Winter Newsletter 2012

Friends’ School LisburnFriends’ School Lisburn Winter Newsletter 2012Winter Newsletter 2012

Speech Day Speech Day was held at Friends’ on 14 September to mark the achievements of our Sixth Formers at AS and A level. Large numbers of our leavers attended before setting off to different universities across the UK and Ireland. The Guest of Honour was Dr David Pulman, who attended with his wife Clare, a former Head Girl of Friends’. The Manley Haughton Cup for outstanding academic achievement was shared by Ruth Clarke and Emily Smith and the Greer Cup was awarded to Mark Gilmore. The Dunwoody and Sinton prizes, for service, were awarded to Olivia Wilson and Ross McGrady. There was a shared pleasure in the performance of all of our pupils at A level. In the summer, 84% of all grades awarded were at Grade A* to B and 93% of pupils gained three or more passes at A level at Grade C or above, the best performance to date in School. Top performance at A level There was particular success for our pupils in Business Studies A level in 2012. Ryan Armstrong, Catherine McClure and Sian George were, respectively, placed 1st, Joint 2nd and 3rd overall across all entries in the subject with the Northern Ireland Examination Board CCEA. Ryan was also placed 3rd overall in A level Economics.

Another strong achievement was that of Fiona Cunningham, who was placed 2nd across all entries in CCEA Advanced level Biology. The Sunday Times Schools Guide On the strength of our pupils’ performance across A* - B grades at Advanced level and A* -A grades at GCSE, Friends’ was again placed 2nd in the Northern Ireland survey, behind Lumen Christi College.

GCSE Reception Our GCSE Reception was held on 25 October to recognise the achievements of all those who took GCSE exams last summer. The Guest of Honour was Old Scholar Craig Rea, Managing Partner of Accenture Global Management Consulting. The achievements of all of our pupils were recognised at the Reception. Amongst those achieving top grades were Caitlin Hamilton, with nine passes at Grade A* and a further two A grades and Hannah Armstrong, Hannah Gardiner, Chloe Hassard, Emily Joyce, Danielle Kirkwood, Bruce Lawson and Victoria Maccorkell all with nine A*s plus a further A grade. Five pupils, Joshua Alexander, Jack Henderson, Laura Kilpatrick, Kerry Patterson and Ella Simpson, each with ten A* grades, shared the Old Scholars’ prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

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Pupils placed in the top three in Northern Ireland CCEA GCSE examinations

Ryan Armstrong and Catherine McClure who were placed 1st and 2nd respectively in Business Studies with teachers, Ashea Bell and

Stephen Thompson.

Winter Newsletter 2012

Top performance at GCSE Pupils from School were recognised by the Examination Board CCEA for being placed in the top three across all entries at GCSE level. Emily Joyce was, exceptionally, placed both 1st in English Literature and Joint 1st in Spanish. Joshua Alexander was placed 2nd overall in Chemistry and Joint 3rd in Physics, whilst Jack Henderson, was placed Joint 3rd in Geography. Caitlin Hamilton was placed Joint 2nd in German and Matthew Cooper Joint 3rd in French. Charlotte McCausland was placed Joint 3rd in Business Studies. A special award was made to Year 11 pupil John Dawson, who sat GCSE Additional Mathematics last summer two years early, at the end of Year 10. John, who sat GCSE Mathematics at the end of Year 9, gaining full marks, also scored full marks in GCSE Additional Mathematics, gaining 1st place across all entries with CCEA. GCSE Art and Design Owen Corbett, Megan Graham, Lisa Mercer, Kerry Patterson, Susanne Shaw and Ella Simpson all have been recognised by CCEA for gaining full marks in GCSE Art and Design.

South Eastern Education and Library Board Outstanding Achievement Awards At a ceremony held in the Lagan Island Centre on 23 November, a number of pupils received awards. Caragh Milligan, Year 12, gained an individual award for her outstanding achievement in becoming the youngest player in Northern Ireland football history (men’s or women’s) to receive a senior competitive international cap. In recognition of what was achieved by all of our pupils in the making of our Lipdub video, the Lipdub crew of Jack Brown, Leah Burton, Ben Conn, Cameron McClements, Jonny Mould, Jack McMullan, Nicholas Parker, Niall Prentice and Paul Wyatt was presented with the Group Arts award.

