Dalriada is ‘School of the Year’
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Mervyn Barkman and Nicola Madden, Vice Principals of Dalriada and Tom Skelton, Principal, who celebrate the school success , after being nominated ‘School of the Year’ by the Sunday Times.
THERE were scenes of celebration at Dalriada on Friday when the Headmaster, Mr. Tom Skelton, informed staff, pupils and parents that Dalriada had won the prestigious Sunday Times "Northern Ireland School of the Year" award.
Each year, the newspaper compares the top 2000 independent and state schools, ranked by their recent external examination results and in 2008 Dalriada broke into the top 10 schools in Northern Ireland, being placed 5th in the Province and 67th in the UK. That is a rise from 20th to 5th in NI from 2007 and from 102 to 67 in the UK as a whole. As a result, the school was featured in the Sunday Times Educational supplement last Sunday, November 16.
Mr. Skelton enthused "This is a great honour for Dalriada to win this prestigious award and reflects the hard work and commitment of pupils and staff, and the support of parents. Our external examination results this summer were outstanding and I feel that everyone associated with Dalriada can feel justifiably proud. This has given us all a tremendous boost. We are proud of our unique school ethos where each person feels valued and respected in a caring, learning environment. We strive to help each pupil, whatever his or her background or range of interests, to develop personally and socially as well as academically".
Founded 130 years ago, Dalriada is a co-educational voluntary grammar school which provides education for pupils transferring from primary schools with high grades in the Transfer Test.
Traditionally Dalriada draws its 850 second level pupils from the entire Causeway Coast area and from all religious backgrounds. Commenting on the positive affect of such a success on the school, he said, "Obviously positive recognition for the work that you do is very good. The phone has been ringing from parents and friends of the school telling us that its great to hear that schools, outside Belfast and Londonderry are winning awards. We had a sixth form assembly and there was a big cheer and a clap and everybody had ownership of the whole thing. It was great."
“All schools are invited to submit results to the competition and most of the top schools do. We have come up so much from last year. Its our first time in the top ten based an A Level and GCSE results. 69.2% of A Level Students got A's in 2007 and that rose to 81.1% in 2008. Last years A level students were a superb cohort of pupils."
"We have a superb teaching staff the children are focused and hard working. Winning a competition like this is the icing on the cake. To me it reflects that fact that we have well rounded pupils. The atmosphere in this school is a warm family atmosphere with teacher and pupils interacting well. Its not just about academic activities, is about extracurricular and sporting activities as well."
Comfortable and safe
Mr Skelton continued, "Kids who are happy coming to school do well, they feel comfortable and safe, but are challenged to work hard. With some schools its work, work, work, at Dalriada nearly every child is involved in some form of extra curricular activity. In the sixth form students are playing table tennis or reading, not a teacher in sight, they are well behaved and at ease with the whole thing."
“We have the support of parents, of the 125 pupils in Year 12, 123 of them had at least one parent at the last Parent Teacher meeting. Thanks also go to the vision and support of our Board of Governors. I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor Mr Boyd for all his hard work over the years."
Summing up Mr Skelton said, "I was here as a pupil back 30 years ago, it has the same ethos, the same family spirit I remember as a boy, that is something worth trying to preserve. It may sound cheesy but we aim to be a "Happy school, caring school, successful school."
