News
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Wednesday 24 April 2024 Autism NI's Movin' March Challenge 2024 All Year 9 pupils took part in Movin' March’ in support of Autism NI. They stepped into spring by walking 10,000 steps a day from the 11-15th March to support the charity and raised an impressive £3439.00
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Thursday 18 April 2024 Autism Impact Award We are delighted and proud to announce that St. Mary’s has been recognised as an Autism accessible environment through our achievement of the Autism Impact Award. This award recognises organisations that provide inclusive and welcoming environments for their employees and pupils with Autism. Pictured are some of our Impact Award Champions, alongside Principal Mr McClean.
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Thursday 11 April 2024 Irish language public speaking competition, Abair The Irish Department are extremely proud of Darcie Conway following her recent speech as part of the renowned Irish language public speaking competition, Abair, held in Aonach Mhacha, Armagh’s Cultural Centre.
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Wednesday 20 March 2024 New York Trip 2024 Student Review At 3 A.M. on February 7th, 2024, a bus of 51 excited pupils and 6 staff left from St Marys, bound for the bright lights of New York City. Amongst the bus of Year 14s and staff, were our trip leader and vice principal, Mr McVey; our Head of Year 14, Mrs McNeill; our highly knowledgeable Business Studies and Economics teachers Mrs Johnston and Mr Francis; as well as other valued members of our school community; Michelle O’Donnell, our Study Centre supervisor and Andrea McConnell from front reception.
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Wednesday 7 February 2024 Gael Linn public speaking competition 'Abair'. Today St Mary’s hosted the prestigious Gael Linn public speaking competition ‘Abair’. Approximately 30 students from the across the region spoke about a vast array of topics including our very own A Level Irish students Sarah Jane & Darcie. The competition was fierce but the St Mary’s girls did themselves proud and rose to the occasion. Darcie is taking home a beautiful and well deserved award this afternoon for 2nd place. Ulster final here we come!
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Wednesday 31 January 2024 Conradh na Gaeilge St Mary’s welcomed Aoife Curtis from Conradh na Gaeilge this week who delivered interactive workshops to our Year 10 Irish pupils.
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Tuesday 16 January 2024 Bienvenue/ Bienvenidos/ Fáilte Romhat!
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Wednesday 10 January 2024 Year 8 Enterprise Day The Year 13 Mini Enterprise Company, guided by Mr McCauley, planned and facilitated a Year 8 Enterprise Day on 9 January 2024. Year 8 pupils developed their skills in team work, time management, decision making and problem solving. Ultimately, making them more Independent in their learning; tying in with the school’s Learning & Teaching Focus this year, which is to build Independent Learners. This day was the culmination of a series of Year 8 Study Skills Workshops led by Sixth Form pupils throughout Term 1 to help develop and build the skills needed for Independent Learning from a pupil to pupil perspective. We are extremely proud of all our pupils. The Sixth Form pupils, who were role models, and the Year 8s, whose creativity and practical common sense is admirable. Well done to all involved, especially our class winners!
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Tuesday 9 January 2024 2023 Annual Awards Ceremonies In Term 1, we were delighted to welcome our GSCE and A Level students to our Annual Awards Ceremonies; where we celebrated the remarkable achievements of two fantastic year groups. Despite the many challenges that these students experienced, particularly in their post-primary education, they have proven themselves to be adept, flexible, dedicated and optimistic. Their achievements speak to what can be achieved through hard work, talent and commitment.
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Wednesday 29 November 2023 DRAMA WORKSHOP WITH THE LYRIC THEATRE
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Thursday 16 November 2023 Cumann Ceoil Naomh Mhuire- Royal Albert Hall
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Thursday 16 November 2023 Krakow Trip November 2023
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Wednesday 8 November 2023 St. Mary's Camogs Ulster Champions Match Report: https://thesaffrongael.com/2023/11/08/st-marys-win-the-liatroim-fontenoys-cup/
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Wednesday 8 November 2023 Art & Design Department attend a talk by Artist Rita Duffy
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Tuesday 24 October 2023 Cumann Ceoil Naomh Mhuire and friends On Thursday, October 19th, an evening of traditional music and dancing was hosted by 'Cumann Ceoil Naomh Mhuire and friends.' The program featured performances by present, past, and future students of St Mary's, beginning with the Junior Traditional Group. Notable past alumni, including Jack Warnock, Rosie McElroy, Meadhbh Sweeney, and Fintan, Dermot, and Eimhear Mulholland, also graced the stage, as well as Holy Family Primary School with a performance of three tunes. The headlining act was 'Cumann Ceoil Naomh Mhuire,' a group of twenty talented musicians and dancers who will be performing at the Royal Albert Hall next month in the 'Schools Proms.' Our heartfelt appreciation goes to everyone who attended the event or purchased raffle tickets which added to our fundraising total, Thank you to our two main sponsors, 'Cathcarts' and GF Joinery'.