There were also awards for outstanding academic achievement for Ryan Armstrong at A level and Emily Joyce and John Dawson at GCSE. Joseph Our musical, ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’, directed by Ashley Fulton, played to full houses for five nights in November. The large cast put on a spectacular show and wowed audiences with the quality of their singing and dancing as well as their

Outstanding Achievements Awards

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Emily Joyce Caragh Milligan

Cameron McClements, Paul Wyatt & Jack McMullan

Winter Newsletter 2012

tremendous energy and enthusiasm. The standing ovation at the end of each performance reflected the enjoyment that was shared by all. The Producer’s Cup, for major contribution to a production, was presented jointly to James O'Neill and Sarah McDonald for their dedication, commitment, energy and focus. The Ashley Fulton Cup, for outstanding performance in a production, was presented for the first time and was shared between Bronagh Walsh and Steven Cooke. Ashley Fulton commented: ‘Bronagh Walsh delivered connected and convincing performances every evening. She took every director’s note given and acted with realism and conviction. Steven Cooke made the biggest journey of all. He had never performed before and worked hard on all aspects of performance, particularly his vocal, to deliver a sympathetic, believable and convincing portrayal of Joseph.’ International School Award 2012-2015 For the second time, Friends’ has been awarded the prestigious International School Award in recognition of bringing the wider world into the schoolroom. Our application for the renewal of the award included a wide range of new and existing activities that highlighted a strong international ethos embedded across the curriculum and the School’s year round involvement with the local, national and international communities. School Council Elections Elections took place on Thursday 22 November and the

following were appointed: Year 8: Anna Coupe, Ruby McElhinney, Oliver Saunders Year 9: Sophie Clarke, Ben Sidor, Dean Young Year 10: Hannah Al-Qaryooti, Carlie Rosbotham, Cameron Ullmann Year 11: Gareth Hill, Liam Kelly, Tobie Warnock Year 12: Charis Graham, Chloe Herdman, Samantha Stewart Year 13: Zach Finlay, Caolan Harkin, Chloe Saunders Year 14: Brendan Corr, Courtney Hill, Paul Wyatt Charity Committee Chloe Hassard and Conor Veighey were appointed as Co-Chairs of the Year 13 Charity Committee. The Committee has been active in a number of fundraising events and also organised a successful Christmas party for those living in local residential homes. We had our annual non uniform day for Jeans for Genes, supported Children in Need through our Bog-Eyed Jog and gave practical assistance to local charity Home Start by helping with a Tesco’s bag pack, assisting at a Parenting Forum and painting Santa’s Grotto. Sixth Formers also made a collection of clothes and shoes for the homeless in liaison with the Belfast charity The Welcome Organisation. History Friends’ School Year 14 History pupils recently participated in a cross border exchange link on Unionism and Nationalism with their counterparts in Drogheda Grammar School. The day was organised and sponsored by Drogheda Community Forum, and hosted at the Lisburn Linen Centre Museum with further meetings planned next year.

Joseph & Charity

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The entire cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat with Director, Ashley Fulton.

