Staff Blog

Refugio de Dios Children's Home, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2008-06-12T12:03:02Z

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!)

Looking to the Future

2008-06-10T08:02:45Z

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.

And the learning goes on...

2008-03-20T09:10:27Z

Well it may be the Easter holidays but learning in the Girls' Model goes on. This week teachers and many pupils have been spending some of their time continuing with their learning.

On Monday the teachers had the opportunity to do some learning. In education circles it's called Teacher Training. I think Teacher Learning would be a better way to describe our activities as that was what we were doing. Most of our learning was connected to the Revised Curriculum for Key Stage 3. We had workshops on employability, personal development, ICT, questioning techniques, motivation and thinking skills. We had great presenters and I learnt a lot from all the activities, plus it was great fun.

Year 12 pupils had the opportunity on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to get some help in preparing for their GCSE exams. Some girls were in school finishing off coursework. Valuable marks can be gained from a good piece of coursework. Some of my science class were in practising answering exam questions and looking at sites on the internet which can help with revision. Easter booster classes were attended by many of the girls in a variety of subjects. I hope they all learnt a lot and also had fun. Learning is a strange thing, it goes on and on and on, it never stops happening. Learning can often happen to us even when we don't want it to or when we don't expect it to.

Babies and young children are curious about everything. It's all new and they want to find out about it. Before children can talk they use their senses - touching and feeling, tasting and smelling, looking carefully at everything. As soon as children learn language their favourite words are what, how, why, who, when, where! Unfortunately it is often un-cool to want to learn and to be enthusiastic about learning as we grow up. I have been learning all my life. Sometimes learning can be fun. A great experience! I enjoyed every minute of it! But... Most of the time learning is difficult for me! A task needs to be repeated over and over and over again before I get it right. I don't understand a difficult idea and I have to do a lot of reading and thinking to figure it out. At these times I find the learning can be painful. I think I will never be able to remember or understand or do the task. Sometimes I think everyone is better than me, they learn much more easily than I do. I feel I should give up. Then suddenly I surprise myself, I begin to remember how to do something and it gets easier; I start to understand and the ideas become clearer; the essay starts to take shape; I figure out how to do something. Then I feel great!

And the next time I have to learn something difficult I try to remember the great feeling of success.

New School - Coming Soon!

2008-02-01T11:32:10Z

It's been a long and winding road but our new school is on the way (Honestly!) The builders intend to start construction before Easter. So take a look at the hockey pitches and bid them a fond farewell, because they are soon to be a building site. The plan is to build the new school beside the existing school, and in three years time, over the course of one week, we will move lock, stock and barrel into the new building. You will then be able to shed a tear or cheer, as the builders demolish the present buildings. When the rubble is removed from where the senior building and junior building once were, our new sports grounds will be built. These will be excellent! So, all you budding sports superstars can look forward to honing your skills on a full size synthetic hockey pitch and four tennis courts (with a purpose built tennis practice wall.) We are also going to have a synthetic 300 metre running track, with a 100m sprint lane, and this will be surrounded by a synthetic hockey pitch. So no excuses girls, all you need to succeed will be provided. Then inside it gets even better! We are going to have a large Dance Studio, a massive Sports Hall, 4 times bigger than one of our gyms, and we also get a new Gym and Fitness Suite. Then, just to make sure that the sports jocks don't get everything their own way, we are going to get a Performing Arts Theatre, instead of a boring old school assembly Hall! This will be much bigger than our existing Hall, it will have pull out bleacher seating, an orchestra pit, an extra large stage, with back stage facilities, including showers, toilets, rehearsal rooms, prop stores and Jacuzzi (OK, I jest on the last item!) We are also getting a super-duper lighting and sound system which will both dazzle and razzle all who dare to enter. This theatre will open out into an enhanced foyer, which will have a refreshments room! Just beside all of this will be the school canteen with plasma screens, sound system and vending machines. It will be much more comfortable than our present canteen and will be somewhere you will wish to relax and chill. We are also going to have a large Hair and Beauty salon, with its own reception and waiting area. It will be built to professional standards and can be hired at night by outside businesses. Below the salons will be a large nursery and creche which will be open to local residents, staff and pupils. There will also be a large library and computer hall which will contain 70 PCs! All in all, this will be a fantastic building for us all to enjoy. Let's watch as it takes shape right under our noses. Sadly it will take another three years so those of you in Year 12 and above will be away by that time. However, perhaps in time your children will benefit.

Hola

2007-09-25T19:06:52Z

¡Hola! Este año estaba en las Islas Galápagos para mis vacaciones. Fueron unas vacaciones estupendas. El país es tranquillo y bonita con muchas tortugas. Las tortugas son muy grandes. Las Islas Galápagos son famosas para las tortugas.
Me gustan mucho las islas.

