Good evening and a warm welcome to invited guests, members of the Board of
Governors, teachers and most importantly, young people of Wallace. It is with great pride I introduce our special guest this evening, Dr Janet Gray MBE, a waterskiing world champion numerous times, a world record holder, a multiaward winner, Janet is a truly inspirational figure. We are delighted to have you here to join with us in our celebration this evening. Janet’s many accolades include ‘Northern Ireland Woman of the Year’, ‘Sports’ Personality of the Year with a Disability’ and, of course, her MBE from the Queen in 2002 and her honorary doctorate awarded in 2004 by Queen’s University, Belfast.
Janet gives generously of her time to charities and organisations including
Disability Sports’ NI and the British Disabled Water Ski Association. We are grateful you have been able to join us; we know you have a busy schedule.
This evening is unashamedly about the celebration of success. The young people present this evening will be familiar with the concept of Alchemy and
The Philosopher’s Stone, probably though reading the Harry Potter series or by watching the films. The Philosopher’s Stone is a transformational legendary substance which creates a change.
The new Philosopher’s Stone, as interpreted in the modern day, is the positive effect something has on a person; a catalyst of some kind. The new alchemy of today is about transforming the ‘i’ – ideas, insight, imagination and inspiration
– into something valuable: success, harmony and happiness.

This evening, as we celebrate together the many achievements of our young people, not just academic achievements but achievement in its widest possible sense, let us recognise the elements of our own Philosopher’s Stone: the capacity of our young people, the support of parents, the environment we create in school, our caring pastoral support and our high expectations. When all these elements work in harmony, we have success and a happy school. I trust this short report gives you a taste of life in our junior school last year.
Laughter reverberated around the corridors and classrooms of Wallace this year on Red Nose Day when I relinquished the role of Principal for the day to be replaced by Aaron Richie, an Upper Sixth student. Aaron’s arrival, his car bedecked with R plates parked in my space, his sharp suit, confident smile and inspiring Assembly, made sure we all knew who was in charge from 8.50am.
The school tannoy system was well used as Aaron announced a relaxation of school rules in relation to fastening top buttons, an extended breaktime and a shortened school day. A leader clearly keen to seek the popular vote, Aaron however had a surprisingly old fashioned approach to behaviour management issues. Firm discipline was the order of the day and ‘punishments’ rather than
‘sanctions’ were handed out, including requiring pupils to complete press-ups as punishment in the Principal’s Office from where he drank coffee and relaxed with his feet on the desk.
His portrait replaced mine in the foyer, the synopsis of his education was most impressive, I know our junior pupils enjoyed the day and I should like to record thanks to everyone involved: A magnificent £3,000 was raised.
Maybe in future years a student in the junior school could be Principal for the day… imagine – you could discipline the Head Boy…!

Opportunity is one of our core school values and certainly students in Years 8-
10 last year had a rich variety of competitions, events, trips and activities in which to get involved. Remembering our past, respecting our heritage is important to us and Year 8 last year enjoyed a ‘Wallace Day’ exploring the heritage of our founder, Sir Richard Wallace, through a treasure trail in Lisburn
City, meeting local politicians, listening to historical talks and expressing what they had learnt through drama and art.
Two further themed days took place last year, ‘Mole Day’ in October and ‘Spud
Day’ in June. These themed days allowed our young people to look closely at, for example, moles through different subjects. On our Spud Day, we linked up with ‘Wilson’s’, a local potato supplier to study, among the many things, the history of the humble potato, its Biology and Chemistry. The skills of entrepreneurship, creativity, working with others and leadership were all well practised on what was an enjoyable and interesting day.
At Wallace we are keen to instil the importance of our core values of commitment, opportunity, respect and excellence and to create an environment in school which will prepare our young people for life beyond
Wallace. A vibrant Junior debating society provided opportunities for future leaders to hone their skills of persuasion and argument, our very successful production of Fiddler on the Roof allowed for the future stars of the screen and stage to perform. The lighting, make-up and sound crews were made up of students interested in ‘behind the scenes’ work in these career areas.

