Special guests, mums, dads, proud grannies and granddads, but most especially boys and girls, on behalf of the staff and the Board of Governors of Cullybackey College I’m really pleased to welcome you to our Prize Distribution for the 2017/18 academic year.

At the outset I’d like to make you aware that this is an extra-special year for us as we celebrate the school’s fiftieth anniversary - initially under the title of Cullybackey County before changing to Cullybackey High School and now in its current guise as Cullybackey College and under the leadership of Mr Hannah followed by Mr Crawford then Mr Boyd and now up to the present day.

I would like to endorse Mrs Scott’s welcome to our special guest – Mr Howard Beverland. Howard hails from Ballymoney and attended Coleraine Inst as a pupil. At the age of 16 he started playing football for Coleraine. He was a key player at Coleraine for nearly 10 years in the positions of full- back and centre-half. For 5 of those years he was the club captain and notched up 340 appearances. For the last 3 years he has been an important figure in the all-conquering Crusaders side and recently made his 100th appearance for the club.

Howard also had a central role in last year’s True North BBC documentary entitled, ‘Crusaders - Keeping the Faith’ which gave a unique insight into the club during their 2016/17 season as well as looking at the heritage of Crusaders and its players once labelled the ‘God Squad’ due to the Christian make-up of its team.

Howard’s connection with Cullybackey College was in his capacity as a Social worker which led to him supporting a number of our young people last year before recently moving into a new role with CAMHS (the child and adolescent mental health team) offering short periods of intervention to help with specific needs children and teens may have. Howard, it’s great to have you back with us this morning, we greatly appreciate you giving up your time, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say to us shortly.

In terms of last year’s results, at GCSE level, over 63% of our students were able to secure at least a grade C in their subject entries. Special mention must go to Annie Millar who achieved a fantastic 4 A*s and 6 As and Lucia Bernatova managed to get and impressive 2A*s, 6 As and 1B.

At A-Level, a superb 94% of our outgoing Year 14 students achieved at least 2 A-Level passes in their examinations with over 63% of students achieving a Grade C or above. There were a number of impressive performances across the student body: Samuel Hutchinson achieved A* in Sport, A* in Business and a grade B in History; Steven Toner worked consistently hard throughout sixth form and received A*in Sport, A in Business and a C in ICT; Zoe McGuckin showed how hard work and dedication can pay off by achieving A* in Sport, B in ICT and B in Health and Social Care; Steven McLeister and Megan Ross both achieved A*BC – Steven was specially commended for his superb work in Art and Megan achieved her top grade in Sport; and Jason McPeake achieved A* in Sport and an A in Construction. Jason attended the NRC as part of the BLT Curriculum Collaboration over the last two years. We were delighted that so many of our students achieved the entrance requirements for their preferred University courses and will be travelling all over the UK and Ireland during the next few weeks to arrange accommodation and sign up for the next chapter in their lives.

I would also like to acknowledge the success of our students in accessing collaborative courses through Learning Together – especially with the NRC, Dunclug College and St Patrick’s College, where they have been very well supported.

Personally I would like to say a big thank-you to the teaching staff of the College who, in the day- to-day madness of school life, dedicate themselves to making your children their priority. Often it is their determination not to give up on a child – their encouragement, their threats, their hassling and chasing up of work that makes the difference. I’m sure you will agree with me that they deserve a round of applause by way of acknowledgement.

I would also like to take a moment to recognise two former colleagues who managed to escape last year.

Mr John McCord joined in 2004 and during his 14 years he served as the College’s Senior Caretaker. Working with his side-kick James, John took great pride in ensuring that the school building was maintained to the highest possible standard, something visitors regularly commented on. In March of this year John finally decided to turn off his buffer, hang up his keys and head off to pastures new.

Mr Paul Bell arrived in 2000 and taught in the College for 18 years, establishing himself as one of the four grumpy men in the Technology Department along with Mr Davidson, Mr Dennison and Mr Foster. Paul also served in the important role of Examinations Officer. Famous for his white lab coat, dead-pan sense of humour and depth of general knowledge, the pupils loved him even though they rarely understood his jokes. Now as a man of leisure I’m hope he has more time to pursue his interests in photography and music.

