Ballycastle High School

Now that the Christmas exams are over, students were welcomed back to Board Games Club today. Packed tables, endless fun, and the best way to hide from a rainy day! 🎲☔ Come and join in every Thursday at lunch in Room 21!

The Crazy Crafters travelled to St George’s Market, Belfast today to participate in the annual Young Enterprise Big Market. A great experience had by all!

Products will be available to purchase at our Christmas Concert next week!🎄

8S, 9D and 9F were very lucky to receive their books from Book Buzz just after Hallowe'en.

We would all like to say a big thank you to Book Buzz and the donors who paid for all of Year 8 and 9 to receive a free book.

We hope you all have been readings lots!!

Year 8 out for a walk today getting some fresh air in before lunch after a morning of study for the Winter Exams!

GCSE, AS and A2 certificates are now available from the school office 😃

Cross Country Running Club took the opportunity to get some fresh air between exams on a lovely day today!

“Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”.

Year 11 GCSE Business Studies pupils participating in some peer group revision, using key topic cards to help prepare them for their Winter Assessment next week. 😊

A great opportunity to get involved, and make a difference in our community!

Ballycastle High 4-2 Coleraine College

On Monday afternoon Ballycastle High U14’s welcomed the previously unbeaten Coleraine College to Quay Road. The hosts got off to the perfect start when, after 7 minutes, Sam Christie found the top corner from 20yards with a thundering drive.
With 20 minutes played, Christie forced an excellent save from the opposing keeper and from the resulting corner Oscar Spence found Christie who finished tidily at the back post to make it 2-0. Two minutes later the dancing feet of Spence waltzed through the Coleraine midfield and defence, evading a number of tackles to play in Saul Baird, who saw his effort parried into the path of Coen Barnsley who drove home to make it 3.
Early in the second half the hosts made it 4-0 as a superb ball from keeper Tommy Bustard found Christie in space whose threaded ball in behind released Barnsley 1-on-1 to slot home his second of the game. Coleraine College made it a nervy end for the hosts scoring 2 well taken goals inside the last 10 minutes but Ballycastle held firm to see out the game and win 4-2.
Player of the Match was shared between Sam Christie and Coen Barnsley who shared 4 goals between them.

Well done to our two teams of Year 9 girls who competed in the Cyber First Girls competition this week and last week. These pupils have given up their free time to take part in the competition, trying to gather as many points as they can. A great bunch of girls with bright futures!

Year 10 pupils enjoying a morning at the Lodge Hotel attending the Tech for the Future IT careers event today!

Only Year 10 pupils to be in School tomorrow....

Winners of our Key Stage 3 Poster Competition during Anti-Bullying Week. Well done girls!!

🚜🚜 🚜TWO WEEKS UNTIL OUR TRACTOR RUN!! 🚜🚜🚜

This week our staff and sixth form pupils, involved in organising our Tractor Run on Saturday 9th December, received their ‘Agri Club’ fleeces, from Hannah at ‘Matter!’ This company aims to raise awareness for mental health in agriculture! 🌱🚜🐑🐄😊

Having had Hannah talk to our club last year, we were delighted to work with her to produce our fleeces! We think you’ll agree that she’s done a great job! 👏🏻👌🏻
These will definitely help to keep the team warm at the tractor run! We can’t wait to see you all there!! 😃🚜

Well done to our 1stXI girls hockey squad who finished the week with a 1-0 win vs Coleraine College. Both teams played attacking hockey with both keepers making good saves to keep the score at 0-0 for most of the game. However, Emma Leeming pounced in the last minute of the game to score the winner for Ballycastle. Great way to end a busy week!

Ballycastle High 1stXI travelled to the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre to play Ballymoney High School in their first match of the season. In a frantic first half Ballymoney High took and early lead only for Emma Leeming to score a goal for Ballycastle to make the score 1-1. Both teams competed well and Ballymoney High were more clinical in the circle making the score line 4-1 at half time. Emma Leeming pulled another goal back for Ballycastle in the second half with the game finishing 4-2, and Maisie Huey making some excellent saves to deny Ballymoney any more goals. We are delighted to get the senior girls hockey matches up and running again this season and the next match is Friday vs Coleraine College.

Today, some members of our Agri Club headed out of the classroom to attend the ‘Royal Ulster Beef & Lamb Championships,’ held at the Eikon Exhibition Centre. 🐮🐑
The pupils made the most of their day by viewing the livestock, watching a wide selection of beef classes and, of course, they made time for some refreshments!!🍔
A good day had by a great group of pupils! 🤠

Congratulations to our fantastic Year 13 pupil Sarah Kinney, who has reached the zone final of the Rotary Youth Leadership Development Competition. We wish her luck for next week and thank Ballycastle Rotary for their support. All the best Sarah!!

As part of the Our Healthy Places Project, some fantastic Year 8 pupils from BHS and CPC took part in an art therapy workshop run by the Art Dept. A big thanks to the Dreams Ahoy project and the Northern Area Community Network. It was a super day with brilliant young people.

