PRIZE DAY
OCTOBER 2009
Chairman, members of the Board, The Right Worshipful the Mayor
and the Lady Mayoress, distinguished guests, parents, staff and
pupils of Wallace High School, good afternoon and welcome.
Mrs Christie please accept a particularly warm word of welcome from
me; I am delighted that you are here today and it has been a real
pleasure getting to know you. In our conversations it is evident that
the education of young people in Northern Ireland is at the heart of
your concerns; I hope you enjoy celebrating today, with us, the
successes of the academic year 2008 – 09.
As the newly appointed Principal of this wonderful school, in
preparing my report, I sought to find a theme to which all the
successes and events of the year could be closely tied, which
epitomises the ethos of Wallace. Through my information gathering
and my own observations about our school I have chosen the theme
“generosity of spirit”. When this school was founded in 1880 by a
bequest from the estate of Sir Richard Wallace, a landowner and local
MP, this spirit of generosity led to the creation of the respected and
successful school we have now. The end of the last academic year
saw the retirement of the school’s 7th Principal Mrs Anne McBride,
who for me, epitomises that generosity of spirit in how she led this
school for nine years with great dignity, pride and to great effect.
During her time as Principal she witnessed some of the most
significant changes and readjustments in the educational landscape of
many decades; on behalf of the school community may I take this
opportunity to pay credit to you for steering this institution through
such change keeping the school firmly focused on our core values of
commitment, opportunity, respect and excellence. On a personal
note, may I thank you for the warmth of your welcome on the occasion
of my appointment, the transparency of your approach to the
handover, your ongoing support and interest in the young people of
this school.
Last summer also saw us bid farewell to other colleagues; Mr Fred
Wray retired as Head of English with an impressive 35 years service,
Mrs Sarah Lyons, Teacher of Biology, left to spend more time with her
family, Mr Raymond Pearson, Assistant Caretaker retired as did Mrs
Kay Wilkinson from our canteen.
We are delighted to welcome Mr Matthew Glenn as Teacher of Biology,
Mr Neal Gibson to our caretaking staff and Mrs Deborah Martin as a
catering assistant in our Sixth Form Centre.
On behalf of everyone at Wallace, may I thank each of our staff who
have given so much value to the students over the years and we wish
them well in this new stage of their lives. To our new members of staff
I extend a particularly warm word of welcome, I know that just as I
have been made to feel welcome, the welcome extended to you by this
community has been very warm indeed.
But today is about our young people, it is their day; it gives my
colleagues and I the opportunity to extend a generosity of spirit
through our celebration of success. I recently came across a very
poignant quotation, in light of today’s celebrations “real generosity
towards the future lies in giving all to the present”. (same quote at end
of speech) The rest of today’s ceremony is a celebration of all those in
school life who have given all to the present and in whom we can be
sure of a bright future.
The academic endeavours of our students are pivotal to the continued
success and reputation of this school. I am sure they all recognise the
expert and dedicated contribution of their teachers and the support
staff in their successes. At GCSE this year almost half the grades
achieved by our students were at A* or A and almost 80% of the
grades achieved were at A*, A or B. All our young people, who worked
hard, gave of their best are valued here; not everyone is capable of
straight A grades, we value the success and effort of each individual;
to all those students who have achieved their potential at GCSE
please accept the congratulations of the staff and governors.
Chloe Harris, Hannah Stewart, Alison Bready, Jordan Clements,
Kenza Lynch, Joanne Stewart, Colin Matthews, Nathan Reid, Nicholas
Freeburn, Jennifer Gilpin, James McIlveen, Henry Watt, Julie
Whitten, Katie Cliff, Lauren Elliott, Christopher Rowland, Rebekah
Anderson, Pamela McClure each were awarded 10 straight A or A*
????? need to talk to you about these grades – a most impressive
achievement. Congratulations to Joanne Stewart who has recently
learned that she has been placed 3rd in Northern Ireland in GCSE
Journalism by the exam board CEA.
