Hundreds of students from St Ninian’s upper and lower schools packed into the Villa Marina to celebrate each other’s achievements.

The annual Presentation of Awards ceremony took place this month with pupils collecting prizes for outstanding effort in subjects and activities achieved within and outside of school.

Head teacher Chris Coole addressed pupils from St Ninian’s High School in Douglas and lower school based at Bemahague in Onchan.

’This is the second year in the recent history of the school we have held this event at the Villa Marina and I once again feel incredibly honoured and privileged to be able to speak to all of you here, including most of our upper and lower school students together under one roof,’ he said.

’Our split-site nature presents its own day to day challenges that other schools do not face - but is also a constant reminder for me that a school is not a building or set of buildings, but a learning community of people working together towards a common set of goals.’

He said 2018-19 was a ’record breaking year’ in terms of Year 13 and 11 students having ’excelled themselves’ in their exams.

’Our A2 results were excellent with just under half of the grades awarded being at least at B grade and just under a fifth at A* or A grade.

’In island-wide statistics St Ninian’s had more students completing their A2 examinations than in any other of the island’s schools,’ he said.

Eighty percent of A2 students (ages 17 and 18) got into higher education institutions, with a further 12% going on to further education courses at University College Isle of Man (UCM) or apprenticeships, the head teacher added.

Approximately 65% of Year 11 students (ages 15 to 16) went to the school’s sixth form or on its bridging course. A total of 26% have since taken up places at UCM and 8% have gone straight into employment.

Mr Coole said one of his personal highlights of the last academic year was the lower school’s involvements in the Wallabies Gone Wild art trail, which raised funds for Hospice Isle of Man.

The Year 7 students (ages 11 to 12) took part in the decorating of wallaby sculptures, which were stationed at the NSC and in Ramsey.

They will now be working with Manx Blind Welfare in completing a sensory garden.

Mr Coole thanked his staff members for their ’dedication, expertise, energy and teamwork’ which ’drives out success’.

’The last academic year was a year in which I watched the overwhelming majority of the young people in this room applying themselves with purpose, care and commitment; engaging positively with their teachers and support staff all focused on a common set of goals,’ he said.