The event was organised by Co-operation Ireland and hosted by Morgan Stanley. During the course of the four day event, students took part in a series of workshops, carried out “Apprentice” style tasks and listened to the experiences of influential figures from the world of business, politics and sport on how to manage and lead in a variety of circumstances.

The students were chosen based upon their academic profile and leadership ability as demonstrated in school. This event is another example of the ongoing work being carried out by the school both internally and along with outside agencies to provide students with the opportunity to increase their experiences and nurture their ability beyond the classroom.

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The annual Hog Roast will be held on Friday, 15^th June from 8:00 pm   This fun filled night will feature a delicious Roast Hog and Chicken, full bar and  plenty of dancing! We’ll have a few games and more! Last year this event raised almost £2000 and your support this year will be very much appreciated!  Tickets cost £16 and are available by following the link below:

wallacehigh.ticketbud.com/pta-summer-bbq-2012

Tickets must be purchased in advance of the event, so please don’t miss it!  You can email us with your preference of hog or chicken and also let us know if you have seating requests.

The purpose of the PTA is to provide support to the staff and pupils of the school and to assist in raising funds for much needed items such as equipment, resources and materials. We aim to encourage the involvement of the children, staff and parents in our activities to enhance the school environment and ultimately benefit the children and their enjoyment of school life.

With our Pumpkin Fest raising £1200 in October and the Christmas Dance raising £3700 in December the end of 2011 was a great success!

At the beginning of the New Year the committee decided that refreshments would be a much appreciated and regular feature at the sport pitches on Saturday mornings.   It was great to see the buzz of activity around the refreshment stall and this added to the excitement and atmosphere of the matches!

In the past 18 months the PTA have funded the following:

ICT Development videos and digital cameras for Years 10 – 12 – £532.25

Politics display board and textbooks for Year 14 – £725

Curricular enhancement for the English Dept- £750

Sixth Form  - Biometric finger print registration – £2,000

Pre School facility – £3,000

Drama -  performance books – £200

“Going to Secondary School” – Year 8 – £377.50

“Love for Life” – Years 9 to 11 – £1,000

Junior Prize Day – £1,500

P1 Knex Club – £200

Our most recent funding assistance was to the Prep Department who are now the proud owners of a much needed storage facility and play house.

If you have any ideas or can offer any help at our fundraising activities, we’d love to hear from you.  Please don’t feel that you have to commit to help out at every event – we are always grateful for any help you can offer.

You can get in touch by emailing pta@wallacehigh.net

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The children enjoyed the evening entertainment provided by the magician and the bouncy castle.  Many of the children had their faces painted and loved tucking into their barbecue feast.

With over 100 pupils, parents and staff in attendance the event was a great success. Many thanks go the Pre-Prep team, to Mr Wilson (Head of Maths) and Mr Gray for their excellent barbecuing skills, to the Pre Prep catering committee for all the gorgeous food, to Mrs Montgomery  for her fabulous birthday cake, to Mrs Stewart for her face painting skills and to Mr Dowds  for providing his brilliant coffee van.

Since opening in May 2012, the Pre Prep has become an integral part of the Wallace Community creating foundations for lifelong learning through exciting and varied educational experiences. Following the curriculum guidance for Pre School education, children are taught under 6 key headings: Language & Literacy, Early Mathematics, The Arts, Personal Social & Emotional Development, Physical Development & Movement and The World Around Us. Working in partnership, parents and Pre-Prep staff ensure the development of happy confident children.

Over the past year the facility has grown in numbers and boasts two classes. A morning class for those in their Pre-School year and a session for children in their penultimate Pre-School year. Both sessions are extremely popular and some spaces are already booked for 2015!

Throughout the year the children have enjoyed many events, such as Pumpkin Fest, The Christmas Nativity play and most recently the Easter Egg Hunt. They have enjoyed regular trips to SALTO and developed their fundamental movement skills. Over the year children have developed a love for the “Arts”, enjoying theatre visits, creating beautiful pictures and performing to music. Our children have thoroughly loved the first year of the Pre-Prep.

Parents or Guardians wishing to enquire about a Pre-School place for the future should contact the Preparatory secretary eagnew@wallacehigh.net

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Wallace had the highest number of representatives in the Northern Ireland hockey squad as Year 12 pupils Jack Wilson, Ross Kelly and Patrick McClean played alongside Year 11 pupil Sean Murray. Year 11 pupils Alannah Stephenson and Ryan Getty were involved in the badminton competition with Alannah achieving a highly creditable silver medal in the doubles, whilst Graham Malley continued his fine season by helping Northern Ireland to a bronze medal in the judo team event.

