U19A

St Malachys 53   Aquinas 47

Aquinas       87  St Pat’s Dungannon       22

U16A

St Malachy’s  48      Aquinas                   36

Aquinas        69      St Pat’s Dungannon  53

U19B

Aquinas      40     St Mary’s Belfast    47

Newry High  50    Aquinas                 57

Aquinas U16s produced their best performance of the season so far to qualify ahead of St Pat’s Dungannon for the Ulster League final against St Malachy’s.

With the season on the line in a must win game the Year 11s raced into an early 25-9 lead after 8 minutes.  Ciaran McFralnd and Ronan McKegney were in great shooting form getting 16 points between them.  Ryan McGarry and Peter Horner were inspirational in the second quarter as Aquinas maintained their advantage.  However the Tyrone school rallied well in the second half and got the lead down to 13 points.  However, Ryan McGarry steadied the nerves of the players with some great scores and Aquinas held on to win and clinch a showdown against an excellent St Malachy’s team. 

Top Scorers:      Ryan McGarry (23); Ciaran McFarland (14); Peter Horner (11); Ronan McKegney (8)

They will be joined at the Finals Day by the U19s who ran riot against a weakened Dungannon team.  Despite defeat against St Malachy’s last week coaches Kevin Foley and Joe McAufield are quietly confident of causing an upset in what is anticipated as the top clash in the Ulster Finals.

 The re-arranged date for both finals is Thursday 18 Dec @ UUJ (Sports Hall 1)

Click on the links below to view the scenes from a DVD made by Jerome Quinn on our Year 8 Ulster Colleges C Blitz winners in June 2008.

  High quality

Year 13 organised and delivered a Study Skills morning in school last Friday, this was a fantastic day and the students who delivered the presentations were brilliant.

Click the link to view images and learn more.

Children at Aquinas Grammar School in Belfast are at the forefront of using information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance their work, and that’s official!

Click on the ICT Mark to find out more.

Congratulations to year 14 students Maeve Cowan and Aine McGowan who have successfully completed the final unit of the BSL Sign Language level 1 qualification.
This QCA endorsed qualification is administered by the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People [CACDP] and under the expert tuition of Ms Elizabeth McAughtery, herself a member of the Deaf Community, the students studied three units, introductory sign language, conversational sign language and sign language at home and in school to achieve this level.

On Thursday 16th October 2008, year 13 pupils that are participating in the Bar Mock Trial competition and year 12 GCSE LLW pupils visited the Belfast High Court, hoping to gain a greater understanding of court procedures and the Northern Ireland legal system. Many pupils gained the opportunity to observe barristers and judges and, perhaps for some, see where their future career paths take them. Click on the image below to find out more.

Davey Philips of the Belfast Giantscame to the school to speak with the Year 8 pupils about Healthy Eating, Exercise and what it’s like to be a Giant.To read more about the vist and view images  click the link below.

GCSE: 

1ST in Business Studies – Christina McCloskey
2nd in French – Jennifer Clarke
1st in German – Jennifer Clarke
3rd in German – Martin McBride
1st in Maths – Conn McGrath
2nd in Physics – Conn McGrath

A level Top Candidates
3rd in Art – Megan Quigley
1st in English Literature – Dermot Dignam
2nd in Spanish – Ronan Tansey

Click the image below to view the top GCSE candidates

This year we were absolutely ecstatic to secure a visit from the much-sought-after author Darren Shan.  Horror readers will know he is the bestselling writer of The Saga Of Darren Shan and The Demonata Series.  His books have been translated into twenty languages in twenty-eight different countries and have sold over 9,000,000 copies worldwide.

Click on the image below to find out more

To celebrate National Poetry Day Aquinas held it’s annual Poetry competition.

Click the link below to see the winners and view the entries.

Congratulations to the six teams who successfully completed their Silver Award qualifying expedition in September.  The qualifying expedition was the culmination of eight months of training and preparation by the pupils. 

Click on the image below to read more and view photographs from the expedition. 

