Award Winning Author Visits Students at Malone College

Author Linda Newbery visited the College on the 24th October.  It was our great pleasure to welcome Linda here to Malone were between ninety and a hundred students listened intently while she recounted some of her experiences as an author and provided tips and inspiration for our budding writers. 

Linda has published a variety of fiction books, many of which are aimed at young people of secondary school age.  Linda's first book was published in 1998 while teaching full-time and since this first foray into writing Linda has since published a wide range of books many of which can be found in the College library. 

This visit was made possible by the Education and Library Services and it was a great opportunity to meet a real life author whose books have been very popular within the College.

Message from the New Principal

As I begin my first year as Principal of Malone College I want to pay my respects to Mr Seamus Leonard and Mr Maurice McKeown who retired at the end of August 2008 and to thank them for their long years of service to the College and wish them well in their retirement.  I also hope Miss Kerr and Miss Ferris are doing well in their new jobs.  I would also like to express my thanks to Mrs Dorman who was one of the founding Teachers of the College who is leaving us temporarily to join the Belfast Education and Library Board for a year.  We hope to see her back soon.

I should  like to welcome new faces to the College Mr Brown, Vice-Principal, Miss Anderson and Mr O'Neill in the Maths Department and Miss McNeill in the English Department.  I should also like to welcome new members of staff who are with us in a temporary capacity - Miss Cushley, Drama, Miss Dowling, English, Miss Joyce, English, Mr McGleenon, Art and Miss Sabir, Maths.  We have three new classroom assistants Mr Cleary, Miss Gatt and Miss Stott who are assisting with classes in Year 8 and Year 12.  Miss Irvine is the new school cook.

Amongst my priorities in my first year as Principal is to increase home/school communication and to improve school attendance.  To this end we have invested in a school attendance package called Truancy Call which will communicate to parents if their child is missing from school on the morning of their first absence from school.  This will be commencing on Tuesday 4th November and you as Parents can help the school by ringing into the school office by 10am if your child is going to be absent from school.

I am also working closely with the Deaprtment of Education to ensure that the new building projects needed by the school are delivered - I hope to have more news on this issue in the near future.

I hope you all have a restful and safe Halloween.  Year 11 Science Students have important modular exams after Halloween and should use this time off to prepare for the exams.

Mr Price

Year 13 Visit to the Park Plaza Hotel & Belfast Zoo

Students undertaking an A-level in Travel and Tourism recently visited the four star Park Plaza Hotel at Belfast International Airport and the Belfast Zoo to research the topic of customer service. 

The 106 bedroom Park Plaza Hotel provided students with a tour of the facilities and a presentation after lunch on how the hotel is run and its emphasis on customer service.

At Belfast zoo students had a chance to question the education officer and meet 'Trisha' the Royal Python Snake!  The students really enjoyed both visits and the information provided by the two organisations was very informative. 

Malone College places great importance on its links to local businesses and we very much appreciated the time and effort taken by both the Park Plaza Hotel and Belfast Zoo to ensure the visits were a success.

 Mr Talbot

Year Eight Visit Our Local Churches

Year eight students at Malone undertook the annual visit to our local churches.  The visits included:

• Windsor Baptist Church
• Fisherwick Presbyterian Church
• St Brigid's Roman Catholic Church

Students were also provided with a brief talk by members of the congregation and also by the Minister of Fisherwick Presbyterian Church.  On Wednesday and Thursday Reverend McKelvey encorporated a recital on the organ into the visit and our students were most impressed with the musical interlude. 

During the three days our year eight students recieved lunch at the Baptist Church who provided tea, coffee and biscuits for everyone.  This was very much appreciated by everyone.

F Magill