Headmaster’s Newsletter March 2011
We are past the mid-point of the academic year. January has been filled with assessments, both internal and external. Coursework has largely been chased down and controlled assessments completed. This week the mock examinations start for GCSE students. The Irish News again this year has compiled the table of examination results for all grammar schools. Portora sits proudly in fifth place with higher percentage scores achieved by any school in the county or any boys’ school in Northern Ireland. If you want to see how schools have done, access the Department of Education website, click on Schools+ at the bottom of the right menu and then use the search engine which appears.
As you will read among thematerial below, the school is in good health. We have developed our curriculum in new ways which afford many young men opportunities to develop skills of presentation and team work. Our students can now look at courses in the new technologies, in film making and animation, in music technology and performance and in performing arts as well as in the traditional subjects associated with engineering, science, law and medicine.
Given our curriculum development, the fine examination outcomes and our commitment to support regular and rich extra-curricular activities, the Board of Governors has decided to publish a development plan aimed at extending opportunities to succeed in this broad range of endeavour. We have decided to cluster some of our creative subjects and offer access to them under different criteria from the traditional academic menu. If a student wishes to study a combination of academic –or general - subjects, for instance, the Sciences and Maths, Geography, History, Literature or MFL, then our existingentry requirements remain the same. If, on the other hand, a student would like to study a cluster of our creative and expressive subjects such as Art, Performing Arts, The Moving Image, iMedia and ICT with a specific career pathway in mind, then the entry criteria given priority will be evidence of commitment and success in these subjects. We would anticipate that these choices would be available to all young people who wish to study post-16 at Portora, regardless of gender. To that end, the Board of Governors has commenced a consultation process within the community in advance of submitting a development proposal to the WELB and DENI forPortora to becomeco-educational, initially at post-16.
If you have concerns over this issue or wish to comment in any way, the Board of Governors would welcome your submission and will consider the opinion of any parents of students at the school. Responses to the initiative should be addressed to “The Secretary to the Boardof Governors” at the school.
From early last term I met with Year 14 students in preparation for writing the confidential report I submit to UCAS for distribution to the universities to which our students apply. This is a difficult and time-consuming task but it is one of the most gratifying. It affords me the opportunity to take stock of the achievements of our students and to estimate the school’s contribution to their development. I am constantly impressed by the breadth of the students’ experiences, their work ethic and the extent to which they are involved in their communities.
All the students completed the application to university process by the end of November and many have received offers for the courses of their choice. One thing strikes me when hearing of these offers: it is the extent of grade inflation. Many of the offers received are at least a grade higher than in previous years. Queen’s University, for instance, has written to me to communicate changes in the grade offers for a number of courses. For most courses two of the grades required will be A*-B.
A grade ‘D’ is unlikely to enable a student to access a university place in the future.
The message to post-16 students is clear, but Year 12 students must understand that mediocre performances at GCSE will not guarantee university offers. It is urgent that every GCSE student strives to achieve top grades rather than settle for second-best achievement.
This phenomenon reflects the current economic climate, in that universities are cutting back on unpopular courses and are being instructed to offer fewer places in courses such as Dentistry and Medicine.
Queen’s Belfast have announced that next year they will select both Medical and Dentistry students by Alevel result and interview.
At this point of the year, it is comforting to revisit some of the highlights to date.
The Carol Service was held in St Macartin’s Cathedral on the 17thDecember. It was the first day that the school buses did not run as heavy snow had fallen the previous night. However, many students managed to make it to school and choir and band members did not let the weather hinder their participation. The congregation was gratifyingly large and the event attained the high standard we expect.
I was gratified and the school honoured that the newly appointed Dean led both our Remembrance and CarolServices.
Mr Mei, our Chinese exchange teacher, visited us the same day with the Principal and Vice Principal of his school. They were very impressed by the service and the school in general and are keen to establish deeper relations between our schools.
