U14 7-a-side Rugby Team Champions On Saturday 8 March 2014 the U14 7-a-side rugby team were crowned Champions of the annual Campbell College Belfast 7’s tournament, for only the second time in Sullivan Upper’s history. The team not only won the tournament but showed great character and intelligence in how they learnt and adapted from an opening defeat against a strong Down High School side. The boys, captained by Connor Scollan, went on to comfortably defeat Grosevnor and Methody in the group stages, before playing a very strong Campbell team in a closely fought semi-final, winning 7-5. The final was played against an RBAI team that had defeated Down High School in the other semi final, but again, the Sullivan boys showed off their determination and talent by eventually winning 26-0. A special mention must go to the character shown by the players and the brilliant support from the ever-faithful Sullivan parents. This win has given the boys great confidence and will stand them in good stead with a very challenging Medallion season approaching in the early Autumn. The winning team included Connor Scollan (Captain), Ben Jones, Shaun Tyler, Rory Kirkpatrick, Stewart Wylie, Jake McClean, Patrick McCleave, Isaac Sansom, Stephen Moore, Andrew Weir and Andrew McConnell.

This year’s competition took place on Wednesday 12 March 2014 in the Drama Theatre. Year 13 students and some staff were treated to eight excellent speeches from highly eloquent and gifted orators! The three adjudicators were extremely impressed by the depth of research and the sophisticated delivery of each speech. This year, Owain Campton of McAlester House was the winner, with a very memorable speech entitled” Local Stereotypes.” Patrick Grimshaw of Grant House came second, with” If You Can’t Convince Them, Confuse Them…” and Victoria Wilton was placed third with “Great Expectations”  for Praeger House. All eight competitors were highly commended for their outstanding performances on a range of thought- provoking and topical issues.

2B XI Squad  Jenny Beattie  Ali Gibson  Daisy Barker  Laura Murray  Martha Fitzpatrick  Emma Hill  Ali Kirkwood  Georgia Begley  Alix Murray  Anna Gregg (Captain)  Rebecca Kelly  Sarah Storeng  Sarah Elks  Amy Rothwell  Katie Noteman Won this section of the League to progress to knock-out phase: Beat    Sullivan 3rd    3-1  Beat    Banbridge    4-0  Semi-final – Beat    Ballyclare    2-1  Final – Beat    Omagh Academy    2-0 Undefeated this season  Played 21, won 19, drew 2, lost 0 Goals for 64, Goals against 5 Sullivan beat Omagh Academy 2-0 Ali Gibson and Sarah Storeng scored the goals.

The 1st XV Rugby Squad recently attended a reception at Bangor Castle provided by Councillor Andrew Muir, Mayor of North Down to celebrate the team’s tremendous achievement in competing in the Final of Schools Cup for the first time in the school’s history.

Two Sullivan students enjoyed tremendous success at the Belfast Musical Festival of Speech and Drama recently. After superb performances across Monologue, Duologue, Shakespeare and Verse classes throughout the Festival, at the Gala on Saturday 22 March 2014 at the Lyric Theatre, Ross McKenna, Y13, was presented with the overall Festival Trophy for Senior Drama and Ellen McCormick, Y8, was presented with the overall Festival Junior Commendation Trophy. Their performances were simply stunning and given the size of the Festival and the quality of the competition, this is a remarkable achievement for Sullivan students.

2014 Irish National Fencing Championships was held on Sunday 23 March 2014 at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth. Sullivan were represented in both the Cadet (u/17) and Senior Women’s competitions. Rachael Philpott was victorious in the Cadet tournament, winning all her matches, and was awarded the gold medal. Emily McGinn finished in 6th place. Victoria Duxbury secured the Senior National Championship, for the 3rd successive year, also winning all her matches. She was presented with the trophy by the President of the Irish national Fencing Federation, Mr Tom Rafter. Rachael finished in 6th place and Emily 8th. The victors are pictured with Sullivan Upper Fencing Club coach, David White

