Chairman, members of The Board of Governors, Invited Guests,
staff of Wallace, parents and young people, I should like to
extend a warm welcome to you on the occasion of our Senior
Prize Distribution Ceremony.
I am delighted today to share the stage with our invited guest
Mrs Julie Anne Bailie, a Wallace parent, a former student and a
successful, creative business woman. I look forward to listening
to you in a few moments and have enjoyed meeting you as we
prepared for today.
Our school was 130 years old last year. As I deliver my report,
ladies, gentlemen and young people, I pay respect to the solid
foundations laid by my predecessors in their leadership of
Wallace. Today is about cherishing our past, celebrating the
present and creating our future.
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In cherishing our past, the role of Sir Richard Wallace should be
celebrated as a man of vision, of generosity and of wisdom; he
identified the need, in Lisburn, for a new school, and gifted to
the town a school based on sound moral principles.
I am pleased to note that his vision lives on today in these
modern, well maintained buildings and grounds and in the
successes of our past year.
Pleasingly too, our Year 8 induction last year included, for the
first time, a tour of Lisburn to visit, understand and celebrate
the influence Sir Richard Wallace had on our city. Our students
visited the Wallace Fountains in Market Square, Wallace Park
and Castle Gardens, the Temperance Hall and the former Court
House; they now have an appreciation of the historical
importance of our school in Lisburn.
2
Our Year 8 group, the second to transfer under the new AQE
system of academic selection settled quickly. The quality and
quantity of applications to our school is excellent.
Looking back at our sporting heritage last year reunited us with
Mr Raymond Hunter and his wife whom I am delighted to have
with us today. Mr Hunter is an ‘old boy’, an Irish cricketer and
Irish rugby player, a member of a British Lions’ Touring side.
Last year too, we proudly watched the Whitten, Henry, Spence
triumvirate excel in Ulster Rugby; all old boys of Wallace, the
acronym the surnames spell, that is, WHS couldn’t be a more
fitting recognition of the investment made in them by school.
Last year saw the departure of a number of staff whose legacy
will live on into the future.
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Dr James Napier, Vice Principal, left to pursue other interests;
Mrs Jane Wheavil left us as a teacher of Art,
Mrs Lyn Ryan left the ICT Department,
Mrs Nichola Watson the Preparatory Department,
Miss Grace Bill the Geography Department,
and Miss Ros Farr the PE Department.
Mrs Edna Agnew, a member of the office staff,
Mrs Margaret McCann and Mrs Zoe Glasgow our school nurses
left as did Mr Tristan Barry, an Art Technician and
Mr Ronan Holly, a Technology Technician.
Sadly, as a community, we were bereft of two highly valued
members, Mr John Harrison, a supportive parent and long time
friend of Wallace passed away suddenly, and Briagh Hull, our
very brave Year 9 student lost her battle against illness. Today,
we think of them fondly and extend our thoughts to their
family and friends. We remember too the students who lost a
parent or close relative last year.
4
We welcomed a number of new colleagues to Wallace last year
– Mrs Corinne Latham
was appointed as Head of our Preparatory Department,
Dr Liam Halferty joined our Biology Department,
Mrs Charis Elliott our Mathematics Department,
Miss Laura Topley our Geography Department,
Mrs Sharon Blakely our Accounts Department,
Mr Neil Cummins was appointed as Cleaning Supervisor,
Mrs Emma Rice our Art Technician,
Mr Sid Murphy was appointed as our Technology Technician
Mrs Jennie Miller and Mrs Gillian Logan as our school nurses
and Mrs Sharon Blakely joined the accounts office.
Dr Napier’s departure form school as a valued and respected
Vice Principal saw the recruitment of his replacement Mr David
Cleland.
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We also welcomed the youngest ever students to our
Preparatory Department with the opening of our Pre School,
classes in the summer term. Mrs Anne Mulholland and Mrs
Maeve Falconer have the great pleasure of laying the
foundations of learning in our newest students from just 2
years and 7 months… even they are using iPads!
Now, turning to celebrating our present, what we are here for
today: at GCSE our highest ever pass rate of 97% was achieved.
