Congratulations to Amy Rothwell on finishing in 1st place at the U12 Girls Provincial Matchplays in March 2011. Amy will now present Ulster in the National Matchplay event in Dublin from Friday, 1 April 2011 to Sunday, 3 April 2011.

Sullivan Traditional Group 2007-2010 CD entitled Ticket to Washington is now available to purchase. CDs costs £10 each or if buying multiples of 5 the cost is £8.00 each. CDs are available from the School Office or Dr Fox-Roberts.

Results from the Irish Secondary Schools’ Swimming Championships held in Galway. Intermediate relay team of Harry Speers, Stephen McNally, Roger Dawson and James Doggart won Gold in the Individual Medley relay and Bronze in the Freestyle relay. The team also won the Ulster Medley Relay and came second in the Freestyle Medley. Jordan Sloan won Gold in the Senior boys’ backstroke and Bronze in the Freestyle.

Senior Girls Badminton Team (Lucy Pollock, Emma McGavock, Catherine Kennedy, Victoria Ringland) won Division 2 of the Ulster Leage and are now through to the All Ireland Championships. Minor Girls Badminton Team (Amy Allen, Katharine Hill, Rachel Barton, Amy Rothwell) won Division 1 of the Ulster Leage and are now through to the All Ireland Championships.

The boys U13 hockey has reached the semi-final of the Bannister Bowl. They play MCB at Deramore (Harlequins Hockey Pitch) onThursday 10March 2011 at 3.00 pm. The girls 2b xi hockey team has reached the semi-final of the 3rd X ICup. They play Strathearn at CIYMS at 4.00 pm on Thursday 10 March 2011 The boys 2nd XI hockey team has reached the semi-final of the Dowdall Cup. They play Banbridge Academy on Saturday 19March 2011 at Comber Leisure Centre at 9.15 am.

Sullivan 1st XI met Methody 1st XI in the 3rd round of the Senior Schools’ cup. This match had been postponed from early December and consequently tensions and anticipations were high from both teams. Sullivan started strongly with good runs on the wings, decisive and accurate passing and various amounts of pressure in the circle. Katie McQuillan’s excellent lifted strike was well saved by the Methody keeper and Katie Moore’s effort just went wide of the right post. Slightly against the run of play Methody won a short corner and a first time strike left Sullivan keeper, Claire Lowry, pulling off a fine save. Despite some very skillful and speedy Methody forwards, the Sullivan defence coped very well with the ever increasing amount of pressure placed on them. After the break the Sullivan team came out strongly and from the restart, Katie McQuillan made a magnificent solo run from the half way line beating several Methody players on the way, which resulted in an excellent individual goal. Methody stepped up their game but good defensive play from the Sullivan ‘back 4’ kept them at bay behind the 23m line. Methody continued to push forward but loose balls were pounced upon by a nippy Sullivan midfield trio (Alex Roberts, Hannah Martin andJodieFalls) and Sullivan almost claimed a second goal when JodieFalls first time sweep was edged wide of the post by the Methody Keeper. However Methody continued to work hard and made some fine breaks down the left hand side, only to be intercepted or tackled by a Sullivan player. The match finished 1-0 and was a deserved victory by a hard working Sullivan side.

Congratulations to Ben McMechan who participated in the North Down Badminton Finals held in Ards Leisure Centre.

We are delighted that in the results just announced Chris Tapper has been awarded a Gold Medal, Connor Johnston a Bronze Medal and Esther Grieve a Highly Commended Certificate in the above competition. More details and pictures to follow.

Congratulations to Jemma Speers (10C) who has been selected for the Ulster School Elite Swimming training camp to be held in Tenerife in October 2011.

The 1st XI girls and U13 boys 6-a-side teams enjoyed great success at the Civil Service Play Ball Tournament on Sunday. Both teams played a total of 7 matches in their group and both made it to their respective finals where they had convincing wins. Congratulations to both teams. See photos below

Eight Sullivan pupils travelled to Newcastle in September to compete in a variety of sports for Northern Ireland in the UK Youth Games. These games bring together the best talent at U17 level from all over the UK. Katie Kirk and Cyndie McCullough took part in athletics, with Katie winning gold in the 300M. Irma Hendry, Kirsten Beggs, Chris Jordan and Victoria Duxbury all competed in fencing, while Matthew Allister and Katie McQuillan were part of the boys’ and girls’ hockey squads. The boys’ came runners-up and the girls were the overall winners, with impressive victories over England, Scotland and Wales.

The 1st XI boys travelled down to Dublin on 20 October 2010 for the All Ireland Schools Hockey Tournament. There were 16 schools taking part in the Tournament – 8 from Munster & Leinster and 8 from Ulster.  Sullivan were drawn in the same section as Campbell College, Bandon (Cork) and Wesley College (Dublin), one of the favourites to lift the title! The boys’ first match was against Campbell College and they got off to a great start with a 4-0 victory. Their second match was played on Thursday morning against Wesley College at Wesley and in front of a huge number of Wesley supporters. Sullivan started nervously and didn’t play particularly well in the first half but put in a much better performance in the second half. However, they still lost 5-2 to a very good Wesley team. In their final pool game on Thursday afternoon they faced Cork side Bandon and came away with a 4-1 victory. Both sides were showing signs of tiredness after having played 3 games in the space of 24 hours but still managed to play some very good hockey. Well done to the boys on finishing as runners-up in their section. Photos of the Tournament can be viewed in the Gallery at http://www.intouchhockey.com/