Reverend Fathers, Members of the Board of Governors, Invited Guests, boys and girls;

On behalf of all our staff,  I welcome you at our Annual Presentation of Certificates. We have our Year 11 pupils here tonight as well as our past year 12 ,13 and  year 14 pupils.

Tonight is a night of celebration; to all those involved in a job well done,

Our young people are blessed to live in an age when there are a variety of subjects and qualifications available to enable them to achieve and to plan a career path in areas of the curriculum which they like and at which they are talented.

We also live in an age when there is a very significant focus on Literacy and Numeracy;

In other words, when you choose a school, for your son or daughter, what you want for that young person is that they reach the age of 16 and achieve a full range of GCSE subjects at grade C and above INCLUDING Maths and English.

And when the department of Education issue statistics they properly focus on the percentage achieving Five GCSE including Maths and English.  I am very very happy to report to you tonight that the GCSE results in St Patrick College far exceeded the overwhelming majority of nonselective schools in the north of Ireland. Not only that,  when we look at the statistics for all schools; that includes schools which select ;such as grammar schools, St Patricks  College exceeded the average here as well. We have 65% of our year 12 last year leaving with  a good range of GCSEs  ; almost all getting seven GCSEs or more including  GCSE English and Maths at grade C and above. The average for all schools; selective and non selective ,  is 62%. In St Patricks College, you boys and girls achieved 65%. This places us in the top 5% of non selective schools in the north of Ireland.

We are rightly proud of you , year 12 in 2012-13 ; we are rightly grateful to your teachers who did everything possible to ensure your success and we are rightly grateful to your parents who supported you each step of the way; coming to meetings when you needed mentored, collecting you late in the day when you stayed for extra lessons, arranging for your transport on midterm breaks when lessons were held to boost your progress.

Our success involved three stakeholders;  the pupils, the parents and the teachers; and together; we made it work.

We found it very difficult to allow you to go; we knew it was in your best interests and therefore we did what was the right thing. But Our hope is that post 16 will return to St Patricks as soon as possible. That is our aim!

WE are a good school; the inspectorate have declared that the majority of our teaching ranges from good to outstanding.; that our standards are above average and that the inspectorate have faith in us in being able to consolidate the successful position we are in now.

 Our guest tonight is Mr Plunkett Campbell from the Southern Education and Library Board and I want to thank him specifically tonight. I can recall a key meeting last year; with himself and with Mr Tony Murphy; who has recently retired. And I have to say that that meeting was a key turning point in the life of St Patricks,

A commitment was given  by these men that the  SELB would undertake a much needed refurbishment of our school. And this refurbishment moves steadily and relentlessly along. We have all classrooms with doubleglazing; interactive whiteboards, panelled doors. We have the second phase of window replacement beginning next week . Look around you in this hall; we have a new heating system; ceiling, curtains;  in fact a  refurbishment is almost complete. And the board architects are engaged in meetings with  us for the refurbishment of our foyer and all our toilets and changing room areas. I cannot underestimate the part played by Plunkett in effecting these improvements and the school community as a whole is indebted to him.

We are also working with Banbridge District Council with the support of the GAA to bid for transformed facilities in our playing fields; facilities which are much needed and which will enhance the playing opportunity for many groups within the Banbridge area.

In January we will be opening a Learning Hub where members of the Banbridge community will be able to access bespoke courses in the use of ipads and other software.

We are moving forward; steadily and quickly, to be a key provider, at many levels within the learning community of Banbridge.

We have many friends of St Patricks; many who have joined us tonight. Our parent teacher association, past teachers, board employees and parish nieghbours; we need you all and we are grateful to the support that comes endlessly from you.

Boys and girls year 10 and year 12; past and present; in conclusion; what you want from life is to be happy; and contentment is the key to being happy; So, accept yourself as you are. Work with your strengths; don’t judge yourself against another person; that only brings a sense of dissatisfaction. Work hard ,  enjoy working hard; and you will find real happiness .

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Thank you.