News Category: Awards

Two Year 13 pupils from St. Mary’s have been crowned the winning team in a prestigious national legal competition.

Una Campbell and Luke McCallion competed against 8 other finalists from three schools across the UK in the “The Legal  Apprentice” competition, hosted by law firm Kingsley Napley LLP in partnership with The Times. 

For the third successive year, a St. Mary’s student achieved a top award in the LifeWorks Education National Life Advocate Essay Competition.  Year 14 student, Anne McCoy, was Highly Commended for the excellent essay she submitted in response to the words of Pope Francis: “The right to life is the first among human rights.”  

After losing their opening game to Omagh CBS by one point, the Year 8 boys dusted themselves down to go on a run that would lead them all the way to the Martin O’Farrell Cup. 

Two Year 13 students from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt have successfully reached the final of the ‘Legal Apprentice’ competition.  

Una Campbell and Luke McCallion will compete against three other schools from the UK to be crowned the winning team in the final at News UK (Headquarters of The Times) on 19 June 2019.

In English, Year 8 pupils enjoyed their student edition of The Irish News every Wednesday for eight weeks as part of the Irish News Critical Literacy Project.  The project is designed to deliver news and develop literacy understanding in the classroom.  Highlights involved Student Bingo and The Scavenger Hunt which required pupils to compete to find articles on various topics.  St. Mary’s was one of just three schools to win a day trip to The Irish News headquarters in June.  We are confident that we have a number of future journalists in our midst. 

On Friday 12 April 2019, Year 12 students - Declan Larkin, Mark Donnelly, Niall McAuley, Allana Campbell, Evelina McElhone, Beth Dixon and Helen Doherty - along with 500 other post-primary school students from across Northern Ireland travelled to Titanic Belfast for BelTech’s Education Day.  

As part of the Shared Education Programme, the History Department was privileged to host the Truth and Reconciliation Platform which was established to give victims of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’, regardless of their political, religious or cultural background, an opportunity to tell their stories.  On this occasion, we heard Alan Mc Bride, Eugene Reavey and Stephen Travers speak.

Following the success of the first year of the cross-phase literacy project, the English Department was pleased to work with partner primary schools for a second year.  

Almost 80 pupils from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt have been presented with a faith award by Archbishop Eamon Martin in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.  The Pope John Paul II Award and the Muiredach Cross Award were presented to the young people at a special ceremony on Thursday 28 March 2019 in recognition of their volunteering work in parishes, communities and schools.  

In December 2018, a team of 15 Year 13 and 14 pupils participated in the Regional Heat of the National Bar Mock Trial Competition. The competition is facilitated by the Citizenship Foundation, a charity that aims to enable and encourage young people across the UK to actively participate in, and make a positive difference to, the societies in which they live.   The team engaged in a simulated criminal trial - an immersive, active learning experience which afforded the team the opportunity to take on the roles of barristers, witnesses and court staff to prosecute and defend specially adapted, real life legal cases, against other schools. 

A Year 13 student from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has won the top prize in this year’s Michaela Foundation Wings Award Programme.  

Laura Diamond was announced as the winner of the award at an Awards Ceremony in St. Mary’s University College, Belfast on Wednesday 27 March 2019.  Nominating Laura for the award, Miss Burns (Head of Religion) described her as “a kind, compassionate and inspirational young lady, who has been a true example of living faith in the twenty-first century.”

On 27 March 2019, Year 13 pupil, Ella McKenna, was  placed First overall in the A Level group of the prestigious Gael Linn public speaking competition, Abair.  

Ella, along with Treasa Ni Chathain, made it through to the All-Ireland finals, held in the Crumlin Road Jail, after qualifying in Letterkenny in January.  The girls spoke exceptionally well and Mr McPhilomey and Miss McGouran are extremely proud of their achievements.

Miss McCloskey (Head of Chemistry) pictured with participants in the recent UK Chemistry Olympiad competition. 

Pupils Barry McErlean, Ella McKenna, Ciara Cassidy, Conor Bradley & John McMorrow (missing from picture) displayed a wide and diverse range of chemical knowledge and expertise to answer some very challenging questions - well beyond the scope of the Chemistry studied in the classroom. Congratulation in particular to Barry McErlean who achieved a prestigious Gold Award.

