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 backgrounds 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 very pleasing results with Xavier Chung top scoring with a A*AA profile. Harry McAllister and Guy Morrow achieved impressive straight As while Luis Keenan attained a D*D*D profile and Ollie O’Hara obtained straight Distinctions in their BTEC courses. At AS-Level, Zach Smith top scored with an impressive A*AAA profile followed closely by Theo Wilson with four A grades. Josh Dean and Ruairi Harris achieved at least one A grade. At GCSE, Daire Dunne top scored with an admirable 38 points followed closely by Luc Jeannerod with 36 points. Leon Coey, Sam Holmes, Oliver Agnew, Jake Montgomery, and Ibrahim Bafail also achieved very pleasing scores. Congratulations to all the pupils who sat public examinations last year.
Pirrie House had an incredible year in the House Championship, leading right up to the last two newly added events. In the end, we finished in second place with a pleasing 80 points, one point behind the winning house. Former Head of House Alastair Watt, his Deputy Harry McAllister and the 14P class led the other tutor groups superbly well and were very unfortunate not to bring home the shield. Highlights of the year were winning the Corry Cup for junior rugby and finishing second in Junior Sports Day, the Larmor Cup for rowing, and Senior Cross Country.
14P saw House Honours awarded to Xavier Chung and Luis Keenan last year. The senior team finished in second place in House basketball. In 13P, House Honours were awarded to Ryan Bassett, Seth Cousins, Caleb De Silva, Josh Dean, Reuben Edmondson, Ruairi Harris, Bruce Macdonald, Niall McNarry, Dylan Neilly, Andrew Purcell, Calum Smith, Zach Smith, and Theo Wilson. Bruce Macdonald finished in second place in the Ulster Section of the All-Ireland Senior Golf Championships last year. He then won the Ulster U-18 Open Golf Championship and was ranked as the number one U-18 player in Ireland; he also represented Ireland in the U-18 Home Nations Series in August.
11P continued to impress in House competitions with wins in cross country, rugby, volleyball, and badminton. At Sports Day, Dylan Gray won the 100m, 200m and shot events, while Ruairi Irons won the discus competition and Bobby Cunningham won the 800m race. Aaditya Singh continued to impress by playing for Ireland’s U-15 and U-17 teams at the European Table Tennis Championships. Ruairi Irons and Adam Fong played for Ulster Rugby’s U-17s while Dylan Gray represented Ulster Rugby at U-18 level.
In Year 10, Matthew Madden won the 200m race and helped the team, along with Lewis Buchanan, to win the 4 x 100m relay races at Junior Sports Day. Matthew also won the 100m race and helped the team reach the final of the 4 x 100m relay race at the All-Ireland Championships. Lewis helped the Instonians cricket team to win the All-Ireland Championship. Jonah Scholes played the French horn in the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra. 9P won House rugby and basketball. Carter Gray represented the school in the long jump at the All-Ireland Championships; Ezra De Silva represented the NCU in England; and Michael Scott achieved his Chief Scout’s Gold Award. Enzo Gowdy left school at the end of last year to pursue his musical career at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester having achieved distinctions in piano and violin playing at Grade 8 and having led the string and chamber orchestras at City of Belfast School of Music. Best wishes Enzo! In Year 8, Loghan Sewell won the House indoor rowing competition. Henry Spencer won the U-14 and U-16 categories at All-Ireland Piping Competitions while Oliver Hanley won six medals in gymnastics at the Irish National Championships. Jonathan Strain won the Eastern District Junior Cup in the Saint John’s Ambulance Junior Competition while Joshua Sofely won the Lisburn’s Got Talent Competition in a band with his two brothers.
At the end of year Rewards Assembly, The Pirrie Cup for Leadership was presented to the Head of House Alastair Watt; and the Todd Cup for Best Contribution to the House was presented jointly to Xavier Chung and Dylan Gray. House Contribution Certificates were awarded to Tom Buchanan, Olly Scott and Hugh Treacy (8P), Finlay Acheson and Carter Gray (9P), Daniel McBride (10P), Oliver Redmond (11P), Leon Coey and Sam Holmes (12P), Reuben Edmondson (13P), Ryan Hamilton, Harry McAllister and Max Willmott (14P).
The House continued to think of others, generously donating £191.56 to Woman’s Aid. Childrens and Young Persons Support, and Development Worker Kerri Todd came to House Assembly to collect the donation and to speak to the boys about Woman’s Aid work to end abuse towards women in Northern Ireland. The boys also raised £106.85 for Mr Scott’s trip to build a home in Cambodia in July with Scouts NI and local charity Habitat for Humanity Ireland.
At the end of the year, members of Pirrie House said thank you and best wishes to Year 10 tutor Miss Green after three years of excellent service. She moved to Scotland to continue her career. New Year 8 tutor Mr Cleland and new Year 9 tutor Mrs Johnston have joined Pirrie House, and we wish them well for their time in the House.
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 in which to excel.
