The Owl 2020

The Owl 2020
School Societies
have arranged to chat on video calls
with their Assessors or share fitness
tracker app screenshots to verify their
progress.
We wish all our participants the best of
luck as they progress with their
activities.
We are indebted to the many people
who were willing to give of their free
time to make possible the huge
undertaking of the Expedition section.
We sincerely thank the following
teachers, past pupils and adult helpers
who generously gave their time and
assistance in the early stages of this
school year:
Matthew Blair
Rebecca Burns
Holly Grant
Emma McAllister
Dennis McArthur
Peter McArthur
Maurice Miller
Gabbie Moore
Catherine Nelson
Gary Nelson
Abby Reid
Martin Scott
Shelley Wilson
Very special thanks must also go to the
following people: Maurice Miller,
Holly Grant and Shelley Wilson for
their outstanding contribution in
overseeing all aspects of the Expedition
section; Billy Dunn, Fergal McCluskey
and Ian Stinson for driving the school
bus on many weekends and for their
valued assistance; Shelley Wilson and
Holly Grant for Award administration;
Joanna Clarke and Niall Mowbray from
the Education Authority for very
valuable assistance with administration
work; and the Gold Award Leaders of
2019-2020 for assistance with the
running of the D of E in the school.
Many thanks also to the Tent Team for
their efforts in the early part of the
school year for helping to manage and
maintain our large stock of camping
equipment prior to lockdown.
Although the Volunteering, Physical,
Skill and Residential Sections are
primarily co-ordinated and supported
by the DofE staff, we still have school
staff members who run various
activities enabling the participants to
complete their sections. We would like
to thank the staff of the P.E. and Music
Departments for all their much
appreciated help throughout the past
year. We thank Brian McLaughlin and
Robert Armstrong for all their work in
training the kayak canoeists on Friday
afternoons. Many thanks are due to the
numerous members of staff who gave
up their time to act as Skills section
assessors.
Within the Skills section, 38 pupils took
part in the Bronze Award Fire Service
Courses held at Whitla Street Fire
Station. We warmly thank the Northern
Ireland Fire and Rescue Service for the
provision of the courses and Maurice
Miller for supervising the classes.
Thanks must go to Maurice Miller for
his help in looking after our finances.
We would like to say a huge thank you
to the school office staff who have been
a wonderful help this year collecting
forms etc. and distributing participants’
logs, projects and other important
information.
The Academy’s Open Nights in January
2020 were a great success and all
aspects of school life were on show to
prospective pupils and their parents.
Many thanks to all of those who helped
to make the impressive DofE in the
Lower Sixth Form Common Room so
effective.
In conclusion, 2019-2020 was a highly
unusual year for everyone, but one in
which our participants have shown an
even greater resilience, determination,
initiative, drive, commitment and sense
of responsibility to others than what we
would normally expect. We are
incredibly proud of those who are
pursuing their Certificate of
Achievement and remind them to keep
in touch.
Finally, pride of place and
congratulations must go to the
following pupils and past pupils who
gained awards during the past year:
BRONZE AWARD
Jessica Boyd (IV)
Aoife Caldwell (IV)
Erin Cunningham (MVI)
Nathan Davidson (LVI)
Cameron Devlin (IV)
Benjamin Dewhurst (IV)
Faith Drummond (V)
Jack Gillespie (V)
Eleanor Green (IV)
Theo Hayward (IV)
Lauren Hetherington (LVI)
Ebony Hoogelander (LVI)
Aleena Jain (IV)
Kian Jan-Dickens (IV)
Alby Joseph (IV)
Lara Lennon (IV)
Helen Marshall (IV)
Shanti Mawhinney (IV)
Shannon McBride (V)
Sarah McCarney (IV)
Cara McGrath (IV)
Daniel McIlroy (LVI)
Grace McIlroy (-)
Lucy McMahon-Beattie (LVI)
Natasha Newton (IV)
Jamie O’Brien (IV)
Daisy Purvis (IV)
Ross Pyper (-)
Riya Raghuram (IV)
Rachel Ramsey (V)
Christopher Reid (LVI)
Peter Richardson (IV)
Isabella Scott (IV)
Oliver Scott (IV)
Ryan Simpson (LVI)
Olivia Snoddy (LVI)
Kate Sturgess (IV)
Emily Swann (IV)
Eve Taylor (IV)
Jaana Tharun (IV)
Hannah Thompson (IV)
Ellie Watson (LVI)
Lucy-Beth Watson (IV)
Emma Watt (-)
Callum Whiteside (IV)
Jamie Whitla (LVI)
Ethan Willey (IV)
Anna Wilson (IV)
Archie Wylie (LVI)
Emilla Zboralska (IV)
BRONZE & SILVER AWARD
Kerry Uprichard (LVI)
SILVER AWARD
Fabienne Cochrane (MVI)
Ryan Creaney (LVI)
Erin Cunningham (MVI)
Sivannah Delos Reyes (-)
Sabriel Gergett (LVI)
Maia Hamilton (MVI)
Lucy Handcock (V)
Ella Harvey (LVI)
Roan Kershaw (-)
Hannah Marshall (-)
Adam Martin (LVI)
Leah McCarter (LVI)
Nicole McClean (LVI)
Naoise McCormick (MVI)
Jennifer McCorry (-)
Adam McCready (LVI)
SILVER & GOLD AWARD
Philip Simon (-)
Richard Simon (-)
GOLD AWARD
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