To last year’s Upper Sixth who are here today, a particularly warm
word of welcome. Your performance at A2 level is a reflection of your
industry, diligence and perseverance. Almost 90% of the grades were
at A, B or C with an impressive 71% at A or B grade. These high
grades reflect the academic abilities of our students but also the
currency they provide has opened the doors to exciting and
challenging university places. 75% of students were successful in
gaining their first choice offer and 13% were happy to accept their
second preference. University applications play such a pivotal part to
Upper Sixth life, it seems only fitting at this point to recognise and
celebrate the hard work of the careers team led by Mr Paul Beaton,
the reference writers, the subject teachers who inform the referenees
so expertly and the students themselves in the high quality of
personal statements produced. It is clear that Upper Sixth 2008 – 09,
on the whole, made sound, realistic choices. We all wish you a bright
future and feel confident that you will be wonderful ambassadors for
Wallace in this exciting new phase of your lives.
Individual success in last year’s Upper Sixth was noteworthy. Twentyeight students achieved 3 or 4 A grades.
DO YOU WANT THE NAMES IN HERE?
AS results were also of a very pleasing standard. With almost 70% of
the grades awarded at A or B firm foundations have been set for
sustained improvement as the rigor and depth of this level of study
becomes more accessible to students. To our Lower Sixth students
here today, no pressure, but we expect great things from you, we look
forward to record breaking outcomes this time next year and to
working with eager, focused and motivated students. Individual
achievement was impressive too, 43 students achieved 3 or 4 A grades
and are well positioned to excel this year.
Such achievements underpin and exemplify excellence in the school’s
core values of commitment, opportunity, respect and excellence.
Commitment has been exemplified in what was a truly outstanding
year for personal and team sporting success. In boys’ hockey Stephen
Hunter and Peter MacDonnell represented Ireland in the European B
division U18 trophy played in July in Vienna. The boys played against
France in the final winning 5 – 3; Stephen Hunter and Richard Arneill
represented Northern Ireland in the UK School Games for boys’
hockey winning bronze medals. Stephen has recently been selected
for the Ireland A Senior Mens’ hockey squad. Peter MacDonnell,
Stephen Hunter and Richard Arneill all gained representative honours
at Ulster and Irish U18 level with Michael Keery representing Ulster at
U16, Aengus Stewart, Nathan Moore and Sean Murray gaining places
on the Ulster U16 Development Squad and Daniel Buser representing
Ulster at U21 level.
In Netball players enjoyed outstanding success individually with
Sarah Montgomery, Sophie McClean and Julie Whitten all gaining
representative honours. Sophie and Sarah as members of the
Northern Ireland U21 squad playing in the World Championships in
the Cooke Islands and Julie as a member of the Northern Ireland U17
squad.
The rugby players continue to show dedication and expertise at this
school with the Medallion side winning the Ulster Schools Plate and
another team winning the Junior 7s Ulster Schools competition.
Representative honours went to Chris Davis, Sam Hanna and Logan
McCallan at Ulster Schools U19 level, to Chris Spence, Rory Stewart
and Alastair McCollum who made up the Ulster Schools U19 squad.
Kyle McCall and David Scott were selected for the Ulster Schools U18
squad and Stewart Evans, Finbar Foxwell and Ross Irwin were all on
the Ulster U17 Development side.
Both girls’ and boys’ cricket continues to thrive in school; the U14
boys’ team were runners up in the Ulster Schools U14 League. The
U15 girls’ team were winners of the Ulster Schools U19 competition.
Racquet sports at Wallace continue to attract and grow a wealth of
expertise. The girls excelled in badminton with the Senior Squad
winning the Ulster Cup and Hannah Orr gaining a place on the Ulster
Juniors side. Tony Stephenson ensured the senior boys had
representative honours gaining a position on both the Ulster Senior
Squad and the Irish U19 squad.
In Squash Anna Kendrew-Jones was selected for the Ulster U17 side.
