A massive thank you to Gerald McAlister and his incredible team of black belts from Down Community Jujitsu Club for delivering introductory self-defence lessons to our Year 9. Students were taught self-defence techniques using a ‘hands-on approach’, gaining valuable skills on how to keep themselves and others safe. It was also great to welcome back former student Alex McCartan as one of the team of demonstrators. Alex was working his way through the belts during his time at S

A party of 24 A Level Politics have been in London this week, finding out about the ways of Westminster and Whitehall. Highlight of the programme was attendance at Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions. Interesting times to be observing the adversarial system in practice! The students have also taken part in a walking tour of Whitechapel, notorious for the Jack the Ripper murders, enjoying some down time at the theatre watching ‘Hamilton’ and lunching in China Town.

Congratulations to Year 14 student Ailbhe Lemoine, who has won a place to read History at Cambridge University. Ailbhe’s outstanding achievement is very well deserved. Ailbhe follows in the footsteps of Shimna students, most recently Gabriel Corrigan ( Mathematics ) and Dara McAnulty ( Natural Sciences ).   Mr Smyth, who teaches Ailbhe, speaks for everyone at Shimna: “We are delighted for Ailbhe. She’s a tremendous student, with a natural flair for studying the past. Her read

Last week, Ciaran Milligan, our Resilience Lead, took part in a workshop focused on supporting bereaved children and young people in NI schools, hosted by Stranmilis University College. Ciaran joined professionals and students from across the sector to explore how schools can support young people navigate grief. The programme looked at: How children and teenagers understand and experience grief at different ages The emotional and educational impact bereavement can have Practi

The winners of the NI Young Economist of the Year competition were announced at Ulster University Belfast Campus on Wednesday 21 January. Organised by NI Schools Hub, all entries were judged by the Ulster University Business School academics, ensuring a fair and anonymous awarding process. Year 13 students Daniel Cutler, Tadhg Kennedy, Ben McNerlin, Matthew Turley and Rory Smith won second place overall across Northern Ireland with their submission on 'Rethinking Public Servi