Paul and John – it’s great to see you here this morning – you both look much younger than I remember when I last saw you. On behalf of myself, your former colleagues, pupils and parents of the College, past and present, I would like to express my sincere thanks for the contributions you have made to this school and to the lives of those who have travelled through it. I offer you our best wishes on the ‘next stage’ and hope you know that you will always be welcome here.

Now at this point Aaron, one of our Year 13 pupils, is going to come and provide us with an overview of the sporting life of the College over the last year.

Extra-curricular: Sport

Sport plays a very important role within the College, with a large number of our student body taking advantage of the wide variety of activities on offer to them.

This year our Hockey teams returned to the local Ballymena league competing against rivals Dunclug College, , Cambridge House and Ballymena Academy. The challenge was made even harder with the refurbishment of our own hockey pitches coupled with difficult weather conditions playing havoc with the fixtures. The Year 8 Hockey team went throughout the season unbeaten in their league and were the unofficial league winners (unofficial because, due to many of the schools not getting all their games played, it was decided to not give medals this year). The Year 8 team played the first round of the Ballymena league against rivals’ Ballymena Academy putting up an excellent display of teamwork, determination and good skill to win the game 2-0. They then went on to play Cambridge House and drew 1-1 in a tough fought game. In our own school-run tournament they remained undefeated.

The Year 9 team had a mixed bag of results. This team has a lot of potential and unfortunately started off badly with a 4-0 loss to Ballymena Academy. The girls then steadied the ship and went on to play two other matches drawing with Cambridge House and Dunclug College both 0- 0 respectively.

Our Year 10 team had another up and down season. Again the weather didn’t help, limiting game time in the Ballymena league. However, the girls did earn a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Slemish College before achieving an excellent 0-0 draw against a strong Academy team.

In Netball, as with Hockey, the weather caused major disruption to the fixtures. Our Year 8 team played Slemish in their first match, achieving a great 14-6 win. This was followed up by an impressive 9-1 victory over St Patrick’s College. Unfortunately, the might of St Killians proved too much in a creditable 11-6 defeat but in general it was a very encouraging season for a team which promises much in the future.

The Year 9 team was plagued by injury problems before the season even started, most notably to their goalkeeper and tallest defence player. This was a major factor in defeats to St Patrick’s College, Cambridge House and the Academy. However, a return to a full-strength squad coincided with a very pleasing, hard-fought 15-12 victory over Dunclug College.

The Year 10 team had a difficult league this year with only 3 teams in their section and, unfortunately, the girls lost all 3 matches to the Academy, Slemish and Dunclug. But, the only way is up, as they say, next season.

School show jumping has always been a popular extra-curricular activity at Cullybackey with the competitors taking part in inter-schools’ competitions on Saturdays. Recognition must go to Hannah Thompson and Laura Gordon who have represented the school faithfully for 7 years with Ashley Kelly and Jessica Mark having done so for 3 years. Sarah Gilmore represented the school at the first inter schools’ dressage completion at the RDA Coleraine and was placed a pleasing third.

In terms of boys’ football, last year’s historic double of league and cup success was always going to be a difficult for our Year 8 team to repeat. In the Mid-Antrim league the team came a respectable second to Slemish College whilst they were defeated 3-1 in a close encounter with Cambridge House in the Mid-Antrim semi-final. For the very first time a Year 8 team was entered into the Cup, reaching the semi-final of the plate before losing a hard-fought match against Abbey Community College 4-3 at Solitude. This was a fantastic achievement.

It was a tough year for the Year 9 side who last year won the league and cup double. Nonetheless, they did retain the league title and were extremely unlucky to go out of the cup on penalties after a very tight match against Slemish College.

It was a rollercoaster season for the Year 10 footballers. Failing to retain the league and losing to local rivals Dunclug College in the process was hard to take but the boys regrouped and put on two very impressive cup runs, losing cruelly to Parkhall on penalties in the Mid Antrim Cup final and then reaching the quarter final of the Northern Ireland Cup, achieving a famous 3-2 victory over the mighty La Salle College along the way, before losing narrowly in the quarter finals to in a game which could have gone either way.

