Coleraine Grammar School's Open Night sees over 1,000 visitors through the doors

Guests were greeted by a musical ensemble in the Humphreys Hall. There, Headmaster Dr Carruthers and the Year 8 Pastoral Leader delivered a presentation about the school, which included an explanation of the exciting new building and sports provision that is underway.

In addition to the new classroom block which will ensure pupils are located on the one campus by September, he outlined the sports facilities’ refurbishments and also explained that the Grammar are currently fundraising to provide an Astroturf hockey pitch.

He said that when all building projects and sports facilities are complete in the very near future, Coleraine Grammar will have “unrivalled classroom, extra-curricular, sporting, music and sixth form provision, all on our 70 acre site near the centre of Coleraine”. During this presentation, a junior and senior pupil also spoke about their experiences in CGS and gave visitors a more pupil-centred view of their studies and extra-curricular activities.

Senior pupils then escorted groups of visitors on guided tours of the school, stopping at various classrooms such as English where pupils donned Shakespearean costumes and greeted visitors with quizzes and year 8 guides, History where Suffragettes were campaigning for votes for women, interactive games and a recruitment office for WW1, plus some soldiers.

In Biology, there were lots of experiments to take part in and even some fairly gruesome dissections to observe. In the gym, there were hockey and rugby skills demonstrations to take part in. The Maths department offered games and puzzles. Physics pupils assisted visitors with interactive tasks, in Chemistry, visitors were encouraged to try out starch tests and various other experiments.

The Music department had an array of pupils showcasing their percussion and composition talents. In Technology, the pupils explained some of the projects they had been working on and some members of Lego Club were also there with their creations. Also, buses shuttled guests to and from the Games Hall and Rowing pavilion throughout the evening to showcase some more of our sports provision. The CGS rowers were very encouraging and helpful with visitors testing out the training equipment.