Beth Doherty, Tony Gordon and Anna Greenfield were each
rewarded with 10 A*, Jake Clements, Karen Thompson, Adam
Wilson, Stuart Wilson, Aimee Donaldson and Natasha Gillies
achieved 9 A*, and 39 students had the equivalent of 8 A*
grades in points.
An impressive 48 students had 9 or more A grades, with 86% of
the grades awarded being at A*, A and B in Wallace.
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But today is not just about noting the proliferation of A and A*
grades, it is also about celebrating the number and range of
students achieving B grades; an increase in our overall pass rate
saw the school’s highest ever levels of achievement at A*-B
also.
A special word of congratulations to the following GCSE
students:
Jake Clements who has recently learnt he was placed first in NI
in Double Award Non Modular Science,
to Natasha Gillies who is first in NI in Journalism and Joint 3rd in
ICT,
to Elizabeth Doherty, placed Joint 3rd in History in NI
and to Stuart Wilson, Joint 2nd in German in NI.
The balance of achievement across boys and girls in Wallace is
of particular note, in many mixed schools boys are outperformed
by girls at GCSE and then it balances out at A Level.
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I am pleased to report that for last year’s GCSE cohort, there
are no such discrepancies. Year 12 last year proved themselves
to be a self-disciplined, focused and success-hungry group of
young people. We have high expectations of what they can
achieve now at A Level.
At A Level too, results were very pleasing. The hard work of
our mature, cooperative and well liked Upper Sixth cohort was
richly rewarded. An impressive 13% of grades awarded were at
A* with approaching 70% of all grades at A* / A and B. 33
young people in A Level achieved the equivalent of 3 A grades
in points.
Despite concerns about unusually high application rates for
University places prior to the introduction of fees, our young
people’s hard work, careful research and well considered
university applications led to a successful year of university
placement.
8
Following advice issued by the Department of Education over a
period of time, Wallace has worked hard in its curriculum
design, timetable and careers programme to encourage more
of our young people into STEM related subjects, that is Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics degree courses and
employment.
This is projected to be an area of growth in employment across
the UK and about 50% of our Upper Sixth students last year
have pursued courses in these areas. Of course, large numbers
of our young people train to become doctors, dentists,
accountants, lawyers and teachers, this will always be the case.
However, for those not entering direct professional
undergraduate degrees, there is an increasing focus on why
they are studying the course and consideration of where it will
take them.
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The decisions we take about which subjects we offer, and why,
are based on our statutory obligations, the needs of the
economy and the interests and aptitudes of our students. Last
year saw a decision to move from core Double Award Science
at GCSE to offer three individual sciences and the introduction
of AS Level of Health and Social Care, AS Music Technology, the
extension of our highly successful A Level Moving Image Arts to
GCSE also.
Our successful collaboration with Friends’ School at A’ Level
strengthened last year. Friends’ School students are taught
Moving Image Art A’ Level here, Wallace students are taught
Travel and Tourism A’ Level at Friends’.
Last year Mrs Dickson and I took the decision to extend the
collaboration further; the timetables for A ’Level German and
Economics are now shared jointly across our 2 schools.
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This collaboration has yielded excellent results for the students
in both schools and it helps us reduce our financial overheads
in times of austerity.
We recognise as a school the need to prepare our young people
for a highly competitive, skills and knowledge-based economy
where, in the future, young people may have multiple careers,
move from one employment sector to another and develop
new work patterns in areas of employment we cannot even
imagine.
The science fiction of the 1970s many of us watched, on
perhaps a black and white television, programmes like
Tomorrow’s World, are today’s reality.
11
Today’s reality is ‘ios 5’, cloud computing, social media, a
paradigm shift in economic thinking, nations defaulting on bank
loans, public sector cuts locally estimated at reducing school
income by 20% over the next three years , concerns about
childhood obesity and mental health.
In Wallace, thanks to a caring ethos, a focus on the individual,
a dedicated and highly qualified teaching and non-teaching
staff and a modern, progressive Board of Governors we are
looking forward, while cherishing our past, upholding our ethos
and values, celebrating our present but importantly planning,
building and creating our future, building resilience in our
young people.