Congratulations to Maeve Mc Quillan who has been selected, for the second year, onto the Northern Ireland under 17 netball squad.

Congratulations to the following girls who have been selected onto the under 15 regional development squad; Claire McVeigh, Rachel Goldsmith, Rachel Ferguson, Moya McQuillan, Orlaith Downey, Aoife Sheridan and Amy Mc Cormick

Aquinas Grammar has just been awarded the coveted ‘Instituto del Año 2008’ by the Ministerio de Educación, España for its promotion of learning and teaching of Spanish both within Aquinas and the local community.

Click the link below to find out more.

To view some pictures from the successful event click the image below: 

Thank you for all the votes for Aquinas on the ‘Join Our Team Website’. We will let you know the outcome as soon as it is confirmed.

Click on the picture below to view images from the afternoon.

This is the presentation ceremony for the STAMP (Asthma Awareness campaign) team who completed a one year course so that would be qualified to teach their peers about asthma.  There were four schools involved in the scheme Lagan college, Aquinas Grammar School, Wellington college and Newton Breda High School. Click on the image below to view larger.

The Aquinas Sports Day 2008 was a great success. Click on the image below to view some images from the day.

The Department of Education has  released a ‘Good Behaviour at School’ leaflet for parents. The document has been released online and can be accessed by clicking the image below.

Aquinas Grammar year 8 Gaelic football team won the Ulster Colleges year 8 Football blitz Bro J M Murphy Cup and their first ever Ulster Colleges title after 15 years of trying. 

Clicck on the image below to learn more about this momentous occasion.

Click below toview images from the Tag Rugby Tournament.

Two Year 14 students, Gerard Higgins and Jack Hughes, in collaboration with the School of Education and the Physics Department at Queen’s University, Belfast, have produced a Physics podcast. 

Click on the image below to learn more and Listen to the Podcast.  

Congratulations to everyone in Year 8 who entered the Art competition to design the front and back covers for the “Welcome to Aquinas” booklet

The winning entries have now been chosen

The front cover will include designs by:

Meidhbin Browne

Christopher Madden McKee

Sarah White

Katherine Nevin

back cover by:

Sara Lisa Raju

Click on the images above to view the covers.

Congratulations to AS level Art and Design student

Grainne McGrath

who was awarded a “Highly Commended” certificate in the

FRED J. MALCOLM  2008 Awards for Jewellery Design.

Both Grainne and Miss Gilmore attended the awards afternoon on Thursday 15th May.

This is a school based competition run by the Norwich Union.  The winner of the competition is the school with the highest number of votes placed by the extended school  community. Pass this site information to family and friends. Hopefully we will be lucky enough to win the money and use it tocontribute to upgrading Physical Education facilities.Click the link below to view details of our scheme

or click on the button to place a vote

Click on the image to find out more

Click on the image above to view some of the HE students’ work.

Click on the picture to see the Pi Day story unfold

2nd place (9-12yr group)     Anna Murray – Year 9
2nd place (9-12yr group)     Anna Murray – Year 9
3rd place (9-12yr group)     Sile Martin – Year 8
1st place (13-15yr group)    Michael Mullaly – Year 9
3rd place (13-15yr group)    Michael Molloy – Year 9
4th place (13-15yr group)    Michael Quinn – Year 9

Our School had an inspection in November 2007 and if you would like to read the findings you can download it using the link below (PDF 345 KB).

Click here to download acrobat reader if required

Click on the image below to view photographs from the 2008 trip to Lille

Click on the image below to read about Emma Martin’s entry to the Belfast City Council Road Safety Competition.

The Austrian resort of Axamer Lizum (near Innsbruck) was the venue for 2008 Ski trip. Click on the image below to read more and view images from the trip.

 

Click on the image below to read all about our adventures…

Dear Parents and Friends

Welcome to our Annual General report for 2006-2007!

As you can see the last academic year was a very busy one with many events happening in all aspects of school life. 

