The History students from St Paul’s High School at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Students from Year 13 recently visited Berlin as part of their AS Level History studies.  Accompanied by Head of Department Mr Emmett McCaffrey and History teacher Mr Neil McArdle the students enjoyed their time in the historical German capital.  Year 13 student, Niamh McGovern recorded the students’ activities and visits during their time away.

Day 1

After an entire day of travelling, and arriving on Wittenbergplatz, the best impression of the city is definitely at night. After finally arriving at the hotel for a quick stop off, we went on a walking tour of the city… they said walking tour but every stop took a train to get to- first to the Brandenburg gate, very spectacular at night, and then the surrounding landmarks… Mr McArdle now holds the record of the highest piece of chewing gum on the Berlin wall (he needed about 3 people’s help for the height). The Holocaust Memorial, although quiet and respectful, makes an epic snowball arena.

The Russian war memorial is a great place for photos with T-34 tanks, and a random soviet soldier statue… perfect for Mr McCaffrey to show off his hipster camera (which didn’t take colour photos). After the crash tour of the city, we dined at the Sony centre, a very modern German looking building. The food was great, from pizza to crocodile to choose from. Staff very friendly, giving free glasses away- Ryan was in his element. And Sinead’s best souvenir from Germany was a 2ft Beer glass.

Day 2

Early morning we took yet another train, this time to Checkpoint Charlie House, the highly acclaimed museum, and quite huge. Brilliant exhibitions on the Berlin wall years, and the perfect street to buy your own Russian Bolshevik hat, we were a mini march of communists on Berlin’s streets. This street in particular was very cultural, littered with war stalls and a re-enactment base, perfect to get a taste of history.

After a quick lunch in Mcdonalds, which, surprise, tastes exactly the same as anywhere else in the world, we went on another tour… an alternative tour and one of the best points of the trip.

Tour guide, Ben, from outside Boston- there’s no other word for him but awesome, led us through the backstreet, cultural side of Berlin. Graffiti is everywhere, they dedicate a whole house to it, it’s about 8 floors and filled with German art. He took us to every corner of Berlin, Berlin has about 6,000 number 6′s graffitied on walls, and a lot of a girl called Lucy who kills cats!!  After a long walk through the city, we went to the Reichstag parliamentary building- a rare opportunity, as they don’t usually let big groups through. After security checks, where they took our Russian hats off us, we had a late tour, and were able to see the viewing dome, built new after the second world war, and a fantastic night time view of the city.

Then we went out and had kangaroo and crocodile burgers, trying to be very German.

Day 3

This trip was much more about the history of Germany rather than their culture; we took an early and long train outside the city to Sachsenhausen, the closest concentration camp to Berlin. Probably the most serious trip we took, but very interesting. The entire place was absolutely silent, and literally had an eerie feel to it. By far, the Nazi exhibition was the most impressive, and one of the largest.

We got back to Wittenbergplatz  and all separated, I took a trip on the train to the Kreuzberg district and it’s  more unique style shops, rather than the main shopping street and got a taste of modern/alternative German music culture, literature (well, comic books) and fashion.

The small Chinese restaurant beside the hotel is 5 star. The atmosphere in the hotel was excellent; give a St Paul’s group 2 decks of cards and some drinks, and we have one very serious card tournament. Just don’t let any of them do a victory dance, (no names, but it’ not a student).

Day 4

We had an early walk back to the Brandenburg Gate, down Unter din Linden; it’s like a gateway to the best street in Berlin and packed with landmarks. The German Volkswagen showroom, looked very sophisticated, has a really cool collection of vintage cars…and 1.8 million dollar Bugatti Veyron  Unter din Linden street is packed full of historic monuments and further down, Berlin Cathedral; the most impressive German architecture in my opinion.

St Paul’s Science students demonstrating an experiment to a P7 pupil and a parent at Open Day. 

St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook held its annual Open Day on Saturday 25 January.  Prospective pupils from Primary 7 classes in our feeder primary schools and their parents visited the school in large numbers.  They were guided around the school by our current Year 8 and Year 9 students and shown the different departments, getting a flavour for what the school is about.

Principal Mr Oliver Mooney addressed parents and pupils on the day.  A video of Mr Mooney’s address is available below.

Prospective parents and pupils of St. Paul’s can watch the video to experience a virtual tour of the school.

A selection of photographs from Open Day 2012 are visible below.

Year 14 History students, Christopher Boylan, Christopher McGuinness and Niamh Boylan, pictured with Rev Hutton and Head of History Mr Emmett McCaffrey

As part of their A Level History course, Year 14 students welcomed the Rev Norman Hutton to the school for a discussion on the history of Presbyterianism in Ulster. Rev Hutton is the minister of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church on Hill Street in Newry.

The discussion covered the founding of the first Presbytery in Carrickfergus in 1642. It was also interesting to hear about the long running dispute between Henry Montgomery and Henry Cooke concerning attitudes towards the Westminster Confession of Faith in the 1830s. Our discussion also covered Presbyterian relations with the Church of Ireland in the 19^th century.

