Belfast Model
School for Girls

This summer my wife Gail and I are leading a team of QUB students to Buenos Aires. We will be working at a home for 25 abused and neglected children. Our aims are to:

- Bring money to help refurbish and decorate the home.
- Take the children on excursions that the home cannot normally afford.
- Participate in a programme that helps to feed street children.
- Help in a soup kitchen that feeds 200 local families.

We hope to raise between £25000 and £30000 for the project.

Here are three of the children from the home who we will meet.

Celeste, the little girl on the right, was so malnourished when she arrived at the home that she spent months in hospital recovering. Now she is a real live wire.

In a bid to raise money for the project I thought I would do a sponsored diet for a week. I will eat alongside the many tens of thousands, in Buenos Aires that obtain the majority of their nutrition from soup kitchens. I will have one bowl of soup per day for a full working week. I will drink only water or tea. I will start this on Monday and will be looking for some sponsorship from pupils and staff.

Thanks for your support
Patrick (make sure to avoid me if you have some nice buns!)

This Friday, June 13th 2008, we are celebrating the Commencement of the New School Build when Mr Nigel Dodds MP MLA, the Member of Parliament for north Belfast, will be marking the start of the construction of our new school. At present we are on schedule to complete the build by the end of December 2009 and move into the new building after the Christmas holidays in January 2010. Once that occurs our present school will be demolished to make way for the new sports facilities - synthetic hockey pitch, polymeric running track and games area and all weather tennis courts. These will be completed by the end of May 2010, so in less than 2 years our new school should be fully operational.

There are lots of great memories associated with the old school and both the Craig and Kerr buildings could tell many stories over the years. It is very exciting thinking about the new facilities and the 'State of the Art' accommodation soon to be the new Girls' Model but it is very important to remember that buildings do not make a school. They can help to facilitate learning and teaching and they can make school life far more comfortable and enjoyable, however it is what goes on inside the buildings that really matters.

We here at the Girls' Model are lucky to have a very positive environment in school where all staff and pupils work together for the benefit of everyone and hopefully that will still be the case when we eventually move into our new buildings in around 18 months time. So, let us enjoy the celebration of the new school build but also celebrate everything which has gone on in the old school and will still continue to go on until January 2010 as we endeavour to maintain the traditions of our school in the ever-changing 21st century environment.