Dalriada School

The school has seen success with its choirs,[3] its Chamber Choir winning the BBC Ulster School Choir Of The Year Competition in 2016.[4]

Dalriada has traditionally staged an annual Shakespearean production. This was altered in 1975 by the new Head of English, Roy Alcorn, to include modern plays and musicals. Productions staged in recent years have included Les Misérables, Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Oliver!,"Phantom Of The Opera", Oklahoma!, "Macbeth", and “Hairspray” with “Fiddler on the Roof” being performed in December 2018 [5]

In 2010/2011, the Society entered the UK Wide Debating Matters Championship. A team of six debaters won the Derry Qualifying Heat to make it through the Northern Ireland and Scotland final in Edinburgh, where they triumphed over schools from across the two countries.[6] This allowed them to then qualify for the National Final held at the Royal Society of Medicine where they were defeated in a debate on the Banning of the Burqa.[7]

Dalriada also competes in the annual Bar Mock Trial Competition. The team prepares mock legal cases for the regional finals each year in the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, winning this competition three times.[8] After winning the National Championships in London in 2016 for the first time,[9] Dalriada pupils went on to compete in the Empire Mock Trial World Championships in New York for the third time.[10] At this event Dalriada had the experience of litigating in a different jurisdiction, and a student received an award for Outstanding Witness.[11]