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Wallace opened its doors last Saturday morning to a record crowd of prospective parents and P6 and P7 pupils who gathered in the school and were impressed with the range of activities and experiences on offer.

Principal Deborah O’Hare, in her third Wallace Open Day, gave centre stage to the Wallace pupils as the introductory session was led by Year 8 pupils Ben Johnston and Eilidh McKnight, ably assisted by Head Girl Jenny McDowell and Deputy Head Boy Jonathan Scott. “It was a most enjoyable morning. As Principal of Wallace I could not have felt prouder at the real sense of community which permeated the corridors.  It was with particular pride that we welcomed so many past pupils and current parents who had volunteered to come and let our visitors know how important this school is to them. I should like to pay credit to the hundreds of Wallace students who participated as tour guides, presenters, sound and lighting technicians and performers. Their warmth, confidence and respect for Wallace provided our prospective students and parents with a real sense of what this school is all about.”

The second phase of the formal proceedings was devoted to the school’s use of iPad technology with four pupils demonstrating their technological expertise before parents and pupils were invited to visit the various curricular and extra curricular displays.

The many pupils who attended enjoyed the variety of activities and displays on offer.  Rhys Waterworth a P7 pupil at Ballymacash Primary said: “It was a really interesting morning. It was easy to find your way around thanks to a map and the 6th form tour guides. I also really enjoyed the jungle in the Geography room and the art around the school was fantastic.” Kelsie McDowell, P7 at The Wallace Preparatory Department was also impressed with her guide for the day: “The Open Day was really enjoyable and I particularly enjoyed the Science experiments. The teachers and guides were all very friendly and helpful.”

The Preparatory Department also opened their doors to a large number of prospective parents who were impressed with the curricular and extra curricular provision on offer.

As part of the school’s procedures on Open Day a questionnaire is given out to both pupils and parents and the school was delighted with the 99% approval rating achieved through those returned. Teacher in charge Heather Gracey noted: We are always striving to improve the event and to do full justice to our students and former students. This year’s innovation of inviting past pupil and parent ambassadors has been hugely popular. I am also delighted that our prospectus features only pictures taken by staff members and pupils.” The school would like to thank all those who attended on Saturday.  Parents and pupils who were unable to attend can also make contact with the school to acquire a copy of the new prospectus.

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Pupils acted as guides, departmental helpers and even presenters as Year 8 students quizzed the Principal and the Senior Prefects.

Senior staff were overwhelmed by the numbers of parents who have phoned and emailed the school to praise the students who escorted them through the buzzing corridors.

An innovation this year was the use of past pupil ambassadors and parent ambassadors.

Both groups proved a rousing success with prospective parents and pupils with one former pupil nostalgically claiming “For Wallace pupils that old saying really is true. Schooldays are the best days of your life”.

Principal Deborah O’Hare described herself as “thrilled” by the levels of participation noting that the participation of so many former students was ” a real tribute to what Wallace meant and continues to mean to students”.

The picture shows the majority of Saturday’s helpers congratulating themselves on a job well done.

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Our Pre-Prep facility has already added immeasurably to the dynamic of our school family. We are confident that we are building an ideal foundation for academic success and emotional confidence.

We are proud of the academic successes of our pupils; they are supported and stretched by dedicated subject and pastoral teams of teachers. Success is not taken for granted here; we are a reflective school, striving each year to improve on our previous best.

In 2011 we attained our best results to date with 98% of students attaining A* to C in at least 5 subjects. Celebrating individual, group and whole school success is important to us. We recognise the potential of each young person and seek to stimulate in each of them an appetite for learning.

The range and quality of our extra-curricular provision is a celebrated and acknowledged strength of this school. We greatly value the importance of actively promoting extra-curricular involvement for all and believe invaluable skills are developed by participation in this aspect of school life.

We want all our young people to be happy, to feel they belong to the Wallace family and to realise their potential.

We take great pride in celebrating our current school family’s achievements; we look on with equal pride as former pupils distinguish themselves, building the future both in Northern Ireland and farther afield. Download The Wallace High School Prospectus in PDF format. 

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Peter, an Architecture graduate from Queen’s, has fond memories of his time at the Lisburn school. “Particular highlights of my time at Wallace were my A Level Art classes. I also played rugby for the school, with my squad winning the Third XV Schools’ Cup.

I thoroughly enjoyed being a member of Capella, the chamber choir. My time at Wallace opened doors to many opportunities and the school really nurtured my creative talents. All my teachers were incredibly supportive of creativity and it’s great to hear of so many of my peers excelling in their chosen careers.”

BBC Radio Ulster’s Stuart Baillie has been very impressed by the “emotionally focused” Ram’s Pocket Radio, commenting on the intensity of “Pete bashing out the sweet piano chords and the songs steering into some twisted destinations.”

Principal of Wallace, Deborah O’Hare added, “There’s been a real buzz in school this week as so many of our staff and senior pupils have attended the Snow Patrol concerts at the Odyssey and thoroughly enjoyed the performances of Rams’ Pocket Radio.

Peter is an inspiration to us all – an exceptional young man who excelled in so many areas of school life. We are looking forward to him retuning to Wallace to lead workshops with our GCSE and A Level students. I am thrilled to say that the creative talents of Wallace students are continuing to flourish with many of our Key Stage Three students using their iPads to record their own compositions.”

