We hosted a “Ladies Pamper Evening” which included a skincare and makeup demonstration. Guests arrived on our red carpet and were welcomed with a glass of wine and shortbread.

There were a wide range of exhibitors there on the night includingAVON, FM cosmetics, Scensty, Chocolate Explosion, I love fudge!, Kitschinalia and many more. Two of our sixth form pupils Meaghann Boyd-Fitzgerald and Jillian Boyd sold homemade buns to help raise money for their trip toAfricathis Summer with the charity Abaana. The girls raised nearly £600!

We were delighted to see so many staff, pupils, parents and friends at the event. Thank you to all of you who attended. We raised over £1300!

A recent article appeared in the Belfast Telegraph detailing why St.Columbanus’ College was a very attractive option for ‘Open-minded parents only wanting best for their kids’.

The article included testimonials from some very satisfied parents who made the decision to send their children to our College.  Jane Lyle and Susanne Hallworth did not wish to limit their choices to schools in the controlled, grammar or integrated sectors. Instead both mothers considered all of the schools in their vicinity – including the only Catholic post primary, St Columbanus’ College.  Mrs Hallworth explained.

“ I wanted the best school available and its faith or religious background was not a concern. I believe that parents should educate their children in the best school available to them regardless of religious persuasion”.

Mrs Hallworth felt that the quality of education offered at our College fitted the bill for her family as she made the decision to send both daughters here. Her eldest daughter Sarah went on to attend theUniversityofUlsterand is now in full time employment working as a staff nurse.

St.Columbanus’ College embraces children from an increasingly diverse range of religious and cultural backgrounds.  God is at the core of everything.  Principal Liam Perry explained that he had been in the College for seven- and-a- half years and has never had one issue of religious intolerance. He stated,“You either buy in or you don’t. I have no issue with a parent who says’ it’s not for me’, but if we put it upfront and say that this  is what we provide, you buy in in total. Worship goes on in the school as Catholic and multi-denominational.”
Mrs Lyle’s daughter Phoebe also attends the College. She says that she immediately got a very distinct impression when she entered the College.

“Without wishing to denigrate any other school in Bangor, one school stood out, St. Columbanus’ College. The thing that impressed me most was that the Principal appeared

to know the name of every child”.

Mrs Lyle noted that Mr Perry is very proud of his pupils and that pride gives the pupils enthusiasm.

Such is the popularity of the College is that in recent years 171 pupils applied for just 90 available spaces. As well as growing enrolment and significant improvements in exam results, inspector’s praised the College for it’s pastoral care and quality of teaching and leadership.  Parents are voting with their feet and opting for the school which offers their children holistic development. Mr Perry explained:

“The reason is Catholic education runs on a value system which promotes honesty, integrity, self-respect, mutual respect and, above all working in the service of others.  This is a school for everyone.”

Mr Perry feels that “Parents have the right to look for a school that will provide the whole package- high academic attainment, wonderful pastoral care and each child’s needs being met as an individual”.

On Friday 23rd March 2012, St Columbanus’ College was recognised for its outstanding contribution to making a difference in Northern Ireland at a glittering awards ceremony in the Grand Opera House Belfast. Former Ireland Rugby International Trevor Ringland MBE presented the award to the Principal and pupils Matthew Delargy and Leanne Fisher, both representing the College Conference of the Saint Vincent de Paul.

Presenters Marc Mallet and Alison Fleming of UTV told the audience at the ‘Making the Difference’ Awards Ceremony that St. Columbanus College is a shining example of inclusion in education; that the College is committed to the local community it serves and is fully collaborative in co-operating with their neighbouring schools to deliver an even wider and more cost efficient curriculum to all children of all abilities regardless of social and cultural backgrounds, religious belief or perceived disability.

St Columbanus’ College is incredibly proud of this achievement. We are committed to making a difference in everything we do and it has been an honour to be recognised for this.

The Minister today visited the school, where he toured the Home Economics department, enjoyed a traditional musical recital and took part in a school council meeting with pupils.

