For pRIMARY PUPILS
EMMA LEAHY
The BIG day had finally arrived; the day I had been looking forward to from the time I opened my letter and found out that I had been accepted into Down High School!
I was nervous and excited at the same time and I had many thoughts in my head - whether or not I was going to make nice friends like I had in Primary School or whether the teachers were going to be as nice as all my Primary School teachers (who were friendly and kind). Even though I had excellent friendships and lovely teachers, I realised after meeting all my new teachers for the first time, that they were equally as nice and all the new friends I have made are lovely as well! Everyone at Down High is so helpful!
On my first day at Down High wehad to go and wait in the Assembly Hall for a while. Soon after we went and met our form teacher; in my case the teacher was Miss Stanley who is really nice. We stayed with her in our classrooms until break. After break we started classes it was really good to meet some more of the teachers and found out what wewere going to be doing during our first year at Down High.
At Down High there is a wide range of subjects such as Learning for Life and Work. Here welearn about how Northern Ireland is a mixed country and that we should never bully anyone or treat anyone in an unfair way, which I think, is correct. Wealso study I.C.T, which has definitely improved my computer skills, and I am sure that I will learn more by the end of my first year! Another subject that I study is RS, where welearn all about really interesting topics such as monasteries and the life story of Desmond Tutu. While we were learning about monasteries we found out a bit on the story of Brother Roger and the Taize community.
Down High is very famous for sporting activities and the school has won many awards in rugby, hockey, tennis, athletics and other sports. I go to after-school hockey practice. I also go to hockey practice on a Saturday morning. Many music tutors come into school and teach students how to play a musical instrument. You get the choice of playing brass and woodwind instruments, or you can also play stringed instruments not to mention singing or piano lessons as well! I am learning how to play the violin, which I really enjoy. There are two main choirs in Down High, the junior choir and the senior choir. I attend the junior choir. We meet every Tuesday lunchtime and I cannot wait until the concert in March!
The most valued memory I have so far in Year 8 is definitely the trip to Cultra; we went there in October for three days. It was amazing, and there was a lot of group work, which helped everyone to mix with other people and to create new friendships. We also got to go on a History trip to Carrickfergus Castle. This was also very good and I learnt a lot about the history of Carrickfergus.