Brothers Philip and Laurence Slater were instrumental in helping the fencing team pick up a bronze medal in the team event, whilst Year 13 pupil Matthew O’Connor performed well in gymnastics and Year 12 Peter Sands had the unique opportunity of performing in the Olympic Aquatic Centre in the Swimming heats.

The UK School Games gives participants the opportunity to experience many aspects of the Olympic and Paralympic Games including the opening and closing ceremonies.

Commenting on the experience Ryan Getty said: “To be part of the Northern Ireland squad at this event was incredible, especially as Wallace was so well represented across a number of sports.

I really enjoyed the high level of competition and getting the opportunity to mix with and play against players from the other teams.” Alannah Stephenson, who performed brilliantly to achieve her silver medal in badminton added: “I was so pleased to win a medal in such a prestigious competition and also enjoyed being in London so close to the Olympics. There was a real buzz around the city and everyone seems to be getting themselves ready for the summer.”

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Quirktees established a T-shirt designing company where they would come up with some quirky slogans and print them on to mainly T-shirts but also onto bags.  Customers were also able to design their own T-shirts which the company would then print for them.

Quirktees have not only sold their T-shirts and bags in school but attended a variety of Trade Fairs in local shopping centres around the province, including The Bow Street Mall, Lisburn, the Fairhill Shopping Centre, Ballymena,  The Outlet in Banbridge, Bloomfield Shopping Centre, Bangor, Connswater Shopping Centre, Belfast and the Foyleside Shopping Centre, Londonderry.

The Competition required the team to write a ten page report highlighting their Young Enterprise year.  They also had to make a five minute presentation to judges and were questioned for a further 20 minutes by the judges.  Having competed and won the South East Regional final they then went on to repeat the process against the other five regional finalists.

Quirktees consists of twelve young entrepreneurs – Abi Ballard,  Rachel Barnes,  Jake Clements, Alex Mc Kinstry, Jordan Rogers, Loren Saunders, Tiffany Slowik, Matthew Thompson, Robin Walsh , Victoria Withington, Dennis Wong and Alexander Younge.

The Company now goes on to compete in the HSBC Young Enterprise Innovation Awards in the Intercontinental Hotel in London from 1^st to 3^rd July.  If they are successful in the UK final they go on to compete in the JA-YE Europe Competition to be held in Bucharest from the 18^th to 22^nd July.

The team have been guided throughout the year by their Link teacher, Ms Karen Neill and their Business Adviser, Mrs Cindy Greer from Allied Irish Bank in Lisburn.

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You can download a copy of the AQE Implementation Timetable here.

The closing date for applications is 14th September 2012

Relevant Dates

The dates for the AQE tests for entry to schools in September 2013 are as follows:

• 10.00am Saturday 10th November 2012
• 10.00am Saturday 24th November 2012
• 10.00am Saturday 1st December 2012

Related Links

AQE Guide for Parents
AQE Registration Forms
AQE Access & Special Arrangements

We will post details of our familiarisation day on the school website and via twitter.

Prospectus

This prospectus aims to give you a flavour of what makes Wallace High School distinctive and special. Young people aged 3 to 18 create a vibrant school family and are at the heart of everything we do. We aim to make all our young people feel safe, secure, valued and appreciative of the many opportunities their education here can afford them.

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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Sports Development Fundraiser at The Wallace High School, Mr Richard Lee, has come up with an innovative approach to raising funds for the completion of the pitch (phase 1) and further down the line the construction of floodlights (phase 2) which will enable the facility to be used by community and sports’ club use as well, by introducing a “Sell a Square” campaign.

Commenting on the scheme, with each square costing £20, Mr Lee said: “The response since launching the ‘Sell-a-Square’ campaign has been very positive, and we are certainly indebted to parents and pupils who have supported the campaign in the early stages.  However, the majority of squares are still unfilled and we are calling upon remaining parents, former pupils, school staff and local businesses to help us to achieve our fundraising goal of having all squares purchased.”

Mr Lee added, “We have erected a floor to ceiling banner in the school reception area, and marked out a hockey pitch divided into the squares on the banner.  It is nice to see pupils along with school visitors showing a lot of interest in the mocked up pitch – it has almost become a daily task amongst the pupils to find new names on the banner.”

Anyone wishing to purchase a square can send their donation for the attention of Mr R Lee, Sports Development Fundraiser, The Wallace High School, 12a Clonevin Park, Lisburn, BT28 3AD.  Cheques should be made payable to “The Wallace High School” and anyone wishing to donate by direct debit should email rlee@wallacehigh.net for further information.  Once the school receives your donation, the name of choice will be put into a square on your behalf and after the pitch is constructed a permanent board of donators will be displayed prominently in school.