Winter Newsletter 2012

South Eastern Education and Library Board Christmas Card Competition Caitlin Lenfestey (Year 8) was the winner in the Post Primary Section of the SEELB Christmas Card Competition. A framed copy of her winning design was presented to Caitlin by Chief Executive, Mr Gregory Butler. Languages In October 25 pupils from Years 12 and 13 took part in the French exchange trip to Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. They stayed with French families and enjoyed trips to Avignon and Le Pont du Gard. They will host their French partners, from the Lycée Paul Cezanne in Aix, next February. Senior Mathematics Challenge In the Senior Maths Challenge held in November, pupils from Year 13 and 14 received 14 Silver certificates and 9 Bronze Certificates. Hannah Gardiner of Year 13 won Silver, Best in Year and Best in School and Robyn Mudway of Year 14 won Silver and Best in Year. Adam Boucher, James Clarke, Peter Elliott, Ben Smith, Jordan Fitzpatrick, Amber Nelson, Kerry Patterson, Caitlin Hamilton, Qi Zhong, Kathryn Swain, Alex Hamilton and Laura Kilpatrick all received Silver Certificates. Chess Joel Dawson, Year 9, won the Ulster Schools' Chess Under 14 Championship. Public Speaking Caroline Finney, Emily Joyce and Chloe Hassard (Year 13), together with Brooke Watson (Year 12), took part in the Soroptimist International Public Speaking Competition, held on 21 November at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club. Brooke

Watson finished in 3rd place and Chloe Hassard was Highly Commended. Northern Ireland Schools’ Debating Competition Friends’ are through to the third round of the Northern Ireland Schools’ Debating Competition. Organised by the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust and sponsored by the Telegraph Media Group, the T.E. Utley Memorial Fund and Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust, the competition is Northern Ireland’s foremost debating challenge with over forty schools competing. This year’s team, comprising of Year 13 pupils Caroline Finney and Matthew Cooper, defeated Thornhill College from Derry in the opening round while proposing the challenging motion: “This House believes that it is time for unemployed people to work for their benefits.” The second round saw the team take on Bloomfield Collegiate at Bloomfield and in this case oppose the motion that: “This House believes that the current 'A' level examination system is too narrow, too academic and no longer fit for purpose”. The team are going from strength to strength and special mention should also go to fellow Sixth Formers Chloe Hassard and Brendan Corr who have been crucial in developing the team’s overall skills. Takeover Film Festival Alex Hamilton, Year 12, was a member of the Takeover Youth Panel which organised a weekend of films at Queen’s Film Theatre for the Takeover Film Festival in November. Films such as “Psycho”, “Cinema Paradiso” and the most popular of the weekend, “Mean Girls”, were all shown and the festival was a great success. As a result of his work on the Youth Panel, Alex was selected to take part in a Directing Masterclass with Brian Kirk, who, with over 20 years’ experience in the industry, has recently worked on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ and BBC’s ‘Great Expectations’.

Public Speaking

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Caitlin Lenfestey

Caroline Finney, Chloe Hassard and Emily Joyce who took part in the Soroptimist International Public Speaking Competition.

Winter Newsletter 2012

Quaker Cottage There was a most generous response to our annual appeal for Quaker Cottage with all in our community, from P1 to Year 14, joining together to help. Over ninety hampers were filled with food items and with small gifts for the mothers in the families helped by the appeal. A Tale of Two Stories: 1916 In a project organised by the Corrymeela Community, pupils from two Year 10 History classes, one from Friends’ and one from St Dominic’s High School in Belfast, have taken part in a residential at Corrymeela as well as a site visit to the Somme Heritage Centre to develop their understanding of the 1916 Rising. Sport The captains of our major sports teams for the 2012-2013 season are as follows: Netball Courtney Hill Girls Hockey Paige Brown Boys Hockey Matthew Getty Rugby Ross Robinson Lisburn Junior Team of the Year Awards Teams from Friends’ School took the top three places in the Lisburn Junior Team of the Year Awards ceremony, held at the Lagan Island Centre in October. In 3rd place was the Friends’ Prep Swimming Under 10’s Boys’ Relay Team of Oliver Kidd, Conor Quinn, Jack Harte and Oliver Chambers, which has had success at both regional and national level winning Gold in both the Under 10 Boys Freestyle Relay and the Under 10 Boys Medley Relay in the Irish Minor Schools’ Championships. Second place was awarded to the Friends’ Senior Girls’ Netball Team, captained by Sian George. Last season the girls won the Senior South Eastern Area League and

