Lower Sixth student Natasha Gillies proved she was made of the “write stuff” as she was placed first in Northern Ireland in GCSE Journalism in the Media and Communication Industry.

Proud Head of Department Gillian McGarry explained: “This is an exciting and innovative qualification and we are delighted to have been placed first in the province for the second year running.

“Natasha completed thought-provoking coursework including investigative work on the proposed Glenavy incinerator as well as radio packages, ranging from small stories to the Tall Ships and everything in between.”

Natasha’s success was recognised at the recent SEELB Awards ceremony where the English Department’s creativity was also celebrated after collecting prestigious Tom Nolan Award for poetry.

This award was collected on behalf of Wallace by Lower Sixth English Literature Student Anna Greenfield.

“We were delighted to win the Tom Nolan Award – for the anthology of poetry we submitted on the theme of acceptance – as it recognised the creativity and love of poetry fostered in the English Department,” Anna said.

“Preparing the anthology promoted wonderful class discussions and we thoroughly enjoyed reading the work submitted by years 8-14.”

Anna’s love of poetry was also shown as the 16-year-old, along with Year 11 student Sarah Martin, travelled south to represent Northern Ireland in the ”Poetry Aloud” semi-finals in Dublin’s renowned National Library.

“Sarah and Anna worked very hard in preparing their poems for the competition and were a credit to their school and city,” added Miss McGarry.

“The competition helped develop our students’ knowledge of the Irish poet WB Yeats as well as providing them with an excellent opportunity to meet students from across Ireland.

“Our students relish opportunities for drama and debating both inside the classroom and through our range of extra curricular opportunities.

“All of our Year 8 students thoroughly enjoyed their recent trip to see the Laurelhill College production of “Footloose” whilst our GCSE students travelled to Belfast to see the Civil War drama “Juno and the Paycock”.

“Notable successes in Public Speaking have included first prizes in the Business and Professional Women’s and the Edgar Graham Memorial competitions.

“We are also looking forward to hosting a Model United Nations conference in the Spring and, in conjunction with the History Department, continuing our series of eagerly contested debates.”

So, as the curtain comes down on a memorable 12 months,  2012 promises to be another vibrant and enjoyable year for the students of The Wallace High School.

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A group of students recently received confirmation of their module results. Whilst results are graded pass or fail, students are sent a detailed performance profile which shows how well they have performed in the examination component. There are five categories and Wallace students, to the delight of students and teachers alike, scored consistently in the top category.

Lianne Wilson one of a group who studied Human Genetics and Health Issues said “It is really encouraging to get such positive feedback. It has given me confidence to know I can complete university level work to such a pleasing standard. Doing the YASS module has been genuinely worthwhile.”

Ben Simpson who was the first Wallace student to complete a finance module achieved an outstanding score whilst two further students are awaiting results.

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Principal Mrs Deborah O’Hare addressed the pupils and guests and was full of praise for the achievements of all 160 prize winners. Dr Janet Gray MBE was the Guest of Honour, having previously been the Principal Guest at the Sports Awards Ceremony.
She thoroughly enjoyed the evening: “It has been a real honour and pleasure to share this very special occasion of celebration with the students of Wallace High School. It was lovely to hear about the achievements of so many young people.”

Prizes totalling £1500 were generously donated by the PTA for categories in Effort, Improvement, Subject Prizes and Outstanding Academic Achievement. Commenting on this Mrs Julie Dumigan, Vice Chairperson of the PTA said “The PTA are delighted to once again be sponsoring such an important event for our young people. It makes us very proud to see so many students being rewarded for academic excellence and outstanding effort.”

Emily Cairns (Year 9) and Aimee McMurray (Year 10) received trophies for Overall Outstanding Achievement in their respective year groups whilst Katie Lockhart (Year 11) received the Alastair McWilliams Trophy for Overall Outstanding Academic Achievement in her year group. This trophy was presented by the McWilliams family in memory of their son who died tragically in 1994 whilst still a pupil in Wallace.

