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Students from the Southern Regional and South Eastern colleges recently took over the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chamber to stage a local ‘Question Time’. The event marked Local Democracy Week and focused on the topical theme of ‘Brexit and its impact on our local economy—a student’s perspective’.
A panel consisting of five councillors, representing the various political groupings within the Council, and a representative from the Council’s Corporate Services Directorate, fielded questions from the students.
Deputy Chairperson of Council, Councillor Oksana McMahon, officiated at the event which was chaired by local broadcaster Jim Fitzpatrick. Speaking at the end of the debate, she said, “I am delighted to have taken part in this debate and am impressed by your thoughtful and insightful questions and lively and engaged participation in today’s Local Democracy Week event.
“One of the Council’s strategic objectives is to empower and improve the capacity of our communities. From listening to you today, I have no doubt that, on completion of your studies, you will make a real contribution to our district and that those who travel beyond these shores will be great ambassadors for Newry, Mourne and Down.
“I wish you well in your studies and am sure you have a very bright future ahead. I would also encourage any of you who may be interested, to consider becoming a Councillor in the future—it’s a great way of positively contributing to your local community.”
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St Paul’s High School Bessbrook recently teamed up with local company STATSports to launch their new jersey for the upcoming MacRory campaign.
As part of the launch STATSports presented their new APEX Athlete Series product using a range of practical workshops and interactive presentations to the A-level and GCSE PE students.
Newry based STATSports is a world-leading provider of GPS player tracking and analysis equipment with offices also in London, Chicago and Florida.
The next game for St Paul's is 10 November against Patrician High School, Carrickmacross.
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Year 13 students at Our Lady’s Grammar School, Newry have taken part in a safe motoring presentation, which aims to create a community of safe new drivers. Over 100 of the students listeded to the presentation which covered all elements of safe motoring including learning to drive, buying a car, insurance, looking after your vehicle and road safety.
Mr Hackett, Our Lady’s Grammar School Year Head, who organised the presentation, commented; “Considering the dangers and challenges that exist for our young people while driving on the roads, we here in Our Lady’s appreciate the excellent advice and guidance that New Driver Safety Ambassadors, continues to offer to our Sixth Form girls.”
New Driver Safety Ambassador Ltd visit sixth forms in schools each year to deliver safe motoring presentations.
Their aim is educate all new drivers and passengers on making good motoring decisions.
All participants receive a free New Driver NI magazine and are asked to sign the New Driver pledge which includes the following 5 rules.
Respect the Speed Limit
No Mobile While Mobile!
Never Drive When Tired!
Not a Drop, Not a Drag!
Belt Up, Front & Back!
Stephen Savage, Project Manager at New Driver Safety Ambassadors said “The programme has been running for over four years now. Feedback from schools teachers and students is very positive. Making the pledge is a commitment to being as safe as possible on the roads.
“Too many young people are still losing their lives or being seriously injured on the roads across Northern Ireland. We want to see these figures reduce every year. We have set an ambitious target to get 10,000 pledges signed this year and we have made a good start since September.
The programme is completely free for schools as funding is provided by corporate sponsors including Charles Hurst First Time Buyer Centre, CRASH Services, Hankook Tyres, AB&C Insurance and JMK Solicitors. The Department for Infrastructure and some Policing and Community Safety partnerships also provide support.
To make a school booking please contact Stephen Savage on 07793 198100 or email info@newdriverni.com.
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Southern Regional College (SRC) in partnership with Newry based Norbrook Laboratories Ltd. have won the ‘Employer Innovation Award’ at the Apprentice of the Year awards, held in Belfast City Hall this week. The award presented by the Department for the Economy (DfE) recognises the pioneering work of both organisations in developing the first higher level apprenticeship in Applied Industrial Science in Northern Ireland.
SRC has been working with Norbrook Laboratories Ltd. for over 10 years in the delivery of a range of training solutions as part of the company’s workforce development programme. This work initiated by the late Lord Ballyedmond and the College’s Chief Executive, Brian Doran led to a commitment to build a partnership where Norbrook could 'grow their own' talent pool through the development and promotion of higher apprenticeships in Applied Industrial Science.
The Higher Level Apprenticeship programme has been designed with the specific aim of producing highly skilled, practically competent, laboratory technicians and analysts. To date Norbrook has employed 33 apprentices and the programme is now well established and used by a number of other leading life and health science companies such as the Almac group and Randox Laboratories. The collaborative partnership that exists between Norbrook and SRC has also led to the establishment of the Life and Health Science Sector Partnership for Northern Ireland. The Sector Partnership chaired by Norbrook’s Director of Science, Dr Lillian Cromie has been responsible for the development of a number of degree level apprenticeships in science that now offer progression pathways through to degree and postgraduate apprenticeships in conjunction with the Southern Regional College, Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Brian Doran, Chief Executive at Southern Regional College, said “The College has worked closely with Norbrook Laboratories to design and deliver an innovative higher apprenticeship in applied industrial science that addresses the needs of both the employer and apprentices. The development of these new degree apprenticeships is critical to the future growth of the pharmaceutical industry in Northern Ireland. The College’s science team has worked closely with personnel from Norbrook to design an innovative curriculum and support structure that underpins the new apprenticeship. The College has led the way in the use of new technologies to provide flexible delivery and support to apprentices be that in their work place or at home. I am delighted to be here today, with our colleagues from Norbrook, to accept this award in recognition of the work that we have progressed in recent years”.
