English

The 2010 Animation Prize Day for Year 10 took place on the 25 June and represented the culmination of a full year’s collaborative work between Art, English, Music, Geography and ICT.  This year the theme of the films was, “Belfast: a City for Everyone” focussing on issues of ethnic diversity.  The winning entries were judged by the Head of Education at Northern Ireland Screen, Mr Bernard McCluskey (see www.northernirelandscreen.com.uk) and artist and designer Mrs Eileen Creen. 

The film that won overall was ‘Our Belfast’ which contrasted the real Belfast with the media headlines normally used to portray the city.  The winning team members were Carla Dunlop, Rose Lynch, Madeleine Magee, Caolan McBay Doherty and Laura McCartney.
Other winning films included: ‘Untitled’ for Best Story, ‘Big Nose’ for Best Soundtrack and ‘Owls and Sparrows’ for Best Design.  ‘Under the Rainbow’ also received special commendation as a powerful piece of work. 
Well done to all the Year 10s who really worked hard to produce these films, not only during the week of filming but also in their English, Art and Music classes.
 Click on the image below to view the entries

Click on the link below to view our school’s contribution to the BBC School Report

This year the theme for National Poetry Day was ‘All about Europe.’ There was of course our annual poetry competition with categories for junior, intermediate, and senior school entries, as well as a staff section. Click the image below to view the winning entries and find out more.

Concern received over 800 entries from places far and near: Japan; Niger; Liberia; India; USA; UK and Ireland.  Entrants were asked to let them know what they would write in a letter to President Obama on one of three critical issues: world hunger, climate change in the developing world or child labour.

Aquinas had tremendous success in the Junior Competition with first prize going to Eoghan Curran (Yr11) and Joint second prize going to Anna Lyttle (Yr11).

Congratulations!

You can find out more about the competition and the issues highlighted by clicking on the image below:

(external link)

Year 8 and 9, and year 13 took to the stage Friday, 12 December for the school’s annual Shakespeare Festival, opened by Mrs Press, in the assembly hall. The adjudicator for the day was our very own Ms Sheila Mc Connellogue, with Professor Mark Thorton-Burnett from Queen’s University lending  his assistance. Their comments to the audience at various intervals throughout the day left no doubt over the value of performing Shakespearean scenes for contemporary schools.