The Annual Report of the Board of Governors 2015-2016
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- 2.11 STEM REVIEW
- 2.12 MAGHERAFELT LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
- SIXTH FORM CURRICULUM PROVISION
- YEAR 10 CAREERS CONVENTION
- INSPIRING LIVES / CREATING FUTURES
2.10 ECO-SCHOOLS/ENVIRONMENTThe St. Mary’s Eco-Committee, which is made up of a range of students from all year groups, is to be commended for its hard work and sustained efforts to foster environmental awareness throughout the entire school and for improving our school environment. Activities this year included:- As part of a fundraising campaign for a ‘Fit for Schools’ Challenge for Cancer Focus, St. Mary’s organised a Cash for Clobber collection; In November 2015, the Eco-Committee organised a ‘Power Down Day’ in school. Everyone was asked to turn off unnecessary lights and computers and to refrain from charging their iPads and mobile phones; In December 2015, with the assistance of the Technology & Design Department, Year 8 made bird boxes and in January 2016, the Science Club made a bird cake; In February, the Senior students of the Eco-Committee organised a litter pick; In April, Year 9 planted wild seeds as part of the ‘Grow Wild Biodiversity Project;’ In May, St. Mary’s, partnered with the Northern Ireland Bat Group and Creggan Country Park, to hold a special Bat Night. The event began with a short talk followed by a demonstration on how to use a bat detector. There then followed a bat safari to Polepatrick Park where students saw and ‘heard’ bats flying around using the bat detectors. In June 2016, St. Mary’s was highly commended in The Best Kept School Competition. These awards are organised annually by the Northern Ireland Amenity Council (NIAC) and acknowledge the outstanding commitment of local schools to green projects and environmental education. 2.11 STEM REVIEWThe STEM concept aims to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics as career choices for young people. During 2015-16, St. Mary’s continued with the following: Presentations from Precision Engineering to Year 10 on Wind Energy and possible related careers for engineers and F G Wilson to Year 11 on opportunities in engineering, making particular reference to career profiles of women in engineering; F G Wilson provided a one day workshop on Mechanical and Electrical engineering to a selection of Year 12 students. This included a range of problem solving exercises which gave students an insight into careers in mechanical and electrical engineering; Twenty Year 11 girls attended an activity day hosted by QUB School of Engineering and Caterpillar to encourage more women into careers in engineering; QUB School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science delivered a six week programming course (one hour per week) to thirty Year 13 students; AS and A2 Product Design and Technology & Design students took part in a CAD/CAM workshop when the STEM module visited the school; Mr M McVeigh, Technology & Design teacher, was awarded one of the very limited number of 2015 British Science Association CREST Teacher recognition awards for his outstanding contribution to enriching students’ experiences of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). 2.12 MAGHERAFELT LEARNING PARTNERSHIPThe Magherafelt Learning Partnership was established in 2007. It provides a full microcosm of the post-primary sector of Northern Ireland: it includes controlled, grant maintained, integrated, maintained and voluntary grammar, both denominational and non-denominational; only Irish Medium and single sex education are absent from the. Each school is co-educational, varying in size, type and history. The schools and Northern Regional College also have a long-standing history of working together, both in terms of curricular provision and the continuing professional development of staff. The MLP vision for the future of our schools and the purpose behind then can be summarised as follows: Education is central to our future; Partnership will look to build community cohesion by ensuring equality of opportunity through the removal of barriers to participation in education and seeking to minimise variation in outcome through the provision of relevant and appropriate curriculae. Throughout 2015-16, St. Mary’s continued to collaborate with other schools within the Magherafelt Learning Partnership on a range of curricular, extra-curricular and curriculum enrichment initiatives. SIXTH FORM CURRICULUM PROVISIONIn 2015-16, three Year 14 students attended Magherafelt High School to study Government and Politics and two Year 13 students attended Rainey Endowed to study Spanish. Also in 2015-16, three Year 13 students from St. Pius X College and two Year 13 students from Rainey Endowed studied AS Moving Image Arts in St. Mary’s. YEAR 10 CAREERS CONVENTIONIn October, all Year 10 students attended an MLP Careers Convention hosted by Rainey Endowed Grammar School. MIGRATION PATTERNS AND DISSOLVING BOUNDARIES In November, St. Mary’s hosted 60 Year 9 students from across the MLP when Queen’s University delivered workshops on Migration Patterns and Dissolving Boundaries. INSPIRING LIVES / CREATING FUTURESThe Research Council United Kingdom (RCUK) in partnership with Queen’s University,Belfast (QUB), is working with schools on a project entitled ‘Inspiring Lives: Creating Futures’. The partnership facilitated researchers’ direct engagement with students and brought contemporary and inspirational research contexts into formal and informal learning to enhance and enrich the curriculum. Ninety Year 9 students from the MLP (18 from St. Mary’s) took part in the project. There were three workshops:- ‘Cancer - From Discovery to Recovery’ - Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology ‘Creative Technologies’- Sonic Arts Research Centre ‘Drug Development from Concept to Clinic’ - School of Pharmacy GET SET FOR COMMUNITY ACTION TRAINING DAY Get Set for Community Action is a brand new programme, funded by the Big Lottery Fund as part of their commitment to the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was launched to empower young people aged 14-19 to make a real difference in their local communities in the run-up to, and during, the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In February, St. Mary’s hosted a very successful training day led by Get Set mentors from England for interested students from the MLP schools. Directory: downloads downloads -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations downloads -> Dynatest 3031 lwd light Weight Deflectometer downloads -> Forth coming competitive exams downloads -> Brush High School Morning Announcements Friday, September 05, 2014 all school downloads -> Year 9 The Arts — Music downloads -> Years 7 and 8 standard elaborations — Australian Curriculum: Music draft downloads -> Chris Young sets 2016 “I’m Comin’ Over” Tour headlining dates downloads -> Slavery and Abolition: the Plymouth Connection Introduction downloads -> Summer Assignment Download 1.68 Mb. Share with your friends:
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