Speaking about his visit, the Minister said:

St Columbanus’ College has been part of the educational landscape of North Down for over 50 years, delivering quality education to generations of local young people.
“This non-selective school is open to all in the local area and is rightly proud of its diverse enrolment – it is heartening to see a school with a Catholic ethos which can count virtually as many non-Catholics amongst its pupils as Catholics.
“St Columbanus’ is an integral part of the local Area Learning Community, collaborating with other local schools and the Further Education College to deliver a wide range of courses to pupils at year 12 and post-16 levels. Indeed the good quality of education delivery in the school was confirmed following its most recent inspection and it is no surprise that the school is as popular as ever.
“I commend the Principal, Liam Perry, and the Board of Governors, for their leadership and vision and wish all of the staff, parents and pupils the very best for the future.”

We were put into our dorms and most of us started to unpack and get ready for the days ahead of us!

We were woken up early the next morning by Mr Devlin’s loud knocking on the door, it took us a while to get out of our warm beds, but the longer it took us to open the door the louder the knocking became!

We clipped on our skis and then we had to go round in circles to get the hang of it, it took me a while to get it but when I did one of the instructors took me over to his group were we practised the ski stance called the snow plough. We came back at lunch time and kept practicing; we were practicing on the nursery slopes for about a couple of day until we were ready to go up to the top of the slope.

A conveyer belt took us up three quarters of the way up the slope. The conveyer belt was a bit frosty so it was quite hard to stay on with your skis. The view from up there was amazing you could see all the other snowy mountains that surrounded the one that we were on.

I went down the slope pretty fast because I couldn’t really control my skis but after a couple more days I began to get better and started to really enjoy skiing.

We learnt how to make our skis parallel which made us go faster. We were soon able to go to the top of the nursery slope which wasn’t really a problem to us! After a few goes on the top of the slope we were soon able to go onto the blue slope which was connected to the nursery slope.

We had to go on the chair lift which took us up to the top of the blue slope. The chair lift went up pretty high so I got some good photos of the mountains!

We also went shopping around the shopping centre in the town and got some things to bring home to our families and some things just for ourselves!

On the last day of skiing we had a racing tournament to go down the nursery slope as fast as possible and also avoiding obstacles, it was a lot of fun and we were awarded with certificates of our progress in skiing and some people were awarded with medals for the fastest times for going down the slope in the race.

It was nearing the end of our trip and the instructors were going to hold a torch light show for us. All the instructors came down the blue slope, holding pieces of wood with fire on the end of them, which looked amazing as they snaked down the slope in a line. After, there was hot chocolate to go round which was a great end to the ski trip of 2012.

We had packed up all our things and were ready to go home. But I think all of us could have stayed a little longer!

By Imogen Donegan 9T

One day, however, a beautiful and graceful rose sprouted and the little prince fell deeply in `love with it. But when the rose was caught red-handed doing a misdeed, the little prince felt that he could no longer trust the rose, and soon started his eventful journey through the galaxy.

Throughout his journey, the narrator tells the audience of how the little prince encounters many strange and selfish creatures on neighbouring planets.  The first six planets contained a king, a vain man, a business man, a drunkard, a lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom thrive for the power of ordering people around. The many personalities of these men both amuse and confuse the young prince, as he does not comprehend their need to order people around, to be admired or to have the power to own everything.

However, the little prince, with the exception of the lamplighter, does not take a great liking to the rest of the adults he meets, and he does not learn much of the knowledge the others possess. However, the geographer does tell the prince that flowers cannot last forever, and the prince begins to miss the rose.

On the geographer’s suggestion, the little prince visits planet Earth, but he lands in the desert, unable to find any human beings. Although, he does meet a snake who speaks in riddles, who promises that the lethal poison it possesses can send the little prince to the heavens if he wishes so. The little prince refuses the offer and intends to continue his journey over a mountain, where he confuses the echo of his own voice to be one of conversation. Among his journey he finds a rose garden which both over joys him and depresses him, remembering that the rose he left behind had told him that she was the only one of her kind.

