Dalriada School
Encyclopedia
Dalriada School is a mixed voluntary grammar school
in Ballymoney
, Northern Ireland
. The school draws its pupils from a wide geographical area and a range of social, religious and cultural backgrounds. In 2008 the school won the Northern Ireland State Secondary School of the Year award from The Sunday Times
.
Rev. J.B Armour
William Beare
John Ramsey
(as Dalriada School, Ballymoney)
Alfred Ross (1931-48)
G. Edmund Gordon (1948-75)
Alan Reynolds (1975-87)
William Calvert (1987-2003)
Derek Boyd (2003-7)
Thomas Skelton (2007 - present)
, string group and wind band, and several other small instrumental groups.
, string group, and wind band regularly perform at school concerts. The school also has a number of small groups, including the Irish Traditional Groups, a Dixieland Band, a Jazz Quartet, The Tuba Club, and several others.
The school holds several concerts each year, including the "Evening of Music", where each choir and musical ensemble prepare a collection of songs, and the Christmas Carol Concert.
production. This has been altered to include modern plays bi-annually, and they have also incorporated musicals into the Dalriada production schedule. The school originally alternated musicals and plays but due to their popularity, over the past few years they have had a run of musicals continuing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
, namely The Sound of Music
and Footloose
. Most recently, the school returned to the Shakespearean tradition by staging a (somewhat modernised) version of Twelfth Night. It has been announced that next year's play will be Les Miserables
.
is the main winter sports for boys with cricket and other types of athletics being practiced in the spring season.
Hockey
is the main sport for girls at the school. Rugby and Hockey are the main school sports, but Football and Orienteering are also available during the two Games periods. Dalriada football has risen in popularity through the success of the Under 14 team, winning the league twice in a row. Volleyball has recently become rather popular in the school, with the teams doing well in leagues.
Other, less well known sports at the school include Archery, Football, Badminton, Fencing, Cross Country Running, Swimming up until 2nd year and Netball, with a number of these sports fielding successful teams.
Inter-house sports offer competition within the school. Each student belongs to one of five houses (Ross, Armour, Reynolds, Gordon and Calvert) and competes to defend the name of their house.
events such as band nights and "World Aid Week." Teams have travelled abroad to orphanages in Romania
as part of a charity programme.
The senior debating society, Arguendo, is where year 11 and up come to debate, at Friday lunchtimes. Since its revival in 2008 the society has become rather popular, with Dalriada entering teams into the annual Debating Matters competition and the Denny all-Ireland Debating Competition. In 2009 a team of six won the Debating Matters Northern Ireland competition held in Coleraine University facing off stiff competition from many schools throughout the province in this knockout style competition. In 2008 a team from Dalriada were the overall champions of Northern Ireland, Ireland and the British Isles a tremendous accolade, and in 2009 Dalriada gained first place in Northern Ireland, and went on to represent NI in the all-Ireland final, but were narrowly defeated in a fierce debating battle.
In 2009/2010 Arguendo entered the Northern Ireland Debating competition
, a long running competition, for the first time. The upper sixth team of Patrick McIlveen and Sarah Laverty were awarded Team of the Competition at the finals in Stormont after narrowly being defeated in the Quarter Finals, Sarah Laverty also received second place in the Speaker of the Competition.
In 2010/2011 the Society came under new leadership. The team once again entered the Northern Ireland Schools Debating competition
this time with a different strategy. Team A was made up of Carla Hunter (Society President and Yr 14) and Rebekah Warke (Yr 12), Team B was made up of Leo Evans (Yr 12) and Craig Wysner (Yr13) but later Jessica Morrison (Yr 14). The two teams battled valiantly throughout the year, with both teams making it to the Quarter Final (Being the Only School to do so). At this stage Team A was unfortuanately defeated by the eventual Runners-Up, Team B though made it through to the Semi-Final where they were defeated by the eventual Champions. However Leo Evans of Team B was Nominated for the Best Individual Speaker of the Competition held at Stormont just before the final. In an intense debate on Social Networks and Revolution he was awarded Joint-Third by the judges.
However whilst all this was going on, the Society had entered a second competition, the UK Wide Debating Matter Championship which accepted team from northern Ireland in the main competition for the first time. A team of six debaters (Sarah McQuillan (Yr 13), Christy Gregg (Yr 14), Charlie MacLaughlin (Yr 13), Luke McAuley (Yr 13), Peter McCully (Yr 13) and Andrew Hanna (Yr 13)) won the Derry Qualifying Heat to make it through the Northern Ireland and Scotland final in Edinburgh, where they triumphed over schools from across the two countries . This allowed them to then qualify for the National Final held at the Royal Society of Medicine
where they triumphed in the Quarter and Semi-Finals to make it through the Final, where they were narrowlly defeated in an extra-ordinarily close debate on the Banning of the Burqa. The Society finished with its most successful year, finishing 3rd and 5th in the prestigious Northern Ireland Championships, and 2nd in the Debating Matters British Championship, and extraordinary accomplishment.
