glengormley took a 1-0 lead. The second half was similar to the first and Ballyclare failed to capitalise on their chances. The match finished with Glengormley adding another late goal to progress to the final by two goals to nil. The boys were extremely disappointed but are looking forward to getting both the league and cup back next year!

Squad: Scott Haggan, Gary McCormick, Isaiah Close, Aaron William-son, Mark McCracken, Jack Buckley, Ethan McKeown, Kofi Balmer (Captain), Blane Warren, Joel O’Neill, Harry Morrow, TJ Wright, Cameron Kirk and Dylan McMordie. Coach: Mr. A Blain

Year 12The Year 12 Football Team, captained by Joshua Kerr, has enjoyed a very successful season, with only one defeat all season. The team started with a 5-0 win over Parkhall in their first league match with Philip Maybin scoring a hat-trick and Jake Semple and Taylor Agnew adding one each. Next up was the first round of the Northern Ireland Cup against Corpus Christi at Dixon Park, which the boys produced a fantastic performance to win 5-0 with Leon Smiley scoring two and Philip Maybin, Jake Semple and Jack Ferguson also on target. Ballyclare Secondary then faced Boys Model, Belfast in the league and triumphed 5-1 with another hat-trick for Philip Maybin and one goal each for Owen Brobyn and Jake Semple. Ballyclare went on to defeat Glengomley High School 3-0 in a league match, which then set up a top of the table clash with Abbey Community College, which Ballyclare produced another excellent performance to win 4-1 with Philip Maybin and Leon Smiley both scoring a brace. Next up was the quarter final of the East Antrim Cup against Glengorm-ley HS after receiving a bye in the first round. Ballyclare defeated Glengormley 3-0 with goals from Johnston Kirkpatrick, Owen Brobyn and Philip Maybin. The Year 12 Team then defeated Banbridge High in the second round of the NI Cup to set up a third round encounter against Laurelhill, Lisburn. In what was a very physical game played in difficult conditions, Ballyclare produced a clinical performance to win 5-0, with Philip Maybin scoring his third hat-tick of the season and Jake Semple and Leon Smiley also scoring. Two days later was an East Antrim semi-final against Carrick Grammar, which Ballyclare won 7-0 to progress to the final. Philip Maybin scored two, Taylor Agnew scored ‘a goal of the season’ candidate and Jake Semple, Owen Brobyn, Johnston Kirkpatrick and Leon Smiley were also on target against Carrick Grammar.

Ballyclare Secondary faced Parkhall Intergrated College in the Final of the East Antrim Cup at the new V36 facility at The Valley Leisure Centre. After an even first half, Ballyclare proved to be too strong and ran out 5-1 winners to become East Antrim Champions with Philip Maybin, Johnston Kirkpatrick, Owen Brobyn, Samuel Howe and Kofi Balmer all scoring. Taylor Agnew was awarded the Man of the Match award.

In the New Year Ballyclare faced Lisneal College in the last 16 of the NI Cup at the Cliff in Larne. In what was an excellent game of

football against two excellent sides, Ballyclare won 3-1 with a very tense finish. Philip Maybin was on target again with two goals and Jake Semple added the other. Ballyclare were then drawn against the current U16 and U18 NI Champions, St. Columbs, Londonderry in the Quarter Final. The fixture took place at the impressive home of Moyola Park in Castledawson. Ballyclare competed very well in the first half and went in 2-1 down at half-time with Philip Maybin on target with an excellent finish. However, Ballyclare were left rueing their missed chances as St. Columbs showed why they are the cur-rent champions with an excellent second half display and some very clinical finishing, and went on to win 5-1. This was only the second time Ballyclare Secondary had reached the Quarter Final of the NI Cup, the other being Dom Melly’s team in 2003, who were beaten in the Semi-Final in extra time, so the boys deserve a great amount of credit for their achievement.

The boys have went on to win the Year 12 East Antrim league with an unbeaten record, conceding only two goals which is credit to the defensive duties of Scott Haggan in goals and a defence led by captain Joshua Kerr, the very talented Kofi Balmer, Aran Lynch, Cameron Lannie and Curtis McCowan. The players can be extremely pleased to add the Year 12 League and Cup double to their Year 10 East Antrim Cup and Year 11 East Antrim League titles from previous years.

