Headmistress’s SENIOR PRIZE GIVING Remarks of Ms. Patricia Slevin Address “Victoria College Belfast -Annual Report” 17/09/15 Cranmore Assembly Hall Thursday, 17th September 2015

Dr Gregory, Dr Mountford, Governors, Staff, Ladies and Gentlemen and girls. You are all very welcome to our Senior Prize Distribution, an opportunity for us to celebrate the outstanding achievements of Victoria College pupils both inside and outside the classroom In a week where the College has been awarded for the fourth time the International School Award in recognition of the attention to the global dimension within and beyond the curriculum, a week where the NI Children’s Commissioner visited the College reminding us of our duty to protect and safeguard young people, and a week where a heightening refugee crisis and political crisis closer to home dominate the news, I am more than ever aware of the huge responsibility we have to equip our pupils with knowledge and skills, the aptitudes and behaviours which will prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world. A world where understanding global issues has become ever more important, a world where digital technology continues to develop at a phenomenal rate offering hope and opportunity but also presenting huge challenges, a world where a global perspective is all important.

I hope that my report this evening will provide you with some sense of the many achievements of our pupils and of the multifaceted nature of education in Victoria College which goes far beyond academic results. I am conscious that the girls present in the Hall tonight are but a small representative group of all our pupils each of whom makes a really valuable contribution to the success of the College.

We are the Best Ulster Girls’ School in Cross Country, Ulster Grammar Schools Swimming Champions, Ulster Novice Squash Cup winners, finalists in schools Tag Rugby, winner of the Best Kept Large School, Young Entrepreneurs and winners of a Democracy Award. Our girls have supported local and global charities, given time to the elderly and supported those in need; they have taken part in Tall Ships expeditions and completed Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Bronze Silver and Gold levels.

Alongside all of that the girls have achieved outstanding academic results with 45.6%of grades achieved at A level being A*/A, 92.5% of grades achieved being A* to C, and 23% of the year group obtaining 3 or more A*/A grades at A2.

Rachel Hanley and Emma Gilmartin obtained an outstanding 4 A* grades, Sophie H M ONO MIU R•FIDELITATIS•PRÆ Stewart achieved 3 A* and 1 A grade and Ellen Beattie, Megan Halliday, Chloe Haylett, Emma Saulters and Kathryn Shane, achieved 4 A*/A grades while Anne Victoria College Henderson and Rachel Milligan achieved 3 A* grades. Belfast At AS level 19% of our pupils achieved 3 or more A grades and 60% of grades achieved were A-B. Eve Bannon, Amy Brennan, Tara Fry, Jane Kenny, Charmaine Kwok, Rana Tahoun, Eve Wilson, Aishlyn Wong and Anna Wylie each attained 4 Senior Prize Giving grade As. Headmistress’s At GCSE more than a quarter of the year group achieved 9 or more A*-A grades and 47% of grades achieved were A* and A. Address Amy Edwards and Katie Lynn were awarded an outstanding 11 A*s and Zehra Majeed obtained 12 A*/A grades. A further 12 girls: Anna Darling, Alexandra Dick, Gina Gilmartin, Sophie Gormley, Sara Gray, Arez Hassan, Sophie Hunter, Nikki Li, 17/09/15 Nicola Maxwell, Sophie McConn, Caitlin McCormack, and Sisara Pettagam achieved 11 A*/A grades and 13 girls achieved 10 A/A* grades.

Anne Henderson achieved full marks in both A2 Art & Design and Religious Education and eighteen GCSE pupils achieved full marks in a range of subjects with Amy Edwards obtaining full marks in History, Religious Studies, Biology and Spanish and Erin Burnett being awarded full marks in Religious Studies, Mathematics, ICT and English Literature.

In Sport pupils from the College competed at Ulster, Irish, British, European and World level.

The 1st XI hockey team reached the semi-final of the Ulster Schools’ Plate competition. Amy Edwards was selected for the Ulster U18 Hockey team and Amy, Caitlyn Harvey and Rebecca Lobo were selected for the Belfast Area U17 team. Caitlyn was also selected for the U16 Ulster team and Beth Walker was selected for both the U16 Ulster team and the Belfast U15 Area team. Hannah Beattie, Caitlin Murphy and Emma Conlin were selected for the Ulster U16B Development Squad and Caitlin was then further selected for the Ulster Under 17 Development Squad.