There will also be opportunities for local businesses to advertise at the site and any enquiries or expressions of interest should also be directed to Mr R Lee.

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The now annual visit of the Norman Outreach Programme was again a great success. Year 8 pupils were enthralled by knightly tales from the Medieval Period. Year 8 pupils study the Norman Conquest of England and Ireland. This unique programme from the Navan Centre in Armagh, allows pupils to explore the importance of historical events such as the Battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings. Pupils also investigate why the Normans came to Ireland, as well as taking part in a medieval weapons display and mock debate of the contenders for the throne in 1066.

Two AS level classes from The Wallace High School were fortunate enough to take part in the ‘Peers in Schools Programme’. This unique opportunity has been created by the House of Lords to educate young people in the role played by the Peers who sit in Westminster. This year’s guest speaker was Baroness O’Loan. Students were able to ask demanding questions and discover what life is truly like for a member of the House of Lords. The House of Lords forms an integral part of the students AS curriculum and proved a valuable educational experience for all those involved.

Head of History and Politics at Wallace, Mr Neil Armstrong, commented: ”The Year 8 pupils, as ever, enjoyed the visit from the Norman Outreach Programme and the very practical nature of the activities meant that it was a very enjoyable day for all. For the Year 13 AS pupils to be able to listen to Baroness O’Loan and then ask her questions was a terrific opportunity and one which they all benefitted greatly from.”

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MUN began at Wallace four years ago when Mrs Ferguson asked her English class if any of them fancied a trip to an MUN conference at Methody. ‘It was one of those casual questions that might easily have never been answered’ says Jonathan Scott, ‘Instead it lead to the establishing of an MUN Society in school, trips to Conferences, building strong ties with other MUN groups, and finally to holding our own conference.’

Alexandra Philpott, Co-Secretary General with Jonathan, points out the range of activities that go on each week in an MUN Society: research, debating, writing briefing papers, design work, filming, negotiating, journalism, and raising money for UNICEF.

For Alex, the best part is the satisfaction of seeing younger pupils developing in confidence and an awareness of the world while they enjoy themselves, as well as the way it breaks down the artificial barriers between year groups. She feels that this is what makes MUN different; pupils from all years work together, on an equal basis, with real friendships being formed.

Recalling the weeks leading up to the conference, she said, ‘You know it is a success when you pass a group of junior pupils discussing the situation in Syria while they eat their break, and they call you over to ask you your opinion and then point out, very politely and helpfully, where you have got it wrong!’

Strong friendships develop on the MUN circuit and the idea of a joint conference was born last October when the two teams decided to draw up a proposal to put to their school principals. Ralph Lavery, Jonathan Scott and Alex Philpott were the key people at Wallace, and they were determined that their legacy to the school, before they left for university, would be establishing the tradition of MUN conferences at Wallace.

With the full support of Mrs Deborah O’Hare, Principal of Wallace and Mr Scott Naismith, Principal of Methody, the young people very quickly set about forming the organising committee and began making things happen.

Friday night meetings over fajitas and green thai curries, with fabulous puddings provided by one of the parents, lead to one of the most successful and enjoyable conferences ever held in NI.

Mrs Karen Ferguson for Wallace, and Mrs Ngaire Robinson for Methody, were able to stand back and let the young people organise and run the conference.

‘We were both so impressed by their professionalism,’ said Mrs Ferguson, ‘In the spirit of MUN the teachers are meant to be there simply to facilitate the event – they should take no part in the decisions or the running of the conference. Very often this ideal is hard to achieve. On this occasion however, despite the practical difficulties of separate locations and the pressure of A level and GCSE studies, as well as music and sporting commitments, the young people successfully staged an event that would have challenged many professional organisers’

Cara Milton-Edwards from Methody, and President of the General Assembly, spoke about the challenges and rewards of organising the conference.

‘On Friday evenings there were ten very different and persuasive personalities around the table thrashing out the issues to be debated. Any one who becomes involved in MUN develops a passion for debate, for justice and for the areas they think are of paramount importance. We had to work together to agree a programme of issues that gave a fair representation of the difficulties facing the world today, and that would excite the interest of the delegates attending.

One of the most interesting evenings was when Commander John Gray of the Royal Navy joined us and challenged us to come up with an emergency situation that would draw all the threads together for the climax of the conference.’

As a symbol of the co-operation between the two school, Wallace pupil Mikhail Kondrashenkov, year 8, designed a badge that combined the Wallace red lion, the Methody maltese cross and the logo of the United Nations, while Patrick Creber in year 11, used his IT skills to produce the finished version.

Dromore High School, Friends’ School Lisburn and B.R.A., as well Wallace and Methody, fielded teams representing 22 countries from around the world. Friends’ and B.R.A. also gave great support by each providing a guest committee chair to help run debates and assist in the difficult task of awarding the final prizes.

