Celebration of success at Cookstown High School's prize day

The occasion was magnificently supported by prize winners, staff, parents and friends of the school.

The guest of honour was Ms Jenny Costello, a former past pupil of the school.

Jenny is Executive Director of Ethical Tea Partnership and leads operations and strategy within the organisation. Her work in delivering systematic change and sustainable development with numerous organisations has also involved overseeing programmes in Africa and Asia.

The Rev T. Greer opened Prize Day in prayer and the chair of governors, Mrs Dripps, addressed the audience, expressing her thanks to the members of staff and Board of Governors who have worked diligently, and warmly welcomed new staff, praising the excellent work and dedication of all staff who have been consistent in their hard work last year recognising the specific challenges of the last two years.

She said: “The plethora of extra-curricular opportunity on offer is outstanding which enables pupils to develop character, talents and confidence. Regardless of a pupil’s background or aspiration, each pupil should feel valued and supported and believe whatever they put their mind to, they can achieve.”

Mrs Dripps went on to talk about the impact of budgetary challenges and the challenges of political decisions. The audience were reminded that Cookstown High School is a controlled non-selective grammar school, and is a naturally integrated school with a Christian ethos, accepting children of all faiths and none.

The school continues to educate to a very high standard as evidenced once again in the external examination results for GCSE, AS and A level. Pupils are encouraged to have respect for one another, witness integrity, honesty, compassion, and the development of talent, and leave with a hope for the future and a feeling of self-worth. Mrs Dripps concluded by congratulating pupils who are receiving prizes and encouraged the community to continue to support and remain loyal to the school aims and ethos.

Following Mrs Dripp’s address, the Principal, Miss Gwyneth Evans, conveyed her thanks to the staff and community of Cookstown High School, and paid tribute to the former Head Boy and Head Girl.

Miss Evans reflected on the collective achievements of grammar pupils and secondary pupils at Cookstown High School and celebrated the school’s highest ever results recorded at A Level and GCSE and acknowledged the hard work of pupils, staff, parents and school community.

At both GCSE and A Level, Cookstown High School is above the Northern Ireland average at A* and A grades. At A Level the school saw an increase to 96% of pupils achieving A*-C grades – a testament to the integrity and accuracy of the Centre Determined Grades of previous years as well as the hard work and dedication of pupils and staff.

Neil McKay is to be highly commended and congratulated on his outstanding achievement in coming top of the year group with 4 A* grades at A level. Neil is now studying Mechanical Engineering at Queen’s University.

The majority of pupils have gone on to university to read subjects such as Law, Medicine, Computer Science, Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Education. Others have taken up apprenticeships or employment, or taken a gap year.

Support for local, national and international charities has continued including appeals for highly deprived areas in the Eastern Europe, and for women and children who have been displaced due to the war in the Ukraine.

Last year’s events included welcoming the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, now King Charles III and the Queen Consort to Cookstown, to celebrate Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, 70th Jubilee celebrations. The Lord Lieutenant for County Tyrone and Deputy Lieutenants marked the occasion with a tree planting ceremony; other celebrations in school included a jubilee baking competition and the PTFA held a tea party.

Opportunities to work alongside various universities have provided expert insights into the world of computer coding, the use of energy, developing knowledge and leadership. This year has seen excellent success with the Aberdeen Angus competition as well as competitions with Oxford university in Modern Languages. In addition, the advent of the ‘Super-curriculum’ for sixth form has encouraged and developed student’s wider knowledge and understanding beyond the taught curriculum.

Success continues on the sporting field for current and past pupils such as Jackie Burns (N Ireland Womens’ football goal keeper); Nicholas Griggs came 9th in the World Under 20 Athletics Championships; hockey players Max Anderson, Ewan Cruickshank, Mark Cuddy, Iain Cruickshank, Max Wylie were all commended for their significant hockey achievements playing for either Ulster U18 team, Irish U18 team, Ulster U16 Team or England U21’s. Harry Bownes is now playing for Tyrone U16 football; Matt Barrett is the Irish School’s Judo champion, Marc Hutchinson Irish kick boxing champion and Lucy McClenaghan was recognised for her achievement in the U18 All Ireland Athletics Championships.

During her speech, Miss Evans emphasised that the ‘constituents of success are not to be found in fame, wealth and acquisitions, but rather utilising all that we have been given: our abilities, talents and gifts to achieve personal best in any aspect of life, and doing that in a way which has integrity and honour. In addition, attending to the seemingly unimportant small things in a gradual cumulative way leads to success. Sometimes the small things are not valued enough’. Quoting Winston Churchill, Miss Evans stated "Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts”.