Tá 34 scoláire as Rang 8 agus 9 ag tabhairt aghaidhe ar Ghaeltacht Rann na Feirste Dé Céadaoin 20ú Meitheamh. Guímid gach ráth orthu agus tá súil againn go mbainfidh siad sult agus tairbhe as an chúrsa.
34 of our Year 8 and 9 students are heading for the Rann na Feirste Gaeltacht on Wednesday 20th June. We wish them all the best and we hope that they enjoy and benefit from the course.
Travel details and the college’s Code of Conduct are attached.
The Year 11 & 13 Digital Technology students attended the Digital DNA exhibition powered by pwc yesterday in St Georges Market. The visit was organised by Ms McGowan, Mr McAufield and Mr Connolly.
The Digital DNA exhibition is seen as the most valuable & energetic, business & technology event in Ireland with over 150 guest speakers.
The pupils of Aquinas had an opportunity to attend conferences on; Marketing, Data, Security, FinTech, DevOps, Innovation, and Tech for Good. As well as participating in interactive workshops and various virtual reality demonstrations. The students learnt about the latest innovations in technology that are being utilised in organisations today. Finally, the students also have an opportunity to listen to and interact with some of the biggest names in business and technology from globally recognised brands.
This was an outstanding experience for pupils and teachers and is one which will hopefully become an annual event for Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School.
Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School is twenty-five years old this year and on Saturday 16th June, the City Hall hosted past and present Principals, staff, past pupils, parents and supporters of Aquinas. We were also privileged to have the school’s founder, Bishop Patrick Walsh, accompanied by Bishop Farquhar and Father Patrick McKenna.
The beauty of the City Hall’s rotunda was the setting for people to mingle, meet and greet. Guests then progressed to the Great Hall which was beautifully decorated with flowers, balloons and generally the Aquinas colours. Bishop Walsh then lead guests in Grace, thinking of others less fortunate.
After the beautiful meal, guests then listened to our three after dinner speakers. First was Mr Kelly who spoke eloquently about the importance of the community that helps develop our pupils holistically, he added, “The teachers of Aquinas believe it is important to develop a good person rather than simply a good pupil.”
Next to speak was former Head Girl, Caroline McNeill who spoke of memories of teachers and the opportunities she took whilst a pupil in the school. Again she emphasised how Aquinas, along with family, had made her the person that she is today.
Finally, the first Principal, Mr Finbarr McCallion recounted happy memories of establishing the school, making decisions like the uniform colours and appointing the founding ten members of staff (five of whom are still on the staff). He spoke of the crucial role played by Bishop Walsh in establishing the school and spoke fondly of the late Monsignor Bartley whose vision for Aquinas helped Finbarr lead the school in those earliest of days.
Sense of community was mentioned at various times in all speeches and certainly those gathered gave a great representation of what makes the school such an important part of the day-to-day life of South Belfast.
Declan Arkins 12 points 10B
Teresa Mellon 9 points 10F
Ellen McAvoy 9 points 8B
Year 8 Boys Declan McArdle 8F
Year 8 Girls Rachel McDonnell 8F
Year 9 Boys Jack Toner 9B
Year 9 Girls Mercedes Lundy 9F
Finn Hackett 10P
Lisa Carlin 10B
Tom McAlinden 14J
Killian Spence 13P
Rachel Girvan 13F
Last year’s winner
Eloise Curran
This year’s winners:
Catherine Gunn 8P Winner
Sam Patterson 8J Second place
Runners up
Ciara Cunningham 8P
Oliver O’Kane 8B
Eve McGibbon 8B
Katie Madden 8P
Holly McGonigle 8J
Aoife McMahon 8J
Year 8 Presented by JP O’Brien
Octavia Shively Blinn
Margaret McSorley
James daly
Amy Tyson
Connor Lozuet
Kate McWilliams
Year 9 Presented by Shruti Muthu
Kacper Bartosiewics
Enda Gillen
Mercedes Lundy
Leo McBrien
Year 10 Presented by Eoghan Guthrie
Odhran Fitzmaurice
Daniel McGarry
Sushmitha Ponsailapathy 9F : Gold
Ciaran Delaney 8F : Gold
Aoibhe Lovell 9B : Silver
Lorcan Cooney 8F : Silver
Kacper Bartosiewicz 9P : Silver
Qiwei He 9B : Silver
Kate McWilliams 8B : Silver
Hanna Luter 9B : Silver
Rachel Glover 9B : Bronze
Alexander Carroll 9F : Bronze
Anna Shortt 9P : Bronze
Katherine Robinson : Bronze
Eoin Vaugh 8P : Bronze
House winners 2017/18
Gaelic Football TournamentYear 8 Winners :
8F Down.