The Annual Performing Arts Showcase was held at the Ardhowen Theatre on Thursday 20thJanuary 2011. With our four years of specialist status coming to an end in June, our artists, film-makers, actors and musicians presented a showcase of some of the creative work being developed in the school. The evening was an enormous success and a great testimony to the creativity and commitment of the students and their teachers. Many of our performers will be performing in the Feis in March.
The Year 11 GCSE class took part in the annual commemorations of Holocaust Memorial Day at the CastleMuseums. They performed fourpieces of drama focusing on the untold stories of the Holocaust: the kindness of strangers, miraculous escapes and the horrors of T4 medical experiments. They were praised by the audience of pupils from other secondary schools and the guest speaker, a holocaust survivor, for their sensitive and moving portrayal of these issues.
A group of our Year 13 and 14 Performing Arts students are preparing a Theatre in Education piece on the theme of drink driving for performance to students in FivemiletownCollege and St Fanchea’s on the 2nd March. There will be a public performance at Portora that same evening. The group compromises students from Portora and other Enniskillen schools who access the subject at Portora.
The Rugby Parent Support Grouphas been busy all winter helping the coaches to get the best from their players. They have hosted coffee before matches on Saturday mornings and supplied hot drinks to spectators during matches. On Saturday 5th February they held a very successful Wine and Cheese Night with music supplied by Celine, our French language assistant, and The Coalition, a blues band led by Mrs Munroe. The total raised was a magnificent £1887.20.
The Open Night for P6 and P7 pupils was on Wednesday 26 January. There was a gratifying expression of interest from families around the town and county (as well as from Tyrone). Our Year 8s joined prefects and teachers in hosting the evening and gavefuture Portorans insights into the life of the school. It was another night during which present students showed why their parents and teachers are proud of them.
During January, teachers were busy baking cakes which went on sale in school to raise money for the NIChildren’sHospice in memory of Mrs Jenny Bersot. £557 was raised and presented to MrDerekWilson, representing the Hospice movement, at Assembly on the 4th February.
We were much saddened by the death of Karen Cromie. Karen was a member of the Portora Boat Club and was an exceptional athlete. She will be much missed by all who knew her and gloried in her good-humoured commitment to excellence.
ACADEMIC ISSUES
On the 20th December Mr Smith and I travelled to Lisburn Civic Centre for the NICCEA Awards to outstanding A level students. Jonathan McFarland received an award as top Design and Technology student in Northern Ireland. As you may remember, another of Mr Smith’s students, Ross Chapman, achieved the third highest mark at A level in NI. Last year William Melanophy was ranked second.
Also at A level this year, Jonathan Wilson achieved the third highest mark in Biology in Northern Ireland.
At GCSE, Nathan Brunt achieved full marks in NICCEA GCSE Art, thus ranking first equalin Northern Ireland.
Andrew Riddles has been made a conditional offer to St John’sCollege, Oxford to read Bio-chemistry and Eoghain Ellis has been accepted tostudy Languages at Oxford from September 2011. Eoghain achieved two A* and one A at A level in August but deferred his entry to University in order to teach English in our partner school in Lyons this term.
Mr McLaughlin-Borlace has been appointed Chief Examiner for NICCEA Biology (A Level). Ms Doherty was appointed Assistant Chief Moderator for The Moving Image A Level last year. Mrs Rees has been appointed as writer for the new CCEA Performing Arts Applied A level syllabus which will be available for the first time in 2013.
Mrs Goodall has been invited by the School of Education of Queen’s University to accompany members of the faculty to PeabodyCollege, University of Vanderbilt, Tennessee with the goal of developing connections between the two universities.
Our congratulations to Dr Hogg who gave birth to her second child in November and is presently on maternity leave. Her positions as teacher of Biology and tutor have been taken temporarily by Ms Curran.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Senior students were again invited to participate in the annual National Mock Bar Trials in the High Courts on the 20th November. This requires the students to master the procedures of the criminal courts as they take on the roles of barristers, jurors, witnesses and court ushers. It involves a lot of effort and generates a great deal of enthusiasm and buzz.