Elizabeth Moran, Learning & Development Manager, Norbrook Laboratories Ltd. said “Collaborating with Southern Regional College for over 10 years, has helped us to develop innovative, specialised training solutions, to provide our people with enhanced skills and knowledge, helping Norbrook to continually deliver to our customers. The collaborative development of the Higher Level Apprenticeship in Applied Industrial Science (Chemical Science) ensured the content of the programme was directly aligned to the skills required by Norbrook. A testament to the success of the programme over the last number of years is that it has been adopted more widely across the Pharmaceutical Industry in Northern Ireland. The apprenticeship developed by SRC has provided a flexible and accessible model which has enabled our apprentices to effectively apply their learning’s from the College to their role in Norbrook Laboratories”.
The Department for the Economy’s Permanent Secretary, Noel Lavery added his congratulations to the winners.
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The winners have been announced in the Schools’ Environmental Calendar poster competition. The 13 winners will feature in a 2019 Calendar produced by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.
Council Chairman, Councillor Mark Murnin, recently hosted a reception for primary and secondary school pupils from across the district to reveal the winning posters in this year’s competition. All schools in the district will receive a free supply of calendars to give out to school staff and families whose children attend the school.
Presenting the lucky winners with their prizes, Chairman Murnin said, “It never ceases to amaze me how talented the young people are in our district. Your artwork will be seen throughout this Council and beyond, when the calendar is produced in December.
“I know that the competition was fierce with hundreds of entries from the 65 schools throughout the district which took part and I want to give my congratulations to everyone who was selected to feature on the calendar.”
Three hundred pupils, whose posters were shortlisted but did not make the final calendar, will also receive Certificates of Achievement as part of the competition.
All winning pupils received a specially framed copy of their winning poster as part of their prize.
The Winners
Front cover: Charlotte Doyle, The High School, Ballynahinch
January: Katie O’Hare, St Colman’s Primary School, Saval
February: Don Farrell, St Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Newry
March:
Larissa Gaffney, Carrick Primary School, Burren
April: Holly Black, Kilkeel High School
May: Eimíle Egan, Assumption Grammar School, Ballynahinch
June:Ella McCartney (absent from group photo) St Patrick’s Primary School, Crossmaglen
July: Saoirse Byard, Sacred Heart Grammar School, Newry
August: Yasmin Muldrew, Newry High School
September: Maria Loughlin, St Ronan’s Primary School, Newry
October: Katie Fitzpatrick, Holy Cross Primary School, Kilkeel
November: Anna Whewell, Down High School, Downpatrick
December: Leah Lennon, St Patrick’s Primary School, Cullyhanna
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Pupils from St Colman’s Primary School and All Saints Nursery Unit, Annaclone have received many donations for their Christmas Appeal. For the last three weeks the school have been collecting goods and bringing them into school as part of the appeal. The Milestone Rathfriland donated a trolley of food and recently handed it over to primary six pupil Leo O'Neill.
A school spokesperson commented "All of our children gave generously - with Primary 6 being the class that won a night off homework! Very proud of our community. Thank you all for your support and for making Christmas a better time for the lives of many, many others less fortunate than ourselves."
On Friday past children from the school helped load up a van with their collected items. Their appeal will see their donations head to Romania in a truck convoy on behalf of the CrossCause charity.
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Southern Regional College students have secured a winning six-medal haul at Birmingham’s WorldSkills UK Live helping the college secure it's top three leader board ranking at this year’s WorldSkills UK Live event held in Birmingham.
Honouring the achievements of more than 200 of the UK’s most highly skilled apprentices and tradespeople, SRC’s six medals also saw it retain its number one place in Northern Ireland on the strength of its stellar performance.
Facing tough competition, SRC’s team of students from across the Newry & Mourne, Down, Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon areas secured two gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals across a wide variety of disciplines, including butchery, tiling, plumbing and beauty – in addition to two commendations.
More than 85,000 people visited the show at Birmingham’s NEC over the three full days of competition.
Commenting on the successes Brian Doran, Chief Executive at SRC said “This is a fantastic achievement by our students and places Southern Regional College once again in the top 3 Colleges in the UK and the leading college in NI for the strength of our skills development programmes.
“Attending the event alongside officials from the Department for the Economy, it was very inspiring to observe our hardworking students both competing and excelling in what was an extremely high-pressure environment.”
