To begin, I would like to extend a warm welcome to those who have just joined Pirrie House, and I wish them all the best at Inst. The aim of our school is to provide an environment where people from all walks of life can have access to a good education and realise their potential, and the members of Pirrie House have shown that this is possible in the past academic year.
At A2 Level, 14P achieved excellent results with Senior Prefect Joshua Holmes achieving an A*AA profile. Peter Wright attained an A*ABB profile while Luke Nelson attained AAB. Ryan Ferguson, Toby Hawthorne-Smith, Jamie Magill, Adam McCready, Sam Scott, and Patrick Woods performed very well. I wish the leavers all the best as they move on to third level studies or to work. 13P also received a pleasing set of AS Level results with Harry McAllister and Guy Morrow performing best with AAA profiles. At GCSE, 12P performed well with Zach Smith top scoring with an outstanding 40 points. Theo Wilson and Reuben Edmondson also performed impressively. Congratulations to all the pupils who sat public examinations last year.
Pirrie House dropped slightly to joint fourth place alongside Jones House in the House Championship which was disappointing. However, there were highlights such as our continued dominance in the pool with another McKee Cup swimming success. Our teams competed very well to finish in second place overall in the Sheldon Cup for Junior Cross-Country, Junior Sports Day, and in the Larmor Cup for Rowing.
In 14P, Head of House Ryan Ferguson helped the senior swimming team to win their event. Joshua Holmes won the senior indoor rowing event. In 13P, Guy Morrow was the best placed finisher from Year 13 in the senior cross-country race. Josh Bickerstaffe, Ryan Hamilton, and Gannon Robertson helped the House to become House swimming champions. Gannon carried his strong form outside school to win a silver medal in the 1,500m freestyle event at the Irish National Swimming Championships. Alastair Watt helped the 1st XI cricket team to win the Schools Cup and represented NCU at Under-17 level in an interprovincial series.
In 12P, Josh Dean, Bruce Macdonald, Niall McNarry, Zach Smith, and Theo Wilson won the Year 12 Swimming Competition which helped the House to win the McKee Cup. In Rugby, Reuben Edmondson captained Ulster Rugby at Under-17 level while Andrew Purcell played for Ulster Under-18s. Caleb De Silva played for NCU at Under-17 level while Bruce Macdonald was a member of the Ulster Under-18 Golf Team. Ruairi Harris won his category at the Belfast Sprints Rowing Regatta. In 11P, Sam Holmes won the javelin competition at Junior Sports Day while Ross Montgomery won the 200m race. Sam along with Zane Cunningham, Noah Lorimer, and Toby Lyons won the 4 × 400m relay race.
10P won their cross-country race. Dylan Gray showed his athletic talent by winning the shot, 100m and 200m at Junior Sports Day. He represented Ulster Rugby and the NCU at Under-15 level. Aaditya Sign represented Ireland at Under-15 level in table tennis at the Home Nations Tournament. Alfie Lonergan finished fourth in the All-Ireland Interclub Golf Finals. In 9P, Brolyn O’Doherty won the Triple Jump at Junior Sports Day while Ryan Anderson, Amos Binu, Lewis Buchanan, Brolyn O’Doherty, Jude Robinson, and Ayaan Shaikh won the Year 9 basketball competition. Lewis Buchanan represented Ulster Hockey at Under-13 level. 8P won their cross-country race. Carter Gray won the 100m and 200m races at Junior Sports Day. Enzo Gowdy, Connor McMath, Joshua Nelson, Evan O’Neill, and Jonny Wright won the Year 8 swimming competition, helping the House to win the McKee Cup. Nicholas Keane was selected for the high-performance Ulster Tennis team while Enzo Gowdy performed at the Holywood Music Festival.
In the past academic year, Pirrie House was represented at Pupil Council meetings by Nathan McCorry and Harris Lundy (8P), Ralph McMichael and Daniel McBride (9P), Oliver Redmond (10P), Daniel McAllister and Harry Grain (11P), Logan Burgess and Reuben Edmondson (12P), Adam Binu and Alastair Watt (13P), Justin Youle and Adam McCready (14P). Pupil Council representatives are an essential part of our school in ensuring that pupils feel represented and that they have a voice. For this, I would like to thank all representatives for stepping up to the role. At the end of year Rewards Assembly, The Pirrie Cup for Leadership was presented jointly to Deputy Head of School Patrick Woods and Deputy Head of House Luke Nelson; and the Todd Cup for Best Contribution to the House was presented jointly to Jamie Magill and Niall McNarry. House Contribution Certificates were awarded to Harris Lundy (8P), Amos Binu, Lewis Buchanan, and Daniel McBride (9P), Oliver Redmond (10P), Sam Holmes (11P), Andrew Purcell (12P), Guy Morrow (13P), Ryan Ferguson and Joshua Holmes (14P). The House continued to think of others, donating £108.41 to UNICEF’s excellent work in Gaza during the current conflict there.
I would like to thank everyone across Pirrie House, both pupils and teachers, for their continuous efforts in providing a positive environment for the pupils to enjoy and to excel in.
