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There were feelings of excitement and relief at Dalriada last Thursday when this year’s GCSE results were released, with over 98% of all pupils achieving at least 7A* - C grades, one of the best sets of GCSE results in the school’s history. 4 pupils achieved a maximum of 10 A* grades, namely Eden Adair, Lauren Bond, Chloe Boyle, and Lydia Glenny. In addition the following 23 pupils 21% of this Year 12 cohort, gained at least 10A*/A grades, an outstanding achievement, Alex Campbell, Shannon Shiels, Erin Fisher, Muireann Paul, Rebecca Ross, Anna Shiels, Angus Graham, Oliwia Oczeretko, Alex Kincaid, Izzy Pollock-Quinn, Matthew Moore, Tara O’Brien, Lucas Steele, Abigail Archer, Faye Dempsey, Daisy McCook. Zach McIlhagga, Maya Tate, Rebecca Thompson, Matthew Dixon, Ruby Marks, Katie McCandless and Yana Walls. Finally, a further 25 pupils, 41% of the Year 12 cohort gained a fantastic 8 A*/A grades each, Una McAllister, Niamh Brooking, Lena Christie, Mark Kennedy, Rebecca McClean, Ryan Strong, Sam Cochrane, Holly McComb, Laurina Woha, Thomas Condell, Andrew Beggs, Poppy Hunter, Elijah Mullan, Joshua Scott, Alfie Millar, Grace Patterson, Matthew Johnston, Jack McAuley, Leah Barnes, Tom McCotter, Adam O’Neill, Rebecca Gilvary, Hannah Stewart, Rachel Thompson and Kayla Henry The vast majority of these GCSE pupils will now progress to Sixth Form at Dalriada, where they will be joined by a number of pupils from schools in the North Coast area and beyond. Headmaster, Mr Tom Skelton enthused, “We are absolutely delighted with these superb results which reflect the hard work and resilience of our pupils who have had to deal with significant disruption to their education due to the impact of Covid 19. The pupils’ hard work, combined with excellent teaching and positive parental support have all contributed to these record breaking results at GCSE. We are immensely proud of these pupils and look forward to their continued academic success at Dalriada and beyond. We wish the small number of students who are leaving us every success and we are delighted to welcome a number of external students to Dalriada who have also achieved impressive GCSE results. We now have approximately 130 students progressing to Lower Sixth Form at Dalriada studying a broad range of subjects and we look forward to their future success in “A” Level examinations. These GCSE results, coupled with the outstanding A Level results achieved last week strengthens Dalriada’s position as one of the top schools in the Province.

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Twelve Year 11 pupils took part in the National Scientific Thinking Challenge, organised by Warwick University, at the beginning of May. Dalriada was one of 227 schools from across the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia, Bulgaria and Thailand. These twelve pupils were among 13, 652 students to take part. We were delighted to receive results of the competition at the beginning of June. Bronze 🥉(top 40%), Silver 🥈 (top 25%) and Gold 🥇(top 10%) awards are presented. We had 3 Gold Awards (Simon Anderson, Corwin Dowey and Laura Dysart), 3 Silver Awards (Arden Donnelly, Sophie Shaw and Henry Thompson) and 4 Bronze Awards (Molly Bellingham, Rebekah Gordon, Isla Graham and Annika Thompson) which is amazing. Well done to everyone who took part 👏 Certificates will be presented at the end of term.

The Chemistry Department were busy on Monday 5.6.23 and Tuesday 6.6.23 as fifteen year 13 pupils participated in the RSC Schools’ Analyst Competition. This Practical Challenge is aimed at students in their first year of study of the A-level Chemistry course and provides an opportunity for developing team-work and problem-solving skills, in addition to demonstrating chemistry knowledge linking to curricular content. The context of the competition this year was that the students were analytical chemistry employed to investigate some unpleasant goings on at the Grand Baking Competition. The judges at the competition, Peter Rotherham and Margaret Cherry, had whittled the contestants down to the final three: Karen, a classic home baker, Toby, who had impressed with his extravagant and flamboyant bakes and Gordon, a passionate vegan baker. However, the day of the final had been thrown into chaos with sabotage to the bakers’ ingredients and the discovery of a menacing note. In teams of three the pupils had to carry out a range of tests to identify 9 white powders from the pantry, which had been ransacked and labels removed from all the jars of general ingredients. They had to analyse, by titration, dried samples from 3 Victoria Sponge cakes to determine the % bicarbonate of soda - a raising agent commonly used in baking cakes. Finally, they had to use thin-layer chromatography to analyse the ink from the menacing note and compare to three different black markers. The pupils will have to wait until the end of June to discover who the saboteur was: Karen, Toby, Gordon or even one of the two judges Peter or Margaret? The pupils spent 4 hours in the lab instead of out in the sunshine but thoroughly enjoyed the practical work (and the ice-cream provided by Mrs Millar afterwards!). Thanks must go to the Royal Society of Chemistry for organising the competition and providing the resources. #rscsac23, @roysocchem, @doctorgraeme.

