This morning Ballyclare Secondary School staff and pupils were celebrating a very successful GCSE results day.
The Principal, Mrs Kathryn Bell and all the staff of Ballyclare Secondary School are absolutely delighted with the GCSE results obtained by Year 12 pupils. 73 % of our Year 12 pupils have secured at least 5 GCSE grades at A* to C. This is a truly wonderful achievement and an increase in 5% on the grades achieved last year!
There have been many outstanding performances from our pupils. It is a delight to see so many pupils fulfil their potential in this way.
In the school Assembly Hall were happy young people and staff and delighted parents and carers. Our young people deserve this high level of success, they worked hard, with determination, resilience and maturity. The disruption to their education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was not going to be a barrier to their success.
As a whole the year group have exceeded our expectations and the grades achieved in the majority of subjects have shown an improvement on last year. This is an incredible achievement which is the result of sheer hard work on the part of pupils and staff. It is very encouraging for staff to see clear evidence that our broad and balanced curriculum is accessible for pupils, our pupils feel supported and are achieving very good grades in all GCSE and BTEC Level 2 subjects.
A number of pupils have achieved very high levels of success in our Occupational Studies Courses in Food Preparation, Horticulture, Business Services, Graphic Design and Website Development and Carpentry and Joinery many of these results are at Distinction Level. It is important to us that we continue to develop our curriculum to find courses which best meet the needs and talents of our pupils and this is proving to be very successful.
As in previous years, but particularly this year, we acknowledge the support of parents and carers and the role they play in supporting their young people as they work towards their target grades. Parents and carers play a significant part in the success of Ballyclare Secondary School. It was a pleasure to see the Assembly Hall filled with delighted parents. Any tears were tears of joy!
All year 12 pupils deserve these pleasing results and many are now anticipating their return to school to take on the challenge of further study. We anticipate that this year’s Sixth Form will once again be filled to capacity and there will be particular interest in the new GCE and Level 3 courses we are offering which include GCE Psychology, GCE Government and Politics, BTEC Level 3 in Travel and Tourism (Double Award), BTEC Level 3 Sport (Double Award), GCE Health and Social Care (Double Award) and BTEC Level 3 in Children’s Care, Learning and Development.
Many others have successfully gained places in Northern Regional College, Belfast MET and other colleges of further education including Greenmount and Loughry Agricultural Colleges and we wish them all well. We also congratulate those pupils who have successfully gained apprenticeship places in local business.
It is always a pleasure to see pupils rewarded for their hard work and a delight to share in their many achievements. As a staff we wish them continuing success for the future and congratulate them all on a very successful year.
Mrs K Bell
Principal