Schools Cup Final Methodist College v Sullivan Upper School  Monday 17 March 2014 Kick-off  3.00 pm  Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast INFORMATION FOR PARENTS/FAMILIES/FRIENDSTickets can be purchased online at http://danskebankschoolscup.com/latest-news/danske-bank-schools-cup-final-tickets-early-bird-offer/AreaDiscounted School Finalist Price (accessible through web link)Family Stand (unallocated seating)£14 (adult) £9 (junior)Family Terrace£9 (adult) £4 (junior)East Terrace (Neutral area)£9 (adult) £4 (junior) In order for parents and friends of Sullivan Upper to purchase tickets at the discounted School price, Ulster Rugby have set up an online promotional code. This will considerably cut down on allocation and administration of tickets.  The promotional code for Sullivan Upper School is: SUL2014 Please note all tickets purchased using this promotional code will be ’Print At Home’ tickets ONLY.  A booking charge of £1 will apply to each ticket purchased. Please note –    pupils may purchase tickets through school: arrangements will be given out on Monday 10 March 2014 in Form Base.  We intend to lay on a number of buses to transport pupils to/from the match.

Ellen Smith (9A) with the Northern Ireland Orienteering Association Laurel Shield awarded to her recently for being the 2013 Northern Ireland W12 champion. She is a member of Lagan Valley Orienteers and regularly competes in events across Northern Ireland. Congratulations to Ellen on this achievement.

Ballyclare High School Vs Sullivan Upper School Medallion Shield 4th Round On Tuesday 4 February 2014 Sullivan Upper Medallions took on Ballyclare High Medallions at Hollinger Park in Ballyclare, after the game had been postponed the previous Saturday. Both teams had won their 3rd round matches narrowly two weeks beforehand. Sullivan started the game off in the ascendency. In the first minute, they won a scrum against the head and the ball was fed out to Connor Scollan who beat the Ballyclare winger and ran down the touchline and the ball ended up in the Ballyclare 22. The away side quickly consolidated some good field position but were wasteful with their chances due to silly handling errors and poor execution. The game became more open and it was end-to-end stuff. Both sides weren’t capitalising on mistakes or field position, and so it looked like a penalty kick would be the first points on the board. Ballyclare were awarded a penalty just past the 10 metre line but the out half narrowly missed so the score stayed at 0-0. Shortly after, Sullivan were awarded a penalty within kicking range. However, unfortunately for the Holywood side, their kicker Rory Jemphrey narrowly missed. Ballyclare finished the first half slightly stronger but again failed to put points on the board so the half time score was 0-0. The second half started and the game continued to be quite open. Neither team got into try scoring positions and looked likely to score. Ballyclare then got good field position and the home side were awarded a penalty just outside the 22. The out half made no mistake this time and he slotted the ball over. This proved to be a catalyst for the Sullivan team and they came straight back at Ballyclare. One felt the next score would be vital. Sullivan were awarded a penalty just outside the 22 in front of the posts. However the kick was missed but Sullivan kept persevering and looked the more likely team to score. Then, with about 15 minutes to go, Sullivan finally capitalised on good field position. They made some good ground and Stephen Brush was tackled about a metre out but quick recycled ball allowed Adam McKenna to squeeze over in the corner to the delight of the away side supporters and players alike. The difficult conversion was missed so the score was 5-3 to Sullivan The clock ticked on and the Sullivan defence stood firm. Good tactical kicking from the backs meant pressure was relieved and even when Ballyclare retaliated, Sullivan’s defence was excellentand the home side could not score. The final whistle sounded. Sullivan had won 5-3 and the away side were in jubilation after a deserved win. They have progressed into the quarter finals were they will play Wallace at home.

