Record breakers at College

Mr Trevor Robinson said: "I congratulate the pupils and all those involved in helping the young people fulfil their academic potential, including their dedicated teachers and, of course, their supportive parents.

"Once again I acknowledge the key role played by our colleagues in Lurgan Junior High School and, of course, our excellent feeder primary schools who provided them a solid grounding in the early part of their education and who continually furnish our 14-19 grammar school with strongly motivated pupils of the highest academic quality. "These excellent results, coupled with the outstanding 'A' Level and AS Level results released last week, continue to place the Dickson Plan Grammar School among the top achieving schools in the whole of the UK.

"An analysis of the results achieved by the 115 Year 12 pupils of Lurgan College reveals another impressive year of GCSE results. Grades A* and A accounted for almost 40% of the total grades achieved (compared to the NI average of 27%) while the overall pass rate of 95% was significantly higher than the NI average of 76%. "Another outstanding statistic was the 97% of pupils who obtained 7+ GCSEs at grades A*-C, which, again, was much higher that the NI average of 91%."

He went on: "Top grades were recorded in all of the different subject areas but the results in Art and Design (where all 14 pupils achieved A* / A grades for a 9th successive year), in Music (where 90% of the class obtained A*/A grades) and in ICT and Learning for Life and Work (where 80% of the classes secured A*/A grades) are surely worthy of special mention.

"The following subjects scored a magnificent 100% pass rate at grades A*-C: Art & Design, Business Studies, Chemistry, Geography, History, Home Economics, ICT, Learning for Life & Work and Music. An interesting fact to note is that the College bucked the national trend with the boys marginally outperforming the girls at GCSE level.

"For the first time in the school’s history, a pupil was awarded 11 straight A* grades: David Harrison (Bleary PS). A remarkable feat by any standards!

"Another two pupils, Lynsey-Jayne Fulton (King’s Park PS) and Joel Smith (King’s Park PS) achieved an amazing 11 A* and A grades."

The following pupils were awarded 10 straight A*/A grades: Philip Gardiner (King’s Park PS), David Irwin (King’s Park PS), Sarah Martin (King’s Park PS) and Amy Wilson (King’s Park PS).

David Knox (King’s Park PS) achieved 9 A*/A grades.

The following pupils achieved 8 A*/A grades: Jenna Calvert (King’s Park PS), Sarah Clark (Waringstown PS), Louise Donaldson (King’s Park PS), Richard Hannan (Waringstown PS), Luke Osborne (Carrick PS), Jenny Patterson (Waringstown PS) and Siu-Yein Tsang (King’s Park PS).

The following pupils achieved 7 A*/A grades: Emily Alexander (Waringstown PS), Matthew Gilchrist (King’s Park PS), Alicia Love (Woods PS) and Dylan McClurg (King’s Park PS).

Mr Robinson added: "The late release of the results coming so near the start of the new term has again put a high degree of strain on the system. The College staff have been extremely busy assisting pupils with finalising their choices for next year with the vast majority returning to study four AS Levels in the growing Sixth Form of Lurgan College.

"These results, coupled with the fantastic A Level and AS Level performances bring into sharp focus, once again, the outstanding success of our Dickson Plan with its system of delayed transfer at age 14. This ringing endorsement of the Craigavon Two Tier System will surely inspire us all within the system in general and in the Lurgan community in particular to build upon the success of the well tried and tested Dickson Plan."