Proud tradition ofacademic excellencecarries on at College

With almost 98% of the year group achieving the top grades of A* to C in at least seven subjects, which is well in excess of the NI average, this is another remarkable year of academic success at the College Walk grammar school.

Carrying on the College’s proud tradition of outstanding academic excellence, two former Waringstown PS pupils, Kathryn Corr and Gareth Hutchinson, achieved an incredible 12 A*/A grades each. Amazingly, another 11 pupils managed to notch up 11 A*/A grades each.

Not to be outdone by their Year 14 counterparts’ amazing results at A-Level, as reported last week, the Year 12 class of 2013 have produced some of very top GCSE performances in the College’s rich academic history.

Mr Robinson said: “If further objective proof of the success of the Dickson Plan were needed, the Year 12 pupils certainly rose to the challenge of providing this ‘on a plate’ for those who are intent on bringing about the removal of grammar school provision in the town of Lurgan.

“I challenge these people to look objectively at the unequivocal evidence provided by these unquestionably high performances and to abandon their plans to deprive Lurgan children of such success in future years.

“I congratulate sincerely my diligent pupils, their highly dedicated teachers and their extremely supportive parents on these wonderful examination results. Once again I pay tribute to our committed colleagues in Lurgan Junior High School and, of course, our outstanding local feeder primary schools who continue to furnish our popular 14 to 19 Grammar School with well motivated pupils of the very highest academic calibre.

“A closer analysis of the grades achieved by the highest ever number of Year 12 pupils to sit GCSE examinations at Lurgan College reveals an extremely impressive set of GCSE results by any standards. Grades A* and A accounted for almost 40% of the total grades achieved (compared to the NI average of just 28%) while the overall pass rate of over 95% was significantly higher than the NI average of 76%. Another outstanding statistic is the almost 98% of pupils who obtained seven or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, which, again, is much higher that the NI grammar school average which has sat at 91% over the past few years. The marked increase in the number of A* grades (over 14% in total), sitting well above NI average of just 8.7%, was also very pleasing.

“Top grades were recorded in all of the different subject areas but the results in Art and Design, where all the pupils achieved A*/A grades for a 12th successive year, and in Music and in Additional Mathematics, where all of the pupils obtained A* to B grades, are surely worthy of special mention.”

Two former Waringstown PS pupils, Kathryn Corr and Gareth Hutchinson, achieved an incredible 12 A*/A grades each.

The following pupils were awarded 11 straight A*/A grades: Samantha Bann (King’s Park PS), Kerry Bell (Waringstown PS), Amelia Burns (Waringstown PS), Ben Cairns (King’s Park PS), Matthew Canning (King’s Park PS), Charlotte Cromie (Waringstown PS), Hannah Eakin (Waringstown PS), Lauren Edge (Carrick PS), Sarah Elliott (Carrick PS), Sam Harrison (King’s Park PS) and Alexandra Willis (King’s Park PS).

The following pupils were awarded 10 straight A*/A grades: Jamie Davison (King’s Park PS), Stephen Logan (Maralin PS) and Rebecca McShane (King’s Park PS).

Abigail Burgess (Waringstown PS), Megan Collins (King’s Park PS),Ruth Greer (King’s Park PS), Sophie Lyons (Waringstown PS) and Jordan McCallen (King’s Park PS) all secured nine A*/A grades.

The following pupils achieved 8 A*/A grades: Alex Hurst (Waringstown PS), Ashleigh McCracken (Waringstown PS) and Samuel Stafford (King’s Park PS).

The following pupils recorded 7 A*/A grades: Louise Abraham (King’s Park PS), Megan Hanlon (King’s Park PS), Tiffany Ki (Waringstown PS), Bethan Logan (Ballinderry PS), Jessica Magee (King’s Park PS), Zoe Maguire (Bleary PS), Luke McConville (King’s Park PS) and Andrew Watson (Maralin PS).

Mr Robinson concluded: “As part of the unique character of the Dickson Plan, this year has seen a significant number of Craigavon Senior High School pupils transferring into the Sixth Form at the College, following the academic success enjoyed by the Kitchen Hill pupils this year. The College’s Senior Leadership Team and Careers staff have been very busy offering pupils appropriate advice and guidance regarding their crucial AS choices for next year.

“These results, coupled with the outstanding A Level and AS Level performances last week, highlight, once again, the irrefutable success of the Dickson Plan with its envied system of delayed academic transfer at age 14. Our pupils’ remarkable achievements should fill our whole community with pride and encourage everyone within the system to work closely together in order to promote and enhance even further the well tried and tested Craigavon Two Tier System in the years to come.”