Students' Council Request

It is great to see that our Student Council has been so active this year. They have a request for parents and friends:

IF YOU OWN A BUSINESS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPONSOR A SHIMNA TEAM STRIP? HOW COOL WOULD IT BE IF YOUR SON, DAUGHTER, NEICE OR NEPHEW WAS WEARING YOUR BUSINESS NAME ON THEIR TEAM STRIP!

SPONSOR SHIMNA SPORT!

If you are interested please contact Matthew McAvoy, year 8 and Student Council member. Our girls' soccer team has already been sponsored and is proud to wear the logo of The Loft Restaurant.

Racing Driver

I saw a great photo today of Shimna Old Scholar, Jennifer Mullan. She was there at the wheel of a racing car. Jennifer is living in Dublin and racing away. Hope to hear more soon.

Matt's Film Success

Matt McComish's film lifted third prize at the Integrated Schools film awards. We all think there is no film to beat it. Matt's film doesn't go for the obvious, and there is real examination of integration at the heart of it. Well done you. We need to get a link onto this website.

Ruairi and Jana

Maria Steele of our English department has a new wee son called Ruairi. 12B are now the proud "parents" of two babies, Ruairi and Jana.

MontanaLingua

This is a double up from the GermanBlog, but other wise you might miss it. Our students who took part in the German immersion outdoor activities trip in November trialled learning materials for MontanaLingua. Montanalingua has now published their wonderful series of modules and we are very proud of the part our students played in perfecting them. When are we going back for more?

Mathematiques Sans Frontieres Awarded

Our mathematicians have been swanning around at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast celebrating coming in the top two schools in the SEELB in this prestigious competition. We are particularly delighted to have such an excellent record in this competition, representing as it does our students' high achievement both in languages and in maths. Well done all.

Joseph the Catch a Star Adventurer

We have just heard that Joseph O'Hara has won a prize in Catch a Star Adventurers, and international competition for school students organised by ESO - the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere and the European Association for Astronomy Education. We are really proud of Joseph, and of all the other year 9 students who took part in this high powered science competition. The list of prize winners is really impressive and truly international.

Streetwar on Want

Those of you out and about in Newcastle on Easter Saturday will have seen seven of our sixth form students valiantly street collecting for campaigning charity War on Want. The volunteers doing the development work depend on the volunteers at home willing to make nits of themselves on the streets of their own home town. Well done: Silin Mallon; Karl Graham; Sara McCartan; Sam McNeilly; Ethan Hanna; Alex Knight; Christine Campbell.

News from Damien Venney

Great to hear from Old Scholar Damien Venney, who is working away in L/Derry. He juggles his time between family, work and continuing his studies, this time evening sessions in health and safety.

Irish Presbyterians

Newcastle Presbyterian Church welcomed our students for a special service in the Irish language. Minister the Rev. Ivan Patterson greeted the students in Irish, and the guest preacher was the Rev. Dr. Bill Boyd. Dr. Boyd's interest in languages led him to learn Irish after retiring from the full-time Presbyterian ministry. He returned to Queen's University to win a first class honours degree in Irish, over fifty years after his original student days. Dr. Boyd urged our students, like St. Patrick, to look for God's plan for their lives. He was very interested to hear that Shimna is Northern Ireland's first Specialist School for languages, and that all students study two languages from the four available: French, German, Irish and Spanish. We look forward to strengthening our links with the Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, and have plans for a Harvest Service in the Autumn term.

Goodbye to Moritz

German visiting student Moritz left us after almost two weeks. It was a pleasure to have you with us, Mortiz. It was just amazing how quickly you settled in. Every time I called into a class to make sure you were OK, you were working away alongside the rest of them. It was great that the Ozdemirs were able to offer him a base to stay at. Maybe he picked up some Turkish as well as English during his stay. Come back soon and stay for longer.

Local History Essay Prize Winners

The top award winners in the Local History Competition were: Sam Marsden who received the Essence Cup from Alex Henderson; David Johnston who received his award from First Trust Bank manager Aisling Press; Julia Martin who received her award from Christine Cunningham of the Northern Bank; Andrew Skillen who received the HF Law Jewellers Cup; Glen McCormick who received fifth prize, sponsored by Hale's Fruit. There were also fourteen students whose work was highly commended and who all received a money prize: Nicole McCartan; Ryan Shaw; Chris Feenan; Natasha Murphy; Clare Smyth; Nathan Mullan; Tessa McMahon; Chloe Skillen; Adrian Salamin; Piera Cirefice; Jane McEvoy; Luc Bonnargent; James Ward; Helen Sawey. The range of entries was fascinating, spanning the history of Newcastle, of Donard forest, of Clough Castle and delving into family history of people who dug the Mourne tunnel, who built the Titanic, who fought in WW2, who played a role in searching for peace. So many of our students had put a great deal of work into their research, writing and presentation of their essays. We are very grateful into our sponsors, Laws, First Trust and Northern Banks, Hale's Fruit and Essence. We are grateful for the awards and prizes, but also for the interest taken in reading and judging the essays. Knowing that they had an audience to write for gave real impetus to our students.

Moritz comes to visit

Almost forgot to mention that Moritz, please see February blogs, arrived last week. The reason I forgot to celebrate his arrival is that he is getting on so well, everyone thinks he has always been here. He is staying with Sait Can and Kemal Ozdemir, and blending completely into year 12. I visited him in a GCSE German class and everyone was benefiting from a bit of up to the minute German to add to their oral presentation.

Back from Spain

Great to see our Spanish trip back. Shame that some students lost a day through illness, but everyone seemed to have made the most of a wonderful trip. Photos for the website please?