In March, four Year 13 and Year 14 History students - Mirren Mc Kenna, Una Campbell, Caoimhe Mullan and Cate Bateson - participated in the Lessons from Auschwitz project. This amazing opportunity allowed the girls to meet a Holocaust survivor and visit Birkenau, the death camp at Auschwitz.  On their return, the girls delivered a presentation to all Year Groups during Assembly to share their experience of being involved in the project with other pupils. 

Examinations for the Silver Fáinne took place in March with pupils in 10C and 10D also competing to win the Bríd Devlin Cup for excellence in Irish.  

Made up of more than 50 pupils from Year 8 – Year 10, the Junior Choir was awarded First Place in their competition at the Ballymena Festival.  Conducted by Miss Donnelly, Head of Music, and accompanied by Miss G Meyers, the choir delighted the adjudicator by singing the ethereal ‘Hushabye Mountain’ from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ and ‘Hail Holy Queen’ from ‘Sister Act’.  The adjudicator praised the pupils on their beautiful tone and enthusiastic singing. 

Lauren Toner picks up second place in Chester University Religious Studies Essay Writing Competition.

The Principal of St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has expressed her delight at the news from CCEA that a number of pupils at the school have been included in the exam board’s 2018 list of top-performing students at GCSE level.

Action MS Chief Executive, Mrs Ann Walker, visited St. Mary’s Grammar School this week for a special Awards Presentation to thank Year 10 pupils for their tremendous efforts on behalf of people with multiple sclerosis.

Organised by Mr Brady (Head of Year 10), pupils took part in a Walk for MS in June at Meadowbank Sports Arena and raised a total of £2,346.98 in aid of Action MS, Northern Ireland’s Multiple Sclerosis Charity.

Sharing Vision, Sharing Effort,Sharing Success

On Thursday 13 September 2018, St. Mary’s Grammar School held its Annual Awards Ceremony to acknowledge the achievements and successes of pupils throughout the last academic year. 

The theme for the evening was: “Sharing Vision, Sharing Effort, Sharing Success”.

The Principal of St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has described this year’s GCSE examination results as “outstanding”.

A Level students in St. Mary’s Grammar School had cause for celebration following the publication of this year’s examination results. Ms Gillespie, Principal, reported that an outstanding 95% of all examinations taken by students resulted in A*-C grades.  81% of all entries resulted in A*-B grades while 44% of all entries resulted in A*-A grades.

On Saturday 3 February 2018, Year 13 student, Cate Bateson, was placed 2nd in the Northern Ireland Final of Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland’s Public Speaking competition.

Two gifted Year 13 pupils from St. Mary’s and their friend impressed judges in the TIMON Open Data Hackathon at Queen’s Computer Science Building last weekend. 

It was with immense pride and joy that we learned that St. Mary’s students were among the highest performing candidates in Northern Ireland in various subjects in the 2017 GCSE and A Level examinations.

On 16 November 2017, six pupils represented St. Mary’s in the regional heat of the Soroptimist International Public Speaking Competition in Ballymoney.

The Children’s Texaco Art Competition has an annual entry of up to 50,000+ entries throughout Ireland each year.

Blanche Cases, Year 9, has been awarded a ‘Highly Commended’ Certificate which means she has been placed in the top 18 in each category for her artistic entry.  The judges of the competition commented on the exceptional standard of this year’s entries in each age category and we are so proud of Blanche for rising to the top as one of the best entries.  For this we would warmly congratulate her on this truly superb achievement. Well done, Blanche.

On 18 September 2017, Mid-Ulster Council recognised the sporting achievements of St. Mary’s pupils at a Civic Reception in the Seamus Heaney Home Place in Bellaghy

Celebrating the successes and achievements of the academic year 2016-17, the annual awards took place in the school on Tuesday 12 September. As well as celebrating the outstanding attainment of pupils in recent GCSE and A Level examinations, the evening also provided an opportunity to recognise the accomplishments of pupils in a range of extra-curricular activities, ranging from sport to public speaking.