The Conference was opened with an inspiring speech by Alexandra Philpott in which she pointed out that ‘Esperance’, the motto of The Wallace High School, means ‘hope’ – and keeping hope alive is only meaningful in situations when it appears there is none, and yet we continue to strive and seek a way forward; a principle essential to the work of the United Nations.

Judith Fawcett of the United Nations Association was the keynote speaker and she talked about the impact conferences such as these have on the world, and how many young people go on from MUN to work for the United Nations where they make enormous contributions to the lives of others around the world. She remained with us for most of the day and was very impressed by the quality of the debate

Moving Image Arts’ student at Wallace, Patrick Gardiner, volunteered to provide the visual material for the conference, as well as being tasked with making a film of the day. In a break after the final award ceremony he commented: “As an observer and a documenter of the day’s proceedings, I was captivated by the high level debate and the in-depth knowledge of the delegates. I was delighted to have the opportunity to record the event and had to try very hard to restrain myself from grabbing a microphone and declaring my views on the Syrian crisis!”

Patrick’s first assignment was to provide the film footage and sound track for the emergency scenario that would challenge the nations at the General Assembly.

Delegates were shocked by a catastrophic earth quake on the Iran-Iraq border, followed by a tsunami in the Persian Gulf. Breaking News reports showed mass migrations of people fleeing the natural disasters, major disruptions in oil supplies, the leaking of nuclear materials into the atmosphere above the northern hemisphere, and religious and national conflicts erupting into armed responses from the affected nations.

The General Assembly had an hour and a half to formulate a response to the crisis threatening to end life as we know it. Happily, the nations of the world succeeded on this occasion.

Before you get the idea that it as all serious, MUN also has its funny, at times hilarious, side too.

The documentary film made by Patrick of the whole event includes interviews, not just with our keynote speaker, but also with the chairs of committees, including Aaron Meredith (Methody) and Adam Barnes (B.R.A.) who discussed the importance of fashion at MUN (their hair styles said it all). Henry Brett (Methody) was invited to explore the problem of bribery and corruption at the UN and reminisced about better times when he could have expected to be bribed with a candlelit dinner for two, or even a pineapple, but was disappointed to have received only an out-of-date Chicken Pot Noodle and a tea-light; the recession clearly bites deep.

Supporting the delegates was the impressive team of Runners who carried messages between Delegations in General Assembly and in the Committees.

Aaron Callaghan for Wallace, and Richard Tweed for Methody co-ordinated press and filming, and Aaron and the press team accompanied the Security Council to the Island Centre where, as the guests of the City Council, the delegates, chaired by Jonathan Scott and Natasha Midgely, were able to hold the Security Council debate in the Council Chamber. This was a very special occasion and the WHS MCB MUN Committee are very appreciative of this wonderful opportunity and the welcome they received from Councillor Stephen Martin.

Aaron Callaghan was one of the first to join MUN at Wallace. He took responsibility for planning the venue and all the technical wizardry needed to make the Security Council and General Assembly run smoothly. His comment sums up the enthusiasm and commitment given by all those involved with the event: ‘Model United Nations is a fantastic organisation to be involved with. I have loved everything from the pre-conference preparations to the filming and technical aspects on the day. I’m thrilled our first conference was such a success.’

After the award ceremony, the closing speeches by Jonathan Scott and Cara Milton-Edwards were  both challenging and moving. They touched on the importance of what had been achieved in just one day and how that would influence the days and years ahead for all those present, and the future of MUN in Ireland, both North and South.

A fine meal and a social evening followed where everyone enjoyed themselves, and before the band played their last song, plans were already being made for the next WHS MCB conference to be held October.

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Beth Doherty, a year 13 student who has already attended a residential offered by the Villiers Park organisation for potential Oxbridge students this year, has been chosen to attend an open weekend offered by Oxford University’s UNIQ programme for potential medical students.  Meanwhile Rachel Barnes, also in year 13, has earned a place on the highly competitive Sutton Trust Summer School at Bristol University where she will enjoy a week long placement, experiencing university style teaching and learning from to academics in social sciences.

This excellent news follows on from two more students, Gemma Rooney and Jack Roach earning places on Villiers Park residential courses, bringing to six the number of sixth form students who have earned places on the Oxbridge orientated courses this year.

Attendance at courses such as this provide students with an opportunity to experience university education which they can then refer to when applying for places at top universities in the UK and Ireland at a time when the application process is highly competitive.  The students are supported by their applications for these courses by their subject teachers, careers staff, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator and the Co-ordinator of Gifted and Talented provision.

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