5 Sullivan pupils have been given conditional offers for Cambridge or Oxford Colleges: Wilson Hill, Tom McClelland, Adam Leach, Kirsten Beggs and Jill Luke

On 15 January 2012 Eva Clarke, a holocaust survivor was met by all of the year 10 pupils eager to hear her story. This is her fourth visit to Sullivan and she has spoken of her ordeal on many occasions so Eva has already developed excellent story telling skills. We hung on her every word in absolute silence as the story of her and her family’s experience of the holocaust unfolded, accompanied by a slide show that added to the atmosphere. We were fascinated to hear about the horrors of the concentration camps; Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Terezin. Each camp was a different experience and a different example of how cruel the Nazis were. Everyone was in awe of the strength, determination and will-power of Eva and Eva’s mother, Anka to survive their experience. After the tale, Eva took questions and gave detailed answers on many aspects of her story. Eva helped us understand this part of history from her first hand account, better than we could have ever done from secondary sources.  I think she helped us to realize that 5,933,900 dead is not just a statistic but a mass extermination of individuals. Thanks to Eva and the history teachers who made today possible. William Preston Year 10

Guest Speaker- Lord Mayor of Belfast Cllr Niall O’Donnghaile The Lord Mayor came along with a BBC documentary crew, who are currently following him. They filmed the proceedings of the meeting, some of which may appear in the final documentary when it airs in September 2012. The Lord Mayor gave a short statement in which he briefly outlined his year as Lord Mayor. He then gave his feelings on how 2012 would be for the city of Belfast. He then took questions on a wide variety of topics; Q- Does he feel the Irish Language has been overly politicised, does he feel Sinn Fein have any part to play in this? A- The Lord Mayor felt the language was politicised whenever it was denied equal status. He felt the language would play an important part of our shared future, as it has been our shared past. Q-Will Sinn Fein release any documents that would implicate them as, “murderers” during investigations in the past? A- The Lord Mayor felt it would be difficult to predict. He asked if any government would release information that did so. Q- Has being young been a help or a hindrance in the role of Lord Mayor? A- The Lord Mayor felt that Sinn Fein choosing a young Lord Mayor was a proactive and symbolic use of the office, as it recognised the role of young people in the city. Q- Is being Lord Mayor of a divided City a positive experience? A- The Lord Mayor said his short answer was that he didn’t know. He felt that the unionism/nationalism divide is not, and need not be, a negative thing as both are positive and totally legitimate political views. Q- What is your opinion on the dissolving of the Department of Employment and Learning? A- The Lord Mayor felt there was too much bureaucracy at Stormont and that DEL didn’t need to exist as a separate department. Q-Is it hard to be Lord Mayor as a member of a hard-line party? A- The Lord Mayor felt it could be a challenge, and stated that he had been challenged both personally and politically. However the Lord Mayor felt these challenges were a good thing. James McNaney Year 13

Guest Speaker: Naomi Long MP, Deputy Leader of the Alliance Party Mrs Long spoke to the society about how she entered Politics. She spoke at length on how she became a member of the Allianceparty and how she progressed from local counsellor to a (unexpected) Lord Mayor, to a MLA and finally to win the East Belfast Westminster seat. A constant theme was the importance of redress of constituent’s grievances and how engaging with constituents encouraged her to get more and more involved in politics. Mrs Long then took questions on a variety of topics, such as; Voting reform, her opinions an AV; Mrs Long replied she had supported AV as she felt it was more proportional, however she felt a system more similar to the PR:STV used in NI would’ve been preferable. How she felt about the 2015 election in East Belfast, her campaigning strategy; Mrs Long replied that she felt very concern over the next election; she was more focused upon the work she could achieve now. She felt, however, that the election inEast Belfast would be a close one. What she felt should be reformed and modernised with the House of Commons.; Mrs Long replied she felt the House of Commons had a number of archaic rules and regulations with regards to who is allowed into what parts of the parliament buildings. She felt these structures were remnants of a strict class system and not relevant in the 21st Century. Jame McNaney