In creating our future last year a decision was taken to
introduce iPads into the classroom for learning at Key Stage 3
for those parents who wished to avail of this option for their
children.
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The University of Ulster’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard
Barnett, welcomed my suggestion that a colleague from his
University carry out research into the effects on learning.
The leadership of Wallace wishes to influence educational
thinking, to remove the focus from applications for ring fenced
funding to investment in teachers, students and technology. In
short, we want to see, at a national level, an investment in the
future. I look forward to working with Professor Paul Moore on
measuring the impact of technology in learning this year.
But this investment in the future happens in so many ways
already at Wallace. Last year saw a number of our students
excel in public speaking and debating in English and other
languages. John Roberts received the medal for best speaker at
an award ceremony held after the final of The French Debate
Competition.
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Teams participated in The Model United Nations with Matthew
McStea awarded the prestigious “gavel” for the best junior
delegate. Our Year 13 European Youth Parliament Team
reached the final of the competition for the third consecutive
year. Our Drama Society and Debating Society remained a
popular activity of choice last year.
“Fiddler on The Roof”, our highly acclaimed production last
year, saw young people act, sing, co-ordinate make-up, sound
lighting and scenery.
Anuna, the Riverdance Choir held a vocal workshop at Wallace
for our choirs. In all these activities we, as a school, sought to
instil in our young people the skills of leadership, management,
negotiation, compromise, persuasion and communication.
These skills are all highly valued by employers and important in
encouraging self-confidence in our young people.
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In the spirit of creating future, last year a new leader was
born… He parked his R plate bedecked car in the Principal’s
space, his portrait replaced mine in the foyer, a synopsis of his
education and career to date challenged even the most highly
qualified; yes, Aaron Ritchie was Principal for the day.
A sharp-suited, authoritarian leader emerged through the main
entrance, keen to set a tone of firm discipline, well, apart from
the fastening of top buttons, he relaxed this rule.
Through his regular tannoy broadcasts we all knew who was in
charge. There was an inspiring Assembly, an informative staff
briefing and a code of discipline which saw some pupils
repenting for poor behaviour by completing a series of pressups, we all enjoyed the extended break and 3.10pm finish to
the day. Aaron looked like he enjoyed his new role, his seat
behind my desk, feet on table, enjoying tea and biscuits with
his entourage of advisors and photographers.
15
To Miss Bill, our Charity Co-ordinator and of course to Aaron,
many thanks; an amazing £3,000 was raised for Comic Relief.
You may not believe it, but sometimes our young people do not
realise just how gifted and talented they are. So, in building
future capacity and resilience in our students, we encourage
them to apply for scholarships, enter academic competitions,
attend trials for representative sport and even apply to
complete a module of a degree level course whilst at Wallace.
Many of the skills they hone, the knowledge they acquire, and
the relationships they build will create opportunities for them
that may not have been otherwise possible.
Jordan Browne, Samantha Purse, Hannah Stewart and Julie
Whitten all passed a YASS Open University undergraduate
degree module in either “Molecules, Medicine and Drugs”, or
“Human Genetics and Health Issues”.
16
Our enviable reputation as a successful school in The Young
Enterprise Scheme was set in stone last year with one company,
‘Generations’, winning the South East Regional Company of the
Year, The Northern Ireland Company of the Year and competing
in the UK final of the Innovations Award in July 2011. A second
company, ‘Le Dessin’, was selected to represent Northern
Ireland at the European Trade Fair held in Bratislava, Slovakia
last March.
Building entrepreneurship capacity was a key aim too of our
entry in the Invest NI ‘Go for It Challenge’, with two teams from
Wallace winning places in the Northern Ireland final last
November. Teams were entered in The Geography World Wise
Quiz, The A’ Level French Debate and The Biology All Ireland
Debate.
17
A number of Sixth Form students created a future for
themselves in a highly competitive academic forum with
Jonathan Scott and Lindsay McCorry being selected to
participate in the Villiers Park residential programme for
prospective Oxbridge students.