Principal Ms Gillespie has described the 2017 GCSE examination results as “simply superb”. Ms Gillespie reported that a remarkable 100% of students achieved 7 grades at A*-C, including English and Mathematics. Impressively, 63% of all grades were A*/A

A Level students in St Mary’s Grammar School had cause for celebration following the publication of this year’s examination results.

Ms Gillespie reported that an outstanding 95.2% of all examinations taken by students resulted in A* to C grades. 43% of all results were an A or A*.

​On Friday 9^th June more than 100 inspirational students, teachers and Athlete Mentors attended the Sky Sports Living for Sport Awards at Twickenham.

The day was held at the home of rugby, where Sky  Sports Pundit and World Champion boxer, Johnny Nelson kicked off the day’s events and led a full day of activities and celebrations alongside twenty amazing Athlete Mentors. 

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Year 12 student Catriona McCoy, has been awarded second place in a national essay-writing competition for senior cycle students. 

The Life Advocate Awards were set up to encourage  research and critical-thinking on human rights and right to life issues.

Students were asked to discuss the words of  Martin Luther King who said: ‘Our lives begin to end, the moment we become silent about the things which matter’.

The Gaelbhratach has finally arrived in St. Mary’s!

St. Mary’s Grammar students received the prestigious Purple Flag award at a ceremony held in Leopardstown recently. The Gaelbhratach is awarded to schools who not only incorporate the Irish Language into the school community in a planned, structured and fun way but also those who carry this through outside of the classroom. 

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St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt, has been awarded a prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag by the environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.  

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A Sixth Form pupil from St. Mary’s Grammar School has won the Concern Worldwide Fundraising Newcomer Award. 

St. Mary’s students enjoyed great success at the Salters’ Festival of Chemistry held at Queen’s School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Congratulations to fourteen of our Year 12 pupils and eight of our Year 13 pupils who recently took part in the British Physics Olympiad competitions. Year 12 pupils completed the GCSE Physics Challenge while the Year 13 pupils completed the AS Physics Challenge. 

​Year 10 pupils from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt have won first prize in Quiz 5 of the Children in Crossfire Maths Challenge which was held recently. 

​A Year 13 student from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has attended the CCEA Celebrating Excellence ceremony at Titanic Belfast. 

SPEECH AND DRAMA SUCCESS FOR ST. MARY’S PUPIL

Congratulations to Year 9 pupil, Roma Boyle, who enjoyed huge success at the Ballymena, Coleraine and Portstewart Festivals in recent months.

St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has recently become a Fairtrade School and has been awarded ‘FairAware’ status from theFairtrade Foundation. The ‘FairAware’ award represents the first of three tiers; the School aims to work towards the highest of these and win ‘FairAchiever’ status as part of its ongoing commitment to the charity.

St Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has become the 2017 Danske Bank MacRory Cup.

Making its third appearance in a MacRory Cup final on St. Patrick’s Day, the school made history when it collected the trophy for the first time following a 0-19 to 0-13 victory over St. Colman’s College, Newry.

St. Mary’s has been announced as a 2016 Capita and C2K ICT Excellence Award winner.  Having been shortlisted in the category for ‘Transforming Teaching and Learning through Technology’, the school was named as the overall category winner at an awards ceremony in The Merchant Hotel, Belfast on 8 December 2016 which was attended by Miss Hagan, Director of e-Learning,  and Mrs Gillespie, Principal.

St Mary’s is the first school in the NEELB to be accredited with the Investors in Pupils Award. The Investors in Pupils programme is an established national quality mark to recognise develop and extend pupil/student voice and participation strategies in schools and educational settings thus building young people’s life skills, character and resilience. Supporting personalised learning, the programme fosters healthy relations, pupil to pupil and pupil to adults, leading to greater pupil responsibility over their own learning and behaviour and providing a powerful tool for developing a positive whole-school team ethos.

Miss McAllister led the whole school initiative for Investors in Pupils during the academic year 2014-15. It was fully supported by Mrs Gillespie, who stated, “It ties in with our drive to maintain and improve standards.”