Wednesday 14th June 2023 12.45pm – 3pm Dalriada School invites all P6 pupils and their parents to an Open afternoon to first listen to a talk by the Headmaster on how to gain entry to Dalriada in September 2024. After the talk you will be taken on a tour of the school visiting all departments and be able to see the school’s extensive facilities. The talk will be held in the John Armstrong Hall starting at 12.45pm and the afternoon will finish at around 3pm. On arrival you will be directed to an area to park your car and then on to the Hall. For any additional details or requirements please contact the school on 276 63066. If pupils are not available parents are welcome to come but please let us know this in advance.

The Chemistry Department were delighted to receive a signed copy of Professor Julian H Ross's book on 'Contemporary Catalysis, Fundamentals and Current Applications'. Julian's father was Dr Alfred Ross who was Headmaster of the school from 1931 until his death in April 1948. The book was presented to mark the 75th anniversary of Alfred Ross's death. Alfred Ross was born in Belfast on 26th November 1901. He won a government scholarship to attend University College, London, where he obtained his PhD in September 1927 with a thesis entitled 'Infrared Absorption Spectra and Organic Chemistry'. He worked briefly with the precursor of ICI in Teeside before returning to Northern Ireland as a teacher, first in Armagh and then in Lurgan. He was appointed as headmaster to what was to become Dalriada in 1931. During his leadership the oldest part of the current school building was erected in 1937. Julian's love of science was encouraged at a very early age by his father's enthusiasm for the subject. Even though Julian was just 6 years old when his father died, he had been taught the principles of electricity and optics as well as of elementary chemistry! He has worked in various universities (Bradford, Twente and Limerick) and this is his second book on the subject of catalysis. The Chemistry Department look forward to being able to make reference to the content of the book in their delivery of the A-level Chemistry course.

Tuesday 2nd May at 7pm in the John Armstrong Hall Inviting current P6 Parents to listen to a presentation about the new SEAG Exam and how to make an application to sit the Assessments. Pupils will then sit the tests in November 2023 on two Saturdays. Results will be published in late January 2024, with entry to Dalriada for successful applicants in September 2024. More detailed information will be available at the meeting and you can also view more detail on the new SEAG website through this link:- SEAG Guidance for Parents For any other detail relating to the meeting you can contact the school on 028 276 63066

The Top of the Bench team from Dalriada School, Ballymoney who represented Northern Ireland at the National Finals in London on 25th March 2023 would like to take this opportunity to thank Energia Renewables who provided a very generous sponsorship of £500 for the team which enabled all meals to be paid for and covered the expenses of the second member of staff travelling with the team. It was very fitting that Energia Renewables provided the sponsorship given the overall theme for this year’s competition was Sustainability and the practical challenge involved finding the most efficient fuel by measuring density and calculating the energy released on combustion; Energia Renewables are engaged in making green hydrogen fuel from excess electricity generated by Long Mountain wind farm so their work is all about Sustainability and Chemistry solving problems. Pictured with the team are Rachael O'Boyle and Alan Dysart from Energia Renewables.

Do you think you will achieve at least 3 A*-B in subjects you would like to do and will in addition have also passed your GCSE English and Maths. Then come along to an Information Evening at the school on Thursday 9th March starting at 7pm. Please park in the front car park. If you would like to register your interest contact the school at lmontgomery916@c2ken.net or phone on 276 63066.

On Thursday 19th January 2023 a team of four pupils – Alex Campbell (year 12), Ross Carson (year 10), Laura Dysart (year 11) and Jack Orr (year 10) – travelled to Queens' University to participate in the regional finals of the prestigious RSC 'Top of the Bench' Competition. The Deputy Head of the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Department gave an introductory welcome, outlining some of the global challenges we currently face and encouraging the students to consider studying chemistry or chemical engineering where they can really make a difference: medicines from seaweed, carbon capture and utilisation and development of next generation antibiotics were just some of the solutions to these challenges chemists are currently working on. Chemistry is not just about titrations! The team completed a practical challenge in the laboratory where they turned a ‘2p’ coin into a ‘10p’ coin – just a little of the magic possible when you know how to perform chemical reactions! Following this, they completed a test paper demanding in-depth knowledge of safety, the chemical elements, electrochemistry and energy changes, and finally they competed in a stretching quiz round to conclude the competition. The team gave a great performance and had lots of fun and were stunned when they were crowned as NI Regional Winners, especially given that most of the questions on the test were related to topics they have not yet studied in their chemistry course. The team will now progress to the UK finals in London at the end of March – a very proud Chemistry Department tonight. Thanks to @RSC_Ireland_Edu and staff at QUB for organising and hosting the competition.