Richard Allen a member of last year’s Upper Sixth, a talented
musician who has mastered clarinet, piano, double bass, the
irish and classical harp, the traditional and modern flute raised
£14,000 last year to buy his own harp.
Richard had the great honour of composing a piece then
performed by The Ulster Orchestra in The Ulster Hall. It came
as no surprise that he was awarded the prestigious Catherine
Judge Award which is a £5,000 musical bursary.
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Applications for bursaries led to two of our last year’s Upper
Sixth boys, Colin Matthews and Dean Irvine, being awarded the
lucrative JP McManus All Ireland Scholarship which provides
£5,000 annual financial support to elite academic students
meeting certain criteria. Both boys achieved 4 A* at A Level.
Jacqueline Boyes, a talented linguist, was awarded 2nd prize in
the Santander Spanish Essay, winning a £500 scholarship to
Queen’s University Belfast and all of Olivia Bolton’s A’ Level Art
and Design work was selected for the “True Colours Exhibition”
which exhibits the very best of NI Art work.
Preparing young people for working in a global economy also
led to successful applications by Sarah Stevenson and Chloe
Carson who attended a two week language course in the
summer in Germany.
19
Chloe has recently learned that she has been selected as a UK
German Youth Ambassador. She is one of 30 selected
members from the UK who represent and speak on behalf of
young people in their own country to help shape UK-German
youth projects and activities.
Extending our young people’s understanding of life outside
Northern Ireland saw visits to Berlin, a ski trip to New
Hampshire, a junior hockey tour to Barcelona and a Capella
Tour to Amsterdam.
Ryan Getty and Alannah Stephenson of Year 11 represented
Wallace in the UK school games in Sheffield, and Laura Slater
volunteered at a qualifying event for the London 2012
Paralympics and British Transplant Games through the
‘Volunteer Now’ organisation.
20
A group of 12 students, along with Miss Barbara McKee and Mr
Stephen Calvert, headed off to Ecuador in July with the World
Challenge organisation, a project which was two years in the
planning and saw the group think creatively in their fundraising
activities, which included £3,500 raised by abseiling Dromore
Viaduct. A valuable part of this project for all concerned was
the six days they spent working with an Ecuadorian community.
The focus on building capacity in others, as well as oneself,
extended beyond The World Challenge Project with the
continuation of our ‘Christmas in a Box Appeal’ as senior
students volunteered to pack and wrap hampers, the contents
of which other students and staff had donated, culminating in
the delivery of over 20 hampers to the Woman’s Aid Charity in
December. Our Junior and Senior Scripture Union welcomed
guest speakers, led Assemblies and enjoyed weekends away.
21
The snow in December and arctic temperatures saw energetic
snowball fights on the front cricket pitches, build a snowman
competitions, transport problems, heating kept on in school 24
hours a day, but also the postponement and eventual
cancellation of our beloved Christmas Pie performance by
Upper Sixth.
To last year’s Upper Sixth present here today I should like to
say, your life size Pac Man, your impromptu camping and dance
routines as well as your great creativity with balloons and
cellotape all highlighted the potential of what never was ‘Pie
2011’.
The current Upper Sixth has much to emulate in our Upper
Sixth leavers, their sense of respect for Wallace, their sense of
good fun and, importantly, their respect for themselves.
22
With our current Lower Sixth, I should seek to emphasise today
how proud we all are of you, the way in which you engaged
enthusiastically with the Collegiality Cup process, how you
worked diligently to achieve such outstanding GCSE results.
We are excited about what you can achieve at A Level but it is
important that you not underestimate the challenge of this
level of study.
The year concluded with an Assembly Hall packed for our
Annual Sports’ Awards and we were delighted that Mr
Bloomfield, a former Vice Principal, and his wife, were able to
join us as invited guests.
Together, we celebrated a sporting year I can only refer to as
filled with ‘Final Fever’ with our girls’ 1st XI reaching the final of
The Schools’ Cup for the very first time, losing narrowly having
held their ground to a strong and highly rated Lurgan College
side through extra time and then on to the dreaded strokes.