SRC’s outstanding medal performance put the college firmly inside the UK’s best-performing colleges and organisations – including Toyota, BAE Systems and QinetiQ – with only the City of Glasgow College and New College Lanarkshire scoring higher.
Putting SRC out in front was Armagh’s Salius Repecka and Odhran Connolly from Gilford who faced down the competition in butchery and tiling respectively to take home gold medals, after Elizabeth McAleavey from Laurencetown demonstrated her winning forensic science skills to claim silver.
Three bronze medals were also secured, with Mayobridge’s Sorcha Downey scoring well in health and social care, Armagh’s Shannon Mallon in beauty and Tandragee’s Joshua McKee in forensic science.
Kirsty Frazer from Newtownhamilton was commended in beauty, while Keady’s Shane Murray won his commendation in plumbing.
Additional medals were also secured in the ‘inclusive skills’ competitions where Thomas Neagle, Bronagh Boothman and Dalton McCoy picked up a respective gold, silver and bronze recognition for their winning achievements in catering and restaurant service.
“I want to thank most sincerely the staff members who gave of their time to support the students and without whom this success would not have been possible. I am sure everyone across the College would wish to join me in congratulating Team SRC,” Brian Doran added.
Following their success, some of the winning students are already vying to be chosen by WorldSkills UK to join the training programme for WorldSkills Shanghai 2021, where they could be selected to represent the UK in their chosen skills area on a global stage.
SRC has seen significant success in previous years, including at WorldSkills Sau Paulo, where local student Gary Doyle was crowned Best Plumber in 2015. Armondus Tamulis also reached the WorldSkills Abu Dhabi final earlier this year, delivering a sterling performance representing both SRC and the UK in wall and floor tiling.
WorldSkills UK Competitions are run in over 60 skill areas and are proven to help young people go further, faster, in their training and chosen career.
Dr Neil Bentley, CEO of WorldSkills UK said: “This has been the biggest and best skills event that the UK has ever seen.”
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Young athletes from St. Patrick’s PS, Crossmaglen were racing to the finish line at the second round of the 2018/2019 Flahavan’s Porridge Primary School Cross Country League, which took place at Palace Stables in Armagh.Keelin Bellew finished first in the boys’ fun run and Lyndsey Kelly finished third in the girls’ race.
The league was launched in October by Olympian, and 2018 European Championships athlete, Kerry O’Flaherty. As the official 2018 ambassador, Kerry will help inspire and educate the young runners taking part in the competition this year - from passing on expert training tips to sharing the importance of a healthy diet and visiting participating primary schools.
With a new format for 2018/19, runners competed in one of two regional rounds – each taking place over a week in October and November – with a grand final, for runners with a qualifying time, set to be held in early 2019 at the Billy Neil Centre of Excellence in Belfast.
Following the final, the top 20 girls and top 20 boys will be invited to join the Flahavan’s Porridge Athletics Northern Ireland Junior Endurance Squad, which will include participating in 9 training sessions over the next 12 months to support the personal development of the talented young athletes.
The final will take place on Wednesday 30th January 2019.
Fore more information visit www.flahavans.co.uk
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SRC students have taken part in Southern Regional College’s annual Inter-Campus Skillbuild Competition. There were over 30 separate competitions held showcasing the skills of SRC students.
The Inter-Campus competition, held at SRC’s Greenbank Campus, was the first stage of the renowned SkillBuild Competition, and drew together students from all campuses of SRC. The SkillBuild competition is the largest multi-trade competition in the UK for young students and apprentices. It covers crafts including carpentry, joinery, beauty, bricklaying, hairdressing and plastering. Over thirty skills competitions took place on the day with industry experts judging the work and skills of the students.
Christopher Doyle from Whitecross won Gold in the Brickwork competition with Deividas Bacenas from Newry finishing second and Odhran McEvoy from Kilcoo in third. Adam McCullough from Newry won the Electrical Installation competition. Joshua Byrne from Newry won the Plastering competition. Other results include Isaac Bingham and Shea Rooney from Newry finishing second and third in Cabinet Making, Jamie O’Hagan from Hilltown getting Silver in Electrical Installation and Tony Kane from Newry finishing third in Tiling.
There was also an event for students from the local high schools. Over 100 students from over 20 schools took part in 16 events in crafts such as carpentry, joinery, bricklaying, hairdressing and catering. The competitors came from schools across the Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon and Newry Area Learning Communities. The students attend the College as part of the School Partnership’s Programme where pupils from local schools attend SRC to study a range of vocational and academic programmes.
In the schools competition, Tristan Zubecha from Newry High School was third in Plumbing, Sean Thorne from St Pauls High School was third in Joinery and Thomas Maughan from St Joseph’s Crossmaglen was third in Painting and Decorating.
To find out more about Southern Regional College courses, please come along to one of our Open Days taking place in early March, for more information visit www.src.ac.uk
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