Squad: Scott Haggan, Aran Lynch, Cameron Lannie, Joshua Kerr (Captain), Kofi Balmer, Curtis McCowan, Owen Brobyn, Johnston Kirkpatrick, Taylor Agnew, Philip Maybin, Leon Smiley, Jake Semple, Jack Ferguson, Samuel Howe, Jamie Williamson and Adam Elliott. Coach: Mr A Cowden

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Show Jumping Team 2016 This academic year has been another busy and successful one for Ballyclare Secondary School’s show jumping team. First and foremost thank you to all the team members: Lydia McLeister, Na-tasha McKernon, Hannah McCartney, Jessica McConnell, Samantha Billings, Emma Ewing, Robyn McConnell, Alexandra McConnell and Ross McCullough, as well as all of the parents and carers who help make every competition date happen. Without their time, hard work and commitment we wouldn’t have a show jumping team so thank you very much.

The four main events of the calendar include Balmoral, Meadows, the St Patrick’s Day Derby and the Gransha Derby.

Balmoral is the biggest school show jumping event on the calendar and this year some of the team decided to move up a class into the 1 metre open class; a reflection of their ability and growing confi-dence in a class that most competitors are not yet ready for. Jessica, Alexandra, Robyn and Ross did exceptionally well being placed 5th while also winning the tack and turnout competition. If this is the beginning of this team’s experience there are only better things to come. Well done, I’m so proud of you all, you’ve truly put your talents and our school on the equestrian map. Our novice team consisting of Hannah, Emma, Samantha and Natasha were new in working togeth-er as a team and competed to a very high standard; representing their sport and our school exceptionally. There are wonderful things still to come from this maturing team; well-done girls, keep up the hard work.

Meadows is a five date league that always challenges the individuals and teams within our school. The level of commitment to travel and participate in this 5 weekend event is nothing but commendable. Our show jumpers attended every event, being placed on every occa-sion and winning the tack and turn out competition several times. The team is nothing but a credit to the school which is continually commented upon by teachers from rival schools and the event organisers. The St Patrick’s Day Derby is held at the same venue in which competitors are encouraged to fundraise for charity. We attend this event every year and again our team won the tack and turn out competition, a reflection of the pride they place in their sport.

Finally, Gransha. This new event is one the team always enjoys. In June of last year the girls were placed first in this competition and are returning this year to defend their title. Good luck girls! I am so proud of each and every one of you!

Show Jumper of the Year 2016

Jessica McConnell Jessica is a naturally gifted show jumper who continuously com-petes to a very high standard. She is the epitome of a highly reliable and focused competitor, a perfectionist in every endeavour she encounters within the sport. Her double clear record is one to be ri-valled. Jessica not only draws upon her meticulous technique within her own jumping but uses her expertise and strategies to build the team’s strength and confidence also, encouraging her team mates throughout every competition.

Most Improved 2016

Samantha Billings Samantha has continuously been a valued member of the show jumping team. The partnership she has created with her new horse, Belle, has seen her go from strength to strength. She has developed her jumping technique to an impressive level, so much so that she is now jumping in the metre open class. Samantha follows direction carefully within coaching and is continually seeking ways to improve. There are lots of exciting things to come from Samantha and Belle!

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Historic Hockey Success!U12 Hockey TeamThe U12 hockey team has had an outstand-ing year of hockey finishing their season unbeaten. No team in the U12 North East Antrim League were able to penetrate their defence and get a goal. Therefore once again Ballyclare Secondary has won the North East Antrim League. Every player in the squad has demonstrated their love for hockey through their commitment to training, fitness sessions and games. Their positive attitudes and great level of skill will certainly stand them in good stead for the years to come. Well done girls!

U14 Hockey Girls make HistoryThe U14 Hockey Team defeated Dromore High School in the final of the U14 High Schools cup to win the competition for the fourth successive year. Not only this but they also won the East Antrim League and all players developed technically, tactically, physically and psycho-logically. Well done to all the girls on this fantastic achievement!

U16 Hockey Girls Win the Northern Ireland High Schools CupCongratulations to the U16 hockey team who won the Northern Ireland High Schools Cup on Thursday 10th March. Below is a list of the girls who were part of the squad and some photos of the match.

