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Well done to Jake Speers in Year 10 who had great success in his burgeoning Golf career over the Easter Holidays.

Jake was the overall winner of the Ulster Winter Series, a two- day tournament which took place at Kirkistown Golf Club and Galgorm Golf Club. The first round of this competition took place in February and culminated last Sunday, April 28th. Jake, playing off a handicap of four, competed against a host of local young golfers from all over Ireland. By the end of the second day Jake had shot six over for the competition and won the overall prize for the Under Sixteen event, despite being the youngest competitor in his age category.

In winning this trophy Jake is following in the footsteps of two of his heroes, Tom McKibbin and Rory McIlroy. Jake explained how he dedicated his victory to his mum Evelyn who encouraged him from a young age to swing a golf club.

Jake’s second success was within his local Portstewart Golf Club where he went on to win the Annie Wilson Cup with a level par score. Representing Ulster, Jake was the winner of this competition which was open to players from the ages of 12-18.

Well done Jake from all here in Dominican College and we look forward to reading about future success and seeing how far your talents will take you.

Jake is pictured being presented with his Ulster Winter Series U-16 trophy.

Well done to the ten Year 14 pupils who received their Gold John Paul II Award medals at a special presentation at Senior Assembly today.

To receive a Gold Award a pupil must complete 40 hours of voluntary work. We also had one Silver Award Winner for whom the minimum was 28 hours of voluntary service.

The success of these pupils this builds on the work done by previous Gold Medal winners and demonstrates the continued growth of this initiative within Dominican College and will hopefully motivate and inspire our younger pupils to strive to be champions of social justice.

Students got involved in a range of activities in their own local parish and in school which encouraged them to give back to their communities. Activities ranged from trips to Lourdes, helping out with charity collections and coffee mornings for several charities in their parish, and organising various fundraising initiatives in school for charities such as SVP, as well as becoming involved in both school and parish liturgies where appropriate.

Each student displayed faith in action in their respective volunteering endeavours, representing each of our shared Christian values.

Well done to Miss Anderson and Miss Smyth for all her work in leading and co-ordinating the work of the pupils his year and a special thank you to our school chaplain Fr. McCullagh for his continued spiritual guidance and leadership.

The John Paul II award winners are pictured today with Ms Ronan, our principal, Fr Raymond , Miss Anderson and Miss Smyth.

Well done!

On Wednesday 27th February, our newly- formed Dominican Year 8 Rugby team travelled to Coleraine Grammar School to compete in the Year 8 Temporary number NEBSSA Tournament. The competition contained 15 teams from across Northern Ireland with some very impressive Rugby being showcased.

On the day, the Dominican boys managed to win the entire competition without losing a single match. This was a fantastic effort from all the boys and many congratulations - an incredible effort from all the boys and very skilful rugby being played by all members. Their success in this competition augurs very well for their future together as a team.

Also many thanks to Mr Coils, Logan Johnston & Jamie Crowe for their continued coaching support.

The Dominican team consisted of the following Year 8 boys:

Josh Burrows
Tom Beddows (Captain)
Calum Gaile
Josh Connolly
Alex Crowe (Captain)
Michael Boorman
Stuart McCauley
Jack Glass
Chad McClements
Dale Green
Connor Forsythe
Jake Conway
Stephen Dempsey
Kyle McLaughlin
Cameron McConaghy
Julius Milobedzki
Noah Kelly

Players of the Tournament - Noah Kelly & Josh Connolly

GROUP STAGE:

DCP V Coleraine Grammar School 7-1

Dale Green x 2
Alex Crowe x 2
Kyle McLaughlin x 2
Noah Kelly x 1


DCP V Ballymena Academy 7-3

Alex Crowe x 5
Tom Beddows
Josh Connolly

DCP V Rainey Endowed 4-2

Noah Kelly x 2
Dale Green x 1
Alex Crowe

DCP V Ballyclare High School 8-0

Dale Green
Alex Crowe x 3
Noah Kelly
Jake Conway x 2
Stephen Dempsey

SEMI-FINAL:

DCP V Rainey Endowed 4-2

Josh Connolly x3
Noah Kelly

FINAL

DCP V Ballymena Academy (B) 5-3

Noah Kelly
Alex Crowe x 3
Stephen Dempsey

Very well done to the boys and Mr Coils.

Well done to our Year 9 girls who took part earlier this year in a nationwide Cyber Security competition organised by GCHQ.

The competition aimed to encourage more female students in to the ICT sector and enabled more than 3500 girls from all over Wales, England, Scotland and N. Ireland to partake in a series of challenges designed to develop their ethical hacking and cyber security skills. Four teams of Dominican girls took part and they were mentored by Miss Moody, Mrs Heaney and Ms McGowan. Mr McDaid, Head of ICT, helped co-ordinate the teams and develop their ICT and problem solving skills.

Speaking at today’s Junior Assembly Mr McDaid expressed how proud he was of the girls and all that they had achieved as a result of their participation in such a prestigious competition. He described how, “It was one of the hardest things I have been involved in within ICT and the girls were a wonderful credit to the school”. He also encouraged this year’s Year 8 pupils to take part next year

Our Head Girl, Abbie McIntyre, herself an ICT student, awarded the certificates at today’s assembly to the following pupils:

           Dani Fox
           Anna Bradley
           Jessica Donaghy
           Amber Beggs
           Clare Campbell
           Lucy Kane
           Olivia Gaile
           Paige Kerr
           Zara Pollock

Well done girls!

On Wednesday 27th February at 7.30pm the school pastoral team have arranged for a guest speaker from Nexus (https://nexusni.org/ ) to speak to our parents. We are aware that the constant development of technology and social media can pose a serious risk to our pupils.

As a school, the safety of our pupils is paramount and, as always, we rely on the support of parents and guardians to ensure the wellbeing of our pupils.

The session will address online safety and abuse awareness, to cover topics such as:

                                             * Nature of abuse online and offline
                                             * Discussion of apps
                                             * Consent
                                             * Online gaming trends
                                             * Legalities around sexting
                                             * Advice on your children’s online safety

We would like to thank you for your continued support and look forward to welcoming you at this important event. There will be refreshments provided afterwards.

Well done to our Key Stage Three pupils who have raised £2000 this year for the school’s annual Readon campaign designed to support NICFC. This year’s total was boosted by a huge effort from our John Paul II pupils whose idea of having a sponsored school jumper day in December added more than £500 to our total.

This superb sum builds on donations previously raised throughout the school’s long association with Readon. As a school we have now raised considerably more than £20,000 for Children’s Cancer Charity. Suzanne O’Loughlin, the representative of NICFC came to school assembly today to reiterate the benefits that the money raised by the Dominican pupils in helping the families of children diagnosed with cancer in N. Ireland. She spoke of her amazement at the amount raised by a school of our size and for the culture of reading that exists within the school.

Pupils were encouraged to read for pleasure at the end of last term and over the Christmas period and pupils ravenously read books from home too to meet the Readon challenge.

Suzanne explained how a cancer diagnosis affects a whole family and how NICFC aims to offer support for the wider family in the case of a cancer diagnosis. She explained how the Dominican efforts would fund four weekend residentials in Daisy Lodge or provide more than 50 hours of specialist care.

Very well done to every single Dominican pupil in Years 8-10 and their families and friends for supporting this important initiative and for the fantastic sum raised as a consequence of all that reading.


Today a Reader: Tomorrow a Leader!