The Owl 2020

The Owl 2020
School Societies
November. As part of her new role,
Lucy led the Staff Briefing, visited a
number of classrooms and also
implemented the following rules:
1. All teachers were expected to
play their favourite song at the
start of each lesson (dancing
was optional).
2. When homework was set this
had to be sung by the class
teacher, or by performing
charades. Failure to do so
resulted in the pupils being
exempt from completing the
homework.
3. Form I pupils were allowed out
10 minutes early at lunch.
Mrs Woods became Lucy for the day,
donned her school uniform and
participated in Lucy’s Music and
Chemistry classes.
The School Council also decided to
recognise Anti-Bullying week in
November by organising a number of
whole-school activities and various
Assembly representations.
Other issues discussed by the Pupil and
School Councils throughout the year
included the food provision in the
canteen; ways to reduce litter
throughout the school site; recycling
facilities; and the possibility of the
installation of more water fountains
around school.
The Head Boy and Head Girl addressed
whole-school assemblies regarding
these various issues in December.
SENIOR DEBATING
SOCIETY
T.H.
Last year, the pupils most involved with
the society were drawn from MVI
which meant that this year we had to
find a new crop of young people
interested in debating. Those
volunteering to speak were mostly
drawn from forms IV and MVI.
As usual, pupils were involved in
selecting motions in which they had a
personal interest. We started the year
with a debate on the desirability of
pupils missing school to participate in
climate change protests, a topic on
which there were strongly held
opinions. A debate on the merits of
banning smacking also produced some
strong views.
Towards the end of the first term,
attention switched to the inter-school
debating competition, with Ellie Byrne
and Amy McDowell selected to
represent the school. We were fortunate
that the competition organisers selected
the topic of pupil involvement in
climate change protests as that topic had
been debated earlier in the term. Our
team defeated Portadown College in the
first round of the competition held at
Bangor Grammar School.
Unfortunately, we were knocked out in
the second round of the competition by
Campbell College as we were
unexpectedly required to replace one
team member, with her substitute
having little time to repair.
Before the school shut down in March
due to the coronavirus outbreak, we had
the opportunity for more lunchtime
debates, the most popular of which was
on the motion, “This House believes
that Harry and Meghan are national
traitors.
As ever, we hope that pupils not only
found the experience of debating
enjoyable, but that they learned
valuable skills for life beyond school.
SENIOR SCRIPTURE
UNION
M.P./H.T.
As it was my last year at BRA and
therefore my last year on the
Scripture Union Committee, I knew
I had to make SU 2019-2020
memorable and unforgettable. Little
did I know what was in store for us!
This year, I decided to be on the
Senior Committee and so I was part
of a group of BRA pupils in charge
of the weekly Senior School
meetings every Friday, under the
guidance of Dr McComb who is
always there to help us out when the
talk unexpectedly finishes earlier
than anticipated.
We collectively decided to choose
the theme, “Who Is God?” tackling
a wide range of topics from the Holy
Trinity to who God was, and still is,
in the Bible.
I would, personally, say that every
Friday lunch was the highlight of my
week. Being able to hear and spread
the word of God weekly,
encouraging others at SU to become
more comfortable in their faith and
that’s not to forget the donuts Mrs
Graydon provided for us (which
were also a highlight). On behalf of
everyone from SU, thank you!
One of the many achievements of
SU this year was being able to work
with SHINE Northern Ireland,
which is an organisation that focuses
on the Christian faith among the
youth. They gave the SU committee
a variety of topics like Fear and
Trust to tackle through videos which
definitely made SU a lot more
interactive and engaging.
We went on our annual Senior SU
trip, but this year was quite different
with a change of venue. We stayed
at the Portadown Faith Mission
Centre. A big thank you to Andy
Thompson who went through the
Book of Revelation with us. As per
usual, the weekend was a huge
success in terms of spreading God's
word and learning more about Him.
But the weekend never fails to make
memorable moments: from beating
Mr Morrison at football, to Dr Bell
destroying everybody at every game
of pool, Mrs Morrison being an
absolute legend at mini golf, Mrs
Graydon for staying up late-night
with us to chat and then waking up
really early to make the hockey girls
breakfast and, of course, trying to
teach Mr Wilson a couple of tik tok
dances. A big thank you to all these
teachers that never fail to make
every weekend a success, not only
keeping us safe but also
encouraging us in our faith.
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