Squad List

1. Robyn McConnell2. Ellie Radcliff3. Lucy Campbell4. Nikita Graham5. Hazel Nicholson6. Olivia Fletcher7. Jenny Anderson8. Megan Crone9. Ellie Cooke10. Alannah Bell11. Hannah Kirkpatrick12. Lauren McKinty13. Jessica McConnell14. Alexandra McConnell15. Amy Baxter (Captain)

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School Sports AwardsThe Sports Awards took place on Wednesday 27th April in the school assembly Hall. This event continues to grow and it was fantastic to see nearly 160 people in attendance. The school was honoured to have Ulster and Ireland rugby star Stuart Olding as one of the guest speakers on the night and he was joined by former Northern Ireland football International Stuart Elliot. The sporting ethos of the PE Department within Ballyclare Secondary School is if you believe you can achieve and certainly through the amount of nominations and awards this is very evident. The various sports that our pupils participate in don’t build character they reveal it. The whole ethos of Ballyclare Secondary School is preparation for life through academic and extra-curricular activities. Pupils have excelled this year on the sporting field not only due to their desire to win, and become champions but because they also had the desire to prepare. The key for many of the teams this year was to use their strengths and hide their weaknesses through excellent organisation, determination and commitment to not only their team but their school. Well done to all individuals and teams involved and what a fantastic way to celebrate the sporting achievements throughout this academic year.

Year 8 Rugby 2016 In a season hampered by adverse weather conditions, on Friday afternoons, it always seemed to be raining heavily or the pitches were waterlogged which resulted in most fixtures succumbing to the weather. How-ever, the Year 8 side showed a considerable amount of promise and potential. Training was well attended on Tuesdays and a word of thanks must go to Year 10 Sports Leader – James Wilson for his help with the coach-ing and organisation of the sessions. A mini blitz competition was held at Ophir Rugby Club and Ballyclare Secondary easily defeat-ed the Boys Model (11 tries – 0), Carrick Col-lege (4 tries – 1) and Parkhall College (5 tries -0) with Ashley Doherty, Zak Wilson, Tom Lindsay and Kristian Best featuring promi-nently on the score sheet. As many games were cancelled against secondary school opposition a game was arranged against a BRA “B” team. This was a valuable learning experience with Ballyclare narrowly winning 7 tries to 4. The annual end of season East Antrim Tournament held at Abbey College resulted in two high scoring victories against Boys Model and the hosts Abbey. However, the lack of regular matches had the effect of losing narrowly by two tries to one to Carrick College in the final. Ballyclare finished as runners-up. A commendable achievement and with hard work and dedication I am sure it will be possible to go one step further next year. Zak Wilson was our most improved Year 8 player throughout the season, whilst Ashley Doherty was both top try scorer and player of the year.

U14 RugbyThe U14 Rugby team competed in the NEBSSA Tournament on November 27th at Carrickfergus Grammar School. Placed in the developing schools group the boys were up against Carrickfergus Grammar, Larne Gram-mar and Carrickfergus College. The boys opened the tournament with a dominating 31-5 victory over Larne Grammar School. A close match against Carrickfergus Grammar resulted in Ballyclare winning by 12 points to 5 with a converted try from Ross Warren and a try from James Wilson. Our final group game was against Carrick College who were beaten comfortably after only 7 minutes being played, three quick tries put Ballyclare 15-0 up and with Carrick carrying a few injuries their teacher had seen enough!

The other table consisted of Coleraine Grammar, Ballyclare High School and Belfast High School. Belfast High placed third in this group and therefore played Ballyclare Secondary for overall third place. With 14 players Ballyclare ground out a fantastic 10-5 victory to earn their Bronze medals (the highest place possible from the format of the competition).

This was a great afternoon of rugby with three victories over Grammar school oppo-sition!

The team dominated the U14 High Schools Cup qualifying tournament at Carrickfer-gus Rugby Club with victories over Ulidia, Parkhall and Strangford College. The U14 High Schools Cup Finals were held at Bain-bridge Rugby Club, The boys were drawn in an extremely competitive group with Lurgan Junior High, Killicomaine Junior High and St Patricks, Keady. The boys defeated St Patricks by 36-0 however were beating by Killicomaine Junior High 15-5 and by Kurgan Junior High who went on to to be crowned High Schools Cup Winners.