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Tuesday 17 October 2023 Liz Weir (MBE) visits St. Mary's On Thursday 12th October Year 8 pupils had the pleasure of listening to Liz Weir (MBE), our resident storyteller, as she shared some spooky tales and ghoulish myths from our native land. Liz captivated this eager audience with her imaginative spirit and her dazzling delivery, telling stories of banshees, jack-o-lanterns and fiendish ghosts! It was a privilege to hear about Liz’s life as a writer as she recalled her friendship with famous children’s author Jaqueline Wilson, and her hilarious encounter with the beloved Roald Dahl. This workshop beautifully captured the spirit of ‘Oracy October’ with plenty of questions from our aspiring authors in the audience who eagerly wanted to learn more about a career in the arts. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Liz Weir workshop without a few rousing choruses of ‘Boom Chicka Boom’ and some fun-filled vocal exercises. We would like to thank Liz for taking time out of her busy schedule to share her gift and we h
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Monday 16 October 2023 As Creatives Maths Workshop Year 9 and 10 students took part in an As Creatives workshop to celebrate Maths Week Ireland. Students identified, analysed and predicted patterns to find the whereabouts of a radio transmitter hidden by an unfriendly state by cracking a series of increasingly fiendish codes. #MathsWeekIreland @AsCreatives
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Monday 9 October 2023 Year 13 Geography Field Trip AS Geography students recently enjoyed collecting data at Umbra Nature reserve to investigate vegetation succession on the sand dunes.
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Wednesday 4 October 2023 It all begins with small steps... Year 8 pupils have been adding so much to our vibrant learning community, embracing change, fostering new friendships and igniting creativity. They have demonstrated willingness and excitement for the host of opportunities on offer. Their beaming smiles and infectious laughter have already made St Mary’s a brighter place. And this is only the beginning…
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Tuesday 26 September 2023 St. Mary's Grammar School Formal 2023 On Friday 22 September 2023, Year 14 students and staff from St. Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt attended the annual school formal in the Galgorm Hotel, Ballymena.
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Monday 11 September 2023 ABBEY DAYS GCSE Drama students from St. Mary’s travelled to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on Friday 8 September 2023 to enjoy a production of ‘Juno and the Paycock’ by Sean O’Casey. Directed by Garry Hynes, the performance was part of Druid O’Casey’s current staging of the playwright’s Dublin Trilogy. Prior to the show, students had the opportunity to take part in a backstage tour of the Abbey Theatre and see behind-the-scenes of key departments including costume, hair and make-up, and props. All agreed that it was a darlin’ day, a daarlin’ day!
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Tuesday 5 September 2023 Past Pupil Success Many congratulations to our former pupil Philip Hamill who was awarded the below prizes at the recent Queen’s Management School prize-giving ceremony.
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Friday 25 August 2023 St. Mary's pupils achieve 100% success!! Pupils from St. Mary’s Grammar School, once again, produced a stunning set of GCSE outcomes as the long-awaited white envelopes were opened on Thursday morning.100% of pupils passed every subject they took at GCSE level, with 90% of young people achieving only A*-B grades. The outstanding quality of these grades re-enforces the school’s status as one of the top achieving schools in the country. Coupled with the tremendous ‘A’-Level results that pupils achieved the previous week, there is an air of celebration and success as the school community begin the new academic year together.The Principal of St. Mary’s, Mr Paul McClean, was full of praise for the pupils and staff at the school as they celebrated the success of the young people.“For many years, St. Mary’s Grammar School has been recognised as a centre of high achievement, expectation, and support. That said, this cohort of young people continue to push the boundaries and have obtained a st
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Thursday 17 August 2023 A-Level Success for St. Mary's Students Students from St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt have achieved another hugely impressive set of outcomes in this year’s ‘A’-Level examinations.
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Wednesday 28 June 2023 Spanish Exchange Trip 2023
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Friday 23 June 2023 Wild Flower Garden
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Thursday 15 June 2023 WE ARE A TAKE 5 SCHOOL
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Wednesday 14 June 2023 GCSE DRAMA THEATRE TRIP On Tuesday 13 June 2023, Year 11 Drama students travelled to the Lyric Theatre in Belfast to attend a production of ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ by Martin McDonagh. Students enjoyed the darkly comic play which is set in an isolated cottage in Connemara and explores the tension between mother and daughter, Mag and Maureen Folan, as well as the loneliness of their isolated existence.
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Wednesday 7 June 2023 Annual Primary School Football Blitz On Monday the 5th June we held our annual ‘Primary School Football Blitz’. Thanks to our participating schools - St Mary’s Bellaghy, St Patrick’s Loup, Anahorish, Derrychrin, Holy Family, New Row and St Trea’s. A special mention and thanks to Holy Family who took 2 teams after we had a late call from a school who couldn’t make it, ensuring the groups were even and the tournament could run as planned. Suncream, water, ice lollies and parents sunning themselves watching the action was the order of the day. The children didn’t let the conditions affect what was a quality days action with some excellent football on show in a lovely, relaxed environment. Congratulations to New Row who won the Cup for the second year running beating the very exciting Anahorish team who played some lovely attacking football throughout the day. New Row were deserving winners and their team was brilliantly led by player of the tournament Corey. Derrychrin and St Trea&rs
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Tuesday 6 June 2023 Physical Activity Towards Health Study NI Miss O. Donnelly (Health Education Co-ordinator) and Mr J. McElholm (Head of PE) were delighted to welcome Dr Julia McClelland from University of Ulster on Tuesday 6th June to talk and complete research with our Year 8 and 9 pupils for the Y-PATH NI: the Youth – Physical Activity Towards Health study in Northern Ireland.