Ardnashee's new head girl Aoibh Cutliff has overcome many life challenges

The votes in a very important local election have been cast and counted and the results are in.

Derry’s Ardnashee School and College has a new Junior Leadership Team comprising pupils: Aoibh Cutliff, head girl; Ethan Moore, head boy; Niamh Glenn, deputy head girl; and Jack Nicholl, deputy head boy. 

Speaking to The Derry News, Aoibh (17) revealed one of her first duties as head girl had been to welcome Education Minister Paul Givan to Ardnashee.

“Mr Givan met with the Junior Leadership Team and he presented us all with our badges,” said Aoibh smiling.

“Anyone could nominate themselves for the Junior Leadership Team and as part of the election campaign, we each produced a poster and a video. Vice principal [Sinead] Crossan helped me with my video. In it, I said I was going to be kind and be a good friend. I also promised to get an ice cream van to visit the school.

“When Mr Beattie - senior teacher and leader of Pupil Voice - told me I had won, I was excited and happy and buzzing. 

“My Daddy, Paul, and my sisters, Cara, Orlaith, Caoimhe, were so happy and proud when I told them I had been elected Head Girl. Daddy played me a song on the saxophone - We Are the Champions,” said Aoibh.

Aoibh’s mum, Bríd Cutliff, is head of department early years foundation stage in Ardnashee. She is also the musical director of the school’s prize-winning choir. Coming from such a musical family, it is no surprise to learn Aoibh is a member of the choir and she also plays drums and piano.

Bríd spoke movingly about the challenges her daughter had to overcome to get to this point in her life.

She recalled: “Aoibh was born at 36 weeks with hydrocephalus. At that stage, we wereen’t sure if there was any brain function at all. One of the doctors actually said they didn’t see much brain activity.

“When she was four days old, she got a shunt put in and then at nine months old she developed epilepsy and was taking up to 40 seizures a day. That continued until she was about six or seven. She started walking when she was five but there were a lot of drops with the epilepsy. 

“Aoibh started talking around nine or ten, when she was in Primary 5, and she hasn’t stopped talking since. 

“We were originally told when she was born she would not be able to raise her own head. So anything above and beyond that is to be celebrated. The whole family is so proud of her. We phoned all the aunties and uncles, my aunties and uncles over in England to tell them she was head girl. She got cards and presents and there were people coming to visit her. She must have phoned everybody on her phone,” said Bríd. 

Bríd also hinted at a very special event taking place in December in the city. 

“It’s top secret at the minute,” she said, “but the Ardnashee school choir has been asked to sing with The Undertones in December. The Undertones heard about our choir and they wanted to record Teenage Kicks with us and we are doing a video as well. It is all very exciting.”

Mr Beattie took on the role of returning officer for the election - telling each candidate how they had fared.

Aoibh is joined on the Junior Leadership Team by head boy, Ethan Moore.

Ethan ran on a promise to “bring the breakfast club back”. 

He added: “Also, if people come to me and tell me about things they want for the school, as head boy and part of the team, I will try and implement those.”

Deputy head boy, Jack Nicholl, said he wanted “to make a big difference in the world and make a better place for everyone in the whole wide world.”

Niamh Glenn, who was elected deputy head girl, said her mammy was delighted when she heard the news. “She rang the whole family,” said Niamh, who added that she was interested in helping the younger pupils at Ardnashee.

“We can help them discover how the older students can help them to try and speak and they can teach us how to do sign language, so it works both ways,” said Niamh. 

Mr Beattie said the Junior Leadership Team had started learning  Makaton “so they can talk to the younger ones to represent them. 

“Makaton is a sign language which will increase the young people’s voice,” he said. 

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Vice principal Crossan said the election campaign had been “a great experience”.

“It really took off, “ she added. “There were so many people campaigning for each other. It was really interesting the amount of votes that came in for all of them. It  was very, very close. 

“We are just delighted. I think this is the first time we have had a full Junior Leadership Team in the school.

“We are really interested in capturing pupil voices because they are what makes Ardnashee as special as it is. The difficulty in a special school is you are trying to capture the voice of children who are very capable with their communications and children who are very limited in their verbal communication.

“It is our job now as a Junior Leadership Team to be communication detectives and make sure everyvoice is represented in the school. That is why there is such a range of different learning profiles and communication profiles in the team and that’s what makes us very special.”

The renowned Ardnashee choir will be singing for the Children in Crossfire santa who is coming to the Guildhall on Saturday. It is also singing at the Mayor’s My Guildhall, My Space event on Tuesday.