This report will give you a flavour of the work of many subject departments as well as some of our extra curricular activities.
 
I predict that 2007-2008 will be just as busy and I would like to record my thanks and appreciation to all of the staff of Aquinas for their commitment, enthusiasm and energy which they, so willingly, give to our students.  A special thanks to the Governors and parents for their dedication to the school and their support of what we do.  Finally I must pay tribute to the students themselves, who contribute so much to the ethos of the school.   Their energy and positive attitude to the life of the school are always infectious and stimulating to us all.

Peruse, reflect and enjoy this report.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Diana Press
Principal

Click on the link below to download a copy of our Annual General report.

Click on any of the links below to view the appropriate page:

Examination Timetables:

Years 8,9 & 10

Year 11

Year 12

Year 13

Year 14

The examination arrangements for Junior School

The examination arrangements for Senior School

Aquinas hosted its Senior Celebration of Achievement on 20th December. The evening was a terrific success. To view some pictures from the event click on the image below.

The 2007 edition of the Winter Nwsletter is available to view online or download now. Just click on the links below on your version of choice.

 Download

 View online

The Music department of Aquinas displayed their great talent during the Christmas Concert on Monday evening. To get a flavour of the performance and to view images from the concert click on the link below:

The Year 11 pupils have been busy preparing for Christmas click the image below to see some of the pupils work.

Aquinas Chamber Choir were invited to sing for the Stormont Assembly Carol Service. To view some videos from the performance click on the image below: 

Aquinas secured a 2-11 to 2-10 win over a young talented St Joseph’s Crossmaglen
Team in their opening game in the Ulster Colleges Bro Nolan senior C competition at the college pitches in Armagh. 
During the game Aquinas shot 20 scoreable wides which nearly cost them victory.  A small Crossmaglen team who played a short, fast passing game caused Aquinas many problems.  However, with steady performances from Thomas Artherton, Dermot Dignam, Conal Mahon O’Neill and captain John Mckenna.  Aquinas steered to a narrow victory.

Aquinas 4-8 Edmund Rice 1-6
Aquinas Grammar faced a determined Edmund Rice team who caused Aquinas lots of problems with their physicality.  Not until the last 15 minutes did Aquinas finally get on top of Edmund Rice.
Conal Mahon O’Neil, Dermot Dignam Matthew Hollywood and John McKenna were very strong for Aquinas.  Star of the game was Darragh Brownlee who turned in a McCrory standard performance.

After this win Aquinas will meet either St Malachys, Belfast, Lumen Christi, Derry or Glen Road CBS in the semi-final.

Aquinas will be training on the county Down sand dunes over the Christmas period.  Good Luck lads.

The winners, runners-up and highly commended schools and organisations were announced on Monday 5 November 2007, at an evening awards ceremony at the ICC, Birmingham.

Aquinas were awarded runner up in the prestigious Best whole school (secondary) category.

Click below to view the Aquinas representatives on the night.

There are two galleries from The Wizard Of Oz production online for you to view.

Gallery 1  or  Gallery 2

Year 8
1st - Katherine Nevin
Runner Up - Chris Madden McKee
Year 9
1st - Emma Bogues
Runner Up - Laoise Hunter Martin
Year 10
1st - Naomi Morris
Runner Up - Rachel Goldsmith
Front Cover
Amy McCormick - Year 10
Back Cover
Claire McKeough - Year 10

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to view the winning entries.

Mrs Press, Mrs Guiney and Miss Maguire attended a conference in Johannesburgas part of the Dreams and Teams programme which is run by the British Council and Youth Sport Trust. Click on the image below to find out more and to get a flavour of their visit.

Did you miss your chance to see the sell out show? Well take a look behind the scenes to see how the set was created.

 Just follow the yellow brick road to Oz.

For the latest Basketball News click on the basketball.

A Group of pupils from Bunscoil an Droichead (Irish medium primary school) visited Aquinas, click below to find out why and to view some images from the trip

As part of the celebratations for National Poetry Day a Poetry competition with the theme of ‘Dreams’ was held. To view the winning entries click below.

