Belfast Model
School for Girls

Thursday 12 February was a day which many of the sixth form had been looking forward to for months. All preparations were complete and by 6:30 pm many of them had already arrived at the Ramada Hotel, Shaw's Bridge for the school event of their year - "The Formal". Many arrived to find a crew from BBC Northern Ireland filming Rebekah Kirk, Ashleigh Phillips and their partners getting out of their limo - an added bonus to appear on local TV looking stunning! Mr Graham also gave a short interview.

Over 300 staff and pupils from the two schools enjoyed a super meal and entertaining speeches from our Head Girls and the Head Boy, followed by music from "The Untouchables". The dancing continued until the early hours when the buses arrived to ferry pupils to the after formal.

The whole evening was enjoyed by all who attended. Thanks go the prefect senior leadership team who worked so hard to ensure that everything was perfect - they did a great job!

By Dr Davison

The Belfast Model School for Girls was the focus of a recent article on Simon Doyle's Education page in the Irish News. The article pointed out how the school is among the first in Northern Ireland to offer the more vocational qualification of OCR Nationals as an equivalent alternative to traditional GCSE ICT. This shift away from traditional GCSE to a more vocational qualification is in accordance with new government guidelines which require all post-primary schools to offer a minimum of one third vocational qualifications at KS4.

In his article Mr Doyle focused on our specialist school discipline of ICT. He noted that the school takes every pupil through the OCR Level 2 National First Award in ICT in Year 10 and that by the end of their GCSE year (Year 12) all pupils will have taken at least the OCR Level 2 National Award in ICT. Many go on to add the third and fourth components, meaning they come to the end of Year 12 with four grades in ICT (equivalent to GCSE A* - C).

Mr Graham, the principal made the point that the continuous assessment of the OCR Nationals enabled many pupils to excel as the stress of a one-off exam is removed. He was quoted in the article as follows, "It (OCR National) is a vocational course equivalent to GCSE which we feel suits our students better for A-level Applied ICT where we had 100 per cent success at A-C grade last year. In 2007 three of our girls were in the top five overall throughout the UK out of 1,622 entries in the subject, which is a great achievement for a non-selective school with an intake profile of no As and very few Bs and Cs at 11-plus." Mr Graham went on to highlight the importance of continuing to build on the school's success in ICT saying, "Girls only make up about 20 per cent of the ICT workforce; we are trying to make sure that a lot of them can get jobs when they leave school."

The article was brought to a conclusion with reference to the school's Moodle based Virtual Learning Environment and the use of ICT in Learning Areas throughout the curriculum. One example currently in progress is the use of stop frame animation shorts in Year 9 Art.

Transfer time can be stressful for both parents and pupils but choosing the right school for your daughter can also be a time filled with excitement and opportunities.

At the Girls' Model we want to make the transition from primary school to 'big' school an enjoyable experience for everyone and the process starts this week! We hope to receive applications from many of the fantastic girls we met during the recent Transfer Evening and to make the application process more straightforward for parents, the following schedule may help:

Friday, 6 February 2009
Boards post Transfer Test results to parents.

Monday, 9 February 2009 to Friday, 20 February 2009
Primary school principals discuss Transfer Form and preferences with parents.

Friday, 27 February 2009
Final date for receipt by CCEA of requests for re-marks.

Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Final date for changes of preference to be received by the BELB.

Wednesday, 20 March 2009
Boards provide 1st preference Transfer Forms to postprimary schools.

Friday, 29 May 2009
Issue, by boards, of letters advising parents of the school their child has been accepted.

Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Final date for notice of intention to appeal against admission decisions to be received by the board by 4.00pm.

It is very important that parents read and check their child's Transfer Form, making sure they have completed the Parents' Remark Section, all the information regarding their child, the reasons for choosing the schools listed, factors relating to schools' admissions criteria and include all documentation schools have asked for relating to documentary verification and special circumstances.

To help with the completion of the Transfer Form, the Model admissions criteria can be downloaded using the following link: Download PDF.

Welcome to Excellence is the only customer service training programme in the UK recommended by Regional Tourist Board Partnerships and for many years pupils from the Model have been offered training to support their vocational studies.

Year 11 Welcome hosts

Currently 14 BTEC Travel and Tourism pupils from Year 13 are working on their Welcome International award, having this year completed Welcome Host and Welcome All. The Girls' Model has joined forces with pupils from Our Lady of Mercy and Little Flower to complete the programme which is endorsed by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

15 Year 11 pupils studying BTEC Travel and Tourism have just completed their Welcome Host awards and their smiling faces show the type of warm welcome to the Model visitors will receive!