Press Release
Date: Wednesday 20 December 2000 (NR/124/00)
CLASS ACTS HONOURED BY CCEA
Some of the finest young minds in Northern Ireland will converge on Belfast’s docklands today to receive recognition from local exams body, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).
CCEA is making awards to students who came top in individual subjects in this year’s A Level examinations.
Speaking to an invited audience including parents, principals, educationalists and business leaders, the Chief Executive of CCEA Gavin Boyd put the young peoples’ achievements into perspective.
"This summer our A Level entry outperformed the rest of the UK with almost 26% receiving an A grade compared with the national figure of just under 18%. Set against the background of CCEA’s very high standards this really does bring into focus the wonderful performance of this year’s top students.
The young people here today are the highest achieving pupils from the highest achieving exam board, or put another way, from more than three quarters of a million A Level entries nation-wide, their individual subject performances are 33 of the very best anywhere.
I congratulate them all on their sterling performance and wish them success for the future. However I am sure all the students receiving awards will recognise that their success is a team effort. Therefore I would also like to congratulate the teachers and parents here today for the excellent job they have done in guiding our top candidates through their studies."
Outline programme for ceremony as follows
Arrival and Lunch 12.30pm
Opening Remarks 1.30pm Dr Alan Lennon, Chairman CCEA
Award Ceremony 1.40pm Dr Alan Lennon and Mr Gavin Boyd
Closing Remarks 2.30pm Mr Gavin Boyd, Chief Executive CCEA
This years top candidates in CCEA GCE A Level examinations are:
| Subject | Name | School |
| Accounting | Michaela Dummigan | Lismore Comp College, C'avon |
| Art and Design | Anna Irwin Jane Larmour Christopher Heaney Kilian Bourke |
Victoria College, Belfast Victoria College, Belfast Ballyclare Secondary School St Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel |
| Art and Design Historical and Critical Studies | Rosalind M Holmes | Coleraine High School |
| Biology | Claire McIlwaine | Strathearn School, Belfast |
| Business Studies | Sine Quinn Elaine Hutchinson |
Armagh College of Further Educ. Lurgan College |
| Chemistry | Tamara Mallett | Thornhill College, Londonderry |
| Computing | Padraig Moore | Foyle and Londonderry College |
| Design and Technology | David Evans | Ballyclare High School |
| Economics | Nicola Allen | Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast |
English Literature (Syllabus A) |
Katherine Doyle | St Mary's Grammar School, M'felt |
| English Literature (Syllabus B) | Claire McKenna | Assumption Grammar Sch, B'hinch |
| English Literature (Syllabus C) Modular | Matthew Gray | Ballyclare High School |
| French | Brigid McCambridge | Belfast Institute of F&H Educ |
| Geography | Patrick Haughey | Christian Bros' Gram Sch, Omagh |
| Geology | John Laverty | Coleraine Academical Institution |
| German | Kathryn Steen | Hunterhouse College, Belfast |
| Government and Politics | Jordan Ellison | Ballyclare High School |
| History | Fiona Von Ohsen | Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast |
| Home Economics | Bronagh Doran | Loreto Grammar School, Omagh |
| Irish | Michael O'Gallagher | St Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel |
| Italian | Aiveen Rooney | St Dominic's High School, Belfast |
| Mathematics | Gillian Gillespie Claire McIllwaine |
Bloomfield Collegiate, Belfast Strathern School, Belfast |
| Mechanics | Christopher Carey | E. Down Institute of F&H Educ |
| Further Mathematics | David Wilson | Royal Belfast Academical Inst |
| Music | Jonathan Hardy | Methodist College, Belfast |
| Physics | Gillian Gillespie | Bloomfield Collegiate, Belfast |
| Religious Studies | Julie Gallagher | Strabane Convent Gram. School |
| Spanish | Claire McCarthy | Belfast Institute of F&H Educ |
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