Year 12 High Schools’ Trophy RugbyThe Year 12 Team started their season with the Pollock Cup qualifiers at Ballyclare Rugby Club. Ballyclare Secondary defeated Abbey College 15-0 with tries from Jordan Birnie, Jack Milton and Ross Warren. Their second group match they drew 7-7 with a talented Downshire team, unfortunate not to win it in the dying moments. Philip Maybin scored our only try which he also converted. Ballyclare then went on to defeat Ashfield Boys’ 38-0 and topped the group on points difference to progress to Pollock Cup Finals. The win was secured with tries from Jordan Birnie, Aran Lynch, Bradley Russell, Ross Warren, Philip Maybin and Rhys Cobain. Philip Maybin added four conversions.

The Pollock Cup finals, which Ballyclare Sec-ondary were runners-up in last year, consists of two groups of four, followed by a Final and a 3rd/4th Place play-off. Ballyclare were drawn alongside St Euanan’s Letterkenny, Sperrin Integrated and Craigavon Senior High School. Ballyclare defeated St Euanan’s 5-0 with Johnston Kirkpatrick scoring the only try. Ballyclare then lost 12-0 to a strong and well organised Sperrin side and then defeated Craigavon SHS 19-0 with Owen Brobyn, Matthew Dougan and Johnston Kirkpatrick all scoring tries and Philip May-bin adding two conversions. This set up a 3rd/4th place play-off with Downshire which Ballyclare won 28-0 with Philip Maybin scoring twice, Jordan Birnie and Johnston Kirkpatrick also scoring tries. Philip Maybin converted all four tries.

Ballyclare Secondary were then seeded on the back of their Pollock Cup campaign and received a bye in the first round of the pres-tigious U16 High Schools’ Trophy. Ballyclare Secondary were then drawn at home against Castlederg High School which Ballyclare produced as clinical a performance that has been seen in years with a 61-0 victory. Jack Milton and Adam Elliott scored a hat-trick of tries, Johnston Kirkpatrick scored two and Rhys Cobain one. Philip Maybin converted eight of the nine tries. Ballyclare were then drawn at home to Slemish in the quarter

final. This closely fought game was played in terrible conditions and was decided by a single second half penalty by Philip May-bin. Both teams had opportunities late in the game, as Ballyclare progressed to the semi-final with a 3-0 victory.

Ballyclare were handed a difficult semi-final against Sperrin Intergrated, who would have been favourites to join Dromore High School in the Ravenhill final. However, this perfor-mance as evidence how far this side had came over the past five years, with an excel-lent second half performance after a Philip Maybin penalty made the score 3-3 at half time. Jordan Birnie and Josh West scored the crucial tries with Philip Maybin con-verting one. Ballyclare won the came 15-8 and progressed to the Final at the Kingspan Stadium for the second successive year.

Ballyclare met Dromore High School in the final and after a very even first 20 minutes, were Ballyclare had several good chances and a even share of the ball, Dromore went in 10-0 up at half time. Ballyclare had more territory early in the second half with oppor-tunities to get points on the board, however mistakes at the wrong time and a strong Dromore finish meant another High Schools’ Cup victory for Dromore with a 31-0 win. This was a great achievement for the boys’ to get the final for the second successive year and a fantastic occasion for boys’, their families and for the school.

Squad: Matthew Dougan, Adam Elliott, Robert Dunbar, Ethan Corry, Bradley Russell, Aran Lynch, Joshua West, Jordan Birnie, Rhys Cobain, Johnston Kirkpatrick (Captain), Philip Maybin, Jack Milton, Ross Warren, Kofi Balmer, Jake Semple, Owen Brobyn, Adam Clarke, James Wilson, Joe McCabe, Samuel Wilson, Harry Clarke. Coaches: Mr A Cowden and Mr S McGuigan.