In 2011/2012 the Society will continue with its entrance in the Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition and the Debating Matters Competition whilst they also intend to enter another UK-Wide competition.
Dalriada also competes in the annual Bar Mock Trial Competition. This is a team of 16 individuals who prepare prosecution and defense mock legal cases for the regional finals each year in the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast and spend considerable time training for the event. In 2010 this team won the regional Belfast heats which is a huge accolade. The team will compete for the national title in March 2011 when the winners from England, Scotland and Wales come to Belfast.
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Ballymoney
Ballymoney
Ballymoney is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,021 people in the 2001 Census. It is currently served by Ballymoney Borough Council....
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The school draws its pupils from a wide geographical area and a range of social, religious and cultural backgrounds. In 2008 the school won the Northern Ireland State Secondary School of the Year award from The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
.
Past headmasters
(as Ballymoney Intermediate school)Rev. J.B Armour
William Beare
John Ramsey
(as Dalriada School, Ballymoney)
Alfred Ross (1931-48)
G. Edmund Gordon (1948-75)
Alan Reynolds (1975-87)
William Calvert (1987-2003)
Derek Boyd (2003-7)
Thomas Skelton (2007 - present)
Music
Dalriada has four choirs, an orchestraOrchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, string group and wind band, and several other small instrumental groups.
Choirs
There are several choirs throughout the school, ranging from the large choir of the younger years to the select few who are chosen for the chamber choir. These choirs meet at lunchtimes throughout the week, and take part in various musical events throughout the year, especially at the Christmas Carol concert. The Chamber Choir has represented the school in school choir of the year in days gone by, and has even started the tradition of visiting other countries to perform, e.g the yearly chamber choir trip to London.Instrumental groups
Dalriada's orchestraOrchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, string group, and wind band regularly perform at school concerts. The school also has a number of small groups, including the Irish Traditional Groups, a Dixieland Band, a Jazz Quartet, The Tuba Club, and several others.
The school holds several concerts each year, including the "Evening of Music", where each choir and musical ensemble prepare a collection of songs, and the Christmas Carol Concert.
Drama
Dalriada has traditionally staged an annual ShakespeareanWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
production. This has been altered to include modern plays bi-annually, and they have also incorporated musicals into the Dalriada production schedule. The school originally alternated musicals and plays but due to their popularity, over the past few years they have had a run of musicals continuing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
, namely The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
and Footloose
Footloose
Footloose is a 1984 American musical-drama film directed by Herbert Ross. It tells the story of Ren McCormack , an upbeat Chicago teen who moves to a small town in which, as a result of the efforts of a local minister , dancing and rock music have been banned.The film is loosely based on events...
. Most recently, the school returned to the Shakespearean tradition by staging a (somewhat modernised) version of Twelfth Night. It has been announced that next year's play will be Les Miserables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
.
Sports
All pupils must take part in two periods of "Games" each week. RugbyRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
is the main winter sports for boys with cricket and other types of athletics being practiced in the spring season.
Hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
is the main sport for girls at the school. Rugby and Hockey are the main school sports, but Football and Orienteering are also available during the two Games periods. Dalriada football has risen in popularity through the success of the Under 14 team, winning the league twice in a row. Volleyball has recently become rather popular in the school, with the teams doing well in leagues.
Other, less well known sports at the school include Archery, Football, Badminton, Fencing, Cross Country Running, Swimming up until 2nd year and Netball, with a number of these sports fielding successful teams.
Inter-house sports offer competition within the school. Each student belongs to one of five houses (Ross, Armour, Reynolds, Gordon and Calvert) and competes to defend the name of their house.
Societies
The school also offers student-run extra-curricular societies. Student-run societies have raised money through numerous charityCharity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
events such as band nights and "World Aid Week." Teams have travelled abroad to orphanages in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
as part of a charity programme.
Debating Society
There are two debating societies in the school; a junior and a senior one. the Junior debating society is attended by years 8-10 and is the 'training ground' for future competitive debaters.The senior debating society, Arguendo, is where year 11 and up come to debate, at Friday lunchtimes. Since its revival in 2008 the society has become rather popular, with Dalriada entering teams into the annual Debating Matters competition and the Denny all-Ireland Debating Competition. In 2009 a team of six won the Debating Matters Northern Ireland competition held in Coleraine University facing off stiff competition from many schools throughout the province in this knockout style competition. In 2008 a team from Dalriada were the overall champions of Northern Ireland, Ireland and the British Isles a tremendous accolade, and in 2009 Dalriada gained first place in Northern Ireland, and went on to represent NI in the all-Ireland final, but were narrowly defeated in a fierce debating battle.