Adam Matthews proved himself to be a very successful swimmer
winning 10 gold medals in the Ulster Youth Championships and
winning Gold in the Ulster Grammar Schools and one gold and one
silver medal in the Ulster Schools Championships. He,
unsurprisingly, given that success, represented the Ulster Senior
Team in the Interpros and Ulster in the UK School Games and was a
member of the Irish Schools Squad.
In athletics Alan Montgomery was a member of the Ulster and Irish
Schools squad, the Irish U16 squad and the Northern Ireland U17
indoor team, and Rachel Gibson was selected for the Ireland
Endurance squad.
These are outstanding achievements in a school with a rich and varied
range and depth of sporting activity for our young people. We are
rightly proud of their endeavours and thank them all for excelling in
their fields with such dedication and self-discipline. Their
commitment is unquestionable.
Turning now to a third core value of opportunity, it is evident that the
range of excellence in Wallace goes well beyond academic success and
sporting prowess. An enviable range of extra-curricular and
curricular activities stretch, motivate and support our young people,
building in them advanced thinking skills, teamwork, numerous skills
and highlighting employability pathways.
In the Young Innovators competition at the Odyssey Arena AS and
GCSE Technology students were quizzed by 8 judges on the design,
manufacture and marketability of their products. Conor Thompson
was awarded Regional Finalist and will attend the UK finals in
Manchester in 2010. Andrew La Marche was awarded a certificate of
participation in the Young Engineers for Britain and a Gold Crest
Award and Dean Watt, Dean Irvine and Mark Thompson all were
awarded a certificate of participation in the Young Engineers for
Britain and a Silver Crest Award.
With such a year of turmoil in the financial markets last year it is
reassuring to see that the future is in sound, safe and expert hands as
our team won the Stock Market Challenge Competition. The team
members were Jacqui Boyes, Rachel Hynds, Hamilton Orr, James
Anderson and Alan Wallwin.
A spirit of enterprise is alive and well in Wallace, our Young Enterprise
Year 13 Team was winner of the Best Presentation in the South
Eastern Area Board Company Programme and Holly Neill was crowned
winner of the Company Secretary Award in the Institute of Chartered
Secretaries and Administrators. Kaleidoscope, a Young Enterprise
team won a variety of awards last year including Most Innovative
Product Award at the Castle and Tower Trade Fair in Ballymena. In
the South East Area Trade Fair held in Bangor they won the
Marketing Award, the Product and Innovation Award and were overall
winners. They were awarded runner up status in Northern Ireland in
the Company Programme Award.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme continues to be popular with
over 120 participating from years 11-14 at Silver and Gold levels..
Last year 23 students gained their Silver award and 15 completed
their Gold. On the 25th June 13 participants and 4 staff set off for the
Pyrenees. This is the fifth time that the school has taken groups to
this area to complete their Gold expeditions, rather different from the
usual Mournes or Wicklow. The party arrived back on 7th July having
had a most successful and enjoyable trip.
This school has for many years enjoyed the highest reputation for
innovation and entrepreneurship. Last year, as already exemplified in
these successes, was no different. Government has identified key
skills priority areas as being around the subjects Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics, this group of subject has become
known as STEM and in these areas it is expected that the future
prosperity of the Northern Ireland economy will lie. Wallace High
School embraced this as part of our ethos in preparing young people
for employment and the school was awarded £12000 to promote these
subjects, raising awareness of them and exploring possible careers
with our young people in these areas. This experience allowed us to
establish links with neighbouring schools and provided rich and
varied opportunities for our young people. Interestingly three of our
teachers applied for, and were successful in gaining work experience
placements in industry so that they could see at first hand how these
subjects are useful in the workplace. This exciting work will continue
as we as a school community try to steer our young people into their
chosen career pathways.
With our devolved government locally has come a number of local
councillors and MLAs who are role models for many of our young
people in the important service they provide to their local communities
and to Northern Ireland. It is pleasing to see this reflected in the life
of our school which enjoys a rich variety of opportunities for our
young people to be involved in public speaking and political analysis.