Congratulations to the following 9 pupils on their success at the Northern Ireland Schools Trampolining Championship and who now go on to compete in the Regional Finals in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in January 2012. U15 Girls Team (All Year 10 pupils) – Ali Adams, Sarah Storeng, Katie Fisher, Nadia Kyle – the team came 1st in the team entry. U19 Girls Team (All Year 13 pupils) – Hannah Fisher, Alice McNaney, Emily Johnson, Hayley Gibson – the team came 1st in the team entry. The following pupils qualified individually in their section: Ali Adams – placed 3rd in U15 girls Peter Lyn – placed 2nd in U19 mens Hannah Fisher – placed 1st in U19 girls Sullivan Upper also won the Shield for the most successful entries in the Competition.

On Friday the 16 December 2011 , the Politics Society welcomed Baroness O’Loan as part of the “Peers in Schools” Programme. Her visit came at a great time for the politics students, having just covered the topic of Parliament, it was fantastic to have Baroness O’Loan to talk to us about the House of Lords in greater depth. Baroness O’Loan began by explaining to us a “day in the life” of a peer. She also explained in depth how committee in the House of Lords work and that she is a member of two sub-committees. She explained that she actually applied to be a member of the House of Lords. Baroness O’Loan then kindly agreed to answer a few questions from our members, from which we learnt a lot. It was interesting to find out that as a peer herself she sees the future of reform in the House of Lords as needing a process of retirement or time out for people who are ill and she does not think it would be a good idea for the House of Lords to be elected. With that, our meeting was concluded, and I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Baroness O’Loan for coming and for everyone who attended. Savannah Thompson  (Secretary of Politics Society)

Congratulations to Matthew Miller and Tom Smyth (9W) who were close runners up in a UK nation-wide competition ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2’.  This was a great achievement as the competition received thousands of entries. They forwarded a joint entry in digital format (using ‘Pivot’) based on their most embarrassing moments.  They put much time and thought into their entry and received a goodie bag of merchandise worth approximately £100.For more information on this achievement visit the website: www.filmeducation.org and click on ‘competitions’ link.

Congratulations to the following pupils who will attend an Ulster Schools Rugby training camp at UUC on 20 and 21 December 2011. U17 Squad Chris Griffiths, Ross Todd, Michael Cartmill, Josh Davidson, David Cave and Scott Finlay U16 Squad Mark Adair, Fergus Jemphrey, Peter Cooper, Angus Macartney, Zach Bertenshaw, James Houston, Max Clarke, Jonathan Bryans and Ryan Spence.

Please click HERE to read the Autumn 2011 Competition Report.

Public Speaking success – Cathy Kitchen (Yr12), Rachel McDougall (Yr 13), Shona Davis (Yr 12), Niamh Hughes (Yr 13) and Valeria Patterson (Yr 13) took part in the public-speaking competition in Bangor on Wednesday 23 November 2011 organised by the Soroptimists.  Cathy came first (with her speech entitled ‘The EU – a victim of its own success?’ and Rachel came second with her speech entitled ‘An ageing population – is it my problem?’. Congratulations to all involved.

Congratulations to Ross Adair (Y14) on being selected to attend the IRFU U18 Schools Camp in December 2011.

Congratulations to our School Nurse! Sullivan Upper School congratulates Nurse Michelle McAvoy on her recent success as Regional Winner (Northern Ireland) for services provided in First Aid at a recent conference held by the Association of First Aiders.  This followed successful first aid treatment carried out by Nurse McAvoy at an incident outside of school. Nurse McAvoy has been responsible for introducing the British Heart Foundation Heartstart training campaign within the school which teaches pupils valuable Emergency Life Support Skills.  Her own recent experience has highlighted to the pupils and the school the importance of such training within the community and we are very proud of her success. British Heart Foundation are campaigning to make sure that every child in the UK has the necessary skills to save a life.  If you would like to sign the on-line petition click bhf.org.uk/lifesaving