Guest speaker Ms. Erin Begley {past pupil}

PRINCIPAL'S SPEECH

 

Reverend fathers, distinguished guests, past and present staff, ladies, gentlemen and of course past and present pupils – you are all very welcome to our annual Prize Giving ceremony. This evening we will celebrate the many academic, sporting and extra curricular achievements of the pupils from St Patrick’s. It is great to see so many parents here to join in the celebration of their children’s success.

We are honoured and privileged tonight to have Erin Begley as our Guest of Honour. Erin left us in June 1998 with ten GCSE’s. Unfortunately at that time, we did not offer A-Levels here. Erin graduated from the University of Ulster, Jordanstown in 2004 with a First Class Honours Degree. In fact, Erin achieved the top marks in her Degree and was given a six-month contract with Northern Ireland Tourism. Erin has been PR Manager for a number of very large companies. She has worked with the Irish Football Association and the Irish International Soccer team.  In August this year, Erin took up a position as Press Officer in the Stormont Executive.

This evening is a public acknowledgement of our successes and achievements, and I want to take this opportunity to reassure parents that as well as our annual Prize Giving ceremony, pupils are rewarded on a daily basis through the House system and Pupil of the Month awards. We continually recognise and reward effort, commitment, dedication, teamwork and consideration of others. Education at St Patrick’s is about much more than academic success; it is about helping our pupils to develop as individuals and as contributors to society.

At St Patrick’s we strive to develop every aspect of the individual.

 

The results achieved by our GCSE students were excellent, with 67% achieving five or more Grades A* - C, an increase of 14% on last year!  Eleven of our students have 10 or more Grades A* - C. All of our students have achieved Grades in at least four subjects.

These results are even more incredible when you consider that 95% of these students either got a Grade D or did not sit the 11plus.

 

Over half of our Year 12 students continued into Post-16 education. I am delighted to report that 30 of these students returned to St Patrick’s with four going to Limavady Grammar School, one of our partner schools in the Roe Valley Learning Community.

 

Last year, we had the largest number of students ever sitting A-Level examinations. Their results were excellent, with 97% achieving Grades A – E. 75% of our A-Level results were Grades

A – C.  I am particularly pleased with the results in Double Award Health & Social Care, where 87% of the students received A and B Grades. I was also delighted with the results in ICT, where 71% achieved A – C Grades. For the first time, students from St Patrick’s sat examinations in BTEC Nationals in Construction in the NWRC in Limavady and I am happy to say that 87% of these boys achieved an A Grade.

 

Our Lower Sixth students performed exceptionally well at AS level. 85% of the students achieved A –C Grades. In seven subjects, all of the students achieved three Grades A – C. I know these students can maintain these standards and perform well in their A Levels next year.

 

Here in St Patrick’s, we have a clear vision for our pupils, facilitating the design of a curriculum that is aligned to this vision. With appropriate organisation of facilities and technology we will continue to develop course provision with our partner schools.

 

Research and studies carried out all over the world; in particular, America and Canada have found that pupils in smaller schools outperform those in larger schools on every academic measure.  Smaller schools build strong communities. St Patrick’s is at the very heart of the Dungiven community, with many local groups using the school’s facilities.

 

Fundamental to the success of smaller schools is the relationships we foster. The atmosphere here in St Patrick’s encourages friendship since pupils get to know each other better than they would in a larger school with a thousand pupils in the same building. Pupils here know everyone in their Year Group, if not everyone in the school. Teachers have time to get to know their pupils individually. They recognise that every pupil has equal value and daily they encourage every pupil to achieve their best. We treat all the pupils at St Patrick’s as individuals, not as numbers.

 

In conclusion, I would like to thank our parents and the people from Dungiven and the surrounding area for their invaluable support for the school. We often call on parents and local businesses to help with our fund-raising and we always get a very positive response.  Your help is much appreciated.

 

The staff in St Patrick’s are committed to this community and together, with you, we can go from strength to strength, providing a 21st century education for all our children.

 

Anne Sands

Principal

St Patrick’s College, Dungiven