The discussion ended with a general chat on the Non Subscribing Presbyterian Church, focusing on issues such the decline in church attendance, relations with the Free Presbyterian church and the complexities of life of being a Minister in the Church.

We would like to thank the Rev Hutton for taking the time to visiting St Pauls and for an enjoyable and informative talk.

Mr Dermot Kelly from the Armagh Diocesan Youth Commission, with Religious Education teacher Mrs Deirdre Graham and Year 13 pupils from St Paul’s High School.

Mr Dermot Kelly from the Armagh Diocesan Youth Commission visited St Paul’s on Thursday 29th September to launch the John Paul II Award to Year 13 students.

He gave a very inspirational talk and delivered a PowerPoint presentation which underlined the widespread appeal that this award has around Ireland. This is the third year of the award and it is going from strength to strength.

The response from Year 13 students was excellent, and we currently have eight Year 14 students completing their award in preparation for the Awards Ceremony in Armagh in early 2012.

Mr Martin Canavan and students from St Paul’s High School, along with Mrs Caroline Alexander and students from Newtownhamilton High School, who are working together as part of the Shared Education Programme.

St Paul’s High School Bessbrook and Newtownhamilton High School are continuing their partnership links through the Sharing Education Partnership.   Students and staff from both schools are working closely cross community projects to promote mutual understanding.

This is the second year of the programme and involves Year 9 pupils from both schools. The work they will carry out will hopefully be of benefit to themselves and also to the wider community in South Armagh.

Year 14 students at St Paul’s High School, with their Spanish visitors from Granada in Spain.
The students are pictured with Principal Mr Oliver Mooney and Spanish Teacher Miss Louise Mulholland 

St Paul’s High School warmly welcomes seven Spanish Exchange Programme students from Granada, Spain.

They arrived on Saturday 10th September and were greeted by their Year 14 exchange partners who had visited Granada in April.

As part of the programme they will be attending classes at St Paul’s during the week and visiting many attractions that are on offer around Northern Ireland.

The Spanish students will be staying with their host families and will depart on Tuesday 20th September. 

Throughout the month of May Year 8 students accompanied by their form teachers attended the Good Shepherd Parish Centre, Cloughreagh, where Fr Dermot Maloney conducted their retreat.

The students thoroughly enjoyed their experience and thankfully we were also blessed with good weather.

Fr Dermot and Mrs Graham would like to thank all the form teachers for their invaluable assistance in this year’s programme.

Throughout this year, Year 8 students from St. Paul’s High School along with, primary 7 pupils from Bessbrook Primary School; St.Joseph’s Primary School, Meigh; St. Malachy’s Primary School, Ballymoyer and St. Peter’s Primary School Cloughrea, worked jointly on a project organised by Science Expressions and sponsored by Astrazeneca. The theme we chose as a group was “Building Bridges”.

Science Expressions is a curriculum support programme related to science KS2 / KS3 transition. It is designed to enhance the enjoyment and achievement of key stages 2 and 3 pupils through enabling outside experts to work with primary pupils in the areas of health education and engineering and enabling primary and secondary pupils to present their science and technology to their peers at pupil conferences and exhibitions.

For the pupils taking part in this project it;

-  made science more relevant, exciting and enjoyable,

-  raised student motivation and interest in science,

-  improved pupils’ achievement in thinking skills and personal capabilities,

-  eased the transition from primary to secondary education and

-  showed how school science is related to the outside world, and possible careers.

For the teachers taking part in this project it:

-  enabled primary and secondary teachers to understand one another’s concerns,

-  helped teachers to shift their emphasis from content to process learning,

-  enhanced teachers’ management skills in unfamiliar situations

-  provided an opportunity for continuing professional development (CPD) and

-  provided resources to enable teachers to implement the revised curriculum.

The climax of the year was a day in W5 presenting all of the work that was carried out by the schools throughout the year. Our presentation consisted of a display of all of our work including numerous brilliantly made model bridges, a five minute film outlining our activities and a drama based on “The Billy Goats Gruff”. The pupils involved from all of the schools were outstanding and did all of our schools proud.

On Tuesday 15^th June, a group of Year 11 and Year 10 Home Economics pupils went to The Open Day at Loughry College, Cookstown as part of STEM.  Pupils were involved in the various activities and practical demonstrations organised through the “Feed your Mind” programme such as Hygiene Monitoring, Bread Manufacture, Waste Awareness and Packaging Technology. This involved sampling ice-cream and chocolate through the “Ice-cream and Chocolate Manufacture” demonstrations!

Other topics included Human respiration, how our senses determine food choice, Nutrition awareness and Acids in our food.

The programme also gave pupils an insight into careers in the Food Industry and the courses available at Loughry Campus.

Year 9 students from St Paul’s High School recently participated in Taste and See, an event organised in partnership with the Careers Department, CCEA and Southern Regional College, Newry.

Taste and See gives young people an insight into different sectors of working life and allows them to have a go at some aspect of that work. The event enabled pupils to sample a number of vocational areas ranging from Engineering and Joinery to Digital Technology and Retail.