In 2009/2010 Arguendo entered the Northern Ireland Debating competition
Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition
The Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition is an annual competition involving schools from across Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1993 by Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE during her time as Chairman of the Belfast Civic Trust. The final of the competition is held every year in the Senate...
, a long running competition, for the first time. The upper sixth team of Patrick McIlveen and Sarah Laverty were awarded Team of the Competition at the finals in Stormont after narrowly being defeated in the Quarter Finals, Sarah Laverty also received second place in the Speaker of the Competition.
In 2010/2011 the Society came under new leadership. The team once again entered the Northern Ireland Schools Debating competition
Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition
The Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition is an annual competition involving schools from across Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1993 by Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE during her time as Chairman of the Belfast Civic Trust. The final of the competition is held every year in the Senate...
this time with a different strategy. Team A was made up of Carla Hunter (Society President and Yr 14) and Rebekah Warke (Yr 12), Team B was made up of Leo Evans (Yr 12) and Craig Wysner (Yr13) but later Jessica Morrison (Yr 14). The two teams battled valiantly throughout the year, with both teams making it to the Quarter Final (Being the Only School to do so). At this stage Team A was unfortuanately defeated by the eventual Runners-Up, Team B though made it through to the Semi-Final where they were defeated by the eventual Champions. However Leo Evans of Team B was Nominated for the Best Individual Speaker of the Competition held at Stormont just before the final. In an intense debate on Social Networks and Revolution he was awarded Joint-Third by the judges.
However whilst all this was going on, the Society had entered a second competition, the UK Wide Debating Matter Championship which accepted team from northern Ireland in the main competition for the first time. A team of six debaters (Sarah McQuillan (Yr 13), Christy Gregg (Yr 14), Charlie MacLaughlin (Yr 13), Luke McAuley (Yr 13), Peter McCully (Yr 13) and Andrew Hanna (Yr 13)) won the Derry Qualifying Heat to make it through the Northern Ireland and Scotland final in Edinburgh, where they triumphed over schools from across the two countries . This allowed them to then qualify for the National Final held at the Royal Society of Medicine
Royal Society of Medicine
The Royal Society of Medicine is a British charitable organisation whose main purpose is as a provider of medical education, running over 350 meetings and conferences each year.- History and overview :...
where they triumphed in the Quarter and Semi-Finals to make it through the Final, where they were narrowlly defeated in an extra-ordinarily close debate on the Banning of the Burqa. The Society finished with its most successful year, finishing 3rd and 5th in the prestigious Northern Ireland Championships, and 2nd in the Debating Matters British Championship, and extraordinary accomplishment.
In 2011/2012 the Society will continue with its entrance in the Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition and the Debating Matters Competition whilst they also intend to enter another UK-Wide competition.
Dalriada also competes in the annual Bar Mock Trial Competition. This is a team of 16 individuals who prepare prosecution and defense mock legal cases for the regional finals each year in the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast and spend considerable time training for the event. In 2010 this team won the regional Belfast heats which is a huge accolade. The team will compete for the national title in March 2011 when the winners from England, Scotland and Wales come to Belfast.
Politics Society
The recently formed politics society is an opportunity for pupils to learn, or argue, about current affairs. it takes place every Thursday lunchtime and a wide variety of topics are discussed.Astronomical Society
The Dalriada Astronomical Society was started in 2004. It is unique in the fact that it is the only society to be entirely pupil-run, with a new President elected each year. At regular meetings on Wednesday afternoons, members of the Society hold regular talks on a wide variety of astronomy-related subjects. The Astronomical Society also won a citizenship award for the Orion project, where local primary schools were invited in to learn about this constellation in a fun and engaging way.Notable former pupils
- Martyn LewisMartyn Lewis (journalist)Martyn Lewis CBE is a British television news presenter and journalist.-Early life:Lewis was born in Swansea, West Glamorgan, though was educated at the co-educational Dalriada School in Northern Ireland and graduated with a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin. He then joined BBC Northern...
, presenter, foreign correspondent and newsreader for BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and ITN.
- Darwin Templeton, editor of the Belfast News LetterThe News LetterThe News Letter is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published Monday to Saturday. It is the oldest English language general daily newspaper still in publication in the world, having first been printed in 1737....
.
- John BodwinJohn BodwinJohn Bodwin is considered by some to have been one of the best brass players of his age.-Early years:He grew up in Northern Ireland, attending Dalriada School.1954-55 - BBC National orchestra of Northern Ireland...
, acclaimed tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
and baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
player.