Dalriada pupils centre stage at GCE awards

Dalriada students Sarah Cassells, Sophie Sterne and Thomas Hancock took centre stage at the recent GCE Celebrating Excellence Awards.
Dalriada pupils Sarah Cassells, Sophie Sterne and Thomas Hancock who were recognised at CCEAs annual GCE Celebrating Excellence Awards.Dalriada pupils Sarah Cassells, Sophie Sterne and Thomas Hancock who were recognised at CCEAs annual GCE Celebrating Excellence Awards.
Dalriada pupils Sarah Cassells, Sophie Sterne and Thomas Hancock who were recognised at CCEAs annual GCE Celebrating Excellence Awards.

‘A truly fantastic evening’ were the thoughts of the teachers, family and friends of the 53 local students, who were recognised at CCEA’s annual awards event.

The Dalriada students joined pupils from 43 schools across Northern Ireland, and they were recognised for achieving top marks in the CCEA GCE summer 2015 examinations.

Held for the first time at Parliament Buildings, on 17 December, the Minister for Education John O’Dowd MLA congratulated the students on their success at A level:

Speaking at the event, Minister O’Dowd said: “Earlier this week the latest figures showed a strong and improving performance by our young people at both GSCE and A level.

“The outstanding achievements of those pupils here this evening is undoubtedly something to be celebrated and I offer you my congratulations.

“Undoubtedly you have worked very hard to achieve such success, supported by your families, teachers and school communities. You rightly deserve to be very proud of what you have achieved and I wish you all well in the future.”

Justin Edwards, Chief Executive at CCEA, was also there to congratulate the students.

He commented: “My warmest congratulations go to all the winners here this evening. I appreciate how much work has gone in to achieving these outstanding results.

“Your hard work, motivation and determination are an example to us all and I feel privileged to be here amongst you.

“Additionally, I’m sure all of our award winners would join me in recognising the vital role played by their teachers, family and friends.”

CCEA’s mission is to enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised and I am sure you will agree that this is very much at the heart of this evenings awards.