PICTURE GALLERY: Dalriada Prep Prize Day

THE 43rd Annual Report on Dalriada Preparatory Department was presented at the School Prize Day on Wednesday last by the Head of Department, Mrs Carolyn Mussen.

Mrs Mussen began by commending both pupils and staff for the effort and commitment shown to the school in the past year.

Mrs Mussen stated " As usual the boys and girls deserve great credit for working so hard all year and I am very proud of all the Prep department staff for providing such a happy, caring and secure environment in which to allow our pupils to grow into the rounded successful individuals we see before us today."

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Mrs Mussen went on to outline the very impressive academic results achieved by the preparatory department. "The results in the AQE and GL Assessment tests and the end of Key Stage Assessment were excellent. At Key Stage 1 an outstanding 79% of pupils achieved level 3 in English and 86% achieved level 3 in Mathematics. At Key Stage 2 65% of our pupils achieved level 5 in English and a staggering 85% achieved level 5 in Mathematics. These results average at approximately twice the overall Northern Irish percentages. Of the 19 pupils who took the entrance assessments, an outstanding 89% (17 pupils) of these achieved a standardised score in the top three quintiles."

Other activities enjoyed by all the pupils have included The annual Harvest Assembly, Workshops by the Ulster Orchestra, a performance of "Billy no Buzz" by the Key stage 1 Pupils and a Carol Concert by Key stage 2. The Choir also visited the residents of Crampsie Court and sang for them at their Christmas Party.

There were numerous school outings throughout the year, including a residential trip to the Share centre in Lisnaskea, cross community residential at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh and a wide and varied programme via Education for Mutual Understanding which saw all pupils from reception to Yr 7 working along side St Columba's P.S Kilrea.

Yr 7 had a very successful term running their own company which resulted in them receiving a Gold award at the Northern Ireland finals of the Sentinus Junior Industry Challenge at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

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Pupil also benefited from an extensive timetable of after school activities, which included hockey, netball, tennis, football, rugby, badminton, aerobics and dance, golf, computer club, swimming and Jo-jingles.

The pupils, encouraged by parents and teachers have been moved by a number of issues over the past year. The Disaster in Haiti prompted a particularly generous response from the children raising 1000.00.

Others such as The Ugandan Children's Choir, Wateraid and Mencap also received considerable donations.

In June The PTA were able to provide 2 new interactive white boards which means that now every class in the school has this technology available to them.

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Having thanked all the staff, Head of School, Mr Skelton, The Board of Governors and the senior management team, Mrs Mussen concluded by saying "it has become clear to me, that every member of our school community, parents included, gives of their best at all times. This creates the special atmosphere in our school. On this basis, we have planned yet another busy year for our Preparatory Department and I am very much looking forward to the year ahead."