Peter, who was a hit at last year’s Glastonbury Festival, is now looking forward to supporting Snow Patrol on 12 February at London’s Wembley arena, before continuing with his own UK tour. Looking to the future, he concluded, “It’s hard to plan for anything in the music world, but my dream is that I’ll still be making music which excites me , challenging myself artistically and pushing boundaries.”

Rams’ Pocket Radio Website

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Alongside the usual weekly collections for local and national charities there have been several big events, with £1479.41 raised for Children in Need as teachers and pupils took part in Ant and Dec’s “Red or Black” in the Assembly Hall in November, whilst Physical Education teacher Gareth Kidd took part in “Movember”, growing a moustache and sending a cheque for £338.93 to the Prostate Cancer Charity.

The Year 14 pupils put on their traditional Christmas Pie show just before Christmas with pupils taking part in various sketches, as well as show casing their singing and dancing skills. Expertly hosted by Boyd Rodgers and Callum Scott and superbly written by Andrew McIntyre,
the show also featured some brilliant video footage taken by the talented Matthew Gamble.

As always, Christmas Pie not only provided great entertainment for teachers and pupils alike, but also raised over £2000 for worthy causes which was split between The Children’s Trust Tadsworth, Friends of the Cancer centre and Homeplus NI.

Commenting on the term, Matthew Glenn said: “It always amazes me how generous our pupils and staff are with their support of the weekly collections and also the events. The Children in Need Day and Christmas Pie were great fun for everyone involved and the money
donated to all the charities has been gratefully received.”

Mrs Deborah O’Hare, Principal, was delighted by the immense generosity of spirit exemplified by the students and staff of Wallace. She commented “One of the core values of Wallace is that of respect. Our young people give generously to their chosen charities; this is very much a decision taken by the student led Charity Committee. The rich variety of fun activities dispersed through the school calendar allows us to help those less fortunate than ourselves. It was a pleasure to
welcome back so many former students to join in with the Christmas Pie celebrations at the end of term.”

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The PTA is excited to be able to offer the newsletter in both PDF and iBook format which allows image galleries, interaction and even video in future editions.

At Wallace we are proud to have such a dedicated Parent Teacher Association without which many of the exciting experiences our pupils enjoy would not be possible.

The PTA is at the heart of fundraising efforts supporting vital programmes throughout the school. This term’s Newsletter contains contact details if you wish to join or support the PTA.

Downloads

PTA : Spring 2012 Newsletter PDF Format

PTA : Spring 2012 Newsletter iBook Format (iPad)

Please note the iBook format requires iBooks 2 available (free) from the Apple Apps store.

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After a busy first term, the Pre-Prep children returned to a Winter Wonderland in the Wallace Prep Department.  The sand tray had been replaced by white snow and ice cubes filled the water tray.  The role play area had been turned into an eskimos palace.  Mrs Mulholland has focussed on the colour white and animals found in the Antarctic.

During Show and Tell, the children are bringing in items associated with winter.  From sledges to snow boots, the children have been very inventive.  In art the children have used shapes to create smart snowmen and pretty penguins.  Through music the children have enjoyed singing a range of winter themed songs.  They have created winter sounds and learned a number of rhymes.

Mrs Latham painted an Emperor Penguin and the children enjoyed measuring themselves against it.  The Dressing up area is proving quite the hit and one would think you were enjoying après ski during snack time.

A limited number of places for Pre-Prep morning and afternoon sessions are available.  Please contact Mrs Agnew in the Prep Office for entry September 2012 and 2013.

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The project involves disabled sportspeople making awareness raising presentations in primary schools, as well as giving children the opportunity to participate in five disability sports challenges, each based on a Paralympic sport. By doing so the project hopes to challenge commonly held negative attitudes about people with disabilities, and to inspire and encourage more disabled and non disabled children to become more active in sport.

The project will involve at least 200 primary schools throughout Northern Ireland in the build up to the London 2012 Games and beyond. The project was granted the prestigious London 2012 Inspire mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire programme which recognises exceptional and innovative projects inspired by the 2012 Games.

Angela Hendra MBE, Chairperson Disability Sports NI said, “We are simply delighted with the Five Star Challenge Education Project and are happy that Wallace Prep have so enthusiastically come on board. We know the project will showcase disability sport in a very positive way, challenge negative attitudes, and will inspire both disabled and non disabled children to participate and excel in sport.”

Seb Coe, Chair, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said, “The Inspire programme is ensuring the legacy of the 2012 Games starts now as projects like the Five Star Challenge are enabling people in Northern Ireland to make positive life changes.”

For more information on the ‘5 Star Disability Sports Challenge’ project contact DSNI on 028 9038 7062 or email@dsni.co.uk

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The Lisburn school has a long and proud tradition of year 14 pupils achieving top grades in their A level examinations and successfully negotiating the rigorous entrance examinations and interviews the two prestigious universities are famed for.

Applicants were supported throughout the application process by their subject teachers, pastoral staff and careers staff in the school through the completion of mock interviews and seminars to further support academic preparation.

This year saw successful pupils accepted to courses in Law, Music, Archaeology and Anthropology and Modern and Medieval Languages respectively.

The pupils who have been successful in receiving offers are Hannah Gardiner (Oxford), Helen Lavery, Oliver Rusk, Ben Thompson and Kathryn Wardil (all Cambridge). The school congratulates all of these pupils on their tremendous achievement.

This success comes at a time when the application process for universities is becoming more and more competitive and, going forward, the school aims to build upon this through its continued support of Gifted and Talented pupils both inside and outside the classroom, the input of its experienced careers team as well as through the expert subject support provided by classroom teachers.

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