The 1st XI played Campbell College in the quarter final of the Burney Cup on Saturday. after the game delay for an hour due to a frozen pitch Sullivan started nervously. Campbell used lots of energy chasing the ball with Sullivan keeping possession but not being able to force any chances. Then Sullivan’s pressure paid off taking a 1 nil lead through Matthew Crookshanks. Soon after further goals from John Matchett and another from Matthew Crookshanks. Half-time 3 – 0 The second half continued as the first with John Matchett scoring. Campbell then managed to score on the break. But a deflection by Adam McAllister saw Sullivan finish. Final Score Sullivan Upper 5 (M Crookshanks 2, J Matchett 2 and A McAllister) Campbell College 1 The boys now face Friends School Lisburn in the semi final on Wednesday 9 March at Lisnagarvey, when they hope they will have a good support.

All GCSE and A Level Art & Design pupils enjoyed visits to the Ulster Museum to see the ‘True Colours’ exhibition organised by CCEA. It was an impressive exhibition featuring outstanding examples of Art & Design work created by students from across Northern Ireland. Included in the exhibition this year was another unit by Molly Fitzpatrick, titled ‘Self-Obsession’. This image shows Ryan Murray, 12F, studying Molly’s work.

YOUSHAPE 2016 by Adam Cunningham 12B Youshape 2016 was an event run by the UK Scouting Youth Council. All those attending are now members of this council. I was nominated and selected by a panel in Scouting UK Headquarters in Gillwell, England to be one of two County Down representatives and one of 11 hand-picked Northern Ireland representatives for the UK Scouting Youth Council. We were there to contribute ideas in discussions, learn more about scouting, make friends and connect with young people from different areas of the UK and Scouting Ireland. We participated in skills sessions and discussions to shape the future of UK scouting with the youth at the helm. I had the fantastic opportunity to meet Hannah Kentish the UK Youth Commissioner. Also Wayne Bulpitt and Tim Kidd, who are members of the presiding committee that run the Scout Association. I also met the various County Youth Commissioners, members of staff from UK Headquarters and just under 200 enthusiastic and like minded young people from all corners of the UK and Scouting Ireland. The event is incredibly important in the UK scout calendar and as council members we were there to represent the young people of our country and ensure our involvement in being able to shape the UK scouting movement and support the development of youth shaped scouting for nearly 500,000 young people nationwide. The event itself ran from the 5-7 of February in the Dearne Valley activity centre, Kingswood in Doncaster. The Friday night gave us lots of opportunities to meet new people and relax. The actual forum took place on the Saturday morning with a session discussing proposed ideas of how Scouting can be youth lead from as young as 6 years old! These sessions were inclusive and broadcast via live feed and scouts were able to contribute from home via social media. Some of the most interesting topics included how teenagers like myself could provide a larger role in our areas. We also learned how we could have a positive impact in our community through schemes such as Thousand Hands. This scheme aims to support charities in each of our local areas and to really make a difference while having fun. After the forum there were a number of skill based break-out sessions aimed to teach young people valuable skills. These included topics such as the running of an organisation as large as the scouting association. Other skills like how to improve communication or good meeting etiquette were also shown. I have already had use of the latter when I was invited to a meeting with the County Down Commissioner and members of the Northern Ireland Scout Council to present my views and advise them on how to push Northern Ireland on and improve for all of the 40 thousand Scouts in Northern Ireland. I really enjoyed the whole experience. I am proud and honoured to be a UK Youth Councillor and represent County Down and Northern Ireland in such an important role. I am looking forward to using my newfound skills to improve the scouting experience for all of Northern Ireland’s scouts from Beaver Scouts to Network Scouts. I am grateful to have been chosen to represent Northern Ireland I am also honoured to be one of the few chosen to pioneer youth shaped scouting and be a catalyst to its ideas being integrated into Scouting Nationwide.

Ellen McCormick (10C) enjoyed great success recently at the Belfast Musical Festival of Speech and Drama, held at the Lyric theatre. Not only did Ellen win each of her individual classes in Monologue, Shakespeare Monologue, Duologue, Acted Scene and Bible Reading, Ellen was also awarded the overall Festival Trophy for Junior Drama along with the Festival Cup for the Most Memorable Shakespeare Performance at the Prizewinners Gala.

Congratulations to the Boys 1st XV Rugby Squad who progress to the Danske Bank Schools Cup Quarter Final after beating Regent House 14-0. Sullivan will face RBAI at Osborne Park on Saturday 20 February 2016 with kick off at 10.30 am and all support would be welcome.