Hello! If you are studying Spanish at school you will have read above that I was in the Galapagos Islands for my holidays this year. The islands are famous and often appear on nature programmes on the television. I first found out about the Galapagos Islands many years ago when I was 15 years old and working for my GCE O-levels (GCSE). An English man called Charles Darwin visited these Islands in the 1830's to study plants and animals. When I was in Year 12 at school, I was told about this man and his observations of giant tortoises and small birds called finches. When he visited the islands Darwin could see that the tortoises on each island were slightly different to each other. When he looked closely at the finches he saw that they had different shaped beaks. Different shapes of beak could eat different types of food so that the finches were not competing for food. From these observations Darwin put forward his Theory of Natural Selection.

All those years ago when I was doing my O-levels I thought Darwin was so lucky. His job was to look at the wildlife in all the countries visited by a ship called the Beagle. I dreamed that one day I might go to the Galapagos Islands and see the giant tortoises and the finches for myself. This summer I WAS THERE! When the plane touched down in Baltra airport I was so excited that I was on the Galapagos Islands. As I walked off the plane into the small wooden airport a huge black iguana was basking in the sun beside the runway. I had arrived! As soon as we had cleared passport control and customs, a bus took us to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island to see the tortoises. Magic! There were two very large male tortoises and many females which are a bit smaller. Unfortunately the tortoises are endangered and some of the islands no longer have tortoises on them because humans have killed them. When Darwin visited the islands sailors and pirates killed the tortoises for their meat, sometimes as many as 200 were killed in a day. The shells were used for ornaments and jewellery. Today the tortoises are protected and there are breeding programmes to try to increase the number of tortoises on the islands.

When I'm on holiday I love taking photographs of nature. This year I had a new digital camera and I took 900 photos! The beaches were beautiful. The sand was golden and the sea a gorgeous turquoise blue and the skies a deep blue. As well as the tortoises I saw the Darwin finches, iguanas, flamingos, sea lions, pelicans, mocking birds, blue footed bobbies, albatross and dolphins. Wow....I was lucky! The Galapagos islands are volcanic islands which have risen up from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. They sit on the equator about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Some of the volcanoes are still active. I took a horse ride one morning to the edge of the crater of one of these active volcanoes. I could see the most recent flow of black lava from Sierra Negra. Fortunately, there were no eruptions when I was visiting.

The people of the Galapagos speak Spanish so as well as having a great time looking at nature I was also able to try out some of the Spanish I had learnt this year. Hasta luego!

Welcome Back!

2007-09-14T13:56:36Z

Welcome back to another busy Model school year! Hopefully you had a very relaxing summer and return refreshed for the exciting terms ahead. What has happened since school ended in June? The Full Service Extended School Summer Scheme was very successful and I was privileged to be invited to the awards presentation at the end of the scheme. Exam results were very pleasing too, with the achievements of Nicola McTaggart, Robyn Beattie and Lynsey Harrison putting the icing on the cake!! They were placed in the top 5 out of 1622 candidates, across the whole of the UK sitting AQA A-Level ICT! I am really looking forward to this new school year when we enter the second year of our Specialist School and Full Service School Programmes and await with great anticipation the performances of our school production "The Sound of Music" next April. Also, we should see the beginning of construction of our new school, just after Christmas, which will give us all a boost as we prepare to move into a purpose-built community learning facility. Another exciting prospect is our Virtual Learning Environment which will be rolled out this year, allowing far more online interaction throughout the wider school community. This, along with our redesigned website, will be a major benefit to both learning and communication and I hope everyone will make use of this additional resource. I would like to thank all those involved in these activities and ask everyone to play a positive part in ensuring 2007/2008 is not just as good as the last school year but even more successful and enjoyable.

Team Work

2007-06-01T11:33:39Z

When Forest Gump said “Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get!” he wasn’t far wrong. But there’s something else he didn’t mention about that box of chocolates, he didn’t mention that chocolates are so much better because of team work. Just think about it….the strawberry cream and the chocolate, the caramel, the chocolate and the nut….on their own they taste great but together they are even better – that’s team work.

It’s just like music too. One singer is nice to listen to but add a guitarist and the sound is richer. Add a bass player and a drummer and the sound is better still – a few backing vocals and the sound is spectacular! So once again, team work makes things better.

There are so many opportunities in school to try out my team work theory. Rock Challenge, Student Voice, Sports Day……..Why not give it a go and see if team work can make things better for you!

And what’s more Peer Mediators have just been appointed to help us all sort out our differences!!! (Actually they are only working with the incoming year 8, their faces will shortly be on the web site!)

After a While

2007-05-18T11:27:28Z

It’s often scary to be leaving school and saying goodbye to so many familiar things and people but this is an opportunity to turn this experience into something positive – a new beginning.

Take on board the experiences you gained at school and learn from them, the rest of your life is up to you!

After a While

After a while you learn
the subtle difference between holding a hand
and chaining a soul
and you learn that love doesn’t mean security
and you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises
and you begin to accept your defects
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a human being
and not the grief of a child
and you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns if you ask too much.
So plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn.
And with every good-bye you learn.