Year 9 Winners : 9B Monaghan
Year 10 Winners : 10J Antrim
Netball Tournament
Winners: St Brigids. Presented by Mrs McCool
Year 8 winner : Holly Horwood 8. Presented by Orla Harney
Year 9 winner : Aoibhe Lovell 9B. Presented by Cillian Spence
Year 10 winner : Shayna Velasquez. Presented by Mr Brophy
Overall winner : Maria Bergin 8P. Presented by Mr kelly
House winner 2017/18 Presented by Mr Kelly
St Francis 3764
St John Paul 4495
St Patrick 5315
Can ALL Cast please attend a short meeting in The DLT
Congratulations to the Year 13 team which won the NI Young Engineers Award at the Sentinus Young Innovators Competition at UUJ on Tuesday 26th June. The competition team of James McEvoy, Shruti Muthu and Cormac McCumiskey were awarded first prize after a tough judging process that pitched them against teams from across Ireland.
The winning product had been designed and built for Phoenix Natural Gas as part of the Sentinus Team R & D program. The Aquinas team includes fellow year 13 pupils Matthew Barry and Niamh MacDermott, who worked along with Phoenix Natural Gas engineer Andrew Lyle to design and build a man hole cover lifter that requires no back bending. Starting in September 2017, the team researched possible solutions to the problem then designed and built their product which they named “Lyle’s lifter”. Capable of lifting cast iron covers over 70kg, the product achieved top marks in seven of the ten marking criteria at the Team R & D presentation day in Ballymena in April. On the back of this success the team took the product to Jordanstown and came away with this prestigious award.
Well done to the year 13 pupils on their success.
Chorus 1: Years 9, 10 and 11
Chorus 2: Years 12, 13 and 14
9.30am to 1pm:
Act 1, Chorus 1 (Workhouse and Fagin’s Gang):
Years 9, 10 and 11 students
plus
Oliver, Mr Bumble, Widow Corney and Paupers’ Assistants
1.45pm to 3pm:
Act 2, Chorus 2 (Bar scenes and Nancy’s group):
ALL Years 12, 13 and 14 (plus Year 12, 13 and 14 Principals)
9.30am to 11am:
‘Who Will Buy?’ Ensemble in Act 2: 9.30am to 11.00am:
Sean Carron, Benito Rosato, Holly Horwood, Rebecca Cullen, Christa Rea, Fionnuala O’Gorman,
Elena Knowles, Lucy McCarroll, Shayna Velasquez, Lara McStay, Niamh Mac Dermott,
Caoimhe Magorrian, Olivia Feron, Ita McConville, Anna McCann, Nathalie Wilson, Sorcha Hanna and Katie Hirst.
11.30am to 3.00pm (break for lunch: bring lunch with you, please):
Act 1, Scene 1: Workhouse
Years 9, 10 and 11 students
plus
Oliver, Mr Bumble, Widow Corney and Paupers’ Assistants
9.30 to 11am: Dodger Meets Oliver
Act 1, Scene 5:
Oliver, Dodger and Charley Bates
11.30 to 1pm: ‘Boy For Sale’
Act 1, Scene 2:
Bumble and Oliver
1.45pm to 3.00: no rehearsal
Bank Holiday: school closed: no rehearsal
Act 1, Scene 3:
9.30am to 11am:
Sowerberry Family, Oliver, Bumble
Act 2, Scene 4:
11.30am to 1pm:
Noah, Oliver and Charlotte
1.45am to 3pm:
Sowerberry Family, Oliver, Bumble, Noah
Act 1, Scene 6:
9.30am to 10.35am –break- 10.50am to 1pm
Fagin, Oliver and Fagin’s Gang (*Fagin’s Gang always includes Dodger and Charley)
1.45pm to 3.30pm:
‘It’s a Fine Life’ (p.47)
Fagin, Oliver and Fagin’s Gang, Nancy, Bet and Nancy’s girls (Senior girls)
Thursday, 30, August, 2018
Act 1, Scene 6:
9.30 to 10.35:
Fagin and Oliver (p45 to 47)
10.50 to 12.35:
Intro dialogue and ‘I’d Do Anything’
Fagin, Oliver and Fagin’s Gang, Nancy, Bet and Nancy’s girls (Senior girls)
1.45 to 3.30:
‘Be Back Soon’
Fagin, Oliver and Fagin’s Gang, Nancy, Bet and Nancy’s girls (Senior girls)
To be decided: keep an eye on the website and Drama and Music notice-boards.
Principal Mr Barry Kelly and the staff of Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School wish to congratulate the class of 2018 who received excellent A’ level grades this morning.
The outstanding overall results are just reward for a group of students who worked very hard. A total of 88.4% of our A’ Level pupils received 3A*-C grades with 32.6% achieving three or more A*/A grades.
A further break down of the results showed that 82% of all grades achieved were A* to B and 95% of all grades were A* to C. In fact, our pupils achieved a 100% pass rate, that is, grades A* to E.
Throughout the year, students were supported by their families and benefited from the excellent teaching and pastoral support from their teachers. Today is a day of celebration for the whole Aquinas community.
Most of our students have been accepted into their course of choice at Higher/Further Education with three accepting places at Oxford to study Music; Law with French and French with Philosophy. Other students must wait until Monday to hear from their CAO application to Southern Ireland universities
We wish all our students every success and happiness in the next stage of their educational journey and look forward to greeting them again at the Christmas Prize Night.