23
Will we ever forget how Tessa and the girls transformed
Lisnagarvey Hockey Club into their own beauty Salon and
Hairdressers as they changed for the formal? Girls you must
have been the most glamorous squad ever to play in a schools’
cup final, fortunately the fake tan did not run, well not as much
as Tessa’s tears…
Our 2nd XI girls’ side also reached the final of the McDowell Cup,
our Intermediate and Junior Netball Teams reached the finals
of the Northern Ireland competitions, our Year 10 boys’ hockey
side made the final of the Ferris Cup, three badminton teams
reached the All Ireland finals with our Senior Boys being
crowned All Ireland Division 2 winners. Pleasingly, our 2nd XV
side won the Schools’ Plate competition on a memorable night
at Ballynahinch Rugby Club under floodlights.
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We had extra time, cheers and tears, not all Tessa’s. As a
school community we learnt how it feels to have tasted victory
and then to lose at the very last minute, or indeed second. Will
we ever forget the seemingly never ending extra time played in
the rugby Schools’ Cup? We learnt how to win with dignity
and to lose with pride for what we had achieved before. Our
appetite has now been well and truly whetted; personally
speaking, I much prefer that winning feeling.
On behalf of our Sports’ coaches and our players, I should like
to thank parents for your support of school sport, your cheers
of encouragement on the sidelines, those pre-match
carbohydrate dinners, the post match celebrations. These
things helped make last year an outstanding one.
At an individual level in sport last year, 22 students achieved
representative honours in sports as varied as judo, swimming,
badminton, cricket, hockey, netball, rugby and athletics. Eight
students were capped for Ireland.
25
We happily take recognition for the successes of our students
in all sports but, equally, are humble enough to recognise that
in judo, swimming, badminton and athletics our successes are
due to the work of our local clubs and coaches whom I thank on
behalf of our students today.
To our local hockey, netball, cricket and rugby clubs I should
like to record our warmest words of thanks for all you do to
add significant value to the skills, interest and successes of our
young sportsmen and women and, undoubtedly, the successes
of our teams.
The Board of Governors and I are particularly grateful to our
local sports’ clubs for their support in the plans drawn up last
year to build two artificial surface hockey pitches on our school
site.
26
The employment of Richard Lee as a Professional Fundraiser
(and interestingly, a very talented hockey coach and player)
and Tracy Marshall as a fundraising consultant, makes a clear
statement of our intentions.
I should also like to record my thanks to local companies which
have joined our scheme to provide funding to our project each
time a parent purchases their service or product.
As I mentioned earlier, as a school community, we should be
very grateful for the vision, so clearly evident, in our Board of
Governors, it is a strategic board, one of great expertise with a
focus on the outcomes for young people. I should like to
record my personal thanks to Mr Sutton, our Chairman, for his
unwavering support.
27
I wish to express my warmest words of commendation and
gratitude today also to the staff of Wallace for their enthusiasm
and care for our young people, for their attention to detail and
support.
The teaching profession, in particular, has seen changes, driven
by the Department of Education and our devolved government,
unparalleled in many other professions. The job is a rewarding,
but increasingly challenging one, however, the great pleasure
we all get when our young people succeed, is immeasurable.
To parents, to our young people here present today, I know
you value all that the staff here have done and continue to do
for you. Remember to say ‘thank you’ and to keep in touch
when you leave.
28
Just as our Upper Sixth leavers last year had tears in their eyes
as they listened to, last year’s Head Boy, Jordan Clements’
amazing address on their last day, so the teachers present
wiped away a tear. This is no ordinary job; it is a profession
about care and relationships.
To finish my report this afternoon, Chairman, I conclude with a
quotation by the author Morgan Scott Peck I included also in
my Junior Prize Evening Report, which sums up perfectly the
successes last year of the extraordinary students we have the
great honour of educating:
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“The more young people know you value them,
that you consider them extraordinary people,
the more willing they will be to listen to you,
and afford you the same esteem.
And the more appropriate your teaching is,
based upon your knowledge of them,
the more eager the young people will be to learn from
you.
And the more they learn,
the more extraordinary they will become.”
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