Ulster Secondary Schools Swimming Results Ballymena 17/18 January 2014 Junior ResultsDion Clarke100 Breast48thEmma Hanna100 Freestyle28thEmma Hanna200 Individual Medley28thAmy Kimber200 Backstroke30thAmy Kimber200 Individual Medley49thThom Uprichard200 Individual Medley10th Intermediate ResultsAnna Best100 Breast10thAnna Best200 Individual Medley14thJessica Chrishop100 Freestyle25thPeter Speers100 Breast3rdPeter Speers200 Individual Medley5th Senior ResultsRodger Dawson100 Breast2ndRodger Dawson100 Freestyle3rdJames Doggart100 Backstroke1stJames Doggart100 Breast4thHarry Speers100 Butterfly9thHarry Speers100 Freestyle11thJemma Speers100 Butterfly1stJemma Speers100 Breast2ndBoys Team – Rodger Dawson, James Doggart, Harry Speers, Peter SpeersIndividual Medley Relay3rdBoys Team – Rodger Dawson, James Doggart, Harry Speers, Peter SpeersFreestyle Relay3rd Medal WinnersInter Boys BreaststrokePeter SpeersBronzeSenior Boys BreaststrokeRoger DawsonSilverSenior Boys FreestyleRoger DawsonBronzeSenior Boys BackstrokeJames DoggartGoldSenior Girls ButterflyJemma SpeersGoldSenior Girls BackstrokeJemma SpeersSilverSenior Boys Relay (Difference between Gold and Bronze was 100th of a second)Team – Rodger Dawson, James Doggart, Harry Speers, Peter SpeersBronzeSenior Boys Freestyle RelayTeam – Rodger Dawson, James Doggart, Harry Speers, Peter SpeersBronze

The presentation of prizes for the 2014 House Photography Competition was held on Friday 7 February. Prizes were kindly donated by Harvey Norman Photocentre, Holywood. Pupils who came first in each category were awarded a canvas print of their winning photograph. The competition was organised by McAlester Head of House Miss Carey and photographs were judged by former pupil Amy Millar. Amy is a professional photographer and runs a successful photography business called Retrosight Photography. Year 8 -10 Category Winners – L-R – 1st Place – Atlanta Fisher (McAlester), Competition Judge Amy Millar, 2nd Place – Max Ballantine (McAlester), 3rd Place – Daniel Conway (Speers). Year 11-12 Category Winners – L-R -3rd Place – Michael Parr (Grant), 1st Place – Charlie Gregg (Grant), Competition Judge Amy Millar. Year 13-14 Category Winners – L-R – 1st Place – Conor Patterson (Speers), 2nd Place – Elliot Hall (Praeger), Competition Judge Amy Millar. The overall points and placing for House Photography are as follows:1stSpeers24 pts2nd =Grant18 pts2nd=McAlester18 pts4thPraeger15 pts

Sullivan Upper School Vs Wallace High School Medallion Shield Quarter Final On Saturday 15 February 2014 Sullivan Upper School played host to Wallace High School in the quarter-finals of the Medallion Shield. There was large support for both teams but the Sullivan fans were louder and cheered their team to what was a very impressive victory against a good Wallace team that had thrashed Sullivan earlier in the season. The home side started very brightly, like they had done in their two previous Medallion Shield games against Friends and Ballyclare. However on those occasions Sullivan did not get any points on the board but this time it was different. The pack were dominant and this allowed the Sullivan backs like Rory Kirkpatrick down the middle and Conor Scollan down the wing to make good ground as well as Jonny McCrossan to put the home side in the right areas. A penalty was missed but that didn’t matter as this pressure finally paid off for Sullivan who scored 10 minutes from the interval after good work from the forwards saw scrum half Ruairi Meharg spot a gap and power through to score a converted try by Rory Jemphrey. The score at half time remained 7-0. Unsurprisingly Wallace came out fighting in the second half. Sullivan’s defence was excellent with the back row and outside centre Matthew Moran putting in some excellent tackles. The next score would be vital. Good wingplay down the left along with good tactical kicking, powerful running by the centres and a dominant forward pack, gained Sullivan good territory in the Wallace 22. Wallace’s defence was firm for a while but eventually Sullivan got their second try when number 8 Alex Aston saw a small gap and scored under the posts. The try was converted to make the score 14-0. Straight from the restart Wallace propelled themselves at the Sullivan line. Wallace twice came very close to scoring but the Sullivan defence, especially along side the ruck, was superb. However this pressure finally paid off for the away side when they scored a converted try from five metres out. Sullivan did not let this hinder them as they again gained good territory in the opposition 22. Wallace had a scrum right on their line and fantastic pressure from blindside flanker Adam McKenna saw the ball spill out to Rory Kirkpatrick who went over for another converted try. The score now was 21-7. This really sealed the victory for Sullivan but to Wallace’s credit they came back strong and scored a converted try with the last play of the game. It didn’t matter though as Sullivan had won! The home team and supporters alike were in jubilation after a fantastic result. Sullivan now move on to play RBAI on Saturday 1 March at Pirrie Park in the semi-final.