Northern Ireland League titles. The team also reached the final of the Senior Cup, finishing runners up to Our Lady and St Patrick’s College, Knock. Winners of the Lisburn Junior Team of the Year Award were the members of the Friends’ School Senior Girls Badminton team. Made up of Caroline Black, Ruth Roddis, Rachel Orr and Kristy Walker, the Friends’ School Senior Girls’ Badminton team has been crowned Ulster Cup Champions and Ulster League Division 1 Champions for the past 7 years in Year 8, Minor, Junior and Senior categories. In addition the girls, who have been coached throughout their time at Friends’ by Nina Thompson, have won the Irish League Division 1 title for each of the 6 years they were eligible. This means that they have won 20 championships in all. Junior Sports Personality of the Year Caragh Milligan was placed 3rd overall in the Junior Sports Personality of the Year category for her success in football. Coach of the Year The evening was rounded off by the success of Regina Millen in being awarded Lisburn Coach of the Year 2012, recognising her tremendous enthusiasm, commitment and skill in bringing out the best in all of the teams she coached with School and with Laganside Netball Club. Badminton Success for Year 8 Boys In the Ulster Schools’ Year 8 Round Robin Tournament, the Friends’ team of Matthew Prentice, Cameron Watson, Zak Nixon, Adam Jeffrey and Callum Maze first of all won their semi final against Ballyclare HS, RBAI and Coleraine AI and then, in the final, defeated teams from RBAI, Sullivan Upper School and The Wallace High School to win the title. Matthew Prentice has won representative honours for the Ulster Under 13 side.

Quaker Cottage

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Quaker Cottage Appeal Year 10 History pupils

Winter Newsletter 2012

Year 8 Girls Round Robin Tournament The Year 8 Girls’ team of Hannah Waring, Tyla Eley, Olivia Agnew and Rachael Walker finished 2nd in their semi final and 3rd in the final, losing to runners up The Wallace High School and winners Hunterhouse College. Champion of Champions Event Chin Nam Soong, Year 11, was the runner up in the Junior section of the Champion of Champions event, held at Alpha in November. Ryan Stewart, Year 13, won the Senior Boys’ title, defeating the representative from Sullivan Upper School, Ben McMeekin, in the final. Cross Country Zoë Carruthers finished 8th out of 126 runners in the Irish U16 cross country championships and 10th out of 98 athletes in the Irish U17 championships. In both races, Zoë was the first Northern Ireland athlete to finish. Golf The Friends’ team of Duncan Fleming, Chris Black and James Brown competed in the Ulster Schools’ Golf Under 15 Strokeplay Championship at Antrim Golf Club. With the best two scores from each team counting, Chris Black went round in level par while James Brown carded a round of 5 under his 15 handicap, giving the Friends’ team 2nd place overall.

Hockey - McCullough Cup The Boys’ 1st XI finished top of their McCullough Cup group after recording victories against Bangor (4-0), Wallace (3-1), Banbridge 2s (4-2), Regent (2-0) and Grosvenor (7-0) as well as a 1 – 0 loss to Cookstown High School. In the semi-final Friends’ played Banbridge Academy and, in a match in which the lead changed hands a number of times, were unfortunate to finish on the wrong side of a 3 – 2 scoreline. Prior Shield The 2nd XI won through to the quarter-finals of the Prior

Shield. Despite losing 5-3 to Campbell, they defeated Bangor 6-0, B.R.A. 7-1 and Newry 1st XI 6-0. In the quarter final the boys played Ballyclare High School, losing 4 – 1. Representative Honours Andrew Allen (Year 14), together with Year 13 pupils Jack Henderson and Matthew Sullivan played at the Interpros for the Ulster Under 18 team. At Under 16 level, James Milliken (Year 11), Aaron Martin, Ryan Donaldson and Thomas Mathewson (all Year 12) played with distinction to help Ulster to 2 victories and 2 draws and win the title, named in memory of former Friends’ pupil Frank Green. Aaron Martin scored four of Ulster’s seven goals.

Badminton & Hockey

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Andrew Allen, Jack Henderson and Matthew Sullivan who represented Ulster at U18 level.

Ryan Stewart & Chin Nam Soong

James Milliken, Aaron Martin, Ryan Donaldson and Thomas Mathewson who represented Ulster at U16 level.