A tall tale from Sullivan old boy Kevin Smith Set against the backdrop of the First World War and the Easter Rising, it involves three young Trinity College friends on a foolhardy quest to the Arctic in search of the lost skeleton of an Irish giant. ‘Also along for the ride are a Suffragette, a bad-tempered Scottish sailor, and a very unattractive dog,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t go smoothly.’ One of the main characters in the novel is based on Kevin’s grandfather, who was in Dublin in 1916 studying to become a Presbyterian minister when the Rising broke out. ‘With the centenary looming I became curious about what he might have experienced at that time but, tragically, all his diaries went missing when he died, so this book was partly an attempt to create an alternative history for him,’ he says. ‘The Voyage of the Dolphin’ has been described as ‘P.G.Wodehouse meets Ernest Shackleton’ but it also pays homage to adventure stories by Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, and even Enid Blyton – ‘books that trigger the imagination when we’re young’. Kevin, who worked in Belfast newspapers after studying English & Philosophy at Queen’s University, and later spent ten years as a Reuters correspondent in eastern Europe and Dublin, paid tribute to his English teacher at Sullivan. ‘Jenny Gibson was a great encouragement back then. She pushed me to write for my own pleasure, beyond the curriculum, and eventually it became a habit,’ he says. ‘She has a lot to answer for!’ ‘Jammy Dodger’, Kevin’s first novel, a dark comedy set in late 1980s Belfast, drew much praise from critics and was nominated for the 2013 Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction.

Well done to all those who competed in the Ulster Cross Country competition at Mallusk on Wednesday 10 February 2016. Congratulations to the Year 8 girls team who came second and especially to Tara McDonough who came 7th overall and Rachel Wolseley who finished 11th. Also Rory Carson Year 8 who finished 8th. Finally John McNally Year 10 who finished 13th and now qualifies to compete in the All Ireland Competition in Sligo on Saturday 5 March 2016, we wish him well in this final.

At the annual Ulster Secondary Schools Gala on Saturday 6 February 2016, the junior boys relay team, Tom Uprichard. Andrew White, Mark Stinson and David Stinson came second overall in both the Medley and Freestyle relay events. The junior girls relay team, Amy Kimber, Emma Hanna, Tori Harding, Rachel Wolseley, Tara McDonough and Rachel White came third overall in  both the Junior Medley and Freestyle relay events. Tom Uprichard came first overall with gold medals in both the individual breaststroke and freestyle events and Rachel Wolseley came second overall in the 12 year old 100 m breaststroke and third overall in the 12 year old 100m fly events. Jessica Chrishop also came third in both the 17 and over butterfly and 200 individual medley events. Two Year 8 pupils qualified and represented the school at the Irish Minor Schools Gala in Dublin on Sunday 9 February 2016  – Matthew Latimer and Katie Kimber. Particular congratulations to Katie who came first in Ireland in 11-12 year old 50 metre back and fly events.

Isaac Hart (11C) recently took part in the NI & Ulster Indoor Track & Field Championships 2016. He won silver in the U16 200 meters race and now qualifies to take part in the all Ireland finals in Athlone.

Sam Rutherford 9C recently competed at the UK Laser 4.7 dinghy Winter Championships which included the Great Britain selections for places at the 2016 World and European Championships. Qualification was held over two weekends at Queen Mary Sailing Club in Staines Middlesex and Draycote Water Sailing Club Rugby. With the recent storms passing through the UK, conditions on both weekends were difficult with winds in excess of 50mph and temperatures close to freezing. Despite this and still being the youngest in the fleets at 13, Sam managed to finish in the top 18 boys in the UK, giving him a well earned GBR place the World Championship in Kiel Germany later in the year.

Team Polaris at the Young Enterprise Trade Fair in Bloomfield Shopping Centre on Friday 5 February 2016 where they picked up the ‘Mystery Shopper’ award.

Sullivan 1st XI faced Regent in the Burney Cup before the 1st XV Rugby faced them in the Schools Cup on a wet Saturday morning. The two teams started evenly with end to end play. Sullivan started to take control and finished the first half leading 4 nil. The second half continued as the first half ended with Sullivan in control.  After scoring another three goals the defence were caught pushing forward which allowed Regent to score a consolation goal. Final Score Sullivan 7 (J Matchett 2, F Gibson 3, M Crookshanks 2) – Regent 1 Sullivan now face a trip to local rivals Campbell College.