The prince ends his story by describing his encounters with two men, a railway switchman and a salesclerk.

It was the pilot’s eight day in the desert when the prince suggested that they set off to discover a well. When they find a well the water feeds their hearts as much as their bodies. The pilot and the prince share a bliss moment together as they agree that too many people don’t see what is truly important in life. The little prince’s mind is fixed on returning to his one and true love, the rose. So the little prince begins to make plans with the snake to get back to his planet, however the pilot somehow mange to fix his aircraft on the day before the one-year anniversary of the prince’s arrival on Earth, and he walks sadly with his friend out to the place the prince landed. The snake bites the prince and the prince falls noiselessly to the sand.

The pilot takes comfort when e cannot find the prince’s body the next day and is that he returned to his asteroid. He also takes comfort by looking at the stars, which he hears, the prince’s laughter. However often he grows sad and wonders if the sheep he drew has eaten the prince’s rose. He ends the story by drawing a desert landscape.

The theatre it self was very large and posh but we enjoyed the play every well.

By Sneha Grace Selvin, Emma Mooney and Reece Salmon 10.L

Special thanks to all SVP Youth representatives in the College who worked so hard to ensure the appeal was well organised and successful. Past pupils and founder members of SVP Youth in the College Paul Cain and Josh Hall are now members of St Mary’s SVP where they now study.  They are also SVP Youth Representatives for the North Down and Ards area and they gave up much of their free time to support us this year making this the best hamper appeal yet.

We would also like to thank the local businesses who supported our College with the appeal. Grays & Co and Voodoo donated luxury hampers and we are very grateful.

Merry Christmas

From SVP Youth

We were delighted to host Primary Seven pupils from a range of local feeder schools. Children took part in an interactive language session with Mrs McCullough and Miss McCrory.

After their language experience pupils were given the opportunity to prepare and cook their own food with Miss McGreevy and Mrs O’Loane. This is the second year we have hosted the Primary Seven pupils. It has been a really rewarding experience for everyone involved and we look forward to hosting the schools next year.

I began playing my trombone in primary 5 inTowerviewPrimary School. I have achieved my grade two and I�m now practicing for my grade three exam. I was part of the Towerview School Band and played in many school assemblies and church services.

I performed a solo for a summer soiree in Towerveiw. This was a version of �Eastenders�. I won �The Parks Family� trophy in primary 7 for musical achievement. I auditioned while in year 8 of St. Columbanus� College for the South Eastern Band and gained a place.

I now practice with the orchestra every Wednesday evening and will be performing with them for a Christmas service. I am also tutored in St. Columbanus� College every Thursday working towards my grade three exam.

Katie Firth

Lord, help me to make time today to serve you in those who are most in need of encouragement or assistance

College Students, Melissa Grindon,Reis Turnbull, Leanne Fisher, Orla Smyth, Rebecca Kenny- Johnson, Ruairi Kennedy and Matthew Delargy recently participated in the annual Bangor SVP Christmas Dinner for the elderly of our parish. The College conference made a presentation of our College Christmas Hampers Scheme to the Bangor Conference of the Society of the St Vincent de Paul at the event.

Ray Havlin of Bangor SVP who organised the event said

Yet again the students of our Parish College have represented the College and our Parish in an exemplary way. Not only did they give up their time on a weekend but they helped out and supported this event with real community spirit and a commitment to the aims of the SVP with a maturity that is way beyond their years. Each one of them is an excellent ambassador not only for their own College, but for Catholic Education as a whole. We are extremely fortunate in Bangor to see our Parish College students making a difference right at the heart of our local community ‘

The College SVP Youth Conference have been engaged in a lot of fundraising events within the College such as bake sales and quizzes, these have raised much needed money allowing SVP to offer support to those in need in our local community.

The entire College are busy preparing Christmas food hampers which will be delivered to families in the local area over the festive period.  This event is always very well supported by pupils, parents and staff of the College. This year local businesses have donated luxury hampers to the appeal. SVP would like to extend their thanks to John Gray & Co and Voodoo for their generosity and support.