The College had another successful year in Cross Country, winning both the South Antrim District and the Ulster Cross Country Championships. The Mini and Senior teams were crowned Ulster Champions and the Junior and Intermediate teams were placed second in their respective events. The Senior team was placed 6th in the All Ireland Championships and Jane Matthews, Year 14, was placed 14th as an individual competitor. The College was crowned Best Ulster Girls’ School in Cross Country for the second consecutive year.

In Athletics pupils achieved success at the South Antrim Championships, with a large number of pupils from all age groups qualifying for the Ulster Championships where Jane Matthews was placed 6th in the 800m and Emma Henderson 4th in the Discus; Amy Edwards was placed 1st in the Javelin and Zoe Jane Dickson, 2nd in the Triple Jump. Both Amy and Zoe Jane qualified for the Irish Championships and Amy was selected to compete at the Sainsbury’s 2014 School Games which were held in Manchester last September. Amy, Zoe Jane and Emma were also selected for the Inter-Provincial Athletics team.

Caitlin McCormack and Hannah Beattie achieved 3rd place in the All Ireland Lifesaving Championships in the 15-17 age division. And the Senior Swimming Team – Emma Henderson, Esmée Hall, Evie Dougan, Hannah Beattie and Sophie Hunter - won gold medals in the Freestyle and Medley relays at the Ulster Secondary Schools’ Championships. In the Ulster Schools’ H M ONO MIU R•FIDELITATIS•PRÆ Swimming Championships Emma won gold in the 100m individual medley and silver in the 50m backstroke. Esmée won silver in both the 100m individual medley and Victoria College the 50m butterfly. The relay team was placed second in both the medley and freestyle and the Senior team won the overall trophy for the fourth consecutive year. Belfast Emma was selected for the Inter-Provincial team for swimming and was one of only six girls to represent Great Britain at the World Pool and Beach Surf Championships and at the Spanish Surf Lifesaving International, during which she won one silver Senior Prize Giving and two bronze medals. She captained the Ulster Schools’ Swimming team which was victorious in the All Ireland Interprovincial Championships and was selected to Headmistress’s receive an International award. She has recently been selected as Captain of the Great Britain Youth Team for the Junior European Pool and Ocean Championships Address to be held in Spain next week. Well done Emma. The Senior Tennis team - Lauren Russell, Megan Halliday, Sophie Hunter and Lucy 17/09/15 Hamilton - reached the semi-finals of the Ulster Senior Tennis Cup. The Under 17 Squash Team was placed first in the Ulster Novice Squash Cup and the College’s Tag Rugby team reached the final of the Schools’ Cup, held at Kingspan Stadium.

Sophie Robinson competed in the World Pairs Competition in Mounted Games in Newark, Nottinghamshire in September. Sarah Brittain represented the College and won a range of awards including the Supreme Working Hunter Champion in both the Pre-Balmoral and Armagh County championships and the Blugrass Working Hunter Champion of Ireland at the Equifestival of Ireland.

Ara McCartan, Year 11, won the Ria Kenny Irish Golfers’ Union Cup, was a member of the Ulster Junior Golf Squad, a semi-finalist of the Norman Drew All-Ireland Golf Competition and was first in the Ulster Girls’ Schools’ Championships. The College’s Golf Team was placed third in the Ulster Girls’ Golf Championships under the Captaincy of Susie Rankin.

In April Emily Hobson, was selected to compete for the Belfast Rowing Club at the Strathclyde Park Regatta and Jodie Dowling, represented Northern Ireland at the IJS Open Ice-Skating Championships. We have also just received news that Rebecca Getty has been selected to play for the Ulster Senior Badminton team in the English County Championships against Lancashire in Huddersfield this December.

We are very grateful to our Miss Stewart and our Sports staff and coaches who provide the girls with so many opportunities to participate and to compete. Drama and Theatre Studies students attended Theatre visits to the Grand Opera House and The Mac, and watched live streamed performances of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ Year 12 performed ‘Hamlet’ at The Mac as part of the Shakespeare in Schools Festival and were invited to reprise their performance at the Hilton Hotel during the Rotary Conference. In school the girls participated in workshops and performed their devised work, plays,monologues and duologues to delighted audiences. The Music department enjoyed another busy and successful year with polished performances at the Prize Distribution, the APT Neil Shawcross event and the prestigious Inclusion Quality Mark award ceremony at Stormont in November. The Carol Service and the Spring Concert in the Waterfront BT Studio provided opportunities to demonstrate the exceptional musical talent in the College with individuals, choirs, ensembles and orchestra performing to a very high standard. And packed audiences thoroughly enjoyed the excellent joint VCB and RBAI musical performance of Hairspray in November. H M ONO MIU R•FIDELITATIS•PRÆ The international dimension is a really important feature of school life allowing girls to experience and develop that global perspective and understanding and we are Victoria College delighted to have had our International School Award renewed. The College participated in the European Studies Programme, Comenius project, Global Schools Belfast Partnership and the Eco Schools Initiative. The College has retained the highly prestigious Green Flag status and our Eco Committee were finalists in the All Ireland Eco-Unesco Environmentalist awards and the Brighter Belfast Environmental Senior Prize Giving Awards. The Committee also developed a new eco game Green Options and an Eco Mural for the school library. Aisha Rahman our Eco Prefect was interviewed on Headmistress’s Radio One and the school year came to a close with the College being awarded ‘The Best Kept Large School’ in Belfast, the College’s tenth success and third in the Address last four years. Sixth form pupils engaged in debate with local MLAs participating in the EurVoice and Mock Council events at Stormont organised by the European Commission 17/09/15 Office and the British Council. Two pupils, Francesca Drumm and Perrie McMahon-MacKeever, represented VCB in the UK Youth Parliament elections in the South Belfast Constituency –and the College received the Democracy Award to acknowledge the high level of participation and support in that election.

Pupils participated in a number of visits and trips including Geography fieldtrips, a Scripture Union retreat, a joint Italian and Latin trip to Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and Rome, a hockeytrip to Gibraltar and a ski trip to Italy.

Our Charity Prefects encouraged the girls to fundraise for The Alzheimer’s Society and Tiny Life. And in addition to the ongoing community work of the College’s Voluntary Services Group, Health and Social Care pupils were involved in a number of intergenerational projects with older people in residential care , organising a tea dance and lunch, interacting with residents with dementia, playing Boccia and completing a digital age project . Year 13 pupils, Eve Bannon, Elizabeth Brush and Daire McCotter, worked with the National Citizen Service, and were awarded “100 hours” certificates from Volunteer Now. Special congratulations are due to last year’s Deputy Head Girl Ellen Beattie who has achieved the amazing feat of 100% attendance record since she started primary school. In these challenging economic times expert careers advice and guidance is more important than ever and the Careers Department provides ongoing assistance and support to all ourpupils through work placements, CAO and Oxbridge seminars and conferences, attendance at open days, higher education fairs, careers conventions and seminars in specific careers areas, as well as invaluable one to one support. Sixth Form students participated in the ‘Fantastic Females’ event and the ‘Create 2014’ event, and Year 11 pupils were successful in the Inspire/Aspire competition Over seventy exhibitors attended our Higher Education and Careers Fair in February and Year 14 pupils attended a Mock Interview Evening. We are very grateful to the many parents and friends of the school who gave up their time to interview our students during this important event.

The College’s Young Enterprise company, ‘Sophistiglass’, won the Belfast and Castlereagh final for Best Overall Company and qualified for the Northern Ireland Final at Belfast City Hall where they won an award for Best Marketing. The team also won a competition run by Forestside Shopping Centre and Hannah Nicholl and Perrie McMahon McKeever were selected to compete in the Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

In February, a group of Year 12 pupils participated in a personal development H M ONO MIU R•FIDELITATIS•PRÆ course at the SKYtrek outdoor activity centre and over 100 Year 10 girls completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions in June. Ten of our Senior pupils will be Victoria College awarded their Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award this evening. We are indebted to Mrs Hart, who co-ordinates the Award scheme within the Belfast College,along with her team of assistant leaders.