Winter Newsletter 2012

Girls’ Hockey Schools’ Cup The 1st XI lost to Omagh Academy 2-1 in the 1st round of the Schools’ Cup. McDowell Cup The 2nd XI defeated Strabane 4-1 in the 1st round of the McDowell Cup but lost to Victoria College 3 – 2 on penalty strokes in the 2nd round. Gibson Cup The 2BXI has qualified, by winning all of their group matches, for the quarter final stage of the Gibson Cup. Junior Cup The U14AXI defeated Limavady Grammar 5-0 in the 2nd round of the Junior Cup and will play Omagh Academy in 3rd round. Representative Honours Rosie Henderson, Year 10, represented Ulster in the Interprovincial Championships and has also been selected for the Irish Under 16 training squad. Hockey Tour The Under 13 and 14 girls’ hockey teams toured to Holland from 19 to 23 October. An action packed itinerary allowed the girls to watch top class hockey at the club of their hosts, HIC, take part in a tactics session, play a number of matches against talented junior club sides, fit in some sight seeing and, on their last day, go karting! The quality of the Dutch opposition provided valuable experience and

also some encouraging results, with both Lucy Fitzpatrick and Olivia Reid scoring hat-tricks for the U13s in their 8 – 4 win over HIC. Kayaking In the Northern Ireland Schools’ Kayaking Championships, Afton Fitzhenry, Year 14, won the Under 18 category and Luke Fitzhenry, Year 12, was placed 3rd in the Under 16 section. Netball The Junior A, Intermediate A, Senior A and Senior B teams have all qualified for the quarter final stages of the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Northern Ireland Cup competitions. Reflecting the competitive nature of netball at local level, the Senior A team is in a three way play off with Our Lady and St Patrick’s, Knock, and Assumption Grammar School to reach the final of the SE league. Representative Honours Rachel Barnes, Year 9, has been selected for the Under 13 Regional Development Squad. Northern Ireland Under 17 Hannah Adair, Sarah Coll, Chloe Howes and Jessica Pickering have been selected for the squad from which the final team will be selected. SEELB U19 Squad Katie Conn, Keely Mason, Courtney Hill, Tori McCaughey, Beth McClure and Lauren Hamilton have been selected for

Hockey & Netball

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SEELB Under 19 squad

Winter Newsletter 2012

The Swimming Team

Merry Christmas

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the U19 SEELB squad to play in the Podium tournament later in the season. Rugby The 1st XV are preparing for their 12th January Schools’ Cup fixture with Antrim Grammar by enjoying a 17-12 over Bangor Grammar and narrowly missing out on a victory over last year’s Schools’ Cup quarter finalists Grosvenor. The 2nd XV have drawn Regent House in the Cup while the Medallion will entertain Belfast High School at home on the 5 January at 10.15am in Round two of the Medallion Shield. The junior teams started the season with impressive wins way to Coleraine A I and have won a pleasing 27 games from 32 to date. The U14XV’s most notable encounter has been against RBAI A team and after leading 7-5 for most of the game, the Friends’ team were finally edged out 20-7. Congratulations go to Medallion player, Ryan Hall, who has been selected for the Ulster U17 Development Squad. Swimming In the Ulster Secondary Schools Swimming Gala, Jemma Bingham, Year 14, won Gold in both the Senior Girls 100m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley and Robert Allison, Year 13, was 4th in the Senior Boys 100m Backcrawl. Alexandra Hunter, Year 10, won Silver in the 400m freestyle invitational event as well as finishing 5th in the Individual Medley and 6th in the 100m Fly.

Victoria Hunter, Year 8, won a Bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly. Christopher Loan, Year 10, was 5th in both the Junior Boys 100m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley. James Edgar, Year 10, came 6th in the Junior Boys 200m Individual Medley. The Junior Boys A relay team, consisting of Christopher Loan, Andrew Edgar, James Edgar and Alex Harte, came 5th in the 200m Freestyle.

Friends’ wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.