Massive congratulations to Year 12 students Caoimhe Meeke and Orlaith Prenter who recently achieved Ulster Colleges’ All-star awards for Ladies’ Football. They will represent Ulster in the All-Ireland Interprovincial competition on Saturday 30 January. And their awards presentation night will be on Friday 15 January.

Huge congratulations to our Year 14 students who were very successful in the recent Senior Challenge achieving 12 Silver and 36 Bronze Awards. The UKMT Individual Maths Challenges are lively, intriguing multiple choice question papers, which are designed to stimulate interest in maths. Well done to Anna Coogan, Paul McCarron, Orla Mallon, Marc Friel, Gerard O‘Brien, Megan Monaghan, Emma Quinn, David McGuigan, Siobhan Comer, Una McCoy and Emma Robinson who each received the Silver Award; and to the recipients of the Bronze award-  Bronagh McFarlane, Dermot Donnelly, James Tennyson, Hannah McGurk, David McErlain, Connor Devlin, Cormac Mackle, Bernadette Henry, Sheila Campbell, Conor McCann, Niamh Hughes, Kyle Johnston, Jack McLean, Hugh-Roe O’Donnell, Hannah Doherty, Niamh Kelly, Jamie Duffin, Shannon McGillian, Conor Burns, Eamon Conway, Ciara McAuley, Mark Rushe, Tonicha Donnelly, Ellen Groom, Conor Shaw, Megan Kearns, Cathal Craig, Bronagh Harkin, Michael McElhone, Gabriela Kacprzyk, Alana Quinn, John Joe O’Hagan, Eamonn Devlin, Claire O’Neill, Maria McVey and Cathal Mullan.

The Irish department is delighted to have recently received a BASLA award (British Academy School’s Language Award) to fund a yearlong project. 150 schools entered the competition and we were the lucky winners in the NI region. The project will involve AS/A2 students and our Irish medium students and will see us continue our collaboration with Gaelscoil an tSeanchaí.

You can read all about it here:

http://www.irishnews.com/news/educationnews/2015/11/11/news/school-rewarded-for-encouraging-irish-study-beyond-16-320536/

http://www.britac.ac.uk/news/news.cfm/newsid/1334

Year 14 students took part in the British Chemistry Olympiad Competition 2014. Congratulations to Fintan Devine, Aaron Leung, Bronagh McGuckin, Katie McKee and Patrick Kielt who achieved Silver awards and to Conor McPeake who achieved a Bronze award. Other pupils participated at a very pleasing standard: Eimer McGuckian, Frances Carmichael, James Carey, Kay McAlary, Andrew Sweeney, Claire Totten, Emma Glenn and Kerri Burke. 

Congratulations to Year 14 student Fintan Devine who has been selected to represent Ireland at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Hanoi, Vietnam in July. Head of Chemistry, Mrs A McGuckin, offered her sincere congratulations to Fintan on his exemplary achievement and paid tribute to his teacher Ms T Mullan, who gave expert guidance in preparing Fintan for such a demanding but prestigious competition.

Congratulations to Year 9 students Joe O’Hagan and Katie Walker who have been successful in the Sky Sports Living for Sports Awards. They will be presented with their awards by David Beckham and Jessica Ennis at Sky Studios, London on Tuesday 20th May 2014.

Following the publication of examination results in August, we were pleased to learn that a number of St. Mary’s pupils achieved top places in Northern Ireland in this year’s GCSE and A Level examinations.  ​At GCSE, Niamh McGarry achieved First Place in PE, Hannah Lydon achieved Second Place in PE, Maria Lagan achieved Second Place in Chemistry, Orlaith McAteer achieved Third Place (joint) in Irish and Emma McKay achieved full marks in GCSE Art and Design. At A Level, Conor McGurk achieved Second Place in Technology and Design. Huge congratulations to each of them. We wish them continued success in their future studies.

A Year 14 English Literature student from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt has been awarded first place in the prestigious Northern Ireland Schools Essay Writing Competition. 

The PE Department of St. Mary’s Grammar School has had much to celebrate recently, following a string of notable sporting successes.