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Drumglass House, built in 1820, is home to almost 50 boarders from all around the world – this year, we have boarders from Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and Hong Kong.
The extensive and attractive grounds are used fullyby all boarders. Accommodation is in age-appropriate dormitories (Mini,Pink, Blue, Green, Flame, and Turquoise) for juniors, and singlecubicles for senior girls.
There are 3 Matrons and 9 Resident Boarding Staff to care for the boarders. Also resident are our pet fish.
Meals
Allfood is freshly made in our boarding kitchens by Mount Charles CateringLtd.. There is a healthy selection of fresh fruit and snacks every day,and we always offer a vegetarian option and food to suit specialdietary needs.
Boarders enjoy ‘theme nights’ and traditionalmeals for special occasions: Christmas, Chinese New Year and StValentines . We love to make national traditions from our differenthome countries part of our Boarding year.
Of course, we always remember your birthday with a card, a song and a cake!
Study
Homework(called Prep) is supervised by staff for girls up to Year 12. Seniorsmay study in their cubicles. Girls have supervised access out of schoolhours to the school library and to the school computer network.
Activities
Boarders play a full part in all school activities – music, sport, drama etc.
We also have exclusive use of the school swimming pool each week.
On most Saturday afternoons, our younger boarders enjoy an excursion or visit to a local place of interest.
Throughout the year, we hold special events for the whole Boarding Department such as:
October - Halloween Party November - A trip to ‘Planet Fun’
December - Christmas shopping, a visit to Christmas international market in Belfast City Centre and Christmas Party.
January - A visit to the Grand Opera House and celebration of Chinese New Year
February - Celebration of St Valentine and a trip to Odyssey to support Belfast Giants hockey tea
March / April - Easter party
May - Visit to Balmoral Show
June - End of Year Tea Party and Barbeque
Boarders’ Council
Each year, boarders elect a representative from each year to sit on Boarders’ Council.The Council meets every month to share information, discuss matters ofconcern and plan events with the Lady Warden Miss Robinson. The HeadBoarder takes the minutes of these meetings.
The Boarding Department
At the end of August Drumglass House opened its doors and welcomedback members of its boarding family from previous years as well as many new boarders, including 10 lively year 8 girls who adapted with ease toour routine without a tear caused by homesickness being shed! This year our boarders came from Ireland, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Spain and Germany as well as our first ever boarder from Denmark! Our international community was completed by our Boarding Mistresses who came from Ireland, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and South Africa!
As ever, the pace of life has been busy with boarders cramming a lot of activity into their 24 hours. As soon as school finished at 3.20pm books were quickly set aside and sports, musical activities and charity work outside of school were embarked upon with gusto. Our girls haveplayed hockey, table tennis, gaelic football, camogie and tennis andhave contributed to the school choirs, orchestra and drama productions.Many girls also availed of the opportunity to have exclusive use of the swimming pool on Tuesday evenings.
Boarding entertainments this year included our visit to “Planet Fun” in early November,attendance at the “Switch On” of the Christmas Lights in late November and Christmas Shopping in Belfast City Centre and at the Continental Christmas market in early December. This year we added to our list of traditional outings a post Christmas visit (and front row seats) to the pantomime in the Grand Opera House. This helped to banish the January blues and for that reason is hoped to become an annual occurrence.
The normal busy pace of activity slowed down slightly in February as a mantel of snow descended on Belfast and caused traffic mayhem and disruption in the city for a period of 2-3 weeks. For many of our boarders this was the first time they had seen snowflakes fall, and so, out came the mobile phones to photograph their new white world. In stark contrast to the chaos outside,Drumglass House remained a haven of peaceful cosiness with girls reassured by the fact that school was on their doorstep and they didn't have to miss a day away from their beloved classes!
March saw the addition to our calendar of an Inter-Boarding School’s Activity Afternoon. This year it took place in Royal School Dungannon where inthe spirit of good-natured fun boarders and their teachers competed against teams from the other Boarding Schools in Northern Ireland.
Food is always central to our daily life and to all our celebrations within Drumglass House. At Halloween boarders and staff alike put on imaginative costumes and enjoyed an autumnal repast followed by games to celebrate our first half term. At Christmas our year 13 girls organised a superb evening of entertainment after a sumptuous meal oftraditional fare where we were joined by teachers from school and friends of Drumglass House. In January 2009 our catering was takenover by Mount Charles and from the beginning they impressed us by giving us a Chinese New Year celebration and Valentine’s party to remember! Our Boarding Mistresses then treated us in March to an International Food Evening with a range of delicious food items from their respective countries which they themselves had prepared.
Neverfar from our minds in has been the school’s 150th anniversary.Just after Easter we saw the Great Hall of Drumglass House filled withan exhibition of memorabilia of Victoria College’s distinguished history and were reminded that Boarding was very much at the heart ofthe school founded by Margaret Byers in 1859. Then in May, MaryMcAleese on her visit to the school and Drumglass House reiterated the great importance of Boarding for shaping the education of girls in the past and the present.
In June the sun came out for our annual afternoon tea party and shortly afterwards our barbeque where we said good bye to ourboarders who are proceeding on to the next stage of their educational career as well as to those who are changing schools.
Once again I wish you all well and hope that pleasant memories of Drumglass Housewill accompany you as proceed in life. I also gave my heartfelt thanks to our hard-working team: matrons, boarding mistresses and the domestic and catering staff who have worked tirelessly to provide a happy and stimulating environment for all our girls.
Miss H Robinson
Head of Boarding
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