It proved to be a tough season for the Under 15 football team. They began their campaign against St. Benedict’s in successful fashion, winning a tight game 3-2. The league was still a possibility until the final match of the season when Parkhall managed to sneak the title away from Cullybackey. The disappointing end to the league campaign was unfortunately translated into the cup campaign - defeat against a strong Cambridge House side.

Similarly, our Year 12 team had a mixed season. Despite limited game time, their highlight was an extended run to the semi-final of the Mid-Antrim Cup where, again, Cambridge House proved too strong a challenge.

The Rugby Club was most grateful in the early weeks for the coaching expertise and guidance of Mark Harmon. The highlight of the season was participating in two rugby tournaments; one at Coleraine Rugby Club, and the other at Carrickfergus Grammar School. The boys represented the school really well, with many of the squad experiencing a rugby match for the first time.

Athletics saw an outstanding medals haul at the NEBSSA athletics event at the Antrim Forum with pupils bringing home 7 medals - 6 gold and 1 silver. Naomi Henry powered her way to gold in the Year 8 Shot put. Daniel Lowry, although leaving it until his last throw, picked up gold with a powerful effort. Isaac Wylie blew the field away in the 100 metres. Ben Shaw jumped a personal best to clean up in the Year 10 high jump and take gold. Ross Stevenson picked up his 2 golds in the 100 metres and 200 metres blasting his way past the competition and Adam Steele produced a mammoth performance to pick up silver in the Year 11 boys’ 800 metres.

Ross Stevenson went on to become labelled as, ‘The fastest kid in Ireland’ by picking up gold in the Junior Boys 100 metres at the Ulster Schools’ finals before securing the All-Ireland Schools’ Championship in Tullamore at the start of June when he put in a superb performance to claim gold in a time of 12.03 seconds, beating top athletes from all across the country to do so.

In other sporting areas: Indoor Athletics saw Naomi Henry selected to represent the County Antrim team; our Years 8 to 11 pupils had the opportunity to play Futsal, a slightly different format of football, at Antrim Forum in the Mid and East Antrim District Area heat; Golf witnessed the team of William Hammond, Kaeden Anderson, Kenny Nicholl and Josh Nicholl compete superbly to pick up silver medals at the NEBSSA finals day at Castlerock; and Basketball continued to develop through our sunrise basketball programme.

As a student body we are very grateful to all the staff who have played a part in assisting with the sporting life within the College.

Now at this point I’d like to ask Beth to come and give you an insight into some of the other areas of school life that were notable last year.

Other areas of College life

As ever the school year kicked off with the highly popular Year 8 residential to Cultra at the beginning of September, an opportunity for our newest pupils to make new friendships, have some fun, watch Mr Magee at his line-dancing best, and even learn a little as well in the process. They experienced first-hand life as a child in Victorian times by dressing up in old clothes and going to school for a lesson with Mr Boyd, before heading to court for a real life trial. They also participated in some craft activities, creating souvenirs to take home to their parents, as well as baking soda bread with Mrs McDonald and Mrs Parker on an open fire.

Year 13 pupils had the opportunity to go on an overnight residential organized by Mrs Patton, the highlight of which was undoubtedly Office Olympics at Jungle NI where team building exercises included Wellie Ski’s, Zorb Gauntlet, Frisbee Challenge, Raft race and 4 Header Bucket. Everyone got drenched, ate too much food, had very little sleep – and had a brilliant time.

Prize Day on the 29th September saw Miss Rikki Peters, Acting Principal of the Buick Memorial Primary School and a former pupil of the College, attend as our special guest.

In order to further promote the College as being at the very centre of the local community we continued with our now established Christmas Carol Service led by the Rev. Murphy. It required a concerted effort by pupils and staff and met with a favourable response from the village community. Following on from the success of the Carol Service, the month of March witnessed our annual Easter Service. This was a very memorable event with meaningful musical contributions together with an Easter message brought to us by the Rev. McGaughey.

Cullybackey College is indebted to the support of School Governor and Minister of the Cuningham Memorial Church, the Rev. Murphy, together with the Eldership of the Church, in facilitating both these services.