Author Unknown

Happy Memories

2007-05-10T13:27:16Z

Well, it’s that time of year when our Year 12, 13 and 14 pupils are finishing off final preparations for external examinations. Very soon the GCSEs, A/S and ‘A’ level examinations will be upon us and these senior girls will be on study leave making sure they have organised their revision programmes and having time to “chill out” before their examination schedule kicks in.

Hopefully most of our Year 12 and Year 13 students will be back with us next September to continue their studies but for the Year 14 girls it will be the end of another chapter in their young lives as their seven years at the ‘Model’ will be at an end. I know from talking to them that it will be an emotional time as they have really enjoyed their school days here with lots of really good memories of meeting new people, creating friendships, new experiences and challenges and being part of the ‘Model’ family. From talking to past pupils over the last few years it is amazing that so many have very fond memories of their days here and the range of ‘magic moments’ that they recall to me shows the vast array of experiences we offer → school trips and visits, sports teams, Young Enterprise activities, SU weekends, Rock Challenge competitions, school productions, class teachers, guest speakers etc etc etc. The list goes on and many ex-pupils still remember vividly what happened ten, twenty, thirty or even forty years ago.

We are lucky to have so many ex-pupils on our staff both teaching and non-teaching. I think I counted almost thirty when I was involved in our Golden Jubilee celebrations. They take a special pride in the school and their enthusiasm and dedication rubs off on the rest of us who also feel the special magic of working in the Girls’ Model.

When I say cheerio to the Year 14 students at the forthcoming leavers’ lunch I know that I will be sad at losing such a great group of girls but, at the same time, I will be so proud of each and every one of them as they embark on the next stage of life’s journey wherever it may lead. I know that they will also be experiencing the same emotions and I wish everyone success in whatever they decide to do.

So, good luck to everyone who is sitting external examinations and I hope that they all achieve their potential and I feel confident that they have been given every opportunity during their time at Girls’ Model as we all have their interests at the centre of all that we do.

Back to school with a spring in my step

2007-04-20T09:44:59Z

My Easter holiday started at the Waterfront Hall with our Rock Challenge Team. I was a little nervous about being at the Waterfront that Tuesday - let me explain why.

The Rock Challenge Team is a huge group of people; over one hundred girls supported by their parents; teaching and non-teaching staff; past pupils and friends. Motivated, inspired, instructed and cajoled by Miss Willis. The team had worked for months after school, on Saturdays and in their sleep to learn dance routines, make costumes and scenery, get a sound track and plan lighting.

Tuesday was “Show Night” and everyone was excited and nervous including Mrs Cruise and I, because we were on the Super Troupers. We took our responsibility VERY seriously we did not want to mess up. After all everyone on the team had worked hard and it would not be good if the spotlights were dancing on the audience instead of following the action on stage. On Tuesday we studied our lighting instructions from Emma Finlay very carefully and a technician at the Waterfront showed us how the spotlights worked.

Suddenly it went dark. One spotlight lit up the nanny and children, the music started and the stage erupted into a magnificent explosion of colour, sound and dance. Wow! It was fantastic. Eight minutes went by in a flash. It was over. The applause from the audience shook the small turret where I had been concentrating really hard to get it right on the night - just like everyone on stage and backstage. The audience loved the performance and so did the judges – Our Rock Challenge Team Won and they are preparing to compete in Grimsby at the end of May.

Mrs Cruise and I must have done OK with the Super Troupers because we are getting to go with the team to spotlight the action. That is something to put a spring in my step.

Head Girls, Prefects and Student Voice

2007-03-26T11:05:39Z

Just this week, I had the privilege of listening to several of our Year 13 girls during their interviews for the position of Head Girl. Year after year I am impressed by the calibre of the girls who, terrifying though it is, brave the panel of senior members of staff to show us just how much they love their school - and it does show! I will be working with our two new Head Girls, six Deputies and Senior Prefects on Student Voice and I have lots to look forward to. These girls will help take our school into a new era of students really getting involved with their school. That's what I want to see and with these girls at the helm, I know that Student Voice will be fantastic for all of you! If you want to know more about Student Voice the website is www.studentvoice.org.uk

Back to school

2007-02-20T11:09:09Z

"Back to school". Only three words, yet so exhilarating. Half term break, there are another three words, much less inspiring. Who wants to be at home hovering when instead you can be either teaching or learning in the Girls Model. Not I, I declare, give me a promethean board, a class brim full with eager minds, a decent syllabus and I'm as happy as a sandboy. Following an excellent night in the Hilton I felt all the more eager to trip into school with a light step, and what's more I now have my very own personalised mug to drink from. Courtesy of the Year 14 girls. The only difficulty being that I will have to drink cold milk rather than hot coffee, in order to avoid exposing other staff to views best kept entirely private.