Aquinas students, their parents and teachers were all celebrating the outstanding success in the GCSE results issued today.
With 65% of all grades awarded at A*/A level, 91% at A*/B level and 99% at A*/C this outstanding cohort of young men and women have achieved to the very highest standard and can now look forward to the opportunities of sixth form study and further into University and the world of work. Aquinas is delighted that 99.1% of students achieved 7A*-C including English and Mathematics.
Principal, Mr Kelly expressed his delight in seeing all students do so well. He thanked staff and parents for all their efforts in supporting our students reach their full potential. He reminded the students of the need to continue to set the highest personal targets and to be ambitious in their future studies and pathways.
Music and acting rehearsals for Aquinas’s 2018 School Show, ‘Oliver!’, are in full swing with the first week of rehearsals over. The show will be staged on 17, 18 and 19, October and the Cast are working very hard to ensure that the show is great fun and a big success. We hope to see you there. Tickets will be on sale soon!
Wednesday, 5, Sept: Fagin and Oliver (45 to 47)
Thursday, 6, Sept: Opening scene: Workhouse (45 to 47)
Friday, 7, Sept: Oliver, Dodger, Charley, Thieves and Fagin (36 to 38) Sunday, 1.30 to 3.30 pm: ALL Act One.
Please wear comfortable, practical clothes and bring a snack and a drink.
The first CHAIN OF LIFE lesson took place in Aquinas as part of the A Level Enrichment Curriculum.
Pupils opted in to the CHAIN OF LIFE module and had a very unique start to this programme as its creator, Lucie Dumont was here from Quebec for the first lesson. A captivating lesson of games and learning about the reality of organ donation and also the reality here in Northern Ireland was thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils and many pertinent questions were asked. Lucie introduced our pupils to the topic of organ donation along with Noel Hanna, who has climbed Everest 8 times and recently became the first person in Ireland to successful climb K2. Noel shared his experiences and incredible images of his climbs, showing the reality of what is involved in such an expedition and the huge level of team-work involved.
CHAIN OF LIFE is a socially-oriented education programme created to raise awareness among 15–17 year olds about organ and tissue donation; to present accurate information and true stories– the goal is not to convince, but rather to inform; to bring students to make a personal decision about organ donation and to encourage them to share this decision with their families. In doing this, they become ambassadors of family discussion; To make students aware of what a priceless gift the human body is and the importance of taking care of it; To bring students to realise that a society functions better when everyone contributes to the well-being of everyone. Solidarity is at the heart of CHAIN OF LIFE; It is by educating young people and encouraging them to discuss organ donation with their families that we will succeed in reaching the population of as a whole.
In addition, we were very fortunate to have Noel Hanna, the first Irish climber to successfully climb K2, who has also climbed Everest no less than 8 times. Noel and Lucie brought the lesson to life by drawing the parallel between climbing a mountain and being on the Waiting List for an organ.
This is the first lesson in a series of seven which our pupils will take part in within the Enrichment programme.
Congratulations to the Aquinas ‘Schools Grand Prix’ team. The team competed on Saturday and had a brilliant day bringing home 4 trophies for Aquinas. The wins were in the catagories of Best chassis , Fastest driver, Fastest teacher and Overall winner.
This peer bonding continues throughout the year with the year 14 being readily available to support the year 8 through their journey in Aquinas . Year 14 will formally gather once a term. In the meantime the year 14 will regularly touch base with the year 8’s informally and through the many house system activities that take place.
Mrs McCool Hoy 14
Each year 14 student paired with a year 8 student.
Oliver Tickets go on sale in the school Mall at break-times.
Performances are on: Wed., 17, Thurs., 18 and Fri., 19, October.
We hope to see you there.
Congratulations to the Year 13 team which won the NI Young Engineers Award at the Sentinus Young Innovators Competition at UUJ on Tuesday 26th June. The competition team of James McEvoy, Shruti Muthu and Cormac McCumiskey were awarded first prize after a tough judging process that pitched them against teams from across Ireland.
The winning product had been designed and built for Phoenix Natural Gas as part of the Sentinus Team R & D program. The Aquinas team includes fellow year 13 pupils Matthew Barry and Niamh MacDermott, who worked along with Phoenix Natural Gas engineer Andrew Lyle to design and build a man hole cover lifter that requires no back bending. Starting in September 2017, the team researched possible solutions to the problem then designed and built their product which they named “Lyle’s lifter”. Capable of lifting cast iron covers over 70kg, the product achieved top marks in seven of the ten marking criteria at the Team R & D presentation day in Ballymena in April. On the back of this success the team took the product to Jordanstown and came away with this prestigious award.
Well done to the year 13 pupils on their success.
Congratulations to Anna O’Keefe who has been awarded a Ladies’ Gaelic Football All Star Award for 2018-19.
Click on the image links below to download images that can be saved or click the links beneath the images to download the word format timetable:
