At the Cenotaph

Tamara O'Rourke, Claire Gould and Jessica Sharpe laid our wreath at the Cenotaph in Newcastle, supported by year 8 students Lucy Lakin, Sarah Louise Duffy, Emma Baker and Sinead Murray. We then all warmed up with hot chocolate and buns before joining the congregation at Newcastle Methodist Church for their Remembrance Service, led by a certain Christopher Skillen. The sermon included detail from his trip to Krakow during half term. The congregation was very welcoming and our students were able to contribute by giving the readings. Then it was off to the Strand for more sustenance in the shape of toasties, scones and ice cream. Many more of our students were in evidence in the Scouts and Boys' and Girls' Brigades, and Wills McNeilly lowered and raised the flag.

Remembrance Day Assembly

Grainne Tobin presented our annual Remembrance Day assembly, ably supported by Niamh Lindsay, Helen Crane, Tanya Murray and Rachel Cleary. The girls read beautifully. Sunday, 11.11.1914 sees Jessica Sharpe and Stuart Hanna lay our wreath at the Cenotaph and take part in the Remembrance Day service at Newcastle Methodist Church, where Chris Skillen will be preaching. A Remembrance Day assembly will follow for our senior students on Monday. Our Rembrance Day efforts are mirrored by our activities for St Patrick's Day. In each case we challenge the historical appropriation of the event by one community or the other within Northern Ireland.

Krakow Trip

Three of our staff are in Krakow during the Hallow E'en half term, Chris Skillen, Rose Murray and Deborah McDowell. Part of their purpose is to follow up some of the work Chris has undertaken as part of his Holocaust Foundation Fellowship. One possibility is a future trip for some of our students.

Presbyterian Harvest Celebrations

Lots of us headed to Newcastle Presbyterian Church today to celebrate Harvest festival and to see the decorated church. Year 8 came along; A level Religious Studies students came too; Alex McCauley sang; Michael Rutledge sang; Chair of the Board of Governors, Billy Burnison had an early start and drove down from Belfast to join in; Wills McNeilly gave the reading; Rev. Ivan Patterson welcomed us and conducted the service. We are very grateful to him and to the congregation for welcoming us to the church. The flurry of activity we witnessed afterwards alerted us to the fact that the congregation had delayed the distribution of fruit and vegetables to local families.

St Luke

We have found great opportunities for church visits this term. On Thursday, students took part in a special St Luke's Day service at St John's Church of Ireland in Newcastle. The interesting part of all our church visits is always that for some students the visit is a chance to share their own stuff with fellow students, and for some an opportunity to visit a denomination or religion different from their own. Reports from the service include students experiencing something very new to them, students showing their friends their own church and also some students finding much more in common with their own denomination than they expected. Thanks to Canon Ian Ellis as ever for sharing his church with us.

Racial Diversity in Holland

A really interesting set of visitors appeared from Utrecht via Killough this week. The group of Dutch students was staying at the Kinderhaus, which had originally been set up in the depths of our troubles by Dutch people, in order to offer a secure holiday space for groups of Catholic and Protestant young people. There is an interesting irony in the change of mission which sees the Kinderhaus host mixed race groups of Dutch students, many from families who have settled in Holland from elsewhere, for example Morocco and Turkey. Chris Skillen led a workshop on artefacts from his Holocaust studies, and organised a bulb planting by Shmna and Dutch students as the beginnings of a Holocaust Memorial. It was particularly interesting for Shimna and Dutch students from Christian and Muslim backgrounds to work together on a study of Jewish experience. Turkish lessons followed, led by Shimna staff member, Christine Ozdemir, supported by our Turkish visitors and our own Kemal and Sait Can. A further interesting element was input from the Dutch group's cook, who discussed our menu with our cook, Anne Carlin, and advised the Musim students about what they could and couldn't eat. Highlight of the visit is our return invitation to Killough to join the Dutch students in an Islamic meal. The meal will be a particular treat for Shimna students who took GCSE Islamic studies last year.

A level Geography Conference

We were delighted to host our now annual A level history conference, with Kilkeel High School and St Malachys, Castlewellan. first class academic presentations alerted students to current environmental issues and offered an insight into university style of learning. The conference offers one small opportunity to our A level students to work with students at other local schools beyond the integrated sector. Huge thanks to Jean Forbes for again undertaking the organisation of the day. The setting at the Slieve Donard gives our students a welcome boost, and values the effort they put into their excellent achievement in A level geography.