Principal Deborah O’Hare was understandably delighted and proud of the successes of all prize winners. “The Junior Prize Evening is a very important part of our school calendar as we join together to celebrate success in the extra curricular and curricular sides of life at Wallace. Their participation and enthusiasm for all aspects of school life is refreshing and it is only fitting that we celebrate potential in the junior school as the many successes of our GCSE and A’ Level students in our separate Senior Prize Day on 28 October.”

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She recently attended the Hereford Hay Literature Festival, where she and all the winners got to meet Chris Evans and watch him present his show.

Katie was understandably delighted with her success: “It was very exciting to be in the top 25 for my age group, especially when I found out that the prize was to travel to England. Not only did I get to meet Chris Evans, but also Richard Hammond, Alexandra Burke and Alex Jones from the One Show. I would like to thank Mrs McClenaghan for all her help and support too.”

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John won this award during the second round of this year’s competition when Wallace was victorious against Belfast High School. The team subsequently made it through to the Belfast Schools’ final and was narrowly defeated by the winning finalists from Methodist College Belfast.

Congratulations also go to Jacqueline Boyes who was awarded 2nd prize in the Santander Spanish Essay Competition. The prize consists of a scholarship to Queen’s University of £500 and Jacqueline’s success also brings the School a sum of £250 for the purchase of books to support the teaching of Spanish.

Sarah Stevenson (Year 13) and Chloe Carson (Year 11) have been selected to take part in a 2 week course in Germany in August. This course is run by UK German Connection and offers a great opportunity to young people to immerse themselves in German language and culture. Previous participants from Wallace have benefited hugely from this experience and both girls are delighted to have been selected this year.

Alex Millar, Head of the Modern Languages Department at the school is understandably delighted with the success achieved by all four pupils and commented: “I wish to congratulate all four pupils on their achievements and also thank the teachers involved who have helped them to be successful. Sarah and Chloe should have a fantastic experience in Germany, whilst Jacqueline’s success will benefit all pupils in the school who study Spanish.”

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Generations established a record label, designing, producing and selling CDs of music by Wallace High School pupils and local artists.

Generations have not only sold their CDs in school but attended a variety of Trade Fairs in local shopping centres around the province.

The Competition required the team to write a ten page report highlighting their Young Enterprise year. They also had to make a five minute presentation to judges and were questioned for a further 20 minutes by the judges. Having competed and won the South East Regional final they then went on to repeat the process against the other six regional finalists.

Generations consists of eight young entrepreneurs – Aaron Callaghan, Managing Director, Ben Ashby, Jonathan Mc Murray, Andrew Cairns, Neil Mulholland, Iain Mc Aleavey, Charlotte Nelson and Joanna Guthrie.

The Company now goes on to compete in the HSBC Young Enterprise Innovation Awards in the Savoy Hotel in London in July. If they are successful in the UK final they go on to compete in the JA-YE Europe Competition to be held in Oslo in August.

The team have been guided throughout the year by their Link teacher, Ms Karen Neill and their Business Adviser, Mr Jonathan Twinem from the University of Ulster.

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The ceremony, which congratulated all regional winners of Company of the Year in Northern Ireland, along with several other categories, saw Generations beat off stiff competition to lift the trophy and a gift of one hundred pounds for the company. Generations and the other regional winners are now through to the Northern Ireland Final, a gala dinner to be held on Thursday 19th May, in Belfast City Hall.

Managing Director of the company, Aaron Callaghan, commented “It was a fantastic moment for us when we were announced as the winners for the South Eastern Region, particularly because of the high level of competition we faced in the category. We are all very much looking forward to the final in May.”

Young Enterprise is a social and educational charity set up to educate school pupils on how to run a business. It allows the pupils to run their own business and sell their products for a year. The only support the pupils receive is from their teacher and a business advisor.