The College has also hosted musical concerts and pipe band competitions. Its facilities have been made available to The Army Cadet Force, giving pupils the opportunity to train with the Irish Guards; provides training access for Cullybackey Blues FC; and has also been used by the Diamond and Buick Memorial Primary Schools respectively for their end of year performances.

Friday 19th January witnessed our fourth P7 IN-O-V8 event, immediately preceding our 2 Open Evenings, when we welcomed the P7 students from our local area to come and take part in this special STEM event. A staggering 750 P7 pupils from 31 local primary schools experienced a programme of interactive workshops and shows relating to Science and Technology. The aim of the day was to engage and enthuse young people about these important areas. The scientific workshops included – making elephant toothpaste, walking on egg shells and making rainbows. The technology workshops involved electronics and making a battery powered torch.

We also had special, mad Science shows delivered by the boffins from W5! In addition, all the visiting Primary School Principals were treated to a 3-course lunch served by our highly professional GCSE Hospitality pupils under the watchful gaze of Mrs Rodgers. This proved hugely successful – with the Principals enjoying a meal any restaurant would be proud to deliver.

Our P6 ACTIV8 event followed in June, when over 700 P6 pupils from our feeder primary schools participated in a series of interactive workshops and shows relating to PE, Maths, Geography, ICT, History and English. An undoubted highlight was the visiting Ulster Scots Agency who explained to our young people how and why people from Scottish decent arrived in Ulster. They looked at local place names and dialect. They learned about the history of the pipes and had an award winning piper, Alan McPherson (former Major of Cullybackey Pipe Band) play. They learned the history of the Lambeg drum and the young people had the opportunity to play the pipes and drum themselves.

Last year also proved another busy one for our various Departments. The College celebrated European Day of Languages. Year 8 students learnt some new and interesting facts about Europe in their European themed treasure hunt. Lunch time saw a special ‘pop up photo booth’, giving students the opportunity to have some European snaps taken with their friends. A big ‘Merci’ to the French Department for arranging these activities for the students to enjoy.

The annual Year 8 Maths ‘Fun’ Day involved all Year 8 pupils completing a series of challenges and activities requiring using their mathematical knowledge and applying it to everyday situations.

STEM Club (that’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) met on a monthly basis after school with pupils making everything from bridges with straws to bottle rockets. This was in conjunction with the Science Department who also performed animal dissections and created chocolate bridges. We also had a special visit from the STEM bus where pupils completed various investigations and used state of the art cutting machinery.

In the History Department, Year 10 and Year 11 History pupils experienced a mural and political tour of as part of their study of the Northern Ireland troubles. Year 14 pupils visited Dublin and the Somme Centre in Newtownards to advance their knowledge and understanding of the Partition of Ireland module. Past History pupil, Calvin Galbraith commenced a teaching placement in the department where he excelled. Calvin subsequently graduated with Second Class Honours in History at , Coleraine. Another past History pupil, James Gailey graduated with 1st class honours in History from Queens University, Belfast.

In Home Economics, Mrs Wenda Bristow from the Livestock and Meat Commission visited all Year 10 classes to discuss the benefits of including red meat into our diet. This was really interesting and beneficial as we are aware of so many dietary issues facing today's population. Mrs Rodgers, Head of Home Economics, accompanied Year 12 pupil Kirsty McIlmoyle and her parents to the 'Celebrate with CCEA Awards Ceremony' at Titanic, Belfast in recognition of Kirsty’s fantastic achievement of first in Northern Ireland in GCSE Hospitality. Cullybackey College was one of very few secondary schools to have a pupil represented at the event.

In June Cullybackey College Drama Club put on an original piece entitled, ‘Angels, Villains and Everyday Heroes’ for our Year 8 pupils as well as P7 pupils from 2 of our feeder primary schools. This proved very successful and a good morning was had by all.

As a school we pride ourselves on our charity-giving, and last year was no exception. An incredible total of £8861 was raised during the year: £3900 going to the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice; £325 to Angel Wishes; and £3436 to Tearfund. Such a brilliant amount was raised by a combination of bed pushes, coffee mornings, a sponsored cycle, bun sales, an Easter Hunt, non-uniform days, a sponsored walk and a sponsored football match. Cullybackey College raised more money for Tearfund than any other school in Northern Ireland. This is something we are very proud of and we are indebted to the work of Mrs Cummings and Miss Peacock in overseeing the Charity fundraising within the College.

