A year later the house system was introduced, with the four houses Dill, Kelvin, Larmor and Pirrie being named after prominent Instonians.
Dill House acquired its name from Sir Samuel Dill (1844-1924), the distinguished Ulster-born classical scholar and educationist. He was born in Hillsborough, County Down, educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and what was then Queen’s College, Belfast, held the chair of Greek at Queen’s from 1890 until his death in 1924, and was also Pro-Chancellor. He had previously been a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and High Master of the Manchester Grammar School. As a member of the Belfast University Commission in 1909, he played an important role in the transformation of Queen’s College into a university. Samuel Dill was knighted in 1909.
The Dill Memorial Lecture, founded in 1925 to perpetuate his memory, is given on a subject relating to the history, philosophy, language or literature of the classical or medieval worlds. The lecture is delivered every second or third year as occasion presents itself.
Senior Housemaster: Mr MH Lyttle
Year 8: Mr Gibbon
Year 9: Mr R Gallagher
Year 10: Mr ND Carson
Year 11: Mrs CA Mayberry
Year 12: Ms Z Huston
Year 13: Mrs E Johnston/Mrs A Graham
Head of House: Luke Gibson
House Secretary: Mark Grant
Senior Prefects: Jay Jayaprakash and Christopher Chee
Prefects: Jamie Agass, William Allen, Christopher Chee, Alex Garvin, Luke Gibson, Mark Grant, Jay Jayaprakash, Sam Lamont, Ben McCausland, Patrick McEvoy, Eoin O’Neil, Noah Stafford, Charlie Wallace
Mentors: Jamie Agass, William Allen, Ross Campbell, Christopher Chee, Luke Gibson, Mark Grant, Jay Jayaprakash, Sam Lamont, Ben McCausland, Reid McSharry, Eoin O’Neill, Noah Stafford, Charlie Wallace
Valete: Jamie Beattie, Jonathan Cairns, Andrew Collins, Tom Crothers, Fraser Cunningham, Ed Forbes-Davies, Joshua Gibson, Jay Hendrie, Ulfat Ifti, Finaly Kenedy, Thomas Lowry, Jack McCausland, Joe McGibbon, James Mcllkenny, Saul McIntyre, Matthew Neilly, Ben Oberholzer, Benedict Onattu, Shea Scanlon, Andrew Skilling, Callum Soper, Alex Spence, Piers Stafford, Kyle Stewart, Tim Svetenko, Loughlin Sweeney, Isaac Tener, Aaron Turkington
Firstly, on behalf of Dill House, I would like to take this opportunity to provide a warm welcome to all the new pupils entering Dill House this year, in particular those pupils in Year 8. I would strongly encourage them to take full advantage of the numerous opportunities that RBAI provides, both academically and in their co-curricular activities, as this will help to ensure their full potential. I would also like to congratulate last year’s Year 14 pupils’ success outside of RBAI and to thank them for their contributions to Dill House.
In order to help the Year 8 pupils transition into secondary school, several boys were selected to be mentors to assist in settling and allowing them to fully engage and participate in the multitude of different co-curricular activities that the school offers. Additionally, I would like to congratulate the new prefects and mentors and wish them well in carrying out their new responsibilities.
In light of their commitment to Dill house several Year 13 boys were awarded with House Honours for their contributions: Calvin Abraham, Connor Davis, Ross Dillon, Charlie Dobson, Ollie Gillies, Leo McBrien, Luke McCausland, Ben McConway, Cameron McCracken, Joe McQuillan, Harry Murdock, Justin Oluwaniyi, David Parpauta, Aaron Russell, Jacob Smyth, Zack Surphlis, and Sam Wallace.
Dill house has had another brilliant year of results from over the summer. At GCSE congratulations goes to Charlie Dobson 5A* 3A 1B, Daniel Maguire 2A* 6A 1B, Jacob Smith 2A* 7A, Jack Surphlis 1A* 8A 1B and Sam Wallace 6A* 4A. At AS-level Christopehr Chee achieved 2A 1B 1C, Luke Gibson 2A 1B, Jay Jayaprakash 2A 2B, Patrick McEvoy 3A, Noah Stafford 2A 1 B. At A2-level Andrew Collins 2 D* 1A*, Tom Crothers 3A, Fraser Cunningham 2A 1B, Joshua Gibson 2A* 1A, Sam McIntyre 1 D* 1D 1A, Shea Scanlon 2A* 1A, Callum Soper 4A*, Piers Stafford 2A 1B, Tim Svetenko 2A* 2A, Aaron Turkington 3A*.
Away from the classroom there were other notable successes from Dill house. Our Head of School Callum Soper played for the Ulster U19 team over the summer and will be heading away to take up his place at Cambridge in the next few weeks. Josh Gibson in Year 14 played for the Irish Schools U18. Ben Oberholzer, also in Year 14 has been offered a Golf Scholarship to America, and has been competing on the Irish Junior Open Elite Tour where is have won a number of tournaments, which has seen him rise to number 806 in the world amateur golf ranking which is an incredible achievement for someone of his age. Jack McCausland in Year 14 ran for his Club, Lagan Valley, at the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal with the team finishing 9th overall. Ben McCausland in Year 13 played for the Ulster School Cricket XI over the summer. Cameron McCracken Year 12 has continued to be successful in Athletics competing for the Ulster Interpro Team and was selected for the Irish Team to compete in a number of competitions. Tobias Harte in Year 9 played for Ulster in both Hockey and Cricket at U13 level.
In the House Championships Dill finished a very respectable 3rd place, in a very closely contested competition with only a few points separating a number of the Houses. Overall, there was a very consistent success rate in a wide variety of the competitions throughout the year including Basketball, Senior Sportsday, and the Corry and Pirrie Cups, which lead to an encouraging finishing position. The new Year 8 look to be a talented group which I hope will lead to continued success in the years to come.
To conclude, on behalf of the house, I would like to convey our appreciation for the time and commitment spent by Mr Lyttle and all the tutors organising and running the House. By doing this, it is without doubt that each member of the House feels included and valued in the Dill community. This allows for both the academic and co-curricular success that Dill takes pride in.