Other memorable performances were by ‘Cantabile’, our junior choir who were rated as highly commended at the Bangor International Choral Festival,
Matthew McStea, a young man of great persuasion and oral fluency won the prestigious ‘gavel’.
The PTA organises, each year, a number of value for money events in school, your support as parents is pivotal to their success.
The successes of some of our students individually in areas of expertise, beyond the classroom, were most impressive last year. Masha Morwood, whilst in Year 9, studied for a GCSE in Dutch and her hard work was rewarded by achieving an A grade this summer. Katie Johnston, another talented linguist, who like Masha completed a GCSE early, two years ago, decided to put her writing skills, this time in English, to the test. She entered a Radio 2 short story competition advertised on Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show and finished in the top
25 of 30,000 entries. Her prize included a trip to the Hay Literature Festival in
England where she met the radio presenter and watched him present his show.
The importance of reading for pleasure was emphasised last year with the introduction to our Library of The Accelerated Reader software purchased with funding kindly donated by The Old Girls’ Association. This software allowed us to identify reading ages of all Year 8 last year and encourage each student to read appropriately challenging books based on this. This year sees a
Homework Club available to students after school each day in the Library and it is hoped that many will avail of the opportunity to spend time reading, studying and completing homework during this time.

It is with great anticipation that the school community awaits the annual
‘Christmas Pie’ performance of our U6. A tradition, the envy of many, brings our first term to a seasonal close. This year the snowfall and plummeting temperatures brought an early close to the school term and, for the first time in many decades, the cancellation of Christmas Pie. But with the freezing weather brought wonderful opportunities for the construction of snowmen, a good spirited en masse snowball fight on the front cricket pitch … and that was just the teaching staff!
The arctic temperatures brought an unusual end to the school term with the value of our new email communication to parents becoming clear, it is to the credit of our staff that this is not a drain on our school budget, we have developed a system ourselves, and do not have to pay a company for this service.
Wallace is proud of its sporting tradition, for every young person we aim to find a ‘gift’ or ‘talent’ inherent in his/her make-up. It is clear that many have sporting talents which set them apart from their peers. Our third term last year concluded with a Sports’ Awards to celebrate what, in many ways, had been an exceptional sporting year. The junior school is to be congratulated for how it supported our many teams who reached competition finals – among them the 1 st XI girls’ hockey team, the 2 nd XI girls’ hockey team, the U14 boys’ hockey side and the 2 nd XV rugby team. The pitch sidelines were alive with faces painted to celebrate the school’s sporting excellence, banners were raised and our ears rang with cheers and applause. A few young sportsmen, sportswomen and teams deserve a special mention:

In netball our intermediate and junior teams reached the finals of the Northern
Ireland competition. In badminton, 3 teams made it through to the Irish
Badminton Qualifiers, the minor boys and junior girls both finishing runners-up.
An impressive list of 22 students last year received Representative Honours in sports as varied as Athletics, Badminton, Cricket, Hockey, Netball, Rugby,
Swimming, Judo and Fencing.
Such is the talent in our junior school in sport, unusually the Top Team Awards last year were awarded in four out of the five categories to junior sides: the
U14 boys’ hockey team, the Year 8 A netball side, the U14A rugby team and the
U13 cricket team. With these foundations of excellence in performance so well embedded, I have no doubt that this year will be an equally, if not more successful year in terms of sport.
Looking ahead to the future, Wallace is becoming increasingly celebrated as a leader in the use of technology in all areas of school life, the efficiencies which we have developed in our administrative and teaching practice are this year being matched by our drive to use technology, and in particular the iPad2, to make learning even more effective. We recognise that the world is changing, that we need to equip, educate and protect our young people in all areas of technology; in short we aim to inspire creativity and promote independent learning.

M Scott Peck summarises perfectly our vision in the following quotation:
“The more children 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 children will be to learn from you. And the more they learn, the more extraordinary they will become.”
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, young people present here this evening; enjoy the successes we are celebrating. The ingredients of Wallace’s
Philosopher’s Stone are that we are a caring community, focused on looking forward, celebrating our successes today, reaching for higher standards of achievement whilst always respectful of our founder Sir Richard Wallace’s motto ‘Esperance’, meaning ‘hope’.