Senior School 11-13

First place: Corle Magee ‘Dreams’

Second place: Bridget Flangan ’Dream’

Third place: Owen McEvoy ‘Daydreamer’

In the Junior School (Yrs 8 -10)

First place: Lorcan O’Connor 9S   ‘Dreams’

Second place: Tara McFadden 9D ‘Titanic’

Third place: Ciaran Foster 8E  ‘The Ghastly Garden’

Aquinas paid host to bestselling Australian author Garth Nix. Click on the image below to find out more.

Read one pupils account of the French Exchange trip and view  some images from the galleries by clicking on the image below. 

The Aquinas Senior Gaelic team played in the Queen’s Invitational Sevens tournament on Friday 29th of September.Click on the image below to view some pictures from the day and to find out how the team got on.

Details of the first terms Sporting Extra Curricular Activities can be found by clicking here

As of today the information in the “School” section of the website has been Updated. Please take the time to register for the “Parents Mailing List” by clicking the link or the image below.

This scheme provides opportunities for schools and companies to work together on a common theme. Each participating school is allocated a co-ordinating engineer by the school’s partner company. Aquinas Diocesan Grammar school team has been linked with The Royal Air Force, who provided us with a design brief which is a real-life problem.

To find out more about the initiative and the awards generated click on the image below.

Meadhbh Caldwell and teacher Ms Gilmore were invited to attend the Fred J Malcolms jewellery awards ceremony on Wednesday 18^th April. At the ceremony Meadhbh got highly commended for her jewellery designs. Below are some images from the ceremony. Click on the image for larger version.

Natalie Eastwood in Yr 12 has won the BELB Dairy Cook of the Year. She has won £500 of equipment for the HE department and a luxury food hamper and a cash prize for herself.

Natalie also had success in the future chef competition in December.

The Aquinas Spanish department is just recovering from a fantastic exchange experience with our partner school in Barcelona IES Val del Tenes. 13 students and 2 teachers came over and took part in a variety of events over the ten days. Highlights of which included meeting the Lord Mayor in the City Hall; getting a full tour of Stormont and watching the Belfast Giants play live. They also visited some of our beautiful towns and villages.

On the last night an evening reception was planned which saw our parents, pupils and staff involved in an evening of Irish dance and song. A thoroughly enjoyable evening all round.

Right Click on the flag below and ’save target as’ to view a powerpoint and get a feel for the overall experience of the trip. We look forward to our return trip in the near future. (Be Warned this is a huge file 56mb approx the presentation takes a few seconds to open due to its large size).

Three Aquinas pupils collected their awards at the Presentation Luncheon in Equality House on Wednesday 28th March 2007. Click on the image below to learn more.

Aquinas claimed their second Ulster Schools Basketball title this year with a 32-18 victory over arch rivals St Malachy’s.
 

A stifling defensive performance from Aquinas shut down St Malachy’s playmakers Eoin Duffy and Tom Dougherty while Ryan McGarry and Peter Horner contributed handsomely on the offensive end for Aquinas.  However, the general all round ability of Caolan McWilliams shone through.
 

Team captain Ben Scullion will lead the team to the All-Ireland play-offs in Limerick over May Day weekend where the side hope to at least emulate the heroics of the current u16 team who reached the semi final in 2004.
 

Team:       Ben Scullion (capt); Peter Horner; Ryan McGarry; Caolan McWilliams; Ciaran McFarland; Ronan McKegney; Joseph Morrison; Stephen Doherty; Oisin McKeever; Ruairi Sheridan; Dario  Angelone; Conor Marley; Joseph Shields

On Saturday 24^th March a team of dedicated Chemistry students took part in the Ulster Finals of the School’s Analyst Competition. Click on the image below to view some images and to find out how they got on.

