Ballyclare Secondary School’s Kit Car team, Forget Fossil, has once again made history by clinching back-to-back victories at the Aintree Heat of the Greenpower F24 Kit Car competition. Battling through gusting winds and driving rain, the team showed exceptional resilience and engineering prowess, securing 2nd place in Race 1 and 1st Place in Race 2 to be crowned overall champions in the F24 Kit Car class.

The team are preparing for their next challenge at the International Final at Goodwood on the 12th October which brings the 2025 season to a close.

A huge thanks goes to their dedicated sponsors and supporters, whose backing continues to fuel the team’s success and innovation.

Thanks to our Travel Sponsors: Dennison Commercials , Woodside Logistics Group and Houstons Coachworks Ltd for continued support helping us getting to races.

This year our Car Sponsors @clarevetgroup , @nmlsolutions , @windsorholidaypark, Used Cars NI, @cladywater_equinelearning & East Antrim Bitmac.

Finally, our Team Sponsors have allowed the team to move from strength to strength with support from @Thales and Field Tech Survey who have enabled the team to go further than they ever have before!

Culture Club meets every Monday at lunchtime, bringing together pupils from Years 8 to 11 to learn Mandarin and explore Chinese culture. Mr Guan, from the Confucius Institute at Ulster University, leads the club and plans to host a variety of Chinese cultural workshops for pupils during these sessions.

So far in Culture Club, we have learned how to say our Chinese names and how to greet others in Mandarin.

We have also learned numbers and the hand signs that represent each one. Finally, we discovered which numbers are considered lucky or unlucky in China, and learned that Chinese Cyber Valentine’s Day is celebrated on 21st May.

Our Year 14 Sport students, together with the Year 11 Occupational Sport group, enjoyed a fantastic visit to the home ground of Ulster Rugby!

We were incredibly lucky to watch the senior team in training as they prepared for this Saturday’s big fixture at the Affidea Stadium. An inspiring experience for all.

On Friday 26th September, the staff held their 10th annual coffee morning raising £729 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Well done to everyone who baked (or bought) and donated to raise this fabulous total!

A special thanks to the horticulture class for the beautiful flower arrangements they made especially for the event.

Please find below our Weekly Communication Bulletin for Parents and Carers, and other important information, which has been sent out to you via Sims App.

Our Year 10 team Won 4-1 vs Parkhall in a good performance the side created plenty of chance in the first half and went in 2-0 with goals from Cameron Forsythe and an own goal from an Archie Greer corner. Parkhall came back strongly at the start of the second half and grabbed a goal back only for Ballyclare to push on to win 4-1 with further goals from Cameron Forsythe and Rio Nelson.

Congratulations to the Year 12 football team who defeated St. Columbanus, Bangor 9-0 in the First Round of the U16 NI Cup. Goals from Cai Collins (3), Jamie Harpur (2), Luke Hill (2), Jaydn Simms and Alexander McGladdery. Ballyclare will play Bangor Academy in the next round. Well done boys!

Congratulations to the Year 8 football team who defeated All Saints 8 -1 in the First Round of the U16 NI Cup. Goals from Kobi Hall (4), Riley Brown (2) and Jacob Holland (2). Ballyclare will play Breda Academy in the next round. Well done boys!

School will finish early (by 12 noon) on the following dates for Parent Consultations to run from 1:00pm – 3:00pm. Information on booking the Year 12 Parent Consultation meetings is on our Parent Weekly Communication, check Sims Parent App or the school website. There will be no buses on these days.