On behalf of the pupils I would like to thank all the staff, parents and pupils who have contributed to making all these events, activities and experiences possible for us.

LAST SECTION

I would like to thank Beth and Aaron for being prepared to speak this morning. It’s such a big responsibility and I know they were nervous but I’m sure you’ll agree that they did a great job – could we please give them a round of applause?

On the 24th of June 2014, the Education Minister announced that fifteen new schools from across the north would be built as part of an investment package in the order of £170m. Cullybackey College was one of 7 post-primary schools. This was obviously very encouraging indicating that the Department of Education has long-term confidence in the future of the College. The past year has seen the development of a Steering Group, comprising members from the Department of Education, the and the College. We are now meeting on a monthly basis and, at present, are in the process of finalising a Business Case which will be submitted to DENI. If everything fits into place (and there are a lot of things to fit into place!) a new school will officially open for business in 2023.

A new school on the outskirts of the village; one with twenty-first century facilities and resources; one that meets current legislation in terms of access, health and safety; one that more readily meets the needs of our young people today is what is needed – both for us as here at the College as well as for the Cullybackey community as a whole.

In the meantime, we continue to enhance the current facilities to ensure our young people are provided with the best learning experience we can possibly offer them. Last year witnessed investment in a much-needed new sound system for this Assembly Hall; a new CCTV system throughout the school providing me with a very clear picture of what is going on; the refurbishment of our canteen; the painting of a number of corridors; and the relaying of hockey pitches. And so it goes on. On behalf of all the teaching staff I would like to say a massive thank-you to our non-teaching staff who play such an important role in the day-to-day life of the school, getting on with things so efficiently and effectively in the background. Also thanks should go to our team of Classroom Assistants who provide much valued support for our pupils as well as being a great help to the teaching staff.

Acknowledgement must go to our Parent Teacher Association, a much-valued part of our wider school community under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Hanna, who is also a Parent Representative on our Governors. The PTA held a number of successful events during the year including a Craft Fair; table quiz; coffee morning; donut sale; movie afternoon; and non-uniform day.

This term will see the reconstitution of a new Board of Governors for the next 4 years, I would like to express my gratitude to the Governors chaired by Mrs Scott and ably assisted by her deputy, Mr Wiseman, for the time and effort which they give to the school - long meetings, mountains of paperwork and having to listen to me. Governors, your work is often unacknowledged, but hugely valued and appreciated.

At Cullybackey College our priority is, and always will be, seeking to push our young people to realise their full potential, morally, socially, physically, spiritually, emotionally and, ultimately, academically. I want the school to be the best it can possibly be; I want all of us to have high expectations both for ourselves and the children under our care. Thanks to the combined efforts and professionalism of our staff, teaching and non-teaching, our Board of Governors, the invaluable outside agencies, you the parents and families and with the confidence of the Education Authority, I am positive that the young people here this morning, and indeed all the young people in Cullybackey College, are given every opportunity to succeed.

In conclusion, last week Marie reminded me that the school has a Latin motto. You’ll not find it on any badges sewn onto blazers, but, on the outside wall, above the main entrance, you’ll see it clearly displayed on an old metal crest as well as on a modern crest depicting our current school badge. It reads, ‘Per Angusta Ad Augusta’ which means, ‘through difficulties to honours’ and these four words have inspired students and soldiers for centuries. The most helpful alternative translation of ‘Per Angusta Ad Augusta’ is, ‘through difficulties to great things’ and that sums up what we are primarily about at Cullybackey College.

Whilst we are proud of our school – improved results; intake growing to the extent that we will be oversubscribed next year; optimism regarding securing a new, modern school build – what remains at the centre is our young people – your children – and that motto ‘Per Angusta Ad Augusta,’ ‘through difficulties to great things’ sums this up - that by supporting them through the difficulties, challenges and obstacles they will inevitably face during their time with us they can achieve great things, a sense of self-worth, confidence, qualifications and a pathway towards the next stage of their lives after Cullybackey.

And that, you’ll be relieved to know, concludes my report for the 2017-18 academic year.