‘Outstanding results important in competitive world’ - St Killian’s principal

Following last week’s “excellent” A-Level results, half of sthe school’s GCSE students attained A*/A grades.

St. Killian’s top achievers include Roisin Healy, seven A* three As; Paul Emerson, five A* four As; Claire Heggarty, five A* four As; Mary Kane four A* five As; Matthew Magill three A* seven As; Calum Black three A* six As; Kathleen Cunning three A* 6 six As; Shauna Murray three A* 6As; Ben O’Boyle three A* six As; Ciaran Emerson two A* seven As and Emma O’Loan one A* eight As.

However, “pride of place”, principal Jonny Brady said, was Aidan Murray, from Larne, who achieved 10 A* grades across a range of subjects including English Literature, DA science and further mathematics.

Mr Brady added: “Indeed Aidan adds to his academic achievements with the fact that he is an outstanding athlete and rower, having won Ulster and All- Ireland titles in each of these disciplines.

“Furthermore, Aidan has been talent identified by the rowing coaches from the highly prestigious US Yale University with the view to a sporting and academic scholarship once he has successfully completed his A-level courses.”

The school believes that a college mentoring system “supports all students to reach their full potential

The principal also expressed his delight with “another outstanding set of results at St Killian’s”.

He said: These students, without exception, outperformed their predicted results by achieving up to four additional GCSE passes. This reinforces the highly successful Education and Training Inspectorate Report which noted that, ‘GCSE results are outstanding as a result of well focused support which ensures that students make good progress and achieve their full potential’.

“The results have, once again, been excellent. Of the 115 students who sat their GCSEs, 83% achieved seven A* - C grades, while 88 per cent achieved 5 A* to Cs.

“However, for me, the most significant statistic is that 80 per cent of our students attained these grades including English and maths A* to C.

“These grades represent a significant rise from last year and unsurprisingly are well above the Northern Ireland average.

“Most encouraging was the fact that the majority of our young people reached and exceeded their potential with the help of a caring, dedicated and professional staff.

“This provides students with a greater opportunity and choice to progress to post 16 or make them more attractive to employers, which is so important in this increasingly competitive world.

“This outstanding set of results is down to the commitment, dedication and hard work of our students and staff, as well as the support and partnership that the school continues to develop and enjoy from our parents.

“Together we ensured, through our extensive revision programme, that all students are given the opportunity to access our teachers in the period prior to their exams.

“The whole college community should be rightly proud of the tremendous set of results.

“We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our students on their superb results and we are looking forward to ensuring
their future success at post 16.”