U14 Football Match Report
Ballycastle High 0-0 Our Lady of Lourdes

Ballycastle started the game brightly and almost opened the scoring 2minutes in when Max McConaghy’s cross fell to Saul Baird who fired just wide from the middle of the box. Ballycastle kept the pressure up 2 minutes later with Sam Christie’s long range drive well saved in the bottom corner. Both sides battled well in the midfield with Maisie Huey showing great strength and determination to win plenty of tackles and free kicks in good positions for Ballycastle. Our final chance of the half saw Saul Baird strike the foot of the post at the back post after some great build up play. The second half was a tightly contested affair with Lewis McDowell impressive at left back in both attack and defence. With 2 minutes to go Ballycastle almost scored what would have been a deserved winner when Oscar Spence delivered a beautiful corner for Sam Christie whose header landed agonisingly wide of the far post. Player of the match is today shared between Maisie Huey and Oscar Spence who both worked tirelessly all game in midfield. Lastly we would like thank OLOL for hosting the match and giving us such a closely contested game.

Soroptimist Public Speaking

Congratulations to Year 13 students Sarah and Ember who represented the school at the Ballymoney & District Soroptimist International Public Speaking Competition. Both girls acquitted themselves very well and were complimented by the adjudicators on their engaging speeches and the depth of research they had undertaken.

Sarah and Ember will be using their public speaking skills to help younger pupils taking part in our new Debating Society which begins next week; pupils from all years are welcome.

It was a busy meeting for our Agri Club members today!
Huge thanks to James Chartres for coming in to speak to the group. 😊We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about how he came to establish his successful ‘Hoof Trimming’ business, his farming experiences in Australia and the advice he had for future employment in the Agri sector! 🐄🇦🇺
Lots of discussion was also had about our upcoming tractor run. Just over 3 weeks to go!! 🚜😀🚜

Our Under-14 boys also travelled to Raphoe, for many this was their first competitive match and they didn't disappoint. The boys attacked with great promise but couldn't break through the Raphoe defence. They had a number of short corners but couldn't find the net. Raphoe broke through twice to leave the final score 2-0. MOTM today was shared between Sam Christie and Jamie Morrison.

Absolutely super effort from the boys today who completed the group stages of the McCullough Cup with a trip to play Royal and Prior in Raphoe. The boys played some excellent hockey and restricted Raphoe to mainly short corner chances. We couldn't be prouder of this team. There were many excellent performances, but MOTM was Caleb Corr who was outstanding in attack and defence.

Some of our excellent Year 10 pupils enjoy breaking codes in History class as part of their investigation into the Enigma Code.

All welcome on Thursday afternoon for boys' hockey training. A brilliant group! It was great to see another excellent session last week. We are on the up!

The boys travelled to Raphoe for their final group game in the McCullough Cup this week. Brilliant to see the boys compete against Belfast Royal Academy, Methodist College, Grosvenor Grammar School, and Ballyclare High School this term. It has been a challenging group but a brilliant experience. We are very proud of this super bunch of lads.

Year 8 pupils enjoying a workshop with Bring IT On today, learning all about careers in IT!

Year 12 girls had a great time learning about basic skin care at lunchtime. Thanks to Catherine Black McAlonan for a brilliant 'hands-on' first session!

Congratulations Emma! An amazing achievement and talent.

😊Excitement is building…5 WEEKS TO GO!😊🚨
🤷‍♀️ What? Agri Club’s ‘Charity Tractor Run’
🗓️ When? Saturday 9th December
⏰ Registration? 11am
📍Where? Limepark Playing Fields, Armoy

Good luck to our very own Laura Dowey. Fantastic achievement already

Congratulations to our new Chairpersons for our School Council - Emma Leeming and Ember Irvine. Also well done to our new Secretary - Lucy Crilly.

An excellent meeting with our School Council Reps. as they make plans for 2023-2024. A super bunch who represented their forms very well. A great job. Well done.

U14 Football Match Report Vs North Coast Integrated College

Final Score: Ballycastle High 2 NCIC 3

Both teams started the match well with a real battle in midfield for possession in the opening 10 minutes. Midway through the 1st half North Coast took the lead when a free kick was launched forwards with their striker looping a header into the Ballycastle net. Early in the second half North Coast made it 2-0 with goalkeeper Tommy Bustard unlucky to see a save deflect into the path of an on rushing attacker who finished well into the far corner.
Ballycastle fought back well and halved the deficit when Sam Christie played through Coen Barnsley, who fired into the top corner. Sam Christie soon hauled Ballycastle level with a terrific strike from the edge of the box after Jamie Morrison’s cross deflected into his path. Ballycastle looked likely to kick on from this point and win the game until a late free kick for North Coast took an unfortunate bobble off the pitch and into the roof of the net. There was however, still time for Ballycastle to have one final effort in their attempts to draw level again, when Sam Christie’s free kick was agonisingly cleared off the line.
Player of the match goes to the all action midfield performance of Sam Christie, who finished with a goal and an assist. We would like to thank North Coast for such a closely contested match which could’ve gone either way in the second half.