FOUR players from Aquinas have been selected to various Irish International Basketball squads for training every weekend from Easter till the end of August.
Joe Burns (12R) has made the 20 man squad of the Irish U17 team.
Ben Horner (11D), Jack McConaghy (11J) and Ryan Magee (11J) are all members of the Irish U15 squad.
All players have represented Ulster schoolboys over the last three years. Their school coach Joe McAufield is also assistant coach of the Irish u15 girls’ squad who are preparing for the 2008 European championships.
 

To view some images from our recent St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations click  on the image below.

Brother Nolan Final Sunday 12.00pm CasementPark

 Aquinas V Edmund Rice

Good luck to all the players.
An excellent opportunity to make history in being the first GAA team in the school to win an Ulster title.

Special mention to the year 14s as this will be their last chance to bring home some silverware.

Find out how the Team got on in the semi-final against St Malachy’s by clicking on the image below

Below is a link to some New images from the Home Economics Department.

The Annual Spring Concert took place on Thursday the 15th of March and was a tremendous success. The First pictures from the evening can be found by clicking the image below:

 A selection of the listening exams for AS and A2 Spanish have been uploaded to the Spanish section of the Website. All the files are quite large ranging from 7-16mb in size (so be patient). The Files have been a little reworked to ensure that they are DRM free and are playable on iPods and generic mp3 players. Click the Spanish Flag below to access these files:

On Friday the 9^th of March Aquinas Chamber Choir took part in the Coleraine International Music Competition. The competition was of a very high standard with choirs coming from France and Scotland to compete, not to mention those from the North and South of Ireland.

Click image below  for some more details and pictures from the event.

BELFAST CITY COUNCIL ROAD SAFETY COMPETITION
Orla Fitzpatrick - 2nd Prize in Class C
Cliodhna Quinn & Shannon Clarke - Highly Commended in Class C
Cassie Moane, Roisin Tinneny & Blathnaid Ni Smaolaigh - Highly Commended Class D

These pupils, together with their parents are invited to attend the award ceremony at BELFAST CITY HALL on Monday 5th March.The evening will commence with refreshments @ 7pm and the presentation of awards @ 7.30pm. All winning and Highly Commended posters will be on display.

Lion’s International Peace Poster Design competition

Congratulations to the following pupils who participated in the 2006-2007 Lion’s International Peace Poster Design competition. The competition was sponsored by the Lion’s Club who awarded certificates to Hannah Smyth,Helen Morgan, Sarah Smart and Patrick Nevin. Gabriella Norney was awarded 2^nd place in the Aquinas entries and Sarah O’Neill was awarded third place. Bryony Waters won the local competition and has been awarded a beautiful plaque.Well Done Everyone! Click on image to view the winning entry.

As of today Ms McAnulty has updated the Coursework Sites for Religious Studies and both are available by clicking on the links below

GCSE

AS

In March last year, the school applied for inclusion on a DV Pilot run by C2k.  We were successful and to facilitate us in our work, we received an eMac Computer, DV Camera and keyboardThe project, called Environment Matters was launched in Year 9 Geography classes in May where we discussed local and global environmental issues such as climate change, rainforest deforestation, pollution, recycling and litter.  At the same time, the ICT Department taught the pupils the skills of video editing.  Later, around June time, the Year 9s were divided into groups (based on the Art classes) of four or five.  This allowed the English Department to begin creative writing tasks where each group had to produce a story based around an environmental theme.

These tasks were finished by September and now the Art and Design Department was able to bring the stories to life by constructing sets and plasticine models which was facilitated by the school in having two ‘collapsed timetable’ days.

To learn more  and view the winning films click below

Every Semester Aquinas Grammar School produces an internal newsletter to keep the staff abreast of activities that other teachers are involved in. If you would like to take a look at the Winter Newsletter, it is available as a direct download in PowerPoint format (*.ppt) or as a PowerPoint produced preview for immediate, online viewing.

Click here for the full PowerPoint file. (best viewing experience)

or

Click here for the webpreview.

Click on the link below to access the 2006 AGM report. 

 filesize: 130kb

If you require a hard copy of the report you can request one by emailing the school here.