ACTIVITIES
In recent years the department has made a determined effort to increase the opportunity for students to learn about the subject outside as well as inside the school. Annual trips to the NI Assembly have taken place since the introduction of the AS examination system. In 2000 the undoubted highlight was a trip to New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC to witness the Presidential election first-hand. Upper Sixth students were accompanied by pupils from Carrickfergus Grammar School and Bangor High School. In 2001 pupils of A level History and Politics travelled to London for 4 days with pupils from Aquinas Grammar to see the workings of the British parliament at close quarters.
In November 2003 the department organised a mock NI Assembly election.
In March 2004 8 pupils took part in a debate on the motion "Justice is upheld at all times in NI" as the invited guests at a conference organised by the Wave Trauma Centre and held in the Quality Hotel.
In April 2004 Mrs Gregory, Mrs Weir and 27 lower sixth students spent the day at Westminster where they watched Question Time and met members from both national and local political parties.
In November 2004 we hosted a NI "Question Time". The panel was made up of local representatives from the Unionist and Nationalist traditions and chaired by Mark Simpson, Political Correspondent BBC NI. The audience, our own lower and upper sixth politics students and pupils from St. Patrick's High School, Belfast put them through their paces. The conference concluded with a number of musical items played by William Drennan and Seamus Lavery. They believe that their duet on the lambeg drum and Irish pipes was something that had never been seen before anywhere in the province.