Senior Prize Giving Year 13 pupils involved in the Sentinus Research and Development project with the University of Ulster, achieved a Gold Crest Award. Leigh Hutchinson and Eve Headmistress’s Bannon were selected for the Friends Forever Summer Programme in the U.S. while Katie Brennan, Eva Davis, Sophie McConn, Maddie Robinson and Helen Francis Address were selected to participate in the Tall Ships expedition. A number of Post-16 pupils volunteered for Disability SportNI and Brooklyn Dunseith, Year 13, won a trip to London to meet Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, sponsored 17/09/15 by the Law Society of Northern Ireland. In the Intermediate Mathematics Challenge in February pupils were awarded 1 gold , 3 silver and 8 bronze certificates with Lucy Hamilton obtaining the gold and ‘Best in School’ certificate. Lucy also qualified for the Intermediate challenge follow- on round, the ‘Pink Kangaroo’.

In the Senior U.K. Mathematical Trust Mathematics Challenge pupils won 1 gold , 4 silver and 24 bronze certificates. Ying Ong in Year 13 obtained the gold and was awarded the ‘Best in School’ certificate.

A team of four AS and A2 mathematics pupils also took part in the regional final of the Senior Team Mathematics Challenge.

Esmée Hall and Anne Henderson had their GCSE and AS Art and Design work selected and exhibited at the CCEA True Colours Art Exhibition in the Ulster Museum. And Year 14 Art pupils, helped with the selection process for the awarding of the Café Conor Prize for Figurative Work at the Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition 2014.

Year 13 and 14 Art and Design pupils and staff from the College exhibited and sold their art work at the Maryville Tearooms on the Lisburn Road. At an APT event - An Evening with Neil Shawcross - Art pupils had a valuable opportunity to meet and discuss artwork with prestigious local artist, Neil Shawcross who has generously donated a beautiful print to the College the sales of which have enabled the APT to raise more than £14,000 in support of the College.

Recent curriculum developments within the College include the introduction of Moving Image Arts and Systems Software Development and during the past academic year pupils met with representatives from the film industry including actor and screenplay writer, Tim Loane and Helen Sloan, Key Stills Photographer for HBO’s Game of Thrones. Product Design students visited The Creativity Hub, an award winning product design studio, and took part in a Creativity Masterclass.

This academic year we said farewell to two long-serving members of staff. Mrs Deirdre Turkington, Assistant Principal and Mr Trevor McKee, Teacher of Geography and Examinations Officer left the College after a combined total of 46 teaching years at Victoria College. They have given unstinting support to our pupils over the years and will be sorely missed by us all.

Also leaving the College this year are Mr Ian McCaugherty and Mr Gareth Whitehead, Temporary Teachers of Science and Miss Suzanne Coates, Temporary H M ONO MIU R•FIDELITATIS•PRÆ Teacher of Art & Design. We wish them all well and hope that they will maintain their links with the College in the future. Victoria College We welcome our new staff - Mrs Karen Goddard, Head of Art & Design, Miss Roisin Belfast Mullholland, Temporary Teacher of Home Economics, Miss Gabrielle Moore temporary teacher of mathematics and Mrs Catherine Flanagan, Classroom Assistant. Senior Prize Giving Tonight’s celebrations would not be possible were it not for the total commitment of Headmistress’s all the staff in the College and their dedication to the girls. I think it would be fitting to show them our appreciation. Address And I would also like to pay tribute to our parents without whose support I would be unable to present this very impressive report. Parents who encourage their 17/09/15 daughters to always give their best, who bring them to and from training, matches and rehearsals, who support the school’s policies and who engage in a positive partnership with staff play a huge part in the whole educational experience and their contribution is much appreciated.

I would also like to thank our Chairman, Dr Gregory and the Board of Governors for the invaluable advice and support provided to myself and to my colleagues in the College.

Girls I am so proud of all of you and of your achievements. On a personal level each one of you has reached for the stars and has obtained success. But you have also clearly demonstrated your willingness to contribute to the school, to the local community and to those less fortunate than yourselves in the wider community. You have embraced the challenge of learning beyond the curriculum and like the eagle referred to in this quote from a John O’Donoghue poem, I hope you will always see the bigger picture.

‘As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings May your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills’

Girls, continue to look outwards, care for others and don’t stand still!

Remember Einstein’s advice

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Dr Gregory, this concludes my report for the 2014 – 15 academic year.

P Slevin (Ms) Headmistress

H M ONO MIU R•FIDELITATIS•PRÆ

Victoria College Belfast

Senior Prize Giving