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.

I was very lucky to be placed in an office overlooking the Official Residence of the Prince of Wales and the offices of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I was given some very exciting office duties such as entering important and historic photographs into the database of royal functions at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle such as the recent State Visit to Ireland and the Royal visit to Australia, which The Queen was undertaking that week. I was also privileged to be able to observe an investiture reception

involving The Royal Gurkha Rifles and later I met Sarah Burton a creative director at Alexander McQueen and designer of the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress. She showed me around her design studio and I saw various outfits she was designing for the Duchess of Cambridge. On my last day I met the Duchess of Cambridge. She asked me what school I attended and said that she and William had enjoyed their visit to Belfast and hoped to come back to Northern Ireland soon. She asked me all about my work experience and wished me a safe journey home.

It was a great time to be on work experience with the Royal Collection as I got to see so much work in progress and planning for the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee. We were given a briefing by one of the curators on the content of a forthcoming exhibition on diamonds and I was shown around the Royal Mews which will be in use for many of the ceremonial aspects of the celebrations.

By Tara Hallworth 12K

Please help us to be good Neighbours and do not park across local Residents driveways or on the areas marked out with double yellow lines in the vicinity of the College.

Your co-operation is appreciated.

Liam Perry

Principal

Niamh Perry, Nicholas Lloyd Webber, James D. Reid entertained us with music and drama, and answered some challenging questions posed by eager students.  They discussed their careers, gave honest advice and shared funny stories about the Theatre industry.

We especially enjoyed hearing about Nick’s background as he grew up with such highly acclaimed musical parents, with most of his childhood spent playing with toy cars beneath a piano! Niamh also told us about her singing in the car as a young child to her mum’s CDs and then what it was like to be on the TV show,  ”I’d do Anything”. Jamie described the variety of music he’s written- from Ceebeebies tunes to West end Musicals!

We would like to say a big thank you to our special visitors for coming across from London to see us!  We all found the workshop very inspirational and look forward to going to the show with the school in December.

By Aoife Donnegan and Aimee Mageean

Adam Maul said “I’m very excited. I worked hard.”

Before Adam’s exams he was quite nervous but he used breathing exercises to calm him down and had the help of a classroom assistant, Mrs Shufflebottom.

Mrs Maul, Adam’s mother, said “He did very, very well. We’re so proud of his achievement” .

Adam received a grade C in GCSE History, and Learning for Life and Work.  He also had great success in his Occupational Studies subjects: catering, Photography and the Media, and gained his DIDA ICT qualification. He also gained GCSE passes in English and Mathematics.

It is only recently that children with Down’s Syndrome have taken part in mainstream education. Mrs Maul said “St Columbanus were very impressed and Mr Perry (Principal) was very keen to take him on.  They were very obliging, very encouraging and very positive” .

Mr Perry said:

I am extremely proud of Adam and his achievements, especially as he has succeeded in a mainstream school. We embrace all children who want to come to St Columbanus College equally, in accordance with our Catholic ethos and vision for education.

Adam is a fine example of a young man who has overcome significant challenges in his life and he is well on his way to independence and employability, an incredible achievement .

Everyone who meets him is inspired by him, and he has taught the rest of the College community many valuable lessons about diversity; understanding and appreciating that people in the world are all very different but of equal value.

It is very much a key part of our aim to provide every child in our care with an education for life.

The College would like to wish Adam every success in his future and are delighted to have him in our College for Sixth Form.

Article courtesy of the County Down Spectator