Year 11 pupils Hannah Gardiner, Kathryn Wardil and Hannah Philpot
won the annual South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust “Mind
Matters” competition and Year 14 students Emma Boyd, Claire
Donaldson and Hannah Palmer won the regional final of the Business
and Professional Women’s Public Speaking Competition. Year 13
students Rachel Gardiner, Kathryn Farley and Lynda Newell and Year
12 students Emma Kirk, Suki McFarland and Leah Hammond all took
part in the Soroptomist Public Speaking Competition. Public speaking
and debating was multi-lingual last year. Two teams competed in the
Sixth Form French Debate in French and German. James Thompson
was awarded Best Speaker in German and Nicola Stevenson in
French. This European dimension to public speaking was enhanced
by a team of 10 L6 students who reached the Northern Ireland final of
the European Youth Parliament Competition in which they presented
on and debated issues relevant to modern day Europe. Lord Rogan a
former Wallace student visited L & U6 Politics classes as part of the
“Peers in Schools” programme and a group of Year 11 pupils
represented Wallace very successfully in the Model United Nations at
Methody with prizes awarded for best new delegates to our team.
Opportunities for creativity are rich and varied in Wallace. Last year
Jamie Clements achieved 97 out of 100 in the London College of
Music “Musical Theatre Examinations”; Rachel Gordon and Jamie
Clements were selected for the Ulster Youth Chamber Choir; Polly
Black and Victoria Warwick took part in the Young Musician of the
Year competition; Kathryn Wardil was awarded a high distinction in
Trinity Guildhall Piano examinations Grade 8 and Jordan Humphries
and Jamie Clements took part in Voice ENPAC competition in London
with Jamie being awarded 4th place. These opportunities stretched
from Armagh to across the Atlantic, with Kathy Dowse and Anna
Presho being selected as singers in the Charles Wood Festival in
Armagh and Capella travelling to New York and Boston on tour.
Such creativity stretched to success in culinary competitions and
Andrew Michaelides won the local heat of Future Chef 2009 and was
the eventual runner up in the regional final.
Our fourth value is that of respect; again through our extra-curricular
programme there was a wealth of opportunities to show respect for
others one example is our Christmas in a Box appeal which sees, from
late November volunteer senior students working behind the scenes
organise teams of pupils to oversee the collection of food stuffs for
these charitable hampers. The hampers were donated to the Women’s
Aid. Giving back to society through charitable giving is a rewarding
and worthwhile activity much valued by our school community as was
exemplified by a varied and fun approach to raising funds in school
for Comic Relief.
Reaching out to other parts of the world is an important part of school
life, seeing beyond our local community and recognising the wealth of
variety in our global community. To this end travel and tours
punctuated the life of this school last year. James Thompson and
Laura Williams participated in the UK German Exchange spending
two weeks in Germany in the summer, the school hosted our first
Comenius partnership conference welcoming teachers and pupils from
our partner schools in Norway, Germany and Holland. Religious
Studies A level students travelled to Rome; Politics A level students
travelled to Westminster and the rugby tour saw our players face
teams in the Southern Hemisphere in the tour to South Africa and
Namibia.
Mr Chairman, invited guests, parents, governors, colleagues and
young people, the generosity of spirit which pervades this school is a
credit to all of you. I should like to express the gratitude of the young
people present to our teaching and support staff who give generously
of their time after school, on residential visits and at weekends; to our
talented, professional and loyal Board of Governors ably led by Mr
Graham Sutton and to our PTA who work to great effect to support the
priorities of the school through pupil centred fundraising.
I conclude my first report as Principal this afternoon with a poignant
quotation from Albert Comus:
“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present”.
We can all be confident that the future of the young people who are
educated in this school is very bright indeed.
Mr Chairman, this concludes my report.
Not included:

girls’ hockey

SU

Old Girls’ Association – fundraising

other trips – Art, French Trip, sports trips, Geog fieldtrips

ICT