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Richard began to study Irish harp, performing regularly in concerts and at events in Hillsborough Castle. He very quickly developed a reputation as a dependable and knowledgeable musician.

However, after a period of 4 years playing Irish harp, Richard turned to the Classical Harp for his main musical interest. Richard developed rapidly as a Harpist, performing at a high standard from the outset. He spent hours practising, wakening early in the morning to practise before school. He raised £14000 to buy his own harp, by borrowing, and with great thanks to generous family members.

Richard’s outstanding level of musicianship has allowed him to perform professionally as a harpist. Richard is also a masterful composer, having been a successful candidate in the Ulster Orchestra’s composer workshops last year and having his work performed by the orchestra in the waterfront hall.

Richard has been awarded a place at Trinity Guildhall in London as a Harp student. There he will complete his music degree before setting his sights on postgraduate studies at the Conservatoire in Paris.

The expense of all of this has been greatly helped by a recent award. The Catherine Judge award is a bursary established through the Bank of Ireland in memory of Catherine Judge. Catherine Judge was also deeply passionate about music, always encouraging students and helping in what ever capacity she could.

The resulting annual competition is a highly prestigious event, the standard of the applicants is very high, all will have completed Grade 8 and many will be working towards diplomas in music. Two students from The Wallace High School were selected as finalists this year, Gareth Houston a flautist who will read music at Royal College of Music, Cardiff, and Richard Allen.

Richard Allen won the bursary this year. The award confirms his status as a consummate musician, a performer with great interpretative skills and excellent instrumental technique. We will miss him greatly in the music Department and wish him well in his future career. Thank you to Catherine Judge and the legacy which she has left for musicians of his standards. It is truly a wonderful gift.

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Wallace High School’s ICT coordinator is one of only ninety people in Europe to be awarded this title in 2011 in recognition of his commitment to using educational technology to improve teaching and learning. As an Apple Distinguished Educator, David will work closely with Apple to lead innovation in education.

David explained, “I am delighted to have been named as one of Apple’s Distinguished Educators. I will be working with educators and policy makers from across the world, exploring ways in which new technology can help engage students as well as advising Apple on the realities of integrating technology into learning environments.

We are at a very exciting time in education, with ICT offering so many prospects in develop learning experiences. Here in Wallace we have a well established Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and our pupils have opportunities to explore innovative ways of learning through technology such as flip cameras and interactive whiteboards.

Our pupils make effective use of Apple technology, with a prime example of this being two sixth years recently developing an iPhone and iPad app. Our staff and pupils are keen to embrace all that technology can offer to enhance learning.”

He went on, “Being named as an Apple Distinguished Educator is a real honour and adds to what has been a very exciting month. I’m happy to say that I’ve just been appointed Vice Principal here in Wallace and am looking forward to the challenges which my new post will bring in September. Little did I think when I was a pupil twenty years ago here at Wallace using BBC micro computers that I’d be appointed as Vice Principal in such a technologically exciting time.”

Principal of Wallace, Mrs Deborah O’Hare, concluded, “It is wonderful to see David’s expertise being recognised on a worldwide scale. We are fortunate to have him as part of our leadership team here in Wallace and we look forward to an exciting future of technological developments.”

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“These are truly exceptional young people who are clearly very able academically, but have worked consistently and conscientiously at the very highest level since their first day at Wallace, either seven years ago as a new Year 8 pupil or 14 years ago as a new Primary 1 pupil in our Preparatory Department.”

The group shared reflections on what had made Sixth Form so successful for them and looked forward to their imminent departure to Queen’s University; Oriel College, Oxford; London School of Economics; St Andrew’s University and Edinburgh University.

In the photograph: Jamie Clements, Jonathan Crean, Lyndsay Creswell, Emma Davidson, Lynda Newell, Andrew Oliver, Jamie Pow, James Thompson.

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