Local students celebrate their ‘impressive’ GCSE results

At Banbridge High School, Principal Andrew Bell said the school was “very proud” of its pupils, with 99% passing GCSE’s, BTec and Occupational Studies.

Mr Bell said, “The school is once again very proud of its students who have received their results. The high standard set last year has been maintained this year with three quarters of the results in the A*-C category and 99% of the cohort passing their examinations. It has been particularly pleasing to see a marked increase in the number of A* and A grades.

“These young people have much to be pleased about. Their efforts have secured these very pleasing results which has ensured that the school continues to show steady improvement in all the headline statistics.

“Many of these young people will be returning to continue their studies with us at AS level. Wherever their paths take them we wish all our of young people every good wish for the future.”

At Banbridge Academy, this year’s GCSE results were described as “truly impressive”, with an overall pass rate of 97.1%.

Principal, Mr Raymond Pollock said: “GCSE results in the Academy in 2014 are once more excellent. Of the 191 pupils who sat GCSE examinations this year 58.8% of all entries resulted in the top Grades, A* or A and when B Grades are included this figure rises to 86.5%.

“98.95% gained five passes at A*-C, including English and Mathematics while the overall pass rate of 97.1% confirms that all our pupils right across the board have worked hard and fulfilled their potential.

“There were many superb performances but especially noteworthy was that of Jessica Lindsay who obtained an unrivalled, outstanding performance of 12 A* grades. For Amy Bailey, Laura Bamford, Christine Graham, Becca Johnston, Rebecca Loughlin and Sara Walsh there were 10 A* Grades. A further 11 students obtained 10A*or A Grades. Not all students of course took 10 GCSEs and Hannah Gordon, Laura Hackett, Caitlin McGarry, and Emily Watson, scored A* in each of the 9 GCSE subjects they studied, with 24 other pupils gaining a minimum of 9 A* or A Grades in each of the nine subjects they sat.

“These results were produced by sheer hard work and commitment on the part of our pupils, supported and encouraged by parents who today can feel justifiably proud of these accomplishments. We congratulate our young people on their outstanding achievements and wish them well for the future.”

Saint Patrick’s College, Banbridge are delighted with their results for the second year running.

Their focus has been on raising standards at GCSE with particular attention being paid to GCSE English and Maths. They are now among the top five non-selective schools in Northern Ireland.

“We have tailored our curriculum to meet the needs of every pupil and the school endeavours to ensure that the pupil is central to the education process,” said Principal Mrs Mallon.

“Our school motto is ‘Excellence through Partnership’, and that partnership of parent-pupil-teacher is the root of our success.”

New-Bridge Integrated College Principal Anne Anderson said, “We congratulate all our students on achieving 100% pass rate at grades A*-G.  Once again New-Bridge students’ GCSE grades 5A* – C are above the Northern Ireland average for non- selective schools.

“Our students have worked hard to achieve A*/A grades across the broad range of subjects offered at the college.

“I would also like to thank the dedicated staff at New-Bridge for their hard work and commitment.

With such a large percentage of pupils achieving five or more pass grades we look forward to welcoming many of them back to continue their studies in sixth form where they can avail of an ever increasing range of A Level subjects.

“We acknowledge the hard work and dedication from the teachers within the Banbridge Area Learning schools.

“We also congratulate our Year 11 students who achieved record breaking results in their GCSE modules, we look forward to another excellent set of results next year.”