From the
Headmaster’s desk
We celebrated another very successful year
in 2010-2011 as our young people continued to achieve successes in the way we
have come to expect. In August, many of
our Year 12 pupils were delighted to learn of their excellent GCSE results. They fully deserve their success because they
worked hard, heeded the advice of their teachers and had the confidence and
commitment to see things through to the end.
Some of them far exceeded their expectations and now realize that with
determination, commitment and hard work they can achieve what was perhaps once
thought impossible.
"In particular, I would like to mention Victoria
Kennedy, Keiran Logan, Courtney Currie, Adam Heaney, Robert Getty, Janine
Mitchell, Rebecca Elliott, Zoe Dunbar, Demi Cochrane, Suzann Logan, Katherine
McClean, Jessica McCracken, Jake Wilson, Grant Crawford, Sam Magilton, Pamela
Sinclair, Megan Watton, Kurtis Ashcroft, Peter Rowland, Zara Leslie, Louise
Lyons, Jonathan Farley, Iain McCulloch, Nathan Cassidy, Adam Walker, Natalie
Hemming, Laura Caskey, Jamie-Lee Douglas, Cezary Milczarek, Alexandra Scott,
Kathryn Scott, Victoria McFarlane, all of whom passed 5-8 GCSE's within the
A*-C grade category."
We celebrate also with those pupils with
special educational needs, some of whom attained passes in all subjects entered
with some at the higher level. It is
clear to see how Dunluce School can claim its status as an all-ability school
which caters for pupils with the very highest ability as well as those who have
difficulties.
The numbers in the school continue to grow
and with our latest intake of over 100 pupils again this year it has put the
school into a higher grouping category and pushes our overall school population
to over 500 pupils, the largest Dunluce has been in fifteen years.
In October, Mr Stanley Goudie, Chief
Inspector of Education (Eti) and his wife Heather, accepted our invitation to
be our Chief Guests at our annual Prize Day celebration. Mr Goudie’s career began in 1973 as a classroom
teacher in the Glengormley/Antrim area.
While still teaching, Mr Goudie joined the inspectorate as a specialist
in physics and served as a District Inspector, Principal Inspector in Science
and Assistant Chief Inspector before being promoted to his position in 2008 at
Chief Inspector of the Education and Training Inspectorate. After his wife Heather distributed the
awards, Mr Goudie, in his address to the audience, praised pupils and staff in
achieving such high standards in the school which he described as “most
welcoming”. He told the audience that
Dunluce was “going from strength to strength” and commended the staff for their
hard work as they carried out the process of self-evaluation.
Mention was also made of the wide range of
clubs and activities in school, as well as the results in public examinations,
as a way of gauging the hard work, commitment and loyalty to the school by our
staff. The teachers were, in his opinion, “enabling the pupils at Dunluce to
grow in confidence and capacity”. Noting that the pupils were “dependable,
reliable and resilient”, the Chief Inspector reminded us that these are the
qualities sought by companies throughout the world. He reminded our school
leavers to be proud of their time at Dunluce, their effort and achievements and
the whole school family.
The unprecedented extreme weather in
December forced us to postpone the school show, “The Wizard of Oz’ until
February. Rehearsals were resumed in
January and the show was staged on three consecutive nights, with two
performances for local primary schools during the day. Involving around a fifth of the school population, the
school show is now embedded as one of
the school’s annual highlights.
Memorable performances from Chloe Freeman, Natalie McGill, Joshua Cameron,
Sam Magilton and Sarah Dallat were recognized by the audience as outstanding as
they applauded the whole cast with great enthusiasm and appreciation. Congratulations must go to Mr McClarty, Mrs
Moore, Mr Lutton and a host of other staff members who were involved in the
production and, most importantly, the wonderful cast and crew of young people,
who threw themselves wholly into the event and made it a most memorable event.
RAt the end of the year, two of our longest
serving teachers retired. After a year
of absence due to ill health, Mrs. Wendy Floyd decided that the time was right
for her to retire. For many years, Mrs. Floyd had been Co-ordinator of Special
Educational Needs in the school. She helped many pupils, not only in their
academic development but also in building their self-esteem and
confidence. Her expertise will certainly
be missed in the school. We hope that her health will continue to improve as we
wish her and husband Robert, a long and happy retirement.
Mrs. Elizabeth McCartney also decided to retire
from Dunluce, after completing 22 years of unstinting service. Mrs. McCartney
was Head of Year 12 and Designated Teacher for Child Protection and helped many
scores of young people through their difficulties at school and at home. She also organized and led the ski trips in
the school each year and ran the golfing tournaments in the summer terms. But it was in her role as a classroom teacher
of English that she made the greatest impact.
Her love of the subject, combined with her commitment to the pupils in
her care, ensured for her a positive legacy in Dunluce. We wish her and husband
Rory every success for the future.
At the start of September, we welcomed Miss
Nicola McComb to the school administration office, a position vacated by Mrs.
Jill McIlroy, who retired at the end of the previous term. Nicola has settled very quickly into Dunluce
and we wish her every success in the years ahead.
This year, the work of the School’s Council
continued in typical industrious fashion.
Their work culminated in the production of three new awards for the work
in the classroom. The boy and girl from
each year group who have achieved top marks in most subjects will be awarded
the “ACHIEVEMENT” badge; the boy and girl from each year group who have made,
most progress in most subjects will be awarded the “PROGRESS” badge; the boy
and girl from each year group who have made the most effort in most subjects
will be awarded the “ENDEAVOUR” badge.
This is a significant and welcome addition to our growing list of awards
of recognition in the school as we celebrate the success of our young people.
In June, the whole school took part in our
annual Causeway Ramble raising a staggering £6,927.04! This is indeed an event that draws much
support from parents and friends as they continue to support our efforts in
raising funds for the Ulster Cancer Foundation. We were also keen to support this year, once
again, the RNLI’s Raft Race at Portrush. This event too, has long had the
support of the whole school, with Mrs. Mullan, Mr. Parker, Mr. Dougherty, Mr.
Bingham, Mr. Law and Mr. Lutton taking to the rough seas in their school
manufactured sea vessel, finishing the race and raising a total of £610.
Another charity we were able to support this year was the BBC Children in Need Appeal for which we managed to raise £175.16. We are pleased to support these various
charities in keeping with one of our important school values of actively looking for ways in which we can
help others.
We finished off the year with another
highlight in the form of our Annual Presentation of Sports Awards. We welcomed
Chief Guest Mrs. Nolene McConnell to the school. Nolene represented Northern Ireland in the
1970 Commonwealth Games alongside Mary Peters.
More recently, she served as Creative & Expressive PE Advisor for
the North Eastern Education & Library Board. After distributing the awards,
Nolene spoke to the pupils of the school.
“You never know who will turn out to be special in their chosen sport”,
she said, citing the examples of local heroes George Best and Graeme McDowell.
As we move into another year of
opportunity, I would like to thank the school Board of Governors, parents and
staff of the school and ask for their support once again as we all strive to
maintain the high standards in Dunluce.
However, I pay tribute to all of our exemplary young people who make the
school what it is. They are a credit to
themselves and their families. Our
determination is to work hard to make Dunluce School the very best that it can
be and to continue to attain excellence
in all of our pupils and excellence
in all that we do.
B.Haugh