Mr Bersot accompanied a group of French students on the annual exchange trip to Lyons at the beginning of December. As ever, the trip was a great experience for the students and their behaviour was exemplary.
The Junior Rugby Club went on tour in December. Despite the threat of snow, ice and extreme cold, MrClarke and Mr Finlay led their team to BedfordSchool to renew the friendships established during the first leg of the fixture at Portora. The coaches, pupils and their parents have expressed great appreciation of the hospitality extended to the team when they visited Fermanagh earlier in the term. The hospitality was warmly returned even if the weather meant that a game of rugby was not possible.
During the half-term break, Mr Dempster and Mr Walker led the senior rugby squad on a training break to Belfast. Over two days the team trained and played a game against a Harlequin’s youth team which they won comfortably (despite the driving rain). It is a very young squad, lacking experience and the usual Fermanagh bulk, but the players displayed great gusto and discipline. The referee of the match wrote to me congratulating the players on their good manners and demeanour on and off the pitch.
The first outing of the 1st XV in the Schools’ Cup (2nd Round) took place on the 15th January at home against LarneGrammar School. Unfortunately, we lost a tightly contested competitive game. However, the team was then faced with the challenge of the trophy competition and won the quarter-finals against AntrimGrammar School at Antrim. The following week, the team hosted WellingtonCollege and continued their winning ways. The final is expected to be played on the 3rd March at Dungannon Rugby Club against either OmaghAcademy or CarrickGrammar School.
Our rowers started the season with success at the Limerick Head of the River on the 5th February. Portora had two boats entered with Matthew Monteith, Lloyd Seaman, Henry Millar and Cormac McLaughlin winning the division with 10.37, one of the fastest times of the day. Gary Thornton, Alex McElroy, Rory Elton and Alex O’Reilly came in 2nd overall in 11.09. Matthew Monteith and Lloyd Seaman convincingly won the double sculls category, beating several fast crews, including Irish champions Skibbereen. The national junior men’s scullers was incorporated into this day of racing and Portora excelled. Matthewfinished 3rd with all eight Portora boys in the top 20.
The girls mirrored the success of the boys: in her category Holly Nixon recorded the fastest time of the day beating all the senior athletes and some 30 seconds clear of the next fastest junior woman. Our junior Women’s 4 took on a strong crew from MethodistCollege over a 3.5 Km course. The judges couldn’t separate the two crews at the end with both of them recording a time of 12.10, winning the category.
It is clear Portora will be in the mix for multiple Irish vests in the summer.
Jordan Hylton (Year 11) and Robert Baloucoune(Year 9) dominated their age groups at the Sportshall Athletics competition in December. Jordan, the Ulster schools’ and Irish Age Group Champion, won three events and Robert, runner-up in last year’s UlsterSchool’s Cross Country, won two events. Jordan won the Athlete of the Day award. Both athletes reprised their successes for the Fermanagh teamon the 3rd Februaryand helped Fermanagh to reach the finals to be held in Belfast later this term.Jordan was selected to represent Irish Schools at a schools’ international event in Cardiff at the end of January and finished second in the 60m.
Meanwhile the Cross Country teams picked up several medals at the District Schools’ Cross Country Championships in Dungannon on the 2ndFebruary. The best individual performance was that of Ryan Davidson in the Senior event who finished runner-up.
With Mr O’Shea no longer with us, the leadership of the Cross Country Club has fallen to DrMelanophy and Mr Boyle who oversee regular weekly training sessions. Mr O’Shea’s timetable was covered by MrKane on a temporary basis until a permanent teacher, Mr Philip Beddard, joined us at the beginning of term as subject coordinator of Life and Work.Mr Beddard possesses many qualities and attributes which endear him to us: he is married to a Fermanagh woman and knows Fermanagh well; he was born and bred in Yorkshire and is familiar with the comfort of rain and he was an Assistant Principal at his previous school.
Mr Drennan, our new Science and Mathematics teacher, has instituted a Badminton Club on Friday afternoons.
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