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Ulster School’s 3rd XV Plate Winners The 2016 rugby season will go down as a historic one with the success of our 1st XV rugby team. For the first time in the school’s history the team were crowned Ulster School’s 3rd XV Plate winners. The first time any rugby team, in Ballyclare Secondary, has won a competition, which contains teams from the traditionally stronger grammar and the non-grammar school sectors of educa-tion. As a school we are delighted and proud of the achievements of our senior rugby 1st XV in winning the 3rd XV Plate compe-tition. Victories against BRA, St Columb’s College and Campbell College led to a final against our neighbours Ballyclare High. The team consisted of props Matthew Dougan in Year 12 and Jacob Dougan in Year 13. Hooker – Adam Elliott. Second rows – James McCombe and Jordan Birnie. Wing forwards – David Wilson and Mark Townsley and at Number 8 is the captain Aaron Hall. Half backs. At scrum-half – Adam Gibson and at Out half – Johnston Kirkpatrick. The centre pairing of our Head Boy – Curtis Brown and Yanis Graham. On the wings Ryan Fenwick and our prolific goal kicker – Philip Maybin and at No. 15 and full back is our deputy head boy – Patrick Greer. Five year 12’s. Six year 13’s and four year 14’s were in the regular starting line-up. The important role of substitutes included the following players – Aran Lynch, Joshua West, Adam Clarke, Bradley Russell, Robert Dunbar and Morgan Wallace.

First for School News & Views

inform June 2016

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Aaron signs up to the Ulster Academy of RugbyAaron Hall joined Ballyclare Secondary School in 2009 and joined 8B, the then Miss Battersby’s class. He was a quiet boy and enjoyed his rugby having played mini rugby at his beloved club Ballyclare Rugby Club. In the junior school Aaron loved his rugby and played on the school team. It was an en-thusiastic side but not the best side in East Antrim. However, Year 10 became a turning point. The Year 10 team went through the season undefeated and became East Antrim Champions and this also happened the next year and Aaron was one of the star performers. In school Aaron also enjoyed his athletics particularly the throwing events – the Shot and the discus. In Year 11 Aaron and a number of boys were nominated by club and school for the Ulster Under Clubs 16 Talent Identification programme. This programme required discipline and dedi-cation, attendance at training, exceptional ball handling skills and decision-making abilities. Aaron’s skills and abilities and outstanding performances saw him progress through the pathways to the Under 17 and Under 18 Clubs Squads and then the Under 19 Ulster Squads. In 2014-15 at the Ulster Rugby Awards Dinner Aaron was voted the Ulster Under 19 Young Player of the Year – a remarkable achievement!

Aaron has signed an Ulster Academy Professional Rugby Playing Contract. His job will be as a professional rugby player. Training at the Kingspan Stadium using the facilities, including the state of the art 7000ft gymnasium and the 3G pitch, under the direction and guidance of Kieran Campbell. Aaron has worked really hard, demonstrating

strategic, tactical, technical, phys-ical and mental skills and is now being given the chance to live his dream. On training, this year Aaron has been getting up around 4am and doing hard gym sessions… all this before coming into school to further his studies. Hopefully, Aaron will leave school with some formal qualifications just in case the rugby pathway does not work out. Just the other day I heard a story that after training Ulster and Ireland winger Tommy Bowe said to Aaron after early morning training, “Aaron fancy going for a coffee with the boys”. I’m sure Aaron was tempted but he replied, “I would love to but I have to rush back to school”. Surely an exam-ple of dedication and commitment! We will be watching Ulster Rugby very closely and maybe next year you may have the opportunity to represent Ulster B team – The Ulster Ravens

Finally in education and in life it is very important to recognise the role our parents have to play in all of this success. We as a school are very proud of Aaron’s achieve-ments. But it was his parents who gave Aaron the opportunity to develop his love of rugby. He always had their support in terms of having all the correct equipment and of travelling to training sessions not only at Ballyclare Rugby Club on Monday and Wednesday evenings but to places like Magherafelt, Londonderry and Enniskillen on cold and dark winter’s evenings with the various development squads. Parents do all these things without thinking and we know that Mr Hall never missed a rugby game whenever Aaron was representing the school and this too we know at times can be quite difficult to do. I’m sure that on many occasions it took a tremendous amount of organisation, dedication and commitment to do this. And this is something that needs

to be recognised and celebrated as well. As for his mum I am quite sure that his mum has had to keep Aaron supplied endlessly with fresh kit and I am sure that Aaron’s food intake and diet needed was always high on the food agenda. His mum too also managed to see quite a number of his matches.

Aaron we will all be watching your career with great interest and a sense of pride and hope you will come back to visit us on a regular basis.